Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

[please click on one of the items above for more information] 

============================================================

Sermons

June 2003 (click here to return to "June 2003 Sermons" page)

7th Sunday of Easter (June 1, 2003)

        “Continuing Christ’s Work”        Dr. Julie Adkins

                Texts:  John 17:6-19, Acts 1:1-11

SERMON

It’s interesting how both the passage from Acts,

            and the one we have just heard from John’s gospel,

                        deal with Christ’s leaving.

Not like those times before,

            when he was predicting his death …

We are beyond Easter now;

            he has been crucified, and raised,

                        and is now preparing to leave in a more permanent

                        and altogether different way.

Before, he was simply warning the disciples

            that he would be put to death,

                        and that this was part of the plan.

Now, he is going away for good,

            at least in an earthly sense,

                        and he must give them their marching orders

                        so that the work he has begun can continue.

I wonder if they had given that very much thought before.

In the days immediately following the crucifixion,

            before they knew that he had been raised,

                        the disciples didn’t seem too focused on keeping the message alive.

Granted that their grief and fear

            may have subdued them somewhat.

Granted that maybe, even though he had told them otherwise,

            they thought his death meant that he had been wrong.

So, why continue his work, if he had been wrong all along?

But whatever the reason,

            there doesn’t seem in that brief period of time

                        any notion surfacing among the eleven remaining disciples

                        that they should continue their master’s work.

In “Jesus Christ, Superstar”

            there is a wonderful Last Supper scene

                        in which the disciples seem to realize that the end is near,

                        and they are singing a meditative song about their adventures,

                                    part of which goes like this:

            “Always hoped that I’d be an apostle;

              Knew that I would make it if I tried …

              Then when we retire we can write the gospels,

              so they’ll all talk about us when we’ve died.”

Of course, we don’t know

            what was actually going through their minds at that moment,

                        but their subsequent actions made it clear that,

                        for them, the end of Jesus was the end, period.

After a day or so of

            fearful hiding out in the upper room,

                        they appear to have begun trickling back

                                    to their families, their old jobs, their former life.

They retired from discipleship

            as if there were nothing more to be said.

But that wasn’t what God had in mind.

Jesus mentions it occasionally and often somewhat obliquely

            before his death and resurrection,

                        like in John, chapter 17;

            but especially after all those events have happened,

                        like in Acts, chapter 1.

Though Jesus is going on, to return to God,

            his work is by no means complete.

What he began

            must be continued by his followers, in his name.

The eleven disciples who soon became twelve again …

            Paul and Silas, Luke, and Timothy …

                        and on down through time to you and me.

We have been entrusted with

            the great privilege and responsibility

                        of continuing Christ’s work.

Now, one thing that means is that

            there are certain kinds of wishful thinking

                        that are a waste of time.

It is tempting for us to think, sometimes,

            oh, if only Jesus were here, in the flesh,

                        he could tell me what to do and then I wouldn’t make a mistake.

If only Christ would return, sooner rather than later,

            he could fix everything that’s wrong with this world.

And all of that may be true,

            but it’s not the way God chose to have things work.

It does no good for us to wish

            that Jesus would come rescue us,

                        or fix all that appears to be wrong.

Now, that’s our job.

His work has become our work.

Let me hasten to add, however,

            that the very first step in the work

                        is the most important, even though it’s the least active.

The first step is to wait for the Holy Spirit.

Jesus makes that quite clear

            in his farewell to the disciples, in Acts 1.

He tells them they will receive power

            when the Holy Spirit comes upon them,

                        and then they will be able to do great things in his name.

Waiting for the Holy Spirit is essential,

            otherwise we run the risk of

                        simply doing our own thing and calling it God’s thing.

It is the Spirit who will speak to us a message from God.

The Spirit directs us

            as to how we are to continue Christ’s work.

It’s not enough for us simply to try to imitate Jesus,

            to do the exact same things he did …

                        as if we could, anyway!

What was appropriate and effective and powerful in A.D. 30

            might or might not have persuasive power in A.D. 2003!

Nor is it enough for us to use

            only our human logic and reasoning

                        to try to discern God’s will.

Those are important, to be sure,

            but they alone are not sufficient.

