What Do They See?

Pineda Presbyterian Church

December 11, 2016  The Third Sunday in Advent

Isaiah 35:1-10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11

“What Do They See?”

Waiting.  Waiting.  Waiting.  Why are we always asked to wait?  Isaiah writes a beautiful description of the glory of the Lord, but all the verbs are in future tense.  Advent doesn’t help very much.  We have to wait.  Again.

The writer of James tells us we have to be patient.  He says: “You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.”  And then he points back to the prophets and all their faithful patience.

John the Baptist thought that his waiting was over.  In Luke 1 we read: “³⁹In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, ⁴⁰where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit ⁴²and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. ⁴³And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? ⁴⁴For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy.”

According to Luke the unborn John felt the presence of the unborn Jesus as each lay growing in their mother’s wombs.  From before he was born, John thought the waiting was over. 

Now John’s ministry has come to a close.  He has been imprisoned by Herod.  It’s not clear whether or not John had come to doubt Jesus or if he simply wanted to be certain that his disciples recognized who Jesus was before he – John – was to die.  John instructs his disciples to ask Jesus: “Is it really you, or do we have to keep on waiting?”

Jesus could have simply told John’s disciples to go back to John and tell him that “Yes!” Jesus was indeed the one.  He was the Messiah they had been waiting for.  He was the right one for whom John had prepared the way. 

He could have said that, but he didn’t.  Like our faith in Him, the testimony of Jesus Himself is not merely words.  Like our faith in Him, the truth about Jesus is found in actions not in soft words and complex theologies.  The only words that Jesus knew would bear testimony to who He really is are the words that describe what he has done, what he still does.  The only words about our faith that bear testimony to that faith are the words that describe what we do in Christ’s name. 

John’s disciples asked, “Are you the one?” and Jesus told them to go and tell John what they saw and heard Jesus doing.

We of the PC(USA) are very proud of our words.  Among all Christian denominations our Book of Confessions is a unique accomplishment.  Do words define our faith?  Do the words of the Book of Confessions simply stake our claim as Christians to the words we can speak?  Are the words some standalone headstone to a dead faith, or do those words describe the way we live our lives in faith; the way we demonstrate our faith through actions; the way the world knows for sure that what we say and do marks us as followers of Christ? 

Religious denominations are funny organizations.  Some are loose confederacies of individual congregations.  Some are tightly run centralized organizations.  Some – like us – try to negotiate the difference by calling ourselves a connectional church.  We recognize that when we come together as a national body the Spirit speaks to us and breathes life into us in the same way as the Spirit speaks to us in our individual congregations. 

When the Spirit is discerned as speaking within that national body then the denomination itself takes a stand on what it means to act as Christians in the world.  Often the denomination makes statements and recommends actions that are more clearly on one side or the other of social justice issues.  I recently read a minister who said that he is never more in the center of controversy with the church than when he advocates for positions taken by our denomination. 

Do the words of the PC(USA) nationally really tell the world who we – you and me – are as Christians?  Do those words describe our actions in the world in Christian witness?

Is Pineda Presbyterian Church “the one?”  Are we the church that follows Jesus through the world?  The answer doesn’t rest on our words or the words of the denomination.  The answer rests in what people see and hear about how we act in the world.

What do people see when they look at our congregation?

We are probably familiar with Matthew’s grand vision of Christian behavior narrated in Matthew 25 and climaxing in verse 40:  “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family^, you did it to me.”  And the judgment in verse 45: “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”

The kinds of behavior that seem to match Jesus’ narrative in Matthew 25 are sometimes tied to grand gestures:  mission trips, supporting local social welfare programs, hosting speakers.  Many of those things might identify us as a generous philanthropic organization, but would people see those things and call us Christian?

I think that for people to see and hear us and think, “Wow!  Those folks are different.  Is that what it means to be a Christian?” then the behavior must be more personal and local.  I think it must start in our hearts and in our minds in ways that change our personalities and our behavior.  I think it starts with how we treat one another, here, within this congregation, and then how we treat others in the community and the world.

Yes, Jesus calls us to feed the hungry and clothe the poor and bring comfort to the sick and even visit the prisoners.  What makes you a Christian doing those things is about WHY you are doing it.  Jesus doesn’t call us to do it for public show.  We aren’t told to do it so that we earn God’s love. 

We are to do it because these we love Jesus and these are the people and the causes that He loves.  That only happens when we undergo a dramatic change in ourselves.  Paul speaks about dying to ourselves, dying to the flesh, and being reborn in the Spirit. That only happens when we bring the Spirit into our hearts and begin to show forth what Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit.

Paul contrasts the life of the flesh with the life of the Spirit.  In Galatians 5 he tells us that the works of the flesh are  - well, yes, the usual suspects – but in addition to the usual suspects he includes hatred, discord, jealousy, anger, quarrels and envy. 

On the other hand, if you have been reborn in the Spirit and live by the Spirit of Christ, then the fruit of the Spirit, the mark of your new-found life is: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. [Galatians 5:22-23 ]”

John’s disciples wanted to know if Jesus was the one.  He told them to tell John what they saw and heard because the answer wasn’t just words.  It had to be words that described how Jesus lived.  When people look at Pineda Presbyterian Church and they want to know if this is indeed a Christian community, what do they see and hear?  If they see and hear about acts of philanthropy, that’s not a bad thing.  If they see and hear that the fruit of the Spirit has taken root and blossomed here among you – shown in the way you treat one another – then they should go away saying, ”Yes.  This is a place where Christ is followed and His Spirit is alive and well.”

Their waiting will be over and this is a place they will want to be. 

Amen.