1999 ABLE WORKSHOP KEYNOTE ADDRESS

“Again Jesus began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered around him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path...on rocky ground...among thorns...and into good soil and brought forth grain.’ Then Jesus said, ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear.’”

Scriptural accounts repeatedly tell us of the importance of education in our spiritual life and growth -- about teaching, learning, discipleship; about the disciplines of study, prayer, and worship. In fact, I wanted to know just how important, so I pulled out my Nelson’s Complete Concordance and counted the number of citations just for a sense of the magnitude of this principle and value in Christian life. I know, you’re thinking “that guy needs a life.” I’d agree -- but nevertheless, I did do it -- and there will be a test -- so get ready!

There are some 264 citations for the various forms and tenses of “teach” and 84 for “learn” with a 55% percent majority of that total being in the New Testament. What was also interesting to look up was the word “teacher” -- it occurs only 72 times in the Bible and 90% of those are in the New Testament and refer to Jesus. I thought that was curious and, since the Old Testament word for teacher is “Rabbi,” I decided to look it up as well. It, however, only occurs 10 times and only in the Gospels and again always about Jesus. I guess, if we were to say anything about the ministry of Jesus Christ, we would have to say it was, at the core, a teaching ministry. But, what’s just as interesting, and maybe even more so, is to look up the word “disciple.” It occurs 226 times, but only once in the Old Testament (Isaiah 8:16). In the ancient Greek language and up to modern times in our contemporary English, being a disciple has meant being a “learner,” being “one who accepts, believes, and follows a given doctrine or teacher.”

Hence, I like the term Alexander Campbell set some 175 years ago for this Christian movement we cherish -- along with Campbell, we sense we are “called to be disciples of Christ” and so we call ourselves the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Even if it is in the parentheses, it is still there and a very important part of who we are as a people of faith. For Christ, indeed, is the one in whom we have confessed our faith; the one in whom we live and move and have our being; the one whom we call Lord and seek to follow. We are His disciples!

The distinguishing marks or traits of discipleship, therefore, are in the ways we are “like the teacher” and as the Apostle Paul wrote to the churches in Ephesus (4) our spiritual journey is “to grow to the maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” In other words, if we are truly going to be a “disciple of Christ” that will then mean what the teacher teaches and what we learn, understand, and do will be the same thing. We talk the talk, and we walk the talk. We are not hearers only of the Word, but we are also doers of the words we say we believe in through our actions and our deeds. (James 1:17-27) What the teacher teaches will get centered in us and become the guiding principle for all the decisions we make, the priorities we set, and the values we live by.

So, is it any wonder in scripture the earliest disciples were asking Jesus their teacher to teach them many things: “Lord, teach us to pray.” [Luke 11], “Jesus, what is the Kingdom of God like?” [Matthew 13] “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” [Mark 10:17] or like in the parable of the seed sower that I chose for today’s focus, where Jesus the Master Teacher taught the crowds stunning truths about our spiritual life and faith journey.

As you’ll recall, we have the same sower in all four vignettes, sowing the same kind of seed (the seed of course being symbolic for God’s Word) in four differing kinds of soil. It is the soil, which represents one’s self -- mind, heart, and soul -- and one’s basic receptivity to God’s Word and what happens to that Word in our lives. Same sower, same seed -- differing kinds of soil and differing results. And friends, it is the results about which we are concerned -- what kind of crop we get. That’s the focus of the lesson here. In the fourth soil -- the seed flourishes and produces a crop with a yield of thirty, sixty, and one hundred times what was sown. Bible scholars would tell us in Jesus day a crop yield of 10 to l was an excellent crop. So a crop yield of 30, 60, or 100 times is spectacular!!

“That’sa really good soil!” It’s not beaten down and hard, as in the first example, so that birds quickly snatch the seed (or the Word in the heart is easily taken away). Nor is it rocky ground, where it never takes root and just withers away once the harshest of circumstances come along -- if there’s no joy or reward in life, as we define them, then there’s no faith -- very rocky ground! Nor is the ground filled with the kinds of weeds and thorns that choke out the seed, where deceit or wealth or power will lure you and make you want other things and loyalties than God’s Word.

