This sermon was originally preached on the Seventh Sunday of Easter (Year A) at St. David’s by the Sea in Cocoa Beach. The lectionary texts were: Acts 1:6-14; 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11; John 17:1-11; and Psalm 68:1-10, 33-36.
Friends, as I promised in the FYI, this morning we are talking about your call to be missionaries. That’s where we are going, but our starting point for this journey is the most obvious thing in the world…
A grilling apron.
Rebecca gave me this apron as a gift right after we were married. The words across the top say this: Hell’s hot. Time’s short. The stakes are high. The quippy phrase came from a missionary bishop in South Carolina who was well-known for his passionate and evangelistic sermons. The message of the apron is clear: time is ticking and people need Jesus!
The idea that time is short and that the stakes are high was highlighted this week when The General Social Survey released their study of religious attendance in America from 1972 to 2022. The results were grim. They presented 5 categories for attendance: never, seldom, yearly, monthly, and weekly. Over the last fifty years weekly attendance has dropped from 41% to 22% while those who never attend has increased from 9% all the way up to 33%. In the last 50 years, 19% of the population no longer attends church weekly and 24% more of the population never goes. That means weekly church attendance has been cut in half while never-attendees has tripled.
Friends, this is a dramatic change: the stakes are very, very high!
On top of that, one of greatest pastor-theologians of the last century died on Friday morning. Tim Keller, longtime pastor of Redeemer Manhattan, a best-selling author, and fine preacher, died at the age of 72. During his final days he told his family, “I’m thankful for all the people who’ve prayed for me over the years. I’m thankful for my family that loves me. I’m thankful for the time God has given me, but I’m ready to see Jesus. I can’t wait to see Jesus. Send me home.”
I only met Tim once, back in 2011/2 in Dallas for a conference with Redeemer Seminary (now Reformed Theological Seminary, Dallas) He shared the stage with Sinclair Ferguson–more on him in a second!–and he presented the Gospel with amazing clarity and precision for a post-Christian culture. I didn’t have one of his books on me, but I did have Lesslie Newbigin’s “The Gospel in a Pluralist Society” on hand. I sheepishly asked Tim if he would sign it for me…and he did! Here it is…one of my cherished possessions!
Briefly back to Sinclair Ferguson. He taught me this little limerick which has nothing to do with the sermon but is too good not to share. Note that the preacher referenced in the first line is Charles Spurgeon, another great preacher and theologian.
There once was a preacher named Spurgy
Who hated the church’s liturgy
But his sermons are fine,
And I use them as mine,
As do most of the Anglican clergy.
We lost a spiritual giant this week, we discovered disheartening and discouraging information about the state of Christianity in this country, and we have been reminded that time’s short and the stakes are high. It all feels too overwhelming, too intense, too hopeless. It feels as though our job as Christians just keeps getting harder and harder and harder.
And that’s just the state of the church.
That says nothing about the state of the world, the state of the union, the state of our health, wealth, prosperity, condo boards or neighborhood HOAs. Nothing of our marriages, our jobs, our retirement, or the state of our families.
It would be rather easy to melt into doubt, fear, panic, worry, or anxiety. It would be easy to pack it in or bury our heads in the sand.
What are we to do?!
1 Peter 5 offers us a comforting option. We are told to cast all of your anxiety on Jesus, because he cares for you. I want you to hear the hope and the comfort that this verse communicates. Peter is not telling you to avoid anxiety nor is he saying that if you feel anxious or doubtful that you are in the wrong.
There is a gross misconception within Christianity that stress and anxiety are bad or wrong or evil or only what weak people deal with. You’ve seen the shirts and the bumper stickers, I know you have, they say Too blessed to be stressed. Oh my dear ones, that is not true. That is not right. That idea is nowhere to be found in the Bible. The night before he died, our Lord Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane praying with the and for the disciples. This was a difficult night for Jesus, a night which is commonly called the agony of Christ. Luke 22:44 tells us that “In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.” This is a phenomenon known scientifically as hematohidrosis (HEH MA TOE HEH DRO SIS) and it is caused by “stress, strain, or excessive exertion.” Jesus didn’t pray, “Father, I am too blessed to be stressed!” but rather, “Let this cup pass from me!”
