Bankrupting the Company

The Rev. Whitworth Ferguson III
The First Presbyterian Church
Washingtonville, New York
January 30, 2005

Bankrupting the Company
Romans 7, 15; 8:
Matthew 4:15-22

We heard a different call narrative today,
different from the one we heard two weeks ago in John’s gospel.
This is the one we tend to know:
the story of Peter the fisherman.
He and his brother made their living fishing the Sea of Galilee.
Most mornings they would climb into their boat and head out into
deep waters, where they would let their nets over the side
and, they hoped, haul up a good catch.
On other mornings, especially when the Sea was too rough for them,
they would simply stand on the shoreline
and cast their nets out into the surf.

Fishing was physically demanding, dangerous work.
The nets they threw into the waters were made from heavy coarse rope
and they grew heavier as they became waterlogged.
If they rowed their small boat far from shore,
and the winds picked up,
even the small Sea of Galilee could turn deadly.

As Peter and Andrew, John and James hauled in their nets,
they’d take the fish and place them on racks
and shovel coarse salt over them.
Two thousand years ago no one knew anything about refrigeration,
or even ice.
Fish was laid out in the sun to dry
and then sold to travelers, merchants and others who passed their way.
Dried, salted fish could last for days;
It was the precursor of freeze-dried food for the traveler:
light and long lasting,
even if the taste may have left something to be desired.

And so in the early morning, as the sun was just starting to warm the air,
and people were just beginning to stir,
Jesus walked along the shore of the Sea of Galilee
and saw Peter and his brother Andrew,
and then another pair of fishermen: John and James.
And Jesus said to them, “follow me.”
Nothing more.
No promises of riches, or salvation, or fame.
No rituals, no altar calls…
Just, “follow me.”

Why did Jesus call these men?
Why wasn’t Jesus at the Temple, conversing with those who were learned
in Scripture and the laws, and the teachings of the rabbis?
At the very least, why wasn’t Jesus talking with men of money,
of power, of influence?
Surely, that region had its celebrities, its wealthy,
its athletes and entertainers,
its politicians and powerbrokers.
What was Jesus doing with ordinary fishermen?
Men whose most distinguishing feature was their
pungent cologne of sweat, brine, and fish.
What did Jesus see in the man Peter, and his brother Andrew?
What did Jesus see when he went a little farther down the beach
and saw two more brothers, James and John?
These were strangers to our Lord,
men he’d never met before.
But he saw in them what we should see in all men and women:
he saw potential,
potential and promise.

Jesus could not have cared less about their education, their family backgrounds,
the neighborhoods they lived in, what schools they went to,
who they were married to, their political persuasions,
the color of their hair, or even their theology:
all those tools that we use to make judgments about people.

Jesus saw them as children of God
men created in God’s image,
men with potential, the potential that is in every one of us,
every one of God’s children:
the potential to be good men, faithful men,
men who would follow him, listen to him, and learn from him.
Men who would help others to follow.

Once he selected his disciples,
he didn’t send them off to a two-week disciple training program;
he just had the four follow him.
They added others, of course, until there were twelve.
And they followed Jesus,
listened to him, and learned from him.
Learned from his words, and learned from his actions.

They didn’t get everything right.
They often displayed weak faith.
They often seemed to pay no attention to his teachings.
Jesus lost his temper with them on more than few occasions;
Not because they were incapable,
but because they weren’t trying,
they weren’t listening;
they were more focused on themselves than they were on God
and faithful discipleship.

It was selfishness, self-centered behavior that distressed Jesus the most.
Behavior that is so common.
Behavior that is so hard to avoid.
hard for the disciples, hard for each of us.
We have heard Jesus’ commandment to us that we are to love our neighbor
as ourselves, but we want what we want,
and if our neighbor differs with us,
then we are quick to turn away from him or her.

How many times have you heard the words, “love your neighbor as yourself”
and then turned right around and treated someone rudely, abruptly
with disdain or contempt?
Yes, others have treated you that way,
but how many times have you treated someone else that way?
Think back just over the last 48 hours and there probably
isn’t one person among us here who hasn’t fallen well short
of living up to Jesus’ teaching.
Is it any wonder, then, that Paul should express his exasperation
with himself in his letter to his brothers and sisters in Rome:
“I do not understand my own actions.
For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” (Rom. 7:15)

As much as Paul tried to live his life according to Jesus’ teachings,
as much has he tried to be concerned with others,
look after others,
serve others,
Paul was often temperamental, peevish, sharp.
because Paul struggled, as we all do, to turn his focus
away from himself, away from what he wanted,
away from matters of the flesh,
to matters of the Spirit: to love.

