"Are There Any Apples on the Tree"

 

Dave Schneider

Central Presbyterian Church, Russellville, Arkansas

Sunday, Nov. 9, 2008

 

 

 

11/9/08 Philippians 3:17-4:1

I want to tell you a parable. A snail started climbing up the trunk of a large old apple tree that was over 135 years old. A bird who was watching asked, What are you doing? I am climbing an apple tree. But there are no apples on the tree, said the bird. There will be when I get there... [pause-30 seconds!]

There are no apples on our tree either.

Nor are there even any buds or blossoms.

Could it be because it is the wrong season? This is autumn. We have to get ready for winter. We do not want winter. But winter always comes before springtime.

I am told that a lot of people in Arkansas love the winter. That is because summer is so hot and the humidity is so high. And don’t forget the two hurricanes that have been through here.

Paul admits he is straining forward to reach his goal, "not that I have already obtained all this... (that I) have been made perfect."

What is your goal?

to see the church as perfect, without any faults?

to have our Sunday School full on Sunday morning with a variety of good curriculum offerings?

to have a pastor nominating committee hard at work?

to walk into the church and not hear one negative statement?

to be able to agree to disagree with one another in the love of Jesus Christ?

It is so hard to be patient to reach a healthy goal, one you yearn for so much you can almost taste it– like a juicy, tree-ripened red apple from the Collins Round Mountain Orchard in Conway!

Paul’s word for "being made perfect" is the Greek word TELIOS.

It may also mean "mature," coming to maturity.

Paul takes a page out of the handbook of the Gnostic religions around Philippi, folks who claimed in their initiation into their mystery cult, they have already achieved perfection.

Though some Christians in the Philippi church may think differently than Paul on some matters, maturity in Christ is about having a common mind, a common outlook and purpose, where all work together in harmony.

to have the same mind Christ had,

to share his sufferings,

not as individual believers, but as fellow citizens of a consecrated worshiping Presbyterian community.

It is not so much that we must think the exact same thoughts as it is thinking along a particular channel, our thoughts headed toward a loving goal that puts our church and our Lord first.

to practice patience,

forgiveness and forbearance,

to offer the gift of grace even when not deserved,

to affirm and lift up one another in prayer,

to say, I will not hear anything destructive or negative.

One of our members said to me this past week, "Always respond to rumors with, ‘It’s a rumor; it’s not true." I refuse to listen to you finish your sentence.

Choose to respond rather than react: respond out of the mature being God has created, rather than react from an immediate gut feeling.

Whenever I refuse to be reconciled or make restitution, two things have usually happened to me:

one: I am in too much of a hurry;

two: I cannot see the fault that is in myself. There is always something in me which has contributed to the problem.

Wouldn’t be nice to her the Baptists and Methodists say, "See how those Presbyterians love each other and how they treat one another so well?"

What was it that someone once said: If you are looking for the perfect church, when you have found it, it will no longer be perfect.

Are you surprised that Paul ridicules some of the members there in the downtown Central Presbyterian Church of Philippi?

He jumps all over a clique of Greek members who insist that you have to become exactly like a Jew, to obey the law perfectly to be a Christian.

Paul laughs at them sarcastically.

He declares, Those Judaizers–their god is their belly;

their minds are set on material things, worldliness;

their glory is really their shame.

Their end is destruction–the criticizers,

those who are ready to leave,

their end is the destruction of the church, of Christ’s kingdom.

 

What really is Paul’s goal, what is this perfection he strives after ... that you and I should be striving after?

Our goal is "our upward calling,...that divine summons to heaven."

Possibly he has in mind the ceremony at the end of the race when the winner is called forward and given a prize, not just a green laurel wreath,

but an audience with the king, the president,

our final invitation and audience in heaven before Christ, where we do NOT have to face judgment for our failures,

and where Jesus welcomes us with open arms like his dearest old friend, as he says, "‘Well done, you good and faithful friend; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.’"

Notice in Matthew 25 Jesus uses that rare word, "good" to describe you. Elsewhere he says we should only call God good. So this is a precious compliment.

