Broadway Christian Church - Columbia , Missouri

Morning Worship - September 12, 2004

Prayer of the Day

Lord, we are here together in order to praise you.  Through prayer and song, through bread and fruit of the vine, let us know that Christ is among us.  As we attend to your Word, may we hear your voice speaking to us.  Amen.

Scripture
I Peter 1:17-23

Since you call on a God who judges each person’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.  For you know that it was not with perishable things such as gold and silver that you were redeemed from an empty way of life handed down to you by your fore bearers, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.  He was chosen before the creation of the world, but revealed in these last times for your sake.  Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

Now that you have purified yourself by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers and sisters, love one another deeply, from the heart.  For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

Message
Living Close to the House
Rick Frost

The sermon title printed in your bulletin is correct: “Living Close to the House.”  Sometimes we preachers get a little carried away with sermon titles.  My friends Ray and Virginia use to say they would come to church, and the first thing they would do was to open the bulletin to see what the title was and wonder, “What in the world he’s going to do with that today?”

It’s fun to be a bit clever now and then, but I have a very low opinion about anything in the church that is misleading.  Stories about sermon titles abound.  There is one I heard about, “Eating Soup with an Ax.”  Assuming the spelling of the last word was correct, I have no idea what that sermon was about.  I heard one Sunday sermon was entitled, “What’s Under the Bed Sheet?”  Boy, that got a crowd.  As the minister climbed into the pulpit, two deacons pulled out this chalkboard covered with a sheet.  They lifted the sheet, and of course, the people saw the outline of the sermon.  There were a lot of deceived and disappointed people in church that day.

We have to be careful in what we do to get people’s attention.  Attention getters are good, but they have to be appropriate.

My favorite sermon title story has been around for a long, long time.  It has been done for years.  I’ve heard it done several times.  A church newsletter advertises on this particular Sunday the focus of the sermon will be, “The Member of This Church I Would Most Like to See in Hell.”  That gets a crowd, too; let me tell you.  A friend of mine remembers in his little home church in a little tiny town when he was a boy the preacher actually did this.  People came to church, who had never been to church before.  Everyone was excited.  He and his little Sunday School friends found a little place left on the back pew.  They were very eager, like everyone else, to hear what the minister would say in naming the person he wanted to see in hell.  When he finally called the name, it turned out to be the boys’ Sunday School teacher.  There was a “Yessss” on the back row.  Then the preacher went on to say he wanted to see this particular teacher in hell, because she was such a saint for putting up with those boys.  He figured in two weeks time she would have hell converted.  We have Sunday School teaches like that.  It’s a nice compliment, but people who came to church that day were expecting something else.  We have to be careful.

I thought about calling this sermon “Living on the Edge,” but that tends to feed into today’s fascination with living dangerously.  All this “Survivor” stuff… All these extreme sports… living dangerously… that sort of thing…  I know some people do live on the edge.  They like to flirt with danger.  They like the adrenalin rush.  Lord knows; we all hate to be bored.  Boredom has rightly been called the greatest sin in the world.  I think that’s true.  Boredom.  But to drive an automobile out of control… To pass when it says not to pass… To play a game of chicken by driving the car toward another one until we see how swerves first… That is testing God.

I didn’t buy it when Evel Knievel would say he prayed to God to take care of him before he jumped his motorcycle over the ravines and the buses.  No. No.  There is a huge difference between testing God and trusting God.  You know that, don’t you?

When the evil one took Jesus up to the top of the temple on the roof and said, “Go ahead.  Jump.  If you are the Son of God, the angels of God will take care of you.  You’ll just float down like a feather.”  You remember what Jesus said, don’t you?  “Do not put God to the test.”

There is nothing about dangerous living in our text today.  The early Christians read this letter the first time when it was addressed to them by Peter, an apostle of Jesus, probably written in the hand of Silas.  Those folks already knew what danger was.  They knew what suffering was about.  They didn’t have to go out looking for it.  It just came to them.  The deeper our commitment to Jesus Christ, the deeper we get cut by the words and the actions of others.  You know that.  They didn’t have to go out looking for the cross.  They knew it would find them.

