The Buzzing Church: Calling and Purpose

Romans 12:1-8

God of revelation,
mere flesh and blood cannot reveal divine truth; only your Spirit can give that gift. Be in my breath and voice, be in our ears and understanding, that through these words your Word may be known. Amen.
Several weeks ago we started our journey together learning about what it takes to be “The Buzzing Church”, a church buzzing with enthusiasm, excitement, joy and love; a church that practices what it believes; a church willing to do a new thing in obedience to God; a church filled with the necessary spiritual tools to achieve its calling and purpose; a church where every member is a vital part of the team.

We learned every one of us must integrate four core practices into the life of our church: instruction in God’s Word, fellowship with one another and the world, worship of God and a devotion to prayer. These practices provide the avenue for God to do a new thing in our lives and the life of our community. We learned we have all inherited the necessary tools of the trade in order to put these four practices into action; the full armor of God: “the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit”. We learned for a team or a community to be successful and meet its goals, every player, every member has specific God-given gifts to be used to play their specific role on the team. We are one body with many members. Everyone has been given spiritual gifts from God through the Holy Spirit. The big question we need to ask is: For what will we use them? For what purpose, for what ends will we utilize them?

Paul writes we are to “present our bodies to God”. We are to present our whole selves, including our spiritual gifts, to the God of all creation. We are to take all the gifts we have been given and the tasks that we have to do every day; take the ordinary work of the shop, the factory, the oil field, the shipyard, the mine, the office and offer all of it as an act of worship to God. This is true worship. This is real spiritual worship. When we offer our whole selves, our whole body, and all that we do with it to God, this is our true spiritual worship. Real worship is not the offering of fancy prayers to God; it is not the offering to God of a liturgy, however noble, and a ritual, however magnificent. Real worship is the offering of everyday life to God. Real worship is something which enables us to see the whole world as the temple of the living God, and every common deed an act of worship. But it is far from common and far from ordinary!

There once was a boy named Timmy. His kindergarten teacher announced, “Today we are going to draw a picture.” Good, Timmy thought. He liked to draw pictures. He could draw lions and tigers and trains and boats. He took out his crayons and began to draw.

But the teacher said, “Wait, it’s not time to begin.” She paused until everyone looked ready. “Now,” she said, “we are going to draw flowers.” Good, Timmy thought. He began to draw beautiful flowers with his orange and pink and blue crayons.

But the teacher said, “Wait.” She drew a picture of a flower on the blackboard. It was red with a green stem. “There,” she said, “now you may begin.” Timmy looked at his teacher’s flower. He liked his better, but he didn’t say anything. He just turned his paper over and made a flower like the teacher’s. It was red with a green stem.

A few days later the teacher said, “Today we are going to make something with clay.” Good, Timmy thought. He could make all kinds of things with clay—snakes and snowmen and elephants and mice. He began to pinch and pull his ball of clay.

But the teacher said, “Wait, I’ll show you how.” And she showed everyone how to make a dish. So Timmy rolled his clay into a ball, flattened it, and made a dish like the teacher’s.

Timmy learned to wait and watch and make things just like the teacher’s. And pretty soon he stopped making creations of his own.

A few months later Timmy’s family moved to another city, and Timmy started at a new school. On his first day, Timmy’s new teacher said, “Today we are going to draw a picture.” Good, Timmy thought. And he waited for the teacher to tell him what to do. But the teacher didn’t say anything. She just walked around the room. When she came to Timmy, she said, “Don’t you want to draw a picture?”

“Yes,” said Timmy. “What are we going to draw?”

“Well, I don’t know until you draw it,” the teacher said.

“How should I make it?” he asked.

“Why, any way you like.”

“And any color?”

“Any color,” the teacher said. “If everyone drew the same thing in the same color, how would I know who made what?”

“I don’t know,” said Timmy. And he began to draw a flower. It was red with a green stem.

When Timmy was very young, he was robbed of his creativity. His teacher told him that there was only one way to draw a flower or shape a lump of clay. We are more like Timmy than we realize. We have the potential to draw outside the lines, to be creative, to use our talents and gifts in a remarkable and unique way, but the world has told us that we can’t do it.

The world we live in conditions us at an early age to believe that we all have to look the same, act the same, and think the same. Then when Jesus calls us to be different, we find it difficult, if not impossible, to respond to his call. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds” (Romans 12:2). If you will allow Jesus to have control of your life, you can break out of the world’s mold and begin to discover God’s calling and purpose for your life.

We were not created to match our lives to all the fashions of this world. We are not called to be like a chameleon which takes its color from its surroundings. We are not to go with the world. Don’t let the world decide what you are going to be. God has placed a calling and a purpose upon you. Paul is calling for the transformation of a person through the power of God. The command is “be transformed”, not “transform yourselves”, thus placing primary emphasis on the activity of God in the life of the Christian. And I believe that holds true for the community of faith.

