First Presbyterian Church – Willmar,
MN
October 14, 2012
Sermon
“Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed
through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our
weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet
without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so
that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. [Hebrews 4:14-16]”
Do you know what a priest is?
A priest is someone who stands between you and God. Most likely, he stands in front of an altar,
perhaps with his back to you, while he prays to God that God will forgive you,
or heal you, or bless you, or whatever. A
priest stands between you and God. You
would bring your offerings to the priest and he would offer them up to
God. He would make sacrifices on your
behalf to appease God or to earn God’s mercy for you.
This is a Presbyterian church. We don’t have an altar and I am not a
priest. The term “minister” has always
been a bit confusing. It’s what we do,
not who we are. That’s why the PC(USA)
has recently returned to the terminology that describes the pastor’s role as a
“teaching elder.” We no longer ordain
people to be “Ministers of Word and Sacrament.”
We ordain those who are called to serve as full time pastors to the
office of “Teaching Elder.” I’m a
pastor, that is I am responsible for overseeing your spiritual health and
well-being, but first and foremost I am ordained to be a teacher.
We affirm quite boldly that we need only one priest – Jesus –
and that we are all free to approach our only priest and bring him our prayers,
our sacrifices and our offerings. And
our praise and our gratitude.
Some ministers I know have bemoaned the fact that we are not
priests. They look back at the way
things used to be. Priests were
respected and feared. If someone
offended a priest he could turn them into a frog. Things just haven’t been the
same since then!
Here’s the good news:
we believe that since Christ is our only high priest and we are all able
to turn directly to Christ with our concerns and joys and petitions for health
and well-being, in a way we all are made priests. In Reformed theology we call that the
priesthood of all believers. There is
not one of you who has any less access to God than me. There is not one of you that has any less
authority than me to approach God with your prayers, your sacrifices and your
offerings.
Here’s the other news:
there’s not one of you that has any less responsibility than me to come
before the Lord knowing that He will receive you. There’s not one of you that has any less
responsibility than me to bring God your confession, your praise and your
offerings both for yourselves and for others.
Each one of us is able to pray for the needs of others confident that
Christ will hear our prayers.
In some ways a priest is a surrogate to whom people can go to
manipulate their relationship with God.
The priest is authorized to take your place. And so in many ways satisfying the priest can
become more important than satisfying God.
That was frequently the situation at the time of Christ. The priest becomes your surrogate
Christian.
We believe that each one of us is responsible directly to
Christ for our lives. Each one of us is
responsible directly to Christ for our response to the enormous blessings that
God has given to us. Each one of us is
responsible for responding with our lives to the love and sacrifice of Jesus
Christ.
There is no dark corner of this sanctuary, no curtained off
“holy of holies,” behind which you may not go while the priest goes there and
bargains with God on your behalf. We are
on our own, instructed to go directly to the Lord ourselves.
We – that is you as well as me – are invited to respond to
Christ’s call to become his disciples.
We are called to act. Jesus asked
: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’, and do not do what I tell you? I will show you what someone is like who comes
to me, hears my words, and acts on them.
That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the
foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but
could not shake it, because it had been well built. [Luke 6:46-48]”
Why do you call me Lord and then not do what I tell you? It’s certainly puzzling. No one in this church can act as your
surrogate before Christ. It’s up to
you. It’s up to you to bring your
prayers to the Lord. It’s up to you to
bring your sacrifices to the Lord. It’s
up to you to bring your offerings to the Lord.
In our lives we have been blessed with time, talents and
treasures. Within those three categories
we have all that we need to respond to the Lord. How you use your time to carry out the
mandates of the Lord, how you use your time to bring glory to God, how you use
your time to share the love of God, all define your response to the grace of
God.
We each have been given talents, gifts from God to use in
God’s name. Maybe you’re a teacher,
maybe you’re a cook, maybe you’re a parent, maybe you’re a friend, maybe you’re
a musician. How we use those gifts
defines our response to the Lord.
And we’ve all been given treasure. We could spend a long time talking about the
philosophical and metaphorical treasures that God has given to us, but we also
need to confront the fact that God has given us materials treasures – dare I
say “money.” Some have a lot, some have
just enough, some have only a little, but whatever we have, we have been given
it by the Lord to oversee responsibly.
We are called to be stewards of the time, the talents, and the treasure
with which we have been entrusted.
“Stewardship.” It’s
not a season. It’s not a campaign. It’s not a dirty word. It is the perpetual, the on-going, the
constant responsibility of those of us who acknowledge that all we have is a
gift from God.
Last year you spoke about stewardship in terms of laying down
a strong foundation for the ministry of this congregation. This year you are seeking the form of the
ministry that you want to build on that foundation. You are also seeking a new pastor, a new
“teaching elder,” to help enable you to build whatever that new ministry will
be. That pastor is not meant to be your
surrogate Christian. That pastor will
simply be another builder, another teacher, another Christian engaged in
building Christ’s ministry here alongside you at First Presbyterian.
We already have the strongest foundation anyone could
imagine. Paul tells us: “According to the grace of God given to me,
like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation…. For no one can lay any
foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus
Christ. [I Cor. 3:10-11]”
According to the grace that God has given all of you, you
have laid a foundation here, in Willmar.
That foundation is Jesus Christ.
Now you need to be certain that your foundation is strong enough to stand
with Christ. Paul goes on: “the work of
each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will
be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. If
what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a
reward [I Cor. 3:13-14].”
The foundation that you have prepared requires perpetual
stewardship because the forces of the world rage against it. Over the next few weeks I will be asking you
to prayerfully consider your faithful stewardship of the gifts you have been given. Your commitment of time and talents defines
your response to God. The commitment of
your treasure also defines your response to God’s love. You are the priesthood of all believers. It is up to you – each of you – to bring your prayers and offerings to the Lord.
Stewardship is not a dirty word. Stewardship is not a season. Stewardship is not a campaign. Stewardship is
the very definition of your continuing response to the love of God and your
commitment to the foundation that God has offered to us for our ministry through
the life and triumph of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
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