I don’t get to watch the Miss America pageant any more. Used to be, every September I would hunker down in front of a TV set and prepare to ogle. Gorgeous gals, we called them, in those Neanderthal days, before our language had to become politically correct. Beauty contest, we called it, before the critics suggested that it wasn’t enough for young American women just to look good; they were supposed to do something, and be something, as well. I don’t get to watch the Miss America pageant any more. The last time I watched it was with Miss Margaret a few months before we got married. I think I grinned too much during the show. I don’t get to watch it any more.
But they tell me things have changed. They tell me that now Miss America has to have a cause. She has not only to stand up straight, but she has to stand for something positive. She not only has to be drop dead gorgeous, she has to believe in some cause. Why, they tell me she actually has to answer questions now, and not just hold her mouth in a Vaseline-glossy smile! Diabetes, the hearing-impaired, AIDS, world hunger, child abuse, whatever she chooses. But some cause. I hear, but I wouldn’t know first hand, that even Miss America now knows that it is not enough just to look good. She has to be involved with something beyond herself. Her gifts are not just for her enjoyment, nor just for the thrills of those red-blooded American men who are still allowed to peek; nor are her gifts to be hidden under a bushel of feminine modesty. She is supposed to speak out, to act, and be for some thing.
I’d like to think that the Church of Jesus Christ has learned that lesson too. I’d like to think that the people of God have found out, by now, that it’s not good enough just to look good. It is more important to be good and to do good. It is vitally important to stand for something and to bring something positive to the world. I’d like to think that we who are Christ’s beloved, His church, know at least as much as Miss America. Because, after all, the world is not very interested in mere beauty. The world we live in is not very interested in our architecture, our stained glass, or our exalted language. The world is thirsty for something else. The world needs a gift from us. The problem is, that like Miss America in the old days, we all to seldom give it. We thought it was good enough to be beautiful, but it isn’t. Our need is to discover our gifts and to use them.
Today I am going to remind you how gifted we are as a church. And I am going to argued that we are gifted as a church because we are gifted as individuals. Then I am going to remind us how we got to be gifted individuals, and I am going to bring the circle to a close by focusing on what we are to do with those gifts. We are gifted; how did we get that way and what do we do with that?
I
First, this morning you and I need to become aware that we are a gifted church. We are a congregation of God’s people who have been blessed in ways far beyond anything we deserved and certainly far beyond what we could have done on our own. God has given us much. And I think it is time to reflect on this and start to ask what it means. After all, the central truth about the church is given by Paul at the beginning of our passage: “Now you are the body of Christ.” That sounds pretty important. The very body of Christ. Wonderfully gifted.
How are we a gifted church? Let me count the ways! I will name only a few things, just enough to set the tone:
We are gifted with a strong and caring heritage. Our history, for nearly 80 years, has been of a church where the Christian faith was diligently taught, and where there has always been a desire to include rather than to exclude. If you go back to the very first message preached by the very first pastor in this room, you will find that it was on the text, “My house shall be a house of prayer for all peoples.” We are gifted with the right kind of heritage and vision.
We are gifted with considerable resources. Those who came before us provided us with space and land and buildings and good stewardship, so that we have much to work with. How grateful I am that we do not have to do what some churches must do, namely beg and scrape and pinch and cry for money all the time, just to keep going. We are gifted with resources.
More than that, we are gifted with devotion. We are gifted with people who invest themselves, their time and their love, in the life of their church. I have always been an advocate of churches keeping their paid staff small. It is not only not possible to pay people to do everything that needs to be done; it is damaging to do so. It would destroy the members’ incentive to give out of their precious time. And so what a joy that here we have any number of people who do Kingdom-related work for hours and hours each and every week! We are gifted with devotion.
And most of all, we in this church are gifted by something that maybe doesn’t even look like a gift at first. We are gifted with a community that needs us. We are gifted by being surrounded by a community which needs what we have to offer. It may be that you think that things are deteriorating in some parts of this vicinity, that crime is on the rise and that integrity is dropping. That is probably true. This week I was handed the report of our Community Services Committee. They were asked to research the needs of our community as a part of preparing for the revival, so that our preacher and our program can target the right things. They found lots of issues. They found that crime is on the rise, particularly among young people. They found that families are hurting and that seniors are in need of services of various sorts. They found a community of hurting people.
