WHAT DO WE HAVE TO OFFER

WHAT DO WE HAVE TO OFFER?

Isaiah 61:1-3; Luke 4:14-21; Acts 3

Dr. Wm. J. Maxwell

First Presbyterian Church, Newport, RI

June 26, 2005

Are you aware that there are a number of confused pastors in many churches today? I know your mind may be taking you places you shouldn’t go, but I’m talking about role confusion. Many pastors today are confused as to their proper identity as pastors; in particular, what the priorities of ministry should be for them.

Retired seminary professor Howard Rice has this to say:

There is confusion about what a pastor does; there is confusion about how a pastor is to perform ministry. The number of books published each year on the subject of professional ministry, it’s theology and practice, is a clue to the confusion and attendant interest in the subject. Pastors buy these books, searching for a professional identity that has eluded them. In earlier decades pastors may have felt secure in the knowledge of who they were and what was expected of them; my own observation tells me this is no longer the case.[i]

In my conversations and observations with other pastors, I have seen that this problem is a very real one. But pastors are not alone in their confusion as to their proper role. There are many congregations who are also confused as to discerning their proper identity.

Just as there are many books on the market seeking to address the pastor’s role confusion, there are also many books on the market addressing role confusion in the Church. Many of these books suggest a consumer-driven approach: give the people what they want and seek to meet their “felt-needs.” But what if their “felt-needs” aren’t in reality essential or necessary or, in the end, what really matters?

I’d like to ask you a follow-up question, then. What does the Church have to offer? In other words, “What are we here to do as the Church, in terms of our God-appointed mission in the world? I believe our texts for this morning can help us in answering such a question.

THE SITUATION OF PETER IN THE TEMPLE.

When we look to the passage in Acts, we find the mission of the Church unfolding. Here we find an occasion of a dramatic healing, followed by the preaching of the Gospel.

Now, this was not your everyday occurrence! People were astonished and amazed at the healing of a man lame and crippled from birth – for 40 years! That led to a large crowd who had gathered to see and to hear precisely what was happening.

This setting became the perfect setting for preaching the Gospel. Peter preached a full Gospel, regarding the “Holy and Righteous One” and the “Author of life” – terms clearly referring to Christ’s deity. Peter went on to preach of the Christ who was rejected by people and rulers alike, suffered, died and was raised from the dead. This was no accident or coincidence, but had rather been foretold by all the prophets, including Moses himself.

When we look at this event, we find a ministry not dissimilar to that of the earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus. In fact, in many ways, the ministry of the early Church was patterned after the earthly ministry of the Lord, as foretold in the prophecy of Isaiah: to preach good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, and to proclaim freedom for the captives.

The Church today can do many things, perhaps, but the Church must assuredly be doing at least these. In Jesus’ name, under His authority, and by His power in the Holy Spirit, this is what we can offer to the world.

WE ARE TO PREACH GOOD NEWS IN JESUS’ NAME TO THE POOR.

Peter’s preaching was forthright and to the point. Peter did not hold back in declaring the whole Gospel. He spoke to the people directly, in dealing with the reality of their sin, their need of a Savior, and of being reconciled to God in Christ.

He then called for a response and he did so just as directly as he did on the day of Pentecost: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that He may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you – even Jesus.” In other words, “Turn away from sin and to God through faith and trust in Jesus Christ.”

Quite honestly, we don’t always hear this kind of preaching today. Some churches and some pastors tend towards a more “amenable” or “palatable” gospel. For example, here is a direct quotation describing a pastor of a “user-friendly” church:

As with all clergymen [this pastor’s] answer is God – but he slips Him in at the end, and even then doesn’t get heavy …Call it Light Gospel. It has the same salvation as the Old Time Religion, but with a third less guilt. [ii]

Believe me, I’m not one for “fire and brimstone” preaching. Hopefully, you know that. But I’m not one for diluting the Gospel, either. And I hope you know that, too. You see, we simply cannot afford a “Light Gospel.” There is far too much at stake!

There is a time for each of us when we must admit that apart from Jesus Christ, we are spiritually impoverished … even bankrupt. The Gospel must be preached fully so that our deepest need – that of entering into a living, abiding relationship with God - can then be met.

One place where the Gospel is being faithfully preached is on the African continent. For example, just two weeks ago, we had a visitor in our congregation, the wife of an ambassador from Ghana. As we talked, I shared the fact with her that in my last presbytery, we had a relationship with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ghana. We sent representatives over there and they sent some representatives here.

I told her that I was so very impressed in hearing an audio tape of a Ghanaian worship service and discovering that their worship services last three hours – yes, three hours! Members travel miles by foot to attend, and there is such joy in their singing. They dance down the aisles to bring forward their offering (can you imagine that?), and the Word of God is fully preached.

