Obedience: How Far Will You Go?
Zephyr United Methodist Church
Early First United Methodist Church
April 9, 2006
Rev. Eddie Smart
Philip. 2:7-8 (NRSV)
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
8he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death--
even death on a cross.
Luke 22:39-46 (NRSV)
He came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him. 40When he reached the place, he said to them, "Pray that you may not come into the time of trial." 41Then he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, knelt down, and prayed, 42"Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done." 43Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. 44In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground. 45When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief, 46and he said to them, "Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial."
John 1:14 (NRSV)
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.
This past Thursday was a busy day in the Early church. There were people taking orders for Angel Food Ministries, there were people preparing for the garage sale, men were preparing for the concrete to be poured yesterday, and there was a meeting of district folk on the subject of church growth.
Dr. Allen Goss, my former pastor and the Director of Church Growth and Development was here telling those gathered about the many ways of establishing new churches. In his presentation he used a phrase several times which got my attention. He spoke of “strong, healthy churches,” or a “strong, healthy church.”
It started me to thinking. What constitutes a strong, healthy church? What does that mean? Is this church a strong, healthy church? Should it be? What are the characteristics of a strong, healthy church?
I later explored the internet, searching for the meaning of a “healthy church.” I found all kinds of stuff. The most interesting was the work of Rowland Croucher. He compiled a series of lists from ten different sources that he called, “What Does a Healthy Church Look Like? http://www.webedelic.com/church/healthf.htm There were lists by people I know such as: Willow Creek, Kennon Callahan, Bill Easum, Leith Anderson, and George Barna. The lists had much in common as you would expect, but they were all unique in their composition and focus.
The Kennon Callahan list came from his book, Twelve Keys to an Effective Church. So healthy must be connected to effective. Number one on Rev. Callahan’s list is “Specific, concrete missional objectives,” while Bill Easum described it as a “Clear sense of mission.” Is that us? Is it important?
In various of these lists, leadership of the church is described as strong, empowering, strategic, servant-like, and effective. There is mention of glorifying and exalting God, lay commitment, serving others, spirituality and spiritual gifts. Lots of things to think about.
If I were going to sum up all these characteristics as briefly as possible, I just might say that a healthy church is one that has the mind of Christ, the mind-set of Christ.
For a church to be healthy, it may require the radical reorientation required of individuals so that it has the mind-set of Christ.
A healthy church would need to be loving–the self-giving, self emptying kind of love shown by Jesus.
A healthy church would be a servant oriented church. It’s mission and ministry would be focused on others, being of service to others. It would be more concerned about its neighbors than itself. It would not be focused on survival.
A healthy church would surrender itself to the call of Jesus. It would deny itself, take up its cross and follow Jesus.
A healthy church would not take itself too seriously. It would not over estimate its own importance and treat others as honored guests at the table.
This week, the mind-set of Christ that we want to examine is obedience. It is an important mind-set for each of us as individuals and for the church as the Body of Christ. Paul writes, “And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death--even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:7b-8)
Jesus, following that meal in an upper room on Thursday evening, went with his disciples to the Mount of Olives as Luke describes it. He moved about a stone’s throw from them and knelt down to pray. Jesus prayed, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” In other words Jesus would be obedient even if it meant dying on a Roman cross. Jesus would do whatever God called him to do. Jesus had a choice, and Jesus chose God’s way.
Going back in time a little over 1000 years, we find the Lord saying, “I regret that I made Saul King.” In I Samuel 15 we read, “And the Lord was sorry that he had made Saul King over Israel.” Then a little farther down the word used is “reject.” The Lord regrets, is sorry and rejects Saul as King.
What on earth did Saul do? It was only at the beginning of the 10th chapter that Samuel anoints Saul as king. What happened? Well, the Lord told Saul to go into Amalek and there he and his army were to kill every living being. They were to kill every man, woman and child. They were to kill all the sheep and cattle.
Saul went and Saul killed. But King Agag, he did not kill. Saul kept all of the sheep and cattle for himself. Saul disobeyed God, and God said, “I am sorry I ever made him King.” Saul had a choice, and he chose not to obey God.
Following Jesus is not easy! To follow Jesus requires having the mind-set of Jesus. It means being obedient like Jesus. It means being obedient even when it is hard to be obedient.
James Harnish in the Lenten study we’ve been following, Living with the Mind of Christ, makes reference to a story about Will Willimon. It was when Dr. Willimon was the Dean of the Chapel at Duke University and considering the idea of newspaper advertisement for the chapel. “What,” he asked, “are we to say?” Are you happy, content, well situated? Come to the Chapel this Sunday and Jesus will relieve you of all that!...What are you doing this Sunday at eleven? Would you like to be crucified? I’m telling you if you are looking for easy answers, Jesus is not the way. If you are looking for an easy life, following Jesus is not the answer. But nothing less than following Jesus will satisfy your soul.
We think our lives are tough. Jesus was spit upon, ridiculed and beaten. He died an excruciating death on a cross. The Jewish and Roman leaders thought it was for something he had done, but it was for something that you and I would do 2000 years later. Jesus was obedient even to the point of death on a cross for you and me. Jesus was focused on things of eternal significance.
In recent weeks, I have spent a great deal of emotional energy on things that really don’t matter in the overall scheme of things. I realized yesterday afternoon that I am on the verge of being emotionally unhealthy. It was revealed in what the psychologists call “transference.” I was unloading on my perfectly innocent wife as a result of the anger I had been experiencing over issues that had absolutely nothing to do with her. As I sat in our backyard resting before mowing the easement behind the parsonage, I was reflecting on the source of my anger. I was thinking about things I have said and done recently that I regret. As I sat there in the shade and cool breeze, it hit me. I was getting all worked up over things that have no eternal value. I had wasted precious energy on things that have no eternal significance.
Jesus made it pretty clear that you and I are to focus on things of eternal value. He said, “Love God and love our neighbor.” That has eternal value. He said, “Go and make disciples.” That has eternal value. He said, “Be my witness.” That has eternal value.
Not only do those things have eternal value, Jesus said, “Do them.” Jesus didn’t say, “If you feel comfortable loving your neighbor then do it.” Jesus didn’t say, “Give only as long as you feel comfortable giving.” Jesus didn’t say, “Be my witness, if you can find the time.” Jesus didn’t say “Go and make disciples if you feel like it.” To have the mind-set of Christ means to be obedient.
Jesus calls us to reach out to the lost and the unlovable. Jesus expects you and me to do more than just pray “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” .....There will not be a better time to invite someone to worship with you than this week. You know someone who is much more likely to worship God on Easter than at any other time. Will we be obedient in making an eternal difference in the life of someone we know? Will we be obedient this very week, this Holy Week?
Dr. Leonard Sweet once said, “We are not here to make a difference in the world. We are here to make the world different.” Remember Jesus and that woman at the well. She came for water that would make a difference. Jesus gave her living water that changed her world forever. We are not here to expend ourselves on things that don’t matter in the long run. We are called to expend ourselves on things that have eternal significance–eternal value. Will we be obedient?