“Stepping Up to the Plate”
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Text: Ephesians 4:7-16
Recently I was rummaging through a box that I hadn't opened since we moved to our new home in August. One of those things that you seldom get around to that eventually you feel you should deal with, just a little box in the bottom of one of my drawers. I opened it and was amazed with what was in it. It was one of these boxes that hadn't been opened probably anywhere or anytime since 1986 and lo and behold to my great surprise was my grandfather's gold pocket watch. I flipped the watch open and sat down. The watch was like an icon that represents something more than a superficial rendering. What that watch brought back to me were memories of my grandfather.
I'm sure you all have such things somewhere in your house that remind you of people. I thought about my grandfather and how he had been a millwright before the Second World War, how he had travelled all over Europe working on shuttles that made cotton and wool. As an engineer by background he was able to keep these massive machines going. Before the days of electric motors these shuttles, these ways of weaving, were powered in a very complicated manner and they needed a professional to make sure they were running smoothly. My grandfather did it in Poland, in Germany, in Holland, in Italy and in France.
I read, the very same week, a fascinating article in a magazine about another millwright. The story is told by a man named Max Dupré an American industrialist, about his father who worked at a similar factory that made cloth and clothing. In those days the millwright was a very important part of the machinery of the business. One day in the mill that he managed, the millwright died and it was his responsibility to go to the widow and advise her of his death. He found it one of the most difficult things to do but he went and met with the family. He sat down with the widow and her sons and reminisced about the millwright's life, once the tears were spent and wiped away. Eventually the widow got up, walked into another room and brought out this beautiful book and showed it to the mill manager and said, “Did you know that my husband was a poet? This is a published book of his poetry. It has appeared in newspapers and magazines all over North America and beyond?”
The manager was astounded. All he had known this man to be was a millwright, when, in fact he was an outstanding poet as well. The manager left thinking, was this man, a millwright who just happened to be a poet or was he a poet who just happened to be a millwright? Which was he first? He realized that it all came down to what priority the man would have given in his own mind. He might have thought of himself first as a poet who happened to be a millwright or vice versa. Only in the heart would he really know if he was a millwright or a poet or a poet who happened to be a millwright.
The more I thought of that the more I thought that this is actually part of who we are as Christians as well. The question I want to ask you this morning is the question that was on the mind of the mill's manager. Are you a lawyer who happens to be a Christian? An accountant who happens to be a Christian? A teacher who happens to be a Christian? A homemaker who happens to be a Christian? A father who happens to be a Christian? Are you a social worker or an author who happens to be a Christian? Or, are you a Christian who happens to be a lawyer or an accountant or a teacher or a homemaker or a father, which is it? What comes first in your definition of yourself? Who are you?
For those of us in ministry I would hope that there would never be any distinction between being a Christian and clergy, for who really should be a clergy if they are not a Christian? But for laypeople, for those whose vocation is outside of the church, what are you? A Christian who happens to be an engineer or an engineer who happens to be a Christian? It comes down to a matter of priorities and emphasis.
The apostle Paul in writing to the Ephesians was really challenging them to think about that very question. The early church, the early structure of the church, as described in today's passage, struggles with the relationship between ones vocation and ones faith. Paul recognized that even within the church there was a great diversity of leadership and people who provided ministry. He talks about those who were the apostles and the apostles of course were those who had been the eye witnesses to the ministry of Jesus but Paul knew that those apostles would eventually die out as that generation passed on so there were other ministries. The prophets were those who were wanderers, itinerant preachers, the well-known people within the early church, those who could go from city to city proclaiming the good news and representing Jesus Christ. The prophets were the elite in terms of the preachers and the proclaimers and the leaders under the apostles.
Then there were the evangelists, who shared the good news. They moved around like the prophets did but were not as well known, they were not the elite, they were people who shared their faith, for example, within the Roman legion or the household if they were a servant or within the government bureaucracy or within the business community. The evangelists would proclaim the good news but they would do so at a somewhat more subdued level then the prophets.
Then there were the pastors, who took care of people, the word actually means shepherd. That's why I've always loved the French translation at the beginning of “The Lord's my Shepherd” Le seigneur et mon Pasteur. Pastor, shepherd, carer of the flock, those were the ones who tended to stay within a congregation and make sure that everyone was okay and lead them to a deeper knowledge of faith.
Then there were the teachers, by no means the least, those who passed on sound doctrine. Those who were the advocates for the faith were the young, those who encouraged and nurtured and provided the means of people understanding what this new fledgling Christian faith was all about. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, all of these having a unique role, but for Paul it didn't stop there. All of these ministries were there “to equip the saints for the ministry of the service.” Paul understood that ministry wasn't just about different hierarchies and levels, it was about all the people, the entire, to use a phrase used in Greek “koinonia” the whole of the fellowship of the church. So, while there was a hierarchy in place in the early church, there was recognition that it was all the people who had a ministry.
