A Great God; A Great Work: 4. A Meeting Place

by Pastor Steve and Pastor Ron

[Preached November 13, 2011; Psalm 84; Mark 10: 35-45]

Steve: How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. (Psalm 84: 1-3)

King David said in 1 Chronicles 29:1, “This is not just a place for people to meet each other, but a house for God to meet us.” (The Message) This is a meeting place! Pastor Ron, will you pray for us?

God of glory and honor, we your servants come before you as broken people, people with our own agendas, people who want life to be good and easy, people who, if we see a need that someone has, quickly turn away. We want the seats of honor and all the respect that comes with them, but we don’t want the cup of responsibility. We can’t seem to care for ourselves, so how are we to assist a world in disarray? Lord, you have children every day who go to bed hungry, alone, afraid, sick and hopeless. Lord, we have heard the cry of the needy and turned away. We not only pray for ourselves but also for all your children, wherever they are. We pray that we could hear your call to be a servant to the least and the lost. Amen.

Steve, do you remember who won the Heisman Trophy three years ago? Uh, no. How about Best Actor? Can’t recall. What about the Miss America Pageant? I wouldn’t admit it if I did. Can you remember the name of your best friend in elementary school? Sure, Ross Norris! How about one particular teacher who helped you through high school? That would be Mr. Ashen. Why do you ask?

The point is simple: the people who make a significant difference in our lives, the people we remember are the ones who care for us and the ones who serve us, people who don’t just look at us, but people who truly see us – people who see our hurts, who see our needs and then take the time to respond.

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone say, “Let’s form a circle.”  In the church it seems that we do it most often when we want to pray.  We circle up and hold hands and then someone prays. 

The story is told of a pastor who asked several members of his congregation to help him with an example of discipleship one morning.  About ten members were coerced into coming forward.  “Make a circle,” instructed the pastor.  And they did.  They circled up, joined hands and shared curious smiles with the person across the circle from them.  “Now, make a different kind of circle,” the pastor instructed.  And the group just stood frozen in place.  “I said, make another kind of circle,” continued the pastor.  They hesitated for a moment before one courageous woman took a step forward.  Then the rest of the members followed suit and they made a smaller circle.  “I didn’t say make a smaller circle,” growled the pastor, “I said make a different kind of circle.”  One or two of the members were starting to get a little irritated.  What was the point?  Finally someone from the congregation shouted out, “All of you turn around, instead of facing toward one another, face outward.”  They did and the pastor congratulated them on forming a ‘different’ kind of circle.

Making a ‘looking out’ circle rather than a ‘looking in’ circle is difficult for most of us.  It doesn’t seem to come naturally.  Not once can I remember someone saying let’s make a circle and everyone faced outward.  We just don’t do it.  Our inability to even conceive of a different kind of circle should help us to empathize with the disciple's denseness as Jesus tries to communicate a new concept of missionary discipleship to his followers. We may find James' and John's questions about heavenly seating arrangements absurdly naive and outrageously ignorant, but these disciples were actually just caught up in making the same old circle. 

Steve: That really makes a lot of sense, because if we are going to be the disciples Jesus has called us to be; if we are truly going to be Christ’s servants and transform the world, then, we must learn the art of looking outward. It doesn’t really mean that we are to ignore our own needs, but we must position ourselves so that we can focus on those who need God’s love and those who are searching for spiritual truth.  

So, if I fully understand what you’re saying, the difference between forming a circle and facing in toward one another… and forming a circle and facing outward as we look to meet others’ needs… is being situated in a way that we can focus on those who are needy and looking for God’s help.

Ron: Yes, that’s right because Jesus fairly strongly corrected James and John as he essentially told them not to worry about rank or power but be concerned about serving others. One of the main verses summarizing Jesus’ ministry is Mark 10:45: For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.

I came upon a comment by Halford Luccoth of Yale Divinity School, who wrote that Jesus’ purpose could not be expressed in the passive voice, be served, but only in the active, serve. The highest achievement in life is to get out of the passive voice into the active. It is the ‘great divide’ which some people never cross.

