"The Proclamation of the Gospel for the Salvation of Humankind"

First Presbyterian Church
Peter S. Buehler
October 7, 2007
1 John 4:7-21
First in a 6-part series on The Great Ends of the Church

And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son
as the Savior of the world.

What comes to mind for you when you hear the word "save"? What do you think of?

Things, perhaps. We save things -- we hold onto them and don't throw them out.
We save old photos, we save cards and letters from loved ones, we save heirlooms we inherit from our family; we save coupons, we save recipes, we save wrapping paper from Christmas, we save old copies of National Geographic even when they're in boxes in the garage gathering dust. We save things we just can't part with, we save things we think we'll need. Sometimes we're not sure why, maybe we fear losing and not having.

Our computers remind us to Save. We save documents and data every day -- there is an icon on our toolbar for "Save," one also for "Save As." Some of us have horror stories of hitting the "Delete" button by mistake, then panicking when the question comes up "Do you really want to do this?" "Are you absolutely, totally, positively sure you want to do this?" And we say, "I don't know! I think so!" or "Yes, I'm not sure!" and because it's late at night and we're tired we click on the wrong thing and days of work vanish into space. "If only we'd saved it to a disk, or a drive, or printed a hard copy," we cry out.

We know this word "Save." It is a word that goes deep; it is a word that suggests serious things. Some of us have literally had our lives saved: we were pulled from an accident, we were operated on successfully, we were diagnosed with a life-threatening illness and given medicine, we were taken to a 12-step program and given hope. The word "save" comes from a Latin root meaning "whole"; those of us who have been broken, or nearly broken, understand that being made whole again is a serious and wonderful thing. We do not take saving lightly.

So the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), in its list of six fundamental purposes of the church, The Great Ends, as they're called, puts as first The proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind. The other Great Ends are: The shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God; the maintenance of divine worship; the preservation of the truth; the promotion of social righteousness; and the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world.

We'll spend a week on each Great End. We'll see how they fit together, how a church needs to be dedicated to each, not choosing to be strong in one and weak in another. We'll see how the Great Ends are meant for us to address together, not just individually, though each of us, our focus and faith, is important.

I hope that in thinking about this list of purposes, of why the church exists, we will see that the church is the body -- the organization, the community of people -- God uses to change the world. We need God, that we affirm every Sunday, every day -- but what the Great Ends declare is that God needs us. The church is not just another nice group of folks doing some good things, another community organization listed in the Yellow Pages; the church is the living breathing body of Christ. His death and resurrection, his world-changing power, is demonstrated in us and by us. We are his hands and feet, his mind and his heart. Without the church, his work doesn't happen.

This is not a popular belief in today's world. We are suspicious of institutions; the church is often seen as just another human organization run by fallible people.
Today it is held that everyone is entitled to his or her own beliefs and that one is not more true than another -- that a belief is really just an opinion, and since opinions and beliefs cannot be proved, at least scientifically, they are optional and non-essential. Not life-changing. Not life-saving.

Many would go further, even viewing strongly-held religious beliefs as dangerous -- that true believers are scary narrow-minded people, stopping at nothing to win the world over for God. It's no wonder that mainline Christians, Presbyterians included, recoil and say No, we're not at all like them! We're not narrow-minded!
We're not a cult.

Too often today we in the Protestant mainline churches wind up being defensive about who we are and what we believe, or confused about what we believe. In our desire to be good neighbors and respectful citizens we shy away from the promises of scripture, and the life-transforming newness of the gospel.

This is a mistake. It is a serious error to think that a person who believes heart, mind, and soul in the good news of Jesus Christ is a narrow-minded person, or that the stronger one's faith the more she needs to keep it private.

Part of it is generational, the way we were raised. I was raised in a family where talking about religion was considered impolite: you just didn't talk about politics, you never even mentioned the word "sex," and your religion was no one else's business.

Today it's a different story: people talk openly about sex and about politics -- religion we're still squeamish about. We shouldn't be. People are curious about spiritual matters, more today than ever. People may be uninformed, and clueless about the Bible and the church, but they are open-minded. Years ago, I offered a ride to a hitchhiker -- something we used to do. He asked what I did for a living.
"I'm a Presbyterian minister," I said. I expected that he'd get quiet or embarrassed, or would ask to be let out at the next stop sign, but that didn't happen. Instead, he said "That's cool!" I could see he was curious, that he had another related question. "Hey, I've always wondered, can you guys be with women?" "I don't know," I answered, "you'd have to ask my wife."

