Rev. Dr. Joel D. Biermann
Matthew 16:18-19
August 27, 2017 12th Sunday after Pentecost
The Midwest is littered with country churches that were once the bustling center of life in the farming communities of a century or more ago. Time and technology have not been kind to these little parishes. Families have shrunk and farming requires less manpower so there simply aren’t as many people as there used to be, and now good roads and cars make a 15-mile drive into a nearby town a simple thing, not an all-day affair. So, a church around the corner is not the necessity it once was. Many of these old congregations have disappeared altogether, leaving behind cemeteries and old buildings for avid re-modelers. Others hang-on, supported by a handful of faithful families. I’m sympathetic to the plight of these once-vibrant churches and the great challenges that they face; none, more than the congregation my family used to visit when we vacationed along Lake Michigan. Without the aid of GPS or even Google maps, finding the church was never easy. But, I would always know I was getting close when I’d make the final turn from the county road onto the side road that led to the church. My landmark was the very prominent DEAD-END sign that greeted every driver leaving the main road. A quarter mile down the dead-end, just where the blacktop ran out, sat the church. It was the church on a literal dead-end. It’s still there, and thirty-some people continue to gather there Sunday after Sunday. The church on the dead-end isn’t dead yet.
In so many ways, the unfortunate congregation on a dead-end road in rural Michigan may seem quite distant from suburban St. Louis. But, the problem of a church stuck on a dead-end is hardly an isolated phenomenon. And simply having a prominent location on a major north-south thoroughfare, just a block off of an even more major east-west thoroughfare, does not provide certain protection against the possibility of being a church on a dead-end. But, you know that; and in this congregation, you’re taking nothing for granted. You are working hard to protect this parish from being a church on a dead-end. So, how’s it going? Do people in the wider community know that this place matters? Do people in the area grasp the centrality and significance of all that happens right here in this place? Or, is this place known mostly for its much-lauded pre-k facility and program—the desirable place where every caring parent in the area wants their child to be nurtured? Or, is this place primarily known as the gracious host for AA meetings, or the convenient employee parking lot for the Chrysler dealer? What do people think when they think of this congregation? Does this congregation have anything in common with the church on a dead-end?
The relationship between God’s church and the surrounding culture has never been an easy one, of course. But, in recent years the happy cooperation that long prevailed between the Christian church in the United States and the wider American context has deteriorated and all but collapsed. There is a steadily increasing number of voices that openly challenge the work and even existence of the church, much worse, though, is the far more common response of disinterested indifference. For many people, the church simply does not matter. It does not play a significant or even tangential role in their lives, and they do not miss it. Most people are content to live their busy, comfortable, important lives without making any room in those lives for the church. They don’t even bother to be Sunday believers. As far as they are concerned, the church is irrelevant to real life, it’s an old, abandoned institution harmlessly falling into disrepair on a forgotten and unused sidetrack, languishing on a dead-end.
This is not news to any of you, of course. You know this. You know that unbelievers deem the Christian faith as at best quaint and spiritually useful for some people; and at worst, toxic, hateful, and detrimental to modern culture. It’s hardly a new thing for the world to push back against the claims of the church. We expect it from those who don’t know and follow Christ. More troublesome, I think, is the reality that even among those who do come to church on a regular basis, there is a tendency to adopt the thinking of the surrounding culture. Even church-goers are prone to relegate the church to a sliver of their lives deemed “spiritual,” leaving little to no place for the claims of Christ and his truth on the rest of their lives. In other words, too many Christians are content to confess Christ on Sunday and keep their spiritual lives in order, but then recognize no impact from their Christian faith or their church on the remainder of their lives. For them, the church is irrelevant and largely unimportant when it comes to real life.
When those who confess Christ, and profess to follow him and his ways, live the bulk of their lives as if Christ made no difference, then the church is on a dead-end. When even believers fail to see and celebrate how the claims of Christ transform every part of life, the church is at a dead-end no matter how many people still show up there. Indeed, packed pews are no guarantee that the church is not at a dead-end. The reality is that many of those who do bother to go to church on any given Sunday are actually content with an irrelevant and dead-end church. After all, it’s easy to be part of a bland and compliant church that demands nothing and expects little. It’s far more comfortable being part of a church that shuffles down the path of irrelevance than one that takes seriously what it means to follow Christ in the way of faith.
