Bible Text: Luke 4:14-21 | Preacher: Pastor Karen Bartkowski | Series: The Apostles’ Creed | We did it! We have gotten to the last line in The Apostles Creed. We started
studying the Creed at the beginning of September and have worked our way through, I
believe in God, the Father, I Believe in Jesus Christ, the son, I believe in the Holy Spirit,
I believe in the holy catholic church, I believe in the Forgiveness of Sins, I believe in the
Resurrection of the Body and today we get to the last line…I believe in Life Everlasting.
You might be saying, Karen, of course we believe in Life Everlasting. That is the
hope that our entire faith is based on. The promise that we will spend forever with God.
Perhaps the most recognizable scripture tells us about that eternal life. John 3:16 says,
For God so loved the world that he gave his only so that whoever believes in him will
have eternal life.
But is eternal life and everlasting life the same thing. Are we talking about the
same thing, or is there some reason that 2 different words are chosen? I love word
studies. I love looking at definitions, at origins, reading about what others have said
about word, searching for meanings other than the one most used in our current context
and current understanding.
I did some research on these 2 words. I found that some people think they are
synonyms, no difference in the 2 two words. But several other scholars, both
theological and secular, describe an important difference. Eternal relates to God.
Eternal life is the time after our earthly death that we will spend with God. God is
eternal and we are promised that we will be with God forever after we die. Everlasting
life, however, includes the life we live on earth. The outcome is the same, forever with
God, but the idea of everlasting life starts now, as we navigate the ups and downs of
life, the happy and sad times, the times of joy and times of struggle. Everlasting life
begins and includes right now, for everyone. This might be something we never thought
about before. It may require us to look at this last line of the creed with a much broader
lens.
We cannot and should not be waiting until we die to find our connection to Jesus
and His ministry. We should be working right now to continue the ministry that Jesus
started on earth. Jesus wanted to show humans that there is work to be done to make
earth more like heaven. That the Kingdom of God is real, and is both now and to come.
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We read in John chapter 14 that Jesus says “Very truly I tell you, whoever
believes in me will do the work I have been doing, and they will do even greater things
than these, because I am going to the Father.”
Well there you have it. Jesus tells us to do what he was doing and even
GREATER things…really?! That seems like a lot of pressure, right? I mean, how can
we possibly do greater than Jesus did? When I first thought about that, I really did think
is was impossible. I mean he was Jesus!
But, we should be taking seriously the opportunity and obligation to do what we
can to continue Jesus’ ministry. So, I guess it would be good for us to learn about or
remember what Jesus’ purpose on earth was so we can have an understanding of our
purpose as we continue Jesus’s holy work.
Jesus gave us some clear instructions. He was clear about the greatest
commandments: One- to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and
strength and the second, equal to the first, to love others as we love ourselves.
We hear Jesus teach about his purpose and our purpose in several other places
in scripture as well.
In the parable about the sheep and the goats in the Gospel of Matthew,for
example, we read…
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his
glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the
people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put
the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father;
take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For
I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me
something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you
clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit
me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,
or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite
you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and
go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these
brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
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When we do for others, we do for Jesus. We contribute to the work of Jesus when we
help other people.
Let’s look at our gospel lesson we heard read today.
Jesus had just come from his time in the wilderness, just starting his earthly
ministry. He chose to return to his hometown town, Nazareth. He attended synagogue
services and was handed the scroll of Isaiah to read aloud. We don’t know Jesus chose
the 61st chapter to read or if that happened to be the reading for the day. But, listen
again to words Jesus read,
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Now when Isaiah first spoke these words they were to the Israelites who were in
exile in Babylon. They were meant to bring hope to God’s people who were frustrated,
angry and scared that God had abandoned them. The words were to bring hope that
God would keep his promises. But, Isaiah’s words also pointed to the Messiah. It is
easy for us to see that, from this side of the cross. When we read these words, we see
Jesus. We recognize those words as defining Jesus’ purpose. The people who heard
Jesus read it in the synagoge did not think about Jesus that way. He tried to help them
understand by saying, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”. They found that
cocky and they ran him out of town.
If we look at the summary of these scriptures, we see Jesus defining our work as
helping others by meeting a need right- providing food, clothing or some of our time in a
visit. We are commanded to show love with these actions.
