20 Going Where You've Never Been Before

When we become ignited, fired up, disruptive and disrupted,a purifying and warming blaze, it is a glorious sight to behold.

"Going Where You've Never Been Before!"

Jesus said that there was a kind of baptism that he must suffer
through. It was a fiery baptism in which he must endure the burning pain
of crucifixion - its psychological pain of betrayal and the humiliation of
being lifted up before all as a hated criminal when his only crime was to
love and serve. The powers of evil had done their Worst to destroy the
Best.
The blazing heat and fire of love displayed on that cross set against
the blackening sky made people choose. Imperial Rome thought they
had put an end to this meddlesome believer in peace and love. But now,
people had to choose. Which would last? The Power of Rome or the
Power of this Simple Preacher?
Rome fell! Jesus Rose! Jesus was a burning example of the
conquering power of Love - conquered it seemed on the day of the
crucifixion, but vanquished in the days and decades that followed - as
people made their decision between Caesar and God. Jesus said,
Render to Caesar that things that are Caesar's - and to God the
things that are Gods.
They rendered themselves! To render something is to give it
back - they gave themselves back to God from whom they had come -
because they responded to the seed of Hope that God had planted in
them.
There is nothing so bad that God cannot make it good. Even
Jesus being submitted to the fiery baptism of death by crucifixion could be
used by God for good. As the Seven Steeples solos said it so well:
Last night as the blood-red sun went down,
I saw the flames consume my town;
And seven steeples in silhouette
Were set on fire as the red sun set.
I seemed to see the church spires crash,
Amid a shower of spark and ash,
As death stole in and the dark came down
Upon my shattered and burned out town.
And I stood in the cold and dark alone,
Fear in the flesh, dread in the bone,
For I had seen as the red sun bled
How men must die when faith is dead;
And their smoking cities blacken the sky
As they crawl in the clefts of rocks to di.
Then out of the desperate desolate dark,
A flame leaped up from a flickering spark -
And a man burned there like a burning spire
With truth shut up in his bones like fire!
And the wounded crept from rubble and stone,
To bind their wounds by the light he shone;
And I saw how God begins again
To plant himself in the hearts of men.
This is what Jesus mean when he said, "I came to bring fire to
the world."
He wants our hearts to burn with the fire of Love.
He wants our spirits to glow with the fire of the Holy Spirit.
He wants our lives to demonstrate for all to see, the love of God,
the Heavenly Father.
As He said, "I wish it were already burning."
The fire of faith is still burning in your heart and mine. Jesus is King of
Kings. Rome has no kings - no Herods, no Caesars. The true King has
triumphed - or has he!
Are his representatives - that's you - that's me - fiery, alive,
dynamic? Scintillating, intriguing, charismatic? Not according to the
poet, Swinburne: "Thou hast conquered, O Pale Galilean; the world
has grown grey from thy breath."
Perhaps we have not done the King of Kings justice. Is God
planting himself in the heart of man through us - or not?
How alive are we? Not very according to comedian Eddie
Izzard. I would never have seen him had I not been nice to the younger
generation to whom I mistakenly gave control of the T.V. Friday evening.
Through the ease of Netflix (I hope I have that right) he produced this guy
whose makeup was incredibly good, though I wouldn't have said the same
for his get-up! But he was funny. And when he started in on the church,
he had the paleness down pat. He imitated Christians singing hymns - It
was "O God Our Help In Ages Past" as I recall - sung mournfully slowly
as were his "Alleluias" which bore not one molecule of joy or enthusiasm.
I was so grateful that the hymns in our church move right along at a lively
pace and that our solos have included subjects as far out as "The Dieter's
Prayer."
You see, for us to accomplish our Divine purpose we must go out
of our way to be human - not to profess to be better than we are - but to
be ourselves - warts and all.
So, Number One, we must have a fiery aliveness for God.
Number Two: we must take seriously what is seriously called
The priesthood of all believers.
In other words, my task is your task. My task as a preacher,
according to my good friend, author John Killinger, is "to find the switches
that turn on the best inside of us." That's what I attempt to do in the
