E(Pastor Beeper clip) You know what’s sad. We don’t even have pastor beepers. So, for those in our community, if you do not use your gifts—those people will just go unloved. In my few short years as a pastor, when I am in my office by myself, I sometimes wonder, “What am I doing in here! I should be out serving someone—not in my office! But when I can’t leave, I try to remember that I’m only ONE Christian and I’m part of a faith community. I can make a lot of impact, just my one life in this world, I believe that. But if I can empower you, the body of Christ, this community of believers, well that makes a much more dramatic impact.
Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “Why do you sit alone, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening? What you are doing is not good. You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you. For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.” The model of the pastor doing everything in the church? The model we all grew up with? It is not good. That’s what the Bible says anyway. Why isn’t it good? Because it wore out pastors for one. Did you know that the average pastor stays a pastor for five years before quitting? That gives me, what, two more before I’m burnt out? Well, I hope not! I love my job! I love what I am called to do and I love it here! That would not be good for me and my family, I can tell you that! But, having me burn out would also not be good for you. As the reading puts it, “You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you.” How can that be? How is it that a leader doing so much of the work can wear out other people?
Well, on the one hand, if pastors burn out after about 5 years a pop, call committees get worn out, those of you who were on the most recent one know all about that. But more than that, workaholics don’t actually get more done, do they? Study after study shows that just because you put in more hours or take less breaks doesn’t mean you are a more effective worker. So, the more a leader carries the whole load by themselves, the more work everyone else is forced to make up for that lack of effectiveness.
Another reason is that God has only blessed any particular person with some gifts, but not ALL gifts. Do you want to know how to wear out the property committee? Have ME work on some project for them. Then you’ll not only have to clean up the mess I make, but do the project over again. Leaders must, I repeat MUST share the workload because if they do not, if they seek to control every detail, if they demand to do all the work, they stifle growth and create a lot more work for everyone else.
Moses’ father-in-law said this next, “Now listen to me, I will give you counsel, and God be with you! You should represent the people before God, and you should bring their cases before God; teach them the statutes and instructions and make known to them the way they are to go and the things they are to do.” He explains to Moses that he needs to choose able bodied and trustworthy people to bear the burden together. He said, “If you do this, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people will go to their home in peace.”
I believe that a very good model for leadership would be Jesus Christ, so let’s see what he did. First, he finds twelve people to be his disciples when he starts his ministry. He gives them the authority to heal, to preach and to cast out demons. He teaches them and sends them out to the towns he cannot go to. Then, in the passage from Luke for today, he chooses seventy people, gives them the same authority to heal and sends them out two by two.
But why? Why is Jesus, why is God so interested in giving this kind of authority to uneducated fishermen and tax collectors? Well, number one, because in three years Jesus will be dead on a cross. He will no longer be seen as he was before, in his fleshly body. He needed to teach others to be his hands and feet in the world. Second, because Jesus knew that God had given gifts to his people through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Imagine it was your child’s birthday and you had picked out for him or her the most amazing gift you could afford. Perhaps it was a beautiful baby doll for her second birthday, or a brand new bicycle when he turned ten. Maybe a new car for when they turned sixteen. And then, from that point on you said, “Don’t use it.” Put that baby doll away, you probably don’t know how to play with it anyway, you’re too little and uneducated. You’ll learn to be a mother later. If you go trying to ride that bike around town, you’ll look foolish in front of your friends, have a little pride! If you go riding that beautiful car around this town, you’re just going to be showing off how great of a present you got from me. Don’t show off your gift or else it will make others feel bad.
You have each been given gifts by God. Which of those excuses have YOU used? You don’t know enough to teach Sunday school? You not good at speaking in front of people for the faith talk? You don’t want to SHOW OFF by being a leader of this church? Now, imagine how you would feel if after you gave your child a gift, THEY were the ones who chose to not use it. How would you feel if you had planned, and scrimped and saved to give them each just the right thing and, then, they tucked their doll, or their bike or their car in the garage and never gave you the joy of seeing them use it? That’s how your heavenly Father feels every time you fail to use the gifts he has given you.
According to the book, “Natural Church Development” by Christian Schwartz, there are three areas leaders must focus on to empower others. Many of you are being called to be leaders of this church. Don’t back away from God’s call on your life. Step forward in faith! To be an empowering leader, you need to do three things: Teach, Motivate and Free people to use their gifts.
You need to teach people how to use their gifts. If I lead one Bible study for six people, that’s great. But if those six people are each empowered to lead six other people, that’s 36 people impacted each week and that is better! But, just because you know how to do something, you may still not be willing to get off the couch and do it. A leader needs to motivate. You need to call, beg, plead, pray and ask a person to use his or her gifts so that they do what God made them to do. Finally, you need to give people the freedom to use their gift even if that means that they may fail. A strong leader guides others, but lets them have the freedom to work up to their potential. Teach, Motivate and Free one another to serve to God’s glory. That’s what empowering leadership is all about.
What are your gifts? What are you good at? What do you love doing? What comes easy for you? If you had all the money in the world and all the time in the world, what would you do? If you could do anything for the church—anything in the name of Jesus—what would it be? If you knew that you didn’t have to do anything, what would you do?
In your bulletins, you each received a note card. First, write your name on the top of the card. Now we are going to pray that God might help you discern some of your gifts, then you will write at least two of them down. You might write down natural gifts like the gift of song or the gift of organization. These also might be spiritual gifts, like the gift of prayer or the gift of hospitality or the gift of administration or the gift of evangelism.
If you knew that you didn’t HAVE to do anything at Emmanuel, what would you CHOOSE to do. What would you like to start? What area could you make even better? After we pray, I want you to write down at least two gifts you think you might have. Let us pray . . . Start now.
Look at this picture on the screen. It is a wagon, full of circular wheels, being pulled on four square wheels. This picture represents how churches function most of the time. It’s looks like pretty hard work? The thing is that it doesn’t have to be, does it? Those round wheels that are just being carried along, they represent you, people with gifts. God has given each one of you talents, abilities and desires to do wonderful things in this world and in this church. And if you knew your gifts and were willing to utilize them, if you realized that you were a round wheel in that wagon and were tired of being unused, through the power of God you might do some amazing things. And some amazing things might happen here in this church and in this community.
It is my calling and the calling of many others in this church to empower you to use your gifts. When the offering plates are collected, please place your notecards in them as a sign that you are willing to step forward in faith and see how God might use you. If you are still unsure of your gifts, there is a spiritual gift inventory to fill out on our website that I would encourage you all to complete. Finally, if you’d like to study this more, I have a great resource for discovering your gifts and how to work on them as a small group study. I’d love to empower you to start one. Finally, perhaps you feel called today to be a leader in this church. Perhaps you have a gift for seeing gifts in others, in teaching them, motivating them and freeing them to not simply be sitting in the pew, but loving in truth and action. I want to help you be the best leader you can be. Don’t just wait on to be called, get involved today.
Empowering leadership and using your spiritual gifts are not simply “extras” to our lives as Christians, they are essential. Without them, we are not fulfilling our call to walk just as Christ walked. God empowered us by his Holy Spirit with many gifts for building up the body of Christ as Ephesians says, “until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full statue of Christ.” I pray that by empowering others and being empowered yourself, you will grow in your relationship to Christ, to maturity, in unity of faith and knowledge of God’s Son. You don’t need a pastor beeper—God has already given you the gifts you need to impact this world in a meaningful way. Amen.
