Living Stones

ANNUAL MEETING SERMON

May 10, 1992

Matthew 16:18

Introduction

The story of Peter's Great Confession, "Thou art the Christ!" is extremely significant because Peter's confession is every Christian's confession. He speaks for every true believer. "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God!" is the foundation on which our faith is built.

Jesus was pleased with Peter's confession. He was pleased that Peter's mind was open to divine revelation. In response to Peter's Great Confession Jesus made this Gigantic Declaration:

"Blessed are you Simon, son of John- for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven has revealed it. And I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."

Two elements stand out in this declaration of Jesus. To Peter he declared (1) "Your name means "stone;" you are going to live up to your name by My grace." And then, to Peter and the rest of the disciples Jesus said, as well as to you and me today, (2) "I will build My church with material such as this !"

Was Peter the rock? Was the confession ["Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God!" ] the foundation, the rock on which Jesus would build His church? Can Christians other than St. Peter hear Jesus say: "You are to be a part of my plan in the building of My church?" Is that scriptural?

Writing years later, Peter himself answered this question. It is as if Peter asks the rhetorical question: "Do you think that I, Peter, am the rock on which Jesus builds? Listen:

"As you come to HIM, the living Stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. I Peter 2:4,5

Jesus says to all who confess Him: (1) You are a rock! You are who you are! You have gifts and grace! " or, better, "You don't really KNOW HOW MUCH YOU CAN BE by My grace!"

And then Jesus says, "If you confess Me as Lord, then on this Rock— your confession and my LORDSHIP!— I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it!"

My message on this Annual Meeting Sunday is that JESUS BUILDS HIS CHURCH THROUGH PEOPLE JUST LIKE US.

Just who are we? What can Jesus do with the likes of us? What is Jesus seeking to build with us here?

I. WE ARE ON THE CORNER OF A COLLEGE CAMPUS

History. Wollaston Church of the Nazarene was called into existence by Eastern Nazarene College. There was no Nazarene church for miles around, and so services were held on campus. It was something like four years after the tiny college moved here from Rhode Island that the Wollaston Church of the Nazarene was officially organized, in 1922. That is 70 years ago!
For the first 32 years we worshiped in college buildings- first Canterbury, then the famous Gymnorium. For the last 42 years we have worshiped on this corner of the campus which was sold to the church for $1.00, 30 years in a large basement sanctuary, and now nearly twelve in this sanctuary which gets more than 100 hours of use each week in college-related ministry.
We are happy for the shared history, and proud to be vitally associated with Eastern Nazarene College on many levels of vocation.
Personal impact: Pastor J. Glenn Gould and Wollaston church had a strong impact on my life; as a student I saw here visible demonstration of local church loyalty in members of the college community: Bertha Munro, J.R. Naylor, Madeline Nease, and many others, some of whom may be here this morning.
Hundreds of students have sought God at these altars, myself included. Hundreds of decisions have been made to follow Christ here in this church.
Trust: We are inextricably linked with Eastern Nazarene College. Opinions have changed back and forth about the merits of having an on-campus church; but the fact is we are here. We intend to be lifting, sharing, partners in serving Christ. We will be giving loyalty— how can we do otherwise and be what Jesus intended?

II. WE ARE IN A VITAL RELATIONSHIP TO A SPECIFIC TRADITION

Doctrinally we are holiness Wesleyan.
1. We are in a living dialogue with others of like precious faith. We are not unaware of the Chuck Swindolls and the James Kennedys; we are not at all antagonistic to the Pentecostal or the Calvinist-Reformed or the Anglo-Catholic traditions, but we are committed to a dynamic, relation-centered, life-changing heritage of holiness of heart and life.
2. We share Wesley's insight that justification by faith and sanctification by faith are equally vital aspects of salvation; this Wesleyan way that finds its course by respect for tradition, reason and experience while placing final authority in the inspired, God-breathed Word that is the Holy Scripture.
We are part of a specific district in the Church of the Nazarene, the New England District.
We want to be a vital part. It seems sometimes that we are/will be misunderstood because we are a part of a college community. We cannot let that deter us from taking part in every district activity which is humanly possible to us.

