LITMIR.BIZ

      Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this book are solely those of the authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Certa Publishing.

      Table of Contents

      Acknowledgments

      I am grateful to so many who helped to bring me to this moment of publication. Perhaps I should begin with my mother and father. Mom, you have always been my biggest supporter. Thank you for being an incredible nurturer and a committed educator both in the classroom and in our home.

      To my father, whose sermons are much more worthy of print than are these. I am blessed to have been exposed to such rich and dynamic preaching from him since I was a child. Rev. Horace L. Buckley is without question my homiletic hero.

      Special thanks to the two congregations that have allowed me the opportunity to serve them and practice the craft of preaching. To the members of Second Baptist Church of Danville, IL – I am forever grateful to you for encouraging, nurturing, challenging, and teaching me how to be a pastor. To the members of Cade Chapel M. B. Church of Jackson, MS – I cannot say enough about how special you are to me. To pastor the church of my youth is an absolute joy beyond measure. I am grateful to you for accepting me and allowing me to cast my own shadow, preach in my own voice and use my own armor, after being lead for 45 years by H. L. Buckley. You are an amazing people and it is my privilege to serve you.

      A special thanks to Shannon Moore, my assistant, whose tenacity kept this process moving. I could not have done it without your diligent deadlines, regular reminders and your ability to keep it all organized. To my little brother in ministry, Rev. C. J. Rhodes – got it done! You are a brother, a friend, and an inspiration.

      Finally, to the most awesome group of people who know me best – my children and my wife. Jonathan and Anna, you are my greatest achievement. I am godly proud of both of you. You have been the seedbed of so many sermons. I love you both.

      And to the love of my life – Lecretia, there would be no book without your insistence. When I didn’t believe in myself, you did. When I was uncertain about moving forward, you gave me courage and convinced me not to wait another year. Thank you for your love and for giving me the privilege of loving you.

      Introduction

      Any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls of men and fails to be concerned about the economic conditions that corrupt them, the social conditions that damn them, the city governments that cripple them, is a dry, dead, do-nothing religion in need of new blood.

      Martin Luther King Jr.,

      “The Christian Doctrine of Man,”

      Sermon delivered at the Detroit Council

      of Churches Noon Lenten Services

      Every Sunday, preachers across America are met with the awesome task of making a holy text from the Ancient Near East practical and relevant for the modern-day Western worshipper. Week in and week out, those who attend Christian worship services come to hear what the ancient text has to say to them and to do with them and their post-modern lives. It is a monumental task. Yet when done well an amazing thing happens during the preaching moment. The hearer is lifted from a place of passive listening to active reflection and thoughtful consideration regarding his/her future actions. In that special moment, the preacher places upon the altar of the worshipper’s heart a charge to change, to act, or to move toward that high and holy calling of Christ. If neither of these is accomplished, it might be fair to say that the preacher and his preaching have both failed.

      Such failure is tragic to the mission of the church, as people search for meaning pertaining to both life and faith. Congregants search for direction on how one’s life should be managed and what exactly faith prompts us to do. Here, in my opinion, begins the cause of the church.

      In some ways I consider the Christian church to be an embassy of sorts, where the governance, culture, and values of the Kingdom of God are manifested and advanced on earth. When Jesus includes in His model prayer the petition, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” there is an inherent acknowledgment that the world, by itself, is void of that which best represents God’s ways and will. Therefore, as His representative body, the church is to stand for the values, the culture, and the causes of the Kingdom and should offer the world practical examples of the Kingdom’s values, culture, and causes through our missions, ministries, positions, and programs. Beyond services of weekly worship, the church is to be the city set on a hill that illustrates and promotes the highest form of human compassion and interaction through an authentic presentation of the gospel message, not only in its words, but in its deeds. A true adherence to the gospel of Christ demands all of this and deserves no less. Without such, the church does a disservice to the fullness of the gospel and its awesome power as good news.

      A debate has long existed concerning the branch of preaching and theology termed as the “Social Gospel” and whether such an interpretation of scripture and a system of theology is true to the intent of the bible’s message. To this critique, esteemed theologian, Dr. James Cone writes in Black Theology and Liberation, “It is not enough for theology to proclaim freedom, it must also participate in the struggle for freedom....Because...theology today focuses on liberation, it must also be a servant theology - one arising out of a commitment to serve the poor and the oppressed. No theology is seen to be neutral; each must take sides in the struggle for freedom.” In essence, theology and the faith that results from one’s theology, then, are not simply the recognition and proclamation of biblical truths, but rather they are the intentional engagement of those truths with life, culture, and society and all that is wrong with it. When the gospel is lived out to its fullest extent, it is a gospel that mixes and meddles with our systems and sensibilities; it is a gospel that agitates our norms and elevates the oppressed; it looses those who are bound by systems of injustice, and it lifts those who are repressed by social ills and evils. It is a gospel that not only confronts man’s fallen state in sin, but that also places the proverbial mirror before all that is fallen and fragmented in our world. Let me be clear. While I do not believe that the church has been instituted primarily for social issues and causes, I do believe that a true presentation of the gospel cannot occur without addressing that which causes strife, poverty, and separation between and among mankind. That Jesus came to redeem the soul of man is certain. But one cannot ignore the social concerns, compassion and the ministry of Jesus for the widow, the fatherless, the poor, the sick, the outcast, and the prisoner.

      As Jesus did, Christians are commanded to do - to love; not simply in word and speech, but in truth and in action (1 John 3:17-18). We are called to enter into the drama of people’s lives by providing assistance, compassion, and care (James 2:15-17). We are empowered to do, to speak, to think, to change, and to make right that which is unjust and unfair in the world (Micah 6:8, Ephesians 3:20). A refusal to do these diminishes the implications of the gospel and relegates the relevance of one’s faith to the spiritual world, limiting

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