What Holds us Together?

Third Sunday of Epiphany January 23, 2011 1 Corinthians 1: 10-18 Matthew 4:12-23 Year A Mission statement of each church………. Mission and Purpose Mission and purpose, that is our focus for the next two months. What is our mission and purpose for being here, what has God bothered to call all of us here for, and are we going to follow God, or stay stuck in our excuses for why that it not possible? There is nothing wrong with the mission, that mission always stays the same. But there are always reason why we are not living up to it. Paul goes over those reason for Corinth, but it doesn’t help for us to listen in, to see if in some small way- those things still are present today. What you do the the least of these you do to Christ Mr Smith tried an experiment with his social studies class – he invited each person to draw a picture of their enemy, when they were finished, she invited them to they could tack it up and throw darts at it. Sally had the perfect picture, she took her time and drew a picture of Mr. Smith. She got every detail just right, down to his pimples. She hated him and she wanted him to know it. This was her chance. Each child got their chance to stand in line and to throw their darts at the person they hated the most. Some of the children were so angry that they destroyed their pictures. And there were times when it was really hard to pull the darts out, but for some reason halfway through the line of children, Mr. Smith stopped the game. Two persons aways from her time, Sally was stopped, she would not get her turn to through the darts, this made her even madder. But Mr Smith pulled the darts away, and all of the pictures of enemies away. And behind it all was a picture of Jesus (this must have been a catholic school). Jesus on the cross, his chest nearly torn away from all of the puncture holes. Each time one of the students threw a dart at their enemy, they were also throwing a dart into the heart of Jesus. Jesus last words to his disciples were to feed my sheep. Take care of the things that Jesus cared for. At some point he also told that that what they do the least of these you do to me. We tend to think of that advice in a positive way. When we feed and take care of others, we take care of Jesus. But when we hurt one another, when we speak even of one another, what we do to our enemies, we also do to Jesus. Jesus takes a lot of punishment from our evil ways…. Paul’s first lesson to the church Paul is talking to the Corinthian church, reminding them of their mission and purpose and revealing to them what stands in the way of them living out their mission and purpose. The first thing that he addresses if their disunity. We don’t have that problem here, but he tells them that there are different factions in the church. Each evangelist that came to the church bought new people into the church. Instead of joining the church, those people were following a pastor. So some people were loyal to appollos, some loyal to peter, some to paul. It never occurred to them to be think about all of the other people in the church. That they were members of the church, not of a time in its history. It doesn’t matter when or how we joined the church, we are all the body of Christ. There is only one church, the church of jesus Christ. He asks if we are on such different pages, can Christ be divided? Trick question – because apparently he can – if we are separated and living in disagreement. Christ shouldn’t be separated, but when we disagree with one another – he is. We don’t have to like one another, but we do have to love Jesus. And if we really love Jesus, then there is no reason for us to hate one another. What we do to the least of these – we also do the Christ. The beginning of the Christian community in Matthew 4 Church should be a united community of people are who holy and set apart, sacred and important, called out for a purpose. The purpose is to love Jesus above all else. To leave everything else behind and to follow jesus . Matthew 4 shows us that being called out is the beginning of community. We know that John was in the desert baptizing people and telling them to repent for the kingdom of God was near. Many people think that Jesus started out as a disciple of John. And when he found out that John had been thrown in jail, he knew that he had to take over the job. He went throughout the countryside with the same message, repent, for the kingdom of God is near. But he had another message in addition to calling people, he asked them to follow me. He wanted them to be clear that the only path to the kingdom was to follow. He moved to Capernaum, a fishing town on the sea of gallilee and gave that invitation to perfect strangers. Simon, Peter, James, John. No one knows what they saw in jesus. Why they gave up job, family, tradition, pride and everything else. And they accepted that invitation to become a part of community, the body of Christ. Why do any of us accept that invitation to discipleship? What is it that any of us see in Jesus – salvation, healing, reconciliation, repentance, love, peace, joy. Whatever it is what we do see if that becoming a disciple requires a intentional decision. When we accept that invitation to follow me, we enter into a community, we will never walk alone. We may not like the people we walk with, but once we give up our lives, and we accept that invititation, we are a part of a special community called to reach out and make disciples of others – our mission and purpose. Either we make it to heaven together as the body of Christ, or we goto hell together as we pull each other down with our disagreements and misunderstandings. What we say about one another is a reflection of ourselves. Paul says that we should be united with one another in the same mind and the same purpose in the name of the lord Jesus Christ. Alaha means unity Lately I have been reading several books on the meaning of the Jesus words in his original language. Jesus didn’t write anything down, and the words of what happened were not written until hundreds of years after he died. Jesus would have spoke Aramaic as he went throughout the countryside preaching the good news. Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, are very similar languages, but not quite the same. The Hebrew word for god is elohim which means the one that is also many, Arabic – allah, aramiaic is alaha. But heres what is interesting – guess what alaha means. It means unity. Alaha is the one who cannot be separated, or divided, who is all things all people at the same time. Alaha is the sacred unity which is beyond names, forms, ideas, symbols, and concepts. In Aramiaic, blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God means – ripe are the consistent in heart; they shall see sacred unity in all things. Have faith in God means remain within yourselves, - live in a place of rooted confidence in sacred unity. Can the church be divided? Not if it understands the sacred unity of god and the presence of god in all things. Keep the Bull out of the pasture Louie Newton was a Baptist preacher a generation ago. He used to answer all of his mail with a handwritten letter. Right before he was about to retire, he wrote two letters. One to a church that was so deeply divided that it was about to split, he gave intention instructions about what they needed to do to heal their differences. And the other was to the caretaker of his farm who was having trouble with a bull. By the grace of god when he was ready to mail the letters, he put them in the wrong envelopes. The caretaker, for the reconciliation instructions. The church council met to open this short note – close the gate and keep the bull out of the pasture. At first they were puzzled at what that had to do with all of their problems. Then the light went on in one church leaders head – I get it – the bull is the devil. We have been letting him run free in our lives. He has been running free in our church and destroying the flock. We need to keep the devil out and let Christ rule his pasture. Made sense to everybody – and they prayed for strength to live a more holy life. Do we live out the characteristics of God? Are disrespect, disregard, and an unwillingness to understand the needs of others the characteristics of a God who is the one which encompasses all things, who is sacred unity, above division? Can Christ really be divided? I don’t know. All things encompasses both the good and the bad in life and in people. What I do know is Paul’s words, is that when we are divided as the church, we empty the cross of its power. When we have our own agendas, our own clicks, our own opinions, God is thinking of us, but are we thinking of God? For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. Let us pray……