Sermon: "Why Should the Church Care?"

Third in the "Sent by the Father" series,
as part of Central's 2006 Missions Week Event: Focusing on HIV/AIDS.
Delivered September 24, 2006 by Dr. Derek Spencer, Institute of Human Virology at University of Maryland; Director of JACQUES Initiative; HIV/AIDS educator to medical peers and lay public.
Other sermons in this series - 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Important Note: Dr. Spencer delivered three different sermons with different parts of his message at each of our three services. We provide the audio of all three here.

Theme: Three related sermons detailing our Christian responsibility to be involved in one of history's greatest health crises.

The audio files for these 3 sermons are available for download and listening in MP3 format.

1. 08:15 Service: Click to Download & Listen, 5.9MB - "Breaking the Silence"
2. 10:00 Service: Click to Download & Listen, 5.3MB - "Are you a Sheep or a Goat?"
3. 11:30 Service: Click to Download & Listen, 4.5MB - "What About the Children?"

(This transcription is from the 8:15 service sermon - "Breaking the Silence")

Introduction by Rev. John Schmidt: Well, I would like to take a moment to introduce our speaker for this morning. The speaker today is Derek Spencer. He is a nurse practitioner here in Baltimore. Derek is involved in research as a sub-investigator in clinical trials here. He is involved also in primary care for people who are struggling with HIV and AIDS. He is also involved in education of people like us and his peers as well. He has also authored some material that is going to be used nationwide in helping people in the ministry of healing towards people with HIV/AIDS. He is also the director of the JACQUES Initiative, which is helping urban poor into an effective treatment process. But the reason that I am most excited about Derek being here has nothing to do with his professional qualifications, although that is really going to be important as he speaks to us today and tonight, but it's more because I got a chance to meet Derek and his wife Trina at a meal and I got a chance to share a little bit of his heart. I got a chance to sense his passion for walking with Jesus Christ and I got a chance to see that he understood how important it was for the church of Jesus Christ to care in a world full of need and that's what got me excited about the possibility that Derek would be here speaking to us today.

Now I thought that Derek was going to come and do the thing that we normally do, which is give one message for three services, but last night God kind of intervened and said, "Derek, no, not just one". He is going to do three different messages today. One story, three messages, three separate texts and each one is going to be complete, but we are going to try to tape all three so you have the whole picture of what God has put on his heart for today. Derek is going to be sharing with us about why the church should care. And so I would like to invite Derek up and share what the Lord has put on your heart. If I could pray for you before you preach to us.

Lord, I want to thank you for Derek. I want to thank you for the ministry that you have already given in to his life and I want to thank you for his family and pray now that you will anoint him, that you will bless us through him and that you will bless him by being with us because we can be of encouragement to one another. Thank you Lord in Jesus' name. Amen.

I am going to be sharing from three messages this morning, all under the umbrella "Why Should the Church Care?" This morning I want to talk a little bit about breaking the silence and I am going to get ... so I can do good. What's that? Oh I love it, yeah high tech, so there we go and it's also here. It's there and it's ... It's so good to be speaking on the subject Why Should we Care? Why Should the Church Care? and I am going to subtext it with three messages this morning with you breaking the silence. In the next service, Are you a sheep or are you a goat? And then lastly, teaching our children or what about the children?

If you have your Bible with you you can turn to 1st Samuel and you can turn to 1st Samuel the 3rd chapter. 1st Samuel, third chapter and if somebody does not have a Bible I would ask that you would just share with them and I will read the scripture, 1st Samuel, Chapter 3, Verses 8 through 11; from the King James version it says:

"And the Lord called Samuel again the third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli who was the priest and said, "Here am I; for thou didst call me." And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child. Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, "Go lie down, and it shall be if he call thee, that thou shall say, 'Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.' " So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the Lord came and stood and called as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" "Central Presbyterian! Central Presbyterian!" Then Samuel or Central Presbyterian answered and said, "Speak, for thy servant heareth."

This is probably one of my most favorite scriptures in the Bible because I love Hannah. Hannah was married to someone. Hannah was Samuel's mom and Hannah was married to someone called Elkanah and he had two wives, one wife Hannah and one wife Peninnah. I am going to say Peninnah because that is easier for me. And so, Hannah had no children, but Peninnah had children and so there was issue and conflict because Hannah, although she was a blessed woman, although she had no lack in her life, she was not suffering from financial issues. She had great resources. She even had the love and affection of her husband. What she wanted the most she did not have. She was barren and she wanted a child. Peninnah was like the enemy and he tormented her with what she did not have and so she would kind of snub her and rub it in her fact that nanny nanny boo-ba, Elkanah might love you more, but I have what you want and you are barren.

