The Church Has a Mission - Acts 6: 1-7

This is our last week of the summer sermon series on the book of Acts. We have spent time exploring how the Holy Spirit ignited the early church and leads us just as fervently today. It seems appropriate that we end the series by exploring the call of the Holy Spirit in the life of our congregation. However, this sermon has ended up being much more difficult to write then I anticipated. This particular text is challenging because it confronts the idea that everyone should be able to do everything, and that can be un-nerving at times.

As the early church grew, so did their need for organization. When a few people gather together to share their lives and possessions with one another, it can easily be contained. But when thousands upon thousands join in, there needs to be a different structure. When it became apparent that the old way of doing things was no longer working, the disciples, the teachers and leaders of the movement, called everyone together and honestly spoke the truth saying, we cannot do everything. We are called to teach and pray. So find seven people from among those whom you respect and trust who are called to organize the distribution of food. 

As I said before, this was a difficult passage for me, though philosophically it should not be. We are part of a denomination that believes that followers of Christ are all called to share their gifts and talents for the good of the church. We even have a name for it, lay leadership. Yet, as often is the case, philosophy does not always get lived out in the best way. We have people who step in and do whatever needs to be done, even if it is not their gifting. And we have people who do not view themselves as leaders, so they push their gifts and talents aside. We believe in lay leadership, but somewhere between our belief and our action things become muddled. 

I also feared that different works of the church were being prioritized by the disciples or a hierarchy of gifts being created, until I came upon Bishop Will Willimon’s comments on this particular passage of scripture when he said, “the disciples were not disparaging the work of feeding people; they instead are taking decisive action is that this necessary social administration might be assured.” The disciples were admitting a hard thing in this passage - they could not do everything. In fact they could not do everything, because they were not gifted and called to do everything. They were called to a specific task -teaching and praying. But they had faith that others in the community were also called - called to feed and see to organizational needs. The disciples saw the problem and addressed it directly. And the people were pleased. They were not offended as we may be at this passage. They instead picked people filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom to lead this new phase of being the church together. And the movement continued to grow in leaps and bounds because the leaders were living into their God given gifts and were freed to do what God had placed them on this earth to do. Praise God!

This past week in the parish missions class, we discussed how our service to the church and mission in the community flows from our relationship with God. How the most profound opportunities we have come when we allow God to reveal us to needs that we are called to meet. And how we are all called to do something for mission and service are necessary for our life as disciples. These may all seem to be simple truths but they lead to hard questions - how are we living out mission and service? Is this what God is calling us to do? How to we make room for everyone to be able to serve God? And what needs in our community are not being meet?

With these questions I was transported back to a summer I spent working as a faith-based community organizer in a little town called Denison, Texas. I came in as someone not native to the area with a different view of things. While some of the church folk in Denison had become overwhelmed by the needs of the community or stuck in their old ways of doing missions, together we saw new opportunities to serve God. The opportunity to open up a day center where people without air-conditioning could escape the 110 degree heat of early summer and find community. The teaching of young unwed mothers how to care for their young children and run a household by moms who had raised children as single parents. The opening of a community garden where anyone could come to grow vegetables that they could then take with them - moving from a model of giving to people in need to empowering them. 

We were not able to meet all the needs in Denison that summer. But as I and others spent time walking the streets, we got to know people and know their needs. I then was able to take this information back to the local churches to see how the needs could creatively be meet. I was not upset that the pastors were not out walking the streets with me, that was not their calling at that particular time. It was mine, and I needed to be faithful to it to the best of my ability. 

We need to be in positions where we can listen to people about their needs. One of the stories I remember most vividly from that summer involved a broken window. One evening, I was driving around the area with my supervisor pointing out some of the houses in desperate need of care. We stopped outside of one home where the windows had been shattered and I asked my supervisor to imagine how warm it must be in that house with the sun blazing around 115 degrees that particular day. She grew silent and after a while whispered, “that’s my cousins house. I didn’t even know that it was that bad.” We need to be in a place where we can listen to the needs of those in the community where our church is located, for we cannot be serving the biggest needs if we are not aware of them. It is not our job to speak to the validity of needs we do not understand. The disciples did not debate with those who came to them about whether the Hellenisitc believers widows were being slighted food or not. They simply responded in a way that appropriately said, we hear your concern and we will address it fairly. There wasn’t judgement. Simply reaching out in love. But the disciples had to be open to hearing the need and equipping others to respond, thus having leadership arise from the community’s needs. 

