1 Corinthians 1:1-9
September 12, 1999
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco.
Options Added
Remember the last time you went car shopping? Remember those long lists of featured goodies on the side window? Here, you are thinking about powered windows, sun-roof, stereo cd player, leathered seats, maybe even a “Never-Lost” satellite guidance system. But instead, those special added “options” usually include carpeting, radio, horn, and windshield wipers. You may be able to get by without the carpeting and radio, but really, are the horn or windshield wipers options? I don’t think so. Even integral parts of the engine itself are sometimes separated out and added as featured details to make the get-list look more substantial!
Once burned, we become suspicious around flowery language and gushing promises. I can still remember when we went college shopping with Lauren. The longer the list, the more careful you are. Does this college really admit students from all fifty states and fifteen different foreign countries? Or does this college really have that many books in the library or that many meal plans to choose from? We have been trained by the long lists not to trust the details. We learn early in life that if small things are highlighted, then something really big must be missing.
We are so suspicious that we wonder if the car really has an engine under the hood. We need to take it on a road test just to find out! Or if this college really has any professors so we read their names and check out their credentials in the catalog.
Not lacking Anything
In today’s lesson, Paul refuses to get caught up in the game of listing detail after detail in order to reveal the presence and power of God-given gifts within the Corinthian community. As he gives thanks for spiritual giftedness, Paul only mentions two by name: “speech and knowledge.” Even then he generalizes them as being “of every kind.” In fact, instead of itemizing a list of the Corinthian gifts, he offers a sweeping negative as proof of God’s unbounded grace. You are, Paul asserts, “not lacking in any spiritual gift…”
Would your suspicious nature allow you to buy a car whose side window sticker read only, “not lacking anything?” Would you approve of your son or daughter picking a college that claimed it was “not lacking anything?” Would your suspicious nature allow you to come to a church whose bulletin claims “not lacking anything?”
Our need for details, particulars, and proof makes us demand for more information yet leaves us always feeling like we are still lacking something. Paul insists that as confessed believers gathered together “in Christ,” we are already “lacking in nothing.” Paul promises that we have at our disposal all we could ever possibly need to live life filled with hope and strength and grace.
If we really lack nothing, sisters and brothers, then why do we lack? Why do we feel so acutely that so much is missing from our life, our family, our career, our community, our church?
If we really are “lacking in nothing,” then why do we feel like…
If I just had more time…
If I just had more money…
If I just had more power…
If I just had more confidence…
If I just had more influence…
If I just had more family love…
Then I could really be something for God. Our problem is not that we are lacking. Our problem is not that we need certain things that we just don’t have. Our problem is that we have things that we don’t know we have.
Not Lacking God
Paul said, “the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind—just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you.”
The grace of God, the gift of salvation, has been handed down to us on a silver platter called the cross. The problem is clearly not in God’s giving. The problem—and this problem ends up being perceived as a void, a lack, in our lives—is that we are no good at receiving. We are so busy worrying about checking an itemized list to see if there are enough added options that we are incapable of comprehending that God intends for us to lack nothing.
Whether on a silver platter or on the side-window sticker or in a college catalog, God in his gift of salvation has given us the cross. But we still feel that we are lacking something. We can’t believe it can be so simple. We are suspicious that that’s all there is. We are conditioned to want more information before we would believe.
Jesus while teaching his disciples not to worry about where to live, what to wear or where their next meal will come from said to them, ”Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
Eternal life, grace and peace, the transforming, saving love of Christ—life’s ultimate riches are all ours for the taking. Our problem is a receiving problem: We have not learned how to receive the immeasurable riches of God’s grace.
The Son
Let me tell you a beautiful story. A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Piscasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art.
When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his son.
About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands. He said, “Sir, you don’t know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your love for art.”
The young man held out his package. “I know this isn’t much. I’m not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this.”
The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. “Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It’s a gift.”
The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.
The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings. Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having the opportunity to purchase one for their collection.
On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel. “We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for the picture?”
There was silence. Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, “We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one.”
But the auctioneer persisted. ”Will someone bid for this painting? Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?
Another voice shouted angrily. “We didn’t come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Goghs, the Rembrandts. Get on with the real bids!”
But the auctioneer continued. “The son! The son! Who’ll take the son?”
Finally a hand raised and a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. “I’ll give $10 for the painting.” Being a poor man, it was all he could afford.
“We have $10, who will bid $20?”
“Give it to him for $10. Let’s see the masters.”
$10 is the bid, won’t someone bid $20?”
The crowd was becoming angry. They didn’t want the picture of the son. They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections. The auctioneer pounded the gavel.
“Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!”
A man sitting on the second row shouted. “Now let’s get on with the collection!”
The auctioneer laid down his gavel. “I’m sorry, the auction is over.”
“What about the paintings?”
“I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings.”
The gardener who took the son gets everything! God gave his son 2000 years ago to die on a cruel cross. Much like the auctioneer, God’s message today is “The son, the son, who’ll take the son?” Because you see, whoever takes the Son of God gets everything.
Our problem is not that we are lacking. Our problem is that we have things that we don’t know we have.
Raising Your Hand
At some time every little kid on a shopping trip with Mom is taught the same mantra: “Keep your hands to yourself; don’t touch anything.” You break it, you buy it. Unfortunately, most of us have learned this lesson too well. As people of faith we have to unlearn this hands-off, don’t touch attitude. God has graced us with a superabundance of gifts. But we must be open to receiving them. We must be able to reach out our hands and accept what God would deposit in them, what God would put at our disposal to use.
Too often we have a cramp in our grasp that keeps us from opening our hands to receive what is already there, what is already ours. When God offers you gold, you have to stop squeezing and let go of the brass baubles you may have already managed to scrape together. Letting go of something inferior to claim a gift of superior quality doesn’t sound like it should be difficult. But for most of us, emptying our pockets of old treasures is a tough exercise.
If we are to live our lives honestly and faithfully, our hands cannot be clenched fists from fear. Paul said that we are “lacking in nothing.”
If we are to live our lives opened to the risks of becoming a Christian witness in Chinatown, we have to get our hands out of our pockets.
If we are to be the eyes, the ears, and the hands of Jesus Christ in the world, we have to take our hands from behind our backs.
If we are to dance with all the people in the world in the name of Christ, we have to stop sitting on our hands and get up with our hands reaching out to meet our neighbors.
If we are holding tightly to a way of life just because it is familiar;
If you holding on to your old Sunday school class because they know you there;
If you are clutching a conviction that money is the ultimate safety net;
If our hands are filled with lists of things “to do” so that we don’t have time to think and pray about what our family has become;
let’s open our hands and let all these reservations go.
Like the gardener, we are to raise our hands to take the Son. When we claim Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are “lacking in nothing.” Living a lacking in nothing life means God intends for our lives to be full, not flat; fluid, not stagnant; surprising, not staid. The promise that we will be “lacking in nothing” does not mean that we will be in total control at all times. Jesus is in control; to whom we give ultimate control over our lives.
If you raise up your hands, God is offering you the Son. You will not need to look for anything else because your life will be “lacking in nothing.”
Let us pray.
Dear God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for the many gifts that we have to live life fully and faithfully with daring courage to bear witness in the world. May our trust in you with our lives reflect that we lack nothing to serve you. In his name we pray. Amen.