Seeking a Godly Consensus:
Cut the Fat and Keep the Lean

Pastor Burcham’s Sermon

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

You know, we are still close enough to the beginning of the year that there is a number of us who are getting on a health kick, right? We want to get healthy. New Year’s Resolution. So we want to get in better shape. I’ve done extensive research on this and I found out there is no other way around it. It takes diet and exercise. I’ve looked for alternatives but it’s just not there. It takes diet and exercise and when I think about diet and what you have to eat, there is a little phrase I learned at the youngest of age, if you want to eat healthy, you have to cut the fat and you have to keep the lean.

Well, I’m titling this message today my “Cut the Fat, Keep the Lean” message. Now we’re not going to talk about nutrition this morning but we are going to talk about being healthy, being healthy in making a large decision for our congregation. So as we explore, how can we make this big decision as the body of Christ? We want to do it in such a way that it is God-pleasing and it is done in a healthy fashion.

By now, you have received the Ministry Destination, those of you who are members of Gloria Dei, where we have mapped out what we hope and we pray, by God’s blessing and by His grace, over the next five to ten years, we can accomplish in the ministry He’s called us to. Beginning next Saturday, there will be cottage meetings where the entire strategic plan will be presented. And basically what the decision is what’s it going to take? What’s it going to take if we’re going to accomplish that ministry? And one section of that, dealing with facilities, is going to take a lot of our time and a lot of our thought and a lot of our prayers if the recommendation is given that we relocate our congregation to a larger site, to accommodate our growth and our future growth.

Now stating the obvious, that is a huge decision we have to make. But it’s a decision we will make as the body of Christ, as the members of Gloria Dei come together. And we want to do that in a God-pleasing and healthy way. Let me say it again. For me and my heart, how we make that decision is just as important if not more important than the decision itself, how we treat one another, how we talk to one another, how we discern God’s will together, that to me is the most important.

And if we’re going to do this in a healthy way, we’re going to do it in a God-pleasing way, I believe there are some things we need to avoid. If you will, I’m going to call those cutting the fat. But there are four things we really need to pursue, four things that need to be part of this entire process. If you will, that’s keeping the lean.

Now this morning, inside your Weekly Word, you will find a full sheet of paper there that you can follow along if you like. You can take notes if you’d like because I’m really hopeful, I’m prayerful that throughout the next few weeks and months, we use this as our guide of cutting the fat and keeping the lean.

We begin by finding out what are the things we need to avoid. What are the things that just cannot be a part of this process? And we see an example of that in a negative fashion in the story we just read about the early church. The early church did not avoid these three things and it ended in disaster. Now let’s just do a little bit of background here. If you were with us last week, you know the early church had a monumental decision. The monumental decision was it had been revealed to them God had said His salvation is for all people, the Gentiles and the Jews. Now the Jewish Christians were having a little bit of a struggle with that and their biggest struggle was, “Why aren’t the Gentiles being required to be circumcised like all the Jews are being circumcised? Shouldn’t they have to be?” Bottom line on that, the church decided no, they did not have to be circumcised. They simply called upon Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Since that time, Paul has gone out to all of the areas and he has been spreading the gospel news and the good news is that thousands of Gentiles have come to faith in Jesus Christ. He now comes back to Jerusalem to report to them about all the wonderful things that are happening. Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, they report tens of thousands of Jews have come to faith in Christ but it’s not all good news.

While Paul has been away, the rumor mill has been going in full tilt and so we come upon the first thing we have to avoid. We must avoid False Accusations. That’s really what happened to Paul. They’re telling Paul, “While you were away, they have been informed that you teach all Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or to live according to the customs.” Now if you’re a Jew living in Jerusalem and you find out, alright we can accept the fact that the Gentiles don’t have to follow our ways but now this guy is teaching the Jews? He’s teaching the Jews they shouldn’t circumcise their children, that they should abandon all of the Old Testament ways, that we should give up all of our traditions, we should give up all of our heritage? For them giving up who they were as a people, they had every right to be incensed if it were true. But it wasn’t true. Paul wasn’t teaching that. In fact, he goes through this long ordeal about purification rights to demonstrate to the people that he’s following traditions, that he is going according to the customs of the law, he himself hasn’t abandoned that. But meanwhile, the false accusations, they have no eye witnesses that say, “I heard Paul teaching this.” Never once did they go to Paul and ask him directly, “Paul, what are you teaching them out in the cities, in the towns you’ve been visiting?” Instead, they just simply make a false accusation against him. They stir up the whole city against him and that leads to the second thing we need to avoid.