We must wait for a word from God.

For the Holy Spirit,

            to reveal to us what we need to know

                        and what we are called to do about it.

Now, depending on your personality type,

            you may be very comfortable with waiting,

                        or it may drive you crazy.

Whichever of those you are, though,

            it’s important to keep in mind

                        that this waiting is not passive.

It’s not just sitting on your hands, or twiddling your thumbs,

            or other such time-wasting devices,

            and saying, “Hmm, wonder if the Holy Spirit

                        is going to drop by today?”

If the lectionary editors had been a little more expansive with today’s readings,

            we would have found out exactly what the disciples did

                        after Jesus ascended into heaven and left them behind on earth.

In Acts 1:12-15, we find that they stayed in community with one another,

            and with other Christians, particularly a group of women,

                        and Jesus’ brothers,

            and they “were constantly devoting themselves to prayer.”

That seems like a real good example for us to follow.

Even if we can’t do it full-time

            in quite the same way they did.

Devoting ourselves to prayer means

            praying that the Spirit will speak to us,

            praying that we will have the courage to do what we’re told,

            praying that Christ’s work may truly be done through us.

The part about staying connected with one another is important, too.

It’s deceptively easy to mistake our own voice for God’s,

            and so we need to test what we hear with other people of faith.

We also need to receive corporate guidance

            and marching orders from the Holy Spirit.

After all, we as a group can do much more

            than any one of us as individuals.

So at times, the Holy Spirit

            may give us a group assignment

                        for carrying out God’s work together.

And what is that work?

Well, Acts talks about being “witnesses”

            as a job for which the Holy Spirit will empower us.

That’s a word that for some of us

            carries negative overtones.

We may think of Jehovah’s Witnesses

            knocking on our door on Saturday mornings.

Or people standing on the sidewalk,

            passing out religious literature to everyone who walks by,

                        without even bothering to find out who’s already a believer.

But these are only one aspect of witnessing,

            and they probably aren’t the most important.

Granted, we do need to get the word out,

            even to the ends of the earth.

And it’s especially important in these days

            when religious tensions seem to run high,

                        and some people of faith tell untruths about people of other faiths.

We have to witness to the truth we know.

But we can do that in numerous ways.

We might decide to become a missionary

            and preach the gospel in far-off lands.

Or we might decide to stay home

            and help support a missionary,

                        with money, and writing letters to them, and so on.

We might decide that there are plenty of people right here around us

            to whom we can witness,

                        and try to find ways to share our faith with our neighbors,

                                    without being pushy about it.

Keep in mind that when I say “we might decide,”

            I’m presuming that, whatever decision gets made,

                        it happens in consultation with the Holy Spirit.

On the other hand,

            there are many other ways to witness,

                        and the Spirit just might assign us one of those instead.

Feeding the hungry is a form of witness.

Visiting someone in the hospital is a kind of witness.

Teaching our children and grandchildren about the faith

            is definitely witnessing.

The way we dress is a form of witness …

            Think about the kind of arguments people in congregations have

                        about how one ought to dress to come to church.

            For some of us, “dressing up” for Sunday morning

                        witnesses to how important God is,

                        and how respectful we want to be,

                        and how we prepare ourselves carefully and thoughtfully

                                    to come into God’s presence.

            For others of us, dressing casually on Sunday morning

                        witnesses to what we believe about

                                    how God loves us just as we are,

                        and how we don’t need to pretty ourselves up,

                                    or try to be something we’re not,

                                    in order to earn God’s love.

            Both of those are important and true things about God!

How you vote is a kind of witness.

Choices you make about your lifestyle,

            and how you spend and/or save and/or give your money,

                        are all forms of witness.

Working toward the unity Christ talked about and prayed for,

            even with people whose opinions cause you grief,

                        is a powerful witness.

And believe me, without the Holy Spirit,

            this last one is impossible.

As with the disciples,

            our power comes through the Holy Spirit.

We are empowered to witness to God’s good news,

            in word and in deed.

Empowered to continue Christ’s work,

            to be his body, active on earth.

It’s a tough job …

            it’s a wonderful job.

It’s our job.

Let us call on the Spirit,

            and go forth to continue Christ’s work!

Amen.