Sermon by Dr. George Bryant Wirth
Stewardship Sunday
October 14, 2007
BUILDING THE CHURCH:
160 YEARS OF MINISTRY AND
Scripture: I
Corinthians 3:1-11, 16-17, 21-23
INTRODUCTION
Along the wall in the hallway
between our sanctuary and Winship Chapel, you will find the portraits of eleven
of the twelve pastors who have served this congregation since our founding date
on the 8th of January, 1848.
Every time I walk past that
line of Christian leaders, I am reminded of the great tradition in which we
stand, and of the grand and glorious eras of our ministry and mission,
beginning downtown and then moving to this location at 16th and
Peachtree, stretching across the generations for nearly 160 years.
Looking at those portraits, I
also remember what someone told me when I was called here in 1990. They said that “If or when someone suggests
that it’s time to get your picture done, it’s probably best to pack your bags
and prepare to move on”!
To tell you the truth, I
treasure those paintings on the wall and all that they represent regarding the
history of this church. Those preachers,
together with lay leaders and staff colleagues and thousands of faithful
members have laid the foundations and built upon them in each and every
generation.
So as we remember the past,
rejoice in this present moment, and seek renewal for the future which the Lord
holds in store for us, I am thankful that the Annual Giving Committee has
chosen the theme for our campaign: “Building the Church: 160 Years of Ministry
and Mission.” For that is our calling
today, as we take our place in the long line of men and women of faith who have
sought to follow Jesus Christ and to reach out to serve others in His Holy
Name.
I
That line actually goes back
2000 years to the
…It has been reported to me…that there are quarrels
among you…and that each of you says “I belong to Paul, or I belong to Apollos,
or I belong to Cephas, or I belong to Christ”…I thank God that I baptized none
of you except Crispus and Gaius…and also the household of Stephanas…”
You see, instead of
treasuring the real life portraits of their leaders as servants of Jesus
Christ, those Corinthians were taking sides and lining up behind each one of
them. Imagine what it would be like here
in this church if a group were to say, “We belong to
You see, those people had
forgotten that there was only one head of the church – Jesus Christ – who was
the center of their life together. And if
or when we lose sight of Him as the Head, the Center, the Heart of the body,
then everything begins to fall apart.
And that’s where Paul picks
up his theme in the fifth verse of chapter three, which is our text for today:
What
then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as
the Lord assigned to each…for we are God’s servants, working together; you are
God’s field, God’s building. (Verses
5 and 9)
And
Paul goes on to say:
According
to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a
foundation (in fact, Paul had helped
to start this church – you can read about it in Acts 18:1-17), and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to
build on it. For no one can lay any
foundation other than the one that has been laid – and that foundation is Jesus
Christ. (Verses 10-11)
And almost as if he were
walking down the hallway, looking at the portraits of the pastors, Paul
concludes the third chapter of his letter with these words:
So let
no one boast about human leaders. For
all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or
death or the present or the future – all belong to you, and you belong to
Christ, and Christ belongs to God. (Verses 21-23)
In summary, Paul was telling
the Corinthians, just as he is telling us today, that everyone who belongs to
the church is called to serve, and in so doing, to get out of the way. Because when all is said and done, the
purpose of our ministry and mission is not to glorify us – it is instead to
glorify and to follow Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, Who has called you and me
to serve hurting, hungry, lost and lonely people in His Holy Name. And if we ever forget that, my friends, then
the game is over.
II
Now if we are going to take
Paul’s words to heart, then we need to start paying attention to a few
questions as we seek to build the church for ministry and mission and the first
is this: How will we build?
In response to that question,
Paul said Each builder must choose with
care how to build upon the foundation.
And the implication throughout his discourse is that we need to build
with humility. Humility.
Many years ago, there was an
evangelist in the mid-west who started his ministry in humble
surroundings. He didn’t have a lot of money,
he wasn’t educated in a seminary, and he hadn’t spent much time thinking
through a strategic planning process as to how his ministry might grow. But he was fervent for the Lord and focused
at the beginning on the work he was called to do.
God blessed the ministry of
that evangelist, and within ten years, he had built a cathedral for worship,
developed a large congregation, created a radio and television enterprise that
reached across
My parents lived in the same
city, and from time to time they sent me newspaper clippings about how the
evangelist’s empire was expanding. But
one story developed which troubled them.
It was about how the evangelist wanted to build a prayer tower that
would be higher and more spectacular than Oral Roberts’ tower in
The evangelist wanted his
tower to be finished and dedicated on Easter Sunday, and he pushed the
architects and the contractor to get the job done faster than the time they had
planned for. So they cut corners, and
hired cheap laborers to work overtime, day and night, to meet the deadline.
When Easter morning came, a
large crowd gathered for the sunrise service in great expectation. As they sang the Hallelujah Chorus, the
evangelist and his wife got into the elevator to go up to the top of the tower
where they would offer the prayer of dedication. But because of shoddy workmanship, the
electrical circuits blew out and the evangelist and his wife were stranded half
way up the tower for almost an hour.
