Matthew 28:1-10
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: `He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."
So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."
1 Corinthians 15:50-56
I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Many of you know what it feels like the first few days after a loved one has died. So you can imagine the women at the tomb, after Jesus has died. It seems surreal. Only a week earlier, Jesus had entered Jerusalem with crowds shouting blessings on him. But now he is dead, crucified with common thieves. All that is left for the women to do is visit the grave and take care of any further arrangements.
At the moment of their deepest grief, when things look the bleakest, things get worse: a violent earthquake shakes the cemetery. You may remember that the earth shook at the moment of Jesus’ death. Now it shakes again at his rising. There is a blinding light. The Roman guards faint dead away. An angel rolls back the stone and sits on it.
The women are cowering. The angel looks like lightening. So, like every other angel in the gospels, he begins by reassuring them, "Do not be afraid.” He tells them Jesus has risen, and directs them to look for themselves, then run and tell the disciples.
They see that he is not there and they run from the tomb, "afraid yet filled with joy.”
Fear and Joy. Do you know that combination of feelings?
A skydiver making her first solo jump.
A 16 year old driving on the freeway for the first time.
A groom on the morning of his wedding.
A young mother giving birth to a healthy baby despite complications.
A soldier’s family, anticipating every email from their son’s unit, never knowing what news it will bring.
An elderly man, unsteady on his feet and fearful of falling, but happy to be out for a walk.
A widow, uncertain about her future but grateful that her husband’s pain is ended.
The women leave the tomb with fear and joy. Let’s try to grasp their fear, because there’s more than just the angel’s dramatic appearance.
Think for a moment of how frightful it would be to have the dead living again. It’s the stuff of many horror movies. How would it be if one of your dead relatives or friends suddenly appeared on your doorstep? We miss them, yes, but we don’t expect them to come back.
Last Easter (2004), Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Cantebury, said that to people of Jesus’ day, resurrection was not a welcome idea but a terrifying one. He quoted a scholar of ancient history: "If an educated Greek or Roman had been told that someone had been raised from the dead, his first question would have been 'How do you get him back into his grave again?' " The point was that most of those who first heard the Easter gospel would have found it grotesque or even frightening.”Resurrection was not a joyful sign of hope but an alarming oddity, something potentially very dangerous. The dead, if they survived at all, lived in their own world -- a shadowy place, where they were condemned to a sort of half-life of yearning and sadness. .. For them to return would have been terrifying and unnatural.”
No wonder the women are full of fear.
But there is also joy, and this is the joy we more often associate with Easter. Their friend and teacher who was dead is alive again! The one who had been humiliated has been exalted. The one who had been defeated is now the victor.
What they could not have known then, we know now: Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection changes everything! Jesus has been raised from the dead, and death no longer has any power over him.
"Death has been swallowed up in victory."
1CO 15:55 "Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?"
Think about how joyful this is. People can be saved from their sins and find reconciliation with God. We can be called God’s children. We can receive the Holy Spirit as a force for good in our lives. We can worship God and know God.
Perhaps most of all, we no longer fear death. That changes things, not only for our future, but for our daily lives.
William Stringfellow, in a small book called An Ethic for Christians and Other Strangers in a Strange Land, says that what sets Christians aside from others is our ultimate assurance that death is not the end for us. The threat of death, he said, is what ultimately keeps most of us "in line."
When we hear from guards in Nazi death camps that they had to do what they did, what we are hearing is that if they did not do what they were told, they would be killed, just as the inmates were being killed. And if we say, "Of course, in that case, you had to do it," we are missing the main message of the cross.
For we Christians are supposed to be free of the fear of death. When we are told, "Kill that woman, or you will die," our answer should be, "And so? I will not do it."
We may say, as many did in that circumstance, that if we die, the SS will simply find someone else who will do the deed, but Stringfellow points out that this may be so, but so what? We will not have done it. We will have stood firmly for the right, the Christian thing to do. And furthermore, this may not be so; it may be that others, seeing our resistance, will be strengthened to resist evil, and so evil will not be able to be carried out.
(William Stringfellow, An Ethic for Christians, via Emphasis Magazine)
When you are not afraid of death, you see things differently. You make decisions in the light of your beliefs. You don’t want to die, but neither are you frightened of it.
