June 19, 2011, "The Salt of the Earth"

Matthew 28. 16-20

The Salt of the Earth is a modest metaphor … it’s how Christians can flavor the world.

How much salt does it take to flavor a radish?

Yes, just a pinch.

If the lid falls off the salt shaker, and the radish is buried beneath a pile of salt, it’s ruined … too much salt, and nothing tastes good … just a pinch, and the food is always good.

A pinch is all it takes!

God never intended that all the earth should be Christian.

Oh yes, someday, all the world will bow the knee and confess Jesus as LORD and Savior … but that will be a day far and removed for now, and only God can bring it about.

Right now, just a pinch of salt.

That’s what God intends.

Just a few Christians; that’s all takes.

A few Christians here, a few Christians there … scattered throughout the nations  … just a pinch, not a pile, just a pinch.

Gently doing our work.

Christians … the Salt of the Earth.

Jesus envisions the power of our influence.

To flavor the world.

Like good salt, that brings out the flavors of love and life in every culture, every part of the world, in every human life.

Gently, and quietly, even anonymously, to flavor our world, to bring out the best.

The best everywhere.

Salt of the Earth is the story behind the Great Commission … to move out into the world … to engage the world flavorfully, not forcefully.

That people might taste the love of God, and decide for themselves, just how good God truly is.

O taste and see that the LORD is good …

We are the Salt of the Earth … and it works!

Because authority has been to Jesus, for the sake of the earth.

All authority has been given … not just some, not just for heaven, but for earth, as well …

Authority … to love, to make all things new, to restore, to build up, to bless and to hold.

Authority as Jesus lived it …

Not to gain power, but to empower.

Not to rule over, but to stand beside.

Not to give orders, but to invite us to walk with him.

To make disciples might better be translated – to disciple.

To disciple people!

And we know the meaning of disciple.

To be a student.

To help people become students of Jesus.

I’ve been a student of Jesus this week.

Reading Matthew.

And much of it this morning.

I wanted it to be fresh.

Jesus says, everything I have commanded you.

And where does Jesus establish his commandments for us?

The sermon on the mount.

His ministry begins on the mount.

His ministry reaches its culmination on the mount.

Places high and lifted up.

To remind us of Moses and the Commandments.

To remind us of the Mount of Transfiguration.

And the mount on which the Holy City is built.

High places where God comes close to us.

To disciple someone is a gentle thing.

We don’t grab people and threaten them with hell-fire and brimstone and everlasting punishment.

We walk with them for awhile.

Maybe a long time.

We practice kindness.

And we pray.

Maybe we’ll never see the day when someone accepts Jesus … but what is that to us?

Why must we always see the fruit of our efforts.

There’s something selfish about that.

We put it into God’s hands.

Because God does the work.

When and where God will.

And it’s just right, when God does it.

Always is.

At the right time.

I think of Dr. John Fowler in Turkey.

Medical missions, twenty years of labor and love.

How many converted?

Thousands?

Hundreds?

Just a few … in that land where it’s hard to be a Christian.

But it’s not about big numbers.

It’s about big love.

And Dr. Fowler has big love.

Dr. Fowler mentioned last night an Anglican Church that’s been there for several hundred years.

Slow and steady.

Steady and sure.

He said, “It’s an example of perseverance.”

You bet.

We don’t give up.

We stay on course.

Slow and steady.

And God does the rest.

Kindness is our greatest power.

Kindness can open someone’s heart to the love of God.

You see, we can’t convert anyone.

Only God can convert someone.

It’s God’s business.

Our business is kindness.

Conversion is God’s business.

No one knows when the disciples were converted.

It was a long process.

Even after three years with Jesus, they’ not at all clear … even as Matthew notes, some doubted, or maybe all of them had a little doubt.

Conversion belongs to God.

It’s a long process.

It takes a life-time.

I’ve heard pastors talk with one another on a Monday morning – “How many people came forward yesterday?” … “How many conversions?”

Look, with all the right pressure and harsh preaching, we can get people to do anything.

Lots of people have “converted” under duress.

They were frightened.

They were cajoled.

They were pressured … and that does more harm than good … it may build statistics, but it doesn’t build the kingdom of God … it doesn’t change hearts.

Only God does the converting.

Even Saul’s story.

When was the conversion?

On the road in the blinding light?

When he fell down.

When he got up.

When he was blinded?

When Ananias prayed for him?

When the scales fell from his eyes?

When he went to Arabia?

When he went to Jerusalem?

Conversion is a slow and beautiful process.

Some things happen all at once, of course.

Maybe.

But the real story is a story of time.

Time to think.

Quiet moments.

As God works in our lives.

It’s important for us to appreciate the power of kindness.

A gentle work!

Being with someone.

Kindness counts for everything.

And it’s effective.

Think of the Christians who’ve made a difference in our lives.

What were they like?

For me, they were all gentle and wise.

All of them were kind.

All of them were patient.

Jesus then takes us to baptism.

Baptism is grace.

Pure grace … something given to us.

Something good.

Something godly.

