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“Closing the Gate”
A sermon by Rev. Lynn
Turner
Associate Pastor, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Text:
John 13
At
Culver Military Academy in Indiana, there is a fascinating tradition at
graduating exercises. The cadets walk across the stage to receive their diploma
from the dean, they shake hands with the president and then walk through an
archway into their future. They are told as they walk through the archway,
“Don’t forget to close the gate”. That command is not just a matter of military
neatness, but a symbolic acting out of this message, “Close the gate on your
past failures, mistakes, and even successes… you are entering a new phase of
your life.”
Paul
in his writing to the Church in Philippi gives a similar command, we have
already read it today, but let me read it again: 3:13- “Forgetting what lies
behind, I press on toward the mark of the high calling of God through Christ
Jesus our Lord.”
As we
enter a new year... a new year of the calendar, a new year in our individual
lives, a new year in the life of our church, a new year without a Senior Pastor…
are there some gates we need to close in order to move forward?
Is
there anxiety or fear in your heart over something? Is there a broken
relationship in your life that needs to be restored? Is there hurt or anger, or
guilt, or bitterness in your heart that you have not let go of? Is there pride
or success that has blinded your heart? What is it in your heart that is going
to prevent you from moving forward in this new year that you need to close the
gate on and leave behind?
What
about us as a church body? What do we need to close the gate on today that will
take us as a church into 2007 with fresh new eyes? Are we focused on the wrong
things? Is there anxiousness in your heart that we do not have a senior pastor?
How
do we live the words of Paul, “forgetting what lies behind, I press on toward
the mark of the High Calling of God through Christ Jesus”?
What
is that high calling?
As I
have dwelt on these questions myself this past week…I asked myself, “Where do I
go in scripture that will teach me how to close the gate?” …my heart was led
to go to the Master Teacher himself, Jesus Christ…for Jesus modeled for us a
gate closing experience. It all centered around the last night He had with his
disciples in the upper room.
Our
Text is John 13: and beginning with verse one, here Jesus defines what the high
calling is:
“It
was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to
leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the
world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.”
Did
you get it?
The
High calling is knowing and understanding the “Full extent of His love.”
These
12 men had been with him for three years, they had left their homes, their
families, their work, to follow him. They had seen him perform miracles,
listened to his teachings, prayed with him, cried with him, laughed with him,
ate meals with him…they had been with Jesus non stop for three years and yet he
knew that night that they still didn’t get it and that he needed to now show
them the “full extent of His love”.
He
was about to leave them, there was a gate to be closed soon, so what did he do?
He went to the heart of why he came, and for the last time he emphasized the
four most important things that they needed to understand if they were to carry
the church into the world.
What
were these four things?
I
have summed them up into four words and to make it easy for us to remember these
today, they all begin with the letter S: The last message of Jesus’ heart to his
disciples were:
Serve Sacrifice Salvation Spirit
These
4 words need to be embedded in our hearts if we are to move forward as disciples
of Jesus.
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Serve: John 13: verses 4 and 5: 12-14
“so he got up
from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his
waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples'
feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
“When he had
finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place.
"Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me
'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your
Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's
feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
Jesus
is saying, “Disciples of mine…Church….you need to be serving one another.” You
won’t be able to walk through this archway with me into the next phase until you
learn how to serve one another.
I
don’t think that Jesus was talking about “doing” here…he was talking about
compassion…he was talking about an attitude of humbleness.
About
15 years ago, Jim and Gail Markham and I took 5 of our youth to a Baptist World
Youth Conference in Zimbabwe Africa. At the conclusion of our conference we
traveled to Nairobi to do a children’s camp for children in a village right
outside of Nairobi. These children lived in conditions that you and I cannot
even imagine. Just little shanty huts along side of the rode…dirt
floors…families living in one room homes, what we would call extreme poverty.
The word had gotten out about our camp and they walked from long ways to come.
It was the most exciting thing that had happened in their village community in a
while. Here they came, great big smiles on their faces…excited to see the white
people from Richmond Virginia. It is the custom that the older children care
for the babies by tying them on their backs with a blanket of some sort and so
the older children would come with their baby brothers or sisters tied to their
backs. Most of our activities took place outside, but we had one room with a
concrete floor and one table that we used to do our “craft activity”…each day.
We had been told by the missionaries that these children had never seen colored
paper or crayons or paints, so we had planned to do some craft things with the
kids…they were thrilled beyond words to sit at the table and make their
treasures.
On
this one particular day, a girl who had her baby sister tied to her back came to
the camp. You didn’t have to be very close to detect a very strong urine odor
about her, for her baby sister with no diaper to speak of, had soaked the
blanket that was holding her to her back and the smell was very strong. When it
was her turn to do the craft, The girl came into the small room, the odor even
stronger in closed quarters, very embarrassed to sit at the table, but not
wanting to miss out on this special treat, came and sat on the floor in the
corner. I will never forget what I witnessed next. It will forever be embedded
in my mind, as the picture of compassion and service that I think Jesus was
talking about with his disciples.
One
of our youth saw her… picked up the craft materials that day…went over and sat
beside her on the floor and helped her make her craft that day…a picture of
service…with no regard for any unpleasantness of the smells… Wendy that day
became Jesus washing the feet…of this young girl.
What
acts of service or attitudes of service is Jesus calling you to? Is there any
pride in your life that you need to close the gate on?
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The Second word... Sacrifice: verse 34
"A
new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love
one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love
one another."
