Why
Pastor
Last
Sunday night at the Annual Business Meeting we voted to buy the
Next
week we will do Church “Chapel style”
This
week I will be speaking at the Seattle Leadership Tour.
We
will also have the Leaders’ Forum for
We
have our own “Leaders Day” coming up November 2.
1 Now about spiritual gifts,
brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. 2 You know that when you were
pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 3
Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says,
"Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord,"
except by the Holy Spirit. 4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same
Spirit. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are
different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. 7
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8
To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the
message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the
same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another
miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between
spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still
another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the
same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. 12 The body
is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are
many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by
one Spirit into one body-- whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free-- and we were
all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Now the body is not made up of one part
but of many.
27 Now you are the body of
Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And in the church God has
appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers
of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others,
those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of
tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work
miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all
interpret? 31 But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the
most excellent way. (NIV)
This is a message about the very nature of a church. What makes us unique is that the Spirit of
God dwells within us. God’s Spirit
within us causes us to do certain things we would not, or could not, otherwise
do. In most every other way, we are just like other people.
We have defined our purposes to be consistent with what we understand of the priorities of the Christian life. First of all, we are learning to love God fully. Secondly, we are increasingly loving others through acts of mercy especially for the poor, bruised, and broken-hearted. Thirdly, we are nourishing our own faith through worship, the spiritual disciplines, and devotional acts. Finally, we are joining with others to build the church through participation, giving, and evangelism. We think the Christian faith is fully expressed in those purposes and, indeed, in that order of priority. Within those bounds the whole of the Christian work takes place. How it takes place, and what expressions it takes, will be determined by the people who become part of the church in this area. As each person is created for unique purposes, when the Holy Spirit touches their life, he will lead them in unique ways.
When the Holy Spirit works through a person’s life to accomplish God’s purposes, we call that working a gift of the Holy Spirit. There are twenty-seven such gifts mentioned in the Bible, but that is only a representative sample not an exhaustive list. The Corinthian passages emphasize that there are different kinds of gifts, manifestations, and workings of the Spirit but it is all for the common good.
When people are operating in the Spirit, and respecting the Spirit’s work in the lives of others, there will always be unity. That is Paul’s frequent theme when he talks about the spiritual gifts.
Our Cathedral Church concept is an outworking of that idea. The Spirit works in different ways. There are different ways of worshipping God, but there is only one Spirit. There are different ministries in the church, but only one Spirit. There are many ways to minister to the poor, but only one Spirit. There are different locations in which we have Church, but only one Spirit. When all the acts of God’s Spirit, working through people in a given area are summarized, it could be called a Cathedral Church. (I mean no disrespect to other churches. I just want to emphasize the comprehensive nature of a Cathedral Church)
We will have traditional local church ministries and we will have other ministries to the community but the Lord is going to have to put it into your hearts and then empower you by the Spirit.
Everything that is important in
our lives requires the Spirit. The very
definition of what we are is that we are people of the Holy Spirit. In the second generation after the Apostle
John they were still expressing it that way.
For this gift of God has been entrusted to the Church, as breath was to the first created man, for this purpose, that all the members receiving it may be vivified; and the [means of] communion with Christ has been distributed throughout it, that is, the Holy Spirit,…. “For in the Church,” it is said, “God hath set apostles, prophets, teachers,” and all the other means through which the Spirit works;…. For where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church, and every kind of grace; but the Spirit is truth.[1]
God is giving to us the incredible opportunity to be filled with his
Holy Spirit. Then we get to express that
in our world. I thank this church for
recognizing my spiritual gift of pastoring. You have followed me into a lot of approaches
that other places would not have. I
think about our Chapel of the Resurrection. Even I was afraid in the beginning. I hardly talked about it in church for fear
you would think I was nuts. But you did
not. You followed my lead and today we
have that beautiful facility and a team of people that minister in both
weddings and funerals. It is a unique
thing that is restoring one of the ancient practices of the church.
In some places, there is constant
conflict between traditional church ministries and school ministries. Even though we have the usual struggles of
using common space, this church has recognized the gift of teaching in that
setting and supports it. As a result, we
have been able to build an outstanding educational system that only promises to
get better when we finish the new High School building. I thank you for recognizing there are
different kinds of ministries.
Now we have embarked on the branch
church concept. Northshore was a
whole new concept, not only for us, but for others as well. You embraced it from the beginning. Our Denominational leaders were reluctant at
first. Today they have embraced the
concept at both the state and national level.
Churches around us are also picking up the idea. The
I am excited about Totem Lake. It will allow a whole new set of people to
exercise their spiritual gifts. I
believe a whole new kind of ministry will emerge in that place. I don’t know all that will happen there. That’s what I love about serving God. Surprising things happen.
The same is true for our home groups. Leaders will emerge. Miracles will happen. Gospel seeds will be planted. Maybe some branch churches will spring up in
outlying areas. I can imagine all kinds
of dynamic ministry taking place.
Jesus said, “…you
will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth."[2]
Tonight I will be talking about why I love to pray, and why leaders in recent centuries have wanted more of God’s Holy Spirit.