Sermon Title: Tis Thy Gift 11.26.17

Tis Thy Gift (11.26.17) 2

Sermon Title: Tis Thy Gift 11.26.17

Epistle Reading Romans 12:3-13
3For by the grace given me(H)I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.4For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function,(I)5so in Christ we, though many, form one body,(J)and each member belongs to all the others.6We have different gifts,(K)according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying,(L)then prophesy in accordance with your[a]faith;(M)7if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach;(N)8if it is to encourage, then give encouragement;(O)if it is giving, then give generously;(P)if it is to lead,[b]do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

9Love must be sincere.(Q)Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.(R)10Be devoted to one another in love.(S)Honor one another above yourselves.(T)11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor,(U)serving the Lord.12Be joyful in hope,(V)patient in affliction,(W)faithful in prayer.(X)13Share with the Lord’s people who are in need.(Y)Practice hospitality.(Z)

Gospel Reading John 14:12-21
12Very truly I tell you, whoever believes(S)in me will do the works I have been doing,(T)and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.13And I will do whatever you ask(U)in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

15“If you love me, keep my commands.(V)16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate(W)to help you and be with you forever—17the Spirit of truth.(X)The world cannot accept him,(Y)because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c]in you.18I will not leave you as orphans;(Z)I will come to you.(AA)19Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me.(AB)Because I live, you also will live.(AC)20On that day(AD)you will realize that I am in my Father,(AE)and you are in me, and I am in you.(AF)21Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me.(AG)The one who loves me will be loved by my Father,(AH)and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

I.  George Barna did a survey in which he asked church attendees about spiritual gifts. He discovered some good news and some bad news. The good news was that 85% of the people surveyed had heard of spiritual gifts. The bad news is that half of the people that knew about them thought God had passed them by in the distribution process. Also one quarter of those calming to have spiritual gifts reported gifts that have nothing to do with the biblical lists found readings like the one we heard from Romans this morning. Instead, they claimed to have gifts like the 'gift of gab' and 'the gift of making cherry pies.'

a.  While I like cherry pie just as much as the next guy, well maybe even more than the next guy, I do not think Jesus had a baking contest in mind when telling His disciples, "Very truly I tell you, whoever believesin me will do the works I have been doing,and they will do even greater things than these." Jesus tells us that we will be able to do these things because we will be given a helper or an advocate. This helper or advocate is the Holy Spirit. As we conclude our series entitled 'Give Thanks' let's consider how to be thankful for the gifts the Holy Spirit enlivens within us.

b.  We will do this by asking three questions. First, if not 'the gift of gab,' what are these gifts and how do we discern what they are? Second, how are we to use these gifts? The final, question is why. Why have we been given these gifts and why should we be thankful for them? Our answers will begin with the letter 'p' to help us all with memory.

II.  What are spiritual gifts and how can we discover them? In the Romans, Paul tells us to never lack in zeal and fervor when serving the Lord. The word for fervor literally means to heat something up. So, what passions, our first 'p,' from God burn within us?

a.  Augustine famously claimed that sin is wrongly ordered desires. So, the solution is not extinguishing desire but rightly ordering it. This is why Jesus, when asked to sum up the law, said that one should love the Lord our God with all of our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. Then the Lord will give us new passions and new desires. New desires to fulfill the second half to the great commandment, to love our neighbors as ourselves.

b.  To discover what spiritual gifts God has given us we ask, in what way are we passionate? Bill Hybels wrote a book entitled, "Holy Discontent," asking what is that one thing that sets us on fire, spiritually? Are we passionate about loving others by sharing with them the truth of the gospel? Then our gift may be prophesy, or teaching. Prophesy here does not necessarily mean predicting the future, it is more understood as speaking God's truth into life's circumstances. Are we passionate about behind the scenes work? This is the gift of service. These folks do not want to be in the lime light but have an uncanny gift for making sure all the t's are crossed and i's are dotted. Do we have a passion for seeking to show mercy to the least and lost? While all of us are called to do this, some have a special gift of mercy through the compassionate spirit the Lord has given them.

c.  The church is to be an environment for these passions and gifts to be expressed and grow. Often churches, inadvertently, present problems instead of dreaming about possibilities. Paul urges the Romans to express their gifts to the best of their ability. That leaders should lead diligently, givers should give generously, and those who show mercy should do it cheerfully. Abraham Lincoln said "whatever you do, be a good one." This is how it should be in the church. If you are going to be a Sunday School teacher, teach with passion. If you are going to serve at Love Ops, Caring Tree, or Family Promise, do it with compassion. If you help with Alpha do it whole heartedly. We ought to be a possibility kind of people by encouraging others to express these gifts. We can be a possibility kind of people because, by the power of the Holy Spirit, anything is possible though Christ, even resurrection.