When they were finally rescued and came back to the ground, the
evangelist in embarrassment told his staff to shut the tower down. And for years thereafter, that tower looked
like an abandoned smokestack stretching toward the sky, and nobody could
adequately explain how or why it had happened.
Jesus had the answer, and
this is what He said in the 14th chapter of the Gospel of Luke:
For
which of you, in desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count
the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?
Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all
who see it begin to mock him, saying “This man began to build, and was not able
to finish.”
(Luke
14:28-30)
And
the bottom line is humility. If we, in
this church, want to build for ministry and mission, if we want to raise the
resources required to accomplish what Jesus Christ has commissioned us to do,
then we had better count the cost in advance, get down on our knees to pray,
and then make plans for what we believe He expects from us today and in the
months ahead as we conduct this Annual Giving Campaign. This is not for our
glory, but rather to bear witness to His story of love and grace. That is how He wants us to build the church
for ministry and mission – with a deep and devoted attitude of humility.
On
to the second question: “What will we
build?” And the answer follows from the
first, because we need to build the church with a clear and compelling sense of
priorities. Priorities.
Hill
and Ginger Jeffries have spoken about this wonderful brochure that is going to
be mailed out with their letter to you, and inside it highlights our priorities
for worship and music, Christian education, care ministry, communications,
church growth, the management and maintenance of these facilities, community
ministries and mission outreach.
Those
are our eight priorities, and they are non-negotiable – all of them are equally
important and you will be hearing our staff and church leaders speak over the
next four weeks about how your pledges will be used to make a difference here
in this church and out there across our city and around the world.
It
may not surprise you that sometimes people in the church get into conflict
about the priorities. They start to
argue about which is more important – this kind of ministry or that kind of
ministry – what about mission outreach and why are we giving all that money to
those people overseas when there are plenty of people in need right here? You’ve heard the arguments and so have I.
But
in this church, we don’t argue about it so much and we’re not in conflict about
it, because there is enough here to do all of those things. You are the most generous congregation I have
ever known, and I say that over and over again because it is true.
And
the truth is that in this church there is enough to go around. So here’s the good news and the bad news - I
heard a preacher say this once in
So,
how do we build the church? With
humility. What will we build? We build with a commitment to our priorities. And the last question is this: For whom do we
build? We build in part for ourselves
and for our children and all those who are here. We build for those outside, across this city
and around the world – people who need our help. But ultimately, our calling is to build the
church for God and in the name of His Son our Savior Jesus.
In
closing, I want to show you something and then tell you a final story. I have here a postcard of ancient
What
happened? I’m not certain, but if you
read the Bible and pay attention, Paul indicated that they were a troubled
congregation. They were fighting and
fussing. Some of them fell away. And it is even possible that they just didn’t
give enough to keep it going. That can
happen to almost any church, so here’s our closing story.
On
a lovely Sunday morning in
The
crowd gathered, and then grew silent, as the auctioneer began: “Now, what do I
hear for this beautiful old table, solid mahogany, 100 years old?” The bids began, and, after some competitive
bargaining, back and forth, the table was sold for $500.00.
The
auctioneer continued, “Now, what do I hear for these wonderful old benches,
walnut, with needlepoint cushions to fit every one?” Slowly, but surely, the benches were sold,
much to the satisfaction of those who bought.
And then the portraits, old oil paintings, of distinguished looking
people, and they were all sold too.
The
crowd buzzed with excitement, anticipating the next object, and the auctioneer
went on, “Now, what do I hear for this fine piece of brass, made in
But,
suddenly, the people were silent – no one nodded his head or raised her hand,
and men and women looked down and around with embarrassment, because the
auctioneer was holding up a large brass cross.
You
see, they were auctioning off the contents of an old New England church – the
table that sold was a communion table; the benches weren’t just walnut benches,
they were pews; the portraits were of the former pastors; and, when it came to
the cross, well, no one really knew what to do with that.
Later
in the day, after the stained glass windows and the Sunday school desks and the
King James pulpit Bible and the pipes of the old organ, together with
everything else, had been sold, an elderly woman approached the auctioneer and
said, “Sir, I have no money to purchase that cross, but I can tell you it’s
worth far more than silver or gold. You
see, my grandparents gave that cross to the church years ago, my parents were
married in the chancel over which it hung – as were my husband and I. Our children were baptized and confirmed in
the shadow of that cross, and, for almost 70 years, Sunday after Sunday, I have
worshipped here in this place and looked up at that cross and known that Jesus
Christ was my Lord and my Savior.”
The
auctioneer was quiet, he thought for a moment, and then he said, “Madam, this
cross is not for sale – it already belongs to you – so take it home, and,
hopefully, one day, somehow, it will hang in a church again.
Now,
if you were to visit that little town in
CONCLUSION
This
cross which hangs here in our chancel isn’t for sale either. It is the symbol of God’s love, “Who gave us
His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have
eternal life.” That’s what it cost
Him. He gave everything for us, and
Jesus Christ Himself is calling us now to give sacrificially in His name. I hope and pray and look forward to the day
when Hill and Ginger can stand in this pulpit and say that we have met and
exceeded our $4,000,090 goal for Annual Giving 2008. What a way to celebrate 160 years of ministry
and mission!
In
the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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