It Only Takes A Glimpse
Pastor Mathew Magera – 5/7/17 – Sermon 228
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
There are plenty of
instances in the Bible where God is present in a unique way. In many of these
places, God's unique presence represents the beginning of something new. When
Moses stands before a bush that was on fire but would not burn up, God is
uniquely present but it was only just a beginning. When a bunch of freed slaves
stand terrified before the Red Sea, God is uniquely present but it was only
just a beginning. When a young girl gives birth to a son in the midst of
ordinary life, God is uniquely present but it was only just a beginning. In the
same way, when the grieving women went to the tomb early on Sunday morning only
to find an empty tomb, God is uniquely present but it was only just a
beginning.
These beginnings, these
glimpses of God's presence have the ability to excite and to motivate us in
ways we never thought possible. You know what a glimpse is like, right? When I
have the opportunity to go to a baseball game, walking into the stadium is one
thing but catching that first glimpse of that amazing green grass on the field
is just thrilling for me and it's only just a beginning. Whenever we go on
cruises, when we are in the cab on the way to the port, just catching that
first glimpse of that massive ship in the distance is enough to make me giddy
and it's only just a beginning. Have you ever taken a glimpse at the food at a
potluck dinner? Isn't that just exciting? And it's only just the beginning. You
have experiences like this too where that first glimpse is almost as exciting
as the thing you are waiting for. That glimpse IS exciting!
In our Acts reading this
morning, it is the Day of Pentecost, the day of the coming of the Holy Spirit
and in the few verses of our reading we get to see the Christian church in its
infancy and yet at its very prime. God, uniquely present in the church, but
only just a beginning. This Acts 2
passage describes the ideal church, what the church should look like and how it
should function. I mean, just take a look at what is happening here.
Starting at verse 42, “They devoted themselves to the apostles'
teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” This
is a work of art. This is the painting of how the church should look. Devoted
to the teaching, devoted to the fellowship, devoted to the breaking of bread
and devoted to prayer. This is the image of a group of people that is always in
worship, always in Bible study, who celebrate Holy Communion as often as they
can and who trust in the power of prayer. It's pretty remarkable. It goes on to
say in verse 43, “Everyone was filled
with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.” Yes, where
Word and Sacrament are the center of the church, it produces many, not just
some, but many signs and wonders but not just signs and wonders but the awe
over them as well. It gets better in verse 44, saying, “All the believers were together and had everything in common.”
This is great. No conflict. There was no discord or contention. Continuing on
in verse 45, “They sold property and
possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet
together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together
with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the
people.” They lived for other people. They worshiped regularly. They didn't
gossip about others. It says they were praising God and enjoying the favor of
all the people. And last but not least, “And
the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” This is
the ideal picture, the ideal painting of the Christian church right here. Isn't
it just wonderful? Isn't this exactly what we want?
Now before we go rewrite the
constitution, I should tell you we cannot enforce this. We are easily struck
with the love bug when we read this. We romanticize about this peaceful and
perfect image of the church that we treat it as a model that everyone should
follow. The problem is that as soon as we do this, the only way to create such
structure as I have just described is with the law. People have to do this,
people have to say this. People can't do this, people can't say that. When we
try to enforce this image as a model of the perfect church we are required to
do so using the law and if there is anything we know about the law is that it
doesn't save us. Only the Gospel saves us. Only the freeing power of Jesus'
blood saves us, not the law. Sooner or later someone will fall short of this
perfect image and then the whole church image crumbles to pieces. It only takes
one. And it doesn't take long. Yes, it is ideal. Yes, it is beautiful but it
cannot be enforced.
But, why do we want to
enforce it so much? Because we know in our hearts that this is what we are
supposed to be but we also know deep in our hearts that this is what we are
not. And so we think by putting parameters around us we can live up to them.
Why do we want to enforce this image of the true church? Because it is hidden
from us. The image of the true church escapes us and is hidden from sight but
in an effort to bring it to the forefront we begin to worship the image itself
and not the one who gave us this image.
The true church IS a hidden
church. We look at the church with our eyes and hope for what it could become
but we end up being stuck with what it really is. When we look at the church
with our eyes, we are looking at a church that is in secret, that is unseen.
