We all have a tendency to judge others.  This morning Jesus is telling us, don’t jump to conclusions about the people around you.  We all do it.  We see something happen to someone else and we want to give a reason.  A glaring example is right after the earthquake in Haiti Pat Roberson stated that the reason it happened was because the people of Haiti made a pact with the devil to get out from under the France.  He gave a, they got what they deserved, evaluation of the situation.  But before you jump on brother Pat you need to think about your own response to things.

 

What does the Bible tell us about judging others?  It’s a question we must all pose to ourselves.  Do we have a right to judge others?  What does the Bible say?

 

There are a number of scriptural passages about judging others.  “Do not judge so that you will not be judged,” Mathew 5:25. “Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way.” Romans 14:13.  “Do not speak against one another, brethren.  He who speaks against a brother and judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it,” James 4:11.  “Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door,” James 5:9.  In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus taught us to say, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”  Again in Matthew 7 Jesus tells us that before we take the speck out of our brother’s eye we should take the log out of our own.

 

These passages seem to point to the way we treat those in the church but Jesus tells us we are also called to love even our enemies.  This goes along with the idea of not passing judgment. “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men,” Luke 6:35.

 

There are a number of reasons we are not to judge others.  The first is that as we have seen Jesus told us not to.  As an act of obedience to the commands of our savior we should not judge.  As a purely legal requirement we should not judge because we were told not to.

 

But there is another reason and that is that we are not much different than the people outside of the church.  We need to take a humble stance when it comes to judging others.  We are saved by grace not because we are good.  This is a hard reality to get hold of but it is true nonetheless.  In many ways the church is indistinguishable from the world.  As products of our culture in many ways we share the same values as the people around us.  Not something I want to hear but true just the same.

 

We certainly point to things the church calls sin.  The divorce rate in the church is not significantly different from the divorce rate of those outside the church.  We make a commitment until death yet we separate for all kinds of lesser reasons.  Abortion is something the church is against yet Christians get abortions for the same reasons non-Christians do.

 

But there are other things as well.  If anger without cause is murder I don’t think we fare much better than our unsaved neighbors.  Greed is certainly a sin that members of the church wrestle with.  Poor people as well as those who are well off seek after material gain that goes beyond their needs.

 

When I lived in Far Rockaway I lived on the border of a very poor/working class community on the one side and a very wealthy community on the other.  There was always talk about the rate of single parent families on the poor side of the border but there was an equally high percentage of single parent families on the rich side they just hid it better.

 

We have a racism problem in the church that we need to remember.  There is a quote form St. Augustine that I have been using recently.  Augustine said, “The church is a whore, but she is still my mother.”  That should raise some eyebrows in the room.  I agree with him.

 

For some reason I have been moving in Jewish circles recently.  The problem with being a Lutheran in a Jewish circle is that we have a bad history when it comes to the Jews.  The good Dr. Luther was an anti-Semite and the Lutheran church in Germany didn’t fair well during the holocaust.  The church is a whore.  Don’t get scandalized God referred to his people that way throughout the Old Testament when they didn’t follow his instructions.  But there was Bonhoffer who stood up against the Nazi’s because of their treatment of the Jews and Luther taught us that we are not saved because we are good but because of the grace of God.  The church is still my mother.

 

We should not judge others because we are told not to and because we, in many ways, are no different than the people outside the church.  After questioning the disciples about their passing judgment Jesus tells a parable.  Here is the pint of the text for me.  Don’t judge the time line.  When we pass judgment we are jumping to the conclusion before we reach the end of the story.  Judgment will come, but we must wait until the end of the world because the story isn’t over yet.

 

Jesus said, “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.  And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none.  Cut it down.  Whey should it uses up the ground?’”

 

Let me tell you my story.  I grew up in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.  I was baptized at St. Jacobus Lutheran Church in Queens and was raised in the faith at Grace Lutheran in Malverne, Long Island.  The church was the center of our family life; we worshiped there, our friends were there, I went to Boy Scouts and youth group there.  Church remained the center of my life until confirmation.  Once confirmed I shortly thereafter left the church.  Now someone could have rightly judged me saying I turned my back on the church and therefore I was no longer worthy of heaven.

