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A Sermon Delivered at First Christian
Church Stockton
It may seem a little odd to you that we are reading this Pentecost text a few weeks in advance of Pentecost. Pentecost, as you know, occurs 50 days after Easter, the day when the Holy Spirit made her grand entrance, giving birth to Christianity in Jerusalem, the birthplace of the world’s three major religions. It was a day of chaos, and visitors to the Holy Land thought they had come across a Mardi Gras festival. Fireworks, revelry, shouting, and drunkenness filled the room where the Disciples of Jesus gathered, and those who were passing by were astonished, for it was only 9:00 AM. They stopped and inquired as to what the commotion was all about. They were from a variety of cultures and languages, but they all seemed to be able to hear what was being said in their different native tongues. And so Peter stood up at the podium, and he told them the Gospel story, beginning with King David and concluding with Jesus on Easter. And when the day was over 3000 persons were baptized. What a Sunday! The people had never seen or heard anything like this before. People of different colors, traditions, languages, all witnesses of the power of God. It was fresh and new, alive and engaging. Not one person fell asleep in worship, and no one was thinking about work on Monday morning. The Spirit of Christ was in their midst and it was exciting and captivating. It is my opinion that one of the greatest sins of the modern mainline church is that we are boring. To most people our worship services are dull and they remind people of a funeral service. We are afraid of anything that might excite us, entertain us, or move us to display any show of emotion or enthusiasm. And God forbid that anyone might mistake us as drunkards or Pentecostals. We have become accustomed to our tranquil and sedate morning of worship. And if the Spirit were to try and slip in, I have no doubt that we would show her straight to the door. Now this might come as a bit of a shock to you. Personally, I like our worship services. I like the music, the liturgy, the seriousness and solemnity of the occasion. But the reality is, the vast majority of people today find churches like ours boring. Friendly, but boring. It is as if we are speaking a language on Sunday morning that is foreign to most people. Can you imagine going to a church where you could not understand a word that was said? How can we expect to grow as a church when we are unwilling to share the gospel message of Christ in ways that can be heard by those who most need to hear it? Unless we are willing to face reality, the doors of this church will be closed within 20 years. Unless we are willing to make changes, we might as well close up shop now and turn the building over to another church that can speak the languages of the people in Weston Ranch. I do not think, however, that God is calling us to do that. My hunch is that God is calling us to tell the gospel story in such a way that the people of Weston Ranch can hear it and experience the presence of God in their lives. I do not think that God has given this church prime real estate in this burgeoning community so that we would be small and insignificant. Are we on the same page? If our desire is to fill up this room so that we will have enough money to build a sanctuary and pay the bills, our efforts will be in vain. But if it is our desire to be faithful to the great commission of Jesus to go out and make disciples of all nations, then God will be with us and our efforts will surely succeed. Frankly, if our hearts are in the right place, we will succeed, and if they are not, we will fail. If you want to guarantee failure, try these phrases:
There are a number of models that we could follow if we wanted to make some changes. Some of the successful Evangelical churches use the “scare the hell out of them” technique that goes something like this: “God loves you, but since you are by nature sinful God has condemned you to burn in hell for eternity. But God sent his only son, Jesus, to die for you on a cross, and if you believe in him and do what the church tells you to do and believe, you can go to heaven when you die. Come, sinner, come. You don’t want to roast in hell, do you? God loves you. It’s your choice”. Since there is a sucker born every minute, there are many who follow this and the numerous other variances of it, such as the Chicken Little gospel message that the “world is coming to an end and you don’t want to be Left Behind”. It has to be the grossest distortion of the gospel, but for many it is compelling. My hunch is that this style will not work for us. It isn’t in our genetic code. God might want us to change our behaviors, but our genetic code is pretty well set. I am not willing to surrender my brain to become a Christian, nor do I think you are as well. The model we may want to consider for us at First Christian Church is the model we see in the book of Acts. It is a Spirit-led approach that had never been tried before. It will only happen if we devote ourselves to prayer and wait for the Holy Spirit to lead us to share the gospel in a way that can be heard by those who do not typically come through our doors for worship. Over the next few months I am hoping that you will join me on the journey of discovering who we are and what God is calling us to do in Weston Ranch. Come with an open mind and heart. Come with your questions, and don’t surrender your doubts. Invite your heart and your intellect to join in the conversation. I will be hosting a series of discussions to talk about these matters on Wednesday evenings beginning in May. From now until Pentecost I will be casting out a vision for this church on Sunday mornings. I hope you will be a part of these important discussions. We have a new world that is at our doorstep, and I would like to see that world come into our faith community and share in hearing the gospel message with us, a message they can understand, a message of love, hope, and inclusion. It is a message that transforms lives and offers purpose and meaning. Along the road to Pentecost I would like to invite you to bring a special friend with you. This person’s name is God. God needs to be our partner on this journey, for without God I fear we might get lost somewhere. Do that, won’t you? Invite God to church with you next Sunday. And while you are inviting God, consider asking God to go with you wherever you are every day. God probably gets pretty bored when left behind. I think our lives would be less boring if God were there, don’t you? And maybe other people will notice and wonder what all the commotion is about.
Michael Malone
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