February 14, 2010

Dear friends, last week our three scriptural readings referenced the mighty “call” from God to the prophet Isaiah, to the first disciples – Peter, James and John, and to the greatest Christian missionary, Paul.  In the sermon that Sunday, I made the case that those three calls began, unfolded and concluded in similar fashion.  I suggested that the process is formulaic.  In his creation mode, God built into each of his human subjects, specific spiritual gifts.  These skills, once activated, are meant to enrich our lives by the pleasure they bring us and they are intended to transform the world in which we live.  The spiritual gifts we carry within us are the God-given tools necessary to rebuild and restore paradise.  The spiritual gifts are the power and implements required to bring in the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. 

The process God invoked in the call of Isaiah, the original twelve disciples and with Paul, happened in this way: He wired them with specific skills.  He watched over them as they matured.  At a point of readiness, he revealed his purpose and urged them to action.  In response to their doubts, he gave assurance and confidence.  In pursuit of his will, God removed both obvious and subtle obstacles from their path.  Whenever, wherever Isaiah, Peter, James, John and Paul stepped out in faith and employed the gifts of God’s spirit in the pursuit of God’s dream, they were successful and they were at peace.  God’s process for the ancients is to create and bestow unique powers, to call to specific missions, to encourage and overcome reservations, to turn loose and watch in wonder and satisfaction.  This process remains in effect to this day.  Because the nature of God is to remain ever consistent, because he is at his heart eternally unchanging, how God acted in the past is how God acts in the present.  Therefore, the gifts brought forth in creation are still at work in the world today.

Just as God whispered and urged Isaiah, the fishermen, the persecutor of early Christians, so God calls each one of us.  Just as God poured power and talent for ministry into unsuspecting, unlikely folk in the past, so has he filled us up with abilities we can hardly imagine.  Spiritual gifts, gifts of Holy Spirit, personal charismas reside and wait within every one of us. 

Do we know what courses through us?  Are we aware of the divine sparks flickering within, waiting for the smallest opening to meet the air and burst into full flame?  Do we know our own amazing power and world-changing potential?  Our historical record, our faith legacy, the collected and calibrated Holy Scripture provides rich accounts of Spiritual Gifts in action.  Lists of skills are presented in the twelfth chapter of Romans, in the twelfth chapter of First Corinthians, and in the fourth chapter of Ephesians.  Do we know the twenty-three or so gifts?  Who among us has the gift of apostleship?  Who can lay the foundation and by their words and actions exhibit the spirit of the Lord overflowing.  Who can build up our churches?  Who, in this place, who do we know with the gift of prophecy?  Who can speak a message of comfort or conviction authoritatively as moved by the Holy Spirit?  Who among us has the gift of pastoring?  Who can be a shepherd, who has that gift that brings confidence and compassion to sit with people in doubt and pain and bring them the hopeful word of God?  Who here has the gift of service, that supernatural ability to do for others whatever needs to be done, that divine ability to carry another’s burden or task without notice of earthly reward?  Who are our teachers, those people who are able to understand the more difficult things of God and explain them in a way that is easy to understand and put into action in daily life?  Do you have the spark of exhortation or encouragement?  Are you like Barnabas?  Can you motivate believers to do the works of Christ?  Can you move believers to reach out in Christian love and presence to people who are stuck in their faith and mired by doubt and ennui?  Who here is an evangelist?  Who has God wired in that way?  Who has a deep desire to invite others to the table of blessing and knowledge, who can proclaim God’s message in compelling, authentic, graceful ways?  Who has the spiritual gift of giving?  Who recognizes God’s blessings and responds to those blessings by generously and sacrificially giving his or her resources – time, talent, treasure, where and when they are needed with a cheerful heart?

