"You Are Not Lacking" - Sermon, January 19, 2020
Community UMC, Quincy
“You Are Not Lacking”
Rev. Andrew Davis
January 19, 2020
1 Corinthians 1: 1-9
John 1: 29-42
This weekend definitely has the feel of a holiday weekend, especially after the snowfall we had on Thursday and with the first Longboards race happening in Johnsville this afternoon, which I’m sure will be awesome after all the snow we received. After getting back to normal around here after the holidays, I think it’s safe to say things are back to normal, whatever normal is. And thanks to the efforts of our trustees and several others, we can have coffee hour today, as the heat is working again in the Fellowship Hall. Yay!!
After Epiphany and Baptism of the Lord, we now enter into an ordinary time before we begin the season of Lent later next month, as we live in the light of Christ. Usually during this ordinary time in January and February, we tend to focus on the Gospels where Jesus is beginning his earthly ministry along the shores of Lake Gennesaret, or the Sea of Galilee by calling his disciples, teaching about who God is, healing people, and pulling off various miracles. This year in this ordinary time, we will be focusing on the Epistle stream of the Revised Common Lectionary (set of prescribed weekly readings for the global church), particularly studying Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.
By thinking about what it means to belong to Christ, or Somos del Señor, we will be talking about the various gifts we have to share, about how we can be united in Christ amidst our differences, and how God calls us and to “consider our behavior in light of that call.”[i] In this series, we will be exploring God’s call in our life and how we belong to Christ by turning to the beginning of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.
Paul is one of these figures who people will have a love-hate-love relationship with. Paul was originally a Pharisee, or Jewish religious authority who was not initially a friend of the early church. When we encounter Paul in the Book of Acts, he persecuted the early Christians and even participated in the stoning of Stephen, until in Acts 9, he has a profound experience with the risen Christ on the Damascus road where Jesus asks Paul why he’s persecuting him. From that encounter onward, Paul attests to his calling from God and sets out to preach about Christ, even though some of Jesus’ first disciples who remained were skeptical of Paul at first. Over time, Paul would become one of the authoritative voices of the early church, sharing his faith with others (sometimes a little in-your-face), and establishing several churches throughout the Mediterranean region which he will write to periodically and situationally as seen in the Epistles.
There are around seven to nine letters by Paul that are undisputed, although there are other letters in the Epistles that may have been written in the style of Paul, or by one of his associates, particularly Titus or Timothy. The letters to the Corinthians are not as readily disputed, as they follow the pattern that Paul often followed. In his first letter to the Corinthians, starting around the year 50 CE, Paul is encountering a church that has become divided. Now, in that time, the churches were likely to be house churches, which are making a comeback today. Here, Pastor Paul is addressing some of the divisions in the church and in his usual style, begins with a salutation and a perhaps a little small talk, which we see today, although as we’ll see next week, he quickly drops the hammer and doesn’t always mince words. Hence, his in-your-face style.
In our reading from 1 Corinthians this morning, Paul is telling the church in Corinth that they have gifts and graces from God, gifts and graces that they are not lacking. To give another perspective, in verses 7-9, from The Message translation, Paul is telling the Corinthians
Just think—you don’t need a thing, you’ve got it all! All God’s gifts are right in front of you as you wait expectantly for our Master Jesus to arrive on the scene for the Finale. And not only that, but God himself is right alongside to keep you steady and on track until things are all wrapped up by Jesus. God, who got you started in this spiritual adventure, shares with us the life of his Son and our Master Jesus. He will never give up on you. Never forget that (1 Cor. 1: 7-9).
