“A Year of Living Biblically” Sermon Transcript for August 16, 2009 Pastor Andy Kinsey “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” Matthew 28:19a
Prayer of Preparation O Lord, you give us the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations. Now, we pray, you will give us your Word as we open our lives to the love and guidance of your Spirit; in Christ’s name, we pray, amen. There is a book on the shelves entitled The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Live the Bible Literally by A. J. Jacobs. The author grew up in a secular Jewish family, and he admits in the beginning, “I’m officially Jewish, but I’m Jewish in the same way Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant.”/1/ Even though he has a biblical name, Jacob, the Bible itself has been foreign to him. And yet, for some reason – a lark, providence, who knows – he decided to take a year of his life and keep the commandments of the Bible literally, as much as is humanly possible. The experience turned out to be a meaningful and funny quest. The only Bible he had turned out to be one with the name of his girlfriend in it. He purchased numerous translations, bought different copies, read all kinds of biblical materials, set up group meetings with spiritual advisors, and began to live out the commandments of the Bible. He witnessed the sacrificing of animals, stopped eating cheeseburgers, began giving money to charitable causes, started telling the truth, and stopped cutting his beard. In fact, many folks thought he looked like Abraham or Moses! In addition, throughout the year, he discovered something: he was being changed. The book has gotten me to think: What would a year of living biblically look like for us? For example, I recently read where someone, in trying to live biblically, gave up shopping for a year. Another tried to live biblically without driving a car. One family tried to live biblically without buying anything from China (Harder than you think!). What would a year of living biblically look like for us? As part of our sermon series on the fruitful practices of faithful congregations, we want to turn this morning to the practice of Intentional Faith Development. What would it look for us to intentionally grow and develop in our faith? Examples of Intentional Faith Development We can certainly sketch out some of the details. For example, we can look to the church year to see how we can learn and grow – through Advent, during Christmas, in Epiphany, on Ash Wednesday, during Lent and Holy Week, on Easter Sunday, on Pentecost, the Ascension, the Trinity, All Saints Day; throughout the year, we live out the Bible in worship. That’s one way. There are other ways, of course. Over the last few weeks, we have been inviting persons to participate in different groups and classes. There are different kinds of long-term and short-term studies and retreats. Do you want to know more about the Bible? Maybe you will want to work with Dr. Carlson from Franklin College as he shares about Jesus’ parables; or Mary Dougherty as she guides you into John’s Gospel, or Mary Lou Harvey, or Ted Murphy, the list goes on. Or, do you want to know how to live a simple life of generosity? There’s Pastor Bob’s class. Or, do you want to know more about how to think about God? There is Herb Cassell’s group in October. What would a year of living biblically look like for you, if you were to participate in a small group or class? I am scarred to ask the following question, and I don’t know if I want to know the answer, but when was the last time you were in a small group, Some of you know that Gallup does all kinds of research on attitudes and trends in the American public. In a poll done several years ago, Gallup found the following statistic regarding Protestant Christians in the United States: The poll found that 80 percent of persons who attend church on a regular basis say that their faith makes no real difference in their lives. I don’t know what to make of such a number; even it is inflated, there is room for concern. We may want to find out how the question was asked. Perhaps one of the conversations we can have as a church is to ask why this number is so high or, if it is remotely true, why there is a disconnect? I could certainly understand this more with respect to new converts, but with respect to long-time members of churches, the statistic is troubling. Now, to be sure, the world in which we live is no friend to the gift of God’s grace and the life of faith. A person who makes a commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior does not find a crowd immediately forming to applaud the decision or old friends spontaneously gathering to offer congratulations. “You go, Girl!” “Committed to Christ? That’s great!” Unless it’s the church cheering, we probably won’t find much applause. Close friends and family may give hugs; but, by and large, as Eugene Peterson, the author of The Message, puts it, the world offers a kind of ‘agnostic indifference’ to such a decision./2/ “Whatever floats your boat!” It seems there is a mood or climate that runs from apathy on the one hand to outright hostility to faith on the other. The present “spiritual climate” in which we “live and move and have our being” is not sympathetic to the life of faith; that is, to the fruit of the Spirit, or to the Great Commandment to love one another (John 15), or to the Great Requirement to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8). Eugene Peterson is on to something when he says that “one of the most harmful aspects of this present mood is the assumption that anything We can package and sell about anything we want to sell or package, including God, but once the novelty wears off, it goes on the garbage heap. There is a great market for religious experience, for spirituality, but there is little enthusiasm for long-term faith development./4/ Our forebears called such a life “a life of holiness,” or “sanctification”; it was a life fully devoted to Jesus, committed to maturing in faith. Today, we use the word discipleship to talk about this commitment. In other words, a disciple is simply one who learns with Christ, who decides to make a commitment to follow Jesus. A disciple is intentional about growing in faith over the long haul!