"I Believe In The Church"
Sermon Transcript for May 16, 2004
Scripture Reading: Matthew 16:13-19
By Rev. Dick Armstrong
Thank you so much. It is a privilege to be here--a little bit daunting to stand before you this morning. Beautiful faces out there. I didn’t put my glasses on; I didn’t want to see to well. But how wonderful it is to be a part of the church here. I come as a retired person; and often times people who move to another place and they are retired, they can be a problem. Maybe you knew that; maybe you didn’t. For us other retired pastors in here, we have to guard against that, don’t we? Retired pastors are terribly, terribly critical. And we can let loose sometimes. So we just have to be careful.
But how great this church is! We are so happy for Grace Church. It has meant so much to us in the nearly three years we have lived here. And I know that it will continue to do so. I watch the church as it grows and I am so happy for that. I look at all of the little youngins running around—how good it is! And I’ll see people walking around here—we’re going to get us some more youngins. We are just having a great time at Grace Church, aren’t we? It’s good to see that. In so many churches, you are not seeing that happen in these days. And not only that but the young people, the youth of the church, how wonderful that it is. And the ministry they have; and we are so grateful for it. And then I move on up into those middle years, whatever you call middle years. Those of us who are older call people “pretty far out” in those middle years. But there are so many of you and we are so thankful for that. It is a good sign! The church is going to survive. It’s going to go on into the next generation, as it will not, as we have come to believe this morning from the Scripture, we believe that it will survive. The Gates of Hell shall not daunt it, shall not keep it from surviving.
And so I am glad to be here this morning. And I want very much to keep time. Retired preachers have trouble with that too. We’ve got a lot to say and we often say it too much and too long. I told a story last evening; I’ll tell it again about the little boy who had always been in some other part of the church during worship. His parents would come without him. He was left back there with good care. And now he was old enough to come to church and sat down here pretty close with the little boy between them. On that first Sunday, he was very attentive. Everything was so wonderful; and his eyes were open wide. Everything was so bright and beautiful! And he kept asking his parents what certain things meant. What are the Paramount’s here for? What was the color all about? Why was it needed? About the cross and the candles and what was that light doing up there? And on and on he asked questions as the church moved on. The acolytes came in to light the candles. What are they doing? He had to know what was happening in the worship service. And then the minister got up to preach. And he did exactly what I have done here today—laid his watch on the desk. The little boy said, “What does that mean?” This time the Daddy answered the question in a stage whisper that could be heard all around him, “That doesn’t mean a thing!” I know that’s true. I put the thing down there and it keeps creeping down. And I really want to see it once and awhile; but I wonder where it went, you know? It’s very difficult. A lot of churches have a bigger clock on the back wall. Pastors don’t pay much attention to that either. But I promise you I will pay attention.
Mark Twain gave us a good definition of a sermon. And I have tried to follow that across the years. He said, “A good sermon is made up of a good beginning, a very wonderful beginning, and a good ending and the two are as close together as possible.” And so I must remember that this morning as I preach to you. Always there is the fear of putting people to sleep. And I’ve done some of that in my life. I count sheep to go to sleep. I preach sometimes to sheep I’ve put to sleep. I don’t want that to happen this morning; I hope it doesn’t. It’s very comfortable in here; it’s very warm up here. I might go to sleep! Who knows, I might lose track of what I am saying in this warm place.
But it is good to be here with you and to share with you. And I’m glad to be a part of this great church. And we just pray that these next months will be wonderful for our pastor and his wife, as they have gone on a study leave. We also pray that the church will continue to function and they come back and they might not even recognize the church. You reckon? All of us will work together. Let’s just see, perhaps, if that happens. Let us pause for just a moment for prayer. “Our Father, we recognize you as the giver of every good and perfect gift. We trust you this morning as we have come to this pulpit and stand before these people to be an effective minister, Oh Lord, Jesus Christ. Pour your Spirit out upon us all in these moments we pray. Amen.”
I have come and already have started to brag on the church. I didn’t come just to brag on the local church. I came to brag on the church all over. We’ve been around some in our lives. My wife and I have been married 52 years and we have gone several places and been in a lot of churches. I have such fond memories of many, many places. I have some bad memories, but the wonderful part about it is that when it is all said and done, you remember the good things; you forget the bad things that happened in churches. But the church is of God and it will be preserved until the end of time. And so we rejoice because of that. And I am so glad that the church is alive and well. Now there are those who would like for that not to happen. And across the years there have been those who have wanted so very much to kill the church. Clovis Chappell, a preacher in another generation, said one time that for a long time people have been trying to kill the church and do away with it. They have pallbearers lined up and they’ve pulled on their gloves. And they have lined up to bury the church. The problem is the church just won’t roll over and play dead. And we are still in that predicament. We will not roll over and play dead.