In John 16, Jesus says to his disciples, “In this world you will have troubles but I leave you my peace.” Not may, but will. We typically focus on the peace of Christ–and for good reason–but we completely ignore or gloss over the pronouncement that there will be troubles.
I tell you all of this because when Peter tells us to cast our anxieties on Jesus it is because Jesus understands our stress, fear, worry, doubt, and anxiety! He understands because he has felt it! The Christian response is not too blessed to be stressed, but rather, even when I’m stressed I am blessed. Can I get an amen?
I’m not sure who needs to hear it this morning, but Jesus gets you, he understands the anxiety, and he is asking you to give it to him. He can carry the anxiety for you, he can carry the stress, he can take it all. His burden is easy, his yoke is light, he is the Prince of peace, and his peace transcends all understanding. As Peter tells us in verse 10, Jesus will restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. During the Prayers of the People this morning, we’re going to make space for something different: If you need to lay your anxieties on Jesus, I am going to invite you to come and stand/kneel at the communion rail and give them up to him.
Jesus’ perfect love will cast out all fear because he wants you to have abundant life right here, right now. Our John passage is yet another snippet from Jesus’ High Priestly prayer on the night before his death. While the synoptics have Jesus praying silently, John’s account has Jesus praying out loud for four chapters so that the disciples can hear him! In this portion of the prayer Jesus mentions eternal life. Jesus has been given authority by the Father to give eternal life “to all whom you have given him.” This eternal life is found in knowing God. Period. That’s what verse 4 says. It’s not eternal life because you paid enough, gave enough, tithed enough, prayed enough, did enough, forgave enough, or anything else enough. No, if that were the case then this would be a works-based righteousness which has nothing to do with grace and everything to do with our human efforts.
The eternal life mentioned by Jesus in verses 2 and 3 is pure gift. And it is a pure gift that is not resigned or reserved for some far-off, distant future. It is not a rainy day fund that you can pull out in tough times. It does not have “Break Glass in Case of Emergency” written on it. The abundant and eternal life of Jesus begins now because it is for now. Jesus offers his abundant life to all people, regardless of race, gender, socioeconomic status, or if you’re an Apple or Android user. The idea that I can cast my cares and anxieties upon Jesus and the offer of an abundant life in the here and now for which I cannot pay, I have not earned, and I will not achieve through human efforts…that sounds like pretty good news to me!
But time’s short and the stakes are high…so what are we to do with this good news? Once we have accepted it, laying our burdens down with Jesus, what then are we to do?
The response to the shortness of time and the height of our stakes is the same response that the disciples are invited to give after the Ascension. “The proper response, the intended response to the ascension is to worship, to wait, and to witness.”
The real thrust of our lections today comes in the form of Acts 1. Turn to page 881 in your Bibles so you can see the whole passage. We pick up Luke’s second ascension story half-way through, but in verses 1-5 we learn that Jesus has instructed the disciples to remain in Jerusalem “to wait there for the promise of the Father,” that is, they will “receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon” them. Jesus says in verse 5 that they will be “baptized with the Holy Spirit” just as John the Baptizer had foretold three years earlier when he said that he was unworthy to untie Jesus’ sandals, when he said, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Jesus gives his disciples, that is the 12-minus-Judas, marching orders: wait and witness. We will cover both of those, but the response of worship is depicted in verses 12-14. Luke tells us that the disciples return to Jerusalem, meaning they were obedient to the will and command of Jesus. Worship often takes the form of obedience and faithfulness. Think of Abraham obediently taking Isaac to the mountain. What does he say to the servants? “You guys stay over here, the boy and I are going to worship.” The word worship comes from an Old English word pronounced worship but spelled weorthscipe and it is the “condition of being worthy” having “dignity, glory, distinction, honor, renown.” Jesus is worthy of our obedience, fidelity, and praise. The disciples worshipfully go back to Jerusalem.
Luke makes it all the more explicit in his other ascension account when he says that the disciples “worshipped him” after the Ascension and then returned to Jerusalem where they blessed him in the temple. The Ascension leads to worship because it is Jesus’ exaltation to the highest of heights, it is his coronation and enthronement as he is seated at the right hand of the Father.
