Tonight our theme is REVERBERATIONS…what does it make you think of? Perhaps the younger people in your community who pump up the bass in your neighborhood and shake your windows with their Hip-hop grooves?
Well, hopefully, our reflections on REVERBERATIONS will go deeper than that tonight...not annoying, but challenging...not temporary, but challenging us to think about how we are living as the people of God and how we might shake up our thinking, shake up our relationship, shake up our communities of faith...not just for “shaking’s” sake, but because God is prompting, urging, and calling us to REVERBERATE for His glory!
Tonight’s text is full of challenge…and though the focus verses are Matt. 11:11-15, the bigger context is important here…and before we can talk about the R of Reverberations, I’d like to offer 2 pre-requisite (pre-requitisal?) R’s that set the stage for the final R.
1) repentance : This is the big theme of john the baptist’s ministry….and call to repentance…a call for people to turn their lives around and look to Jesus, who as John put it, was “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29, 36).
Repentance is not a new word to us in Christian circles…but a good definition that I read this past week was this:
Repentance = a radical change of mind & heart which leads to NEW LIFE
And it would be pretty safe to assume that we in this room have experienced this repentance to some extent in our journey of following Jesus (note that I don’t want to use the word Christians)…..
But let’s be mindful of the truth that repentance is a continual process. And so I offer these questions to reflect on as we think about what it means to be a people of repentance in today’s culture:
Q1: What are the personal and social sins that we might be called to repent of? (Because it might be these very things that hinder us from making a difference in our relationships and our community!)
I appreciated _____’s example last night….he talked about having a reunion for some of the Seniors in one of their Edmonton neighborhood churches. Now that was not necessarily a social sin….but in a culture that prone to move people out of neighborhoods to homes….that compartamentalizes rather than unites….Howard and the people of God were providing a place for reunion, re-connection and blessing. And I have to believe that in that place of reuniting relationships, the presence of Christ is felt and known….and the people of God have a place where they have earned the right to be heard because they are participating in “good works” in the community and then able to give glory to their God when asked “why are we doing this?”
WE will be known as the people of God as we seek to be a people who are in a journey of repentance…changing our minds and our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit and being taken into places of new life that is born out of confession, forgiveness and HOPE!
Q2: This first question, sometimes leads to a 2nd question….where are how is repentance done? It might be a nice concept, but where is it done?
I think one of the most beautiful and deep places this can happen is at our communion tables in our churches. Once a month….but I hope that it can happen more as it does in a handful of our churches.
I know that in my journey of faith I sin. And I am sinned against. And I am a part of a community and nation that sins…and that is sinned against. And so then when I go to the table of our Lord and celebrate communion, Eucharist, the Lord’s supper….whatever name you prefer to call it…. That place becomes a profound place of holiness and repentance.
And so we should pray and we should confess…..
Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbours as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your Name. Amen.
And not only should we confess….but we should hear / offer an absolution. The Anglicans do it right here…..where the priest offers an absolution:
Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins
through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you in all
goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in
eternal life. Amen.
Now, I’m not saying we need to do priestly absolutions….but I would like us to reflect on the fact that we believe that the “priesthood of all believers” is important to us…and that we ought to think of how, in practical ways, we can provide and absolution for each other.
Maybe it’s as simple as saying…. “You are forgiven, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
So ultimately we are talking about REVERBERATING tonight….and the first pre-requitisal “R” is Repentance…..
And as we repent and live the life of being a repentant people….I believe it moves us to a place of a 2nd pre-requitisal “R”…that being REST.
2)Rest : As we are following Jesus, (contrary to popular evangelical belief) He is not continuously calling us to “try harder.” Avis really did a good job of stealing our mantra a couple of years ago with their slogan: WE TRY HARDER.
Have you noticed that?? We have a tendency to try to “show our worth” by trying harder. Did you read you bible long enough last week? Did you pray long enough last week? Did you put into practice the “contagious Christian” curriculum enough times last week? If not, come to church this Sunday, say you’re sorry, and the community of faith will simply tell you, to try again. Yes, you’re a shmuck, but really we are just “sinners saved by grace.”