 

I started a downward spiral form that point.  I took a Pauline perspective on life.  If Christ did not rise from the dead than eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.  I believed that and since I turned my back on God the party was on.  I drank too much.  I started smoking pot and one thing led to another.  Soon I was taking LSD and snorting cocaine and speed.  Eventually I started shooting drugs.  At any pint during that time people looking on could have rightly determined that I was lost and could have passed judgment on my behavior and would have been correct.  I was a fig tree that was not producing fruit and had not for many years.  But the story wasn’t over.

 

Things continued to worsen.  Spring break 1973 some friends and I headed down to Florida for a wild time.  We packed 2 pounds of pot in some boxes, wrapped them in baby shower paper and sent them through the mail ahead of us.  Easter Sunday morning I was on the beach in St. Petersburg and some people from Michigan were talking to people about Jesus.  The Holy Spirit that day said to me enough.  That part of my life came to an end that very day.  It was the last time I got high.  I came back from that trip and started attending church again and started moving back toward God.

 

“Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure.  Then if it should bear fruit next year well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

 

Back track a bit.  About six months before I left for Florida some of the people I was hanging with were attending church and serving Jesus.  They were telling me to repent and follow Christ.  What they were doing was planting seeds.  My fig tree had no fruit but they were digging around my roots and spreading manure to see if I would grow.  That Easter Sunday morning, my branches started sprouting some buds.

 

I could have been judged at any time but my story wasn’t over.  It still isn’t over.  Salvation is by grace alone.  The older I get the more I can relate to Paul who said, “Christ Jesus died for sinners of whom I am the chief.”  I cannot judge others because I have not yet attained to the image of Christ for which I am headed.

 

Church don’t lose the sense of God’s timing.  Judgment will come but it will come when Christ returns and he will be that judge.  As we go out into the streets of this city to declare our faith we have only one message and it is not one of condemnation and judgment.  Our message is that God so loves this city that he sent his son Jesus to die that they might live.  And if people don’t respond right away, if their fig tree doesn’t bear fruit when we think it should our response must be to dig around the roots and spread some manure in hopes that in God’s time buds will appear.

 

We are called to love the people around us.  Leave the sin question to God.  We have enough to work on within ourselves.

The Massachusetts House voted to repeal a 1913 law that blocked out of state couples from being married in Massachusetts.  The overturning of this law opens the door for gay marriages to be performed no matter where the couples live.  Gov. David Paterson stating that New York state will recognize couples the marriages performed in states where it is legal we are places the people of New York who disagree with his policy in a difficult position.  It raises all kinds of questions for the church.

Where the country stands on the issue of same sex marriage needs to be decided by the people in a popular vote.  When courts and government officials make decisions that side step the voter it undermines the democratic process.  That aside the decisions of our judges and elected officials puts those who disagree with there decisions in a difficult position.

As a member of a church that does not support the idea of same sex marriage we will have to come to grips with how we handle the situation that is being forced upon us.  The danger is, and I believe that those pushing this agenda on us want to happen, that over time public opinion will win out.  If all goes as they plan same sex couples will wed in states where it has been made legal by judicial decree and will move into state that recognize their vows but as yet do not allow the weddings in thier state.  These couples will be our neighbors and friends.  Since it is the recognition of the relationship that is the problem and not the individuals people’s opinion of the unions will soften because of the relationship with the individuals.

For those of us who hold to the biblical position truth is found ourside of ourselves.  If God is, he determines truth based on himself and not on our subjective experiences.  That being the case what we feel about an individual or a couple has nothing to bear on whether their relationship is right and should or should not be sanctioned.  In our reletivistic world people more and more are judging truth based on experience and so if the couple is nice or the relationship brings them personal happiness it must be OKay.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

In the biblical world view God decides what is right and wrong and we must adhere to his standard.  Our feelings about a situation have not bering on whether or not it is right and should be supported.