We also need to trust that God will give us the resources to serve in missions. Often we get so caught up in the reasons that we cannot do something that we overlook what we have been gifted to do. The disciples could have complained about not having enough food for everyone or not enough time or people to get the job done. But instead they approached in creatively, trying something new. They didn’t know if it would work, but they were willing to try. Are we willing to risk trying to serve our community in a new way, too? The needs and lifestyle today are not the same as they were even 5 or 10 years ago. We need to be open  to allowing the Holy Spirit work through us in a new way so we can touch people’s lives. 

In our United Methodist Tradition we have the beliefs and tools to transform communities for Jesus Christ, touching people’s lives, which is the true mission of the church. To spread the word of Jesus Christ to people through word and mission so hearts can be changed and hope can be found. We believe that everyone has a gift to share in service. We believe that we are called to serve God through acts of social justice. And most importantly, we believe that we do not do this work alone. We are lead by the spirit and work as a community. Notice that the disciples did not elect just one person to head up the food ministry. And they didn’t all leave their call to preach and teach in order to meet this need. They sent several people to start the new branch of ministry and left several people to the ministry of preaching and praying. We serve together, use our different gifts together, in order to have the greatest impact. For too long we have had lone-rangers in the church, who don’t invite others to be part of their work. When we serve together, we can reach more people for the kingdom!

Brothers and sisters, I ask you, how are we serving this community? What needs are there that we are called to address? How are you called to be in service and mission? And how are we doing living into the mission of the church? We need each and every one of us to be using our gifts in order to spread the word and witness to Christ. We need each and every one of us to rely on being lead by the Holy Spirit in order to be a Spirit lead Church! My hope and prayer is that together, as we serve this community, that we will have the same results as in the book of Acts, where the church grew in leaps and bounds, finding believers among all people. One step at a time, together, we can make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world! I hope that excites you! I hope that drives you! For the church through the ages is called to this mission in order to bring all honor and glory to God! Amen!

The Church Offers Healing in Many Forms - Acts 3: 1-10

The first time I remember hearing this Bible Story was in my Kindergarten Sunday School class. The most joyous part of the song is when Peter tells the man he met “in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he went walking, and leaping and praising God. Walking and leaping and praising God.” There was so much excitement around the man’s reaction that I never really paused long enough to think about what Peter and John did that fateful day.

Peter and John were on the way to the temple, the place of worship, when they encountered someone in need. The mans only source of income was begging for money and outside of the temple gate was a prime spot - people had to pass him and temple go-ers at that, people who knew that they were supposed to give to those in need. As Peter and John were going into the temple he caught their eye and asked them for some money. But Peter and John just looked at him. Not with pity. Not with disdain. But really looked at him. Saw deep inside of the man to what he really needed. Peter then said those words, I don’t have what you think you need, but I have what you really need - in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth get up and walk. 

This week in the parish missions class we talked about the difference between charity and service. Charity is when you give people what they need, for momentary relief, without really getting to the heart of the matter. Charity is good and needed, but it only offers something temporary. Peter and John could have had pity on the man and offered him whatever change they had, like countless others had done before them. But instead they took the time to meet the man’s true need and offered him radical healing. 

What would you have done if you encountered a man in a similar situation on the way to church today? When I lived in Pittsburg I attended a church right across from my dorm. Here was my dorm. Here was the church. On the other side of the dorm, up and down the street there were homeless folks who were in deep need. We were actually instructed during orientation to ignore them. But there were a group of students who just could not do that. They could not treat another human being as undignified, but they didn’t just want to offer temporary charity either. After some thought they decided to cook healthy vegetarian meals for those who were begging. A few times a week they would invite people to gather for this free meal. And they ate with their brothers and sisters who were living on the street, getting to know their stories. For those who were not physically able to make the gathering, one or two people would go to them with the meal and eat with them. After weeks of fellowship and listening, they invited them to church. Offered them something more. Not everyone came. But some did. And everyone felt as if they were affirmed instead of look down upon, or worse ignored.

