Dr. M. Taylor Bach Acts 2:38-47 Luke 14:16-23 I have a prop this morning  a model of a ship. Perhaps you know that in the 2000 year history of the church, the church has been likened to a ship. A man by the name of J. F. Powers said this about the church: “This is a big ship. She breaks, she rocks, she rolls and at times she makes you feel like you want to throw up. But she gets where she's going. Always has. Always will until the end of time with or without you.” I would like you to think this morning about the church as a ship. I purposely have the model of an old ship because it gets across the idea that it is creaky and not powered by diesel engines. It's not like a modern ship because this ship has been rolling along for the 2000 year history of the church. It has its flaws. It has its faults. All of us are the deck hands. As the deck hands, we each have a specific task that we need to do. We may polish the deck. We may put up the sails. We may stand as a look out. We each have a function. As the ship goes along, it will make stops to pick up other people and as the Gospel said today, sometimes people choose not to get on. But if they choose not to get on, the ship of the church moves on and they lose out. So it becomes important to not let this ship pass you by. It becomes important to attend to the ship, to tend to your job on the ship and invite others to hop on.

This morning I begin a series of sermons on the church. I want to begin with just thinking about some things that we may be disappointed about in the church. As we look at the ship of the church, we readily admit that it is old and creaky at times. It isn't a modern cruise liner. In fact, as we ride the ship, we may get passed by a Carnival Cruise ship and see everybody partying and wonder if they are saved, if they are going in the right direction and if they'll get to heaven. We hope so. Perhaps some of them would call us to come near and they might jump on board the church ship. As we move along in history, we make waves and we cause people to notice. Yet some people can write the church off thinking it is too old-fashioned, it's too broken down, and it's not relevant. But as J. F. Powers says, “It keeps going on. It keeps moving toward the goal.” And it will do that infallibly because who is at the helm of the ship? Our Captain is Jesus Christ and He will guide us safely from port to port where we pick up passengers, introduce them to life's purposes and move on.

What are some of the things that you might be disappointed in? You might find racism in the ship. You might have found some legalism in the ship. You might find a bunch of sinners on board and wonder how they got there. Then you discover, “Wait a minute. Everybody on board is a sinner.” And as Jesus said, “The healthy have no need of a doctor.” You discover as people ride on the ship, they become healed. They become healed spiritually. At times, they even become healed physically. And those are amazing miracles that can occur for all the passengers on the ship called the church.

What else might we be disappointed in about the church? We might be disappointed with hypocrisy in the church or the lack of integrity in the church. Then as we think about these things, we become aware  “Wait a minute. It is a human institution, divinely guided, and divinely steered with divine purpose.” Everyone plays a part. Everyone has gifts to move the ship along. But it is a human institution and therefore it is going to have people with problems. Sometimes you may bump into a deck hand who is cantankerous. Sometimes you may bump into a deck hand who is having a bad day. Sometimes you may bump into a deck hand who is not a very happy person. Maybe he is depressed, a hypocrite without integrity, and yet if they look to the captain, they can overcome these problems. If they listen and obey the captain, things get better. If they attend to the goal of where this ship is going, things can get dramatically better. In fact, every evening there may be celebration. Jesus said all it takes is for one sinner to get on the ship, one sinner to be saved, and the whole of heaven rejoices. Can you picture heaven having a banner with your name on it and all the angels and all the communion of saints rejoicing because you got on the ship and that you are moving forward now as a deck hand?

This past week I talked to my son on the phone and he said, “You know Dad, in this economy I feel like I am a deck hand on the Titanic.” Whew! That is an awful thought. But we are not deck hands on the Titanic. We are deck hands on the ship of the church. So we can have trust. We can get through hard times. We can know that sometimes “it creaks and sometimes it groans and sometimes it rolls and sometimes we may even want to throw up,” but it is working and it is getting there. We can trust the Captain, Jesus Christ, to steer the right course and we can trust our sails are filed with the breath of the Holy Spirit. If we stay on board the ship and do our tasks, we will get to the glorious destination of heaven!

