1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
Pentecost
June 8, 2014
William G. Carter
No
one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties
of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the
same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who
activates all of them in everyone. To each is given a manifestation of the
Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of
wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one
Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the
discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the
interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit,
who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. For just as the
body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many,
are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized
into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and we were all made to drink
of one Spirit.
Pentecost
is a day that a lot of people don’t understand. It doesn’t fit into the tidy
categories of American holidays. Walmart and Target can take over Christmas,
turning a profit in the name of baby Jesus. Easter cards are available in the
greeting card racks, most of them bearing the signs of North American spring
rather than the weirdness of resurrection.
But Pentecost is not easily consumed. The Holy
Spirit comes in the clatter of wild wind, the igniting of fire, the speaking of
Gospel to every available language. A fractured group of timid fishermen,
peasants, and women folk are shaped into preachers, all because the Power of
God comes upon them, fills them, and gives them a word to speak.
That’s
hard for a lot of people to understand. As one reasonable woman once declared
after hearing the Bible account of the first Pentecost, “That’s a spooky story,
a bit too mystical and mysterious for me.” I understand the awkwardness she
felt.
The
apostle Paul had some mystical tendencies of his own, but he didn't talk about
them very frequently. He didn’t say much about Pentecost at all. When he spoke
of the Holy Spirit, he turned to practical matters. His mysticism made sense,
and we have a share of that today.
He
is writing to the church in Corinth, a seaport in southern Greece. It was a
bustling crossroad of ideas. People landed there from every conceivable corner
of the Mediterranean Sea. They brought traditions and notions with them. It was
a strategic city for him to launch the Gospel. The wind of Spirit could come
upon the people and blow the dandelion seeds of the Gospel around the known
world, where it could take root.
Unfortunately
the church in Corinth was a mess. It was like no other church you’ve ever known
– some people strutting around in arrogance, others breaking into factions. A
lot of the people had a superficial view of God, some man was sleeping with his
father’s wife, they had a lot of questions about the resurrection, a few people
were grandstanding their spiritual super powers, others were gulping down more
than their share of the communion wine, and many of them complained about their
preacher. I guess it was like every other church.
Paul’s
concern in this text is how the Holy Spirit comes into a community of believers
and makes it work. Through the preaching of the Gospel, people come to trust in
Jesus. It is his Spirit that comes into their midst, entering into their lives.
That’s the practical Pentecost. And the fun comes from watching how it works.
I
remember the congregations I have known. There was that little Congregational
church in central New Jersey. It was never very big, about the same size as the
fifty or so people who convened in Corinth. Not very big, but everybody had a
role.
- Marv was the greeter; whoever came in that building got
a hug from him at the door.
- Marie was his wife; she noticed if somebody looked sad,
or in need, or was wearing worn-out clothes, and then slipped alongside to
see what they needed.
- Lloyd was the preacher; I couldn’t understand a lot of
his sermons, but when he prayed, he carried us into the throne room of
God.
- Pat was the volunteer secretary. She insisted she was a
volunteer. “If you had to pay me,” she said, “you couldn’t afford me.” And
she was an excellent organizer.
- Tony was the high school soccer coach, and he believed
everybody who went out for the team should play in the game. He brought
that perspective to church, and he was the big encourager.
- Louise was a burned-out, twice-divorced Southern
Baptist. She wanted to teach Bible in her home church in Texas, but that
bunch of Baptists wouldn’t allow her to do that. So she brought her big
zippered Bible to those Congregationalists in New Jersey and taught them all
about the love of God.
- Of course, there was Betty. Every church has a Betty!
You don’t mess with Betty because she’ll call a spade a spade, and she
always speaks the truth.
- And then there was Jack. He was our unofficial referee. He could sniff out all thirty-seven shades of animosity and address them all. If need be, he would sit two opposing congregants in two facing chairs, and say, “So what do we have to do to get the two of you to get along?” Usually Betty was in one of those chairs.
Do
you want to believe in Pentecost? Look at how a Christian community forms and
how it functions. Pentecost means that God comes into our midst, equipping the
followers of Christ to live the Gospel with others and work beside them. The
Spirit is not a personalized, privatized, individualized gift; the Spirit
creates a community where everybody has something to offer. In the name of Christ,
everybody has a gift to share for common good.
Paul
was a pastor. He could see this in that unusual combination of personalities
and personas that make up any congregation. Individually, any one of those
people might click with you or they might drive you crazy. But together – bound
together, working together, with no single voice dominating – that was a
remarkable gift from God.
So,
to the Corinthians, he says the same thing the Spirit says to us: look around!
- Some speak God’s wisdom; that comes from the Spirit within
them.
- Others have knowledge to share; it emerges from God our
Teacher.
- Some are strong believers who can carry others with them. God
gave them that faith.
- Other have ability to heal, restore, make others well,
create peace. This is the God of peace at work in them.
- Some work miracles, when the world says miracles are
impossible.
- Some speak prophetic truth, able to sort out multiple
voices and discern which is God's voice.
