Here is the final sermon in this 6-week series, A Vision for a Healthy Church, which I've been preaching at Greenfield Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, PA the last couple of months. ~Sally
New Testament: Acts 1:1-9
1 In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning 2 until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. "This," he said, "is what you have heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." 9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
11-13-11
Today is the last Sunday with our series on A Vision for a Healthy Church. It’s my prayer that you have been able to grasp the larger picture of how God calls the church to live and be as we’ve talked about worship, fellowship, disciple, ministry, and now outreach.
They are all a part of the message that Jesus gives us throughout the Gospel.
He tells us to love God with all that we are, so we worship both in church and in how we live our lives.
He tells us to bear with one another, and so many other “one anothers,” and so we live in fellowship, caring for each other and sharing our lives with each other.
He tells us to make disciples and teach them to obey everything he has commanded, and so we learn and grow through discipleship. We continue to be sanctified.
He calls us to not just think about our faith, but to live it out, and so we minister to others by His power.
In today’s scripture the disciples are following Jesus’ instructions. He has already told them what we know as the Great Commission, to “go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
As Luke writes in this first chapter of Acts then, the disciples are in Jerusalem and Jesus tells them to stay there until “the gift,” which is the Holy Spirit comes.
He then goes on to tell them that when the Holy Spirit does come that they will be filled with power and they are to be His witnesses - not only in Jerusalem, but also in all Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
These instructions, given to Jesus’ disciples, are instructions for us as well.
When we become believers in Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit comes upon us as well and we are given the power of God through him. We, also, are called to be His witnesses to the world. So what does it mean to be a witness?
Well, when we’re in a courtroom a witness is someone who, “can give a firsthand account of something seen, heard, or experienced. One who furnishes evidence.” So we’re to tell people about what we’ve seen, heard, or experienced about Jesus. We are to present the evidence of God in our lives.
Basically, tell others your story!
What mischief is God up to in your life?
How have you seen God work in your life?
What has He done? What made you decide to follow Him?
Everyone has a story to tell. Think about what yours is - and share it with the people around you!
We don’t always stop and think or even take notice about what God is doing in our lives, let alone in the world. It’s always a good thing to stop and take note of where God is and what He’s doing.
What are your “God sightings?” What evidence have you seen today that God is active in your life?
If you’re not seeing Him, ask Him to open your eyes to His work and presence around you.
How has He provided for you?
How has He blessed you?
How has He directed your path?
Part of outreach or mission, is to share Jesus with others - and in order to do that we need to be able to see Him in our own lives. We need to know our own story as well as His story, and putting our focus on Jesus will always bring Him into view.
Focusing on Jesus also opens our eyes to what He is doing in the world as well.
When we really start looking we see all sorts of good going on - and wherever there is good, you can bet that God is present!
Instead of going out and starting new outreaches, we can look and see where God is already at work and join Him. We are called to participate in the work that God is already doing in the world.
The Missio Dei, the Mission of God, began when He sent Jesus into the world. The Missio Dei is the redemptive mission of God to the whole world through the work of His Son Jesus.
Our God is a sending God. He has a desire to see humankind and creation reconciled, redeemed, and healed.
So a sending church, is a missional church. A missional church, is a sent church. It is a going church, a movement of God through His people, sent to bring healing to a broken world.
It’s seeing the need in the world, and seeing how the gifts you bring can help. It’s reaching over the fence to your neighbor and finding out how life is for them. Are they doing ok? Are they struggling? Maybe the you or the church can help.
It’s having open eyes to see that the local food pantry is having a hard time keeping the shelves stocked or staffing the pantry when people come to pick up food. Maybe the church can help.
It’s being the hands and feet of Jesus in the world...
Being missional can mean sending a small group to help with rebuilding in tornado-damaged Joplin, MO. Or maybe it’s having a bake sale and sending money to help with the rebuilding!
Sometimes it does mean starting something new because there is a need in the community that still isn’t being met. It could be a monthly or bi-weekly Kid’s Club that invites local kids to come and play games, sing songs, have fun, and learn about Jesus. Or a youth group that gathers and gets to know one another, serves others, and learns about God’s love for them...
There are plenty of needs in the world, and the church is called to partner with God, pointing out His presence to others.
The wonderful thing is that we - each one of us, as well as all of us together as the church, are given power by the Holy Spirit to do all that God calls us to do. And it’s that same power that rose Jesus from the dead!
We have the power of God behind us, underneath us, and within us to go into the world and make disciples!