Showing posts with label Spiritual Gifts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spiritual Gifts. Show all posts
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Sermon for May 23rd (Fruits of the Spirit)
“Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.” Have any of you read the book, Lord of the Flies, or seen the movie. That iconic story portrays what happens when people are left up to our own devices, without guidance or rules. They end up trying to kill each other. It’s in our nature, what the apostle Paul calls our sinful nature. God created us good, but we choose to do things that are not good. It’s not that we aren’t able to do good, but each one of us is driven, compulsively, to follow our own desires rather than to follow the desires of God. We want what is best for ourselves—not others.
Paul says that our sinful nature and God’s Holy Spirit, are in conflict with one another. There is an ultimate fight going on within each of us, all the time. Some of you might experience this as anxiety, or guilt, or just plain indecision. God sends us his Holy Spirit in order that we might follow God’s will despite our temptations to do just the opposite. When the Holy Spirit starts working in your life, the effects are what the book of Galatians calls the fruit of the Spirit.
The apostle Paul gives us nine examples of this fruit in Galatians chapter 5. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I will be focusing on three of them this morning. I want you to better understand both how God creates these fruits in you and how you and I can cultivate this fruit in our lives. I intend on planting seeds this morning, seeds of faith, so that you might realize that this fruit comes from God alone for, as Jesus put it, “Apart from me (apart from God) you can do nothing.” But I also want to equip you with ways to nourish this fruit in your life.
Today I will focus on just three fruits of the Spirit, namely: peace, generosity and self-control. So let’s get started.
The fruit of Peace
In the movie, “Under the Tuscan Sun”, the main character, Francis, has recently gone through a bad divorce and is trying to put her life back together. She is struggling especially with how to deal with romance and finding new love. Another woman speaks to her about being at peace in her life until the time is right for love to come her way. She explains, “Listen, when I was a little girl, I used to spend hours looking for ladybugs. Finally, I'd just give up and fall asleep in the grass. When I woke up, they were crawling all over me.” The fruit of peace grows, and it’s impossible for us to know exactly how. Many a couple has explained the fruit of peace in this way when it comes to finding love, “When I stopped looking, love found me.”
Psalm 46 puts this a different way, “Be still and know that I am God.” The fruit of peace starts growing without any effort on your part. People often find peace only when they stop working so hard at finding it. You already have peace with God because of Jesus’ death on the cross. No matter the battle you are fighting in your life right now, Jesus has already defeated it for you. One day you will see that victory face to face. The stress in your life doesn’t get the last word. God says, “My peace I give to you.”
So then, how do we cultivate this peace? Well, to start, it is very difficult to find peace when you are always striving for it. I believe that this fruit is constantly trying to grow on us, but, instead of enjoying it, we find some way to ignore it. I often create stress for myself. Are any of you like that? What I do is, instead of enjoying my life, I keep striving for more. I’ll be sitting at home enjoying my family and then, suddenly, I am in angst about whether I am REALLY doing enough with my kids to be a good father. Am I playing with them enough? Should I be home more? And, soon enough, I’ve got myself and my kids upset about whether I am a good dad or not. One moment I’m enjoying family time, but because of my selfish ambition to be super-dad, our peaceful home becomes miserable.
Cultivating peace is your life is often about just letting God take care of your problems without trying to do his job for him. You’ve no doubt seen the signs in mechanics garages that give the price for labor per hour and then higher prices if you want to watch or if you want to help. God is the master mechanic and cultivating peace often means letting go and letting God do his thing. In the gospel of Matthew Jesus says, “Do not worry. Do not worry about what you will eat or what you will wear, for your Heavenly Father knows that you need these things. But, seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
What are some practical ways to cultivate peace? Take time out at the end of each day to pray. Use one of the Portals of Prayer books or just say the Lord’s Prayer. You could write down your worries on a piece of paper as they come into your mind and stick them in your Bible next to a passage about God’s power and leave them in God’s hands. You might be amazed at how well he does with your problems without your help. Don’t make finding peace into another goal; focus on how God has already given you the fruit you seek.
The Fruit of Generosity
Dave Ramsey, a Christian financial planner explains that the amount of money one has does not affect how one wants to use it. If you are a jerk when you are poor, you will be a jerk when you are rich. Money doesn’t change the heart. In fact, all that will probably happen when you have more money is that you will become MORE of whatever you already are. This fruit of generosity, like the fruit of peace, comes from the Holy Spirit, not from the amount of money you earn or how hard you work for it. AND generosity doesn’t come from being told to give more, but from having a change of heart.
For many, the world seems based on a rule of scarcity while God promises that the world is actually full of God’s abundance. A worldview based on scarcity leads to desires such as jealously and envy. When it appears that the world does not have enough money, or food, or housing, or love to go around, it makes us believe that we must take what others have or horde what we have before someone comes to take it away.
Perhaps that is why being rich in today’s society is viewed as a sin to many people—a sin that needs to be punished. Instead of seeing one’s money, no matter how much or how little, as a blessing given by God, wealth is seen as an unequal distribution of limited resources. And so we are tempted to all kinds of sinful behavior when we believe others have what should be rightfully ours. However, the fruit of generosity is planted when you start realizing that all that you have, and all that others have, are gifts from the same God. And he is a God of abundance. God uses all people, rich and poor, to care for his creation.
But how might we cultivate generosity in our own lives? One of the best ways, I believe, is by doing something as simple as making a budget. As the motivational speaker Zig Zigler puts it, “If you don’t tell your money where to go, you won’t know where it went.” Even if the fruit of generosity has been planted in our hearts, it can often seem like we CAN’T give like we want to because we never have anything leftover at the end of the month! But once you see where your money is going, you have the opportunity to cultivate your generousity.
You can decide to spend more time eating at home with the family for instance instead of going out. Or, you can plan to build up money for Christmas gifts all year long instead of putting it all on a credit card as if it were an unexpected emergency the night of December 24th. Most people who want to give 10% to their church can’t find 10% leftover at the end of the month, but, by using a budget, you can plan to give before the month even starts. Often, a simple step like planning a budget can help you cultivate the fruit of generosity that God has already placed in your hearts. It’s a tool that helps you live out your faith.
The Fruit of Self-Control
Richard Wurmbrand wrote this in his book, “Waiting on God’s Will” about his 14 years in a Romanian prison being persecuted for his faith in Christ. He wrote, “I remember the chill that went down my spine when I read the secret formula disclosed only to initiates during the third degree of Masonry, “Let my will happen in all things.” The formula was not new to me. It tapped the huge drive for self-assertion which we all have in us. It is just the contrary of the teaching of our Lord: ‘Whoever desires to come to Me, let him deny himself.’
In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray to God, “THY will be done.” When in all things OUR will is the most important aspect, life becomes all about our wishes, our dreams, our desires. It feels so good to do whatever we want! By ourselves, we are slaves to sin, but when God makes us new creations, He sets us free. When God gives you faith, he also gives you hope for self-control. Not by trusting in your own power to resist but in God’s power to strengthen you.
Self-control is cultivated in two particular ways: learning God’s will for your life and waiting for God to act in your life. You may have heard the story where a little boy gets in trouble again and again for leaving his bike in his parents’ driveway. After being chided one last time for his lack of self-control, the little boy finally cries out, “OK, I’m sorry, but what’s a driveway!” When you read the Bible, you find out how God wants you to live your life and that gives you an idea of where you need to control yourself. If you have never heard God’s laws, it’s tough to follow them.
The second way you can cultivate self control is through prayer. When temptation comes your way, ask for help from God himself, “Commit your way to God, trust in him until he acts on your behalf.” If you’ve ever been to an AA meeting, Alcoholics Anonymous, you’ve heard this exemplified in the opening steps, “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable. Step two: We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” Everyone’s temptations are different, but cultivating self-control is a fight that we all must take one day at a time.
“Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.” The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. When God gives you faith, the Holy Spirit plants the seeds in your heart; however, as long as this sinful nature of ours exists we will have to contend with the temptations to let these fruits die on the vine. But you are not alone.
My prayer is that, as a community, we might cultivate these fruits in one another. There are portals of prayer books and a sign-up sheet for more in the parish hall if you are struggling with finding peace in your life. There are copies of a budget that you can work through to help you live our your generosity. Finally, there are Bibles to take home if you don’t’ have one and Bible studies between services as well as a list of support groups for those struggling with self-control. Most importantly, as you continue to cultivate these fruits in your life you may trust that God is at work within you, enabling you to both will and work for his good pleasure. He who has called you is faithful and He will do it. Amen.
Paul says that our sinful nature and God’s Holy Spirit, are in conflict with one another. There is an ultimate fight going on within each of us, all the time. Some of you might experience this as anxiety, or guilt, or just plain indecision. God sends us his Holy Spirit in order that we might follow God’s will despite our temptations to do just the opposite. When the Holy Spirit starts working in your life, the effects are what the book of Galatians calls the fruit of the Spirit.
The apostle Paul gives us nine examples of this fruit in Galatians chapter 5. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I will be focusing on three of them this morning. I want you to better understand both how God creates these fruits in you and how you and I can cultivate this fruit in our lives. I intend on planting seeds this morning, seeds of faith, so that you might realize that this fruit comes from God alone for, as Jesus put it, “Apart from me (apart from God) you can do nothing.” But I also want to equip you with ways to nourish this fruit in your life.
Today I will focus on just three fruits of the Spirit, namely: peace, generosity and self-control. So let’s get started.
The fruit of Peace
In the movie, “Under the Tuscan Sun”, the main character, Francis, has recently gone through a bad divorce and is trying to put her life back together. She is struggling especially with how to deal with romance and finding new love. Another woman speaks to her about being at peace in her life until the time is right for love to come her way. She explains, “Listen, when I was a little girl, I used to spend hours looking for ladybugs. Finally, I'd just give up and fall asleep in the grass. When I woke up, they were crawling all over me.” The fruit of peace grows, and it’s impossible for us to know exactly how. Many a couple has explained the fruit of peace in this way when it comes to finding love, “When I stopped looking, love found me.”
Psalm 46 puts this a different way, “Be still and know that I am God.” The fruit of peace starts growing without any effort on your part. People often find peace only when they stop working so hard at finding it. You already have peace with God because of Jesus’ death on the cross. No matter the battle you are fighting in your life right now, Jesus has already defeated it for you. One day you will see that victory face to face. The stress in your life doesn’t get the last word. God says, “My peace I give to you.”
So then, how do we cultivate this peace? Well, to start, it is very difficult to find peace when you are always striving for it. I believe that this fruit is constantly trying to grow on us, but, instead of enjoying it, we find some way to ignore it. I often create stress for myself. Are any of you like that? What I do is, instead of enjoying my life, I keep striving for more. I’ll be sitting at home enjoying my family and then, suddenly, I am in angst about whether I am REALLY doing enough with my kids to be a good father. Am I playing with them enough? Should I be home more? And, soon enough, I’ve got myself and my kids upset about whether I am a good dad or not. One moment I’m enjoying family time, but because of my selfish ambition to be super-dad, our peaceful home becomes miserable.
Cultivating peace is your life is often about just letting God take care of your problems without trying to do his job for him. You’ve no doubt seen the signs in mechanics garages that give the price for labor per hour and then higher prices if you want to watch or if you want to help. God is the master mechanic and cultivating peace often means letting go and letting God do his thing. In the gospel of Matthew Jesus says, “Do not worry. Do not worry about what you will eat or what you will wear, for your Heavenly Father knows that you need these things. But, seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
What are some practical ways to cultivate peace? Take time out at the end of each day to pray. Use one of the Portals of Prayer books or just say the Lord’s Prayer. You could write down your worries on a piece of paper as they come into your mind and stick them in your Bible next to a passage about God’s power and leave them in God’s hands. You might be amazed at how well he does with your problems without your help. Don’t make finding peace into another goal; focus on how God has already given you the fruit you seek.
The Fruit of Generosity
Dave Ramsey, a Christian financial planner explains that the amount of money one has does not affect how one wants to use it. If you are a jerk when you are poor, you will be a jerk when you are rich. Money doesn’t change the heart. In fact, all that will probably happen when you have more money is that you will become MORE of whatever you already are. This fruit of generosity, like the fruit of peace, comes from the Holy Spirit, not from the amount of money you earn or how hard you work for it. AND generosity doesn’t come from being told to give more, but from having a change of heart.
For many, the world seems based on a rule of scarcity while God promises that the world is actually full of God’s abundance. A worldview based on scarcity leads to desires such as jealously and envy. When it appears that the world does not have enough money, or food, or housing, or love to go around, it makes us believe that we must take what others have or horde what we have before someone comes to take it away.
Perhaps that is why being rich in today’s society is viewed as a sin to many people—a sin that needs to be punished. Instead of seeing one’s money, no matter how much or how little, as a blessing given by God, wealth is seen as an unequal distribution of limited resources. And so we are tempted to all kinds of sinful behavior when we believe others have what should be rightfully ours. However, the fruit of generosity is planted when you start realizing that all that you have, and all that others have, are gifts from the same God. And he is a God of abundance. God uses all people, rich and poor, to care for his creation.
But how might we cultivate generosity in our own lives? One of the best ways, I believe, is by doing something as simple as making a budget. As the motivational speaker Zig Zigler puts it, “If you don’t tell your money where to go, you won’t know where it went.” Even if the fruit of generosity has been planted in our hearts, it can often seem like we CAN’T give like we want to because we never have anything leftover at the end of the month! But once you see where your money is going, you have the opportunity to cultivate your generousity.
You can decide to spend more time eating at home with the family for instance instead of going out. Or, you can plan to build up money for Christmas gifts all year long instead of putting it all on a credit card as if it were an unexpected emergency the night of December 24th. Most people who want to give 10% to their church can’t find 10% leftover at the end of the month, but, by using a budget, you can plan to give before the month even starts. Often, a simple step like planning a budget can help you cultivate the fruit of generosity that God has already placed in your hearts. It’s a tool that helps you live out your faith.
The Fruit of Self-Control
Richard Wurmbrand wrote this in his book, “Waiting on God’s Will” about his 14 years in a Romanian prison being persecuted for his faith in Christ. He wrote, “I remember the chill that went down my spine when I read the secret formula disclosed only to initiates during the third degree of Masonry, “Let my will happen in all things.” The formula was not new to me. It tapped the huge drive for self-assertion which we all have in us. It is just the contrary of the teaching of our Lord: ‘Whoever desires to come to Me, let him deny himself.’
In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray to God, “THY will be done.” When in all things OUR will is the most important aspect, life becomes all about our wishes, our dreams, our desires. It feels so good to do whatever we want! By ourselves, we are slaves to sin, but when God makes us new creations, He sets us free. When God gives you faith, he also gives you hope for self-control. Not by trusting in your own power to resist but in God’s power to strengthen you.
Self-control is cultivated in two particular ways: learning God’s will for your life and waiting for God to act in your life. You may have heard the story where a little boy gets in trouble again and again for leaving his bike in his parents’ driveway. After being chided one last time for his lack of self-control, the little boy finally cries out, “OK, I’m sorry, but what’s a driveway!” When you read the Bible, you find out how God wants you to live your life and that gives you an idea of where you need to control yourself. If you have never heard God’s laws, it’s tough to follow them.
