First Presbyterian Church                                                               Pastor Sue Nageotte

Salt Lake City, Utah                                                                    October 22, 2006

“Equipped and Renewed: The Church as Training Center”

For the past several weeks, our sermons have focused on the work of the Holy Spirit. Pastor Mike first preached about the fruit of the Spirit - those wonderful qualities that are grown in every Christian, and we long to have more and more of:   love, joy, peace . . . patience, kindness, goodness  . . . faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.   The Apostle Paul says, “such things are not against the law” - and aren’t we glad for that!!    Then we learned about spiritual gifts that each believer is given by the Holy Spirit – different gifts to different people, but all believers are given spiritual gifts – and ways that we can identify and understand our own spiritual gifts, so that we can put them to use for the good of the whole body.    Last Sunday Elder Mel Young from Tempe Arizona expanded on this with his message about allowing the Holy Spirit to guide the choices we make as followers of Jesus – including how we use our finances.

Did you notice something?   God gives all these freely out of his abounding love:   the fruit of the Spirit, our spiritual gifts, our time and our energy and our finances – all that we have, and all that we are –  with the intention that our lives will overflow with gratitude and we can experience joy as we share these gifts with others.   

Now I want you to notice something else.   God gives spiritual gifts to be used in a specific context - that is, the Church.     In fact, I would argue that we can really only properly receive and grow in these gifts in the unique setting of the Church.  Even though God intends the gifts to be used both within and outside the Church, our spiritual gifts cannot be properly developed unless we are firmly plugged into the Body.    But before we talk about that, let’s take a look at the passage from Ephesians.    (Read Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13): 

1As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.  2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.  4There is one body and one Spirit –  just as you were called to one hope when you were called –  5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.   7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.  11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up  13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

I want to unfold this passage just a little.   In verse 1, the Apostle Paul reminds the church at Ephesus that he is a prisoner “for the Lord.”  In fact, Paul has been imprisoned because of his claims that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead, and that Jesus – not Caesar – was the true King to whom every knee should bow.    He was not afraid to proclaim what he believed, even though it was a very unpopular position.   I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.    Paul is writing to men and women who have been given and have accepted (received) a particular calling – not a job, but a specific position of responsibility; you might even say, a  function   But what is this calling?  Since Paul often writes in long, convoluted sentences (much longer in the original Greek), scholars hold different opinions.  I myself think the calling is described in 2:13-22 . . . you can look up the full passage later, that’s Ephesians 2, verses 13-22, part of which reads: “But now in Jesus Christ  you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For he himself is our peace . . . you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God . . . [and in Christ] you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”   Pastor Mike will be preaching from this Scripture text next week.    Now in Jesus Christ, you who once were far off . . . are fellow citizens . . . members of the household of God . . . and in Christ, being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.     Wow!!  

Now hearing something like this, we humans can get a little bit “uppity” – can’t we?  No wonder that Paul urges them to practice complete humility . . . gentleness . . . patience . . . putting up with one another in love.   Do these sound familiar?   They should: they are fruits of the Spirit.  But fruits of the Spirit grow slowly.  We are impatient and all too human.  So, apparently, were the Ephesians!  So Paul writes from his prison cell, hundreds of miles away, urgently reminding them who they belong to, and their privileged position. “Hang in there!”  he writes.  “Don’t get torn apart by arguments!  Be gentle with one another.   You have been united in Christ by the work of the Spirit; now do everything you can to maintain that unity by keeping the bond of peace!”

Will you read aloud with me, please, verses 4 through 6?     4There is one body and one Spirit –  just as you were called to one hope when you were called –  5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. One body; one Spirit; one hope; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.

We tend to read this intellectually, as a doctrinal statement.   But Paul is saying much more.   Paul is calling them to a reality check about their very essence, the foundation of their life together.   It is a question that from time to time we may rightly ask ourselves, too:   What does it mean to be “one body?”   What does it mean to be “church” ?

The Greek word for Church is koinonia.    We often translate this “fellowship” which, depending on your background, might bring to mind anything from a ‘Christian meeting’ such as a Bible study to the hour allocated for coffee and goodies after the worship service.  But that falls far short of the impact of the term.  In classical Greek writings, koinonia designated a partnership formed in the spirit of generous sharing as contrasted with the spirit of selfish gain.   In ‘market-place’ Greek – which the writers of the New Testament used –  koinonia had 2 common meanings:  1) a mutually beneficial business partnership; and 2)  a marriage in which husband and wife shared everything in life – not a usual arrangement in those days.   The true sense of koinonia, then, is not simply ‘getting together’ or ‘gathering together’ but of belonging to one another and sharing all things in a generous spirit - not in an abstract sense, but generosity which shows itself in the tangible expression of giving. 

