When your church parking lot looks like this on a Sunday morning,
And this is your special guest (yes, a pig, in church)…
What do you think the sermon is going to be about, and who would allow these things to happen???
Before I tell you about the message God wants us to hear for today, let me tell you that the pig, the boat, and the dirt bike were NOT my idea. In fact, I only found out about the pig on Tuesday, when the real pastor was joking around with us in youth group. He thought it would shock me, and especially when he “remembered” that I was the one leading worship in his absence this week. Oh, and by the way, he also had asked all the kids to bring their ribbons for their activities to church for children’s moment. Ha ha!
So when I asked, “What do you want me to do with the ribbons? What plan did you have for that? And how am I supposed to preach about a pig?”
He said, “You’ll figure it out. Be their champion.”
I read through the Lectionary of the week, and I found the closest thing to a champion speech that I could find. Ephesians 4:1-16. I sat with that passage all week. I went to swim team with it, I woke up each morning with it, I sat at night with my paper and pen and laptop with it, and I could not figure out how that passage was going to mesh with being a champion and a pig and ribbons. Oh golly! What a mess was I in! I searched the internet about being a champion. I searched the internet about being God’s chosen. I searched You Tube for motivational speeches, and watched no less than 25 videos over two days. Finally, as I was doing my make up this morning, watching the very last video, I had tears and goosebumps, and I knew that I had found it. The right video to go with the message.
I got to church and threw the video in as a last minute thing, and went to find out about the giving tree in the back of the church. I then went to talk to the family about the pig. We straightened all those plans out and it was time to get busy at the pulpit. Which I prefer to do from down front at the music stand. We all have our comfort zones people – be gentle.
The service started as normal, and then when it was time for children’s moment, I told the congregation not to be scared, that our special guest would not bother them, at least I didn’t think so! We talked about the ribbons, and the fact that they are a rating system, and that an animal is not judged on their presentation at that very moment, but as a project as a whole. We talked about the amount of work that goes into a project animal, and the accountability that goes along with a 4-H project. The record keeping, the meetings, the interview, the preparation of the animal… it’s not just showing up and being in the ring for thirty minutes one day. It’s a long process. We talked about how when a person goes in the ring, they always face the judge, it’s a mark of showmanship. They never take their eyes off of him as they maneuver their animal around the ring. Our God is like that. He is our judge, He is the one who commands the ring, and our attention, and if we keep our faces turned toward Him, our eyes on Him, we will always know what to do. We will know what He is calling us to do. We will be in relationship with Him. When Felicia the pig came into the church, it was quite a deal. Our church isn’t really a place that a pig has ever been before, and I know it may have been uncomfortable for some people, but you know what? Jesus preached around pigs, why shouldn’t I??? (this thought just helps me get over anything negative anyone might say)
After her grand appearance, and discussing how Felicia was selected as a project, and how her handler knew she was a champion, we talked about how God knows that about us. He chose us, He created us, He knows that we are champions, long before we ever do. He works with us, and draws us in, and He has gifted us with things that we can use to champion His purpose. Whether we win ribbons or not, God has created us as champions!
After offering and confessing our sins, we thanked God for His grace and mercy, and we watched this video:
What’s amazing here, is the back story about the coach. If you’ve never watched “Remember The Titans”, its a movie worth watching. It is based on a true story about a school’s experience with integration in the 60’s. The coach was forced by the government to integrate the school, the football team, and ultimately, his coaching staff. The school board and some in the community, were against this. They tried many things to get the black students and coaches to go, but they stayed. They tried to get the white coach to be in conflict with the black coach, but he wouldn’t. In the end, all the board had left was to tell the coach that if he didn’t throw the game, he would lose his “Hall of Fame” status, a status that his daughter always wanted for him. And in this scene, he stands by as refs make bad calls in an attempt to throw the game; until he notices his daughter screaming at the refs. It is then that the coach tells the refs that he knows what’s going on, to let the boys play ball, and not only that, but if they don’t let the boys play, he will bring to light the injustice being done. He will turn them all in and he is willing to go down with them to stop this injustice. The coach IS Hall of Fame, a champion even – just by keeping his integrity! He did the right thing when everyone else wanted something else, and proved he was a champion.
