“Lives that Reflect and Proclaim the Lord”         2012

1 Peter 2:4-9         1 Corinthians 9:13-16, 23-27

 

1 Peter 2:4-9

4Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 5like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For it stands in scripture: “See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 7To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner,” 8and “A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

 

1 Corinthians 9:13-16, 23-27

13Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is sacrificed on the altar? 14In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

15But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing this so that they may be applied in my case. Indeed, I would rather die than that—no one will deprive me of my ground for boasting! 16If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! 23I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings. 24Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. 25Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. 26So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; 27but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.

 

Who helped you, and how did you become a Christian?,

            and   what were some of the important steps along the way?

 

Chances are there were particular people, faithful servants,

            who influenced you by the example and lessons of their life,

                          and who appeared at the appropriate times and places

                             to make a difference and deepen your journey of faith.

 

I don’t mean a pastor, youth dir. or other church professional,

            but those faithful church members who live ordinary lives,

                and find ways to express their faith   out in the world…

   … often times, in remarkable and extraordinary ways,

            used by God to teach important lessons about faith and hope.

 

In seminary, I was assigned as a chaplain

            to the Intensive Care Unit at a hospital in Richmond.

 

One of the patients was in extreme and unyielding-constant agony,

            and had so many health problems going on,

                                       that obviously, she wasn’t long for this world.

 

Cancer & other disease  had distorted and mangled her appearance.

            It was difficult and unsettling

                        to see anyone in such pain,  and unable to move or speak.

 

I couldn’t imagine how terrible her days & nights must have been.

            But when you got close enough, there was something about her

                        that somehow conveyed peace, warmth, and even joy.

 

The evening I first met her,

            she managed to let me know that she wanted to write something,

                        so I held up my Day-Timer and got a pen into her hand,

                                    and she scrawled, “I am Presbyterian.”

            Then, gesturing toward another patient, she wrote,

                        “having bad day, got bad news,   pray with her, OK?”

 

With her own suffering, and all that she was dealing with,

            I was astonished that she had such concern

                        for the struggle and well-being of another patient.

As any hospital nurse can tell you, patients don’t generally

           focus on anyone’s pain and suffering    other than their own.

 

And yet from that night on,

     every time I saw her, she had a list of other people

            she wanted to be sure I prayed with because she was concerned.

 

I had assumed that as a chaplain,

           I was there to encourage and bring her hope,

                   but actually she encouraged me, and taught me about hope.

She was a most remarkable Christian woman,

            and an incredible teacher about meaning,  life and faith,

                        about selfless-compassion,  courage and servant-hood.

 

Even amid her terrible suffering and agonizing decline in health,

            right up to the very end, she was making a difference;

                             as her faith and Christian compassion

                                    touched and brightened other people’s lives,

                             and as she used her life,

                                    to proclaim truth and love of God.

An ordinary woman,  by faith an extraordinary servant of the Lord.

           

Or there was Bill an elder I served with at Virginia Beach.

            He worked his whole life at the Newport News naval shipyard.

Every day until retirement, for all those many years,

            every morning before sunrise he caught the city bus

                        from Norfolk to his rather menial job at the shipyard.

 

Bill’s work was hard, it was dirty and physically demanding.

                        He put up with a lot, and not for a whole lot of money.

            And every afternoon he rode that bus back home again

               to be with his family at dinner each evening without fail.

 

He was not particularly well-read nor a deep theological thinker,

            but he knew his Bible well enough   to be faithful to his wife,

                  to pray before eating, faithfully tithe 10% to his church,

                                    and raise his children in a loving Christian home…

            … and who learned to do the same  in raising their children.

 

Every Sunday he was there at church with his wife and kids.

            He sang and played guitar at our Bible study each week,

                 and served on committees or whatever else was asked of him.

 

He lived an ordinary working-man’s Christian life,

                 yet out there in the world, 

                        he faithfully witnessed to our extraordinary God…

    … striving to model faith & morals for his children & neighbors

                 while confronting the challenges of our culture and world.

 

His faith was not a vast accumulation of biblical knowledge

            or tracing through convoluted issues of theology and ethics.

Bill’s faith was a lesson in steadfast endurance and tenacity.

            His faith made all the difference in the living of  his life.

 

And actually,

          it wasn’t until I got into a fairly passionate conversation

                   with a professor at seminary one time,

                             that I ever thought much about Bill’s life of faith.

 

The professor was a brilliant and well-known biblical scholar,

            who was explaining over lunch     how fortunate he was

                        never to have served as a pastor in a church,

                               or had to deal with the folks in the pews each week.

 

We were discussing a controversial issue of the General Assembly,

            and his certainty    that any important decision-making

                        should be left to pastors and church professionals,

                                    to those who had received a theological education.

 

He felt that though ordinary church members   might  mean well,

            in matters of faith, religion and the church,

                 most were woefully ignorant and ill-informed,

                        and their opinions of little consequence or importance.

 

I was just a couple of years into seminary at the time,

            and I was incensed by his comments and observations;

                        and so I pointed out    that it was only

                                    because of the hard work and faithful generosity…

 

… of the same church members that he held in such distain

      that he was able to live a comfortable life of scholarship

             within the  protected environment of teaching at a seminary.

