Copyright January 16, 2010 by Geist Christian Church/All rights reserved

Blueprint
By Randy Spleth
January 16 & 17, 2010
Scripture:  John 2: 1-11
Text:  1 Corinthians 12:1-11
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This week’s message is about Jesus, Paul and Mary.  I said it in that order to grab the attention of the Baby Boomers who remember the folk trio of the 60’s, Peter, Paul and Mary.  It is really about Jesus, Mary… and Paul, but that doesn’t come off the tongue as easily as Jesus, Paul and Mary. Actually, the sermon is about you and the blueprint that we have for the church, the Body of Christ on earth. But Jesus, Paul and Mary will lead us.

First, let’s look at a story about Jesus and his mother Mary. It comes in the second chapter of John, just after Jesus calls his first disciple, at a wedding in Cana. Weddings in the first century were different than weddings today. They were extended events, sometimes lasting as long as two weeks. It was a big, long party and as parties go, the wedding in Cana has a problem. They run out of wine.

It may be that it was the third day of the wedding banquet because the John 2 begins, “on the third day.” Most think that refers to the third day of Jesus’ ministry. Some even think it is symbolic. On the third day, Jesus is resurrected. John’s Gospel has lots of interesting symbolism. Whether the third day is about Jesus or about the wedding, they’ve run out of wine. Running out of wine is embarrassing, a social faux pas, and a blueprint for disaster.  For some reason, Mary, the mother of Jesus feels some degree of responsibility. Scholars have no idea why. They don’t know if she was somehow related to the wedding couple or if she was just that type of person, wanting to be supportive. She finds Jesus and says to him:  “When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine.” (John 2: 3).

You don’t have to be around church very long to know the outcome of this story. Turning water into wine is even a secular expression. “And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’”  (John 2: 4-5)

They do. Jesus instructs them to fill six large stone jars with water and the miracle of Cana takes place.  “Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim….When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and (he) did not know where it came from …” (John 2: 7, 9). Water is turned into wine. 

There are many ways to use this story in the Bible. I’ve already said that with the reference to three days and the transformation of water to wine, it could be foreshadowing of the resurrection. That’s one way to use this story. I use this story when I preside at weddings, noting that Jesus went to weddings and acknowledging his presence in covenant making.  The story ends saying, Jesus revealed his“…glory; and his disciples believed in him.” If you can turn water into wine, you are going to get lots of followers.  Wineries even like to point to the divine blessing of Jesus over their ancient art.  There are many viewpoints but the one I’m going to take is basic, almost simplistic. Mary saw that there was a community-wide need and asked Jesus to meet it. He did. It is simple and straightforward, nothing mystical or profound about it. “They have no wine.” “Fill the jars with water.”

Jesus uses his ability to meet a need.  I know, I know. This isn’t going to send you home with some profound, wow. This isn’t going to move you to tears. This is just straightforward, simple truth, a story about Jesus and Mary. Need--“They have no wine.” Meet the need: “Fill the jars with water.” Jesus’ ministry is all about meeting needs and even though he thought it was too early to start meeting needs, he responded.

This wasn’t the case in our second story, the one about Paul. It comes from Paul’s favorite, troubled church, the community he formed in the wealthy seaport of Corinth. It is addressed in his first letter to them. Corinth was an interesting environment because hovering over the city on the mountaintop was the Temple to Aphrodite and the influence of pagan idols was strong. If you know this letter, you know that from the outset, Paul addresses an attitude problem. In the very first chapter, he deals with those who were bragging that they had been baptized by Paul instead of Apollos or Cephas. There was a group of people in the church that thought they were better than others.

We see this again when in the 12^th chapter, he gives them a blueprint for the way the church functions. Evidently, some members were thinking that church membership was like worshiping idols. All you had to do was show up and that was good enough. Still others had this idea that their gifts that were better than others. In this time in the history of the church, speaking in prophetic tongues was prevalent. Those that could and did and those that could interpret tongues were going around with this attitude that said, “My gift is better than your gift.”

It’s not a pretty picture, is it? Some people who think they are too good to do anything but worship and others think that there are needs in the church that are beneath them. So they are short-handed. To put it simply, they’d run out of wine. They need more workers. Paul tries to address it saying, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (1 Corinthians 12:4-7).

He’s saying that every gift is important; every gift is needed. There is none of this, my gift is better than your gift or I don’t have anything to offer. There is a strong emphasis on the "each"; each is given. The Holy Spirit manifests itself in every life for the common good of the Body of Christ. He lists a lot of gifts and then says, “All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. 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.” (1 Corinthians 12: 11-12)

There it is again, each one. Each gift is important. He spends the rest of the 12^th chapter talking about the variety of gifts needed, putting together this blueprint of jobs for the church and then  he returns again to the idea of each.  “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (Corinthians 12: 27).