Some people, today, live close to the edge – close to the edge of morally questionable behavior.  You know that.  Some person trying to explain to a spouse later, “We didn’t intend for it to happen.  We were just friends.  We worked together.  We went out to lunch.  One thing led to another.  It just happened.”

A teen is out camping with friends.  Gets invited to smoke a little pot, have a few drinks, girls and guys together.  One thing leads to another.  They know it’s against the law.  But sometimes, without counting the cost, they get very close to the edge.

So I didn’t call this sermon “Living on the Edge.”  There’s nothing in First Peter to suggest that kind of behavior.  What the scholars say is that First Peter is a baptismal sermon.  It was originally a sermon given at the baptism of young Christians.  New Christians – people who somewhere along the line – heard the invitation of Jesus that if they wanted, they could receive a new life.  Like a lot of us in this room, they were baptized somewhere along the line, and they decided to move from an old way of living to a new way of living. 

In the early church, they came out of the waters, and the people of the church served them milk and honey.  Did you know that?  That’s what they did.  Signs and symbols of the Promised Land, that new home they had in Christ, that new direction, that new way, that new leader of their life.  Peter says to them, “This, for you who are newly baptized, is your time of exile.  You are resident aliens here.  You are strangers living in a strange land.”  Verse 17: “…live your lives as strangers here…”  In other words, to be baptized means you are not really at home here any more.  It literally says, “Those who are baptized are still living outside the house.  Close to the house, but not yet in the house.”  Isn’t that interesting?  That’s what Christians mean when they say, “We live on the edge.”

What does it mean?  Well, I’ll tell you what it doesn’t mean.  It doesn’t mean we form these nice, tight-knit little fellowships of Christians and become these little cults.  That is really bothering me about Christians in this land right now.  You know, people who say, “Since I’ve been baptized, and I’m a believer in Jesus, I’m giving up on my former friends.  I’m giving up on my family.  I’m dropping out of society.  I completely separate myself from the world.”  I know some folks, and you know some folks who were brought up in families so strict, because they believed somehow they had to show the world they were completely different because they were Christians.  Those poor kids.  They couldn’t do their hair.  They couldn’t wear clothes the other kids wore.  They came to school looking like their grandmothers and their grandfathers.  These poor kids.  It was so painful for them.  And they still aren’t over it, some of them.  They won’t step foot inside a church.  That’s not what First Peter is saying.  It doesn’t say that at all.

Still there are others who, once they have been baptized, believed they have been saved.  It is a done deal.  “There is nothing else I have to worry about between now and eternity.”  They don’t think they have any responsibility whatsoever towards the world.  These people don’t vote.  They don’t take care of the environment.  They don’t get involved in politics.  They don’t contribute to anything.  They don’t go to church.  They don’t care about anything.  “What’s there to care about?  What’s it to me what’s going on in Sudan, or Iraq, or St. Louis, or Columbia, or anywhere else?  I’m saved.  This is not my world.  This is not my responsibility.  I’m a resident alien, just passing through.”  That’s not quite what First Peter says.

According to First Peter, the baptized are, in fact, heading for their true home, the Promised Land, the Land of Milk and Honey.  But it also says that when you are baptized you are supposed to go back.  Back to where you have been.  Back to where your friends are, where your family is, where you work, obey the law, live with your spouse, pay your debts, commit no acts of violence, and be the very best citizen in town.  Did you know that?  First Peter says, “Don’t leave your school.  Don’t leave your family.  Don’t leave your friends or where you work.  Go back and live your baptism among them.”  That’s what living close to the house means.  Close to the edge.

Now here’s the problem.  It’s clear.  It’s obvious.  The baptized speak, “How do we go back?  How do we go back to the families, to the schools where we were, to our circle of friends?  How in the world are we going to keep the commitments we’ve made back in those environments?  What’s going to keep us from just getting absorbed into the same old stuff, the same old values, prejudices, and behaviors?” 

Culture is a powerful thing.  Everybody wants to be like his or her friends.  That’s not just teenagers.  One of the deepest instincts in the human heart is we want to get the approval of our friends and our neighbors.  What’s to prevent us from just falling right back into the same old stuff?  Folks, it’s hard.  It’s not easy.  Even in the best of families, it is hard. 

