God’s Work
Matthew 16:13-20[1]
Some of
you know that I serve on the Board of Directors of the Omaha Presbyterian
Seminary Foundation. Our mission is “to seek, develop and support excellence in
Christian leadership through the PCUSA.” With that in mind, we sponsor programs
to help pastors and churches thrive in the 13-state region that includes much
of the Midwest and some of the mountain states. For example, when Christy
Dempsey was our pastoral intern a couple of years ago, the Seminary Foundation
paid for most of her salary. Another way we work is by providing scholarships
to seminary students to help offset the high cost of their education. Every year
at this time I have anywhere from 40 to 60 applications from students at PCUSA
seminaries.
One thing
I’ve noticed is the many different “answers” the applicants have for what the church
needs to thrive in the 21st Century. Some of the answers are amusing in their
youthful idealism. Others are really quite thoughtful. I find it ironical,
however, that I’ve hardly ever read that the church needs to return to their
dedication to faith, because ultimately whether the church thrives or not
depends on God’s work among us. The music, technology, education, and community
outreach are all important. But I think the fundamental answer is to be found
elsewhere.
I believe
that our Gospel lesson for today points us in the right direction.
Unfortunately, many are drawn into the centuries-long debate between the
Catholic and Protestant branches of the church about the “true” church. I think
that misses the point. Regardless of whether you define the “rock” upon which
the church is built as Peter himself, or Peter’s confession of faith, or
something else altogether, it seems more important to me that Jesus said “I
will build my church” (Matt. 16:18). The bottom line here is that Jesus is the
one who builds the church, not me, or you, or anybody else.
That
reminds me of something St. Paul said about his ministry. The church at Corinth
had become divided by their loyalties to different teachers. But Paul says that
all those teachers were just workers in God’s field. One plants, another
waters, and another one reaps the harvest. But whether or not there is a
harvest at all depends on God as the one who “gives the growth” (1 Cor. 3:7).
We can discuss policies and programs all day long until we’re blue in the face
(something Presbyterians seem to be “good” at), but unless we look to God to give
the growth, I would say we’re just spinning our wheels.
So how do
we promote the vitality of this congregation by looking to Jesus to build his
church? I think this introduces the second important dimension to what it takes
to help churches thrive in our day and time. At its core, this kind of work is
spiritual work. It’s not organizational, it’s not programmatic, it’s not
marketing. It’s spiritual work. It’s true that those things are important. But
at the end of the day, building the church requires that we do everything we do
in the recognition that God is the one who gives the growth. That means that it
is crucial for us to pay attention to our spiritual lives. In order to truly
promote God’s work in this world, we have to align our hearts and minds and
lives with God’s ways.
I think
that’s something of what St. Paul was talking about when he urged the church at
Rome to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God”
(Rom. 12:1). He called them to be “transformed” in their minds and hearts so
that their lives might reflect “the will of God—what is good and acceptable and
perfect” (Rom. 12:2). This is at heart a spiritual endeavor, one that we can
undertake only by spiritual means. We Presbyterians have traditionally called
them the “Great Ends of the Church.” But it’s simply a matter of making
worship, service, and witness the core of our lives rather than something we do
from time to time. Whenever the church engages in that spiritual work, we experience
God’s work of transforming and renewing our life together.
In one
sense, this spiritual work is not the calling of just one person, or even a few.
It is the work of the whole body. Building up the church in our day and time is
something that takes all gifts that God has given each and every one of us. It
takes all of us giving the best we can give to be the body of Christ, to be a
community defined by faith, hope, love, and witness. God builds the church in
partnership with us.
In
another sense, building the church isn’t something we do at all, it’s God’s
work. When our lives are centered on the faith, hope, and love that define what
it means to live in a relationship with God, we will grow. Perhaps not
numerically, but we will grow. At the end of the day, however, we will grow
because Jesus is building his church. We will grow because God has given the
growth. We will grow as the result of
God doing his work in and through each and every one of us.
[1] ©
2020 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm, Ph. D. for Hickman
Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
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