Sermon for AP, Year A, Epiphany + 6, Feb. 13, 2011.

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

            And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. ²I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, ³for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? ⁴For when one says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apollos," are you not merely human?
                ⁵What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. ⁶I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. ⁷So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ⁸The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. ⁹For we are God's servants, working together; you are God's field, God's building.

            You ever find yourself wishing there was a “reconsider” button on your computer, one that would reach into cyberspace and grab back an email, or a comment?

            Yeah I thought so.  Most of us.  There are a few folks who say what they want and don’t worry about what others think.  I’m a little jealous of those folks.  Usually at three in the morning when I’m reviewing something I said for the eighty-fifth time.  Yeah, those people sleep better than I do; I’m convinced of it.

            Paul probably slept pretty well.

            I sometimes wonder whether Paul ever reconsidered some of the things he wrote.  I like to think that if he had realized that the letters he wrote for very specific contexts to very specific communities were going to become chapters in the Best Selling Book of All Time…he might have reconsidered a few of his language choices.

            Like the part from our lesson for this morning in which he tells the people of Corinth that they act like babies.  I think if he knew he was writing a chapter in the Bible, he might have been a little more tactful.  Maybe would have hit the “reconsider” button on his laptop…

             …and maybe not.  He was frustrated.  He had brought the Corinthians this amazing gift, this precious gospel of Jesus Christ, and they were so turned in on themselves that they weren’t doing much with it.  That would be frustrating.  You can kind of see where he’s coming from, can’t you? 

            He taught them the good news:  God came down to be with us in the flesh, as Jesus Christ.  Jesus taught values we need to make our world the best it can be.  And because God knew that we would always struggle to live by those values, Jesus gave his life in order that we would be saved, even though we fail.  Sometimes epically. 

            Paul went to Corinth and gave them that good news.  Established a church.  And when he left, the church poured its energy…

            …NOT into spreading the gospel into Athens, and Neopolis, and Crete.

            …NOT into caring for the poor and those in prison, as Jesus taught.

            …NOT even into building up the church.

            What were they doing?  It’s there in verse four. 

            They were arguing about whose church they were.  Are we the church of Apollos, or Cephas, or Paul? 

            So what’s the answer to the question?  Whose church are they?

⁵What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. ⁶I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. ⁷So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ⁸The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. ⁹For we are God's servants, working together; you are God's field, God's building.

⁹For we are God's servants, working together; you are God's field, God's building.

Whose are we?  God’s.

            We are God’s.  Say that with me.

            We are God’s.

            Whose is the church?

            The church is God’s.  Say it with me.

            The church is God’s.

            We’re going to talk a lot about mission in the coming months.  Okay, that’s not true.  We’re going to talk a lot about mission forever.  We’re going to be trendy.  Forever.  See, there is a move afoot to return to the understanding of church that Paul is teaching to us this morning.  The understanding that the church and its people—we—are the field in which God’s ministry is planted.  The ministry is God’s.  The mission is God’s.  And I hope you’re thinking now “Hey, Pastor Donna—we get that.”  Because I think you do.  We’ve certainly always talked about the church being God’s, haven’t we?            We’ve always talked about it.

            We’ve talked about it and talked about it. 

            In our churches.  In our area ministries.  In our synod.  We talk about it.

            And yet, when our bishop decided, eight years ago, that our synod was going to get on board with this “missional church” trend—start asking the question “What is God up to?” and thinking about ministry based on our answers—people were confused. 

            “What’s all this ‘missional church’ stuff?”

            Whadaya mean “What’s God up to?”  God’s up to what we’re up to!

            Ironically enough, “What’s God up to?” turns out to be a strange question in the church.  We’re not so used to asking what God is doing.  We’re used to thinking about what we’re doing. 

            You might have noticed this if you were at the Community Construction Team meeting last week, as many of you were.  We spent a little time talking about what God is up to in the Troost Corridor.  Only a little, because people didn’t quite know what to make of the question, “What is God up to in the Troost Corridor?”  We’re not used to the question, so how would we have an answer?

            The energy in the room went up significantly when we moved on to talk about what we could do.  There wasn’t enough room on my chart pad to write all of the ideas people had for ministry at St. Mark Hope and Peace.

            Which is awesome!  So much good soil.  So many good seeds for ministry.

            We’ve just got to figure out how to make sure we’re planting in God’s field.  That we’re partnering with God to do ministry.  Because the ministry is God’s.  The mission is God’s.  The question we’ll learn to ask…and to answer…is what is God doing? 

            And I know it’s a new question.  As much as it sounds like the way we’ve always talked about church, this is a new way of doing church. 

            And if that makes you nervous, get in line.

            God could be doing anything.  God does some crazy stuff.  God might want a day camp for the kids who live around the church.  Are you prepared to plant seeds and water a day camp?

            God might be teaching computer skills to convicted felons.  Are you ready to teach Excel to a former gang member?

            God might be sheltering people in the sanctuary on winter nights.  Are you prepared to do that?

            Wait…you’ve already done that.  In direct violation of your lease agreement. 

            Because here’s what God’s up to in North Kansas City:  making sure homeless folks in North Kansas City are sheltered, especially in the coldest months of the year.  And guess who’s been planting and watering those seeds.

            Missional Church.  So we’re still learning how to talk about it.  That’s okay, because we’re already doing it.  So if you’re in that line of people who are nervous because you think we might change how we do things, take heart.

            We’ll reconsider the way we talk about ministry.  And get back to work doing it.  In a new place.  With new framing questions. 

⁹For we are God's servants, working together; you are God's field, God's building.