2014 ADVENT 3 stewards of the mysteries I Corinthians 4__1
The Collect.
O LORD Jesus Christ, who at thy first coming didst send thy messenger to prepare thy way before thee; Grant that the ministers and stewards of thy mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready thy way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at thy second coming to judge the world we may be found an acceptable people in thy sight, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
The Advent Collect. ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.
The Epistle. 1 Corinthians iv. 1. LET a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing against myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
The Gospel. St. Matthew xi. 2. NOW when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
Isaiah 35 Psalms: 85 and 107 I Corinthians 4 St Matthew 11. 2
Paul doesn’t describe himself, as our BCP translation implies, as a clergyman. No, not a minister – a servant. And it would be inappropriate to visualize a butler, a man with a neat suit acceptable to serve in a grand household.
No, the word Paul used was appropriated from the language of seaman. The servant as Paul described himself, was the lowest on the rung of sea-men: he was a rower; an oarsman. He was not thinking of himself as anyone great. Paul described himself as the least of the evangelists, not fit to be called an apostle. He described himself as one who would tug on the oars when the wind no longer filled the sails and propelled the ship.
It would be a blessing today if the evangelists, ministers, clergy would abandon the high- titles and the innumerable degrees which that only stir up suspicion and ridicule. What kind of doctor are you – I’ve got this pain in my knees, doc ; what do you recommend?
Paul repeatedly refers to himself as the servant or slave of Jesus. But in his letter to the Corinthians in today’s reading he also says he is a steward of the mysteries of God.
Once again our understanding of the English in our text is misleading – when preachers talk about stewardship we often only refer to responsible use of finances and stress the importance of tithing.
Paul was not so shallow. Lets launch out into the deep with Paul. The word that Paul used for steward is a word that describes an active person. Stewardship, the way we use it today makes me think of a scrooge-like person carefully counting up his dollars and grudgingly digging out 10% for the church.
Paul’s word described an active and conscientious manager. The steward, if she were a woman would not have been a stewardess handing out food on public transportation or serving in a household. A steward in the first century was a highly responsible person. If we were to use the term as Paul used it, we could refer to the Secretary of the U.S. treasury as a steward. The word Paul used for steward described a public treasurer, a high manager or trustee, an administrator.
What then was Paul, the slave of Jesus, steward of? What was his high responsibility for which he would be eternally accountable? With what was he entrusted? What is his administration?
Paul said his stewardship, his administration, his area of responsibility was the mysteries of God. In other writings Paul describes the mystery of God as being the Gospel, the Good News that God was not counting up our transgressions – he was entering this world in the person of Jesus Christ to reconcile the world to Himself.
To Paul mystery is that which once was hidden in the mind of God but is now revealed to the world. Paul’s responsibility was to make this Good News known. The Gospel, the Good News is that while we were lost – separated from God, a long way from our heavenly home, Christ came to lead us back to the Father. As Paul said in another place, “In the fullness of time, the proper moment, Christ died for the un-Godly.
As I reflected on the readings for today, I saw Paul’s responsibility and ours outlined in Jesus response to John the Baptist as recorded in the Gospel, Matthew chapter 11.
John the Baptist was in an awful prison and was no doubt depressed. He has his followers ask Jesus, “Are you for real? Are you the one God promised to rescue us from our enemies, or do we look for someone else.” No doubt they reminded Jesus that John was in desparate need, in a hellish prison.
John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy[b] are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.6 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”
That was the administration given to Paul – to heal the sick and announce the Good News. Paul indicates over and over that the Church is the Body of Christ in today’s world and has the same responsibilities, the same administration now as it did at the outset.
The “secret things of God” are the truths of the Christian faith, particularly as they relate to Jesus Christ and the way of salvation. The Christian leader has a place of humility but has been entrusted with the great responsibility of teaching Christ and the way of salvation.
Paul says that as servants of Christ we are “entrusted with the secret things of God.” “secret” – the word in the original language is where we get our word “mystery” In the biblical sense, it means things that were hidden at one time and have now been revealed
We understand God more thoroughly through Jesus --Jesus said, “If you have see me, you have seen the Father…” What was once hidden has now been revealed.
The most important quality of a steward is that he manages his master’s affairs so that the desires of his lord materialize. He must be faithful to that one purpose.
Think about your particular abilities and opportunities; as you identify them they help define what area of Christian ministry is yours to administrate.