This situation of same sex marriages will appear at our doorsteps.  Unless we remain in the word of God and allow it to guide our thinking we will be caught up in popular opinion and it will be hard to stop or reverse the trend.  Whatever the society on a whole descides to do we must remain faithful to the word of God.

Recently we had some first year seminary students visit our church to talk about our mission and visit the community around the church; our mission field.  After talking with them I began to think about how we train our church leaders for future ministry.  Given all the various gifts a person can have and all the various roles a pastor is called upon to fulfill I think there are two overriding categories into which most pastors fall; chaplains or missionaries.

When one looks over church history it is the missionaries that move the church forward.  They are the ones at the forefront of change and they are the leaders who become the driving force for kingdom growth.  Starting with the apostle Paul every great movement in church history is marked by a leader(s) who heads up the mission outreach of the church at the time.  Given Jesus commission to “go into all the world and make disciples of all nations,” this is what one would expect.

Recently I have been looking at and preaching on the Great Commission.  It is the last thing Jesus gave the church to do and to continue to do until he returns.  Shortly after his ascension Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to empower the church to do the work of the mission that he started when he was among us.  The spreading of the kingdom by making disciples is the chief responsibility of the church.  We are commanded by Jesus to make disciples, we are filled with the Holy Spirit that empowers us for the mission, and we are told that the gates of Hell will not prevail against the church.

The image of the gates of Hell is a powerful one for me.  It is Hell and all of its evil forces and powers who are pictured trying to withstand the onslaught of the church.  Gates are defenses.  The gates of Hell are not strong enough to hold back the spreading kingdom.  To often we picture and act as if the church is on the defense.  We huddle in our places of worship trying to hold back the attacks of Satan and his cohorts.  We have it in reverse.

This hold the fort mentality leads to frustration and a hopelessness that is evident in many churches where the joy of the Lord is absent and people are just trying to maintain.  The world is seen as too big to conquer, and it’s problems insurmountable.  You witness this as you trace the movements of congregations in the city.  The plagues on their buildings tell the sad story.  They started in one community and then as the neighborhoods changed they continually moved farther and farther from their original location.  There are lots of reasons for these moves, but one that cannot be denied is that the neighborhood change was viewed as decline and the church was moving to greener pastures.

We have bought into this idea and made it a part of our culture.  What was needed to sustain this model were chaplains who would minister to the people in the pews exclusively.  They were open to and would embrace any who wondered in and made themselves at home, but the focus was exclusively inward.  So year after year seminarians were trained to be essentially chaplains of the church.  The result is seen in small congregations with many empty seats.

Before I go on let me say up front that the people in the pews must be nurtured and ministered to.  That having been said they need to be equipped for the ministry.  The role of the pastor according to Paul is to train the church for the work of the ministry.  What we need is trained missionary pastors who spend time training the church to do the work of the mission.

Immediately we want to turn to programs to reverse the declining in our congregations.  What is needed is church bodies that see their purpose as existing for the sole reason of spreading the kingdom of God.  Pastors need to be equipped to build up existing churches, plant new churches, and evangelize the unchurched not just on foreign soil, but right here on the streets of the cities of America.  They must also be instructed on how to not only teach the Christian faith but on how to train those in their congregation to take the gospel into the places they work and play.

Chaplains or missionaries?  Chaplains are needed but they don’t spread the kingdom.  We need to get back to first things first.  Go make disciples of all nations under the power of the Holy Spirit is our commission.  It is where we need to put our focus and attention.  Our best and brightest need to be trained to spread the kingdom of God not just to maintain the status quo.  Let’s stop holding the fort and start breaking down the gates of Hell.

As we have been looking at the early church in the book of Acts we have seen that the secret to their success was an open sharing of resources among the members.  Those who had gave to those in need and there were no needy among them.  Everything was built around a shared experience and a common enemy.  Each time a situation arose the church members rallied together and the Lord added to their numbers.

