December 31st, 2006

Psalm 93, Isaiah 25:1-9

Acts 20:24: “I do not count my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

Today really is no different than any other day. The sun rose this morning, and most likely, short of a major occurrence, will set tonight. We’re in the middle of winter, and this earth has likely seen millions of cycles of the seasons. But we have attached significance to this day as the last day in the year 2006. And if what we learned from last week’s glimpse into the book of Haggai is true: that as human beings we often are forgetful and can lose an awareness of who we are, what we’ve been created for, and the direction our lives are called to go, it might serve us well this morning to consider this past year and the role it has played in forming us, and consider what we want to leave behind and the positive movement we want to keep going in our lives.

(If you would, just off the top of your head, name off some events that have stuck in your mind from the past year)

Sometimes it can be really hard to be optimistic about our lives here on the earth. On some level, it can seem very meaningless. We have a short period of childhood followed by an extended time of working all hours to sustain some form of life for ourselves, hopefully followed by a short period of time at the end of our lives where we have the financial flexibility to have a bit more of a say in what we do on a daily basis, and then we die. Now, that may be a dark perspective on reality, but I think the idea’s passed through the heads of most of us today at some point. When we throw in the newspaper, TV news, and the general direction of our society in deeper and deeper rebellion against the purposes of God, it can be tough to be optimistic. And maybe I’m young and idealistic still, but I would suggest we CAN be optimistic and hopeful in the midst of everything that faces us.

Now I want to be clear and say that I am NOT talking about an optimism that denies reality and pretends like everything’s hunky-dory, one where we paste a smile on our faces and sing, “Sunshine…on my shoulders…makes me happy.” That kind of optimism isn’t honest about reality. No, the kind of optimism I am talking about this morning is the kind that says: If we’re looking for them, there are signs that here on this earth in New Hope, Va, God may yet have a saving and reforming and renewing work to do, not just in a few scattered individual lives, but in our church family life together, in the community of New Hope, the greater community of Augusta County, and beyond.

You know, I think when we consider what missions means, oftentimes travels to far-off lands, it might be helpful for us, if we’re sitting on our porches in the morning with a cup of coffee, or at night, to look around us and thing, "You know what, maybe the most important thing we could do for missions would be to remake New Hope." In other words, how much more authentic it would be for those that live in Western society (that is, Europe and North America) to carry a life-changing gospel message to other cultures if they came from a place that was not committing social suicide by its own undisciplined and God-ignoring ways of life!

Now don’t get me wrong: I’m not suggesting we can ever get to a point on this side of eternity where we come into perfection. The human race is terribly broken, and in many ways always coming up with ways to fragment ourselves even further. The Cold War may be over (and some of you here this morning will remember the Cuban missile crisis like it was yesterday), but we’re in no less danger as a race of destroying one another as we were when Kennedy and Krushchev played chicken with one another back in the ‘60s. Here in the Valley, we’re experiencing rising violence around us as the interstate system has brought drugs and gangs to us, but in many ways, that isn’t any less evil than some of the deep-seated racial prejudices that have existed here for generations.

But you know, one of the beautiful things about the gospel is that God has transformed selfish, self-centered, wealthy societies and remade them by the power of his Holy Spirit through the simple willingness of his people to live righteous lives, and their humble following of Jesus has left a legacy down through generations. Anyone who is willing to read the story that God has written in history knows what God could do with Augusta County if we as his people would humble ourselves, pursue God, and ask that he send revival and reformation to this place. But there are obstacles that stand in the way of this move.

