Bread or BBQ?

The Sermon Study Guide is here.

Acts 2:1-13

November 5/6, 2011 • Portage First UMC

Fresh out of school, Pastor Fred Craddock was assigned to a small church in the middle of the country. The church building itself would hold about eighty people, with hand-carved pews and a pump organ in the corner. The village nearby was small, but the larger area had recently grown by leaps and bounds. New industry had moved in, and there were tents and house trailers all over the area. Construction workers had arrived from nearly every state in the nation. Pastor Craddock saw an opportunity here, a chance to reach out with the good news about Jesus to these workers, many of whom were far from home. He wanted to roll out the welcome mat and help these folks find their way to the church. But his board chairperson opposed him. “They’re not our kind,” he told the pastor. “They’re just living in tents and trailers and everything. They’re laborers. They follow construction. No roots. They’re not our kind. They wouldn’t fit in.” The debate went on for a while and finally they called a church meeting after worship the next Sunday.

No sooner had the meeting been called to order than someone stood and made a motion. “I move that anybody seeking membership in this church must own property in this county.” The motion was seconded, and the board chairman turned to Pastor Craddock to remind him that, as the pastor, he didn’t have a vote. The motion passed unanimously, and from that moment on it was official church policy that becoming a member required local land ownership.

Years later, Pastor Craddock found himself back in that area and decided to check on the church, to see how things were going. A new interstate had been put in which made finding the church difficult, but soon enough he and his wife were traveling up the little road toward the grove of pine trees that surrounded the church. The building looked like it was in great shape, and the parking lot was full. Trucks and cars everywhere. Pastor Craddock could hardly believe what he saw, until he approached the door and read the sign that said, “BBQ, All You Can Eat, $4.99.” When he went in, he found the former sanctuary filled with people. The pews were along the walls, the organ was covered with dirty dishes, and Pastor Craddock realized the church had died, the building had been sold, and a very popular restaurant had taken over. As he looked around the room, he noticed people from all walks of life—all ages, colors and backgrounds—and he commented to his wife, “If this were still the kind of church it used to be, some of these folks sure wouldn’t fit in.” This place that once offered the Bread of Life was now serving “all you can eat” BBQ to folks who would have been denied entrance before (qtd. in Moore, How God Takes Our Little & Makes It Much, pgs. 61-63).

The story of that church strikes me as a parable for the choice we constantly have to make about the kind of church we want to be. The church of Jesus Christ exists for a very specific reason, and it’s not to be a country club gathering or a dining service or a place where nice people gather to feel good about themselves. The church of Jesus Christ exists in order to be a witness of God’s love and mercy and grace, and to help other people—even the entire world—experience that same love and mercy and grace. John Wesley claimed the whole world as his parish, as the place where he was called to share Jesus. The United Methodist Church has this as our purpose statement: “To make disciples (or followers) of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” In our local church, we say we are “becoming a community where all people encounter Jesus Christ.” All of that is reflected in the passage we read this evening/morning from Acts 2.

Here’s the setting: forty days after Passover, forty days after Jesus had been crucified and raised from the dead, he had met with his followers and told them he was going to send them “power”—the presence of the Holy Spirit. Now, that power was not just for their own self-worth or so they could feel good about themselves. It wasn’t superhero power. It was strength that would enable them to do what he called them to do: “be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (1:8). The word translated “power” is dunamis, which is the root for our word “dynamite.” It’s power that will “blow up” the world, change the world. But Jesus told them to wait, to gather together and wait for the power to come, and then he returned to God the Father. He was gone, and so they did what he told them to do. Ten days later is where the story picks up in Acts 2.

“When the Day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place” (2:1). The feast of Pentecost was one of three great Jewish festivals. Pentecost is a word that literally means “fiftieth,” and so it was celebrated on the fiftieth day after Passover. Originally it was an agricultural festival, celebrating the beginning of the wheat harvest. The first of the harvest was offered to God, and prayers were said that the rest of the harvest would be safely brought in (Wright, Acts for Everyone, Part One, pg. 21). So there are lots of people in Jerusalem for this festival, and the followers of Jesus are gathered together in community. They didn’t gather together to just feel good, or to sit back and talk about the good old days when Jesus was with them. They gathered together to wait on God’s promise of power. They were a community gathered so they could become a community scattered—sent out to do the work Jesus had called them to do. We are becoming a community—not for the sake of ourselves, but for the sake of the world. We gather here on Sunday in order to be strengthened, empowered so that for the next six days we can be out in the world living as his witnesses in everything we do. You know the old commercial for American Express that said, “Membership has its privileges”? Sometimes we think that’s true for the church, but a better slogan for the church would be, “Membership has its responsibilities.” When we are part of this community, there are things we promise to do: prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. We’ll talk more about those in a moment, but the point is this: we gather as a community not for our own sake but for the sake of a world that needs to encounter Jesus Christ. Community is not the end or goal; it’s the beginning.

