“In a World of Serious Purposes”

Matthew 28:16-20

Karl Barth defined a Christian witness as someone willing to do something foolish in a world of serious purposes. Not a bad definition, especially within the context of the Apostle Paul urging us to be fools for Christ.

For a variety of reasons I find Dr. Barth’s definition to be very applicable to my life and ministry at this moment. This is Trinity Sunday, the day we celebrate the doctrine of the Trinity: one God in three distinct persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I believe that doctrine. I preach that doctrine. But my understanding of the deep, deep mystery of the Trinity is at best limited. This limitation leaves me feeling rather foolish. After all I’m the pastor, the guy who went to seminary and read all those big books of theology. Shouldn’t my definition of such a basic doctrine of the Christian faith be better developed?

Another reason that I feel foolish is my lack of evangelistic skills. Today’s text is our Lord’s Great Commission to his disciples, then and now. As a Christian, part of my calling is to share the Good News of Jesus with others.

This was not a topic covered in seminary. Nor is it something I ever heard much about growing up in the Presbyterian Church. It was always been something that I assumed the Baptists did. On top of all that I’m an introvert. I’m not comfortable discussing something as intimate as my faith with friends and relatives, much less strangers.

And yet I’ve signed on to be coached in evangelism so that I can then coach others. And before I even start the coaching I’m running off to Clarkston, GA to do what? Talk to non-Christian immigrants – total strangers – about Jesus. I feel not so much like a fool for Christ as I do a fool, period. And an imposter. How do I, an imperfect, sinful man riddled with doubts about not only myself, but also at times the very faith I’m called to share, dare ask anyone to take seriously anything I have to say about Jesus?

Having doubts is nothing new for Christian disciples. Up on that mountaintop with Jesus as he gave them the Great Commission, some doubted. There in the physical presence of their risen Lord some of the disciples were still unsure about their relationship with him. Listen to verse 17 as it comes from The Message: “The moment they saw him they worshipped him. Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally.”

Doubts or not they all heard Jesus command them to go out and make disciples of others, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching these new disciples all the things that Jesus had taught them. And after Pentecost, that’s exactly what they did.

How did they do it? Why especially did those who had doubts do it? Because of the two sentences Jesus spoke that bracketed the Commission: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given me.” They were going forth with the full authority of the Lord God Almighty and their Lord Jesus Christ: not a small thing.

“And remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” They didn’t have to do it alone. Riddled with doubt and full of human imperfections they dared to go out because why? Because they had the Lord and his authority on their side.

With the Lord and his authority on their side they were faithful witnesses for Jesus. Surrounded by a world of very serious purposes they dared do something as seemingly foolish as evangelism. They joyfully played the role of fools in the world, but not just any fools, fools for Christ.

In his commentary on today’s text, Dr. Tom Long shared a story from Garret Keizer, pastor of a small church in Vermont. This story had to do with Mr. Keizer’s experience with a sparsely attended Easter Vigil service at his church: “… and there we are, three people and a flickering light in an old church on a Saturday evening in the spring, with the noise of the cars and their winter rusted mufflers outside. The moment is filled with ambiguities of all such quiet observances among a few people, in the midst of an oblivious population in a radically secular age. The act is so ambiguous because its terms are so extreme: the Lord is with us, or we are pathetic fools.”

Three Christians and one feeble candle on a Saturday night in Vermont, surrounded by a world of seriously purposeful people getting on with their seriously purposeful lives, totally unaware of or not caring about three people expressing their faith. Three people and one feeble candle standing over against the world’s darkness. Did they have doubts? Indeed they did. Were they sinfully imperfect? Indeed they were. Did they feel like fools? Probably so. Were they pathetic fools? Indeed they were not. The Lord to whom all authority had been given was with them.

With reference to the good Reverend Keizer’s comment about the possibility of followers of Jesus being pathetic fools, let’s take a look at I Corinthians 15:17-19: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” Paul was writing to those Corinthian Christians about the reality of the resurrection, not just that of Jesus but their own. Basically he was saying to them – and us - that either the full Gospel truth is a reality or it isn’t. If it is not true then we who follow Jesus are pathetic fools who are most to be pitied.

A side story: Many years ago at Princeton Seminary there was a group of students who were exuberantly sharing the Gospel with their fellow students by pelting them with Gospel bombs contained in water balloons. When called to the president’s office they defended themselves in terms of Paul’s admonition to be fools for Christ. Yes said the president, that is true; we are to be fools for Christ, but not damn fools.

Borrowing his words and placing them in a much different context, if we who follow Jesus are pathetic fools, most to be pitied, then the truth is that we’re not just damn fools; we’re damned fools. If the Gospel story is not real, and if we follow a dead Savior, then we are damned. There’s nothing standing between us and the just wrath of God. If we were to go forth to evangelize in the name of a dead Savior, then we really would be pathetic, for we would go with neither the authority nor the presence of a living Savior; we would go forth to carry out what truly is a fool’s errand.

But the reality is that the Gospel story is true. The Word did become flesh and dwell among us. He was crucified, dead and buried. He did descend into hell. And on the third day he was raised from the dead. Ours is a living Savior whose promise of eternal life can be trusted. His commandments, those lessons we are called to share with the world, are a faithful guide to abundant living. He has been given universal authority. With that authority, by the power of the Holy Spirit, he is always with us. When we go forth in his name to share his Gospel we are not going off on a fool’s errand. We are going out to proclaim an eternal truth that the whole world is literally dying to hear. We may have our doubts. We will never be perfect. But with him, his truth, and his authority we are never pathetic fools, people most to be pitied.

This world of serious purposes may think we’re pathetic. All those seriously purposeful people in our culture may look upon us with pity. They may even consider us damn fools. But we are not damn fools. We are fools for Christ. And in the words of the Apostle Paul, we serve a God whose: “… foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and [whose] weakness is stronger than human strength.”

I’ll close with these words of Tom Long: “So it is always with the church. We take a fragmentary community, a fragmentary faith, a fragmentary understanding of the Trinitarian God, and we go into the world with everything Jesus has taught us. Either the Lord is with us and all authority has been given to Christ, or we are indeed pathetic fools.”

My friends, we are doubt-filled, sin-tainted people called by Christ to share his Gospel. We are his fools. We are not pathetic. We are in need of nobody’s pity. Amen.