It’s only through Christ we have this assurance. He’s the only one who has been raised from the dead to never die. This is how he has broken the power of death over us.
That does not mean that there is no continuing struggle, as each of you knows from your daily life. What is meant is that final victory is already underway and already assured.
In one of those old classic religious movies, Deborah Kerr played a Christian about to be thrown to the lions. Real lions were used in the scene. A friend asked her, "Weren't you afraid?" She said, "No, not at all. You see, I had read the script ahead of time, and I knew that Robert Taylor would rescue me." (Emphasis magazine)
We have read the script. We know how it ends. You get to the end of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, and you see the coming of the city of God, where there is no more death, no more pain, no more crying, for all those things have passed away.
So don’t give in to being a victim. Don’t give up hope of a meaningful life. And don’t be afraid, except for having a holy fear and awe of God and what God has done.
Fear and Joy. When it comes to Easter, we might not have put the two together, but in the resurrection, it makes sense. The defeat of death and evil is a fearsome event.
Ministers usually get to church early on Easter to make sure everything is ready to go. It was an Easter morning when Presbyterian minister Bill Carl drove up to his church. He expected to see the cross on the front lawn, draped in white. Instead, he saw a splintered fraction of a beam protruding like a dagger from the ground. The night before, the Texas wind had snapped the cross in half, about two feet below the cross bar. The decapitated limbs had fallen on a nearby flowerbed.
He was upset at first, then he smiled. He said later that it was the perfect symbol of resurrection – God had broken the backbone of death. (Emphasis)
Here’s how John Chrysostom described it centuries ago in his famed Easter sermon, which is still read aloud each year in many Eastern Orthodox churches:
"Hell was in an uproar because it was done away with.
It was in an uproar because it is mocked.
It was in an uproar, for it is destroyed.
It is in an uproar, for it is annihilated.
It is in an uproar, for it is now made captive.
Hell took a body, and discovered God.
It took earth, and encountered Heaven.
It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.
O death, where is thy sting?
O Hades, where is thy victory?
Christ is Risen, and you, O death, are annihilated!
Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!
Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead;
for Christ having risen from the dead,
is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep."
Christ is risen! Alleluia!
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Friday, March 25, 2005
Sermon: As Christ loved us
Here's the message Michael and I put together for Maundy Thursday. "Maundy" comes from "mandatum" (commandment), as in when Jesus said, "A new commandment I give you: love one another."
JN 13:1 It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another. How does Jesus love us?
He shares a meal with his closest friends. He gets down on his knees and washes their dirty feet as only servant would.
But there is something else at work in the Upper Room, something larger. For the Bible says that Jesus showed them the full extent of his love. What was it that made this night the height of love?
Love is patient. Love does not remember wrongs. Love never fails.
If you want an example of all the elements of love described in Scripture, look at Jesus -- His patience, his forgiveness, and his unfailing love for his disciples.
Are the disciples worthy of that kind of love? Not one of them.
None of the disciples is perfect. They have done and said things that hurt Jesus. Go back and read the gospels and count up the times they get it wrong. And when Jesus is arrested, they all scatter. (Well, Peter stuck around, just long enough to deny that even knew Jesus.)
Think about what’s happening in the Upper Room. Everyone is still together. It is a holy time, a time for deep feelings and a shared spiritual intimacy. Jesus shares the bread and the cup around the table, inviting everyone to be part of him, regardless of what they’ve done in the past.
What amazes me is that he knows that this intimacy is about to be shattered. Jesus knows that everyone will desert him. He knows what is ahead. He has even said that
his sheep will be scattered.
I can’t imagine the pain Jesus would be feeling, knowing that he is going to die, knowing that the people he’s been teaching and preparing will fail him.
But in his darkest hour, he doesn’t scold them. Even telling Peter “You will deny me three times” is not scolding – it’s just a sad statement of fact.
He calls them his friends. Knowing he is headed for certain execution, knowing that not one will stand up for him, he calls them friends. He affirms them in love.
What if the disciples had been better people?
My daughter has a “Heroes of the Bible” coloring book which has lots of great pictures of Bible characters doing really great things. What if all the disciples had been like that, bold, strong and faithful?