The second way you can cultivate self control is through prayer. When temptation comes your way, ask for help from God himself, “Commit your way to God, trust in him until he acts on your behalf.” If you’ve ever been to an AA meeting, Alcoholics Anonymous, you’ve heard this exemplified in the opening steps, “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable. Step two: We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” Everyone’s temptations are different, but cultivating self-control is a fight that we all must take one day at a time.
“Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.” The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. When God gives you faith, the Holy Spirit plants the seeds in your heart; however, as long as this sinful nature of ours exists we will have to contend with the temptations to let these fruits die on the vine. But you are not alone.
My prayer is that, as a community, we might cultivate these fruits in one another. There are portals of prayer books and a sign-up sheet for more in the parish hall if you are struggling with finding peace in your life. There are copies of a budget that you can work through to help you live our your generosity. Finally, there are Bibles to take home if you don’t’ have one and Bible studies between services as well as a list of support groups for those struggling with self-control. Most importantly, as you continue to cultivate these fruits in your life you may trust that God is at work within you, enabling you to both will and work for his good pleasure. He who has called you is faithful and He will do it. Amen.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Sermon for January 17th
According to today’s Second Reading, the Corinthian church had been arguing about spiritual gifts. Paul writes that because we have only one God and his Holy Spirit gives all spiritual gifts, therefore, no one gift is any better than any other. In many religions, especially pagan religions, there are many gods. And each god gives different things. For instance, a rain god would give fertility, so if you wanted to get pregnant you would pray to that god for gifts. Another god would be a god of public speaking, I guess, so if you wanted to give a great motivational speech, you would pray to that god. However, for Christians, Paul maintains that every gift, no matter how little or big, comes from the same Spirit, the same Lord and the same God. There is no pantheon of gods to ask for various gifts from. There is only one God who gives all good gifts.
Today’s Christian churches have their own problems understanding spiritual gifts even though they usually are not exactly the same problems as the Corinthian church had. While we are aware that there is only one God who gives gifts, we don’t realize that God blesses every person with gifts, not just a few religious leaders. Notice some of the words Paul uses when talking about spiritual gifts: everyone, to each, to another, to another, to another, to each one individually. My point is that in many churches, including this one, we often act like some spiritual gifts are better than others or, worse, that only some in the church have been blessed with the proper spiritual gifts. In some churches, people get so confused that they start looking to their pastors or priests as the giver of gifts, rather than to God alone.
For example, I, as your pastor, am not the only one blessed with gifts. I have them, this is true, but only because God promises to bless all who believe in him with these gifts. I didn’t receive them at seminary, I didn’t receive them at my ordination, I received my spiritual gifts at my baptism. What does this mean? That each and every one of you have them as well. And you don’t have to go to seminary to find them. And you certainly don’t have to be ordained to receive them. You received them at your baptism. Do you believe it?
Well, if you believe it, then what are your spiritual gifts and what are you doing to use them? Suffice it to say, while we may SAY that we have spiritual gifts, for all intents and purposes many Christians, just like many of you, ACT like they don’t have them. But before we go any further, let me make sure that you understand the difference between a natural gift and a spiritual gift. They both come from God, but they are different.
I went to college to become a double bassist in a symphony. I was a good musician and believe that, in many ways, I still am. When I was asked whether or not I had thought about going to seminary, to become a pastor, I didn’t think that I had a call (even though God was using these people to call me there). Furthermore, I didn’t think that I would be very good at it, especially if I’d have to visit people who were sick. I didn’t want to do that.
While being a musician is certainly a gift, I wasn’t using my music to serve others, only to serve myself mostly. Music can be a spiritual gift, but I wasn’t using it as such by practicing 6-8 hours a day just in order to get a job that I wanted. When God finally got through to me and called me to seminary to start training to become a pastor, I began working on my spiritual gifts and discovered that they were much different than what I thought they would be. Remember that I said that I didn’t think I would be a good pastor because I didn’t want to sit with sick people; however, when I started visiting the sick as a chaplain in a hospital during seminary, I actually found that I loved doing it and even started realizing that it was a gift. It didn’t come naturally maybe, but it was a spiritual gift. When I was focused on serving others, on listening to their needs, on caring for their suffering, it became one of my favorite things to do—we might call this a gift of counseling.
Of the short list of spiritual gifts mentioned in the passage today, the one that I’ve noticed the most in my life is the gift of healing. Now, I don’t believe that I have ever seen a dramatic physical healing in anyone I have prayed for . . . yet . . . but I believe every time I pray that it could happen. However, people have sometimes told me that when I pray for them, they experience a healing of their spirit, knowing that God really does forgive them or that they experience inner healing. You see, as Paul says, “there are a variety of gifts” they don’t all have to look the same. Just because you have the gift of healing, doesn’t mean that it will look the way you think it should look, or how it looks on the movies. You may have it to a lesser or greater degree than someone else. Not everyone will become a famous televangelist, but you may still have the gift of evangelism. If you never try to use your spiritual gifts, how will you ever know? The gift of healing seems like a great spiritual gift to have, but it is by no means the greatest or the worst.
I believe that for many of you there are two obstacles to using your spiritual gifts. The first is that you don’t know what a spiritual gift is, or you don’t know what gifts you might have. This obstacle is mostly about a lack of familiarity with scripture or the failure of spiritual leaders, like myself, to do a good job teaching you about them. The second obstacle is one of faith. This means that even if you know what your spiritual gifts are, that knowledge stays up in your head and never moves to your heart.
Christian Schwarz, the director of Natural Church Development, has written a book about spiritual gifts. In this book, I believe that he has compiled a good list of possible gifts that Christians might have. You each received this list in your bulletins this morning. This list is taken from scripture, but there is no doubt that you could argue about the titles he gives some of them. The point of this exercise is to simply give you some ideas about what possible spiritual gifts you might have. Remember that the gift of healing isn’t always going to mean that people with cancer are suddenly cured . . . though it might. And the gift of counseling doesn’t mean that you are a great psychologist, but that perhaps people feel refreshed and joyful after talking to you. There are a variety of gifts and a variety of how those gifts are manifested. I encourage you to read this list when you are at home this week and pray about how God might use you at Saint Peters and everywhere you go.
These gifts came through your baptism, not through some secondary education. But what about that second obstacle: your faith.
Why is it, do you think, that you have not used your spiritual gifts? I’m sure that some of you have realized, before today, that you have had at least some ability in some of these areas. I know that you have served others. But in the life of this church, many of you either leave your gift under the Christmas tree unopened or leave your gifts at home and never use them. Why?
When Martin Luther talked about how faith is given through the Holy Spirit, he wrote, “I believe that I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel.” I believe that these words are an excellent witness to the words of scripture. It is not our work to find God, but God’s work to find us. In fact, we tend to run from God—we are bound and determined to make it as hard on Him to find us, to love us, to empower us and to save us as possible.
Thankfully, being the creator of heaven and earth, he knows what he needs to do to get through to us, and it is not by motivating us to great acts of spiritual power. Scripture says he kills us in order to make us truly alive. He brings us down to raise us up. He condemns us and then he forgives us. So that we might know who exactly gets the glory. He says that we have sinned because we have not used our spiritual gifts. This is simply the truth. People have suffered, churches have suffered, even we ourselves have suffered because of this. We have left the work of the ministry in the hands of others. We have not served others with our gifts but have used them only to increase our own selfish interests. God has given us gifts—the most amazing spiritual gifts!—and we have squandered them. We are not acting like the people God created us to be, the people God saved us to be, the people God empowers us to be.