The man, those people in Pittsburg, asked for one thing and received something else. They asked for money - something that is important for survival in our society and that of the early church. But for Peter and John who were part of the disciples who were now sharing everything in common, money had ceased to be as important, and they certainly knew that it was not the most important thing. And out of this changed relationship to money, changed worldview, Peter and John offered the man a new kind of life that can only come through the power and healing of the Holy Spirit. 

Healing stories like this one, often make us in Western society feel uncomfortable. The disciples didn’t even ask the man if he wanted to be healed. When the church has made similar assumptions in modern times we have been looked down upon - traveling healing services. Times when people who God had created were looked down upon or told that they were less then. We’ve become so uncomfortable with healing that we hide it from others.

Please don’t misunderstand me - this is not a call to abandon modern medicine or thing that every time we ask for healing it will look exactly like we want to. Often, like the lame man, we ask God for one thing and get something radically different, and better. Nor am I saying that we should  not attend to people’s needs. But we’ve become so comfortable in the charity model of giving, where we are in the superior position offering something someone else physically needs, that we forget what we truly have to offer. We forget that we were in the same position not so long ago, in need of grace and forgiveness and healing, which God freely offered to us. We forget that sometimes even the most desperate of situations are opportunities to let God into the broken places in our lives to work in a powerful way. 

Some of us understood this message of healing inside of the church, but others of us experienced God’s healing outside of the church, like the lame man, because someone risked telling us about God’s love for us. Risked telling us that God wants something more for us. Risked praying boldly for us. The Spirit of God wants to free people from the burdens they carry. Free them to be healed in a different way, but there are few too people praying for this type of healing to take place. I have to ask, when you pray do you expect something to happen? Can you remember how God has healed in the past so you have come to rely on that healing in your own life and the lives of others?

Do we rely in the power of the name of Jesus? Do we believe that we have something life-giving to offer others? Do we remember receiving this life-giving thing ourselves? We have something to offer people more then money, more then food, more then things that will not last. We have something to offer that makes people leap for joy and brings amazement to those who knew them. For salvation is about much more then health. 

In a few moments we are going to offer anointing with oil. Anointing with oil is traced back to the Hebrew Scriptures and is associated with many things - the coming of the power of the spirit, healing, blessing. You are invited to come up, as you feel lead, and be anointed for yourself or someone you know. Anointing with oil coupled with prayer does not force God’s hand - we cannot make God doing something. But it is a sign that we are trusting God and expect God’s spirit to move amongst us in a mighty way, bringing whatever healing we need most at this time. 

Let us pray....

The Church is Spirit Led - Acts 19: 1-7

This past week in our Evangelism study, the group entered into a conversation about what we are teaching other’s about the faith. Are we teaching them the basic truths - the things that matter most - about the grace, love, and saving act of Jesus Christ, or are we dwelling on other less important things? Paul is asking the same thing of the disciples he comes across in today’s scripture passage - have you been taught the basic truths and have you been baptized by the Holy Spirit. 

Paul had a reason for asking a question like this of the disciples he encountered. Apollos, a Jewish evangelist who proceeded him to the area, only knew about the baptism of John. The one who was teaching others didn’t have a grasp on the basic truths yet. Eventually Priscilla and Aquila head Apollos speaking and pulled him aside to speak to him about the work and power of the Holy Spirit, but not before he had already converted people and baptized them in the name of John. 