III. WE ARE INCREASINGLY IN CONTACT WITH A DIVERSE COMMUNITY

We come from many directions to worship here.
1. We come from churches much larger and much smaller; we come from churches of many different traditions of worship and polity. That is to be celebrated, not complained about.
2. We cannot try to be what we cannot be; our worship must flow out to God of the very best of what we are. But we can honestly seek to welcome every person, whoever he or she may be, and greet them with love in Jesus' name.
More and more we are seeing non-college-connected community-type people coming to worship with us. HOW WE VALUE THAT! We need the on-going conversation with our community. In our desire to serve the college we cannot and should not, we must not give our community friends any reason to believe that we are exclusive in our attitudes:
1. We welcome to membership those from many backgrounds. We actively SEEK your participation in the life of this church!
2. We stand ready to be a resource and support for those who may never join us!
3. (I would hope that YOU MIGHT CONSIDER PRAYERFULLY MEMBERSHIP IN THIS LOCAL BODY!)

IV. WE ARE SEEKING TO FUNCTION AS A VITAL PART IN THE BODY OF CHRIST

WE WILL BE LOYAL TO JESUS CHRIST, OUR HEAD
1. The human body is a wonderful machine-and-more. The Psalmist may not have known bio-genetics, but he had it right when he said: "I am fearfully and wonderfully made." The Body of Christ is no less complex and wonderful.
2. By the Spirit we will seek to be aware and to be sympathetic to all of Christ's Body everywhere; and yet we at Wollaston are called to be ourselves! Called to be just like no other church!
  1. What works somewhere else may well work here, it may not. The key is what does the Head say? The pastor is NOT the Head; and yet the pastor had better be in touch; the leadership of the church, board and directors and others, they are NOT the Head. But they had better be in touch.
  2. How do we know we are being directed by the Head? It must be our constant, earnest desire!
WE WILL OFFER WORSHIP THAT IS GOD-CENTERED
1. Changing Times and Eternal Values: One of the biggest challenges facing me as a pastor nearly 37 years is to know how and when to gracefully change, and when to firmly hold the line:
  1. The idiom changes; the way speech is used, the meaning of words. A purist, an English major, a word-lover— I often hate to see such changes; on the other hand sometimes I am part of those changes.
    [I recall when I said, in reply to 'how did I like a dish my mother cooked, "Not bad!" It is hard to believe, but that expression, which we know means "Very good!", was new to my father; he took a very dim view of such a cool non-endorsement.
  2. The Gospel never changes: English language changes, communications changes, musical tastes change; but the Gospel is eternal truth, the message of God's love is unchanging— and so we have the dilemma of continuing to present a changeless message in a changing culture.
2. A college church must in some sense be a cultural trendsetter. That cannot be a dominating goal, but it is NOT inconsequential, either. At the same time a college church, like every other church that intends to obey Jesus Christ, must speak to the people of its day and age. This is our sincere intention.
3. The one uncompromising criteria to which we will seek to hold all our various expressions of worship, whether in song or spoken word or any other human expression of our faith and love to God, will be the desire for excellence. We will seek to do our very best, to offer to God no unworthy, unprepared, ill-considered, self-serving endeavor in the name of "relevance."
  In the back of the mind of this pastor is the pseudo-scripture of Alexander Pope, who wrote:
  Be not the first by which the new is tried, nor yet the last to lay the old aside . . . or was it vice versa?
WE WILL BE DEDICATED TO BEARING MUCH FRUIT
1. Shared alumni
  We even now have sons and daughters all over the world. We cannot claim them as "ours" in any exclusive way any more than I can claim all the credit for my magnificent family of grandchildren.
2. Second Church
  We even now share in the reality of hundreds at worship that would not have been at worship, at least not in quite the same way, if we had not been faithful at Second Church. We didn't do it ourselves. We didn't do it perfectly. But in spite of human shortcomings, Jesus built His church and we were at least some small part!
3. The weekly miracle of worship
  To this moment the most important thing we do is worship God right here! This is not a show! This is a TRYST! This is a meeting time! This is when our hearts are cleansed and renewed. The word is proclaimed. The living stones report for duty.

Conclusion

Maybe some of this has been too elementary, too boring to you. But I have spoken about what is foundational and basic to me.

Prayer

EH #47 God of Grace and God of Glory