No, in good soil is the high yield and where we are more than conquerors. The good soil is receptive, brings the seed of God’s Word in and nurtures it, seeks to embrace it and understand it, and then yields the good harvest. This is a story about faith and its development, a story about the kinds of conditions we need to cultivate within ourselves, and the kinds of results (fruits or crop) we need to see because it produces abundant and spectacular yields.

I love the story Thom and Joani Schultz tell in their book (Why Nobody Learns Much of Anything at Church and How to Fix It) regarding this very issue. They were seeking to learn the results, the depth of understanding from scripture study in the lives of young believers. They observed actual behavior and thereafter asked others what students they thought exhibited understanding of the story of the Good Samaritan.

The options included:

a) The student memorizes and recites the entire parable word for word from his Bible.

b) The student tells the parable in his or her own words.

c) The student explains an example of someone being a “good Samaritan.”

d) The student decides to sit and have lunch with a kid that’s been shunned and is all alone, because someone started a rumor he has the HIV/AIDS virus.

Which one evidenced understanding? The answer, indeed, is in the results -- the yield of fruit. The purpose of God’s Word is not merely to exist, or only to be heard, or even just to sprout. The purpose of God’s Word is to produce a fruitful crop. What matters most are the results of our efforts and coming to know and live the love of God in Christ Jesus.

It was almost exactly one year ago I was installed as Regional Minister. At that Regional Assembly I cast a vision that our Region might claim as its high priority “To Cherish Christ’s Church for our Children’s Children.” That all of our generations would do everything they could, in word and action, to cherish the church and our children -- those resulting mission and ministry efforts would a measure of our fruitfulness. I challenged all of you to join me in pursuing three Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals:

(1) to become passionately faithful through deepening our faith with stronger Bible literacy and practicing the spiritual disciplines. Norma has been working on this, reading and praying about facilitating this effort, and a planning team will begin soon to develop initiatives at the regional level to resource the local church. We’ve already begun with the new 3D program. It is an awesome opportunity for use in your congregations.

(2) to become a totally anti-racist institution and model for the whole church one awesome way of becoming so through this process. This will take time, yes, but we now have a Regional team that has completed the national training and in one of our workshops today will be sharing their learning and inviting you into the discernment process.

(3) to solve the funding problem of the middle judicatory because the Region’s churches “got out of the box,” thought seriously about our children’s children, and undertook to do something generously awesome -- not just to support a major capital campaign for new church starts, congregational revitalization, a retreat center at the Camp, scholarship funds for emergency assistance and leadership development as well as needs of 12 other church agencies in the region but also to pay attention to some major capital concerns in the local church. Our projected goal right now is $2.75 million dollars plus whatever is done locally -- double or more!!. This will truly be seeds that produce a fruitful yield. Scott is well-trained and this Steering Committee is hard at work. We are also encouraging people to evaluate seriously the potential for leaving a legacy and committing to a tithe of their estate with a gift to the whole church.

We have also raised children, youth, and young adults ministries to a much higher priority in staff portfolios. Burley is devoting significant attention to facilitating a stronger camping program and we’re about 80% done with some facilities remodeling. Christal Williams joined our staff in June to lead this effort. Right now she is at a major national conference focusing on “the time is now to reach the next generation -- our children.” It’s interesting to note a study just completed by the Barna Research Group which reconfirms that the largest number of Christians accept Christ as their Lord and Savior before they reach age 18 and the most successful time is from ages 5 through 13. It is soil that is receptive and we need to be about a quality season of planting those seeds. CCIW is tilling that soil, my friends. We are also working on creating a long range, strategic plan for mission and ministry in the 21st century to make sure that soil will even be better in the decades to come. Now that’s something of what we are trying to do on the Regional level..

But, my real questions and challenge today are to you -- what are you doing personally - and - what is your church doing proactively to be getting down on your knees and working in the soil? What are you intentionally doing to be invitational, welcoming, deepening of your spiritual life, and going forth to serve in ministry? How good is your soil? I hope you are not simply content with low yields and uncared-for-soil Ask yourself, “Are my/our hands dirty from all my/our spiritual work and seeking to understand to God’s work for my life? Or, is my soil not very receptive and am I just listening when it’s convenient?”

Jesus taught his disciples and us many things, including “You who have ears to hear, let them hear!” “Are you ABLE?” said the Master.

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