Some things end, but are not completed. Other things are completed, but do not end. There is a world of difference between the two.
Some things end, but are not completed. Some things stop, unfinished. The tragic accident out on I-95 the other day is a reminder of this. Several lives ended in a fiery crash. But I dare say those lives were not completed. Those who died had families whom they were never able to greet. They had jobs they were never able to wrap up. They had business they were not given time to care for. It’s tragic when things end, but they are not completed.
On the other hand, some things are completed, but do not end. Some things come to the point where you know that all that can be done has been done, and what you have set in motion will not end. As the calendar pages turn for me, I’m grateful that the government years ago set up an entitlement called Social Security. The legislation was passed, the administration was created, and now it’s so set in stone that no president, no congress would dream of terminating Social Security. They didn’t do a perfect job; but what they did they completed, and now it will not end. That’s what we want, don’t we? Something that is completed, but will not end.
Each year, since January of 1987, I have asked you, on Annual Theme Sunday, to take stock of what has been completed in the work of our church, and to look ahead at what the Lord wants us to do in the year to come. Each year I have asked you to focus on what has been completed and to believe that what we have done will not end. This year is no different. This year, once again, I ask you to think about what we have accomplished together. And this year, once again, I ask you to believe that the Lord is taking us forward, and that if we trust Him, no matter what peripheral things change, He will prevail. This year I ask you to see what has been completed and to know that we are not going to celebrate an ending. We are going to celebrate a new beginning. Our gaze is going to be on the future. And our hearts and minds are going to be drawn into one accord. I hope you can celebrate this with me; because some things end, but are not completed, and that’s tragic. But other things are completed, but do not end, and that is glorious.
I
First, let’s look at what we have done. Let’s focus on what has been completed. But with a twist, with a difference. Let’s look at the kinds of things that the apostle Paul said he had accomplished in his own life. These things that Paul cited are very similar to some of the things we have done as a church. But Paul sort of dismissed these attainments, and maybe that means there are some questions we need to raise too. What have we completed, and what does it mean? You might want to open up to Philippians 3:5-6 and follow with me. It’s quite a list. What does Paul say he has to brag about?
“Circumcised the eighth day” That means his parents put him through the ritual that made him officially a part of the people of Israel. He didn’t exercise faith, he didn’t make any decision. He was eight days old, for goodness’ sake. But he was ushered into God’s chosen people by the ritual. Over the more than seventeen years I have served as pastor and the nearly twenty years I have been preaching here, I estimate that we have brought in to church membership somewhere between three and four hundred people. Some came by baptism, some transferred from other churches, others were received on the basis of their statement of faith. Three to four hundred people; for an older church in an urban setting, that’s not bad. That is something we could boast about – except that all too many of those persons we do not see and cannot even find today! So while we might like to boast in numerical achievement, that’s rubbish. Let’s try something else.
Paul says that he could have, if he wanted to, brag not only about being circumcised the eighth day, but also about being a member of the people of Israel. Israel thought of itself as God’s special folks. Israel was proud that she alone had God chosen out of all the nations. And we here at Takoma like to talk about how special we are, how unique. We like to say that there is no church quite like ours, where blacks and whites, men and women, young and old, rich and poor, Ph.D’s and Law-dies all mingle. That is something we could boast about – except that we’ve been seeing certain kinds of folks distance from us. We’ve been feeling the pinch of aging, and the mix is not as rich as it once was. So while we might like to boast in feeling special, that’s rubbish. Let’s try something else.
Next Paul says that, well, he was not only circumcised, and not only a member of the chosen people, but he was also in the tribe of Benjamin. He was in the upper crust, the elite. He was in Israel-plus, the distinguished tribe of Benjamin. And we here at Takoma are pretty clear that we are real Baptists. Our tribe has that Baptist spirit of independence, doing our own thing. We are not like our Catholic brothers and sisters, who are expected to pay, pray, and obey. We are very sure of our opinions, and even if they are wrong, we have a right to them! We are very individualistic, and are quick to fulfill that little saying that where you have three Baptists in a room there will be at least four opinions. This tribe of Baptists is opinionated and individualistic, and we boast about that – except that too many things remain unfinished just because somebody is opposed, or somebody else is indifferent, or somebody else wants to wield power. So while we might like to boast in our Benjamin Baptist individualism, that is rubbish too. Is there anything else we can boast about? Is there anything else we have done?
