Summer 2012 FOP/ECO gatherings
Sermons from Colorado Springs: Opportunity now and Kingdom idiots
The Layman, September 4, 2012
Worship began each day of the 2012 summer gatherings of the Fellowship of Presbyterians and ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians.
In Colorado Springs, the sermon on Aug. 20 was given by Andrea Messinger of First Presbyterian Church in Covina, Calif., and James Kim of Little Church on the Prairie in Lakewood, Wash., preached on Aug. 21.
Andrea Messinger
“Be very careful then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16
“There is a way that we are to witness,” said Messinger. “The Church is to be the light of the world.”
She spoke of a statue in ancient Greece of a man with winged feet, saying that “opportunity flies away because once it’s gone, it’s gone.”
“We have this opportunity now,” she said. “We are to redeem the evil days for the glory of the Kingdom of God.”
At the Fellowship event held in Orlando, Fla., in January 2012, Messenger mentioned that she heard it said, “The mission of the church is to depopulate hell.” She weighed what was at risk: the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s pension plan versus depopulating hell. The outcome for her was that “When God called me into ministry I never once thought about pension or medical plans. My heart cried for the lost of the world.”
She mentioned a current initiative by the famous pop star Beyonce, who has launched a positive social witness campaign of her own declaring, “I was here. I make a difference and the world will see.”
“That should be the local church — not Beyonce!,” exclaimed Messenger. “The local church is not hopeless. It is the hope of the world. … I know the church of Ephesus is not around anymore, but the gospel of Jesus Christ is.”
She quoted William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army:
“Not called!” did you say? “Not heard the call,” I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father’s house and bid their brothers and sisters, and servants and masters not to come there. And then look Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.
Without compromise, preach the whole counsel of God, said Messenger. “May we not be ashamed. May we not go quietly into the night … We are the community of saints. We are chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. We are the people of God.”
While some might be discouraged, or maybe even think about going and sitting by a lake for the rest of their life, she said, “This is not that day. God has a purpose and a plan. This is the time to stand up and be encouraged.”
She ended with a prayer from Bill Hybels, founder and senior pastor, Willow Creek Community Church, in South Barrington, Ill.
God, this is a new day. I freshly commit myself to the role you have invited me to play, as you are building your church in this world. I am awestruck again today that you include me in this grand life-giving, world transforming endeavor. So today I joyfully offer you:
· My love
· My heart
· My talents
· My energy
· My creativity
· My faithfulness
· My resources
· And my gratitude
I commit all of myself to the role you have assigned me in the building of your church so that it may thrive in the world and I will “bring it” today.
James Kim
Kim began his sermon by telling of a recent pastoral visit with a member of this church. “When God was passing out mercy gifts, God skipped me. So I don’t normally do the visits,” he said.
But this terminally ill member had specifically requested a visit from Kim. Upon his entrance into the room she said, “I’m dying. Cancer is everywhere,” she said. “I’m kind of a control freak and I called you because you’re going to be doing my funeral and I didn’t want you messing it up.”
Kim said that this was his kind of woman.
She continued, “I want you to do two things. First, God’s been good. I’ve lived 91 years. The first thing I want you to do is proclaim Christ. Do you think you can do that?”
Kim’s answer was “yes.”
Then she said, “Secondly, none of this crying stuff. I’m going home to be with my Savior. Everyone I love will be waiting for me. Make it joyful, can you do that?”
“Yes, I can do that,” was Kim’s reply. “Here’s a woman who knew how to live because she knew how to die. Her story begins in eternity.”
When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. Acts 4:13
“When people saw Peter and John — your average idiots — bearing witness to Jesus Christ and saw the deeds of power, they said, ‘they were with Jesus, they can’t be doing that on their own,’” said Kim. “Peter and John were different not because of their extraordinary giftedness, but because they had been with Jesus.”
Kim said that God specializes in uses idiots. “Look at who Jesus chose as His disciples — ordinary idiots just like you and me. Idiots don’t know what can’t be done. Idiots don’t know what’s impossible. So, God uses idiots to change the world.”
“A year ago there was no ECO, no Fellowship,” Kim said. For anyone to say that they know what it is going to look like in two years – they don’t know what they are talking about.
Here’s the vision, he said. There are “no specifics of how we’re going to live into that reality … No one really knows what they’re doing and that’s okay.”
The call to lead as a follower of Jesus Christ has always been “follow me,” said Kim. He continued now, will people say, “those people had to have been with Jesus?”
God’s not really interested in that. Kim said that God is interested in:
- “People who still believe that God can take two loaves and five fish and feed thousands.
- “People who actually believe there is hope for our churches — our communities
- “People who still believe that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life and that no one comes to the Father except through Him.”
“God is looking for simple idiots who believe God is God and our job is to follow,” he said.
Kim closed with the following story. Pastor Roger was on vacation and heard an illustration from another pastor: “the best years of my life have been spent in the arms of another man’s wife … and she was my mother.” A year later, Pastor Roger tried to use the same illustration in his own sermon, but he forgot how the story ended. All he
could think of to say was “and for the life of me I can’t remember her name!”
“Christian, you got to know how your story ends, because that is how we learn how to live,” Kim said. “It ends in glory. Jesus wins. Good triumphs over evil.”
“God will continue to work through His Church, the bride of Christ, until every knee shall bow … until Christ finishes the good work He has begun in each one of us,” he said.
The preacher then led the congregation in declaring aloud, “I want to be a Kingdom idiot!”