THE CHURCH CAN'T STAND STILL
The Church is not stagnant. “The holy Christian Church” that we confess in both the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, that group of people who believe in Jesus as their Savior throughout this world, the congregation that has no walls and whose membership only the Lord knows - this Church is not stationary. This Church is fluid. It is always moving. It is always shifting - finding its way into places you would never expect and leaving the lands it had once occupied for so long. And it is the Lord himself who guides his Church to the far reaches of the earth, searching out those who are his and building up his Church with them and around them.
The Church cannot stand still. It moves with the Word of God. It is carried on the tongues of preachers and teachers and every-day Christians. It is found wherever the gospel is heard. And that has always been true. Throughout the history of this world the Church has relocated, it has been expanded, it has been withdrawn, it has been repositioned, it has never remained in one place, and it has always prevailed.
In the years after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, his twelve faithful disciples saw exactly what the Lord could do with his Church. They watched it grow exponentially in a very short time. They watched it spread to lands they had never been to before. And they came to the realization that the Church of God couldn’t stand still. It had to move. And it did move; it rode on the pages of Scripture wherever these disciples took it - just as Jesus promised them it would. This promise it written for us at the very end of Mark’s gospel: 16:15-20. 15He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." 19After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.
The Church in those early years certainly did not stand still. As the disciples went out, so did the Church. As new believers were made, the Church expanded its ranks. And as those new Christians in turn shared the gospel with others, “the Lord worked with them” to accomplish his will. The Church didn’t slow down at all after Jesus ascended into heaven. In fact, it seems to have sped up. And it’s not going to slow down anytime soon. The Lord is always pushing his Church in new directions to new people in new places. And he will make sure that every one of his lost sheep throughout the world is found so that they will be forever fed with his life-giving Word.
I just wish I could stop getting in his way. The Lord is set on establishing his Church in households that have yet to welcome him and in hearts that have yet to know him. And just as he used his original disciples to carry out his plans, he uses his disciples today to do the same thing. And so I wish I could stop getting in his way! Because instead of working towards God’s ultimate purpose for his Church, a lot of times that is the farthest thing from my mind as I go about my day. Instead looking for every opportunity to share his Word with someone else, I look for every excuse not to. God’s Church will thrive, of course. He will make it spread regardless of what I do or what I don’t do, but I sure don’t make it any easier for him. He wants to work with me, but I think he probably ends up working around me in many situations. He wants to move forward through me, but I’m sure he sometimes has to forge ahead in spite of me. And that has to get a little frustrating for the Lord to keep doing day in and day out when I should be in the front lines, but I’m instead hiding back in the tents.
Most of you know that for many summers that I worked in the corn fields of Nebraska when I was younger. Four of those years I spent with my own crew that I would take out and work with. On occasion, though, the supervisors back in the office thought it would be good to throw a young kid or two out with my group who had never worked a day in their young lives. And not only were they unable to do the work, they created more work for the rest of us because we had to clean up after them. It was frustrating. It slowed us down. It hurt our crew instead of helped us. I’m sure most of you, if not all of you, have worked with someone who held you back. Whether it was an apathetic co-worker or an incompetent supervisor or a lazy family member or someone who just physically could not do the work that was required, most of you have had to pick up the slack for someone else at one time or another. You were going to get the work done - it had to get done - but the person working next to you wasn’t making things any easier. In fact, that person probably got in the way more than anything else. I think sometimes that is what happens with us as the Lord works to spread his kingdom. We keep getting in the way. We are apathetic (uncaring) and incompetent and lazy and simply unable to do what needs to be done at times. And so when he moves the Church forward, we aren’t in the lead, we are barely making an effort at all while making even more work for the Lord who has to clean up after us.
So if and when this congregation grows, it’ll be a miracle! because our expansion certainly won’t be based on our own efforts and abilities. If our Wisconsin Lutheran Synod prospers for another 150 years in this country, it’ll be a miracle! because our longevity certainly won’t be because of our expertise and intelligence. If you and I remain believers for the rest of our days on this earth, it’ll be a miracle! because our enduring faith certainly won’t be dependant on our dedication and commitment to the Lord! And that’s a good thing. It’s a good thing that our faith and our Synod and our congregation and the Church at large isn’t dependant on anything we do. Because we are unstable people. We are not dependable. We are sinners. And as sinners we will always prove to be unreliable when it comes to the work God has given us to do.
