It’s
no contest. No contest at all. My wife is a lot tougher than I am.
For example, when we’re in a restaurant
and we order chicken wings for both of us, it’s a bit humiliating when I have
to say, “She’ll have the ‘killer sauce’
and I’ll have whatever sauce you have for toddlers and young children.”
How many of you liked to eat those fire
ball candies? Let’s just say that
they’re not my favorite candy. They
leave me feeling like I have a sore throat for the next three weeks.
On a scale that has “red hot” at one end
and “ice cold” on the other hand, I would suppose that many of us like to be somewhere
in the middle.
But our scripture reading this morning
doesn’t give us that option. Our
scripture from the Book of Acts reminds us that we the church, are to be red
hot followers of Jesus Christ.
Red hot.
Not cold or lukewarm. Red hot and
on fire!
You might recall what John has to say
about one of the seven churches from the Book of Revelation. John, in writing about the church of Laodicea
says, “I know you works; you are neither
cold nor hot. I wish that you were
either cold or hot.”
Just a week ago, the disciples were filled
with joy as they went back to Jerusalem after having seen Jesus lifted up into
heaven. Specifically, we are told that
after Jesus ascended, they worshipped him and returned to the city with great
joy and they continued in the temple blessing God.
Now, keep in mind that this was before
Pentecost had even happened. This is what
the followers of Jesus were doing during this “in between” time.
Think about this with me for a
moment. If the disciples were filled
with joy and were praising God even before the Holy Spirit was sent upon them,
can you imagine what the Day of Pentecost must have been like?
It wasn’t like the disciples were cold
going into Pentecost as we sometimes portray them. These disciples were filled
with joy and they were blessing and worshipping God at every moment. You can’t go wrong with that. Blessing and worshipping God
continually. That’s powerful stuff when
you have followers of Jesus together and waiting eagerly for what God is going
to do next.
And when the Day of Pentecost finally
came, we don’t find timid disciples standing on the sidelines. Luke tells us that they were all together in
one place, which tells me that they were together because they were praying and
they were eager for what God was about to do.
We get this same sense of joyful and
hope-filled waiting in the Season of Advent, which is the church season that
leads up to the celebration of the birth of Jesus. In that great song of Mary, the mother of
Jesus, which we know as the Magnifat, Luke tells us that Mary prays, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit
rejoices in God my Savior.”
Mary had a red hot faith even as she was
carrying the Son of God in her womb. In
a similar way, those first followers of Jesus had a red hot faith even as they
were waiting expectantly for the birth of the church through the outpouring of
God’s Holy Spirit.
Pre-Pentecost or Post-Pentecost, we find a
red-hot community of disciples eagerly anticipating what God was about to do
next.
That’s the wonderful thing about being red
hot in our faith. Awesome and wonderful
things happen. And it leads us to
anticipate the next awesome and wonderful thing that God is about to do.
This kind of active faith and radical
trust in the power of God at work in our lives is especially good news for
those of us who are going through transitions.
I think specifically of our graduates who are being recognized this
morning. This is a time of transition
for them as well as their parents, and there may be a sense of anxiety and fear
which is to be expected.
But know that in the midst of your anxiety
and fear, is a God who stands ready to empower and equip you to be his
disciples in whatever new challenge you may be facing.
Yes. God wants to use ordinary people like
you and me to proclaim and live out the good news of Jesus Christ in our
various walks of life. And God promises
to be present with us through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Luke tells us that when the wind of the
Spirit came upon the disciples on that Pentecost Day that divided tongues of
fire appeared among them and rested on each of them.
Things got red hot as God’s Spirit enabled
them to speak in different languages in order to communicate the message of the
risen Christ to people of all nationalities who were visiting Jerusalem on that
day. And really, the entire Book of Acts
tells the story of how the early church was living out its red hot faith. People came to know Christ day by day through
the powerful witness of the disciples.
I was talking to a couple of pastors in
our District after a meeting. You know
how we Methodists like to have an unofficial meeting after the official meeting? Well, we were having a meeting after the
meeting and one of the pastors all of the sudden got really fired up and he
said, “I didn’t enter the ministry just
so that I could play church, you know. I
became a pastor so that I could be part of something awesome for God – to reach
our neighborhoods and our cities with the love of Jesus and to see real
transformation.”