We have the power of God behind us, underneath us, and within us to teach them to obey all that He has commanded!
We have the power of God behind us, underneath us, and within us to be witnesses not only in Greenfield but across Pennsylvania, throughout the United States, and to the ends of the earth!
We have the power of God behind us, underneath us, and within us to to give a cup of cold water to a child of God in need...
God wants us to be risk-takers for Him. He calls us to step out of what is comfortable and safe and do for Him what might make us a little uncomfortable. He wants us to trust Him. He wants us to believe that we are saved, believe that we are redeemed, believe that He loves us deeply and only wants the best for us and for this, His church! ...and He wants us to share that with others.
I want to tell you, I think God is doing something here at Greenfield Presbyterian. I have never been to a church where such a large majority of those who attend are actively involved in the church’s ministry!
You have had all sorts of people come into this church because of all the fundraisers and events, and now we need to go outside of the church.
We have a couple of events coming up in December. On the 2nd is the Greenfield Christmas Parade and we’re having an “after party” at the church. Maybe we need to hand out invitations to people, or maybe we can give out candy canes....just because.
The other event is a chili cook-off and caroling with the Upper Room on Dec. 11th. We’re going to have a chili cook-off dinner in the basement and then go out caroling in the neighborhood. It will be a great opportunity to have dinner together, have some fun together, and bless our community with carols and Christmas cheer.
The more we can keep our eyes on Jesus and what He calls us to, the more we will be focusing beyond ourselves to others - both inside and beyond the church walls.
At my church in Colorado I was hired as the Director of Christian Education and Outreach. Our church had gone through a big process of looking at what they wanted to be about, and what their calendar and budget showed what they were really about, and one of the things they found was that they said mission and outreach was important, but all they were doing was writing checks to organizations and missionaries. So my job was to get more hands-on outreach going.
As we looked at different possibilities we looked at what the church was already good at, and they were really good at children’s ministry. They had a strong children’s Sunday School and VBS, everything was just very inwardly focused.
I started attending monthly children’s ministry meetings with other church leaders in the community and at one of those meetings we learned about a sports camp that was both an evangelical outreach for kids as well as sports instruction in soccer, basketball and cheerleading.
Many of us were excited about it, but really scared about taking it on by ourselves, so instead four churches came together and we decided to host a camp together.
We were excited because we lived in Colorado where everyone is very sports-minded and outdoorsy, and a sports camp would be the perfect outreach for our area!
We were also excited to be doing it together and so no one church was overwhelmed with responsibility!
We planned for months and advertised all over the place - even getting our fliers distributed on four or five of the local area elementary schools as well as throughout our churches. We needed a minimum of forty kids to make it worth the time for the organization that was helping us, and so we were kind of worried about that.
Well camp week came and we had over eighty kids come, with more showing up each day of camp that week. On Thursday when the Gospel message is presented to the children, we had 25 kids who wanted to follow Jesus! It was a really exciting week!
This event led to other ministries that our churches did together, which included an after school Good News Club at one of the local elementary schools, and a Sharefest weekend which ended up bringing together over 100 churches in our area to serve the community in a variety of ways on one designated weekend in the spring.
God did BIG things! He honored our risk-taking and trust in Him, and blessed our efforts to obey His commands.
What’s almost even more exciting than what all these different outreaches did, was the transformation of the lives of all the people who did the reaching out!
You know it’s funny because we think that when we step out and serve others that that’s what it’s all about - serving the other person. The big surprise always comes, though, when we find out that God worked in us in the process, and grew our faith and transformed our hearts probably even more than we ever helped the others we set out to serve!
Jesus knew what he was doing when he told us to love God with all we’ve got, and to love others as ourselves.
He knew that when we did that, we’d be transformed - over and over again.
His love transforms us. And sharing His love transforms us even more.
Loving God and loving others is the Vision for a Healthy Church. It’s not about us. It’s about Jesus....always was...always will be. Amen.
The Family - Summer, 2023
Love these people!
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
A Vision for a Healthy Church: Ministry
This was today's sermon. I first read the James passage from the NIV translation, then I read it from The Message, below.
James 2:14-26 (MSG)
14 Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? 15 For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved 16 and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup - where does that get you? 17 Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense? 18 I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works department." Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove. 19 Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? 20 Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands? 21 Wasn't our ancestor Abraham "made right with God by works" when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? 22 Isn't it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are "works of faith"? 23 The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham believed God and was set right with God," includes his action. It's that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named "God's friend." 24 Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works? 25 The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn't her action in hiding God's spies and helping them escape - that seamless unity of believing and doing - what counted with God? 26 The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.
