Sunday
09/25/16 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s
Sermon Title: “Teaching” (“Spiritual Gifts” Series –
Part 4 of 7)
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16
New Testament
Scripture: 1 Timothy 6:6-19
Gospel Lesson:
Luke 16:19-31
Friends, sisters and brothers, welcome again on this the
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Nineteen Sundays after the Holy Spirit moved
in and on those first disciples, giving birth to the Christian Church. Those
first disciples then went forth in Jesus’ name, loving, healing, and forgiving.
God had given them, as God has given us all, different gifts and graces. These
gifts and graces are part of what God gives us, to enable us to effectively do
the work of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the world.
For some of us, we might say, “I know my spiritual gifts”.
Yet others might say, “You know, I don’t know if I know my spiritual gifts”. If
every single one of the many spiritual gifts were all different colors, and if
we suddenly had those colors on us like clothing, we would then be able to look
around this sanctuary right now and see many different colors. Sometimes our
spiritual gifts are very apparent, but sometimes they can be buried down deep
within us.
In now officially being in the season of fall, with Sunday School
and Public School being restarted, and with all of the busyness that comes with
this season, I have been preaching on spiritual gifts. Do you know what your
spiritual gifts are? Or maybe you need to be reminded of what your spiritual
gifts are. The seven spiritual gifts that I have been preaching on come from the
Apostle Paul’s Epistle or letter to the Romans 12:6-8.
So far in this spiritual gifts preaching series, I have
talked about the gift of “giving” or generosity,” about the spiritual gift of “mercy,”
and last week about the spiritual gift of “exhortation,” or “encouragement”.
This morning, I want to talk about the spiritual gift of “teaching”.
As someone who is a permanently certified New York State teacher, that has been
a fulltime public school teacher, I can say that “teaching” is hard. “Teaching”
can also be very rewarding, and to be teacher means that you have the ability
to connect with the people you are “teaching”. Beyond this, if you have the
gift of “teaching,” you have the ability to explain things to people, or to
students, in such a way that they will understand what you are trying to say to
them or to teach them.
In defining the spiritual gift of teaching in the Christian
context, a definition is: “Someone who devotes
his or her life to preaching and teaching the Christian faith. When teaching is
provided for the Church by God, two gifts are actually given—to the Church is
given a teacher and along with the teacher comes a divine capacity to teach” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritual_gift).
A general definition of a teacher is: A person
who provides education for
students (https://outlook.live.com/owa/?id=64855&path=/mail/inbox).
The challenge with the spiritual gift of “teaching”, at
least in the context of the church, is being able to take a biblical concept,
or a scripture, and discuss it in such a way, that when folks leave the church
service on Sunday, they will understand and grow from what the worship service.
The spiritual gift of “teaching” is truly a gift indeed.
I would ask you to think and reflect for a moment, about
those teachers that you had in school, those pastors, those coaches, and those other
folks who just had a way of explaining things so they made perfect sense. Can
anyone here say that they had or have people in their lives like that? Perhaps
you had a teacher, a minister, a coach, or a co-worker, and or etc., and they
just always or still do have a way of explaining things to you, so that they
made sense.
I remember one worship service that my classmates and I
attended in seminary school, we had a professor doing the sermon for us that
evening. Everyone just loved this professor, but when he preached, in about one
to two minutes, he had lost me. This professor used so many $5-dollar words and
concepts that I had never heard of before. Granted I was early on in my
seminary studies at this point, and I hadn’t learned many of these ideas and concepts
yet, but this professor did not effectively “teach” me where I was that night.
One of my goals as your pastor, is to try to preach and
teach in such a way that it makes sense, that it connects with you and your
life, and that you understand it.
When looking at our scriptures for this morning, among many
other things, we can learn a great deal from reading the Psalms in the Old
Testament. They are truly filled with emotion, power, real joy, and struggles.
In our reading this morning from Psalm 91, the Psalmist teaches us with vivid
language about who God is. The Psalmist says, “You who live in the shelter of
the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the LORD, “My
refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust” (Ps. 91:1-2, NRSV). You see
the Psalmist is saying and is “teaching” us to rely on God, and take to “shelter”
in God (Ps. 91:1, NRSV). The Psalmist is saying that when we trust God this
much, we will then be able to say that God is “My refuge and my fortress; my
God, in whom I trust” (Ps. 91:2, NRSV).