Criticisms come loud and clear from many people in this day and age. You can tell from this congregation and from the crowd that is here this morning that a lot of people don’t go to church, you know? There are some folks out there that they just don’t darken the doors of the church. They don’t come because of many things. They have criticisms of the church. They say that the message of the church is no longer relevant, that preachers stand up Sunday after Sunday that answer questions that people aren’t asking. And that’s partly true. And I have to admit it. You can’t come together with a crowd like this and expect to answer all of the questions that you have today. Any sermon that we have prepared is not going to meet the needs of everybody today. And we are so grateful that some times by hit or miss we do meet some of the needs of the people! The message is relevant. We need to remember that. I’m old fashioned enough to believe that there is a balm in Gilead yet to this day that heals the sin sick soul. The preacher can stand in the pulpit and tell the Good News and the needs of some people will be met. And we rejoice because of that.
Preaching has always been kind of a traumatic thing for me. I didn’t want to preach; and I may tell you something of that after a while. I’m not sure that anybody answered the call to preach real easily. It came hard for me. I didn’t want to do it at all. I had other ideas. I had other directions I wanted to go. God dealt with me and pulled on me until I said “Yes” finally. And I am grateful that I did because what a great life it is. It is not a life that will make you rich—rich in many things, but not rich in money. We know that. Yet God has provided everything that we have needed along the way and He continues to do that and will until the end of time. I always found in my churches that the people were so important to me; and I loved them and wanted so much to be what they wanted me to be. I always made a practice of going to my church on Sunday morning before the people arrived. There was just God and me; and we prayed. And I would walk the aisles, walk up and down the aisle, and I would think of people who would be there on that Sunday morning because they usually always were. And I would think of the needs of the congregation because I knew of some of those needs and I would walk along and I would say, “So and so is going to be sitting over here and they are going to be at church today. They’ve come away from a grave that is so fresh and their hearts are breaking. But they are here today.” I would move along a little more. I’d think, “There’s a couple that use to sit here; and they still do. Their marriage is about to break up, but by the grace of God that marriage has been hanging together.” And on and on it goes. Families that were in trouble in one way or another are going to be in church. And I needed to respond in some way to the needs of those people.
You know, it’s wonderful that even though we don’t buy our pews in Methodism, we sit someplace pretty special about every Sunday don’t we? We have squatter’s rights in the Methodist Church. And I know, I have found out that it is just pretty difficult to give up that pew. I had a lady in a church not too many years ago, an older lady alone in the world, who went directly to her pew. Boy, if someone was in her pew she’d move them! That made it hard for people, if they were visiting, and they got moved. They usually didn’t come back. And I tried to tell her that a time or two; she just sort of looked at me. She didn’t correct that behavior. But we know we’re like that; and it’s helpful to the pastor to know where you are and what you are doing there. And it is helpful for us to know some of the burdens that you bear. I’m so grateful for the prayer ministry of this church. I’m so grateful for the fact that you write out prayer cards and send them in. And we have a way of knowing who is hurting and what your pain is and we know how to pray for you and how to help you because of those prayer cards. Every congregation needs to know that. On and on we go and we do the work of the church and we are relevant.
Another criticism of the church that I want to mention because I think it is important that I mention it, is that some people say that there are those people in the church who are not exactly what we ought to be—not perfect. What are they doing, such big guys, in the church? What are they doing there? Hey, let’s talk about perfection just a little bit, shall we? I think maybe I ought to ask all of the perfect people here to stand today? I’d like to see. If you are here today, and you are perfect, please stand. I’d better sit down, hadn’t I? You think I’m the only perfect one here don’t you? We know we are not perfect. We know that there is a pocket of something within us that keeps us from being perfect. We know that is not what we are running here—a place for perfect people. We are running a church that nurses the people and deals with the problems of the people. And we shall keep on doing that. I wish that every imperfect person in the world would find a church. What better place to be? How important it would be for them to come to worship and to hear the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to know that their lives could be changed. I just keep on rejoicing knowing that God does such marvelous, marvelous things. “Alas and did my Savior bleed and did my sovereign die, when He devote that sacred hand for such a worm as I.” I’m one of the worms that He devoted Himself for and so are you today.