11-6-11
I grew up in the church. I was baptized, went to Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, and even went to youth group a lot of the time along with Sunday morning worship throughout junior high and high school.
Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t straight-laced Sally by any means! There was many a Sunday I wasn’t there because I’d been out partying too late the night before. But my faith was real for me.
It was a very young faith, theologically and experientially, but it was a real faith...and one of my goals as a young person, which continued into my adulthood, was to show people I knew who weren’t Christians - that not all Christians were hypocrites.
You know, we all hear it - from people we work with or go to school with. “Those Christians, they’re such a bunch of hypocrites! They talk about all this love and care, and then you see them flip you off as they tear out of the church parking lot or when you pass them on the street!”
Now I must say that to some extent we’re all hypocrites and we simply can’t get around that! I don’t want to sin, but in fact I sin daily. I don’t want to lose my temper, but my husband will tell you that I still snap at him.
But growing up as a Christian who mostly hung out with non-Christians, I wanted to show my friends that this Christian tried to live out what she believed. That this Christian tried to live out the love and care that Jesus gave to her, and tried to live out her life using the gifts and talents that God had given her. I have always wanted and tried to live authentically. What you see is what you get, warts an all!
If I was accused of being a Christ follower I’ve always wanted to have lots of condemning evidence to convict me! So I’ve always loved these verses in James.
In these verses, James really lays things out! He says, “Look, this Jesus stuff can’t just be head knowledge that you tuck away and pull out on Sunday mornings where it’s nice, and safe, and comfortable!
If it is, then it’s not the real thing, it’s dead!” James convicts us to ACT on our faith...and I agree with him, I get really excited about his message!
Kim and I have had this little sign on our refrigerator wherever we’ve lived for probably the past twenty-some years, and it says, “People may not always believe what you say, but they will always believe what you do.” Do our actions speak very loudly about our faith?
St. Francis of Assisi said something similar when he said, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words.” I like that too, although I don’t like to totally discount words because there are plenty of nice people in the world who aren’t Christians, so I think we need to talk about Jesus as well as live like him.
Some have said that James is too harsh in his admonishment that faith without works is dead, but we find the charge to do all throughout the Bible!
Jesus tells us that if we want to be great we need to be a servant and “whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve... (Mark 10:44-45).” We cannot be servants without doing.
Certainly we’re not doing to be saved, that’s not the point. We do because of what Jesus did and continues to do for us....love us.
We serve, we act, we reach out, we love, because it was done to us first, and we are grateful.
Both James and 1 John 3 say almost the same thing when they talk about that when we see someone in need, we’re called to help them (3:17-18). 1 John continues on to say that if we don’t stop to help the person in need, then “how can the love of God be in us?”
When we have faith without works, when we just keep it all in our head as simply a “belief system,” we are actually spared the embarrassment of radical disruptions (and discomforts) in our lives and relationships (Interpretation Commentary).
It can sometimes, actually many times, be very inconvenient and intrusive to live out our faith actively!
That person in need - whether a homeless person on the street, or a young person who happens to walk into our coffee house some night - is probably not going to fit into our “schedule.”
They more than likely will not be a part of what our plan was for that day. But if we want to live out a life of authentic faith, then we need to be open to God’s plan and God’s schedule, and maybe we need to live lives that leave room for “God interruptions.”
James goes on to tell us that simply believing in God doesn’t cut it, that even the demons do that! Our faith cannot be an intellectual exercise, or an ideology, it has to be more, and he gives us two examples of people who lived their faith.
First he tells us about Abraham, who in Genesis 15:6 is declared righteous because of his belief!
So we’re not talking about his works saving him.
But later in Genesis 22, when Abraham prepares to sacrifice his son Isaac because he was living out his belief in God’s covenant and trustworthiness, his actions fulfilled or completed his faith.
In being obedient and acting on our faith, it completes it. Our works or deeds are the expressions of our faith. Our deeds are part of our sanctification that we talked about last week.
James’ other example was Rahab. She was the prostitute who helped Joshua’s spies by hiding them in her home and sending those looking for them off in a different direction. She acted in faith and helped further God’s kingdom.