My friends, this morning I want you to think about where you fit in within the overall ministry of the church. I want you to analyze in your own heart your sense of priority, your own sense of your call in ministry. The apostle Paul understood that everybody has some form of ministry once they've committed their life to Christ. As we look at this passage it is interesting that the overall ministry is defined. There were those who really picked and chose which ministries they would have. There were some within the early church who would forget about their responsibilities and wanted to pass the buck. They passed the buck by letting all of those in the established ministries do the ministry for them so they didn't have to - they passed if off as something they didn't want to do - they wouldn't step up to the plate.
I was given a fascinating story not long ago that really illustrates this in a humorous way. A husband and wife are having a debate in the morning about who should brew the coffee in their house. It kind of reflects my own family experience too so I won't go into this too much. The man gets up first and he's the one who goes out and gets the paper and he says, “Darling, because I am the one who is up first, I just want to be left alone to read my paper.”
She says, “No, because you're the one who gets up first, you should be the one who brews the coffee.”
He says, “Oh, no, no, no. Just because I'm up first doesn't mean I should brew the coffee. You are (and this is sexist) the woman and should be making the coffee. You make all the meals. You're the one who knows how to do it properly. No, darling, you're the one who should brew the coffee.”
Finally, she says, quite unequivocally, “Under no circumstances am I to do it. You are to do it and the Bible tells me so.”
The man says, “Really, dear? Show me in the Bible where it states that I must be the one who does this.”
She opens up the Bible and says, “Look, at the top of many different pages it says, 'Hebrews, Hebrews, Hebrews.'” It's dreadful isn't it?
Always wanting to pass the buck, even finding a religious reason to do so. But when it comes to real ministry this is serious. Paul knows that the passing of the buck to all the established ministries without the people of God taking responsibility is not what the church is about. Why? Because; the church is first of all God-directed. The apostle Paul states it very clearly: All that happens in the church is for the preparation of the ministry of the saints. He recognized the diversity of people and their gifts. In Corinthians, Ephesians and Galatians he talks about the gifts of the spirit and how numerous they are. We've already heard him talk about the different levels of ministry and responsibility. There is great diversity but there is also a common purpose that rises above the diversity and that moves and inspires the diversity.
In our postmodern world that loves the concept of diversity, and so it should, it sometimes forgets the need for unanimity, for unity, for purpose, for direction. The apostle Paul recognized diversity but did so within the boundaries of unity and conformity. It is God who establishes the ministry. It is the people who carry out God's wishes and God's love and God's grace. All the more important in a pagan world that loved hierarchy and structure, that loved the sense of Roman power consolidated in a few hands, that loved Greek intellectualism that confined wisdom to only those who were the intellectual elite. Paul was trying to break through this by letting the Christian community know that each and every one of them had a unique ministry all their own. Each of them had a role and a responsibility to play within the body of Christ. The apostle Paul recognized that in great diversity there needed to be a common purpose and within that common purpose a diverse group of people were needed to carry it forward.
As many of you know I have always been a strong ecumenist. In other words, I believe in the desire of Christ for the unity of the church in its many ways and guises. It is fascinating to realize that in the world right now in a modern census there are one billion Roman Catholics, 350 million Protestants, 350 million independents who don't belong to any particular denomination, 225 Orthodox and 80 million Anglicans worldwide. One-third of the entire population subscribe to the Christian faith in some form or another. In this incredible diversity - the church is an incredibly diverse place manifested in so many different places and languages and cultures throughout the world - there has to be a common purpose. The common purpose is to bear witness to the love of God in Jesus Christ. That is God's purpose. That is exactly what he wants for us: a sense of spiritual ministry not just based on function but on the movement of God amongst his people. And it is this ministry that when you drill it down to the level of the congregation from the great ecumenical numbers I mentioned is still as powerful, that this church needs a diversity of ministry, and gifts and vocations and people and styles, the church needs to have that in order to bear witness to the love of God in Christ.
Where are you in that?
Not only is the church to be God-guided but it is also Christ-defined. By that I mean, it is Christ who defines the ministry of his body. It is he who is its source. Look for example at our passage. This begins with the ascension of Jesus and you think, “What on earth has the ascension of Jesus got to do with his practical talk about ministry?” It has everything to do with it. For the apostle Paul, Jesus and his ministry is manifested as the risen Lord and the risen Christ ascended in heaven and then he sends the body of Christ, the church, to be able to minister in his name. But it is Christ who is the foundation and the former and the maker and the creator of this body.
