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 27th, 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.
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