Sunday's Sermon - Like Selling a Green Tractor

Below is the text and a recording of the sermon I preached at Rimersburg Presbyterian Church, on Sunday, January 15.

John 1:29-42 [Contemporary English Version]

The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said:

Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! He is the one I told you about when I said, “Someone else will come, who is greater than I am, because he was alive before I was born.” I didn't know who he was. But I came to baptize you with water, so that everyone in Israel would see him.

I was there and saw the Spirit come down on him like a dove from heaven. And the Spirit stayed on him. Before this I didn't know who he was. But the one who sent me to baptize with water had told me, “You will see the Spirit come down and stay on someone. Then you will know that he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.” I saw this happen, and I tell you that he is the Son of God.

The next day, John was there again, and two of his followers were with him. When he saw Jesus walking by, he said, “Here is the Lamb of God!” John's two followers heard him, and they went with Jesus. 

When Jesus turned and saw them, he asked, “What do you want?”

They answered, “Rabbi, where do you live?” The Hebrew word “Rabbi” means “Teacher.”

Jesus replied, “Come and see!” It was already about four o'clock in the afternoon when they went with him and saw where he lived. So they stayed on for the rest of the day.

One of the two men who had heard John and had gone with Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother and tell him, “We have found the Messiah!” The Hebrew word “Messiah” means the same as the Greek word “Christ.”

Andrew brought his brother to Jesus. And when Jesus saw him, he said, “Simon son of John, you will be called Cephas.” This name can be translated as “Peter.”

Like Selling a Green Tractor

Now I doubt that any of y’all know this about me, but I grew up in the South, specifically Virginia. Of course that meant, I went to a southern university and later, to Union Theological Seminary, right there in the center of the universe, Richmond, Virginia. And as we used to say growing up, you can’t go farther south than Richmond. Anyway, right after I graduated from seminary, I went just about as far from the south as you can go. You see, my first church was out in Fairview, Montana. It was right in the Yellowstone River Valley, there on the border with North Dakota, a place where, according to any good North Dakotan, “The cold keeps out the riff-raff.” Well, it didn’t keep out this southern boy. 

And I’ll tell you, when I first moved out there, I learned three things quickly. One, you never, and I mean never, joke about rain. Unfortunately, I learned that the hard way. And two, if you really want to fit in, you’ve gotta eat this horrible Norwegian delicacy called lutefisk which is cod that’s been cured in lye that you’ve got to let soak or it’ll kill you. And this soaking business is really important, because it takes every bit of flavor out of the fish. I’ll tell you, it’s like eating packing peanuts, dipped in butter. I think Vikings took lutefisk with them on their boats, you know, to scare off their enemies. Now that’s two. And three, when it comes to loyalty and devotion, there’s something more important than country, there’s something more important than family, there’s something more important than religion, my gosh, there’s something even more important than sports. Among those farmers in eastern Montana and western North Dakota, you were either green or red or blue. You see, empires may rise and fall, spouses may come and go, and God may speak in different ways, at different times, but when it comes to farm equipment, you were either a John Deere or an International Harvester or a Ford man, as was your father and his father and as will be your son and his son, Amen. It was a little like hemophilia or being a Steelers fan; this was passed from one generation to the next. I’ll tell you, that’s just the way it was.

Well, in my congregation out in Fairview, Dean Carlsen was a John Deere salesman, and a good one at that. And I knew Dean pretty well. In fact, he chaired the committee that called me. Anyway, one day, I was talking to Dean about his work, and in particular, how he got new customers in an area where loyalties ran so deep. And I remember him telling me that it was really pretty simple. He said he didn’t use a lot of fancy material, you know, brochures and stuff like that, and he never ran down the competition. Instead, his goal was simply to get the guy into the store and then show him exactly what John Deere equipment could do. That’s all. But if he could do that, according to Dean, he had a real chance for a sale.

And you know, as I was thinking about it, that sure seems to be the same kind of thing that’s going on in the passage we just read from the Gospel of John. I mean, think about it, wasn’t that what John the Baptist was doing, when he pointed to Jesus and called him “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” and then told his disciples about how the Spirit had come down on him like a dove from heaven? And you know, wasn’t that also what Andrew did, when he went and found his brother Simon and told him that “We have found the Messiah;” we have found the Christ? Sure it is. In fact, in a very real way, they were all doing exactly what Jesus suggested to those two disciples of John who asked him, “Rabbi, where do you live?” and he said to them, “Come and see!” “Come and see,” now that’s what Jesus said to those two guys who were deciding whether or not to follow him and that’s what John the Baptist and Andrew suggested as they directed attention to Christ. And you know, that’s really what Dean used to do when he was selling tractors. In essence, he would simply say to potential customers, “Come and see.”