So, since you and I are unwilling to use our spiritual gifts, God does something new. He forgives. He forgives you. He gives you and I a clean slate today. Those months and years of not being involved in the life of the church, God has set them aside and now looks at you as a new creation. No longer shall you be termed Potential, but now you shall be called Useful. No longer shall you be called Uninformed, but you are called God’s delight. For God has placed in your hands the most wondrous gifts in all creation—gifts to serve others for the sake of the kingdom of God. Your forgiveness is free. The gifts are yours. What might happen when take them out for a spin? Amen.
Today’s Christian churches have their own problems understanding spiritual gifts even though they usually are not exactly the same problems as the Corinthian church had. While we are aware that there is only one God who gives gifts, we don’t realize that God blesses every person with gifts, not just a few religious leaders. Notice some of the words Paul uses when talking about spiritual gifts: everyone, to each, to another, to another, to another, to each one individually. My point is that in many churches, including this one, we often act like some spiritual gifts are better than others or, worse, that only some in the church have been blessed with the proper spiritual gifts. In some churches, people get so confused that they start looking to their pastors or priests as the giver of gifts, rather than to God alone.
For example, I, as your pastor, am not the only one blessed with gifts. I have them, this is true, but only because God promises to bless all who believe in him with these gifts. I didn’t receive them at seminary, I didn’t receive them at my ordination, I received my spiritual gifts at my baptism. What does this mean? That each and every one of you have them as well. And you don’t have to go to seminary to find them. And you certainly don’t have to be ordained to receive them. You received them at your baptism. Do you believe it?
Well, if you believe it, then what are your spiritual gifts and what are you doing to use them? Suffice it to say, while we may SAY that we have spiritual gifts, for all intents and purposes many Christians, just like many of you, ACT like they don’t have them. But before we go any further, let me make sure that you understand the difference between a natural gift and a spiritual gift. They both come from God, but they are different.
I went to college to become a double bassist in a symphony. I was a good musician and believe that, in many ways, I still am. When I was asked whether or not I had thought about going to seminary, to become a pastor, I didn’t think that I had a call (even though God was using these people to call me there). Furthermore, I didn’t think that I would be very good at it, especially if I’d have to visit people who were sick. I didn’t want to do that.
While being a musician is certainly a gift, I wasn’t using my music to serve others, only to serve myself mostly. Music can be a spiritual gift, but I wasn’t using it as such by practicing 6-8 hours a day just in order to get a job that I wanted. When God finally got through to me and called me to seminary to start training to become a pastor, I began working on my spiritual gifts and discovered that they were much different than what I thought they would be. Remember that I said that I didn’t think I would be a good pastor because I didn’t want to sit with sick people; however, when I started visiting the sick as a chaplain in a hospital during seminary, I actually found that I loved doing it and even started realizing that it was a gift. It didn’t come naturally maybe, but it was a spiritual gift. When I was focused on serving others, on listening to their needs, on caring for their suffering, it became one of my favorite things to do—we might call this a gift of counseling.
Of the short list of spiritual gifts mentioned in the passage today, the one that I’ve noticed the most in my life is the gift of healing. Now, I don’t believe that I have ever seen a dramatic physical healing in anyone I have prayed for . . . yet . . . but I believe every time I pray that it could happen. However, people have sometimes told me that when I pray for them, they experience a healing of their spirit, knowing that God really does forgive them or that they experience inner healing. You see, as Paul says, “there are a variety of gifts” they don’t all have to look the same. Just because you have the gift of healing, doesn’t mean that it will look the way you think it should look, or how it looks on the movies. You may have it to a lesser or greater degree than someone else. Not everyone will become a famous televangelist, but you may still have the gift of evangelism. If you never try to use your spiritual gifts, how will you ever know? The gift of healing seems like a great spiritual gift to have, but it is by no means the greatest or the worst.
I believe that for many of you there are two obstacles to using your spiritual gifts. The first is that you don’t know what a spiritual gift is, or you don’t know what gifts you might have. This obstacle is mostly about a lack of familiarity with scripture or the failure of spiritual leaders, like myself, to do a good job teaching you about them. The second obstacle is one of faith. This means that even if you know what your spiritual gifts are, that knowledge stays up in your head and never moves to your heart.
Christian Schwarz, the director of Natural Church Development, has written a book about spiritual gifts. In this book, I believe that he has compiled a good list of possible gifts that Christians might have. You each received this list in your bulletins this morning. This list is taken from scripture, but there is no doubt that you could argue about the titles he gives some of them. The point of this exercise is to simply give you some ideas about what possible spiritual gifts you might have. Remember that the gift of healing isn’t always going to mean that people with cancer are suddenly cured . . . though it might. And the gift of counseling doesn’t mean that you are a great psychologist, but that perhaps people feel refreshed and joyful after talking to you. There are a variety of gifts and a variety of how those gifts are manifested. I encourage you to read this list when you are at home this week and pray about how God might use you at Saint Peters and everywhere you go.
These gifts came through your baptism, not through some secondary education. But what about that second obstacle: your faith.
Why is it, do you think, that you have not used your spiritual gifts? I’m sure that some of you have realized, before today, that you have had at least some ability in some of these areas. I know that you have served others. But in the life of this church, many of you either leave your gift under the Christmas tree unopened or leave your gifts at home and never use them. Why?
When Martin Luther talked about how faith is given through the Holy Spirit, he wrote, “I believe that I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel.” I believe that these words are an excellent witness to the words of scripture. It is not our work to find God, but God’s work to find us. In fact, we tend to run from God—we are bound and determined to make it as hard on Him to find us, to love us, to empower us and to save us as possible.
Thankfully, being the creator of heaven and earth, he knows what he needs to do to get through to us, and it is not by motivating us to great acts of spiritual power. Scripture says he kills us in order to make us truly alive. He brings us down to raise us up. He condemns us and then he forgives us. So that we might know who exactly gets the glory. He says that we have sinned because we have not used our spiritual gifts. This is simply the truth. People have suffered, churches have suffered, even we ourselves have suffered because of this. We have left the work of the ministry in the hands of others. We have not served others with our gifts but have used them only to increase our own selfish interests. God has given us gifts—the most amazing spiritual gifts!—and we have squandered them. We are not acting like the people God created us to be, the people God saved us to be, the people God empowers us to be.
So, since you and I are unwilling to use our spiritual gifts, God does something new. He forgives. He forgives you. He gives you and I a clean slate today. Those months and years of not being involved in the life of the church, God has set them aside and now looks at you as a new creation. No longer shall you be termed Potential, but now you shall be called Useful. No longer shall you be called Uninformed, but you are called God’s delight. For God has placed in your hands the most wondrous gifts in all creation—gifts to serve others for the sake of the kingdom of God. Your forgiveness is free. The gifts are yours. What might happen when take them out for a spin? Amen.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Sermon for July 26th
What are your gifts? What are you good at? What do you love doing? What comes easy for you? If you had all the money in the world and all the time in the world, what would you do? If you could do anything for the church—anything in the name of Jesus—what would it be? If you knew that you didn’t have to do anything, what would you do? What your gifts? Both the gifts that God has given you naturally as well as the spiritual gifts God has blessed you with. What are your gifts?
Apart from Jesus Christ, you don’t have gifts, you have abilities. Strengths, based on your genetics or upbringing, to help you out on your personal journey of self-exploration and self-improvement. And these powers of yours will seem to be the most natural of things proving your own sense of self-worth; strengthening your independence. You can be the best basketball player this world has ever seen. You can be the most perceptive leader this world has ever known. You can be the hardest worker in your town. With your abilities, you can be all that you can be all by yourself!