A teen or an adult decides to be baptized.  It’s an amazing thing.  They go home, and the very next Sunday it’s a pretty day.  It’s a rainy day.  It’s a holiday.  It’s any kind of day.  Any kind of reason and somebody says, “Why don’t we get a picnic and go to the lake?”  Do you think that newly-baptized person is going to say, “Well, you know, it’s Sunday.  I’m suppose to be at the Lord’s table on Sunday.”  That’s a heck of a lot of pressure on a new Christian.  Some of the most important people in your world, and you’re suppose to cut across the grain and say, “Well, you know, I can’t go, because I’m suppose to be at the table today.”  And that’s just dealing with Sunday morning kind of stuff.  You know the difficulty, the challenges.  They get bigger, much bigger than that. 

So what’s to prevent the baptized Christian from falling back – so far back that you can’t tell any difference between them and anybody else that’s out there?  I’m going to name four things for you today.  We know these things actually help.

1.      Scripture.  Isn’t that a surprise?  Read the Scriptures regularly.  I’m so thrilled some of you are in serious Bible study.  That is fantastic.  Those folks are going to be so amazed at what they find there.  But if you are not in a serious Bible study right now, and you don’t know where to start, I’m going to suggest you turn to the gospel of Luke.  Don’t do Lamentations.  Stay away from Nehemiah and Obadiah.  Turn to the gospel of Luke and just start reading until you can’t read any more.  Listen.  Just listen to what the words say.  The gospel of Luke will speak to you if you will listen to it.  It really will.  Read the Scriptures regularly.  It will help you.

2.      Prayer.  Spend time every day praying.  What are you going to pray for?  Let’s start with you.  Let’s pray for ourselves.  We’re invited, encouraged, in Scripture to pray for what we need and for life and salvation every single day.  Pray for you.  Pray for your family.  Pray for your friends.  Pray for this world.  Oh, my gosh!  You’ll be amazed at what happens, because we know that when we pray, things change.  Did you know that?

3.      Worship.  Worship regularly.  Attend church.  I’m preaching to the choir now, aren’t I?  Worship regularly.  Most of the people in this room worship regularly.  But one out of two Broadway folks do not.  Do you know what many of us think is the strongest moral force in this society?  Worship.  Did you know that?  I do not believe that a person, who truly worships God, comes to the Lord’s table, leaves that table, can then go out and do some of the things that are happening in the world today.  One just can’t do that.  Worship regularly.

4.      Give.  Give generously.  I know some of you don’t have a lot of money to hand out.  But I am going to ask you, nevertheless, everyone single one of us, to give a part of our money.  When we give it, say in giving it, “I want to please God with this, whatever it is.  I want to help with God’s work in the world with this.  I want to help someone who is hurting or someone who is hungry with this.  I want to help.”  Give generously.  You will not believe what begins happening in your life if you will do that.

There are other things.  I don’t have time to name them right now.  But there are things that strengthen, that help us stand on solid ground when we are out and about in the real world, when we’re back at school, when we’re at work tomorrow, when we go home and be with our families. 

Once last thing I want you to know about.  Did you know every Monday morning I make a list on my little yellow legal pad that I’ve had for how many years, and all of you that I know who are sick, and who are bereaved, and how are hurting, I make a list of your names?  I pray for you every single day.  Did you know that? 

And our staff.  We get together every Monday morning, and we pray for each other, and we pray out loud for the ministry of this church, and we pray for you.

And Kim spends one entire day every single month praying for you and for our world.  We’ve talked about this. 

I’m going to the elders meeting the next time it meets, and I’m going to ask them, if they are not already doing so, if they will pray regularly, indeed, every day for each person in their shepherding group by name.  Every elder has about 15 families in this church.  I’m going to ask them to pray every day for those persons.  You know what?  It won’t be long before almost everybody here is going to be prayed for every day.  They are going to be mentioned by name every day.  Everyone will be named asking God to bless each and every one every day.  Won’t that be something? 

Will that be enough for you?  Do you think that will hold the people of God until we have the opportunity to drink the milk and eat the honey?  I think it’s enough.  It’s enough for me.

And we all say together… “Amen.”

Benediction

Restoring One, you make us new every dawn.  You have brought us to your breast with an embrace that tells us we are home.  Draw us closer to you still when we feel exiled and alone, for it is you who completes us now and forevermore.  Amen.