TOWARD A VISION FOR THE CHURCH

By

Eldridge E. Fleming, Ph.D., FPPR

New Hope Presbyterian Church

Rienzi, Mississippi

January 16, 2000

Our Old Testament scripture has been changed; so if you would, turn with me to Isaiah 43:18-21.

Our New Testament reading comes from Ephesians 4. It is the special reading for today..

The gospel reading for the day is from John 1:43-51, and would you stand with me as we hear the gospel.

The word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

This past week has been a week a little more relaxed for me and I don't know whether that's good for you or not, because it allowed me time to do a lot of reading and a lot of studying. In preparation for this morning, I have received a notice from Rev. Bill Connelly, who is minister at Ripley First Presbyterian Church about a program that is going on in the Presbytery. This was back in December and there were three things, three activities that were proposed for the ministers of the Presbytery to engage in. You have a sheet of paper on which are printed those three activities and I will summarize them briefly. These are proposed for the ministers:

First, there is the attending one of four bible study groups for pastors. They were offered at four different places and I was able to attend the one at Senatobia because I had a cousin's funeral on the day the one was in Tupelo.

The second activity is preaching today on Ephesians 4:1-16 with a back up from Isaiah 43.

And the third thing is leading a Bible Study with the session of the individual churches. Our session is scheduled for the afternoon of January 30 - two weeks from today - at 2 o'clock. So you who are members of the session will want to keep that in focus and write that date and time on your calendar. The purpose of that, of course, is to focus on some questions that have been raised by the General Assembly and passed on to the Presbytery.

One is "What is God's vision for the church here and now?" I mentioned last week that I like to deal with prepositions. And when we went into our small group to study this issue at the meeting in Senatobia, immediately someone read that line as "What is God's vision of the church?" and in so doing missed the whole message that was in the statement. It's not "what is God's vision of the church," it is "What is God's vision for the church." That makes a big difference when you get the connotation there.

The second thing mentioned is the work to which God is calling and equipping our Presbytery. What is that work we are being called to, to fulfil the vision that we see in Part One.

And the third thing is to identify those areas of mission to which the Presbytery should be attending to and to which it should invest the gifts that are given by the churches and the people in the Presbytery. That is a three to five year look. Those are three things we are involved in.

Today we are addressing the second item, speaking on those special passages. So with that as a backdrop, I want to present the scriptures that I read just a moment ago. Sometimes just reading the scripture by itself is enough - comments on them are not really needed - but I want to go back and take this verse by verse and I want to point out seven things about this passage of scripture. I'm not going to take very long.

First of all, there is a challenge. The challenge is in the first verse. It is a challenge to live a life worthy of the calling of God. That is our challenge always, and that was Paul's challenge to those at Ephesus. It is a powerful challenge.

How do you know that you are living a life worthy of the calling of God? Paul goes on to describe some things that would characterize this kind of life. For example, it is a life that has humility and gentleness. Those two things are tied together.

Being humble is one thing, and it doesn't mean that one is weak. Being humble means that one is in control. Being humble is an attitude. It's an attitude of caring. It's an attitude of understanding that the individual has great power and strength that can be channeled according to needs that are seen. The one who bows his knee in front of the king is not necessarily the weaker of the two, for the warrior may be the one who is the defender of the one to whom he bows. But the point is it is done showing great self-control. Humility.

The second part of that is gentleness. The touch of gentleness. I'll tell you a story in a little while about gentleness, that soft touch, that touch that feels so soothing and caring. Gentle. Not irritating and scratchy. Not painful, but caring. Gentle.

And sometimes when we do that we get ourselves stretched, so Paul says we need patience. It's not going to happen overnight. That which is wrong is not going to be corrected immediately. Oh, some things can be, but even if there's a minor hurt or damage, it takes a while for it to heal. So be patient with that.

Patience is one thing, but bearing with one another is another. You can reach the breaking point and you want to be out of here and you don't want it anymore. But Paul talks of "praying with one another with love." Bearing with one another with love. Love overcomes so much of the things around us.