What is seen, however, is not ideal. We do see the church, but not what we want
to see. Broken. Fractured. When we are out for a drive we see the church in a town
sitting next to the dirty gas station. We see the church with the sign out
front that is missing letters and is in need of repair. We see the one in the
inner city with boards over the windows because someone threw a rock and
shattered the stained glass. Inside we see the church as one without air
conditioning or the one without heat. More directly, though, we might see the
contention and disappointment among the people. We might see quarreling and
people threatening to leave over the smallest, most insignificant reasons. The
more you look at the church with your eyes, the more you might come to hate its
very existence, to hate what you actually see vs. the beautiful work of art
found here in Acts 2. The difference can be as vast as a shimmering treasure
chest next to a bag of rotting garbage. And so, can we be blamed for wanting
the treasure chest? Can we be blamed for wanting to enforce the ideal image of
the church? Of course it is what we want, but enforcing it will not work.
The Old Testament recounts
how the Jewish church, enforced by the law, did not work. It drove people away.
It led to people despising it, rejecting it and working against it because they
couldn't live up to its standards and they sank in their sinfulness. Just as
great vacations don't start off well by saying, "You are going on this
family trip and you are going to like it," great Sunday mornings don't
start off well by saying, "you are going to church and you are going to
like it." I’m not saying it’s bad to get your family out of bed and get
them in the car to come to church but I’m saying that the requirement itself
won’t save them. The old Jewish Law required many things. You did this and you
did that. You had to. But it didn't save a single person. Jesus rescues us and
picks us up from that and establishes his church as a church that has been
given a gift of freedom. So now, instead of having to enforce the ideal model
of the church we are shown glimpses of the true church in action.
We simply need to look
beyond what we can see with our eyes and catch glimpses of the true church
under the surface when they appear. God shows us pieces of the true nature of
the church as encouragement. If we can stand back and take a look for what the
church really is, calling sinners to repentance through the gifts of Word and Sacrament,
if we can stand back and see this, we will begin to see glimpses of the true
church every once in a while. These glimpses we see encourage us. They will
look surprisingly like this image here in Acts 2. We'll see people receiving
Communion. We'll see people praying. We'll see unity. We'll see giving of
ourselves to those who need some of what we have. We'll see the church meeting
together, in homes with glad and sincere hearts and praising God. We'll see
baptisms and confirmations. These are glimpses into the true church and while
they may not be frequent occurrences we should be uplifted that God still is
working through the church to bring about his purpose to the world.
The glimpses may come and go
but Jesus doesn't leave us. While there are things lacking and dead in the
church there are also things present and alive. Remember how exciting a glimpse
is? It only takes a glimpse to re-ignite us, to see the life in the church. It
only takes a glimpse for us to have love and care for our neighbor. It only
takes a glimpse to remember that while we are not perfect, Jesus is.
We get these glimpses too.
And we celebrate them. We give thanks for them. When we have one baptism in a
whole year, we celebrate it. That's a glimpse of the true church. When we have
a confirmation, we celebrate it. That's a glimpse of the true church. But, even
if they don't happen on a daily basis like they may have when the church was in
its infancy, they still happen, they are still blessings, they are still God
saying, "hey, I'm still here and I'm not leaving you." Just a glimpse
is all it takes. Just like the glimpse of the potluck dinner. Just like
welcoming home a family member you have not seen in a long time or holding your
child or grandchild for the first time, these are all great and they are also
just a beginning. They are glimpse into something more. In a little while we'll
celebrate Holy Communion. With bread and wine we will be encouraged because
they are a glimpse, they are the beginning of something new. It may be small,
but it is enough and that is all we need. For that glimpse to be just enough.
For that forgiveness to be just enough. For that greeting of peace to be just
enough. For those words in that song to be just enough. That's all we need.
That's all the encouragement we need. Given to us freely and not by any
requirement. That is the true church present with us as a glimpse. All just a
beginning, a new beginning, each time, reminding us of God's unique presence
with His church, reminding us of the day to come when Christ comes again and
the church becomes fully that perfect image in Acts 2, ever-gathered,
ever-joyful, ever-peaceful, and ever Christ-centered. It only takes a glimpse.
To God be the glory, now and always. Amen.