Aug. 10, 2003

Pentecost 9

Deut. 8:1-10

Psalm 34:1-22

John 6:37-51

Sermon: “When Leadership Fails”

As you probably all know by now last Tuesday Gene Robinson was approved by General Convention to become the first openly homosexual bishop in the Episcopal Church. And almost immediately my phone began to ring. It is understandable that you want to know what I think, and I want to answer. I think the bishops of the Episcopal Church have just made the worst mistake in our history. But more than that, by this action they have ceased to be bishops in the true sense of the word.

I know that my reaction to this will seem overly strong to some of you. I hope you can understand why? This is the most serious change in the doctrine of the church that has taken place in any of our lifetimes. You see, with this decision to ordain Gene Robinson the debate about sexuality has been ended. Do you understand that? For over thirty years we have debated this. We have talked about it. And as distressing as the debate was at time, we could still get along together in a church that had an official policy that was biblically sound. Last Tuesday all of that changed. The debate is now officially over. This is now a “done deal.” Homosexuality has been officially endorsed by our house of bishops.

Here are some of the reactions that have already come from other bishops around the world in the Anglican Communion:

Archbishop Akinola- Province of Nigeria

“We are astonished that ECUSA should conspire to turn their back on the clear teaching of the Bible on the matter of human sexuality… in violation of their own constitution…. They have chosen the path of deviation from the "historic faith" once delivered to the saints.

“Our position on this matter is already well known. We have taken this position prayerfully, being aware of the pain this will bring…. But more than our human pain is the anguish this must bring to the heart of the Lord of the Church and the setback to our witness as a Church before the watching world.

“We applaud the integrity of those 45 Bishops of ECUSA who refused to succumb to the pressure for compromise. In the language of the Bible, they have refused to bow their knees to baal. We assure them, and all the faithful within ECUSA, of our unflinching solidarity and fullest cooperation. We shall continue to be in full communion with them and we will do all that is necessary to actualise this bond in practical terms.

“As for ECUSA, the present development compels us to rethink the nature of our future relationship, which would be determined after the ongoing consultation with other Provinces and Primates.

“As things stand, a clear choice has been made for the unbiblical departures and waywardness of our generation; a Church that enthrones the will of men over the authority of God and His revealed and written Word. Such a Church is bound to become a shrine for the worship of men rather than God. We cannot go on limping between two opinions.”

Archbishop of Kenya, The Most Rev. Benjamin Nzimbi

“The decision of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in America to elect and confirm an active homosexual man as a bishop is wrong. It is against Biblical teaching, it is sin and it damages the Body of Christ and leads people astray.

”This convention has ignored our calls for unity and caution. In acting alone, they have brought a great wound to the Anglican Communion and have separated themselves from us.
We are convinced that any diocese or province that has sanctioned the blessing of same-sex unions has denied itself membership in the Anglican Communion and has "kicked" itself out of the Communion.
We are supporting those who want to remain in the Anglican Communion (as it was before this action) and we are committed to share communion with them.”

Rt. Rev. Dr. Mouneer Anis Bishop of Egypt, North Africa and the Horn of Africa

“We feel profoundly let down, as this decision will unquestionably damage our interfaith relations with our Muslim friends among whom we live.   It will also have a negative impact on our relations with the Orthodox and Catholic Churches in our area.  We will definitely be seen by them now as heretical.

”The Anglican Communion now faces a crisis over what holds us together and indeed whether we can remain together if we hold contradictory views of the Scripture and what it teaches.”

Archbishop Drexel Gomez- Province of the West Indies

“ The General Convention of ECUSA has abandoned the traditional teaching and discipline of the church…..by acting on its own and thereby placing at risk the unity and credibility of the Anglican Communion. The action of General Convention poses a grave threat to the survival and coherence of our Communion…

“There are many across our Communion who remain convinced that this revisionist presentation of the Gospel does not represent the "truth as found in Jesus Christ". 

Anglicans across the Communion will be forced to re-define the nature of inter-Anglican relationships.

“At its annual Synod in October, 2002, this province…requested the Archbishop to seek a cessation of relationship with dioceses or provinces who encourage teaching and practice (that promotes homosexuality). Our position remains unchanged.”

Archbishop Peter Jensen – Sidney, Australia

“By affirming this election the Houses of Bishops in the Episcopal Church in the United States have turned away from the traditional teaching of the Christian Church, which is based on the clear teaching of the Scripture.

