Nov. 16, Pentecost 23, 2003

Hebrews 10:31-39

It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Don't ever forget those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering. Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things. You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail. When all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew you had better things waiting for you in eternity.

Do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord, no matter what happens. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

"For in just a little while,

the Coming One will come and not delay.

And a righteous person will live by faith.

But I will have no pleasure in anyone who turns away."

But we are not like those who turn their backs on God and seal their fate. We have faith that assures our salvation.

Ps. 16

Mark 13:14-23

"The time will come when you will see the sacrilegious object that causes desecration standing where it should not be"—reader, pay attention! "Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. A person outside the house must not go back into the house to pack. A person in the field must not return even to get a coat. How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for mothers nursing their babies in those days. And pray that your flight will not be in winter. For those will be days of greater horror than at any time since God created the world. And it will never happen again. In fact, unless the Lord shortens that time of calamity, the entire human race will be destroyed. But for the sake of his chosen ones he has shortened those days.

"And then if anyone tells you, 'Look, here is the Messiah,' or, 'There he is,' don't pay any attention. For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform miraculous signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God's chosen ones. Watch out! I have warned you!

Sermon: Where’s the Beef?

You have probably noticed that there has been a name change at St. George’s. On the bulletin and on the sign out front, the word “Episcopal” has been replaced by “Anglican.” Does this mean we are changing denominations? No. Not at all. We have always been an Anglican church. Our larger identity is that we belong to the Anglican Communion, an ancient and worldwide community of faith, the second largest Christian communion in the world.

We are not changing denominations. We are not changing our identity. St. George’s is the same church we have always been. But the part of our communion from which we derive that identity, that mission, has changed.

The Anglican Communion has clearly stated that our teaching on human sexuality is derived from the Bible. The Anglican Communion has firmly upheld the sanctity of marriage, the God-given covenant between a husband and wife - a man and a woman. The Anglican Communion has firmly rejected the ordination of practicing homosexuals because this manner of life is not a “wholesome example to the Body of Christ” as required in the ordination service. Furthermore, the Anglican Communion has stated that we need to continue our study of human sexuality and continue to grow in our understanding of how best to minister, as a healing community, to people who have many different images of themselves. This is our position at St. George’s.

The Episcopal Church on the other hand has departed from all of this. The actions of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in August officially changed the doctrine of the Episcopal Church. The ordination of Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire solidified this new doctrine in the most irreversible way. The Episcopal Church has rejected the biblical definition of marriage. The Episcopal Church has officially endorsed the blessing and even the ordination of an immoral manner of life. These actions have clearly ended any further chance of an honest and fair study of this issue by the church. This is not our position at St. George’s.

This is the last time I’m going to talk about the problems of the Episcopal Church. Instead of spending our time explaining the negative identity of the Episcopal Church, rather let us engage in positive discussion with our neighbors about the positive identity of the Anglican Communion. It truly is a positive and powerful identity, which I will get to in a minute, but first, a little background on our present attitude as a society.

What we find in much of America today is a kind of spiritual infancy. Diane Knippers of the Institute for Religion and Democracy has done a thorough study of this particular problem in the church. What she discovered is that our nation is being led by people who grew up in the 60’s and 70’s, and they belong to a generation of Americans who got stuck in adolescence. Their leadership, both politically and spiritually, has been devastating to the moral fabric of this nation. Today we have political leaders, business executives, and even church leaders, who think that their personal moral behavior has nothing to do with their public career. This is because they have never grown up past the “free love” days of their adolescence.

In the Church, this has been most visible in the recent fascination with “baptismal theology” instead of sanctification theology. The teaching of our seminaries, the books being written by theological scholars, have been obsessed with this subject of baptismal theology. Our past two bishops have championed the preaching of baptismal theology. What it basically boils down to is this: if you’ve been baptized then you’re ready to do anything in the church.

We have become oblivious to the clear fact that the New Testament is devoted almost entirely to the subject of sanctification, and has only a handful of verses about baptism. Do we want to go on being spiritual babies, or are we ready to grow up?

Imagine a family with teenagers sitting around the dinner table. Every night Mom and Dad lecture the kids on how to take their first step.

