January 20, Annual Church Meeting and Potluck Dinner, Ecumenical Sunday

Lesson: 1 Corinthians 1.1-9

Sermon Title: Enriched

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INTRODUCTION:

  1. Jarad van Wagoner of Monterey, California tells the story (1)

It's a good thing my mother-in-law has a sense of humor.

During a family vacation, we were driving past the Dinosaur National Monument in eastern Utah, and she said, "I haven't been there since I was a little girl. I wonder how much it's changed."

It's no longer a zoo," I said. "Now it's a museum."

    1. This is a study in contrasts.

    2. On one hand you have the Zoo, and on the other you have the Museum.

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MAIN BODY:

  1. A Church is not a zoo.

A bear is enclosed in a cage. Walks back and forth 20 steps from one side to the other.

It is decided to build the bear a new cage. A lot of money is spent to eliminate the bars and create a new open environment. Rather than bars there are high walls and a moat.

The bear is placed in the new environment. The bear continues to walk back and forth 20 steps from one side to the other.

    1. The new environment does not resolve the problem.

      1. No matter what the environment the occupants are still caged.

      2. Caged by a disbelieving doubt

    2. Saint Anselm lived in the 12th Century.

      1. He wrote a statement that I take as my personal Credo and I use on my personal letterhead.

"For neither do I seek to understand in order that I may believe, but I believe in order that I may understand (2)

      1. Or to put this statement another way in a form that you have often heard me use: "It is better to believe even when you don't believe than it is not to believe."

      2. To believe in or with doubt allows for a crack in the door through which a glimmer of light may be observed which allows for further exploration and understanding.

        1. There is a wonderful example of the mixture of doubt and belief in Mark 9:22-24

A parent had a crippled child.

The child was brought to Jesus so that he could be healed.

Jesus was not present and his disciples tried to heal the child but with no results.

When Jesus finally arrives on the scene the man in response makes this statement:

It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us."

Jesus said to him,

"If you are able!--All things can be done for the one who believes.

"Immediately the father of the child cried out,

"I believe; help my unbelief!"

        1. This is an example of belief in the midst of doubt.

        2. It fulfills Anselm's statement.

    1. To not believe closes the door and two possibilities may be apparent:

      1. The other room may be full of light and it cannot be known.

      2. The room that is occupied may be dark and the darkness is perceived as light.

    2. You may not be able to have physical light and dark and the same time.

      1. You can have spiritual darkness and think that it is light.

      2. In this case the child's parent would not have brought the child to Jesus and the child would have remained as he was.

    3. What do we believe?

      1. We call our beliefs, doctrines, but this needs some explanation:

      2. Jaroslav Pelikan writes:

"What the church of Jesus Christ believes, teaches, and confesses on the basis of the word of God; this is Christian doctrine." (3)

        1. Doctrines are understood as teachings.

        2. Doctrines are better understood as concepts that may be applied in life situations.

      1. William A Christian, Sr. observes:

The "primary doctrines" of a religious community--those that make up the bulk of its doctrinal material--will be "doctrines about the setting of human life and about the conduct of life in that setting" (4)

        1. These concepts from our understanding of ourselves, the world, and God.

        2. A Christian who lacks a significant Christian Doctrine is not simply uninformed about a point of Christian Teaching but is unformed as a Christian.

        3. This Christian is lacking in a range of conceptional abilities relating to Christian existence and practice.

          1. If we lack a concept of God's creation:

          2. We do not know what it is to understand one's self as a child of God or to understand other inhabitants of God's world or to understand God as creator.

    1. The importance of any doctrine can be found by asking a few simple questions:

      1. What, if anything, does it equip us to do?

      2. How does it help us to understand?

      3. How does it make possible positive responses to our experience?

      4. How does it help us to conduct our lives differently?

      5. What would the consequences be if this doctrine with its concept were to disappear from our lives?

    2. We have been given so much on which we begin the process of developing understanding that creates belief and the ability to work-out that belief in practical ways to benefit ourselves and the world.

