Sermon from December 31, 2006
I am not a futurist. I don't predict the future. The success rate of crystal ball gazers is dismal. I don't want to join their ranks. But I do like to take stock. For decades the week between Christmas and New Year's Day has been a personal occasion for taking stock. I set goals, clean out files, remember past blessings, and occasionally talk out loud about this stock taking. I'd like to do that with you today.

This end-of-year musing will look at two powerful forces at work in the Church worldwide, three needs for the Church in our nation, and three challenges for BVBC in 2007. Actually, all eight of these reflections have implications for us here.

Two Powerful Forces
A major turning point in the history of Christianity came when the original Church fathers, all of them Jews, decided to admit Gentiles, who believed in Jesus into the Church without requiring them to submit to ancient Jewish customs, even though those customs had the sanction of the Torah.

Their decision certified the ministry of Paul the Apostle as valid. Galatians 2:1-10 records Paul's vision of that decision. Verse nine preserves the enduring symbol of that agreement. James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews.

Our attention goes to what happened next, as verse ten reports it. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. The universality of the Church had just been decided for all time, but it would have been and would be a deficient Church without a concern for the poor at its very heart.

The first powerful force I want to bring to your attention is a new and now central concern for the poor in the evangelical church. Here is evidence of that. Two years ago, Dan Hutchison of our congregation took a full-time position in missions. The organization he serves with is International Justice Mission, which is "a human rights agency that rescues victims of violence, sexual exploitation, slavery, and oppression."

Last summer, Erin Gallagher and Blaise Canfield did short term missions trips to Africa, Blaise to Zambia and Erin to Botswana. Both worked with victims of AIDS, which has become the scourge of Africa south of the Sahara Desert.

Three years ago, when several staff were at a conference at Wooddale Church in Minneapolis, I heard from a staff member of that church that Wooddale was partnering with three other churches in the U.S. to build a hospital for AIDS patients in Africa.

We know Rick Warren through his 30-million-copy best seller, The Purpose-Driven Life or his frequent TV appearances. He has developed "the PEACE plan, a bold ministry vision" that initially brought together "9,000 Rwandan Christians in launching the first 'Purpose-Driven Nation' initiative to harness businesspeople, politicians, and pastors against the nation's biggest social problems," especially AIDS, (CT, October, 2005).

Since October, 2005, perhaps as many as 70 people from BVBC, on their own time and at their own expense, have spent a week along the Mississippi Gulf Coast or in New Orleans providing relief to victims of Hurricane Katrina. BVBC people continue to be involved in Habitat for Humanity in Wilmington, building new houses for the working poor. Our commitment to these relief efforts are long term.

You have to multiply what I have just described many times over to appreciate the power of the Church's intent to serve the poor of earth. Expect to experience it here.

A second powerful force at work in the Church worldwide invites us to take all the maps we've ever seen, turn them upside down, and relabel them. Philip Jenkins, a professor of history at Penn State, has written a book called The New Faces of Christianity: Believe the Bible in the Global South. Numerically, Christians in the Southern Hemisphere outnumber Christians in the Northern Hemisphere. They are also beginning to find their theological voice. Professor Jenkins gives an anecdote that signals the growing strength of Christian churches there.

"In recent years, gatherings of the worldwide Anglican Communion (including the American Episcopal Church) have been contentious events. On one occasion, two bishops were participating in a Bible study, one an African Anglican, the other a U.S. Episcopalian. As the hours went by, tempers frayed as the African expressed his confidence in the clear words of scripture, while the American stressed the need to interpret the Bible in the light of modern scholarship and contemporary mores. Eventually, the African bishop asked in exasperation, 'If you don't believe the scripture, why did you bring it to us in the first place?'" (Jenkins, The New Faces of Christianity, 1).

I like this exchange, because it focuses attention on biblical interpretation. One of the dangers Western Christians face is to think that because a theological idea is Western, it must be right. The Church of the Global South will challenge that more and more. So, whether it is the doctrine of Scripture or the ordination of women or homosexuality or the meaning of baptism, the Church of the Global North must listen more and more to these southern voices.

As a footnote to this powerful reality, you should know that if Samuel Kang of South Korea has his way, the Church in South Korea will send more missionaries than from any other country in the world. When he and his wife, Sarah, went to Nigeria as missionaries in 1980, there were 93 Korean missionaries worldwide. When they returned for him to teach in Seoul in 1991, there were 1,200 Korean missionaries worldwide. Today, 15 years later, there are nearly 13,000, (CT, March, 2006, 28ff).

Three Needs
Now, turn your attention with me to three needs of evangelical churches like BVBC. These needs are broader than the evangelical community, but it's more responsible for me to talk about what I know from the inside.

The first need is holiness. 1 Peter 1:15-16 says: But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." Two weeks ago, we read Romans 13:14: Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Aspire to moral and spiritual greatness, and let Jesus Christ be your model! Our culture glorifies moral and spiritual mediocrity. It greets anyone who aspires to transcend the culturally-established standards of moral behavior with hoots of derision. If anyone falls short of those standards, like Ted Haggard or a Catholic priest, who molests boys, our culture will pillory that person and cast aspersion on others who share his beliefs.