“When the Spirit dwells with the community of believers, a new vitality will be its expression and various gifts will be revealed and expressed. Then a new way of thinking, dwelling, relating, and acting will reign in the community ; a way that stands in contrast to the ways of the world – to the ways of the global domination system and its myriad of expressions.”[1]

When we allow ourselves and our faith community to “be transformed”, an inward change happens. We are essentially changed and now live, not a self-centered life, but a Christ-centered life. When Christ comes into the life of the faith community, we are a new community: the center of our being is different; the driving power of our lives is different; the focal point of our minds is different; for the mind of Christ is within us. When Christ is at the center, it is then that we offer to Him real, authentic worship, the offering of every moment of every day.

Where do you see the Spirit of God dwelling in the life of our community of believers?

I see the Spirit of God among us when the church is a place where we can be ourselves, where we are comfortable with one another, in spite of our sins and shortcomings. The church becomes a place where it’s okay to make mistakes, where it’s okay to get it wrong, where it’s okay to not be perfect, where it’s okay to fail and not have our act together and always be nice. Jesus didn’t come to make us into nice people. Jesus came to rescue us from evil and to establish a right relationship with God. Jesus came to transform how we live.

I see the Spirit of God among us when each of us presents him or herself as a living sacrifice transformed by the power of God. We are not to let ourselves be shaped by what everyone else does, but rather we are to let ourselves be transformed by a whole new way of thinking, so we can discern what conforms to God’s will and not our own. This is revealed through an attitude of realistic humility and dedicated service to the world. It is diminished when we think of ourselves more highly than we should, when we try to control other people and situations and manipulate them to our advantage, when we live a lie behind a façade hiding who we really are, when we fail to be honest and direct with one another. But It is enhanced and magnified when we humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord, when we love our neighbor as ourselves no matter how different they are or where they’re from. It is further enhanced and magnified when we seek to do what is good and acceptable to God.

In the world, as God’s faithful ones, we will need to engage as those who seek what is good and acceptable to God, and this will surely mean witnessing with our whole selves against injustice of any kind and advocating for anyone who is marginalized because of matters such as the color of their skin, their gender, their sexual orientation, their poverty and/or their immigrant status. We the church need to let go of value systems that order relationships hierarchically and instead embrace a value system that honors diversity without destroying distinctly and equally valuable persons.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds,…” (Romans 12:2). If you will allow Jesus to have control of your life, you can break out of the world’s mold and become what God created you to be. If we allow Jesus through the Spirit of God to be our guide and our strength in this community of faith, there is nothing God can’t do in us, among us and through us. This is the Good News! Amen!

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[1] Eleazar S. Fernandez. Daily Feast: Meditations from Feasting on the Word – Year A. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013) p.428. 

The BUZZING Church: Teammates for Life

Ephesians 4:7-16

Two Sundays ago we started our journey together learning about what it takes to be “The Buzzing Church”. We learned every member must integrate four core practices into the life of our church: instruction in God’s Word, fellowship with one another and the world, worship of God and a devotion to prayer. Through these practices, we know God can do a new thing in our lives and the life of our community.

Last Sunday we learned we have all inherited the necessary tools of the trade in order to put the four practices into action. The Bible describes our tools as the full armor of God. The armor of God is “the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit”. To be the Buzzing Church, we need these necessary tools, the tools of the trade, for the work we are called to do as God’s people.

I think it is safe to say that all of us understand what it means to be an effective part of a team, to be a good teammate. I have played my share of team sports in my life from soccer to baseball to football and basketball. And teams are not limited to athletics. I’ve played in wind ensembles and jazz bands. I’ve sung in choral groups and choirs. I’ve worked on group projects in school, sales teams in business, and team-taught many classes for all ages. What I learned from all of these different team experiences was that for a team to be successful and meet its goals, every player, every member has specific God-given gifts to be used to play a specific role on the team.

One of the early “team-oriented” metaphors that came to characterize the church was that of a ship. All ships have a captain and a crew to navigate it from one place to another. It takes a team working together to achieve the common goal of sailing a ship. In churches like ours, built with traditional ecclesiastical architecture, the place where the congregation sits is called the nave, which comes from the Latin word navis or “ship.” Looking up at the ceiling (particularly when there are buttresses) is kind of like looking at an overturned boat. Even while all of you are still in the pews, the architecture itself invites us to launch out on a spiritual journey together.

Any successful team centers its life and journey on a core set of shared values, or beliefs. And the church is no different. The Apostle Paul understands there are four core values that serve as the focal point of a church community.

