St. Timothy's Church

January 9^th, 2011

The First Sunday after the Epiphany

The Baptism of Jesus

Isaiah 42:6-7; Matthew 3:13-17

 

“I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.”  Isaiah 42:6-7

The new year inaugurates a sense of a new beginning – a fresh start. . . . many people make resolutions. . . . many of those resolutions are not kept.  My intention this morning is not to suggest a new years resolution but a way to deepen our life together as God’s people in covenant with Him and one another.

The covenant group has a name – it’s called St Timothy’s Church.

This is more a description of what could happen – a vision that we could strive to attain with God’s help.

I want to begin by giving you some sobering statistics that will underpin the message this morning:  Listen carefully, please.

In the 1990s, about 3,200 churches closed each year. In the 2000s, this number has risen to 3,700 per year or about 10 churches a day close their doors.  About 14 new churches start every day and about half of them fail within 2 years.

In 1920, 27 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans.

In 1950, 17 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans.

In 2004, 11 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans.

--Lost in America, Tom Clegg, Warren Bird

Only 21% of Americans attend religious services every week; two-thirds of the US population, some 200 million Americans, remains a mission field.

--www.religioustolerance.org

Evangelical churches have failed to gain an additional 2% of the American population in the past 50 years. In other words, we are not even reaching our children. --George Barna

It is estimated that 53,000 people leave churches every week and never come back. --Exit Interviews, George Hendricks.  Why?  More than likely they want the church to give them what they want – they are consumers and not disciples of Jesus.  They want and want and want but will never sit at the feet of the Lord and give their lives to Him.

In 1900, the Census Bureau counted 212,000 churches. In 2000, the number of churches that existed in the United States was 349,506. In other words, the number of churches increased just over 50 percent while the population of the country has almost quadrupled. --Planting Missional Churches, Ed Stetzer

As one who has been involved in new church starts for 13 years I can tell you we don’t have a problem of too many churches we have a problem of too few Missional churches.

Lets pray . . . . . . . .

I would dare say that the average church remains 60-70% empty on a given Sunday.

Not the best of news nor the cheeriest of ways to begin my first message of the new year but don’t be disheartened because we have before us the greatest opportunity we will ever have to become a Missional church for the age.

Question is, “Are we able to make the changes necessary?”

I’m counting on the answer to be, “Yes!”

I’m suggesting to us this morning that we have to transition from a traditional church with a rich heritage and way of doing things to a Missional church whose liturgical traditions don’t have to be discarded as much as its Missional ferver has to be pushed much higher.

In other words, we have to become an on fire Missional church that ministers out-of-the-box to the world God has placed us in.

Missional means this: We are a covenant community, obligated to one another, accountable to the Lord, centered on Jesus, as we give our lives to participate in the salvation given to us by faith in Jesus the Son of God, our Lord and Savior.

As such then we view the world as a place where our story, our encounters with Christ, our salvation is heralded not to boast for ourselves but to give glory to God who saved us by grace through faith.

A Missional body who looks for opportunities to serve one another and the least and lost of the world.

Where we have no favorites no outcasts no ins or outs but instead we have grace that abounds in the possibilities that God can work through His Son.

We give, we teach, we love, we rebuke, we correct, we mentor, we trust and we see the world change as a result of God’s love and power working through us by the Holy Spirit making a difference in this community and the world God sends out in to.

That’s Missional – You see as the son of a friend of mine said, “Dad, I see my faith being real – I mean it’s not a story, it’s real.  The bible is more than words on a page – it’s alive.”

Is it not true that we all seek genuine and authentic Christianity?

Would any of us settle for a phony, unauthentic Gospel?  Something that looks pretty on the outside but is like the New York City scene at Disney Land. . . . an allusion of large flat pieces of wood painted to make you think you are in NYC . . . but behind it is nothing.  It’s not real.

Lord, give us real faith and make us into real Christians who experience and know the power of your Gospel. . . help us . . .use us as instruments of your power to change the world.

To go deeper into this I want to look at the Old Testament the Book of Isaiah.

In Isaiah there are four brief sections called the Servant Songs.  Each of these sections of Isaiah issues a message of God's saving grace. God's eternal purpose of redemption, as God works out His eternal purpose in history. The Servant Song are found in Isaiah 42:1-4; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12.  We heard the First Servant Song read this morning.

What God says through Isaiah in these four sections is to describe the servant – some say the servant is Israel, some say it’s a particular leader, the church believes the servant described is Jesus.

The servant is divinely chosen; that is the servant is called, anointed by the Holy Spirit, equipped and commissioned to serve and successfully complete God’s mission.

The mission is to establish justice in the earth which echoes Micah’s word from God that requires man to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God.

Creation has turned into a violent place with divisions and unfair treatment; it carries disease, and heartache ad misery; death and sin abound; the land cries out for the blood spilled upon it.  The servant must come to restore justice.

God then says He will send His servant (His Son who is Messiah) and His success is due to God’s love and the servant’s faithful, unswerving commitment.

God’s servant, His Son, will be a covenant to the nations; His character is such that he gives himself completely to His father’s will and mission.