But Jesus says, “Apart from me YOU can do nothing.” All those amazing strengths of yours, those supernatural abilities, those astounding powers . . . God says those are gifts. Gifts given to you from God. Gifts given to you for the sake of the world, not just for your own pleasure. You have been given gifts not primarily for your own enjoyment but in order to bear fruit—fruit for the kingdom of God. This is not something you would have come up with on your own. Like I said, your abilities, your talents, your interests no doubt feel quite innate. Only the Holy Spirit can make you believe something different.
In your bulletins, you each received a note card. First, write your name on the top of the card. In your pews, there are extra cards as well as pens and pencils. Now we are going to pray that God might help you discern some of your gifts, then you will write two of them down. You might write down natural gifts like the gift of song or the gift of mechanical inclination or the gift of organization or the gift of athleticism. These also might be spiritual gifts, like the gift of prayer or the gift of hospitality or the gift of administration or the gift of evangelism.
Remember, the first step to help you realize your gifts is to ask yourself: What are you good at? What do you love doing? And if you knew that you didn’t have to do anything at Saint Peters, what would you CHOOSE to do. What would you like to start at church? After we pray, I want you to write down what you think two of your gifts might be. Let us pray . . . Start now.
You each received a picture in your bulletin. It looks like this. A wagon, full of circular wheels, being pulled on four square wheels. This picture represents how churches function most of the time. It’s looks like pretty hard work? The thing is that it doesn’t have to be, does it? Those round wheels that are just being carried along, they represent you, people with gifts. God has given each one of you talents, abilities and desires to do wonderful things in this world and in this church. And if you knew your gifts and were willing to utilize them, if you realized that you were a round wheel in that wagon and were tired of being unused, through the power of God you might do some amazing things. And some amazing things might happen here in this church and in this community.
Imagine what might happen here at Saint Peters if you used your gifts on behalf of Jesus Christ. One of the best side effects of using your gifts is the fact that you usually enjoy using them. When you are doing something you love to do it doesn’t even seem like work. Do some of you remember Michael Jordan? When he slam dunked a basketball, I think he actually liked it; in fact, he loved it. Did you ever have a grandmother who seemed to actually enjoy cooking huge complicated meals for you? I have two.
Do you enjoy what you do here at Saint Peters? If not, you are probably one of those square wheels in the picture—that must not be much fun. Do you have any ministry tasks at church? If not, then you are like one of those round wheels just sitting there unused. When you are using your gifts, you are all round wheels that make work more fun and noticeably more effective for the sake of the kingdom of God.
But when you are forced to do something that you aren’t gifted at, there is nothing worse. Imagine what might happen here at Saint Peters, if you ONLY used your gifts. Not because you weren’t willing to be challenged. Not because you didn’t care. Not because you were too busy and stressed out, but because if the task was something that God intended on getting done then there MUST (there MUST!) be someone in the community gifted in that area. If we all want to start a drum band and no one here plays the drums and no one wants to learn . . . maybe God doesn’t intend there to be a drum band here after all. God has placed you here for a reason. And he has given you gifts. Once you start realizing those gifts, you might also realize what God has in store for you as an individual and for the people this church serves.
Eventually, once you’ve discovered the gifts you love to do and the gifts that others see in you, it will be time to see what gifts you can better develop, the gifts that stretch your faith and challenge you to grow. Just because you don’t WANT to do something, just because you aren’t PERFECT at doing something, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do it. The FIRST step in realizing your gifts is to do what you are good at, but don’t just stop there. As Paul says again in Corinthians, “God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. . . . But strive for the greater gifts.” Once you’ve discovered what you love to do, strive to find the gifts that you will LEARN to love to do.
Moses complained that he was slow of speech and couldn’t lead the Israelites, but God called him to be their leader. Isaiah complained that he was a man of unclean lips living among an unclean people, but God forgave him and blotted out his sins. Jeremiah complained that he was only a boy, too young to be useful to God, but God used him as his great prophet.
What has God called you to do? What are your gifts? During today’s offering, I would like you each to place into the offering plate the note card with your name and gifts written on it. The money that is offered each week is used to serve our church community and the wider world. That should give you a clue why God gave you your other gifts as well. Imagine what might happen if you got out of the wagon and started using your gifts at church? What would you do? What would you start? Don’t just think about it, tell someone so we can make it happen. Imagine what might happen if we trusted God to provide people with the gifts to do the ministries he has called us to fulfill?
What has God called you to do? What are your gifts? If you are hoping to use your own strengths and abilities to accomplish all that God demands of you, you will never succeed. For, as Martin Luther put it, God says, “Do this!” and it is never done. I pray that God will give you the imagination, the hope, the power and the motivation to use the GIFTS that God has GIVEN you. Believe in Jesus Christ and the power of God to work through your gifts and everything is done already. Amen.
Apart from Jesus Christ, you don’t have gifts, you have abilities. Strengths, based on your genetics or upbringing, to help you out on your personal journey of self-exploration and self-improvement. And these powers of yours will seem to be the most natural of things proving your own sense of self-worth; strengthening your independence. You can be the best basketball player this world has ever seen. You can be the most perceptive leader this world has ever known. You can be the hardest worker in your town. With your abilities, you can be all that you can be all by yourself!
But Jesus says, “Apart from me YOU can do nothing.” All those amazing strengths of yours, those supernatural abilities, those astounding powers . . . God says those are gifts. Gifts given to you from God. Gifts given to you for the sake of the world, not just for your own pleasure. You have been given gifts not primarily for your own enjoyment but in order to bear fruit—fruit for the kingdom of God. This is not something you would have come up with on your own. Like I said, your abilities, your talents, your interests no doubt feel quite innate. Only the Holy Spirit can make you believe something different.
In your bulletins, you each received a note card. First, write your name on the top of the card. In your pews, there are extra cards as well as pens and pencils. Now we are going to pray that God might help you discern some of your gifts, then you will write two of them down. You might write down natural gifts like the gift of song or the gift of mechanical inclination or the gift of organization or the gift of athleticism. These also might be spiritual gifts, like the gift of prayer or the gift of hospitality or the gift of administration or the gift of evangelism.
Remember, the first step to help you realize your gifts is to ask yourself: What are you good at? What do you love doing? And if you knew that you didn’t have to do anything at Saint Peters, what would you CHOOSE to do. What would you like to start at church? After we pray, I want you to write down what you think two of your gifts might be. Let us pray . . . Start now.
You each received a picture in your bulletin. It looks like this. A wagon, full of circular wheels, being pulled on four square wheels. This picture represents how churches function most of the time. It’s looks like pretty hard work? The thing is that it doesn’t have to be, does it? Those round wheels that are just being carried along, they represent you, people with gifts. God has given each one of you talents, abilities and desires to do wonderful things in this world and in this church. And if you knew your gifts and were willing to utilize them, if you realized that you were a round wheel in that wagon and were tired of being unused, through the power of God you might do some amazing things. And some amazing things might happen here in this church and in this community.
Imagine what might happen here at Saint Peters if you used your gifts on behalf of Jesus Christ. One of the best side effects of using your gifts is the fact that you usually enjoy using them. When you are doing something you love to do it doesn’t even seem like work. Do some of you remember Michael Jordan? When he slam dunked a basketball, I think he actually liked it; in fact, he loved it. Did you ever have a grandmother who seemed to actually enjoy cooking huge complicated meals for you? I have two.
Do you enjoy what you do here at Saint Peters? If not, you are probably one of those square wheels in the picture—that must not be much fun. Do you have any ministry tasks at church? If not, then you are like one of those round wheels just sitting there unused. When you are using your gifts, you are all round wheels that make work more fun and noticeably more effective for the sake of the kingdom of God.