Next he says, you have been faithful over a little, (now)I will set you over much.

Is it possible we are still learning to be faithful over a little in this church before we can start being faithful over much.

Third, the invitation is to enter into what? into the joy of Christ.

Paul’s pervasive theme throughout this letter is the promise of joy;

our joy today should be that same joy we will experience together in God’s heavenly kingdom.

When you and I gather inside this sanctuary, in Knox Hall, in a Sunday School room, are we experiencing that joy?

Paul says, "imitate me... follow my example."

This month two students are beginning confirmation class. Each student will have a mentor. This is a new way of teaching about membership. Instead of learning specific facts, our two students will learn the attitudes and values of Christian discipleship by looking over the shoulder and by imitating their mentor, doing everything the mentor does in the church.

What example is Paul talking about in Philippians 3:17?

Set a long-term goal for your church life, for your heavenly prize rather than a short-term goal of immediate gratification.

Second, you imitate Paul by looking ahead not backwards. Put the kind of blinders on you put on a team of plow horses which prevent you from looking behind you!

What was behind him for Paul?

his personal privileges as a righteous Pharisee,

his perfection in the law

his personal achievements.

What is behind us? [pause]

Forget it, all of it.

Mother Theresa once said, When God tells you I forgive your sin and I will remember it no more, God throws that sin in a bottomless lake and puts up a sign, "No fishing!"

What lies ahead of us?

We have so much potential, there is a great resource in our people!

There are so many who love this church so deeply and have given their lives for this church.

One retired member told me this past Thursday, My wife and I joined this church in 1938. We know we are going through some tough times, but this is our church and it will be our church until we die.

The Session, the Deacons, the budget committee and our treasurer for the first time sat down recently to review a new streamlined budget for 2009 that is waiting to be adopted; we asked questions about finances; we explored possibilities together.

No one remembers this being done before in this church.

d. Fully-documented staff performance reviews are underway based on written input. I promise you a new office operational system will be in place by the first of the year.

e. We have a mission study ahead of us, which will take 2-3 months before we start the pastor search.

(1) When the mission study is complete, you will also have a Vision Statement which you may easily memorize.

(2) If someone outside asks you, what does being a member of Central Presbyterian mean, would you know what to say?

(3) With our new Vision Statement of 2 or 3 sentences, it will be on the tip of your tongue: "this is who we are and where was are going."

This past Monday evening I sat down with the 6 members of our Pastor Nominating Committee and we had a friendly conversation. I responded to their questions about directions I envision for this church, how the tasks interim pastors undertake are different from an installed pastor. Bill Shirley said it was a wonderful experience and suggested we do this with the whole congregation. If I cannot answer your questions or address your concerns, I promise to pass them on to folks who can provide an answer–

I admit to you that I do make mistakes; I have made mistakes here already. But what are mistakes, if not opportunities to learn, to grow, to sharpen your focus, and an opportunity to grow into that maturity together that Paul talks about?

One member I enjoy talking with came in last Thursday afternoon to talk about anointing, how it is practiced in another church, the Assembly of God. Why do we not practice that ministry?

Anointing is used in services for wholeness.

It is a Biblical practice for the sealing of forgiveness and reconciliation, an embracing of a life of new life in Christ.

I proposed to him that we might have such a healing service, maybe quarterly, a simple service of 15 minutes or so– for any members of our congregation who want a symbolic act of strengthening their having the same mind of Christ Jesus, sharing his sufferings and the power of his resurrection.

It is a good way to celebrate our belief that God has anointed this church for a beautiful, perfected purpose in his kingdom on earth.

This morning we end this study with words from the first verse of chapter 4.

Here is another of Paul’s powerful blessings, a reaffirmation of how he feels about these Philippians. And it is how I feel about you, for you are my church family:

"Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love, and long for, my joy and crown ... stand firm this way in the Lord, my beloved."

Will you each join in imitating me, will you help complete my joy? Will you follow my example as I begin to climb the apple tree?