Pastor Pat Edwards 1/8/2006
Grace Baptist Church in Bountiful, Utah

The views which you are about to hear do not reflect opinions or beliefs of the owners of this church. They are solely the opinions of the speaker and should not be attributed to the ownership or membership of this church.

I’m going to jump right in and hope I don’t cause anyone to have a heart attack or stroke. If we keep going the way we are here at Grace in ten years we’ll be a church of people who are middle-aged or older. We’ll be wheezing and tottering and leaning on our canes and wondering where the young ‘uns are.

So I’ve been worried about the church lately and I don’t just mean Grace. I know I don’t need to worry since Jesus promised even the gates of Hell couldn’t resist stand up to the church. But I’ve been worried we’re not working in synch with the Lord and he’s having to overcome evil without much help from us. I suppose I should clarify what I mean by church. Varied definitions describe different aspects of the church: a local group of believers who share a common faith like here at Grace. It also means a building as in, "The church roof is leaking." It’s also defined as a denomination holding distinctive beliefs and practices such as the Methodist or Roman Catholic Church. Church can mean all believers on earth or all believers on earth and in heaven. Probably the most important elements are those that emphasize living in a special relationship with Jesus as his body, his bride, his royal priesthood and his holy nation. Most of the time I think of the church as the Spirit-led, disciples of Jesus working together to represent him in this world.

One of the big problems confronting the church is that our world has changed and continues to change at a rate that would be unimaginable to anyone who has not been alive in the last fifty years. The science fiction of my youth is now science fact. I bought two of my daughters MP-3 players for Christmas. They’re smaller than my two fingers pressed together and yet they have an FM radio, a voice recorder and can hold up to 240 different songs and play for ten hours. A hundred years ago if you wanted to hear music you had three choices, you made your own, you went to church or a performance, or if you were very rich you may have owned a Victrola. For every choice you had in 1906 you probably have fifty today. Change and choice are the reality of American life.

But the American church has either not changed or changed in ways that may not be the most healthful and helpful to itself and the world we live in. In this sermon series I’m going to talk to you about what I observe, what I believe and what I hope about the church. I’m going to start with where we’ve been because our lack of change or inappropriate change is partly rooted in an incorrect view of our history.

As I said at the beginning a lot of what you’re going to hear is my interpretation and understanding of history. Many others share the same perspective but not everybody agrees with the view I accept. Nevertheless I hope we can consider these issues together to discover the best ways for us to continue serving Jesus. So let’s start. America is not a Christian nation and the church makes a serious error whenever it allies itself too closely to a national identity. Institutions can’t be saved; only people can experience a saving, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Even the church is made up of wheat and tares which God alone can separate at the return of Jesus. If the church struggles to maintain a consistent commitment as representatives of Jesus why do we expect a government or nation to act consistently Christian? Having said that, nevertheless we are a nation whose founding principles and legal system are rooted in the Judaeo-Christian worldview and tradition. But it’s one thing to acknowledge the goodness or appropriateness of something and another to be totally sold out to it. In my annual Thanksgiving sermon I share the Mayflower passengers were almost evenly split between those seeking God and those seeking gold. Careful scholarship shows sincere Christian faith and practice were not as universal or united as many like to portray. Listen to the words of William Bradford written in 1642, only twenty years after the arrival of the Pilgrims. "Marvelous it may be to see and consider how some kind of wickedness did grow and break forth here, in a land where the same was so much witnessed against, and so narrowly looked into, and severely punished when it was known... And yet all this could not suppress the breaking our of sundry notorious sins, (as this year, besides other, gives us too many sad precedents and instances) especially drunkenness and uncleanness; not only incontinency between persons unmarried, for which many both men and women have been punished sharply enough, but some married persons also. But that which is worse, even sodomy and buggery, (things fearful to name,) have broke forth in this land, oftener than once. I say it may be justly marveled at, and cause us to fear and tremble at the consideration of our corrupt natures, which are so hardly bridled, subdued, and mortified; nay, cannot by any other means but the powerful work and grace of Gods spirit."