But when you are forced to do something that you aren’t gifted at, there is nothing worse. Imagine what might happen here at Saint Peters, if you ONLY used your gifts. Not because you weren’t willing to be challenged. Not because you didn’t care. Not because you were too busy and stressed out, but because if the task was something that God intended on getting done then there MUST (there MUST!) be someone in the community gifted in that area. If we all want to start a drum band and no one here plays the drums and no one wants to learn . . . maybe God doesn’t intend there to be a drum band here after all. God has placed you here for a reason. And he has given you gifts. Once you start realizing those gifts, you might also realize what God has in store for you as an individual and for the people this church serves.
Eventually, once you’ve discovered the gifts you love to do and the gifts that others see in you, it will be time to see what gifts you can better develop, the gifts that stretch your faith and challenge you to grow. Just because you don’t WANT to do something, just because you aren’t PERFECT at doing something, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do it. The FIRST step in realizing your gifts is to do what you are good at, but don’t just stop there. As Paul says again in Corinthians, “God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. . . . But strive for the greater gifts.” Once you’ve discovered what you love to do, strive to find the gifts that you will LEARN to love to do.
Moses complained that he was slow of speech and couldn’t lead the Israelites, but God called him to be their leader. Isaiah complained that he was a man of unclean lips living among an unclean people, but God forgave him and blotted out his sins. Jeremiah complained that he was only a boy, too young to be useful to God, but God used him as his great prophet.
What has God called you to do? What are your gifts? During today’s offering, I would like you each to place into the offering plate the note card with your name and gifts written on it. The money that is offered each week is used to serve our church community and the wider world. That should give you a clue why God gave you your other gifts as well. Imagine what might happen if you got out of the wagon and started using your gifts at church? What would you do? What would you start? Don’t just think about it, tell someone so we can make it happen. Imagine what might happen if we trusted God to provide people with the gifts to do the ministries he has called us to fulfill?
What has God called you to do? What are your gifts? If you are hoping to use your own strengths and abilities to accomplish all that God demands of you, you will never succeed. For, as Martin Luther put it, God says, “Do this!” and it is never done. I pray that God will give you the imagination, the hope, the power and the motivation to use the GIFTS that God has GIVEN you. Believe in Jesus Christ and the power of God to work through your gifts and everything is done already. Amen.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Sermon for May 11th (Pentecost)
The Holy Spirit is often talked about as if it were the hippie flowerchild of the Trinity. You know what I mean, the child no one likes to talk about in respectable company. The one that goes to the beat of a different drummer. Floating here and there, where it wills. Blowing in and out like the wind. The Holy Spirit always sounds much more “spiritual” than to show up at church, especially at a Lutheran church. It always seems like it’s easier to be spiritual somewhere off in the mountains than sitting in a pew.
How many of you have gone in search of “the Spirit”? What did you find? Where did you go? Going in search of the Holy Spirit is like going on a snipe hunt, where everybody, but you, seems to know where to look and what is going on. So why then did Jesus make it so difficult to get the Holy Spirit, to find it and to keep it?
Well, he didn’t. He didn’t make it hard at all. The problem is not that the Holy Spirit is so hard to get, but that, in some ways, it is too darn predictable for us. We’d much rather go on a treasure hunt than to find it sitting in our laps one day apart from any effort of our own. The Holy Spirit in contemporary society appears to be the sexiest of the three parts of the Trinity, but it’s function, while quite wonderful, is often seen as, well, a little boring and domesticated. What does the Holy Spirit do? It creates faith. That’s it. The Holy Spirit creates faith. And by this faith alone, you are made righteous in God’s eyes.
Perhaps that doesn’t seem very spiritual at all to you. It certainly hasn’t made anybody stand up and say “Praise the Lord!” so far this morning. However, I maintain that being given faith is the most “spiritual” thing that could happen to you. Martin Luther said in the Small Catechism, “I believe that I cannot by my own understanding or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel.”
Remember bread makers? Maybe you still have one. Everybody seemed to want one years ago. But then, all of a sudden, they became quite boring. Why? Because all they did was make bread. Just bread. Big deal. My uncle had the same problem with a juicer he bought. He was so excited when he got it, telling us all about how wonderful it was and everything that it would do. But finally, he found that all it really did was make, well, juice. And it wasn’t even juice he could get out of the fridge, but he kept having to buy the fruit to make the juice. It never became anymore than a juicer.
The same holds true for the Holy Spirit. People often get kinda bored with it. Faith alone never seems like enough, so we try to spice it up a little bit. Having the Spirit starts to mean jumping up and down at church to the sounds of a contemporary rock band. Having the Spirit starts to mean doing something radical, different or spontaneous whether the Bible condones it or not. But the problem is that the Holy Spirit can’t be pimped like this. It never becomes more than a faith maker. It creates faith. That’s it.
The second reading from 1st Corinthians talks about the gifts that the Holy Spirit brings with it. The Holy Spirit creates your faith and then gives you gifts, so it can create faith in the hearts of others. Now gifts like healing, prophecy, speaking in tongues, even the gift of faith make it appear that Paul is trying to spice up the Holy Spirit or something, but all of these gifts are given by God for one reason and one reason only. For the sake of faith. To create faith in Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul makes it very clear that everything he does is for the sake of faith in Jesus Christ. “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” That means that the Holy Spirit doesn’t suddenly become more interesting, more necessary or more spiritual than Jesus. Everything Paul says about the Holy Spirit must be viewed in the shadow of the cross. Every gift the Holy Spirit gives finds its goal in service to faith in Jesus Christ.
The thing is that a lot of people see the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ as being very different. Often, Pentecost is seen as the “new age” of the Holy Spirit making a break with the “good old times” of Jesus. But Jesus says, “The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” You see, the Holy Spirit doesn’t do or say anything different than what Jesus did and said.
Jesus said, “When the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf.” The Holy Spirit is still speaking today, but this isn’t as novel as it might sound. It is only testifying again and again for you to what Jesus said before, “Repent of your sins, and believe in the good news of God.” And through this message spoken today, the Holy Spirit creates faith.
I have spent a great deal of time in conversation with God about the ministry at Saint Peters through prayer, reading the scriptures, hearing the spoken word and having conversations with others. What God keeps pointing me back to again and again is that whatever we do here must be for the sake of faith. To create faith in the hearts of each other and in those who have never believed in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
When I look at the communities we serve, I see people who are hungry, hurting, oppressed, depressed, abused and lonely, but I believe that God is not calling Saint Peters primarily to social work. How can this be you might ask? I believe that God is not calling us to social work but to faith work. When we are called to do anything, even something as important as feeding someone who is hungry, for instance, it must always be in service to that person’s faith. We cannot just give a person a fish and let them eat for a day. I believe that we are being called to give people faith so that they might live for eternal life.
At Pentecost, God poured out his Holy Spirit on Jesus’ disciples so that they might prophecy and speak in tongues for the sake of creating faith in their listeners. How do we know that this was the goal? Because by the end of the passage, scripture says that three thousand people repented of their sins and received forgiveness through baptism. Now that is quite wonderful; however, if giving faith is the goal, then that means that Pentecost isn’t really about one particular day or event at all. It is about something that God has promised to do again and again and again. God gives the Holy Spirit as a faithmaker whenever he gets us to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior for the sake of creating faith.
God gave the Holy Spirit to his disciples after his resurrection when he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any they are retained.” Where there is forgiveness of sins, you can be assured the Holy Spirit is there giving faith to believe in the promise. God gave you his Holy Spirit at your baptism when he washed you clean in the eyes of God and created faith in your heart. God gives you his Holy Spirit day after day when you repent of your sins and believe that your sins are forgiven on account of Jesus Christ alone.