Chapter 5 is the first time that dissension arises in the church.  Here is were the church today needs to take heed to the warning of scripture.  This chapter begins with the story of Ananias and Sapphira.  This couple was a part of the early church community.  They were witnesses to all that was being done by the church and the blessings that were being poured out upon the church by God.  Like many today these two wanted to reap the blessings with out paying the price.  They wanted to be insiders in the church without the commitment of their resources to the needs of those around them.

The couple had a piece of land that they sold.  The land was their”s to do with as they pleased.  Having sold the land they brought some of the proceeds of the sale and laid it at the feet of the apostles; they brought it to the church for use in the ministry.  All of this was fine and they could have gone on with out a problem.  The only glitch was that they led the apostles and the entire church to believe that their offering was the entire sum of the sale of their property.  Whether they out right lied at first or tried to deceive the church by implication we don’t know.  What we do know was that the deception was deliberate.  They wanted to look spiritual and important in the eyes of their fellow believers, but still remain in control of their money.

How often do people put on a show of spirituality when in the company of other believers?  They come to church looking all pious and spiritual.  They brag about all that they are doing for the Lord when in fact its all a sham.  Ananias and Sapphira wanted the reputation with out earning it.  They wanted to look the part rather than live it.  To make a long story short they dropped dead when their secret was brought into the light of day.

Peter told them that they were not lying to the church but to the Holy Spirit.  What we do is seen by God.  We can deceive one another but we can’t deceive God.  The result was that fear came upon the whole church.  People saw that God was not playing and they took seriously their walk with him.

The church that fails to share its resources with those in need yet deceive themselves into thinking all is well stand in the place of Ananias and Sapphira.  The prosperity doctrine that so many hold on to plays against all that the early church stood for.  Those preaches who rake in all the money offered to them and fail to distribute it as needed walk a dangerous path.  We forget that God is serious about the church coming together as a community and taking care of each others needs.  What we have been given has been given to us for the good of others.  “No one thought that what they had belonged to them.”  What we have is a gift from God to share with others.  Freely we have received, freely we are to give.

God shows no partiality and neither should we.  The church is set back every time it leans on its own understanding and it’s own resources.  We are to trust God in everything and joyously give, not out of our abundance, but like the Macedonians, out of our need.  Equality comes when each group brings their gifts to the table and all is shared for the good of the whole.

My experience is that when people empowered give to those in need without recoprocity the needy walk away feeling like second class citizens.  When each freely give, and everyone has something to give, we become dependant upon each other for our survival and God is exalted and he adds to the numbers of believers those who he is saving daily.

Our story moves along.  Peter and John heal the lame beggar in Acts 3.  Peter preachs and they are quickly arrested.  Upon the release of Peter and John the church went to prayer (Acts 4:23-31).   What is it that they pray for?  “Look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”  They were being arrested and opposed and they asked for boldness to continue to speak the word with boldness.

The role of the church is to speak the word of God with boldness.  God’s role is to do the signs and wonders that reveal his presence among us.  The church was focused on the mission.  It did not turn inward and lick its wounds.  It did not move to a survival mode.  The early church, under stiff opposition, was concerned about the spread of the kingdom of God, the mission.  Jesus last words to us before he ascended was to go and make disciples of all nations through baptism and instruction.  The early church did not lose sight of that commission.

It is at this point that Luke gives us another look at life in the early church.  Everyone was of the same mind.  A mind set on the mission of the church.  They were of one heart and soul.  There was unity in the church.  The question I pose at this point is there unity in the church today?  Do our local congregations experience unity?  The unity of the early church was around the Great Commission.  They had one focus.  The Christ story so caught them up that even their own safety took a back set to what they were called to.

This was not a naive unity.  They didn’t  think that all  would be well for them now that they were followers of Jesus.  Quite the contrary.  They knew the cost of discipleship, there leaders were being arrested and tried.  They faced the opposition head on, unity around a common enemy, and they prayed for boldness to carry on the mission of Jesus.  The cost of obedience to Christ drew them together.  Their servival rested upon their sharing their lives with one another.  Deep relationships develeoped because of their shared commitment to the work of christ.  “…no one said than any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.”

