Duty to the Church

Duty to the Church
#4 in “PRAXIS: Disciplines of Faith and Action”
1 Timothy 4.6-16
Dr. D. William McIvor
September 28, 2003
Presbyterian Church in Sudbury

In these recent sermons I have been using the word “praxis” to describe some practical disciplines of Christian living. In the Christian life there is, of course, an emphasis on faith, the “we are saved by grace through faith” kind of idea.[1] There is also an emphasis on works or action as in ”faith without works is dead.”[2] Praxis tries to keep the two emphases together. In one word it says that our life as Christians is always both what we believe and what we do. Our praxis is the unity of our faith and action.

In today’s lesson Timothy is instructed and encouraged in his ministry in the church, a ministry described mostly in terms of teaching and preaching. But regardless of our role in the church I think the text applies to all of us. Timothy is urged to not neglect the gift he has been given. Likewise none of us should neglect the gift we have been given in the church. Let’s read it in 1 Timothy 4.

If you put these instructions before the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound teaching that you have followed. Have nothing to do with profane myths and old wives’ tales. Train yourself in godliness, for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and struggle, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

These are the things you must insist on and teach. Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I arrive, give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhorting, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders. Put these things into practice, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.

“Do not neglect the gift that is in you.” That was God’s word to Timothy and that is God’s word to you and me. When God calls us together as a church, we are not left without resources and those resources are the gifts God has given to each one of us. I know it’s easy to think “I don’t have a gift; I can’t teach or sing or do this or that. At least I can’t do it as well as some others.” Certainly there are different kinds of abilities in a church. Some are better teachers, singers, and bakers or whatever. But ability is not the point. Gifts are the point and we all have a gift which we should not neglect. That gift is our praxis, our faith and action together, our duty in the church.

So let me try to describe this for you by encouraging two things. First, our duty in the church means we must get close enough to love.

Less than a mile from my previous church in Spokane, a double set of tracks for the Burlington-Northern & Santa Fe Railroad crossed the main road for getting to the church. Eventually an underpass was built under those tracks. But for years drivers shared the common misery of having to stop and wait for one of the 80 trains per day that used those tracks. Sometimes the wait was only a minute or so. Sometimes the train would stop at the crossing and the wait could be many minutes, occasionally even an hour. Everyone had their favorite train story about how long they had to wait or how it made them late for church or whatever. We all kept a book or magazine in the car to read while waiting for trains.

One day I was waiting for quite awhile and the car stopped in front of me had a bumper sticker which said, “God Loves You and So Do I.” Since I had a long time to contemplate that bumper sticker, I jotted down some thoughts in the little notebook I keep to record ideas that pop into my head. One of the thoughts was that the bumper sticker message was half wrong.

Now I’m sure the person was sincere and believed that plastering such a bumper sticker on her car was a way of witnessing to her faith in God. But the person’s sincerity is not the point. A bumper sticker saying “God Loves You and So Do I” is still half wrong whether the person who owns the bumper is sincere or not.

It’s not wrong, of course, when it says God loves you. After all we don’t need bumper stickers to tell us that. Almost every page of the Bible tells us about God’s love. The history of God’s people in ancient Israel and the history of God’s people in the Christian Church both say that God loves us. We have gathered today, as Christians do every week by worshiping on the first day of the week, as a commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is the greatest sign of God’s love. God loves us. We don’t need bumper stickers to tell us that.

But the part that is half wrong is the second half. When a bumper sticker says “God Loves You and So Do I” the “so do I” is plainly and simply wrong. That much was obvious to me while we were sitting waiting for the train. I sat there with that bumper sticker staring at me and it was obvious that the woman in the car did not, in fact, love me.

She didn’t love me because she didn’t know me. She had no relationship with me, no contact at all with me other than what she may have happened to see in her rearview mirror. In fact, if I had jumped out of my car, run up to hers, pulled open the door, and shouted, “Do you really love me?”, she probably would have died of fright. If she didn’t die of fright and if she had enough wits about her to realize that it was her bumper sticker that caused my crazy behavior, she might have been able to stammer, “Well, ah. . . . well, I love you in Christ.” But that’s really just another way of saying that God loves me and I already know that. She may feel some obligation to me because Christ loves me but she does not in fact love me.

It was not possible for her to love me because love is not a bumper to bumper proposition. Love is a person to person thing. You’ve got to get close in order to love. You cannot love anonymously. You cannot love at a distance. You have to get close in order to love.

