When you hear the word CHURCH what is the
first thing that comes to your mind?
If someone asked you, this question what
would be your reply? “Why do you gather”
Jan 25 2015 Readings: Jonah 3: 5-10
Psalm 62, 1 Corinth 7: 29-31 Mark
1: 14-20
The very first
words of Jesus when he met Simon Peter and his brother Andrew on the shores of
the Sea of Galilee were "Follow me, I will make you a fisher of men."
Song:
“I Was Just A Fisherman” take a listen
Now I ask you to
think about this for a moment Folks, who in today’s society would drop their
livelihood and set aside their family to follow a complete stranger? Something tells me that even though these men
had not meet Jesus before, something inside of them recognized “THE”
voice. The spirit of God, was speaking
to their spirit within. It was through
the breath of life that God’s breathed His Spirit into and is housed in every
living body there ever was or will be and if we are willing, we can and often
do recognized and hear the voice of all truth.
The spirit in them not only recognized the voice, they responded in
faith by following. Song come to mind
“We Are One In The Spirit” take a listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7_wHi0PNHg
This act of faith,
to follow a complete stranger would have to be an act of full trust, then they put their faith into action. Faith you see is trusting in something we do
not fully understand. How many of us
here today have had the experience where your intuition has spoken to you, then
you have followed the nudge. If the
nudge is from the Holy you will received a blessing. On the other hand, how many of us have rejected
“THE” voice and things have turned agains us?
I don’t know about you, but I have experienced both. A
song that comes to mind is “looking for Love in All the wrong places”. I
was lookin' for love in all the wrong places
looking for love in too many faces Searchin' their eyes, lookin' for traces Of what I'm dreaming of.
As followers we
are not all called to drop our
livelihood, or leave our families to follow the Spirits leading, but we are all
called to be one in Spirit with the Lord.
To worship and serve one God only. Not a God of materialism, but the God of
service and love. To love and care for our neighbor.
In fact I believe that is one of the main reason we gather as a
community of faith, so we can learn to love and support not
only ourselves but the person sitting next to me in the pew. I often think of this very wise saying I
heard from and lady who was over 100 years old. She was in a nursing home in Shelburne, she
would say to me “I love people Sim, but I don’t always like what they say or do
and that’s OK but I love them anyway.” We don’t have to like a person, nor agree
with what they say or do but we are called to extend love to them. I believe
the reason we gather as a church community shouldn’t be because of this building,
nor because a particular preacher is leading us. We gather to be with our family, to support
one another even those we may not like and or agree with them at times. Making sure everyone is OK, that each has
enough of the basic essentials and allowing each to offer their particular
giftedness is a loving act.
As we
heard mentioned this morning in his reading, without the presence and influence
of the Holy Spirit the Church in Corinth was being undermined by the ways of
their world once again. They were
slipping back to idol worship, self-centeredness and Spiritless morality. They were falling back into their old patterns
of living, worshiping idols and the many Gods. Now in the modern church today we have a
similar problem when it comes to church buildings don’t we. It is a proven fact that if you take away the
building, many will not gather in another place. That
fact should speak to us, unfortunately people who worship a building, follow a
preacher or a particular religious demolition can be easily divided, think
about that reality folks. On the other
hand Faith filled people cannot be divided, take from them and they just become
more determined. The faithful will
continue to seek and to gather as church no matter what, no matter where. Paul reference to the Church was not in reference
to a building or its leader. Wherever
two or more are gathered, there is where we will find the church. Here, Paul rightly confirms them CHURCH, as
the gathered people. This is a major
problem within many denominations today.
Take away the building and many refuse to gathering else ware. If a church group stops gathering because they
lose their building, the building has become the icon, the idol, and it is the
building, not the Spirit that holes power over the people. This has been the case in many a pastoral
charge today especially when trying to keep and maintaining our outdated and
worn buildings.
For the people of
Corinth buildings were not there obstacle, they were struggling with religions
and who’s teachings they should follow, the Greek, Jews or the teachings of
Jesus.
Is this not the
struggles we are still having in our society today? Whom
and what do we follow, is it The POPE, a
Preacher, the Queen, a Prime Minister, a Movie star? We
are all called by God to trust and follow the Son of Man. According to our Scriptures, this is the only
person who we can put our complete trust in, as we follow him. We
are all call by God to follow, trusting Jesus to know the way. Now this brings up and interesting
controversy around the concept of trust verses belief. Many theologians accept that these two
concepts are not of the same family the same and sometimes find themselves
acting like advisories meaning against each other.
Think about this
for a moment folks. Belief is the foundation of religion but radical religious beliefs have
and are causing havoc all over the world.
Just think of the many religious wars that have been fought in the
name of Christianity. Trust on the other
hand, is the foundation of Faith. It is
faith and trust that saves, not religion, nor its rituals, nor its
beliefs. According to Jesus words,
it was their faith that made the sick
well, the lamb walk, and the blind see again.
It was Faith not belief that
healed, raised the dead, and set the captives free. Often Jesus would say YOUR Faith has made
you whole, go now and sin no more. Believing
who Jesus is, is not as important as TRUSTING IN HIS WAYS? If you can trust in his words and His way that
is where you will find the saving grace of God.
Let us Pray
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