Spiritual Gifts: Teaching and Mercy
Readings: Amos 8:1-12
Luke 10:25-37
On Sunday, we looked at the parable of the Good Samaritan. What can this story show us about the gifts of teaching and mercy? And what does it have to say to us in light of recent events?
Readings: Amos 8:1-12
Luke 10:25-37
On Sunday, we looked at the parable of the Good Samaritan. What can this story show us about the gifts of teaching and mercy? And what does it have to say to us in light of recent events?
Spiritual Gifts: Prophecy and Encouragement
Readings: Amos 7:7-15
Colossians 1:1-14
At the beginning of this series on spiritual gifts, the first thing we need to do is to realize that there is no one “list” of spiritual gifts in the Bible. Some lists of gifts or people with particular gifts are given in both the old and new testaments, but the lists don’t match. Some gifts overlap on more than one list, and some don’t, so to some extent when you talk about spiritual gifts, you must exercise a certain amount of judgment to come up with a list to use as a starting point.
Next up, it’s important to determine what makes something a spiritual gift. A spiritual gift is an ability to do some activity or to live in a certain way that furthers the work of the kingdom of God. A spiritual gift may be something you are born with and that you decide to use for kingdom work, or it may be given to you in response to a particular calling. For example, in our first reading today, the prophet Amos has just received a vison and a message from God. Amos is confused, since he is a “tender of sycamore fig trees”. He doesn’t know why he has been the recipient of this vision, but he chooses to share it. Often in the Old Testament, gifts (or anointings, as they are sometimes called) are given to a particular person or group for a particular purpose in a particular time and place. Another good example of this, besides Amos, would the Judges of Israel, who are chosen to rule the people in times of great stress and strife. In the New Testament, Paul offers his own take on gifts when he says, “there are many gifts, but one giver”. The gifts are not the point, but rather an expression of the giver, the Holy Spirit.
This leads to the second point about such gifts. A gift is a gift only if you use it in the way in which it was intended. This takes insight and courage on the part of the recipient of the gift. I believe it’s particularly true of the gift of prophecy, the first gift we’re discussing today. When I imagine a prophet, the first picture that comes to mind is that of a crazed-looking old guy wearing tattered clothes, kind of scrawny, and with an odd expression in his eyes, making predictions about the what will happen hundreds of years into the future.
This is not a prophet. The Hebrew word for prophet is “nabi”, and it comes from the verb that means to see. So, a prophet is literally a “see-er”, which is where our word “seer” comes from. Prophets are not “predictors” of the truth so much as they are truth-tellers, often being called to speak uncomfortable truth to power. In the ancient world, the prophets were called to deliver their messages to the rulers of the day, calling the king and the people to repent, or giving a word of wisdom about the outcome of a looming battle. In other words, prophecy is immediate. It’s also collective. A prophet’s message is usually spoken in a public or semi-public setting, not privately. It’s about the future of a group, not an individual. A prophetic word may be about the fate of an individual, but It’s focus is on the impact that the fate of the individual has on the community.
I have a friend who has this gift. It’s a painful gift. Watching her struggle with the impact of her gift has brought home to me how hard it is. She has often been in the position in her local church to name sin, and to call out the sinners as well as those who have been protecting them. This is not an easy thing to do. It’s emotionally and spiritually draining, and it stirs up all kinds of stuff. As Jesus said, “prophets are without honor in their own country”. In fact, daring to be a prophet can get you kicked out of your faith community. I admire those with the courage and the grace to exercise this gift.
The next gift I’d like to talk about today is that of encouragement. You won’t see this one (exactly) on any of the lists of gifts in the Bible, but I think it’s terribly important. Our passage this morning from Colossians is a beautiful example. Paul loves this church, and it shows in his use of encouraging language to them. Sometimes that encouraging word is what we need when things aren’t going our way.
