“What in God’s Name are you Doing?”
Series: Finding Your Fit: Spiritual Gifts #1
World Communion Sunday
Rev. Marti Zimmerman
Smoky Hill UMC
Scripture
After Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt into the wilderness,
they needed to work together to make it to the Promised Land.
In Exodus we hear how God called upon the variety of gifts
present in the community for a common task,
the creation of the Tabernacle,
the worship space designed
to bring the people closer to God.
Exodus 35:30-36 The Message (paraphrase)
Moses told the Israelites,
“See, God has selected Bezalel (a Judahite craftsman in charge of building the tabernacle) son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.
He’s filled him with the Spirit of God,
with skill,
ability,
and know-how for making all sorts of things,
to design and work in gold, silver, and bronze;
to carve stones and set them;
to carve wood, working in every kind of skilled craft.
And he’s also made him a teacher,
he and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.
He’s gifted them with the know-how needed
for carving, designing, weaving, and
embroidering in blue, purple, and scarlet fabrics, and in fine linen.
They can make anything and design anything.”
36: 1 “Bezalel and Oholiab, along with everyone whom God has given the skill and know-how for making everything involved in the worship of the Sanctuary as commanded by God, are to start to work.”
Likewise in a letter to the church in Corinth,
the Apostle Paul reminded the divided and squabbling faith community
of the purpose of their spiritual gifts,
unity and service in Christ’s name.
1 Cor. 12:1 & 2, 4-7: (The Message )
What I want to talk about now
is the various ways God’s Spirit
gets worked into our lives.
This is complex and often mis-understood,
but I want you to be informed and knowledgeable.
Remember how you were when you didn’t know God,
led from one phony god to another,
never knowing what you were doing,
just doing it because everybody else did it?
It’s different in this life.
God wants us to use our intelligence,
to seek to understand as well as we can.
4-11God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere;
but they all originate in God’s Spirit.
God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere;
but they all originate in God’s Spirit.
God’s various expressions of power
are in action everywhere;
but God himself is behind it all.
Each person is given something to do
that shows who God is:
Everyone gets in on it,
everyone benefits.
All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit,
and to all kinds of people!
The variety is wonderful:
wise counsel
clear understanding
simple trust
healing the sick
miraculous acts
proclamation
distinguishing between spirits
tongues
interpretation of tongues.
All these gifts have a common origin,
but are handed out
one by one
by the one Spirit of God.
He decides who gets what, and when.
PRAYER
Before we got up this morning,
Christians in the Uniting Church of Australia
drove to worship and heard,
“this is my body.”
In the Christian churches of India, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, worshipers gathered and heard, “this is my body.”
In Russia, Orthodox priests and Methodist circuit pastors,
lifted the bread and declared, “this is my body.”
In Jerusalem this morning at the Church of the Holy Resurrection,
the congregation heard the words, “this is my body.”
In Sierra Leone and South Africa,
in Chile and the hurricane ravaged coasts of Honduras,
pastors declared, “this is my body.”
Soon we too, here in Centennial, Colorado
will lift the bread and remind you
on this World Communion Sunday,
“this is my body.”
In many languages, and denominations,
all around the world,
we celebrate this day of unity saying,
“this is my body”
as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.
We pray for unity
even as our practices and beliefs divide us,
around the world as well as among our parking lots.
Unity is tough.
Just look at the church in Corinth.
The apostle Paul was worried.
What was once healthy was now sickly.
The Corinthian church,
started on Paul’s second missionary journey,
struggled to live faithfully
surrounded by Greek culture,
by the 1000 religious prostitutes serving Aphrodite’s temple,
and by wealth made possible at the intersection
of two harbors and many trade routes.
The little church was divided,
divided at the Lord’s table by background,
some grew up like Jesus as a Jews under Roman occupation,
others had Greek heritage and philosophy.
There were the wealthy and
those struggling to make it,
men and women,
foreigners and “homies”,
those who had the privilege of education
and those who had not had the opportunity.
There were liberals and fundamentalists
each who had little patience with each other.
People got into fights.
People choose sides.
They even sued each other.
So Paul wrote a letter
to a community of immature believers
urging immediate and drastic action in an attempt to bring unity.
“I have no praise for you….when you gather…
one goes hungry,
the other goes home drunk….
It is not the Lord’s supper you eat.” (see 1 Corinth11: 17-22)
“This is my body, which is for you,
do this in remembrance of me.”
First he reminds them of the importance of communion, then he says,
“Now concerning spiritual gifts…”.
What is a spiritual gift anyway?
A spiritual gift helps us be
“God’s hands on earth”
and helps us connect with God and the people God loves.” (p.73 Lifekeys)
They are evidence
or a demonstration
that God’s spirit is working in us.
We all have spiritual gifts.
Every one in this room has a gift.
Spiritual maturity comes with
identifying
and using our gifts
for the common good,
for something bigger than
“me, mine, my family, my way.”
Paul reminds us that unity in the body of Christ
is the result of gifts,
given by God to us,
used for the common good,
not something we are in control of,
therefore not something we can boast of,
or be proud of,
nor something we earn for being good.
