Sermon Archive

"The Successful Church", Mark 8: 27-35

Date: September 13, 2009, The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Author: The Rev. Dr. James D. Kegel

GRACE TO YOU AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND THE LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, AMEN.
            Imagine success. It isn’t too hard to do. We know what it is: physical attractiveness, good home and family, good job, good income, even some renown. I read about a study of eighty-six different societies all around the globe and people chose their mates on the same basis—women chose men who were powerful, economically secure, able to provide material goods and security; men chose females because of their youthful attractiveness, the better to produce offspring. All around the world, success looks the same.
            There are objective ways to measure success and they operate in the church as well as out in the world. In many of our synods, pastoral salary guidelines are based on more than years of service. In many synods, pay is based on not only on years in the ministry, which is all that we do here in Oregon, but also educational attainment—I liked that because of my advanced degrees. Added in were more obvious signs of congregational success—the larger the congregation, the greater the pay; the more lay workers and associate pastors on staff, the greater the pay; if congregational membership was growing not declining, the greater the pay. Some synods even add geography—those who live in more expensive cities get a higher salary or housing allowance. We all know that bigger is better and so does the church. Oh, by the way, staff pay here in Oregon is the same whether one is in Portland or Pendleton; whether the church has a thousand members or a hundred…oh, and by the way Central Lutheran is the fifth or sixth largest Lutheran congregation in Oregon, the largest in Eugene-Springfield, and we are one of the few holding our own attendance and money-wise. Look around at the beautiful space we are in, listen to the wonderful music, consider all the ministries going on here at Central and feel proud. By anyone’s reckoning, we are a successful church.
            Ah, but what is success? Our Gospel lesson makes it clear. Size of congregation, size of staff, size of budget are not biblical signs of success. True success is faithfulness to Christ, believing Christ to be the Messiah, the Son of God and following the one who took up a cross, suffered and died for the sake of the world. The setting for the Gospel is Caesarea Philippi, outside the borders of Israel. At the time it was a newly built capital city of the Tetrarchy of Philip, son of Herod the Great, dedicated to the emperor and himself. It is a beautiful place, as members of our Holy Land group can attest, the site of one of the headwaters of the Jordan River, set in forested hills. The site was originally named Balinas for Baal, the god of the Canaanites, then Panias, for Pan, the Greek god of the woodlands. When Jesus and his followers were there, Herod Philip had built a white, marble shrine to Caesar as well as keeping the Greek temples. Our group learned that one of the tourist attractions at the time was a compound of dancing goats—goats are representative of Pan--and, in the grotto, there was a gaping hole in the mountainside, the original source of the Jordan that was called the “Gates of Hades” where animal sacrifices were made. Here Jesus asked his disciples who people thought he was, “Who do people say that I am?” His disciples answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” The prophets preached God’s Word, performed miracles; Elijah even healed and raised the dead. But Peter comes up with the right answer when Jesus asks them, “Who do you say that I am?” He answers, “You are the Messiah, the Christ.” It is the first time this title is used in Mark’s story of Jesus. In the presence of conflicting religions and authorities—Baal, the Greek and Roman gods, the power of Caesar, it is Jesus who is Christ the Savior. It is Jesus the Jewish rabbi, not Baal, not Pan, not Caesar who is Lord. What is surprising in Mark’s account is what Jesus the Messiah will do. There is no mention of sitting on David’s throne or restoring the fortunes of Israel, driving out the Romans and purifying the worship. Instead the Messiah will undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. Our text says this so shocked the disciples that Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked him. Then Jesus scolded Simon Peter for speaking human things and not divine, for looking at success in an ordinary human way. Jesus even calls him “Satan,” the name for the adversary of God. Those who would be faithful followers of Jesus are those who deny themselves and take up their cross. Successful Christians are not those who attain power and glory in this world but rather those who lose their lives for Jesus’ sake.
            Now there is nothing blessed about failure. There is nothing holy about suffering unless it is for the name and sake of Christ. God wants us to work hard, be ambitious, use all the gifts we have been given—our minds, bodies, even perhaps connections to other people. God wants us to do the best we can. Norman Vincent Peale once wrote that the secret of successful decisions can be describes thus: “Don’t panic but study, think, pray, believe and act. If you do all those things and do them right, you are on the right path…you need wisdom, you need insight, understanding and perceptiveness. You can’t be governed by emotional reactions. You have to be the mast of your thought process.” Dr. Peale is right; we can minimize our negative thinking and think positively. We can develop our intellect and exercise our bodies and claim God’s power in our lives to make the right decisions. For each one of us and this congregation, we can use God’s gifts in the wisest way but the goal is really not success but blessing. Being God’s people means changed lives not just bigger budgets. We are promised Christ’s presence with us always but it may mean that he walks with us through the valley of the shadow. Jesus never built a cathedral, balanced a budget or ran an advertising campaign. His personnel management failed to develop staff loyalty—his employees denied him, ran away from him, and abandoned him. One sold him out to his competitor. The strange thing is at his lowest point, when Jesus was lifted up on the cross, then he was drawing all people to himself. Just when he was rejected and scorned and denied by all people, God declared him just and people were saved through him. What seemed successful in the eyes of world was deemed vainglory by God—where are those temples and shrines and palaces now? What was despised and rejected is proclaimed successful in the eternal eyes of God.
            There was a very successful church in Chicago during the 1920s, 30s, 40s and 50s. It was founded by Preston Bradley and called the People’s Church. The building is huge with a beautiful painting of Jesus and his disciples in the front of the theatre-like auditorium. Dr. Bradley’s preaching was powerful and attracted huge crowds. He had an interesting thesis—he would only preach on the human Jesus, the man of compassion and love. Bradley was not interested in doctrine or liturgy, difficult hymns or creedal affirmations. In fact his People’s Church was affiliated with both the Congregationalists and the Unitarians. Today the crowds are gone and the building stands empty. What was beloved in the earlier days of the last century now seems sentimental and trite. The little Presbyterian and Methodist and Lutheran congregations that were struggling all the years of Bradley’s glory are struggling today but they are still there. We still have our People’s churches now, auditoriums with no altar or cross; the pulpit is replaced by a movie screen, the organ replaced by a pop-band, Bible teaching replaced by peppy, upbeat, personal talks. Like the People’s Church a half-century ago, these shrines to the hear-and-now attract the up-and-comers, where people look like Barbie and Ken or wish they did, where clothes and hairstyles and cars and houses tell you that they are making it. They are the winners. These people are successful. Their church tells them they are blessed and with a little help from Jesus, they will just keep on winning. The Lutherans and Catholics and Episcopalians keep struggling to hold their own.
            The successful church is the church faithful to Jesus Christ, crucified and risen. It is the fellowship that is not ashamed of the cross of Jesus and not embarrassed to be told to take up a cross in order to follow him. The successful church uses the wisdom of the world but looks beyond it knowing that God’s favor and blessing is most important. Money, power, good looks, educational degrees—or a growing church are good things but God’s blessing is the most important thing.

Amen.

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