Sidney UMC - Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany - 02/03/19 - Sermon - “Without love we have nothing"

Sunday 02/03/19 - Sidney UMC

Sermon Title: “Without love we have nothing”

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 71:1-6

                                            

New Testament Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

                                                   

Gospel Lesson: Luke 4:21-30

          Welcome again my friends, my brothers and sisters, on this the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany. Four Sundays after the three Wisemen or Magi came to see the savior of the world that was born in Bethlehem. They came with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and they left different. They came searching and hoping, and they left changed and filled.

          With this said, today I want to speak to you about one of the core teachings of the Christian faith. This core teaching is love. At the end of our scripture reading from 1 Corinthians 13 from this morning, the Apostle Paul says in 13:13:

“And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13, NRSV).

          So love is a core teaching of our historic two-thousand year Christian faith. It is interesting and sometimes even sad for me to meet people then, who tell me that they believe in God, but have no part in the Christian Church. They have said things to me like, “Well Pastor Paul, I believe in God, but I don’t need to go to church to believe in God”. Has anyone here ever heard anything like this before?

          It is indeed true that you can believe in God and not go to church, but the question I have is, what is so bad about the church? You see, I have found that people that have faith that don’t go to church, aren’t part of the church often for a common set of reasons. These reasons are that they are too busy, that they feel unworthy to be part of the church, or that the churches that they have visited or have been a part of, have been a complete let down. These people love Jesus, but they don’t seem to love the church as much. Part of the reason for this, is that the church in their minds has failed to love them as Jesus does.

          About ten years ago I was going through a challenging time in my life. I was working as a youth caseworker, and I had been avoiding my call to pastoral ministry for about 3-years. During this time, a former District Superintendent and a good friend of mine drove about 3-hours to sit with me for an hour. So six hours in his car, to sit with me for 1-hour. During this time he listened to me, loved me, and affirmed my calling.

          As I was about to complete my second year of Seminary in 2012, wouldn’t you know that I got a call from this person. After discussing the normal “catching up” sorts of things, this former District Superintendent then said he had an opportunity for me. I have found that when a District Superintendent calls you to offer you a pastoral appointment that they often call it an “opportunity”. I immediately said, “Yes!” Yet, this former District Superintendent said, “But Paul I haven’t told you where the appointment is, how big it is, or even how many churches it is”. I then told him, “but after the love, the caring, and what you have done for me, there is nothing that I wouldn’t do for you”. Melissa and I soon found ourselves serving two small church in the Adirondack District of this Upper New York United Methodist Church Conference. I drove about three and a half to four hours every Friday, and came back either on Sundays or Mondays, to be able to serve these churches. I was in school fulltime, serving two churches, and working fulltime. It was a big sacrifice for both Melissa and myself. Yet those church grew and flourished, until I was moved a little over a year later.

          Friends, people come to church, people join and get involved in the church, when it looks like Jesus Christ. Since Jesus is the very essence of love, light, and life, when the church looks like him it grows and it flourishes. Why is this? This is the case because people want to be in church that looks like Jesus Christ. People are excited about going to church and being part of a church, because they feel so loved, so cared for, and so valued. Many churches are shrinking not just because some people don’t have faith anymore, but because sometimes the church fails to be all that Jesus Christ has called it to be.

          I hope that you all know that you are loved, that you are valued, and that we are glad that you are here. I hope that you know we love everyone in Sidney and this world. I hope you all know that you are prayed for and that you are important to us all.

          This morning once again, the Apostle Paul gives us a discourse on the love of Jesus Christ. Let’s look once again at what the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. He says:

“If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing” (1 Cor. 13:1-3, NRSV).

          At the end of this sermon, I am going to show a video that further conveys what I am trying to get across this morning about God’s love.

          In looking at what I just re-read from 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, the Apostle Paul is saying that if he does amazing things, but does not have love then he gains nothing. A few times since I have been serving here at Sidney UMC people have said, “Wow Pastor Paul the church is really growing because of you”. Yet the church is not growing because of me, it’s growing because the love, the power, and the joy of God is flowing powerfully through us and the church. Further, without God, with love, I have nothing. Anything that I do or say as your pastor means nothing if I don’t have love. If I were just showing up, if I were just going through the motions of being a pastor, but didn’t have love, sure I have done a job. Yet, the Apostle Paul says, I have gained nothing.

          Friends, brothers and sisters, love, hope, joy, and the Holy Spirit is and will continue to grow this church. It is growing, I believe because people are finding a church that is trying to look more and more like Jesus Christ. Instead of a church where people don’t go to church, “because you don’t have to go to church to believe in God,” I believe that people are coming to this church, because this church is looking more and more like God, like Jesus Christ.

          As the Apostle Paul moves on in the scripture for this morning, he begins to explain just what love looks like. He continues on saying:

^“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor. 13:4-7, NRSV).

These versus are often read at weddings, as an example of how to treat your wife or to treat your husband. I am sure that all of us husbands here can say that we have these verses on love mastered! I know that Melissa would tell you that I do! Or maybe not really!

