Sunday
10/16/16 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s
Sermon Title: “Serving” (“Spiritual Gifts” Series –
Part 7 of 7)
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 119:97-104
New Testament
Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Gospel Lesson:
Luke 18:1-8
My sisters and brothers, my friends, welcome again on this
our annual Laity Sunday, and on this the Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost.
Twenty-two Sundays after the Holy Spirit moved on the day of Pentecost, and the
Christian Church was born.
This Sunday is also as I said, our annual Laity Sunday in
the United Methodist Church. On this Sunday, we celebrate you the laity, and
your gift of “serving,” among other gifts. The laity of the church, are all the
folks that are not clergy, but are serving God right alongside of us clergy. As
pastors, we could not do this thing called church alone, as our pastors and
laity work together to make the mission of the church successful.
On this Laity Sunday, I am finishing my seven week
preaching series on some of the various spiritual gifts that God gives us all.
Once again, while there are many spiritual gifts, and while our spiritual gifts
survey lists sixteen of them, I have been covering, as I said, just seven of
these God given spiritual gifts. This list of seven spiritual gifts, comes to
us from the Apostle Paul’s epistle or letter to the Romans 12:6-8.
Since this is the last Sunday of this preaching series on
spiritual gifts, let me re-read to you what Romans 12:6-8 says. It says: “We have gifts that differ according
to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the
teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the
giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in
cheerfulness” (Rom. 12:6-8, NRSV).
Depending
on the Bible translation that you use, the spiritual gifts that the Apostle
Paul cited, might be named or labeled a little differently. The six spiritual
gifts I have preached on so far are the gifts of: “giving” or generosity,” of “mercy,”
of “exhortation” or “encouragement,” of “teaching,” of “leadership,” and last
week the spiritual gift of “prophecy”.
This
week to end this series, I want to talk about the spiritual gift of “serving,”
or as the scripture of read from Romans 12:6-8 puts it, “ministering”. To serve
others in the Christian context is in many ways to “minister” to them.
One
definition of the spiritual gift of “serving,” or “ministering” is this: “The word translated as "ministry" is diakonia, which can also be
translated "service". Since there are many types of
ministries and service to the Church, this then describes a broad array of
gifts rather than a single gift” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritual_gift).
So
the Greek word “diakonia” can be
translated as meaning “ministry” or “service”. This is important as the
original Christian New Testament was written in Greek. The word “diakonia” is also where we get the title
of “deacon”.
In
the United Methodist Church, if someone feels called by God to be a clergy
person, they can be a licensed local pastor, which is what I used to be, or they
can be an ordained elder, or an ordained deacon.
Generally
speaking, ordained deacons in the United Methodist Church, and many churches,
are called to a life of teaching and service. Ordained deacons in our church
are sometimes called to special ministries, being chaplains, leading worship,
and etc. While they are ordained they do not generally administer the
sacraments of Holy Baptism, or Holy Communion/the Lord’s Supper, and they also don’t
order the life of the church. Yet these clergy persons are servants that are
called to love, teach, and serve.
I
tell you all of this, to say that we have an entire order in the United
Methodist Church of men and women called to service, teaching, and preaching.
These folks who become ordained deacons do these things for life, but we all
are called to be in service to God and the church. All of us in our own unique
ways can serve God, the church, our community, and our world. Do you believe
that God has given you or someone you know the gift of “serving?”
I
would argue that we all have the gift of serving on different levels, but how
is God calling you specifically to serve? Are you called to start a men’s or a
women’s evening Bible Study? Are you called to start a quilting group that
brings people to Jesus Christ? Are you called to pray for the church? My
brothers and sisters, in our own ways we are all called to “service” for God,
for the church, and for the world. Do you have the spiritual gift of “serving?”
Even
though I am called to serve as your pastor, as your pastor I want all of you to
be able to pursue whatever ministries that God has called you to. I don’t want
a church where the only one who seen as being in ministry is the pastor. God
has called us all according to his purposes. How has God called you? Do you
have the spiritual gift of “serving” or “ministering”?
Just
to explain the spiritual gift of ministering a little better, I want to read a
broader definition that I found for this spiritual gift. This definition is: “The spiritual gift of service,
or ministering, covers a wide range of activities in its application.