I would suggest there are two main cravings in our very wealthy society in comparison to the rest of the world that lead us to make decisions with our lives accordingly. The reality is that in 2001, 3.8 billion people in the world were living on less than 2 dollars a day, and if you will follow me (clapping): every time we clap, a child dies in Africa. So a vast majority of the world is living to be able to simply put food on the table, forget Gap or American Eagle or Belk or Bath and Bodyworks. It’s not like that here. We live in a relatively wealthy society. And because we do, and because most of us have the luxury of living above an income of $730 dollars a year, the problems that face us are different. And one of the problems this wealth places in our way is boredom

We CRAVE NOT to be bored. Or to put it positively, we CRAVE for adventure, and challenge and thrill of doing something that breaks up the monotony of life. The fact that our children are faced with the temptation of sexual relationships and drugs and other things earlier and earlier, or the fact that more and more Americans flock to the movies to find some escape from the sense of boredom they carry in their lives are two glimpses into our problem.

And I would say the other craving is a craving for significance. If we put these two deep longings together I think what we are saying is this: I want my life to have significance. I want it to mean something. I don't want my days to be dull. I want something that is worth dying for. And the tough reality about all this is that nothing that we do to break up that boredom can fill that vacuum inside of us. Some movies and music does a TREMENDOUS job of exposing these cravings inside of us. I often think that secular music has the freedom to be more honest about life than “Christian” music is.

But in that hole, because the Christian message has often been all about one’s inner life, and followers of Jesus haven’t shown a commitment and a pursuit in their lifestyles that is RADICALLY different than their friends who don’t know Christ, folks keep fumbling around looking for meaning in ALL the wrong places; Christians included. And I think this happens because we often don’t stop to think about WHY we do things, and HOW things have become so twisted.

Why is it that we have growing numbers of teen pregnancies, lower ages of sexual promiscuity, more broken relationships, and more and more folks of any age living with one another in our society? (Because those relationships provide a thrill, a break in the routine, give those involved a sense of significance? What if part of the reason might be that Christians are so afraid to talk about the issue that there’s no compelling reason for people NOT to be sexually active!?) What if you and I as followers of Jesus talked more often about God's purpose for his creation of sexuality? In the larger picture, what is God's purpose for his creation of the longing for adventure and point and significance?

And most importantly, where is there a people that lives differently from those around them, a people in touch with their brokenness, in touch with the reality that God can reach down into their lives and call them to slowly climb out of that brokenness for the rest of their lives, depend on others making that same journey, who are finding adventure in that, significance in that.

Maybe when we think of the word “peace,” we think “world peace,” peace between nations, often overlooking the need for peace within ourselves and families and neighborhoods. You know, the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli leader Yitzak Rabin shook hands in D.C. in 1993, but the Israelis and Palestinians have continued killing each other off since then. In 1964, Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, but the problem of racism is still a terrible one in America. You know, those events were important, but maybe the most important part of peacemaking is the commitment of individuals working to overcome brokenness in themselves and in the people around them. Are we as followers of Jesus guilty of putting our heads in the sand when we say to neighbor or friend that what this world needs is for individuals to seek and discover God's purposes for their lives—for their money and job and family and sexuality and longing for relationships and for significance? I don’t think we are.

What every one of us needs is a cause to live for that lines up with the purposes of our Creator. And because our Creator is powerful in His willingness to back up the faithful actions of his people, we can know beyond any doubt that living for Him will satisfy our deepest longings for a life with thrilling significance.

Where do we find that life abundant? One good place would be to look particularly to the testimony of one who had found such life himself, the apostle Paul.

And Acts 20:24 is a snapshot for us of a life that is not boring, it speaks of a life with TREMENDOUS significance.

“From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them: “You know how I live the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you, but have taught you publicly from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, no knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prisons and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me- the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.”

It might be helpful for you and me right now and when he head home today and over the course of this week to stop and consider for just a few minutes what Paul was living for and what effect it had on his life; and this will bear tremendous fruit for us on a simple practical level in our lives and for the day when we jump back into walking through the letter to the Roman church we were studying before the church fire.

First, notice the immense reality of God. Paul served the Lord with great humility, was sensitive to the voice of the Spirit, and knew he had to deal honestly with his own heart here first. Since we were created by God and are made for open relationship with God, you can mark down the reality that any set of goals that we choose to live for will leave an emptiness in our souls if GOD is not the center, the first priority, our first love, if we are not on bent knee before him, listening and acting. Paul's life reflected the glory of God in a tremendous, blazing, powerful manner through his simple courageous devotion to following Jesus.