We have all been called to follow Jesus Christ,
not because any of us has done something special to have earned such an honor.
No, we have been called because of God’s love for all of us, all his children.
Now you have heard me say many times
with our calling comes responsibility,
responsibility to learn from Christ, to learn from God.
We are to learn,
and be transformed as we grow in discipleship.
Have you taken stock of where you are in your faith journey
now compared with last year?
Are you different?
Have you been transformed even a little?
Are you more loving?
More forgiving?
More caring?
More concerned for others?
Are you less concerned for yourself, your reputation,
your position, your ego?
Only you know the answers to these questions;
you, and, of course, God.

Here in our church we are always working on transformation.
Anyone who looks at where this church was just five years ago,
knows that today we are in many ways different.
The Holy Spirit has called almost 100 new members to our family
over the past five years.
As of December 31, we counted our membership at more than 200.

Studies show that growing through that 200 member number
is the toughest transition a church can make;
more difficult than 200 to 300, or 400 to 500.
As we get bigger we need to work harder to assure that
we maintain an overall sense of community.
As churches grow, groups and factions grow.
Groups think of themselves as independent,
almost separate from the church,
and that causes problems.

Our focus must always be on the church, the congregation,
the community of faith and the Body of Christ that is First Presbyterian Church.
Our focus must always be on our church,
and on our transformation – both our own personal transformation,
and the transformation of our church.

I am about to start my sixth year as pastor of this congregation
and I have been praying over the past few weeks
seeking to discern where God wants me to focus
my energy in the coming year.
This past year much of my time and energy was spent on administrative matters,
building issues, and accounting and financial concerns.
It is my fervent hope and prayer to spend far less time on such matters
in the coming year.
Where I feel called to focus my energy is on how we do things.
Not on what we do, but on how we do things.

If we work well together as a community
then we will be faithful to Jesus,
and we will be successful.
If we lose sight of the larger picture,
we will fail.

When I lived in Buffalo, workers at a large manufacturing plant went on strike.
The company they worked for was struggling
and wanted to cut back on wages and employment.
The union said no and the two parties dug in for battle.
In a memorable moment, the leader of the union stood before a
bank of microphones and in a defiant tone said,
“We are going to get what we want
if we have to bankrupt the company to do it.”
The union was successful in their negotiations,
and kept the company from cutting back on wages or employment.
But two years later, the company shut down the plant
and laid off all the workers.
For the union leader, his triumph was short-lived.
He had lost site of the larger picture
as he focused on his own agenda

In our church, we must always be focused on the larger picture:
our own transformation as disciples of Christ
and our church’s transformation as we seek to find
new and better ways to engage in the missions and ministry
that our Lord calls us to.

We have such potential, and so much promise.
We are growing church, a healthy church.
But we can slip and fall quickly.

Each of us has been given the gift of grace by God through Jesus Christ.
It is up to each of us to extend that grace to our families
and to one another here in our church family.
Our calling is to build a grace-filled, gracious church.
Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer has written,
“It is easily forgotten that the fellowship of Christians…is a gift of grace,
a gift…that any day may be taken from us…
It is grace, nothing but grace that we are allowed
to live in community with [one another].” (Life Together, 20)

I would like to see us focus more intently on grace,
creating a more grace-filled, gracious church.
Peggy Wright, who has chaired our Christian Education committee,
has been working with me on a series of programs we plan to offer
during Lent, all focused on grace, and the last program in
the series addresses that specific topic:
how can we build a more grace-filled, gracious church.

The Psalmist has written, “how very good and pleasant it is
when kindred live together in unity…” (Psalm 133.1)
We won’t always agree on everything anymore than
the 12 disciples always agreed with one another,
or even agree with Jesus.
But if we are ground our actions and words on grace and Jesus’ commandments,
if we keep our focus on the Body of Christ that is this church,
then our community will flourish.

Jesus called each disciple for the same reason he called you and me:
because of his love for us.
We are called to share that love in everything we do
and everything we say.
We honor Christ not by saying we believe in him;
words are easy.
We honor Christ by responding faithfully to his words to
follow him: to live our lives as he lived his:
filled with grace, and sharing that grace
with all God’s children.
AMEN