One of the reasons that Paul is so enthusiastic and sometimes in-your-face is that he’s expecting the return of Christ at any moment and any time, in which he’s telling the people in the churches he oversees to ‘get your stuff together.’ When it comes to addressing the church in Corinth in this letter, New Testament scholar J. Paul Sampley explains that “Paul, as the Corinthians’ father in the faith, details positive and negative models of the faith and himself patterns the way his children in the faith should behave” which are a common thread in Paul’s letters, including his ‘humble brags.’[ii] As we explore and engage with this morning’s passage, Paul begins by greeting the people, establishing his credentials as called by God and offering a thanksgiving. Paul will always address his letters to the greater community in part because “for Paul, Christian faith is lived in community,” which is like it should be the case today as well.[iii]
When having people together in community, there is a chance that disunity and division will happen here and there. When I was taking New Testament: The Epistles during seminary, my NT professor, Dr. Carla Swafford Works pointed out that if we think there are issues and disunity, or even conflict in our churches today, it wasn’t really any different during Paul’s time either. Community is essential to living into our faith, although we know how conflict can quickly develop and become toxic when community isn’t going so well. The church in Corinth is going through its share of conflict and division, in which Paul is telling the people in verse 7 “you are not lacking in any spiritual gifts as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ” as a way of rallying the people together in order to address their disunity (1 Cor. 1: 7, NRSV).
It’s not as if the people who make up the church in Corinth “lack spiritual gifts, but they do not know how to employ them in service for the community of love,” so it’s time to turn to Pastor Paul for guidance.[iv] Everyone has gifts to offer, and there isn’t a lack of gifts, yet how do we employ our gifts for God’s glory? Just like Paul instructs the churches then, we too can definitely wrestle with these questions. Even though our parent denomination, The United Methodist Church is currently facing some of its own divisions as a denomination, we in the local church need to keep coming together and using our gifts for God’s glory, and finding what unites us instead of what divides us, showing what we are for over what we are against. The way we start is by following our Lord Jesus Christ and embodying his teachings in everything that we do. Likewise, God’s grace can unite us, as grace is “God’s freely given, unmerited gift…the alpha and omega [or beginning and end] of the life of faith,” no matter how broken or messed up we might feel.[v] As a local church, we belong to Christ and to each other, and we are not lacking in spiritual gifts either. As J. Paul Sampley puts it, “Paul always sees believers everywhere as belonging to one another, as belonging to God’s family, as those who are granted the power to call upon the name of their shared Lord. The church becomes our true family.”[vi]And we are a family indeed, as we care for each other in many ways.
Even if we may not be lacking gifts, we can call on the name of Christ and like a family, we aren’t perfect either. I don’t think there’s any perfect family or even a perfect church, yet God’s grace will be much greater than any of our imperfections. And God’s grace is available to everyone in which we respond to that grace with faith, then put our faith into action by answering the call of God and using our gifts. As Paul will talk about behaviors that he expects in his letter to the Corinthians, we today can take a look at ourselves and come to know that
our lives in Christ are never just our own but always also involve how we are relating to those around us. Our life in Christ is not manifested simply by a change in attitude but must also make a difference in the choices and decisions we make, the actions we take, and the way we not only treat ourselves, but also others.[vii]
Which is why we must embody the teachings of Jesus Christ in everything that we do.
When we read through the Pauline Epistles, or even the gospels, following Jesus was never meant to be comfortable or easy, because we will face people who are different from us, go into places we don’t want to go, yet when we remember God’s grace and our spiritual grifts, we are not lacking when we trust God by following Jesus. This week, I’m going to be going out of my comfort zone some by immersing myself a mission project for ordination, yet afterward, I hope that we can find ways where we can go into some of the places that bring us our greatest discomfort in order to use our spiritual gifts and to help meet some of the needs of our greater community. I can say the same when I do hospital visits, I tend to tense up and want to avoid it, yet God is there. When has God empowered you to use your spiritual gifts, even in light of discomfort? Even when it comes to division, when have you had a heart-to-heart with someone you vehemently disagree with? God is faithful with us and will be with us even in those moments of great discomfort whether it’s an uncomfortable conversation or going into a place we may not have wanted to go. You are not lacking in your gifts and God is with you.
As we get more into our study of 1 Corinthians, I want us to take a look at our insert in the bulletin, as we have a time and talent survey I would like everyone to participate in, because we are certainly not lacking in gifts in the church. Each year, our committee on lay leadership development works on the leadership needs of the church and this year, would like to hear from you, about where you feel God might call you to serve. As you fill these time and talent surveys out, you are welcome to share how God calls you and if God isn’t calling you to serve, that’s okay too because we are glad you’re simply here and present with us in one way or another. This week, how are you called to share your gifts? Who is God leading you to reach out to? And where do you see God’s grace at work?
Offered to you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment