St. Timothy's Church

Fr. W. Terry Sweeney

Come to the Wedding Feast

"Our calling is be faithful and energetic in our walking and keep on keeping

on...it is a life of steady walking..."  "We are walking home to heaven. We walk in company in, with, and under the Lord Jesus Christ..." "Stress that God moves to draw near to us..." "The hope of heaven should be stressed..." "Stress the glory of God in creation, providence and grace." "We need to restore a sense of mission in a truly pagan world..." "We are to be counter cultural..." "We are called to live as the Early Church did...in the world we won't be understood." "We are new creatures in Christ..."  

J.I. Packer, selected quotes taken from a sermon preached at Trinity School for Ministry

In the Name of God: + Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

I pray the LORD bless you this day!

Many of us are very concerned by the economic downturns we see on TV and read about on the internet. We saw Russia close its markets on Monday after it fell precipitously; Europe and Asia have experienced dramatic sell-offs in their markets – ours has had major up’s and down’s.  Many of us with 401k plans have less in them then we did a few weeks ago. We continue to hear dire warnings and uncertainty and near panic seems to be everywhere on TV.

This past week my family and I went to Detroit where I conducted the marriage of Olivia’s youngest brother, Roger and his now wife, Malinda.

Many people say the housing crises first became apparent in West Palm Beech, Florida. That may be true; I would argue that Detroit is one of the most depressed housing markets in the nation – an economy ravaged by high taxes, deficit spending, and an auto economy slowed down by fuel prices.  Ford Stock hovering around record low’s of $2 a share and GM at $5.

I was raised in Detroit.  It’s the city of my youth and early adult years. . . . . I know it well and therefore I can speak to its troubles and its successes.  It’s a city that has enjoyed the success and failures of the auto industry.  As the auto industry goes, so goes Detroit.  It is the Motor City: MOTOWN. 

With things as bad as they are: Detroit streets were jammed with cars, the restaurants were filled to capacity. . . . I saw very few “For Sale” signs – the Malls were full. . . . it was business as usual YET the Congress, the President, and the Treasury Secretary said we had to hand over $700 BILLION dollars to stabilize several companies holding thousands of questionable mortgages.

These mortgages were largely what is now being called sub-prime or lately NINJA loans: No income, NO job, NO assets. . . . . lots of money has been loaned to lots of people who otherwise could not and sometimes should not get a loan to begin with.

Since the early 90’s congress has progressively passed regulations which has forced banks to write more and more such loans in an effort to allow more low income persons the ability to purchase a home.  This in itself is a noble undertaking – the problem when something noble is mandated, regulated and monitored by the government it often leads to excess and extremes and inefficiency.  Such is the case with Fannie and Freddie.

Warnings of possible economic crises were made to the House Finance Committee only to be labeled as reactionary and partisan – Legislation was proposed as early as three years ago and it was blocked by certain congressmen who personal interest in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack was earned by financial contributions. 

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac holds about 70% of all US mortgages, they are two quasi-government mortgage institutions that have grown to the point where they have bundled thousands and thousands of these mortgages and either hold them or have sold them to other institutions.

The CEO’s of Fannie and Freddie have raked in millions of dollars – it’s been a haven of lobbying efforts to keep Congress away from their business practices –

Fannie and Freddie was raking in money hand-over-fist and handing out huge salaries to employees, managers and influence peddlers and Committee chairmen in Congress.

The result was the inevitable, the bubble burst: : people defaulted on their loans by the thousands, and we – you and I – are left holding the bag for government policies that  forced banks to make bad business decisions to comply with regulatory principles.

The House Finance Committee has ignored pleas for the past seven years to get these practices under reigns – in fact it’s probable that due to their insistence that all was well we now are faced with this crises.

The Congress did what they always seem to do – make us pay for their poor judgment and ineptness.

This is a case of the cure being worse then the disease.

The religious commentator David Virtue has recently said, “Many Christians have been caught up in the ways of the world and are now suffering both financially and emotionally. Others remember what their father told them. You remember what he said: pay cash, owe no man anything, don't buy what you cannot afford, steer clear of debt, never put up your house as a guarantee for anything or anyone, and so on. Never expect a bank to help you when you need help.

Do you remember your dad's other pieces of advice such as, "'Look after the pennies, and the pounds will look after themselves." "Do not put all your eggs into one basket." "Your best investment will always be in your own house." "Neither a borrower nor a lender be."

Sound advice that many, many of thousands have ignored and are now looking to government to fix for them.

In politics the one who offers the biggest handout often wins – and the one who wins under those terms ends up costing us the most in terms of engineering a society who lacks in personal responsibility, a willingness to work for what they have, to be frugal and not live above their means.

I’ve gone to this extreme this morning to make a point: we must know the facts of the world around us but also recognize that as the church we have a different purpose.

PLEASE CAREFULLY WATCH THE SCREEN

I’ve gone to this extreme this morning to say we have a duty to remain focused and alert because many, many around us are under great tension and stress as they worry about their futures.  Yet, as a Church we must always remember that we are not citizens of this world but we are aliens in a foreign land and that heaven is our true home.

Our citizenship is with Christ.

We also must never forget what God has done for us through His Son Jesus.

We are IN this world but nor OF this world.  And even though we live in Maryland and are under the laws of this state and nation we love we are ultimately under the sovereign headship of Jesus Christ.