Of course, that’s nothing unique among the people of this world. You can be sure that even Jesus’ 12 disciples were unreliable at times. Judas son of James, Simon the Zealot, James son of Alpheaus, Matthias and the rest of the disciples were definitely faithful Christians, but they were sinners just like you and I. They faltered. They messed up. They got in the way of God promoting his Church at times. But even though they were sinful, that did not prohibit them from being members of his Church. No, they were important pieces of God’s kingdom and they were completely confident that just as the Church would undoubtedly grow, they would undoubtedly always belong to its membership.
But how could they be so sure? How could those disciples be so sure that they would remain members of God’s invisible and everlasting Church if they themselves were unstable and sporadic and sinful? They could be so sure because they knew that their membership in the holy Christian Church was not based on what they were able to do to remain there; it was based on what Christ had done to get them there. And they saw what their Savior had done with their own eyes.
At the time of our sermon text in Mark 16, these men were talking to the resurrected Lord! These men had watched him give up his life on the cross for their sins! These men were the recipients of the very first Lord Supper! These men watched as Jesus performed dozens and dozens of miracles for many different people in many different ways. These men saw the Holy Spirit come down in the form of a dove and they heard with their own ears the voice of the Father when Jesus was baptized! These disciples had their salvation performed for them right in front of their faces for the past three years! They watched it and heard it and touched it and believed it. There was no doubt about what Jesus had done for them and there was no doubt about what it meant. Jesus had won. He had accomplished everything he came to do. He conquered every enemy there ever was. And he had brought the Church to them. And he built up his Church with them and around them and through them. And now as long as the Church would endure, so would they.
You have that same assurance. You can be just as convinced that you will always be a member of the holy Christian Church because Christ has done the same thing for you. He has ascended into heaven and sits at his Father’s right hand, he has risen from the dead, he has died on the cross, he has suffered for your sins, he has lived a life of righteousness and holiness, and he has accomplished it all in your place for your sake. He has won your membership. And he has brought the Church to you. You have been swept up by his pillars and placed in its pews. You have been captivated by its pulpit, comforted by its altar, and cleansed in its font. You are officially on the membership list of this pure and changeless Church of God and your name will never be removed. Your name will never even be erased on account of your sins because your sins have already been erased on account of your Savior. That is the benefit of being a member of this Church: you never have to worry. You never have to doubt. Your salvation is secure.
Isn’t it a joy to know that you did not have to find this Church, but God made sure that his Church found you? The Lord stretched out the boundaries of his Church over rivers and seas, borders and cultures, persecutions and generations to find you. He brought the Church right to you through a family member or through a friend or through a complete stranger. He welcomed you home even though you had never been there before. He accepted you as a child even though you didn’t know he had always been your Father. Because he knew you from before time began. He knew where you needed to be. And now that he has you, he will never let you go.
That is God’s passion for you. That is God’s passion for his Church. He longs to seek out its future members wherever they may be. And with the Word of God working faith in their hearts he brings them in to stay. Can those who once believed fall away? Yes they can. But that is because they lose sight of the Lord’s promises and start to rely on themselves. Do not look inward; there is nothing good there. Look upward. To the King of the Church, to the Head of the Church. He will sustain you. He will secure you. He has given you the promise of eternal life and his promises never fail.
And now it’s time for this Church - of which you are a proud member - to keep moving. Because it can’t stand still. It did not stand still and wait for you to find it. It arrived in your country, in your state, at your front door, in your heart. And it will always search out the hearts of others. It will keep going. It will keep moving. It will keep being driven by the Word of God. And you, you get to play a role in that search and rescue! You get to bring the Church to others! You get to find yet another undeserving recipient of God’s grace! Find those avenues in which the Church can move. Open the doors so that God’s Word can spread like wild fire. The Lord promises to work with you as he did with his very first disciples. And by God’s grace, with his powerful Word, and through you, he will add to the numbers of his Church daily those who are being saved.
Amen.
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.” - Psalm 33:12
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