Finally, one of the kids says, “But Mom, I’ve been walking for 17 years. Can’t we talk about something else? Can’t we talk about where I should be walking, and with whom?”

But Mom just smiles patronizingly and says, “Now, now, dear. Just be a good boy and take your bottle.” That’s the church in America today.

We are, as St. Paul warned, stuck on the “elementary” doctrines, not having moved on to maturity. Look at 1 Cor. 3:1-3

“Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. ² I had to give you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. ³ You are still worldly.”

Likewise the letter to the Hebrews takes the church to task for its immaturity.

Hebrews 5:11-6:3

”We have much to say about this (righteousness and sanctification), but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. ¹² In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! ¹³ Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

“Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, ² instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. ³ Let us go on to maturity, and God permitting, we will do so.”

Remember the Wendy’s commercial that was popular in the 70’s, when this feisty little lady comes up to the counter holding this hamburger that is nothing but a tiny little patty on a bare bun, and shouts, “Where’s the beef?” This is God’s question for the church today: “Where’s the beef?” Does anybody want some solid food?

As the Bible points out, solid food is for the mature, and it takes some getting used to.

An ABC News reporter traveling in Iraq recently made a great observation. He was reporting from an area that had been very supportive of American liberation going into the war. This was the area where Saddam’s oppression was most brutal. You may recall the scenes of these people weeping over the mass graves where Saddam dumped the bodies of their loved ones. These people were overjoyed when the Americans came to Iraq to set them free. They rejoiced in the streets when they heard Saddam’s government was overthrown. In this area of the country there have been no attacks on U.S. soldiers.

But now, many months after liberation has come to that part of Iraq, the morale of the people is low. Commenting on how morale had dropped since the American occupation of Iraq the reporter observed that “Iraqis are just now starting to come to terms with the implications of freedom.” He noted that at first they thought freedom meant complete freedom to do absolutely anything, including run amok in the streets, and help yourself to whatever you want.

After so many years under the brutal hand of Saddam, they thought that freedom was simply the opposite of oppression. Now they are starting to learn the great responsibility, sacrifice and self-restraint necessary for true freedom. This is a rude awakening. Now they are less optimistic about the future because of their newfound freedom. This new level of personal responsibility is a way of life they have never known before. It takes some getting used to. It takes hard work. Iraq as a nation is trying to grow up.

Growing up is always hard work. But it is worth the effort. Maturity results in power, and God wants to release power to His church, but He cannot give that power to an immature church any more than you would give your car keys to a four year old. As the letter to the Hebrews points out, maturity comes with practice, training ourselves to distinguish good from evil, growing in the knowledge of God’s Word, exercising our spirit by denying our flesh, and learning how to not only recognize good but to choose good, and to stand up for God’s definition of good even to the point of death.

Let’s talk about sanctification, not in theory, but in actual living fact. Let’s look at what our Anglican Communion has to say about the power of a sanctified life.

Why has Nigeria become such a focal point in the Anglican Communion? Because, the Nigerians have received a revelation about the power of God. We need to hear about what is happening in that land. It is the story of the spiritual power and authority that God will give to a mature Church. It is happening all over Nigeria in all the churches; Roman Catholic, Anglican, Evangelical, and Pentecostal. These are their stories, and this is their message to us in America: (report from Global Harvest ministries)

In one instance, Muslims invaded a Christian gathering attacking all of the fathers in front of the women and children, butting their rifles into their heads, killing and wounding many. As the pastor and elders prayed over each one, they were healed and sat up praising God one after another. As the attacks continued, one Muslim missed his Christian target and killed a fellow Muslim. The Christians began to run as they felt they would surely be blamed for killing a Muslim. The Lord spoke to the pastor telling him to go and pray over the slain Muslim as if he were a Christian brother. They forgave the sins of this man and asked the Lord to release his soul. They called forth life. The man sat bolt upright, coughing, spitting blood, and praising God. He was converted to Christ, and many Muslims who saw and took part in the beatings became Christians that day.

This is church growth- Nigerian style! You don’t have to sign up for a course, or register at a seminary, or read a stack of books six feet high, or produce a twenty page plan of how to make a congregation of grumpy, selfish people more “welcoming.” The Nigerian plan is greatly simplified. Here it is:

Surrender your life to Christ, and He will build His Church.

