Romans 10:5-15
"It's Only Church"
On a Saturday evening, last summer, while on vacation with my family, we were trying to decide where to go to church the next morning.
I wanted to visit one of the smaller churches in town, others wanted to worship at the bigger church in town.
We tried looking up some the smaller churches on the internet.
Like the majority of folks, we don't use phone books any longer.
The problem was, none of the smaller churches had websites.
So, we looked up the phone numbers and called.
None of the smaller churches we called had answering machines, with messages telling us when worship takes place...
...no strike that...
...one church had an answering machine saying that worship started at 10:30 a.m., but when we passed the church on the way back from dinner--their sign said that worship was at 9:45!!!
We didn't know which was correct.
So, we settled on the big church in town.
On Sunday morning we settled into our pews and the Scripture was about the woman pouring the alabaster jar of perfume on Jesus' feet.
The preacher got up in the pulpit and I took out my Bible and read along, and then I grabbed my pen and a piece of paper in order to write down any notes, and tidbits of spiritual insight that might be helpful in my walk with God.
I was on the edge of my seat.
I was hungry for the "Good News."
And, the sermon started out good...
...that is, there was a brief summary of the Scripture passage...
...something that someone might read in, say, a short Bible commentary.
This lasted about 30 seconds.
And then, the preacher started talking about the new choir director that the church had recently hired who would be starting work at the church sometime in August--and this was late June.
It wasn't as if the choir director was there.
It wasn't his "first day on the job."
He would be working at the church in a couple months.
They would meet him then.
For the next 30 minutes or so, the preacher basically read the resume of the new hire.
And he talked about the guy's family, and his experience.
He repeated himself a number of times, and went on and on and on about the choir director...
...who, again, wasn't even there.
The Reverend, had, obviously, put absolutely no effort or time preparing this sermon whatsoever.
It was as if he didn't care.
Terribly disappointed, I put my Bible away, closed my pen and sat back in the pew hoping, praying that he would get back to the Scripture at hand, or at least talk about Jesus.
I looked around at my Father-in-Law and he looked kind of depressed.
I took a peek at others in my group.
What were they thinking?
All I could think about was, "Thank you Jesus that I hadn't invited a non-Christian or un-churched person to come with me this morning.
They probably never would have wanted to come back to a church again."
When I later told a friend of mine about the experience, he said, "What if someone had showed up that morning, as a last ditch chance against committing suicide?
He would have left that place and jumped off the bridge!!!"
We all left that morning, terribly disappointed and a bit miffed.
We had tried to find out the worship times of several churches in the area--to no avail.
Then, we had sat through a service, which, appeared to have been a complete waste of time.
As we were discussing this in the car, I made the statement, "No wonder the churches are in decline.
No wonder people aren't interested in coming to church anymore. It's a wonder anyone bothers."
"They act as if it doesn't matter."
"It's as if they are saying, 'Oh well, it's no big deal. It's only church anyway.'"
But, it isn't "only church anyway!"
It does matter.
It matters a lot.
I believe that being active members of the church of Jesus Christ is the most important thing we can do.
It needs to be at the center of our lives.
It needs to be "who" we are and "who" we want to become.
After-all, it is the only hope for a world lost in materialism, sin, meaninglessness, depression, war, addiction, hopelessness, anger--you name it!!!
But, if the church acts as if, "Oh well, it doesn't matter--it's only church," well, what kind of message are we sending to a lost and dying world?
If the church doesn't put in the effort to make every Sunday the best and most important Sunday--Do we really believe that Jesus Christ is the hope of the world--the Way, the Truth, the Life?
"Where your heart is, there your treasure is also..."
If we are content with the mediocre at best--what are we saying about our love for God and for other human beings?
I'm not talking about being fanatical; I'm talking about commitment and priorities.
I'm talking about being the best that we can possibly be.
And this means doing the best we can do with our worship--our music, our Sunday school, our Youth group, our Bible Study, and all the other ministries the church is involved in.
And it takes the entire church--that is every one of us working together--in order to be the best representatives of Jesus Christ we can be.
One person can't do it alone.
We all need one another--the world needs all of us working together as the hands and feet of Jesus Christ on this earth, in order to transform the world.
Now this isn't easy, but Jesus told us it wouldn't be easy.
In our Scripture Lesson for this morning Paul writes: "if you confess with your mouth 'Jesus is Lord' and in your heart you have faith that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Trusting with the heart leads to righteousness, and confessing with the mouth leads to salvation...
...All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.
So how can they call on someone they don't have faith in?
And how can they have faith in someone they haven't heard of?
And how can they hear without a preacher?
And how can they preach unless they are sent?
As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the good news.'"
One night I came into the den and asked Clair to turn the news
“The news is depressing,” was her reply.
And she is right.
All and all, the news we get from the world is depressing.
We are told about war, terrorism, murder, rape, abductions…things that make us uneasy…
…things which make human life seem very cheap…
…and human beings very evil!
