Sermon: “You Are Not Lacking”

Text: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

2^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

January 20, 2008

The sermon this week was delivered without a manuscript.  However, the following is a brief outline.

Scripture introduction:

• Compare Acts 18:1-17 for background on Paul’s stay in Corinth and his establishment of the church there.
• Gallio (brother of Stoic philosopher, Seneca) was proconsul of Achaia in 50/51-51/52, so we have a firm date for Paul’s stay in Corinth, perhaps the only firm date we have for Paul’s ministry.
• Corinth was a Roman colony established by Julius Caesar for the settlement of some of his retiring legions.  Very cosmopolitan city—Romans, Greeks, Jews, Egyptians.
• Paul was followed by Apollos, a Jewish convert to Christianity from Alexandria.
• When Apollos left, the church began to get things wrong, members beginning to vaunt their own spiritual gifts over those of others and of claiming special wisdom.
• Paul writes the letter saying that no one’s gift is necessarily better than anyone else’s.  In this introductory section, he agrees that the Corinthians are spiritually gifted, but he later argues that no one gift is sufficient.  All gifts that God has given must be used. 
• Focus on brief phrase: “You are not lacking [in spiritual gifts].”

Sermon

• Illustration
• Begin with story of my fishing with Lewis “Uncle Al” Alford on the Tennessee River just below Wheeler Dam.
• Describe the boat, the day, the rig, and the method of fishing.  (Al’s expertise)
• First nothing, then so many fish we could not fail to catch one, then nothing again—timing.
• Point one:  This congregation is not lacking in “Spirituality.”
• Natural Church Development process test results suggest that our next project should be improving “passionate spirituality.”
• This is not inconsistent with our tradition, although we sometimes are jokingly referred to as the “frozen chosen.”  John Calvin was very spiritual and wrote that God cannot be fully known but must be experienced.  He analogized this to thunder: we cannot fully know thunder, but we can experience it.
• The idea is that we do not simply know about God and Jesus; rather, we know them as persons.
• There are persons in our congregation who are very spiritual.  They have this spiritual gift.  We need to identify them and follow their leadership in this area.
• Point two: This congregation is not lacking in resources for renovating our building.
• If God wants us to renovate our building, then God already has equipped this congregation with the expertise and resources necessary to accomplish the task.
• We are already well on the way to having a plan for our renovation.  Soon we will have a cost estimate, and it will be time for us to begin raising the money. 
• If we find that we cannot raise enough money, then we really need to question whether we need such an extensive renovation.  On the other hand, if what we design is necessary for mission to flourish in this place, God will make the resources we need available.
• Timing will be important, just like with the fishing.  All those fish were already under the water; it just had to be the right time for us to catch them.  I suspect that the resources we need are similarly available.  We just have to have the appropriate plan and the right timing in order for them to be available.  I think the time is right, but we shall see.