12/15/63

Are We Ready to Follow Him?

Scripture: Read Matthew 2: 1-11; also refer to Matthew 25:1-13.

I. Some words convey a grim connotation to our minds. One such word is “preparedness.” When we use it, we may think of being prepared for the worst. This has been our national frame of mind more than once, as the country has felt it necessary to prepare for war. But, actually, we need to be prepared for the best as well as for the worst.

The Boy Scout whose enthusiastic motto is “Be Prepared,” endeavors to prepare for administering first aid in case of an injury. But, more significantly, he wants to be prepared for the satisfactions of a good hike or a good camp. He prepares himself to do his good turn. He prepares himself for responsible citizenship.

We are now a bit more than half way through Advent, which is the period of preparedness for the coming of Christ. While it especially anticipates the coming of the Christ child, it may also be thought of as preparation for the coming of Jesus into the world, and Christ into our lives. The babe in a Bethlehem manger became Jesus of Nazareth, the Teacher in Galilee, the Savior of our world.

Some of Jesus’ teaching appears to have been an endeavor to get people to prepare for his coming into their lives. When he said, “You must be ready, for the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect,” it was a way of saying, not just “be prepared,” but that you must be ready for the best that could happen to you --- ready for the really important events in your life.

II. Some years later, after these teachings of Jesus, the early church had to face and master two sore disappointments. Their shattered hopes might easily have put an end to the Christian movement. The first hope was that all of the Jews would accept Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. A few of the Jews did; but the great majority did not, despite the ardent efforts of the Apostles to convince them. The second frustration of the early church centered in whether, when, and how the risen Lord was going to return to save his people. They counted on such a return, and they had, for the most part, expected it to be soon. According to Mark, they had heard the Master say: “Some of you standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.” And they supposed that meant that he would reappear during their lifetime.

Such excited hopes die slowly. But this one had to be either reexamined, and radically restated, or it had to die. For the expected final Day of Judgment simply did not come, at least in the form they thought obvious. Second, third, and fourth generation Christians went over the entire matter again, looking for facts that they might have missed or misinterpreted. And they noted a few. First was the experience of each Christian that Christ had come to him in a personal way, saving him from the shame of his sins and his fear of death, and calling him to be a witness to that experience. In that sense, then, though it could never be wholly explained, Christ had already returned to each of them, in spirit and in truth.

Further, the early Christians felt Christ’s presence and his power in their fellowship as Christians. He was present with them at their tables; he went with them to the law courts; he accompanied them on lonely journeys; he was at their side in the deadly arenas. He dwelt not in an inaccessible future nor in a cataclysmic Day of Judgment, but right in the pulse of their living. They believed that he stood at the door of every life, knocking at that door, and saying: “If any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and sup with him and he with me.” [Revelation 3: 20].

There was, thus, a real difference of opinion within the church as to whether Christ was to come again, or had really already returned. The debate continue to our time. When you ask those who maintain that “He will come again,” you find that they have no more basic evidence for their belief than had the early Christians of that persuasion.

There is reason to believe, and a need to believe, that Christ stands at the door of every person’s life and seeks entrance into that life; that he comes again and again as Lord and Leader of our life. His coming is reflected in that statement of faith which is recommended to us in the United Church of Christ:

“In Jesus Christ, the Man of Nazareth, our crucified and risen Lord, God has come to us, shared our common lot, conquered sin and death, and reconciled the world to himself.

“He bestows upon us His Holy Spirit, creating and renewing the Church of Jesus Christ, binding in covenant faithful people of all ages, tongues, and races.

“He calls us into His church to accept the cost and joy of discipleship, to be His servants in the service of men, to proclaim the gospel to all the world and resist the powers of evil, to share in Christ’s baptism and to eat at His table, to join Him in His passion and victory.”

People who believe this, and make it the core of their life, have too much to do in the light of Christ’s presence to spend much precious time and energy wondering how, when and where there is to be a final coming again. In any event, the only effective way to be prepared for the coming of the Lord is to open the door to His presence here and now.

