Rev. Dr. William F. (Chip) Summers              Pastor

Worship Service November 17, 2019

  Sermon: "The Living Body of Christ"

Scripture:  I Corinthians 12:4-13

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  Dr. Chip’s Sermon November 3, 2019

"A DAY OF THANKSGIVING”

Scripture: Psalm 28

   No, I haven’t lost my calendar. I’m aware that our national day of thanksgiving is three weeks away. But on this dedication Sunday as we make our pledges for2020, I believe what we are doing is expressing our gratitude to God for the grace we have received and the grace we will experience in the coming year. We pledge because we know we have been blessed

   The Psalmist is clearly aware of grace. He knows his life is built on the grace of God that undergirds his days and that knowledge brings him joy.

“The Lord is my strength and my shield;

in him my heart trusts;

so I am helped, and my heart exults,

and with my song I give thanks to him.”

    Grace is something we are taught. As a child, there were little things my parents did that expressed their sense of gratitude to God. Not just the blessing before the meal, but little acts of sharing.

Weve come this far by faith

Leaning on the LORD

Trusting in His Holy Word

He never failed me yet

Oh’ can’t turn around

We’ve come this far by faith

Don’t be discouraged

when trouble comes into your life

He will bear your burdens

And remove all our misery and strife

And that’s why.

Dr. Chip's Sermon, October 27, 2019

STEWARDSHIP AND THE CHURCH BUDGET

II Corinthians 8:10-13

       It isn’t a very elegant title, “Stewardship and the church budget,” but what it lacks in elegance, it makes up for in clarity. Last week, we talked about stewardship as a basic reality of life. This morning I want to suggest how funding the church is one part of that stewardship.

Stewardship in the broadest sense is simply accepting life and the gifts that go with it and deciding how we will use them. Day by day, we are given time, energy, talent, and physical resources to use. All these gifts are perishable just as life itself is perishable. They cannot be hoarded. The question is not, “Will we be stewards?” The question is, “What kind of stewards will we be?” How will we use the daily gifts we are given?

How then shall we think about funding the church? What part does our pledge to the annual budget play in our overall stewardship? With that in mind, please think with me about the roles the church plays in our lives and the life of the world.

“The task of the church is the same in every age, to increase the love of God and neighbor.” So says Richard Niebuhr. The church is the place where God is the priority and the things precious to God become real in the world.

First and most importantly, we are the worshiping community where God is the priority. This is where people come to open themselves to the presence of the living God in glory and praise, in repentance and petition, in hope and faith. It is the only place in our society that has no other purpose than to honor God.

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to offer the invocation at the Hanahan city council meeting. I offered a pray asking God’s presence and blessing but then the agenda shifted to other things. The council must consider life changing issues like how many chickens your neighbor can keep in their backyard.

The priority of God means we do not stop telling the story of Jesus. We believe that in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has acted decisively for the redemption of the world. We are tasked with announcing that victory to the world through worship and witness. Were it not for the church, the story would be forgotten, and the hope that does not disappoint would die. Our role in the world is to make God the priority.

From a human point of view, the church is the place where people come to fulfill their Christian vocation. We come to worship and having found meaning for our life, we stay to work. The task is to “increase the love of God and neighbor.” The church is not primarily a social charity. It is a community of faith but our desire to imitate Christ pushes us to share his love by our concern for others. Paul describes us as the “living body of Christ.” A healthy church is always looking for ways to demonstrate the love of God for the world by reaching out beyond itself. This church has a lively set of ministries to the community that make it faithful to its calling. The point here is that by combining our energy in the ministries of the church, we accomplish tasks far beyond our individual efforts. (I look forward to the Hands of Christ distribution with a kind of joyous dread.)

The last point I want to make that the church is a human community and as such, an ongoing institution that must be kept up. We have inherited a physical plant provided by the faithfulness of those who have gone before. Our responsibility is to maintain what we have been given, add our improvements to its life and pass it on to those who will come after. The physical plant is not the church. You and I are. But the physical plant makes possible the worship and ministries of the church.

I believe the church is worthy of our support. It is our opportunity to be good stewards of the grace of God. You will get a letter this week encouraging you to pledge to the annual budget for 2020. There are several projects for the coming year that need to be addressed. They will be accomplished only if the funding is available.
In our text for this morning, Paul makes an interesting point. “For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has – not according to what one does not have.” God never asks us for what we can’t do, but he expects us to respond with eagerness. If we are eager to participate, then we will offer our best gift. I hope you will consider your gift this year prayerfully, positively, and promptly. What is your best gift?

          

 

                                                                        

  

                                       

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