50th Anniversary Sermon

A Sermon Preached at a Service of Commemoration Marking the 50th Anniversary of the ' New ' Church Building at Parow Wesley Methodist Church, Cape Town.

The readings were from the Revised Common Lectionary for 26 September 2010 and in keeping with the celebratory nature of the service, it was preached in three parts, with singing between each reading and its exposition.

Jeremiah 32:1-15

In this reading Jeremiah is asked by his cousin to buy the family land. But it is the timing that makes this request so important for us: Jerusalem is about to fall to Neduchadnezzar. It's the same as someone going to a cousin at the start of World War II in France when Germany had overrun almost the entire nation, and saying to them “buy my land near the German border”. Or, closer to home, it is like a farmer in Zimbabwe a few years ago when the land grabs were at their peak, going to his cousin and saying to him: “Buy my farm.”

Jeremiah buys the land and in so doing we see a huge act of faith on his part in God for which his descendants were no doubt very thankful.

We're thankful today that about 110 years ago people planted this church, and then 50 years ago as a sign of faith in God, built this much bigger church building. They had faith in God that the Methodist work would continue and that through the Methodist people God would provide. We give thanks today for their faithfulness.

Let's sing together: “Give thanks with a grateful heart.”

Well, we've given thanks. I wonder what they, the people who built this building, would say to us, especially as we've just sang: Give thanks…. let the poor say I am rich… let the weak say I am strong… etc? Let's read our epistle reading for today.

1 Timothy 6:6-19

I asked what they would say to us and I'm sure from the reading for this Sunday they would highlight a few verses:
“Strive for righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.
Run your best in the race of faith, and win eternal life for yourself;
Command those who are rich in the things of this life not to be proud, but to place their hope, not in such an uncertain thing as riches, but in God, who generously gives us everything for our enjoyment.”
Command them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share with others.
In this way they will store up for themselves treasure which will be a solid foundation for the future. And then they will be able to win the life which is true life.

Surely they would remind us that we exist to encourage and teach people how to be righteous, godly and faithful.
Surely they would encourage us to be rich in good works. This is, after all, is why we exist isn't it? Remember, it is by God's grace that we have been saved through faith in order to do good works which he has already prepared for us to do.
We exist in order to do good works. And I think Jesus would remind us of this as well today, but before we get to the set gospel reading for this Sunday, let's ask the Master to speak to us as we sing together: Master speak thy servant heareth.

Luke 16:19-31

As we read the Gospel reading, we ask ourselves: what would the Master say to us today as we celebrate 50 years of hearing the gospel preached in the building? Surely He would say the same as He has always said: “those who have must share with those who don't have.” This is the sign that the Kingdom of God is truly coming in our midst, when those who have share with those who don't have.
This is the beginning and the end of the righteousness, godliness, love and gentleness that was spoken of in our reading from Timothy. Do you remember how it ended?
“Command them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share with others.”

Our relationship with the poor is a good measure of our relationship with God. Our relationship with the poor is a good sign of our faith in God and our love for Him. Jesus said if you love me you'll love those I love. He said: “in as much as you do these things for the least of these, you do them for me” and do you remember what those things were? They were simple things like giving the hungry something to eat, the thirsty something to drink, giving clothes to those who need them, visiting the sick and those in prison and welcoming strangers.

We Methodists exist for the poor, did you know that? And as someone has said, we go to the poor, not because they need us, but because we need them.

Ruben P Job in a Wesleyan Spiritual Reader says:
“One of the few things John Wesley feared was the accumulation of wealth. As a Biblical scholar and a practical theologian he was convinced that to follow Jesus Christ meant involvement with, and ministry among and to, the poor. This conviction led him to live on a modest income even when his writing was producing significant return. His solution was to give away all but the money he needed to buy the essentials.
“This understanding of the relationship between following Christ and involvement with the poor led him to some unusual practices. It was not uncommon for him to beg in order to raise money for the poor….
“Not only did he beg on behalf of the poor, he preached to them and found ways to be with them. His journal is filled with entries that describe his experiences of visiting the poor, the prisoner, the sorrowing and the suffering. The false stereotypes of the day were shattered as he came to work with and to know the poor and the needy of the world. Had he ignored God’s calling to ministry with the poor he would have missed a large segment of the population that turned toward Christ through the Methodist movement. He would also have missed living and witnessing to a balanced faith that emphasised love for God and love from neighbour in very simple and practical ways.”

The rich man in our Gospel reading calls out to Abraham across the big divide between heaven and hell and says….send someone to go and tell my brothers and sisters that they must serve the poor.
But Abraham says that they have the Bible to tell them that. And the rich man in hell says: no, if someone were to rise from the dead and tell them, then they would believe ministry to the poor is very, very important.
But Abraham says that if they don't believe the Bible, they won't believe a dead person who comes alive again.

Do you believe the dead person who came alive again, who says: Care for the poor and by doing this build up riches for yourself in heaven….. Care for the poor and know that in doing this you are reaching out to, and caring for, me, Jesus.

As we celebrate 50 years of gospel preaching in this building, and look forward hopefully to many more, let us give thanks for those who have gone before us, and let us remember those who are around us, and let us commit ourselves to being Jesus in this place that God has called us to be His witnesses.