All in the Family

[The following is the manuscript of my sermon delivered on the Sunday after Christmas, the 28th of December, 2014.  This message is a little shorter than usual due to the receiving of a new member, the ordination of a Deacon, and installation of Elders and Deacons.]

Did you ever consider that we as Christians might have a job description?  Listen to some of the qualifications the Apostle Paul gives for us and the church from his 1st letter to the Corinthians, chapter 12, verses 4 through 13…

4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free — and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

--1 Corinthians 12:4-13 (NKJV)

Let us pray...  Father God, we come together this morning as one family in the name of Jesus, the Head of our household.  May Your Holy Spirit touch each of us and speak Your message to our hearts.  In the blessed name of Jesus we pray.  Amen.


Now that all the presents have been opened, I thought you might like to hear…
The Top 5 Things to Say About Gifts You Don’t Like

5.  Well, well, well…
4.  I really don’t deserve this.
3.  Gosh, I hope this never catches fire!
2.  I love it, but I fear the jealousy it will inspire.
1. To think I got this the very year I promised to donate all my gifts to charity.


Sometimes we are best defined, and usually recognized, by what we do within and for our family.  People see our role in our family and often take note of how well we perform it – oh, and God does too.  Husband, wife, father, mother, child, grandchild… each role has its own place in the family scheme, its own responsibilities and its own rewards.

I titled today’s message “All in the Family” not because it has anything to do with the old TV show, but more because it has to do with understanding our place in our church family.  But there is one thing we can take from that show: its impact on people, and on one person in particular.

Carroll O’Conner starred in countless movies and television shows, including portraying the Chief of Police in the award-winning series, “In the Heat of the Night”.  Yet in most people’s minds he will forever be known only as Archie Bunker.  Sometimes the only thing that truly matters is how well we fill our role in our family.


In today’s scripture, the Apostle Paul mentions a few of the many and varied gifts we have been endowed with.  Some of us are given the wisdom of God, some great knowledge.  Others have been blessed with an abundance of faith.  Some are given gifts of healing, others can work wonderful miracles.  Some can speak for the Lord and some can more clearly discern His will.  But all these different and diverse gifts are provided by the same God, distributed by the same Holy Spirit, bestowed upon the one church of Christ.

Paul carries this concept a little further in his letter to the Ephesians, chapter 4, verses 4 through 7 and 11 through 16, when he also compares the body of Christ with a normal human body…

4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ — 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

--Ephesians 4:4-7, 11-16 (NKJV)

Just like our human body is composed of many different parts, each part having its own unique purpose and function, so is the church, the body of Christ, built up from many diverse members, each of us having different gifts, different talents.  We have been equipped by the Holy Spirit so that each of us has something we’re good at, like I told the kids earlier.

Now God specially designed the human body to contain all these various parts with different functions so that they will all work together to accomplish the task of being us, each person of us.  Granted, some of us have parts that work better than others of us, but we all manage to function as the person that God meant for us to be.

The same goes for the church, the body of Christ left here on this earth when He ascended into heaven.  All of our “parts” have been prepared by the Holy Spirit to mesh together and handle the needs and tasks of the church.  All the special gifts and talents, while different in each of us, combine together within the church to do what can only be considered miraculous things sometimes.  But we all have our roles to fill.

Earlier you heard me list just some of the duties and responsibilities of our church Elders and Deacons, as well as some for new members and for the congregation in general.  We each have a role to play – each one of us, whether we are a church officer or not, we have our own ministry.  We have a role to play as a part of the body of Christ.  And I promise you there are people watching to see how well we fill our role.


Many different parts and members and gifts and talents – one God, one Holy Spirit, one church family.  Together, we are far greater than any of us apart.  Together we are the body of Christ.  And together we are the family known to the world as Pilgrim Reformed Church.  This is our family.  To God we are simply known as “beloved children”.  We’re all in His family.  And as Paul says in Ephesians chapter 5 verses 1 and 2…

1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

--Ephesians 5:1-2 (NKJV)

That’s our greatest role: imitators of God, walking in love.  Let’s make sure we fill that role very well indeed.

Amen.