The Apostle Paul ends this reading for this morning by telling us once again:

^“Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:8-13, NRSV).

God’s love never ends. The love of Christ never ever ends, as we live on in eternity with Him forever. The Apostle Paul tells us that prophecies will come to an end, as many have already come true in Jesus Christ. Ultimately all the prophecies of old will come to be reality through Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul tells us that he doesn’t have a childish understanding of this, but that he is seeing this as grown and a mature man. He then tell us that faith, hope, and love are important, but of them, love is the greatest of all.

Last week in our gospel of Luke reading, Jesus is worshipping in the Jewish Synagogue in Galilee (Lk. 4:14-21, NRSV). I saw the ruins of this Jewish Synagogue when I was in Israel 5-years ago. In this service of worship that Jesus is in, Jesus is given and reads from the Book of Isaiah, or the Isaiah scroll, as most Jews put their books of scriptures on scrolls. Jesus reads a prophecy from the great Old Testament prophet Isaiah about the coming of the Messiah, the savior. He then says that this prophecy has come true in him.

The gospel lesson last week once again ended like this, but today we hear what happened next. Jesus tells them that the prophecy or the scripture from Isaiah has come true, and many were amazed by this (Lk. 4:21-22, NRSV). The people though began to question Jesus, as he came from a lower class family, where his father Joseph was a carpenter (Lk. 4:22, NRSV). “How could this be the Messiah?” they might have asked.

Jesus then tells them that no prophet is welcomed in his home town, and provides some other biblical examples (Lk. 4:23-27, NRSV). In Jesus elaborating upon the fact that he was and is the Messiah, God in the flesh, the folks in the Synagogue grew angry with him (Lk. 4:28, NRSV). Not only this, they then tried to throw Jesus off a cliff, but Jesus was able to pass through them and escape (Lk. 4:29-30, NRSV).

Now as some of you are listening to how our gospel reading ends for this morning, you might be thinking, “Yeah I have been to a couple churches like that before!” You know at first that they love you, but then towards the end they try to throw you off a cliff!

Friends, one the reasons that many of our churches are shrinking is because some people believe that Jesus and the church should look similar. When the church fails to look like Jesus, this is when the church begins to decline and die.

I would like to close this message this morning with another story. When I was in college the first time at SUNY Potsdam, where Melissa and I met, I visited a church one weekend. I was visiting a friend, and I wanted to go to church. I can’t even remember if it was a Methodist Church or not though.

So this is what happened. I pulled into the church parking lot, and I parked, as it was the fall. I saw a few people on their way in, but no one said hello. I wandered into the church a little nervous, as I knew no one there. I certainly didn’t know where I was going, as there were no greeters. I didn’t know where to find a bulletin. So I just followed the few other people and I ended up in the church sanctuary. Luckily I saw a table with bulletins, so I grabbed one quickly and sat down. I sat in the back half of the church sanctuary, as I knew no one.

As I sat down, one woman turned half-way around in her pew and gave me a sort of scolding look. The pastor sat in the Celebrant’s Chair behind the pulpit, as it was about 15-minutes before the service. One person walked by and said, “hello” as they made their way to their seats.

The church service started, and I followed the order of service, as a good Methodist does. To be honest though, I just felt through the whole church service like I was intruding, and that I shouldn’t have been there at all. If I remember correctly, the sermon was ok, and at the end of the church service, the pastor invited everyone for coffee hour.

Well this was not a friendly church, but you know what, I’m getting my coffee! So I get a cup of coffee, and then I sit at a table all by myself. The pastor walked by at one point and just said “hello,” but that was it. After finishing my coffee, I then put my cup in the plastic bin that they had, and headed out. Now I waited until I rounded the corner in my Pontiac Sunbird, and then I shouted at my steering wheel, “I am never going to that church again!” Not to mention that the people in car next to me were looking at me strangely, as I was shouting into my Pontiac Sunbird steering wheel!

If I had not been a practicing Christian, and if that was my first time in a church, then I would have been devastated. If this was my first time being exposed to the Christian faith, well I would go home and not come back. If someone asked me why I didn’t go to church, I would likely say to them, “You don’t have to go to church to believe in God”.

For this and many other reasons brothers and sisters we must continue to strive to love, to show love, and to be love with each other. For if we do amazing things and we don’t have love, well then we have nothing. Amen.

         

Sidney UMC - Third Sunday after the Epiphany - 01/27/19 - Sermon - “Psalm 19:14"

Sunday 01/27/19 - Sidney UMC

Sermon Title: “Psalm 19:14”

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 19

                                            

New Testament Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

                                                   

Gospel Lesson: Luke 4:14-21

          Welcome back again my brothers and sisters, my friends. Last Sunday we had what my wife Melissa called a “Snowpocalypse,” or as some have called it “Snowmageddon” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowmageddon)! As a result, as we all know, we canceled church last Sunday for the safety of everyone involved. This means that last Sunday I preached the best sermon that I never gave!

