Jan 27, 2008 - "Becoming One"

Crescent Hill Baptist Church
Louisville, Kentucky
Epiphany 3
January 27, 2008
W. Gregory Pope

BECOMING ONE
Isaiah 9:1-4; Psalm 27:1,4-9; 1 Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23

A man was walking along San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge when he saw a woman about to jump. He called out to her, “Please, don’t jump!”
She said, “Nobody loves me.”
He said, “God loves you.”
She said, “I do believe in God.”
He said, “Are you a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim?
“I’m a Christian,” she replied.
“Me too,” he said. “Small world. Protestant or Catholic?”
“Protestant.”
“Me too! What denomination?”
“Baptist.”
“Me too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?
“Northern Baptist.”
“Me too. Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?”
“Northern Conservative Baptist.”
“Well that’s amazing. Me too! Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist or Northern Conservative Reformed Baptist?”
“Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist.”
“Me too! Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region or Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Eastern Region?”
“Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region.”
“It’s a miracle! Me too! Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region of 1879 or Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region of 1912?
She said, “Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region of 1912.”
The man gasped and shouted, “Die, heretic!” and pushed her over the rail.

We laugh because as Baptists we can identify. Our arguments over being a Moderate Baptist Faith and Message of 1963 Christian or a Fundamentalist Baptist Faith and Message of 2000 Christian have been known to get rather heated. We haven’t pushed anyone over the rail that we know of, but we have slandered character and destroyed careers.

There’s a hopeful event taking place in Atlanta week called the New Baptist Covenant. Several from our congregation are planning to make the pilgrimage. It is an attempt to gather together Baptists of all different stripes in order to present a united Baptist public voice for justice and religious liberty and compassion for the poor. Hopefully no one will get pushed from the top of the Georgia Dome. We will be in prayer for them as they gather.

The Call to End Division and Unite

In Paul’s letter to the Corinthian Christians he issues a call for an end to quarrels and divisions. He challenges them to unite for the sake of the gospel. It seems the Corinthians were choosing sides and labels by which to identify themselves and in the process losing their sense of purpose.

To unite people is always difficult work, whether it be denominations, congregations, co-workers, or people in any relationship.

I heard of one man who was having difficulty making this unity thing work in his marriage. He came in for marriage counseling about six months after the wedding and said, “Preacher, I know that we pledged back then to be one, but I didn’t know that she’d be the one.”

There are those in marriages, relationships, work settings, and congregations who want to be the one.

In a diverse congregation such as ourselves where you are unwilling to listen to the dictates of your pastor, unity can sometimes be a struggle. With differing opinions on missions, evangelism, worship, scripture, homosexuality, politics, and sanctuary temperature, it is easy to choose sides and create division.

Follow Jesus

That is why it is so important that we keep our focus on the uniting call to follow Jesus.

In our gospel lesson for today, walking by the sea of Galilee, Jesus saw Simon Peter and Andrew fishing. We read the story last week of their meeting Jesus, and his invitation to “come and see,” to spend some time with him and search their hearts and see what they thought of him. How much time has passed since the two encounters, we do not know.

Now he extends a different kind of call. It is a call to repent, to change their lives, and to follow him. Jesus says he will now make these fisherman fish for people. And they drop their nets and follow.

Then Jesus found two more brothers, James and John. They were mending their nets in a boat with their father. Jesus calls out to them. And they leave the boat and their father, and follow Jesus.

What does it mean to follow Jesus?

Well, it doesn’t focus on a belief system. As much as I enjoy theological conversation, Jesus wasn’t big on systematic theology. He didn’t provide a master plan of evangelism. He didn’t give us a theory of biblical inspiration. He didn’t tell us how to read scripture. He didn’t say a word about homosexuality. He just said, “Follow me.”

And our decision to say yes to that call is what unites us. We are united in the waters of baptism as the one Body of Christ when we utter the confession, “Jesus is Lord.” We are all trying together to follow Jesus.

What does it mean to follow Jesus?

Repentance

It begins with repentance. In his first words of public ministry Jesus said, “Repent, change your life, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”

What is it about our lives that needs to change as we seek to walk in the way of Jesus? Well, let’s look at what Jesus did.

