Nehemiah 8 (various verses)
Luke 4: 14 - 21 

A few years ago we felt the need to update our Church’s mission statement. In the process of searching for that new statement, we felt strongly that what we were looking for was not an idealized projection of what we ‘might be’ if we just tried a little harder, or changed a thing or two; rather, we were looking for a statement that summarized who we already were. A statement of what we’ve been ‘about’ as a congregation for quite some time. I was convinced that if we did this, that we would be enabled to do what we’ve been called to do even better. And, I think that has proven to be the case. 

To state that we are a community of faith committed to sharing the love of Jesus Christ with a hurting world through our words and actions, really boils down the essence of who we are here at FUMC; you can’t leave any of this out without missing an important part of the bigger picture.  And maybe at least partly because we have been more focused on our common mission since adopting this statement, we are seeing many ways that we are living it out – some things that we’ve been doing for a long time, and other new ways that are emerging all the time. 

What makes our statement dynamic for us, I think, is that there is a built in tension in it. We aren’t just a community committed to learning or even to proclaiming the Christian message.  We are also a congregation that is committed to living that out – not just receiving, not just knowing, but sharing the love of Christ, and not only through words, but through our actions. 

It is very easy, I think, for a Christian congregation to lose its ‘edge’ by becoming too focused on one or the other. I know of congregations who pride themselves on their teaching and evangelism, and yet are cold and lifeless. I’ve known as well churches that have become so involved in outreach through service, and working in our society that they have forgotten along the way why they do what they do, and who they are doing it all for. 

We are not the prototype of the perfect church by any means! But I am grateful every day for the opportunity that I’ve been given to serve a congregation that tries hard to keep both word and action on the ‘front burner’. 

Both pastor HeyYoung and I appreciate the feedback that we constantly receive from our messages. And I’m sure that I speak for both of us that the best comments that we can hear are those affirming that the Scriptures are being proclaimed here! When I hear that someone is wrestling with the Scripture because of a message that they heard here, I rejoice! (No matter who preached it!) 

When I see the dedication of our Sunday School teachers and know of the good things that are being taught and learned in these classes, I rejoice!  When we have over 100 people coming out to our Wednesday night study classes week after week, as well as other small groups that meet regularly, that is saying something about this church – something good.  We worship one we know here – and we know him because we are serious about learning and study. 

On the other hand, the number of people who volunteer in service ministries here is staggering.  How many of you have been on a short term mission trip?  We have five more trips that, Lord willing, will be taking place from FUMC in 2007.  Add to that the outreach efforts of IHN, our food pantry, Salvation Army, the pastor’s discretionary fund; the variety of work of our Outreach Committee, and Church and Society projects for peace and justice, to our recently opened fast growing First Light Pre School …I don’t think there is a group in this church – men’s groups, women’s groups and circles, youth groups – who is not involved in some way in extending the love of Christ to a needy world through their actions. Again, it is just overwhelming! 

And I haven’t even mentioned the funds that are sent from here. As a UM congregation, we participate in ministry beyond the local church through our ‘Fair Share’ giving (formerly called ‘apportionments’).  We are connected in this way to other churches, to conference wide ministries, to inner city ministries, new church planting, health care for retired pastors, and much more.  This giving is over $100,000 a year. 

In addition, this is a church that has for a long time supported missions beyond the local church by ongoing support of missionaries and mission agencies whose work covers nearly every corner of the globe.  Half subscribed through our budget, and half by the faith promise second mile giving, again, this will total nearly $110,000 this year. 

Well, I know I’ve left out other ministries but you get the picture!  Words and actions together make up a healthy and balanced ministry.  Study, learning, growing, worship, service – together make up who we are. 

We see this illustrated in the two Scripture readings today. They are both from the Lectionary readings for today. The first passage is from the book of Nehemiah 8. Nehemiah is a wonderful book about a man who was the cupbearer (wine taster!) for the Persian King Artaxerxes. Nehemiah was one of exiled Hebrews who had not yet returned. 