I remember in the first church that I served, a group of ministers used to meet on Friday nights at the church rectory. These guys totally destroyed my faith in them because of their hypocrisy. There was an accident one day out in front of the rectory. It was a cold and rainy day and people were injured. So I called up to the nine pastors playing cards on the second floor and said, “Can you guys come down and help me? We've got to go out and help these people.” A voice from upstairs shouted, “Tay, don't get involved.” They did not come down. I was terribly disillusioned and upset by that. I got involved and I went out and helped those people. I held them in the rain until the ambulance came. In fact I was the one who called the ambulance. From that day on, I began to see that even the church can have leaders that have flaws and faults. But don't give up on the ship. The ship as a whole will get there even if some leaders have feet of clay. All of us have feet of clay. We want to pull together. We want to be rowing together as we make this ship go. St. Paul said, “Have the mind in you that is in Christ Jesus.” To the degree that we can have the mind of Christ in us, we will have unity. With that unity, we can accept with love and forgiveness our fellow travelers. For some time, we too will need love and forgiveness.

Rev. Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, says that he is disappointed when he finds a congregation full of gossip because when there is a whole lot of gossip in the church, there is one reason. He says the reason is that the people aren't involved in ministry. They have too much time on their hands. They aren't pulling their weight on the ship. They need to be involved in lifting the sails and polishing the floors and making this thing go. If they are totally immersed and involved in making this rickety old ship go, then they don't have time to gossip about one another or tell stories about one another.

Back when I served other churches, there were times when I got very disappointed in the politics of the church. There would be in-fighting and conflict but the same principles may hold true. If everybody in church leadership is involved in studying the Bible, if they are involved in prayer, if they are involved in improving their own spirituality, and they are involved in working at loving one another, then church politics becomes comfortable and effective. People can agree to disagree agreeably. It is not a difficult thing. Yes, there may be a pocket in some part of the ship where people are not doing what they ought to be doing. But the rest of us, if we are praying for them, if we are pulling for them, sometimes confronting them, can get them to join with us to make this ship go and make it work.

In the Gospel that was read this morning by Shelley, we find the analogy of a banquet. That is another good analogy like the ship. What happened in that analogy? People (the Israelites) were invited to come to the banquet just as people are invited to get on the ship. Many had excuses. “I've got a wedding to attend.” “I've got farm work to complete.” “I've got a business to take care of.” They came up with various excuses to not come to God's banquet. So what did God say? God said, “Let's open the doors to the highways and byways and invite people in.” And who did he invite in? Isaiah 61 says it. “He invited in the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame, the outcast.” These are the deck hands of the church. These are us. And we make it go. And that is the way it should be. We come to the banquet just as we are and get transformed into wonderful guests. We get on the ship just as we are and God transforms us into sailors. We now have self-esteem and pride because we work for the Lord!

What is the attitude that we should have as we sail on this ship? We should have an incredible attitude of acceptance of others. We should be open to accept anyone who wants to jump on board. Maybe someone is even floundering in the water where they fell in off of a Carnival Cruise. What do we do? We throw them a life preserver and pull them in and get them on board with us. Yes, they may come defective. They may come injured. They may come having a history of sin in their life. But we urge them to get on board anyway and join us and we will put up with their idiosyncrasies. We will be a church of acceptance. That is the goal, to become a church of acceptance. What is the greatest command? That we love one another as Christ has loved us. That is the greatest command. So as all of us deck hands are pulling together to learn how to love one another, we make this ship called the church go. In future sermons, we will explore more specifically about different tasks, roles and aspects of it, but even though we may have been injured by the church, even though we may have some disappointments, ultimately we know that this creaky vessel is the greatest vessel on earth. This creaky vessel has the greatest leader anyone could ever find. Jesus Christ Himself is steering this ship. He is the captain and He loves each and every one of us. He proved it by dying on the cross. So we will get on with Him. The only way to get to heaven is through Him. “Without me,” He said, “you can do nothing but with me all things are possible .” So let's be on this ship and joyfully pull together.