The Proof of the Pudding (or... and then Rick ran the service)

Yesterday was a big day for me. I gave my first sermon. It went well.
It's been a couple of months coming. I wrote it back in April, but had to wait for the right time to actually preach it.
Finally, my Pastor actually took a vacation, and asked me to deliver the sermon. That evolved into doing the entire service, from greeting to Benediction.
It gave me much better insight into that part of the Pastor's job. I had no idea that there was so much additional prep when you're doing the entire service. It was a great experience.
I really enjoyed the process of choosing the hymns and the call to worship, as well as writing the various prayers that are scattered throughout the service. (Of course, I missed the prayer for dedicating the tithe, and had to do that one on the fly, but no process is perfect, the first time.)
There were some cueing issues during the service, and my transitions between the different sections ranged from pretty smooth to really awkward, but I've been assured that those things come with practice.
A number of my loved ones, some of them no-Christians, came to share the experience with me. I was incredibly touched, especially by the folks who drove over an hour. They paid me some great complements, especially my pagan friend, who told me that she enjoyed my message, and in more than just a "that's interesting" kind of way.
The most important thing that came out of the day, though, was that I am now completely certain.
There's always that bit of doubt in one's calling until one actually steps up and does the work. I'd been doing some of the work - hospital visits, committee meetings, acting as Pastoral backup - but I hadn't stepped in front of the congregation, and until I did, there was that niggling worry that I had heard Him wrong. Once I got up there, and let the Holy Spirit fill me, I knew. I am called to become a Pastor. Now there's nothing to do but answer that call.
As much as I'd like to take credit for how well things went yesterday, it was really the Lord working through me. I asked Him to bolster me while I spoke, and He, as He always will, came through.

I promised that I'd post the text of my sermon here, for those who couldn't make it out to see me, so here it is. I should have  video up on youtube next week.

Building the Church

Matthew 16: 13-18

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Ephesians 2:19-22

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

It's an exciting time to be part of this Church. Amazing things are happening here, and we're all a part of that. Not that long ago, this Church was foundering... you'd gotten a new Pastor, which is always a difficult transition; you were losing long-standing and beloved members – to sickness, to nursing homes, or to Heaven – and let's be honest, there was more wood showing in in the pews every month. It was a hard time for everyone.

Folks started praying... “Lord, help us build this Church. Help us build your Church back up.” and even “Please Lord, tell us what we need to do to get this Church moving again.”

For a good long while, nothing happened. The Lord was listening, because He always listens, but He moves to the ticking of His own clock, and His time isn't the same as ours.

Also, like the Father He is, He was waiting to see if His children were paying attention to the lessons He'd already taught them.

He wanted us to realize that we can't build the Church. Oh, we can build the structure – the walls, the pews, the altar – but the Church... there's only ever been one person who can build that – Jesus.

There's a story that Malcolm Smith tells. (If you've had more than 3 long conversations with Jeff, then you know who Malcolm is. If not, suffice it to say that he's been a Methodist Pastor for 60 years now , and he's pretty much awesome at it.) Anyway, Malcolm went to work at a failing church in Brooklyn. He was already a successful Pastor – well known – a great speaker – and he was certain that he could turn that Church around. He opened up his bag of tricks and went to work... and nothing happened. When he'd tried everything he could think of to get that Church growing again, and failed, time and time again, he figured that he was done as a Pastor. He packed it in, took his wife and went to the Virgin Islands. He was sitting under a tree trying to figure out what he was going to do with the rest of his life, when this part of Matthew 16: verse 18 came to him - “on this rock I will build my church.” Not, “Peter, go out and build my church. Not “Go find people to build my church.” He said, “I will build my church.” It was like a lightning bolt. Malcolm went back to that church and told them, “I'll stay on as your pastor, as long as you understand that there's nothing I can do to build your church.” They were probably concerned, but no other Pastor was even willing to try, so they said okay.

He prayed for the Lord to build His church. And the Lord did just that.

A similar thing has been happening here. Some of the voices started praying, “Please, Lord, build Your Church here,” and with a smile (at least I like to think we make God smile when we “get it”) the Lord responded. You've all noticed new faces here on Sundays. Some of you have come to to the Deep Water Services, and seen a BUNCH of new faces. Deep Water is really starting to take off.

The Lord is building this church.