But do you see that even that is a gift to us? Do you see that it is a great gift to be set in the middle of human problems? Many a church has moved out of the city into some bedroom community, where, granted, there are human needs, spiritual needs, but they are not as obvious. Those churches tend to spend their time and their energies in looking good. They can build beautiful buildings and they can put their energies into luxuries; they can even hire staff to do all the dirty work and can stay out of hands-on ministry. I feel sorry for them! I really do! I feel sorry for churches which are not gifted as we are with a whole range of needs. They miss the blessings that are right at our doorsteps. We are gifted with needs; not with problems, but with opportunities!
We are a gifted church. And I tell you, from where I stand, it seems that within just the past year, God has been doing something special among us. God has been giving us extra gifts. In just the past year, I have seen people come alive to their faith in tremendous ways. I have watched us delve into discipleship programs and reach new depths. I have stood by in astonishment as new members, not a flood of them, but at least more than we have received in other recent years, as new members have come and have said, “This is where God has called me to serve.” And, most astounding of all, I have watched as resources have flowed in for us to use: the DePue fund, which will provide funds for Bible study and after-school ministries for years to come; your response to our capital projects fund, so that we have new transportation equipment and other new amenities; the Pepco rebate, much of which will reduce our debt; your tithes and offerings, up by a whopping 12% over this same time last year; and just this week, a special over-and-above gift of $5,000, to be used as the church sees best! We are a gifted church! And I believe that God is sending us a message. Our God is telling us that if we trust Him and if we see clearly our mission, setting aside all the stuff that so easily distracts us .. if we trust Him and invest in our mission, then He who owns the cattle on a thousand hills will give us what we need. A year ago, I opposed the plan to call a full-time Assistant Pastor. I didn’t think we could afford one. I was afraid. But not any more! You have taught me, the Spirit has taught me confidence. Faith! We are a gifted church!
II
But we are a gifted church because we include among us a host of gifted individuals. Our giftedness as a congregation is the result of the pooling of the giftedness of those who are a part of the fellowship. Paul does not stop with identifying the church as a whole as the body of Christ. He points to the individuals who make it up.
“Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?”
We have gathered here a unique, unusual, special crowd of folks. Someone said to me just the other day that no matter what it is you need to have done, somebody in our church knows how to do it.
But I will not catalog those gifts today. That would take me all day and it would sound like some sort of brag session. I just want to focus on your giftedness by insisting that even if you don’t feel gifted, you are. Even if you don’t feel special, I want you to see that you are. Because everything that you might lift up as a problem isn’t a problem. It’s an opportunity. Everything you might see as a deficit isn’t a deficit. It’s a blessing waiting to happen.
Giftedness. The problem is that we define giftedness too narrowly. The problem is that when people think about what gifts and talents they can bring to a church, they think in much too restricted a way. Not long ago someone said to me, “I’m just not one of those talented people who can do much. I can’t sing, I can’t play the piano, I am scared of making speeches, and so I don’t think there is any church work I can do.” My answer was, “We don’t need you to do any church work.” Huh? That’s right. We don’t need you to do any church work. God didn’t gift you for church work. He gifted you to do the work of the church! He gifted you with influence in the community, He gifted you with a compassionate heart, He gifted you with sensitivity to people. You are gifted for the work of the church, for doing the things we must do in the world. Let others take care of the in-house things. You need to use your gifts out there where it makes a difference.
The problem is that we define giftedness too narrowly. We have not yet seen that every last one of us has gifts and skills, insights and contacts, energies and abilities, that can be used for the Kingdom. We think only about what you see going on on Sunday morning, and if there is nothing we can contribute to that, we think we’re out of it. But we’re not. Almost anything a person can do can be turned by God into a witness for Him. Years ago, when Margaret and I were members of a church in Lexington, Kentucky, the church began a unique summer program. Instead of a small group of folks huddled together for Wednesday night prayer meetings, our church moved out onto the parking lot and opened up a weekly program of services to the people in the community. One person set up tables and demonstrated healthy cooking. My wife brought out her art materials and gave drawing and painting classes to the children of the area. And somebody else did a weekly auto mechanics clinic! Imagine that, bring your clunker to church and while we pray for healing for people in hospitals, we’ll lay hands on your heap and get it running again! But, you know, until that summer, the man in our church who ran that car clinic didn’t think he had any gifts the church needed. He couldn’t sing, he couldn’t teach, he couldn’t preach, and he certainly wasn’t going to lay his big greasy hands on a piano keyboard. But he saw a broader vision, and he found out he was gifted by God too.