She was so desperate, Pastor John, that she began to pray to God and the Bible says that she prayed on the alter so ferociously what she wanted from God she was so desperate for, she prayed to the point that it looked like she was drunk. Eli the Priest came and saw her praying and asked her, "Why are you drinking in the middle of the day and why are you bringing such foolishness into the House of God?" She could hardly even answer him and she said, "I am full of sorrow. I am full of grief" and the Bible said that she couldn't even get words out, but she kind of just murmured with her mouth and I don't know if any of you have ever been in a situation, let me change that, I do know that if you have been living for more than ten years that we have all been in situations where we have felt desperate, amen? Felt like God, if you don't this, this will not be done.

And so she abandoned her pride and she began to seek the Lord. God blessed her and gave her a child and that child was Samuel. She kept her promise and said, God if you do this for me, I am not going to hold this gift hostage, oh this is starting out pretty quick, the thing that you do for me, I am not going to hold it hostage and take credit and say that's its mine, but that which you have given to me, I am going to give it back to you. So she gave back the gift of God through Samuel in to priesthood. And so he is growing up in the House of God. She breast fed him for many years and whether that was four or five years, a very long time and she turned over her gift to the Lord.

Chapter 3, Verse 1 amazes me and says, "And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli." This child ministered in the House of God. This child was very active in service, but what God began to do is to deal with him and it says that Samuel went to lie down inside of the House of God and rest. He did all of his service in the House of God, but he began to lie down to rest and in the silence of his service he had a routine and this is what he did on Monday and this is what he did on Tuesday. This is what he did on Wednesday and he picked up the kids on Thursday, but by the way honey, who is going to get them from soccer? I will get them from soccer. They need to be at a youth meeting on Thursday by 5 o'clock. Okay, dinner will be at 6. I will put it in the microwave. I will just... routine. He had a routine. We have routines. He went to lie down in the quietness of his routine and in the quietness of his routine, the Bible says that as the lamp of God went out, it was dark, Samuel was laid down to sleep, Verse 4, the Lord called Samuel and answered and Samuel said, "Here am I." But hear the confusion. The Lord was calling Samuel, but Samuel did not recognize the voice of the Lord. Samuel likened in the voice of the Lord to what was familiar to him and what was familiar to him was the voice of Eli. So over a period of three times, he is hearing God calling him and God is calling him, he wakes up and he is like, "Oh, I wish Eli would let me sleep" and he goes to Eli and says, "Okay, what do you want? This is the third time you called me." And Eli said, "Go, lie back down." Until he finally got discernment, the man of God got discernment that the voice that is calling me is not that which is familiar, but the voice that is calling me from my silence and from my routine is the voice of the Lord. And hear the instruction that he gives to Samuel. He said, "The next time that you hear God call you, this is to be your reply. Speak Lord, for your servant heareth."

Samuel was learning the appropriate response to the call of God. Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth. You might abbreviate that, "Yes, when God calls, say yes." Samuel becomes a friend of God and I know this is true. We sing about it. "I am a friend of God. I am a friend of God. I am a friend of God. He calls me friend." And we sing it and we dance to it, but do we really understand what it means to be a friend of God? How many of you have a good friend? I tell you that's awesome, because I believe some people go through life and never know what it is to have a friend. A friend is an incredible person who you can share and you can be intimate. As Genesis would say pastor, that you can be naked and not ashamed. I thank God for a wife that God gave me and my wife and my kids will be at the next two services, who I can be honest and I can be transparent with. A friend is an incredible person. A friend will celebrate with you. A friend will weep with you. They are there. A friend loveth at all times and a brother is born for adversity.

The Bible says that Eli basically was training this man for the walk of God that was going to be in his life, because he was going to be a leader over Israel. He was going to be a spiritual leader and 1st Samuel, 3:19 says, "And Samuel grew up." The Lord was with him and everything Samuel said proved to be reliable.

