You are welcome to reflect on this message
From the First Baptist Church in America pulpit
New Year’s Sunday, January 7, 2006
"Beginnings and Endings"*

1 Corinthians 15:3-8
Dr. Dan Ivins, preaching

On this first Sunday of 2007, logic dictates that we begin at the beginning. But the Gospel of Christ always turns things around. Even tho the New Testament was written in retro, it wasn't ‘til the end that the followers of Christ began to record their thoughts about him. Until then, they didn't need to. Those closest to him didn't begin their stories about him with Christmas; but with Good Friday. They began at the end, so shall we. The oldest New Testament material relates to the cross and resurrection. Only after that did the Christian community work its way back, to bring out pertinent events that had bearing on the end. That's because the beginning and the middle make no sense without the end.

Matthew and Luke knew when they wrote about Christmas that the Babe in the manger was the Savior on the cross and Lord of the empty tomb.

Paul, who wrote more of the New Testament than anyone else, ignored the beginning. He began and camped out at the end. Underlying all he preached was a deep conviction about the redemptive nature of how his life on earth ended, with the cross and resurrection.

Our text for today, is an example of Paul's understanding of the end: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ (was born in a manger & lived a sheltered life before he...)died for our sins according to the scriptures, was buried and raised on the third day. Then the appearances to Cephas, then the 12. Then to more than 500 at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James and all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.”

For Paul, the beginning was the end. That's where it all came together. And that's where it all holds together. Thus, I want to spend the rest of our time this morning thinking about why I’m beginning a new year, focusing on the end.

We have to begin at the end, else we wouldn't know who Jesus was. The identity of Jesus was controversial from the beginning. Herod was scared of him. Mary spent a lot of time “pondering.”  Peter confessed him as "the Christ" at Caesarea. But he only got it half right. The Baptist stalwart doubted Jesus’ identity: "Are you the one to come or should we look for another?" (Lk. 7:18). During the final week before the end, the Sanhedrin wanted to know if Jesus, "...was the Messiah?" And Pilate wondered, "Are you the King of the Jews?"

As public reaction became more violent, Jesus was captured, tried and crucified. And they tacked the controversial titles over his head in 3 major languages of the day, taunting him, "If you really are the King of the Jews, save yourself." (Lk 23:37). At that point nobody knew who Jesus was, because the end had not happened. Jesus hadn’t saved anybody, except a thief and a tax collector. And would not stoop to saving himself.

At the crucifixion, the moment of Jesus' greatest humiliation, we have the clearest statement of his identity. At the birth, too much was unknown. But at the cross, Jesus' identity was established for all time.
They thought it was over on Calvary. But God has the last word! Three days after Pilate thought it was all settled, God reopened the discussion. That's why we begin the New Year at the end: in order to know who Jesus was.

We also begin at the end to make sense out of what he said and did. What he said was radical, what he did was turn the world upside down. And that doesn't make any sense, unless you know where God was headed.

What Jesus did was dangerous. He came from another place to improve life. And that can’t happen without change. Tampering with the status quo led to many an execution or banishment of reformers.  Consider just a few of the great reversals Jesus initiated: The most far-reaching thing Jesus did was to transform religion from ritual to relationship. He elevated love as the essential ingredient of living and was more interested in blessing somebody than controlling them.  He changed peace from the cessation of conflict, to an assertive spirit of reconciliation. He affirmed stewardship not as a mere giving a tenth of your income, but an uncalculating distribution of personal belongings in direct relation to human need.  He rescinded the law of Moses with his “You’ve heard it said of old time, but I say unto you” preaching. Killing, adultery, stealing, lying, were no longer legal issues. Jesus made them matters of the heart and soul.

Power was redefined so that vulnerability replaced force, and serving became more important than dominating; giving was more blessed than receiving; as was going not just one mile for a neighbor, but two. The teachings of Jesus struck the world with terrific impact and placed values where they'd never been before, and need to be now.

He rearranged priorities. That which was ritually unclean became functionally clean. The poor got more attention than the rich. Religion was open for sinners instead of a closed group of the righteous.

He inaugurated the kingdom of God, but died on a cross. He did whatever it took to save others but would not save himself. He performed miracles but when defiled, would not defile in return. In order to defeat the beast, he would not become a beast.

None of this makes any sense, and only makes better sense when viewed from the perspective of the end. Only there do we know who he is. Only then do we understand what God was saying to us.

The early church’s mission was to continue what he started. And to quote those who witnessed the great reversals: "These Christians have turned the world upside down" (Acts 17:6).

Another reason we begin at the end is: once we realize who Jesus was and how he transformed the world's values, it affects how we worship and minister as a church.

Luke tells us why Jesus' life came to an end. Because he "cleansed the Temple and overthrew the moneychangers" (Lk 19:47). Jesus was concerned about places of worship, but he was more concerned about WHO was allowed to worship there. “My Father’s house is for all people, you have made it a den of thieves.” To Jesus, the ritual of worship wasn’t nearly so important as the opportunity to worship.

But he didn't just stop with overturning their tables. He took it further and said they didn't even need the temple! In fact, the temple would be destroyed, but God would still be in business.

They didn't cotton to that. And we don't either, truth be known. Because over the years the church keeps letting the "temple bidness" get in the way of the "new wine" of God.

Jesus wasn’t crucified in a cathedral between 2 candles, but on a cross between 2 thieves; at a crossroad so cosmopolitan they wrote it in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek; the kind of place where cynics tell jokes, criminals curse, and soldiers gamble. And the righteous run! That's not just where he died, but why.

But the church decided long ago that it preferred the candles to the thieves. ‘Cause its easier to light a candle than to touch hurting people, and get involved with the messes they've made out of their lives.

The church gets its marching orders at the end, not the beginning. We find ourselves embarking upon a pilgrimage of worship and ministry that keeps us focused on human need, rather than religious relics.

Yeah, a New Year’s a time we like to begin with a bang; fireworks, champagne, the whole bit. Common sense says to begin at the beginning.

Not so with the Gospel of Christ. There we begin at the end. So we can know who Christ is. And understand what he preached. As well as what we’re to do about it: trying to continue the quality of worship and integrity of ministry God expects of a church.  Because it’s at the end that you hear the word of God best, because God always has the last word. It’s with the sound of this last word in our ears; and the sight of the crucifixion in our eyes; and the hope of the resurrection in our souls that we come to understand the world that has been "turned upside down" by Jesus Christ.

The Table of God has been set before us. Because communion is a time for reflecting upon the end. Let us all begin this new year at the end. And let us keep that mysterious but hopeful perspective before us all year long. So that the worship and ministry at our Church will know no end!

*Credit to my friend Welton Gaddy for creative ideas

Prayer: Lord, on this pivotal day we focus on beginnings and endings. Jesus taught us to remember how the Gospel story ended. As the on-going drama of life continues, help us to live as people who have begun again, with new opportunities to put right what is wrong, to correct the faults in our characters or to do something we have neglected. Make us alert to the new prospects you keep providing for us and grant us the courage to seize them in your name. As we begin our New Year around the communion table, may we see clearly how the end is intricately tied up with the beginning and the middle; and may that give our lives new meaning as we leave this place to serve you. Amen.