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III. If we open the door of our lives to his knock, and invite him in to visit and sup with us, what sort of person will we find him to be? If we may rely on the experiences of those who have known him best -- early Christians in the first and second century, or devoted Christians of the 20th century -- and who have taken the trouble to write down their experiences, we may say several things about him.

a. We will find that he is at peace with God and with God’s will for his life. Jesus Christ felt called of God to His work -- God’s work. He had complete faith, both in God and in the nature of his task.

b. We will find that he is at peace with other people -- friend, critic and foe alike. He did not look down at sinners and outcasts; he did not look up to holders of prestige, property, privilege or power. He knew the need for God that exists in all people, and he set himself to answering it. He went among them with the joyful news that he was offering them what they needed above everything else -- a right relationship with God, and a place in His kingdom.

c. We will find that he is at peace with himself. That would seem likely in one who is at peace with God and with others. He is inwardly poised and ready either for approval or for what Shakespeare’s Hamlet called “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” He understands both the honest blunderings of sincere disciples, and the tricky questions of clever people. He was so much at peace with God that he never learned to hate his foes nor to be carried away with the adulations of the crowd.

d. We will find that he is not depending on our ideas about what he should say and do. His purpose was his life as well as his message. And he expects his followers to make their life and message one and the same thing. He gives us a choice, and he knows it to be a hard choice, in the invitation to follow him. No one can follow him without learning the meaning of hard and dangerous living.

This is the kind of person who comes in when we invite the Christ to enter our lives and live with us.

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IV. Our preparation for Christ is not sufficient if we expect to let him into our lives only in some mystical sense. If we welcome him, we must be prepared to welcome him personally, and socially in our day. His “follow me” is just as insistent now here in Wisconsin Rapids as it was by Galilee over 1900 years ago.

a. And when we do follow, we discover that religious faith is a vital, creative power. Jesus was continually confronted by religious people, like ourselves, whose faith was no longer pliable and growing, but set and brittle. You recall the incident in which he was adversely criticized because he let his disciples gather a bit of grain for food on the Sabbath day. Such action had been defined as religiously unlawful. Jesus answered that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. [Mark 2: 23-27]. For Jesus, an expression of faith must be an honest effort to meet the needs of people.

To Jesus, religion is spontaneous enough to relate God to seemingly insignificant, but actually poetic and beautiful elements in life. He could speak of God’s concern for the sparrow and His clothing of the flowers with beauty. He could see God-like concern in the offering of a cup of cool water. He could see in little children the kind of trust that characterizes a true son or daughter of God. There is very little that was so commonplace as to have no relationship to the good God.

Jesus thought of form and custom as means of expressing religious devotion. He was not an enemy of convention and custom, except as those tended to become the aim, instead of the means, to right religious relationship. He was faithful to the synagogue, to the temple, to the holy days and seasons, so long as they were means toward the service of God, and never ends in themselves.

Most of us have some tendency to reduce obedience to him to rote terms. We can even see this in Charles Sheldon’s classic little book: “In His Steps.” Whenever confronted with a problem, and wondering “What would Jesus do?” we would like to thumb through the pages of the Gospel to the right chapter and verse for the answer. But that approach to religion loses its spontaneity. It becomes wooden. Jesus surely wanted his followers to keep on growing in understanding and imagination and in the spirit that may discover what he would have us do.

b. As we seek to follow him, another emphasis comes to us in the sheer necessity to believe in God and be loyal to Him as the Lord of our life. Most of us have our times of distress and our plagues of doubting. But sooner or later, those who stake their lives on Him find enough assurance of His goodness and leading to make worthwhile our loyalty. If Jesus had any of our kind of doubts, he must have worked through them before he began his preaching ministry. For, from the moment he appears in public life, he radiates faith in the reality of God and in the kingdom of God as the ultimate goal in our human quest. Hence he proclaims: “The kingdom of God is at hand; prepare for it.” And he invites: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” [Mark 8: 34].