(“I sing a song of the saints of God, faithful and true…”)
If they were heroes, they would be completely inaccessible. We wouldn’t be able to relate to them at all. And Jesus calling them “friend” wouldn’t strike us as good news – at least I wouldn’t be sure that the good news would apply to someone like me.
But the fact is that the story of the Bible is not about how great these men and women are. It’s about how men and women are sinful, selfish, flawed, and throroughly messed up. It’s about how we fail over and over, and how it is only by the grace of God that we are saved and receive life.
So if these disciples are weak, disloyal and faithless -- if they can be the friends of Jesus, maybe we can, too.
God’s love is pouring out from the cross, no matter what we have done today and no matter what we will do tomorrow.
God knows our sins, knows the shameful things we’ve done – and God knows how we will fail him in the future. Yet God still loves us, still reaches out to us, still saves us, still helps us.
Mother Theresa knew something about this. Toward the end of her life she was celebrated worldwide, which makes her seem very nice and even privileged, but her lifelong ministry was in the midst of terrible conditions.
In a collection of her writings called A Simple Path, she wrote this:
People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered;
LOVE THEM ANYWAY.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives;
DO GOOD ANYWAY.
If you are successful you win false friends and true enemies;
SUCCEED ANYWAY.
The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow;
DO GOOD ANYWAY.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight;
BUILD ANYWAY.
People really need help but attack you if you help them;
HELP PEOPLE ANYWAY.
Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth;
GIVE THE WORLD THE BEST YOU HAVE ANYWAY.
Mother Theresa, A Simple Path
Who are the people who love you anyway? Who does good to you anyway? Who helps you anyway?
Who are the people who call you “friend” when you mess up again and again,
when you step on their toes and let them down, even when you want to do the right thing? Who can you count on? Who loves you no matter what?
The Last Supper is the model of God forgiving us, loving us, calling us friends, in spite of it all. In that upper room, Jesus poured out his love, even knowing what his friends were about to do.
Tonight we share a meal as Jesus did. Why? Because sharing a meal is what friends and family do. And following the example of Jesus, let us love one another.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
JN 13:1 It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another. How does Jesus love us?
He shares a meal with his closest friends. He gets down on his knees and washes their dirty feet as only servant would.
But there is something else at work in the Upper Room, something larger. For the Bible says that Jesus showed them the full extent of his love. What was it that made this night the height of love?
Love is patient. Love does not remember wrongs. Love never fails.
If you want an example of all the elements of love described in Scripture, look at Jesus -- His patience, his forgiveness, and his unfailing love for his disciples.
Are the disciples worthy of that kind of love? Not one of them.
None of the disciples is perfect. They have done and said things that hurt Jesus. Go back and read the gospels and count up the times they get it wrong. And when Jesus is arrested, they all scatter. (Well, Peter stuck around, just long enough to deny that even knew Jesus.)
Think about what’s happening in the Upper Room. Everyone is still together. It is a holy time, a time for deep feelings and a shared spiritual intimacy. Jesus shares the bread and the cup around the table, inviting everyone to be part of him, regardless of what they’ve done in the past.
What amazes me is that he knows that this intimacy is about to be shattered. Jesus knows that everyone will desert him. He knows what is ahead. He has even said that
his sheep will be scattered.
I can’t imagine the pain Jesus would be feeling, knowing that he is going to die, knowing that the people he’s been teaching and preparing will fail him.
But in his darkest hour, he doesn’t scold them. Even telling Peter “You will deny me three times” is not scolding – it’s just a sad statement of fact.
He calls them his friends. Knowing he is headed for certain execution, knowing that not one will stand up for him, he calls them friends. He affirms them in love.
What if the disciples had been better people?
My daughter has a “Heroes of the Bible” coloring book which has lots of great pictures of Bible characters doing really great things. What if all the disciples had been like that, bold, strong and faithful?
(“I sing a song of the saints of God, faithful and true…”)
If they were heroes, they would be completely inaccessible. We wouldn’t be able to relate to them at all. And Jesus calling them “friend” wouldn’t strike us as good news – at least I wouldn’t be sure that the good news would apply to someone like me.
