(Annual Theme Sunday, Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC, Jan. 24, 1988)
A little over a year ago I brought you a report on the rebuilding of Takoma Park Baptist Church. In that report I said that our rebuilding and renewing process could be compared to the business of building a building, that what we would have to do was something like what you go through if you are going to remodel and reconstruct a building that's already in place, but needs renovation. And so I laid out a seven-year program for the recovery and renewal of this church and spoke about things like securing the foundations, opening the doors, raising the roof, and so on. The annual report as printed for this past year will remind you of all that.
No doubt I should have consulted with Mack Saucier or others of you to get more accurate information on how to go about remodeling something. These hands were not made for carpentry. Probably Jesus was the only preacher in all history who could also do a decent job working with his hands. Nonetheless I reported to you that during 1987 we would secure the foundations and I preached a sermon out of First Corinthians a year ago, on the text, "No other foundation can any man lay than the one already laid, even Jesus Christ." And then I said, when we get to 1988, the next task will be "washing the windows." Washing the windows. The idea was that we scrub up our educational systems and let them go to work letting in light.
Well, two problems with that. Two issues came up that caused me to change the metaphor just a little. First of all, I cannot find any Scripture texts about washing windows! There are quite a few places where windows are mentioned in the Bible. You have stories about folks being let down out of windows to escape from capture. You have Daniel praying at his window. You have Noah letting doves fly out the ark windows. You even have the leader of the church youth group, probably was the Associate Pastor, going to sleep during services and falling out of a window. But all of these images are of open windows rather than dirty windows. Nothing in the Bible about washing windows. I plan to remember that when spring cleaning time comes and my wife says, "You need to wash these window." I will gleefully reply, "The Bible says nothing about washing windows."
And then there is another problem too. There is another reason I have elected to change the image from “Washing the Windows” to “Opening the Windows.” Would you take a look at our church windows? If we were to wash them, would you be any more able to see through them? If we were to scrub and rinse, even using good old Murphy’s oil soap that Mrs. Beebe introduced me to, would we be able to see what's going on out on Aspen Street? Not at all; not at all. I find that our windows in particular and church windows in general are not improved by mere washing. Most of the church windows I know anything about are not made to allow us to see anything; they just filter the light and they have to be opened before you can see anything. “Washing the Windows,” in other words, is not good enough. You are going to have to open the windows. And so this morning hear the word of God through Malachi the prophet about open windows and about what you can learn, what you can see, through open windows.
(Malachi 2:1-9, 3:10)
Well, the issue is that not only does it do very little good to wash church windows, since they are not designed to let you see; the issue is that a good many church windows cannot be opened at all. Go to the magnificent Washington Cathedral and glory in the stained glass that has in it literally hundreds of images, designed to teach the Bible and to remind you of Christian history, and despite all that magnificence, despite all that color, one thing about those windows is that they cannot be opened. They are set in place, leaded in and fixed. Glorious church windows, but they cannot be opened. There’s something wrong with that.
A church where we were once members decided that in the name of energy saving and in order to protect its stained glass from possible breakage, they would install Plexiglas coverings on the outside of the sanctuary windows. Everybody bought the logic and we laid out the money and installed huge Plexiglas sheets on the outside of our church windows, and went through the first winter snug and warm inside our airtight sanctuary. But then came spring; no need for the heat anymore. Besides, isn't it getting a little warm in here? And somebody went to open one of those windows – bang! One little thing we forgot about: when you install a plastic covering over your windows, you can no longer open them! And so these church windows are now firmly fixed in place, saving energy and protecting us from the elements, but we cannot open them. There’s something wrong with that. We cannot see the world that God called us to love. We cannot feel the temperature around us. We cannot air out our own mustiness. We have closed windows. We forget that sometimes, in an effort to protect ourselves, we fix it so that we can no longer open the windows.
Now I am sure that everybody knows that I am not really talking about panes of glass today. I'm just trying to use the symbol of a church window that won’t open to say to you, we have a responsibility as a church and as Christians to open the windows and let in God’s truth. We have a responsibility to throw open the barriers to what our God would teach us and to let Him blow His breezes on us and instruct us. And our task for the coming year is going to be one of opening some windows long closed and permitting our God to refresh us and teach us.
It's a funny thing about evangelical Christians. We have said that we believe in the Bible, but I find that many of us know practically nothing about the Bible. We have said that we know that this is God's holy word to us, that it contains the words of life, and that we believe it, cover to cover, including the covers, but we spend precious little time studying it, understanding it, taking it in. It is a window which we have not opened. But God through the prophet Malachi warns us, “You have turned from the way and have caused many to stumble.”
