5 Epiphany Year B 2/4/2024
Isaiah 40:21-31; Psalm 147:1-12, 21c; 1 Corinthians 9:16-23; Mark 1:29-39
Rev. Mark A. Lafler
On Charlie Rose, that interview show on PBC years ago…
Apple CEO, Tim Cook explained that one of the core principles Steve Jobs instilled in the company is the need to stay focused on doing only what you do best.
He said:
“It’s easy to add … it’s hard to stay focused,”
“And so the hardest decisions we make are all the things not to work on.”
Indeed, Steve Jobs once told Fortune Magazine,
“People think focus means saying ‘yes’ to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all.
It means saying ‘no’ to the hundred other good ideas that there are.
You have to pick carefully.”
Journalist Steve Tobak points out that:
Picasso painted.
Henry Ford made cars.
Einstein was obsessed with light.
And perhaps the most successful companies are one-trick-ponies:
Intel microprocessors,
Cisco routers,
Starbucks espresso cafes,
Whole Foods markets,
Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola…
and so on.
In any case, they focus.[1]
Do one thing well.
St. Paul said in our reading today:
For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast,
since I am compelled to preach.
Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
(1 Corinthians 9.16)
I began my journey into The Episcopal Church 15 years ago.
As I was finishing my graduate studies in 2009,
Tera and our young family of four began to attend Church of the Nativity of Sarasota.
As we worshipped there each Sunday, week in and week out…
What began to strike me with a wooing pull was the liturgy…
I was amazed at how much scripture was read each Sunday…
I became enchanted with the sacrament of communion each Sunday…
But what became life to me was the deep richness of the sacramental liturgy…
Words were said that I didn’t know that I needed to hear each week…
They spoke to my soul…
My heart…
And my mind…
The Gospel…
The authentic and pure truth of the message of the good news of Jesus Christ.
More than anything else…
I need to hear the words of the prayerful, powerful, and comforting words of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
And I need it often…
And I need repeated over and over and over…
Thankfully, the liturgy does this.
We hear these words in Rite One:
Almighty God, our heavenly Father, for that thou, of thy tender mercy, didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption; who made there, by his one oblation of himself once offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world…
And although we are unworthy, through our manifold sins, to offer unto thee any sacrifice, yet we beseech thee to accept this our bounden duty and service, not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offenses, through Jesus Christ our Lord…
In Rite Two we hear:
Holy and gracious Father: In your infinite love you made us for yourself, and, when we had fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death, you, in your mercy, sent Jesus Christ, your only and eternal Son, to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us,
to reconcile us to you, the God and Father of all.
He stretched out his arms upon the cross, and offered himself,
in obedience to your will, a perfect sacrifice for the whole world.
I have never heard a sermon more explicitly Gospel-centered than the words of our liturgy.
I can’t preach a better gospel message than the Gospel message of our liturgical rites.
The good news of the Gospel is the message that Jesus Christ did it…
that Jesus defeated sin and death through his victorious life, death, and resurrection…
and for those who believe by faith in Jesus receive by His grace…
eternal life with the Lord.
The Gospel is the good news that by faith we receive the gift of pardon from our sins… because of Jesus Christ…
And we become children of God…
Co-heirs with Christ Jesus…
Eternally forever and ever.
The Gospel is the only thing the church has for the world.
You remove the Gospel of Jesus from the church we simply become a charity…
Or a political committee…
Or a country club.
As our Bishop Justin Holcomb said recently at our diocesan convention:
The one thing the church has to offer our broken and weary world that no other religion, government, organization, or movement offers
is the Gospel.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is our main thing.
Jesus said:
Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
(Mark 16.15)
St. Paul said:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel,
because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written:
“The righteous will live by faith.”
(Romans 1.16-17)
If we ever put a social trend, a political position, a church dynamic ahead of the Gospel, we lose focus on our mission.
Most of us know a church like this…
A political agenda (from various perspectives) becomes the central focus of communication…
A church trend becomes dominant…
And these other focuses…
just might gather people together in large numbers for a time…
But if the preaching of the Gospel becomes subjugated to something else the particular church will not last for generations…
The Gospel of Jesus is what we must proclaim.
As St. Paul said in our second reading:
For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast,
since I am compelled to preach.
Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
The greatest thing that St. Edward’s can be known for is that we proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Having great music…
Having beautiful liturgy…
Having a warm church…
Having outreach programs…
Having good community…
These things are all well and important…
But the main thing is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Stephen Covey, the author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, coined the phrase… (and your probably know it):
The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
As a church, our primary purpose is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus.
As the people of God, we must be careful that our political convictions, our social preferences,
our cultural desires,
do not become a higher priority than the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul said in our reading today:
To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak.
I have become all things to all people,
that I might by all means save some.
I do it all for the sake of the gospel,
so that I may share in its blessings.
Paul isn’t promoting a kind of wishy-washy attitude that doesn’t have convictions…
Nor is he saying we should be say-what-will-sell salesman here…
But he is talking about making sure that the proclamation of the Gospel is of greater priority than opinions and desires.
The Gospel has set us apart among the religions of the world.
The Gospel is what brings us freedom and hope in Jesus Christ.
The Gospel is what transforms you and me…
The Gospel of Jesus is the hope of the world.
The Gospel of Jesus is what we proclaim with our words and deeds…
And it’s what we will always proclaim here in our parish.
We celebrate the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in word and sacrament.
And we live the Gospel as we go from here today…
It is our calling…
It is our mission…
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes…
Amen.
[1] Steve Tobak, Want to Be Successful? Focus on One Business, April 6, 2015 https://www.entrepreneur.com/starting-a-business/want-to-be-successful-focus-on-one-business/244742