But the fact is that the story of the Bible is not about how great these men and women are. It’s about how men and women are sinful, selfish, flawed, and throroughly messed up. It’s about how we fail over and over, and how it is only by the grace of God that we are saved and receive life.
So if these disciples are weak, disloyal and faithless -- if they can be the friends of Jesus, maybe we can, too.
God’s love is pouring out from the cross, no matter what we have done today and no matter what we will do tomorrow.
God knows our sins, knows the shameful things we’ve done – and God knows how we will fail him in the future. Yet God still loves us, still reaches out to us, still saves us, still helps us.
Mother Theresa knew something about this. Toward the end of her life she was celebrated worldwide, which makes her seem very nice and even privileged, but her lifelong ministry was in the midst of terrible conditions.
In a collection of her writings called A Simple Path, she wrote this:
People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered;
LOVE THEM ANYWAY.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives;
DO GOOD ANYWAY.
If you are successful you win false friends and true enemies;
SUCCEED ANYWAY.
The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow;
DO GOOD ANYWAY.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight;
BUILD ANYWAY.
People really need help but attack you if you help them;
HELP PEOPLE ANYWAY.
Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth;
GIVE THE WORLD THE BEST YOU HAVE ANYWAY.
Mother Theresa, A Simple Path
Who are the people who love you anyway? Who does good to you anyway? Who helps you anyway?
Who are the people who call you “friend” when you mess up again and again,
when you step on their toes and let them down, even when you want to do the right thing? Who can you count on? Who loves you no matter what?
The Last Supper is the model of God forgiving us, loving us, calling us friends, in spite of it all. In that upper room, Jesus poured out his love, even knowing what his friends were about to do.
Tonight we share a meal as Jesus did. Why? Because sharing a meal is what friends and family do. And following the example of Jesus, let us love one another.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Sermon: Being Reconciled to God
Fourth sermon on the Atonement
"The Savior as Bridge"
March 6, 2005
Rev. Cynthia O'Brien
Smith Memorial Presbyterian Church
EPHESIANS 2:11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth ... remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
We are continuing with our series on the atonement, how we are saved through Christ. Today, the word of the day is reconciliation, and how Christ is the one through whom we are reconcilied to God.
Have you ever been estranged from someone else?
Ever felt as if you just didn’t fit in, or weren’t welcome?
Are you, or have you ever been, an outsider?
All of us, except perhaps the Native Americans, were at one time outsiders, foreigners. My dad moved from Minnesota to California; I moved from California to Oregon. Michael’s grandfather moved from Italy to the Bronx. Michael’s mother moved from the Bronx to San Jose. Michael moved from San Jose to Los Angeles to San Diego to Oregon.
Do you ever feel like an outsider? Most of the people associated with this congregation are white, English speakers, and we don’t feel like immigrants or foreigners. Most of us are upstanding folks, and we don’t know what it’s like to be despised or outcast, except maybe by the occasional relative. But some people do know what it’s like, and if you’ve ever been an outcast, a foreigner, an outsider, the Bible has a good word for you.
Paul described the situation of some outsiders:
EPH 2:11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth ... 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
It’s true, they really were outsiders, in every sense of the word. Even spiritually.
In fact, the Bible says that everyone was, at one time, a spiritual outsider. In Romans, it says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
But, we read here in Ephesians,
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
Remember the last two Sundays. We talked about how Christ paid the penalty for our sin, and how Christ was a sacrifice, with the blood of Christ washing away our sins. Through the life, death and resurrection of Christ, there is atonement for our sins.
Here in Ephesians, we learn another way to see atonement. It says here that we, who once were far away, have been brought near. In other words, reconciliation.
Keep a finger in Ephesians 2 and turn to 2 Corinthians 5:16 for more of this:
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.
It’s time right now to get a new attitude towards anyone that you’re still regarding from a worldly point of view. Just think for a moment about how we regard people who are different from us.
If she’s smarter than you, she’s a know-it-all;
if she’s dumber than you, she’s an airhead.
If he drives a sports car, he’s having a midlife crisis;
if he drives a truck, he’s a redneck.
If those kids live in an apartment, they probably don’t care about the community.
We have to shake off any trace of worldly judgments. Why? Because, see verse 17,
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he (and she) is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
We don’t get to be stand-off-ish from other people any more. We don’t get to judge them.