This is not a discription of a small house church.  This is a discription of the whole church in Jerusalem at the time.  If the world is set against the church of Jesus Christ than it is set against the whole church of God and we must be willing to work with and share our resources with anyone who names the name of Christ.  We have the same mission and the same purpose.

The result was great power coming upon the apostles, the leaders of the community and great grace was upon them all.  Grace, unmerited favor.  Lutheran’s speak of grace often; it is the foundation our our faith.  We are saved by grace.  Luke tells us that as the early church came together they came under great grace; grace to carry out the mission.  Grace is a unifier.  If we understand that we have been saved by grace than we should, must, respond in grace to those around us.  Certainly with our fellow brothers and sisiters but also with those outside of the church.

The idea that freely we have received so freely we should give is seen clearly in this text in Acts 4:32ff.  Understanding what Christ had done for them they reach out to one another in love.  Understanding the pressure each one was under because of their faith they banded together as one people.

Too often the church is divided by race, class, ecconomics, location and who knows whatelse.  The reason these things are so important to us is because we have lost track of the mission.  We do not see the spreading of the kingdom as the think that unites us.  We do not see the world as the enemy of Christ.  Each congregation closes in on itself and seeks to build and independant congregation or moves into a survival mode.  The Gospel reading last Sunday was the Great Commission.  Jesus gave the church only one task from which all else springs; “Go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to them to observe all that I have commanded you.”  Let us go forth together, united in mission, to fulfill the Lord’s command.

I am looking at the passages through out the book of Acts that give us a glimpse into the life of the early church; a church that had its inception in an urban setting.  The church was birthed in the city of Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.  In the last post I looked at Acts 2:42-46.  I want to jump now to Acts 4:32-37.

Much has transpired in the text between this passage and the one we looked at earlier.  Peter and John healed the lame beggar at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple.  The man sat begging and when the two disciples approached him he ask them for some spare change.  A familiar city encounter.  Peter tells him he has no money, but in the name of Jesus he should stand up and walk which is exactly what he did.  This is one of the signs and wonders that were done through the apostles that were mentioned in our last text.

This glorious event was met with opposition by the leaders of the Jews and Peter and John were dragged before the Sanhedrin.  The two men were brought before the high priest and the elders of the people to be tried and silenced.  Peter filled with the Holy Spirit spoke up with boldness.  After some time it was recognized that these man had been with Jesus.  The question was what to do with these men.  A miracle had taken place which could not be denied.  The best they could expect was that if threatened they would keep silent.  Peter throws it back at them by declaring, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

Peter tooka bold stand against the status quo.  Later the gathered church would pray for boldness to stand up against the world.  In organizing it is always good to recognize the common enemy.  The old saying, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,”  has some truth to it when applied to church life.  The real enemy is not other Christians.  We will not agree on every point of doctrine nor will we always look at things through the same lenses, but other Christians are not our enemy.  The clearer we identify who really opposes the work of God the easier it well be to work with other brothers and sisters in Christ.  Our internal disagreements will be seen as in house arguments between family members.

After all that took place around the arrest of Peter and John because of the healing, and the follow up prayer meeting Luke than turns to give us a look at the church as it lived it faith in the hostile world. 

The persecution caused them to be single minded in their approach to the outside world.  Luke tells us they were of one heart and soul.  They were like minded.  Opposition has a way of uniting people of like minded faith.  When one member suffers we all suffer.  When Peter and John went to jail all of the believers in a sense went with them.  Each were equally vulnerable to arrest.  That reality caused them to come together.  It strengthened their relationship to one another.  The shared a common enemy and they drew strength for their shared faith.

Luke than goes on to say, “…no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.”  A communal lifestyle that sprang not a forced imposition for the leaders of the community, nor an ideal that everyone felt compelled to live up to, but rather their hearts were moved with compassion for the people who they were in relationship with.

As we enter into relationships with each other and beging to bear on anothers burden, thus fulfilling the law of Christ we will be inclined to share our resources as well.  The more I think about the church the greater is see the need for us to come together as brothers and sisters in Christ who share the same goal, and engage the same enemy, as we seek to draw people into the body of Christ ans spread the kingdom of God.