Now, today being Father’s Day, I feel a little obligated to mention fathers- even though Father’s Day is one of my least favorite days, just because, well, duh, my dad isn’t here with me. I think about my dad every day. What is interesting now is that I see him a little differently, I can see areas of his life that, back then, weren’t really any big deal, but looking at them now, I can see how he lived out his faith.
My dad’s dominant spiritual gift, without a doubt, was service. He was a master electrician and could fix pretty much anything- cars, toilets, garage doors that his youngest and cutest daughter crashed her jeep through…
Anyway, my dad did a lot of side jobs- he had one probably every weekend, maybe even two or three. My mom would get so mad when he’d say he’d be home at noon, and show up at four. If the people my dad was working for had something else he could do, he would do it. Another thing that really burned my mom up is the way he would charge people. He would never state a price specifically. He’d just let the people say, “Is 200 bucks enough?” and he’d pretty much always say “sure.” My dad got paid next to nothing sometimes for jobs he’d spend 8 ours at, use lots of materials, and do some serious electrician magic- and it didn’t even occur to him that he wasn’t getting what he was worth.
In that way, my dad worked for God. He did his very best regardless of the pay, regardless of the time it would take, regardless of how snooty the people were, and so on. He worked for God. He lived out his faith as best as he understood it should be done.
But enough of my dad…that was just my little nod to Father’s Day. What I really want to focus on is the whole “living out our faith” thing.
And, just for fun, I have a little demonstration/illustration type thingy. I’d like to introduce you to Ms. Lillly Livin-it-out and Mr. Bernie Bury-it.
Jesus intends for us to live out what we learn and believe. In Matthew 7: 24- Jesus says this of his teachings: put it into practice!! Interestingly enough, this comes right after the scariest verse ever, 7:21- the whole “Not all who say to me Lord Lord…away from me you evil doers” thing. But, what I would really like ya’ll to understand from this silly little illustration thingy, is that Ms. Lilly isn’t just living it out because she’s got super skills and is just a really cool and talented person. Heck no. Lilly is able to live it out because she’s tapped in to the wealth that our God has given us so that we are able to live it out! I’m talkin’ bout spiritual gifts, and I’m talking bout the BODY of Christ, the church.
Pb has been a broken record lately talkin’ bout this place being a launching pad. Maybe you get a picture of a rocket in your head, or something like that, you know, blasting off our roof here on Mountain road. We know that rockets just don’t blast off to nowhere. They have a goal, they have a destination. It’s important for us to remember our goal when we are doing our “launching.” Pb has given us the perfect place to aim with “love God, love your neighbor, love one another.”
Now, let’s think about what makes the rocket launch- what goes on to actually get that thing moving. First of all, it takes like what, hundreds of people working behind the scenes? A bazillion gallons of fuel, doctors to check the astronauts, not to mention the actual astronauts, engineers, physicists and other space nerds…you get the idea.
The same thing goes for us here at FCC. We must all work together, and we all have different jobs, different spiritual gifts! As Fred said when he gave his teaching the other week- if you’ve got Jesus, you’ve got a spiritual gift- YOU’VE GOT ONE! Maybe two! There is no question about that. There is this question: Are you using it to glorify your Lord and further His kingdom?
Eph 2: 10 Our work is prepared in advance. The Lord sets ‘em up and by His Grace we knock ‘em down! It is imperative that we seek out these deeds, this work, this faith in action stuff. 1 Peter 4: 10 says pretty emphatically, Use those gifts! God doesn’t just give us some crazy skills and then sit back to watch us ignore them, bury them- can you imagine if you spent your weekend teaching your child to tie his shoes and the very next time you see him running outside, he’s got bare feet. Wouldn’t you be like, Um, hello? What did we just spend hours on? Same with God- he gives us crazy cool spiritual gifts and He’s like, “Um, hello, don’t you want to see how awesome this whole thing is? My whole plan, the way I get my business done…come on, here people! What’s a guy gotta do?”
Now, I just want you to think about how this place would look if we were all focused, using our spiritual gifts, tuning in, plugging into our Lord as much as possible. I don’t really know what it would look like, to tell you the truth, but if Jesus is our focus- it ain’t gonna be a bad thing, that’s for sure. The joy in this place, the comfort, the hope, the trust we would all have, as a unit, together- there is nothing in this world that is going to stop God’s people working through His almighty sovereign power!
So, here it is. I’ve just given you a blank note card. You can write the message you’ve received on it- and then you can do one of two things: Be a Lilly, or be a Bernie. What are you going to do with your spiritual gifts? What are you going to do about the things Jesus has commanded us to do? If you think you can hold out a little longer, warm that church seat a little bit more, be a sponge and just soak up the information, store it away for when you think you’ll really need it, or when it’s more convenient and less of an imposition on the life you’re living right now…I don’t think you’re listening. We are the Body of Christ- if we aren’t moving like Him, serving like He did, loving, reaching out, helping like He did- whose Body are we? Because we sure aren’t acting like Christ. And it’s time. NOW.
I can see a lot of you asking, “Yeah, ok. Got that- tell me what to do!!” I don’t necessarily have the answer for that- I can say it would be a good idea to find out what your spiritual gift is. If you already know, write up a list of ways that you could use your spiritual gift in service to Christ. If you need some ideas, ask an Elder, ask pb. I can guarantee you this- if you know your spiritual gift, and you think there is just nowhere you are currently needed in the ministry of FCC- um, WRONG. You have a place, I guaranteeeeeeeee it. We, as a church, working together, will find your place for you, help you get started, encourage you in every way. We can do this! We must do this! Let’s all be Lilly!!
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