Jesus had a job to do and he wanted helpers. This we need to keep in mind if we volunteer to follow him. The kingdom which he desired to see established was no delicate dream. It would be hard reality, characterized by the absence of jealousy, hatred, bitterness, prejudice, and selfishness; and by the presence of understanding, strong gentleness, love and cooperation. And if this looks too difficult, or too idealistic, Jesus was confident that when human strength for the kingdom runs out, a strength not human but divine will pour into his faithful ones in some mysterious but vital way. He himself found it to be so.

c. Yet another thing must be kept in mind as we seek to be prepared for the one whom we want to hail as our Lord and Leader. Vital loyalty to him must concern itself with the needs of people, in personal and group life alike. We hear his ancient admonition: “Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me.” [Matthew

25: 40]. No true Christianity can leave uncriticized and untouched the personal evils and group wrongs of our time. Creative religion can not ignore the evils that spring from unwholesome habits that destroy a good personality. It will not treat lightly the influences and attitudes that make for difficulty in home and marriage and family. It can not consent to allow bigotry and prejudice to tear the heart of the community of mankind. One who seeks to follow Jesus today finds himself heavily involved in the major problems that tax the minds and spirits of people.

V. The invitation to receive Christ and follow him today is no invitation to a lazy intellectual and spiritual life. It is no flight from reality. It is a serious challenge to pour our energy into achieving a well-balanced personal life for ourselves, and to work unceasingly for the building of a decent world for all peoples.

Harold Bosley says he sometimes wishes that he could revert to his boyhood confidence in miracles; that he could just lean back and say, “Let God do it.” But that luxury is denied to the true followers of the Christ. And we are compelled, in his spirit, to say, “Let God do it -- through me, through you, through the generations yet to come!” This is the preparing we must do for his coming into our lives.

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Now what can the leadership of Jesus mean in the life of our church? If the church be the body of Christ -- and I truly believe it is -- then let it be a whole and healed and healing body, growing in wisdom and strength and the evidence of his spirit. Let us be a responsible body, every member of the body willing to function for the well-being and usefulness of the whole. If we have a concern for good music to lift our aspiration toward God, let us be appreciative of those who practice and produce it, and let each one who has the talent to sing, or the ability and desire to develop it, volunteer his and her help in this vital ministry of music.

If we have boys who want the exciting and beneficial experience of being Cub Scouts, let parents of those boys, particularly, stand ready to help with the program. There is no mystery, no “Santa Claus” about it. It takes the devotion and service of parents to make the program go; from service as Cub Master and Assistant Cub Master through Webelos Den leader and Den Mothers. Few parents have any adequate excuse not to help, if the boys are to have the program.

If our children and youth are to be trained in Christian thinking and attitudes and background knowledge, there must be not only good curriculum materials but there must be parents and educators and others of ability and good will ready to teach, to administer the program, to serve on the Board of Religious Education. And there ought to be others ready to do occasional or relief duty when a regular teacher becomes ill or faces other emergency.

The work of our Church Building Committee represents stupendous amounts of work by the various committees. If we have concrete suggestions and helpful ideas, let us give them to the committee members, not as commands, but as considerations to be weighed, where the give and take must go on carefully, prayerfully, and capably as the plans take shape.

If the Ark needs leadership, let some hearts be stirred to undertake that not-too-strenuous service for a year, so that couples of longer membership and of recent arrival can know the satisfaction of that kind of Christian fellowship.

If we miss some of our regular participants at worship today, knowing that they are giving special service to us as a community in the polio clinic, let us show our understanding by getting there, and then by welcoming them back at worship with us next Sunday.

If we find ourselves divided in opinion and at any variance on procedure, let us seek the guidance of Christ to pull us together so that we can be the Church of Christ with a will!

We would see Jesus, in the early morning.

Still as of old he calleth, “Follow me.”

Let us arise, all meaner service scorning.

Lord, we are Thine, we give ourselves to Thee.

Amen.

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, December 15, 1963.