Introduction
Sermons are
contextual. The situations I experience inevitably colour the way that I hear a
passage of Scripture, and my context at this point in time is one of loss and
death. We held two funerals during Holy Week – one for our congregation’s
chairperson and another for a woman I had visited many times as one of our
pastors. Over the past three months, we have lost many people we love, and this
morning’s sermon deals with the texts in this context of loss.
Acts 7
Stephen is known as
the first follower of Jesus to follow him to death. He was a Greek-speaking
leader in the first Jerusalem Church, and the religious establishment saw him
as a threat to their own existence. Stephen defended himself before the
Sanhedrin, the highest religious court in Israel, by reinterpreting Jewish
history as an arc leading through the Law and the Temple to person of Jesus
Messiah.
The religious
leaders recognized a challenge to their authority within the Jewish people, and
they accused Stephen of blasphemy, for which the punishment was death by
stoning. Stephen died with a vision of God in his heart and eyes and with words
of forgiveness for his attackers on his lips.
John 14
Jesus’ words in John
14 come just after the last supper in John 13 and before the act of betrayal that
led to his own death. He knew what was coming and spoke out of that knowledge
to his disciples. He was preparing them for his death, but he was also letting
them know how to live their own lives.
I remember the first
verses of this passage from listening to my mother give farewell talks to
churches in Zimbabwe, when we left Africa to move to Pennsylvania in 1965. She
tied them to the final verses of John 16, promising peace to Jesus’ disciples.
These three chapters also form a unit, an extended response to the question
that Peter asked at the end of chapter 13, and which Thomas and Philip repeated
in chapter 14: Where are you going? They could not see what lay ahead. They
knew only that Jesus was leaving them, and they wanted to know where he was
going and how they could follow him there.
Where was Jesus
going? He was going to the Father. He was coming up to the end of his life here
in earth and preparing to enjoy full communion with his Father. He had said, “I
and my Father are one”, and he was preparing to resume that full unity that
gives the whole doctrine of the incarnation so much mystery and power.
He told the
disciples that they could follow him there. Indeed, by following him as
disciples, they were already on their way to God, because Jesus said that he
himself was that way. Then, with a wealth of imagery, he promised them a future
beyond this world in which they – and we – will experience the presence of God
in full. Paul describers the same reality in 1 Corinthians 13: “Now we see
dimly in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now we know in part; then we
shall know even as we are known.”
The Promise
When we start
talking about going to be with God, going to Heaven, sometimes people accuse us
of making our faith an otherworldly irrelevant thing – “pie in the sky
by-and-by. In fact, it is precisely this promise of union with God that leads
to peace and joy in this world. Jesus’ promise of room for us with God in
eternity is not a fanciful theoretical promise. It is a down-to-earth practical
promise that enables us to live in this world the way God wants us to. Here.
Now. I want to spend the rest of our time working out how practical this
promise is.
Carver Model of
Governance
I suspect that
several of you have had experience on boards of governors and the like. You
know that some boards are working boards. I am on the board for Steinbach
Community Outreach, and, although we don’t try to do the work of SCO, we are
involved in fundraising and relating to the community.
Some boards, on the
other hand, are governance boards. They don’t help with any of the work of the
organization, but they provide oversight and accountability for all the
organization. I spent 20 years on the board of Operation Mobilization (Canada).
We were a governance board using the Carver Model.
A web resource
provides the following definition:
In the Carver model, the board focuses on determining the overarching
policies of the organization, the “ends.” At the same time, responsibility is
delegated to the CEO and other members to establish the “means” or the
implementation of the policies. (https://www.amcnposolutions.com/comparing-3-models-traditional-carver-and-complementary/)
An end has at least
two basic meanings. One is time related, such as comes at the end of life. Our end
is the moment when we die. The other is teleological: The goal or purpose of
the organization. That is the meaning in the Carver Model. The board asks a
basic question of the organization’s leadership: Have you achieved your ends in
the past year?
Our Life’s End
This question is one
we could usefully ask in our own lives. But first you must discover what your
“end” is. What is your purpose in life? What is the goal towards which you are
living? One common goal is expressed in the saying, “He who dies with the most
toys wins.” If that is your end, your goal, then you will naturally make
choices in daily life that move towards that end. You will accumulate goods
that help you have fun. When someone in need approaches you, you may help them.
Your life goal certainly does not forbid it. But on the whole, you will not
have as much disposable income to direct towards helping the needy, because
your goal is to accumulate goods for yourself.
Suppose you have a
different purpose for living. Suppose that your end, your goal in life, is to
reduce the inequities of life that lead to poverty. Someone in need approaches
you, and you respond to them out of your life’s goal to reduce life’s inequities.
You may indeed choose not to help them, but you make your choice in the context
of your purpose for living. You may also choose to buy something just for fun,
but on the whole, you will likely have more disposable income to income to
direct towards helping the needy – because your goal is not to accumulate goods
for yourself.
Notice that any
individual action of two different people may look much alike. In the example I
have given, one is a fun-loving pleasure-seeker and the other is dedicated to
making a more just society. Both of them may help the person in need. Often,
the person who seeks “the most toys” is also a pleasant person to be around.
Such people will often give a helping hand. The difference shows up over the
long term. One seeks to help the person in trouble whenever possible; the other
helps when it’s convenient. They have different goals in life, and those goals
shape the kind of person they are in daily life.
What’s your goal in
life? What is your life’s “end”? What are you living for? Jesus tells his
disciples what to live for. “There’s room in God’s house for you. I am going to
God, to perfect unity with God, and you can too. I have done God’s will here on
earth, and I want you to do God’s will on my behalf. I am the way to God, the
way to life. I want you to walk in ‘the way’, to walk ‘in me’ as my
representative until you die.”
