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Transcript of the Sermon Delivered
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Transcript of the Sermon Delivered
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How great it is to be here on this great and wonderful occasion when we celebrate 150 years of marvelous faith and service in and through First United Methodist Church of Belton. What a wonderful day when we recall those saints who have lived out their faith in this place and have set before us a great race. I want to share with you this morning a passage of scripture from the book of Ephesians, chapter 5. I’ll read to you verses 25 through 27:
Husbands love your wives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word that the church might be presented before him in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be Holy and without blemish.
This is the word of God for the people of God.
THE WORD PROCLAIMED - Bishop Ben R. Chamness
Sometimes the last few verses of this Chapter 5 of Paul’s letter to the Ephasians are read at weddings, and you can understand as you hear "husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and again let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respect her husband.." But there’s more in this passage than a beautiful set of words that can be read at a wedding. When the author says this is a great mystery, and I take it mean Christ and the church. In other words, he is comparing a husband and wife in their relationship to Christ and the church in their relationship. Christ loved the church, and gave himself up for her, the author of Ephesians says, that he might sanctify her, that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle of any such thing that she might be Holy and without blemish.
I have been looking at some of the history of this great church and it is exciting to see many of the wonderful things that have been taking place in the life of this church for the last 150 years. I am sure that the followers of Christ and the founders of this church envisioned a place of worship where people’s spiritual lives could be developed, where the Bible could be taught and heard, where community life could be enriched and improved. They must have wanted to develop a church - a church of splendor - a church that would be pleasing to Christ - and it was that kind of spirit that led them to begin what we know today as First United Methodist Church.
The story is told of Sherlock Holmes and his friend, Watson, who were traveling one day, and as night arrived, they stopped, and they made a campfire and bedded down for the night, and after they had fallen asleep, for some reason Sherlock Holmes awoke, and he reached over and he shook Watson and he said, "Watson, wake up. Look up and tell me what you see." Well, Watson aroused out of his sleep and looked up and saw the stars in the sky, and, after a moment, he said, "I see the stars in the heavens, and I am reminded of the beauty of the handiwork of God, the absolute marvel of his creativity, an astrological sight to behold, the theological reminder of God’s light even in the darkness." And when he stopped, Sherlock Holmes waited for a moment, and then he said, "No Watson. What about the tent that was above our heads?"
Well, Watson had looked for more than material things. He had looked at the splendor of the sky, and as we come today to look at the church, let us ask the question: What would be the ingredients of a church of splendor? Does our church measure up? There are some ingredients I believe that help a church to measure up to being a church of splendor. For one thing, to be a church of splendor, a church would need to have a mission - a purpose - and be able to understand that mission. A few years ago, Bishop Richard Wilke wrote a book called And Are We Yet Alive. It is a stinging expose of the United Methodist Church. It calls us to account for becoming a denomination that has lost its mission and is slipping numerically. Wilke writes, "Perhaps it is our nearsightedness that has made us a church turned inward. Our energies and resources are expended internally. The machinery of the church receives unbelievable attention. We scurry about oiling the wheels of our organizational structure." He goes on to say, originally, we were called Methodists because we had a plan, an organization, a method, but he says that our genius - our organizational genius - is consuming our most sophisticated talent. Our structure has become an end in itself., not a means of saving the world. What is our purpose in the world? The purpose of Jesus was explained in his own words. He said the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost, and, if that is the purpose of Christ, what is the purpose of his bride, the church? He left the church to carryon his work, and the heart of the gospel is still to be found in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life." The primary task of the church, then, is to bring men, women, boys and girls into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. The primary task of the church is to invite people to God. Does our church understand this? Do we show it by our life and our actions? Are the activities and organizations centered upon the purposes of God as revealed in Jesus Christ? I like the mission statement that was adopted by the 1996 General Conference of the United Methodist Church. That statement says very simply: "The mission of the United Methodist Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ." Can that be our mission? Can that be our understanding of what our purpose is here on this site, at this time, and at this place? A church of splendor will be a church that understands its mission.
Secondly, to be a church of splendor, a church would be guided by this book - the Bible. Jesus drew extensively from the pages of the Old Testament, and, because he spoke as one with authority, his words and actions were recorded in the pages of the New Testament. For 2,00 years, the Bible has been the guidebook of the church containing everything essential for salvation. Now Methodists have spoken at times about the quadrilateral - scripture, tradition, reason and experience. It has been said that John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, used all of these to help define what is right and good and true. But, let me tell you that, for him, scripture was always primary. Tradition, reason and experience were used to test and confirm what is to be found in the scriptures. The Bible is the word of God for the people of God, and if we read it, if we study it, if we live by it, the truths that it contains will help our church to become a church of splendor.
Thirdly, to be a church of splendor, a church will have a good understanding of stewardship. God is our creator and our sustainer. In Him is all power, all love, all justice and all goodness. He has loved us enough to give his own son, and because he first loved us, we should love him. Our hearts should be filled with gratitude and love, and our lives should demonstrate that love and that gratitude. The Christian understanding is that all that we have is a gift of God and that we are stewards of all that we acquire in this world. Our relationship to our possessions is one of the most important elements of our spiritual lives. It is important to our peace of mind. It is important for our relationship to Gad. It is important for financing the kingdom of God and his work on earth. It is important for the joy that we get out of Christianity. I beseech you therefore, to be prayerful and humble in consideration of your own stewardship responsibilities. For a church that upholds good stewardship, that lives by it, becomes a church of splendor.
Finally, a church whose members love one another becomes a church of splendor. It is a love shared - love given. In the letter to the Effusions, the author speaks of the significance and the centrality of love. He describes the love of Christ for the church. He calls upon the husband to love his wife, and the wife to respect the husband. Even more, we recall that Jesus told his disciples, "This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man that a person lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. This I command you to love one another." When we look at the church on the day of its birth, we discover a church of intense fellowship, one of support, one of prayer for each other. They loved one another. They enjoyed being together. They had strong bonds of care and concern for each other. Years ago, Hanford Lucite said that there are many kinds of churches. One of them, he said, is pre-occupied with the mechanics of the organization. Activities loom larger than love. He calls such a church a Church of the Holy Fidgets. But he goes on to describe a different kind of church, and he talks about a church in Chicago that is named St. Stevens, but is also called The Church at the End of the Road, and Luckett concluded that the end of the road is a fitting place for a church. There’s so many people at the end of life’s road whose strength and hope and love are gone. It is there that the church needs to be - meeting people where they are - to extend a cup of cold water - a hand of fellowship - a heart of love and acceptance. Halford Luckett is describing a church at its best - a caring church - a church where love is experienced. Jesus said the world would know his disciples by their love for each other, and that was certainly true of the church on the day of Pentecost. They ate together, they sang together, they worshipped together, they even had their possessions in common. They drew their strength from their powerful sense of unity - oneness in Jesus Christ. And I dare say that that has been true in the best moments of this church’s life. When the people of First United Methodist Church in Belton recognized what their mission was, when they were guided by the Holy Bible, when they good understanding of Christian stewardship and when they have loved one another, this has been a church of splendor bringing great honor and glory to the name of Jesus Christ, and may it be so today. May we pray:
O Lord, our God, the one who has called us apart from this world to be a part of the family of God, we are indeed grateful this day for our fathers and our mothers who heard your call and who responded in the affirmative. And we are thankful today for all of these, our neighbors and friends who, likewise, have allowed you to come into their lives, to be at work within them, that we, together, may be the church, the body of Christ that he has left to give witness to his great love for this world. Grant, O God, that we may be faithful to the charge that you give us. In the bane of Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray, Amen.