We have to put up with the folly of government – economies that routinely go up and down – crime – attacks from rogue and evil nations who would seek to destroy us and take our freedom from us and a litany of life situations that sometimes brings immense joy and other times heartache.

YET as the BODY OF CHRIST – the Church - we are called to a unique and distinct task:

BEING witnesses to Christ Jesus and His power to Save and Redeem sinners.

This morning we are beginning a month long pledge drive to establish a budget and ministry plan for the coming year.

If we were to look at this in a worldly way this would be the worst of times to begin such an endeavor J

BUT I refuse to look at the ministry of the Church from a worldly perspective – simply because it isn’t worldly at all – in fact it totally other – it is spiritual work done on the temporal plain.

The Incarnate work of the LORD done by His people on earth who are heaven bound and want to take as many as possible with them!

THIS is where I’m either going to excite you or frustrate you. . . . I hope it’s the former and not the latter.

In the parable of the Wedding Feast we’re taught that the Kingdom of Heaven is filled with the unexpected. . . . in the traditional teaching we’d learn that much of Israel has rejected the invitation of Jesus . . . therefore we read in v. 8 that “the wedding feast is ready,  those who were invited were not worthy.  V. 9  Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.” . . . . So the wedding hall was filled with guests.”

Our budget must be turned on its head and repositioned for the ONE task God has called His Church for: Salvation of LOST souls.

Our statistics must be repositioned not so much to count how many attend from week to week BUT to count how many are saved and baptized – how many recommit or commit their lives to Jesus.

Our structure must be shaped in such as way as to intentionally behave in ways that leads others to Christ.

Nothing less will do because the King has invited many who will NOT get into the Wedding Hall (His Kingdom) unless we are out on the main roads of life inviting and beckoning them to the feast.

Our budget must say to anyone who looks at it that we’re really serious about this.

John Wesley advised his early converts, "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can. As for money, gain all you can without hurting anybody. With wisdom, save all you can. Then give all you can."

It’s also been said that many of us spend half our lives acquiring things and the other half giving them away.

Over the years we have asked the congregation to pledge what they thought they could – we’ve then developed a balanced budget based on what YOU would give.

If you didn’t give enough to meet the basic bills we’d come back and say – give more.

Some where along the way we all grew into the habit of giving a certain amount because the budget was somewhat predictable.

We’d set aside $200 dollars for education and if we needed to cut a little we’d reduce that to $150 or $125.

We’d set aside 0 for mission’s and encourage people to give independently and directly to the mission organization or missionary. 

Evangelism may or may not have a dollar amount – mostly because we had no idea what that meant anyway – it looked good but that’s about it.

Worship – music – altar supplies – Youth – all had money allocated but added together wasn’t perhaps more than $500 total.

We’re an older, small church for many reasons.

You are more than generous when it comes to weekly giving – I for one am amazed at your generosity.

Here’s where I want to gently lay down the “Other Shoe” not drop it –

If we’re going to have a future we have to make some bold steps NOW and restructure the way we allocate money –

This year’s budget request must come first and you, my friends, have to somehow, someway respond out of a deep and abiding faith that says this is the most noble, important thing you could possibly do with your money or your time or your gifts.

There are thousands of people who are hungry – sick – afraid – in bad relationships – in need of a friend, a listening ear.

Hundred’s of kids are at risk – many considering taking undue risks –

Scores of single family heads of households who are struggling to make ends meet – who are running on empty.

We are in a denomination in great need of reform and renewal – we must step up and redirect ourselves to the saving of these souls as well through our website, publications, and forums that openly discuss the hard issues of the day.

Our budget will look in some respects like the one we’ve always made.

BUT it also must look radically different:

We need to be OUT more than we look INWARD.

We need to be engaging our neighbors –

There’s much to do and the time to jump in is now.

"We need to restore a sense of mission in a truly pagan world..." "We are to be counter cultural..." "We are called to live as the Early Church did...in the world we won't be understood." "We are new creatures in Christ..."  

I’m willing to re-direct our staff – reorganize the vestry and how we do things and who does what – Change what I do and how I do it. . . . . there is nothing that I can think of that I’m not willing to change to help us become mission oriented and greatly concerned for the souls of this community.

I’d ask you to do several things:

First, take time to pray and fast about what I’ve said.  This sermon will be on our website this afternoon in print form and a downloadable MP3 file.  Listen carefully to the needs outlined and ask Christ to speak to you personally about how you can support these  needs.

Second, be supportive of the vision to be a gospel driven, outreach oriented community whose greatest joy is to see another person come to Christ.

Third, develop a habit of praying for me, the staff and the vestry each day.  Pray for the Church at large and for her reform and renewal.

Fourth, give from your abundance and not from your poverty –

                Give from trusting Christ and not the stock market.

Over the next couple weeks I will be bringing details of the budget needs and will ask that you consider what is being brought to you THEN on November 23^rd we will have a great ingathering of all the pledges and at the end of the service announce what you have concluded you would support.

After the service we will go into the auditorium in thanksgiving and celebrate and give thanks to the LORD for giving us the privilege to serve Him as His Church.

Recalling Wesley once again: "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can. As for money, gain all you can without hurting anybody. With wisdom, save all you can. Then give all you can."   

Let us pray.