This past week I got a phone call from a person from the Wayne County News about providing some information to them for an upcoming article in their paper about our little church here in Winchester. The article is to focus primarily upon the history of our church, from its beginnings all the way to the current day. Everything sounded great until she asked for me to submit a picture of myself along with the article, I said, “Mam’, We want people to come to this church, not scare them away.” But I guess gruesome pictures do sell papers, so we’ll see.
But the conversation got me thinking about the history of not only Winchester but also Clara as well and there is such an amazingly rich heritage at both churches. Both were founded by men and women who were simply put…people who were on fire for God. Christians who struggled against all odds to see these two churches come to life. And as I looked at the pictures from the past, and the history of each church, I realized how much God had blessed each church, but also how that in this day and time our church now stand at a crossroads. We are at a point where we have this rich wonderful heritage in our past but at the same time we have a somewhat uncertain future ahead. We can see where we’ve been and now we stand gazing forward to where we want to be, and by all accounts it will be an uphill battle. We stand at a crossroads needing to decide how to get to where we want to be.
In our text, Moses and the children of Israel were also standing at a crossroads. Moses, the spiritual leader of these people stands talking to a new generation of Israelites who are on the east bank of the Jordan anxiously awaiting to crossover into the promised land. It had been a long hard journey and God had saw them though it, but now there lay ahead many new and equally difficult challenges. Now the question on the mind of Moses is Are they prepared to go into the promised land? Have they learned anything from their forty years of wandering in the desert or did they forget every lesson from their wilderness 101?
It’s sad when a person repeats the same mistake over and over again. A while back I was sitting at my desk at the house and I heard a loud thumping noise…I looked around and couldn’t see anything. Then Thump! I realized it was coming from the window, so I looked out side and there was this bird, flying head first into the window. A third time, full steam. Thump. And you could tell that this time the bird was a little dazed, and I thought, Surely this time the bird would realize that there is a window there but Thump! And for the next 5 minutes that’s all I heard. Not the smartest thing in the world you know. A real bird brain (sorry! couldn’t resist.)
You see, it’s one thing not to know something because of ignorance, but it’s another think to have experienced something and still not learn from it. So as they stand on the banks of the promised land waiting to go in, Moses wants to ensure that they don’t repeat the same mistakes they had made before, so Moses tells them to remember their past and learn from it.
Mistakes are a part of life and when we make those mistakes we are called to learn from them. We call that experience. When I was in Navy boot camp in Great Lakes Michigan, there was a rule that when you folded your blanket, you had to place it where the very edge of the blanket was touching the end of the bed…it couldn’t hang over nor could it be short of the edge it had to touch perfectly the end of the bed. One day I was in a rush to make my bed, and my blanket was 1/8th of an inch away from the edge of the bed, 1/8th that’s it, and because of this I was sent to intensive training for 3 nights. As everybody else slept, I was running in circles dressed in full dungarees all because of a 1/8th of an inch mistake. That may sound harsh but you know what, it served it’s purpose and to this day my blanket is always touching the end of the bed. I made a mistake, and because my company commander cared about my survival, he disciplined me and it worked.
Well, Israel made their share of mistakes. When God tried to lead them into the promised land directly after their exodus from Egypt, they showed a lack of faith and refused to enter into it out of fear, so this led to their forty years of wandering in the desert. They were spiritually immature so God sent them on a 40 year spiritual boot camp in the wilderness. The conditions were tough, and even though God was disciplining them, He still blessed them by providing for their needs. Look at Deut 8:3-4: “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” God gave them manna, heavenly bread to satisfy their hunger and then He gave quail and water, even as they were being stiff-necked and stubborn, God still cared and provided for them. Vs 4, “Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.” Could you imagine a pair of clothes lasting that long…my wife would hate that, she’d never have to go shopping again. But God like a loving Father continued to care for His people.
