Stand Up For The Lord, Now and Forever

GK Chesterton explained it this way, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”

St. Mother Teresa explained it this way: Faith in action is love, and love in action is service. By transforming that faith into living acts of love, we put ourselves in contact with God Himself, with Jesus our Lord.

Today, brothers and sisters, I have figured out something that is wrong in the Church today. Today you will note that the season of Pentecost is full of lessons about missionary work and service to the lord. Maybe we should spend this time and contemplate the concepts of these three words: Church, service and Church service.

Have you ever wondered why we had so many martyrs for the faith in the Early Church? Why? Has it ever crossed your mind that faced with those same problems today as they had back then,we might not be so willing to serve? Would we? Would you?

So today, let us address the differences between then and now. I want you to look at three words

Church- noun- a building where people meet for meetings
Service- noun

the action of helping or doing work for someone:
"millions are involved in voluntary service"

Church Service- noun In Protestant denominations of Christianity, a meeting the primary purpose of which is the worship of God

Stop the presses- each of these definitions came from 21st century dictionaries so therefore we can compare that to what was read to us in the Epistle and Gospel tonight. Maybe the problem is starring us right in the face. Therefore, I will repeat the words one more time and this time I want you to compare their meaning to what you just heard in the Gospel and the Epistle.

Church- noun- a building where people meet for meetings
Service- noun

the action of helping or doing work for someone:
"millions are involved in voluntary service"

Church Service- noun In Protestant denominations of Christianity, a meeting the primary purpose of which is the worship of God

Look at what the early Church did compared to these three words?

Are they the same?

If they are different- where are they different

More importantly why are they different

First, in the Acts of Apostles we learned that the early Church was not a noun- it was a verb. They did not sit around and listen, they actively took part in service. Their idea of service was not going to a building but building the Church. Their idea of Church service was to go out and tell others about Jesus Christ not go somewhere and listen to someone else talk about it. Is there any wonder that they had such a strong faith - when they were so actively involved in it? In other words- Church was not a hobby for them it was their advocating- there reason for existence. I ask you today, is the same true for you?

Second, in the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel we learn that faith begins with U not a F in the early Church. They had a personal faith. Remember this. The Alamo. Almost 200 Texans held off the Mexican army for 13 days. Finally when the Mexican Army took the mission, the battle cry for independence became Remember the Alamo. They were not talking about the mission of the Alamo, they were talking about what happened there. They were talking about the sacrifice that was given. This is very much like the Early Church felt about Jesus and the supreme sacrifice he did for us. When you live your faith it is much different for you and you have a much different life than when you play at it. I ask you today, are you living your faith or are you playing with it?

Third, note that today we are not as willing to give up our life for a building or we somehow no longer go to Church because we do not get anything out of it. Brother and sisters, how many of you know someone who no longer goes to Church? How many of you know someone who no longer believes that going to Church is even necessary? This is the problem. When your Church Service goes from a verb to a noun- your Church goes from a vibrant active group to a museum. You might ought to just close the doors or stick a fork in it- because it is done. I ask you today, do you treat the church as a noun or a verb?

For a quick review

What did we learn today in the readings?