Just given to us.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

All of God.

Not just some of God.

But the whole realm of God’s mercy and goodness.

Creation, salvation, empowerment.

The Father.

The Son.

The Holy Spirit.

Nothing more needed.

Nothing left out.

We get all of God.

Teaching people to obey, says Jesus.

Obey?

Wow … let’s unpack that word.

For many, it simply means conformity.

Conform to someone’s rules.

Do this, do that; don’t do this, and don’t do that.

When someone is telling us what to do, how does that make us feel?

It never makes me feel very good?

But the word obey is beautiful and wonderful.

It means to listen.

Listen deeply.

So deeply that something changes inside of us!

Think of a parent trying to make a child understand something really important.

We might walk up to the child.

Put our hands on the child’s shoulders.

Say to them, “Look at me.”

“Look into my eyes.”

And then we might say to them: “Listen to me.”

It’s not about commands, or rules.

It’s not about conformity.

It’s about listening.

Listening to the one who loves us.

To the one who says to us:

Blessed are the poor in spirit …

Blessed are those who mourn …

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness …

Forgive, and forgive again …

Love one another as I have loved you …

Abide in my word …

If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father …

Listen to him, says the Father, when Jesus is baptized.

Listen!

That’s the word obey.

To listen to God.

Deeply.

And God will do the rest.

The best evangelism is our kindness.

We can help clear the way.

Give people encouragement and love.

We help them listen.

Listen to God.

We help them listen.

Because we’re listening, too.

That’s our task.

That our work.

And that’s how we join with God to make this a better world.

After all, we’re the Salt of the Earth!

Amen and Amen.

Commission

Matthew 28:16-20

I heard about three men – a Baptist, a Catholic and a Presbyterian … they died on the same day and went to heaven.
St. Peter met them and said, “I’m sorry men, but you’re rooms are available yet.”
Peter didn’t quite know what to do, so he called Satan and asked if he’d keep the men for a little while.
Satan reluctantly agreed, but in a few hours later, called back.
“Peter, you’ve got to come and get these guys.”
“The Baptist man is saving everybody.”
The Catholic man is baptizing everybody.”
“And the Presbyterian has already raised enough money for air conditioning.”

Strategy … you’ve got to have strategy … a plan … an idea of where it’s going, what needs to happen, how to do it.
Jesus has strategy.
Jesus knows what to do to build His church.

For the last several weeks, we’ve been looking at JesusStrategy …

Choosing the leaders.
Training the leaders.
Inspiring the leaders.

Today: the Great Commission – Matthew 28
Sending the leaders.
To continue doing what Jesus does – build His church!

Let’s take a look at the Matthew reading …

The missionary heart of the church.
Mission is who we are, and mission is what we do [remember this phrase].

Covenant on the corner … looking up and down Sepulveda … along 80th to the west, and 79th to the east … our friends and neighbors, many of whom have little or no religious anchoring in their lives … living and wandering and wondering … trying their best to do good … and God loves them through and through, that’s for sure … and it’s up to us to share that love …

Love is action.
Love rolls up its sleeves and gets to work.
Love is focused and specific.

Love works for the wellbeing of our community.
Love reaches out to our unchurched neighbors.
Love invites them to go to church with us … and have lunch with them afterward …
Loves pays attention.
Love listens.

The church faces outward … mission is who we are, and mission is what we do.

What does Matthew 28 mean for Covenant on the Corner?
By the way, I like that description … Covenant on the Corner … where cross the crowded ways of life … intersection … things going and things coming … energy, traffic, noise, lots of people.
Covenant on the Corner.

What does Matthew 28 mean for Covenant on the Corner?

Let’s step back for a moment to the larger picture for American Presbyterians.

The big news for 40 years has been our decline in membership … what’s happened to Covenant has happened to thousands of Presbyterian congregations around the nation.

We enjoyed enormous success after WW 2: new members … new churches … new programs … we had it all, and it was grand.

But in the last four decades, things changed … the Presbyterian Church today is half the size we were 40 years ago … we have closed hundreds of congregations … we’ve cut back and reduced … we’ve downsized and made do with less.

That’s the pattern we’ve lived for the last 40 years.

It’s made us a little edgy … fearful.
We’ve turned inward.
We’re likely to grumble and argue with one another.
Presbyteries and General Assemblies … too often like the folks in the wilderness … grumbling against Moses, wanting to return to Egypt … hesitant and fearful.
When they came to the Promised Land, they sent in spies to check it … and what a land it was … flowing with milk and honey just like God said … opportunity unbound … there it was for the taking … but some of the spies said, “We can’t do it. The folks are giants. In their eyes we look like grasshoppers.”
They lost heart; they missed the opportunity; time passed them by.

In my 40 years of ministry, I’ve seen our churches turn inward, protective and cautious.

We try to hang on to the members we have.
Let’s not rock the boat.
Let’s not roil the waters.
Let’s not take any chances.
We stop reaching outward and start looking inward.
We settle for what we have and hope it doesn’t change.
We take care of what we have, and we hope that no one leaves.

