Don't just sit there
James 2:14-2:18
Just a couple of weeks ago we finished up on a series of messages that I had hoped offered encouragement for the members of this church to be ready to receive God vision …perhaps even to spark a yearning to look for what God wants to do with us.
Staying as brief as I can, we looked at scripture to determine that God has a plan for the people that have a relationship with Him. No matter how imperfect and even unfaithful God is ready to work with us and shaped us for His work. The process was helped by our being open to God’s work in and around our lives. Acknowledging that God is present in our daily lives. That we live in a community..a church family that joins together to help each other to find our role and direction. Ultimately, we are encouraged to engage opportunities for the E-Word. Evangelism….
Well that went well enough I suppose. Lots of people commented on the teaching. But, there was very little follow through.
During that series every person in worship was invited to sit in on our leadership training…a simple review of two books.
Only a minimum number of people attended. Those that did were in leadership which is great…
However, out of the 4 Tuesday nights, we only averaged 6 people ….out of 14 of our administrative board.
Let me pause to say, I am very bothered by that general response to a session that included the books and a meal at no expense to the attendee or church.
Let me define bothered….It is NOT anger. It is Not Hurt.
I think the word disappointment is the best description I can offer.
I am disappointed that the majority of the elected leadership and none of the congregation in general seem have enough yearning or hunger or even interest to search for God’s vision for this Little Church that is “BIG” on Jesus.
Let me explain something…I can’t make you love God, or Jesus or anybody else. All I can do is to tell you that a meaningful and rich relationship is offered and describe how it happens, and what it like. I can add what other kinds of things come from love relationships and hope and pray that you end up with a yearning to know for yourself for a new relationship or for most of us here to want to renew what we once experienced and felt.
Let’s listen to our scripture for today: James 2:14-24
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
-- After that introduction you are probably already to just get out of here. You may be wondering where this can possibly go from here.
What we are talking about this morning is being the church… doing the work of the church.
Not church work. You know what church work is don’t you??? Having a yard sale or a park clean up day or any other project or meal that we join together to accomplish. Church work is always worthy and even necessary for the church to function: however, it is not the work of the church.
The work of the church is finding ways of inviting people to faith and to ultimately to become disciples of Jesus Christ.
The most important role of a Christian and the church is to be a priest an intercessor to the world that is searching for answers to life’s questions.
We are to live as representatives of God to the people inside and outside the church.
We go to people that are suspicious, board, hurt and any other situations that separate a person from a relationship with God and become their connection to something really big and meaningful.
-- On July 2, 1982, there was a story in the papers and on national TV a about a man by the name of Larry Walters, 33-year-old truck driver in Long Beach California. He was a man with a dream of flying but because of poor eyesight was unable to qualify in the air force or even as a private pilot. The dream of flying never died.
At some point he formed a plan to see his neighborhood from the air. He studied weather patterns and designed his own flying machined.
Ultimately, He went down to the army surplus store and bought forty-five used weather balloons. They are heavy balloons that are between 3 and 4 foot in diameter when inflated. And ordered enough of cylinders of helium to fill all the 43 Balloons he purchased.
The preparations complete he and several friends spent the morning filing balloons and rigging them into a design that would support his weight.
He was sitting in his lawn chair making final preparations for takeoff when one of the two tethers attaching his flying machine to his truck snapped. A few seconds of mayhem broke out as his friends tried to get control of the craft. However after only a few more seconds the second tether broke under the upward strain of the balloons and Larry shot into the sky. He had with him, a hand held CB radio, and a Pellet gun, figuring he could shoot the balloons one at a time when he was ready to land.
Mr. Walters, assumed the balloons would lift him about 100 feet in the air where he would slowly drift along and sight see perhaps ending up in the desert by dark.
He was caught off guard when the chair rose to 6000 feet within only a few minutes and was at 16,000 feet in less than half an hour. The winds did not direct him directly toward the desert unfortunately. Instead they led him--into the middle of the air traffic pattern at Los Angeles International Airport.
He was too frightened to shoot any of the balloons until he could not stand the cold any longer. He dropped the pellet Gun after the first or second shot. He stayed airborne for more than two hours, and forced the airport to shut down all its runways for quite a while.
Soon after he reached the ground, he was arrested, reporters asked him three questions:
"Were you scared? "Not until time to land.”
"Would you do it again? "No”
"Why did you do it?" "Because, you can’t just sit there."
Now, this man had some problems in his logic.
Perhaps he was not as prepared with the facts as he should have been.
