Being the Church in a Hurting World
Pastor Mathew Magera – 11/18/18 – Sermon 311
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.
During the time of Nazi
Germany, there was a young man, a Christian, who was part of a small church
that gathered each Sunday to worship together. Other than the language barrier,
I think this church would be one that we might fit in well with. The church
itself had heard rumors about what was happening to the Jewish people but
mostly tried to ignore the stories because they felt so powerless to stop the
Nazi machine. The one thing that exemplified this church in this story is that
it had been built a little too close to the railroad tracks. Lately, trains had
been running frequently. The problem for the church, however, was not the
trains themselves, but the cargo. If you could imagine, when this congregation
gathered on Sunday morning, when a train went by, all they would hear was the
sound of the Jewish people on those trains. They could hear the whistles of the
trains as they approached followed by the sound of men and women screaming for
help as the train hauled them to one of the concentration camps. Of course, the
people in the church were not heartless. They were tormented by the screams as
the trains went by. They knew they had to do something about it but they
believed nothing they could do would make any difference against such a
powerful force. As a result, time went on and they learned the schedule of the
train. They altered their worship service so that during the time the trains
went by they would be loudly singing hymns to drown out the cries from the
doomed people on the train rushing right past their walls on their way to their
eventual deaths.
It might be easy to feel
disgusted at a church like this but at the same time, we also would understand
the challenge of going up against Nazi Germany. I believe we might feel
similarly powerless to act, believing anything we do would not make any
difference. While we do not live in the days of Nazi Germany anymore, we still
live in a world of hurt. We worship in a church that happens to be right off
the main road where the cries of the suffering are voiced from the vehicles
that pass by but also from the vehicles that pull into this very parking lot.
We may not be located next to a railroad line where trains carry people to
their deaths but we are located in the midst of a community that is enduring
world of hurt, pain of all sorts, and disappointment. Are we attentive to the
people hurting around us? Are we just trying to sing loud enough that our
voices drown out the cries of those who are victims of sadness, brokenness and loneliness?
Are we trying to drown out the hurt, run away from the hurt, or simply escape
it because we don't want it affecting what we do?
We're at the point in the
church calendar year when we start hearing lessons about the end times. As we
approach the days where darkness begins to rule our western Michigan world,
scripture readings about heaven, the second coming, and God's judgment prevail
in our worship services. Daniel 12 is one of those readings where we are taken
from the pews of our country church and into the brightness of heaven where we
see the body of Christ gathered triumphant in the victory over sin and death.
It's a beautiful image of God's people, the multitudes, even those who have
long since died, will awake to everlasting life, shining like the brightness of
the heavens forever.
Lessons like these often
point us to the future but what we often overlook is that this future we hear
about in these apocalyptic readings, this future has already begun when Jesus
died on the cross and was risen from the dead. This future has already begun.
This future is just as much right now as it is yet to come. One reason why I
think we tend to place this reality in the far off future is because it sure
doesn't feel like we're living into it when there is a bunch of hurting people
in our very midst. If there is pain and suffering, this isn't the second
coming, this isn't heaven, this isn't paradise. So, what do we do? We drown it
out and we sing louder of that one eventual day, we sing louder of the far off
future when that suffering will be over. It's our way of dealing with it.
Regardless if we worship
next to railroad tracks or west 2nd street in Trufant, if we fail to see and
live into the reality of our call as the Church right here and right now, we
are missing something truly important and truly necessary to our very
existence. We cannot drown out and ignore what we are living in the midst of,
with the only reassurance being that one day it will be gone. The culture that
is growing around the church is teaching a method to deal with a hurting world
in a way that I don't agree with. It is teaching us to escape it. "On an
individual level, we spend so much of our life trying to escape into Netflix,
or wine, or through our kid’s sports league, or our jobs or the internet. We
numb ourselves because when we don’t, we can hear those cries, and we feel so
small and helpless." [1]
Daniel 12 says this,
"There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the
beginning of nations until then." This is a prediction of a world immersed
in pain and suffering, perhaps much like the world we're living in now. The
verse goes on, "There will be a time of distress such as not happened from
the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people - everyone
whose name is found written in the book - will be delivered."[2]
But, at that time your people will be delivered. At that time. Just imagine if
this was written about us right here and now. Imagine living in a time of
distress. Now imagine at this time, as believers and followers of Jesus Christ,
being delivered right now.