Wait
a minute Jesus…a NEW command? Haven’t you been telling us all along these past
three years to love one another? What is new about this command? There are the
words…“AS I have loved you.” This new kind of love involves sacrifice. Jesus
is about to show his disciples the ultimate kind of love…the unconditional kind
of love…a sacrificial kind of love…that of laying down his life for his friends
kind of love…
Well
known professor Dr. Fred Craddock tells about being snowed in in Winnipeg Canada
while on a speaking engagement. Three feet of snow had canceled his engagement
that morning, everything was shut down in the city, and his host called to say
he couldn’t even get out of his driveway to take him to breakfast, but if he
wanted to brave the weather, there was a little café within walking distance
from his hotel.
Dr.
Craddock bundled up and made his way to the little café. It was crowded and
noisy with stranded travelers. He took a seat. The owner of the café, wearing a
greasy apron, was a large burly man, gruff, and loud with tattoos all over his
arms. This is the conversation that took place:
“What’ll you have?”
“May
I see a menu?”
“Whattaya mean menu? We have soup! That’s it. Soup. Take it or leave it.”
“Soup. That’s just what I wanted for breakfast... soup and coffee... I love
that for breakfast.”
A few
minutes later when the soup arrived, it was indescribably horrible..some sort of
unrecognizable color of gray and it tasted even worse. Dr. Craddock took one
sip and put his spoon down. He could not eat it. Just then the door swung open
with a blast of frigid air and in walked an older woman…all bundled up and
obviously very cold. The temperature outside was well below zero. The woman’s
face was red and chapped and she was shivering from the cold. She sat down at
the only seat left in the café. The burly owner walked over to take her order.
“A
cup of coffee, please.”
“Look
lady, you can’t just order coffee here... order a meal or leave.”
“But
I just want coffee... it is so cold outside, couldn’t I just sit here a minute
and drink a cup of warm coffee”
“No
way," gruffed the owner, "order a meal or get out.”
The
attention of everyone was riveted on this scene. The older woman’s eyes began
to moisten as tearfully she got out of her seat to head for the door, when
suddenly a voice from the other side of the café boomed, “If she leaves…we ALL
leave.”
“That’s just fine with me” the owner shouted back.
Immediately everyone in the café stood to leave.
“All
right, all right," the owner said, “You win. You made your point. Sit back
down. She can stay as long as she wants and it’s on the house.”
Everyone cheered and returned to their seats. Fred says as he sat back down,
all he could hear was the slurping of soup. And he thought to himself, “If they
can handle it, so can I.” So he picked up his soup spoon and once again dipped
it into the gray soup. Amazingly, it tasted different. It tasted like
something very familiar. It tasted like, “ bread and wine”. It tasted like
bread and wine now because they had just experienced a Holy communion in that
little café in Canada. You see, when people come together in sacrificial
love…there is communion.
What
has it been costing you lately to love others? Are there some unclosed gates in
some relationships in your life because you have failed to love one another? It
is a powerful distinction that we are called to…we will be known as disciples of
Jesus, as the church of Jesus by our love for one another.
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The third word is Salvation: Chapter 14: verses 5 and 6
“Thomas said
to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me.”
It
was these words of assurance that followed the words, “Do not let your hearts be
troubled.”
Christ became the sinners way to God…We live in a world that wants us to believe
that that there are many remedies for a troubled heart… a sinful heart, a heart
that is afraid… but Jesus made it so very clear to his disciples that day… “I am
the way and the truth and the life”
I
wonder if there are some in this room who have been looking for other ways for
peace of mind and heart and today Jesus is saying it as plainly as it can be
said…close the gate on your past sin… close the gate on your troubled hearts…
for the way to truth and abundant life is through me and me alone.
Have
you been depending upon anything other than Christ to set you free? Close the
gate today…
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The fourth and final word from our Savior is Spirit: Chapter 14: verse
16-18, 25-26
“And I will
ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you
forever-- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither
sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in
you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
“All this I
have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of
everything I have said to you.”
It is
this promise from Jesus that enables the disciples to endure these next few days
of horror and fright and fear as they watch him being tortured and crucified.
It is this promise that they cling to as they went to the empty tomb and saw
that Jesus indeed was alive….
It is
the resurrected Spirit of God that lives within us that enables us to live this
life of faith day by day.
Paul
says in Galatians 3: For I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer
I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
Could
God be saying to us as a church today, “Your earthly shepherd is gone, but I
have given you the Great Shepherd in the form of His Spirit that is living
within you…don’t let your hearts be troubled.?”
Have
you claimed the comfort and power of the Spirit of God that is living in you?
Jesus…the ultimate gate closer… shows us how to live a life that is free… and
here is the great truth… we will all our lives be closing gates…forgetting some
things, letting go of some things… all the while pressing on toward the high
calling of Jesus which is to know the full extent of his love for us.
In
that room that last night with his church…his disciples… he said, one last thing
I give you…a symbol for remembering all that I have said to you…and he took the
bread and broke it and said, This is my body which has been broken for you, as
often as you eat this bread, remember me. And then he took the cup and he said,
this is the cup… the new covenant of my blood poured out for you… as often as
you drink it, remember me.
When
we come to this Table, it’s not just a private ceremony. When we come to this
Table, we’re saying to Jesus Christ, “I’m a part of your church and I’m part of
your world.” We celebrate the love that has been given that was a love so
powerful that it cost a life. And 2000 years later, we come to this table as
those first disciples did for we are a part of that body here and now and in the
world.
Let
us pray. Lord, sometimes things become so complicated in our lives, thank you
for making it so simple…As we walk through the Archway of 2007……open our hearts
to see what you have called us to do… and give us the courage to do it… we want
to know Lord Jesus, the full extent of your love for us. May that happen this
day and all the days to come before us. We pray in the name of Christ our Lord.
Amen.
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