Rev. David Holwick K The Church You've Longed For, #6
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
March 25, 2007
Luke 4:14-21
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I. Broken things.
A. My brother Jeb's bad move.
Lots of broken furniture.
One table: $1,400 to repair, though it had cost $200 to buy.
B. Broken furniture is the least of our worries.
1) Other things can touch us more deeply.
2) Fortunately, like the table, broken things can be fixed.
a) But it always costs a lot!
II. Our planet is broken.
A. Global warming.
1) Warm winters with little snow.
2) Disappearing glaciers and ice caps.
3) Expanding deserts.
B. Toxic waste.
1) Ed Blewett and $800 million chemical cleanup in Jersey City.
2) Guatemala - they don't even know where the waste goes.
C. Growing conclusion - people are the problem.
1) Scientists believe it.
2) The Bible teaches it.
a) Even the ecology is a result of our sin.
b) Paul's teaching in Romans 8:20-21 --
"For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by
its own choice, but by the will of the one who
subjected it,
in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from
its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious
freedom of the children of God."
This is very religious-sounding, but Paul means that
Nature itself is affected by human disobedience.
Nature will also be affected by Christ's salvation
because our planet will be re-made when Jesus
returns.
III. People are broken.
A. Think of the sad cases all around us.
1) A nurse is accused of murdering her husband and putting
him in a suitcase.
2) Wounded army veterans are put in run-down facilities.
3) (other headlines from the local paper...)
B. Isaiah's poignant prophecy.
1) He lived 600 years before Jesus, in a time when his country
was continually invaded.
a) Society was corrupt.
b) The little people were beaten down by rich people.
2) Isaiah predicted that God would do something about it.
a) He would send a servant, the Messiah.
b) This person would preach a positive message, then
make it happen.
3) Jesus identified himself with this prophecy.
a) He has proclaimed God's victory to the poor, the
prisoners, the blind and the oppressed.
b) So why do they still exist?
1> Why is the world still messed up?
2> Examples in each category can be found in our
own county.
C. Jesus isn't done yet.
1) He will return to earth one more time, and completely
defeat evil.
2) In the meantime, he has passed his mission on to the
church.
a) How are we doing?
IV. The church should be a hospital.
A. Jesus came to help the sick, not the healthy. Mark 2:17
1) We are all sick.
a) It is not just that we are sinners -- we all have
personal problems and weaknesses.
We are no better than anybody else.
b) Some realize it; many do not.
2) Many churches operate like a recent World Hunger forum.
The World Social Forum is an anti-poverty event and was
held in February in Nairobi, Kenya.
Even though it was in Africa, most of the participants
were Americans or Europeans.
But someone else showed up: starving children.
A crowd of hungry street kids broke in and ate the food.
Each plate of food in the five-star hotel sold for roughly
$7 in a nation where many live on less than $2 every day.
The forum leaders tried to kick them out, then tried to
collect money from the kids.
It was only after the children and other citizens protested
that they agreed not to charge for the food.
#31517
A world hunger group that is pestered by hungry kids --
churches should relate to this.
We are here to help hurting people, not complain about them
or avoid them.
B. Who is hurting in Ledgewood? A summary of my last three days...
1) On Thursday my neighbor's daughter was taken to a hospice
in Morristown.
a) Before she went there, her elderly parents were getting
up every 15 minutes at night when she cried out.
b) In the hospice, her folks have spent every day with her.
c) What could a church do for them?
2) On Friday I had lunch with a Hispanic pastor.
a) Some of his families say his church is too far away.
Could he do services in their area too?
Guess where they live - here in Ledgewood!
b) He wanted to know, would our church be open to having
a Hispanic congregation meet on Sunday afternoons?
1> My first thought - it will be a lot of headaches
and extra expenses. Messes will be made!
2> My second thought - there are so many Hispanics
working in Ledgewood restaurants.
They must live somewhere close by.