One of my again most favorite stories about Samuel is in 1st Samuel, 15. In 1st Samuel 15 God gives instruction to Saul, the King of Israel, to kill the enemy, to kill everything and what Saul did was to spare the King and to spare the best of the sheep and the cattle. The king's name was Agag and God told him to kill Agag. When God speaks to us in our life to get rid of certain things, he does not want us to make a pet of it. He doesn't want us to tolerate. There are some things that have to be killed. Agag was supposed to be killed. Saul was not obedient and in the scripture it's better to be obedient, obedience is better than sacrifice came out of this whole story. God had appointed Saul as king over Israel and Saul was not obedient to God. Listen to how God talked to his friend. God wants to be our friend and I am telling you that our God has a voice and he does speak and he will speak to us if we listen. It's just not that we speak to him pastor and we pray to him, but prayer is a dialogue. Prayer is a dialogue while I speak to him and I listen for his instructions through song. I listen through his instruction through word. I listen to his instruction in the line at Target. I am always listening for the instruction of God. This impresses me and it challenges me with my walk.

Then came the word of the Lord to Samuel. "This is God talking. It repented me that I have set up Saul to be King." God said, "I am so sorry that I ever placed Saul as king." It was never God's desire, but the people wanted to be like every other kingdom. They wanted a king like everybody else. God wanted Samuel to be in charge, but because of the selfishness of the people and not being satisfied with being God's people and always wanting to liken ourselves to the community, they said, "Give us a king like everybody else." And so God did it. And God said, "I am sorry that I made him king for he has turned back from following me and have not performed my commandments." This is what impresses me. "And it grieved Samuel and he cried unto the Lord all night long."

God was mourning over his people. God loves people. And so when he places people in leadership, when you are in a leadership position, whether its ushering or whether is Children's Church, whether it's a parent over a child, God has entrusted you to fulfill his will in the earth and Saul was disobedient and it grieved God. Why did it grieve God? Because God loves people. He gave his life. He sent his Son for people. And being a friend of God, when we become close to God pastor, what grieves God begins to grieve us. What makes him sad will begin to make us sad when we love him. What makes him happy will be yes. What makes him sad we will feel that grief and the Bible says that Samuel cried all night long. What did he cry about? He cried about that which concerned God. He cried over God's burden and I have to ask myself, "God, do I have the burden of God or am I walking through life just trying to please myself and please my own desires and live where I want to live and drive what I want to drive and work where I want to work and do what I want to do. Is my life given over to you?"

Listen to how much God wants us to be his friend in John 15, Verses 14 and 15, he says,

"Henceforth, I call you not servants Central Presbyterian, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth, but I have called you friends. I have called you my friend for all that I have heard of my Father, I have made that known unto you."

In 1981 we began an incredible journey of our known knowledge of HIV and AIDS. In 1981 there was an illness going on in Africa and they called is Slim disease, because all they knew is that you got sick and you got skinny. In the US an immunologist out of UCLA began to chronicle cases of strange disorders in the immune system. Men between the age of 25 to 40 who should be very healthy walking in with immune suppression. Michael Gottlieb not knowing what that was, but having casual conversation with his peers across the country said, "Wait a minute. You have a case like that? Strange, I have a case like that too." And in May of 1981 he began to write about our first known cases of HIV and AIDS in the United States. They shared three things in common. They were gay. They were white and they were men. On the East Coast, a dermatologist began to chronicle cases of Kaposi's carcinoma, sarcoma, this special type of skin cancer, again gay white male.

The reality was that this was never just a gay white man's disease. We know that persons of color have always been disproportionally impacted, but the information that went out was that this was the gay plague. It was a gay white man's disease and we didn't call it AIDS, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. We called it GRID, gay related immune deficiencies. The Church's views were very much impeded early on by its theological views on IV drug use and homosexuality. So we got to holding conferences. Oh boy. We got to holding conferences and we wanted to know how does the word of God expect us to deal with IV drug use and homosexuality and we began to deal with issues and we began to deal with them and we got in a rut pastor and we got stuck and we prayed. The problem is is that we prayed for too long and while we were praying, wondering if we should respond to pain and hurt in the earth, we now have an epidemic where we have 40 million people worldwide. You actually live in a state that is ranked #4 or #5 in the incidence and prevalence of HIV, while we were in our routine, while Derek was doing worship, and while Derek was teaching Sunday School people crying, 40 million voices crying "Would somebody help me? Would someone love me?"; while we wondered if God's love and the blood of Jesus Christ was enough to handle any situation. The word says, "Behold I am the Lord. I am the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? There is nothing that is too hard for me."

And as we become the friend of God we begin to get the message of God and we get the passion of God and we are like Christ in the earth. Listen to this; Psalms 38:6-8,11.

"I am bent over and racked with pain. My days are filled with grief. A raging fever burns within me and my health is broken. I am exhausted and completely crushed. My groans come from an anguished heart. My loved ones and my friends they stay away fearing my disease. Even my own family stands at a distance."

