Community Church Sermons
March 16, 2008
The
Sixth Sunday in Lent
Mark 1:1-11
Listen to this Sermon!
Well, “Happy Birthday!” to us!
It was on Palm Sunday, 1988 that our church’s first worship service was held. Eleven people gathered at Art and Iris Spurrier’s home to begin the journey into Holy Week, but even more, the journey into becoming a church.
I hope you’ve enjoyed following the actual worship bulletin that was used that day twenty years ago. It has been reproduced exactly as it was back then – typo’s and all! We’ve not followed it precisely because some things have changed over the years, and it’s not possible to duplicate all that took place back then. But the important things are still the same – we sing hymns of praise to God, we offer gifts, we pour out our hearts in prayer, we listen to the Word proclaimed, and we go forth to serve. Orders of worship change over time, but worship itself always remains the same. And following the 1988 Palm Sunday bulletin today reminds us that at the heart of Christian worship is the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Dr. Burke’s sermon that day was titled, “The Entrance of A King.”
Please note that it was not, “The Beginning of a Church.”
It was, “The Entrance of a
King.”
The Christian Faith does not begin with you or me or the Church. It’s not all about us. This Faith is about a loving, saving God who is at work in the world drawing women and men to Himself - and to each other - that the world may become the kingdom of heaven. Not an otherworldly place of clouds and mist and rainbows, mind you, but a real-life world of mercy, justice, peace and love.
The Christian Faith begins with God stepping into our world and our lives and calling us to come and follow Him. And those that dare to respond become this strange fellowship called the “Church.”
All that we are as Tellico Village Community Church began with the entrance of a King – Jesus Christ. And one day, twenty-something years ago, Jesus stepped into this community, calling people to take up their cross and follow Him.
Twenty-years later, we can see what became of that relationship between Christ and those eleven people.
Pretty impressive results, don’t you think? This little corner of East Tennessee has been deeply blessed and enriched through the church those eleven people became! And you and I who came along afterwards have found a spiritual home where we are accepted and loved, cared for, nurtured in faith, and challenged to continue this amazing and adventurous journey with the King. What an amazing thing brought about by such a small group of people and the Lord they trusted!
I wonder, what can we learn from those eleven people and those who joined with them in the earliest days?
We might say they were extraordinary people – and they were! Where else could you go to church and be welcomed by such a gregarious guy as Art Spurrier, greeting the women by saying, “Hello, you gorgeous creatures!” and the men with, “Hello, you handsome devils, you!” In that first group of people was Ray Oliver whose firm hand and organizational skills as a school administrator up North proved to be just perfect for the young church. And there was Walt Stone whose financial genius in the business world managed the church’s money. So our 1988 income of $5,528.79 paid all the bills, and the church ended the year with a $3,409.79 surplus!
Extraordinary people! People like Ann Trentham who came down from Knoxville each Sunday to share her beautiful soprano voice, singing with just a boombox to accompany her – Fairy Stone and Avis Oliver who thought it would be good for the ladies to have a group and so formed the Crafters – the 12 people who stepped forward in 1989 to become a choir under Ann Trentham’s direction – the men who hauled hymnals and pulpits from one worship place to another – and even the one or more persons who went to fetch Dr. Burke a glass of water one Sunday when the church was worshiping at the Yacht Club. They went to the bar and came back with a glass full of vodka. Some say it was the best sermon Carl Burke ever preached!
Extraordinary people in every way! God could not have picked a better person than Bob Puckett to catch the dream of a Community Church and to talk Cooper Communities into providing land if it succeeded, and convincing his old friend Carl Burke into becoming founding pastor. And God could not have selected a better couple than Carl and Caroline to lead the little flock.
Our founders were exceptional people with great life skills, deep faith, and daring vision. They were and are extraordinary people.
And that is worth celebrating. But I’m not sure that extraordinariness is their true spiritual legacy.
The Bible teaches in First Corinthians 1:27 that God chooses the foolish things of this world to shame the wise, and the weak things of the world to shame the strong. The world is full of talented people, but talented people do not a church make.
So what’s the secret? If it was not the extraordinary talent of the people who formed this church, what was it that provided the foundation for such a great work?
Well, I would say that miracles like the miracle of our church come about when extraordinary people…humble themselves before God. Paul writes, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Jesus said, “Whoever lays down his life will find it.” God loves to work with humble people because humble people have to depend upon the power of God!
Do you know that Carl Burke served without pay for the first two years of his ministry here? Do you know that our charter members gave up some of their golf and a lot of the complete freedom of their retirement years to give time for serving God through the church? Do you know that the people let go of their denominational differences in order to serve God together? Do you know that our founders actively reached out to welcome, greet and include newcomers? Do you know that people opened their homes to host worship services, and when there wasn’t enough room, they moved to places that were big enough to welcome everyone? Do you know that before they invested a dime in the church’s own needs, they started a scholarship program for local kids and rehabbed houses for senior citizens? Do you know that they built this sanctuary before they could afford it so that future residents of our community could be included in their church family?
Yes, they were extraordinary people, our founders were. But more importantly, they were a humble group. They humbled themselves and sought to serve rather than to be served.
It was a fitting thing then, to hold the first service of worship on Palm Sunday. Today, we remember the entrance into Jerusalem of a King – in fact, the King of kings and the Lord of lords – the most extraordinary person who ever lived!
The disciples shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
But the King does not ride in on a chariot, or on a warhorse. The King comes riding in on a humble donkey.
And he comes to serve others, and not himself. He lays down his life for the world.
That’s where great churches come from – from those whose faith in God motivates them to lay down their lives for others. Humble people need God’s strength to succeed. When we are weak, then we are strong, because God is faithful to the humble.
Today, we’re a big church. We’ve got lots of people, lots of resources, lots of talent, lots of extraordinary human strength. If you look out at our parking lots on a Sunday morning you’ll no doubt find many more Lexuses and Mercedes than humble donkeys!
To look at us – 1400 members, overflowing worship services, huge musical program, outstanding staff, financial strength, extensive facilities – you might think we’ve got everything we need to be a great church.
And we do. But those are not the things that make a church great.
We still have humble people here – people who know what its like to be a stranger who is welcomed, and so welcome strangers – people who empathize with the brokenhearted, and so give them support and care – people who leave this sanctuary every Sunday and go out into the surrounding counties to help the poor, care for the needy, and lift up those who are down. There are still people here who spend hours rehearsing music every week so that we might be inspired on Sunday and Wednesday. There are people who lay down large parts of their lives to serve the needs of the rest of us and the community at large. And there are still people here today who know that what Cark Burke once observed is true – people here are lonely. They’ve all come from someplace else, leaving behind families and support systems. They wonder sometimes if they’ve made the right decision, and when difficult times come, they are all alone. And so our church is a church that opens its arms in welcome, and enfolds lonely people in a fellowship of concern with Christ at its center.
What makes a church a church is the willingness of people to serve rather than BE served – to reach outward rather than INWARD – to lay our lives before the Lord and pray that God will use us as God sees fit for building the kingdom of heaven.
We have a beautiful legacy of humility in the twenty-year life of our church. And how grateful we are to those founding members who came to serve rather than be served.
But what about the rest of us? Do you know who WE are today? We are the founding members of the next twenty years of our church’s life.
And as we reflect today upon the humble entrance of a King, and the humble work of those who came before us, we are challenged once more to respond to Jesus’ call.
“Come, take up your cross, and follow me.”
The King is calling us to the future!