What a great mission field, and right at home!
3) On Saturday I spoke on the phone with a woman who used to
come to our church.
a) For seven months she has been in Greystone Psychiatric
Hospital.
b) Voices were telling her that she stole $12,000 from me
and the church.
(I assured her we never have that much cash around!)
c) When is the last time you visited someone in a
psychiatric facility?
1> It touches more people than you realize.
2> You know of the lady who walks all over town with
a water bottle in her hand.
3> But many of them are hidden away, or functioning
under heavy medication.
4) This week I'll meet with a young woman who is having trouble
feeding her family.
a) She knows our church will help her out because we have
helped her in the past.
b) Can I give her more than some food coupons?
c) (I told her that her living arrangements were part of
her problem. She let me know she is married now.)
V. Churches don't fix problems; Christians do.
A. Don't just recognize the problems. Do something!
Al Gore and his wasteful house:
In the final frame of Gore's Academy Award-winning film on
global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth," the following
question appears on the screen:
"Are you ready to change the way you live?"
Apparently Gore is not ready.
Reports show that his 10,000 square foot home consumes
20 times the amount of electrical power and natural gas
as the average American household.
His energy bill is more than $14,000 a year.
Gore defends himself by saying he purchases carbon credits
to offset his excessive consumption.
Carbon credits are most often a donation to an
environmentally friendly project that "might" reduce
future carbon emissions.
But they do nothing to reduce existing emissions.
Then it was discovered that Gore was purchasing credits
from a company he set up to help celebrities and
environmentalists find "green" projects to fund.
Hence he was purchasing credits from himself.
#34295
We laugh at the hypocrisies of the politicians.
Who do they laugh at? The church.
The second chapter of James lays it on the line:
"Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily
food.
If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep
warm and well fed,"
but does nothing about his physical needs,
what good is it?
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied
by action, is dead."
Good wishes and intentions don't amount to much.
Convert your noble thoughts into concrete results.
B. Everyone can have a part in healing our world.
1) Support our missionaries.
a) Gale Hull and the "Partners In Development" have built
seven concrete homes in a year-and-a-half.
b) If you gave her $8 a week, you would build a new home
there in ten years.
c) And it is not just home - they are given hope and
encouraged in Christian faith.
2) Join a visitation ministry.
a) Ned's mom had a steady stream of church visitors in her
hospital room this week. We were like a tag team!
b) Join others, or just go yourself.
3) Volunteer at the Roxbury Social Services.
a) There was talk of shutting down the program.
b) The needs are still there - give some time.
c) You'll see a part of Roxbury that is usually hidden.
VI. Our world needs Jesus Tape.
A. Do you know what this is? (hold up duct tape)
What is its' ORIGINAL name? (most will say "duct tape")
Well, according to the internet's "Duct Tape Guy," this tape
was invented in World War II to seal ammunition cases.
Water rolled right off it like the back of a duck, so they
called it Duck tape.
After the war, soldiers brought it home.
It was the time when airconditioning was really catching on,
and the tape was perfect for sealing the metal ductwork.
So it was renamed Duct tape.
But do you know what they call it in Finland?
In Finland, duct tape is called "Jesus Tape."
The "Duct Tape Guy" speculates, "One can only assume that this
is because it is the savior of all things broken."
#29815
B. He's got a point there. Jesus loves to fix what is broken.
1) Some day he will fix our world.
2) Right now, he wants to fix YOU.
3) Then he wants to use you to fix others.
C. (Invitation to outreach and service.)
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#29815 "The Gospel According To Duct Tape," Wit And Wisdom at
http://www.witandwisdom.org by Richard G. Wimer,
August 12, 2005.
#31517 "Those Pesky Starving Children," Preaching Now, www.preaching.com,
March 6, 2007.
#34295 "Practicing What You Preach," by Kelly Boggs, Baptist Press,
http://www.baptistpress.org/, March 23, 2007.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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