 

Then I described Bill, and the challenges of his life and job;

                about his faithfulness and generosity to the church,

                        and the authenticity of his faith lived out in the world,

                                                     and how he stood for Christ

                                                            against the corrupt values of our culture…

 

          … a common, ordinary Christian man,    every bit   as called,

                   and every bit   as vital    to the work of God’s kingdom,

                             as any seminary professor or pastor in a church.

 

But actually, that sort of    church-professional arrogance

            was not a new issue among God’s people …

                        … for we read as in Mark 6:3, one of the reasons

                                    that the religious authorities rejected Jesus

                                                was because Jesus   had worked as a carpenter.

 

Even the Apostle Paul has to defend himself

                        for having supported himself   as a tentmaker,

                                    rather than living on the contributions of others.

 

            The basis of that conflict began with the question,

                        whether Christians could eat meat from the marketplace

                                    that had previously been offered to an idol.

 

Theologically, an idol is a powerless and manufactured object

            and can make no difference or have any effect on the meat ---

                                    -- so Paul said, it’s perfectly OK to eat that meat.   

 

On the other hand,

            more recent converts to Christianity from idol worship

                   would often still feel squeamish about eating that meat …

            … so rather than upsetting their recent and developing faith

                        Paul said he would willingly forgo eating that meat …

                           … and not press the issue of his freedom as a Christian…

…and in a similar way,

   Paul did not press his right to receive their financial support.

 

Paul had come to Corinth to spread and teach the gospel.

            His evangelistic strategy, was to work as a tentmaker,

                which gave him easy entry and acceptance in the marketplace

                            so that he could build connections and relationships,

                                that opened doors for him to proclaim the Good News;

working as a tentmaker gave him an audience to hear his preaching.

 

Over several years,

            Paul was able to start several house-churches in Corinth,

                        then he moved on to spread the gospel to other places.

 

As a tentmaker, supporting his own ministry,

            Paul was demonstrating grace   as a free gift from God,

                           and avoided any confusion or accusations

                                    that his ministry was about getting contributions.

 

But others came to Corinth after he had moved on to other cities,

            preachers who were only too happy to live on contributions,

                        and who sowed doubts about what Paul had taught;

            claiming that

                        because he worked with his hands as a tentmaker,

                                    he really wasn’t   a certified church professional.

 

The passage of Paul’s letter that we read earlier,

            was his explanation to Christians still living in Corinth,

                        that yes, according to Scripture, it would have been

                               appropriate for Paul to demand their contributions;

                yet for their sake and for the good of their faith,

                        he did not press the issue or demand his full rights.

vs. 13-14, 16, 23

            Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is sacrificed on the altar?  In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

            --- but I made no use of these rights …

                                    … I do it all for the sake of the gospel…

                       

Then Paul compares his efforts to bring them the Good News,

      to the extraordinary efforts of athletes to compete in sports,

                        their willingness to sacrifice so to win their goal,

                                    as Paul sacrificed,

                                                earning his own way, to bring them the gospel.

vs. 23~25

            I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize?   Run in such a way that you may win it.  Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.     

 

Like fervent and committed athletes

            with their single-minded focus on excellence and winning,

                        so too, Jesus Christ is Paul's single-minded focus.

 

The Apostle compares his Christian life and evangelism

            to an athlete running in a race and trying to win.  

And the race that Paul wants to win, is not about going to heaven,

            but he strives and sacrifices in his life and ministry

                        for the purpose and prize of bringing others to faith.

 

And what is the nature of that faith?

            In 1^st Peter, people of faith are compared to living-stones,

                        being put together and built into a spiritual house,

                                    so we can tell others about what God has done for us.

vs. 5~9

            and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. … But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

 

One time I was at a men’s breakfast, all the food was ready,

            and our chef called us to gather in the hallway for prayer.

So we closed our eyes, we bowed our heads and we waited.

            We all stood there as we waited,  and we waited.

 

Finally, after more silence and waiting,  I looked up

            and asked the chef,  "were you waiting me to say grace?"

 

But when you think about it, the truth is,

                   much of the world is standing around waiting,

                             waiting and hoping that someone will say grace,

                                      that someone will show mercy and compassion;

          for someone’s life to demonstrate   the gracious love of God.                           

 

Do you remember the movie, "Mr. Holland's Opus"?

     A talented musician-composer, was frustrated by circumstances

                        that he had time only to teach high school music

                                    rather than writing the great symphony within him;

            yet in the end, as a music teacher nearing retirement,

                        his brilliant symphony wasn't a masterpiece on paper,

                                    but the many lives he influenced and improved.

 

Our call is not for us to be perfect in our proclamation, 

          but it is for us to be authentic and focused out in the world,

                   reflecting the grace that we ourselves have received,

                             and for our lives to declare  the promise of hope

                                      that God’s gracious love changes human lives.

 

The call is for us to be the sort of Christians who intentionallyà

           influence, and try to make a difference  by life and example,

                        to help grow and deepen the faith of other Christians.

 

Consider this:

   who helped you …  and whose faith-journey are you helping today?