Our end – in the
sense of the end of our lives – will show what our real purpose, the goal of
our lives, has been. Our family and friends remember us, and they can see what
we lived for. Jesus says, “Live for me.”
What Would This Look
Like?
Think of my example
again: Someone in need approaches you for help. It might be a friend who needs
someone to support them through a difficult time. It might be a stranger who
lives on the street. It might be almost anyone; we all need help from time to
time. How do you respond to the request? Most of us try to help. We’re caring
people and we feel compassion for those who are struggling, whether they need
emotional support or financial help or whatever it is. Do you stop to ask
yourself how you can walk in the way of Jesus in that moment? Jesus is life and
truth. Do you consciously draw on his Spirit living in you for your response?
I had such an
experience last Monday. A very ordinary experience. I was leaving Superstore
with my groceries, and as I reached the car, a woman approached me. She was
dressed as a Muslim woman and carrying a cardboard sign. The sign suggested she
was asking for money to buy food and diapers for her children. She may have
been part of the Syrian diaspora in Canada. Who knows? I know nothing else of
her.
I gave her $10. If
her need was real, my $10 made almost no difference. If she was faking her
need, it went into the bag with other donations she received that day. I have
no way of knowing if I should give or not. I gave reflexively, because that’s
what we do. As I turned away, I said, “Asalaam aleikum” – “Peace be to you”.
She replied “Amin”, the Arabic way of saying, “Amen”, confirming my guess that
she was Muslim.
But I really do want
to be God’s representative here until I die. I really do want to walk in Jesus’
way when I meet a random woman in need. When I got home, I called Steinbach
Community Outreach, an organization in Steinbach that specializes in helping
people on the margins find housing as well as financial and emotional and
social and spiritual support. I asked a friend there if they know of this
woman, because they really do know most of the people walking around town with
no real home of their own.
As we walked my friend
went through the possibilities of who this woman was. One likely possibility is
that she is someone who is told to stand in the parking lot and solicit
donations, then she takes them back to someone else who controls her life. It
may be a combination of a scam and a tragedy. My friend said that she appears
most summers, not in the winters, and that they (at SCO) would look out for
her. If they can sit down and talk with her, they may be able to provide
greater help than a ten-dollar bill in the parking lot.
I still hadn’t
really helped this woman I saw, but I knew that I had done what I could. What
more Jesus wants me to do remains to be seen.
Generalizing the Case
One problem with
this case is that it plays into many of our stereotypes. We are quick to decide
that she is exploited, or that she was scamming the people at Superstore, or
that society is at fault – or whatever your own particular bias is. Jesus wants
us to walk in him, with his life and truth, and to keep walking in him until we
get to our final home with God. We don’t have to solve all the problems; we
just keep walking with Jesus and learning what we need for the next step.
We do that by asking
what our life’s purpose is. What is your End? My purpose is to represent Jesus
as I walk in his way. I fail often enough, but that’s okay. There is more than
enough grace in the death and resurrection of Jesus to take care of my
failures.
If I generalize from
my experience with the woman in the parking lot, one way that I represent Jesus
is to treat people I meet as real people. Treat them with respect, whoever they
are. SCO has been a good teacher for me. Lois and I were talking recently with
SCO’s director, and she told us of a man who walks around our neighbourhood. We
have seen him often enough that I found his story interesting. We’ll call him
John (not his real name).
I won't tell John's story in print, but he has lost his job and family due to mental illness and walks the streets of Steinbach looking for them.He does not read
English but can speak some English. He reads and speaks German and Russian. SCO
has helped him find lodging, but he has been evicted from the apartment they
found. He is not a bad man or a violent man, but he cannot live with people
around him. So, he walks the streets. Many of us in Steinbach know him,
although we don’t know his name or his story.
SCO continues to
help as they can, but I wondered what I would do when I next saw him on the
street. I could be sure that I would see him because I also walk our streets,
and indeed I saw him only a few days later. I was walking into town, and he was
headed for Abe’s Hill. As we drew level, I said, “Hello, John.” He didn’t
respond, but I thought there was one thing I could always do. I could treat him
with the respect we give to other people. I don’t need to treat him as though I
am going to fix what’s wrong with him – that can be a kind of arrogance we
sometimes show to others around us. I just need to treat him as a person worth
my respect and consideration.
We’ll see if that
turns into anything else, just as we’ll see if I ever meet the woman in the
parking lot again. In a way, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I am
seeking to fulfill my end, to live according to the purpose that God has given
me.
Conclusion
We started with the
story of Stephen. Stephen was someone who faced the end of his life with courage
and love because he was clear about the purpose for his life – to incarnate
God’s love as a follower of Jesus. Some of us are old enough to have seen many
funerals. We know the grief that comes with separation from loved ones. But
death only has a real sting in it if we’re not living for God’s purpose in our
lives.
Jesus assures us of
room enough for everyone with him in Heaven – if we are living with Jesus as
our end, our purpose and goal in life. As we walk in the way, truth, and life
that is Jesus, we are ready for whatever end may come to our lives. We can live
well now each day, knowing what we are living for in eternity.
Texts:
ACTS 7:55-60 (NIV)
55 But
Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God,
and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven
open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ 57 At this they
covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at
him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the
witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they
were stoning him, Stephen prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ 60 Then he
fell on his knees and cried out, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’
When he had said this, he fell asleep.
JOHN 14:1-14 (NIV)
14 ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in
God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not
so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be
with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where
I am going.’ Jesus the way to the Father 5 Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t
know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ 6 Jesus answered, ‘I am
the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through
me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you
do know him and have seen him.’ 8
Philip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.’ 9 Jesus
answered: ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a
long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show
us the Father”? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the
Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority.
Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me
when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe
on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever
believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even
greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do
whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14
You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Grace Bible Church
7 May 2023