Men like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were certainly influenced by Christian tradition and even admired Christian morality but were not the Bible-believing Christians some have portrayed. It’s estimated only 17% of the American population attended church on any given Sunday in the 1700's.

But in spite of the fact that America was probably never as Christian as many like to believe the traditions that gave it shape and guided it come from a long and rich Christian tradition. People who may not have believed the faith personally went along with it because it was the value system that held the society together; it was the accepted standard that controlled most thought and action. The Ten commandments and the Sermon on the Mount were seen as positive teachings that would help create a just and productive society. And if you were a banker or businessman or merchant it just made sense to be seen in church with your neighbors even if you didn’t go along with all the teachings or believe any of it. There were social rewards for going along and getting along. This happens anytime a culture is dominated by a strong majority. A small percentage of dissidents accept outcast status but a greater percentage keep their feelings and beliefs and behaviors in the closet in order to get along with family, friends and neighbors.

In spite of the picture that’s been created of the good old days, they weren’t that good, they are just old. How else can we explain children working in factories twelve hours a day at eight years old and black men lynched for looking the wrong way at a white woman or robber barons condemning families to slum living or the decimation of the Native American people. Go back and read the editorials found in the great newspapers of the eighteen and early nineteen hundreds. The Irish were labeled disease-ridden monkeys and the Italians were considered half-black and ineducable. Other groups experienced even harsher accusations. These things were mostly done and written and believed by what appeared to be good, church-going people but were they really disciples of Jesus? God only knows.

We need to understand there are no "good, old days" to return to despite what some Christian leaders are demanding today. We can just trade one new problem for an old one. We’ll put the gays back in the closet but we’ll also lose the right for women to vote. We’ll get rid of abortion but we’ll have segregated, unequal schools and blacks at the back of the bus. We’ll get rid of drugs but we’ll put the Japanese but not Germans in internment camps. We’ll shame women who have illegitimate babies but we’ll also put children back to work and forget about mandatory education. Who among us is willing to say those older forms of sin are not as bad as present sins?

Where we’ve been is not where we think we’ve been. There certainly was a period of time when our nation submitted itself to the Christian moral code but it was selectively applied and certainly not interpreted in the same ways it is today. And the submission was forced on the minority rather than being freely given out of love for the Lord. Our focus must be on the people of God and not a nation of God. Only Israel can claim that title. Given a choice would we prefer to force people to behave like Christians or disciple people into living as Christians? In some ways that question is unfair; it’s too simple but it does help to clarify our approach to the problems our country faces. Do we believe the best solution is to emphasize the power of the institution or the choice of the individual?

Because people are fallen they always make mistakes, they always sin, even if they have committed their lives to Jesus as Lord and Savior. That means that whenever Christians "rule" there will be sin and errors. And if we’re ruling then we and Jesus get blamed for such activities as the Crusades, the Inquisition, slavery, the list goes on and on. We have a tough time just being an obedient church, why would we want to rule? 1Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. 2He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house. 3Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future. 6But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.

Like Moses we are called to be faithful servants in the house of the Lord. But our time of service is limited. The house stands and the family goes on while servants come and go. God is continuing to build his church and for this brief period you and I have been invited to work alongside him. But our time is coming to an end and we need to get things ready for our replacements so they can carry on the work. But we’re not put out to pasture or sent to the old folks home. Instead the Lord turns us and our service into bricks and beams. We become part of the house; we’re put in a permanent place of rest where we can joyfully watch the next generation provide their service. And when they’re done God will turn them into bricks and place them upon us as the house continues to be built. Together we and our children’s generation will watch our grandchildren’s generation serving in the Lord’s house until they too join us in rest someday.

But that day of rest is not today for the people of Grace. Next week we’re going to look at where we’re at as a church and culture and in the third sermon where and God is leading us to.