Each has been given a gift.  Paul lists gifts in the last three verses of the 12^th chapter-- apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles, workers, healers, helpers, administrators and those who can speak in tongue. He adds to this list in Ephesians 4 and includes pastors and evangelists.  Using the same image of each he says, “prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (Ephesians 4: 12.) Are you prepared to offer your gifts so that the blueprint can be built?

When I sat down to work on this sermon, I couldn’t help but think of blueprint, even though the word isn’t mentioned in the text or anywhere in the Bible. I knew that this weekend, one way or the other, lots of you would wear blue or have blue on the mind, particularly on Saturday night. After all, we are going to find out if the Colts’ “blueprint” for success is going to work out. We know that a big part of the blueprint that the Colts organization has drawn is our stars, like Peyton Manning, Dallas Clark and Dwight Freeney. We know that each one of them is valuable and need to have a good game. They are an essential part of the blueprint of success. We are also going to find out if resting those players was a good idea, if Caldwell’s blueprint for success is right.

But a key component of the blueprint is what the Colts call, “next man up,” of being able to find players who will replace injured ones, offering their gift when there is a need. So when Adam Vinatieri was injured, Matt Stover was brought in to offer his skills as a kicker. If you are a Colts fan, you know that Vinatieri came back but isn’t completely over his injury; so Stover is back in because there is a need. Maybe an even better story is the replacement of Marvin Harrison with Anthony Gonzalez. He looked like he is an able replacement only to have a season ending injury after one game. Who will fill the need? Austin Collie and Pierre Garcon. It’s a blueprint about everyone being important, valuable and finding people to meet the needs.

That’s the blueprint of the church. Each one has a gift to offer. What’s your gift? What will you offer?

Almost every week, in staff meeting, I hear of a volunteer shortage. We are running out of workers. We need more wine. This week, I heard again that we need teachers in our FAITHQUEST. One of the real blessings that God has bestowed upon us as a congregation is children. We’ve a lot of them and we’ve a lot on the way. We need someone with the gift of holding babies. We need someone who has the ability to keep the attention of a 3 year old. We need people who love to share their faith with children. On any given weekend, children and youth in our congregation represent 25% of our weekly attendance. It’s a big responsibility and a great joy. You can sign up today to offer a gift of service to our children or to volunteer to work with youth.

What’s your gift? What will you offer? Musical skills?  Greg McGuirk and David Duncan are always looking for new members of the praise team or choir. If you’ve musical skills, don’t just sit there and enjoy the great music. Offer your service. Or what about media needs. Every service, it takes seven people in the media team to keep our service going. We are at least a full seven short. Don’t know anything about cameras or lights? Don’t worry, they will teach you and you’ll offer a gift that will help everyone worship. Go back there after the service and sign up.

How about the gift of compassion?  All of us need to have this gift as part of our commitment to love God and love neighbor. I can’t imagine anyone not having their hearts filled with a desire to offer a gift this week as we’ve watched the terrible tragedy unfold in Haiti. Your church is there. Through our missionaries on the ground and our Week of Compassion ministry, we are already there, serving, helping. We need money.   Some of you have financial gifts which you can make. We are collecting funds and sending them to Week of Compassion, which is our denomination’s disaster relief arm of the church. You can write a check today or you can go online at our web site and make your gift there.

Week of Compassion has also asked that we put together hygiene kits and baby kits. We’ve put together these kits before and a group will gather at the south campus to start putting them together. You can get a list today and bring the items tomorrow or next weekend. Do you have the gift of compassion?

These are just three areas of need. But there are many from counting the offering, to setting up chairs, to the ministry of hospitality to shoveling snow. There are lots of places where there is “no wine” or the “wine is running out.” We have needs and we need you to help meet them. It’s the blueprint for the body of Christ.

I read something interesting this week about two different but successful rock and roll groups, the Beatles and U2. It seems that there is major difference between these two bands that doesn’t immediately come to mind. It has to do with the way they came up with their music. With the Beatles, “John Lennon or Paul McCartney usually came up with songs and then taught them to George Harrison and Ringo Starr. But U2 collaborates to a degree that is rare — a process that depends on the singular chemistry of the four musicians. Bono and guitarist the Edge bring ideas into the studio — a title, the trace of a melody or a catchy riff — then bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen join in the actual construction of the songs. It’s a give and take process where each is valuable; they are equal partners in the creative process.

We are too. “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” That’s what Paul says. You’ve a gift to offer. Needs are waiting to be met. Respond. Offer you gift. It’s God’s blueprint for the body of Christ.