There are some writers and some speakers who pack every sentence to the brim. If you miss a sentence you miss something significant. Others of us would like to think that true, but it really isn’t. You can miss a sentence here and there, unfortunately, maybe a number of sentences - and still not be poor for what you didn’t get. Samuel Miller is one of those people who packs every sentence to the brim, and you need to get every word. Listen to him.
“A man’s birth is not ended with the first gasp of his breath and the first cry of his lungs. He is born for innumerable births. He is forever pushing his way into new worlds. Through countless experiences, by high ecstasies and deep sorrows he plunges to new heights and depths within himself. . Through the old symbols and the new insights he sees fresh an alluring vistas. Grief and love lead him far beyond himself. Prophets and poets shout across the ages and call out his soul. Beauty unseals his eyes and reverence leads to him mystery and tenderness. The strange designs of circumstance and purpose, the impact of this world and all the wonders, the dark movings of the inner abyss in himself, all these are avenues of births beyond number.” (Samuel Miller, Life of the Soul, pp. 136-7).
What an electric word - and with it I want to begin the sermon today. Last Sunday we considered the eternal question, “What will you do with Jesus?” We were talking about faith commitment to Jesus Christ - claiming him as Saviour and crowning Him as Lord of our lives. Though we didn’t use the language, we were talking about new birth. Today we build on that for birth is not an isolated event. It is a process. To be fully born is the aim of life. That is that Paul was talking about in our scripture lesson. In another of his letters, Galatians 4:19, he put it in the form of a plea.
“0, my dear children, I feel the pangs of child birth all over again til Christ be formed within you,... (Phillips).
I’m talking about growth - growth in the Christian life, prodding us by asking, “Where do we grow from here?” Not where do we go, but where do we grow from here? And there is a difference. To be going is not necessarily to be growing; to be moving doesn’t necessarily mean we have direction. We need to accept the fact that we haven’t arrived. This is not a betrayal of our humanity, but a necessity for growth. A biologist recently announced, “I’ve discovered the missing link between the anthropoid apes and civilized man. It’s us!” He may have been jesting, but truth is in his jibe. We have yet to grow up into the stature of the fullness of Christ. “Let’s center than on this possibility. Put a stake down in your thinking as a first point for our consideration.
I. DECIDE TO GROW
If we are to grow from here, from wherever we are in our Christian walk, we must make a decision to grow. The point is we decide to grow.
Certain growth is natural at certain stages of life. All things being equal, we are going to grow in physical statue. Our legs and arms, and fingers are going to get longer. Our heads are going to get bigger - though the content therein might not change much. Our muscles are going to get stronger, though we might allow them to be flabby and weak as time goes on. Physically we are going to grow. It’s a natural process.
But to grow in spirit, in mind, in heart, in attitude, in understanding, in wisdom – this demands decision. It doesn’t just happen; we make it happen. Langston Hughes wrote a poem about this in which he had a mother speak to her son.
“Well, son, I’ll tell you:
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor - Bare.
But all the time
I’se been a-climbin’ on,
And reachin’ landin’s,
And turnin’ corners,
And sometimes goin’ in the dark,
Where there ain’t been no light.
So, boy, don’t you turn back.
Don’t you set down on the steps
‘Cause you find it kinder hard.
Don’t you fall down - For I’se still goin’, honey,
I’se still climbin’,
And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” (On City Streets, page 94)
We decide to grow. Though we are always the same person, we are always undergoing change.
I had an experience two weeks ago which confronted me with this fact that we must decide to grow. It was one of those self-with-self experiences that are too sparse in our lives. I was going by plane from Charlotte, North Carolina to Buffalo, New York. Normally, I don’t spend much time gazing out the window, but I was too tired to read, and didn’t have the emotional energy to engage my seatmate in conversation. So, I began to scan the vast terrain below. It was a clear day and even from that jet plane altitude I could catch a clear panorama of the earth below. There were the great chasms gutted by rushing waters, rounded hills, and jagged peaks, man-made highways circling mountains as though a piece of ribbon had been tied around a big box, an emerald lake, a muddy river, a giant palate of earth-tones; various shades of green, grey, white, potato brown.
What really struck me in that sense reverie was the immense space that seemed lifeless, the great distances between cities and pockets of civilization. In some mysterious way that comes to us now and then, the spirit moved in my life saying: “That’s the way your life is Maxie, a vast terrain of inner space, much of which is still undeveloped.” It was one of those signal moments in life when my soul stood at attention and listened to what was being said. And I came out of that “spirit with self” dialog having made a fresh decision to grow, to develop the vast terrain of inner space – of spirit – that is waiting to be explored, of hidden corners of my life that are yet to be surrendered to Christ. We decide to grow.