And unfortunately, one of the products of this “try harder” evangelical mindset is that we end up taking on a “workaholic, on-the-road-to-burn-out Christian-mission lifestyle.”
And that’s why I am so intrigued by the verses found at the end of chapter 11.
(Eugene Peterson calls this section….)
The Unforced Rhythms of Grace
Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer: "Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. You’ve concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people. Yes, Father, that’s the way you like to work."
Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly. "The Father has given me all these things to do and say. This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge. No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But I’m not keeping it to myself; I’m ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen.
"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me--watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly."
I know a lot of good people and leaders who work hard for the Lord. I was raised in a Japanese home where my Father did things, and did it right. When I weeded the garden, I wanted to just chop the tops off…but my Father would always tell me “you’ve got to dig up the root, you can’t just take the tops off!” There were no shortcuts in the Sato dojo.
But the downside of being workaholic Christians is that we send a mixed message to our unbelieving world and our neighbours…and this “over the top” work agenda becomes a good reason for unbelievers to be wary about entering the doors of their local church.
When my neighbor looks at my life or my family…..does he/she feel drawn in my the joy and delight of following Jesus….or do they see a Christian version of people who are trying to keep up with the Jones’s and living the fast-paced, duty-filled, no time for Sabbath Church Life.
e.g….i’m troubled by young pastors telling me they’re stepping down from ministry positions because church life is keeping them too busy. They don’t have time to cultivate relationships with their neighbors, their spouses, their children because ministry has them out 5-6 nights/week and they feel like the only way they can get out of the ministry monster is to resign and take a break. They want their life back. And I wonder if that was what they bargained for when they first entered the formal call of ministry in their churches.
This doesn’t just happen to pastors…this happens to people in our pews! We have our people so busy with programs and events in the church that we are challenged to find time to simply have a conversation with our neighbour or co-worker and think about how we can cultivate an authentic relationship that might lead to things that are deeper than just talking about the weather and the latest current event/ hockey game/ home renovation.
WE are awesome at being busy for the Lord. And we are impressive at doing lots of work for the Lord in our own strength.
I am convinced that Jesus is constantly calling us to follow him in a sacrificial way that does not eat up our soul.
If we are to be a people who produce REVERBERATIONS… these must be born out of “unforced rhythms of grace.”
_____ made a comment last night… “If we begin with God, we won’t burn out.”
My question is simply this:
“When was the last time you really had to (chose to) lean on the everlasting arm of the Lord?”
Consider the Lyrics from the U2 song "sometime you can’t make it on your own" :
Tough, you think you’ve got the stuff
You’re telling me and anyone
You’re hard enough
You don’t have to put up a fight
You don’t have to always be right
Let me take some of the punches
For you tonight
Listen to me now
I need to let you know
You don’t have to go it alone
And it’s you when I look in the mirror
And it’s you when I don’t pick up the phone
Sometimes you can’t make it on your own
We fight all the time
You and I...that’s alright
We’re the same soul
I don’t need...I don’t need to hear you say
That if we weren’t so alike
You’d like me a whole lot more
Listen to me now
I need to let you know
You don’t have to go it alone
And it’s you when I look in the mirror
And it’s you when I don’t pick up the phone
Sometimes you can’t make it on your own
I know that we don’t talk
I’m sick of it all
Can - you - hear - me - when - I -
Sing, you’re the reason I sing
You’re the reason why the opera is in me...
Where are we now?
I’ve still got to let you know
A house still doesn’t make a home
Don’t leave me here alone...
And it’s you when I look in the mirror
And it’s you that makes it hard to let go
Sometimes you can’t make it on your own
Sometimes you can’t make it
The best you can do is to fake it
Sometimes you can’t make it on your own
e.g. I had a profound moment with a class I was teaching two weeks ago… as we did Lectio Divina (a spiritual discipline) on John 12, one of the students felt challenged to take a rest.
