June 25, 2000

Mark 4:1-9, 13-25

I Cor. 3: 1-9

Before the Passage:

Paul has a concern here about church unity within the Corinthian body of believers.

A split had developed between followers of Paul & followers of Apollos.

Paul founded the church in Corinth.

Paul was a church planter.

He was very intense, methodical, & didactic.

And there’s some indication in scripture that he was not very charismatic

(in the non-religious sense of that word).

Paul admits that he wasn’t very impressive in person.

Well, when Paul moved on to his next town to plant a church there, the Corinthian Church

 was handed over to a shining star of a pastor named, Apollos.

You can almost guess from the name, "Apollos," that he would be pretty good.

So some in the church said, "We like Paul," and others said, "We like Apollos better."

But here in this text, the Apostle Paul puts in all in perspective and points out who really

 deserves our focus, our attention and our praise.

Please read the passage.

St. Augustine said that the job of the preacher is to teach, exhort, & delight.

I’m going to teach & exhort this morning.  (2 out of 3 ain’t bad)

I usually try to do a fair amount of the delighting that Augustine was talking about.

He meant that the job of the preacher is to help the congregation delight in God,

-- to help them find the Joy of the Lord.

-- it’s the preacher’s job to lead people into the joy of faith.

But we must also teach & exhort (which means to advise, warn, & or caution).

My goal this morning is to teach & exhort in order to change your language & your theology.

Because I’ve heard some bad language lately, that comes from some poor theology.

Now usually when I mention language I go off into my spiel about the 4th commandment

& taking the Lord’s name in vain.

How can people who say they love God use God’s name for swearing?

But there’s some other statements that I’ve heard a lot lately that I need to speak out against.

The statements come from a poorly developed theology of the church.

And as one of your theological teachers

I have to finally speak up.

I’ve been hearing these awful, heretical statements for 4 1/2 years now-- but lately I’ve

been hearing them much more often.

The statements are . . . that I have grown the church.

-- that I have caused the growth of this congregation.

-- that people come hear to hear me.

-- or that people come here because of Linda & her ministry.

-- or that people come here for Wendell’s music.

Heresy is a subtle & ugly thing my friends.

Vs. 5 -- "What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Just servants through whom the Lord

assigned a task."

Vs 6 -- "I planted. Apollos water, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants or he

who waters, or he who provides the music to garden by, is anything, but only God who gives

the growth."

I truly believe that people come here -- not because I sometimes tell a good story, or once

a month I come out with something funny -- I believe that people come here because of

the Gospel, because of God.

ILL. I go to Brown’s

Ice Cream a lot.

I say to Benjamin, "Do you want to go visit Uncle Steve?"

He seems to want to a lot.

We go there, not because of the location (nice), not because of the building (quaint),

we don’t go there because his staff is friendly & they know how to make a good cone -- we

go there for the ice cream -- Chocolate Oreo Moose, to be exact.

I believe that people come here for the "ice cream" of God -- to delight in God.

ILL. If you think of the restaurants you go to around town -- you might go there partly

because of the service, but basically you go for the food.

Wendell, Linda & I are the wait staff of this establishment.

That’s why we wear black, white, & a bow tie.

We are here to help serve you the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ.

We are not the main course . . . . God is.

I have let this heresy go on for long enough.

But I finally decided that you having correct theology is more important than

my ego.

God produces the growth.

People come here for God’s sake, not mine.

Linda & I have been talking about these heretical statements and she told me to look at

Acts 21:17.

Luke writes, "When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers & sisters received us gladly.

On the following day Paul went in with us to James & the other elders. After greeting them,

Paul related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

And when they heard it, they glorified God."

Did you catch the difference?

They heard that Paul was leading thousands to faith in Christ.

And so who did they praise?

Paul?  No. They praised God.   God produces the growth.

ILL. I remember a sermon I heard a long time ago, entitled, "Practical Atheism."

The preacher talked about Christians who believe in God, but live like Atheists.

And so they never pray, they never bring God into a situation.

They live as if God didn’t exist.

I was trying to remember if in the last five years I’ve heard anyone say, "Isn’t it wonderful

what God is doing in our church!"

I would think someone has said that, but I don’t vividly remember it.

So it sure hasn’t been said often.

We’ve got to give credit where credit is due.

Now, this isn’t just a sudden case of real or false humility on my part.

There are real problems with focusing too much on your leaders.

1. We will let you down.

We are flawed human beings, who will make mistakes.

And if you put us up on such a high pedestal, we’re all set up for a big fall when we let you

down.