II. DISCOVER OUR GIFTS?
But the question still remains: where do we grow from here? So, another truth emerges. We must discover our gifts. Look at the scripture again. Put verse 7 with verses 11 and 12 and listen:
“But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gifts.. and He himself gave some to apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ (New KJB).
Two truths are sharply stated here. First, each is gifted. “To each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gifts.” Wow! That’s something to shout about.
Hear it downcast soul! Hear it, all you who are wallowing in self-pity. Hear it, you who are losers in your own eyes because you’ve come out on the short end when you compared yourself to others. Hear it, you who keep flagellating yourself because of sin and failure that you have not surrendered to Christ. Hear it, you who have spent your energy trying to prove to others that you are of worth. Hear it, all of you, to each of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gifts.”
If there is any issue – and I hope there are many – I can address out of deep personal experience and conviction, certainly this is one of them.
One of our lay people sent me a little clipping a few days ago which told this story. A new preacher had come to town. His car broke down just after morning worship service. On Monday morning he managed to get it to down to the town’s one garage for repairs. “I hope you’ll go a little easy on the cost,” he told the mechanic. “After all, I’m just a poor preacher.”
“I know,” came the reply. “I heard you preach yesterday.”
Well, you read into that what you will, but here is an issue which I can address out of deep personal experience and conviction.
I spent a good part of my teenage years proving myself to others. Becoming a Christian did not save me from this devastating drive. Answering the call to preach and getting a theological education didn’t do it. Experiencing a measure of success, even publishing a couple of books didn’t do it. I became a slavish worker, tirelessly bent on achieving and performing, almost mercilessly driving myself…a fear of failure drawing from me more and more energy, and serving as a demanding taskmaster of my life. Along the t I had to admit to myself and others, and of course, to God, that this was a neurotic effort on my part to prove myself to others, a desire to be accepted by them. At a particularly crucial time, an aspect of the Gospel became very real to me, and I gained a whole new lease on life. When you really accept the acceptance of God, when his love and forgiveness really come alive in your life, you no longer have to prove yourself to others.
That was one of the most liberating, exciting times of my life. I could then stand eye to eye with the world: all that is beautiful, or ugly, or good or evil, friends, strangers, colleagues, acquaintances, stand tall eye to eye and simply say, “Here I am!” What a release that is. What freedom comes. What unloosing and unleashing of spiritual energy do we experience. When we no longer have to prove ourselves, when we simply be! When we can lean back in confidence on that solid truth Paul put so clearly: “To each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”
Each is gifted, that’s one facet of the truth Paul is sharing. Another facet is that there is a variety of gifts. Did you hear the story of the art teacher who was introducing second graders to the world of creativity? She wanted them to draw and paint as they saw and imagined things. So, as an exercise one day, she “turned them lose” and urged them to paint anything they wished. As she moved around, she was baffled by the efforts of one little girl. The teacher asked her what she was painting. Without hesitation, the girl answered, “God.”
“How can you do that?” the teacher asked. “No one has ever seen God. No one knows what God looks like.”
“They will when I finish”, was the confident reply.
I like that. The confidence of being gifted. Pay attention to Paul: “And (Christ) gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers...” The message is clear: a variety of gifts is given, needed gifts befitting every believer, enabling Christian to make his or her own contribution.
That leads to the final stake I would have you drive down in your thinking today.
III. DEVOTE YOURSELF TO THE CHURCH
Not only are we to decide to grow and to discover our gifts, we are to devote ourselves to the church. Does that sound blatantly self-serving on the part of a minister? Are you feeling that here is the bias of an institutional clergyman, buttering his own bread? I understand. Even so, I risk the boldness of such an undiluted call: Devote yourself to the church.
How else can you interpret Paul’s word? Why does Christ grace us? For what purpose are gifts given? Listen to verse 12:
“For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”
That is transparently clear. We are equipped for ministry and for edifying the body of Christ.
Paul makes no exception. All the spirit’s gifts are to equip us for ministry and to build up the church. The ministry is a replication of Christ as we become like him as servants. The word “minister” comes to us directly from the Latin. It translates the Greek word meaning “servant.” The church is built up not by cultivating the interior life an the fellowship of the church alone, but by calling and training members to be servants, and thus to do their part in Christ’s mission in the world. When we love the Master we do the Master’s work. Christianity will only propogate when put into practice. It is one thing to be committed to Christ with our lips, it’s something else to be committed to Christ with our lives. Christianity is to be practiced as well as spoken. We are gifted in order to be equipped for ministry.
