Sermon
50
A Talk given by Liz Tilley on
Sunday November 26th
Wonersh Overseas Mission Support
Reading BibleGateway.com
- 1 Corinthians 12;
In our overseas
mission focus this evening we have already been given glimpses of different
parts of the world, God’s world and of God’s family, and here we are in Wonersh
– all part of the worldwide family of the church. One of the images used in the New Testament of
the church is the body – Ephesians
1:22,23, and in our reading from 1 Cor 12, Paul draws many lessons from the
picture of the body to help the Christians in Corinth be more united, to
respect one another and their varied gifts and understand that each member of
the body is important and has gifts to be used for the benefit of all. It‘s not just some who are important. We can apply this picture and lessons from it
to the church locally here or, as I would like us to do now, internationally,
to the worldwide church as the body of Christ.
There is a real
sense as we read 1 Cor 12 of the parts being interconnected and dependant on
one another, affecting the functioning of the whole. The body isn’t all eye or ear, but each
member belongs and has a vital part to play.
We only have to think of what it’s like if we have toothache to ealize
in our physical bodies the truth of this.
v.26,27 If one part suffers, every part suffers with
it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it. We read of Christians in prison for their
faith, or struggling in the face of poverty and hunger, we hear of churches
growing rapidly and experiencing great joy in sharing their faith and seeing
God at work in powerful ways, we see churches endeavouring to show the love of
God in action and meet the needs of the whole person. One part of the worldwide church has a
strength here, another there, a need here, or there.
So how can we work
and function together so that the whole may grow, so that we can in a real
sense be the worldwide body of Christ?
By sharing: sharing our strengths, the resources God has
given us, our experiences, expertise, gifts, financial resources. We can learn from one another. Many who go overseas as we‘ve heard this evening,
whether short or long term, would say that they learnt as much as if not more
than they gave. The sharing is two way -
we receive as well as give. We
can be challenged and encouraged in our initiatives locally through sharing
with the church in other parts of the world.
We can learn so much from our brothers and sisters in different parts of
the world. There is much that we can contribute too.
Through our prayers: As we do regularly week by week in our services when
we pray for the world, the church in the world and our mission partners – you
may like to receive more information from one of our partners to help you pray
for them in a more informed way at home.
It’s helpful to receive news about what’s going on and the needs –
magazine. May I encourage you, if you
don’t already have a particular interest in an area of the world, to start
taking one up – as you become more involved you will find it will enrich your
own Christian life.
Through our gifts – one of our
strengths in this country is resources, teaching materials, literature, but
especially financial resources. We can
be a real support to work elsewhere by enabling others – increasingly young and
growing churches overseas have personnel but not the resources to use them –
enable a local person. Interesting
initiatives enabling someone maybe from Latin America to work in
Through going – short term
opportunities are available to people of any age – Soapbox had a 70 year old on
their team in iringa,
May God help us to
play our part in His church, Christ’s body here on earth, sharing, praying,
giving and going out both in this local
part of His church, and in the worldwide church.