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"Biblically Literate"
Today is a unique day in the history of St. Luke’s Lutheran
Church and School. Today for the first time ever I am speaking
to all of our brothers and sisters in Christ who meet at Joan
Walker Elementary School in Chuluota, and at the Lutheran Haven
Nursing Home, as well as those gathered at The Lutheran Church
of the Redeemer in Sanford and here at Oviedo.
For a little over two years now, under the leadership of Pastor
Abel, St. Luke’s has been conducting worship in Chuluota on Sunday
mornings along with Bible Study and Sunday school. The attendance
has grown steadily and has nearly doubled the original missionary
group that began two years ago. Community events have been sponsored
that have drawn a significant response from the neighborhoods around
Joan Walker. The new Sunday school curriculum, Kingdom Quest, has
launched and attendance is at an all time high. We are actively
seeking a piece of land, perhaps up to 10 acres that could support
the facilities for a congregation of 1000+ members.
I want to commend all of you at Chuluota to the whole St. Luke’s and
Redeemer families and I will use the theme verse for this preaching
series to do so – here’s what Paul wrote the Christians in Corinth
and I now direct to you – “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast,
immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your
labor is not in vain in the Lord.” Thank you for your commitment. Thank
you for your sacrifices. Thanks for worshiping in a school cafeteria,
for setting up chairs, unloading the trailer, and putting out all
worship materials and then packing it all up again week after week –
your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
For about the past six months the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in
Sanford has been in partnership with St. Luke’s. Pastor Brian Roberts
from here has come along side of Pastor Ed DeWitt (who is also a member
of St. Luke’s and was one of the missionary families at Chuluota) and
they have been working together along with Ruth Wiedenmann from our
music department. As many as 30 members of St. Luke’s Oviedo have
joined the members of Redeemer in worship. A new spirit of joy and
excitement is building. Children from the neighborhood were reached
through Vacation Bible School this summer. And Sunday school has
grown to the point of needing to figure out how you will create
classrooms to accommodate the enrollment.
Well done, people of Redeemer. Thank you for being our partners. Thank
you for persevering through the challenges you have faced. Thank you,
members of St. Luke’s worshiping at Redeemer for joining this endeavor.
Let me commend you all also with the words of St. Paul to the Corinthians:
my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the
work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
And finally, for almost a year we have been serving in a new way at
the Lutheran Haven Nursing Home; fifty, sixty, sometimes as many as
eighty folks who are unable or find it difficult to be here in worship
gather in the Nursing Home Chapel and join us in worship every week
at our 9:30 service through a live video broadcast. Thank you to the
dedicated group of volunteers, to our Elders and others who serve as
worship leaders, ushers and greeters, and to Pastor Bob Miller who
administers the Lord’s Supper. Once again hear the words of St. Paul:
my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the
work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Folks this is our dream, our hope for accomplishing our mission to
proclaim Jesus so all may know God and grow in faith toward him and
in love toward one another. It is called multi-site ministry. Multi-site
ministry is simply a shared excitement and passion for God and His
kingdom that is enhanced and expanded by serving in more than one
location. It is combining the energy, the creativity, the commitment
of the people in Sanford with the people in Chuluota with the people
in Oviedo under one shared vision to accomplish more together than
any of us could alone.
That vision is what I hope to share simultaneously with all of
you beginning today and continuing through the next three weeks.
Many of you have heard it before but let me say it again so we
are all starting on the same page: It is our vision that St.
Luke’s Lutheran Church and School in Oviedo and in Chuluota,
in partnership with the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in
Sanford will be the most biblically literate, doctrinally sound,
actively engaged, community of believers in the world for the
purpose of extending the kingdom of God throughout Central
Florida and to the ends of the earth.
I believe that if we take hold of that vision together and
we pursue it with all our hearts using the resources God
has bestowed on us all we will affect the course of human
history one person at a time as they come to know, to believe
in, to trust in the life, death and resurrection Jesus Christ
for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. In a few weeks
we will deliver to all of you a Strategic Plan entitled
“Always Abounding” that is drawn from the hopes and dreams
of the people from all three locations and has been crafted
under the leadership of all three locations to guide us into
the future.
To prepare you to read that document, to be excited about
what lies ahead, I want to talk to you today about being
Biblically Literate. Next week I’ll talk about being
Doctrinally Sound, and then the week after about being
Actively Engaged. Then I will wrap it all up under the
theme: Always Abounding in the work of the Lord.
OK. Let’s begin. Biblically literate, what exactly do we mean
when we say “we will be the most biblically literate believers
in the world?”
I wonder if you noticed that this past summer was a season of
sequels at the theater – Harry Potter 5, The Bourne Ultimatum,
Spiderman 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Shrek 3, Rush Hour 3 –
to name only a few of the twenty plus movies released this
summer as sequels. Television has picked up on the idea too,
of an ongoing story – a whole season of one story – each
episode linked to the previous. Lois and I have watched a
couple seasons of the program “24” – where each episode
portrays one hours time in the work of a counter-terrorism
unit and its top agent Jack Bauer (maybe I should say that I
watch it and Lois is willing to be present with me). Pastor
Abel and Leah are hooked on the story of the program “Lost.”
Someone has observed that these kinds of programs and movies
are appealing because people are looking for an extended
narrative – a story if you will, in which they can become a
participant – where they know the characters – where they
think about what might happen next in the story and even
what they would do if they were in the situation.