“This catastrophic decision cannot simply be allowed to pass away into history as a one-off aberration. It represents a time for decision by mainstream, biblical Anglicans around the world, and undoubtedly will result in a significant realignment of relationship within the Communion.

“We emphasize again that we remain in close relationship and fellowship with those who oppose this decision on Scriptural grounds.”

Melbourne also responds:

“Melbourne's Archbishop Peter Watson said yesterday that “by approving Canon Gene Robinson, the American church had effectively separated itself from the rest of the Anglican Communion.“

Statement from Anglican Mainstream- SIGNED BY 38 BISHOPS AND A HOST OF OTHERS

“If the consecration of Canon Robinson proceeds, the Convention will be taking ECUSA outside the boundaries of the Anglican Communion.

“We expect that Primates of the Communion will be meeting soon to consider what action to take.   Dioceses and parishes in the United States who wish to remain loyal to the Anglican Communion will be also considering their position in the coming weeks.  We offer them our support and prayers and call upon the whole Church to pray earnestly that God will have mercy on His church.”

Let me state as clearly as I can, there was nothing of God’s Word, God’s Spirit, or God’s will in this decision or any part of the hasty and clumsy way it was handled. The Presiding Bishop and any other bishops who joined him in this travesty have disgraced themselves in the eyes of the rest of the church, and have cut themselves off from the true church by their actions. They will answer to God for what they have done.

Question: Why couldn’t we stop this? This is one question that comes up at a time like this. It’s the wrong question to be asking right now, but it comes up anyway. I think one of our problems is our over-inflated American sense of our own power. What I mean is this. As much as I am concerned about the moral shift in America, I know that I cannot change it, no matter how passionately I may want to. There are 250 million other people in this country who do not answer to me, and whose choices I cannot control.

For some reason we seem to feel that just because we are Christians we are supposed to have some special power over society. I’ve seen some very high profile preachers make that mistake as they take on the problems of immorality in America. They get on TV, raise millions of dollars, gather a nationwide constituency and pledge themselves to the task of “turning around the moral tide of America.” I have watched these ministries for years. I’ve sent a good bit of money to them myself, and I will continue to support people who truly and accurately preach the Gospel. I believe that is important, and deserves my support. But as for their promises to use their perceived “power” to turn America around morally, it has been a dismal failure! This politicizing of the Gospel by many well meaning evangelical Christians has only had the effect of causing people to be more suspicious than ever about the church. They fear that biblical Christianity is nothing more than a right wing political conspiracy bent on telling them how to live their lives. And they fear it. Who can blame them.

The only power we have as Christians is the testimony of our own lives.

All other power belongs to God!

Tuesday night after the announcement that Gene Robinson’s election as bishop had been accepted by General Convention I came over to the church to pray. After a moment of silence at the altar rail I said, “Lord, what do you want us to do?” That thought was fresh in my mind from last week’s sermon. Since I had just told all of you that the best question to ask in a crisis is “Lord, what do you want me to do?” I figured I had better do the same myself.

I sat in the quiet for a few minutes feeling very strange, like a major part of my world was falling apart, and this is the answer that came to me. It was not what I expected, but it came very clearly: “Whoever stands firm to the end will be saved” Period! That was all. That was all God wanted to tell me, and all I needed to hear. I realized that is all God has asked us to do, stand firm to the end. And that is what I intend to do.

Bishop Robert Duncan of the Diocese of Pittsburgh expressed the situation as well as anyone I’ve read so far:

“The action taken today is unconstitutional as to the three foundational principles of the first sentence of our Church’s Constitution. As such, I will stand against the actions of this Convention with everything I have and everything I am…. I have not left, and will not leave, the Episcopal Church or my apostolic role as Episcopal Bishop of Pittsburgh. It is this 74^th General Convention that has left us, betrayed us.”

We are going to need some time to discern where we go from here. Clearly our relationship with the larger church needs to be reevaluated. But as for our mission here, I don’t see that this has changed at all or needs to change because of these events. God was preparing me for this just hours before the news came from Minneapolis. Let me share this story with you.

A very special prayer update from Claire and Connie Areeda.

Many of us have been praying for Claire and Connie for a long time through their many struggles. Claire asked me to share this story, the answer to years of prayer.

As Claire has watched Connie struggle with so many problems, she has often offered to pray for her. Sometimes Connie would allow it reluctantly. Sometimes not. The prayers of a mother for her child are precious in God’s sight, but not always so welcomed by the child. After years of worry, Claire finally realized that all she could do was to give herself and her children entirely up to God. And she did. She says, “I always thought I had done that, but I was still giving God advice. Please tell people that they never realize what it means to surrender to God until they know they have nothing else to do for themselves that will work.”

