<< Back to September 2001 Sermons

2001
16th September (am) - People Matter to God
LUKE 4:14-30

We are well used to mission statements by now. Companies have them - for example, Norse Irish Ferries' mission statement is 'The sign of excellence'. Hospitals even have them. The mission statement for Craigavon Area Hospital Group Trust is 'Caring through Commitment'. Universities have them, even churches and Christian organizations have them. The mission statement of Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago is 'to turn irreligious people into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ'. Tear Fund's mission statement is 'Christian action with the world's poor'. The mission statement on Tear Times, the magazine of Tear Fund is 'for Christians who want to change the world'.

A mission statement alerts us to a set of ideals we can expect from the particular company, hospital or organization. So for example, if I had to attend Craigavon Area Hospital whose mission statement is 'Caring through Commitment' I would have a certain set of expectations from that hospital - a dedicated staff who are committed to caring for people and are above personality clashes and hospital politics. Of course, I know that this is true - well certainly in the radiography department. I do hope you see what I am getting at. A mission statement says something about the organization it represents.

Jesus Christ, God's eternal Son, came with a mission statement. We read it together from Luke The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

Jesus, in these verses, taken from the prophecy of Isaiah, and now prophecy fulfilled, declares what he is about, what his mission encapsulates, what he intends to do. Jesus, in his mission statement speaks of good news to the poor, he speaks of freedom for the prisoner, he speaks of recovery of sight for the blind, and release for those who are oppressed. Jesus in his mission statement speaks of the year of the Lord's favor.

Jesus, in his mission statement, declares, that as the Son of the most high God, people, no matter who they are, or what their experiences in life may be, matter to God. Who are the people that Jesus declares matter to God? We may say that Jesus' mission statement describes four different people, or that it describes four dimensions of one person's experience. The major application which emerges form this scene where Jesus preaches in the synagogue concerning the nature of his mission, is that the church's call, our call, is but an extension of Christ's own mission. For Jesus did what he proclaimed he would do, and then he asked his disciples, his church, to continue this proclamation. Jesus in his high priestly prayer of John 17 prayed to his Father; As you have sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

So we are called to proclaim good news, freedom, recovery and release. We are called to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. But who are the people we are called to proclaim these things to?

We are called to proclaim good news to the poor. We may say that the poor are those who live in a socially and economically limited environment. But that is to limit our understanding of the context of what Jesus goes on to say and do. The poor here are also the 'pious poor' - those who recognize their need of God. Those who mourn because of their spiritual poverty, their spiritual bankruptcy, and see in God their only hope for the future. To them the announcement of the year of the Lord's favor is indeed good news.

For the year of the Lord's favor alludes to the year of Jubilee, from the Old Testament, when debts were wiped clean and a new fresh start is assured. And is this not the essence of the gospel? A fresh start, debts wiped free, all legal obligations to God are removed through the grace of Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. This is indeed good news for all who sense their spiritual poverty and bankruptcy. And it is to such people we are called to proclaim good news.

The spiritually poor are those who are imprisoned - imprisoned to the manifestations of their sin, imprisoned to their past with all its shame and guilt, imprisoned even to religious habits and traditions. The spiritually poor are those who are blind - blind to seeing the power and love of God active in the world. The spiritually poor are those who are burdened by the world looking for release.

And Jesus comes to such and says: ... if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed And Jesus comes to such and says: ... I am the light of the world And Jesus comes to such and says: ... Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Jesus not only proclaims the year of the Lord's favor, he accomplishes it in the lives of people who trust him, through his life-giving death on the cross of Calvary. Jesus did not just proclaim good news, he was good news.

Do you sense your spiritual poverty, your imprisonment to your sin, your blindness, and your feelings of oppression? Do you sense your bankruptcy, your bandage, your blindness and your burden? If you do then this is the best news you could ever wish for, for this is the news which proclaims the year of the Lord's favor for your life, for Christ has died that you may be free.

And we in the church are called to proclaim and to model this message of good news. We are not just to proclaim good news, we are to be good news. Tragically it is not a message that is always well received. People sometimes don't like to be told that they are in need of a savior. Society does not like to be told that the solutions to its problems are not through changing political, social or educational structures - the solution to society's ills is found in the death of a man two thousand years ago, because the solution to society's ills is through changing human hearts and only Jesus can do that.