Then he says, "Making every effort." You see, these are active characteristics of the person whose life is living it out to the full. A life worthy of the call. These things being done already. These are the signs you look for and so you are living and making every effort to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Paul's words are not accidental; they are very deliberate.

Then there is the oneness statement. In verse four, there is "one body, one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all." One. One. One. One. One. That's what we are: One. We are the body of Christ and a manifestation of that body here, because we are living and we see, and can be seen. Those who are baptized are members of the body of Christ. One body.

Paul was fighting a diverse group. They were very diverse. Can you imagine slaves and masters on the same pew? Can you see millionaires and homeless on the same pew? Well, maybe that's an oxymoron. Maybe if they were on the same pew in the church the person who was a street person would have a place to live. But the point is, that was a diverse group. There were people who had backgrounds as Jews, very strict in their habits and rules of conduct; and there were those who were born with unidentified parentage, prostitutes and other things, and all of those were in that same church. The tension was so high you could see it with your eyes almost and feel it and cut it with a knife, as they say. They were diverse.

But Paul is saying to them, "You are one body in Christ because, you see, we have one Lord, one faith. We don't have all kinds of different beliefs. We have one baptism by which we enter into the kingdom of God, one God who is the father of us all. He's above everything, He's through everything, and He's in everything. That's what we are about." So there is a oneness of the faith.

Then we go on down to verse seven. "But each of us was given Grace according to the measure of Christ's gift." What was Christ's gift? We come today to celebrate that gift. That gift was all that we need to be forgiven of our sins and to have power to clean up our lives. That's the measure of the grace of Christ's gift. Now He's going to give gifts to the Church, He always has and He always will. He'll give gifts to people, but He gave us that gift - the gift of forgiveness. The Grace is sufficient; sufficient enough that Christ took captivity and took it captive. That which would captivate you or me and keep us in bondage, He cut those bonds free and let us go.

As we look at verse eleven, we see that Paul talks about the gifts He gave; and these gifts are what I would call resources, the resources for the church, and a moment we are going to see why and how those are to be used. And then we're going to see the outcome. Those are my three points.

First of all, Paul says that the gifts He gave were that some would be apostles. Apostles are those people who preach and go into areas where the gospel has not been preached before and stay with it until people understand what the gospel is about. Paul said, "I am an apostle to the Gentiles." In one place he talked about his work being done in Greece because he had no more work to do in that area of Asia Minor and Greece. You see, he was looking for some place where the gospel had not been preached, because Jesus' command was to go to the uttermost parts of the earth -- go to the ends of the earth -- and preach the gospel. Paul was under conviction that if he stayed too long where he was, he would not be obeying God's rule and that he should go where the gospel had not been preached before. So he headed off to Spain. A lot of people believe he got there. Apostles, prophets, those people who are perceptive and discernable and can tell what's going on and can explain to the rest of us why this spiritual condition is here and what we need to do about it.

Then he talked of evangelists, those people who have the courage to go out and do that communication with people, who are stubborn, those who go in and tell the news over and over again until some day those people believe. And then he said, "Pastors and teachers." Those are the gifts; those are the resources the church has; those are the recognized resources. All of us as individuals also have gifts and grace that we share with one another, but we must use those gifts.

We now come to verse twelve. What's the purpose of the gifts? "To equip the saints for the work of ministry." Ministry meaning to meet the needs of those around you, whatever that need is, where ever you are; and the purpose of that is the building up of the body of Christ. Now what is the goal? The goal is that all of us -- all of us -- will come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to the maturity, to the measure or the full stature of Christ. Oh, turning the other cheek - loving, caring, and so on - that's where those gifts lead. Using those resources, we become fully, fully the stature of Christ. Not the statue, but the stature.

Now then, Paul gives a few things about what we must do. Looking at verse fourteen, we must no longer be like children, tossed about by every wind of doctrine, or tossed about by people's trickery, or tossed about by crafty schemes, deceitful schemes. Don't be tricked. Don't be tricked. So what must we do then?

