June 21-22, 1997

Mike Slaughter

Scene from "The Wizard of Oz" with the cast singing "We're Off to See The Wizard"

Acts 4:32-37
32: Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common.
33: And with great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.
34: There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of what was sold
35: and laid it at the apostles' feet; and distribution was made to each as any had need.
36: Thus Joseph who was surnamed by the apostles Barnabas, a Levite, a native of Cyprus,
37: sold a field which belonged to him, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.

Oz and Our Need for Companions
Open your Bibles to Acts 4:32-37. This is a description of the people of God after Pentecost, after the Holy Spirit came. The whole group, of those who believed, were of one heart and soul. No one claimed private ownership of any possessions. Everything they owned was held in common.
What does the Wizard of Oz have to do with this passage of scripture? Christians are people who are on a journey. It’s much more than just conversion. We have a destination. The destination is home, or the city of God. You dare not go on this journey by yourself. There are obstacles that lie ahead. There are forces at work that will attempt to keep you from reaching your destination.

Pilgrim's Progress
It is summer time and summer time is a great time to read a book. I’ve got a homework assignment for you. There is a book that was first published in 1678. It is a classic. It is the book most read next to the Bible. The book is "Pilgrim’s Progress". It was written by John Bunyon who, in 1675, was jailed for his faith. Kipling calls Bunyon the "father of the novel." It’s in Old English, but is really worth reading.
It is a novel about a person by the name of Christian. Christian is on a journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. On his way he passes through places such as the Slough of Despond, Doubting Castle and Vanity Fair. All of us on this journey find ourselves in one of these three places. A lot of us in the church today find ourselves in Vanity Fair. Christian can never make this destination by himself, so along the way he is given travel companions. They have names such as Faithful and Hopeful.

The Holy Spirit
There’s something exciting happening in this church. The Holy Spirit is working in a powerful way. Do you know that in less than one year the attendance in this church has gone up over 1000? Statistics that came in this past week show that of the 200 people that joined this church in the past six months, exactly half of those people had no previous church background and professed meeting Jesus Christ for the first time in their life.
I have a word of caution to you. Don’t try this alone. The journey is not a "me and Jesus" journey. It is not an individual journey. It is something we do together. You need to be connected to people. You need traveling companions. Do not try this on your own.

John 14:16-17
16: But he said to him, "A man once gave a great banquet, and invited many;
17: and at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for all is now ready.'

I. People Of Promise
It is why we are not a person of promise. We’re a people of promise.

Advocate/Helper
Look at John 14, verses 16 and 17. Jesus said, "I will ask the Father and He will give you another advocate." He’s talking about the Holy Spirit, the presence of God, the presence of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the advocate. God is a God who is for you. He advocates for you. He will give you another advocate to be with you forever, the spirit of truth. Jesus said, "the world will not see Him, but you will see Him and know Him for He will be with you and in you."
The word advocate is Greek, and the Greek word sounds like paracleet. Advocate means "one called or sent to assist another, one who pleads the cause of another, one who is called to one’s side to help, one who strengthens and enables others to stand." Can you believe we have the spirit of God with us who pleads our case? This is the presence of God. I don’t do this by myself. This is the presence of Jesus with you.

Matthew 28:20
20: ...teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."

Last Promise of Jesus
Matthew said the last words of Jesus on earth. In Matthew 28:20 Jesus said, "I will be with you always." That’s the promise of Jesus. I don’t do this by myself. Jesus knows I cannot make this journey by myself, even when I pass through the valley of the shadow of death, I am not by myself.
I have a problem, though. Sometimes, when I am in the Castle of Doubt, or the Slough of Despair, or Vanity Fair, the invisible doesn’t seem so present. So, how do I experience this promise?

II. People Of Presence
I experience the promise of God’s presence through the people of presence.

The Church
When you hear the word "church," what do you think of? People? Sometimes people think of a building or a place. The Church is not a building or a place. It is a traveling companion. When you think of the four main characters in "The Wizard of Oz," none of them could have made it by themselves.
Dorothy suffered from a self-esteem problem. It came from the insecurity of an unstable home. If you really look at Dorothy’s upbringing, she was raised by her aunt. Where were her parents? Like many of us, we have never experienced the fullness of God’s blessing because we didn’t have healthy parents that could pass the blessing. We’re dealing with Dorothy-type problems, problems of self-esteem and insecurity. We need a new home. We need to be reparented.
The Cowardly Lion lacked courage to take the risks that he needed to take to finish his journey. Scarecrow didn’t lack courage. He was ready to step out and do all kinds of weird things. He just needed a little wisdom. Tin Man had frozen emotions. He had the inability to get into an intimate relationship with anyone. None of these four folks could have made the journey by themselves, so they were given as a gift to each other.
Look at these four folks. I don’t even know if you could call them "folks." Unlikely traveling companions. Look around you. Take a moment. Look to your right, look to your left. Unlikely traveling companions. They are the companions that God knows you need to face the journey.

The Body of Christ
There is a better metaphor in the Bible than "Church." We’re called the Body of Christ. That’s a powerful metaphor. You and I are the hands and feet, the heart and mind of Jesus. We are the physical presence of God to each other through the Holy Spirit.

Acts 4:36-37
36: Thus Joseph who was surnamed by the apostles Barnabas (which means, Son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus,
37: sold a field which belonged to him, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.