Notice that the 11 disciples are not waiting by themselves. They are not some elite and exclusive dream team, as it were, but are part of a larger community. We are told that “certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus” were with them as they waited. We will find out next week that there were 120 of them in total who were waiting in Jerusalem to receive the Holy Spirit as Jesus had promised. Also notice that their waiting is not passive but rather is very active: they prayed while they waited. They were waiting for the Spirit, we are waiting for the return of Jesus, and in both instances our waiting needs to be active! What are we to do: worship (as we’ve already said) and witness!
They were his witnesses. We are his witnesses. “This is neither a question nor an imperative/command. It is actually a statement of fact and as Rebecca has been heard to say many times before: facts do not require our approval. Jesus isn’t giving the disciples an option here nor an invitation, rather he is simply telling them that which will be. They will be his witnesses. [We will be his witnesses.] Witnesses to the incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of the Son of God. Witnesses to his baptism, to his teaching, to his healings, to his miracles, to his passion, to his kingdom.”
You have noticed a serious increase in references to evangelism at St. David’s over the last 6 weeks. Since Easter, I have intentionally sought ways and means to present evangelism in sermons and studies. We are a people on mission because God has been on a search and rescue mission for lost humanity ever since Genesis 3.
Friends, you have been commissioned for co-mission. I have intentionally made that last word co hyphen mission because the Holy Spirit is our paraclete, powerful presence, advocate, comforter, guide, and mission partner. We are never alone in mission; Jesus said he would not leave us as orphans but that he would send the Spirit to lead; he said that he would never leave us nor forsake us and that he would be with us, until the end of the age. The Spirit routinely, consistently, and faithfully forms, informs, and transforms Christ-followers into missionaries.
You are missionaries.
As baptized believers in Jesus Christ you have been set aside, set apart, commissioned for mission in God’s kingdom. The baptismal covenant as presented in the BCP includes 5 elements:
- Continue in apostles’ teaching, breaking of bread, fellowship, and prayer
- Persevere in resisting evil and repent when you fail
- Proclaim the Gospel by word and example
- Seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving all people
- Strive for justice and peace, respect dignity of all people
That is the life to which you committed yourself, the commission you receive upon your baptism. These aren’t optional, they aren’t recommendations, they aren’t good ideas…they are commands, imperatives, directives, non-negotiables. You have committed yourself to this lifestyle, you have covenanted with your God through the waters of baptism, and you were sealed with the Holy Spirit to do the good works God has prepared for you and called you to do.
Why does this matter?
Because time’s short and the stakes are high.
How short is the time?
Jesus tells the disciples that it’s not for them to know times or dates.
How high are the stakes?
Very high.
As one pastor puts it: “You are always one generation away from losing Christianity…If you don’t teach it to your children, it stops right there.” As people who have accepted the amazing grace and unrelenting love of Jesus, we need to have a gospel urgency about us.
We were watching the Great British Baking Show last night. The contestants were all professionals and they were all running around the kitchen, some even wearing running shoes, because they had a job to do and it had to be done urgently, presently. We have a job to do! To be his witnesses that women, men, and children might come to know his love, his forgiveness, his grace.
It is not that the mission or Kingdom of God are dependent upon us humans. Jesus even said that if we fail at our job then the rocks will cry out in our place. Rather, God has entrusted his Kingdom and his mission to ragamuffins like you and me. He has invited redeemed sinners into his ongoing work of redeeming sinners that they might join the work of…wait for it…redeeming sinners. The Spirit is the one who does the work, we are simply “beggars telling other beggars where we found the bread.” But thanks be to God Almighty that we have been given the bread of life!
Missionaries, please stand and receive your commission to co-mission:
Go out and tell others that they can cast their anxieties upon Jesus;
Go and tell others about the abundant and eternal life you have found in Jesus;
Go out and worship;
Go out and witness;
Go out with haste,
Go out with purpose,
Go out with energy,
Go out with the powerful presence of the Spirit;
Go out because time’s short and the stakes are high;
Go out because our God is mighty to save!
Porter C. Taylor 