I’d like you to think about the Bible that way with me for
a moment – as a story – a narrative, but not just for
entertainment, not for escape from reality – no, this
story, the Bible’s story IS reality. It is THE story that
is happening all around us and is being work out through
us toward a “season finale” – the end of time – that no
one will miss.
Let me give you an example of what I mean. Listen to Mark
16:1-8: When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary
the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they
might go to anoint Jesus' body. Very early on the first day
of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to
the tomb and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone
away from the entrance of the tomb?"
But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was
very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb,
they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the
right side, and they were alarmed.
"Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the
Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here.
See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples
and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you
will see him, just as he told you.' "
Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from
the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
Thus ends the second gospel’s story of the life, death, and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. “Trembling and bewildered, the
women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to
anyone, because they were afraid.” Of course there are 12 more
verses – but most Bibles have this note after verse 8: “The most
reliable early manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not
have Mark 16:9-20. It seems a well-intentioned believer was
uncomfortable with Mark’s ending and added the last twelve
verses – which are true and faithful and accurate – but
probably not original.
It seems likely and quite intriguing that Mark ended his
account of Jesus’ work and left the ending off intentionally.
As if to say, perhaps, that the story did not end on Easter
Sunday, but in fact continues in the life of every person
who reads the story of God’s plan of salvation for the
human race.
Now be careful here that you do not hear me saying that there
is still more to be added to the story as if it is incomplete.
No, Jesus said very emphatically from the cross, “It is finished.”
The work of salvation is accomplished. There is nothing left
to be done.
Rather the idea is that the story of salvation from Adam and
Eve, through Noah, Abraham, Moses, the Exodus from slavery
in Egypt, the entrance into the Promise Land, the birth of
Jesus, the time of the church then and now, up to and
including you and me, and then finally the glorious return
of Jesus to judge to the living and the dead – the story of
the Bible, of the human race’s salvation – is a living,
breathing, dynamic story that is woven into the very fabric
of time and space so that everything that happens in the
world is governed by the content of the Bible’s story.
Let me say that again - the story of the Bible, of the human
race’s salvation – is a living, breathing, dynamic story that
is woven into the very fabric of time and space so that
everything that happens in the world is governed by the
content of the Bible’s story.
The problem is – we have lost our awareness of what’s really
going on, or maybe you’ve just never heard it in a way that
took hold of your whole being and person, or worse perhaps
we have just lost interest. For many people it seems the Bible
is only a chopped up series of morality lessons to try and
teach people how to behave better. People talk about the Bible
as if it were simply an owner’s manual for life or an instruction
book on how to survive and, even better, be successful.
If that’s all the Bible is then Biblical Literacy becomes a
flat, boring memorizing of rules and principles – 12 ways to
be a better spouse, 8 ways to have a happy family, 10 principles
for being successful. And Christianity becomes a self-help,
pop-psychology course for those who happen to be looking for
a way to improve their life at any given moment in time.
But, when I say, the most Biblically Literate community of
believers in the world, I am not talking about knowing all
the answers to the Bible category on Jeopardy, I am not talking
about rehearsing sets of rules and principles for how to live
a better life.
When I say, the most Biblically Literate community of believers
in the world I mean people who have become immersed and engulfed
in the story of God’s salvation of the human race; people who have
come to understand that our sinfulness before God has each or us
trying to write our own story, a story that will end the day we
die. People who are Biblically literate have been embraced at the
cross with the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. They have been restored
as meaningful participants into God’s eternal story.
When I say Biblically Literate, I mean people who are convinced and
convicted by the truth that - the story of the Bible is a living,
breathing, dynamic story that is woven into the very fabric of
time and space so that everything that happens in the world is
governed by the content of the Bible’s story. Biblical literacy
then is not knowing about the Bible, it is living inside the
story of the Bible every single day.
Do you see what that means? It means that there is purpose and
direction in what appears to be chaos and confusion. It means
that what we are doing right now, as individuals, as a community
of believers makes a difference in how the story of salvation
influences the people in this place and time.
God wants all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of
the truth. That’s what it says in the Bible – 1 Timothy 2:4. In
sports language we are not “free agents” in our personal lives
seeking out the best deal we can negotiate for ourselves in this
life. In business language the church is not an “independent
contractor” looking for a market to peddle our religious wares
to meet the bottom line.
We are in fact the dearly loved people of God embraced and engulfed
in the story of God. And all of sudden, when we become Biblically
Literate, life becomes an incredible adventure. The struggles,
the pains, the sorrows, the heart breaks, the joys, the triumphs,
the passion and even the everyday ho-hum routine, yes, I think
especially the everyday ho-hum routine, are cast in the light of
the advancing story of God’s salvation of the human race through
Jesus Christ.
To that end I have an idea that I’d like your feedback on. Write
me a note, send me an email, talk to me when we see each other. Here
is the idea: Starting in January 2008 and for the rest of the
upcoming year I would like to preach through the whole story of
the Bible from Adam and Eve to the End of the World and the Second
Coming of Jesus in a way that engulfs and immerses your life in
the story. Each pastor at each location, Sanford, Chuluota and
Oviedo, will craft their messages in their own unique way around
this unifying shared vision of becoming the most Biblically Literate
community of believers in the world.
Of course there’s more to do than just preach! And you will want
to do more than just listen. You will see the “Always Abounding”
Strategic Plan here in a few more weeks. Pray about it. Talk to
each other about it. Share your thoughts and dreams with me and
the rest of the staff as it begins to unfold.
Hold on to the words of St. Paul: Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Amen.
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