I have two examples of the use of encouragement for you this morning. First, when my son was about 4, he discovered bowling, by way of a trip his day care took to our local bowling alley. Of course, his idea of bowling was with the gutters up, and using both hands to (kind of) roll the ball down the lane, but he didn’t care if he was good or bad – he enjoyed it. One weekend, he announced that we should all go bowling, so we did. I hadn’t bowled since I was about 12, so you can imagine, this wasn’t a pretty sight. Typically, I don’t do things that I don’t so well. After all, life is too short to spend it on things you’re not good at, right? But he wanted to bowl, so there I was. At the end of the first game, I was in last place. The next thing I knew, this little 4-year-old kid was patting me on the arm, saying, That’s okay, Mama. You’ll get better”. Gulp. I kept bowling.
The other example is about some folks at a former church. Bonnie, a woman in early middle age, had survived a brain aneurysm, of all things. She was in the process of recovering when her husband, Bob, was diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer. We lost Bob within six months. It was tragic. After about two weeks, just as the worship service was beginning, the back door of the sanctuary opened and Bonnie came in, looking like a deer in the headlights. I could sense her lostness. Where should she sit, without Bob by her side? She came a little ways in and sat by herself in an empty pew. As this was happening, I noticed Margaret and her friend Betty, who sat together near the front of the church. Margaret’s husband, Carl, had died about six months earlier. Margaret leaned over and whispered something to Betty, and then she stood up, walked to the rear and sat down next to Bonnie. That, my friends, is encouragement.
As I was preparing this sermon, my heart was heavy with the loss of our dear Naomi, whose service was here yesterday. Naomi was an encourager, especially to women, and particularly to me. I can think of so many times when she would pull me aside and tell me in her quiet, lilting voice, about something that she admired in me. Her messages will always be in my heart. So, in the spirit of encouragement, I want to conclude the sermon today with Naomi’s words of encouragement. Her husband, Lood, found this on her computer and shared it with us, so she is still speaking.
"WALK WITH CARE"
Walk with care, it is such a beautiful wish It means ...
Take care wherever you go ...
Do not hurt ...
Please don't let others walk on you...
Walk upright and proudly ….
it is also my gentle thoughts I share ...
I care a lot ...
If you go, I will see you again because it does not sound as final as goodbye ...
it also means ...
you have a friend in me ...
I carry you in my heart ...
my mind ...
in prayer ...
Always ...
This I want to say to you ...
You are special and unique and without you life loses its luster ...
You have a special place in my heart and life ...
So ...
"WALK WITH CARE"!
Readings: Amos 7:7-15
Colossians 1:1-14
At the beginning of this series on spiritual gifts, the first thing we need to do is to realize that there is no one “list” of spiritual gifts in the Bible. Some lists of gifts or people with particular gifts are given in both the old and new testaments, but the lists don’t match. Some gifts overlap on more than one list, and some don’t, so to some extent when you talk about spiritual gifts, you must exercise a certain amount of judgment to come up with a list to use as a starting point.
Next up, it’s important to determine what makes something a spiritual gift. A spiritual gift is an ability to do some activity or to live in a certain way that furthers the work of the kingdom of God. A spiritual gift may be something you are born with and that you decide to use for kingdom work, or it may be given to you in response to a particular calling. For example, in our first reading today, the prophet Amos has just received a vison and a message from God. Amos is confused, since he is a “tender of sycamore fig trees”. He doesn’t know why he has been the recipient of this vision, but he chooses to share it. Often in the Old Testament, gifts (or anointings, as they are sometimes called) are given to a particular person or group for a particular purpose in a particular time and place. Another good example of this, besides Amos, would the Judges of Israel, who are chosen to rule the people in times of great stress and strife. In the New Testament, Paul offers his own take on gifts when he says, “there are many gifts, but one giver”. The gifts are not the point, but rather an expression of the giver, the Holy Spirit.
This leads to the second point about such gifts. A gift is a gift only if you use it in the way in which it was intended. This takes insight and courage on the part of the recipient of the gift. I believe it’s particularly true of the gift of prophecy, the first gift we’re discussing today. When I imagine a prophet, the first picture that comes to mind is that of a crazed-looking old guy wearing tattered clothes, kind of scrawny, and with an odd expression in his eyes, making predictions about the what will happen hundreds of years into the future.
