Today I had the opportunity and honor to preach once again at White Oak UMC as the pastor (Amy Whatley) headed up to Annual Conference. It was good to be back among folks that I've gotten to worship with in the past and see them again, and to meet some new folks. Several folks came to hear and support me this morning as well and that was an encouraging. Thanks Riley, Charlotte, Val, Gail, Jim, and Bonnie!
Tony Burgess ran sound and did a great job, as usual. He also had some help from Robert, a youth who is in training. That's great!
David Kammerdiener led worship and had picked some great worship songs from
The Faith We Sing: "Blessed Be the Name of the Lord", "He is Exalted", "I Love You, Lord". The choral worship song was "The Heart of Worship". It was a blessing to worship in song.
Lynne Corvin gave the children's message and it was a wonderful story on the different types of "taters"/ "tators" in our lives. Though I couldn't see all the decorated potatoes, I know that there was a Mr. Potato Head in there as well as some decorated potatoes to represent IMItator, COMMENtator, DICKtator, etc. and a sweet potato to show that as Christians, we are different on the inside. At the end, Ms. Lynne gave out Hershey candy to all the kids. Next time, I'm going to be a kid!! ☺
Thanks again White Oak UMC for welcoming me and my family to worship with you today!
Below is my sermon (more or less):
PRAYER
FOR ILLUMINATION:
Living
God,
help
us so to hear your Word
that
we may truly understand;
that,
understanding, we may believe;
and
believing,
we
may follow your way in all faithfulness,
seeking
your honor and glory in all that we do. Amen.
“Extending Grace
to More and More People”
White Oak UMC
June 10, 2012
Scripture:
2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1
2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1
13But just as we have
the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—“I believed, and
so I spoke” —we also believe, and so we speak,14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will
raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence.15Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends
to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.16So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting
away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.17For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an
eternal weight of glory beyond all measure,18because we look not at
what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary,
but what cannot be seen is eternal.
5For we know that if the earthly tent we live
in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens.
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LEADER:
THIS IS THE WORD OF GOD FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD.
ALL:
THANKS BE TO GOD.
Today
is the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost.
This Scripture reading is one of the Lectionary choices for today. As I’ve been reading, studying, and praying
through these Scriptures in preparation for this morning’s service, I struggled
with where to place the message focus.
Maybe you didn’t hear or see all the sermon possibilities in that short
passage that I did, but here are the sermon titles that I came up with from it:
· “If you believe,
speak up!”
· “Faith that
prompts you to speak out”
· The ongoing
effect of grace”
· “Don’t lose
heart”
· “Renewed daily”
· “This tent is
temporary”
You
see what I ended up with: “Extending Grace to More and More People”, taken from
verse 15. Oh, don’t worry, I don’t plan
on preaching every sermon that’s found in this passage. Hopefully, we’ll see how the themes come
together to help us live out our faith in the world around us—our church, our
homes, our places of work, where we shop and play, etc.
Let’s
take another look at verse 15: “so that grace, as it extends to more and more
people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.” As grace is extended to more and more people,
it will increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
What
is “grace” and how do we extend it?
According
to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, grace
is: “unmerited divine assistance given humans for their
regeneration or sanctification”.
Sanctification--the state of growing in divine grace
as a result of Christian commitment after baptism or conversion
You
may have heard this explanation before for the GRACE acronym: God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense.
Grace
at its simplest form can mean “gift”.
While
I was researching for this sermon, I came across a book, the butterfly effect of Grace, by Rex Russell. Through his teaching and now through the
stories in this book, Rex has tried to get the message of grace across to
others. He boils it down to this
statement: “Nothing I will ever do, good or bad, will ever cause the heart of
God to love me any more or less than He does right now.” That, my friends, is GRACE! Hear it again, with a slight change: “Nothing you will ever do, good or bad, will
ever cause the heart of God to love you any more or less than He does right
now.” What do you think? How does that make you feel? Do you get it?
NOTHING
you or I will ever do, good or bad, will ever cause the heart of God to love us
any more or less than He does right now.
Again,
this is grace!
Once
we “get it” and accept it and start living it, then we can extend it to others.
As we live out the grace of Christ in
our own lives, we automatically extend it to others. [NOTE: I shared some personal testimony here about
the biggest example of me learning to accept God’s grace in my life through my
pregnancy in 2000. I don’t remember all
that I shared, but the bottom line was that even though it was difficult for me
to accept God’s grace, once I did, I was able to extend grace more easily to
others.]
An
example of sharing grace intentionally in community is from just this past week
when all the churches in the Chattanooga District joined in with the Hands-on
Mission for the Holston Conference and loaded up food buckets for Zimbabwe on
Thursday, June 7th at the Chattanooga District. Last I heard, the District Office was
expecting about 800 buckets; 500 over the initial 300 goal. That’s grace extended to more and more people
as these buckets will join with other buckets and will travel across the world
to feed many! Thank you for your
involvement in this effort!
Every
time we celebrate the sacraments of baptism or communion, grace is being
extended. We come together in community
to celebrate these sacraments and recognize the grace of Christ that is
extended to the one being baptized, to the family, and to the entire community
that is promising to raise up that child in their faith or support that person
in their decision to grow in their faith journey. In communion, we take the elements of bread
and fruit of the vine and remember our relationship with Christ and what Christ
has done for us and what Christ means for us. This, too, is an act of grace.
In
Rex Russell’s book, the butterfly effect
of Grace, Rex shares 12 stories of how the grace of God has affected lives
and how that grace touched not only the one life, but many others. There are stories that made me think, laugh,
and cry in this short book. What they
all shared was making the most of everyday encounters with people—because those
seemingly insignificant moments do
matter. And, we need to be willing to
risk, to step out of our comfort zones because in those moments, things happen.
Rex puts it this way: “The most
important thing about the butterfly effect of grace is that it starts when you
and I simply open our eyes and notice the world around us. It is about God using us to reach out to
hurting people. It is about helping them
connect the dots back to God because you took the risk to flap your wings one
more time.” (xxiii)
Think
about your world for a moment. Your
home. Your work. Your daily commute. Your shopping places. Your church. Your community. Your ministry opportunities. Are there people in your life to whom you can
extend grace? Think about your gifts and
passions as you seek to extend grace as a way of ministry outreach.
Maybe
you are at a place in your life where you need to accept grace. Maybe hearing those words earlier that there
is nothing you can do to cause the heart of God to love you any less or more
was difficult for you. If so, allow
grace in. Don’t run from it. Accept it.
No
matter where you are in your walk with Christ, undoubtedly you have experienced
grace at some point. Has that grace
prompted you to speak out? Have you felt
the effects of grace helping you to not lose heart and to be renewed daily? Remember, this tent in which we live is
temporary. But the ongoing effect of
grace will last long beyond the time our tent is gone.
As
you sing the hymn “Help Us Accept Each Other”, look closely at the words. See, hear, and experience the grace that is
offered. [ALTAR CALL for those who wish to pray.]
May
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ fill each of you to overflowing as you seek
to share the love and grace of Christ with those around you.
AMEN!
BENEDICTION:
(from United Methodist Book of Worship, #559)
Serve
your God with patience and passion.
Be
deliberate in enacting your faith.
Be
steadfast in celebrating the Spirit’s power.
And
may peace be your way in the world. Amen. (Glen E. Rainsley, U.S.A., 20th
Century)