Ephesians 4:1 says, “Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.”
Listen to that. Did you hear it? Number one thing right off the bat today that Scripture says – Lead a life worthy of your calling for YOU have been called by God.
Paul, in jail for sharing the Good News, wrote a letter to the people of Ephesus, telling them – the Gentiles, the outcasts – that they have been called by God.
Since the Word of God is still alive for you and for me – that verse is for US today! We should be leading a life worthy of our calling because we have been called by God!
What does that mean? Well probably different things to different people, because God is going to deal with each of us as individuals. He is going to work on areas of our lives with us at different times and in different ways. He might be dealing with me about loving my neighbor and someone else about their prayer life. Whatever a life worthy could be, one thing it is for sure is that of a person who is called, because we are! We are already champions guys! God already picked us!!
So, verse 2 says “Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other. Making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.” (in today’s Spirit guided sermon, I made a reference to Dennis Rodman here, I’ll link up the video once it has been released)
So as champions – we are going to be humble, gentle and patient with each other. Verse 3 tells us to always keep ourselves united in the Holy Spirit and to bind ourselves together with peace. Does anyone want to tell me what this is starting to sound like? Does it sound at all like a team? Sure it does! A player for a farm team gets called up to the big league and now he has to get along with the new team, not forget where he came from, to learn to work with the others, has to go to practice, learn to grind and struggle with all the others. Yeah, sounds like a team to me.
And so, verse 4, 5 & 6 says “We are all one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future. There is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and there is only one God and Father who is over us all and in us all and living through us all.”
Okay, I want to try reading that again, and when I say “one body”, I want you to please stand up and look around this sanctuary as I read the rest of the passage so you can see who all is on your team. (This was beautiful! As you will see on the video, when it gets posted, the congregation really looked around at our team. We really see how we are one of one!)
“We are all one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future. There is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and there is only one God and Father who is over us all and in us all and living through us all.”
Now, verse 7 says, “However, He has given each one of us a special gift according to the generosity of Christ.” Verse 8, “That is why Scriptures say, ‘When he ascended to the heights, he led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to his people’.” Verse 9 “Notice that it says, he ascended. This means that Christ first came down to the lowly world in which we live.” Verse 10 says, “The same one who came down is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that his rule might fill the entire house.”
OK, so do you hear where our purple ribbon championship status comes from? It comes from the generosity of Jesus – who had to first come down here and rescue us, then ascend to the throne of heaven, where He is now giving each of us our own special gift!
Verse 11 says, “He is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and the teachers.” So not unlike Felicia the pig and the players on a team, we are all uniquely gifted. Each of us has been given a gift to use.
Verse 12 tells us what for: “Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s son that we will be mature and full grown in the LORD, measuring up to the full stature of Christ.”
We have to keep working together with our team to build each other up, to recruit new players, to practice so we can grow and keep moving up. We are going to keep growing and perfecting our faith until we are just like Jesus. Until we measure up to Him. Verse 14 says, “Then we will no longer be like children forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or because someone cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth. Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.”
Finally, verse 16 confirms that we are a team – under His direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. “As each part does it’s own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing full of love.” We are healthy when we do our part, when we work together, when we help others!
We are on a championship team, created to have a unique role on this team; yet each part must work together in love and peace to accomplish the common goal. We are one of one. One member of one body.
On the baseball field, the pitcher would look silly pitching to an empty plate. And wouldn’t the center look foolish snapping the ball to no one on the football field? If the freestyle stroke didn’t show up, the medley relay swimmers would have to scratch. Like the players of a game (the team members), we Christians need each other. We who are gifted prayers need those gifted in teaching. Those gifted in mercy and compassion need the prophets and the evangelists. The people who love to teach and are gifted, we need them to teach, and we need those gifted in outreach to reach out. We need the ones gifted in Stewardship to lead us in giving and saving.
We are each one on the same team. Let us celebrate our uniqueness while we work peacefully together to do what the outside of the bulletin says, “Our mission is to share the saving love of Christ and to help persons grow as joyful disciples in ministry to all the world.”
Remember – you are chosen and called by God. You are a champion and you are one of one!
Momma Rich's 