As they are together, the Spirit of God comes upon them, and they are enabled to speak in many different languages. The reason for that particular ability on this day is because there were many different people from many different nations in Jerusalem for the festival. When they leave the place they are gathered, they encounter people from Parthia, Media, Crete, Rome, and several other places representing an area covering tens of thousands of square miles (Wright 29)—and because the disciples are enabled to speak in languages they haven’t learned, everyone gets to hear the story of Jesus in their own language (2:8). They’re becoming a community that welcomes and embraces all people—and more than that, a community that will do whatever it takes to share the good news with all people. One way we’ve tried to do that is by offering four different worship services on two sites—because different people resonate with different sorts of music and different orders of worship. It’s the same gospel. It’s the same Jesus. Just because it looks different, or it’s in a style you don’t prefer doesn’t mean it’s not the same Jesus. Paul once said he wanted to “become all things to all people so that by all possible means” he might save some (1 Corinthians 9:22). Beyond that, we send out people who reach across cultural barriers, who learn a new culture and sometimes even a new language in order to share the good news of Jesus. You’ve heard from Sarah this morning, who has given her life to sharing the gospel across cultures, and I have been proud for many years to be one of her supporters. Our goal is always to do whatever it takes to reach all people.

But we don’t just reach them for the sake of the church. Our mission is to become a community where all people encounter—not Portage First, but Jesus Christ. “You will be my witnesses,” Jesus told the disciples, and when the Spirit came on them, that’s what they did. They weren’t interested in what people thought of them—in fact, some people were intrigued (“How is it each of us hears them in our native language?”) and some were put off and made fun of the disciples (“They have had too much wine.”). We shouldn’t be surprised by those reactions; they are probably the same sorts of reactions we will get when we, through word and deed, seek to help people encounter Jesus (cf. Fernando, NIV Application Commentary: Acts, pg. 89). Some will listen, some will mock, and that’s not so important as whether or not we are being faithful to what and who Jesus calls us to be. The Spirit is described in one way here in Acts as a rushing wind (2:2), a wind that sweeps us up in its movement, and as Bishop Tom Wright comments, “It’s far more important that you’re out there in the wind, letting it sweep through your life, your heart, your imagination, your powers of speech, and transform you from a listless or lifeless believer into someone whose heart is on fire with the love of God” (22). That’s what happened to these disciples on that first Christian Pentecost. They were swept up in the wind of the Holy Spirit. And that’s the sort of church Jesus is still looking for today—one that is becoming a community where all people encounter Jesus Christ, where they love God, love others and offer Jesus. The question for us really comes down to this: do we want become a BBQ place or do we want to offer the Bread of life, Jesus himself (cf. John 6:35)?

As I said last week, to accomplish the mission God has given us will require a church full of people who are “all in” on the mission. One of the values we hold here is “extravagant generosity,” and I know when we hear that, we usually think of money, but extravagant generosity is more a lifestyle than anything else. That’s why we’ve renamed this day “Generosity Sunday,” because it’s really not about paying the bills of the church, though that has to be done. It’s about giving ourselves away generously for the sake of Jesus’ mission, just as those first disciples did in the days and years that followed Pentecost. Earlier, I mentioned five areas where we are called to give generously: prayers, presence, gifts, service, witness. And those are the five areas I’m asking us all to make a commitment to in the coming year. I’m going to ask the ushers to hand out our commitment cards at this point, and I want to talk through them for a few moments. These five commitments are what is on the cards; it’s that simple. And the first commitment is prayer. Everything in the life of this place must be undergirded with prayer. The disciples in that upper room were praying constantly (1:14) when the Spirit came upon them. So the first commitment we ask from everyone is to pray regularly for the mission of the church—and when I say “regularly,” that means as often as you can, as often as you think of the church. Pray for our leadership, pray for our outreach, pray for unity among the church, pray for your pastors. I cannot tell you how much it encourages Deb and I when someone tells us they’ve been praying for us. Prayer.

Then, presence. Presence means, simply, showing up. Most of us probably think of ourselves as “regular” attendees at worship, but do you know research shows that those who say they come every week really only come 1.5 weeks out of a month? That’s 38% of the time, and if we were in school and have a 38% attendance level, we wouldn’t pass. Now, there are no grades in worship attendance, but it does beg the question of what is important in our lives. Are we willing to show up? We have four different times for worship. Can each of us set a goal of being in worship 75% of the time in 2012? That’s a “C” on a grading scale, a passing grade. Can we show up that often? Prayers and presence.