He heard reports from people back ‘home’ that things were not going well. The country was a mess – it had been devastated by the invasions that resulted in the exile of most of the population. The people that had gone back were being harassed by those who had taken over when the Hebrews were taken away, and life was very difficult. And in a wonderful moment when the King asks Nehemiah why he looked so sad, Nehemiah with a quick prayer asks to be allowed to lead a team who would go to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls of this sacred city. 

To his surprise, the King agrees, and Nehemiah goes.  After much hardship, five months later the walls were finished. And Nehemiah and Ezra then call all the people together for a great assembly. In this assembly they take out the book of the Law – the first five books of our Bible – and they read this Law to all of the returned exiles. Everyone who was old enough to understand was there. 

They not only read it, they read it for a long time.  From morning until noon, and then they started again the next day… and the next. 

In 8: 8 we read: They read from the Book of the Law of God and clearly explained the meaning of what was being read, helping the people understand each passage. So, we see that they were not only reading this word, they were preaching as well, and their preaching was focused on interpreting the word of God.  Explaining it so that the people could understand it. 

And their response?  In kind of old fashioned language, we might say that they were smitten to the core!  They fell on their faces before God and worshipped him.  They made a community wide covenant that they would begin to once again obey the teachings and the commandments of this Word. 

In other words, when they got serious about the Word, it shaped their community. It changed them, because God was in that Word. 

Now, keep that in mind, and let’s look at our second reading for today. This is Luke chapter 4: 14 – 21

¹⁴ Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power. Reports about him spread quickly through the whole region. ¹⁵ He taught regularly in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

 ¹⁶ When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. ¹⁷ The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:

 ¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
 for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
 that the blind will see,
 that the oppressed will be set free,
 ¹⁹ and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.^[”

 ²⁰ He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. ²¹ Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!” 

Here we see Jesus declaring himself to the people as the Messiah. And I want you to notice that what he is saying is that the Scripture is about him.  It is pointing to him.  In fact, in John 5:39 Jesus is even more explicit:  “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! 

The words of God point to the Word of God, the Word made flesh – Jesus.  And just as in the day of Nehemiah, with these people who only had only a fraction of the revelation that we have, the Scriptures have the power to change lives, and churches, and communities…because they point to Christ Jesus. 

But … when Christ enters a church, or a community, or a life, the changes that come about are not simply internal, not simply eternal; they are external!  I’m a very visual thinker, and as I’ve been pondering these two passages this week, and how they together show us something about our faith, I see something like a graph in the shape of a bow-tie. (Is there such a thing as a bow tie graph?)  On the left hand side, two lines converge together in one point.  That represents the Scriptures. 

Not just the Old Testament but all Scripture – their focus, their message is to point us to Jesus.  But from there, the word goes out into the world in acts of love and service and proclamation. As we – the Body of Christ – the church, take this love that we’ve discovered in the Scriptures into a hurting world. 

Take a look again at what Jesus is saying here in Luke 4. Why did he choose this passage to announce his identity as the Messiah? Well, I think maybe because it was describing so clearly the ministry of the messiah – and his Church!   The passage announces the proclamation of good news to the poor, it promises the release of captives, giving sight to the blind, and that the oppressed would be set free.  Jesus was not simply talking about spiritual freedom divorced from the real needs of this world.  He made that very clear by the things that he did in his short public ministry, and by the teachings that we still are trying to carry out in this world. 

He fed the hungry, he welcomed the outcasts, he forgave sinners, and he said ‘when you do the same, the world will know me.’ 

I’m so glad that Rev. Hendricks is with us this weekend.  I look forward to hearing more about this exciting work that God is doing in China after the 11:00 service. We pray for your continued success and blessing on your work. We are the church together – in study of the Scriptures, looking for a deeper walk with the Lord, and in service, sharing what we’ve found with a hurting and needy world.  And today as always, when that word is proclaimed (through words and actions), amazing things happen.  Captives are set free, the blind see, the poor are blessed, and Christ is among us.