"What Are You Lacking?" Second Sunday after the Epiphany January 16, 2011 1Corinthians 1:1-9
We all do it. Sometimes it’s intentional. Sometimes we don’t mean to do it. But whenever we do it and for whatever reason it’s expressly against God and His will and His Word. What I’m talking about is going against God’s Word. We do this in many ways but one specific way is by not understanding God’s Word as a whole as well as particular passages in their context. This causes no end of confusion and leading people astray. Since we all do this it should give us pause when others do it. Most definitely we should correct them, but we should do so humbly and lovingly. We also of course should be sure that we ourselves are not doing the very same thing. In the Epistle reading Paul says something of the Corinthians—and because the Holy Spirit inspired him to write these words as Scripture, to us as well—that could be easily overlooked. I don’t recall having noticed it until this past week. Part of the problem is that we don’t know the Scriptures as we ought. Part of it is that we naturally tend to interpret the Scriptures out of their context, and specifically certain passages out of their context. In the Epistle Paul gives thanks for Christians because of the grace of God that was given them in Christ Jesus, so that they are not lacking in any spiritual gift. When I noticed that phrase ‘not lacking in any spiritual gift’ I immediately thought of ‘spiritual gifts’. Some Christians will ask you what your spiritual gift is. They will tell you what their own spiritual gift or gifts are and talk of the importance of them. Some churches will give you something called a ‘spiritual gift inventory’ or something along those lines. The purpose of this is to help you determine what your spiritual gift is. Usually those who emphasize spiritual gifts will point you to passages such as Romans 12 and 1Corinthians 12 where Paul gives a list of gifts. These passages list a variety of these gifts and those who stress their importance speak of the variety of people who are in the Christian Church. When I noticed this phrase in our Epistle reading it struck me that what Paul is saying is remarkable. It’s one thing to say in Romans 12 and 1Corinthians 12 that there are a variety of gifts, it’s another thing to say what he says here, his prayer that we may not be lacking in any spiritual gift. As one who has never spent a lot of time wondering what my spiritual gift is, let alone seek out an inventory to determine it, I am struck that God the Holy Spirit here has inspired the apostle Paul to tell us that God’s desire is that we not be lacking in any spiritual gift. As Lutherans love to ask, What does this mean? What it means, first, is that we are severely lacking in our ability to interpret the Scriptures on our own. Our minds are limited, our imagination is limited, and we are severely limited by the corruption of our minds and hearts. It’s actually a pretty easy thing to latch on to a couple lists in the Bible and talk of the importance of those things for us as Christians. But the danger here is to latch on to these lists, and then what happens is latching on to one or a few of those spiritual gifts, and there you are with your spiritual gift or gifts and you’re all set. But what about what Paul says in the Epistle reading? Are we lacking in so many more because we don’t see how those gifts listed in the places where they are are in light of the rest of what God has shown us in His Word? Secondly, it means that we are lacking in our ability to understand the nature of ‘gift’. I’m not saying we don’t know what gifts are or how to receive them or how important they are. But we are fundamentally flawed in our understanding of their nature. This is why we turn so much of Christianity into what we do rather than who Christ is and what He has done. Think about what John the Baptist says of Christ in the Gospel reading for today: “Behold, the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world!” This is gift talk. This is John saying of Jesus, Here is your gift. When Jesus comes He comes to give a gift and the gift is Himself. When Jesus comes and gives you Himself as the gift for your sins you are not lacking in anything. Including, as Paul says in the Epistle, any spiritual gift. Why would you want to limit yourself to just one or two? The key here is the way the Bible talks. The Bible talks in this gift language but too often we fail to see it because we aren’t thinking in those terms when we see things like what John says of Jesus when Jesus comes on the scene. But isn’t this a gift? And isn’t it the greatest gift of all? Why do we not see that? It’s because in the third place we are lacking in repentance. We fail to see and acknowledge that we lack everything as we stand before God. There is nothing in us or about us that makes God look on us and see that we deserve anything good from Him. Not that He has no love for us. Just the opposite—He has eternal love for us. That’s why He calls us to repentance, otherwise we wouldn’t see our need. He is the God of love. That’s why He loves to give. He is the God who gives gifts. Bringing us into life and communion with Him at the outset was itself all gift. From the beginning God has been giving to us and He continues to give to us. If we are lacking in anything it’s not because He doesn’t give. It’s not due to Him not loving us. It’s due to what we lack because of our sin, because of our not wanting everything He gives to us. We’d rather hold on to what we have, which is our sin. That’s why we give in to temptation. That’s why we even seek it out. That’s why we say, Just this once more, and find ourselves saying it often. Spiritual gifts are important, no question. God didn’t put them in His Word for no reason. But they are all by grace. That’s what Paul says: “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus.” They are, as the term itself tells us, all gift. Gifts are given, never earned. They are offered freely, never handed over in response to demand. They are given out of grace, pure and simple. It’s our corrupted minds and hearts that can’t come to terms with this. Rather than emphasize a few gifts God gives us, we are shown to lift up Christ and all He has done for us. As John says: “Behold, the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world!” We are so caught up in our selfish desires and our corrupted sinful flesh we don’t even see that our greatest need is the forgiveness of our sins. We’d rather focus on one or two things here and there rather than the whole package. We’d rather content ourselves with what we have rather than all the blessings our Lord gives us in, well, in Himself. He is the Gift. We lack nothing in Him. It’s why He is the Lamb of God. It’s why He went to Calvary and rested in the tomb. It’s the reason He walked away from that resting place so that He may always be at the ready to give and give and give some more. It’s why He Baptizes us and feeds us with Himself, His Body and Blood for the forgiveness of all of our sins. There’s the gift. It’s Him. It’s all His blessings, wrapped up in Him coming to us. It’s there on that very altar that you will approach. By His very gift of grace you approach it in humility and repentance so that you may see that in this Gift of Christ and Him crucified for you you lack nothing and have everything, now and forever. Amen. SDG -- Pastor Paul L. Willweber Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS] 6801 Easton Ct., San Diego, California 92120 619.583.1436 princeofpeacesd.net three-taverns.net It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything except where the marks of the Church are concerned. [Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian] ___________________________________________________________________ 'CAT 41 Sermons & Devotions' consists of works that are, unless otherwise noted, the copyrighted property of the various authors; posting of such gives members of this list implied consent for redistribution _with_attribution_ unless otherwise specified by the author (as long as no charge is made for the work and it is not made part of a compilation), as well as for quoting or use in a congregational setting _with_or_without_attribution_. Note: This list's default reply is to the *poster*, NOT the list. Do *not* reply to the list with your comments, but to the poster. Subscribe? 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