A few months ago there appeared on Arts & Entertainment cable channel the biography of the Nelson family¾ Ozzie, Harriet, David, and Ricky. The Ozzie and Harriet Show was groundbreaking in a way because it spawned other television family sitcoms¾ The Donna Reed Show, Father Knows Best, Leave it to Beaver, etc. The show portrayed an idealized view of the American nuclear family. Biography was quick to point out that the real-life Nelson family fell short of the ideal. But the show was an exhibition of a healthy family to the world.

        We tend to learn by "show and tell" more effectively than by word description alone. Many of you have already heard the saga of my window project at home. My "trouble free" metal windows had deteriorated to the point they needed to be replaced. I decided to replace them with wooden windows. The contractor I hired to do the labor came by one Saturday afternoon to do one as a trial run. In about two hours, he had the aluminum window out and had sort of filled the opening with one of the new wooden windows. "Is this how you want it?" he asked. And he then left with plans to return in a little over a week.

        I was able to stand it for about an hour after he left. I took the window back out. I then replaced it in the manner in which I thought it ought to be. (I had, by the way, also read the manufacturer’s instructions.) When the contractor returned, I had an exhibit. "This is how I want it." (I have to confess I also took the day off and helped put the others in!) But the exhibit was more telling than a myriad of words of description.

        There is an old story of a little boy who had been sent to the store with a dollar to buy loaf of bread. On the way to the store he lost the dollar. He knew if he went home without the bread and the change he was in for a beating. So as he stood at the door to the grocery store he began to cry. A man who was just checking out asked the little boy why he was crying. The little boy explained his predicament and his fear. The man said, "We can’t have that. Here, I have a loaf of bread. You can take mine." The elated little boy took the loaf of bread and started for the door. He stopped briefly, whirled around, and said to the man, "I wish I had a father like you." A demanding and abusive father was all that the little boy had ever known. It was from the kind act of a stranger that he saw the exhibition of another male image.

        We come today to consider the last of the Six Great Ends of the Church¾ the exhibition of the kingdom of heaven to the world.

When the church is the church, you should expect it to exhibit the kingdom of heaven. And, as we mentioned in an earlier sermon, the church is the only place you may expect to see this exhibition. You may wish for, but can’t realistically expect an exhibition of the kingdom of heaven in Washington or Austin or City Hall, in corporate America, in the schools, on television, in movies, at the concert, on the athletic playing field, on the freeway, or at the shopping mall. We simply do not live in a churched or Christian society. That myth should have been thoroughly debunked by now. If you want to see an exhibition of the kingdom of heaven, you look first to the church.

        And that’s one definition that is as old as our faith. God spoke to Abram. God called Abram. God chose Abram and his progeny. This calling or choosing was not for arbitrary favor. It never is.

        God does not call or choose us in the same manner in which one brings home a cat for a pet. (Let me pause to reveal to you that a cat really has no practical value. I have an exhibition of that fact that I can show you at home! You can’t ride a cat, have one pull a wagon or carriage, or help herd other animals. You don’t hear of a watch cat or a seeing-eye cat. A cat’s value lies in atmosphere, companionship, or a place to lavish affection.) God calls us for some kind of service or purpose. In the case of Abram, it was to create a nation governed by the Spirit of God. When other nations looked at this exhibition, they would be drawn to desire relationship with God.

        When Jesus came to the last night of his ministry on earth, he had a long talk with his disciples. Jesus had summed up all of the law and the prophets as love to God and love to others. On this fateful night, the disciples had come to the upper room vying for position. Jesus told them earnestly, I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples… Well, there it is¾ the exhibition of the kingdom of heaven to the world.

        You can look at the fruits of a group or movement and know a lot about it. A cousin of mine, a very creative history teacher, has done multi-media production of holocaust for his classes. In recognition of this project, he was given a trip to Poland and the Holy Land. I have seen the video and prints of the Poland part of the trip and the Nazi death camps. These studies in horror are an exhibition of what the Nazis were all about and a reminder of why they had to be stopped. I am often amazed at the human proclivity or violence, pain, death, and destruction. But that is the exhibition of what sin is to the world. The church is to be an exhibition of love.

        After the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in power on the day of Pentecost, the church that followed in the aftermath was an exhibition of kingdom of heaven. The account says that many wonders and signs were being done. In other words, lives were being changed. The account says that they took care of one another. I heard of a rather simple example of this kind of sharing. A prominent leader and teacher of a large church was in a hospital intensive care unit. There were many members of the church holding vigil in the ICU waiting room. So the church decided to provide lunch each day for the members in the waiting room. And while they were at it, they brought enough for everyone else in the waiting room.

        The account says that they praised God and ate food with glad and generous hearts. They recognized the value of one another and the source of all blessings. In other words, the church, when it is the church, is a unique place in the world¾ a place of acceptance and forgiveness, a place of genuine concern and a place where prayers are offered for human need, a place where plans, programs, and projects offer practical help, and a place where people are taken seriously (sometimes the only place).

        The fact is, sometimes we need an exhibition to show us what its all about. Back when I was in seminary, after working my night shift on Friday, I had journeyed on Saturday a.m. to Austin to visit my college roommate and his wife. It was a little over a week before Christmas. After Sunday church, we decided to pay a visit to her parents’ ranch near Fredricksburg. We enjoyed a lunch of soup and homemade bread. With a crowded schedule, finals and all, I hadn’t been able to drum up much enthusiasm for the approaching "Christmas season." I was usually sleepy in those days, so after lunch lay down on a day bed in ranch living room in front of cracking fire. Someone came by and covered me up with an afghan. I was suddenly awakened as the front door was flung open. They came in dragging a huge tree that had been chopped down somewhere on property. The smell of fresh greenery permeated the atmosphere. I watched as they drove a nail in a ceiling beam on which to tie string to help hold up the tree. Then they began to decorate the tree. There was an atmosphere of joy about the whole thing. Later in the afternoon, when we had returned to Austin and I was coming back to metroplex, I realized that my own mood had lightened, I was singing a carol to myself, and I was looking forward to the coming of Christmas. I just needed an exhibition of that joy to get me started.

        But this is what the church is all about. It is a place where lives are changed, problems are solved, and burdens are lightened. It is a place where we do share our joys and sorrows as a spiritual family. It is a place where we do take care of one another and look after others as well. It is a place where priority is given to what’s really important, to the One who is the source of it all, to a quest to know the nature of that God and what God has in mind for us.

        The exhibition of the kingdom of heaven to the world¾ it’s what God called Abram to begin, it’s what Jesus commanded as he stood in the shadow of the cross, it’s what the Spirit gives us the creative energy to be and to do.