A Strange Way to Meet

First Things

Well, as if you needed any reminder, name is Tim Barton, and I’m the Pastor here at First Fort Pierce. Before I go and say anything else, I just want to thank you all for the warm welcome that we have received.

From the moment that I was first in contact with Martha, to meeting with the leadership team, to being here for the first Sunday last week I have felt a deep sense of peace and comfort. The best way that I can describe it is that this feels like home.

And speaking of homes, I want to thank you deeply for the home that you have provided for us. Everything about it is perfect. Thank you for all of the work that was done to acquire it, get it ready, and fill it with love and snacks :) Lexi, Ezra, and I are eternally grateful for the hospitality that you have shown to us. It’s always difficult to move to a new area. You have made this transition easy on us through the ways that you have extended your hearts out towards us. You have truly been an example to us of who Jesus is and the way that the church is called to exist in this world.

Strange meetings

When I think about the reception that we have received here from you all, and also just reflect on the way that we Methodist pastors and churches operate, I can’t help but think of a particular story from the Gospel accounts. Well, first I can’t help but think about how strange it is for us to meet in the way that we meet. I was just sent to you. And you pretty much just have to say “ok, this is what we’ve got to work with.” It’s strange right? I mean it’s particularly strange for us in our American culture. We are pretty proud of and even identify ourselves with our autonomy, or maybe better said, our freedom to choose for ourselves — especially when it comes to important things like who leads us.

The irony is not lost on me that here, and all across the Methodist Connection, churches are being introduced to their newly appointed pastors on the eve of the celebration of our Nation’s declaration of independence. Right? We were basically rejecting the leaders that England was sending and their unfair taxation practices. So, my hope is that after this sermon there isn’t a reenactment of that amongst our congregation here :) I’m still trying to recover from moving… I can’t do it again just yet.

But anyway, even though this is a strange way for us to meet — much like an arranged marriage — and it certainly violates some of our modern American sensibilities, I think that it is a good good thing. I think that, because I have come to learn that for me, God knows whats best for me. And that God knows what’s best for the church. And so, I’ve submitted my life to God’s calling, leading, and sending.

Alright, I kind of chased a squirrel there, but before that, I said that this whole things reminded me of a story from the Gospels. It’s actually found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but today we’ll focus in on Luke’s account.

So what’s been happening is that Luke has been detailing some of the travels of Jesus and the disciples, particularly focusing in on Jesus’s healings, his power over demons, his teaching, and the reception that he receives. In some places he is received positively, and in other places, such as a Samaritan village, he is turned away. Which to us seems pretty reasonable if we are aware of the way that the Jesus’s ministry culminates with the cross. But for those who are hearing Luke’s words for the first time, they might be kind of shocked at the tension that is being reported. This man is clearly special, and he is clearly in the business of helping others. Why then is he facing rejection? Not only that, but Jesus then begins to talk about the level of commitment that it is going to take for someone to follow him. It’s going to take a full commitment to do the very work that he has been doing, and to commit to doing so even in the face of harsh criticism and often outright rejection.

This is a pretty steep ask that Jesus makes when he says, “follow me.” But this is and has been the case for thousands of years for billions of Christ followers. Being called by Jesus is not an easy thing for us. But even more difficult is what happens next in Luke’s Gospel. This comes from chapter 10:

The New Revised Standard Version (The Mission of the Seventy)

After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.

This is important terminology that Luke is using. By referring to Jesus as “the Lord” he is invoking ancient terminology that is used to identify the God of Israel. By Jesus’s time, the name YHWH, which is the self disclosed name that God gave to Moses when he showed up in a burning bush and commanded him to free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, has been replaced with the Hebrew then Greek words that are translated as “Lord.” Luke is identifying Jesus as the God of Israel, the almighty, YHWH himself.

Also the number 70 is incredibly important in this passage, as it correlates to something that is happening on the cosmic scale of things. In Genesis 10 we are given a table of 70 Nations that descended from Noah after the flood. These are the nations that were scattered after the tower of Babel incident when God scattered them across the face of the earth. These nations were considered by Israel to be under the influence of demons and other spiritual forces, and so this is going to be important to the rest of what follows.

So, to recap — The God of Israel is sending people out on a mission that symbolizes, like the entire mission of God in the Bible — to seek out and save those who are under the influence of powers other than God himself.

Luke goes on then:

The New Revised Standard Version The Mission of the Seventy

2 He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ 6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7 Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’

So there’s some real similarities here between what these folks experienced and what is going on here today. I’m grateful that you have all said peace back to me, and that you’ve asked me to remain in your house and that you’ve fed me. You’ve done your part. That means that it’s my turn to live up to this text. I plan to do my best to be the cure to sickness and to in every possible way declare that the Kingdom of God is near, if not already here.

