Sunday, February 4, 2007

Sermon: "When Jesus Calls"

Scripture: I Corinthians 15: 1-11

Reverend Larry M. Gerber

A precious moment in our house years ago was when my wife, Jane, was offering a family prayer for the meal. One of her sentences was: "Thank you God for your peace and for caring for us." Not long after that one of our daughters offered a prayer for our meal. She prayed: "Thank you God for our peas and carrots."  Children learn from their parents. The words may be different, but the thanks is sincere. We need to be attentive to the calling of Jesus and to our prayers of thanks.

Microprinted time capsules can store information for a thousand years in 150 locations. We can do better as apostles of Christ.

If the apostle Paul were alive today, he might not write his thoughts in a letter. He might put a message in an Earth Capsule.

It only costs a dollar to add your thoughts ? not a bad price for immortality. Earth Capsule is a time capsule that uses HD-ROM metal disks to store microprinted information that can be read by a magnifying glass. It is somewhat low-tech, but the disks are able to store information for a thousand years, so they say.

The company that offers the Earth Capsule will collect your information, and then send it to repositories in more than 150 cities around the world. A board of trustees will sit on the messages for 50 years, and then open them up for our descendants to see.

The motto of Earth Capsule: "Say something new, and let it get old."  The problem with using the earth capsule for the message of Jesus is that it would be bottled up for a long time. The message is timeless, but also timely. Paul's message was not for the future generations. His message was of immediate concern. Of course it is also a timely message for today.

In today's passage from 1 Corinthians, Paul sent a message that made it to the church of Corinth in Greece, to churches throughout the Mediterranean, to churches around the world, and finally to our church today. It's a message that's been written on papyrus, inked on parchment, printed in Bibles, and posted on the Internet. Paul said something new, and then he let it get old ? fortunately for us, his message survived the centuries, without the benefit of an Earth Capsule.

Paul's message is both profound and personal, telling us about his experience of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He says to the Corinthians, "I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). So far, so good: Paul is summarizing, in a few short lines, the story of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He does this because he needs to remind the Corinthians of the good news that he proclaimed to them in person ? the good news which they received, in which they stand, and through which they are being saved (vv. 1-2).

Then things get personal. The risen Christ appeared to Cephas, says Paul, to the 12 disciples, to more than 500 Christian brothers and sisters, to James and then to all the apostles. "Last of all," records Paul, "he appeared also to me" (vv. 5-8). He puts down his own personal experience of the resurrection of Jesus, one that happened long after Christ had ascended into heaven. He reports on his own encounter with Christ along the road to Damascus, and he does this in a very matter-of-fact way. He's not trying to brag, not trying to make a big deal of it. He's simply trying to record the fact for all posterity.

Paul's creating his own little Christ Capsule.

We have to give Paul credit for not embellishing this story with all the dramatic details of his encounter with Christ. He could've talked about the light from heaven that flashed around him, his fall to the ground, his temporary blindness and the disembodied voice of Jesus calling out, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" (Acts 9:3-5). But he doesn't ? this is a Christ Capsule, after all, an encapsulation of a much larger story. Paul dumps the drama, and simply says that Jesus "appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God" (v. 9).

Paul says something new, and lets it get old.

His message is that you don't have to be perfect to be an apostle ? or you don't have to be perfect to be pious. This was a surprise to the Corinthians, and it's a surprise to us. An apostle isn't someone with a flawless life who gets a medal on the lapel for good behavior ? instead, an apostle is someone who is grabbed by the lapels, shaken up a bit, and told by the risen Christ, "I am sending you out!" The word apostle comes from apostolos, which means "one who is sent." Anyone can be sent by Jesus as an apostle ? even if he/she has a less than impeccable past.

-Did your teenage years include a few unplanned visits to the inside of a police car? You can be a "sent one."

-Did your young adult years involve a little too much time in Margaritaville? You can be a "sent one."

-Did your marriage not work out? You can be a "sent one."