The Ministry of Teaching / Preaching / Healing

Matthew tells us that when Andrew and Peter, James and John left their fishing nets, they went with Jesus throughout Galilee, listening as Jesus taught in the synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom.

At the end of Matthew’s Gospel Jesus summoned the disciples to go into all the world and teach all that he had taught them. And what did he teach?

At the heart of his teaching was something he called the kingdom of God, a way of ordering our lives so that God’s dream for the world becomes reality.

It is the dream of a world where there is justice for the poor, freedom for the oppressed, and forgiveness for the sinner.

Jesus would be an advocate for justice and the poor. He would offer freedom to those long held captive and oppressed by legalistic religion. He would join the prophets before him in calling for justice and an end to oppressive governments and economic systems that kept people poor.

Jesus is the embodiment of the prophet Isaiah’s message. He is our saving light of joy shining in the dark gloom of anguish.

Jesus befriended those in the dark anguish of loneliness, people who thought they had no friend, and found themselves to be God’s friends. He broke down barriers that separated people from one another. Forgiveness flowed from him, from God through him, like cleansing waters, the deep healing of our souls.

Jesus brought healing to the dis-eased. He embraced lepers, healing them with his touch. He spoke love, healing us with his words. He called the lowly and the fallen to follow him and find hope and purpose. Jesus brought healing to the diseased and the sick. And he calls us to do the same.

Seeking the Face of God

Such a life of teaching, preaching, and healing calls for a change in us. It is a life shaped for the well-being of others and the transformation of the world.

To follow Jesus calls for repentance, a turning of the face to seek God’s face. This morning’s psalmist sings of seeking God’s face. “Come, my heart says, seek God’s face! Your face, Lord, do I seek. O God, do not hide your face from me. For You are my salvation.”

To follow Jesus, to live according to God’s ways, is not about seeking our own path and saving our own face. The psalmist says it’s about seeking the face of God, consciously dwelling in God’s presence all our days, beholding the beauty of the Lord, inquiring and learning God’s ways. Paul says it’s about the cross, the way of self-giving sacrifice which will appear as utter foolishness to the world, but it is God’s way of saving the world. So take up a cross and follow.

Conclusion

That is why we are here. This is what unites us. Together seeking the face of God, beholding the beauty of God’s justice and freedom, healing and forgiveness, learning God’s ways and sharing what we’ve learned as we walk together in the way of Jesus.

We follow Paul’s counsel to agree on these basic things and put an end to petty quarrels and divisions over lesser things. To stop taking sides and be united in one mind and purpose. For Christ is not divided. But the world wouldn’t know it by looking at the church today.

Sometimes I’ve thought we ought to join every Christian organization and denomination that would have us. At least we would be doing all we could to connect with as many Christians as possible.

There is a man in Wisconsin trying to do his part to unite the Body of Christ. One dark night he went around his town and painted over all the different church names. When they arrested him, he said, “God told me to do it!” The jury didn’t buy it, but who knows?

The Lord is our light, says the psalmist, lighting our path as we live through our differences and all that we cannot fully understand. Which is a lot. The Lord is our light and our salvation, saving us from ourselves and the enemies that seek to divide us.

To borrow a line from another psalmist God prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies and invites us to become friends with our enemies and eat together at God’s table.

A Baptist minister spent a couple of days at a Catholic Retreat Center. When he checked in he told one of the ministers that he’d like to come to Mass and understood that he shouldn’t take communion. She said, “No, please share communion with us.” Surprised, he said, “Thank you, I didn’t realize that was okay.” She smiled and said, “Well, after all, no one will know who you are.”

The truly good news of grace is that no matter who we are, God welcomes us to the table. At this meal God is here to deliver us from the enemies of unity like narrow vision and prejudiced hearts, so that we won’t exclude anyone whom God welcomes. This table unites us. It helps make the world look like the kingdom of God.

And besides, at this table, God knows who you are, and God calls you by name, and says, “Come and dine. You are welcome here.”