The Future As A Horizon of Promise
For some of us it may be difficult to believe that it was nine years ago, on the third Sunday of October, October 21, 2001 to be precise, that we held the first worship service in this sanctuary. Since that time BBC has continued to change – our worship, mission, ministry, caring, fellowship, assimilation of people, staff, and outreach to the community have all continued to develop. A church should never be standing still or in neutral. We are to be moving relentlessly into God’s future.
October 17, 2010: Revelation 21:1-5, The Future As A Horizon of Promise
Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
In my sermon that morning in 2001 I described the background of the four grills over the organ speakers and part of what I said about the ship was:
“The Ship is a symbol of the church and it is a reminder that following Jesus involves being part of a community. On a ship or in a church, we are all in the same boat, even if that isn’t proper naval terminology. We are fellow passengers and we share whatever comes together. A ship also requires the cooperation of a number of people in order to be operated successfully. In the same way, the Apostle Paul writes that there are many kinds of spiritual gifts and abilities in the body of Christ which is the church. Jesus may be the pilot of the ship but he needs a capable and committed crew. There are many jobs on an old ship including rowers, those who work the sails, swab the deck, or make the meals. The ship reminds us we do not follow Jesus alone but as part of a community of faith in which each of us has spiritual gifts to share in service to glorify God and help the ship of Christ to move forward. The full sail of the boat and the bow plowing through the water remind us that boats are not meant to be tied up at dock, they are made to move through water and sometimes that means the boat will be rocked. However, as long as Jesus is leading us forward in his mission, the movement will be for the sake of taking the church where it needs to go.” Ships are always sailing toward the horizon because of the promise of what lies ahead – whether exploration or trade or home – the same is true of the church.
The church is made to move toward the horizon of God’s promise, each of us as a follower of Jesus is made to move forward toward the future God has for us. At BBC, our leadership is engaged right now in a Long Range planning process as we seek to discern the next steps God wants us to take using our gifts, exerting our energy, investing our resources, and deploying our staff and volunteers. It will be exciting to see what emerges. We are blessed to be part of church that is not struggling merely to survive, rather we are thriving and we are being used by God to touch many lives.
Twenty years ago BBC was a nice, small, country church with less than 200 people. The church experience of many people who attend BBC even today has mostly been in smaller churches of 200 or less in worship. We are now a large church averaging over 480 people in worship. That places BBC in the top 5% of churches in the USA in worship attendance. Large churches are very different from small or medium size churches in significant ways.
One difference between a small and large church is the number of people one knows face-to-face. In a small church one can know everyone or almost everyone. In a large church one knows only some people. We need to become comfortable with that. Lyle Schaller, one of the best known church consultants in the US and the author of dozens of books, wrote 30 years ago that the best way to understand a large-church is as “a congregation of congregations.” I have heard comments now and then about BBC “not being one congregation” and the need to “get the people from the two services together” or “provide opportunities for people to interact between services.” These are nice things to do, but we shouldn’t think that a few adult classes or having refreshments or food between worship services or some concerts or suppers will bridge the gap and help everyone to know everyone. It simply isn’t possible. You can only know so many people.
The truth is no large church is a single congregation. Large churches are a congregation of congregations with multiple worship services, more than one pastor, and many ministries and groups. Once we can truly grasp, understand, and accept that truth, I think it will help people relax and realize that it is not a fault or a problem that we are a congregation of congregations – that’s just what a large church is, period. This isn’t something that has to be solved or fixed – it is the norm. It is to be expected. It’s the way it’s supposed to be. Studies confirm that the average church member can call approximately 60 people by first name, regardless of the size of the church. Given this fact, a person’s involvement with other people in a church like ours has little to do with church size but a lot to do with the size of the class or group in which he or she becomes involved. For maximum care of its people, a larger church needs many small groups ranging in size from 3 to 20 people so that people can get to know one another at a deeper level. That is why we have so many men’s and women’s groups of all kinds meeting at different times as well as a mom’s and a widow’s group, a group for those in their twenties, groups that are gathered around an affinity like singing, sewing, softball, knitting or making a garden. There are groups that learn others that do work and groups that exist primarily for fellowship. The principle is “To grow large we have to grow small.”
As we pray and plan for the future we will need to employ thinking, objectives, and strategies appropriate for a large church because that is what BBC is in 2010. Regardless of the size of a church, we know it is God’s will for every church to grow and make disciples of Jesus. It is not God’s will for a church to be in decline or on a plateau. The church is always to be on the move.
When you read the Bible you see it is the story of the movement of God and God’s people toward the future as a horizon of promise. The Hebrews passage Pastor Dave read for us described how those who preceded us in the faith lived their lives moving toward a heavenly destination. Paul wrote in Philippians 3:13-14 about how he was straining forward like a runner toward God’s heavenly future. “Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”
In Revelation 21:1-5, John in his vision saw a promising future:
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.”