Some have said that both Rahab and Abraham have been celebrated for their gifts of hospitality. Rahab when she welcomed the spies into her home, and Abraham when he “entertained angels.” “Perhaps the combined examples of Abraham and Rahab provide a response, showing how active faith demands a sharing of gifts that God has given and a providing of space to those whom God sends unexpectedly (Interpreter’s Commentary).”
Many times our response is not from an unexpected need.
Being a part of a church provides all sorts of opportunities for believers to respond to the faith that God has given them. As we learn about spiritual gifts and start to discover how God has gifted each one of us, our eyes are opened even more to the ways that we can live out our faith in the church...and beyond.
1 Corinthians 12 talks all about the many gifts that God can grace us with - gifts of wisdom, knowledge, healing, prophecy, tongues... and also gifts like administration, leadership, and teaching.
We all receive at least one spiritual gift as well as the skills and talents that we are born with.
And the more we can learn about what gifts we have, the more we can get an idea of where we “fit” in the body of Christ. There are many spiritual gifts inventories and short studies out there, and it’s always inspiring, I think, to see what kind of gifts we have.
For instance I can guess that Shawn, like me, has the gift of apostleship - which means he enjoys and is good at starting new things.
Obviously Nancy has giftings in the arts as well as hospitality. (Did you see her greeting all the folks coming through the doors for the haunted house?)
I’m guessing that Lois might have some giftings in administration because whoever does the money has to be somewhat organized!
I’ve talked with some of you about the idea of spiritual gifts. It’s also exciting because the more we learn about them, and the more we read about the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians, the more we see that each and every gift, each and every person is important. People with disabilities, the old, the young, the quiet, the out-going, everyone holds a vital place within the body of Christ - and when they’re not actively a part of the body, then something is missing!
I remember reading something recently that said, “pastors should never have ‘unemployed’ people in their congregations.” The author meant that everyone who is a part of the church should be involved in some aspect of ministry in the church - whether it’s ushering on Sunday morning, taking the offering deposit to the bank, helping with a children’s outreach, or being a part of a prayer ministry. No one should be “unemployed!”
As Paul tells us, “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor.”
He goes on to say, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it (1 Cor. 12:21-23, 27).”
I also believe that God gives us passions and excitement to do or be a part of certain ministries.
The first ministry that I volunteered with as an adult was the youth ministry. I wanted to do the fun stuff! I loved hanging out with the kids - obviously I didn’t start out teaching anything, actually I was almost like one of the kids!
I hung out with them, got to know them, took part in the discussions and activities with them, and just had fun.
Over time I learned more and had opportunities to lead some of the discussions, plan some of the games, take part in retreat planning, and eventually I was actually hired as the part-time youth director.
The point isn’t that volunteering turns into a job, although sometimes that does happen, but that I jumped in because it looked like fun, enjoyable...and God refined me and molded me in the process so that I actually became good at what I was doing.
Some people may have a passion or excitement for a certain ministry and then find that their place isn’t in the “front lines” of the ministry but in the background or support areas of the ministry. You may love children’s ministry and recognize its importance but not be very patient with young children.
Maybe your contribution is making phone calls to get parents to bring snacks. Or maybe your contribution is to make a webpage or create a newsletter.
The possibilities are endless.
There were many other things that I tried throughout my life that I found I didn’t like so well and I wasn’t as good at - and that’s part of the process as well. The point is to jump in...don’t be unemployed!
Being a smaller church we don’t have multiple ministries that we can choose to be a part of, but as I mentioned some of the different gifts of different people earlier, you can see that it hasn’t really stopped you from jumping in and doing what you do well!
I hope that as we go through this year together that we can keep talking about this.
I hope that we can take note of each person’s gifts, encourage each other as we notice them, and see what other kinds ministry can happen here - beyond holding fundraisers!
As we start a Bible study maybe we’ll find that someone else has a gift for teaching.
Or maybe some of this hospitality that has been displayed at our fundraisers can be used to do some sort of outreach to the community...ahh, but I get ahead of myself, that’s next week’s theme!
James calls us to live out our faith. In doing so we actually complete our faith, it becomes fuller, and more of who we are in Christ is played out before us and in us.
Paul shows us that God equips us in a variety of ways and that we each have a place and a purpose within Christ’s body, the church. Together we do the ministry that God calls us to - caring for one another, worshipping together, growing together, and reaching out to the world. May we be blessed as we minister together. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
James 2:14-26 (MSG)
14 Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? 15 For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved 16 and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup - where does that get you? 17 Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense? 18 I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works department." Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove. 19 Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? 20 Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands? 21 Wasn't our ancestor Abraham "made right with God by works" when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? 22 Isn't it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are "works of faith"? 23 The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham believed God and was set right with God," includes his action. It's that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named "God's friend." 24 Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works? 25 The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn't her action in hiding God's spies and helping them escape - that seamless unity of believing and doing - what counted with God? 26 The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.