I shall not elaborate the rest. I shall only point you to the other brownie points Paul says he piled up, and ask you whether our church has the same kind of record. “A Hebrew born of Hebrews” – worshiping tradition, stuck in one way of seeing things. Is that us? “As to the law, a Pharisee” – scrupulous about little things, but, according to Jesus, neglecting the greater things, like justice, love, and mercy. Is Takoma guilty of majoring on the minors, like how long the Sunday service lasts and whether the children are docile, and then of downplaying the real stuff, like serving others in need and sharing the Gospel? Is that possible? I leave it to you to decide. I will only point you to this – that Paul understood that all he had attained, all he had accomplished, he now was ready to consign to the rubbish heap. He was ready to set it all aside, because there was one overriding desire, there was one overwhelming need – and that was to know Christ personally and to experience His power. To know Christ personally and to experience His redemptive power. Everything else was rubbish by comparison, and Paul knew that he had to keep his eyes on the prize of knowing Christ.
II
A few weeks ago we examined the purpose-driven life. We spoke of how we are – do you remember? – planned for God’s pleasure, we are formed for God’s family, we are created to be like Christ, we are shaped for serving God, and we are made for a mission. Do you remember those things?
Well, the purposes God has in mind for our lives are the purposes He has at His heart for His church as well. His church is to engage in worship, His church is to be family, His church is to train. And God’s church is to serve the needs of the last, the least, the lost, and the lonely, ultimately, pointing others to Christ and winning them, heart and mind and soul and strength, to Christ. Everything that we do, from publishing bulletins to plastering walls, from hiring staff to eating annual meeting dinners – everything ought to contribute to the aim of knowing Christ and experiencing His power. If it does not do that, it is rubbish. It should be set aside if it does not keep our eyes on the prize.
Over the years, many new proposals have been brought forward. I brought some; other staff members brought some; and many you have generated yourselves. We’ve talked about so much. We wanted to create a professional level family ministry. We worked to organize a social services corporation. We’ve asked how our properties could be rebuilt so that the most vulnerable in our community could be accommodated. We’ve talked for years about starting a second worship service. Some of these things we have accomplished; others we are still working on; and still others have been rejected or forgotten. Some things we have completed; some things we have not completed; and other things we have put on the rubbish pile and have decided we will not do.
This is not the time nor is it the place for me to catalog all that. As I have already said, there are many things we could boast about, but there are questions, and so we’d better not proceed with that. But neither is this the time to blame ourselves about what we have not accomplished. This is a time to look forward. This is a time to press on. This is a time, as Paul says, to forget about what lies behind and to strain forward toward the goal. This is a time steadfastly to put our eyes on the prize of the call of God in Christ Jesus and to become what God is calling us to become. This is a time to consign to the rubbish heap things that we may have depended on in the past, and to live in sheer, audacious faith in the Christ who brought us together and who will lead us forward.
I like to think that every proposal and every decision I have made over these years has been intended for the good of the church and for the advancement of the cause of Christ. I like to think that what I have suggested and what I have invested in personally has not been for my own comfort or security. If I am wrong about that, God will judge, and you will too, and I will accept those judgments. So in the same way, now, I have made a decision that I believe to be in the best interests of the church. I have submitted to the Diaconate and other appropriate officers notice of my intention to retire from this pastorate, effective a little more than six months from now.
At the meeting to follow our worship service I will interpret this decision. I need to share with you all that is involved in it. But I can give you the short version right now. Like nearly every message I have preached here, it has three points. One, I am retiring because the calendar dictates it – I will be sixty-six years old in about two more weeks. Two, I am retiring because I feel called to invest my energies in other pursuits, pursuits that I have had to neglect because of the demands of this pastorate. I am not retiring from the ministry, I am not turning in my ordination papers; I am just moving on – straining forward to what lies ahead, pressing on toward the goal.
And third, I am retiring because I believe this church is ready for different leadership. I believe that although we have come together a mighty long way, that we have come far from the conflict you experienced twenty years ago, with no divisions, with only a few bumps in the road – I believe that your future will be best served by different leadership. And so, let us thank God, that your needs and my age – and it was no accident that I talked about Social Security at the beginning of this message – let us thank God that your needs and my age come together at the right time. We can begin today to celebrate the prize of the high calling of God, focused on knowing Christ and knowing His power. For I am confident – now you know why I have had you memorizing this verse – I am confident that the one who began a good work among us will bring to completion – to what? To completion, not to an ending, to a completion, by the day of Christ Jesus.
III
Now out of my heart and on the basis of the Scripture I have always tried to preach, there is one more thing to be said, one more matter to be dealt with. And that is relationships. Love. The bond between pastor and people. Paul, my mentor, the Biblical figure with whom I feel the most affinity – and, by the way, brother Paul has been invited to visit you for my next-to-last sermon this summer – Paul my mentor says to the Philippians, whom he has had to leave, “Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.”
The apostle has had to scold and admonish his people. He has also had to separate from them. But he tells them he loves them – twice in one sentence he tells them he loves them – and then he asks them to stand firm in the Lord.
Margaret and I love you. You are our friends. We have done very little other than Takoma stuff over these years. We will miss doing all those things, though we know that it is God’s call for us to press on. But that separation does not diminish our love for you, and, we trust, it will not dim your love for us. You have accorded both of us the most incomparable privileges known to human beings. You have welcomed us into your joy when your babies have been born; we have embraced one another when you have struggled with illness. We have laughed with you at wedding receptions and have wept with you when we had to stand at gravesides and say farewell. Margaret and I will always care for you and love you. For us, this is not an ending, but it is a completion. For us, this is not a termination, but it is the beginning of the next phase of our lives. Most of all, this is not an abandonment, where we leave you to the wolves of winter; this is holding our eyes to the prize, wanting to know Christ and what He has in mind for us. All I can say is, “make my joy complete.” Philippians 2:2, our other key verse, “Make my joy complete; be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” Make my joy complete. Stand firm in the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, if there has been in all that we have done together over these years, anything true, anything honorable, anything excellent, anything worthy of praise, think on these things, and do them. Complete them. Complete the vision for this congregation as a reconciling people. Complete the vision for this church to have facilities that work. Complete the vision for this congregation to include all races, all sorts and conditions of people. Complete the vision for this church to teach diligently, and to refuse shoddy imitations of the Gospel. Complete and do not merely end all we have undertaken.
And if some of it is rubbish, because we have been too proud of it, very well. Let it be rubbish. But let us stand on the rubbish heap of past accomplishments, standing high where we can see the future to which Christ calls us. Let us stand on the rubbish heap of all the things we have done, some of which failed or were misunderstood or were lost by the wayside, and let us focus again on the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
Stand firm, but sit loose to the rubbishes of pride in our past, and know Christ and the power of His resurrection. Stand firm on that.
Stand firm, but sit loose to the rubbishes of depending on a familiar voice preaching from this pulpit, and learn to know Christ from different voices, with new accents. Stand firm on that.
Stand firm, but sit loose to the rubbishes of thinking that what started in the LaRue era, what grew to great strength in the Baucom era, what moved you in the Scurlock era, what excited you in the Gillespie era, what focused you in the Helton era, what encouraged you in the Smith era, will not change. Change it must. But it is a completion and not an ending. Stand firm on that.
For do not forget that when Christ Jesus gave His life for us, He was crucified not in a nice warm cathedral between two candles, but on a town rubbish heap between two sinners. That is where He was then; that is where He is now; and that is where He will always be. Standing on the rubbishes, keep your eyes on the prize. I am confident that the one who began a good work among us will bring it to completion by Christ Jesus, my joy, my crown, my beloved. Now will you make my joy complete?
