REEMERGE

THEME 2021: THE CHURCH HAS LEFT THE BUILDING

REEMERGE (2 CHRONICLES 7:12-21)

INTRODUCTION

Reemergence is the idea of coming back into prominence after some period of obscurity. Fashions often reemerge after years of unpopularity. Ties go thin and then thick again. Skirt hems go up or down depending on the fashion sense of the day. Most everything comes or goes depending on its popularity in a given season.

The three-piece suit, skinny jeans, or pearls and chucks will all have a period of acceptance and then they will disappear for a time. There is a good chance that at some future point the will reemerge like an afro and trend once again. That style you hate will be in vogue again. It’s coming back!

Not only does clothing and other personal items like the Apple watch rage for a time but so do people and institutions. Baseball will not admit anyone into their Hall of Fame this year and probably in part because of their moral rule for induction. Yet the very commissioner who ensured that Black people wouldn’t be allowed to play baseball has been enshrined. Go figure. What better moral grounds for refusal to induct?

Protests in the streets reemerged this summer because of several police shootings of unarmed Black people. It’s been some time since we’ve seen this level of activity. Many ideologies and moral standings run in cycles. There is outrage right now but in the aftermath of it all what has really changed?

I recall hearing and watching biographies about Muhammad Ali that there was a point early in his boxing life that was stolen from him. Because of the Vietnam War and refused to be inducted into the U. S. Army, because he said, “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Vietcong.” He was stripped of his title, license to box, and robbed of any opportunity to fight in the prime of his career. He was out of sight and mind.

For three and a half years he was precluded from boxing and convicted of criminal charges. No floating like a butterfly or stinging like a bee. He lost his best years. But the Supreme Court finally ruled and he was allowed to return. And when he came back to complete his boxing career, was world champion three separate times and became known as the greatest of all time. His reemergence as a boxer was phenomenally successful and deserved the recognition as the best.

What I want to say is that whenever you’ve been out of sight or for some reason have gone underground for a period, when you reemerge from obscurity come back with the idea of being better and phenomenally successful at whatever it is that you do.

The Church has been out of sight largely due to this pandemic. We’re not in the building. Now it’s time for us to reemerge better than ever before. The people of God must come out of hiding even if we’re still out of the building. It’s past time to refocus on the God-given task of kingdom building.

Many have simply obeyed the governmental requests and gone into hiding. Others are peeking out from behind locked doors and window blinds from fear. But whatever the reason, the Church must be the Church, and get back to the work of evangelism and ministry which all by definition take place out of the building. While we’re out let’s do some work even better than before!!!

This text gives insight into how God’s people must reemerge from a place they never should’ve been. The context suggests that God could potentially bring drought, dearth, and disease with death upon His people because of their disobedience. Captivity in foreign lands was also a possible sanction. If the people hadn’t strayed from God they wouldn’t have faced these punishments.

But people have disobeyed God’s laws and strayed from His commands so punishment was inevitable. But the idea that I find particularly intriguing in this one verse that is often overlooked in preaching is that God’s answer doesn’t address sinners who have continued to sin against God but those who should know better. “If my people who are called by my name…”

Our problem isn’t about how the world responds but it’s about how we, the Church, God’s people who have been called by His name, respond. People can try and behave better but this isn’t for everybody. The solution to disobedience from God’s people is in God’s people and how they respond to what God does!

I really only want to deal with the two obvious concepts here: the people called by God’s name. The Church consists of God called people. If we are ever to get the problems of this world figured out and produce viable solutions it will require the direct involvement of God’s people who He has called by His name. The Church and her response to real trouble is critical to the situation.

THE PEOPLE OF GOD

There must be a reemergence of the people of God because that’s who we are, God’s people. We must come out of the shadows and be the church that God has instructed us to be. This entire thought is about identity; that which makes a person or group different from others. Then the question becomes what makes God’s people different from other people?

“If My people,” is an emphatic personal pronoun. God is speaking and forcefully so. These people belong to Him!!! Make no mistake about it. There is a difference in God’s people and other people. Who are we and whose are we? Who do you claim and Who claims you? It matters much.

The people mentioned in the text refers to a nation or ethnic group, Israel, who God has decided to make His own. Throughout the book of Exodus we find the statement, “Let My people go.” “I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. (Lev. 26:12 NKJV)

Is the Church defined as the people of God? If so then we have to act as God’s people. Our identity makes us vastly different from other people. What matters to us may not matter to other people. The people of God must have a vested interest in the will of God, the desires, declarations, and law of God. If God loves people, and He definitely does, then as we reemerge from our places of safety there must be a focus on saving souls and serving people. That is God’s business for the Church!!!

WHO YOU ARE?

The important thing to understand, especially as we move tomorrow into our heritage and history celebration, is who we are as a people. What is our identity as black folk and Christian people? If we are included in the “My people” statement then we need to understand that’s who we are and what it means. God’s people identify with Him but are obliged to be like Him. This identity “encompasses political opinions, moral attitudes, and religious beliefs, all of which guide the choices one makes on a daily basis.”[1]

We ought to be identified as holy people, chosen by God out of all the people of the world. “And you shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.” (Lev. 20:26 NKJV)

In these times it means much to know who you are. Do your views reflect the values and love of God or are you more like the Trumpers who claim to love God and country while acting in ways that are inconsistent with both claims? How can we love God and hate people? Yet that is what we have seen in recent weeks and months among many who would claim to be Christians. If we would be His people then there must be evidence of that reality.

God is love, and that love is unconditional and unilateral toward people. How can His people not embrace that same ideal? Do we love country more than the teachings of Christ? Do we really love people who are different than us or just tolerate them? If I love somebody, first and foremost I want that person to go to heaven with me. I want that person to have the necessities of life. I want that person to have value as I do.

These inconsistencies in the so-called one nation under God makes me wonder which God that is. If I can be hated or shot down simply because of my skin color I don’t know what kind of god endorses that. As a nation and a church we have to align with the God of scripture and constantly speak out against what God would never condone. Even when that affects other ethnicities, right is always right.

THE CALLED OF GOD

The people of God have a call from God. To successfully reemerge we must understand what God has called us to do and be! It’s not just a matter of identity but of possession, Whose we are. I need to understand Who I belong to.

That can be a difficult paradigm for those who have come out of slavery. I don’t want to belong to anybody. The problem with that thinking is that the Bible teaches that you will belong to one of two entities. If you don’t belong to God then you are of the devil.

The phrase is also passive. The called didn’t come or act of their own accord but were acted on outside of themselves. God did the calling. He did the saving.

You didn’t call yourself to salvation. God did. And it’s a calling to change and action. When you’re called by the name of God you need to realize what that means. You carry His name. You are viewed by others as His. Whenever we claim to be Christians we make this claim to be called by His name. When called by the name of God I become a representative of Him and I don’t want to ever misrepresent God in any way!

We’re Black people, African Americans who are Baptists by faith. It’s important to understand that we belong to God by virtue of the saving faith we’ve professed and the grace of God through Christ. I have no problem claiming to be a Black Baptist Christian man! It’s important for others to know as well.

Every year about this time I lament the fact that even Black Baptist, in all the hoopla surrounding the MLK holiday, too many people forget who King belonged to and that made all the difference in how he behaved and what he stood for. It goes far beyond being just a good person. It’s about living for the Lord. He laid down his life for friends, those like him, and others who could benefit. That’s a Christian ideal.

WHOSE YOU ARE?

Not only must you know who you are but in the case of Christians it is essential to know Whose we are. I’m more than a Black man or even a Christian because there are many people who claim erroneously to be those things. I belong to Him!

The text once again is very personal and emphatic when in God’s answer to Solomon He proclaims that Israel is called by His name!

The idea of being called by one’s name denotes ownership. The two ideas here indicate that God has laid claim to an entire people. When He called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees He was placing His mark on them. Israel was being reminded of Who they belonged to and why they were punished. But their outcome would be dependent on their own repentance.

In much the same way, Believers are the people of God. As the Church we should follow this principle. Nobody wants to talk about living right anymore. We ought to be holy and we’ve also been called or chosen. Both OT and NT say the same. “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth (Dt 14:2 NKJV). That’s OT.

We are a chosen people, royal priesthood, holy nation, and have been called out of the darkness and into this marvelous light of salvation through Christ (1 Pet. 2:9). That’s NT. We have been elected to salvation by the invitation of God. We have been saved and sanctified by the sacrifice of the Lord. We’re God’s property as the second Kirk Franklin group was named. We’ve been bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus. We’re bought and paid off with an extremely expensive price tag. It cost Jesus everything!

If we are in fact called by His name then we must have some obligation to act in ways according to that name. When you’re identified as God’s people and called by His name there must be something unique about you. And this statement qualifies the group to which God is speaking and who must be humble, pray, and seek His face.

It’s about the call on God’s people. And God has called us to “serve this present age our calling to fulfill and may it all of our powers engage to do the Master’s will.”[2]

CONCLUSION

As the Church reemerges from the fallout and pandemonium produced by this pandemic, we have to do so as examples of who we are and whose we are. The world has to see a difference in us. Every true believer has an opportunity to put on display the love of God in a special way.

The Church is comprised of God’s people, called by His name and its past time for us to reemerge from the shadows and get back to the business of acting like His people. There are too many souls to be saved and people to be helped. The real and difficult work of kingdom building lies before us. As this pandemic wanes and vaccinations become widely available, we must remerge from the panic and protests as God’s people, called to a higher level of living and as God’s hands and feet, His workers in this world.

I could say that in everyone who looks at you can they get a glimpse of Jesus? In our daily walk and behavior can they see the love of God? As we come back from the margins into the mainstream and lift up the blood-stained banner can we lead the way on how the races ought to get along with demonstrated love? I believe that is what Jesus would do.

Its time to come out from obscurity into a significant place of service on this world stage. Maybe we’re not in the building right now but we’re still the Church of our Lord and its our time. The work is before us but we simply need holy boldness, filling of the Holy Spirit, to accomplish the authentic work of Jesus. As we turn the calendar and enter February on tomorrow to celebrate our rich history let’s reemerge as a mighty church for the glory of God because we are His people and we are called by His great and Holy name!

[1]Identity | Psychology Today, accessed January 28, 2021.

[2] Charles Wesley, A Charge to Keep I Have, pub.1762, public domain.