Sunday, January 25, 2009
2nd Corinthians 3:1-6
Senior Pastor
Bishop Hayes will be here to preach tonight at the 5:30 service. I hope you will come. Last time I saw him preach was at one of our quarterly ministers’ meetings in Oklahoma City. He shared the story of the Kindergarten Sunday School Class. They were working on memorizing the Apostle’s Creed. The teacher had divided them up so that each one of them only had to memorize one line. Then they would run through it every Sunday as class got started.
The first child would start with “I believe in God the
Father Almighty.” The next child
picks up with “maker of heaven and earth.”
Next: “And in Jesus Christ his
only Son our Lord.” All is going well,
one child after another saying their line, they are coming to the last section
of the creed and just before they get there, a little girl blurts out, “The
Holy Spirit is absent today, Teacher!”
Of course, she meant that the young person who was to recite that line was absent. And sure enough, the young girl that was to say, “I believe in the Holy Spirit” was not there. But that can happen to us in real life. Not that we don’t recite the creed, but that we live our lives absent of the power Holy Spirit.
Oh, we can recite the creed, we still use it every first Sunday of the month with our Communion liturgy. But: How much do we live by the Spirit? All this month we have been looking at different aspects of the Holy Spirit as it is presented in the scriptures.
The first Sunday of this New Year we looked at a passage from Ephesians telling us the Holy Spirit has revealed the mystery that God loves us Gentiles. And this same Holy Spirit gives us the power to do the work of the Gospel. The following week Devon lead us in considering receiving the Holy Spirit and knowing the power of God working in our lives. Last week we worked with the passage that tells us that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and discussed how that theological insight could be helpful to us in working with Holy Spirit power to better care for our bodies.
In this last installment of Watching the Work of the Holy Spirit, Paul is talking about what kind of teacher he has been for them and what kind of witnesses they are as pupils of his. He tells the Corinthians it is not so much his teaching but the Holy Spirit at work in their hearts that makes the difference. He says in poetic language, you show you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. (v. 3)
In other words, you show you are a witness by responding to the work of the Holy Spirit in your heart. You may not realize this, but you as a congregation - you are a great witness to me. Do you realize you bolster my faith; you strengthen me in my walk when you respond here in worship?
Just a couple of weeks ago when Devon talked about baptism and we gave you a chance to remember your baptism by coming forward and touching the water and saying a prayer, you were a witness. Seeing you move out of your pews and into the aisle and come down to meet God in prayer was a moving experience for me. It happens every year, as well, on Commitment Sunday when we bring our cards forward in October and present ourselves symbolically to the Lord for the coming year. It occurs again when some of us come together on Ash Wednesday and receive the sign of the cross with ashes on our foreheads and confess our sin and ask God to renew us.
When we move together toward God, when we open ourselves to
the work and power of the Holy Spirit, it moves me because it is the Gospel in
action. It is the Good News come alive
in our church, in our family of Christ.
Anytime I can help someone draw closer to the love and presence of God,
it is a sacred moment – and when I see you all respond in those different
settings, it is a powerful witness to me.
I believe I am seeing the Spirit of the living God at work in human
hearts.
I want to know more of that. I want to experience more of that. I want us as a congregation to know more of that passion and power and joy and love! I want us to know more of that kind of Spirit power. I want us to know more of that and witness to it. I want us to see it in each other and to sing about it and talk about it and to live it. It is life in Christ! It is life in Christ lived out by the power of the Holy Spirit. Will you let God make your life a witness to that power? Are you willing for the Holy Spirit to take possession of you?
To give us some time to ponder these questions I have asked our Youth Group to lead us in this final part of our sermon. They have been working on a prayer and praise song by Michael W. Smith called Let It Rain. It talks about the power of God coming down and the heavens opening up to pour out blessings upon us. Listen to them sing and let their spirits pour over you. Imagine a parched and dry land, a parched and dry people feeling the wet refreshment falling from heaven and how wonderful that is when it comes and satisfies your thirsty soul. You will also hear some verses of scripture read during the song, which speak of God’s powerful presence with us and the importance of our response and our witness. Let it be our prayer as they sing to us.
Let It Rain with 2 Corinthians 6: 1-7a (from The Message) read during
singing. Companions as we are
in this work with you, we beg you, please don't squander one bit of this
marvelous life God has given us. God reminds us,
I heard your
call in the nick of time;
The day you
needed me, I was there to help.
Well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped. Don't put it off;
don't frustrate God's work by showing up late, throwing a question mark over
everything we're doing. Our work as God's servants gets validated—or not—in the
details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly .
. . in hard times, tough times, bad times; when we're beaten up, jailed, and
mobbed; working hard, working late, working without eating; with pure heart,
clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and honest love; when we're
telling the truth, and when God's showing his power;
2 Corinthians 6:1-7a
(The Message Bible)
“I believe in ______ the Father Almighty.”
“The Holy Spirit is ____________ today, Teacher!”
How much do we ________ by the Spirit?
…a letter of Christ… written not with
ink but with
the ____________ of the living God… (v. 3)
…as a congregation you are a great witness to _____.
I believe I am seeing the Spirit of the living God at
________
in human hearts.
Will you let God make ________ life a witness to that
power?
…a prayer and praise song by Michael W. Smith
called Let It ________.
Let it be our ____________ as they sing to us.
don't squander one bit of this marvelous life God has
given us.
God reminds us,
I heard your
call in the nick of time;
The day you needed
me, I was there to help.
Well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped. Don't put
it off; don't frustrate God's work by showing up late,
throwing a
question mark over everything we're doing. Our work as
God's
servants gets validated—or not—in the details. People are
watching
us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly . . . in
hard times,
tough times, bad times; when we're beaten up, jailed, and
mobbed;
working hard, working late, working without eating; with
pure heart,
clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and
honest love;
when we're telling the truth, and when God's showing his
power;
2 Corinthians 6:1-7a (The Message Bible)
Kid’s Question: We are watching the work of the ________
____________ this month in our sermons.