Each one of your elders has taken up the challenge to bring a new person to church in the next few months. We are all talking to people outside the church and hoping to introduce them to Jesus Christ. The other day, I had a great talk with one of our elders, who said, “These people I know are totally “not the church type,” but I’m inviting them anyway.” And after we got that out of our systems, we encouraged each other not to limit God. After all, some of the most enthusiastic Christians I know are not the “church type,” whatever that is.
Remember when Jesus told the fishermen to leave their nets, saying, “I will make you fishers of men” or “I will make you fish for people?” I’ve heard it said that if we catch ‘em, Jesus will clean ‘em.” I’m not sure how that works, but God does say, “The old has gone, the new has come.”
Still in 2 Corinthians, verse 18
18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's (and women’s) sins against them.
This is what I’m getting at this morning. Not only does Jesus pay the price for our sins, not only does Jesus sacrifice so that we will be made spiritually clean, but Christ is the way that God is reconciling us to God’s self.
Let’s flip back to Ephesians 2:14. For he (Jesus) himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,
Do you want to know an easy way to explain this to someone? Let’s say you’re having a brew at McMenamins, or tea at Rose’s, or you and your friend have all the kids at McDonald’s, and you want to explain this and all you have is a pen and a paper napkin. I don’t have any visual aids here, so let me borrow some youth.
(put them in a line) God created the world and God loved us. God has a wonderful life for us, filled with blessings and eternal life.
(separate everyone from God and Jesus) But sin separated us from God. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23. There was no way to get back to God. People try, but they can’t cross this great separation.
God loved the world so much that he sent his son, Jesus, who became the bridge. Ephesians 2:14, “He himself is our peace…” and verse 18, “Through him we both have access to God through the Holy Spirit.”
Jesus died so we wouldn’t have to. Jesus rose from the dead and showed he has power over death. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
Notice that the scripture says “Through Jesus we BOTH have access to God.” Who is the both? That’s you, the insider, the good one, the churchy one, the English speaking one, whatever makes you acceptable, and the outsider, the questionable one, the different one, the non English speaker, whatever. You both have access to God. You both use the same bridge.
So, what do we do with this knowledge? Back in 2 Corinthians:
And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.
We are the ambassadors. Remember what Christ did:
17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
It is the mission of this church to preach peace to those who are far away and peace to those who are near.
Peace to the person you’re estranged from and peace to the one you love.
Peace to the person at the store and peace to your neighbor.
Both Jew and Gentile – the insiders and the outsiders – our culture and the foreign culture – we both have access to the Father. We should not be hesitant to invite anyone to find God.
The bridge to God has been established, and we are on it. We are in Christ. Every time we invite a person into the faith, we invite them to step up on this bridge.
Have you crossed paths recently with someone not of your race? At my daughter’s dance studio I met a man whose daughter is in Rachel’s class. His name is Carlos and he’s always smiling and he loves the Lord and he goes to an evangelical fellowship in NE Portland where people are coming to know Christ, and that little fellowship is sponsored by a regular English speaking church.
I wonder what it was like when that fellowship started? Obviously there are a lot of things the English speaking church could have said that would have killed it. That church could have said, “I don’t know about that guy Carlos, he wears a black and red jacket and a gold bracelet.” That church could have said, “Hey, all those Mexicans are illegals, they’d better get legal before God can love them.” That church could have said, “If they’re interested in God, let the Catholic church take care of them.” But that church didn’t say any of those things. That church has welcomed Carlos and his family and his friends up on the bridge.
There are only two Protestant churches on this side of town that are sponsoring any kind of Hispanic ministry, that I know of: Rockwood Church of God, where Pastor Cathy has been there for at least 10 years, and Grace Community Church in south Gresham, where my friends Jorge and Donna Osorio have pastored the Communidad Cristiana for about eight years. I don’t know of any ministry in Fairview to Spanish speaking people who don’t know Jesus. And yet, Hispanic is the fastest growing ethnicity in Oregon, especially in East County. A full third of the students at Fairview Elementary are Hispanic. They are starting to come to Powerhouse and Cherub Choir. They are delightful, enthusiastic people who want to know Jesus.
