Pastor Rich's sermon to St. Paul's for Sunday, January 14, 2007

Sally was driving home from one of her business trips in Northern Arizona when she saw an elderly Navajo woman walking on the side of the road. As the trip was a long and quiet one, she stopped the car and asked the Navajo woman if she would like a ride.

With a word or two of thanks, she got in the car.

After resuming the journey and a bit of small talk, the Navajo woman noticed a brown bag on the seat next to Sally. “What’s in the bag?” asked the old woman.

Sally looked down at the brown bag and said, “It’s a bottle of wine. I got it for my husband.”

The Navajo woman was silent for a moment, and then speaking with the quiet wisdom of an elder said, “Good trade.”

When Paul wrote this letter there were church members who had a similar view about spiritual gifts that the Navajo woman had of Sally’s husband. We know from the larger context of 1 Corinthians that some persons whose gifts were more public or dramatic viewed their talents as status symbols, as though they had a “superior” endowment from God. Some acted as though they’d just made it to the finals of American Idol.

So Paul emphasized not the diversity of their gifts, but the unifying relationship that existed among them.

“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
and there are varieties of services,
but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities,
but it is the same God
who activates all of them in everyone.
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit
for the common good”
(vv. 4-7)

Paul was very clear. The church needs all the gifts, and none of the gifts are inferior to the others. Some might seem lowlier, but on the Spirit’s scale, they are all weighty, and each is critical to the church.

What Paul wanted his readers to understand was that there is a relationship between each of the gifts that church members possess that makes the message of the church what God intends it to be. Each gift was given not according to any kind of human merit or because the one receiving it was better qualified, but because of the wisdom of God’s Spirit.

Think about it, a congregation can have a gifted preacher who delivers moving and powerful sermons that explain the Gospel in compelling language and move people to want to be a part of the church. But if the person with the gift of hospitality who gets up early on Sunday morning to make the coffee and put out the eats for fellowship time decides she or he can’t be bothered doing it any longer, something critical is lost. If the people sitting in behind in the choir pews, if people who serve as greeters and ushers, if the people who have adopted our homebound members, if the people who teach our children and youth, if people who lead our women’s group, men’s group, small group decide I can’t be bothered any longer, something is critically lost. There is a relationship between each of the gifts that church members possess that makes the message of the church what God intends it to be.

I am sure you have all seen the wireless phone company commercials that show some buying a cell phone and getting a network of people and serves with. This is you. This is the church. The words that God lays on my hearts mean nothing if I don’t have you, a network of people willing to be the church, to use their gifts for the glory of God and the well being of others that provides you with the network.

This morning as people were ordained and installed as elders and deacons, you promised to be partners with them in the ministry of this church. You promised to love them, to honor them and to assist them so that we may be a faithful church of Jesus Christ. The congregation always answers in the affirmative, but unless you exercise your spiritual gifts you made an empty promise.

There’s a church in downtown Youngstown, Ohio. One day a young boy was caught breaking out of the church. It seems earlier in the day in entered into the church with the intent to find something to rob. He took nothing but when he went to leave he found himself locked in the church.

When a few church members learned what had happened, one woman, however, asked the officer some questions about the boy’s background. He was from a poor family, with no father in the home. He had not been in trouble with the law before. This woman argued that under the circumstances, the congregation should react first as a church. She asked the staff not to press charges and to give her a few days to come up with a better solution, and the staff agreed.

When Sunday came, this woman told her Sunday school class what had happened and asked them to contribute enough to purchase a membership at the local YMCA for the boy so that he’d have a positive place to spend his free time. She also encouraged the class to try to establish a relationship with this boy’s family. These things were done.

Now how many sermons do you suppose had been preached in that church over the years on the subjects of compassion, mercy and loving one’s neighbor? May I guess a great number, but on that day, the word that was preached , became flesh and dwelt among them. The church was being the church. They were using the gifts to glorify God and enhance the well being of that boy.

God has given spiritual gifts to each of us, for the common good. Let us use them to make that obvious. Our spiritual gifts are given to make obvious the connection between what is spoken in the pulpit and what happens in and from our church.