This is what it truly means to be “Church.”   It is because Christ has redeemed us and has invited us into a generous partnership that we can have a generous partnership with each other.  If we have koinonia  in Christ then we will also have koinonia with the body of Christ (I John 1:7).  Paul is reminding the Ephesians that they are family in the most intimate, most committed, most wonderful sense . . .  joined together and built up in Christ.

It isn’t easy being family, though, is it?   We don’t automatically lose all our human crankiness and rough edges, just by becoming believers!  In fact, sometimes it’s a lot easier working with strangers than people who really know my faults and weaknesses.   Paul continues with assurances that I need to hear, too:   Christ has given each of us exactly the grace we need.  It is Christ who appoints people to serve different roles within the church, some as missionaries and evangelists and pastors and teachers - and for what purpose?  verse 12  12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature.  

The Church *IS*  a training center in which we will be equipped and renewed, but a person has to be actively engaged with “Church” for this to happen.  Or maybe ‘engaged’ gives the wrong impression:   I mean that you have to be committed, actively involved in the koinonia – that “sharing all things, hanging in there together” relationship, partnering with one another in a generous spirit, pouring out what we have for the benefit of others.   The point of all the preaching, all the teaching, all the leading – indeed, almost all the “structure” of the church – is to prepare God’s people for works of service, – including helping to bring lost people to know the saving love of Jesus Christ – so that the body of Christ may be built up, until we all reach unity in the faith and become mature.   Christian maturity doesn’t come just by head-knowledge; it comes about through a process as we participate in worship, study, sharing the gospel, and serving the needy.   Christian unity develops as we pray with other believers for God’s guidance, when we work together, encourage each other, struggle, try new things, get our feelings hurt, and forgive one another.  

Notice that I’m using “active” verbs.  No one can become physically fit by simply joining a Fitness Center - I know, I tried it!   I paid my 3 month special membership, and once a week I walked around the indoor track for 30 minutes and then sat in the hot tub for another half hour.   I enjoyed myself and left feeling relaxed, but I didn’t lose a single pound.   In the same way, spiritual growth may be almost imperceptible, if we are not exercising our faith and using our gifts in accordance with Christ’s purposes – working up a “holy sweat!”   

I believe that each and every person here wants to grow as a Christian and become more and more like Jesus.   We want to pray wisely and according to His will.   We want to see people come to faith and find new freedom from the destructive effects of sin.   We want our lives to make a difference for the Kingdom of God, and we want to see such a brilliant manifestation of Holy Spirit unity in the church that it becomes obvious even to the world around us”   I know we do.

It is natural to feel a little ill-equipped for the work of God: that’s just one way of our remaining humble and recognizing that we play just a small part, while the real action takes place in the spiritual realm by the power of the Holy Spirit.  But each and every one of us has something unique and special that only we can offer.  None is too old, too young, too insecure or too clumsy to make a difference, by God’s grace and in the koinonia created by the Spirit. 

There are many opportunities to become more involved – to stretch and grow and become better equipped.    So – Get plugged in to the Body!    You can sign up for service activities that are also a lot of fun, like the Ceilidh this coming Friday and Saturday.   You can participate in adult discipleship classes, or prayer groups, or one of the small groups that meet at various times and locations around the valley.   Plug in to the WELL – either by taking a class, or helping with the meals, or both.    Many people volunteer to help our Deacons, by making calls and visits with people who can’t get out of the house very often.   Still others have an essential ministry of prayer.

Now I want to say one thing more.  It is absolutely essential that you participate in the worship, life and ministry of the church.  There’s a sort of holy rhythm that develops and carries us forward.   We come together regularly for worship, to celebrate and to hear God’s word and to be nourished.   Then we go out into the world – into our homes and places of work and into the community – and as we connect with other people and with current issues, we see the places where people are hurting and where there is still disappointment and dishonesty and broken-ness.  We do what we are able to do, to meet those needs and to console and comfort and speak loving words of truth . . . . and then we come back together, bringing our experiences – both the things that make us rejoice and the things that make us sick at heart – we bring these all back again with us to worship, bringing them before our God in confession and praise, lifting them up because we know that it is only in Christ that we, or anything else in the world, finds purpose, finds healing, finds renewal.

This is what it means to be Church:   to be redeemed, to be renewed, to be equipped, to become shaped by the rhythms of holy service – not just as individuals, but all together as a body.  Partly for ourselves, yes, for we need this:   but far more, for the service of the world.  Let us pray.