But nothing stays the same.

Let’s say First Presbyterian in Crane Hill, ND has 50 active members.
They work hard to hang on to them … keep them happy … be sure no one leaves …

But what happens?

Fred gets ill and goes into a nursing home. Now they only have 49 active members
Three weeks later Ted and Sally move to Philadelphia to be near their children. Now they have 47 active members.
A month later, Joan is transferred to a bank in Chicago. Her husband and their three children move with her – so now they only have 45 active members, and three less children in their Sunday School.
Three months later, Jim dies and six months later his widow moves to Phoenix. Now they have only 43 active members.
And, of course, Randy and Jane leave in a snit: … they don’t like the music, and it seems that someone forgot to put their name in the bulletin. Now they have only 41 active members.
Charlene leaves because she wants more social action, and her two children go with her.
Now they have only 40 active members, and two less children in their Sunday School.

To hang on and hope that no one leaves doesn’t work … it doesn’t work for Wal-Mart or Macy’s or Trader Joe’s, and it doesn’t work for the church.

So what happens?
Why do churches turn inward?

Fear … fear is always the underlying issue …
Why did Israel fail to take the Promised Land?
Why did Peter begin to sink beneath the waves?
Why did the Temple officials plot against Jesus?
Why did Rome execute Him?
Fear!

We all get fearful when the world changes.

We remember the good old days …
We wonder why we can’t have them again.
We don’t like what’s happening … it’s confusing and confounding.
Nothing looks familiar … everything seems strange to us.

The world goes on, and we’re standing still.
The keys we once used to open doors don’t fit anymore.
Our children and grandchildren sing the strangest things … whatever happened to Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby?

We all get fearful when the world changes!

But listen to God’s Word:
Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32).

I will build my church, says Jesus!
Come and follow me.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me.

On every hand, Jesus speaks encouragement … trust … faith … confidence … straight ahead … you can do it.

On every hand, Jesus says, “Go!”
You can do it.
You can climb the mountain.
You can cross the river.
You can manage the challenge.
You can come through the crisis.
I believe in you.
I have confidence in you.
I put my future into your hands.

Mission is who we are, and mission is what we do.

Do you have friends who are unchurched [turn to each other a moment – give a rough estimate, a number – 2, 4 10 unchurched folks you know].

Chances are they believe.

In the latest Pew poll, folks are very spiritual … folks believe … but 2/3 are disconnected from fellowship; they’re bowling alone, dancing by themselves …
They’re missing a key ingredient: connection!

Something vital is missing.
Like corn on the cob without butter and salt.
Like a burger without cheddar cheese.
Like hot apple pie without ice cream.

Donna’s father was a cattle dealer in Minnesota … next to the house, a cornfield … I learned something about corn … it has a shallow root system, and grows tall.
Grow a stalk of corn all by itself, and in the storm, it’ll blow right over … the roots don’t hold.
But plant acres of corn … thousands of corn stalks growing next to one another … and let the storms come.
The stalks support one another.

Folks trying to make it alone in the world are stalks of corn planted all by themselves … the root systems are shallow … when the storms come, it doesn’t take much to blow ‘em over.
The missing ingredient for millions of Americans – the people connection, and observers of the American scene all agree: it’s getting worse. The lonely-factor is growing larger in our lives; the lack of people-connection is telling in our growing edginess, our impatience with one another, our grumbling and our anger.

That’s why we have a work to do.
Our job … our mission … our purpose … to transplant people … from growing alone, to growing alongside of one another … with Christ in the center!

Mission is who we are, and mission is what we do.

But mission will change things …

Bring new folks into the life of the church, and the life of the church changes.

Back in Detroit, a new family in the church told me about their third visit … they found a pew and settled in.
A few moments later, in came Peg Kordenbrach – she looked at them, shook her head, and said, “You’re in my pew!”
The new family moved to the next pew … and thank God, when they told me, they laughed about it.

I think about Peg.
I wonder what went on in her mind that day?
Was she even thinking about it?
“This is my pew,” she said.

Whose pew?
Whose church?
Ten, twenty, thirty years from now, we’ll all be gone … and then whose pew, whose church?

Right now, today, we lay the foundations for tomorrow.
The corner stone for a 21st century church.
Covenant on the Corner.

With Jesus our Lord at the center”

We will face the future and find a way.
We will meet the challenge … we’ll be experimental, innovative, creative … we’ve nothing to lose, and everything to gain.
The promised land … not back there somewhere … but out there, ahead of us.

With Jesus our LORD at the center:
We’ll play our part, and play it well.
We’ll direct our energy outward.
We’ll tame our fears and build our faith.
We’ll stir the pot and roil the water …. Jesus did it all the time.
We’ll be progressive, and we’ll be open …
A 21st century church.
A place where everyone is welcome.

When it comes to members:
We’ll not worry about keeping the members we have; we’ll train the members we have to keep the faith.

Go … make disciples, said Jesus … baptize them … teach them … and I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Mission is who we are, and mission is what we do.

Amen!