Now... how does He go about doing that? He's all-powerful, so, if He chose, He could just put the Spirit in... I don't know, 500 people, and tell them, “Go to First United Methodist Church in New Carlisle. Go now!” If he did that, they'd get up on Sunday, put on their “church clothes”, hop in the car, and miraculously end up here.

“Honey, why are we going to a church in New Carlisle?”

“I dunno. Do you want to go somewhere else?”

“Oh, no! I was just hoping that you knew why.”

Of course, I think we all know that that's not the way He works. He might do that for a few folks who wouldn't find us otherwise, but fill all the seats? Nah.

That's what we're here for. In First Corinthians 12, verse 27, it says “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it”. So, if we're the body, then it's up to us to do the actual work.

But... a body can't just go wandering around doing whatever. Without a head to tell it what to do, it mostly runs around in circles, accomplishing nothing. So... who is the Head of the Body of Christ?

Jesus. Not me, not you, not even Jeff. We're all just part of the body.

Now listen to this: We need to figure out how we (each of us) can help Him build the church. How do we do that?

First, and most importantly, we have to get out of the Holy Spirit's way. At it's core, the process of Church Building is Spirit driven. To be a part of that, we have to be willing to let the Spirit move us. We can't let our own egos get in the way. Our desires, personal feelings, or relationships have no place in the building of God's Church.

Our desires should be God's desires, our feelings should be secondary to what the Lord feels is best for us personally and for the Church, and the only relationship that matters is our relationship with God.

“I want” has no place in the Church Building Process.

“I'm upset that X is happening” has no place in the Church Building Process.

“I was so mad when that guy did that thing I didn't like” NO. Place. In. The. Church. Building. Process.

So, since we all want to be a part of the process, we need to check our egos at the door before we can even get started.

That being said, we have to remember that we are God's children, and that makes us princes and princesses of the Kingdom of Heaven. Humility before the Lord is a good thing – He's the King. But The Church should be glorious. I'm not talking about this building... I'm talking about us – the Church – not dressed in $1000 suits, but shining so brightly with inner-God-granted glory that people say “What's that? Let's go over there and see what's going on.” By living a good and godly life, we'll get people to start questioning their less-good and godless existence, and that questioning is the beginning of the road to salvation for a lot of folks.

After that's taken care of, we start by reading His Word, every day. In Second Timothy 3: verses 16 and 17, it says “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” Equipped for every good work – helping God build the Church sounds like good work to me. As the Church, the “body of Christ” grows stronger, we'll be able to do more ministries. We'll have more hands, and more open hearts and will be more able to spread the Good News – that God is alive and He loves us, and he's waiting for us with open arms. As we help God build the Church we'll have more prayer warriors to fight the powers of darkness. And they're out there. Our victory is assured, the Bible is very clear on that, but as we help God build His Church, the number of poor lost souls that get left behind on that great day will be as few as possible. We can't save everyone, but I want to TRY!!

Through Scripture, we're given all the tools we need to help Him. It's spelled out in black and white. “Love the Lord your God.” Jesus was very clear that of all the Law's, this was and is the most important. As far as helping build God's Church is concerned, this law refers back to getting your ego out of the process. If you love God more than anything else, then the process becomes all about Him.

Love your neighbor and your enemy. In other words, love everybody, no matter who they are or what they're doing. We, with our limited ability to discern God's Will in the first place, can't possibly predict who He's going to bring into His Church, or what part they may have in His plan for it.

Follow the Commandments. When Jesus talks about obeying the Laws of God, these are what He's talking about. They're part of the foundation of the Church, and no structure can be built without a foundation.

Live a prayerful life, and I'll talk more about that in a minute.

What I'm trying to say, and this is important, is that not only are we the hands that do the work, we're the tools that the hands use, and we're the materials that the Church is built from. A good builder doesn't add to a weak structure. That just makes a bigger, weaker structure. Building the Church is the same. God doesn't need to use sub-standard material, or anything but the finest tools. He doesn't need to because He can take that “substandard material”, no matter how flawed, and through His Grace, turn it into the finest tool for the job. There's a good list of Biblical examples that turns up on Facebook now and then, I'm not going to read the whole thing, but here are a few for you to consider: Noah was a drinker, Sampson had long hair and loved the ladies, David was a murderer AND an adulterer, Peter denied Christ, several of the apostles fell asleep when they were supposed to be praying, and Paul started out hunting Christians. Never believe that God has no use for you – it doesn't matter what you've done or what you're doing. He wants you to be a part of the Church, and part of the process.