A second problem with focusing too much on your leaders is . . .

2. You may take out your uncomfortableness with church growth on us.

ILL. I remember saying to Beth a few years ago, "Have I done anything to offend so & so,

& so & so, & so & so, because they’re starting to treat me like the enemy."

And Beth said, "The church is changing because of the growth. And a few don’t like it & so

they blame you."

The problem is that healthy things grow.

My passion for life is having a healthy church -- where God is honored & worshiped, where

the faith is taught with conviction, where people minister to one another & reach out;to the

community.

That’s a healthy church. That’s all I care about.

But the problem is God usually allows healthy things to grow.

So don’t take it out on me or Linda or Wendell.  -- talk to God about it!!!

A third problem with this heresy of focusing

? too much on your minister is. . .

3.  You may forget that the responsibility for your spiritual life is on your shoulders,

not mine.  (I’m responsible to you to do my best, but not for you)

ILL. Jesus told the parable of the Seed & the Sower.

The farmer went out one day to sow some seeds.

The farmer wasn’t very careful or meticulous about how he scattered the seed.

And so some went on the path, some went on the rocky soil, some went among the weeds,

and some went on the good, futile soil, where it grew & grew & grew.

The point of the story is very clear.

The seed represents the message of God, the message of Christ.

That message is communicated every Sunday from pulpits all over the world.

But what matters most according to Jesus, is not the skill in the pulpit, but rather the

passion & faith in the pews.

We scatter the message, the seed of faith.

If the message grows within you, it’s not because we are master farmers

According to Jesus, if the faith is growing within you it’s because your hearts are futile soil.

We’ve got to give credit where credit is due.

ILL. Let me say it another way & change the illustration.

When I was in high school, our concert band used to take trips into the city to hear the

Philadelphia Orchestra.

When I’d get home my Mother would say, "How was the concert?"

I’d say, "Kind of boring. But I liked it when they all played together  really loud."

In college I took several music appreciation & western music history & three semesters of

music theory.

So since then when I’ve gone to the symphony, I’ve appreciate more than just the loud parts.

I think about the composer’s life & how it was reflected in the music.

I look for some of the things I learned in theory class.

Now, imagine when Wendell goes to the symphony.

He has a Master’s degree in conducting.

He knows his Buxehuda from his Shastacovich.

And he doesn’t miss a Deceptive Cadence or Picardy Third.

So you can see there’s a great difference between what I got out the symphony as a high

school student & what Wendell would get out of it today.

And the difference has nothing to do with orchestra!

They could play the exact same pieces with precision & passion.

What one gets out of the symphony depends more upon the listeners than the performers.

How much you enjoy the concert depends on how attune you are to the music.

In the same way, your experience of a worship service depends on you being attune to God.

What you experience depends upon the condition of your heart.

Is your heart good soil for the seed of faith to grow in?

Do you come here to commune with God?

 Or is your focus on the Ministers & the Musicians?  - hoping to be entertained.

What you get out of the service depends upon you.

So (here’s the good news) if you are having a spiritual experience here, it’s not because

we’re miracle workers.

It’s because God is here & your hearts are open.

We’ve got to give credit where credit is due.

Let me close by telling you a little bit about Congregationalism.

In the history of our country, there have been two major revivals.

The first was called, "The Great Awakening."

The pinnacle of this revival was in the 1730s & 40s.

In fact, this meetinghouse was built in 1747 to accommodate the growth of the

Great Awakening.

The second revival in American history took place in the

 pre-cival war days, the mid-1800s.

This was called, "The Second Great Awakening."

Here’s the amazing thing -- both awakenings were spear-headed by Congregationalists.

Jonathan Edwards of the First Great Awakening, and Charles Finney of the Second

Great Awakening.

But the Congregationalists never considered these movements to be the work of

Edwards or Finney.

They considered these awakenings to be the work of God.

-- a work of the Holy Spirit falling upon open hearts.

And if that’s what been happening among

us . . .

I want to be a part of that.

And let’s not sound the Retreat from the work of God.

But let’s give credit where credit is due.

Thanks be to God!

Let’s pray:

Lord God, continue your good work among us & within us.

Awaken us always to your Spirit, that we may truly delight in you.

God, you know that these are serious matters. For our focus must always be on you.

For we want to be your people, your ambassadors, your servants.

Creator God, if healthy things grow, help us to grow in healthy ways.

Teach us to adjust, to share our church, to welcome the stranger & to embrace the

always faithful.

Lord Jesus Christ, Lord of the Church, Thy will be done. Amen.

Rich Knight