11-6-11
I grew up in the church. I was baptized, went to Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, and even went to youth group a lot of the time along with Sunday morning worship throughout junior high and high school.
Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t straight-laced Sally by any means! There was many a Sunday I wasn’t there because I’d been out partying too late the night before. But my faith was real for me.
It was a very young faith, theologically and experientially, but it was a real faith...and one of my goals as a young person, which continued into my adulthood, was to show people I knew who weren’t Christians - that not all Christians were hypocrites.
You know, we all hear it - from people we work with or go to school with. “Those Christians, they’re such a bunch of hypocrites! They talk about all this love and care, and then you see them flip you off as they tear out of the church parking lot or when you pass them on the street!”
Now I must say that to some extent we’re all hypocrites and we simply can’t get around that! I don’t want to sin, but in fact I sin daily. I don’t want to lose my temper, but my husband will tell you that I still snap at him.
But growing up as a Christian who mostly hung out with non-Christians, I wanted to show my friends that this Christian tried to live out what she believed. That this Christian tried to live out the love and care that Jesus gave to her, and tried to live out her life using the gifts and talents that God had given her. I have always wanted and tried to live authentically. What you see is what you get, warts an all!
If I was accused of being a Christ follower I’ve always wanted to have lots of condemning evidence to convict me! So I’ve always loved these verses in James.
In these verses, James really lays things out! He says, “Look, this Jesus stuff can’t just be head knowledge that you tuck away and pull out on Sunday mornings where it’s nice, and safe, and comfortable!
If it is, then it’s not the real thing, it’s dead!” James convicts us to ACT on our faith...and I agree with him, I get really excited about his message!
Kim and I have had this little sign on our refrigerator wherever we’ve lived for probably the past twenty-some years, and it says, “People may not always believe what you say, but they will always believe what you do.” Do our actions speak very loudly about our faith?
St. Francis of Assisi said something similar when he said, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words.” I like that too, although I don’t like to totally discount words because there are plenty of nice people in the world who aren’t Christians, so I think we need to talk about Jesus as well as live like him.
Some have said that James is too harsh in his admonishment that faith without works is dead, but we find the charge to do all throughout the Bible!
Jesus tells us that if we want to be great we need to be a servant and “whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve... (Mark 10:44-45).” We cannot be servants without doing.
Certainly we’re not doing to be saved, that’s not the point. We do because of what Jesus did and continues to do for us....love us.
We serve, we act, we reach out, we love, because it was done to us first, and we are grateful.
Both James and 1 John 3 say almost the same thing when they talk about that when we see someone in need, we’re called to help them (3:17-18). 1 John continues on to say that if we don’t stop to help the person in need, then “how can the love of God be in us?”
When we have faith without works, when we just keep it all in our head as simply a “belief system,” we are actually spared the embarrassment of radical disruptions (and discomforts) in our lives and relationships (Interpretation Commentary).
It can sometimes, actually many times, be very inconvenient and intrusive to live out our faith actively!
That person in need - whether a homeless person on the street, or a young person who happens to walk into our coffee house some night - is probably not going to fit into our “schedule.”
They more than likely will not be a part of what our plan was for that day. But if we want to live out a life of authentic faith, then we need to be open to God’s plan and God’s schedule, and maybe we need to live lives that leave room for “God interruptions.”
James goes on to tell us that simply believing in God doesn’t cut it, that even the demons do that! Our faith cannot be an intellectual exercise, or an ideology, it has to be more, and he gives us two examples of people who lived their faith.
First he tells us about Abraham, who in Genesis 15:6 is declared righteous because of his belief!
So we’re not talking about his works saving him.
But later in Genesis 22, when Abraham prepares to sacrifice his son Isaac because he was living out his belief in God’s covenant and trustworthiness, his actions fulfilled or completed his faith.
In being obedient and acting on our faith, it completes it. Our works or deeds are the expressions of our faith. Our deeds are part of our sanctification that we talked about last week.
James’ other example was Rahab. She was the prostitute who helped Joshua’s spies by hiding them in her home and sending those looking for them off in a different direction. She acted in faith and helped further God’s kingdom.