It's a peculiar thing about us. We have said that you have to know Christ in order to be saved. We have said, along with the Apostle Paul, that if you believe in your heart and confess with your lips that Jesus Christ is Lord, then you shall be saved. And that's all very fine. But we have not gone right on to listen to the rest of that same passage in Paul, the tenth chapter of Romans, which says, “And how shall they believe unless they hear and how shall they hear unless someone preach to them,” teach them. Do you see what I am saying? We have supposed that all t hat is necessary is that we get high on Jesus and have a happy-in-the-Lord worship experience, and that takes care of it all. We are not too keen on opening the windows and letting more of God’s truth find its way in. We have enjoyed too much and too long keeping the windows closed so that we could capture the experience of worship, right here, and hold it close, when all along we needed to be flinging open the windows and learning, teaching hearing, responding to all of God's truth.
The prophet Malachi is speaking to religious leaders, to priests and preachers, and he says, “The lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction, because he is the messenger of the Lord almighty. But you have turned from the way and have caused many to stumble.” You see, we as Christians are indicted because we have not sought to learn, and Christian leaders are indicted if they have not sought to teach. To learn, to know, to open up to God's truth, that is our calling. And that is what I hope we will plan to do together in 1988.
We have in this church an institution called Sunday School. Only about one half of those who come to worship also attend Sunday School. Now I know all the stuff about how you always thought Sunday School was for kids; and I know what is being said about closed and cliquish classes and uninspiring teaching. But I suspect you who say that have never really tried our Sunday School and have not allowed some windows to be opened for you. I suspect you are playing old tapes and are remembering some unworthy experiences in the past. And I will say to you that if you will open the windows of your life to some quality Bible teaching, then we as church leaders will work awfully hard to make certain that it is of high quality and that it does instruct you, teach you, honestly.
We are going to experiment in this church with a program we are calling LIFE, the Lay Institute for Equipping. Our Education Committee is working on this, and without my going into details I can simply say that it will be an experiment in providing instruction in a wide variety of subjects. There will be more Bible study, there will be leadership training, there will be skill development in human relations, things like parenting and marriage skills. I cannot get into details now, but I hope you will see this as your church opening a very big window and providing for you an opportunity to know, to learn. But, you know what, we can push that window open from the inside only part of the way; you are going to have to get out there and pull too and be a part of it. Open the window!! And let God bless you; according to Malachi, that's what he wants and waits to do.
We are going to provide you during this year with materials for self-study, with materials you can use for Bible study and for issue study and for spiritual growth of all kinds. We will open some windows, God will open some windows for you; but you will have to step up and breathe that fresh air. We are going to continue offering a Wednesday evening program of book studies and Bible studies and other kinds of exposure, but I tell you, God opens the parlor windows every Wednesday night, and you are going to need to be here to see what blessings he will pour in. Hear the prophet again, “Bring the full tithes …” (oh my goodness, here is that pastor talking about money again). Ah, but tithes represent your full faculties, everything you are. Not just money but as the hymn said, time and talents too. Bring the full tithes, the full you, into the storehouse, says the Lord of hosts, and see if I will not open the windows of the sky and pour out on you a blessing. Open the windows, God has opened His already.
The other day my wife was sitting in our living room reading the newspaper when there was a horrible bang over at one of the big living room windows. She flew out of her chair to see what had happened, and found that the upper portion of our storm window had dropped down to the bottom of the window frame. And when I got to looking at it, I discovered that the corners of the window frame had given away, they had pulled apart. Too old. And that the rubbery beading that holds the glass in the frame was now hard and inflexible: too old.
Then I stopped to think, Hey, how could this window be too old? I put it in here myself. When we bought this house and moved here the first improvement I made was to add storm windows. This is not old, I put it in here. Ah, but when? Seventeen years ago. Couldn't be old, not this window, I made it; but hey, it's been longer than I thought, hasn’t it?
Some of us are thinking, "Why, we made this church's educational program, seems like only yesterday, how could it need renewing? But it does. Some of us are thinking, I remember when we organized this class, I recall how we struggled to build this educational building, how can it need repairs? How can our teaching ministry need reorganizing? But it does, it does.
You see, when you open church windows, you air out some mustiness. Old smells blow out, and the freshness of God's breezes blow in. And when the windows are open and people are ready to learn, He pours out blessings.
When you open church windows, you let in light, more light than you ever thought possible. I love the fact that several of our new members have said to me, “When I worship here, I feel I have been taught and I feel I've learned something.” That's great, but you know the Sunday School rooms, for the most part, don't have stained glass; those windows let in even more light. When the windows let in light, God pours in a blessing.
And finally, when you open church windows, you can see and feel the temperature of the world out there, and you can see it from God's eyes, you can feel it the way God wants you to feel it. When you open the windows of your church and your life, when you commit yourself to learn, then God blesses you with skills and with understanding and with ministry and with competence. He opens His windows and pours out a blessing so much that you will not have room for it.
My prayer for myself and for everyone who ministers in teaching in this church is that about us the words of Malachi might be said, "True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips." My prayer for you is that you also might be described by Malachi, “From God's messenger seek instruction” and that from God’s open windows you might receive light and air and blessing. And by the way, praise God, our stained glass windows do open!