Who here, who in our families, who among our friends has the spiritual gift of leadership?  Who has the God-given insight into when something needs to be done and who is the best person to complete the task, how it can be undertaken and how to guide those people to get it accomplished?  Who has that gift that enables them to step forward, give direction and provide motivation to fulfill a dream of God?  A heart to care for and encourage those who are not able to care for themselves and whom no one else seems to care for, a mind who knows who to help and when, the ability to feel deeply for those in physical, spiritual or emotional need and then act to meet the need – this is the gift of mercy.  Who are our merciful?  Who are our healers?  Who has God given the gift of prayer and touch and presence to relieve and make whole, to sooth suffering and restore peace and ease?  Who has the drive to intervene and stand for others before God?  Who are our intercessors, our prayer warriors?  Did God equip you with more than a fair share of faith?  Do you come with eyes to see God’s hand at work and do you have the ability to trust the Spirit’s leading without indication of where it might all lead?  Can you formulate, direct and carry out plans necessary to fulfill a purpose?  Are you a God-given administrator?  Did the Almighty Father fill you with the gift of hospitality?  Do you joyfully welcome and receive guests and those in need?  Do you easily invite and make room for the stranger?  Are you one who will make the world better through your gifts of creative communication?  Can you write?  Do you have the ability to edify and speak God’s word of truth, to instruct and strengthen the community of believers through your pen?  Do you have the gift of music?  Can you inspire and comfort, can you make authentic witness through your voice or instrument.  Can you produce a spiritual response through your artistic expressions? 

Who among us is wise?  Who has God given the gift that allows the believer to sort through opinions, facts and thoughts in order to determine the most appropriate solution for the individual or community of believers?  In this place, in our families, who has God made and called to be missionaries?  Who has the desire to travel to and embrace cultures and customs different from our own?  Who can see God in alien places?  Who can illuminate God to those unfamiliar with his ways?  And, dear ones, who among us has the mighty gift of discernment?  Who has the capacity and motivation to seek and recognize God’s will and purpose in every day events?  Who has keen understanding into what is of God and what is not?  Who can guide others in seeing God’s presence and will at work?

Each one of us, every one of us has at least one of these God-given abilities.  Each one of us, every one of us has at least one of these talents, these skills, these attributes in fuller, greater measure than the norm.  Some of us were made to be super merciful.  Some of us were made exceedingly wise.  A few of us pray like the saints.  Some sing like the angels.  Some of us have power in our hands.  Those folk have the healing touch.  Some can exhort, some can lead.  Some have supernatural faith. 

To recognize our gifts, to claim our gifts is not prideful or vanity.  It is God’s ordained truth.  Our gifts, our talents, our true skills are not of our own making.  We cannot take credit or make boast of our abilities.  They come from outside us.  They come from the originating source.  Before we were ever born, they were part of our identity and essence.  More foundational than our eye color, our intellect or our personality, more influential than our genes or our environment is our spiritual make-up.  Wherever we move in our lives, whatever situation we grow up in, whoever we invite into our lives, whatever failures we will go through or successes we accomplish, it is our spiritual gifts and how we employ them that most accurately define who we are.

 
So, my dear friends, here’s the deal.  The most important work, the most critical component of our life as Christian believers is to identify who it is God created us to be.  Seeing, understanding, employing our God-given gifts is our true destiny.  More important than our college major, our chosen field of employment, our future mate, more important than all our loving relationships is our spiritual identity and the life we build around that.  This is a bold, bold statement.  But friends, if we recognize and are true to our essence, all choices we make from that place will be better informed and a much better fit.  Our work, our purpose is to claim and live into our spiritual DNA.  The most important work we do as parents, as siblings, as friends, as members of a faith community, is uncovering the God-given essence in one another.  Because it is through, in, and by our identity, our God-given talents that we bring in the kingdom of God that we make God’s dream real.  And more than that – for the more practically minded among us, when we name, claim and employ our spiritual gifts, we become our most authentic selves and we are made happy.  Happy.  Paul was productive as a tentmaker, he was ecstatic as a missionary.  Peter could cast a net and haul a catch to pay his bills, but he woke up elated as a disciple. 

There is a proverb, “The will of God does not call us to a place where the grace of God does not protect us.”  God demands that we be about his saving work.  He calls us to serious endeavor.  He gives us all that we need. In you, there is a divine spark, a supernatural ability, a gift of amazing depth and proportion.  Be not afraid of your mighty self.  Be not afraid of your mighty self.  See who you are.  Claim who you are.  Go make a difference by who you are.

Healer, leader, server, artist, teacher, evangelist, mercy giver, intercessor, exhorter…wise one, apostle, discerner…

God bless you all.

Amen.