Pastor Rich's sermon to St. Paul's for Sunday August 6, 2006

Summer vacation, what kind of images come to your mind?

Do you have memories of the whole family being crammed in the car, a la the Griswold’s in National Lampoon’s Vacation? I remember every summer we would pack the car and head for Eagle Point. We endured many long hot contentious rides to the Jersey shore. This always meant fighting with my brother for sovereignty of the back seat and persistently asked, “How much longer?”

The journey may not have always been the most pleasant to say the least, but the vacation always made it worth while. I often wonder how much of our good behavior on vacation was a result of Dad’s threat in the car that this was “THE LAST VACATION” we would ever take.

What makes me laugh is that this scenario was repeated by my sons. The only difference was the destination. Instead of going to the Jersey shore we were traveling to major league and minor league baseball parks.

Jersey shore, baseball parks, or some other place, it really didn’t matter. What mattered was spending time with your family. What was important was building relationships, making memories, and spending time with one another.

As I reflect on my vacations I see a parallel between family building and living and church building and living. Both focus on communal living. Both focus on caring for each other and spending time with each other. Both require that we be Christ’s representative.

What does a representative of Christ look like?

The character traits of a representative of Christ are “humilty and gentleness, patience, the ability to bear with one another in love and the desire to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

How well are we doing as his representatives?

If you are like me there are times when we are less than perfect. Here’s a News flash – No one is ever going to be perfect here on earth. This means we must accept and love other Christians in spite of their faults. Here’s an idea, speak to God about another’s faults more than you speak to them about their faults.

As we sang a song this week at Vacation Bible School, God’s love is patient. God’s love is kind. It does not envy or boast. It is not proud. Sing it out loud. God’s love is patient and kind. We can show God’s love. Let’s learn to be patient and kind.

“I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received…so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God.”

Being Christ’s representative doesn’t just happen just like unity does not just happen, we have to work at it. We all are created in God’s image but we are all different. Our differences can lead to division. We have a choice we can highlight our differences and concentrate on what divides us or we can concentrate on what unites us.

Each believer has God-given abilities that can strengthen the whole body. Your special ability may seem small or large, but it is yours to use in God’s service.

While on the mission trip a person was washing dishes when one of the YouthWorks! staff said, “You don’t have to do that.” The person doing the dishes said, “Yes I do.” The staff member looked perplexed and inquired who told him to wash the dishes. The person answered, “Jesus did.”

The point he made was that Jesus is asking us to use our gifts and our abilities. As scripture states,

“Whatever you do,
do it as though you are working for the Lord.”

If you see a job that needs to be done, don’t ask if you can do it, just do it.

God has given His church an enormous responsibility to make disciples in every nation. This involves preaching, teaching, healing, nurturing, giving, administration, building, and many other tasks. Together we can obey God more fully than any of us could alone.

“I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received…so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God.”