And gifts. On one hand, it’s a reality that it takes money to operate anything today, and your Finance Committee has provided an projected budget for 2012 in the bulletins this morning. It’s no secret that costs continue to increase, and so as a church family, we have to take that seriously. But the other side of that is that money has such a strong hold on us, often controlling our thoughts, our lives and our actions, that part of the discipline of giving is to break money’s power over us. Pentecost, remember, was a festival that involved offering the first of the harvest back to God. The Biblical model is that we offer the first fruit of our labor back to God as a way of putting God first rather than money. For our family, that means the first check I write is to the church. Now, Biblically speaking, our first offering is a tithe, 10% of what we earn. And I know that’s hard, it’s a difficult place to start, and so we work toward that. We take steps each year, perhaps, toward 10%. In our family, we have tithed since early in our marriage and I can tell you we have never been without what we need. We don’t buy everything we think we want, but I’ve learned God is faithful to us when we are faithful to him. But don’t just take my word for it. I’d like you to hear from one of our young families about how they have learned to give and have received in return.

VIDEO: Dan & Jacki Brubaker

So what will you give this coming year? In your bulletins this morning, you have a proposed budget, and our treasurer has indicated that, if we were giving at a 10% level as a congregation, we could support an even larger budget than we currently have, and that’s a low estimate because the most current 2011 demographics indicates that, despite what we think, income in our area has risen 21.5% in the last ten years. The average household income for this area is around $68,000. Granted, some of us are above that and some are below; it’s an average. My point is this: we find the money for what is important to us. Is the mission of reaching people for Jesus important to us? This involves, by the way, as Dan mentioned in the video, giving our 10% to God’s work through the church, and then seeing what else we can work toward giving to, perhaps Crossroads, or perhaps a missionary. As I mentioned, Cathy and I support Sarah in our giving beyond our tithe. In fact, we support several missionaries who are friends of ours or whose work has made a difference in our lives. I need to do that; I need to give so that money does not control me and so that others (like Sarah) can, serve Jesus in the way they have been called to serve. I love being a part of Sarah offering Jesus in New Zealand. I love knowing that what I give can make an eternal difference around the world. Prayer and presence and gifts.

And service. On his last night with the disciples before his crucifixion, Jesus served them. He washed their feet (cf. John 13), and he told them that they were called to do likewise, to serve each other. Throughout his ministry, Jesus expressed a deep passion for the least, the last and the lost, and he often met physical needs before he met spiritual ones. There are many opportunities to serve in our church and in our community, to meet needs. Two very pressing needs right now are folks who will step up and serve as set-up and tear-down crews on Saturdays for PF Hope. Right now, the band is doing that, in addition to leading worship and greeting people. We need folks who will help the band focus on their primary mission and serve by being roadies and techies and thereby allowing the band to do what they are primarily called to do (cf. Acts 6:1-7). The other need that’s coming up very quickly is the community Thanksgiving Dinner, and some of us are able to give up time on Thanksgiving to serve others in the love of Christ, those who have no one, perhaps those who have never experienced Jesus’ love in that way. Now, there are lots of other ways to serve, and if you haven’t found your niche yet, check that line that says you want help exploring options, and Pastor Deb or I would love to help connect your gifts with opportunities to serve. Prayers and presence and gifts and service.

And witness. The story of the book of Acts is the story of the disciples sharing the good news of Jesus. In fact, at the end of this day, 3,000 people come to know Jesus (2:41). On this particular day, if you read the rest of the chapter, Peter speaks up and preaches a sermon, and sometimes we will need to speak of our faith in Jesus. But other times, we need to better live the life in front of others. Pastor Mike Slaughter says, “People do not believe the gospel simply because of our words; seeing is believing. Our walk must precede our talk” (Christmas Is Not Your Birthday, pg. 86). We witness to our faith by not leaving it behind when we leave the doors of worship. We live our faith each and every moment, by acting ethically, by responding to injustice, by loving the unloveable, by loving God, loving others and offering Jesus.  Then people will be ready to hear us speak of him. Will you live your faith more in 2012 than you have in 2011? Will you witness for Jesus?

Prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness. In just a moment, we’re going to pray and prepare our hearts for Holy Communion. But we’re going to first have a time of silence as you listen to God about what commitments of generosity you want to or need to make for the coming year. And to just commit what we’ve always does not push us further in faith. So how is God calling you to be generous in 2012? For first, silence, and then, as we come forward to receive communion, the bread and the cup that remind us of Jesus’ great love for us, we will bring our commitments to him as a sign and symbol and act of our love for him. If you’re visiting for the first time here this evening/morning, rest assured that communion is open to you and you need not worry about a commitment card. But if you’re a regular part of this worshipping congregation, what I want to encourage you to do is to first receive the symbols of Jesus’ love—the bread which represents his body broken for us, and the cup which represents his blood shed for us—and once you’ve received, then lay your commitment to Jesus for the coming year on the communion rail. Remember this is not about church; this is about our mission for Jesus in this community. That’s why we give. That’s why we live lives of extravagant generosity—it’s so we can more and more become a community where all people encounter Jesus Christ, for he is the bread of life and those who come to him will never go hungry and never be disappointed (cf. John 6:35). Amen.