God Makes the Greatest Difference
The Sermon Link: https://youtu.be/pWL42d6rb3Q
Readings: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Psalm 36:5-10
Luke 4:14-21
When we were kids, I think it was easier to see good and bad in simple terms. Stealing, lying, cheating, meanness, violence is bad and love, giving, sacrifice, forgiveness is good. As we got older it became harder to define. Every decision seems to come in shades of grey. I believe that this is the case because we feel so many pressures and see so many reasons why a single decision in any given situation might be both beneficial and harmful. Ultimately, as we get older the temptation to think of ourselves first, and the idols that we care about, get more complexly interwoven with who we are and so our decisions, even though there are still good decisions, seem harder to make. Difference and individuality can become one of those decisive tempting idols that lead us to act, or speak and think first of ourselves. Historically, this protecting our difference has resulted in discrimination, war ,and even worse. Or pervasively in North America, I have heard many people argue: "I have worked harder, or I have been hurt more in my life, so I deserve more" so they take it - they have set an idol up of their difference rather than seeing that there is a common suffering, a common struggle and a common need in our brothers and sisters that would instead make us look for a mutual benefit.
All of our difference, even if it is truly beautiful and made by God, can become an idol; something that stands in the way of us and God and one another. These idols don’t speak, but we give them power over us. The problem of a seemingly grey world is that we haven’t put first things first. We have numerous pressures and temptations because we haven’t claimed Jesus as Lord over everything. If He is Lord over everything that we are, then his guidance and voice would be ultimate, it would be the defining pressure in our lives. So decisions may not be easier but they would be more definitive. And since Jesus created our difference, and our individuality along with our community and commonality, what we would find is that even though it might seem like a contradiction, in Jesus our difference and our commonality, our individuality and our community would be increased and lifted up at the same time.
When Jesus reads out that revolutionary text: how the poor will have good news, the prisoners set free, the blind will see, did you notice what our passage begins with? It begins with Jesus being empowered by God through the Holy Spirit and then God’s name in Jesus Christ is proclaimed and spoken about throughout the country. God is lifted up before anyone else. This may seem small, but it is a really important distinction.
When what we seek is God’s honour, power and leadership the result is that God's leadership becomes manifest in our lives. God's authority spoken and heard is a kind of revolution to the power, authorities, and idols that too often govern this world. It is a revolution that lifts up those that need it, those that are different, and then seeks a way forward together.
The primacy of putting God first is also what we find in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. He tells us if we recognize Jesus as Lord and can say it, that means that God’s Holy Spirit dwells in us. Notice again, that God’s Lordship comes first and that becomes empowering. We become empowered, as God becomes empowered in us.
Then Paul goes to our difference. He is gently directing us here. First, he shows us that though we are different, though we have different gifts, talents, birth, resources, etc. the fact is that they came from the same Spirit. Every one of our differences is a gift given to us by God; our differences are a gift that we never deserved, but instead, each of our gifts were God’s gracious gift. That means we have no right to hold our difference or gifts over anyone.
Then Paul changes the phrase just slightly and says that there are different kinds of service that come from the same Spirit. Paul creates a parallel between the phrases, as he only switches out the word gift for service. So first, Paul shows us that every difference has been given to us as a gift, now Paul shows us that every gift of difference is actually meant to serve our brothers and sisters. The gift God gives us was meant to be a gift for all.
So realize this: everything that you are, every little detail about you was meant to be a gift to you and everyone. Looking at the nitty-gritty of our own lives, it might take some time and prayer to understand how a difficult upbringing, or how illness or injury, or how the colour of our skin, or how different cultures and languages are actually God-given gifts meant for mutual service, but who we are is God’s gift to ourselves and one another. I mentioned last week my being accident-prone as a kid. This meant that I was in and out of hospitals, stuck at home, or if I was at school I was unable to join in as most kids did. I don’t wish this on any child and yet, I wouldn’t change it in my own life. It made me who I am and it gave me confidence and faith in Christ that I can barely imagine otherwise. This might not have been exactly what God intended for me to experience, but God has turned it into one of the greatest gifts in my life. And I like to think that I am serving you from what God gave to me in those struggles.
Going back to the readings: do you notice through everything that we have talked about over the last three weeks, there is this way in which our differences can actually create and serve the community, and our unity in Christ is the empowering of our individual differences? (REPEAT)
An amazing thing is that in the Holy Spirit, our difference is just increased and finds an even greater power. Paul has shown us, that once we recognize Jesus as Lord, we find the source of our difference. We see that the Holy Spirit is the one who gives us our gift of difference for a purpose to serve, but then through our faithfulness to God, something even more amazing happens. The Holy Spirit becomes manifest in us, in a special and powerful way. And we are given an even great more powerful gift that sets us apart as even more different.
These gifts from the Holy Spirit like wisdom, healing, prophecy, etc. are all gifts for mutual support that we should long for, and need, yet Paul recognizes that for most of us we are only given one gift. That would naturally mean that even though we are powered by the Holy Spirit with a gift we still depend on one another. Those who speak in tongues naturally need an interpreter, but the miracle worker, also needs a message of knowledge to understand how the world works and the healer needs a message of wisdom to know what to do next and we all need the gift of faith to remind us who it is we trust and depend on for these gifts and purpose.
Notice something fundamental through this unity of powerful difference: the way that difference and unity become what they need to be is by being present to one another and by accompanying one another. Presence and personal relationships are essential. We can see the necessity of these by simply looking around and finding our own need for presence and personal relationships, or we could look at the fact that God became incarnate so that He might be present and accompany us. So this tells us we need to be really present for one another in the midst of our difference.
It is a wonderful thing that God wants to give us an even more powerful difference so that we might serve one another and this world. It is yet another undeserved gift from the one who gives up everything for us. What we need to do first is recognize the source and Lord over all of our difference, so that we might see the beautiful unity, service, and new world that can result because of our God working through our difference. AMEN
Questions
Luke 4:14-21
What preempted/prepared a foundation for Jesus' ministry in this passage and the gospel of Luke?
What is the source of what Jesus said? (Look for a footnote). Why was what Jesus said revolutionary?
What would this new hope and upheaval have meant for those that weren't poor, or prisoners etc.?
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
What are some of the things that lead us astray today?
Why is it important to know the Holy Spirit is in you? Why is our recognizing Jesus as Lord an adequate test of this?
What does it mean to you that all of our gifts and service come from the same Spirit?
Is there anything about yourself that you find it hard thinking about as a gift? Can you imagine how it might be a gift for someone else or for serving someone else?
How do our God given gifts make us different, but essential to one another?
Looking back on your life and your current gifts and situation what special gift do you think God may be intending for you? (Take some time to pray about this over the coming weeks and months)
How might you begin to lean into these Spirit filled gifts?