By living a good and godly life, we'll get people to start questioning their less-good and godless existences, and that questioning is the beginning of the road to salvation for a lot of folks.

I mentioned prayerful lives earlier. If reading Scripture equips us to do the work, and a godly life makes us ready to do the work, then prayer is how we get our instructions.

Prayer is absolutely a way for us to talk to God, to let Him know we love Him, and to share our hopes and our concerns with Him. But it's a two-way radio, and requires as much listening as it does talking. Because, it's also for asking God what He wants us to be doing. In Psalms 91 verse 15 God says, in reference to man “When he calls to Me, I will answer him.” His answer may not be what you expect. It may not be what you want. It may very well be a complete surprise. But... if you ask, He'll give you an answer, and if you don't hear Him the first time, He'll keep telling you until you get it.

I'll tell you another little story. About a year and a half ago, I was out of work and had been for a while. Things were bad at home, and what my wife was making wasn't enough to take care of both of us. So I made the decision to come back to Ohio, and look for work up here. On the way up, I prayed. I pray a lot in the car. I mostly travel alone now , but, when I used to travel with someone, I'd gotten used to having conversations, so, now I spend that time talking to God. My prayer that day was about as heartfelt as any I've ever made. I gave myself over to God's will. I told Him that whatever He wanted me to do, whatever sacrifices he wanted me to make, I'd do it. He just had to tell me what it was, because I didn't have a clue. Not long after that I started getting the feeling that I was being called to become a Pastor. To say I couldn't believe it would be an understatement. I was horribly Bible ignorant (I couldn't have told you what Book Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo were in – I only knew of them from a song I learned in choir). I had been away from the Church for decades, and had, at one time or another, been a pretty despicable person. I was having a hard time believing that God would want me for anything, let alone for a Pastor. Still, the idea wouldn't go away. I talked to my friends about it, I talked to my daughter about it, I talked to Dad and Colleen about it, I talked to 4 different Pastors in 3 different denominations about it. I kept saying that I thought it was what He wanted, but I wasn't sure, and until I was certain, I couldn't take the leap. I couldn't risk it. I was worried that because it would be a good long while before I found paying work as a Pastor, it would cost me my marriage. They all told me the same thing. “If this is what God wants from you, He'll keep telling you until you get it.”

After about 6 months of looking for a job and finding nothing, and constantly worrying at the idea of becoming a Pastor, I called Tina (that's my wife, for those of you who don't know her). and told her that I thought I had been called to become a Pastor. There was a long pause on the other end of the phone... and then she told me that she needed some time to process that information, since it was the first she'd heard of it. We talked about a few other things, and then hung up. At 7:30 the next morning, she called me – woke me up, and the first words out of her mouth were “Tell me about this Pastor thing.” So I did, and as I spoke, my conviction that it was the right path grew stronger. When I ran out of steam, she said that she hadn't been sure when I started, but that by the end, she mostly was, and if this was my path, She'd wait for me. As I hung up the phone I got a clear feeling that that was the sign I'd been waiting for. So here I am, on the path to becoming a Pastor. Because it's what God told me to do, and I think it's what I'm supposed to do to help Him build His Church.

So pray, and ask, and then pay attention, because He's going to answer you, and then you'll know what He wants you to be doing.

So... when we think of this Church, I'd like for us to always remember who it belongs to, because it's not our Church. The only things that we can do are keep the walls up and the lights on, and even those things are ultimately up to God. We've been given the tools, both to makes ourselves ready to help Him, and to do the work. Everything else has got to come from the Foreman of this work project... and that's Jesus. If we do it His way, I believe we're going to see something miraculous.

One more short story: There's a church in South Korea that has one million members. One MILLION! It was started in 1958, with a pastor and 3 members. They did what we're doing. They prayed and asked God to build His church. I'm not saying that we're going to see that kind of growth, but if we prepare the way, and listen to the Lord, anything is possible. There are churches right here in the U.S., that have seen something like that level of growth, they just haven't been at it for 53 years. Jesus said,”With God, all things are possible.”

What does the future hold for this church? I don't know. But I can hardly wait to find out.