But what I wish was that I'd engaged this young man in a conversation about his life, particularly his relationship with God. I wish I had not been shy about that, or embarrassed about that.

Because sharing faith doesn't have to fit some formula; talking about salvation doesn't mean having to sound like a televangelist. It is an opportunity to be personal -- highly personal -- and authentic, true to ourselves and our experience, just as it is an opportunity to show the gentleness of true faith, the gentleness of Christ, that we are not about forcing beliefs on another person but rather inviting them into a life-changing relationship. After all, we don't convert people; only the Holy Spirit does that. We can show the way, however, by sharing from our lives about how good the good news has been to us.

The first Great End of the Church is The proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind. I suspect the word that causes some of us to hesitate, to wonder about, is the word salvation. Perhaps because it seems so loaded; as in the question Have you been saved? the implication sometimes being that if we have not had a lightning-bolt conversion experience or gone forward in an evangelistic crusade that we can't answer the question in the affirmative.

Yet the church is unequivocal. We proclaim the gospel in word and deed for the salvation of humankind. We declare that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he was like us in every way yet without sin -- without any separation from God, any need to be independent of God -- and that he lived among us, sharing and entering into human joys and trials, showing utter faithfulness and the very depth of love in going to the cross, suffering for our sake, being raised by God to rule the world with love, then showering all those who believe with Holy Spirit -- the fuel, the agility, the courage, the gifts, the determination to be the church, the body of Christ.

This is not simply a truth, it is the truth. We do not have to be in people's faces to be faithful; the followers of Jesus are not violent, we are not rude, we of all people value respect. Nor do we believe we have all the answers, for there is great mystery in the way God works, even through other faiths. Living together in peace is also a biblical virtue.

Yet God transforms lives; God is grace and pours out grace, so that even the slightest willingness to receive the gift of love in Jesus Christ is life-changing.
Like grass coming up from a crack in a sidewalk, all it takes is the slightest openness for the seed of new life, for the gospel to take root and grow.

Perhaps we need to use different words. That God has changed us, made us whole -- perhaps suddenly, perhaps gradually. Or God has found us and accepted us, loving us, when we expected to be rejected. Or God has rescued us, pulling us out of a life of selfishness. Or God has transformed us, in Christ giving us hope and purpose and happiness when we were convinced that our ways and our future were set in stone.

Or we can say we have been saved. I so appreciate writer Eugene Peterson, his eloquence about the faith of Jesus, his passion for the way of Jesus, being his followers today in this needy world. He speaks about salvation, that the word is so often misunderstood.In his book The Jesus Way, Peterson writes Salvation is not escape from what is wrong but a deep, reconciling embrace of all that is wrong (page 184). In other words, Jesus doesn't come to us and say You need to change everything about who you are in order to be my disciple; you need to stop sinning and start believing. That's not it; that's not the gospel. The good news is that the Lord Jesus finds us and calls us exactly as we are. He loves us first, completely. He takes our sin away, we do not do it ourselves. He gave his life for us, not because we were strong, but because we were weak; not because we were rich, but because we were poor; not because we were pretty good people leading pretty good lives, but because we were sheep without a shepherd.

Left to our own ways we wander off into trouble, heads down, needs first, consequences later. Following the shepherd we are safe, we are fed, we are fulfilled, we are together.

Following this shepherd, we are led out into a world of need to show the love of God to those who are unsuspecting and undeserving. The stakes are high: our world is afraid of love, the demands of love. Yet in perfect love, Jesus paid the price for our hard-heartedness; he gave his life for the sake of our wholeness, our life.

It is something we reflect upon, something we allow ourselves to be quiet about: What wondrous love is this, O my soul! In the morning, in the evening, in a few moments set aside for silence we sit in gratitude and awe about what God has done, how the cross is our salvation. No effort is required, only stillness.

But quiet about the gospel we are not! Sharing our faith may seem risky and uncomfortable, yet it is a good thing to do. In humility and gentleness, we share what we know. We make the effort, not because we have all the answers but because we are the body of Christ. Because others, our neighbors, are waiting to meet him in us.

The words of the scripture challenge and encourage us: Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:17-18a).

Amen.