Maybe he needed wiser friends to guide him in the decision making process.
It is really easy to decide this man is a complete nut.
But he had something right. He had a dream was willing to take a risk, to try something new, he was willing to make a plan and try.
Why? Because, you can’t just sit there.
We need to talk. We need to talk about what the Christian life is about.
It is not about coming to a church just to be fed.
It is not about going to church to visit with friends, family or to be entertained.
Don’t get me wrong, that is part of the picture and blessings but they are only a small part of what church and Christianity are about..
However, the Christian life is not supposed to be like watching TV, where everything is handed to us. Where we don’t make decisions or think for ourselves.
It is interactive; it works best with both take and give, hearing and teaching , receiving and sharing.
Do you remember your first invitation to church?
I will guess that the majority of you are thinking no right now because you don’t remember when you were not in church.
For many of you it has just been a part of life…
Born, then bingo, you were at Church every Sunday and Wednesday. Whenever the doors were open there you were.
That was a big part of the culture many years ago. Perhaps you raised your kids the same way.
But the culture has changed around the church and the automatic nature of church has been gone for a long time.
For well over half of this country the norm has nothing to do with church on Sunday Morning.
We are a culture that wants entertainment, excitement and action. We get board if stuff is not flashing by.
The remote control is the power to visually experience WWII and to see sports and news and all kinds of entertainment. It has become so important that the screens have gotten bigger to where the people on the news are actual size.
The furniture in our homes has to be really comfortable because we will be setting there for a long time.
My question is , how much has your home changed over the past 10, 20 or even 30 years? Are you hand washing clothes and watching black and white radio. Do you have videotape or DVD players or computers in your home?
We all have updated our lives with convinces and things as they have become available and affordable.
Now think about our church.
Has it kept up to the same degree as we have in our homes?
How about our general appearance inside and out?
The style of worship and music?
How about the Sunday school lessons and the preaching?
Have we kept up with what would be considered normal for the community we live in?
With that in mind, Do you think that most churches have a chance of attracting someone who is not already knowledgeable about church and church people?
-- Really?
When you were a child and a young adult, who was here taking care of business?
Who taught the classes and served as leaders.
I have had a lot of time to see and touch this facility. I recognize what a great investment people made in this building.
Did they do it to look big or did they do it for God and their family and friends?
-- Did they do it because you just can’t sit there?
I was not even borne when God had his people put a church on this property.
I am curious about why it died the first time.
God has another group of Christians in April of 1958 again use the property for worship which has continued right up to this very minute.
I was not even born when God reformed this place – this building with his vision through the eyes hands and hearts of people that were willing to not just sit around and be involved and not take any risk.
I can only guess that a group of people had a God given vision and worked really hard, gave of themselves sacrificially to make this church a living body of Christ in this community.
I am talking about visionaries. People that accepted the vision that God gave and worked on the seemingly impossible task because, it was the right thing to do.
We have inherited a place to worship that came about by God’s vision and other peoples love and sweat.
So, it is a done deal, we have nothing else to do. By faith - We have a free ride. We are on God’s welfare system and we have already done our part, filed the paperwork and earned this……..Right?
Let me say, no I don’t think that a person of faith is done when they believe.
I believe that because of their faith they do things. Our scripture clearly says that because we have faith as a result…as a response to the good news…..we will also have works.
We want to be a part of the vision and part of God’s plan.
Works are a visible sign of the inward change and the outward sign that Christians…we … love and trust in God.
A person that is growing in faith can’t help themselves as they give of their time, talents and even money.
The world thinks that kind of thing is nuts because you don’t seem to get anything for it. H
I believe that it is very clear that people of faith always end up with actions that are direct evidence to their faith that the people closest to them see and wonder about.
Some people talk about the “good old days” and of course I think, we really remember only the best and the worst of times. The normal stuff, the daily sacrifices and problems all get blurred in our memories.
Do we have a clue of what the hardships were in making our church home a reality?
Do you think that the people that take on great projects for God, really could have ever dreamed of what this church, community and even Christianity would be like today?
-- Would (Mr. Hugh Proudfoot, Mr. Harry Melton, Mr. Fred Hunt and the other Trustees of Silver Creek Methodist Church) be and are you satisfied with where we are now?
I honestly cannot give you an answer. I might dare to guess that they might ne a bit disappointed. They might wonder if their faith and investment will at some point repeat what happened on this site before they trusted God’s provision of this place for $1.00.