/5/ And so, to practice “intentional faith development” as a congregation really goes against the grain of our micro-wave society. It’s more like a long obedience in the same direction./6/ It’s more about being intentional about our relationship with God. Intentional Discipleship There’s that word again! Intentional! Two weeks ago it was radical! Last week it was passionate! Today it’s intentional! I can hear someone now say, “Pastor Andy, don’t you know about
Some of you know I run. Over the last three years, I have been running a great deal. In fact, two weeks ago, Pastor Jenothy and I ran in a race in Indianapolis to raise support for the Symphony. Someone asked me how I got started. It was easy. I just started running! That’s the easy part. Being a former athlete helps too. But staying with the program is more difficult; and it’s more difficult because there are days when I don’t feel like running. I intend to run, but there are days when I simply don’t follow through on those intentions! I see heads nodding! It is the same with the life of faith: I really intend to study the Bible, but I don’t end up studying the Bible. I really want to go that class, but I never end up going. Perhaps I am too busy. Perhaps it’s really not a priority. The reasons are endless. The point remains: there is a gap between what I intend and what I actually do! Sometimes we call this – The Sanctification Gap The gap between my intention and my actual practice…between what I intend and what I do…we call it the sanctification gap. This is one of the reason the church over the centuries has devised systems of accountability. As we have shared over the last week, the Christian life was never meant to be lived alone; but always with others. That’s why programs like Disciple Bible Study, and The Alpha Course, and the Walk to Emmaus, and Sunday school classes, and ministry teams, and prayer groups, and Bible studies, and home groups, and mission teams, and choirs – are so important. They provide a network of support and encouragement and accountability. They are the places where we “learn Christ” (Eph. 4:20), where we learn how to cut down the distance between our intentions and our actions. Fishing Nets Are Necessary! It’s also why WE are working so hard to encourage participation in small groups and classes. And I say WE because these small groups act like fishing nets: when Jesus says “I will make YOU ALL fish for people,” he is instructing us on the importance of relationships. Instead of casting nets for fish in the sea, we as disciples will need to find ways of casting our nets for people; we will need to find ways of relating and sharing the gospel with others (Matthew 4:18-22). Of course, one of the ways Jesus instructed the disciples do this was through small groups: the disciples would gather a small group of followers and teach them! After all, this is what Jesus did! Jesus was a teacher; he spent most of his time teaching his Message to large crowds and small groups – a message consistent with what he says at the end of our passage today, where he tells the disciples to go into the world to make disciples of all peoples, inviting them and training them to be fellow-learners in the gospel (28:19a). It’s what John Wesley and the early Methodists did in spending time in the presence of God’s Word and God’s people so that the Spirit of God would create their hearts anew. The class meetings and societies were simply one of Wesley’s ways of not only catching people but of keeping them in Christ./7/ I had an old preacher friend of tell me once, “Andy, you catch ‘em, you clean ‘em.” In other words, “Andy, when a person accepts Christ don’t leave them alone! Do all you can to come along side that person and support them and instruct them in the gospel, because, goodness knows, the world will do all it can to get them out of the habit of following Christ. You catch ‘em, you clean ‘em!” Our prayer at Grace Church is that we will follow Christ in this way; that we will be intentional about living our faith, and that, in being intentional, we will invite others into this faith. That’s our prayer: that we will not simply see our faith as another quick fix, but as a journey, a long obedience in the same direction, deciding to follow Christ and Christ alone! That’s our prayer! May it be so! Amen.
Notes 1. A. J. Jacobs, A Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Live the Bible as Literally as Possible (New York: Simon and Schuster: 2007), p. 4). 2. See Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2000, Second Edition), pp. 15ff. 3. Ibid., p. 16. 4. Ibid., p. 16. 5. Ibid., p. 16. 6. Ibid., p. 16. Peterson’s book helps persons to see how the Christian life is not a quick-fix but a journey into the very heart of God. 7. See Robert Schnase, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2007), pp. 65-66. Schnase reminds readers that the early Methodists did a great deal to hold one another accountable in holy living (p. 64).
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