The news we often receive from the reporters and anchors—the evangelists—so to speak, of the world cause us to fear, leave us with less hope than we had before we heard it, and certainly can bring on a certain depression.
When I was in the news business we had a saying: “If it bleeds, it leads.”
Which means that the more awful and shocking the story, the more time we gave to reporting it…
…and sensationalizing it…
…and milking it for all it was worth.
We get a lot of bad news…
…a lot!
And we have come to expect it, I suppose.
A Don Henley song which came out several years ago tells it like this:
“I make my living off the Evening News,
Just give me something-something I can use,
People love it when you lose,
They love dirty laundry.
We got a bubble-headed-bleach-blonde who comes on at five,
She can tell you ‘bout the plane crash with a gleam in her eye,
It’s interesting when people die—
Give us dirty laundry.
Can we film the operation?
Is the head dead yet?
You know, the boys in the newsroom got a running bet.
Get the widow on the set!
We need dirty laundry.
You don’t really need to find out what’s going on,
You don’t really need to know just how far it’s gone…
We can do “The Innuendo”
We can dance and sing,
When it’s said and done we haven’t told you a thing…
…Give us dirty laundry!”
The feet which get a sort of glee out of bringing us down, gossiping, verbally raping us, if you will…
…are not beautiful feet at all…
…the only feet which are beautiful are those feet which bring us a completely different kind of news!!!
Paul tells us in our Epistle Lesson, “The word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,’ that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
That is the completely different kind of news—that is the Good News!!!
And we aren’t going to get the Good News from CNN, FOX, MSNBC, CBS or ABC…
…the Good News comes from the mouths and lives of those who believe in the Lord Jesus.
The Good News comes from the mouths and lives of those who have been transformed by it!
Many Christians emphasize the importance of believing in the heart about the Lordship of the Risen Christ without stressing the necessity of confessing Christ with our lips and our lives.
Encasing Christ in the private domain makes Him available when we need Him without the discomfort of having our faith challenged in the public arena, or putting much effort into it.
According to Scripture, real faith or authentic faith always becomes a matter of public record.
Believing in the heart always leads to profession with the lips and our lives.
Christian faith is never a private matter!!!
It is the Good News which is meant to be shared by all—to all!!!
So, does the Church matter?
Do people need the Church?
Do people need East Ridge United Methodist Church?
Jesus founded the Church!
He organized His followers, and sent His Holy Spirit to empower us.
In the New Testament the Church is even called "The Bride of Christ."
The Church is an absolutely essential part of God's plan for the world, and for each individual believer.
Paul writes that the Church is the "body of Christ."
That means that you and I are to be "Jesus living in the world today."
We are charged with the task of doing what Jesus did, speaking on behalf of Jesus; being the hands, feet and voice of Jesus.
You and I are the means by which God has chosen to save and transform the world.
The Bible also tells us that each and every member of the Church is given certain gifts or abilities by the Holy Spirit.
We all have an extremely important part to play in order for the Church to be the best it can be.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that people in our community need East Ridge United Methodist Church.
Jesus said that we are the "salt of the earth," and the "light of the world."
We are to be the positive flavor in our community; we are to bring hope and new life into the lives of those who are without it.
And you know what?
This church doesn't really belong to a denomination, the bishop, the pastor or anyone else.
This Church belongs to Jesus Christ.
For one thing, this Church is not the building.
It is you; it is me.
And Jesus died on the Cross, shed His blood in order to purchase us for Himself!!!
The Church belongs to Jesus Christ.
He is Lord!!!
And because Jesus is Lord, the driving mission of this Church must be to do the things that Jesus wants us to do--nothing less.
But how do we know what Jesus wants us to do with His Church?
We can figure this out by looking at what Jesus actually did when He walked this earth.
Jesus said that His driving passion was to "seek out and to save the lost."
And if this is Jesus' driving passion, it must be our driving passion as well.
And if we are going to do this successfully, we must do it with integrity, and we must do the best job we can possibly do--every one of us--together!!!
We can't just go through the motions, or just do enough to "get by."
Jesus went all the way to the Cross!!!
And if we are to follow Him, we must take up the Cross as well.
Are we doing this?
Each of us, individually and together as the Church of Jesus Christ, are called to proclaim Jesus.
(Pause)
We see it every day.
People choose to play golf rather than worship God on Sunday morning.
Some go fishing.
Others get their kids involved in sports teams that practice Sunday mornings.
Many more, have tried church, and have found it to be listless, dull, boring and the message????
What is the message?
So they lay in bed, or take the dog for a walk.
And we are accountable for this.
"how can they call on someone they don't have faith in?
And how can they have faith in someone they haven't heard of?
As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the good news.'"
At the end of the day, take a look at your feet...
...and think about what you have done as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Have you done the best you can do?
Have you shared the good news?
Do you have beautiful feet?