In the reading this morning from 1 Timothy 6:6-19, the
Apostle Paul is “teaching”, loving, and encouraging his young friend Timothy.
The Apostle Paul tells his young friend, “Of course, there is great gain in
godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so
that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will
be content with these” (1 Tim. 6:6-8, NRSV). The Apostle Paul is “teaching” and
reminding his young friend Timothy that we were born on this earth with nothing
and we will exit this earth with nothing. Since this is true, focus on God, on
Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul says, as those are the only true sources of “godliness
combined with contentment” (1 Tim. 6:6-8, NRSV). The Apostle Paul is saying,
trust God brother Timothy.
The Apostle Paul then says those famous
words, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Tim. 6:10,
NRSV). The Apostle Paul goes on “teaching” and says to Timothy, “But as for
you, man of God, shun all of this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith,
love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of
the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good
confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Tim. 6:11-12, NRSV). The Apostle
Paul again is “teaching” Timothy how to live for God and not the world. The
Apostle Paul was such a great teacher, as he wrote things down so that they
just made sense.
In our Gospel lesson this morning,
Jesus tells us the parable, or the story of “The Rich Man and Lazarus”. Now the
greatest of all the teachers was and is Jesus Christ. Jesus teaches us in this
story about a wealthy man who had everything, but that the wealthy man never
helped a poor and hungry man named Lazarus (Lk. 16:19-20). Lazarus would lay
outside of the gates of the house where the rich man lived, covered in sores,
and rich man’s dog would like Lazarus’ sores (Lk. 16:20, NRSV). The rich mad
had an abundance of food and likely threw out extra uneaten food every night,
but never offered any of the food or comfort to Lazarus (Lk. 16:19-21, NRSV).
Larazus then dies and goes to heaven,
where Abraham is, and the rich man dies and goes the other way (Lk. 16:22,
NRSV). Lazarus then goes to visit the rich man in hell with Abraham by his side
(Lk. 16:23, NRSV). The rich man calls out to Abraham who is with Lazarus, to
have Lazarus dip his finger in water and cool his tongue, as he was burning in
the great fire (Lk. 16:23-24).
Abraham then speaks to the rich man in
the flames, “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received good
things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here,
and you in agony” (Lk. 16:25, NRSV). Now the rich man by the way has shown no
remorse or apology to Lazarus, but begs Abraham to have someone go and tell his
five living brothers to change their lives and repent (Lk. 16:26-30, NSRV).
Abraham tells the rich and now tormented man, that his brothers won’t get any
short cuts, and that they need to follow and obey God, just like everyone else
(Lk. 16:31, NSRV).
In the parable or story of “The Rich Man
and Lazarus”, Jesus is among many other things “teaching” us how to treat each
other. It is not a bad thing to work hard and to get ahead, but Jesus is saying
remember and care those less fortunate than you. Jesus, who among many other
titles, was and is a “Rabbi,” which is Hebrew for “teacher”.
You
see, Jesus didn’t just come to earth, to die for the forgiveness of our sins,
but Jesus also came to earth, among many other things, to teach us parables or
stories like this, and how to live a better life. Jesus wants us to be like God,
like him. When Jesus told the parable of story of the “Prodigal Son” for example,
he was teaching us about “mercy”, love, and forgiveness.
In all of these ways my brothers and
sisters, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, came to earth to die for us, but he
also came to teach us how to live and love better. All of these things that
Jesus said and taught are recorded in the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John. We also have great examples of “teaching” all through the Bible, like
our readings this morning from Psalm 91, or 1 Timothy, and of course the
parable or story of “The Rich Man and Lazarus” that I just discussed from Luke
16.
My brothers and sisters, I believe that
the teachings of Jesus Christ are powerful, and because of this, I believe that
the gospel of Jesus Christ is the hope of the world. I believe that in Jesus
dying for us, and “teaching” us that if we follow his ways and his teachings,
then we will be showing and changing the world with a hope that nothing can
compare to. For the gospel of Jesus Christ is the hope of the world.
So my sisters and brothers, do you
have the spiritual gift of “teaching”. It can be a tough and a challenging
gift. It is also a gift that bears great responsibility. If you do have the
spiritual gift of “teaching” how will you use this gift this day, this week,
and so forth, to change the world for Jesus Christ. Next week I will be talking
about the spiritual gift of “leadership”. May we all be blessed this day by our
great teacher, our God who is three in one, one in three. Amen.
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