“Jesus Is Enough”
Matthew 28:16-20
On my first Sunday here, 6 years ago, I sat in my office as some of the first people started to come into the building.
And the first Sunday in a new church for a new pastor is stressful.
I was nervous.
I didn’t know anyone and didn’t know much about this congregation.
Would I be accepted?
I guess it’s kind of like being the new kid in a school.
So, I was sitting in my office, behind my desk and the first person to come in and greet me was Janice Barker.
She came in with a great big smile, hugged me, and welcomed me to this congregation.
It was so comforting, so reassuring.
Everything was going to be all right.
Janice is no longer with us and this church has changed a lot in the past six years.
A lot of the people who were here when I got here have gone to be with Jesus—where they now see Him face to face and know Him as they are known.
And a lot of new people have come in.
We are a different church in many ways.
We have been through a lot together.
The way you embraced the food pantry, ran with it, and allowed the community to have as much ownership of it as you is no less than miraculous.
It truly is a work of God.
In the five years that the food pantry has been operating, one million pounds of food has been given away to people in our community who are struggling.
That ministry is strong, with people who are devoted to it, and it will continue until it is no longer needed, which, sadly, may be when Jesus comes again.
We made it through the pandemic.
Talk about a horrible, painful disruption that forced change upon all of us!
We lost church members, family members, and friends to that awful virus.
But even out of the ashes good things come.
We launched our preschool during the pandemic and it has been successful beyond all imagining.
It has been nominated for the best of the best three years running and has nearly one hundred and twenty children enrolled.
It hasn’t been easy doing this work.
Tough decisions have had to be made.
Change is always hard, but it’s necessary and it brings life, new life.
Beginning July 1st you will have a new pastor, Elizabeth Hamilton.
I have known Elizabeth for many years and had been praying that she would be the one appointed to follow me.
She and her family are so excited about coming to Red Bank.
Last week at the Annual Conference, Clair and I had lunch with Liz, her husband Matt, and their oldest son—Jordan.
When we were setting the lunch up, Liz said “We will have Jordan and his friend Carlie with us.”
I asked her if Carlie is Jordan’s girlfriend.
Liz replied, “No, we suspect they like each other but they will never admit it.”
Then she went on to explain, “Matt had to pick our dogs up today in Kingsport so he picked her up too.
Her home life is not great.
She’s been abused.
So, we take her places and try to pour in as much love as we can.”
That is the kind of family you have headed your way.
These are good people--committed and loving Christians living the kind of loving and self-giving lives that God calls all of us to.
I replied to Liz that what they are doing for Carlie is really awesome.
I told her “You are being Christ to her and she will never forget what you are doing.
It may just be what saves her life.”
Liz replied, “I hope we can stay connected to her.”
I said, “Me too. But she will never forget.”
As Christians we get to experience life with so many.
We are offered the opportunity to be Christ to one another, to those who, perhaps, have never experienced God’s love--the marginalized, the abused, the lonely, those who might be headed for a life of who knows what?
But those seeds of love that we sow in the lives of others might just be enough to make all the difference in the world.
And the memory of that love might be the only thing that saves them from going through with it and slitting their wrists or taking that first hit of Meth., or Crack, or whatever.
In our Gospel lesson for this morning, we find the Resurrected Christ reunited with 11 of His original disciples.
We know what happened to Judas, of course, but we also know that before Judas betrayed Christ, Jesus offered Him bread and wine and even washed His feet.
He showed us how we are to treat one another—even those who do us harm.
He also gave us the best example possible of God’s great plan for humanity—even with the disciples He picked.
At last week’s Annual Conference, Rev. Kim Goddard gave us this to think about:
“I think Jesus gave us the perfect model for how this all works.
Look at the people He chose to be His disciples.
Can you think of twelve people who would have been any different than those 12?
Matthew was a tax collector for goodness sake and he overcharged Peter and Andrew and James and John—those blue-collar fishermen every time they went to pay their taxes to Him in Capernaum.
They hated him!
And Simon the Zealot.
He was ready to overthrow the Roman Government that Matthew worked for.
Do you think they would have gone to Shoney’s for dinner after Sabbath worship?
How in the world do you pull those diverse people together?
Men and women—just bringing in the women and making them a part.
It was so different than anything that had happened before.
You never could have gotten those people together.
They never would have joined together for ANYTHING in the world—let alone give their lives to live together for three years during the ministry of Jesus.
You know, the only thing that held them together was that they believed in Jesus and I’m here to tell you what you know when you read the Gospels—Jesus was enough—enough to hold them together, enough to change them and send them out under the power of the Holy Spirit to turn the world upside down.
Oh dear God, let it happen again with us here, moving out, moving forward not because we agree on everything but because we agree on one thing, one Person, because we believe in Jesus.”
Christians have never agreed on everything, but look how the world has been changed through Christians just the same when we have stayed together focused on Jesus and not on our differences.
I think from God’s viewpoint diversity is capacity!
It’s a good thing, and one of the keys to the puzzle of life is learning not just to get along with those who think and do things different than us, but to have a deep appreciation, admiration, and love for those who are different.
So, let’s celebrate our differences and allow this polarized world to see a miracle happening in the church—a miracle that they want to be a part of.
In Revelation 7 we get a beautiful picture of heaven.
It says, “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.
And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’”
I wish each local church looked as diverse as this, but even if we can’t look this diverse, perhaps we can elicit this kind of inclusivity where we put aside all the differences and say, “Jesus is enough.”
“Jesus is all that matters.”
“Our differences pale in comparison to the great salvation, the great Savior and friend we have in Jesus Christ our Lord.”
At the end of Matthew 28 Jesus is saying goodbye to His disciples, but before He does so, He is giving them their marching orders, so to speak.
This passage is what is often called the Great Commission.
A commission is an instruction or a command given to a person or a group of people tasked with accomplishing a certain mission.
Picture a football team.
The coach draws up a play and tells each person to go to a specific place on the field and complete a certain action.
Each offensive lineman is supposed to block a certain way and create a specific hole for the running back to run through.
Each person has a job to do.
They have been commissioned for that play to complete a specific task.
In our case, the Commission comes from Jesus and is directed at His disciples, not only the first 11 disciples but the disciples of all ages—that is me and that is you—“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,” Jesus says.
“Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
There have been a lot of changes here at Red Bank United Methodist Church over the past 6 years and there have been a lot of changes in the City of Red Bank.
Our neighbors are much more diverse than they used to be.
Red Bank is now a hot spot for people coming from all over the country to live and work in the Chattanooga area.
And so, our neighbors have very different views on all kinds of things.
But no matter who you are…
…not matter where you come from…
…everyone needs hope…
…everyone needs salvation…
…and everyone needs the Communion of Saints—that is the Church—and the Church is meant to be made up of every kind of different person imaginable, all of them brought together by one thing—and that is Jesus!!!
Jesus is the only One Who can do this.
And as Rev. Kim Goddard said last week, Jesus gave us the perfect model for how all this works.
If you are as blessed as I am, you meet some amazing people along the way.
The respect I have for you all, the things I’ve learned, the good times we have had, the life experiences, doing ministry side by side has been priceless.
You people are amazing.
It’s been a very good run.
I know God has great things in store for us all.
I want you to know I love you. Thank you for being you!
For Red Bank United Methodist Church, if you live into Jesus’ great commission, the best is yet to come.
Please do it.
Please do it.
Jesus is enough.
Jesus is all we need.
