The Church needs to be Fulfilling Scripture in our Day as Jesus did.

Sermon Preached at St Mary's and then at the Good Shepherd 27 Jan 2013 

Jesus Said: "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. (Luke 4:21)

The Challenge to the Church today is whether we are ensuring that these words are true in our communities and our time. Scripture needs to be fulfilled in our time, in our lives and by our actions.

Today I’d like to explore a few things that we need to take to heart to ensure that we are continuing the ministry of Jesus and to ensure that the Good News that is revealed through the Holy Scriptures is being heard in the world.

From Nehemiah we are reminded of the centrality and importance of Scripture to us as God’s people.

From Corinthians we are reminded that we have gifts and duties that make us part of the body and how each part of the body has a role to play – a body in which one part is not doing what it should be doing is a diseased body – A body that rejects its own members and does not appreciate them is a diseased body. Each and every member of this body is vital to the successful functioning of the Body of Christ. And each of you are appreciated and loved as members of this body – as we say in the Eucharist- we are one body –for we all partake of the one bread. So you are important. You are needed. You are necessary – for scripture to be fulfilled in the world today – you must play your part.

In Nehemiah we see how the people responded to the reading of Scripture – I must admit I have seldom noticed that response during Anglican Services –maybe our readings are too short – vs 10 we seem to have mastered however: - Neh 8:10  Then he said to them, "Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord.."

Our fat and sweet wine consists of Milk Tart, and tea but it will do.

But seriously -We need to take scripture to heart as they did.

The walls of Jerusalem had just been rebuilt and the nation felt safe for the first time in a long time and when they heard the Law being read they realised that their real hope was in the Lord – their real protection was from him...

May we come to the same conclusion – may what God has done for us bring us to tears – of sorrow for our short comings and repeated mistakes, and tears of joy as we realise how deep and how wide and how wonderful the Fathers love for us is.

Tears of joy for the privilege of being part of the Body of Christ – how wonderful it is to be called Sons of God = coinheritors with Christ and to be His body that is in need of all the parts. Each called and given specific gifts for the building up of the body of Christ. 

Jesus brings us to the realisation that Scripture is real, relevant and role specific. Scripture is being fulfilled in our time, in our presence in our circumstances and situation. If we are going to see the effects of this in our time then God’s Church the Body of Christ has to be doing the right things. Jesus said that the following things were being fulfilled in the peoples hearing:

Proclamation of the good news to the poor.

Proclamation of liberty to the captives

Recovery of sight to the blind,

liberty of the  oppressed,  and

the  proclamation  of the Lord's favour."

In order for these five things to be seen in our time the Church needs to be displaying – showing forth- the truth about God: the Scriptures speak of prophecy which was not so much fore-telling as we mostly think of it in other words telling what would happen in the future- but more a case of  Forth telling- speaking the truth of God explaining his presence in the present- showing God’s presence in the world.- this is our prophetic role:-revealing the truth  that One: Jesus is the Good News of salvation, he liberates us from the effects of our sinful nature, he enables us to come to God – as we say in the Eucharist – not trusting in our own righteousness – but in the manifold love of God. We proclaim the Good News.

Two: He opens our eyes to see the things that need to be changed in our lives and when we change we will no longer be oppressed by the things of this world. Critical to the witness to the world of scripture being fulfilled in our lives, critical to our witness to the love of God is the understanding that:   

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;

persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

Being a Christian does not mean that everything will be perfect – but it does mean that we will have the strength to endure all things, that no matter what happens we will have the courage and the wisdom  to face the challenges of every day and so we are set free from the things that bring fear and apprehension, our eyes are opened to opportunities, opportunities to be useful, to have meaning to be joyful and content.

So how do we as the Church ensure that “Scripture is fulfilled in our hearing”

In his book “the Living Church” John Stott speaks of four essentials for the Church – He says that we must be:

·       A learning Church

·       A caring Church

·       A worshipping Church and

·       An evangelising Church

Scripture tells us that the early Church met constantly to hear the apostles teach: - We too must open ourselves to the teaching of Scripture – reading it discussing it putting it into practice.

I have been told that if your hear something you forget it in about 72 hours, if you read it you remember it a bit longer – but if you do it – you will never forget it – St James says do not merely listen to the word but do what it says:

We need to be a learning church – you are never too old to learn – and we must make what we learn corporate knowledge – we must share your wisdom our understand and grow together. That is why our weekly Bible study on Tuesday’s at 14h30 is important and I’d love to us start some more as well –opportunities for studying God’s word together. 

Secondly we need to be a caring church: One of the fascinating things about the early church is how they cared for each other and for the community – our slogan is [the church in the community and the community in the church] {know Jesus and make him known}  - that means that we see that being church is not just what we do in these walls but it is what we do in the world – giving people time, listening to them, being patient with them, sharing in their joys and sorrows, being available to them asking how they are and then actually listening to the answer… in today’s world possibly this is the greatest thing that we can do – listen to others attentively. Caring meanings sharing of yourself with them  - realising that we share a common life and that when one part hurts the whole body hurts. John Stott speaks of the Art of double listening – listening to the world to hear its needs and listening to God to hear the solutions.

Thirdly for God’s word to be fulfilled in our hearing we need to be a worshipping Church. We need to be both joyful and reverent.

While working with youth in an ecumenical setting one comment that I repeatedly heard from the young people was how they were amazed by the way as Anglicans we could have fun together and joke and enjoy ourselves but that when we came to the Eucharist or prayer services we displayed a reverence. We need to learn how to be joyful and reverent.

Lastly we need to be an evangelising Church, Acts 2 tells us about the Early Church and covers all that we have spoken about this morning. And vs 47 says – and the Lord added daily to their numbers those who were being saved.

Again our slogan [the church in the community and the community in the church] {know Jesus and make him known}  -

Speaks of growing the church – and this begins by us seeing that the community of this church is not limited to the Parish Roll – but to the people who we interact with every day.

The adding is; that when we treat every person we meet with on a daily basis as if they are part of us – then we are Kingdom building.

Imagine if you treated everyone you met each day as if they were part of this congregation. You would meet people’s deepest need – to be noticed, to have their worth appreciated, to be loved, to be reminded that they matter. God loves people by having you love them. God cares for people by having you care for them – God speaks to people when you speak to them – you fulfill scripture when you share yourself with others.

 So I charge you commit yourselves to learning, fellowship, caring, and witnessing in the love of God to the world and fulfill scripture this day in the world.

Amen.