“The Great Ends of the Church”
Second of Two Sermons
©Thomas B. Cundiff
Micah 6: 6-8
What God Requires?
‘With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
Matthew 16: 13-21
Peter’s Declaration about Jesus
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he
asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John
the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the
prophets.’ He said
to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’
And Jesus answered
him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed
this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter,
and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will
not prevail against it. I
will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth
will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in
heaven.’ Then he
sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was
the Messiah.
Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection
From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must
go to Jerusalem
I.
On the top section of this box were basic tools we could all identify….hammers
and screwdrivers and pliers and tape measures and chisels—you know it’s hard to
break a tape measure but I somehow managed to get it all jammed up!
Deeper in the toolbox were items I didn’t understand. The “wood plane” was something I once broke….somehow
I twisted a knob that held the blade in place and for the life of me I couldn’t
figure out how to put this thing back together once I took it apart. Gee. I
wonder why my dad was always yelling at me for getting into his tools. The word “spanking” also comes to mind.
My dad, in my mind, had a tool for every project. Through the years I probably managed to use
and lose and mangle or break a good number of them. And I
was always trying to re-organize them…..I knew gbetter than my dad where he should
keep his tools!
So what is my professional toolbox
look like
in doing my work today?
The bible is the most important resource/tool I have in my toolbox—our toolbox
in doing Christ’s mission in the world. <It’s
hard to break the bible! J >
Last week I went digging into this tool box for scripture and identified two
texts from Matthew 25 and Matthew 28 to help us in defining our mission as a
church. These texts: Matthew 25 talks of mission in terms of serving the hungry, the thirsty and the
stranger, the naked the sick and the imprisoned—the disenfranchised of the
world. Matthew 28 that talks of mission
in terms of making disciples baptizing them in the name of the Father and Son
and Holy spirit.
As I suggested last week, both of these “CO-MISSION STATEMENTS” work together
to help us in defining our identity as a church in doing Christ’s work in the
world.
While scripture is our primary resource in defining our mission, we also
have a book in the Presbyterian Church called the “Book of Confessions”. Many
of these creeds of confessions are pretty old. The Apostle’s
Creed and Nicene Creeds are two examples
of ancient creeds we still use to help us understand not only what we believe
but also in defining what we are called to be doing in the world.
So in our toolbox of resources we have the Bible. We have the Book of Confessions. We also
have a book that guides us in the use of all these tools…..the Book of Order or the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church. Within the constitution are principles that date
back to the 1700’s in helping us understand our mission. They are timeless. Called the “Great Ends of the Church”, these six statements have
continuously helped us define our mission in doing Christ’s work.
Today it’s time to dig down deep into the toolbox of resources to look
once again at these “Great Ends of the
Church”. I would like to think of
these “Great Ends”, placed next to scripture and the confessions of the church,
as “Mission Objectives” for the church. These
are useful tools for a reformed church always growing and changing and reforming
and tweaking where we are now in the 21st century in doing Christ’s
work as Christ’s church.
II.
What are the Great Ends or as I
like to call them, Great Mission Objectives of the Church in defining how we are to go about doing
Christ’s work ?
“The great
ends of the church (and there are six of them) are the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind; the shelter, nurture and spiritual
fellowship of the children of God; the
maintenance of divine worship; the
preservation of the truth; the promotion
of social righteousness; and the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world.
This comment on the Great Ends
from church historian and theologian J. Houston Hodges,
“The church {simply} doesn’t
have a singular mission. Our mission is
pluralistic—not one purpose but six (in the use and affirmation of the Great
Ends of the Church)! The great leaders
of our church have stubbornly refused to single out any of the tasks as
paramount or to suggest they’re written in ascending (or descending) order of
importance.”[1]
For a thumbnail review of the Great
Ends of the Church:
1.
“The
proclamation of the Gospel for the salvation of humankind;” This is my primary calling as a Minister of
Word and Sacrament. This is what I teach
and preach as a “teaching elder”. I
proclaim the gospel for the salvation of all people! “Jesus came into this world to save us and
free us from sin” so we can have a healthy and enriching experience with God. This is the heart of all worship and mission
and evangelism in sharing what we know about Christ with others.
2.
“The
shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God;” God’s
mission is to take care of everything God has entrusted our care. In the name of Jesus Christ, we are called to
be a compassionate, nurturing church in sharing the love of God -- with all
people and in everything we do as Jesus’ disciples.
3.
“The maintenance of divine worship;” We
gather weekly to worship God. Every time
we gather whether it is fellowship or a meeting, we begin with worship and
prayer. From our mission statement, this
is our “REACHING UP TO GOD” in worship and praise in thanking God for all blessings
received.
4. “The preservation of the truth;” We must always be honest/truthful with each other. The truth we know about ourselves, our world and God is held close to our hearts with sensitivity for the feelings of others. We all want an honest, truthful, relationship with our all knowing, omnipotent creator—God of all time and creation.
5.
“The
promotion of social righteousness;”
Deep, deep down we all want
things to be “right” with God. In our
community, in this church and in the nation and world – in our families – we want
what is “just and right” for all God’s children. This is why it is so hard to sit by in doing
nothing while others are suffering. At
the core of our being, we want to “right the wrongs”. The phrase I like to use: We are called to be “aligned” with God in
everything we do.
6. “The exhibition of the
These Great Ends of the Church
present a timeless vision of all that we can be and become in our personal
lives and as Christians and as Christ’s church.
III.
So what’s the point? Simply, we
are a “Christ-Centered & Biblically Grounded
Church”. We are also a Presbyterian church that
believes in doing some serious work in the world with the tools God has given
us making us in my mind (an I am not speaking politically) a somewhat progressive
church when it comes to mission. Again, not talking politically in using the
term progressive, our being progressive simply means we believe in moving
forward, in growing, maturing -- progressing in using the tools (solid, ancient
time tested tools) God has given us in order to be relevant in the world today.
Some Presbyterian churches have gone so far as to call themselves “Micah
6” churches. These are churches that
lift up this scripture:
“….and what
does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to
walk humbly with your God.”
As we ask and affirm in our ordination vows, “we will be instructed by
the confessions and creeds of the church”. Mission
statements of affirmation along with scripture and ancient creeds and confessions
and “The Great Ends of the Church”
help us place our ministries, in the future, next to those things we truly value.
Honestly, as I contemplate my future and as you contemplate your future
personally and as a church, the challenges we all face in our lives and as a church,
it’s important to keep our eyes and hearts and minds focused on what God would
have us do and become lodged in what we believe to be our mission anchored in
God’s presence with us—scripture – confessions and Great Ends of the Church—and
with scripture that calls us to affirm Jesus is Lord, Son of our Living God. Let us take a moment to read through the
GREAT ENDS once again….and stand and read them together.
[1] Houston Hodges, June 2, 2010 , the GREAT ENDS OF THE CHURCH – a paper
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