How do I know that? In Acts 4: 36 we find Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, an island off Greece. The disciples named him Barnabas, which means "son of encouragement," literally "child of refreshment." Barnabas sold a field he owned and put the money at the feet of the apostles to be used to meet different needs.
What is the word I want you to hang onto today? Advocate
The literal translation for the name Barnabas is the same word that Jesus used in John 14, verses 16 and 17, "child of encouragement." You and I literally become Barnabas, daughters and sons of encouragement. We come alongside one another for the purpose of strengthening, encouraging and enabling each other to stand. That’s why we are in each other’s lives. All through the "Wizard of Oz," that’s what those folks did for each other.

Clip from "Wizard of Oz" in which the tin man and the lion are putting the stuffing back into the strawman.

What’s the big word? Advocate. What do advocates do? They come and stand alongside one another. They are physically present. That’s what we are, literally, the Holy Spirit present when we stand next to each other to encourage, strengthen and literally enable each other to stand. That’s what it means to be Barnabases in the lives of each other. Advocates.
Advocates to help each other become God’s best self. How can I become God’s best self? God has a purpose for my life. God has a purpose for your life. I need a model. I need to see what God wants me to become.

III. People Of Purpose
God puts me with traveling comp- anions who are not only people of promise but people of presence and people of purpose.
This community is a counter-culture community. Remember this, because too many churches today are for the status quo. They read the Bible to support the status quo. The Bible is a subversive book. It upsets the status quo. This community, this people of purpose, is about the purpose of the kingdom of God on earth and not about the purpose of keeping the status quo the status quo.
I need a model. So, God puts me with these traveling companions that become the people who are committed to the purpose of God on earth, so on earth it will be "on earth as it is in heaven."
Look at the whole group of those who believe who are of one heart and soul. No one claimed private ownership of any possession. That’s counter-culture. It’s not about my private rights and agenda. Everything they owned was held in common in a community. It’s not about "me first," but it’s about the common well-being of everyone.

Service vs. Success
We live in a world that models success. To be number one. To get ahead. We have now been placed in a community that models service. It’s not about success. It’s about service.
In the world there are a lot of ladder-climbers. What does it mean to climb a ladder? It means to get to the top. Once you’re at the top it means someone has to be under you. If you give your life to ladder-climbing, some day you’re going to be disillusioned. I promise you, it will be someday. It may be when you’re 65, or when you’re 70, or when you retire, but you’re going to get to the top and you’re going to discover that your ladder’s been against the wrong building.
It’s not about ladder-climbing. It’s not about getting to the top. It’s about working from the bottom. We’re not to be ladder-climbers. We’re to be cross-lifters. Jesus said, "If I be lifted up, I will draw all people to myself." In this community, they didn’t claim private possessions. Everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimonies to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Great grace was upon them all because they didn’t give their lives to ladder-climbing. They kept holding up the cross of Jesus Christ. They kept witnessing to the presence of Jesus Christ. That presence of Jesus Christ is what life is about, not climbing ladders.
Lifting the cross is about living and giving your life for others so they may stand in Jesus’ name. Living and giving your life for others in Jesus’ name, to come alongside others to help them stand. Why? Because your salvation and well-being is just as important to me as my own. It’s not about ladder-climbing. It’s about cross-lifting.

Encouragement vs. Negativity
I need you, Church. I can’t make it without you. I need your encouragement. We live in a culture of hopelessness. Our culture doesn’t have hope. Two weeks ago, Melissa Drexler slipped into the restroom of the school where her senior prom was being held, delivered a six pound, six ounce baby boy and then tossed him in the trash basket with the soiled paper towels in time to get back to the dance. Then, at the dance, requested that the DJ play her favorite song from Metallica as she danced with her boyfriend and appeared to be enjoying herself.
We look at this and we can’t believe it. Is this an isolated event? Tragically, it is not. It happened ten times last year in Los Angeles alone. Thirty years ago when people had an unwanted child they wrapped the child in a blanket and left it on the steps of a police station, hospital or church. But, last year, ten times in LA alone they put it in a dumpster.
We now live in a culture of dumpster babies. Should we be surprised? We have equated healthy sexual responsibility with abortion on demand. We have equated the gift of love-making, given and created by God, and reduced it to something we call safe sex and condoms. It is hopelessness, and I need you to keep holding up hope in my life. I need you to remind me that Jesus has resurrected from the grave and he’s called Lord Jesus which means "absolute authority, owner." I need you to remind me that God wins in the end.
I can’t make it on this journey unless you keep reminding me that Jesus is alive and in control of hopelessness. It scares me to see what is happening to some of our brothers and sisters because of the backwards steps we’ve taken against advocacy programs. What’s the word? Advocate.
Since we’ve taken the teeth out of affirmative action programs, the University of California-Berkeley Law School has seen black admissions drop 81%. Hispanic admissions dropped 50%. Colleges all around the country report similar declines in one year. The number one law school in Texas went from 38 black admissions one year ago to three this year.
We are going back to pre-1964 admission rates. I read that 60% of white Americans oppose government efforts to help minorities. What does it mean to be an advocate? We cannot say to African American brothers and sisters, "We love you but we’re not going to address the issues that affect you at the deepest place in your life." What does it mean to be an advocate?
We will learn it here in this church, for we will be the community, the people of God’s promise. We will be the community, the people of God’s presence. We will be the community, the people of God’s purpose. To be an advocate means we will come alongside to do together what we cannot do by ourselves.
We have a message for the world. We have a witness. Jesus has risen from the grave. It is not dependent upon some fairy tale where a man who calls himself the wizard stands behind a screen and blows smoke. Jesus is alive, Church. We are the community of His promise. We are the people of His presence, and we are the church of His purpose. Your salvation is just as important as our own, and we will not stop until you are God’s best self. We will stand with you. Our resources are your resources. You will not travel alone, for together, we will inherit the city of God.