There are two Greek words for this gift. The first one, found in Romans 12:7,
is Diakonia. The basic meaning of this word is “to wait tables,” but it is most
often translated in the Bible as “ministry.” It refers to any act of service
done in genuine love for the edification of the community. The word Antilepsis
is translated "helping" and is found in 1 Corinthians
12:28. It has a similar meaning: to help or aid in love within
the community” (http://www.spiritualgiftstest.com/spiritual-gift-of-serving-and-ministering).
So
the spiritual gift of serving is broad and far reaching. How is God calling you
to serve him and others? Do you have the spiritual gift of “serving”?
In
our reading from the Apostle Paul’s second letter to Timothy from this morning,
the Apostle Paul tells Timothy “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful
for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good
work (2 Tim. 3:16-17, NRSV). The Apostle Paul is telling his young friend
Timothy that the Bible is God’s inspired word, and that in it we find
everything we need to live a Godly and a Christian life. Part of this, is
understanding the spiritual gift of “serving,” and helping us to understand how
God has called us according to his purposes.
The
Apostle Paul then tells Timothy to preach the truth of Jesus Christ, even if
there are many doing the opposite (2 Tim. 4:1-5). He tells Timothy to stay
faithful, truthful, and grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ. While much of
this scripture is about belief, doctrine, and how the Apostle Paul is
instructing Timothy to teach, the spiritual gift of “serving” connects here.
For we are called to live out our faith, and to show our faith in part, in
“serving” others.
In our gospel of Luke reading for this
morning, we have a fascinating parable or story told to us by Jesus. This story
begins in the gospel by saying: “Then Jesus told them a parable about their
need to pray and not to lose heart” (Lk. 18:1, NRSV). Now admittedly, this is a
parable about persistence and justice, more than it is about service, but I am
preaching this morning on the spiritual gift of “serving”. Given this, I will
try to make some connections to the spiritual gift of “serving” with this
morning’s gospel reading.
So
let me tell you again quick this parable that Jesus tells us this morning.
Jesus said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had
respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and
saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent’ (Lk. 18:2-3, NRSV).
The
gospel then says: “For awhile he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though
I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps
bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by
continually coming’ (Lk. 18:4-5, NRSV).
The
gospel then says: “And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust says. And will
not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he
delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.
And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Lk. 18:6-8,
NRSV).
So
this is definitely a parable or a story about persistence and about justice.
This isn’t really then a parable about the spiritual gift of “serving,” but the
parallel that I will draw here to the spiritual gift of “serving” is a good
one. The parallel I want to draw is this, sometimes in our lives we are called
to serve and love people that are grumpy, who don’t love God, and don’t seem to
love other people. Yet when we serve and love others over and over, God can
change them. The love of Christ that we have, and that we show others through
the spiritual gift of “serving” can sometimes change a person with the hardest
of hearts, to a loving heart of flesh.
I
think that the judge in this parable or story might have just felt constantly pestered
by the widow, but I also think that if we love and serve others, that God does
and can use us to break down barriers of anger, frustration, disbelief, and
bitterness. So my sisters and brothers, we are all called to “serve” God in our
own ways. Do you have the spiritual gift of “serving”?
In
bringing this service to a close, I want to give an example of a special way
that one can have the spiritual gift of “serving”. This example is taken from a
story that has been made into a book, and now a movie called “Hacksaw Ridge”. This
movie will be opening in theaters on Friday November 4th, and Melissa
and I are very excited to see this movie.
So
you might be asking what is this movie about, and how does this movie connect
to the spiritual gift of “serving”?
Well
here is how, as this is the plot for the upcoming movie called “Hacksaw Ridge”:
“The film is based on the true story about US
Army medic Desmond T. Doss, a Seventh-day
Adventist conscientious
objector who refused to bear
arms, yet was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman for single-handedly saving the lives of over 75 of his
comrades while under constant enemy fire during the Battle of Okinawa in World War II.”
While many in World War II were called to fight, Desmond T.
Doss went into combat with no gun, and his objective was save his injured
brothers. Not only did he achieve this objective, but he saved over 75 of his
brothers, and is now a decorated American hero. Desmond T. Doss felt called by
God to “serve,” not to fight.
Now if this isn’t the spiritual gift of “serving”, I don’t
what is. A man called by God to risk his life, in order to serve others. My
friends, the spiritual gift of “serving” is an amazing and a wonderful gift.
How has God called you serve him and others? Do you have the spiritual gift of
“serving”?
I pray that this day, this week, and always, that we might
continue to live the love of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that we might
accomplish this in part by “serving” others. In Jesus name, Amen.
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