In reflection, I’ve been struck by the fact that so many in America are wealthy by their standards, but spiritually are impoverished. Conversely, the Ghanaian Christians are hardly affluent, but they are so very rich in Jesus Christ. Oh, dear friends, the Church is called to preach the Good News of the Gospel to all – be it there in Ghana, here in America, or to the ends of the earth.

WE ARE TO BRING HEALING IN JESUS’ NAME TO BROKEN PEOPLE.

Again, Peter was used by the Lord to bring physical healing to a man lame for 40 years. It was the Lord who healed the man and not Peter. Peter was just the messenger of healing. Peter made sure the crowd listening to him that day understood this clearly.

Likewise, the Church today is called to bind up the brokenhearted, offering a ministry of encouragement and healing in the name and by the authority of Jesus Christ. There are far too many people in need of inner, emotional healing and physical healing as well, and the Church is called to minister to and pray for such people. [iii]

Regarding the need for inner healing, it is very real, as so many of us have deep, abiding wounds that only Christ can heal. But when it comes to the subject of physical healing, we especially need to avoid extremes in our thinking. Some believe that God doesn’t heal at all, at least like He did in the days of the apostles. Others believe that God wants to heal everyone, if we only have enough faith. Well, God can and does heal, sometimes directly, more often with medical technology, but always according to His own sovereign plan.

Steve Brown, a popular author, has written about his own personal experience with physical healing.[iv] It was when he lived in the Boston area and was a radio broadcaster. At the time he was married, had one daughter, and was about to have another one.

Brown was not a Christian then, but he was attending a home Bible study. As he tells it, “it was just nice to be around people who believed something.” But the night of the day Jennifer was born, he went to that meeting for more – he needed help. He was frightened and felt helpless, for he and his wife had been told of the serious blood disorder of their newborn. Jennifer needed to be taken to Boston Children’s Hospital for a complete blood transfusion. The words of the doctor were definitive: “It isn’t good.”

These Christians didn’t discuss the seriousness of the situation. They immediately started praying, for Steve, his wife Anna and then for Jennifer, and in Jesus’ name.

The very next morning, his wife Anna, still at the hospital, called Steve and did not say, “Good morning” or “How are you?” She immediately asked if anyone had prayed the night before. The reason for this question was that by early morning it had been discovered that the blood count was completely normal. It was clearly a miracle!

That really started a far more intensive journey of faith to Jesus for Steve Brown. Brown did become a Christian and eventually even a Presbyterian pastor. He also discovered that, in the providence of God, there is always some mystery to divine healing. Yet he also knows, as we must know, that in the power of God, there is the very real possibility of divine healing. He knows this in part, by his very own experience with the church in prayer.

III

WE ARE TO BRING HOPE IN JESUS’ NAME TO THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED.

Peter stated to the listening crowd that they could experience “times of refreshing … from the Lord.” They could experience situations where they were renewed in spirit. But they could also have the hope of Christ coming for them in His glorious Second Coming. The continuation of this verse especially refers to Jesus’ coming again and bringing all His own to be with Him forever.

In the midst of a fallen world, even the most mature Christians can feel burdened and oppressed in the course of life. We therefore need times in which we can receive ministry from those who bring us renewal in the Lord.

The Church must also speak forth words of reassurance, providing a confident, consistent, deep assurance that Christ is our Redeemer, and that one day, one glorious Day, He will come and fully deliver us from a world that can be very dark and very harsh.

If you have seen the movie, The Last of the Mohicans, you will remember the plot. The brave Nathaniel rescues the beautiful Cora and wins her heart. As you follow the movie, Nathaniel rescues Cora and her sister with great courage and great cunning from an ambush by the evil Magua, the leader of a warring tribe of Indians. But Magua is persistent, discovering their hideout behind a waterfall. Magua captures them all, except for Nathaniel, who leaps from the falls, saving himself.

The women are spared, of course, but their future looks grim. And what would Cora be feeling just then? A sense of being abandoned? A sense of being utterly forsaken? You can see it in her eyes, and the determination on her face. She has placed her hope in the goodness of Nathaniel’s heart. “He will return for me,” she believes. And he does!

Likewise, dear friends, we are the beloved of Christ … and He will not fail to come for us. The Bridegroom will come for His bride, the Church, and there will be a wedding feast of which this world knows nothing! The Church can believe this and proclaim this because, after all, we know the goodness of His heart!

Do not be confused, dear friends, as to what the Church has to offer today. No, it is not silver or gold. It is not many things. But it most assuredly is the Good News of the Gospel, God’s healing touch, and a word of unfailing hope, that we all may be “walking and leaping and praising God”!