Acts 2:42-47 1 Peter 2:19-25 (Series A, 4th Sunday of Easter) Ps. 23 John 10:1-10
In Florida, an atheist became incensed over the preparation of Easter and Passover holidays. He decided to contact his lawyer about the discrimination inflicted on atheists by the constant celebrations afforded to Christians and Jews with all their holidays while atheists had no holiday to celebrate.
The case was brought before a judge. After listening to the long passionate presentation by the lawyer, the Judge banged his gavel and declared, 'Case dismissed!' The lawyer immediately stood and objected to the ruling and said, 'Your honor, how can you possibly dismiss this case?
The Christians have Christmas, Easter and many other observances. Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah... the Muslims have theirs, yet my client and all other atheists have no such holiday!'
The judge leaned forward in his chair and simply said, 'Obviously your client is too confused to even know about, much less celebrate his own atheists' holiday!'
The lawyer pompously said, 'Your Honor, we are unaware of any such holiday for atheists. Just when might that holiday be, your Honor?'
The judge said, 'Well it comes every year on exactly the same date---April 1st! Since our calendar sets April 1st as 'April Fools Day,' consider that Psalm 14:1 states, 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God.' Thus, in my opinion, if your client says there is no God, then by scripture, he is a fool, and April 1st is his holiday! Now have a good day and get out of my courtroom!!
The secret of every growing church, and the basis of every healthy spiritual life, is an overriding commitment to hearing the word of God and applying it to one's life.
It is a dedication to the health and prosperity - both spiritual and physical, of one's fellow believers, and the desire to invoke the presence of God within that community, and within one's own private prayer life.
I am sure many of you have seen the bumper sticker that says
- the family that prays together, stays together -
We are the family of God
- and unless we pray - together,
- unless we study and seek the will of God in the word of God - together,
- and unless we share good times and bad times - together,
we will suffer the fate that comes upon those who stay apart, we will be alone;
and ultimately we will loose our sense of direction; our sense of purpose; our faith.
And that is happening and has happened in churches throughout the world.
It is happening in those places where individual happiness is prized more than righteousness;
where pursuing material success is held to be important than spending time in community
- where golf on Sunday or watching Football game is deemed more important than building one's relationship with God
- where going shopping for the weekend is deemed more important than sharing with one's brothers and sisters the joys and the concerns that we have and praying together and sharing together those things which have helped us in God's word.
We have sat before a fire place or a camp fire, and watched the coals glowing red and hot. And all of us know - that if we take a single coal out of the centre of the fire and place it to one side - it soon turns dull grey, its bright heat becomes first lukewarm and then cold - while the rest of the fire continues to burn.
So it is with us. Separate a person from the Christian community, take them away from the place in which the word is proclaimed, bread is broken, and prayers uttered, and soon the light of their faith grows dull, and the warmth within their souls begins to diminish.
Let no one lie to you! You can't be a Christian, at least you can't be an effective Christian, a fully alive Christian, one who, as Jesus says in today's reading - has life and that abundantly, if you do not listen to the voice of the shepherd who calls you by name, or if you flee from the sheepfold that he would lead you to for your own safety.
How can we expect do what is right, how can we expect to experience the blessings of God how can we hope to minister to one another the love of Christ and feel that love return to us 30, or 60 or 100 fold,
- if you do not turn to Christ and listen to his voice?
- if you do not enter the sheepfold with your brothers and sisters?
- if you do not pray together and work together and love each other with the love of Christ?
We can't! And the evidence of that is all around us. It is in the people we meet day by day who claim to believe in and love God - and yet have none of the signs of the abundant life that Christ promises to all who hear his voice and enter his sheepfold.
Devotion, Dedication, Commitment -- this is the secret of success in all endeavours, and in all endeavours that devotion, that dedication, that commitment is focussed on specific things.
To experience life - and that abundantly - as Christ says we can, our focus must be on the teachings of the apostles, which are the teachings of our Lord, on the fellowship of the believers, on the breaking of bread - the invoking of Christ's presence in community, and on prayer. The early church had this focus - and the results were tremendous.
As Luke tells us in today's reading -
"all who believed were together and had all things in common,….. Day by day, they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread from house to house, and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God, and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day God added to their number those who were being saved." Day by day, God added to their number.
From that first community - came the entire church - a church that survived the stoning of Stephen, the persecution of Paul, and the destruction of Jerusalem itself.
The early church survived and prospered, because the people within it committed themselves to one another and to the Lord who brought them together.
The early church grew and spread like a fire in dry grass because those who believed sought God' presence, and prayed for his will to be done in their midst, not just one day a week, but each and every day. I wonder how many of us even pray each and every day? let alone seek out the fellowship of fellow believers and pray with them and eat with them on a regular and consistent basis?
I wonder how many of us read the scriptures each day? or even think about what it is God has said in the past to us? let alone seek to hear what it is he may be trying to say to us now - in the midst of our busy routines?
Like the cucumber, we can only keep our cool in the midst of difficult circumstances, we can only thrive in the midst of an insane world, as long as we remain attached to the vine.
Our vine is the fellowship of fellow believers and its head -Jesus Christ. The sap which runs through it is the word of God and the power unleashed in listening to it and in breaking bread together and in praying together. In the vine we have life.
Jesus said: "I am the vine, you are the branches. They who abide in me and I in them, bear much fruit, but apart from me you can do nothing."
Jesus also said - I am the gate for the sheep. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and
- will come in and go out and find pasture.
- God has prepared a fold for us,
- He has made ready a safe haven for us,
- and appointed a faithful shepherd over us.
To enjoy that haven, we need to listen to voice of our shepherd, and together, in the company of our fellow believers, follow him. When we follow him –
- he will lead us by the still waters,
- and to the green pastures,
- and he will keep us safe as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death
- his rod and his staff will comfort us.
And the opposite is also true. When we fail to follow him,
- when we fail to listen to his voice and remove ourselves from the rest of the flock
the waters will not be stilled,
- we will experience terror in the valley of the shadow of death,
- and our cups will not overflow in the presence of our enemies.
(Here goes the personal story of Herr Garlin and his ram O’ Manley in Kitzingen, Germany: While the sheep would respond instantly to the voice of the shepherd, they would not respond to my voice no matter how much I tried to sound like the shepherd.)
The fact is, there are many voices out there in our world today, each telling us what to do: We have the voice of God, Satan, our own voice, and voices of other religions promising us ‘God within’ and second trip back to earth when we die. But the sheep recognize the voice of a stranger and would not follow. With all these confusing voices around us it imperative that we know the right voice, and the only way to find out that right voice for us is through the pages Scriptures, I believe. Just as God knows each and everyone of us from the time of conception to birth, he called us through our parents, pastors, Sunday school teachers and godly people to follow.
We need, and all those who claim to believe in God need, to truly commit ourselves to our Lord and his teachings, and to one another as brothers and sisters in him if we are to be as alive as was the church in Jerusalem after the day of Pentecost.
As we do this, as we pray and break bread together Christ our Lord will do the rest. He will make sure our souls are restored, he will set a table before us in the presence of our enemies and ensure that we dwell in the house of God forever,
He will do this, for he is the bread of life;
- and the good shepherd;
- the way and the door;
- the resurrection and the life,
- the one in whom God was pleased to fully dwell within,
the one in whom God is even now fully revealed for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.
Amen.
Rev. Samuel King-Kabu
April 13, 2008