But, Jesus also points us to some big things- free the poor (which means
eliminate poverty and marginalization), free the prisoners (not necessarily those in
physical prison, but those held captive by sin, mental illness, depression, shame), make
people see again- not just physical sight, but helping people see the trouble around
them, a regaining of their spiritual sight.
We can’t solve the issues in the second list by making a casserole!
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John Wesley helped us to understand a little clearer what Jesus was saying and
to give us some structure to do what Jesus is asking if us. John Wesley encouraged
people to do what he called Works of Mercy. These are actions taken to show love to
each other. Actions that help us strengthen our relationship to the rest of the world. It is
the horizontal arm of the cross, the one that reaches out to others, while we also reach
up to God to build our relationship with God.
John Wesley described 2 types of Works of Mercy- personal and communal. He
taught that there are things we can do on our own or with a small group of friends- we
can buy some extra food and place it in the food cart in the Narthex, we can collect
school supplies, we can make casseroles and dinners for folks at the homeless shelter
in Philadelphia. We can hold the door for people, we can visit someone in the hospital,
we can send Christmas cards to those in prison.
But, he also taught that there are communal works of mercy- those things that
take large numbers of people. Like finding an end to poverty, eliminating any and all
discrimination, working to ensure equal pay for equal work, creating world peace.
As we examine LIma Church- We can be confident when we say together that
we believe in life everlasting. We really are contributing to life everlasting every day!
We do so much good work by donating food and casseroles, knitting hats for
adults and babies, we collect money for a wide variety of missions (we meet our mission
giving goals every month!). We collect school supplies and socks and baby care
supplies. How many shoeboxes did we people take last week? We are a very
generous congregation for sure!
And that is really only the tip of the iceberg. As part of the United Methodist
Church, every day we work together in our global church to make progress in the areas
of social justice. The UMC around the globe contributes to life everlasting every day!
And we are connected to that!
The United Methodist Church is committed to many areas of social justice. And
we don’t just say we are committed. We show our commitment. The UMC has a
document called our social principles. It is updated and voted on during General
Conference every 4 years. This document contains the statement of the UMC on over
75 human issues that are contemporary and relevant. There are topics ranging from
global climate stewardship to sexual abuse to bullying. There are topics addressing the
rights of immigrants and mental health. Poverty, education, criminal justice and
restoration, war and peace and justice. The UMC believes that the church has a place
of influence in all of these areas. That Jesus called us to correcting the imbalance and
inequities in the world. This is our way of making earth a little more like heaven.
A percentage of Lima UMC’s budget provides financial support to the missions of
the UMC through the Global Ministries. Every time you give money to Lima, you are not
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only helping our local congregation, but you are contributing to the global work God has
called us to do. We cannot all go to disaster areas and help people rebuild, but
UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) can. They are known throughout the
world as the organization that arrives first and leaves last. They are in Texas, working
after Hurricane Harvey, in Syria as the country is in the middle of a civil war, as well as
Sierra Leone after devastating mudslides. UMCOR is still active in Puerto RIco and the
Bahamas as they recover from both distant and recent hurricanes.
UMCOR is committed to meeting the initial, basic needs of those in a disaster
area, but they are also committed to creating sustainability. UMCOR commits to
support migrants all over the world regardless of the reason for the migration.
UMC Global Ministries supports over 350 missionaries in 60 different countries.
These men and women serve as physicians, pastors, nurses, social workers, for
example. None of us can do that alone. Lima UMC can’t do that alone. We can only
make this happen in connection with our global church.
Global Ministries has many programs that increase access to clean water as they
recognize that water-borne illnesses can be reduced by providing clean water.
They seek to provide good prenatal care for soon to be moms to increase the
likelihood of healthy babies.
These are just a few of the many areas of mission in which the UMC Is involved.
You can read all about the vastness of the MIssion of the UMC by visiting
www.umc.org.
So CONGRATULATIONS! We are bringing life to people in our church family, in our
community and in our world every day! We are making life on earth look a little more
like heaven through the work of our individual efforts, our local church and our collective
global efforts. By the grace of God we are making a difference! We are contributing to
the work of Jesus! We are contributing to life everlasting!
Amen.