September 11, 2016
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
The Body of
Christ…?
Wake Up!
Galatians 6:1-5
NLT
Acts 20:7-12 MSG
Hey…Are You Asleep
Yet…
Prayer of adoration and for God’s
illumination so that His Word would be heard through me or in spite of me…
I remember as a child I went to many sleepovers at
my friend’s houses. Now, being a mom, my daughters love to have friends over to
sleep. I don’t know how much sleep happens during these sleep overs. I remember
trying to go to sleep at these sleep overs and saying to my friends “Hey…are
you asleep yet?” Of course they weren’t so we would start talking until the sun
came up… I am not sure these should be called sleep overs…maybe “stay up all
night having fun talking and having random dance parties while we constantly
eat night” …but that is way too long…
There are times when we gather together as a church
family…the body of Christ…that we may ask each other…hey are you asleep…during
our church services…I know that would never happen here during a sermon
right…right? OK…to be sure we are all awake here I want you to turn to your
neighbor and say “Hey…are you asleep…?” But it is unfortunate that there are
times…within the body of Christ…within our family…the answer is yes…yes I am
asleep. Maybe that answer needs to change…maybe it’s time to wake up from our
slumber and see the world around us…
How would we define the body of Christ? Last week
we defined it as family. We asked ourselves the question “how would I define
family?” We even talked about how God would view family and discovered that we
sometimes don’t even come close to how God would define it. We can tend to
leave out people who, for whatever reason we have, just don’t fit our idea of
family. I left us with some questions to ponder and I pray we really did ponder
them, because unless we do…there will be no change in the tide we are in…the
scripture is clear in Matthew 25:34-46 what will happen if we don’t change… Shyanne
reminded me this week of a saying from the movie “Lilo and Stitch”, Ohana means
family…and family means no one is left behind or left out.
OK…so
how are we going to change the tide? That seems like a really daunting task. I
would say yes; it is an intimidating task but it is one that must be done. And
yes…we can’t do this alone. We need God’s help to do this because if we try to
this alone we will be overcome by the immensity of the problem. So…here’s where
we begin…by simply waking up.
Let’s
listen to a story in Acts that talk about falling asleep. It is found in
chapter 20 verses 7-12…I am reading from
the Message Bible Translation this morning…
Now
this man Eutychus’ name means fortunate…and yes he was very fortunate that Paul
was there. This story kind of symbolizes what happens when we, as the body of
Christ, decide to fall asleep. We fall…we miss the mark…and die. But there is
hope in this story. God can make us alive again when we decide to open our eyes
again.
In
order to begin to live outside our own little world…outside our walls…we need
to wake up to the world around us. We need to see beyond what is right in front
of us…what we see may not be what is
truly there unless we look with the eyes of love and grace…through and with the
eyes of God…those same eyes that looked upon us and showed mercy and grace even
as we sat in sin. Sometimes we just go through the motions …in our lives…in
our worship … in our fill in the blank. Maybe…just
maybe…it is not so much about staying awake at
church but staying awake as a church.
Look…there
may be many reasons why we don’t want to wake up to the world around us, maybe
there is too much pain and sorrow…maybe there is too much evil that we see…it
can be overwhelming. Speak from the
Spirit about the world around us…
But
the problem is this…if we go numb and decided that it is better to sleep…we
miss the blessings God has for us…even as we deal with the pain and despair
around us. If we go numb what is going to happen to those on the outside
reaching out to take hold of the rope that will pull them out of the spiraling
vortex of pain and darkness into the light of a new day…a new beginning?
Here’s
the Good News. God is waiting for us to wake up…He is waiting to lay across our
lives…our churches…our ministries and bring them back to life…to bring us back
to life…so we can truly live…! Church…as we wake up as the body of Christ…as
Christ’s Church we reclaim the hope and power…we can and will make a
difference.
Ok…so
here’s the scenario…As we open our hearts and our doors to those who are on the
outside we become family…as we become family we can work together as the body
of Christ…as a family of believers who reach out to those who are looking for
someone to grab their hand to pull them out of the vortex they are in…in doing
so the word Ohana becomes our battle cry because no one is left out or left
behind. And we do all of this in the name the One who is the heads of the coin
toss of life…being the head of the church, our Risen Lord Jesus Christ… Got it?
Amen
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