Last week, as Claire was trying to recover from a recent accident, in pain without the use of her left leg, a miracle happened. Actually two miracles. The first was that Connie offered to pray for her mother. She laid one hand on Claire’s head, and lifted the other toward heaven, and prayed.

Then the second miracle happened. According to Claire, the power of the Holy Spirit came open her from her head to her toes. The healing was immediate and dramatic. On Tuesday she walked all the way through the development where she lives with no difficulty. As she returned home she walked with her hands raised singing praise songs to God all the way.

The healing has also affected Connie’s life. She has made great progress in working through her problems.

Claire offered this suggestion for people dealing with depression. She found it in a Catholic magazine while waiting in a doctor’s office. Get a jar and a roll of pennies. Every time you see something during the day that is a blessing, put a penny in the jar. It doesn’t have to be anything grand or dramatic. Even little things like a person smiling at you, or a flower that brightened your day. A good meal or a kind word. And watch how the pennies pile up. As Claire has had to explain to the tellers at the bank why she keeps asking for pennies, the idea has spread to many other people.

I have a similar suggestion. It’s called the United Thank Offering. We receive it as a special offering twice a year, and it is not only a good therapy for depression, it’s a great opportunity to empty your penny jar for a good cause.

Claire also wanted to express her thanks to God for this church, and for all of you being here to just pray, and that brings me to the third miracle that happened that day. I was not having a really good day. Still being somewhat limited by back pain, just coming out of migraine headache I had that morning, and of course, feeling the unrelenting anxiety about what is happening to the church at General Convention. I’ve spent much of the last two weeks wondering how we going to go on from here. I sounded just like the people Claire was talking about, who say they believe in God and that their lives are in God’s hands, but they are still giving Him advice. I knew that was me.

When I checked the answering machine and saw the message to call Claire, I must confess I hesitated. Claire and Connie have been through so much bad news in the past few years I wasn’t sure I could face such a phone call. But when Claire told me about what God had done in their lives it was the voice of God to me also. It was a powerful confirmation that we are right where God intends us to be, doing exactly what He wants us to do. And the most important part of that mission is our prayer list. Your prayers do make a difference in people’s lives. A HUGE difference. Don’t ever doubt that!

When I hung up from talking to Claire I knew that God was dealing with me about my attitude. In spite of the fact that it was a dark, cloudy day, I felt as though the sun had just come out in full blaze and would never set again.

God is turning on the light. To those who trust Him and surrender to His sovereign, unarguable holiness, the day is just beginning to dawn. But to those who would rather please the flesh than obey God the light that is shining will become more and more embarrassing as it exposes the foolishness we have called “enlightened.”

IT IS NOT THAT WE ARE ENLIGHTENED. IT IS THAT GOD IS THE LIGHT. Listen to this passage from 1 John. I hope it strikes you as powerfully and as joyfully as it struck me when I read it on Tuesday afternoon:

1 John 1:5-7

This is the message Christ has given us to announce to you: God is light and there is no darkness in him at all. (no gray areas) So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in the darkness of our own selfish wills. We are not living in the truth. But if we are living in the light of God's presence, where Christ is, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin.

1 John 2:3-6

And how can we be sure that we belong to him? By obeying his commandments. If someone says, "I belong to God," but doesn't obey God's commandments, that person is a liar and does not live in the truth. It is those who obey God's word who really do love him. That is the way to know whether or not we live in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Christ did.

1 John 2:15-23

Stop loving this evil world and what it offers you, for when you love the world, you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you. The world offers only the lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see, and pride in ourselves and our possessions. These are not from the Father. They are from this evil world. And that world is passing away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever.

Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming. I tell you truly that many such antichrists have already appeared. From this we know that the end of the world is near. These people left the true faith because they never really belonged with us in the first place; otherwise they would have stayed with us, and lived as Jesus lived. When they left us, it proved that they do not belong with us.

But you are not like that, for the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and all of you know the truth. So I am writing this to you because you know the difference between truth and falsehood.

1 John 4:1

Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world.

1 John 4:5-6

These people belong to this world, so they speak from the world's viewpoint, and the world listens to them. But if we belong to God, those who know God will listen to us (i.e. the Apostles). If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to the Apostles. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.”

That was John’s message to the church 2000 years ago. And here is my message to you in 2003.