The Call

Now, I’m no doctor nor am I a miracle worker — that I know of. But I do have a particular sense of why God has called me into ministry. So it would probably be best to share that with you all.

I’ve been a United Methodist for almost my whole life. I was told at a young age that I was called into ministry. But I rejected that for a long time. In fact I ran about as far away from the ministry as I could. My teenage and early adult years were troubled as I sought to find my place in the world. I’m a product of Philadelphia Skate Punk culture, and the healthy dose of authoritative aversion that came along with that life… That means I was a trouble maker ;)

Now, I wasn’t all trouble all of the time. I was mostly a kind hearted do gooder with a bit of trouble on the side. Like the nights and weekends plan. By day I worked and poured myself into various academic pursuits, all based in the social sciences and helping professions. I studied sociology — the study of societies and social problems on a large scale, anthropology — the study of cultures and people groups, then human resources and counseling — the study of people and the problems of our world on an individual and personal level.

All the while I couldn’t see how this was literally what ministry is all about. Understanding the problems of our world and how they manifest negatively in the lives of individuals — and then offering the solution — Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God.

So meanwhile I was just continually flustered by the fact that I was learning to see and define problems, but that none of the solutions seemed viable or seemed like something that the politics of our world would either reject or mess up.

The hopelessness of that, plus the fact that my particular brand of trouble stopped being “nights and weekends” and began to be more of a 24/7 problem led me to a place of absolute surrender. And it was at that place, that I walked into a United Methodist Church in Tampa Florida on Easter Sunday of 2013, and it was then that I experienced the healing power of Jesus and the call began to make sense.

Since then I have served in youth ministry and as a youth pastor at that church in Tampa for 4 years, and then served for 5 years in a cross cultural setting as the Pastor of a congregation of Pacific Islanders from the Federated States of Micronesia. And I’ve been serving there until now, when I’ve come to serve you.

Oh and I don’t partake of that previous brand of trouble any longer. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a trouble maker, but I prefer to make holy trouble now, and invite others to join me!

You see, my call is to reach those who are experiencing the most hopelessness in this world. Those whom the world has left behind. Probably more importantly, those whom the church has left behind. And there’s a lot of those folks outside of the doors of this and every church. My call is to go to them. I believe with all of my heart that this is a major reason that God has called me here, to Fort Pierce and to this church in particular. I’ve seen the heart that you have for your community, and I’m so excited for everything that we can accomplish together.

This is what I think it means for me to heal the sick and to say “The Kingdom of God has drawn near.” And so my promise is to do everything that I can to make sure that my call is fulfilled in this way here with you.

Ok enough about me. Back to Luke’s story:

Jesus continued on saying this:

The New Revised Standard Version (Woes to Unrepentant Cities)

16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” 17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” 18 He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19 See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

I think that what is being detailed here is a foreshadowing of God’s ultimate hope for each of us as followers of Jesus. The seventy that Jesus sent out all return and talk about the power that they were given when they called on the name of Jesus. Jesus in your name even demons were no match for us.

Now remember what I said about the ancient worldview earlier. As far as Israel understood, the surrounding nations were deeply influenced if not controlled by spiritual forces. If you talk to some foreign missionaries today, especially to areas of the world that practice certain types of religions that are deeply steeped in witchcraft, you will hear a similar worldview, and similar stories of the power of Jesus to combat the spiritual forces of darkness.

But you might be saying, yeah, but that’s not our experience here in America. However, we do see how the people of our part of the world are controlled by forces that destroy them. Alcoholism, Addiction, consumerism, Idolatry of all kinds and forms, political polarization, war, famine, disease, sex, money, rock and roll. Just kidding on that last one. But do you see the correlation here? These forces that seek to destroy our world are no match for Jesus and Jesus’s kingdom.

And we are the persons given authority to tread all over these messes. So church, I have to ask you… do you have your boots on? Are you ready to tread on some snakes and scorpions? Are you ready to take on the brokenness of Fort Pierce? Of St. Lucie County? Of Florida? Of our world? I am. My boots are on, I just need to know, Who’s coming with me?

We rejoice that our names are written in heaven, for it is because of this fact that we know that we have been given the authority to go where we are sent, to stamp out the forces of darkness there, and give God all of the glory when we get the job done. This is the mission of God in our world and this is the mission of us, God’s people in Fort Pierce.

I look forward to this season of ministry, for the ways that we will tread on darkness together, and for the ways that the name of Jesus will be glorified through us. God is not done with us yet Church, we have work to do.

I can think of no better way to consecrate this season of ministry that we are entering than to sit together at the Lord’s Table. This table, is a reminder that we are uniquely bound to God and to one another through the redemption brought to us through Jesus’s death on the cross and the victory over the spiritual forces of sin and death that the resurrection affords us. And so would you join me as we come together at Christ’s table.

The Lord be with you.