Now, today, I will reenact Pentecost for you again. It might not be flashy, but I will show you exactly how the Holy Spirit comes so you know where to go looking if it is taken away from you. I announce to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. You may trust in these words as the truest vehicle the Holy Spirit rides upon to go into your ears, into your heart and out your mouth again in your confession of faith.
And as if this faith that makes you right with God was not enough, he gives you more stuff. The gifts I talked about before. Why? Because he wants more faith. Not more faith from you, he has given you what you need. He wants others brought to faith as well. So he has given you each gifts for the sake of faith. As the congregation of Saint Peters, I believe we are being called into service toward each other and toward our community. Each of us using our gifts not as an end to themselves, but as a vehicle for the Holy Spirit to create faith. Not to feed someone for a day, or entertain them for an afternoon, but to give them faith for eternal life.
What gifts has God given you? Is it wisdom, knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, speaking in tongues or the interpretation of tongues? I mean, I don’t even know exactly what some of those look like really, but I bet some of you do amazingly enough. And so I’m just going to let you all know this right now: God is going to use you to create faith in the hearts of others. Not through your own choices, or abilities, but by the power of the Holy Spirit that God has given to you. Not just to feed someone a fish for a day, but to give someone faith for eternal life. The one who calls you into faith is faithful and he will do it.
How many of you have gone in search of “the Spirit”? What did you find? Where did you go? Going in search of the Holy Spirit is like going on a snipe hunt, where everybody, but you, seems to know where to look and what is going on. So why then did Jesus make it so difficult to get the Holy Spirit, to find it and to keep it?
Well, he didn’t. He didn’t make it hard at all. The problem is not that the Holy Spirit is so hard to get, but that, in some ways, it is too darn predictable for us. We’d much rather go on a treasure hunt than to find it sitting in our laps one day apart from any effort of our own. The Holy Spirit in contemporary society appears to be the sexiest of the three parts of the Trinity, but it’s function, while quite wonderful, is often seen as, well, a little boring and domesticated. What does the Holy Spirit do? It creates faith. That’s it. The Holy Spirit creates faith. And by this faith alone, you are made righteous in God’s eyes.
Perhaps that doesn’t seem very spiritual at all to you. It certainly hasn’t made anybody stand up and say “Praise the Lord!” so far this morning. However, I maintain that being given faith is the most “spiritual” thing that could happen to you. Martin Luther said in the Small Catechism, “I believe that I cannot by my own understanding or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel.”
Remember bread makers? Maybe you still have one. Everybody seemed to want one years ago. But then, all of a sudden, they became quite boring. Why? Because all they did was make bread. Just bread. Big deal. My uncle had the same problem with a juicer he bought. He was so excited when he got it, telling us all about how wonderful it was and everything that it would do. But finally, he found that all it really did was make, well, juice. And it wasn’t even juice he could get out of the fridge, but he kept having to buy the fruit to make the juice. It never became anymore than a juicer.
The same holds true for the Holy Spirit. People often get kinda bored with it. Faith alone never seems like enough, so we try to spice it up a little bit. Having the Spirit starts to mean jumping up and down at church to the sounds of a contemporary rock band. Having the Spirit starts to mean doing something radical, different or spontaneous whether the Bible condones it or not. But the problem is that the Holy Spirit can’t be pimped like this. It never becomes more than a faith maker. It creates faith. That’s it.
The second reading from 1st Corinthians talks about the gifts that the Holy Spirit brings with it. The Holy Spirit creates your faith and then gives you gifts, so it can create faith in the hearts of others. Now gifts like healing, prophecy, speaking in tongues, even the gift of faith make it appear that Paul is trying to spice up the Holy Spirit or something, but all of these gifts are given by God for one reason and one reason only. For the sake of faith. To create faith in Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul makes it very clear that everything he does is for the sake of faith in Jesus Christ. “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” That means that the Holy Spirit doesn’t suddenly become more interesting, more necessary or more spiritual than Jesus. Everything Paul says about the Holy Spirit must be viewed in the shadow of the cross. Every gift the Holy Spirit gives finds its goal in service to faith in Jesus Christ.
The thing is that a lot of people see the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ as being very different. Often, Pentecost is seen as the “new age” of the Holy Spirit making a break with the “good old times” of Jesus. But Jesus says, “The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” You see, the Holy Spirit doesn’t do or say anything different than what Jesus did and said.
Jesus said, “When the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf.” The Holy Spirit is still speaking today, but this isn’t as novel as it might sound. It is only testifying again and again for you to what Jesus said before, “Repent of your sins, and believe in the good news of God.” And through this message spoken today, the Holy Spirit creates faith.
I have spent a great deal of time in conversation with God about the ministry at Saint Peters through prayer, reading the scriptures, hearing the spoken word and having conversations with others. What God keeps pointing me back to again and again is that whatever we do here must be for the sake of faith. To create faith in the hearts of each other and in those who have never believed in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
When I look at the communities we serve, I see people who are hungry, hurting, oppressed, depressed, abused and lonely, but I believe that God is not calling Saint Peters primarily to social work. How can this be you might ask? I believe that God is not calling us to social work but to faith work. When we are called to do anything, even something as important as feeding someone who is hungry, for instance, it must always be in service to that person’s faith. We cannot just give a person a fish and let them eat for a day. I believe that we are being called to give people faith so that they might live for eternal life.
At Pentecost, God poured out his Holy Spirit on Jesus’ disciples so that they might prophecy and speak in tongues for the sake of creating faith in their listeners. How do we know that this was the goal? Because by the end of the passage, scripture says that three thousand people repented of their sins and received forgiveness through baptism. Now that is quite wonderful; however, if giving faith is the goal, then that means that Pentecost isn’t really about one particular day or event at all. It is about something that God has promised to do again and again and again. God gives the Holy Spirit as a faithmaker whenever he gets us to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior for the sake of creating faith.
God gave the Holy Spirit to his disciples after his resurrection when he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any they are retained.” Where there is forgiveness of sins, you can be assured the Holy Spirit is there giving faith to believe in the promise. God gave you his Holy Spirit at your baptism when he washed you clean in the eyes of God and created faith in your heart. God gives you his Holy Spirit day after day when you repent of your sins and believe that your sins are forgiven on account of Jesus Christ alone.
Now, today, I will reenact Pentecost for you again. It might not be flashy, but I will show you exactly how the Holy Spirit comes so you know where to go looking if it is taken away from you. I announce to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. You may trust in these words as the truest vehicle the Holy Spirit rides upon to go into your ears, into your heart and out your mouth again in your confession of faith.
And as if this faith that makes you right with God was not enough, he gives you more stuff. The gifts I talked about before. Why? Because he wants more faith. Not more faith from you, he has given you what you need. He wants others brought to faith as well. So he has given you each gifts for the sake of faith. As the congregation of Saint Peters, I believe we are being called into service toward each other and toward our community. Each of us using our gifts not as an end to themselves, but as a vehicle for the Holy Spirit to create faith. Not to feed someone for a day, or entertain them for an afternoon, but to give them faith for eternal life.
What gifts has God given you? Is it wisdom, knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, speaking in tongues or the interpretation of tongues? I mean, I don’t even know exactly what some of those look like really, but I bet some of you do amazingly enough. And so I’m just going to let you all know this right now: God is going to use you to create faith in the hearts of others. Not through your own choices, or abilities, but by the power of the Holy Spirit that God has given to you. Not just to feed someone a fish for a day, but to give someone faith for eternal life. The one who calls you into faith is faithful and he will do it.
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