But he wasn’t finished. He went on to say, “There are people who have no idea that Jesus is real, and yet we the
church are just standing by as if we don’t even care. I’ll tell you right now, I’m pretty sick of
it.”
It got really hot all of the sudden and I
think I got singed.
The
Christian author, Evelyn Underhood put it so well when she wrote, “The church wants not more consecrated
philanthropists, but a disciplined priesthood of theocentric souls who shall be
tools and channels of the Spirit of God.”
The quote is too good to not
say it again. “The church wants no more concescrated philanthropists, but a
disciplined priesthood of theocentric souls who shall be tools and channels of
the Spirit of God.”
When I can, I like to help with the
community lunches that we serve here at the church each week. We have wonderful teams of people who serve
in this ministry.
This past winter, I looked at my watch and
noticed that it was close to noon when the lunch would start. I quickly went downstairs to offer a prayer
before the meal. It’s a way for me to
connect with the people we serve.
When I entered the kitchen, I was
surprised to find a new person helping our team of volunteers with the
lunch. Just when I was about to ask if
they were ready for me to pray, our newest volunteer, Jason beat me to the punch, and with great
enthusiasm he said, “I’ll go out and say
the prayer!”
I remember in that moment feeling sorry
for myself and thinking, “But I usually get to say the
prayer.” I shrugged it off and as
Jason was offering the prayer, I turned to our lunch crew and said, “Well it sure seems like Jason has a lot of
energy!” And our volunteers all said
in unison, “Yeah, but he’s wearing us
out!”
Just then, Jason pops back into the room
and with a great big smile says, “Finished
the prayer! I’m ready to take the plates
of food to the tables!” I remember
in that moment thinking to myself, “But I usually get to take the plates
of food to the tables.”
Jason worked at full throttle speed,
taking plate after plate of food out to our guests. Our kitchen crew couldn’t dish up the food
fast enough for Jason. In just a short
amount of time after leaving the kitchen, he was back in the kitchen ready to
take out more plates.
What usually took about ten minutes for
two or three of us to feed 50 people, took Jason only about three to five
minutes. He was a one man wrecking crew.
Once
everybody was served, our crew sat down to eat.
We had just started eating when we heard the dishwasher running. It was Jason!
He had already eaten and was now single handedly washing the dirty
dishes!
I finished eating and went into the
kitchen and I introduced myself to Jason.
I said, “Jason, we really
appreciate your help today. We’re not
used to someone with your energy and enthusiasm.”
He replied with a great big
smile, “Oh, no problem. This is my way of giving back for everything
your church has done for me.” And he
went on to share how our church had helped him get back on his feet again
during a very low point in his life. He
couldn’t stop thanking me for what our church did for him.
He said, “I felt that the Lord wanted me to meet you so that I can receive some
mentoring as a new Christian. Can you
meet with me sometime?”
Well, Jason and I ended up
finding a time to meet. And one of the
things I shared with Jason was to affirm him for his red hot faith and his
enthusiasm in serving the Lord. I told
him that I longed to have some of his energy and joy in serving the Lord.
But then I said, “You might want to think about slowing down a little bit or you’re
going to wear us all out!” Jason has
a red hot faith.
This past Thursday was the
anniversary of the time when the founder of Methodism, John Wesley felt his
heart strangely warmed. During a prayer
meeting in 1738, he received an assurance that Jesus Christ died on the cross
for his sins. That heart- warming
experience ended up igniting a red hot fire of transformation and newness of
life throughout England and then here in America that continues to this day.
Methodists will always be known as a people
of warm hearts. But will we be known as
a people with a red hot faith?
My friend, Dr. Ed Zeiders, who
served as President of United Theological Seminary in Dayton believes that
every church needs to think, act, and behave, as if they were the only church
in the county. “That’s how urgent your mission is” he said. “What would you do differently
if you knew that you were the only church in existence in this whole surrounding
area?”
I’ve thought about the significance of
what he said. There are almost 150,000
people living in Fairfield County. And
just think if there was only one church in this large area to share the good
news of Jesus Christ with so many people.
What would we do differently?
No time to play church. It’s
Pentecost.
No more mild sauce. Only red hot will do.
At least for this church…