I thank God that he is a man of sorrow and he is acquainted with grief. God hears, but the question isn't does God hear? The question is, do we? Do we hear? Will we respond? Will you allow God to break your routine? Will you allow God to speak to you in the silence of this service, in the silence of the car ride? Will you answer the call of God that is to the Church and to the body of Christ, to be like Christ in the earth? God is calling, but I am afraid that we are likening the voice of God to that which is familiar and God says, "Behold, I will do a new thing. Shall you not know it." It is very possible ladies and gentlemen that God can call in our lives for a new thing, but we are so busy in our routine and our schedule. And so Samuel would hear the voice the God and he would run to the familiar, run to the familiar and now I am going to get even more involved in church. And God is calling for us to transition from just going to church to being the church. God is calling for a transition from just going to church to being the church. Speak Lord, for your servant heareth.

As I close, Isaiah 6 and 8,

"Then I heard the Lord asking,
whom shall I send as a messenger to this people?
Who will go for us?
Here am I Lord, send me."

I am the epitome of a church boy. If you look church boy up in the dictionary, my picture will be to the right. I am the church boy. I am the worship leader. I am the Sunday school teacher. I am the Youth. I am the church boy and God began to deal with my wife and I as I tell a story throughout these three services that "Derek I am needing for you to move from just going to church and Derek I need for you to be the church. I need you to be a walking, talking worship service. I need you to be the announcements. I need you to be the altar."<.p>

I need you to be the church and he never exemplified this to me greater than when one of our clients at the JACQUES Initiative, a woman who has had one partner in her life, her husband, one partner and she walked in to our clinics in Inner City Baltimore. I could get nothing accomplished with her for months because I spent 15 to 30 minutes dealing with her weeping, angry, wanting to know why me, how could this happen to me and when we understand that HIV is about behaviors that put us at risk, us at risk. This woman monogamous living with something that was killing her.

A long story short, she is in the clinic with me and she is weeping constantly, she is angry, she is trying to stay in her marriage for the sake of her child, she does not want to pass on issues of not just illness between her and her husband and now divorce. She is trying to deal. She is trying to do the right thing, but she's got bad things going on and she is angry and she's confused and how did this happen to me anyway? And God you can not possibly love me and have allowed, but God is saying, "Behold I am the Lord of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? Call upon me and I will answer you." Jeremiah 33. Here's the message for the church. Such that we have received, has God been good to you? A show of hands. Okay, God has been good. So God has done... you have prayed to him. He has counseled you. He's helped you, such that you have received, such you much give. To whom so ever much is given, much is required. The whole purpose of this awesome worship is to equip you to become the church.

I am trying to finish. So she's crying with me and she is weeping with me and I close the door as I often do and I knew that I had to pray with her. I am in an academic environment and if you can't prove it statistically significant with a P value less than .05, no one wants to considerate it true, but I knew that science would not be the answer to this dilemma and I was going to have to close the door and I was going to have to pray and connect and we prayed and I went home and in my quietness, in my silence, God breaking my silence, breaking my routine, transitioning me from going to church to being the church. The spirit of God spoke to me and you know what he said, he said this and I fell to my knees and I weeped. He said, "I sent her to church today. I sent her to church." We come to church. You get these messages. You get this worship, not so that church is about Sunday, but everyday becomes Sunday. I come to church to get equipped to be the church and so I carry the glory of God. I am a carrier. I am a carrier. I'm a carrier of the Holy Spirit and it was Tuesday, but her situation was so desperate Sandy that she could not afford for me to say, "Would you come to church with me on Sunday?". She needed a word on Tuesday and so I had to be the church on a Tuesday. So the spirit of God would say, "I sent her to church today."

And so that you will believe that I am closing, I am going to close this and I am going to say to you, this is what I sense in my spirit. I sense that this is not a project. I have had wonderful, but limited interaction with this man. I have had a lot of interaction with Sandy Boucher and I am telling you that what I sense, and I see Amy, I feel like Sally from Romper Room and I see Amy... I sense that this is not a project, but I sense that this is a shift. I sense that God is asking you, "Would you be my friend?" Central Presbyterian would you be my friend and would you share what makes me happy? But would you also share in what grieves me and would you be my arms in the earth? Why should the church care? Because he cares. Because he is my friend and I care about what he cares about.

God Bless you and thank you just for the opportunity to come share my own story of transition from going to church to being the church and I am looking forward to partnering with you in the earth to fulfill the call and the will of God in this area. God Bless you.

© 2006, Rev. Kent Crawford Sr. and John Hamilton
Central Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD 21204 410/823-6145
www.centralpc.org