All of us might take to heart the ancient prayer of Israel:

May those who hope in you
     not be disgraced because of me,
     O Lord, the LORD Almighty;
may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me,
     O God of Israel.

All of us might take to heart the fourth Beatitude that Jesus gave us: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled – Matthew 5:6. Aspire to moral and spiritual greatness, and let Jesus Christ be your model! That means above all else that for the sake of Christ we will do what is best for every person who comes across our path, regardless of who the person is, what it may cost us, or what we may get for our efforts. That's BVBC's mission: to be followers of Jesus Christ, known by our love.

The second need is bold witness. Revelation 12:11 says: They overcame him (the devil) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; (here comes the bold witness) they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

We Christians need to speak out more about our faith. We aren't trying to win arguments, as much as we are trying to make our voices heard. We aren't preaching, as much as we are having a conversation. It is a conversation in which we truly want to listen to the other person. A principle to guide us in making our voices heard, while courteously listening to other people came from a former British missionary to India, Lesslie Newbiggin. He wrote this:

"When I say, 'I believe,' I am not merely describing an inward feeling or experience: I am affirming what I believe to be true, and therefore what is true for everyone. The test of my commitment to this belief will be that I am ready to publish it, to share it with others, and to invite their judgment and – if necessary – correction. If I refrain from this exercise, if I try to keep my belief as a private matter, it is not belief in the truth," (Newbiggin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, 22).

The real question for us is this: What do I really believe? If we really believe something, we will talk about it. If we really respect the other person, we'll listen to what they believe and to what they say about what we believe.

There is a significant connection here with the concern for the poor in the evangelical church. We want to do our talking in the context of unconditional help for the human needs of the people we talk to. I don't clean out your hurricane-damaged house on the condition that you let me tell you about my faith. I do it, because you need your home back, and for the sake of Christ I want to help. If in the process my faith comes out, that's okay. If the person tells me not to talk about my faith, that's okay, and I'll still clean out his house.

All this is to help us follow the Apostle Peter's counsel: Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have. But do this with gentleness and respect – 1 Peter 3:15.

A third need, along with holiness and witness, is harder to explain, but here it is. Protestant churches need to rethink long and hard their doctrine of the Church. Practically speaking, most Protestants, including most evangelicals, view the church as something between a private club and a fast-food store.

One of the New Testament's breath-taking ideas is to present the Church as the body of Christ through which Christ brings the blessings of heaven to the nations of the world. It's not private, because it is for the whole world. It is not religious fast-food operation, because each congregation, even each Christian has a relationship with Christ as integral as fingers and toes have to a healthy human body. Ephesians 5:25 says: Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. We need to rethink everything we thought we knew about the Church in light of that one statement.

Three Challenges for BVBC
In this context of two powerful forces and three needs, here are three challenges for BVBC in the year ahead. First, Jesus said in Mark 4:19: The worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.

If there is one word to describe us, it is distracted. We are worried and distracted by many things. Søren Kierkegaard once said: "Purity of heart is to will one thing." Our challenge as people with brains, money, time, and a desire to taste life is to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. All these other things will then fall into place.

A second challenge can be framed in the famous words that Cain said, when God asked where his brother was. Cain replied: "I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper?" – Genesis 4:9. Without our brothers and sisters in other churches we are as clumsy as a hand without an eye to guide it or a head without a foot to do its bidding. We need to remember that we at BVBC are part of a whole.

A third challenge is the unfinished business of Phase III. It is a puzzle. More than 450 households have made some kind of response to the appeal of our capital campaign. They have pledged and given just under $4 million. That represents a huge base of support, and it is not enough to do even a scaled back version of Phase III. The challenge is to trust God and not give up, and to trust God and not confuse foolishness for faith.

The Pastoral Center of Gravity
The Apostle John wrote in 1 John 3:8: The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. The destruction is by no means complete. At times it is by no means obvious. There are two ways to destroy a house: by TNT and by termites. That is not a lovely metaphor, but maybe it will help us envision the power of God in His people gnawing away at the foundations of hell, like sanctified termites.

What we do see is this new and now central concern for the poor in the evangelical church. What we do see, where many knowledgeable people never thought they'd see it, is the Christian Church in Asia, Africa, and South America growing by leaps and bounds, finding its theological and pastoral voice, and sending missionaries in huge numbers to places that Western missionaries seldom or never go, and never go as easily as do missionaries from the emerging Church in the global south.

Dealing with the up-close issues – Phase III, faithless fears and worldy anxieties, selfish individualism, the need for holiness, bold witness, and a better doctrine of the Church – that's how we hold our place in this conflict with Satan and his strategies. Don't be half-hearted about your faith. The stakes are high, and we serve a great God.

O God, whose blessed Son came into the world to destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope we may purify ourselves even as he is pure; so that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.