Reflections on "Why did you call the body of Christ?" Matthew 28: 16-20; Colossians 3: 12-17

This sermon had too many points, instead of fully developing fewer points.

The Matthew text was a late addition.  I think the sermon dealt with that text better than the Colossians passage.

The Sanctuary sermon went much better.  I tweeked some transitions and tried to focus on being clearer about each point.  That seemed to work.

(Colossians 3:12-17) As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (NRSV)

“Why did You Call the body of Christ?” April 24, 2016; FPC, Troy; Colossians 3: 12-17; Matthew 28:

Introduction: I read an article this week that likened Easter to winning the lottery (Stan Mast from the Center for Excellence in Preaching suggests that Easter is something like winning the lottery (http://cep.calvinseminary.edu/sermon-starters/1st-sunday-after-christmas-c/?type=lectionary_epistle)

I'm not sure that works theologically, at least in comparing resurrection to beating the odds of the lottery, but the person was making the point that after winning the lottery, people often do not know what to do with it. In fact, lottery winners often seem worse off a few years later (if you want to see some of those horror stories, go to http://www.popsugar.com/smart-living/Lottery-Horror-Stories-33026559).

The question posed was how do we deal with this incredible gift of resurrection. Christ is raised from the dead – how do we respond in appropriate ways?

Jesus responds by calling the body of Christ into being. That is, the church is created to help us respond to the resurrection.

This morning we ponder the question “why did Jesus call the body of Christ?”

I invite you to answer that question from your own experience of church as I offer some thoughts.

Move 1: After Christ's death and resurrection, there was an obvious question of whether the remaining disciples were going to expand their group or keep it small?

a. Remember what happens immediately following the discovery of the empty tomb.

1. the disciples retrench.
   2. Images of the disciples hiding behind closed doors.

3. Or disciples going off to places like Emmaus and Galilee to gather together.
4. No surprise – as those impacted by Christ’s death trying to figure out what's next, they sort of isolate themselves.

5. their instincts were to circle up by themselves as the core group figures out what to do.

b. But the resurrected Christ has something else in mind.

1. Not just hanging out together.

2. We read in Matthew what the resurrected Christ desires of the disciples.

3. Go into the world....baptize....teach.

4. do not limit, but expand the circle of those who are invited to live into the resurrection.

c. Speaking to a woman who had recently lost her job as a Vice-President for sales.

1. She had been hired into that position just six months previously.

2. It was a small company and the president/owner had started it by himself.

3. it had grown into a multi-million dollar company, but it had expanded as far as it could without significant change to its structure.

4. the owner decides to hire a Vice-President for Sales, this woman, and another Vice-President to oversee the human resources, accounting, etc.

5. he knew he had to ramp up his infrastructure if he was going to take his company to the next level.

6. Six months into the transition; six months of new ideas; six months of changing how they did things; sales were up; some big deals were in the works.

7. And the owner fires both of the newly hired Vice-Presidents.

8. Just lets them go.

9. turns out the change is too much for him.

d. That's the challenge Jesus faces – how to expand to do the ministry needed to be done.

1. he calls the body of Christ into being.

2. That's who we are.
3. Important to remember that expanding who we are and expanding our ministries is fundamental to who we are.

4. When we quit going outside of ourselves to invite people into our community of faith; when we quit going outside of ourselves to find people with whom to minister, we turn away from our calling.

Jesus calls the body of Christ to expand the ministry.

Move 2: We are better people because we are part of the body of Christ, or at least we have that opportunity!

a. Paul spends a lot of time reflecting and writing about what it means to be a community of faith.

1. Read his letters.

2. he deals with the internal struggles of the church community.

3. We know the challenges and the joys.

4. You can probably remember both from your own experiences of church.

b. IN his letter to Colossians., Paul reminds the church what they can be.

1. It's a beautiful image of being in relationship.

2. If we go back to the beginning of the chapter, we realize that Paul is telling us that we can life like that because we follow the resurrected Christ.

3. because of what Christ has done, we can dare to offer ourselves in love and offer forgiveness to one another.

4. and we can hold others accountable to living like that.

c. thought the Colossians passage suggests that following the resurrected one demands we live better and treat each other better.

Move 3: Finally, Jesus calls the body of Christ because it witnesses to the world who God is.

a. Relational

1. God is a Trinitarian God.

2. Fundamentally, God is relational.

3. as we co-exist as the body of Christ, as we live in relationship with one another, as we struggle sometimes but still lift up being in right relationship, it speaks to the world about God who calls us into relationship with God and with one another.

b. Concern for others.

1. Wes Avram’s October, 2009 newsletter article: “And so hearing this story in Pittsburgh, in the 1980s, members of the Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church became painfully aware of the plight of children in families of unemployed steelworkers in their area. They gathered together and studied, prayed, imagined, and thought it through. Eventually, the church approached Highmark Blue Shield and shaped what they called the Caring Program for Children, designed to provide insurance for these children. This program inspired what became Pennsylvania’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (called CHIP), which later became the model for national SCHIP legislation. All from one congregation hearing Jesus tell them who they are, loving its neighbors as it loved itself, sharing itself in relationship like the Samaritan, and bearing the weight over the long haul.

2. that story reminded me of this congregation's part in the formation of Dorothy Love, the retirement home in Sidney and part of the Ohio Presbyterian Retirement System.

3. the idea grew out of a Sunday School class in this church. The class had been studying about caring for their neighbors and then began reflecting on what neighbors might need help.

4. they ended up asking the presbytery to explore ways in which they could build homes for children and the aged.
5. Five years later, Dorothy Love was dedicated.

6. Not just a concrete response to a need, but a witness to the world that God cares for those living on the margins.
7. a witness provided by a part of the body of Christ.

100. Witness in the world the hope we have in God.

1. John Buchanan, “Being Christ's Body,” Christian Century, 3/5/14 (3): Buchanan tells the story of church member Glen who is dying of AIDS at Hospice. Glen tells about at night when he is restless and cannot sleep he puts on headphones and listens to the church's worship service on the Internet. “It settles me down,” he said. “Sometimes I fall asleep while the choir is singing. I doze off a lot of times during your sermon – I know I'm not the only one,” he added with a grin. “That's how I go to sleep every night, her in my Hospice bed but also with my church.” Glen reminds me that the church does what no one else does – and that people still turn to the church in those singular moments of birth, crisis, and death.”

2. I suspect he did not fall asleep solely because of the music or a sermon.

3. He fell asleep because of the peace he discovered while listening to the body of Christ in worship and being reminded of the hope he had in the God who was being worshiped.
4. We baptize infants, join with others as they profess their faith, gather to celebrate the covenant of marriage, join together when death arrives – why, in part because it is good to be together, but also because we witness to the world about the God who is in our mist claiming us in the waters of baptism, giving us hope in the face of death, guiding us in our lives of discipleship.

Conclusion: Lottery winners have a shaky history of dealing with the incredible gift they have won.

Jesus calls the body of Christ to help us live into the incredible gift of the resurrection.