First of all, Paul understood that the life of the church is essentially communal, reflecting the family relationship we all have as children of God. Paul emphasizes the strong tie that should bind the Christian community together — the “bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). That bond is defined by the virtues that Paul writes about in verse 2: humility, gentleness, patience, dealing with each other with love and being unified in the Spirit — all of which are keys to success for any team, especially the Buzzing Church.

Second, church life is also creedal. As a community we have shared beliefs. Paul rattles off a litany of creedal elements we share as a community of faith: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God. These elements are what unite us, rather than divide us. They are the stakes in the ground to which are tied the bonds which keep us together. The “one” relationship we share through our baptism and faith in Christ (4: 4-6). The church is a community of shared beliefs. So unified, we are better able to respond to the call of Jesus to follow with him, to be “together” with him on a journey of faith that is not merely an individual spiritual quest but a group experience to some of the neediest people and places in the world. It’s the kind of trip where as teammates everybody has a role and a responsibility, providing part of the resources for the journey.

But we must have the resources for this excursion. That’s why the life of the church is also charismatic. The word for “grace” is charis. The community is a “graced” or a gifted church. Paul says that “each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift” (4:7).

There’s no doubt that God has graced the community, gifted the community with the skills to keep the ship of faith afloat on the seas of our spiritual adventure. God has ensured that this vessel has all the necessary teammates to make the journey. The church at its best is not a homogenous group crammed on a bus to sightsee its way through the Christian experience.[1] Instead, God equips and gifts people of all different ages, stages and abilities as fellow travelers. The gifts that Paul lists in verse 11 are just a few of the roles that are needed to move the church forward in its journey and mission. The list isn’t meant to be exhaustive, but reminds us that the role of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers — be they “professionals” or laypersons — is to resource the body of Christ and remind everyone on board of their common destination, spelled out in verse 13: a unified faith in, knowledge of and “maturity to the measure of the full stature of Christ.”

Paul continues to use the “ship” metaphor when he continues in the next sentence: “We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine” (4:14). Being together, we can’t be deterred by various vacation brochures that happen to flutter past our field of vision. We know who we are, we know where we’re going, we know why we’re doing what we’re doing, and we must not be distracted by other things blowing in the wind.

Finally, the Christian life is also a caring life. Christians are called to speak the truth in love (4:16). In the verses following the text for today, Paul gets even more specific, offering a whole laundry list of examples of how the church is a caring community, not a bitter one, or a thieving one. He concludes by saying: “Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you” (4:31-32).

The church becomes a team when it functions fully as the body of Christ and everyone has a stake in the adventure.

We are to focus on the “unity of the spirit” that pushes the church outward and invites people to use their gifts and engage in a great adventure in serving God. It’s God’s spirit, not our programs, that binds us together as the family of God. When we focus on the spirit, on the common destination we have together in Christ, and on making the church community a place where everyone is gifted and everyone belongs, you have a roadmap for the Buzzing Church, an awesome journey of faith that can’t get blown off course (v. 14).[i]

The “truth” that we need to speak in love is that Christ has chosen to work through each of us individually and all of us together as his body as an integrated team where each member has a role in the team’s success. As an integrated team when each member accepts full responsibility and strives for excellence, trust and performance increase exponentially. A church community that journeys toward God in worship and toward others as we go forward into the world. When every part and every person is needed and wanted; when every team member is functioning properly and ready to be mobilized, the team is ready to take off.

Are we ready to take off and reach new levels of success as the family of God?

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[1] Bob Kaylor, Senior Writer for homilecticsonline.com, and Senior Minister of the Park City United Methodist Church in Park City, Utah.

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[i] Bob Kaylor, Senior Writer for homilecticsonline.com, and Senior Minister of the Park City United Methodist Church in Park City, Utah.

The BUZZING Church: Tools of the Trade

Ephesians 6:10-18

Last Sunday we started our journey together learning about what it means to be “The Buzzing Church”.  We explored what it takes to be a buzzing church.  It requires us to practice four things: instruction in God’s Word, fellowship with one another and the world, worship of God and a devotion to prayer.  When a church is firing on every one of these cylinders, they are a church buzzing with excitement, enthusiasm and joy for the Lord.  They are the Buzzing Church.

These four practices are the required tools to be a disciple of Christ.  They are the tools of the trade.  It is the necessary gear and equipment each Christian needs to get the job done; to be buzzing with exhilaration, hope and love to live the life of faith.  Tools are good for that.  They help us accomplish and achieve so much.  Where would be without fire, the bow, language, and the wheel?  What would we do without hammers, screwdrivers, saws and paint brushes?  How would we ever make it through the day without electric lights, the ball point pen and microwave ovens?

