November 11, 2002
Gaston: Experience 'full reign of God'
___By Marv Knox and Scott Collins
___WACO--Texas Baptists must experience "the full reign of God in human life," George Gaston urged during the keynote sermon at the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual session Nov. 12 in Waco.
___Gaston, pastor of First Baptist Church in Corpus Christi, challenged Texas Baptists to experience an intense personal relationship with Jesus Christ but also to share that experience with people who desperately need Christ's healing presence in their own lives.
___The Scripture text for his sermon contrasted the "transfiguration" of Jesus--an invigorating mountaintop experience shared by three apostles--and Jesus' healing of a demon-possessed boy in the midst of a crowd.
___Those stories, which occur side-by-side in the Gospel of Mark, illustrate "the kingdom of God is nothing more and nothing less than the reign of God, the supreme and utter influence of God, in the lives of God's people," Gaston said.
___The lesson the apostles learned during the mountain-top transfiguration experience is "there is none other like Jesus," he said. "The focal point of our lives is Jesus Christ, the beloved son of God."
___"We have a bent toward worshipping the bigness of churches and budgets," he acknowledged. "Some of us revere tradition more than we worship Christ. Others look for hope in a particular politician or political party. Some even put more focus on their theories than they do on Christ."
___Gaston confessed that in recent years, he had "slipped into a posture of grief mixed with bitterness" over the changing landscape of his Baptist heritage. "I was worshipping the way things had been and forgetting that Christ, my Lord, is the heart of the kingdom. I thank God for my Texas Baptist heritage, but the temporary adjective 'Baptist' is not the same thing as the eternal kingdom of God.
___"The kingdom cannot be realized in power until Jesus is the object of our worship. He intends to be the central focus of our lives."
___However, as Christians experience the kingdom of God on their spiritual mountaintops, they must follow Jesus into the "crowd," to minister to people, Gaston stressed.
___He noted how the Apostle Peter wanted to build structures to memorialize the moment and to stay on the mountaintop, but Jesus insisted on returning to the valley and the people there--people who needed his care.
___"I hope you realize that those who hunger for the kingdom must follow Jesus down the Mount of Transfiguration onto the flatlands of human need. … In the flatlands, there is a crowd that waits. There is always a crowd, and the crowd is the lesson."
___ Christians and churches should follow Christ's example to minister to and serve the crowd, he said.
___ "Is your church wading into the crowd where God has planted you?" he asked. "At the base of your holy mountain …, are you loving or are you arguing with the crowd?
___ "Yes, God help us always to renounce the brokenness, the sin and sinful behavior that destroys lives and fragments communities. But God help us always to be offering the compassionate ministry that ushers in the kingdom.
___ "You cannot argue folks into the kingdom. Neither can you intimidate them, boycott them, out-vote them or shame them into the kingdom. Jesus loved the crowd, was tender with the crowd. Why shouldn't we do and be the same?"
___ Christians offer various excuses or reasons for failing to minister to people, he noted.
___ "Maybe it's because we're tired. We're intimidated. We're fearful of letting go of some of our precious time-honored ways of doing things. We're confused by the way the crowd lives and the things they value. … We'd rather involve ourselves in thinking and strategizing, planning and meeting. Those (are) things you ought to do, but hurry up and get on down the mountain."
___ While Jesus showed the disciples the kingdom of God on the mountain and in the crowd, he also showed that the kingdom of God is in the individual, Gaston said.
___ "Jesus did what he so often did while engaging a crowd--he focused on the need of the one, the few. It is his pattern," he said. "As we look for the kingdom in fullness and power, we must follow Jesus into the real places of pain where real people live their lives."
___ Jesus' concern for the boy possessed with a demon helped the boy's father "see that hope is always alive--all things are possible for those who believe," he insisted.
___"Texas Baptists--my family, my friends--let's go home to a crowd filled with individuals who are waiting for our glorious Lord."
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