28 Peter said, “We’ve left our homes to follow you.” 29 “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the Kingdom of God, 30 will be repaid many times over in this life, and will have eternal life in the world to come.”
Luke chapter 18, verses 28 thru 30; from the New Living Translation
This morning’s passage comes on the heels of what is commonly referred to as The Story Of The Rich Man. He came to Jesus looking for real life; and if you remember, this man decided the price was too high. This passage came to me when I was reflecting on some posts in a “clergy” page on Facebook of which I am a member. There was a group of folks whinning about the fact that THEIR (the wrong pronoun) church they were in before they answered the call to ministry, had voted to disafilliate. In their view it was just WRONG for THEIR CHURCH to do such a thing. For the uninformed, it took a two-thirds majority vote to disafilliate. THEIR emphasis was on the one-third that would were being left out in the cold.
I’m remembering now a story when one of our granddaughter’s, Caroline who was about 4 years old, had been staying with us. When it came time to go home, Gramma laid her out some clothes to wear home. Even gave her a choice between two outfits. But Caroline wanted something different. Gramma insisted, and finally Caroline put her hands on her hips and said, “Well, whose clothes are these anyways?” And many seem to feel the same way about their church name and church buildings.
There is an unhealthy pronoun being thoughtlessly being tossed around: OUR CHURCH! MY CHURCH! Spoiler alert! It’s not YOURS, OURS, NOR MINE! And it doesn’t matter which side of the fence one stands on–it’s still the wrong PRONOUN! It is unhealthy to use such pronouns when talking about CHURCH! Way to much emphasis is being put on buildings and names on the sign.
Jesus says to Peter, (and to the rest of us today!) that one has to give up EVERYTHING in order to follow Him! And offers the positive promise that we gain much more now–and even more later–when we stop using those nasty possessive pronouns. Friends, it isn’t OUR church. We didn’t buy it! Jesus did on the Cross! It was never OURS to begin with–and it will never be OURS!
If what we have to offer this world is inseparably tethered to a building and a name–then we really don’t have anything worthwhile to offer. There’s a bigger story out there–it’s the story of The Kingdom Of God! After Jesus’ time of testing in the wilderness, he came back with a single message: “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!” (Mark chapter 1, verse 15; NLT).
Friends, our story isn’t connected to a building–but The Movement! The Movement of God’s Kingdom that is storming the strongholds of the one who is trying to steal it, Satan! When our story is anchored to The Kingdom Of God, there’s something bigger and more powerful at work than a building or a name. Every church building has a beginning point, and even a name. And THAT name may have changed over the decades. But The Kingdom Of God doesn’t have a beginning point–it is eternal and everlasting. And this message is the one–the only one–that can and will change cultures, nations, and people.
There’s not doubt about this: that when we use the pronoun MY, it’s the WRONG pronoun. And perhaps when we use the noun, CHURCH, it’s the wrong noun. It’s all about The Kingdom Of God! And that’s a much bigger story than the one about our buildings and signs!
Kingdom Pastor 