It might be caring for others. It might be telling others about Jesus, or visiting a sick friend. It might be being in a Bible Study, encouraging others as they share their life with you.
It might be praying for and with the sick and infirm mentally or physically. We have an opportunity to link with a religious order that fulfills the ministry described in today’s Gospel.
We could begin an Order of St Luke here in the Cincinnti area. The Order of St. Luke has as its purpose bringing the Good News of God’s love to the sick through prayer and visitation. You might feel unqualified for such duty. But think again. All of us have the ability to listen. Even listening is important to one who is ill and feels helpless – that is the least we can do and it fits with our Lord’s direction.
The original purpose for mankind, defined and established by God in Genesis 1, was to "rule (have dominion) over all the earth." Since the word "dominion" in this case means to reign and rule, the Creator wired all humans with the capacity and natural ability to lead. God created people to reflect His image, to rule over creation, and to reproduce godly offspring. We can conclude that human beings are wired for leadership. The greatest evidence of what a product can do or is capable of its determined by the demands made on it by the one who created it. Therefore, God's requirement that we dominate is evidence that the ability to lead is inherent in every human spirit. So you must have an honest understanding of who you are, where you come from? Why you are here? What you know and what you can do.
Clarence Jordan was a man of unusual abilities and commitment. He had two Ph.D.s, one in agriculture and the other in Greek and Hebrew. He was so gifted he could have chosen to do anything he wanted. He chose to serve the poor. In the 1940s, he founded a farm in Americus, Georgia, and called it Koinonia Farm. It was a community for poor whites and poor blacks. As you might guess, the idea did not go over well in the Deep South of the 1940s. The town people tried everything to stop Clarence. They tried boycotting him, and slashing the workers’ tires when they came to town. Over and over, for fourteen years, they tried to stop him.
Finally, in 1954, the Ku Klux Klan had enough of Clarence Jordan, so they decided to get rid of him once and for all. They came one night with guns and torches and set fire to every building on Koinonia Farm but Clarence’s home, which they riddled with bullets. They chased off all the families but one black family that refused to leave. Clarence recognized the voices of the Klansmen, some of who were church people. One Klansman was a local newspaper reporter. The next day, the reporter came out to see what remained of the farm. The rubble was smoldering, but he found Clarence in the field, hoeing and planting.
“I heard the awful news,” he called to Clarence, “and I came out to do a story on the tragedy of your farm closing.” Clarence just kept on hoeing and planting. The reporter kept poking trying to get this quietly determined man to get angry. Instead of packing, Clarence was planting. Finally, the reporter said in a haughty voice, “Well, Dr. Jordan, you got two of them Ph.D.s and you’ve got fourteen years into this farm, and there’s nothing left of it at all. Just how successful do you think you’ve been?”
Clarence stopped hoeing, turned toward the reporter with his penetrating blue eyes, and said quietly but firmly, “About as successful as the cross. Sir, I don’t think you understand us. What we are about is not success but faithfulness. We’re staying. Good day.” Beginning that day, Clarence and his companions rebuilt Koinonia and the farm is going strong today (Tim Hansel, Holy Sweat, p. 188-189)
One of my concerns is our young adults who are wanting to build Christian families. All of them want a Christian family, but many of them have never seen a Christian family. They have an idea of what a Christian family is supposed to be like, but they are trying to do something that many of them have never seen. That’s not just, it is almost impossible. They need to see families that have combined Christian truth with Christian conduct. They need to be involved in a church where the leaders live out the truth of Christian families. It is absolutely necessary in our day that Christian leaders set an example of obedient truth.
We all have responsibility to be leaders, bringing the Good News to poor souls who are in despair. There will be pressures and difficulties associated with this stewardship. These are sometimes very painful and require humility and strength from the Lord to endure. We, like our Lord, will at times be despised and rejected.
The Love of Christ shows us how to handle the crosses we must sometimes bear.
The steward must have a heart of love and compassion for those he would serve. Those one brings to Christ should be able to look to the one who led them for example and imitation.
Paul did not have an easy life as a Christian – but one thing he did have was commitment. The Bible tells us how Paul suffered as a Christian: “Five times he was wiped. Three times he was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times he was shipwrecked. He spent a night and a day in the sea. He faced dangers many times – more then many of us will ever face. But he always stayed committed to Jesus – he remained faithful.
You see: The commitments we make – MAKE US.
The commitments we make – SHAPE OUR LIVES.
In our time of prayer, commit the balance of your life to our heavenly Father.