Sometimes we can be like Apollos, quick to teach others from our overflowing passions, but not all of our facts are straight. Substituting our words in for God’s. Apollos understood the importance of Jesus, but not the purpose of baptism or what it means to the Christian movement. He doesn’t even know about the connection between Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  Like the evangelist, our heart is in the right place, but we don’t do justice for the others whom we are leading and teaching. Therefore, Paul had to re-teach these disciples that the baptism of John, the one of reptenance, looks forward to the arrival of Jesus Christ, the messiah. But now the messiah has come and has left behind the Holy Spirit to lead believers along their faith journey. Thankfully, the people of Ephasus understood instead of being caught up in the confusion and were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit came upon them. With this baptism Paul is making the statement that the church is truly a Spirit filled movement. 

This passage implies that the difference between the baptism of John and that of Jesus Christ. For John’s baptism is focused on the turning away from evil is almost entirely self-driven. In contrast, the baptism of Jesus Christ is marked by the Holy Spirit and the gifts and grace it brings. Unfortunately, there are still Christians today that underestimate the meaning of the Holy Spirit in their lives following baptism. They look for a baptism like John’s - one that is marked by the forgiveness of sins, which is very important, but then overlook the power of the Spirit in their lives. Forgiveness and cleansing are only the first steps and marks of a Christian life. For the Holy Spirit is given to all Christians to give them power and gifts to be used for the body of Christ - signs that we are initiated into a new age that is spirit lead. 

For the past few weeks we have been primarily focusing on the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and the lives of the church. We have been repeating week after week that the Holy Spirit is the chief actor not only in the lives of the early church, but in our lives today. We keep repeating that because for too long the Holy Spirit has been overlooked and forgotten. For too long Christians haven’t been able to point to the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives and thank God for the powerful Spirit blowing through them, transforming them. And when we cannot acknowledge the Spirit in our own lives, how can we ever hope to help others understand how the Spirit is working in their lives. How will we ever be able to spread the message that the life God has gifted us with in Christ is about more then forgiveness, it is about power and transformation!

On those occasions when we do remember the Holy Spirit, we feel that it is docile and delicate, like the dove often used to represent it. But the Holy Spirit is many things, and above all, the Holy Spirit is the force leading the church forward through the ages. The one who is equipping us for the task of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. 

This past week, myself and three others spent time pouring over the membership information for the parish. As I was leaving the meeting I was struck by what the information, especially the baptism information represents. If you were baptized - you are equipped and called to ministry. What is your gifting from the Spirit and how are you using it? Are you living a life worthy of the calling you’ve received, like the apostle Paul urges in the message in Ephesians? Calling and gifting is not just for the ordained and not just for pastoral ministry - it is for each and every one of us. Paul lists several different calls and gifting of the Spirit - apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers - and he doesn’t even name them all. And each and every one of us needs to rely on the leading of the Holy Spirit to show us how to best use our gifts for the mission and message of the body of Christ - for there is one body lead by one Spirit!

All too often we want to ignore what the Holy Spirit is leading us to do. We come up with excuses - its too hard, its not for me, its too risky. But brothers and sisters, the Spirit calls us to do risky things with our gifts. If Paul wouldn’t have risked asking the disciples he came upon in Ephesus about the baptism they received they could have missed out being lead by this beautiful and mysterious spirit. If we only tell people about a baptism for the forgiveness of sins, we aren’t being honest about what the Spirit demands, yes demands, of each of us. For with great gifts comes great responsibility. Are you living into the responsibility of the gift you have been given, or are you shaming the spirit by denying your gifts or not using them? Are you following the prompting of the Spirit or are you doing only what feels comfortable?

Brothers and sisters, it is time to mature in our faith. It is time to stop giving simple answers or not the full story, like Apollos did. It is time to set aside the propensity to dismiss and ignore the Holy Spirit that has plagued the church for so long. Now is the time to listen. Now is the time to be lead. Now is the time to use our gifts for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For some of us, that may mean praying for God to reveal to us exactly what our gifting is. For others, it may mean taking the bold step of embracing our gifts and using them. And for others, it may mean that we need to stop doing some of the things we are doing that are not aligned with our gifting from the Spirit, to create space for someone with that gift. 

The Spirit has given us a powerful treasurer to be used for the great mission of Jesus Christ. Are we going to risk using the treasurer to the best of our ability, together? Now is the time. Amen.