This is not a prophet. The Hebrew word for prophet is “nabi”, and it comes from the verb that means to see. So, a prophet is literally a “see-er”, which is where our word “seer” comes from. Prophets are not “predictors” of the truth so much as they are truth-tellers, often being called to speak uncomfortable truth to power. In the ancient world, the prophets were called to deliver their messages to the rulers of the day, calling the king and the people to repent, or giving a word of wisdom about the outcome of a looming battle. In other words, prophecy is immediate. It’s also collective. A prophet’s message is usually spoken in a public or semi-public setting, not privately. It’s about the future of a group, not an individual. A prophetic word may be about the fate of an individual, but It’s focus is on the impact that the fate of the individual has on the community.
I have a friend who has this gift. It’s a painful gift. Watching her struggle with the impact of her gift has brought home to me how hard it is. She has often been in the position in her local church to name sin, and to call out the sinners as well as those who have been protecting them. This is not an easy thing to do. It’s emotionally and spiritually draining, and it stirs up all kinds of stuff. As Jesus said, “prophets are without honor in their own country”. In fact, daring to be a prophet can get you kicked out of your faith community. I admire those with the courage and the grace to exercise this gift.
The next gift I’d like to talk about today is that of encouragement. You won’t see this one (exactly) on any of the lists of gifts in the Bible, but I think it’s terribly important. Our passage this morning from Colossians is a beautiful example. Paul loves this church, and it shows in his use of encouraging language to them. Sometimes that encouraging word is what we need when things aren’t going our way.
I have two examples of the use of encouragement for you this morning. First, when my son was about 4, he discovered bowling, by way of a trip his day care took to our local bowling alley. Of course, his idea of bowling was with the gutters up, and using both hands to (kind of) roll the ball down the lane, but he didn’t care if he was good or bad – he enjoyed it. One weekend, he announced that we should all go bowling, so we did. I hadn’t bowled since I was about 12, so you can imagine, this wasn’t a pretty sight. Typically, I don’t do things that I don’t so well. After all, life is too short to spend it on things you’re not good at, right? But he wanted to bowl, so there I was. At the end of the first game, I was in last place. The next thing I knew, this little 4-year-old kid was patting me on the arm, saying, That’s okay, Mama. You’ll get better”. Gulp. I kept bowling.
The other example is about some folks at a former church. Bonnie, a woman in early middle age, had survived a brain aneurysm, of all things. She was in the process of recovering when her husband, Bob, was diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer. We lost Bob within six months. It was tragic. After about two weeks, just as the worship service was beginning, the back door of the sanctuary opened and Bonnie came in, looking like a deer in the headlights. I could sense her lostness. Where should she sit, without Bob by her side? She came a little ways in and sat by herself in an empty pew. As this was happening, I noticed Margaret and her friend Betty, who sat together near the front of the church. Margaret’s husband, Carl, had died about six months earlier. Margaret leaned over and whispered something to Betty, and then she stood up, walked to the rear and sat down next to Bonnie. That, my friends, is encouragement.
As I was preparing this sermon, my heart was heavy with the loss of our dear Naomi, whose service was here yesterday. Naomi was an encourager, especially to women, and particularly to me. I can think of so many times when she would pull me aside and tell me in her quiet, lilting voice, about something that she admired in me. Her messages will always be in my heart. So, in the spirit of encouragement, I want to conclude the sermon today with Naomi’s words of encouragement. Her husband, Lood, found this on her computer and shared it with us, so she is still speaking.
"WALK WITH CARE"
Walk with care, it is such a beautiful wish It means ...
Take care wherever you go ...
Do not hurt ...
Please don't let others walk on you...
Walk upright and proudly ….
it is also my gentle thoughts I share ...
I care a lot ...
If you go, I will see you again because it does not sound as final as goodbye ...
it also means ...
you have a friend in me ...
I carry you in my heart ...
my mind ...
in prayer ...
Always ...
This I want to say to you ...
You are special and unique and without you life loses its luster ...
You have a special place in my heart and life ...
So ...
"WALK WITH CARE"!