God Raises People Up!

Text: Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Theme: “God Raises People Up!”
4th Sunday after the Epiphany
January 29, 2012
First Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

IN THE NAME OF JESUS

15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. 16 For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”
17 The LORD said to me: “What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. 19 I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name. 20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.”

For the last few years, with increasing frequency, I’ve gone down to the Wal-Mart on S.R. 2181 to see Dr. Lee, my eye doctor. I have two prescriptions: one for distance and the other for up close. The pair of glasses I hold in my hand are probably the best for me to wear in the pulpit. The middle-to-bottom portion of the lense helps me see those objects, et cetera, that are closer to me, and the middle-to-top part helps me to see all of your bright, shiny, happy, smiling faces.
Since being in Texas, my vision has changed. I began to notice it while driving at night. Fortunately, my lenses have solved the problem. I remember asking Dr. Lee about this. I’ve had mild near-sightedness for years, so mild that it really did not require correction. But this was different. Dr. Lee said, at more than one point in the conversation, that, “as we age,” things happen to our vision. There’s actually a term for this called “Presbyopia.” In layman’s terms, we’re talking about old eyes. And you’re right! The “presby” part of that word is the first part of the word Presbyterian. “Presby” comes from the Greek term “presbuteros” which means “ruler” or “elder.” From the word “elder”, we get the term “elderly.”

But the New Testament doesn’t use “presbuteros” exclusively and only to denote age. Rather, it indicates an office that the people of God, at various times and places, are called to occupy. The two offices that emerge from the New Testament Scriptures are the office of elder and deacon. The office of elder has two aspect or responsibilities, if you will. First, an elder can be called to help guide and direct the affairs of the congregation. As such, they are called ruling elders. When they get together for a meeting, in Presbyterian lingo, they are called the “Session.”

Secondly, an elder can be called to proclaim and teach the truth’s of God’s Word and to administer the Sacraments of Jesus Christ. They are called teaching elders, or ministers of Word and Sacrament, or, more commonly, pastors. In terms of meaning, the word “deacon” describes one who serves, one who helps to meet the spiritual and temporal needs of people both within and outside the congregation.

In our understanding, no one puts themselves into these offices of elder or deacon. Rather, they are put into office another way: through ordination and the laying on of hands. Once you’re ordained, you’re always ordained. It happens only once. Installation, however, could happen many times as Christians previously ordained may be led by God’s Spirit to return to formal service.

In just minutes, here in Lord’s Day worship, we will ordain and install our newly-elected elders and deacons. This is a banner day for our congregation; there is much to celebrate. Yesterday morning, at our annual officer’s retreat, our current officers had a wonderful conversation with those Christians who will be ordained and installed this morning. Certainly, we thanked them for their willingness to serve, but it was far more than that. We got to hear a bit about their history and involvement in this congregation. Best of all, we rejoiced in God’s call and claim on their lives.

This takes me back to these glasses. There are two ways of looking at this, two perspectives to view this from, two lenses – so to speak – to see this through. One way is to say that we recruited ourselves; our nominating committee got some people to come on board and to volunteer and to commit and to serve on the session and the diaconate. That’s not always an easy thing to do given our schedules, limitations, and other issues. Don’t get me wrong, I totally favor volunteerism and commitment. But there is more to this, far more, than that. Let us look at this another way, a second way. Through the voice of our congregation, God has called these Christians to occupy these offices. I invite you to let this second view be your view, and I challenge you to celebrate it today.

Yes, at the session meeting yesterday morning (which was part of the retreat), our elders conducted the affairs of the church. They made decisions. There were joys; there were concerns; there were sorrows; there was laughter; there were ups; there were downs. But, through it all, God was working through people.

This is one of the wonderful things about being a Christian: we believe that God is not in some far-off place simply existing – like some kind of cosmic couch potato. Quite to the contrary, the Spirit of God – the Spirit of Christ Jesus – is actively involved in life, in our lives, in claiming, calling, and guiding each one of us. That being said, the implications are massive. Life – and life in the church – is no longer a duty (which often can become a drudgery). Instead, it becomes an adventure – which is to say, real life! We are caught up in a life and a way of life that is bigger than ourselves. If it is all about the self; if it is all about tireless self-promotion, I’m telling you: the self can’t stand the strain of playing God. I recall some time ago a person coming up to me and saying: “Do you want to know the difference between God and Donald Trump?” I said “sure.” The reply came back: “The difference between God and Donald Trump is that God doesn’t think He’s Donald Trump.” Eventually, like Humpty-Dumpty, the idol falls and is smashed to smithereens. We are not God. We are God’s children.

And we have names.

Speaking of names, I came across this list of names from the Bible and I shared it with our officers yesterday morning. I wish to share it with you too. Here’s how it reads:

Jacob was a cheater; Peter had a temper;
David had an affair; Noah got drunk;
Jonah ran from God; Paul was a murderer;
Gideon was insecure; Miriam was a gossiper;
Martha was a worrier; Thomas was a doubter;
Sarah was impatient; Elijah was depressed;
Moses tsuttered; Zacchaeus was short;
Abraham was old, and Lazarus was dead… .

GOD DOESN’T CALL THE QUALIFIED,
HE QUALIFIES THE CALLED!

There was a time when the people of God would have preferred that God simply go on existing and NOT be so involved in the lives of people. With all due respect and with a certain politeness, they said, as recorded in today’s Old Testament Reading: “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.” They were okay with Moses, but Moses wasn’t going to be with them anymore to tell them what God was going to do or what God wanted. So Moses said: “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites.”

That’s just one example. But here’s the point: God raises people up! God has never left God’s people without a voice to share God’s Word. God has never stopped calling and qualifying people to provide direction and guidance (like elders). God has never stopped calling, qualifying, and raising up people to serve the needs of others (like deacons).

The greatest person God raised up is His only-begotton Son – even Jesus Christ, our Lord. He called His Son at His Baptism and through His public ministry. He qualified His Son through His all-availing death for our sins and glorious resurrection from the grave. And that Son made good on His promise to send His Spirit to call and qualify others to join the dance, and we are here today as living proof of the same.

This is big! Verizon Fios has nothing on us. For this – God’s gracious claim upon our lives – is truly big!

Amen.