Sermon for First Lent

Preached at Canadochly Lutheran Church and at St. John, New Freedom on Feb. 14, 2016
Preaching texts: Acts 1:6-11, Matthew 28:16-20

(Pastor's Note: This is the first in a preaching series I'm doing at both churches I serve, themed off the book of Acts and looking at the idea of how the church at its infancy resembles the American church of today. The series is titled "Being the Church in an Unchurched World.")

You heard me rattle off some statistics last week, that some 80% of congregations are in danger of insolvency within the next 5 to 10 years. There are numerous reasons why this is. The growth of the “Nones” (i.e. people of “no religious affiliation”), the decline of the middle class (now a minority in this country), social changes, economic changes.

But, as in any crisis, the best question to ask is not “why.” We can certainly debate the reasons why things have gotten the way they have, but that really won’t get us anywhere. The better question before us is “Now what?” And that’s the very same question that’s facing the disciples in our text from Acts today. Jesus has met them on the mountaintop. He’s said a few parting remarks and now he’s ascended into heaven. The disciples stand there slack-jawed watching this, so much so that the angels actually come down and tell them to get moving. “Why are you still here?” they seem to ask.

So what now? Jesus has ascended into heaven. The leadership of the infant church, this new religion, has fallen into the laps of these eleven men. What now?

Well, Jesus gave them the answer to that question. In a different account of the same mountaintop event, Jesus tells them precisely what they are to do henceforth. We know it as the Great Commission, “Go ye therefore...” Luke’s version uses different language but says largely the same thing. “You are to be my witnesses to...the ends of the earth.” Their job now is evangelism. Their job now is to spread the Gospel. To tell good news.

Two thousand years later and that job hasn’t changed. In many ways, we’re standing on that mountaintop again. The supports upon which we leaned have fallen away. The institutional church in this country is dying. Now what? Well, Jesus told us.

Evangelism though is one of the hardest things for us mainline Christians to do. A big part of that is because we make the same mistake as those mountaintop disciples. We make it about us. “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” That was not Jesus’ mission. It wasn’t simply about Israel, but the whole world. It wasn’t about them, but everyone. But the disciples haven’t gotten that through their thick skulls and often times, neither have we.

So rule #1 of evangelism. It’s not about you. In fact, rule #2 of evangelism. It’s not about you.

It’s not about you. It’s not about me. It’s about them. The reason for the Fight Club treatment here is because we always want to make it about us.

For instance, how often do people say the reason they don’t evangelize others is because they don’t know the Bible well enough? Common excuse, right? Well, newsflash, you’re not arguing a theological treatise here. You’re not defending a master's thesis. You’re telling and showing people that God loves them.

Consider this. Every presidential election that I can remember has been won not by the person with the best ideas, but by the one who made the American public feel good about itself. Bush, Clinton, Obama, all of them. For Reagan, it was “Morning in America.” For Obama, it was “hope.” For Bush, it was “the guy you can have a beer with.” They all sold themselves on emotion as much, if not more so, than on their policy ideas. People respond to emotion.

Consider us. Why are we here this morning? I don’t think it’s because (snooty voice) “The Lutheran church has the right and true interpretation of the Bible. We’re right about everything and we can prove it.” No, we’re here because this place makes us feel good. These people make us feel good. We’re welcome here. We belong. We matter.

That’s what evangelism really is. Make people feel like they matter. We do that all the time. Without thinking about it. We do it here. We do it with our families. With our friends. Show people they matter to you and they’ll soon start to believe they matter to God.

But what if we’re not successful? Rule #1, it’s not about you or me. We’re planting seeds. We so spoiled in this country. We make everything about success and about instant gratification. Any farmer can tell you that it takes time for a seed to grow. And we may not get to see the end result. Perhaps that gift is given to someone else. We do our part and leave the rest to God and to others. It’s not about you or me.

But what if they don’t come to our church? Here we go again. Rule #1! It’s about making disciples, not putting bodies in pews.

But what if they aren’t worth the effort? This probably the biggest reason I made rules 1 & 2 the same. It’s not about us. It’s not about you or me. It’s about them. And we cannot let our moral judgments about people get in the way. Excise the word “deserve” out of your vocabulary. I’m rapidly finding that word to be the most offensive word in the whole language; it makes my skin crawl when I hear it. (snooty voice again) “What if they don’t deserve our help? What if they don’t deserve our love and care? What if they’re Muslims or gay or they’re sleeping around or if they have tattoos or something else I don’t approve of?”

Jesus doesn’t give a damn about deserving. For him, it’s always about grace, about giving people what they need, not what they deserve. He welcomed a hated tax collector into his Twelve and had dinner with another. He evangelized a Samaritan woman of loose morals and made a Samaritan into an example of divine compassion in one of his most beloved parables. He used a Syro-phoenician woman as an example of the tenacity of faith and a Roman centurion stood tall before him as an example of the power of belief.. The most hated and feared in society were the people Jesus reached out to the most. Did they deserve that? No. He did it anyway.

On top of that, he’s welcomed each of us, all the while knowing the deepest and darkest secrets of our souls. Those horrible things within us that we barely dare admit to ourselves are laid bare before Jesus’ sight and what does he do with them? Does he care that we don’t deserve his love? Not one bit. Why should we be any different with others?

It’s not about us. It’s about them. It’s about showing the grace we’ve received to others. Passing it on. It’s really easy to do. Treat people with kindness, respect, care, and compassion regardless of who they are or what you think of them. Why do you do it? Because it’s what Jesus would do. It’s what Jesus wants. He cares about you and me and everybody. How can you or I as his disciple do any less? It’s my job. It’s your job. Make disciples. Show people they matter. Show people they’re loved. That, my friends, is evangelism. That is our job. Amen.