We need to avoid Assumptions. We all know what happens when we assume. It just doesn’t lead down a good road. The assumptions came in here. So after Paul finishes up his purification rights, “So seven days were nearly over. Some Jews of the Province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him shouting, ‘Men of Israel, help us. This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple area and defiled this holy place.’ They have previously seen Trophimus, the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple area.” They assumed that he brought Trophimus into the temple area. Based on the false accusations about Paul, they see him hanging out with all of these Gentiles, they assume now that he has brought a Greek into the temple area. You and I say, “Alright, he brought the guy to church, so what? Big deal.” No. No, no. It was a big deal. For their culture, for their religion, for their time, only and I mean only Jews pass by the gates that went into the inner circle of the temple. There was a plaque that was at the gate. It said, “Foreigners who pass this gate are responsible for their own death.” Death, my friends. That if anyone besides a Jew entered in there, they would be executed. This is the only exception Rome made that allowed the Jews to execute someone, even a Roman citizen. If they went in there, it was such a defilement to their religion and to their temple, that’s how serious this is. So, once again, if you’re a Jew living in Jerusalem and you hear Paul has brought a Greek into the temple area, you would have every right to be outraged at such a thing if it were true. But it wasn’t true. They didn’t see Trophimus in the temple area. Certainly, if Paul would have taken them in there, somebody would have noticed if it’s that important to the people. They merely assumed that he did it.

And where did this get us, the false accusations, the assumptions lead us to the third thing we have to avoid, Tempers Flaring, our emotions getting the best of us and certainly we see the tempers are flaring because the people are in an uproar. It says the whole city was aroused and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple and immediately shut the gates. While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar because of the accusations, because of the assumptions, the entire city is in an uproar and they are literally beating Paul to death. If the Roman guard had not come and arrested him, he would have been dead that day. Instead, he’s put in prison. And he spends the rest of his life in and out of prison, mostly in prison or under house arrest. And it all stems back to right here in Chapter 21. Because of false accusations, incorrect assumptions, tempers getting out of control, Paul is nearly beaten to death and he spends most of the rest of his life in prison.

This must not be so here. This is not the road we will go down. We will cut the fat. We will not give in to false accusations, to assumptions, to our tempers and our emotions. Now lest you think that could never happen here at Gloria Dei, let me remind you we are sinful human beings who live this side of heaven. This is an emotionally charged decision God has laid upon our hearts. Let me remind you the devil is like a lion prowling around and he has seen how God has blessed us. He has seen how we have influenced lives and changed lives with the gospel message. You better believe he’s going to be working overtime on us, that he’s going to want to take us down this road, he’s going to make us have accusations and assumptions and stir up our emotions but we cannot allow him to do that. Lest you think it would never happen here at Gloria Dei, the inklings are already there.

My friends, I’ve heard the accusations that are rumbling around. The accusation, “They just want to move us out west and turn us into a mega-church. They just want to make us into another Lutheran Church of Hope, that’s all they want to do.” If that were true, you would have every reason to be incensed. And it’s not true. The only driving force behind this is to do God’s will and to see His ministry accomplished. That’s going to happen when we remain who we are uniquely Gloria Dei. It would be foolish for us to try to be anything else besides who we are. It would be foolish to abandon the atmosphere, the culture, the elements that have made us who we are as the family of God, that God has blessed so richly over the years.