- Some are so full of God's presence that it bubbles out of them in ecstasy. Others have the God-given ability to make sense of it all.
These
are the gifts of God for the people of God. The whole gathering is equipped by the
Holy Spirit to live the Gospel in that place, in that time, with those people. Paul’s
list is an incomplete list, of course; no human being can name all that the
generous Spirit of God gives to a particular gathering of Christians. There is
an economy generated by the Spirit, where God gives his own church everything
it needs to do its essential work.
And
that leads me to extract two lessons for us before we work to get energized in
practical ways. Here’s the first: we have to give up all our comparisons. We
have to give up that American notion of envy, of looking over the fence to see
what the neighbors have. We do it in our families, but we also do it in every
church that I know. It’s the temptation to pay attention to our neighbors in
all the wrong kinds of ways. They have a
big endowment, they have a great mission outreach, they have a lot of kids.
We play those games way too much, usually to evade our own possibilities.
Really,
now. Want a big endowment? Give more. Want a better mission outreach? Get out
the door. Want more kids around? I’m sure there are tried and true methods for creating
more children.
Those
kinds of comparisons are the work of Satan, not the work of God. The Tempter
whispers, “You can have it all,” and that’s a lie. We can’t have it all,
because we don’t have it all. It’s the basic stewardship principle: what we
have is what God gives to us. Nothing more than that, nothing less than that. And
what God has given to us is really special, even unique. God never says, “You
can have it all;” what God says is, “Look at what you have.” So many blessings,
in the people that God gathers here and sends into the world.
So the
first lesson is give up the comparisons. Take notice of what we have among us
to do God’s work.
The
second lesson is a line that Paul speaks in another one of his letters. He
says, “Don’t quench the Spirit!”[1] That is, don’t splash cold
water on the hot fire of God. If God is doing something among you, don’t kill
it. If God is creating a new thing among you, don’t chop it off at the knees
before it can grow any legs. I say this from 29 years of pastoral experience. I
have lost track of how many times, God will stir up some great new ministry
opportunity in some church gathering. The time is right, the resources are in
place, the green light says, “Go!” - and then somebody kills it.
Listen
to a parable from a congregation that I know. In a certain town, a church had a
youth worker. He didn’t find a lot of kids from within that aging congregation,
but like a pied piper, he began to attract the teens from the neighborhood. He
would shoot hoops with them in the church parking lot. He would gather them to
play guitars and drums, and then he introduced them to new Christian music.
Some of the young 50-year-olds in the church offered to come and help, baking
cupcakes, going along as chaperones to retreats at camp, slipping them some
money for pizza.
Sadly,
the word spread and some of the old timers were concerned. There was leftover
pizza in the Ladies; Association refrigerator. One of the basketballs flew
through a church window and the Building Committee hollered. The Worship Committee
said the kids could come and play guitars in worship sometime, but when they
did, most of the congregants sat with folded arms and grumpy faces, refusing to
sing along.
It
came to pass, quite suddenly, that the official board decided it could not
afford its part-time youth minister. The pastor objected, but the board
reminded him that they were all older than he was, and if he wanted a full
salary, they had to make a change. So they trimmed the budget and let the youth
minister go. Two weeks later, one old-timer turned to another at coffee hour
and said, “Where did all those teenagers go?” Six years later, the church
closed and the building went up for sale. What’s the lesson? Don’t quench the Spirit.
We
have to learn to love what God gives us, because it is a gift from God. When
God comes in the invisible power of the Holy Spirit, when God energizes us and
gives us fresh power and imagination, when God comes in practical ways so that our sons and daughters prophesy, our young
people see visions, and our old people dream dreams, we welcome and honor
what God is doing among us. That is the practical wisdom of Pentecost.
So in
a second, I’m going to ask you to stand up and sit down, maybe a few times. You’ve
been sitting too long.
Is
there anybody here who believes that God is calling them to:
-
Become a more loving person?
(Could you stand?)
-
Teach our faith to this generation and the next generation?
-
Be the hands of Jesus Christ beyond our walls by offering a meal
to somebody who is hungry?
-
Show hospitality by actively welcoming others in the name of God?
-
Offer the consolation of Christ by reaching out to those who lose
a loved one to death?
-
Bear the burdens of another person by listening to them when they
need you?
-
Make a financial contribution to keep this church’s work vital and
healthy?
-
Volunteer your time and ability to serve on a committee or for
some special project?
-
Make a positive difference in the life of child or teenager?
-
Dream dreams and share visions, and help our church move into its
own future?
-
Make a joyful noise to the Lord by offering the gift of music?
(Stay standing, we’re going to sing.)
These
are some of the ways that Pentecost becomes real and practical. There are many,
many gifts among us, but the same Spirit. There are varieties of services, but
the same Lord who is served. There is a multitude of activities, but the same
God who energizes each one. Spirit, Lord, God – one Holy Trinity at work within
all of us, for the glory of God and the benefit of God's world.
Happy
Practical Pentecost!
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