Community Church Sermons
May 29, 2005
Matthew 10:1-10
My earliest memories of Memorial Day recall going as a young boy with my father to watch the Memorial Day parade. I remember the rhythmic beat of marching boots and the sharp call of a military cadence as long lines of soldiers paraded through the streets on their way to Hope Cemetery where services were held. And there, in the eerie silence of the graveyard, I remember hearing prayers, and seeing a flowered wreath placed, and being startled when a seven-man firing squad raised their rifles – and three loud volleys echoed in the stillness of the early morning.
And I remember the mournful sound of “Taps” being played by an unseen bugler.
And looking up at my father, I remember seeing tears spilling down his cheeks, as if the moment brought him back to those friends who had fallen on Guam and Okinawa and other places in the South Pacific during World War II. It was almost as though he was seeing their faces pass before his very eyes during that sacred moment on Memorial Day.
And even though I did not see the faces he saw, I too began to cry, my little boy sobs joining those of gold-star mothers and fathers, still-grieving sisters and brothers, widows and orphans, and simple veterans like my father – all of us joined together in a solemn hymn whose notes and lyrics were sung by our tears.
To many people today, Memorial Day is nothing more than the first day of the summer vacation season. But to me – and I know to many of you – Memorial Day is much more than that. It is a sacred encounter with the souls of those who gave their lives to make the world a better place.
I want to ask you to hold that thought for a moment, and to enlarge it enough so that you can embrace two related ideas: first, that YOU are here to make the world a better place; and second, that WE – as a church – are here to make the world a better place.
Let me see if I can rile up the religious folks among us today! The purpose of your life is not to someday go to heaven. And the purpose of the church is not to get people to heaven. Now, I know that’s what you hear on TV, but if you are familiar with the CBS evening news, you should know by now that you shouldn’t believe everything you hear on TV – or read in Newsweek – or, for that matter, what you hear in church – except here, in our church – from me!
Only kidding.
Actually, what is so extremely important – if you want to discover the ultimate meaning and purpose of your life – is to listen to the Scriptures. For instance, if you’ll go all the way back to the first chapter of Genesis, you’ll discover that God is pretty clear about why He created you and me.
Listen:
“Then God said, ‘Let us make people in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and all creatures that move along the ground. So God created people in his own image, in the image of God he created them male and female. And God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and multiply…’”
And, of course, people have been doing that ever since!
But, let me ask you: Is there anything about heaven in that description from Genesis 1?
God did not create us “to go to heaven someday.”
God created us to be like Himself – to be the living mirror-image of God – and so to share with God the ministry of “dominion” which means TAKING CARE OF THE WORLD GOD CREATED! That’s what Genesis 1 says!
And yes, that includes sharing in the beauty of God’s life and love and creation through all eternity – yes, God promises us heaven – but heaven is simply the continuing gift of God’s purpose lived out in our lives NOW.
You were created to make the world a better place! We were created to make the world a better place!
So is it any wonder then, that when Jesus gathered his disciples and welcomed them into the love of God – like the little yellow box that says “BELONG” on the model we’ve been looking at – a picture of what we want our church to be; and when Jesus nurtured them into a living relationship with God – like the green box here that says “GROW”; and after Jesus trained them in the ways of God – like the blue box that says “TRAIN”; is it any wonder that Jesus culminated his work with them by SENDING them INTO THE WORLD?!
Here’s what our Scripture text from Matthew 10 says: “These twelve Jesus SENT…”
You and I are SENT…to the world!
I was laughing with someone last week about how, when I was serving my first church, Sandy and I were always the victims of some parishioner’s kid who couldn’t get a job with anyone other than one of those door-to-door vacuum cleaner companies. You know the ones I mean? We’d get the phone call, “Marty, I’d like to come down and give you and Sandy a COMPLETELY FREE demonstration of a really revolutionary REVERSE AIRFLOW ENVIRONMENTAL SANITIZING DEVICE.”
“You mean a vacuum cleaner, right?”
“No, this is much more than a mere vacuum cleaner, Marty. This is the XK297 Household Absterger Decontamination Module.”
“That’s a vacuum cleaner, right?”
Well, we’d give in and the kid would come down to the parsonage and unpack the XK297 Household Absterger Decontamination Module and all its NASA-approved space-age attachments, and throw some dirt on the floor and suck it up. And we’d try to be gracious by ooh-ing and ah-ing, and looking like we were witnessing a true-life miracle. And when the FREE DEMONSTRATION was over, the kid would tell us we could own this modern marvel for the SPECIAL MINISTER’S DISCOUNTED PRICE of about three-thousand dollars!!