There is much scholarly debate right now and many different books debating either side of this. Did Christ create the church or is Christ the creation of the church? There are books right now that are suggesting the latter. That Christ became a Christian that Christ is the product of the church. What utter nonsense! All the earliest documentation, all the early texts of the church, all the earliest ministries of the church recognize what Paul recognized: The church exists because of Christ. The church takes on the shape and the form and the nature of Christ. It is Christ that defines the church and not the other way around. And when the church sometimes loses sight of that we lose sight of the imperative for ministry. When you lose sight of that vision ministry becomes less important.
When you think of it, the Reformation of the church, from which this church arises was an attempt to reclaim that biblical witness, to reclaim the ministry of all God's people - the priesthood of all believers. It was there to place the Bible in people's hands. It was there to encourage ordinary people to have faith. It was to elevate the leity and give them a sense of calling a purpose. It was to take what had become an isolated clergy with an isolated sacrament and an isolated document and bring it to the people. Fascinatingly enough the counter-reformation recognized the weakness of the Reformation. It had forgotten the power of transcendence, the beauty of worship. It had become so based on the people that it wasn't elevating the glory of God. And you can see that manifested, for example, in the architecture and the art of the baroques. There was a desire to reclaim the transcendent, to reclaim the glorious nature of ministry.
They were both right in their own way and in their own time. They both are needed: the ministry of the people and the transcendence of God; both the ordinary, every day person ministering but also the heavenly nature of ministry. Paul understood when he talked about the ascension that people need to understand that to be able to know that their ministry leads them to something heavenly, something higher, that when you serve God, when you worship Christ, when you bear good news as a Christian, what you are doing is heaven-inspired. If that doesn't give you a sense of purpose and joy I don't know what will. Unfortunately ministry at times has been reduced to form and function rather than to its true spiritual power and makeup.
We need a new Reformation in a sense, to reclaim that vision of diversity under a unity that seeks to follow Christ's will. The church must be defined by Christ, but it must also be others-oriented. Note the language Paul uses: “To equip the saints for service.” The word is diaconia to be a deacon, to serve others, to go beyond an obsession with self or even an obsession with the body of the church, to care for others and to care for the world.
One of the things that admire about many young people today is that they see authenticity manifested in those who genuinely care for the world and have a passion for the planet and its people. One of the things I would remind them of is this: In our culture there is hardly an institution, academic, social, ministerial, that did not have some form of religious foundation at it root. Even the great universities of the world were created by people of faith to teach and to nurture and to edify people not only in reason and in science but in faith and in theology. So, many of the missions that have staying power were formed by compassionate Christians who had concern for people beyond their own bounds. The missions that have gone to so many places in the world, sometimes I know, with dubious motives but more often than not with sound motives, have come from people of faith.
It is not good enough just to say that as an historical fact, it's up to the church, now, in this age, in this moment when all eyes are on us, to do the same thing and be the same thing. To be others-oriented but to keep listening to the one who directs us.
I read an inspirational story not long ago of something that happened in a submarine in the South Pacific. The navigator of the submarine became extremely ill with a temperature of 106 Fahrenheit. Those on board were deeply worried about him and knew that they were a few days from port before they'd be able to get him to a doctor. The pharmacist on the submarine realized that this man was about to have a ruptured appendix and would probably die. So he said to him: “Would you like me to remove your appendix for you?”
The man looked at him and said, “Do you know anything about removing an appendix?”
The pharmacist said, “Well, I've never done an appendectomy but I've watched one, been told how to do it and read a medical manual, so I can give it a go.”
The man said, “Well, what happens if you don't remove it?”
The pharmacist said, “You die.”
The man said, “In that case, go ahead and do it.”
And so in a little room on a submarine they got a floodlight and this is what happened, it's a marvellous true story: They stretched him onto a bench, the mate and assisting officers, dressed in reverse pajamas, masked their faces with gauze. The crew stood by to make sure that the bench remained steady. The cook boiled water for sterilizing. A tea-strainer served as an antiseptic cone. A broken-handled scalpel was the operating instrument. Alcohol drained from the torpedoes was the antiseptic (yikes). Bent tablespoons served to keep the muscles open and after cutting through the layers of the muscle it took 20 minutes to find the appendix. Two and a half hours later the last catgut stitch was sewed just as they were down to the last drop of ether. Thirteen days later the navigator was back at work. Amen.
The whole place took part in the healing of the navigator, the whole of the crew played a role, every one had a part but it was the one who had listened beforehand who knew what to do. What an image for the church, a broken world, people who gather together to care for it, listening to the Lord for healing and direction. The question is: “Will you, when called, stand up to the plate?” Amen.