The driving force from the very beginning of the strategic plan, my driving force, the Governing Board, the strategic plan Ministry Action Team has been this: To bring Jesus Christ to people for the first time and for a lifetime. To see people who do not have a relationship with Christ or have fallen away from Christ, to be reunited with Him and to experience that change in their lives. To those of us who are in the faith, to have that faith fed and nurtured so we can spend an eternity with Him, that is the one and only driving force behind all of this. False accusations will get us nowhere.

There have been the assumptions. The assumption is decisions have already been made. It doesn’t really matter from this point in time. They’ve already been decided. My friends, if that were true, you should be outraged. You should be outraged and you should seek legal advice because legally, constitutionally, no one but this body of believers, the members of Gloria Dei can make such a decision. It’s impossible. There’s the assumption that says, “You know, I’m pretty sure they’re not telling us everything. They’re holding it back.” Let’s take that apart for a minute. Either a) Myself, the leadership has inadvertently left something out. If so, let’s find out what it is because we want you to know; or b) Which is what I suspect, you think that we’re somewhat being deceitful purposefully. To call a spade a spade, we’re lying. That’s serious, a serious accusation, one that has to be based on fact. My friends, where will that get us?

I can tell you that for myself, for the Governing Board, the Ministry Action Teams that have worked on this, great effort, great thought, great prayer has been put into being open and honest for two years, doing our best to inform the congregation of the progress that is being made. I make my commitment to you right here, right now that going forward in this process and any other process we as the body of Christ embark upon, I will be open and honest with you and I believe also the leadership of this congregation will continue to be open and honest with you. We simply cannot allow the devil to get a foothold and to start going down this road of accusations and assumptions because all it’s going to lead to is tempers flaring and emotions getting hot and where will that lead us?

We need to make a commitment to each other, a commitment that says we’re not going to go down this road, a commitment that says we’re going to deal with facts and only facts. We’re going to do our research. We’re going to read the things that come out. We’re going to come to the cottage meetings. We’re going to discuss. We’re not going to sit there quiet. You see, my friends, I’m not saying we can’t disagree with one another. We should. This is a huge decision. It should be debated. It should be questioned. And we need to do that in Christian love. And we need to do that in an open way. That means we can’t remain silent. It means we have to speak our minds but we do it in love and we do it openly. We need to make a commitment to each other that says we’re going to hold each other accountable to this, that we won’t allow ourselves to go down that road and if someone starts going down that road, we’re going to call them on it. In love, we’re going to call them on it. We’re going to say in our private conversations, in our public conversations, if we start going down that road, say, “We don’t want to do that.” I’m relying upon you to hold me accountable. If you haven’t picked up on it, I’m kind of a passionate kind of guy. Sometimes, my emotions get the best of me. You need to call me on that. If I start making assumptions, if I start making accusations, you have to call me on that. You have to say, “Wait a minute, Ron, we’re going to cut the fat, remember?” And in love, bring us back on track. So we can make this decision as God’s people in a God-pleasing manner, in a healthy manner.

Well, we know what we need to avoid. Let’s focus on what do we need to pursue. What’s the road we really need to go down, this overarching guidance for us as we move ahead with our decision? To do that, let’s turn to God’s word and actually, I’d like you to read with me Colossians 3. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”

My friends, we’re God’s people. We’re God’s holy and chosen people. We have been made holy through the blood of Jesus and He’s called us together as His family here at Gloria Dei and God’s people act differently. God’s people talk to each other differently and God’s people make decisions differently. So we as God’s people, as His holy and dearly loved people, are going to act differently as we come together. We will not let a decision divide us. We will have this decision unite us in love. We will do that when we pursue four very important things. We’re going to keep the lean. The four things we’re going to pursue, first of all, we’re going to pursue being Loving. Being loving is the overarching umbrella for the entire process. St. Paul says that love sort of binds them all together and brings them into perfect unity so the overarching atmosphere that must be about this place is one of love. When we disagree with one another, it’s obvious we love one another, that there’s kindness, compassion, all those things that surround us. It just says even when we disagree, it’s obvious we love each other. Maybe the best explanation of that comes from St. Paul in his letter to the Church at Corinth. He says, “Love is patient, kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It’s not rude. It’s not self-seeking. It’s not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It will always protect, always trust, always hope, always persevere. Love never fails. Love will not fail us, my friends. If love is the overarching umbrella for the next few weeks as we come together and we wrestle with this, we will not fail. We will be God’s people and it will be evident to all of us and evident to the community that we love each other and we’re patient and we don’t get angry and we seek the truth and we’re kind and compassionate. That’s going to be the earmark of this because the first thing we’re going to pursue is being loving.