Some have said that both Rahab and Abraham have been celebrated for their gifts of hospitality. Rahab when she welcomed the spies into her home, and Abraham when he “entertained angels.” “Perhaps the combined examples of Abraham and Rahab provide a response, showing how active faith demands a sharing of gifts that God has given and a providing of space to those whom God sends unexpectedly (Interpreter’s Commentary).”
Many times our response is not from an unexpected need.
Being a part of a church provides all sorts of opportunities for believers to respond to the faith that God has given them. As we learn about spiritual gifts and start to discover how God has gifted each one of us, our eyes are opened even more to the ways that we can live out our faith in the church...and beyond.
1 Corinthians 12 talks all about the many gifts that God can grace us with - gifts of wisdom, knowledge, healing, prophecy, tongues... and also gifts like administration, leadership, and teaching.
We all receive at least one spiritual gift as well as the skills and talents that we are born with.
And the more we can learn about what gifts we have, the more we can get an idea of where we “fit” in the body of Christ. There are many spiritual gifts inventories and short studies out there, and it’s always inspiring, I think, to see what kind of gifts we have.
For instance I can guess that Shawn, like me, has the gift of apostleship - which means he enjoys and is good at starting new things.
Obviously Nancy has giftings in the arts as well as hospitality. (Did you see her greeting all the folks coming through the doors for the haunted house?)
I’m guessing that Lois might have some giftings in administration because whoever does the money has to be somewhat organized!
I’ve talked with some of you about the idea of spiritual gifts. It’s also exciting because the more we learn about them, and the more we read about the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians, the more we see that each and every gift, each and every person is important. People with disabilities, the old, the young, the quiet, the out-going, everyone holds a vital place within the body of Christ - and when they’re not actively a part of the body, then something is missing!
I remember reading something recently that said, “pastors should never have ‘unemployed’ people in their congregations.” The author meant that everyone who is a part of the church should be involved in some aspect of ministry in the church - whether it’s ushering on Sunday morning, taking the offering deposit to the bank, helping with a children’s outreach, or being a part of a prayer ministry. No one should be “unemployed!”
As Paul tells us, “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor.”
He goes on to say, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it (1 Cor. 12:21-23, 27).”
I also believe that God gives us passions and excitement to do or be a part of certain ministries.
The first ministry that I volunteered with as an adult was the youth ministry. I wanted to do the fun stuff! I loved hanging out with the kids - obviously I didn’t start out teaching anything, actually I was almost like one of the kids!
I hung out with them, got to know them, took part in the discussions and activities with them, and just had fun.
Over time I learned more and had opportunities to lead some of the discussions, plan some of the games, take part in retreat planning, and eventually I was actually hired as the part-time youth director.
The point isn’t that volunteering turns into a job, although sometimes that does happen, but that I jumped in because it looked like fun, enjoyable...and God refined me and molded me in the process so that I actually became good at what I was doing.
Some people may have a passion or excitement for a certain ministry and then find that their place isn’t in the “front lines” of the ministry but in the background or support areas of the ministry. You may love children’s ministry and recognize its importance but not be very patient with young children.
Maybe your contribution is making phone calls to get parents to bring snacks. Or maybe your contribution is to make a webpage or create a newsletter.
The possibilities are endless.
There were many other things that I tried throughout my life that I found I didn’t like so well and I wasn’t as good at - and that’s part of the process as well. The point is to jump in...don’t be unemployed!
Being a smaller church we don’t have multiple ministries that we can choose to be a part of, but as I mentioned some of the different gifts of different people earlier, you can see that it hasn’t really stopped you from jumping in and doing what you do well!
I hope that as we go through this year together that we can keep talking about this.
I hope that we can take note of each person’s gifts, encourage each other as we notice them, and see what other kinds ministry can happen here - beyond holding fundraisers!
As we start a Bible study maybe we’ll find that someone else has a gift for teaching.
Or maybe some of this hospitality that has been displayed at our fundraisers can be used to do some sort of outreach to the community...ahh, but I get ahead of myself, that’s next week’s theme!
James calls us to live out our faith. In doing so we actually complete our faith, it becomes fuller, and more of who we are in Christ is played out before us and in us.
Paul shows us that God equips us in a variety of ways and that we each have a place and a purpose within Christ’s body, the church. Together we do the ministry that God calls us to - caring for one another, worshipping together, growing together, and reaching out to the world. May we be blessed as we minister together. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
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