FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ATLANTA, GEORGIA

Sermon by Dr. George Bryant Wirth

Annual Meeting

February 3, 2008

CHRIST AT THE CENTER: OUR FIRM FOUNDATION

STANDING ON THE PROMISES

Scripture: Psalm 46; II Corinthians 1:15-22

INTRODUCTION

His name was R. Kelso Carter – born in 1849, died in 1928, and during his lifetime he was an ordained Methodist minister, a professor of chemistry, civil engineering and mathematics at the Pennsylvania Military Academy, a sheep rancher in California, the author of several novels, and in his later years, he decided to study medicine and become a practicing physician in Baltimore, Maryland.

R. Kelso Carter was, indeed, a man of many talents. But what he may be best remembered for is an old revival hymn he wrote in 1866 entitled “Standing on the Promises of God.” It was one of my father’s favorite gospel songs, and I can remember our congregation singing it with great gusto during Sunday evening vesper services, with the men and women sharing the chorus back and forth like a musical tennis match:

“Standing (men)…standing (women)…standing on the promises of God my Savior (all together), standing (men)…standing (women)…I’m standing on the promises of God” (all together).

When I suggested to Charlie Whittaker several weeks ago that we might try to sing this number today, he reminded me it’s not in the blue Presbyterian hymnal! But there are three stanzas that I want all of you to hear, because I think they say what our text from II Corinthians was meant to convey:

“Standing on the promises of Christ my King,

Through eternal ages let His praises ring;

Glory in the highest I will shout and sing,

Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises that cannot fail,

When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,

By the living word of God I shall prevail,

Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises that cannot fall,

Listening every moment to the Spirit’s call,

Resting in my Savior as my all in all,

Standing on the promises of God”

(From “101 More Hymn Stories” by

Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1985)

Now I know the poetry of those lines isn’t Shakespeare, and the tune was not written by Bach or Beethoven, but the words we’ve just heard come ever so close to the verse from II Corinthians Chapter 1 which I have chosen as our text: For in Him (in Jesus Christ) every one of God’s promises is a “Yes”! (II Corinthians 1:20)

I

The reason Paul wrote this particular section of his letter to the Corinthians was to assure them that God’s promises were true and that Paul himself was a man of integrity who would follow through on what he promised to do.

Having helped to found the Corinthian Church (Acts 18), Paul was now writing from Ephesus a few years later because he had received reports that there was trouble in the congregation. You’ve heard me describe the situation before: theological arguments, doctrinal divisions, personal bickering and backbiting, and a big fuss over those who were eating and drinking too much at communion, to name just a few of their problems.

When Paul tried to intervene, some of the church members turned their anger against him, claiming that the apostle did not have authority over them and that he had said he was coming to Corinth for a visit, but never showed up. In modern day political terms, they accused him of doing flip flops – saying yes and then no, so now they were questioning not only his authority, but also his integrity.

It still happens today – criticism of church leaders – and to some degree, it comes with the territory. Most of the time, it’s rather mild, as was the case with one choir member up in Pittsburgh who made a comment to me about the sermon when he was going out the door after the Benediction: “Lengthy but informative” is how he described it, and I think the man had a point.

But at other times the critique can turn sour, gets downright destructive and starts to devour the church…which is exactly what was happening in Corinth.

As the naysayers attached Paul’s authority and integrity, we can almost see them frowning their brows, shaking their heads and folding their arms defiantly, raising a hint of heresy and questioning the validity of the apostle’s preaching and teaching about Jesus.

So trying not to be too defensive, and speaking the truth in love, Paul wrote these lines back to them which lead us to our text: As surely as God is faithful (verse 18)…in Jesus Christ, every one of God’s promises is a “Yes” (verse 20).

Christian friends: what does that mean to you? I think it means through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God has shown us and assured us that His promises are true.

II

During His life on this earth, Jesus’ ministry was all about love. For God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son (John 3:16). Love one another as I have loved you (John 15:12). The greatest commandment is this: you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 19:37-39; Mark 12:30-31; Luke 10:27).

Now we know those words from Jesus, all recorded in the gospels, and we believe those words point us toward the promise that God loves us unconditionally with a love that will never let us go.

But sometimes, oftentimes, trying to put those words into action is far more difficult than any of us are willing to confess.

A Presbyterian pastor and her family lived next door to a psychology professor from a nearby university. The professor was single and he had no children, while the pastor was married and with her husband had two boys and two girls, all under the age of ten and very active.

Well, the psychology professor would sometimes say over the backyard fence as he observed the next door neighbor parents trying to keep their children in line, “You know, you should love your children, not punish them.” He said it over and over again, until one hot summer day when the professor had just finished repairing his concrete driveway.

Putting down the trowel, the professor wiped his brow and headed toward the house…when suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the youngest next door child – a mischievous little five year old boy – putting his hands and feet into the fresh wet cement. The professor was upset and was about to deal with that child when he heard a voice coming from his neighbor’s second story window: “Watch it professor” said the Presbyterian pastor. “Remember, you must love the child. Don’t forget!” To which the frustrated professor replied, “I do love him in the abstract, but not in the concrete.”