Bishop Prince Taylor is one of my favorite people. I always look forward to seeing him at our meeting of the Executive Committee of the World Methodist Council. Though retired as a bishop, and also, as chairman of the Council, he is always present at our meetings. Recently he told me one of his marvelous stories. He was visiting a tribe deep in the interior of Liberia where he served for a period of time as a bishop. When he arrived after a long, hard journey, the old chief welcomed him formally. Then he said, “Bishop, we believe in God. But sometimes He seems so far away. You be God for us today.”
People everywhere are asking that of us. They may not speak it verbally, but their lives cry out for it. We are to be living reminders of the Kingdom, by being living reminders of Christ’s spirit - the fruits of the Holy Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, goodness, self- control, - he fruits of the spirit, expressed in ministry to others.
Gifts are given for that purpose - to minister and then Paul adds the second purpose for our gifts - he edifying of the body of Christ.”
That’s the reason this last truth must be sounded boldly:
DEVOTE YOURSELF TO THE CHURCH.
Christ calls us into the church, for in the church “one plus one equals a thousand” or in our case, 3,000! What we can never do alone, He makes possible by drawing us together, working in, between, and among us, empowering us as a body to do whatever He commissions us to do.
I want to sound a cautious warning and make a call. I believe ours is a day when the Holy Spirit is especially active. I believe this church is astir with the Spirit. We are witnessing it in so many ways. One area is our youth ministry James talked about. The Spirit is vividly present in our church fermenting growth, new life, and witness. But we also need to know the spirit is at work outside the church. Thus, my cautious warning.
In a day when the Holy Spirit seems especially active, and persons are seeking, receiving, and acknowledging greater portions of His power, there is a danger of the individualization of gifts and the temptation to “spiritual pride,” there is the danger of falling into a private faith in which we hug the spirit’s presence and power in self—indulgent piousness, falling in love with our love of Jesus. This is spiritual narcissism. The Christian faith is never private——personal, yes——but not private. John Wesley said it well: “There is no such thing as a solitary Christian.” Our personal faith becomes doing justice, loving mercy, and again in a Methodist word, “reforming a continent and spreading scriptural holiness across the land.”
There is also another danger. Persons experiencing some dimension of the spirit’s work “outside the church,” in informal gatherings, interdenominational fellowships, prayer meetings, para-church movements, sometimes disparage the local church to which they belong because they do not see the spirit vividly at work there. I talk with them all over the nation. The error is that they do not get beyond surface demonstrations, and are looking for the most dramatic signs of the spirit’s gifts. Also, we must confess that some congregations are not open to seeking the gifts of the spirit for ministry, and are threatened by outward manifestations of the spirit’s power. So persons seeking a deeper experience of the spirit do not feel “at home”. Whatever the situation, the truth is the same. Christ gives gifts for ministry and for edifying the church” (I Cor, 14:12 RSV)
Paul dealt with the whole matter of the spirit’s gifts in chapters 12 through 14 of I Corinthians. There was great dissention and division in the church over the way p using their gifts. In first Corinthians 14, Paul 4 with one primary cause of controversy, speaking in tongues, and he gives perspective with this challenging word: “Since you are eager for manifestations of the spirit, strive to excel in building up the church” (I Cor. 14:12 RSV).
There it is: “Strive to excel in building up the church”—— the same word he spoke to the Ephesians: “Christ has given gifts to all us, for the edifying of the body of Christ”.
Where do we grow from here? Maybe a better title for the sermon would have been, How Do We Grow from Here. Decide to grow. Devote yourself to the church. And we do all this together. Here is a picture of it.
A seminary professor of another generation retired early because of his health, and died at the age of 58. The last ten years of his life were spent in and out of hospitals. Toward the end of his life this teacher traced the steps and stages of his ministry. He said: “When I began I thought of myself as standing upon the bank of the stream of life, shouting instructions to the swimmers who were down below. I was the expert. The second stage of my ministry, I thought of myself as the rescuer. If I saw someone going down for the third time, I would plunge into the water, rescue them, get them started in the right direction again, then I would return to the bank. But the last ten years of my life, I was in the water, and we were fellow-strugglers with arms around each other, trying to help one another make it to the shore.”
I submit to you that that’s what Christ is calling for – from you and me, from this church, to put our arms around each other in the waters of life and swim together to make the Kingdom of the world the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.