“What We are Fighting For”
The Rev. Bob Hackendorf
St. Andrew’s in the Valley (Anglican)
The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost:
July 23, 2006

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Being served with a lawsuit can change your perspective on things. In fact, when I first moved to Syracuse, the Bishop told me that he was here to “serve me”… now I finally know what he really meant.

But I am not here today to talk about lawsuits or courtrooms or church politics. I am here to talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ—the only hope for humanity. And in today’s Epistle, the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, reminds us that Jesus is the only hope for the world, because apart from Jesus

1. Our Natural State is Alienation from God
Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. (Eph 2:12)

Now among polite church people, rhetoric has a way of softening or side-stepping this reality. These days we refer to people without Jesus as “seekers”, “the unchurched”, or even “preconverted.” The Bible calls them lost.

But this is not as pejorative as it first sounds, because everyone in this room was lost at one time:

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. (I Cor. 6)

“The church is like Noah’s ark: The stench inside would be unbearable if it weren’t for the storm outside.” [Chuck Colson] We are not a museum for saints, but a hospital for sinners here at St. Andrew’s. And although our natural state is alienation from God, God can use us for His purposes because once Jesus gets a hold of us, God doesn’t leave us in our natural state—in fact…

2. Jesus Reconciles us to God

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Eph 2:13)

There is only way to be made right with God. One way to obtain eternal life. One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. There is one way, and the way is narrow! The way is less broad, less tolerant, less inclusive than the smoothly paved highway to destruction.

The people who are suing say we hate people with different sexual orientations. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We simply believe that Jesus has the power to transform lives.

The people suing us would say to the man blind from birth, Embrace the darkness.

The people suing us would say to the man crippled from birth, Learn to live with immobility.

The people suing us would say to the woman with the issue of blood, celebrate your disease!

But friends, that’s not what Jesus would say!

Jesus touches the man blind from birth and says See!
Jesus touches the man crippled from birth and says Walk!
Jesus touches the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years and she was healed!

It is not “love” to tell a drowning man to “embrace the cold, dark deep” and it is not “hate” to offer that same man a lifeline!

We are being sued because we believe that Jesus changes lives and he changes lives for keeps.

People ask me what would you like to say to the people who are suing you? The only thing I would like to say is that in my heart, I pray that you would meet my Jesus and let him transform you heart too.


3. As a reconciled People, we form the Household of God

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
(Eph 2:19-21)

God is a contractor and he’s building a building today--- but this building isn’t made out of brick and mortar, it’s being built out of people who have been transformed by the love of Jesus—you the people within the sound of my voice—are the building blocks of the Temple of God!

This building is built according to a very special building code: built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone… The fact is, just because some group of people call themselves a “Church,” or just because some one sets themselves up as a pastor, teacher or bishop, does not mean that they are “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets”:

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. (Gal 1:8-10)

The Church is built according to God’s Standards, not Man’s Standards. The Church is built on the Lordship of Christ and the absolute authority of Holy Scripture.

The Church is the place where the Spirit Dwells. Notice Paul’s language about the Temple—the Temple, like the Tabernacle before it, was the place where the shekinah glory of God would dwell. Let me tell you Church, that is a reality for us whether we are in this building or in an open field. The people suing us might just succeed in stealing this building from the people who paid for it, but they can’t take away the shekinah of God! The best they can hope for is an abandoned piece of real estate—the glory follows us—I think we have the better end of the deal!

The Building God is constructing is more important than any building built by human hands out of brick and mortar.

But being a part of God’s building carries a cost… are we willing to pay the price?

There is a story about a church in the south with a small but vocal “Amen Corner.” especially vocal was Deacon Jones, who led the “Amen Corner.” So one day when Preacher Brown began his sermon with the words, “Let the church walk,” Deacon Jones shouted in response, “Amen! Let the church walk!”

Preacher Brown continued “Let the church run!” and Deacon Jones followed along with “Amen! Let the church run!”

Preacher Brown got even more wound up and exclaimed, “Let the church fly!” And Deacon Jones almost jumped out of his pew in crying “Hallelujah! Let the church fly!”

And then Preacher Brown looked at them earnestly and said, “And if the church is going to fly, it will take money!” Whereupon Deacon Jones replied, “Let the church walk!”

If this church is going to fly, there is a price that must be paid!

People of God, if we are going to win this fight we have to be willing to pay the price. And paying the price means we have to overcome our fear. I think we have to learn to be like the Rhinoceros!

Rhinos are huge, lumbering beasts, but they can run 30 miles per hour! What’s more, the poor rhino can only see about 30 feet ahead of himself as he runs. But with a rhinos size and threatening horn leading the way, the rhino doesn’t need to worry! Listen, we need to learn from that! We don’t know the details of what our future holds. But like the rhino, we are called to run forward without fear.

What’s more, a group of rhinos is called a “Crash”! Don’t you love that? Even if the poor beasts are slumbering by their favorite waterhole, they are still a “crash.” That’s because of the potential they have to be massive, crushing force! The Church, the temple where the glory of God dwells, has an even greater force and when the church is really moving in the power of the Holy Spirit, even the demons of Hell have to clear out of the way!

The tactics of the people suing us, like all tactics of those who persecute the Church of God, is designed to instill fear and to intimidate. But I have a message for the folks that are trying to intimidate us and our orthodox Anglican brethren in Central New York and elsewhere:

Look out-- a crash of Rhinos on fire for Jesus are headed your way!
We are not afraid!
We are not intimidated!
We are not backing down!
We have no regrets!
And we won’t give up the fight!

Amen.