God's Co-Workers 10-16-11

FIRST READING—1 Corinthians 3: 6-11

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are God’s co-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

SECOND READING—Luke 14: 25-31

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even life itself—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
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God’s Co-Workers 10-16-11
Will you pray with me: God, we lift these words and thoughts to you. Fill them with your grace and Holy Spirit. Bless us as we listen for your word today. Amen
Let me start with a brief note of gratitude from Carol: Friends, I am so grateful for the many folks who stepped forward and made the worship service so beautiful today. I look forward to being back with you next week, but in the meantime, enjoy the rest of the service. I am especially thankful to Terri for reading the sermon for this week and for Paul’s worship leadership. I am grateful also for all your prayers while I have been battling shingles. I miss being there today. RC
I must admit that I am always amazed at the way God illuminates what we are studying with real life examples. And while I would not have chosen a bout with shingles to illustrate anything, I must admit that as I watched people step forward to make the service go on with short notice without me, I was amazed at how the very principle of diversynergy (DI-Vers-energy) came to life. Between now and the beginning of Advent, I will continue to talk about the differences among us that make for a full and complete experience of God’s Holy Spirit working in our midst—a study that I believe will enable us to embrace all that each and every one of us brings to the table. I am enjoying bringing the work of Ronald C. Williams, an African-American pastor and teacher, to bear on these sermons. In his book, Serving God with Style: Unleashing Servant Potential, he has developed a method that outlines for us some significant differences in the way we, as believers, exercise our faith. He uses four categories and expands from there: Action-, Growth-, Creative- and Purpose-oriented. The goal of his discussion and my adaptation of it here in Open Circle is not to label or pigeon hole each other. It is so that when we fail to agree on a certain dearly held approach to ministry, we may begin to understand how each of us works in different ways all to bring glory to God.—this divine multitude of people, skills, and approaches that results in Diversesynergy—a celebration of all God’s people reaching their fullest servant potential possible. All of the elements of orientation are necessary in any activity. We rarely see all four approaches in any one individual. That is why it is so important to involve people from all four orientations any time we seek God’s guidance in our service and ministry. The potential to be a servant of God is God’s ability to work through the very human activities of us humans as we seek to serve. More than likely, we never completely fulfill our potential during our earthly lifetime. According to Williams, “Potential is that which can be, but has not yet been attained. Divine power is the catalyst that moves every believer toward service consistent with God’s will and purpose.”
Today, we begin with perhaps the most easily identifiable style of faith—that is action-oriented servants. These are the folks who show up without fail, are extremely reliable. They show up all over the Old and New Testament and are found in every church, large and small. Quite frankly, churches are dependent on these go-getters—so much so that we often count on them too much, thereby failing to give others a chance to grow into their own brand of faith work. Paul puts all of our work, action-oriented or otherwise into perspective. What comes just before the passage in Corinthians is Paul’s irritable rebuke of the Corinthians’ arguing over who they ‘belong’ to. Some are arguing that they follow Paul, while others claim to follow Apollos. He has made his thoughts known, as well as his disappointment. He tells them that he cannot treat them like spiritually mature followers until they get that differences hold them together and not push them apart. Paul says: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are God’s co-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. “
It can sometimes be a challenge for those of us who are action-oriented to make room for those with different perspectives. There is a “just do it” thought that sets in. So when others want to approach a task differently, those of us who are action-oriented in our faith work can appear to be leaving others in the dust. Once again, we stop ourselves and remind ourselves that we need the variety of gifts and approaches to do the work of the kingdom. Look at what Jesus said about an action-oriented approach and careful planning: “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?” This is action-oriented work at its finest—based in research (another way to take action) and followed up with a commitment to the action itself.
Our action oriented folks are also our accurate communicators. They spread the news about the tasks to be undertaken and the steps we will need to follow. The stories about Moses and his actions as a leader and communicator illustrate the value in this mode of faith work well. There is a particularly great story found in Exodus, chapters 35-39, about when the Israelites were instructed to build the tabernacle. Ronald Williams describes it like this: “Having received specific instructions from God, Moses disseminated detailed instructions to the Israelite community regarding the tabernacle. He discussed service hours, the building fund, interior decorating, task assignments, materials acquisition, uniforms, and much more. All aspects of the assignments were disseminated in detail. This effective communication was evident in the results. Even though scripture doesn’t indicate how often planning sessions or design meetings were held, we can speculate that a project requiring the involvement of over 600,000 people required meticulous coordination and dissemination of information. We can be sure that when it was all over, Moses was pleased because the work had been done exactly as the Lord commanded.” I think we can safely assume that there were others who looked at that task differently. But God knew just who was needed to pull off that amazing feat. And so, as we both learn about and explore other perspectives, we also begin to learn which style of faith brings the best leadership for various kinds of ministries.
In the next weeks, we will study the purpose-oriented, then the growth-oriented and, finally, the creative-oriented approach to faith work or servanthood. As we seek God’s will and way for our church, we will bring new thoughts and perspectives to our over-riding purpose—learning to celebrate who we are in all our amazing diversynergy and love for each other and God. To God be the glory! Amen and Amen.