sermon each week.....and that's what I would like to challenge you to do
this week - not in a sermon (People hate sermons outside a church -
they're bad enough IN church!) - no not in a sermon, but in any way you
can, see if you can find the switch that turns on the best inside of someone.
And please get back to me with any astounding results.
Also, If you're desperate for a subject, you could begin with
yourself! That will count as well!
For you know that you are the one who decides to or decides
not to turn on the best that is inside of you. As I say so often
YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF YOUR EMOTIONS. You can be
other directed or inner directed - it's up to you.
You can turn your power over to someone else and let them
ruin your day, or week or Life(!) or you can retain your power and
determine for yourself what kind of day you are going to have.
If you like retaining control, you might not like the new "destination
elevators" that are being used in buildings where they are banks and banks
of elevators. As you arrive you go to a little computer kiosk where you
press the floor you want to go to and the computer tells you which of the
many elevators is going to get you there first. You go to that elevator and
get on it. You will see that there are no buttons in the elevator itself which
means no "kid" can push them all and severely inconvenience you. Having
gone to the kiosk, you can rest assured that you will arrive at your destination
20 - 30 % faster.
In today's Scripture (Luke 12:49-56), Jesus is saying, I'm going
to take you places you've never been before and get you there faster!
All of us are called to be faster pastors! - Moving quickly! Getting
things done!
Jesus said, "Follow me!" and a few did. Twelve at first, then
dozens, then a multitude, despite the risk. He said, "Stick your hand in
the fire and see what happens." And thus was born an incendiary
fellowship spreading like wildfire over the whole world. Jesus said, "I
came to bring fire to the world. I wish it were already burning!"
The Rev. William Willimon, preacher and teacher of preachers
tells of going to Leningrad some years ago during the time of the Soviet
Union. He consulted a map to find out where he was, but he couldn't
make any sense of it. From where he stood, he could see several enormous
churches, yet there was no trace of them on his map. When finally
someone came to his aid, the person explained, "We don't put churches
on our maps!" But there WAS one on the map clearly shown. "No"
his guide said, "that is a museum, not what we call a living church -
it's only the living churches that we don't show!" A living church is
a church where the people are afire with the Spirit of God - real people -
not hypocrites that pretend to be better or more than they are.
We should be on fire enough so that other people can be caught
up and caught on fire as well - not by what we say but by what we are and
by what we do.
Church historian, Martin Marty tells of one of his seminary
professors, Richard Caemmerer who had a tremendous impact on
generations of students, especially on Martin Marty. At his memorial
service, someone said of him,. "We did not climb the stairs to
Caemmerer's office to hear the answer, but to see it."
Will Willemon confesses: " I always feel a dread when we
come to this particular Sunday of the year, this text from Luke, and
this Jesus who runs counter to so much that we've tried to make
him. And in so much of my ministry, in my own discipleship, I have
represented the cement of social conformity, the pleasant, soothing
friend named Jesus. But as Jesus begins to smolder, flicker into
a white-hot flame, well, I get nervous!"
But the fact is that when our church becomes the safe place of
middle class stability and things cool off, cooled down, we have ceased to
be the incendiary fellowship Jesus called us to be - incited us to be! We
should get nervous IF and WHEN that happens.
When we become ignited, fired up, disruptive and disrupted,
a purifying and warming blaze, it is a glorious sight to behold. Jesus
really did come to cast fire on the earth, so that you can be "GOING
WHERE YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN!"

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our heartsbe acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.
Sermon Notes(Not edited nor proofed)The Rev. Dr. Garth R. Thompson Pastor, M.B. Community ChurchA sermon is a simple truth told by someone whobelieves it to people he knows and loves (Phillips Brooks)August 19, 2007 10:30 a, m. Luke 12:49-56