          Last Sunday was also a special giving Sunday in the life of the United Methodist Church, called “Human Relations Day”. Since we didn’t have a church service last Sunday because of the “Snowpocalypse,” or the “Snowmageddon” though, we therefore never had the opportunity to have a collection for Human Relations Day. Just so everyone knows, Human Relations Day is one of six special giving Sundays in the life of the United Methodist Church. What is Human Relations Day? Well according to www.umcgiving.org:

“Human Relations Day is one of six churchwide Special Sundays with offerings in The United Methodist Church. Human Relations Day calls United Methodists to recognize the right of all God’s children in realizing their potential as human beings in relationship with one another. The special offering benefits neighborhood ministries through Community Developers, community advocacy through United Methodist Voluntary Services and work with at-risk teens through the Youth Offender Rehabilitation Program” (http://www.umcgiving.org/question-articles/human-relations-day-faq).

          There are giving envelopes inserted into your bulletins for this morning, again. If you are interested in giving to this special giving Sunday, feel free to put your funds in the giving envelope in your bulletin. Then put the giving envelope in the collection plate when we take our church collection for this morning. We will then make sure that your donation gets to the people that need it. Despite a winter storm last Sunday, I wanted to make sure the great ministries of the United Methodist Church were still supported.

          So with said, last Sunday I had planned to talk about “Spiritual Gifts,” and gifts in general, before the “Snowpocalypse” happened. The focus of my sermon from last Sunday was a primer of sorts for our new church “Visioning Team,” or as I like to call it, “Pastor Paul’s Dream Team”. A Visioning Team, which is not only used in churches, is a team of people that dream and vision about the future. Within this church, we have countless gifs and graces distributed among us, and I want all of you to be able to use these gifts and graces. When we are able and equipped to do the things that God is calling us to do, then as people and as an entire church, with God’s help, we can soar to new heights! What is God calling you to? What gifts and graces has God given you? How can you use these gifts for God, for the church, for the community, and for the world? How can we continue to make this church into all that God has called it to be?

          After church today at 12:00 pm in the church library, I will host the first of potentially many “Visioning Team Meetings”. The purpose of these meetings is to pray, to plan, and to organize our next steps as individuals and as a church. Where is God calling us to in 2019 and beyond? Further, how can we take our individual visions and our collective visions to bring this church to a whole new level?

          Maybe you feel called to start a monthly men’s breakfast, or a coffee club? Maybe you feel called to start a Christian golfing club? Maybe you want to start a women’s group, or a singles ministry? Maybe you want to something else to use your gifts, to glorify God, and to make what do as individuals and as a church even greater. The mission of the United Methodist Church, is “To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world”. I invite you to come to this meeting at 12:00 pm to dream and vision with me so that we can make disciples of Jesus Christ and continue to transform the world together.

          So with even more said, this morning I want to talk about our thinking, our desires, what we say, and how we live. I know more than a couple of pastors that pray every Sunday before giving their sermons. Some of them end theses prayers by reciting Psalm 19:14. Well what is Psalm 19:14 once again from this morning? It says:

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer” (Ps. 19:14, NRSV).

          Now I have never really prayed publically in front of the church before my sermon, or recited this scripture every Sunday before I preach, but it is a striking scripture me. Psalm 19 is in general, is a hymn praise to God, for His creation, for his Laws to live by, and for His goodness (Africa Bible Commentary, pgs. 630-631). Psalm 19 once again ends with 19:14 saying:

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer” (Ps. 19:14, NRSV).

          Of all of the 150 Psalms, or 151 Psalms in some Bibles, King David is attributed to writing at least half of the Psalms, but some scholars would argue he wrote them all. Psalm 19 though is definitely a praiseworthy hymn and a Psalm to God. It glorifies Gods power, majesty, and love, through creation on heaven and earth. So moved is King David in this Psalm that he wants the words that come from his mouth, and the thoughts and the feelings that come from his heart to be acceptable or pleasing to God.

          So powerful is Psalm 19:14 that many pastors recite it every Sunday prior to giving their sermon or homily. I think that one of the reasons that this scripture is so popular, is that this verse of scriptures calls us to holiness. The Methodist Movement that started in 1700’s, led by John and Charles Wesley. The Methodist Movement began as a movement designed to preach the Word of God, and to spread scriptural holiness across the land. God does not just want us to talk like Him, He wants us to think, act, and be like Him.

          As we might be examining ourselves right now, we might be able to think of the many ways that we are not like Him. Certainly King David failed, like when committed adultery with Bathsheba, but he had a desire to speak, think, pray, and meditate in the ways of God.

          When we open ourselves up to God fully, when we are grounded in the love and teachings of His Son Jesus Christ, I am convinced that we are changed. This means that the gospel of Jesus Christ, or his life, his teachings, his miracles, his crucifixion, and his resurrection, are transformative. In fact, I would argue that there is nothing on this earth that can so change a human heart like the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is nothing that can turn sinners to saints, there is nothing that change men and women, like the gospel of Jesus Christ. Since I believe that this gospel is the hope of the world, I believe that it should be preached and proclaimed as it originally was proclaimed, so that as the church we might seek and save the lost. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God can change us, and through us we can change Sidney and world.

          As I said earlier however, we all have various gifts and graces given to us by God. There are many gifts that I don’t have, and there are some that you have that I don’t. When we allow Christ to fill us, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, the church comes alive, and new ministries are born. These ministries come out of a desire not to just do more, not to just get more people in church on Sunday, but rather so that we can “make disciples of Jesus Christ, for the transformation of the world”.

          Friends, brothers and sisters, the primary function of the Christian Church is to reach the lost, the helpless, and the broken, so that they might be transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Once they are transformed, we then equip them to serve Sidney and the world. What specifically will God call these people to do? Well, at 12:00 pm today, I have a “Visioning Team” that I am launching to answer all of these questions. I believe that gospel of Jesus Christ is alive in this place, and that the Holy Spirit is moving in ways that aren’t fully aware of yet. Amen.

          I want to share with you an example about how the gospel of Jesus can transform a whole society. This example is about John and Charles Wesley, the founders of the Methodist Movement in England in the 1700’s. The 1700’s was a century of great upheaval and revolutions, like our revolution of the thirteen colonies against the British, and the French Revolution. Yet England never had a revolution or a Civil War in 1700’s. Why not? Well listen to one student wrote about the Methodists:

“The Methodist Movement first began as a popular movement in 1738—approximately one hundred years before the series of revolutions in the many places of Europe. Because of the Wesley’s aid to the poor, thousands of people repented of their sinfulness and began to live holy lives, spreading a spiritual and social revival. It touched and changed approximately one million lives. Wesley and his followers sacrificed their own interests and their time in extreme dedication in aiding the poor. By providing medical aid, they advanced the technology of the Eighteenth Century as they established the first pharmacy. Straying from idleness, they actively offered solutions for the unemployed. They educated the poor, and brought them up to England’s middle class. They taught the poor how to be good stewards of their money that really belonged to God. The work of Wesley paved the path for many—a great number who continued on serving and improving society. Abolishing the slave trade, educating the poor, and reforming prisons were the wonderful results of their work”.

“So how was it that one hundred years later all but England and four other countries broke out into revolutions? At first it began with the American Revolution, then the France, and later all the other European countries erupted; all except England and four other countries. Indeed, it is intriguing how England did not erupt. I am greatly convinced to believe that the work of the Methodist movement—its effort, its influence, and its fruit saved England from a bloody revolution. Through tremendous sacrifice to actively obeying the calling of Jesus Christ to care for the poor, not only did the Methodist Movement transform the people of England, it also--one hundred years later, transformed its future” (http://www.apricotpie.com/lucy-anne/how-methodist-movement-prevented-british-revolution).

         

Friends, as you have heard me say before, we stand in a line of heroes. We are here today, because of great sacrifice that has went on before us for Jesus Christ. If we claim this moment in 2019, I doesn’t matter if other churches are declining and even closing, God is and will continue to do a new thing in Sidney and the world. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God can change us, and then use to transform this community and the world. Amen.

In looking briefly at our gospel lesson for this morning from Luke 4:14-21, we once again have Jesus Christ proclaiming his Lordship to us (Lk. 4:14-21, NRSV). The scripture once again says:

“Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone” (Lk. 4:14-15, NRSV).

Jesus Christ, our savior, who was a Jew, is teaching in the Jewish Synagogues, our equivalency to churches. Jesus is loving, healing, forgiving, proclaiming the Kingdom of God, and preparing to die on a cross for the sins of the world. The Old Testament of our Bible, or the Hebrew Bible, speaks of the coming of Christ, the coming of the savior. This is so true in fact that this morning Jesus reads in public worship, like this public worship, from the Book of Isaiah. This Old Testament or Hebrew Bible book, was read on a scroll. Most Jews in public worship don’t read from a bound book of scripture like we do. Instead every book of the Torah and the rest of the Hebrew Bible is often written on individual scrolls. This morning Jesus reading from the Isaiah scroll. The gospel continues on saying:

“When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk. 4:16-21, NRSV).

In common Jewish custom, Jesus reads from one of the books of the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament, and also in common Jewish custom, this book of scripture was on a scroll, not bound like our Bible. Jesus reads the prophecy of the great prophet Isaiah, who hundreds of years before him, predicted his coming. Jesus reads about who he is, and why he has come.

After finishing his duties as the liturgist or the lay reader for the morning, Jesus hands the scroll back to the attendant or lay leader, and everyone looking right at him. He then says of what he had just read:

“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”                          

 (Lk. 4:21, NRSV).

Jesus is saying, I have come for you, to teach you, to love you, to transform you, and to die for you. So powerful is the gospel of Jesus Christ, his life, death, and teachings, that the gospel of Christ has transformed billions of lives, and it has transformed every society that it has been live and practiced in.

For me brothers and sisters, this is my calling to ministry. Seeing a broken and hurting world, and believing that trough the gospel of Jesus Christ that we can transforms communities and the world.

As we strive to live holy lives and to spread scriptural holiness, it is important for us all to strive for Psalm 19:14. That we seek to

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer” (Ps. 19:14, NRSV).

          Praise God and amen! 

Sidney UMC - Human Relations Day/Second Sunday after the Epiphany - 01/20/19 - Sermon - “Spiritual Gifts"

Sunday 01/20/19 - Sidney UMC

Sermon Title: “Spiritual Gifts”

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 36:5-10

                                            

New Testament Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

                                                   

Gospel Lesson: John 2:1-11

          Welcome again my friends, my brothers and sisters, on this our Human Relations Day Sunday, and on this the Second Sunday after the Epiphany. Two Sundays after we celebrated the visit of the Wisemen or the Magi, who came to Jesus Christ with gifts of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh.

          Human Relations Day is one of six special giving Sundays in the life of the United Methodist Church. What is Human Relations Day? According to www.umcgiving.org:

“Human Relations Day is one of six churchwide Special Sundays with offerings in The United Methodist Church. Human Relations Day calls United Methodists to recognize the right of all God’s children in realizing their potential as human beings in relationship with one another. The special offering benefits neighborhood ministries through Community Developers, community advocacy through United Methodist Voluntary Services and work with at-risk teens through the Youth Offender Rehabilitation Program” (http://www.umcgiving.org/question-articles/human-relations-day-faq).

          There are giving envelopes inserted into your bulletins for this morning. If you are interested in giving to this special giving Sunday, feel free to put your funds in the giving envelope in your bulletin. Then put the giving envelope in the collection plate when we take our church collection for this morning. We will then make sure that your donation gets to the people that need it.

          With all of this said, I want to talk about gifts this morning. How many of us here like to receive gifts? I know that I love to receive gifts. Sometimes for a birthday, or for Christmas, people will ask us, “Hey what kind of gift would like”? We might know some people that get us great gifts! It seems like these people always know just what to get us. Does anyone here have a friend or a family member that always seems to get you the best gifts? I know that I do.

          Now how many of us, on the other hand, have a family member or a friend that always gives us weird, awful, and even strange gifts? Sometimes these gifts are so bad that we keep them just so that they can be worn or put on display when we see that family member or friend. Then they go back into the closet until next time that we see that family member or friend.

          You see, we all give gifts and we all receive gifts in different ways, shapes, and forms. Some of these gifts we love, but some of these gifts we don’t love so much. In the same way, God has given us gifts, abilities, and “Spiritual Gifts”. Some of us are really good at art, for example. I know people that can draw or paint a picture that looks beautiful. I on the other hand have maybe just gotten stick figures down pat at this point. I remember watching Bob Ross on television as a little kid, and I would watch how he would paint something in no time! Anyone here remember Bob Ross? He would just paint a tree in seconds, or something like that. I thought I could never do that! I then tried to do that and proved my own point!

          I know some people that are brilliant musicians or great singers, yet when I sing at home in the parsonage, Melissa tells me “to not to quit my day job!” We all have gifts, and we all have areas that we aren’t strong in. When we come together as the Body of Christ though, as the church, then we have an abundance of gifts. When we use these gifts and share these gifts, we are blessed, Sidney is blessed, and the world is blessed.

          Next Sunday January 27^th, I am starting a church visioning team, which is also called “Pastor Paul’s Dream Team”. The point of this team is to dream and to vision about how we can use our various gifts and our graces to bring people to the saving grace of Jesus Christ. We will also talk about how we can train and equip people to transform the world. Do you feel called to lead a men’s group? Do feel called to start book study? Do you feel called to lead a mission project? Do feel called to do a young adult ministry? Is there something that you feel God calling you to do, and do you have gifting from God in this area? Come to our visioning team meeting next Sunday, at 12:00 pm, in the church library, so that we can take a growing and vital Sidney UMC, with God’s help, to new levels! When we come together and when we use our gifts and our graces, God uses us to transform others and the world.

          Now this morning in our reading from 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, the Apostle Paul once again, discusses “Spiritual Gifts”. In this case, this is not our ability to paint, sing, or play football, as these are “Spiritual Gifts”. Spiritual gifts are more spiritual abilities or aptitudes. Let’s listen once again to what the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. It says:

“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:1-3, NRSV).

          So the Apostle Paul is telling these new Christians in the city or Corinth that God has given us all “Spiritual Gifts,” be aware of them. There are other places in the Bible that discuss “Spiritual Gifts” as well, so this is by no means a complete list. So what are the “Spiritual Gifts” that the Apostle Paul points out this morning? The scripture from 1 Corinthians continues on saying:

“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. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses” (1 Cor. 12:4-11, NRSV).

          So we all have “Spiritual Gifts,” and we are all to use these “Spiritual Gifts” for God, and as the scripture says, “for the common good”. So what are these “Spiritual Gifts” once again that Apostle Paul discusses? They are: wisdom, knowledge, faith, “gifts of healing,” “the working of miracles,” “prophecy,” discernment of spirits,” “various kinds of tongues,” and “the interpretation of tongues”. Later in this chapter from 1 Corinthians that we are given for this morning, the Apostle Paul also discusses the gift of helping or service, and the gift of administration.

          The gift of Wisdom is a great gift, to know God’s wisdom. My Mother Susan has this gift, as does my wife Melissa. They are wise with their thinking and their decision making. I am told that once in a while that I have this gift to, but not like them. Some have the gift of the knowledge of God, and this is a great gift. Maybe people like this know the scriptures, have an understanding of our faith and the church. Some have the gift of faith. I have found that folks that have this gift, are the ones that have strong faith, and inspire our faith growth.

          Some have the gift of healing, whether this be God working through the person to actually heal someone of a disease or a condition, or they have gifts to make people feel better in many ways. These people might be used by God to actually heal someone therefore, or maybe God uses them as a healing presence. Some have the gift of working miracles, and this gift has been one that has been heavily abused. This means that God can use someone to do something miraculous. Sometimes people have faked and still continue to fake this gift, but God sometimes uses us to perform miracles through Him.

          Some have the gift of prophecy, as the prophets of the Old Testament were given a word from God about the coming of Christ, or some other event. This is also a gift that can be abused. In general this is a gift about “declaring God’s acts of power, love, and grace” (Africa Bible Commentary, pg. 1418). This is a challenging gift, but those who have it tend to be people who can preach and teach in ways that are ground-breaking. I would argue that the Rev. Billy Graham had this gift.

          Some of us have the gift of discernment, or understanding what is good and bad, true or untrue. How do we know when something is of God, and not the opposite? How do we know when the decision that we are about to make is good, or not? The gift of discernment. Maybe some of you have this gift?

          The Apostle Paul then tells us some have the gift of speaking in tongues. This means that the Holy Spirit is speaking through you in a God language. A person with the spiritual gift of interpreting tongues, can then translate this spirit filled message from God. Again, there are spiritual gifts that have been heavily abused and lied about, and I believe these two are among them. Is speaking in tongues Biblical? Sure, but from my reading of scripture it is a miraculous and maybe once in a lifetime event. It would be like someone all of the sudden saying something with great power and authority, but it comes out all mumbled. You don’t understand what they said, but someone else in the church does understand. This person then tells you what they just said. This is a gift or a message from God. Again, this can be a heavily abused gift.

          The Apostle Paul also discusses the gift of helping or service, and the gift of Administration. Of all of these, what gifts do you have? Outside of the “Spiritual Gifts” and other gifts that I have highlighted for this morning, there are many others like the gift of encouragement, teaching, preaching, and many others. When I first took a spiritual gifts assessment to move into pastoral ministry, my top gift was the gift of encouragement, or “exhortation” as the Bible calls it. What are your gifts? As your pastor, and as a church, how can I help you to use those gifts in and through the church? How can I help you to use those gifts to bring people to saving grace of Jesus Christ, and to transform this community and the world?

          I believe that this is going to be a big year for the Sidney United Methodist Church, and I praise God for what He is doing in us, and in this church! I would ask you all to pray about and to consider your own “Spiritual Gifts” and the other gifts that God has given you. As your pastor, I want all of us to be able to use the various gifts that God has given us, so that we might better live out the mission of our church.

          So, how does all of this connect to our gospel lesson from the Gospel of John for this morning? Well, Jesus is of course the culmination of all of our gifts and graces. As being part of the Body of the Christ, we have all of the various gifts that make us the church. This morning however, Jesus has a very unique gift. This in fact, is the first recorded miracle that Jesus performed in the gospels. This miracle was turning water into wine. I have had a couple of people ask me jokingly if I could turn water into wine. The answer is no, and if I could, I probably wouldn’t be standing here right now.

          So in this gospel reading, Jesus is at a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and they run out of wine. By the way, the Jewish Weddings sometimes lasted a week, so as you can imagine they are having a lot of fun.

Jesus’s mother Mary then asks Jesus to take care of this problem of running out of wine. Jesus then tells the servants to fill up six stone jars with water, each of which holds about 20-30 gallons of water. Jesus then turns the water into wine, and his disciples believed in him, the gospel says (Jn. 2:1-11, NRSV).

          I remember when I was tutor for Ithaca City School District, while I was in seminary. I was working with a senior to help him graduate. Suddenly, as we were in the library in Ithaca working on his school work, his Cornell University fraternity friend came in. This friend was raving about a massive party that his fraternity was having that night. The friend and I got to talking and he wanted to know if I was a fulltime tutor. I told him that I was, and that I was tutoring to help pay my tuition, because I was in school. He then asked what I was studying. I then told him that I was in seminary. He then asked what seminary was. I told him that I was studying to be a pastor, to which he told me how boring church and ministry were.

          At this point, I asked this fraternity kid if he knew what Jesus’ first miracle was in the gospels. He said, “I don’t know dude did he heal someone or something?” I said, “He did in fact do a lot of that, but his first miracle was turning water into wine”. With this I had the attention of the fraternity kid. I then said, “In fact he turned about 120-150 gallons of water into great tasting wine”. Well, the fraternity kid thought that this was awesome. I asked him at this point if he had picture of Jesus hanging in his fraternity. He said no. I said, “But dude he turns water into wine!” I don’t know what happened after this fraternity kid left, but I wouldn’t be shocked if there is a picture of Jesus hanging somewhere in that fraternity house today.

          Do I have the gift of turning water into wine? No, I don’t. I do have “Spiritual Gifts,” and other gifts, as do all of you. So how can you and I use these gifts to glorify God, to serve others, and to make Sidney and this world a better place?

          As I said, I truly believe that 2019 is going to be a great year for this church, and I will do everything that I can to help you discover, hone, and or strengthen your “Spiritual Gifts,” and your gifts in general. When this happens, this church that we love, will have even more ministries, even more ways to serve, which means more lives changed, and more people coming to know Christ. This all starts with “Spirit Gifts,” and the many gifts that God has given us all. Amen.

Sidney UMC - Baptism of the Lord Sunday/First Sunday after the Epiphany - 01/13/18 - Sermon - “That they might receive the Holy Spirit"

Sunday 01/13/19 - Sidney UMC

Sermon Title: “That they might receive the Holy Spirit”

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 29

                                            

New Testament Scripture: Acts 8:14-17

                                                   

Gospel Lesson: Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

          My friends, my brothers and sisters in Christ, once again it is good to be back after a week off. Last week, I went to Rev. Ben Shaw’s Quaker Church in Unadilla, Friends Church. The service and the church were great, but I was let down that we were not served Quaker Oatmeal after the service. I figured that since it was a Quaker church that they would at least have Quaker Oatmeal. I was wrong.

          Last Sunday was the “Epiphany,” which is the Sunday that we celebrate the Wise Men or the Magi coming to visit Christ, with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. “Epiphany” also celebrates the Incarnation of God in the Jesus Christ, meaning Jesus being God in the flesh on earth, or being fully God and fully human. They came to worship and adore him.

          Two weeks ago on December 30^th, I preached about young Jesus at about 12 or 13 years old being in the Temple during and after the Jewish Passover. I talked about, among other things, how this is the only story we have about Jesus as a child. Sure we also have the birth narrative that we celebrate every Christmas, we have the visit of the Wise Men or the Magi that we celebrated last Sunday, but that’s it.

Today though, Jesus is now 30 years old. Remember we don’t have much information at all about young Jesus’ life, other than his birth, the Wise Men, and him being 12 or 13 in the Temple during the Passover.

          So now this morning, Jesus is 30, and he is going to get baptized by his cousin John the Baptist in the Jordan River. Or as I heard a Pastor joke once, that a few weeks ago we were celebrating Jesus’ birth, and now he’s 30! The Pastor said, “Boy they grow up so quick!”

           This morning I am not just talking about Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River though, as I am also talking about the realities of our lives and our faith. I really love the scripture that we have for this morning from Acts 8:14-17, that once again says:

^“Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:14-17, NRSV.

         

          In this scripture, once again, the apostles, those called by Jesus, minus Judas Iscariot, have heard that people in neighboring Samaria have become believers. So in response they went to them. The scripture says once again that these new believers in Samaria had:

“accepted the Word of God” (Acts 8:14a, NRSV).

          So these folks in Samaria now believe in the gospel, they have accepted Jesus Christ as there Lord and Savior, and the Apostle Peter and John came to pray for them. Specifically, Peter and John are praying that these people will receive the Holy Spirit. They are going to pray that these people will be filled and transformed by the personal, loving, and overwhelming power of God.

          This scripture also does say that these Samaritans were baptized in the name of Jesus, but that they hadn’t yet felt the Holy Spirit fill them. Peter and John laid hands on them, prayed for them, and they did indeed receive the Holy Spirit.

          For me, in the moments that I have received the Holy Spirit in my life, which have been many, it was amazing. I felt peace, love, and hope that was overpowering. Some of these moments brought me to tears, and filled the love of God. They have cemented into me my faith in Christ, and my belief that his gospel is the hope of the world.

          I can also imagine that the Samaritans that became followers of Christ from our Book Acts scripture for this morning felt amazing when they received the Holy Spirit. I can imagine that they felt peace, love, hope, and were changed forever. Some of us here likewise have felt the love of God, and maybe it changed and filled us. I sometimes refer to these moments or these periods of our lives as “mountain top moments”. In these moments everything seems bright, and full of life and love.

          Yet as we know from scripture and from our own lives, we don’t stay on the mountain top forever. Those Samaritans that Peter and John laid their hands on were changed, and filled with the Holy Spirit. I wonder how long that feeling of the Holy Spirit lasted for them. A day? A week? A year?

          What I mean by this, is that feeling of the saving grace of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit is transformative. In that moment we know that we are forgiven of our sins by Jesus Christ, and we feel God’s love fully. We are reborn, we are saved. Yet that “mountain top moment” never lasts forever. Eventually we will come back down from the mountain, and maybe even go into valley. In fact, Psalm 23:4 says:

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me”

(Ps. 23:4, NKJV).

          So we know that God is always with us, but we will not always be on the mountain top. Things in our lives will not always be good every day. Amen. I think that some Christian in this era that we are living in lose their faith, or their faith is weakened during hard times. For me, my faith has been strengthened during such times because I know that God is with me. Receiving the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ is a great gift, and being filled with the Holy Spirit is amazing, but that elevated feeling won’t be a constant reality in our lives as Christians. To say it another way, as many of us know all too well, after we come to Christ and are filled with the Holy Spirit, we will still have bad days once and awhile. In fact, some of us might have bad weeks, months, or even years.

          Being a Christian, following Christ doesn’t mean that things will always be great in our lives. I would argue that this is one of the top five reasons that people abandon their faith. Something or something’s happen that are bad, and as a result people surrender their keys to the Kingdom if God. They say things like, “Why would a loving God have allowed this to happen?” The reality is there are times in our lives when we will suffer, but we have the promise that through the highs, through the lows, that God is with us. The last recorded statement that the founder of Methodism, John Wesley said before he died, was:

“The best of it all is, God is with us” (https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Wesley).

The church was created so we can live this faith out together, because “The best of it all is, God is with us”. As the church, we can laugh together. We can cry together. We can have pot lucks together. That last one was more just for me. This life, this journey of following and living our faith in Christ is one that isn’t always easy. Yet if you have truly felt God’s all-encompassing love, you know that it is worth believing in and following.

          In the same way that Peter and John laid their hands on Samaritans in our Book of Acts reading for today, and they receive the Holy Spirit, highs can quickly go to lows.

          I don’ think that our gospel reading for this morning in any different either. I really love our gospel lesson for this morning, as we get one of the three gospel narratives of Jesus’ baptism. Like Peter and John laying of hands on Samaritans in the Book of Acts, and them receiving the Holy Spirit, the gospel lesson from the gospel of Luke for this morning is a “Mountain top moment”. Why is the case? Let’s look again at this morning’s gospel lesson. It starts when John the Baptist, and then shifts to Jesus Baptism. Once again it says:

^“As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire” (Lk. 3:15-17, NRSV).

          So according this gospel lesson, we can be baptized with water, and we can also be baptized or filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

          The gospel then shifts to the baptism of Jesus and once again says:

“Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased”

(Lk. 3:21-22, NRSV).

          So Jesus comes up out the Jordan River in his baptism. In this moment, Jesus the Son of God is present. Heaven opens, and the Heavenly Father speaks. The Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus, but not in Jesus. For you have in this Baptism scene, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Trinity, of one God in three persons all represented. The baptism of Jesus I would say was certainly a “Mountain Top Moment!” Yet, as exciting, and as fulfilling as this moment must have been, things will quickly change for Jesus.

Jesus’ baptism at the age of 30 is when Jesus starts his three year public ministry that will end at a cross and an empty tomb. Before Jesus goes forth to preach, to love, to heal, and to forgive though, Jesus according to chapter four of the gospel of Luke, says that Jesus goes into the wilderness for 40-days.

          In fact, Luke 4:1-2 says:

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished” (Lk. 4:1-2, NRSV).

          So like the Samaritans received the Holy Spirit in our Book Acts reading for this morning, and how they no doubt struggled at some point, for Jesus it is immediate. Jesus has this glorious baptism, where He, the Father, and the Holy Spirit all present.

          Before Jesus officially starts his public ministry though, he goes through what I call his “basic training”. If you enlist in the military, you go to basic training. Jesus is baptized as the messiah, but he then suffers for 40-days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil, before he is really ready. I can’t image what it would be like to be tempted by the devil for 40-days by the devil. Yet Jesus said that his Father was with him.

          Friends, we all want to be happy, none of us want to suffer, but when we do, the Bible promises us that God is with us. Your church is with you. Whether you’re being tempted by the devil in the wilderness, or whether your life has taken a turn for the worse, He is with you. I hope that many of us can live through many more “Mountain Top Moments” in this church and in our lives. Be ready though, eventually we will all go down from the mountain, and maybe into the valley. In following Jesus, we all will have ups and downs, but as the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:38-39:

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38-39, NRSV).

          God is with us here this morning. God is with that scared soldier in Afghanistan. God is with the woman that has dementia in the nursing home. God is the man in prison. God is with the woman who just lost her husband, and he is with us. We can’t live on the mountain top forever though. So when things are great, let us remember God is with us. When things fall apart, let us remember that God is with us. When things are average, let us remember that God is with us. May this church, this faith community be a life boat and a safe haven where you can come and laugh, cry, and where we move and grow together. We do all this for the glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.