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  1. A Church is not a museum.

    1. A museum is a place or a building where works of art, scientific specimens, or other objects of permanent value are kept and displayed.

    2. What does a museum church display?

      1. Display of doctrines.

      2. Display of past activities.

    3. A museum is a place where all that is displayed is fixed and cannot be changed.

As tourists in a museum pass exhibits of dinosaur bones, one tourist asks the guard: "Can you tell me how old those bones are?"

"They are 3 million, four years, and six months old," says the guard.

"That's an awfully precise number," says the tourist. "How do you know their age to the month?"

"Well, the bones were 3 million years old when I started working here," the guard says, "and that was four and a half years ago."

    1. There are different kinds of museums.

      1. These may be modern or ancient.

        1. Museum of Modern Art

        2. The Van Goth Museum on Amsterdam, Netherlands.

    2. The church is not a museum where ancient artifacts are on display.

    3. Neither is it a place where all is fixed and cannot be changed.

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  1. A Church is a place of spiritual dynamics that lead to members transformation of spirit and life.

    1. A Church is a place of enrichment

4I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, 5for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind--6just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you--7so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

      1. We have been enriched by the grace of God in Christ Jesus.

        1. We are enriched in speech.

        2. We are enriched in knowledge.

      2. A Church is a place of spiritual dynamics that lead to members transformation of spirit and life.

      3. A Church is a place of enrichment through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12.4-11, NRSVA.

        1. wisdom

        2. knowledge

        3. faith

        4. healing

        5. working of miracles

        6. prophecy

        7. discernment of spirits

        8. various kinds of tongues

        9. interpretation of tongues

      4. In verses 4-7, Paul writes:

4Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

        1. These gifts come through the Holy Spirit

        2. They are all for the common good.

      1. We might also add that if you believe that you do not have one of the before mentioned gifts, there are two more that we all possess.

        1. We have the gift of participation.

        2. We have the gift of giving.

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CONCLUSION:

  1. The Church is also a place to acquire the strength to exercise our gifts.

    1. Paul writes in verses 8 and 9 of our lesson:

      1. 8He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

      2. 9God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

    2. Teenager Tries to Call the President (5)

Access to the most powerful leader in the world--the President of the United States of America--is granted only to the few who have successfully passed through a series of detailed, cautious checkpoints. A Norway teen created quite a stir in the United States when he challenged the system, boldly dialing a secret phone number for the White House. Sixteen-year-old Vifill Atlason claims he called President George W. Bush out of curiosity. "I just wanted to talk to him--have a chat, invite him to Iceland, and see what he'd say," the teen told ABC News.

In order to get through security, Atlason pretended to be Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, the President of Iceland. He was surprised when his initial call didn't pass through a switchboard, but went directly to a higher office to be screened by various security officials. Atlason was asked a series of personal questions in an attempt to verify his identification as President Grímsson, including Grímsson's date of birth, hometown, and even the names of Grímsson's parents.

"It was like passing through checkpoints," Atlason said. The checkpoints proved one too many--the teen never made it through to the president and was later taken from his home for questioning by local police. No charges were filed.

  1. We call God answers.

    1. It is not like calling the President.

    2. God desires us to call.

    3. God desires us to use his gifts for the building up of the body of Christ.

    4. This we can do!

Amen!

1. Retrieved from: http://www.rd.com/joke/aging-artifacts/?trkid=rdlaugh_011508

2. Anselm

3. Pelikan, Jaroslav, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Vol. 1: The Emergence of Catholic Tradition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971), p. 1.

4. Christian, Sr., William A., Doctrines of Religious Communities: A Philosophical Study (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988), p. 1.

5. Retrieved from: Preaching Connection, Copyright © 2008 ChristianityToday.com, Christianity Today International 465 Gundersen Drive, Carol Stream, IL 60188 All rights reserved.

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