Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from Isaiah 43:1-7
at Batesville Presbyterian Church on January 7, 2007
Today some of our deacons and elders are making a passage. They are crossing over into a position of leadership in the church. It would be difficult for me to overemphasize the importance of the role of church officers within our Presbyterian form of government. And it would be hard to overstate the responsibility that these new officers will take upon them for the health and life of the congregation. Deacons and elders in this congregation are simply essential for the survival of the church. The pastor and preacher plays a large role in the life of a congregation and the deacons and the elders play an equally significant role.
Thanks be to God, no one person is responsible for everything in Christ's church, for as the Apostle Paul reminds us, we are all members of the body of Christ and each of us has a role to play. If the hand says to leg, "You are not necessary," then the hand does not understand how the body works. If the eye says to the nose, "You don't do much around here," then the eye does not understand how the body works. And if anyone should say to the head, "Let me make that decision," then that person does not understand that Christ is the head of the church.
These deacons and elders are here today to be ordained and installed because God chose them for this responsibility. As the prophet Isaiah says in our text today: "Thus says the LORD, he who created you ..., he who formed you ...: 'Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.'" We are here today because God has redeemed us and called us by name. As Paul says, "Whether we live or whether we die; we belong to the Lord."
The story is told of a young fool, a mentally retarded man, went to a Buddist monastery to be enlightened. Some of the young monks told him to go sit in the corner for awhile and then they threw a stone and hit him and said to him, "You've now reached level one of enlightenment." Then they told him to go sit in the other corner and they threw a stone and hit him and said, "You've now reached level two." Then they told him to go sit in the other corner and he did and they threw a stone and hit him and said, "You've now reached level three." Then they told him to go sit in the final corner and he did and they threw a stone and hit him and said, "You've now reached level four." The young monks looked at one another and said and said, "This fool believes us." And the fool looked at the young monks and bowed and said, "Thank you, I'm now enlightened." And he was! The fool's faith had made him enlightened. The only ailment ailing us today is lack of faith. Our lack of faith is expressed as fear. Our fear is what Isaiah addresses in our text today.
God's message to each of us today is this: "Do not fear." The Lord says: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you." We are not in this alone. And our soon to be ordained and installed elders and deacons are not in this alone, either; for God will be with them. When troubles arise in their lives -- sickness, death, uncertainty, insecurity -- God will be with them. When conflicts arise in the church, the Lord will be with them. The great news about taking on the role of leadership in the church is that we have higher powers who are working with and for us in the process of leading the church. God the Father establishes the church, Christ our Lord serves as head of the church, and the Holy Spirit guides and nurtures the church. Thank God we are not in this alone.
Those who will be ordained as leaders of this congregation are also being ordained as leaders in the church universal, which is the church of all times and places. We are branches on the vine of mother church. Presbyterians have always displayed humility and openness to Christians of other brands and stripes. We know our history. We know that for the first thousand years of the church's history there was but one church and that is the common root to which all Christians belong. We know that God speaks to people in various ways at different times in history. That is why we recognize the need to continually update our Book of Confessions. The Presbyterian Church (USA) is a denomination of some 2 million people across this great United States of America. We are a people of some political and theological diversity. We are a people of some humility. We are part of the larger church, the body of Christ, called the church universal.
The Lord says, "Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give .. for you, ... for your life." The calling to serve is a personal calling to each person from God. God's call flows forth from God's love. This call is not a call to be held in greater honor than others. Let us remember today Jesus' saying that when we are invited to a sit-down dinner we should not take the seat of highest honor but the seat of lowest honor. Not because we have low self esteem but because we have high God esteem. We know without God we never would have been invited to dinner in the first place. We are here by invitation and the invitation has come to us from God.
God's word to each of us this morning is this: "Do not fear." This is the message God gave to the exiles from Israel. Do be afraid! That is the message the angel gave to Mary when he came to tell her she had been chosen to bear the Messiah. Do not fear! That is the message the angels gave the shepherds when they appeared to them proclaiming the birth of Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem. Do not be afraid. So said the angel in the empty tomb to Mary and the women when they came looking for Jesus' body after his crucifixion. Do not be afraid. That is God's message to each of us today. Do not fear! You elders and deacons whom God has called to serve as church officers and leaders.
And we respond with the Psalmist, who says in Psalm 23:
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. (vs 4-6, KJV)
Let's be fearless followers of Christ. God has called us by name. God has created us for God's glory. God has formed us and made us. We are intimately known and loved by God. We are safer than we have ever dared believe. We are safe in the ultimate sense. We are safe in the eternal sense. And we are safe in the present tense. We are like a mountain that cannot be moved. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31) We have reason to be fearless and fearless we shall be.