Let us pray…  Lord God, Creator of all things and Bestower of all gifts, we lift our praises and our prayers to You!  You have given us so many different ways to serve You, and made it all so that we should not have to try to rely upon our own resources, but should work together toward Your common good.  Thank you for the many different talents and skills, and for the great diversity of life itself!

Father, please forgive us when we fail to use the gifts You have so generously poured out on us through Your Holy Spirit to serve You and help advance Your kingdom.  Forgive us when we fail to work together, as a body should, whether out of silly pride or because we just don’t want to get involved or put forth the effort.  Lord, You have not only given each of us a special ability, but also a special responsibility that maybe only we can fulfill.  You have a role for each of us – please help us fill that role so that we may make You happy.

Hear us now, Lord, as we pause for a moment to speak to You from our hearts those words our mouths can’t form…

Father God, we want to serve You.  We want to use the special gifts You gave us to please You, to build up Your kingdom here on earth, to show others what they themselves can or already do have.  Help us, Lord, to fill our roles well.  In Your most glorious name, Jesus, sweet Jesus, we pray.  Amen.

Magnify the Lord

[The following is the manuscript of my sermon delivered on the fourth Sunday in Advent, the 21st of December, 2014.]

After the angel Gabriel broke the news to Mary that she would conceive by the Holy Spirit and bear the Son of God, she traveled to Judah to spend time with her relative Elizabeth, who was also pregnant, with the child who would grow to be known as John the Baptist.  When Mary first greeted Elizabeth, her unborn baby leaped for joy in her womb!

Elizabeth was then filled with the Holy Spirit and praised Mary in a loud voice, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! ... Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”  Mary responded with what is often considered the most beautiful song in the Bible – the Magnificat.  Listen to this song, from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 1, verses 46 through 55…

46 And Mary said:
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.
50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him
From generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
And exalted the lowly.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich He has sent away empty.
54 He has helped His servant Israel,
In remembrance of His mercy,
55 As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed forever.”

--Luke 1:46-55 (NKJV)

Let us pray...  Father God, we come before You this morning to worship You and to prepare ourselves to receive our King.  Touch us Lord with Your Holy Spirit that we might hear and heed what You would say to us this day.  In the most wonderful and blessed name of Jesus we pray.  Amen.


In the rush of last minute Christmas shopping, a woman bought a box of fifty identical greeting cards.  Without bothering to read the verse, she hastily signed and addressed all but one of them.

Several days after they had been mailed, she came across the one card that hadn’t been used, and she looked at the message she had sent.  She was horrified to read: “This card is just to say… a little gift is on the way.”

[From 1001 Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking, page 63, #132, “Christmas Caution”.]


Sometimes we can be a little hasty in our actions.  That lady got all caught up in the hustle and bustle of our culture’s commercial Christmas when she mailed out cards without even glancing at the “greeting” they conveyed, only to learn once it was too late that each of those 49 cards carried the promise of a “little gift” on the way – sounds kind of like a birth announcement, maybe.  When we get a little too hasty, sometimes we end up paying a price.

Was Elizabeth too hasty in her judgment of Mary’s condition or in her praise?  Nope, time reveals that she was exactly correct.  Did Mary act hastily in visiting Elizabeth?  No again, for in a little while we’ll see that she did so in fulfillment of God’s promise through Isaiah.


The Song of Mary – such a beautiful, heartfelt song of praise and obedience to the Lord.  The King James Version translates the opening line as “My soul doth magnify the Lord”.  And then Mary adds, “my spirit has rejoiced in God”.  Why did she feel so exultant?

Let’s go back just a bit in Luke’s narrative, to when Gabriel first approached Mary.  Listen to how our Gospel writer records that meeting, in Luke chapter 1, verses 26 through 30…

26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” 

29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”

--Luke 1:26-30 (NKJV)

“You have found favor with God”.  Wow!  Wouldn’t it be great to hear those words from God’s own personal messenger?  And highly favored indeed, to be chosen to bear God’s only Son!