Second, there is an incredible reality of God's grace. The verse ends, "to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." The power of God's holiness and justice are like a great, violent hurricane, and the grace of God is like the eye of the hurricane where all is peace and calm. Grace is the center of God's reality. Grace, or love, is the essential calm at the center of the vortex of his infinite perfections. Paul had an experience earlier in his life when he was swept into the terror of that hurricane of God’s justice one day on the Damascus road one day when he was struck blind. And then to his utter amazement he was drawn through it into the peace and beauty of the eye of grace into this relationship even though he had the blood of innocent Christians on his hands. First there is the immense reality of God himself, breathtaking in all his glory. Then there is the immense reality of God's grace, rescuing people in rebellion from their lost state and restoring them to relationship. An awesome and holy God exists who cares enough about our rebellion that he does something about it. And there is a way to find meaning and purpose and adventure and significance the gift of his Son that we continue to celebrate. This is the gospel. The only lasting long-term opportunity for change this world has ever seen. Everything else runs in cycles and is ultimately meaningless in the span of history. We as followers of Jesus carry the lives of our friends and neighbors and enemies in the balance both through our lifestyle and the picture it gives our friends and through our willingness to openly confess that we are called to a different way, and we need the courage and the fortitude to stand up for what we believe to be right, as well as carry humility to confess that we often get it wrong ourselves.

First it made him utterly indifferent to earthly gain. The verse begins, "I consider my life worth nothing to me." In other words he had found a cause to live for that was so profoundly satisfying that it was more valuable than his life itself. And of course the desire for that life is what drives us all to seek all the things that break our boredom, whether it be money or drugs or prestige or power or wealth.

The second effect that Paul's cause to live for had on him was to give him an incredible discipline to stay on the assigned trail. The verse says that he valued one central thing "if only I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus." He pictures himself as an athlete running a race. His coach, trainer, audience, and award is Jesus Christ. One thing matters: finishing the course the way he has been taught.

He reasons: My cause is the cause of God. My thrill is the power of grace. My "edge" is the risk of my life. My "point" is the honor of Christ. My "daring" is the measure of my love. And thus he fights his way along the narrow trail in the power and the glory of a disciplined and God-centered life.

How about in 2007, we live honestly with seeking to be a Biblical people, a committed people, a loving people, that the news would spread over this countryside surrounding our church that there’s something different going on here. That we’re willing to love people and give our lives for them no matter who they are, where they come from, what background shaped them, or the state of their lives now. Could it be that God is refining us as his people through our church fire to be a humble and righteous and God-centered movement of restoration and renewal here in the Valley, a picture of what society is meant to look like?

Could it be that right relationships start when the husband wakes up tomorrow morning and commits to restore what is broken in his relationship with his wife? Could it be that the mission of Middle River Church takes place when a high school teenager refuses to take part in the catcalls of his friends towards females, and embraces a more positive view of sexuality and beauty, even if his friends make fun of him? Could it be that the mission of Middle River takes place when I think of the person I get along with least in our church family and commit myself to praying for them and loving them? Could it be that the mission of Middle River Church takes place when we refuse to ignore individuals and families that the rest of society thinks have little to nothing to offer? Could it be that we wouldn’t think of success only in terms of have many folks are a part of our church, and instead focus on loving God with all that we are and others with that same love…not settling for mediocre, duty-driven Christianity?

We all will leave a legacy, and my hope for us as a church family, and the thing to which I am held accountable as a leader is whether we respond as the people did to the expectations of God in the book of Haggai we’ve walked through so recently.

After having heard of their consistent hardness of heart and failure to be God-centered people and the consequences of that action, the people responded by obeying the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people, feared (respected, held in high esteem, stood in awe of) the Lord.