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Far be it for me to suggest that I could possibly improve on anything that Jesus said! I think that “every kingdom divided against itself is ruined. And every city or household divided against itself will not last” is a pretty sound piece of teaching, and the part about Satan driving out Satan is an eye-catching piece of imagery! Which would explain why Jesus is the messiah and I'm - well – not! To say the least! But to be a little more serious, what I do want to do this morning is take this pretty familiar teaching of Jesus and perhaps look at it “inside-out” you might say. In other words, rather than looking at it from the negative perspective – that if something is divided against itself it can't stand – I want to look at it from a more positive perspective – by suggesting that the only way we can stand and the only way we can be effective in our mission “to know Christ and to make Him known” is to be united and working together for a common cause that accomplishes the will of God and that furthers the ministry of Jesus Himself. I've spent some time over the last week thinking of examples of good things that I've seen happen when the body of Christ works together, and I want to share three examples with you along with some thoughts about what they've been able to accomplish.
About 12 years ago I had the opportunity to be a part of the organizing committee of a “Billy Graham Crusade” in Sundridge. Now – not wanting to make myself seem more important than I am – it's true that Billy Graham himself did not make the trek to Sundridge for the Crusade. It was put on by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association with an “associate evangelist” named Ross Rhodes. But aside from that it was organized exactly the same way a Billy Graham Crusade would have been organized. I'm not totally in sync with all of the beliefs espoused by the Association, but there were a lot of things that really impressed me about the Association and how they worked when I finally saw them in action. The Billy Graham Association demands a very full spectrum of participation from local churches before they'll agree to do a Crusade. It can't just be the so-called “evangelical” churches coming together. If they don't see the “mainline” churches and even the Roman Catholic Churches involved to at least some extent, they won't be a part of the project. So over the course of about a year – because that's how long it took to prepare – I saw churches all the way from North Bay to Huntsville to Parry Sound co-operating. I saw Pentecostals and Presbyterians and Roman Catholics and Baptists and United Church folk sitting side by side doing the work of God instead of what often happens – which is pretending that “we” are doing the work of God while the rest of “them” are really kind of heretical! I saw people from denominations that often barely acknowledge each other's existence suddenly sitting side by side as God's children, not concerning themselves about their differences. It was an amazing spectacle. And in the end, what results there were! Over four nights literally thousands of people filled the local arena where the Crusade was held – people who had questions; people who were searching for God; people who weren't too sure about the “Christian” thing but who were definitely interested in Jesus. People who, in the end, were richly blessed by the experience – as were the churches who learned about each other and suddenly realized that what we had in common was far more important than what divided us. “... every city or household divided against itself will not last.” If we as Christians work together, we'll not only last, we'll flourish and we'll help people in their quest for God.
But that was a personal story; more of a memory on my part than anything else. So I wanted to think more recently about things that we've done where we've brought people together and accomplished something positive for the Kingdom of God. And it wasn't hard to think of a couple of examples.
I don't know how many of you realize it, but our VBS is amazing. I find it hard to believe myself, but we're actually one of the very few United Churches in the Niagara Region that even manage to put on our own VBS. So many of our churches depend on the Presbytery run VBS, which – of course – our own Heather is so closely involved with, in addition to our own. I find it fascinating that there are only three United Churches in Niagara Presbytery that are bigger than Central, and all three of them used the Presbytery program! So, how do we do it? When churches bigger than us decide that they can't – or at least that they don't want to? I talked to Heather last week. We had about 20 volunteers at our VBS this summer. They were of all ages. Most were connected with our church; some were from other churches but they just wanted to help out and be involved and contribute. Again, here's a perfect example of a way in which the church takes on a mission and draws people – and those people end up being blessed. I've spoken to a lot of people who have helped out at our VBS over the years, and the volunteers get as much out of the experience, I think, as do the children who are registered. And those volunteers who get blessed become a blessing, as they help children deepen their understanding of God and Jesus. “Every city or household divided against itself will not last.” But if we work together and draw others in, we'll not only last, we'll flourish and we'll help both children and adults deepen their understanding of God and Jesus.
And how can I think of things that have pulled people together and helped create a common bond of unity while doing the work of Christ without mentioning the Clothing Boutique? It started fairly small and fairly modestly a few years ago. I'll be honest, I'm not sure how many volunteers we had who helped out with that in one way or another just over a week ago, and who helped organize things in the days and weeks leading up to it, but it was an example of people taking ownership of a mission, understanding that this kind of work is work that the church is called to do and simply doing it. But it wasn't only the specific volunteers who did the legwork here in the church. How many people gave? How many with no connection to this church gave clothes – gave freely – because they suddenly saw a worthwhile opportunity to give? If it's true (and Jesus said it) that “it is more blessed to give than to receive” then how many who were perhaps don't even know were blessed by the opportunity we provided them to give something for the sake of others? If we are called to be a blessing, there's another example of us doing it. Of course, we blessed those were were less fortunate or those who were for some reason in need by being able to provide for their needs – and isn't that what the ministry of Jesus recorded in the Gospels was all about? Meeting the needs of those around Him with no questions asked. “See a need. Respond to it.” That was the ministry of Jesus. So the volunteers were blessed, the donors were blessed and the recipients of all that generosity were blessed – because we provided an opportunity for people from different walks of life to come together to do the work of God. “every city or household divided against itself will not last.” But if we work together and draw others in, we'll not only last, we'll flourish and we'll be a blessing by giving people an opportunity to both give and receive as they have need.
It's undoubtedly true. “Every kingdom divided against itself is ruined. And every city or household divided against itself will not last. If Satan forces Satan out, he is divided against himself. How, then, can his kingdom last?” But while true, I still want to be more positive. Being divided probably prevents us from accomplishing anything. But just think of the things we can do when we work together!
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