How many of us here this morning can see this? Jesus mission statement is not primarily a call to radical social change as some would argue. Rather, Jesus mission statement is a call to radical heart change, and if hearts are changed society is changed. As one commentator states: ... the gospel is not primarily a commitment to change society but hearts. Yet when hearts are changed, compassion emerges and society is changed. The economically and socially poor are brought into the equation, those who are persecuted are given a proper voice and so on. The two tasks are linked as Henri Nouwen in his book 'The Wounded Healer' has stated. He says: {Christ's} appearance in our midst has made it undeniably clear that changing the human heart and changing human society are not separate tasks, but are as interconnected as the two beams of the cross. (p20) Looking for solutions in politics or education or social matters only rearranges the surface - the gospel gets to the heart of the problem, because the problem is the human condition - with all its pride, envy, anger, sloth, greed, gluttony and lust, just to mention the seven deadly ones. The mission statement of Jesus Christ addresses the issue of the human condition. The mission statement of Jesus Christ has a message for north Belfast. The mission statement of Jesus Christ has a message to the perpetrators of incredible terrorism in the United States this past week. The mission statement of Jesus Christ has a message to the nation, the heart and soul, of the United States.

George Bush, President of the USA, stated this week that the world has changed. In many ways it has, for terrorism has taken on a whole new dimension. Blast bombs are thrown in the direction of school children. Commercial airliners are hijacked and flown into crowded office towers. Yet in many ways the world has not changed. The same sinfulness that existed two thousand years ago exists today and therefore the message that was first proclaimed in the synagogue in Nazareth two thousand years ago is the same message that is to be proclaimed today.

The people in the synagogue that day were impressed with Jesus' preaching, and his reputation, after all he was the local boy made good, but when Jesus drove the point home further, and said that the people of his home town were in danger of being like the people of Israel in the most spiritually bleak time in Israel's history they did not like it, and so we see the first emergence of opposition to the life transforming message of Jesus Christ, and to Jesus Christ himself. The people in the synagogue that day were looking to their religious observance and tradition for their security, and we can at times be accused of doing the same, or looking to a building for our security, and not the living God. To live in such a way is to be deluded.

Last weekend was great, wasn't it? You know I did not hear one bad word about the preaching of last weekend - whether it was the Moderator on Saturday aft>ernoon, Rev. Bell on Sunday morning or Very Rev. J. Dixon on Sunday night. We were well fed! I am sure that we were persuaded by our Moderator of the necessity of ensuring that we demonstrate in our church life and witness that 'people matter to God'. I am sure we were persuaded. And I am sure that we were persuaded by Rev. Bell, in our church life and witness, of the need for effective communication, practical community and courageous commitment.' I am sure we were persuaded. And I am sure that we were persuaded by Rev. J. Dixon, in our church life and witness, of the need to ask the 'why?' question and then to ask the 'how?' question concerning our church life. I am sure we were persuaded.

But what are we going to do about it? We have adopted as our mission statement, 'People matter to God'. Do we believe people matter to God? Or do we consign certain people as being beyond the grace of God, and therefore beyond our love and concern? Are we going to welcome the stranger, the visitor or the new family in our midst or hang about in our cliques? Are we going to build each other up in Christ or snipe and backstab? Are we going to cherish our children or just tolerate them? Are we going to be the neighbor from heaven in our community? Are we going to be good news as well as proclaiming good news? Are we going to get concerned for people, we know, who know nothing about the joy of salvation in Jesus Christ or are we going to let them continue to drift along the road to a hellbound eternity? Or are we in danger of becoming a spiritually bleak backwater and know nothing of the anointing of the Holy Spirit on our lives and on our church. People were amazed at the teaching of Jesus, and at his reputation, but very few did anything about it, instead they rejected him.

We can be like that also. We can be amazed and persuaded by the teaching of Jesus, but do nothing about it. We can be amazed and persuaded by the teaching of the Moderator, or a former Moderator, or dare I say by our own ministers, but do nothing about it, because we can be more concerned about other matters which distract us from what we are called to be and to do.

'People matter to God' is our mission statement. It is our declaration of intent. It says something of who we are trying to be and what we are trying to do. As we wrestle with important issues such as worship, evangelism, Christian education, prayer, mission, youth work and community, we are declaring that people - saints and sinners, younger and older, church members and those who are not, families and people living on their own - that those people, that all of us and more, with our burdens, our blindness, our bondage's and our bankruptcy matter to God, because Jesus has proclaimed the year of the Lord's favor.

Therefore let us say of ourselves: The Spirit of the Lord is on us Because he has anointed us to preach good news to the poor. He has sent us to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.