I have been surrounded by tools my whole life.  My dad had a bunch of old hand tools that he inherited from my Pop-Pop’s business.  I received a bunch of old tools from my Aunt Helen and Uncle Vinnie some time ago.  When I moved into my first apartment, my dad gave me my first tool box with my name on it.    

Since then I have accumulated more tools than I know what to do with.  From a table saw, a cross cut saw, a circular saw, a nail gun, pliers, wire cutters, wrenches, a lawn mower, a trimmer, a hedger, shovels, a drill and drill bits of all sizes, a rechargeable drill and screwdriver, clamps of all sizes, socket wrench sets: and this is just in the garage!

There are tools in the kitchen, such as knives, appliances and pots & pans that help us eat and prepare meals.  We have sinks, toilets, and furniture to make our homes more hospitable and sanitary. 

Each tool performs a specific task.  Each is made for certain types of work.  In order to be effective and efficient, it’s important to have the right tool for the right job. 

We have all inherited the tools of the trade from the living God.  And we need all the tools we can get!  We must use every tool that God has given us for what it is designed to do.  We must be ready at all times with our box of tools so we are prepared for whatever challenges come our way.  The Bible describes our tools as the full armor of God.  Paul writes that the armor of God is “the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit”. 

When I think of armor, I don’t think of saws or blenders or table lamps.  The first thing I think of is the literal suits of armor worn by knights in medieval times; made of metal covering the knight from head to toe.  The suit was designed to protect the knight from sharp arrows, swords, jousts and other weapons of war.  In our world today, we have tools such as armored cars to move money and valuables safely and securely from one place to the next.  These cars are literally gigantic steel safes on wheels with alarms, sensors and locks to prevent burglary and theft.  Of course, we have the armed forces of our country charged with protecting our nation from harm when deployed around the world.  And there are armored bulldozers to clear land in hostile territory.  For the Ephesians hearing these words for the first time, they easily identify this armor of God as not just weapons of war, but as tools to make and build things. 

Do we really need all these things?  Breastplates?  Belts?  Shields, helmets and swords?  Yes, to become a Buzzing Church, to build the kingdom of God on earth we need the full set of tools.

There are evil forces at work in our world.  They are strong and powerful and seductive.  They work to persuade us to turn away from the will and the love of God.  They convince us to reject the grace of God and follow our selfish motives; put greed above generosity, pride above humility, envy above trust, anger above peace; to forsake those around us, and most of all, God.

So if we are to become a Buzzing Church, we must put on the full armor of God, not just a few pieces, but the full outfit.  We must learn to use all these tools: Truth, Righteousness, Faith, Salvation, the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God.  These are the tools God gives us to stand against justice & evil in the world, to serve those in need, to love the unloved, so that the peace and justice of God may prevail.

We must also put to good use the tool of hospitality, the tool of forgiveness, the tool of reconciliation, the tool of grace and love and let us never forget the tool of prayer.  Prayer is real and substantial.  But this power can only be unleashed if we are willing to use it correctly.  Paul instructs you and me to pray at all times.  It must be constant.  We can’t just pray to God when life has dealt us a bad hand or we’re caught in a desperate situation.  We must pray in all times and all situations: joyful times and difficult, challenging times.  Prayer must be intense.  We must be alert to the world around us and the injustice and evil that is systemic in our world.  We must pray with intensity, with our whole selves, with every ounce of energy we have because the evil one does not let up. 

Prayer is to be geared toward the welfare of others.  Prayer must be unselfish.  Paul specifically asks the Ephesians for prayer that “a message may be given to me (Paul) to make known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel…” (Ephesians 6:19)  When we pray for one another, we are indirectly praying for ourselves.  The author of Ecclesiastes writes, “While one might prevail against another, two will withstand one.  A three-fold cord is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:12)  When we pray for each other, we form spiritual connections with one another that are not easily cut, shattered or destroyed. 

With the armor of God, we have the powerful advantage of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and the gift of prayer to help us become “more than conquerors” in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:37).  We are equipped with the armor of God: the truth, the righteousness, the faith, the salvation, the Spirit, the Word and prayer.  They are the tools of the trade to frustrate the schemes and temptations of evil.  The armor of God empowers us to pray, forgive, reconcile and love; to stand boldly and courageously face opposition, to struggle against the spiritual forces of injustice and evil around us.

So whether it’s in social situations or the classroom, put on the full armor of God.  Whether it’s in the workplace or in the church, put on the full armor of God. Whether it’s walking down the street, or serving the poor and needy with our neighbors, put on the full armor of God.

Stand firm and be bold.  We know our God has given us the right tools to be a buzzing church to take on the challenges we face each day.  Stand firm!  Carry them with you wherever you go and give all the love you have in your soul.  Because with the whole armor of God, you will be equipped and ready for anything!  Amen.