Mary wasn’t the only one that Gabriel enjoyed a little chat with – he also visited her fiancé, Joseph, in a dream.  Hear how Matthew describes this event in chapter 1 of his Gospel, verses 18 through 23…

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. 20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” 

22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

--Matthew 1:18-23 (NKJV)

I love verse 21: “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”  Think about that – First, Gabriel says that we are Jesus’ people, we are His!  Then he exclaims that Jesus came to save us from our sins.  Our sins separate us from God - Jesus fixes that.

And then verse 22, where Matthew explains that all this was done just to fulfill what God had spoken through His prophet, Isaiah - like I mentioned earlier.  All this was done just to assure us that anything and everything God promises will come to pass.


So OK, being the mother of God would be a pretty good start at explaining Mary’s exuberance in praising the Lord.  But there’s more to it than that.  Mary says that God has looked down upon her lowly state and blessed her, and people will call her blessed.  God is mighty and has done great things for her.  Notice she said “great things” – plural, more than just giving her His Son to carry and to care for.

She approaches God as a humble servant, His maidservant.  She sings of the great works He has done for her people and for us all.  He has shaken the mighty from their thrones.  And lifted the lowly up on high.  He has filled the hungry with good things… and here Mary doesn’t just mean physical food.  All those who hunger for truth, who hunger to come closer to God, who hunger for salvation – these will be filled.

So her words not only bring to mind events of the past, but also promises for the future.  The psalmist echoes this thought and carries it a step further, in Psalm 9 verse 18…

18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten;
The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever.

--Psalm 9:18 (NKJV)

Isn’t that the role Jesus came to fill?  That the needy not be forgotten, that the hope and expectation of the poor not perish forever.  What is our hope but to be reunited with God, to live for eternity with Him and not perish.


Family, we have been blessed just like Mary.  We may not have been chosen to give birth to God’s Son - only one person in all of history could receive that great favor.  But we have indeed been truly blessed.  Each day carries a new series of blessing, mostly small ones that are so easily overlooked.  But even the large ones we sometimes take for granted.

Did you wake up this morning with a roof over your head, shelter from the cold?  Then you have been blessed.  Were you able to break your night’s fast with a nourishing bite to eat?  Then you have been blessed.  Were you able to go to the church of your choice, to worship God without fear of arrest or persecution?  Did you have adequate transportation to get here?  Do you feel the love of all those around you this morning?  Then you have been blessed.

So how do we glorify God?  How do we, from our souls, magnify the Lord?  What does that even mean, to magnify the Lord?  Isn’t He big enough?

Well, sure, but Jesus commissioned us to expand and extend the kingdom of God.  To make sure that everyone has a chance to see Him, even those who are blind and cannot see.

Mary magnified the Lord not only with her words but with her life.  While we don’t have a lot of information about her after the early years, we do know that she saw to it that Jesus was well educated, that He learned a trade, that He had opportunities to spend time with religious authorities, that she stayed with Him to the bitter end.  She glorified God as a witness to her relative Elizabeth.  She lived her life in a way that is pleasing to God.

How do we magnify our Lord?  By living as Jesus would have us live.  By witnessing to others of just how much the Lord has blessed us.  By being champions of truth, and justice, and peace.  By helping to spread the Gospel of Jesus throughout the world, starting from our own little corner.  By rejoicing from our spirits in God our Savior.

Let’s sing our song.  My soul doth magnify the Lord!

Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, we sing Your praises!  You have been so good to us.  You bless us every day in so many ways.  Your goodness and mercy are known to all generations.  You lift up even the most lowly.  You feed the hungry, in body and spirit.  You do such great things for us.  You showed the greatest act of love by giving us Your Son, that we might be saved and reunited with You.

Father, forgive us when we simply don’t realize Your blessings in our lives, when we don’t notice Your hand at work.  Forgive us when we take for granted all the goodness and mercy you extend to us, or worse, when we think it is of our own doing and not from You.  Without Your grace, we would be eternally lost and without hope.

Lord God, listen to the stirrings of our hearts as we pause for just a moment to express what we simply can’t put into words…

Christ Jesus, You came to us to save us.  You came into this world as a tiny baby, innocent and without sin.  And You gave everything just for us, because You love us.  We await Your birth, Lord Jesus.  May all the earth keep silence on that holy day.  In Your glorious name, O Jesus we pray.  Amen.