Bishop Michael Odonkwo

(Philippians 3:10)

“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings…”

“If we are truly placing Him first, we will have dominion over the earth in our regions, and over sickness and disease and demons. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. But we are weak, and we don’t know in America who we are in Christ. We are pursuing the wrong things. We are pursuing size in our churches, but we need to be pursuing the Lord.

“Seek Him first. We have a church today that runs at the sight of a demon and gets intimidated in the face of a witch or warlock. But Moses was as God to Pharaoh. He was a friend of God. God is no respecter of persons. You too can be a friend of God. You too can walk in the authority of Moses, as a deliverer in your sphere of influence. In the face of death you will not be afraid, if you truly know Him.

“Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego (when they were thrown into the furnace for worshiping God) could say, “Increase the fire, oh king” and they were not afraid. We need to get to the point in our lives when we face trials and say, “Increase the fire, Lord, I am not afraid.” You will know Him. You will see Him in the fire, just as they did.”

May I say to you what I experienced in the meeting in Dallas on Oct. 7. There were bishops from Africa there who prayed over us, and when they prayed there was fire in their voices, and power going forth over that whole gathering, because they prayed from the Word of God and they expected God to release power to back up His Word. They didn’t travel across the ocean to pity us and console us in our troubles with the church. They came to exhort us with fire from on high. They came to see if we were serious about standing firm for God to the end. It was an amazing time of worship.

Two weeks later I was attending the clergy conference of our Diocese. We sat and listened to a speaker talk about being discouraged and depressed, and how we need to share our pain and console each other in our struggles. I thought, “What a contrast! There is no faith here. This is pathetic.”

Listen again to Bishop Odonkwo:

“We are not talking about raising up beggars in supplication who don’t know if God will answer. We are talking about those who KNOW their God, who KNOW Him, that He is on their side (because they honor His Word), that He is the deliverer, the provider, and the breaker (of every bondage of the enemy.) He is calling those into this army to COMMAND THE DAY! He wants you to COMMAND THE DAY. Rule and reign in the midst of your enemies.

“I am not trying to beat you down. I am here to remind you who God is. The GREAT I AM.”

I’m not going to harangue you any more with the problems of the Episcopal Church. I am going to be teaching in the coming weeks on this very important topic of sanctification, pursuing a life of righteousness. Likewise, in the Adult Sunday School time, as we continue our “Through the Bible” study of I & II Kings, we will be looking at how Israel, at the worst time in their life as a nation, was being prepared by God for a call to righteousness. It’s a wonderful and exciting story!

If we’re going to preach the Gospel, let’s be sure we major in the major things, and minor in the minor things. Sanctification is the major topic of the New Testament.

- We need to learn how to distinguish good from evil.

- We need to learn how to take power over our enemy, the devil, and as the scripture says, to crush him under our feet. Don’t argue with him, don’t debate with him, and don’t make excuses for sin. Jesus said, “I give you authority, power, over all the works of the enemy.”

- We need to learn how to truly reverence God in our daily lives.

- We need to learn how to live victorious lives, lives that reflect the glory and holiness of God, lives that bring honor to the name of Jesus Christ.

It starts by turning our full attention to the Word of God. You won’t get this any other way, and you will have to own it for yourself. I can teach it, but you have to act on it. I can set it before you, but you have to pick it up. As that reporter in Iraq observed, the hard lessons of true, responsible freedom are costly and personal. No one else can do this for you. Sanctification only comes as you pick up the Word of God and begin to wrestle with it in your own heart until it conquers you.

I will close by reading again the first reading for today: Hebrews 10:31-39

(The New Living Translation)

It is a fearful [and awesome] thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Don't ever forget those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering. Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things. You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail. When all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew you had better things waiting for you in eternity.

Do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord, no matter what happens. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

"For in just a little while,

the Coming One will come and not delay.

And a righteous person will live by faith.

But I will have no pleasure in anyone who turns away."

But we are not like those who turn their backs on God and seal their fate. We have faith that assures our salvation.

Let us pray.

(Next week: “Squirrels In The Attic”)