And even with this compassion on God’s part, the people continued to make mistake after mistake. When Moses went up the mountain, the people got Aaron to make a golden calf who they worshipped as god. When there was no water they griped, when there was no food they griped, when God gave then water and food they still griped. There were power struggles, there was sexual immorality…you name it and they did it. And after each act of disobedience, God would discipline them. Vs 5, “Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.”
As a child, my Dad coached my little league baseball team and he had a simple philosophy…you made a mistake you ran. If you made an error, you ran a lap around the field. You learned that to the Father, mistakes were forgiven, but they were still serious business. You learned from the mistakes of the past and you applied their truth to the future. So as this new generation of Israelites stands ready to enter the promised land and with it all the future promises of God, Moses wants to remind them of their past. Not so that they would once again reopen those old wounds and beat them into a senseless depression, but as a time to look back and learn.
Now the church today is not perfect. It never has been. The church is of God, but is composed of imperfect people who do imperfect things. And through out the years the Christian church has acted at times anything but Christian. With the inquisition, the dark ages, the recent sexual abuses by priest and the subsequent cover-ups. Now we can cover all these, but I want us to focus on the mistakes we have made here at this church in the recent past. I say this not so that we will pierce ourselves with many grieves, but so that we can learn from those mistakes and not make them in the future.
The first mistake I see that our church has made in the past is that we haven’t committed ourselves to the church, we haven’t developed a sense of duty when it comes to serving God in His church. Recently I spoke for a Baptist church a while back, and afterwards one of the members told me how he makes it a point to never miss a Sunday in Church. He prays every morning and the first bill he makes out is his tithe check to the church. Now normally I would say he was just blowing smoke, but I know this guy and I believe him. He does all that not necessarily because he wants to, but because he feels its out of duty to God.
You know much of life is fulfilling not your pleasures, but rather your obligations. Such as showing up on time at work even when you don’t feel like it; doing your job even when it isn’t what you wanted to do or rooting for your team when their a dismal 3-8. Doing your best, even when your tired. Life is not all about fun and games. Everybody’s enthusiasm runs out on occasion, but the real test of maturity is to keep going even when you don’t feel like doing it but you keep on because you have a sense of duty.
Now most of the time, I come to church on Sunday’s a preach because I am eager to preach and to worship God, but there are other times when I come because of a sense of duty. There are some Sunday mornings, when the fan is blowing just right, and it’s a cloudy, rainy day outside, that I just want to pull the covers back up over me and just stay home. I don’t feel like singing, or smiling and hi to everybody. There are some mornings where I feel like getting up here behind the pulpit and stare at you the same way you stare at me. “Just try to reach me.” is what many faces say, and I’m thinking, “Fine, I won’t.” But I do my darnedst because I have a calling from God, and as a Christian it is my duty to be in church every Sunday, to sing and to praise God, even when I don’t feel like it.
Now when it comes to excuses for not coming to church, I think I’ve heard them all. Now I know there are times when you are sick, or when you are out of town but at times…I’m thinking ‘Come on. Biggest excuse is that I had company. Now in the past we have cancelled the Sunday night service so that people could spend it with there families going to the park or to Hattiesburg, and to tell you the truth I think that’s a good idea. I think it wouldn’t be bad if we made Sunday night a family night and replaced our Sunday night service for a mid-week worship service. I think it would be much more beneficial. But next time you have company invite them to church. If they say no, say, “See you in an hour. Have supper ready.” And if you have to cook, make them wait an extra hour to eat. Let your friends and family know that worshipping God is important to you.
Another excuse is that either the person was out to late on Saturday night or simply slept in on Sunday morning. Now for Winchester I can see where a person might oversleep for the morning service, but the Clara service starts at 11 am. You should already be up, dressed, downed a pot of coffee, and rarin’ to go. Another excuse is that it’s to much trouble to get the kids ready. Let me ask you, do you get them ready for school on Monday morning? And another excuse is that a person is sick. I’ll never forget the time I saw a member of our church at Wal-mart on Sunday afternoon and the person told me they had missed church that morning because they were sick. I must look pretty naïve, and at times I am…but friends, God is understanding, He is forgiving and He is full of grace and compassion…but He is not a fool.