So, what’s the solution? How does one keep the church off of a dead-end? The remedy to the threat of irrelevance is not more energy, enthusiasm, expenditure, programs, or activity. Ramping up the busy-ness of the people does not make the church matter. Creating more beneficial services for the community does not yield relevance. The way to keep the church off of the dead-end is not to succumb to what the wider world insists or assumes is right and acceptable. Churches that comply with the demands of the culture and wilt and wither into the molds of accommodating service organizations designed to meet people’s felt needs are altogether dead and rotten inside regardless what signs of life they may portray with all of their endeavors and community work. No, the church does not stay off of the dead-end of irrelevance by rebranding, recreating, or rebooting itself. The spiritual reality of the church, a reality rooted in God’s truth, is that the church is incapable of manufacturing relevance for itself. No doubt, a parish can stir up some excitement and notoriety in the community by pursing a slate of innovative and fresh events and products that will tantalize the insatiable demands of the surrounding consumer culture. But whether those activities are home-grown or the prescribed formulas of experts, they cannot make the church matter.
The church’s relevance is not something that can be produced by the people, regardless their level of sincerity or commitment. Relevance is not generated, it is given. The fact is that the church matters and is surpassingly relevant by definition. The church is the body of Christ who is the Creator, the Lord, and the Savior of the entire universe. That’s relevant. The church is the place where Christ is at work. Here, in his church, Christ himself comes to real people and gives them what they need to live real lives in a real world. Here, he comes and he delivers the only perfect solution to life’s biggest problems. Here, he solves the problem of death once and for all. Here, Christ speaks his truth and teaches people about the reason for their very existence and the purpose for the life that they have been given. Here, Christ solves the problem of meaning in life. He tells you why you’re here, what you are to accomplish in life, and why, and how you are to live to find joy and satisfaction in the day in and day out reality of ordinary life. Christ answers every one of the “big questions” that nag and terrify those rare people who have the courage to look behind the farce of modern life to face the problems of death and meaninglessness. Christ matters. His church matters. Always. No exceptions. The church is not on a dead-end. It is vibrant and alive and exceedingly relevant wherever it is because it is the place that is giving God’s gifts in Christ and teaching God’s truth for his people. The church’s relevance is never in question.
Much less certain, however, is the degree to which God’s people believe, receive, live, and give God’s relevant gifts and truth. And, the failure of God’s people to immerse themselves in God’s gifts and reality absolutely puts congregations on a dead-end. The death of a parish is not a lack of relevance. What kills a congregation is not a dearth of meaning or purpose. What brings death is people who fail to embrace God’s reality in every part of their lives. That always leads to the dead-end of crushing irrelevance. God and his work in Christ always matter. God answers the deepest needs of every person alive. But, when God’s people do not live fully in that truth, and when they do not celebrate the forgiveness freely given in Christ, and when they do not norm their lives according to God’s good will, the message and work of God’s church are sabotaged and that church ends up stuck on a dead-end.
Jesus himself made the promise—hell itself will not be able to resist the forward march of God’s church into the world. The gates of Hell will be breeched and Satan’s kingdom invaded by Christ’s triumphant church. The church cannot be stopped or hindered because where his words are spoken and his gifts given, Christ is present in his church. Christ has given his authority, his presence, and his power to you. When you speak his truth, he is the one who is speaking and his Spirit is working. When you tell someone about the wonder of God’s perfect plan for his creation and the remarkable part that each person is called to play in fulfilling that plan, it is Jesus who is making the appeal through you. His Spirit is calling another person into his Kingdom. When you strive to raise your children, and serve your neighbor, and love and honor your spouse the way that God has called you to do those things, it is Jesus who is at work in you and through you making an impact on all the world. This work is never a dead-end. It is never irrelevant.
By God’s grace, you are part of the most astounding reality—the reality of God’s plan and purpose for the universe. You are part of the unstoppable force that is Christ’s church. You have the power to live in his reality, and the power to speak his gospel and his truth to those around you so that they also encounter God’s reality. There is nothing irrelevant or meaningless about this. The story of God’s creation, redemption, and final restoration of his creation and his people carries a profound and universal meaning that will never grow stale or out-of-date. Don’t ever become discouraged by the world’s bravado, dismissive indifference, and outright attacks. Christ’s church cannot be defeated. He has given his promise. Congregations may come and go, of course, and churches on dead-ends may well be compelled to close their doors for good; but the church of Christ will never be curbed or stopped. It will not ever die. It will triumph over every force of sin and death and hell. It will triumph because it is Christ’s church. And you will share in that triumph, because you are Christ’s church. Press forward with confidence. Press forward with conviction. Press forward with God’s story on your lips and his power at work in your lives. Press forward and God will bring the victory. He has promised it. Amen.