The works of the Christian visionaries of the past are still a blessing to us and our community today. This church is remaining faithful in maintaining this gift. The place is painted, and grass cut and over the years, large and small improvements have been made.
The investment made over 50 years ago is still paying dividends, that was a great vision they committed to.
But what about the other half of the puzzle. The building is just a container for the body of Christ. It is a safe place to grow up and to learn our jobs as priest. Then it is to go into the world and serve.
Why, Because, you can’t just sit there.
Is the body of Christ in this place and in our community holding up as well as the physical location?
Let me just say it out loud. NO.
And unfortunately most churches today are not doing as well.
People hardly notice the cars in the parking lot on Sunday morning. The most visitors we have had in the past year came to Jesus Jam and to the yard sale and not to worship.
Churches today are considered a joke by the news media and are attacked by the courts.
As a result, We don’t share our faith and we don’t support each other like we used to. We rarely if ever publically celebrate God’s blessings and gifts.
We don’t pray like we used to. We don’t stand up for our rights and we let the world pass us by without a word.
The body of Christ is not being noticed in a positive way in this world and I am worried about who’s fault that is.
Our activities all too often focus inside and the involvement is handled by a small few while many are satisfied to stay away and enjoy the comforts of home or to sit watch and perhaps offer comment and point out problems.
It is pretty easy to armchair quarterback what the church is doing from our recliners when the game is being played by someone else. It seems that lots of Christians want to be advisors to the church and to God and have no intention of taking ownership of the work of the church.
It seems like the only regular visitor most churches have is Satan. Yes, Satan, he comes in the doors of the church almost every week saying things like:
- the sermon didn’t grab me or
- that special music was not very good
- I’ve done my part, I’m retired or
- Why is the power bill so high
- That is not the way we have always done it.
- Why are they doing that?
- Why do we need to change?
The presence of Satan in our churches discounts the importance of the body of Christ and covers up the good and loving work with a lot of uninvolved noise.
When we only find complaints and never try to deal with problems we are acting just like the world we live in. Unfortunately, we are satisfied to be a part of the static because; we don’t want to invest our precious time, talents and resources on the work of the church or in strangers.
It is so much easier and cheaper to just not be noticed. To just stay the same and to avoid anything new that the church leaders dream up and try.
That is want we want right? To just keep everything like it is. To live with the good memories and to ignore what is happening.
-- We just want to sit around and be fed and served, even if the meals and bland and the service is limited.
Folks, there is a reason that the body of Christ is suffering and it is not a difference in doctrine, it is not because of the physical attacks or indifference in the world.
It is because; we are just too darn comfortable.
The pews feel pretty good, our chairs at home are great and the picture on the TV is super and we just sit there. We don’t want to be inconvenienced by what other people might want or need.
We probably would agree that the world enjoys the comfortable, entertaining and smooth ride to the very gate of Hell.
When we are faithful to the work of the church – (loving the lost) God does his work and prepares people, makes them notice gives them interest.
They think that they need to put down the remote control and go and see.
When a church is responding to God and is willing to put up with sinful people
God will fill the church because the church is usable.
How are we fulfilling the Great commission, where are the works that show the world, that we depend on God, that we believe in God, that God and church are not an exclusive club.
What causes have you stepped up to, to make a difference?
This morning I want to help you see that God has a vision for his people. He is working and wanting our participation. He is working with or without us and he looks to us. Because, we can’t just sit here!
The vision I want you to seek is; how God want us to make an impact in his world! There has to be something more to working in the kingdom than just holding our own, maintaining the status quo. We need to reach for success which will mean small sacrifices of time…..
Living where we live, we can get quite comfortable, we easily loose sight of the needs that are all around us. The hurting families, the homeless, the un employed and hungry, children that have trouble in school, the single moms that feel hopeless.
As Jesus’ church in Silver Creek we are visionaries, we see the need around us, the opportunities to make a difference in people’s lives.
The visionary sees the need and takes action because they know that God is leading our work.
People that take action on a vision from God realize that if it is God’s will it does not matter how much it cost, how much trouble it is and they don’t get too worried over the fact that it happens to be impossible.
If you feel convicted by the Holy Spirit this morning…remember the vision of the potter and how he does not completely reject the clay for failures or resistance. He works and reworks until he has a useful vessel.
To focus our scripture:
14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?
What makes you feel disappointed about our church?
What makes you cry when you hear or see it?
Isn’t it time to work with our friends, make some plans, Take a risk, buy some balloons and see how high God can take us.
All Glory be to God!