So we need to start developing that sense of duty. You do your best, you come to church, you pray each day not only because you feel like it, but because it is your duty as a Christian. When Christ went to the cross He didn’t do it because it would feel good, He did it because He knew He had to if you and I were going to be forgiven of our sins and have a home in Heaven. He knew it was His duty to die for you and me, and in spite of the pain and agony, He did it.
The second mistake we need to learn from is not to be an Exclusive and Elitist church. A number of years ago, I worked real hard to get a man in our community to come to church. He wasn’t rich, he wasn’t smart…in fact he was mentally retarded. I finally convinced him to come to church, and when he did he came full force. He showed up at my doorstep at 9 am wanting to know what he could do to get the church ready. He helped me fold the bulletins, turn on the heat and was just so anxious to be a part of this church. This went on for a couple of Sundays, and then one Sunday after church…as everybody was outside shaking hands, this man stretched his hand out and the person looked at his outstretched hand, looked at the person…and then simply walked away. I wonder if Jesus would have done the same thing? Needless to say, that man has never been back to our church since.
Christ has called His church to welcome people into His church…not to push them away. When others are refused access to Jesus by those closest to Him, the result is an empty, hollow, and I dare say, an ugly religion.
You see the wonder of the church is that no matter who the person is, or how vile that person may be, they are still welcomed here. From the small time crook to the prostitute, from the gossiper to the Rebel fan, all are welcomed here. And in the church, it doesn’t matter if a person is black or white, rich or poor, sinner or saint. In fact, it is those who this world despises, those who think they have no hope…it is these that the church needs to be reaching out to the most.
Max Lucado in one of his books tells a wonderful story about his friend Kenny. Kenny and his family had just returned from Disney World and he called Max Lucado up and said, “I saw a sight I’ll never forget I want you to know about it.”
It seems that he and his family were inside Cinderella’s castle and it was packed with kids and parents alike. Suddenly all the children rushed to one side. Had it been a boat, the castle would have tipped over. The reason…Cinderella had entered.
Cinderella. The pristine princess. Kenny said she was perfectly typecast. A gorgeous young girl with each hair in place, flawless skin, and a beaming smile. She stood waist-deep in a garden of kids, each wanting to touch and be touched.
For some reason Kenny turned, he said, and looked toward the other side of the castle. It was now vacant except for a boy maybe seven or eight years old. His age was hard to determine because of the disfigurement of his body. Dwarfed in height, face deformed, he stood watching quietly and wistfully, holding the hand of an older brother.
Don’t you know what he wanted? He wanted to be with the children. He longed to be in the middle of the kids reaching for Cinderella, calling her name. But can’t you feel his fear, fear of yet another rejection? Fear of being taunted again, mocked again? Don’t you wish Cinderella would bypass the other kids and go to him? Well guess what? She did!
She noticed the little boy. She immediately began walking in his direction. Politely but firmly inching through the crowd of children, she finally broke free. She walked quickly across the floor, knelt at eye level with the stunned little boy, and placed a kiss on his face. I doubt that boy ever forgot that kiss.
Does this story sound familiar? It should because we’ve seen it before. Change the names. Rather than a princess of Disney, consider the Prince of Peace. Rather than a boy in a castle, think about a thief on a cross, or a conniving tax collector, or a Samaritan with leprous skin, or even an adulterous woman. All were rejected by the world, but accepted by Christ. And the church, the living body of Christ must do the same.
And if you are here this morning, and you feel as if you have been rejected by the church, let me apologize to you and ask you to give us a chance to make it up to you. We want to serve Christ, and we want you to know that there is a living Savior who can cleanse even the darkest of sins. Some of you here this morning, this message has hit home. If it has, remember that the same grace extended to you on the day of your salvation is still available to cleanse and to restore. As we start this year off, if you need to make a commitment to Christ, to rededicate your life to Him and to this church, or if you don’t have a church home we’d like to invite you to join this one. As the invitation is given, if you are ready, I’ll meet you here at this altar. Come as we sing.