III.  This morning you may be thinking, "That sounds great but I am just not feeling that passionate. How, our next question, can I use gifts without passion?" If that is you, I want to say two things. First it is ok! Mother Teresa wrote a lot about going through spiritual dryness. The second thing I want to say is, just like Mother Teresa, do not let the dryness defeat you. Instead we can be proactive, our second 'p,' about discerning how to use the gifts which God has given us.

a.  When thinking about being proactive in our faith I cannot help but be reminded of the founder of the Methodist movement, John Wesley, and his meeting with the Moravians. The Moravians quietists. The quietists believed since you cannot manipulate the Lord's will we should wait on Him. By waiting, they meant do nothing. Do not take communion, pray, read scripture, or do works of mercy. Instead they just waited for the Lord to show them what to do. Wesley, on the other hand was a man of boundless energy. He traveled 250,000 miles on horseback, averaging twenty miles a day for forty years; preached 4,000 sermons; produced 400 books; and knew ten languages. At eighty-three he was annoyed that he could not write more than fifteen hours a day without hurting his eyes, and at eighty-six he was ashamed he could not preach more than twice a day. He complained in his diary that he had an increasing desire to lie in bed until 5:30 in the morning.

b.  So, when the Moravians said 'we just wanted to wait on the Lord' Wesley's reaction was not surprising. The ADHD founder of our movement threw up his hands and said that we should wait on the Lord but we ought to, "wait actively!" Whether we feel burning passion from the Lord or not we can all wait on the Lord actively by taking advantage of the opportunities the Lord places before us. In our gospel reading Jesus says, "If you love me, keep my commands" before he promises the Holy Spirit. It is not that we earn the Holy Spirit. Instead, as my mom is fond of saying, you have to be under the spout when the Spirit comes out. We are proactively putting ourselves in a position to receive the Holy Spirit. In Micah 6 the prophet said it simply. What does the Lord require? How do we put ourselves in that position? We must do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.

c.  When doing that which is just we will be searching for opportunities to serve others helping with ministries in our area. In doing this we may discover a passion for service. In loving mercy we will be drawn toward people whom the world considers the least and lost. We might want to discover if we have a gift for leadership, or teaching by lead a small group, even if it is intimidating. Remember Jesus' promise, He will not leave us as orphans. Instead, He will send the Holy Spirit as an advocate teaching us what to say and do. This trust is what it means to walk humbly with our God. To take risks, try new things, in order to proactively search for how He has gifted us.

d.  While I was in seminary I did something that was very much outside my comfort zone. I took a class that included a trip to Costa Rica and was a two part experience. First, we had class sessions in the morning with Methodist, Costa Rican, pastors. Second, we did a service project, a VBS for a local church in a nearby city. This was a risk because I do not know Spanish, I as far from home, and I was not sure if I knew anyone in the class. As it turns out, we had translators, and some of my friends were in the class but it was still a huge growing experience. I learned a lot through it. The biggest lesson, however, was that God uses us in communicating His love less because of our abilities and more because of our willingness to be used and taught by the Holy Spirit as we serve.

IV.  Why should we be proactive in seeking what God wants us to be passionate about? The answer can be summed up in one word, purpose. He has given us all a purpose, and the gifts to fulfill that purpose. We ought to be thankful for the spiritual gifts the Lord has given us because in exercising them, we not only live out our life purpose, we live for a greater purpose.

a.  Why are we given gifts? To accomplish the mission. The mission of building up the body of Christ, the church. The church is where people are redeemed, equipped, and sent out as disciples, followers of Jesus. The church is not optional to God's movement on earth. Instead it is, as Greg Ogden puts it, an "essential organism in whom Christ dwells... The church of Jesus Christ is nothing less than His corporate replacement on earth. Jesus continues His incarnation by dwelling in His people." In Romans, and other places, Paul does not say that the church is like the body of Christ but is the body of Christ.

b.  The reason people have come to understand church as optional is because we have messed up in terms of our wardrobe when it comes to food. Sometimes we seem to believe that being a part of a church means we always wear a bib whereas, becoming a part of the body of Christ means putting on an apron. When wearing a bib we are always being served. Being a mere consumer, it is optional whether we consume spirituality here at church or in front of the TV watching Opera. In the same way ministries fight with each other when they are to focused on the preferences of the people doing them rather than the purpose we have been given. When we wear aprons our primary role is serving and we are personally invested in the body of Christ, our service in it, and the bigger picture Christ has us working toward.

c.  So what is more important Sunday School or Love Ops? The mission is more important. How about Family Promise or Steven Ministries? What about the Caring Tree or Kingdom Sports camp? The mission is more important. Every one of the ministries we do work together to accomplish the mission. We are thankful for the gifts God has given us because in using them we have the privilege of playing a role in serving Christ in His continued mission and ministry earth. His continued mission of making disciples. His ministry of reconciling the world back to its loving Heavenly Father through the power of the Holy Spirit.

V.  A reconciliation made possible through our finding, developing and exercising the spiritual gifts we have been given for the building of a kingdom. A kingdom where we passionately seek the gifts God has given us. Seeking them by proactively doing that which will align our desires with those of the Lord. Desires that Have the purpose of seeking justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God. Desires that turn making a great cherry pie into the gift of hospitality. Making everyone feel welcomed, loved, and accepted. Desires that turn the gift of gab into the gift of prophecy, speaking God's word of comfort, truth, and transforming love into other people's lives. So that they know they are loved just the way they are but God refuses to leave them that way.

VI.  Let us pray. Lord, thank you for giving us all gifts for the sake of building up your kingdom here on earth. Help us to passionately seek out those gifts and exercise them in your name through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

VII.  Receive this blessing and benediction. Let us go forth, people who have received gifts from the Holy Spirit, to be used in the service of Christ and His mission of reconciling the world back to its loving Father in Heaven. In His mighty name you many go in peace.