Dear friends, we know that God has called us here to witness to His truth in a stubborn and stiff-necked generation. We are called to model a life of surrender to God to a people who have only known a life of clinging to themselves. We are called to live a life of obedience to God’s commandment. It is not our job to celebrate sin and call it “diversity.” And for those who do, we must be in prayer. That is our calling. And as we feel more and more helpless to change the world around us we must continue to surrender ourselves more and more to the power of our God.

And Claire Areeda is right. Most of us never realize just how much of our own lives we have not surrendered to God all the while we continue to give God advice. If we are going to stand firm to the end, we must do it with humility. We will never know what it truly means to surrender to God until we reach such a point of weakness that we don’t have any more advice to give to God.

Let us pray.

PRAISES:
-for the sense of freedom we can now feel. We can proclaim the gospel and no longer have to tiptoe around being politically correct for fear of being labeled fundamentalists and thereby written off.
-for Bishop Bob Duncan's reminder that we do not despair because Jesus is still on the throne.
-for the 43 bishops who stood up for the truth and did not give their consent to the election of Gene Robinson.
- for the support that is pouring in from all around the Anglican Communion, and their commitment to stand with us for Biblical orthodoxy.
-for Archbishop Nzimbi of Kenya who traveled all the way to this country just so he could be here at the convention and personally say, "I am here to stand with you."

REQUESTS: Intercessions, petitions…..
-for those who will suffer because of what our church did. - some will die without hearing the Good News and others will be deliberately targeted for hostile action.
-for all whose ministries will be made immensely more difficult because of this action.
-for those who are grieving over the decision.
-for wisdom as our leaders begin to pray and discern God's will.

FOR GRACE TO GO FORWARD:

1.  LISTEN to Jesus.
2.  FOLLOW Jesus.
3.  WORSHIP Jesus.
4.  REVEAL Jesus. That we may be filled with the radiance of God's glory and reveal His love for the world. Spread the word through words and actions.

Whether we lose battles along the way, never mind. God will have the last word. The battle belongs to the Lord.

AMEN.

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Addendum:

An Open Letter To The Community

August 6, 2003

Dear Neighbors and Fellow Christians,

As you have surely heard the bishops of the Episcopal Church have given their approval to an openly homosexual man to become a bishop in the church. I wanted to write to let you know what the position of St. George’s Church is. We do not concur in any part of this action. It is my belief that the bishops of the Episcopal Church have disgraced themselves. Even a casual observer of this process and the arrogant way it was conducted could see that it was a slap in the face of God. It cannot be upheld by scripture. It does not reflect the will of God. It was not guided by the Holy Spirit.

First, let me express my sincere apology to the rest of the church for the embarrassment this has caused. Whenever there have been scandals involving other denominations we have all felt the effect of it. I know that many of you will feel the effect of what the Episcopal Church has done and for that I am sorry.

St. George’s is a congregation that believes the scriptures to be the true Word of God and to be authoritative for all matters of belief in the church. We have not departed from that belief and we do not intend to. What then is our response to homosexuality? In a word, healing. We at St. George’s have witnessed God’s healing power in every aspect of our lives, and we continue to believe that there is nothing that God cannot heal if we are willing to lay it down before Him. To condone sinful behavior is to end the healing process.

It has long been our practice at St. George’s to pray for all of the churches of our community. We feel very strongly that we are only one small part of a much larger church, a church that includes many denominations, traditions and customs, but which is bound together by one common faith in Jesus Christ. I now ask for your prayers as I try to discern what God wants us to do. Although I don’t plan to leave the Episcopal Church, life is going to be very different for us now.

We want to continue to be witnesses for Christ in this community. I pray that those who are not able to continue in the Episcopal Church will find a welcoming faithful fellowship in one of your churches. Those of us who are called to remain at St. George’s and be a witness for the Gospel within the Episcopal Church ask for your prayers. God is not finished with us yet.

Yours in Christ,

William Guerard

What Does the Bible Say About Homosexuality?

Lev. 18:22

Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.

Lev. 20:13

If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable.

Rom. 1:21-27

²¹For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ²⁵ They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

²⁶ Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. ²⁷ In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

1 Cor. 6:9-11

⁹ Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders ¹⁰ nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

1 Tim. 1:8-11

⁸ We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. ⁹ We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, ¹⁰ for adulterers and homosexuals, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine ¹¹ that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

Rev. 22:12-16

¹² “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

¹⁴ “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. ¹⁵ Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral*, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

¹⁶ “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

* the Greek word being translated here is an all-inclusive term that refers to any sexual activity outside of marriage.