And that, of course, is the reality check for all of us. We can sing the song “They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love,” but do the words we sing ring true in the way we live out there in the world…or right here in the church? Not in the abstract but in the concrete?

Last Thursday night, I was invited to sit in the front row with a group of ecumenical and inter-faith clergy guests at the New Baptist Covenant Conference held in the World Congress Center. Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter, who helped to host the event, were right there next to us, and I was sitting in between a Jewish Rabbi and a Muslim Imam – all of us were there to show our support for this gathering focused on the theme of unity and reconciliation.

The author John Grisham, who is an evangelical Christian from Charlottesville, Virginia, was the final speaker. He told the story about growing up in Mississippi and all the people who were excluded from coming through the door or from being able to participate as leaders or members in the church where his family belonged – folks who were excluded, said Grisham, because of their race or gender or sexual orientation or economic situation or various kinds of disabilities. And then he looked out at the thousands of Baptists in the room and Grisham said “I’m glad to tell you that’s not true in the church I belong to today, where love is the bottom line and everyone is welcome in the name of Jesus Christ.”

I sat there with tears in my eyes, grateful for all of you and for the assurance that is also true here at the First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta. “God knows we have a long way to go before we get to the Promised Land,” said Martin Luther King Jr. But we are on the right road, standing on the promises of God which have been revealed once and for all through the life and the love of Jesus.

III

Moreover, we also know that the promises of God’s forgiveness, redemption and salvation are true through the crucifixion and death of Jesus. The meaning of the cross has been revealed to all who believe that He shed His blood and died to save us from our sin in order to bring us back into a right relationship with God again.

Christ’s suffering on the cross has also assured us of God’s promise to walk with us through the valley of the shadow of pain and sorrow, and to make our way through the darkness when the storms strike, looking toward the light and knowing that we are not alone. For we believe that what the Psalmist wrote long ago is still true today: God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in times of trouble. Therefore, we will not fear! (Psalm 46:1-2)

That was Righton Gordy’s story, a saint of a woman who was a faithful member of this church and who crossed over to the other side at the age of 99 last week.

Preparing for her memorial service, I was sitting at the computer in my study at home and suddenly, my eyes caught sight of this framed poem on the wall which helped to recall some of the good times and the hard times that Righton Gordy shared with me and with many of you. Annie Johnson Flint wrote these words, which are profound and true:

God hath not promised

Skies always blue,

Flower-strewn pathways

All our lives through.

God hath not promised

Sun without rain,

Joy without sorrow,

Peace without pain.

But God hath promised

Strength for the day,

Rest for the labor,

Light for the way.

Grace for the trials,

Help from above,

Unfailing sympathy,

Undying love.

Righton Gordy lived and died, standing on the promises of the cross of Christ, and so can we my friends, so can we…

CONCLUSION

Until we come to the end of our journey and claim the final promise that God has revealed to us in Jesus Christ: the promise of resurrection hope and eternal life with the Lord in heaven.

This coming Ash Wednesday, we will begin the Lenten Season. It’s a time of repentance and renewal, a time of reflection and meditation which leads us to the Easter celebration and the glad and glorious shout: “The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed!”

Going all the way back to 1848, that is the promise this church has counted on more than any other, the promise which laid our firm foundation 160 years ago, the promise which has burned in our hearts down through the generations, the promise of Christ’s resurrection: “The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed!”

And that is the same promise which leads us forward now with hope on the horizon. For Christ’s Spirit is alive and at work in this congregation. The Lord holds great things in store for us in the years that are yet to be!

Do you believe that today? Jim Andrews believed it. He was, as some of you remember, the Stated Clerk of the old Southern Presbyterian Church. And then when we merged our two denominations from the South and North, he became the Stated Clerk of the reunited Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

It was the summer of 1996 and Jim Andrews had just retired from all those years of faithful service. He was having lunch in New Jersey with Tom Gillespie, the President of Princeton Seminary, and Gillespie says, “Our conversation turned to the issues, all the issues that threaten to divide our denomination and to the continuing membership decline that threatens to extinguish the Presbyterian Church. So I asked him, “Jim, do you see any hope for this old Church of ours?” And his answer was unforgettable. “Not much” he said flatly. But with a twinkle in his eye he added, “And then there’s Jesus.”

Do you see? The storms will strike and threaten to destroy us, and then there’s Jesus. The forces of evil will do their worst to knock us down and out, and then there’s Jesus. The Church will struggle with all of its old divisions and will wonder if there’s any hope on the horizon, and then there’s Jesus.

He is the Lord of life, the Savior of the world and the Head of the Church. He is God’s “yes” to all that is good even when the world says “no.” And He is the center of our life together here at the corner of 16^th and Peachtree. Through His life, through His death and through His resurrection, He has assured us and shown us that God’s promises are true.

So I ask you again, do you believe that? Do you? If you do, or if you want to, then it’s time to stand up and to say what we believe through the Apostles’ Creed. Because we are standing my friends, right here and right now, we are standing on the promises of God. Will you say these words with me?

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ His only son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried.

He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen!

And that is our promise to God.

In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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