Spiritual gifts are simply put,
God’s gifts to us.
2. Paul tells us, spiritual gifts are varied,
like a box of Christmas chocolates,
a variety,
each one different,
each one with a hidden center.
Maybe like a baseball team.
A team full of pitchers is as worthless
as a team without fielder or hitters.
All gifts are needed.
Each one has its value.
If any area is weak,
the whole team is weak.
If each player is using their best skill,
the whole team is stronger.
You don’t put a pitcher in to bat clean-up.
Nor does the fielder usually have good catching skills.
Likewise look at the team it took to put on the Breast cancer walk.
Some were organizers, others drove buses.
Some handed out water and bandages.
Some inspired with their stories.
Some organized teams from their office or families.
Others pledged or even slept in for the cure.
Some made sure the microphones and computers worked.
Others clapped and hugged the survivors
like our own 25 year survivor and staff member, Vicky Gorman.
Every one had a task.
Each one necessary to make a difference.
According to Paul the same is true in the church
He identifies here at least 13 kinds of spiritual gifts.
Some of you have the gift of hospitality
making strangers feel welcome here in the Gathering Space
or in your neighborhood as a new neighbor moves in.
Some of you have the gift of helps and
you will show up with your wagons, gloves and wheel barrows
next Saturday at 9 AM to unload the pumpkins.
You see when the yard needs weeding or the kitchen cleaning,
or the bulletins picked up,
and you do it.
Some of you have the gift of intercessory prayer,
meaning simply that you remember those
whose lives needs support and healing,
lifting them up to God.
Among us some are gifted for teaching,
others leaders and administrators,
still others offer a healing touch with visits after surgery,
or the gift of counseling.
Some of you like Lydia of the purple cloth,
are good at making money
and giving it away.
Do you know which gifts you have been given?
I also want to be clear with you that
my primary goal today and
throughout this October series of sermons and gifts discovery classes,
is that every adult and teen,
every adult and teen
who considers this their church home
will identify the gifts they have received and
find their fit for service in some ministry
here at Smoky Hill and beyond.
Gifts are designed for service.
God gives to put us to use.
And as Paul reminds the Corinthians,
if you aren’t serving God’s kingdom
you don’t have a mature faith.
1 Peter 4:10 we read,
“Whatever gift each of you may have received,
use it in service to one another,
like good stewards dispensing the grace of God.”
Part of the purpose of these gifts is to remind us that
we are one part of a larger body, the body of Christ.
“This is my body….”
“Marti, what in God’s name, are you doing?”
My mother stood, hands on hips, like the apostle Paul,
concerned about behavior
not acceptable to the family code.
Like the church in Corinth,
friends and culture pulled me in directions
unacceptable to the family norm,
directions that kept me from following God’s call on my life.
I didn’t appreciate her words as a teen,
but I do now.
“What in God’s name, was I doing?”
How about you?
What in God’s name are you doing?
Have you discovered your purpose on God’s earth?
Why are you here?
We are reminded in Psalm 139
“O Lord, you have searched me and known me….
for it was you who formed my inward parts.
I praise you
for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
We are welcome at the Lord’s table on this World Communion Sunday
because we are fearfully and wonderfully made,
unique,
each one made in God’s image,
each one of us a masterpiece,
part of a body of work,
not a piece of work.
According to Paul’s letter to the Corinthians,
you are the body of Christ… made up of different parts…
“given for the common good.” (12: 7)
Your gift is important because through it God can convey love.
If you hide your gift under a bushel,
refusing to use it,
then it is as if the eye of Christ’s body has a patch
or the mouth is plugged up.
Charlie Brown of the Peanuts cartoon once told Lucy,
“There is no heavier burden than a great potential.”
Too many of us are Charlie Browns,
sitting on our spiritual gifts
rather than developing them.
If even one gifted person fails to function,
this body of Christ at Smoky Hill
is deprived of a ministry it needs, like when the pitchers fail to throw strikes or as if the fielders just stand around.
And if we all discover and use our gifts,
then God would be glorified and served,
grieving people will be comforted,
homeless men and women fed at Streetreach,
children in Africa will sleep under mosquito repellent nets,
marriages will be mended and strengthened,
children will learn to love the stories of Jesus,
lonely people will be embraced,
those in our midst
struggling with addiction and
foreclosure and
enormous medical bills will find help.
And the nursery will be completed,
big enough for the 12 babies under 2
plus all the teen and adults arms needed to rock and care.
By the end of October,
I want you to discover and affirm your gift.
If you are clueless, start by signing up for one of the Gifts Discover workshops.
By the end of October,
I want those new to volunteering to find their fit.
We’ll have special opportunities available on Oct 21 for you to “try it.”
By the end of October,
I pray that those who know their spiritual shape
feel affirmed and blessed to be a part of such a team,
blessed to be a blessing as a part of
this body of Christ.
Spiritual gifts are powerful tools designed to make a difference
and we have been invited by God to discover and use them.
“What in God’s name as you doing?
Prayer.