Why should we care? We are Smith Memorial. We are almost 115 years old. We are the historic, stable, healthy, vibrant presence of God in Fairview. Our ministry reaches people all over East County. We support Presbyterian Unified Mission that takes the good news to needy people around the state and around the world.
But we have yet to take the gospel to the nations in our own back yard, the people who hear this bell ring on Sundays and wonder “Que es esto? Que paso en esta iglesia pequena? Quienes son las personas que se llama Smith Memorial? Conocen ellos al Senor Jesucristo? Pueden ayudarme con las problemas de mi vida?”
To tell you the truth, I don’t know what questions the Hispanic people in Fairview are asking about God or about faith. I’m learning from people who know. Because I have a vision that shows God reconciling the world to himself here in this church, and I believe it begins with the people that God has given us for neighbors.
How will we reach these people for Christ? By the power of Christ. Christ is the reconciler. Christ is our peace. Christ is the bridge. God is reconciling the world to himself.
"The Savior as Bridge"
March 6, 2005
Rev. Cynthia O'Brien
Smith Memorial Presbyterian Church
EPHESIANS 2:11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth ... remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
We are continuing with our series on the atonement, how we are saved through Christ. Today, the word of the day is reconciliation, and how Christ is the one through whom we are reconcilied to God.
Have you ever been estranged from someone else?
Ever felt as if you just didn’t fit in, or weren’t welcome?
Are you, or have you ever been, an outsider?
All of us, except perhaps the Native Americans, were at one time outsiders, foreigners. My dad moved from Minnesota to California; I moved from California to Oregon. Michael’s grandfather moved from Italy to the Bronx. Michael’s mother moved from the Bronx to San Jose. Michael moved from San Jose to Los Angeles to San Diego to Oregon.
Do you ever feel like an outsider? Most of the people associated with this congregation are white, English speakers, and we don’t feel like immigrants or foreigners. Most of us are upstanding folks, and we don’t know what it’s like to be despised or outcast, except maybe by the occasional relative. But some people do know what it’s like, and if you’ve ever been an outcast, a foreigner, an outsider, the Bible has a good word for you.
Paul described the situation of some outsiders:
EPH 2:11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth ... 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
It’s true, they really were outsiders, in every sense of the word. Even spiritually.
In fact, the Bible says that everyone was, at one time, a spiritual outsider. In Romans, it says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
But, we read here in Ephesians,
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
Remember the last two Sundays. We talked about how Christ paid the penalty for our sin, and how Christ was a sacrifice, with the blood of Christ washing away our sins. Through the life, death and resurrection of Christ, there is atonement for our sins.
Here in Ephesians, we learn another way to see atonement. It says here that we, who once were far away, have been brought near. In other words, reconciliation.
Keep a finger in Ephesians 2 and turn to 2 Corinthians 5:16 for more of this:
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.
It’s time right now to get a new attitude towards anyone that you’re still regarding from a worldly point of view. Just think for a moment about how we regard people who are different from us.
If she’s smarter than you, she’s a know-it-all;
if she’s dumber than you, she’s an airhead.
If he drives a sports car, he’s having a midlife crisis;
if he drives a truck, he’s a redneck.
If those kids live in an apartment, they probably don’t care about the community.
We have to shake off any trace of worldly judgments. Why? Because, see verse 17,
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he (and she) is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
We don’t get to be stand-off-ish from other people any more. We don’t get to judge them.
Each one of your elders has taken up the challenge to bring a new person to church in the next few months. We are all talking to people outside the church and hoping to introduce them to Jesus Christ. The other day, I had a great talk with one of our elders, who said, “These people I know are totally “not the church type,” but I’m inviting them anyway.” And after we got that out of our systems, we encouraged each other not to limit God. After all, some of the most enthusiastic Christians I know are not the “church type,” whatever that is.
Remember when Jesus told the fishermen to leave their nets, saying, “I will make you fishers of men” or “I will make you fish for people?” I’ve heard it said that if we catch ‘em, Jesus will clean ‘em.” I’m not sure how that works, but God does say, “The old has gone, the new has come.”
Still in 2 Corinthians, verse 18
18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's (and women’s) sins against them.
This is what I’m getting at this morning. Not only does Jesus pay the price for our sins, not only does Jesus sacrifice so that we will be made spiritually clean, but Christ is the way that God is reconciling us to God’s self.
Let’s flip back to Ephesians 2:14. For he (Jesus) himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,
Do you want to know an easy way to explain this to someone? Let’s say you’re having a brew at McMenamins, or tea at Rose’s, or you and your friend have all the kids at McDonald’s, and you want to explain this and all you have is a pen and a paper napkin. I don’t have any visual aids here, so let me borrow some youth.
(put them in a line) God created the world and God loved us. God has a wonderful life for us, filled with blessings and eternal life.
(separate everyone from God and Jesus) But sin separated us from God. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23. There was no way to get back to God. People try, but they can’t cross this great separation.
God loved the world so much that he sent his son, Jesus, who became the bridge. Ephesians 2:14, “He himself is our peace…” and verse 18, “Through him we both have access to God through the Holy Spirit.”
Jesus died so we wouldn’t have to. Jesus rose from the dead and showed he has power over death. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
Notice that the scripture says “Through Jesus we BOTH have access to God.” Who is the both? That’s you, the insider, the good one, the churchy one, the English speaking one, whatever makes you acceptable, and the outsider, the questionable one, the different one, the non English speaker, whatever. You both have access to God. You both use the same bridge.
So, what do we do with this knowledge? Back in 2 Corinthians:
And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.
We are the ambassadors. Remember what Christ did:
17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
It is the mission of this church to preach peace to those who are far away and peace to those who are near.
Peace to the person you’re estranged from and peace to the one you love.
Peace to the person at the store and peace to your neighbor.
Both Jew and Gentile – the insiders and the outsiders – our culture and the foreign culture – we both have access to the Father. We should not be hesitant to invite anyone to find God.
The bridge to God has been established, and we are on it. We are in Christ. Every time we invite a person into the faith, we invite them to step up on this bridge.
Have you crossed paths recently with someone not of your race? At my daughter’s dance studio I met a man whose daughter is in Rachel’s class. His name is Carlos and he’s always smiling and he loves the Lord and he goes to an evangelical fellowship in NE Portland where people are coming to know Christ, and that little fellowship is sponsored by a regular English speaking church.
I wonder what it was like when that fellowship started? Obviously there are a lot of things the English speaking church could have said that would have killed it. That church could have said, “I don’t know about that guy Carlos, he wears a black and red jacket and a gold bracelet.” That church could have said, “Hey, all those Mexicans are illegals, they’d better get legal before God can love them.” That church could have said, “If they’re interested in God, let the Catholic church take care of them.” But that church didn’t say any of those things. That church has welcomed Carlos and his family and his friends up on the bridge.
There are only two Protestant churches on this side of town that are sponsoring any kind of Hispanic ministry, that I know of: Rockwood Church of God, where Pastor Cathy has been there for at least 10 years, and Grace Community Church in south Gresham, where my friends Jorge and Donna Osorio have pastored the Communidad Cristiana for about eight years. I don’t know of any ministry in Fairview to Spanish speaking people who don’t know Jesus. And yet, Hispanic is the fastest growing ethnicity in Oregon, especially in East County. A full third of the students at Fairview Elementary are Hispanic. They are starting to come to Powerhouse and Cherub Choir. They are delightful, enthusiastic people who want to know Jesus.
Why should we care? We are Smith Memorial. We are almost 115 years old. We are the historic, stable, healthy, vibrant presence of God in Fairview. Our ministry reaches people all over East County. We support Presbyterian Unified Mission that takes the good news to needy people around the state and around the world.
But we have yet to take the gospel to the nations in our own back yard, the people who hear this bell ring on Sundays and wonder “Que es esto? Que paso en esta iglesia pequena? Quienes son las personas que se llama Smith Memorial? Conocen ellos al Senor Jesucristo? Pueden ayudarme con las problemas de mi vida?”
To tell you the truth, I don’t know what questions the Hispanic people in Fairview are asking about God or about faith. I’m learning from people who know. Because I have a vision that shows God reconciling the world to himself here in this church, and I believe it begins with the people that God has given us for neighbors.
How will we reach these people for Christ? By the power of Christ. Christ is the reconciler. Christ is our peace. Christ is the bridge. God is reconciling the world to himself.
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