First Presbyterian Church of Willmar
January 20, 2013
Sermon: “To
Each Is Given”
I Corinthians 2:1-11
And God spoke to Moses:
“[Exodus 3.9-11] The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen
how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my
people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.’ But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I
should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’”
The Lord spoke to Gideon:
“[Judges 6:14-15] Then the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in this might of
yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you.’ He
responded, ‘But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in
Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.’”
The funny thing is that Gideon then raised an army of 32,000 warriors,
and the Lord said that with such an army the people might believe that they
defeated the Midianites. God whittled
down Gideon’s army to 300 so that when the victory took place they would
recognize that the Lord had brought them the victory, not their own
effort.
Then there’s Jonah who fled
from the Lord’s call. And Peter who
denied the Lord. And Paul who murdered
Christians. If you read the genealogy of
Jesus found in Matthew 1, you will find a prostitute, several adulterers and a
murderer or two.
The thing about God’s power,
God’s love, God’s forgiveness and God’s grace is that it leaves us with no
excuses. Think you’re too big a sinner
to be put to God’s purposes? Think
again. Think that you have some mental
or physical shortcoming that means that you could never do anything for the
glory of God? Think again. Think you have no gifts at all to be put to
use by God? Think again.
We are condemned to
forgiveness! And we are forgiven so that
through the grace of God we – even we – can be used for the glory of God and
the proclamation of God’s love for all the world.
Some people tell me that they
are frightened by all the talk in scripture about the final judgment. First of
all, I’m not frightened because I am on speaking terms with the judge – and you
should be too. Second, I’m much too
“existential” to even begin to think about something that’s going to happen
some time in the future, even if it is tomorrow. I tend to worry about today, right now, this
minute.
I bet I know something that
could frighten you much more than worrying about the day of the Lord’s
return. Right now, today, God is calling
you. Right now!
God is saying to you: “Pssst!
Come here. I want to talk with
you. I have something that I want you to
do right now. What’s that? Well yes, it will change your life. No, none of that old stuff matters. I can take care of that. Put it all behind you. We need to talk about today. Don’t tell me that you don’t have any
talent. You have talent. But even that doesn’t really matter. I’m going to do the work. You just need to be there to help with the
interpretation. To close the deal.”
Right now God has something
in mind for you to do. Right now. Your sins don’t matter. Your shortcomings don’t matter. Yesterday’s mistakes don’t matter. This is a new day. You have been condemned to forgiveness,
redemption, salvation and reconciliation.
God has taken care of all that in Jesus.
All you have to do is believe it and submit to God’s will. That’s what faith is all about. By grace God has taken care of all the
details. God has a very big eraser and
what you did yesterday – and all the yesterdays beyond that – are gone. And today God wants your life to change.
Are you still worried about
that day of the Lord that Amos describes as “[Amos 5:18-19]
… the day of the Lord?
It is darkness, not light; as if someone fled from a lion, and was met by a
bear; or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall, and was bitten
by a snake.” Well, I suppose if you have
no faith in Christ, if you deny Christ with your life, then maybe you have
something to be concerned about. Do you
understand what it means to have faith in Christ? Do you understand that to have faith in
Christ means that you accept the fact that you have been condemned to
forgiveness, to redemption, to salvation by the grace of God through the
sacrifice and triumph of Jesus?
And if you believe that then
you know that before God you have no excuses left. You can change your life. You can share God’s love. You can feel your heart break as you see the
world through the eyes of God and ask God what role you can play. You can be forgiving. You can be loving. You can be kind to one another and to all the
world.
Paul tells us “To each – that
means you! – is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common
good.” That means you. You have been ushered back into God’s presence. You are God’s beloved. You have been
forgiven. You can’t out-sin God’s love
for you. You have been redeemed. You have been saved. You have been transformed.
You have no more
excuses! That’s the rub. You have no more excuses! You have been condemned to forgiveness and
given new life.
It’s pretty scary.
Right this minute God is
saying to you: “There’s something I’d
like you to do for me.” Are you
listening?
Amen.
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