And we’d say, “No thanks, we already have a HOUSEHOLD ABSTERGER DECONTAMINATION MODULE of our own – made by Hoover.”
And the kid would leave the parsonage, very discouraged. And a few weeks later, he’d have quit that enterprise after coming to the realization that you cannot get rich selling anything if your market consists only of your own family members– and your cheap minister.
If you want to sell a product, you’ve got to go out beyond your own little circle.
So Jesus SENT the disciples. You see God’s plan for loving the world isn’t limited to individuals and localities. God is going GLOBAL! So Jesus SENT the disciples. And did you notice where Jesus sent them at first? To the lost sheep of Israel.
Oh, there are a lot of lost sheep in the world today, don’t you think?
Sandy and I were driving home the other night over Ritchie Road. We love to go that way because Ritchie Road winds through some beautiful farms where cattle are raised. Sometimes, we are fortunate enough to see calves being born, and then we watch them grow up into full-fledged cattle ready to go off and become…hamburgers.
Well, as we rounded a curve on Ritchie Rd., there were some cars stopped with their emergency flashers on. So we stopped to see what the problem was. A young bull had gotten through the fence and was running loose on the side of the road. I rolled down my window and asked one of the men who was trying to herd the bull back into the field if they needed some help. I hoped he’d say “no.” And, “Thank you, Jesus!” he did say “No!”! So we just watched from the car. And it was interesting what we saw.
For one thing, there was a look of real fear in that young bull’s eyes. Once in awhile, he’d let out a cry, and it sounded like a lonely and fearful cry. He ran back and forth along the fence that runs the length of the road, as if seeking an opening back into the field. Interestingly enough, the cattle on the other side of the fence moved with him, as if they too wanted him to find his way back into the herd.
And all the while, the two men – I think they are the ones who own the farm – were relentless in their efforts to guide the beast toward the gate they had opened.
You know, there are a lot of people in our world who are lost like that. They are on the outside looking in, separated from the safety and well-being of the community. Estranged from the love of God. Lost people often have that look of fear in their eyes, too. And they cry out in pain.
Sickness can do that to you. Or divorce. Or the death of a loved one. Or depression. Or any one of life’s many personal and family challenges. War can do that, not only to individuals, but to whole nations. So can poverty. Injustice. Oppression.
So listen to what Jesus says disciples are SENT to do:
“Heal the sick.”
“Raise the dead.”
“Cleanse lepers.”
“Drive out demons.”
Can you hear in the words of Jesus the message of Genesis 1?
Be my mirror-image partners in bringing heaven to earth!
Love my children!
Take care of my creation!
Make the world a better place!
You know, it is famously reported that the great theologian Karl Barth often implored his theological students to preach with the Bible in one hand, and with the newspaper in the other. Well, we have heard the words of the Bible, so let’s take a look at what’s going on in the papers these days.
There’s a story about a big case of political corruption here in Tennessee, and a betrayal of the public trust; it is reported that cancer rates are higher than normal here in Loudon County; more than 1500 reported cases of child sexual abuse were processed through our Child Advocacy Center, leaving one to wonder how many cases were never reported and how many more children were harmed. Reading through the newspaper reveals that we have serious air quality issues in East Tennessee; that one of our native sons lost his life last week in Iraq; that violence against women not only continues, but is on the upswing; and that religious bigotry is practiced in many of our “Bible-believing” Christian churches. Even a quick read through the paper reveals that law enforcement can’t keep up with the meth labs whose products poison the lives of young and old alike; that illiteracy is rampant; that elderly people have a hard time meeting basic needs; that racism is alive and well all around us; and that our own Kathy Blevins mom, Gulela – known as the pie lady of Norris, Tennessee - passed away. The paper lists obituaries with the names of grieving survivors; it tells us that poor people in Tennessee have a hard time getting health care. The paper says that some people lost their jobs last week in Clinton. And there’s a report that Viagara may cause blindness. I just threw that in there to see if you were listening.
The newspaper reveals the world as it really is, and the Bible reveals Christians and the church for what WE are. We are SENT…to bring a touch of healing, to give life, to lovingly include the excluded, to set oppressed people free…to make the world a better place.
Here on Memorial Day weekend, it is good for us to pause and remember those who gave their lives. When I recall standing with my dad at Hope Cemetery on those solemn mornings long ago, tears still well up in my eyes. Some of the tears are because I miss my dad.
Others are because it seems to me today, as it seemed to me way back then, that there is something sacred about giving your life to making the world a better place.
Heal the sick. Raise the dead. Cleanse lepers. Drive out demons.
I call upon you today to pick up your Bible. And pick up your newspaper.
We have a mission from God!