Church Is Not A One Man Show

Sermon: The Church is not a “one man show”

As I was thinking about the sermon for today, I was struck by the thought that the Church is not a “one man show”

God calls us to be a community – and the Church has no passengers.

As our Bishops often remind us – our baptism is a calling to ministry

The only problem with that is we just have to find out what our ministry IS!

No one person – not even the Vicar – has all the gifts needed to run the Church.

We need each other.

In 1 Corinthian 12 Paul tells us that God gives us spiritual gifts for our Christian ministry

St Paul writes:

4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.

5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.

6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,

9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.

It is more than just “your natural abilities”

I came across a good definition of spiritual gifts from a Christian leader Bruce Bugbee, founder and president of Network Ministries, who said

“Spiritual gifts are divine abilities distributed by the Holy Spirit to every believer according to God’s design and grace for the common good of the body of Christ”

(“What You Do Best in the Body of Christ,” Bruce Bugbee, page 52).

I am sure if I asked you - if you would like to fulfil your God given ministry – you would say yes.

Yet so few of us seem to find our God given ministry

It seems to me that many Christians are like the Caterpillar. Me included

Someone once said of the caterpillar:

"The caterpillar is the most confused creature which roams the planet, because /undoubtedly stamped in his soul/ is the call to fly."

We want to fly – yet we still find ourselves on the ground.

Story: Did you know that Caterpillars must go through four stages before their metamorphosis into a butterfly is complete.

1. They begin as eggs.

2. Next they hatch as caterpillars.

3. Then they go through a stage where they eat, and eat, and eat some more and eventually, they become a chrysalis.

4. And then when the transformation is complete, they can finally emerge as a beautiful butterfly.

(My thanks to Ajai Prakash for the Caterpillar story in his sermon “Discovering God’s Will )

And as the book of Ecclesiastes reminds us:

"To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven." (Eccl 3:1)

Although we may have a longing to fly, we may not yet be ready

So how do we get ready

I think there are three important ingredients

Ingredient No 1. Pray

Praying is simply talking to God.

We read in Exodus 33.11 that God would speak to Moses face to face as one speaks to a friend

Richard Foster wrote a book on Prayer in which he lists 21 types of prayer.

Prayer was important to Jesus.

We read in Mark 1 .35

Jesus Prays in a Solitary Place

35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

In prayer, we learn to be thankful In All Things.

Story: The hymn ” Now thank we all our God” was written by Martin Rinkhardt

Martin Rinkart (1586-1649) was a Lutheran minister who came to Eilenburg in Saxony in Germany at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War.

The walled city of Eilenburg had become the refuge for political and military fugitives, but the result was overcrowding, and deadly pestilence and famine.

Armies overran Eilenberg three times.

The Rinkart home was a refuge for the victims, even though he was often hard-pressed to provide for his own family.

During the height of a severe plague in 1637, Rinkart was the only surviving pastor in Eilenburg, conducting as many as 50 funerals in a day.

He performed more than 4000 funerals in that year, including that of his wife and his children

Yet, in the midst of that catastrophic social and personal loss Rinkart set down to pen this great hymn of praise: 'Now thank we all our God, with hearts and hands and voices.'