A MESSAGE FROM OUR PASTOR

“It was he [Jesus Christ] who gave gifts to people; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers. He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ. And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ's full stature.” (Ephesians 4:11-13 NLT)

When Jesus ascended back into heaven, he sent his blessed Holy Spirit back to the earth and the church was born. According to the Apostle Paul the church was also given “gifts”. A gift is something that you don’t pay for; neither do you earn a gift. It is something given to you freely. Gifts are usually given as an expression of affection towards the recipient by the giver. It is something that is considered useful and beneficial for the recipient. So here then in the text, we’ve established that Jesus gave the church not just one gift, but according to Paul, several because he used the plural form, “gifts” means at least more than one.

When we think about receiving a gift we usually connect a purpose behind the giver’s motivation. What’s the reason behind this gift? “Is it my birthday, Christmas, Valentines Day, Anniversary? No! Then why the gift?” You see we have to have a logical explanation for this gift, or in this case, “gifts” and if it doesn’t seem reasonable or appropriate to us then we start to feel uncomfortable and then we might feel hesitant about receiving the gift from the giver.

First Paul tells us the recipients that Jesus gave the church gifts and what those gifts are, and then he tells us the purpose of the gifts. He says, the gifts are, “some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers.” In other words, the Lord gave the church the gifts of lifting up people in the church to hold these positions within the church. The gifts are the people that are endowed by the Holy Spirit. Think of it this way, parents are God’s gifts to their children and with that office, parents are called to be special stewards responsible to do the work of a parent. Without a good parent the child’s proper growth and development both physically and emotionally is impaired. Therefore, God has done the same thing with the apostles, prophets, evangelist pastors and teachers for the church. They are called to be responsible in a very special way to the membership of the church.

Then Paul continues to explain the purpose of these gifts that God has given to the church; “He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ.” In other words, God raises a few, in order to prepare the whole. You see he said that “…this is to prepare all God’s people” not just some of God’s people. Unfortunately there are some that believe that “all” doesn’t include them, but it does. All … are to be prepared to do the work of God’s ministry. In other words, all means… all, nothing left out.

However, in the rest of Paul’s explanation he says, “And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ's full stature.” In other words, the gifts that God has given to the church is so that we shall all come together in the knowledge and understanding of our faith regarding the knowledge of Jesus our Lord. And when we do, we will grow in our maturity to the fullest. It is displayed in how we minister to one another. To say it another way, we are to help one another to grow in the knowledge and fullness of our faith in Christ. However, you can’t teach or do what you don’t know. Paul’s vision was that the gifts would prepare the congregation so that the congregation would minister to one another. The environment would be established generating love and faith with everyone being able to see for themselves the word of God in action in their lives. Members encouraging other members, and being there praying for other members. The church would be such a place where the people would only feel completely safe and loved when they are in the presence of other members of the body of Christ anywhere.

This is the biblical model that Paul teaches the church to emulate, with the gifts preparing the whole. However, the practice that most churches have is the opposite, with the gifts doing the work of the ministry. It’s the same principle as a football team having the players on the sideline watching the coaching staff on the field making the plays; or a teacher doing the work for the students while the students watch from their seats. In other words, the practice is backwards, but the church has adopted a model different than the purposes of our Lord and what Paul talks about.

It is the responsibility of the office of the gifts to prepare the people to serve the body of Christ. This preparation comes in the form of Spiritual formation, things that include prayer, the study of scripture, and all of the nuances in between. The gifts are to do the preparing but it’s the people that need to be there to be prepared. They say that if a leader is not being followed then he or she is not leading they are simply taking a stroll by themselves. The same must be true for teaching and preparing. If a teacher has no students then you don’t have a class and no one is learning.

When Jesus was about to go to the cross, at the Last Supper he washed the feet of his disciples and told them that “I want you to do the same thing for one another.” He didn’t say, “Find one of you to do it for the others.” However, the latter is the model that we’ve adopted in most Christian Churches today. In my work as a pastor in another tradition, it was understood that when I went out to visit a member in their home or a hospital that at least one of the other members would come with me. It would do the hearts of those we’ve visited well when they looked up and saw their brothers and sisters in the Lord sitting around, praying and talking encouraging words of love and faith to them. Sometimes we took two car loads to visit one person. When a member lost someone dear to them, we would do the same thing. Most times the home was already filled with both natural family and their church family being there to say, “We’re here for you.” Then days and weeks after the funeral, when their natural families have gone back to their respective parts of the country, it was the church family members that would still be coming by to visit, offering love, prayers and support.

In this type of environment I’ve seen members pick up other members and bring them to church and take them home every week even when they don’t live near one another. I’ve seen members come to church one way not sure how they’re going to get home late that evening but they were sure that “someone will give me a ride home,” and sure enough it was no problem. They were committed to loving and ministering to one another. In this same type of environment, I’ve seen poor members hand me money to give to someone else in the church that they knew was experiencing hard time if I was on my way to visit them and they couldn’t come.

Members we're raising money to bury a fallen member who didn’t have any life insurance and other members bringing bags of groceries to one another and cooking meals for one another helping each other to make it through. They were giving clothes to one another but if nothing else, they’ve always called and visited one another. My Sundays as a pastor was usually never over until that evening, because after church we as a group were visiting the homebound and the sick, and then I’d have to take people home after the visits. It was demanding on me but this was the part of the biblical model that Paul talks about.

We don’t do a lot of that here, because maybe we’re too proud. People don’t see it as being their job; “it’s the pastor’s job.” It is important to understand that it takes both the office of the gifts and the people to get the job done. We as members of Peace Lutheran Church – Bensalem have to decide if we’re going to be the stewards that God has called us to be, or if we’re going to be satisfied with hoping and praying that things will get better on its own. God is obligated to bless His own word and promises but He’s not obligated to bless the way we decide to do ministry apart from His will. Church I can promise you that God’s way works.

I have committed myself to doing better and to take that extra step to make us better as a congregation in 2012, however, it is useless to walk alone, or to teach a class with no students. Yes it is frustrating and disappointing however; when it seems as though no one is interested in Paul’s biblical model, then to continue on in the same manner would be foolish. Nevertheless, we will still be here doing what we are called to do and that is to prepare those who are willing to answer God’s call to do it His way.

Please note that if there is an interest in any area that contributes to the Spiritual growth and development of the congregation I am here to provide it for you. If there was something that we’ve tried to implement in the past that you have an interest in or if there is something that you would like to see that I can help you with developing, please let me know and I will help you do it. This year, I will focus on responding to the interest of the people.

I love you,

Pastor