The second thing we’re going to pursue is being Empathetic. When you empathize with someone, that means you get inside their head and you really understand how they think and how they fell. Scripture says that we are to bear with one another. That has an essence of patience to it. It means that we truly listen to one another. We even listen when somebody has an opposing viewpoint to us. We don’t listen just so we know when they’re done so we can talk. No, we actively listen. We actively listen as, “What are they really saying? What are they really feeling about this?” We’re going to seek to understand them before we seek to be understood ourselves. We want to be pursuing being empathetic.

The third thing is we want to seek is to be Absolving, as in absolving sin. Forgiveness is going to have mark this. Remember we live on this side of heaven. We are still sinful human beings. I am and you are. And that means somewhere along the road, someone is bound to get hurt. We’re going to say something we shouldn’t have said. We’re going to do something we shouldn’t have done. We’re going to take offense and we’re going to be hurt at what someone else says or what someone else does. Scripture says forgive as Christ has forgiven you. How has Christ forgiven you? Unconditionally. Unconditionally. Christ came and He lived among us. He was empathetic. He knows all the things we feel, all the things we experience, all the emotions that are going through our heart. And then He laid down His life for us. And through His blood, He’s forgiven us all of our sins so we can stand before the Father one day and He did that unconditionally. That’s how we’re going to treat one another. We’re going to forgive as Christ has forgiven us. That means if you say something you know offended somebody else or hurt somebody else, you’re going to go up to them afterwards and you’re going to apologize and you’re going to ask for forgiveness. That means if you’re hurt or you’re offended, you’re going to forgive as Christ has forgiven you which means that you’re not going to hold it against that person. You’re not going to have a grudge against that person but you’re going to forgive as Christ has forgiven you. We will use this process to unite us, not to divide us. We are going to be a place that will pursue being absolving.

And finally, finally what we’re going to pursue is being Nice. That’s all. We’re just going to be nice to one another. Scripture says we’re to clothe ourselves with kindness and compassion and grace. We’re going to be nice to each other. We’re going to choose our words carefully. We’re going to make sure that they are words that pick up. We’re going to make sure that they are words that are respectful of one another. We’re going to smile. We’re going to smile coming into the cottage meetings and we’re going to smile in our conversations and we’re going to smile while we’re disagreeing with someone. Not a smirk, a smile. A smile that says, “I love you.” A smile that says I know everyone here wants what’s best for this congregation. We are just flat out going to be nice to each other.

And in the end, in the end there are a couple of things I believe. First of all, I firmly believe God is going to speak through this congregation collectively. I believe that in my heart. Collectively, this congregation will speak and God will speak through them and say, “This is the direction I want you to go down,” and then we need to pursue it with all vigor and enthusiasm.

The second thing is I believe if we have this atmosphere of love, of empathy, of absolving, of being nice, this will actually be a process we will grow through, we can be proud of. It will be a process where we do it in a God-pleasing way and in a healthy way. And in the end, we could say to one another and, maybe even more importantly than that, the community as they look at us, they can say about us, “That’s how God’s people make a tough decision.” And the largest compliment we can get is if they would say, “See how they love one another. See how they treat one another.” That would be awesome.

I know we can do it. I know we will do it. We’re going to make a huge decision for our ministry and we will do it in a God-pleasing, healthy way. Let’s just remember to cut the fat and keep the lean. Amen.

Copyright 2008 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church