This doesn't mean that God
will just come down and snatch us away from what's going on. It means that we
will be changed. The world may not change, it may not change or get better
until Jesus does come again. But, now, we are changed. We are delivered. We
hear the Gospel. We hear the promise. We hear of Jesus' resurrection from the
dead. We are changed. Our outlook is different.
When we trust that God has
delivered us. When we trust that the promise has been put in motion, it changes
how we think. It changes how we live. It changes how we worship and it changes
how we interact with the world. We are living in this deliverance right now.
There may be pain and suffering around us but we know what has been started on
the cross. We know it will be fulfilled but we know that doesn't make it any
less true right now. We are living that deliverance now. So, what does that
mean for us? How does it change us? What does it call us to be and do as the
Church? We are called to bring and to spread this new kingdom into the world
for the sake of Jesus Christ. "Some days the Church is living out this
role, and she’s beautiful. And other days she sings louder so that she doesn’t
have to hear the tortured screams around her. But Jesus still started her,
claims her and has hope in her."[3]
Let's think about what this
means for us. Think about the Bible as a story. Think about how God relates to
the world. God didn't have to interact with his world. God didn't have to
choose Israel, bring them out of Egypt, give them a land of their own. God
didn't have to do it. God saw a sinful world that constantly rebelled against
him, that frequently broke his heart and let him down. God saw all of this and
he didn't have to do anything. He could have drowned out their cries and done
nothing. But, when he heard the cries of a hurting world, the cries of a sinful
world rushing by on their way to their deaths, what did God do? God put himself
right into the middle of that world. God didn't just say he was working on it.
God didn't say he would just pray for them. God didn't say he would send them
greeting cards in the mail with words of encouragement. God put himself right
into the middle of that painful world in the person of Jesus Christ. God saw a
hurting world and he went to it and he walked with them. He listened to them.
He touched them. He encouraged them. He ate with them. He blessed them. When
God saw a hurting world, he didn't just go on ignoring it, he put himself in
the middle of it.
"The Gospel doesn’t
tell us, ‘If you’re serious about Jesus you will leave this immoral place…’ The
Gospel brings us to life and asks us to press into the city where we live. The
Gospel invites us to step into places of injustice as people of righteousness
to see what God is up to and what God can do."[4]
When God sees his children hurting today, that's what he does. So, what do you
imagine he is calling the Church to be and do in a time where the world is
hurting far away, down the street, and in this very room? Listen to the words
from Daniel again, "There will be a time of distress such as has not
happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people
will be delivered." We, with the power of Christ within us, the Church,
are called to be deliverers. God is calling us to sacrifice ourselves and put
ourselves in the midst of the hurt. He is calling the Church to walk with those
who hurt, to listen to them, touch them, encourage them, eat with them and
bless them. When God sees us hurting in a world of sin, he comes to us in Jesus
and brings us what we need. In distress there is deliverance at that time. Yes,
fully when Jesus comes again, but also right now.
For Jesus it was as simple
as eating a meal with Matthew and other rejects of society. For Jesus it was as
simple as calling Zachaeus out of the tree and inviting himself to his house.
For Jesus it was as simple as wrapping up children in his arms and blessing
them. How has Jesus met you in your distress? How has he delivered you? He
probably did it through another person or through prayer or devotion. How has
he delivered you in your distress? It may be as simple as starting with a
conversation over coffee, a warm meal, an open heart and listening ears, but
when God saw a hurting world, it all boiled down to one thing, being present,
putting himself right into the hurt. Sacrificing any sense of reputation and
glory and power and walking along side those who hurt just as he promises to
walk along our side when we hurt. This is Jesus' role in a world of hurt, to be
our deliverer. This is the call of the Church in a world of hurt, to be further
deliverers in His name. To God be the glory, now and always. Amen.
[1] https://relevantmagazine.com/god/church/what-does-it-mean-be-church?fbclid=IwAR3zwLGqLxphkiFBo3l29_n2z-nsj29Lfl4oEbXHMJhvDnhLuxNqkibhcsw
[2]
Ibid.
[3]
Ibid.
[4]
Ibid.