And you know, I think that’s exactly what we’ve been called to do as disciples of Jesus Christ. In other words, we’re simply called to do two things, neither of which is rocket science but that doesn’t mean that they may not require a little bit of work on our part. And let me tell you what they are.

You see, first, as individual Christians and as a congregation, I think we’re called to invite people to come: to come to this place, to come and celebrate the power and the grace of God, to come and experience the presence and the love of Christ. You see, as people who believe that John was right on the mark when he looked at Jesus and said, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”, we’re called to invite folks to come, especially those who don’t know and now I’m talking about those on the outside. And I’ll tell you, I think this is something we all know we’re supposed to be doing. As a matter of fact, I think it’s something we want to do. And why wouldn’t we?  My goodness, if I had an extra ticket to a Steelers game, I would certainly ask somebody to come with me, and coming to church is certainly better than any Steeler game, right? Well, maybe that’s going a little too far, but y’all know what I’m saying, right?

And so I think we all know we should be doing this stuff, but how, now that’s another question, and not necessarily an easy one. You see, from where I stand, for us to really start inviting folks to come, it seems to me that we’re going to overcome both our culture and frankly ourselves. I mean, let’s get real, we live in a society where talking about religion is generally not done, at least, not in polite company. Well, if we’re going to start inviting folks, we’re going to have to change that. And I think we’re also going to have to overcome some of the stuff within ourselves that sort of holds us back, and I’m thinking about our personal shyness and the idea that a lot of Christians have, that what we believe is a private matter, not to be shared with others and of course the fear that when it comes to our own personal relationship with Jesus, well, we really don’t have much to share at all, something that kind plagues a lot of Presbyterians I know. I’ll tell you, if we’re ever going to do what we’ve been called to do, we’ve either got to overcome this stuff or maybe better yet fix it. But in my opinion, that’s only half the battle. 

You see, to invite people to come, I think we’ve also got to become as inviting as we can possibly be. In other words, we really have to want to do it and to believe that lives can be changed for those who accept our invitation. For example, we need to believe that we have something special to share with the world: that regardless of who we are or what we’ve done we are loved by the creator of the universe and will be saved by the son and are being led by the Holy Spirit. And I’ll tell you, if that doesn’t motivate us to be inviting, frankly, I don’t know what will. And as a congregation, man, we can invite others by working hard as we can to make this church the kind of place where people can really find a home, a place where folks can feel a part of worship because it touches them in a special way, whether they were raised here or walked through those doors for the very first time today, a community that’s so focused on sharing the grace of Jesus Christ to folks who live on the other side of the stained glass that it’s willing to do something that no Presbyterian congregation really likes to do; it’s willing to change. You see, as we overcome the obstacles and become the men and women God has called us to be, we’ll be able to invite folks to come. But that’s just half the call.

Because second, I think we’re also called to make sure the people who come have something to see when they get here, and right now I’m talking about the ability to see Jesus Christ and the joy and hope that he offers those who believe. And I’ll tell you, they’ve got to be able to see this right here, because let’s face it, we can be inviting as all get out, but if we fail to provide the right stuff for people to see, we’ve done absolutely nothing for the kingdom of God. And we can have all kinds of gimmicks designed to get people through those doors, but they’re meaningless if we don’t offer anything that’s substantial and real for them to receive once they’re inside. Of course, there’s a lot of ways we can help people see Christ. I mean, we can do it through our worship and our music. And we can do it through the way we treat one another and the way we relate to them. And we can do it through our willingness to put ourselves second even though we’d prefer to be first, but not because it’ll make us look good, rather because it’s the right and Godly thing to do.

But regardless of how we choose to do it, I think it all begins with a decision: a decision to take a long, hard and even critical look at who we are  and what we’re doing and then ask one simple question: How can we communicate the love and grace of God better than we are right now? Man, that’s got to be our focus, not membership, not attendance, not even giving, but helping people realize that God loves them and that Christ died for them and that the Holy Spirit can inspire every man, woman and child in Clarion County. And if we’re serious about people seeing Jesus through us, that focus can become a part of everything we do. Why? Because we’ve been called to give folks the truth that they can see when they get here. And for me, that’s the other half.

You know, Dean had a lot of success just encouraging potential customers to come over to the store and see the equipment. And so did Andrew when he encouraged his brother Peter to come with him and see the messiah and John the Baptist when he pointed toward Jesus and told his own disciples to see the Lamb of God. And you know what, the minute we recognize that we’ve been called to invite people, all people, to come and to give them the best chance possible to see Jesus Christ right here, I think we can be successful too, because when you get right down to it, being Christian disciples, well, it’s, at least a little bit, like selling a green tractor.