Difference between revisions of "Sermon for September 28th, 2014"

Revision as of 18:45, 27 September 2014

Romans 12:1-8

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

Spiritual Gifts, Spiritual Ministries: Generosity

Before I begin today's sermon, I want to pause and recognize a small milestone in our relationship with one another: Today's sermon is the 100th sermon that I've had the honor and privilege to preach to you. 100 Sermons is not a whole lot in the life-span of a minister (my hope is to preach at least 1,000 sermons to you before I'm done!). It's even less in the lifespan of a church as long lived as ours (Assuming there has been one sermon each week since we started, that's at least 6,864).

Still, for a new pastor, 100 seems like a lot. I preached my first sermon here four years ago in 2010, as part of my internship while I was still in seminary. That sermon was on Amos chapter 7, and was titled "I am no prophet." My favorite sermon so far was in November of 2012, called "David's Sacrifice: Counting the Cost." The sermon that received the most positive feedback from you was in March of 2014, called "Job's Wife: Bless God and Die." I'm proud of many of those sermons, and I'm sure just as many were complete duds, although you have been gracious enough not to point those out to me! All told, I've preached 190,431 words, which is slightly higher than the word count in John Steinbeck's novel, Grapes of Wrath (and hopefully slightly more uplifting!).

I say all of this not to brag, but rather to say thank you. Thank you for listening; thank you for encouraging me; thank you for adding your own voices, music, and responses; most of all thank you for allowing me to proclaim God's word to you every week, for letting me tell and retell the story I love, to the people I love, in the city that I love. 100 down...900 more to go!

Prophecy, Serving, Teaching, Encouraging, Giving,

-Speaking Gifts vs. Doing Gifts: Prophecy/Teaching/Encouraging vs. Serving/Giving/Leading/Compassion

-Split Gifts: prophecy/faith ... serving/service ... encourager/encouragement ... teacher/teaching ... giver/sincerity ... leader/diligence ... merciful/cheerfulness

-Not just "giving" (didomai) but meta-giving (meta implies change, after the action things are different) -Not "generosity" but sincerity, simplicity -Quality over quantity

Quotes: “A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog.” — Jack London (1876-1916), American novelist

“Give what you have. To someone it may be better than you dare to think.” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-82), American writer and poet

The new minister in the local congregation learned that one of the wealthiest members on the roll was not a regular contributor or attender, so he made a phone call. “From all appearances your business is doing quite well, yet you haven’t given a penny to your own church,” the pastor began. “Wouldn’t you like to help us in ministry this year?” The lapsed member replied, “Did you know that my mother is ill, with extremely expensive medical bills?” “Um, no,” mumbled the pastor. “Or that my brother is blind and unemployed? Or that my sister’s husband died, leaving her broke with four kids?” “I … I … I had no idea.” “So,” said the member, “if I don’t give them any money, why would I give any to the church?”