Getting close enough to love is what the church is really all about. That’s why I’m not embarrassed to urge every church member to be in worship every Sunday unless illness prevents. I know worship is not always as interesting as it might be. Sometimes even I get bored listening to me. You can get bored sometimes, too. Sometimes you don’t like the hymns or songs and think we never sing any “old” hymns or any “new” songs depending on what you like. I know you feel this way sometimes and that’s okay. But without gathering for worship a church loses almost everything. We have to get close enough to love someone and in getting close we are better able to see that God loves us.

A few moments ago we baptized little Gabriella. You can’t do that without getting close. Friday morning I went to talk with the family about baptism and what it means and I explained some of what would happen here. But I didn’t baptize Gabriella then. I could have but I didn’t because baptism is not a private experience. It is something for all of us to get close enough to love. We have to get close enough to feel and see the water and to make our promises to God and to the family. I could put a bumper sticker on my car that says, “Baptism means that God loves you and so do I.” But it doesn’t work that way. You have to get close enough to love. That’s what our duty in the church is all about.

So let’s consider a second thing. We have to get close enough to love. That’s how we exercise the gift God gives us in the church. But we also have to let our progress be seen. Timothy was urged to “Put these things into practice, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress.” To use our gifts in the church means that our progress must be seen.

Maybe you are way ahead of me on this but I find the matter of duty and discipline to be one of the most complex parts of being a Christian. First of all, there are the distractions and little bad habits that get in our way. Whether it’s staying in shape, or getting some of those nagging projects done around the house, or ridding our lives of bad habits, we all face the same problems. We want to be better than we actually are. Our intentions are good but often our actions leave something to be desired.

But an even greater complexity for me comes in the conflicting demands on my energy and time. Obviously there is much to do when starting ministry at a new church. Preparing a sermon takes 15-20 hours each week and while I’m doing that other things beg for my attention. There are people I need to see, reports and projects that I need to keep tabs on, programs to prepare, things to evaluate and plan, studying and reading that should be done, and this and that. And my wife rightly expects to have some of my time too. Now the point of this is not me. My life is not any different than yours. We have many competing pressures and demands on us, all calling for attention, and we need to sort out what’s really important and what’s not.

Some time ago I read a story told by a pastor who grew up in a small town in the Midwest. In that town there lived a mentally retarded adult named Myron. At that time there were not many institutions where a person like Myron could be “kept.” So he had to stay at home where he lived with his mother. Somehow they survived on the work Myron did as a gardener.

Myron lacked many things, of course, but he had a “green thumb” and the places where he did the gardening were easy to identify. Lawns, shrubs, hedges, and flowers all showed care, skill, and loving attention. Myron also did “volunteer” work. He cut grass, raked leaves, and planted flowers in what would otherwise be unsightly, vacant lots. He helped widows and others who could not do the work themselves. Myron was probably best known for his “oil can.” He always carried a small can of lubricating oil in his hip pocket. So all over town a squeaky door, hinge, or gate always got a free dose from Myron’s oil can. And never a Sunday went by that Myron was not in church with his mother.

The boys of the town, including the one who later as a pastor told the story, of course tried to tease Myron. But he always got the better of them because he refused to be anything but cheerful, full of good humor, and totally unflappable.

Myron died a few years after the storyteller had left town to attend college. It was not easy to arrange, but he went back for the funeral and he was not prepared for what he saw. It seemed that everyone in town had decided to attend Myron’s funeral and there were scores of others like himself who had traveled at great expense from distant places to be there.

Without consciously attempting to do so, Myron had patterned for that town the kind of life that really matters. No, he had not achieved fame or fortune. But he had been a worker, an optimist, an “easer of tensions,” an “oiler,” and a faithful man of the church.[3]He knew what was really important. He let his progress be seen because in his simple way he got close enough to love and did the things that needed to be done.

We are not simple-minded like Myron, of course, but we could probably use a dose of his simple faith. He sorted through the demands of duty by refusing to let them get complicated. He simply cared for others and did what he could to help meet their needs.

I think there is a call to us in this. There are always squeaky hinges in the church both literal and spiritual and squeaky people, too, who need the oil can of your loving presence. There are children here who can be better taught and loved more if you volunteer to help teach sometime. There are many other tasks. I have always dreamed of being in a church where so many would volunteer for things that we would have to turn some away. You can make my dream come true and you don’t always have to wait until you are asked.

Friends, do not neglect the gift you have. What you do may be simple or big. But in all the things we do for the church, we meet the Lord of life and do the Master’s will. Don’t neglect the gift you have. Get close enough to love and let your progress be seen. I know God will bless you and bless this church too.

[1] Ephesians 2.8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God — not the result of works, so that no one may boast.

[2] James 2.26: “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.”

[3] The Pastor’s Story File, 22.5.