In other words, the servant is fully committed to God’s call – he’s able to hear it and is more than willing to answer it.

Listen to God speak through Isaiah once again: “I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.” 

Consider all that we have heard about Jesus these past several weeks: Gabriel announcing His conception and birth to the virgin Mary, and to Joseph her betrothed.  The census and journey to Bethlehem; the birth of Christ and the angelic and human response of angels, and shepherds and wise men from the gentile territories.

And this morning we hear from God’s word that teaches us that when Jesus was immersed in the water by John to fulfill all righteousness he came up out of the water and heaven opened a the Holy Spirit rested upon Him and the Father said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

You see it is God who rightly says that He is the “Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it.

It is God who says that He called the servant “in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles . . . . . “

This servant will succeed.

His success will come through crucifixion on a cross.

About 740 years before Jesus was birthed God described His Son who would come into the world as a servant – someone who has turned over His will to a master – and through His service would defeat disease, hatred, injustice, and even death.

The weakness He would exhibit is the power of God made real those who placed their hopes in false gods, or armies, or physical force and yes, even religious zealots.

The weakness of the servant Son is really the power of the Holy Spirit to lead the Son to the exact place at the exact time to do the exact thing the Father will to be done.

It’s the covering of the Holy Spirit that tells and encourages the servant Son to press on.

Jesus, God’s servant and messiah, has clearly commanded us and empowered us to do that which He has done and yes, to do even greater things.

If this is true we should see the blind recover their sight, we should see the lame walk, we should see the miracles of the bible come to life in our day.

We should see the captives set free, we should see those living in sin turn their lives around, we should see the homeless fed and cared for, we should see addictions healed and hatred turn to love.

In other words, if the bible is true and the Jesus is who He says He is and He has in fact empowered the church through the Holy Spirit the church in its weakness should be a powerhouse to behold!!!!!

Why would 53,000 people a week leave a powerhouse – a gospel driven, Spirit led miraculous community of faith?

There are three possibilities:

1. This is all made up, untruthful, just a story a myth that steers people into false hope. 

2. God has pulled his hand away from the earth and is not just incognito but absent.  Providence is replaced with coincidence.

3. The church has become too intellectual, too dependant on science and too cynical and doubt-filled therefore its weakness is because it has shunned the spirit and therefore the spirit waits in the background for repentance. . . . another word would be for revival to breakout.

I’m excited about this Church!  Why?  Because we’re not too intellectual, nor cynical of the scripture or doubt-filled nor dependant upon science.

Look – this is not a Rah! Rah! Session.  What I’m about to say I mean sincerely and passionately:

We have 12.5 acres of land, we have a school building, we have sports fields, we have a decent worship space and we have the Lord.

We are not land locked but we are locked in the past.

We need to break away from the bonds of the past and set out boldly into God’s future for us.

Are we limited to just Catonsville?  Is there anything that tells us we have to do things a certain way?  Are we pinned down to have just a certain type of person be a part of this community?  What holds us back?

We have to let the Spirit in – to run free and wild.

We have to see our lives as blessed by God who empowers to acting justly with our neighbor.

We have to feel the pains of others and seek to serve them with the compassion of Christ.

We cannot set parameters around who we will love depending on race, creed or national origin.

The weakness of the Servant is the Power of God to save.

That is the attitude we must take on from the youngest to the oldest – from MOPS to our Food Pantry to Angel Food to Sports to Healing Prayer to Worship to Uganda to Dance to Worship and on and on. . . . Colossians 3:1-2 (KJV) If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

Set your minds on Christ and direct your energies to serve Him . . . . He is the same yesterday, today and for ever  . His Great Commission runs parallel to His Great Commandment.

Go and Love. . . . and don’t we have a sea of opportunity around us?!

What’s preventing us from going into Baltimore City or Woodbine or everywhere in between to spread the Good News of Christ?

Why can’t we start new fellowships in the surrounding areas?

Why can’t our small groups be missional as well as study groups?  Couldn’t mission be part of everything we do?

Why can’t we restart our school and target Junior High or High School kids?

Why can’t we use a van or small bus to go around picking kids up for Sunday School and other activities?

Are we limited to what we can do?

Why isn’t our prayer room functioning?  Why can’t we have prayer going on for our church and community 24/7? 

Look there’s enough gifts in this room right now to do what God has in mind for us . . . and if there isn’t He’ll provide them if we get off our hands and raise to our feet and open our mouths and cry out to Him and say Lord Jesus THY WILL BE DONE through us send us and we shall go.

How can we determine the fruitfulness of this community?

Attendance has always been an indicator. . . money in the till has always been an indicator. . . .what about baptisms or confessions of faith. . . what about changed lives and new ministries being started???

You see the Servant Savior is a covenant to the people. . .in other words He is what binds us together.  We have a distinctive bond in which we are obligated to one another around Christ who calls us and equips us to add to that community those who are being saved daily!

What is your responsibility?

To participate in the salvation that Jesus brings. 

How do you do that? 

By using the tools and power God gives you to be a living testimony of the power of God to save and heal and change lives.

More to come . . . . . . .

Amen.

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