We are a gifted church because we are a congregation of gifted individuals. If you’ve been through the “Experiencing God” discipleship material, you know that we learned that every person that God brings to a church has been put there for a purpose. Every gift that God gives through anyone in a church has been placed there by Him to be used. If you do not use your gift, the body will be injured. Just as, some mornings when I get up, it feels like one of my legs is still in bed -- the rest of me may be working, but just having one part of the body dysfunctional hurts the whole. Any church member who sits idly by and does not use his giftedness hurts the whole Kingdom enterprise. We are a gifted people.
III
So how did we get to be gifted, and what do we do with it? How did we find out our giftedness, and how do we use it? Paul says he wants to tell us of a more excellent way, the way of love. The bottom line is that we have been gifted by love and we are therefore to give love.
But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
The heart and soul of what I want to say this morning is this: because we have been loved, we are empowered to love. Because we have been received by the redeeming love of Christ, we have all that it takes to love others. Because at the rock bottom of all our giftedness is the gift of Christ’s love, expressed on the Cross and offered freely to everyone .. because we have that as the foundation of our lives, we have what it takes to do what God has called us to do. Ministry. Service. Witness. Mission. Call it what you will, it is love. We are loved and are thus both called and empowered to love.
A number of years ago a famous psychologist engaged in an experiment. Don’t try this at home, by the way! This psychologist wanted to see whether an infant, a child, really needed human contact and love. The story is that he built a box .. he called it an air crib .. and put his infant daughter in it. For months he saw to it that she was fed and clothed, that her most essential physical needs were cared for, and he programmed her to behave in certain ways. They left that child as isolated and insulated as possible, without any of the normal expressions of love. The result was a listless child, an infant that didn’t develop, a personality that was stunted and warped. And, by the way, if you think B. F. Skinner was crazy to have done this, just read the daily newspapers and find out what people are doing to children these days. It makes Skinner’s box look like a Sunday School picnic.
No, everyone needs love. With love you can function. Without love, you are dead. With love, you can become somebody. Without love, you are a vegetable. If you know you are loved, God can use you. And if you know you are loved, you can love others and serve them and help them to become what God wants them to be. We are gifted for ministry; and that ministry at its heart is simply to love. To love because He has first loved us.
Are we able? Are we able to do what God has called us to do in this community? We are able because we are a gifted congregation. We are able because we are called to do more than just pay, pray, and obey. We are called to do more than just be beautiful. We are called to give ourselves away. Literally to give ourselves away. We are gifted for ministry, not for our own building up, but for the lives of the people all around us.
Are we able? Are you and I able to do anything in ministry we need to do? We are able. We are able because the resources are there. The spirit of care is there. The heritage of including is there. The sweet, sweet Spirit is there. We are able.
Are we able? Are you and I able to do something solid? We are able! We are able because God has loved us into ability. Do you feel this morning as though you have no talents that are useful in the Kingdom? Not so. Not so. If you say that, you are saying that God made a mistake when He put you here. I don’t think you really mean to take that stand.
Do you feel as though you are not the same as most of the others in this church? That your age or your race or your personality or your theology is not welcomed? Not so. Not so. If you say that, you are saying that God does not love you just as you are. I don’t think you really mean to take that stand.
Do you feel as though the church does not value what you bring? That we have overlooked you, devalued you, written you off? That we might think that because you have this problem or that problem we think you are more of a drain than an asset? Not so. Not so. It’s just that we have not yet understood what you can do; help us discover you. And remember, problems and deficits are nothing more than blessings waiting to happen. You are gifted; and you are gifted for ministry. You are able.
Come to think of it, I don’t suppose I really got much out of watching Miss America pageants anyway. It was fun to fantasize for a while. But I wasn’t going to meet Miss America, and, even if I did, what are the odds she would fall for me? Don’t answer that! I guess I lost interest in beauty pageants, because it was all so posed and so unreal. Miss America had it all together and didn’t need me in the least.
And I long ago lost interest in churches that just look good. I’d rather be in one that is good and does good. I’d rather be in one that needs my gifts and loves me, so that I can love somebody else. I’d rather be in a church that is gifted for ministry.