“When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them” (Jn. 12:36)
These are pastors/leaders that are responsible for up to 9 or more churches in and around Nairobi… but this one pastor was having a revelation that REST and finding time for solitude and silence in his ministry life would be important to start prioritizing.
* Repentance and Rest are the 2 pre-requisites for being a people who “disturb the Peace” in our communities of faith. This is not just a New Testament challenge….the OT or First Testament also challenges us to the same kind of life…. See Isaiah 30:15ff:
15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:
"In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it.
16 You said, ’No, we will flee on horses.’
Therefore you will flee!
You said, ’We will ride off on swift horses.’
Therefore your pursuers will be swift!
17 A thousand will flee
at the threat of one;
at the threat of five
you will all flee away,
till you are left
like a flagstaff on a mountaintop,
like a banner on a hill."
18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the LORD is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!
19 People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you.
3) Reverberations: Now being a people of repentance and rest does not necessarily mean that everything will be warm, fuzzy and hallmark card-like. Instead, if we are living as kingdom people and living by kingdom values….it will be a counter-cultural way of living (Marva Dawn calls us to be an “alternative society.”)
So the reverberations are things like:
• a shaking up of the status quo…Fred Napora once said, “It’s a tragedy if people come to our churches and we bore them…”
• Speaking prophetically into people’s lives
* My friend has built a church on humbly speaking encouragement in a prophetic manner to people. Being a prophetic people is not a lofty, air-fairy or telelvangelist ministry. It’s as simple as taking your devotional reading to heart and then as you are moving through the day, being open to people that may need to hear that WORD spoken into their lives during the day…. Believer or non-believer…. Everyone is looking for an encouraging word these days aren’t they?
• Speaking Destiny into people’s lives.
Trusting in passages like Isaiah 43: 18 "Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
* What does it look like to speak into existence what does not exist right now?
* How are we being a people who pray for things that we know we cannot conjure up on our own (ie. Let’s raise the budget by 50% this year because we know we can’t afford it in our own strength!)
Or
(we’ve been trying to conjure up Ishmael’s but we’re thinking we need to pray for an Isaac)
How do we speak destiny to every destination?
I think of the young people...they need us to speak hope, encouragement and destiny into their lives.
We must take up the challenge to mentor the younger generation in our churches.
• Offering the Eucharist/Lord’s Supper/Communion : Think about this… we are the only place offering forgiveness, redemption, mystery and renewal in the name of a living Saviour, in Christ Jesus
• Engaging with our culture and getting into thought-provoking conversations
* Believers in God ought to be better environmentalists. Some of us are getting more passionate about being earth-keepers….perhaps we ought to be the best tree huggers out there?
• Loving the unloveable...identifying the Samaritans in our midst
* Who are the Samaritans in our lives? Usually, in our province, it’s First Nations people. Who else?
* We are a pretty White church. Are we ok with that?? Just wondering...
• Living as people who sacrifice our possessions in the midst of a consumeristic culture
* Acts 4
The Believers Share Their Possessions
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means "son of encouragement"), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.
• Being a church that values people-keeping more than rule-keeping (are we more interested in developing policies than engaging in conversations with one another?)
* What turns our crank? creating policies to make people behave correctly in the church or creating ideas of how to release people to passionate ministries and relationships.
• Moving from places of faith instead of fear and allowing the Spirit to move, lead and transform in ways that might be new and unchartered
The Holy Spirit:
i) is a person
ii) is always willing to participate/intervene/birth something new in our lives
iii) is ignoreable
CONCLUSION:
In many ways the REVERBERATIONS are tied to us re-discovering our passions and our identities in ministry.
* What are you and I passionate about?
* What God-given gifts do we have in our congregations to reach our unique communities during this unique season of our church/ denomination?
These are the things that ought to set in motion our REVERBERATIONS for the Kingdom.