-Does your job leave you unfulfilled? Your free time feel empty? Your life seem to be without purpose or direction? Are your Golden Years not so golden? You can be a "sent one."

Paul includes in his Christ Capsule the amazing message that he was tapped to be an apostle, even though he'd persecuted the church of God. The key to his turn around was the gift of grace ? the gift of God's own self in Jesus Christ. Christ offered Paul the utterly free gift of forgiveness and new life, so that he could do a 180-degree turn and change from persecutor of the church to apostle of Christ. "By the grace of God I am what I am," reports Paul, "and his grace toward me has not been in vain" (v. 10).

The core message of the Christ Capsule is that God has raised Jesus to new life, and because of this each of us is given the gift of new life. This is true for people who need to turn their lives completely around, and for people who need a less radical readjustment as well.

Mark Earley was the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Virginia from 1998 to 2001, serving as the chief prosecutor of criminals across the state. He helped to put a lot of people behind bars, and he didn't have a relationship with any of them ? except as a prosecutor.

Then in 2001 he ran for governor of the state, and he lost. As he says, "I came in second."

After this defeat, he received a call from Chuck Colson, asking him to consider becoming the president of Prison Fellowship. This was the last thing on Earley's mind, since he hadn't spent a single day of his life thinking about ministering to prisoners.

But in his personal Bible studies he ran into Moses, who once killed an Egyptian and buried him in the sand; he also came across Paul, persecutor of the church of God. Earley realized that if God had a future for these biblical criminals, then he might have a future for the convicts of Virginia as well.

Mark Earley is now president of Prison Fellowship USA, a national ministry that focuses on fellowshiping with Jesus, visiting prisoners, and welcoming their children. By the grace of God, Earley is who he is, and God's grace toward him has not been in vain.

What does Paul's Christ Capsule say to you today? How does this message of grace travel across the centuries to you, and have an impact on your life?

Perhaps you are feeling burdened by guilt, and need to hear "that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures" (v. 3). Or you are feeling stuck in a dead-end job or relationship, and need the new life that is promised in the words, "he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures" (v. 4). Or you are anxious to feel Christ's presence, and need to be reminded that Jesus appeared to someone as undeserving as the apostle Paul (v. 8).

The Christ Capsule carries this message from the first century to today, and delivers a word that you need to hear. You are one of hundreds of repositories for this capsule here today, and one of millions ? or even billions ? of people

 who have benefited from these words since the time they were first written.
But you aren't the final repository. And you aren't supposed to sit on this message for 50 years. "Encapsulate" this word of grace and new life in whatever way you can, and share this capsule with others. Forgive a hurt. Love a neighbor. Offer hope to someone who is grieving. Tell a child about Jesus. Remember that you are an apostle, "one who is sent," so your job is to go out and offer others the message that you have received. You will find that any success you have is not a purely human achievement ? it's found in partnership with God. "I worked," says the apostle Paul, "though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me" (v. 10).

You don't have to say something new. Instead, say something true. Our daughters prayer of thanks for the peas and carrots was sincere. The message of Christ is what the world needs to hear, now and always.

Are you sincere in your prayers of confession, prayers of thanksgiving and repentance? Is Jesus calling you? You don't have to be a sinner to the nth degree to come to the altar. You might be one who needs renewal of the heart or to just offer thanks for someone or something in your life. Do you feel the need to come to the altar and bow down before your Master? Are you anxious about anything or anybody in your life? Is your heart calling out for love, forgiveness, strength, or sense of direction? Then come, come to the altar of God. Pastor Susan and I will be here to pray with you if you desire. You might just want to come and bow down, just you and God. Jesus is calling. Will you answer? Will you come as we sing: "Savior Again to Thy Dear Name." Will you come?

Sources:Earley, Mark. "Be joyful, pray, and be thankful." Presbyterian Men 2006 Conference, Massanetta Springs Conference Center, July 14, 2006.
Gugliotta, Guy. "A new take on the old-time capsule concept." The Washington Post, May 8, 2006, A2.