First of all we don't want to be children, we don't want to be deceived, but we must speak the truth in love. We must grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ from whom the whole body joined and knit together by every ligament by which it is equipped. That's what we must do. We must grow up. We must do our thing as it fits in with the whole body of Christ, taking those individual ways we are equipped and using them for the body of Christ so that each part is working properly. And each part working properly, then, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love. The body is growing. How does the body grow? How does the body of Christ grow? The body of Christ can grow in two different ways that I'm easily acquainted with. One is, it can grow in numbers; and it can grow in spiritual height. Paul says, "that's where we're going, my friends," so that we grow into the full likeness of Christ. So be it.

Now what is that last challenge that is there for us? That is the challenge to visualize what God wants for the Church in this century and that is what we're going to be wrestling with. And if you have thoughts and ideas, I'd like for you to share them with members of the session so that as we come to that time on the 30^th, your ideas will flow in, too. What do you see God's Church being in this century? That is the question.

Now in preparation for the communion, I want to read you a story. So, if you'll bear with me. This is a pastor speaking. The source is from the web site of the PCUSA.

I met Clint when I was a candidate for a pastoral staff position at the church where he was an elder. On my first visit, Clint picked me up at the airport. He got lost on the way to town and I saw a lot that I was not supposed to see on a first introduction to the city. We laughed together and there he and I began our journey into a loving relationship that was to span many years, during which time Clint fell victim to Alzheimer's disease. Several years later, when I was about to begin a new position in another state, I tried to find an opportunity to take communion to Clint at the care facility where he was then living. I wanted to celebrate the sacrament one last time with my very dear friend. Try as I might, the opportunity never did come. Sunday, February 5^th was to be my last day at the church and I was to preach that morning. On the Saturday before the desire to see Clint led me to go to the care center minus the communion elements just to be with him for a few moments. I arrived at lunchtime.

Clint's wife had told me his condition had deteriorated to the point that there were very few lucid moments in his day. I was therefore, greatly surprised when Clint, upon seeing me come into the dining area, said, "Glaucia, how nice to see you." And before I could respond, he continued, "When do you leave?" I answered, "It is great to see you, too, Clint. We leave this Tuesday." "Oh," he said, "Are you preaching tomorrow?" "Yes," I said, "I am." "I'll try to be there, for I do not want . . ." The Clint I knew left suddenly in mid-sentence. The person who remained stood up and started to speak very loudly in incomprehensible sounds and fast, unstable gestures. A nurse and I managed to sit Clint down and calm him somewhat, and I tried to help him finish his meal. But he was gone to us, although quiet and still for a few minutes.

Then Clint looked at me as though he noticed me there for the first time, not really knowing who I was. He reached on to his plate, picked up a piece of his half-eaten bread, and with the softness and gentleness of the priest that he is, he handed that piece of bread to me - now a stranger - and said very clearly, "Here, you eat this." And so I did. Quietly he got the remainder of the bread I had placed back on his plate and he ate it. Then he drank his water and got up. He was done. The sacrament had been celebrated. My friend had shared with me. So I, too, left - moved beyond words. In my car, I sang a hymn and went back into the world, renewed in strength, peaceful about leaving Clint, knowing that in the depths of Clint's shadowy valley, God is with him and in him. I know, for I saw God in the breaking of bread with my friend, and even Alzheimer's disease is not potent enough to destroy that priceless gift.

Ellen Lender is a Presbyterian minister in the New York Synod, I believe, and she tells the story of when her son was five. He was in kindergarten and the lesson had been on germs. Especially they had made the emphasis that you don't drink after one another because if you drink after one another, you could catch someone else's germs. So at breakfast on this particular morning a couple weeks later, he wanted some juice. So she said, "Here, have a drink of mine."

He picked the cup up and started to drink. Then he said, "Mom, does this mean if I drink out of your cup, I will catch your dreams?" Slip of the word, dreams for germs, but perhaps that's what we need to do at the communion table: catch the dreams of the one who gave Himself for us. Amen.