He goes on to remind us that we all begin in the passive voice… as infants and children. We are served constantly, but some day we need to graduate into the active voice: “Only when we get life across this ‘great divide’ do we touch its highest glory or its deepest joy. Christian experience begins in the passive voice. We are called, saved, loved, and possessed. It must go on to the active voice of those great verbs: call, save, love, serve.”

Steve: This entire teaching about servanthood seems to run contrary to what our culture teaches about leadership and servanthood… and it seems to me that the psalmist makes a similar point. Actually, I was talking with Jesse Mothersbaugh about this yesterday. There are three categories of persons mentioned in Psalm 84 (follow along - #805):

1. Temple dweller – the celebrant leader of worship… as illustrated in verses 1-4: How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altar, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise. So, that’s the temple dweller, the leader of worship.

2. The Pilgrim/Journeyer – the one whose strength is in God as he goes about his life… traverses the highways to Zion… as verses 5-7 show: Happy are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; the God of gods will be seen in Zion. Perhaps many of you can identify with this one who is depicted as one who has gone through many difficult times on His journey, but as he travels, he makes difficult places into good places. There are those of us who possess the character to dig blessings out of hardship with the result being “they go from strength to strength;” and “the God of gods will be seen.” Some people can reveal God through their struggles! This pilgrim is you!!! You folks reveal God, not in Zion, but right here in Seguin!

Now, verse eight is simply an interlude: O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! (8) And then we see the third category:

3. Remote Followers – who oversee a lonely vigil and mostly dream of worshiping God… even though they may not get to the Temple very often at all… Can you see yourself in verses 9-12? Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed. For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than live in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; he bestows favor and honor. No good thing does the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, happy is everyone who trusts in you. (9-12) The remote follower is one who may not get to the Temple very often, but knows a day in God’s courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. (10)  This follower knows that God takes care of his needs as he trusts in God.

This Psalm lays out for us what we need to remember. Perhaps we knew this once upon a time but forgot somewhere along the way. Some of us are:

·         Temple dwellers – our lives revolve around the church.

·         Travelers/pilgrims – we have busy lives, tough lives; we take life as it comes and work to turn it into an oasis. We worship regularly, perhaps not weekly, but we see God and we serve God.

·         Remote followers – though perhaps these folks are not here often, they are out there somewhere trusting God and saying, “Wouldn’t it be great to be a doorkeeper for God? Maybe someday.”

Ron, do you note that the psalmist doesn’t assign rank or preference about these three categories? So, what difference does that make? Well, those who come to church sporadically matter as much to God as the preacher who comes every week! Why, the psalmist even includes natural creation – verse 3, “Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young at God’s altar.”

All creation longs to worship God. As we are involved in this renovation project which will allow more beauty and more comfort, there will be no more space for temple dwellers or pilgrims.

Ron: On the other hand, I’ve seen how you folks have worked together and planned together and prayed together and so, I believe we do have more servants of the living God than we did before we started this project!

Steve, I was thinking about how the psalmist believed that all creation longed to worship God – even the sparrow, even the swallow. If that is true, we need to spread the word about how great our God is. Oh, for a few weeks – maybe even through the end of the year folks might come to see the renovated sanctuary… but there is a limited appeal to the beauty of buildings, then the attendance falls off – otherwise, all the European tabernacles and cathedrals would be brimming with people every week, but they’re not. Unless God’s people have a vibrant, living relationship with Jesus Christ and worship in a lively manner and serve Christ in a lively manner talking about how great God is during the week… our churches and our sanctuaries will be barren as well.

Steve: We are at a new benchmark for our church and yet, unless we display faithfulness and fruitfulness, unless we trust God and vibrantly worship Christ on Sunday and actively serve Jesus Christ throughout the remainder of the week, the surrounding community will lose interest. Indeed, all creation is watching as we go from week to week… and I pray from strength to strength.