I believe in the church for three things. For what it has already done. Amazing things have happened in the church because of faithful people who love the church and who want it to happen. Back across history we have read and heard of so many great things. I believe today that no institution of significance and wonder has happened short of the church. Some way it has been touched by the alter of the church. Education—I believe the church is the mother of education. Jesus said, “One day you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” And on that particular day every little red schoolhouse in the country had its groundbreaking, had its beginning. And I believe today that the educational process of this world went back to the Church of Jesus Christ.
Medicine—think of all the hospitals. Every hospital should have a cross above it because it is so significant. It had to have a beginning someplace. And I like to think that Jesus points to that beginning in the story of the Good Samaritan. A man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves. He was left to die. People passed him by; some folks should have stopped and helped him but they didn’t. But then a man came; a hated Samaritan came down the road and loved him enough to get off of his donkey and to come to him helping. He wrapped up his wounds and helped him on his donkey and took him back to town and found a place where healing would happen. And he paid the people and said that if this cost any more than this, I will pay that also. So medicine had its beginning. And think of all the good things that have happened to every hospital, every place of healing and wholeness. Think of our city so blessed with two great retirement homes. Think of the nursing homes and other kinds of things that are here. Think of all of the services for children and youth. All of the things that have happened and all of those have the blessing of God on them. I believe in it because of what it has done. It’s fought many battles; its been through many schisms because we have seen, as we read, that people have died. They have been burned at the stake; they have been thrown to lions. Many terrible things have happened to people because of Christ and because of the church. But you know that they died for that purpose—that supreme purpose!
I believe in the church for what it is doing right now. And I’ve already talked about some of that with you. I just think it’s wonderful for what the church is doing today. The church is thriving in so many ways. We as a church have just gone through another General Conference. And always there are some difficult times at the General Conference level and we know that was true this time. We know that will continue to be true. But with it all, the church is alive! The church keeps moving. The people who love it, support it, make sure that it keeps happening. So we are a people of the church. We are an Easter people who have found that resurrection happens again and again to the church. It becomes alive because the people want it to so much.
Each of us could tell a story, I’m sure, of our spiritual journey. How did we get here? Why are we here today? Where did we come from? That would be an interesting thing, wouldn’t it, if we had all of your spiritual journeys and we bring them together and write a book we pulled together. It just can tell such interesting things. I look back across the years at how good God has been to us and I need to sit down and write that. I need to get it in print. My kids need to read that, I’m sure. I have two wonderful kids and two wonderful in-laws. This is my son-in-law who sang this morning—and my favorite. How wonderful it is to have a great family. And then we’ve got some of the best grandsons, the greatest grandsons you ever saw. No granddaughters, but all grandsons. And how wonderful they are. God has blessed us in so many, many, many ways and will continue to do that I know. You could tell the same kind of stories, couldn’t you? How wonderful it is to be a part of the family of God. And so in the here and now we are experiencing great and mighty things—wonderful, wonderful things.
And I believe in the church because of what it’s going to do down there if we will stay out of the way just a little bit. Ralph Sockman went down to church one Saturday to see if everything was ready for Sunday morning. He turned the corner and there on the corner was a great big signboard and it was fixed exactly like he had told the sexton to fix it. But he was startled by what he saw there. On the board was the sermon title for tomorrow in big letters, “Christ’s Greatest Competition”. And then immediately under that was even in larger letters “Ralph Sockman”. Many of us feel that we are standing in the way a little bit. You know, the countenance of your face, the things you do, the way you look, the way you act—many ways we stand in the way for God to do what He wants to do. And I believe with all my heart that this church will move on and will build and be strengthened if we give ourselves diligently to it. Ralph Waldo Emerson spoke to the graduating class of Harvard in 1842. And he said to that group of men, “I have no idea what the affairs and the events of tomorrow will be, but when they come, the church will be downtown, and out in the country—will be there to fight the battles and to redeem the world.” And I believe that with all of my heart today.
Listen, if you are thinking about giving up, if you are thinking about moving away from the church, just think about this. If we don’t do it, who in the world has the mandate like the church does—“Go ye into all of the world and preach the gospel to every creature”? No other place in the world will you find such a mandate as that. And so I hold up the church, and I am so grateful for you as a part of the church. Bless your hearts, Amen.
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