5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
The church is a pilgrim people moving from an old age of frustration to a new age of fulfillment; from bondage in the past to God’s intention for us in the future. When I say the church is a pilgrim people I don’t mean we wear black and white hats or bonnets and buckle shoes. We are people on a spiritual journey.
The church is always on the move from darkness to light (1 Peter 2:9), from hostility to peace (Ephesians 2:12-14), from death to life (Romans 8:2-11).
Watching the God in America program this week and seeing the footage about the Civil Rights movement and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I was so impressed by the nonviolence of the protestors even when confronted by fire hoses and dogs in Alabama. I was reminded of Rev. King’s instructions to all the marchers. The “Nonviolence Pledge” is excellent instruction for Christians for life and relationships in general as we seek to move toward the promise of God’s future in a world that is less than God desires it to be. Here are Rev. King’s instructions:
1. As you prepare to march, meditate on the life and teachings of Jesus.
2. Remember the nonviolent movement seeks justice and reconciliation — not victory.
3. Walk and talk in the manner of love; for God is love.
4. Pray daily to be used by God that all men and women might be free.
5. Sacrifice personal wishes that all might be free.
6. Observe with friends and foes the ordinary rules of courtesy.
7. Perform regular service for others and the world.
8. Refrain from violence of fist, tongue, and heart.
9. Strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health.
10. Follow the directions of the movement leaders and of the captains on demonstrations.
Think how different life would be if every Christian, every person of good will committed to journeying through life dedicated to those kinds of standards as our way of life. It is interesting to me that the earliest designation of the Christian movement was “the Way” (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22). In the Old Testament life was often pictured as a journey from Egypt to Jerusalem, during which God went before the people as companion and guide defining the route to be traveled (Exodus 15:1-18; Deuteronomy 6:20-24; Joshua 24:2-13; Psalms 77; 78; 99; 136). Scripture pointed the Way. Sin was a turning aside from the Way, repentance a turning back to the Way, obedience walking in the Way.
Jesus came once “the way of the Lord” had been prepared (Mark 1:2-3). He built his ministry around the way that he had to take to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51; 13:33). When he got there, Jesus revealed to his disciples that he was their true and living way to the Father (John 14:6). For Jesus, discipleship was not a place to stand but a road to walk, what Paul later called “a still more excellent way” of love (1 Corinthians 12:31). The Letter to the Hebrews (10:20) describes it as a “new and living way.”
This biblical imagery presses upon us the sense of movement involved in following Jesus in an open-ended journey toward a final destination. Being committed to Jesus is about entering through a gate where we all choose between a way that is easy and a way that is hard (Matthew 7:13-14). There are two ways and those who follow the way that lead to life will be instructed in the way of the Lord (Acts 18:25) which is the way of salvation (Acts 16:17). John Bunyan, the author of “Pilgrim’s Progress,” an allegory about the life of a Christian, had it right that the Christian life is a story in which the key words are “from…through…toward…at.” What does he mean by that?
God saves us, delivers us, calls us from sin, slavery, and bondage, through times of wilderness, exile, storms, trials, and tribulations, toward new life and new hope until we arrive at God’s final destination, our heavenly home. The centrality of the imagery of the Way prepares us for the model of discipleship as “following” Jesus. Most rabbis didn’t recruit their own disciples as Jesus did with his invitation to “Follow me” (Mark 1:16-20). In describing the Christian life 1 Peter 2:21 says it is to “follow in his steps.” Discipleship is not a noun, but a verb, it is an action word. We are not called to be followers but to do following. In the experience of the Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land in the Old Testament and in the Letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament- faith is understood as persevering on the pilgrimage through the wilderness of this world until one reaches the land of promise.
I was cleaning the interior of a car yesterday afternoon and the imagery of this sermon was on my mind. Just like a car, our life has different gears for various times. We may be parked in the driveway or driving on the parkway. Sometimes we need to back up before we can go forward, other times we’re in neutral our engine running but not going anywhere. When we look at the gears in our car there is a constant reminder, a question that we have to answer before anything happens – Where am I going? We can ask ourselves the same question about our life as an individual believer and our church as a whole.
Hopefully, we will be able to answer that we’re moving forward, following Jesus through the ups and downs, the trials and the triumphs, the challenges and celebrations of life until that time when we have completed our life’s journey and like those who’ve preceded us in the faith we come to our heavenly home. Until that day, God has much for us to do, so we keep moving forward.
Blessing: “Thus says the Lord: Stand at the crossroads, and look, and
ask for the ancient paths where the good way lies; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.” Jeremiah 6:16