Third Class Christians

Acts 1: 6-14

May 8, 2005

Third Class Christians

I like stories but I am not a very organized story collector, so I lean on others to do that for me. One of my favorite story collector is a pastor by the name of King Duncan.

Duncan found this interesting little tidbit in a book by James Moore called Yes, Lord, I Have Sinned:

Back when the West was being settled the major means of transportation was the stagecoach. We've seen persons riding in stagecoaches in western movies. I’ve seen pictures of stagecoaches coming up the Big Thompson Canyon and I’ve seen the stagecoach wheels ruts just above Peaceful Valley on the way up the their wedding chapel. What we might not know is that the stagecoach had three different kinds of tickets — first class, second class, and third class.

If you had a first-class ticket, it meant you could remain seated during the entire trip no matter what happened. If the stagecoach got stuck in the mud, or had trouble making it up a steep hill, or even if a wheel fell off, you could remain seated because you had a first class ticket.

If you had a second-class ticket you also could remain seated - until there was a problem. In case of a problem, second-class ticket holders would have to get off until the problem was solved. You could stand off to the side and watch as other people worked. You didn’t have to get your hands dirty. But second-class ticket holders were not allowed to stay on board. When the stagecoach was unstuck you would get back on and take your seat.

If you had a third-class ticket, you would definitely have to get off if there were a problem. Why? Because it was your responsibility to help solve the problem. You had to get out and push or help fix a broken wheel or whatever was needed because you only had a third class ticket. Aren’t you relieved that those provisions don’t apply to third class airline tickets?!

Duncan goes on to make the observation that one of the problems that the church is facing today is that too many people think they have first-class tickets. Such people just sit and expect to be catered to, waited on, and pampered.

We also have a few who think they have second-class tickets. These folks ride along until there is a problem. Then they become detached spectators. They will gladly stand aside to let others face and solve the problems, and come back to church when everything has been solved.

Thankfully we have some left in the church willing to travel with a third class ticket. They are those who benefit from the ride when things are going well, but at the first sign of a problem are on their feet lending their skills and efforts to solve it.¹ (This illustration is not perfect. I suppose there ought to be a fourth category - the horses. These are members that keep everything moving.)

A pastor was talking with a man who was about to join his church. The man said, "I want to join the church because I want to be fed." The pastor replied, "Well, that's fine, but we all would be better off if you would take off your bib and put on an apron!"²

When Jesus met his disciples for the last time before his ascension into heaven, the disciples came wearing bibs asking for first class tickets. Jesus responded by giving them aprons and third class tickets. Listen to this short piece of dialog:

"So when they had come together, they asked him, 'Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?' He replied. 'It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'" (Acts 1:6-8)

The disciples lived in troubled and troubling times. They were politically under the control of the Roman Empire and religiously threatened by the Jews. The world had not received Jesus as the Messiah and there was evidence in every area of life that evil was in control. It was as if all the wheels on the stagecoach had dropped off and all the horses had died. With first class tickets the disciples could sit and wait for Jesus to correct it all: "When will you restore the kingdom to Israel?”

But Jesus answers, "You aren't first class Christians; you are third class Christians. You are to be my witnesses to all the earth. Get out there and fix it." And so he says to you and me.

The church needs third class Christians. A young woman was asked if she would be interested in teaching a Sunday School class of youngsters. Her response was honest; she didn't feel she was capable of teaching Sunday School, But there was something else she could do. She volunteered to recruit children and young people. Each Sunday morning she would fill up her car with children and young people who had no other means of transportation and bring them to Sunday School. Thanks to this woman's dedication, there were Sundays when the number of young people present was doubled.³ Third class Christians can't do everything, but they are willing to do something.

The church needs third class Christians. The country needs third class Christians, too. William Bennet, Secretary of Education from 1985 to 1988, has written editorials commenting on the Index of Leading Cultural Indicators, a compilation of the Heritage Foundation and Empower America. His conclusion is that our culture is declining. He notes that since 1960 violent crime has increased 560%; illegitimate births have increased 419%; the divorce rate has quadrupled; the percentage of children living in single-parent homes has tripled; and there has been a 200% increase in the teenage suicide rate.⁴ He goes on to quote conclusions from pollster Daniel Yankelovich that our society now places less value than before on what we owe others as a matter of moral obligation; less value on sacrifice as a moral good; less value on social conformity, respectability and observing the rules; and less value on correctness and restraint in matter of physical pleasure and sexuality.⁵

Most would agree that, if these statistics and conclusions are correct, society is going in the exact opposite direction from Christian teaching, and has put itself in ethical and moral and spiritual peril. Societally and culturally the stagecoach is out of control, hell-bent toward a five hundred foot cliff. First class Christians may rest on their supposed privilege remaining seated and waiting for someone else to do something, with the very real danger of riding that stagecoach right off that cliff to the canyon floor below. Third-class Christians get off their seats, climb into the driver's seat, and reign in the horses. The country needs third class Christians, men and women who will use their power and influence to reign in a society hell-bent toward destruction.

A phrase written by Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the atomic scientist, has a good chance of becoming a permanent addition to human wisdom. Pleading for funds for exchange students between different countries, he wrote, "The best way to send an idea is to wrap it up in a person."

That, of course, is what God did in Jesus. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" says the gospel writer John. Grace and salvation were wrapped up in the person of Jesus Christ.

But God didn't stop with Jesus. He has ideas and purposes for his church today. He has ideas and purposes for our country today. He has ideas and purposes for the world today. His way is to send those ideas and purposes wrapped up in persons, in you and me. He needs third class Christians. He doesn’t need first-class Christians who remain seated and, by their added weight, increase the problems. Nor does he need second class Christians, who stand aside detached from the problems. Jesus needs third class Christians who, at the first sign of a problem, are on their feet lending their skills and efforts to correct the problems and meet the challenges in our church, in our country, and in our world. Amen.

May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.

^{1 Dynamic Preaching, May, 1993, p. 29}

^{2 Ibid., p. 30}

^3 Ibid.

^{4 “Quoatifying America’s Decline”, The
Wallstreet Journal, March 15, 1993.}

^{^{5 “America Needs Cultural Renwal,” Des
Moines Sunday Register, April 18, 1993}}

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