TRINITY SUNDAY
Reading: Matthew 18:16-20
Preached at Beckley Presbyterian
Church on May 22nd
2002
The Gospel of Matthew is an amazing piece of work. The best thing I can think of comparing it to is
a movie. It starts of like a movie, giving us a list of opening credits which
invite us to consider that the central figure of the story about to take place is somebody of great historical significance.
Then it moves to the mystery of Christ’s birth, to the preaching of John the Baptist and the
Baptism of Jesus by John in the River Jordan. Matthew then takes us through a
whole series of scenes. Sometimes it’s action, sometimes it’s story,
sometimes a sermon. It all reaches a climax in the crucifixion of Jesus and the
frantic muddled excitement of the empty tomb.
Our reading for this morning was from the very last scene of Matthew’s epic, “The Great
Commission.” Staying with the film analogy, it’s the perfect ending
that cries out for a sequel. Matthew never made the sequel. That was left to Luke (who gives us the Book of Acts) and comes to us through the letters that circulated
amongst the early church that we know as the Epistles.
Part of the genius of the Gospel of Matthew is its ability to give us a story that functions on many
different levels. The last few verses are no exception. They teach us about the authority of Jesus that God wants us to work with. They
are words that over the centuries have inspired numerous mission enterprises. They
are words of great comfort, containing the promise, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
We also find, taking these verses together, Matthew’s vision of what the church should be. It does us good to ask from time to time, “Well, what are we supposed to be about
as the people of God? What’s the Church for? Why do we need it?”
First and foremost, (Mat 28:16) “… the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated.”
Church is a place to meet Jesus.
God has designated for us a place and time where we can be together in God’s presence, a God
given meeting place for our lives to be touched by Jesus Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit. For us that time is at 10:55 on a Sunday morning. That is not to say that there are
not other times and places when we will experience the presence of God in our lives, but Sunday Worship is a sacred time in
the week in which we can give ourselves to the sole purpose of meeting with God in each others presence.
Secondly, (Mat 28:17) “And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him;”
Church is a place of Worship.
It is a plain command of Scripture that we are to worship only the Lord Our God. God has revealed His
love in Jesus Christ. We worship God through Jesus Christ and in the power of
the Holy Spirit.
In this designated time and place our worship takes a number of different forms. We seek to put our lives right with God. We thank God for the
grace and love that is revealed to us in Jesus. We offer our lives to God. We seek to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to serve God. But most of all worship is for enjoying the presence of God. As
the catechism puts it, “The Chief end of man is to worship God and enjoy Him for ever!”
When we take the worship experience out of our life, we lose one of life’s most precious dimensions.
We are called to approach worship like the Psalmist who said, “I was glad when they said let us go to the house of the Lord.”
If only we realized the awesome possibilities of what can take place as we worship, then we would never
miss an opportunity to be with our brothers and sisters in Christ before the throne of God. Profound
changes can come upon people in the presence of God! Worship is meant to be a happening, something that renews us and fires
us up to go out and tell the Good News that God is on the move.
Can Worship be like that? Well… maybe we’re
not so sure. In fact there are probably a whole lot of things we are not sure
about when it comes to God, to the Bible, to our relationship with the Church… to spiritual things in general. Maybe you have your doubts. That’s
O.K. Why?
Verse 17 continues, “…they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.”
Church is a place to come with our doubts
Think of that! This is the disciples we are talking about.
These are the ones who saw all the miracles, heard all the teaching first hand,
witnessed the death and resurrection with their own eyes and were now standing, visibly, in the presence of their Lord and
Savior. And how are they handling it? “Some were doubtful.”
Never stop coming to church just because you don’t agree with everything or understand everything. Fact is we are never going to be without our doubts. You may get some preachers who
come along and give the impression they know it all and have fathomed out exactly what God is about and what you need to believe,
and they will not hesitate to let you know God’s thoughts on everything under the sun.
They remind me of the ad I’ve seen on television where the guy is sitting at the computer, and
he gets up from his chair and claims that he’s reached the end of the internet! If
God is God, then no human mind can ever fathom the depths of God’s mystery. Half
the time we can’t even remember where we’ve left our car keys, which makes me realize that we were never designed
to know everything about God and are highly suspicious of those who make dogmatic claims to truth that seem denied to the
rest of humanity.
Church is a place to come with our doubts. The mystery
is that sometimes when we worship, whilst our knowledge remains the same, we catch a glimpse of what Christ has done for us,
and the doubts don’t trouble us as much. That’s how it was for Thomas
in John’s gospel, but that’s not where we are going right now.
Look what happens next. (Matthew 20:18) “Jesus
came up and spoke to them…”
Church is
a place to listen for God’s Word.
Jesus speaks to us today in our worship services. How?
Through each other. Through the
words and music. Through the decor and the stained glass. Through the conversations and fellowship and teaching. Through
the prayers in which we share and the Creeds to which we give assent. Through
the Bible readings and sermons. All of it, the place, the space, the time, the
actions, the environment, the words and the silence… the whole experience can be a Word of God to us.
And one Word that we will hear is that this is an experience that’s too good to keep to ourselves.
God wants us to go out and spread the Word. (Matthew19-20)
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.”
Church is a place
of Commisioning
We are offered here a threefold commission.
- To make disciples
- To baptize
- To teach
In order for disciples to be made, the Word we have received has to be proclaimed. Proclamation takes
place for us in the same way as it did with Jesus. Sometimes it is through deeds
where very few words are spoken. Sometimes it is through spoken words that bring
the realization of God’s presence to people’s lives.
Baptism is not only the sign that we belong to God, but also an indication that we belong to the church.
We are a community of people united by the love of God. Others need to know they can be a part of it!
And when we are a part of it we realize we have a lot to learn. So
the church has not just a role in preaching and serving but also an educational task… teaching the ways of the Kingdom.
Finally, (Matthew 28:20) “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
"
Church is a place of promise
A beautiful promise of Jesus forms the very last words of Matthew’s gospel. Were Matthew’s gospel really a movie, this is the verse that would be written
over the closing shot of the sunset. What a wonderful thing it is to know that
whatever we are traveling through in our lives right now, Jesus wants to stick by us and carry us through.
Our world, our lives, and everything around us is constant change. We don’t know
what lies ahead. We truly don’t know what tomorrow brings.
But God does!
Jesus promises that if we entrust our lives into His hands, He’s going to stick by
us, no matter what. If church means nothing more to us than it being a place
where we discover God’s promise, then that alone should be sufficient to get us through the days.
Matthew concludes his gospel by giving us a vision for the church. He invites us to meet with Jesus, to come as we are, with all our doubts and fears, just come and worship.
As we do so we hear God’s Word, a Word that both challenges and comforts.
The challenge is to go and let others know how great the love of God can be. The comfort is that the love of God is greater than we dare imagine and can hold us through all our days!
“Lo, I am with you always, even to the
end of the age.”
Adrian Pratt
