Message given at Grace Church, Molokai, 30 November 2008 by Lynette

1 Corinthians 1
1:3
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1:4
I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus,
1:5
for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind-
1:6
just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you-
1:7
so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1:8
He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1:9
God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Since it's Thanksgiving weekend, I want to start with a Thanksgiving joke. Did you hear about the farmer who loved drumsticks so much that he decided to specially breed a turkey that had 6 legs? He was so proud of his accomplishment that he bragged to the entire community as he raised this special bird, boasting about how he was going to enjoy the extra portions of his favorite part. Right after Thanksgiving a neighbor stopped by and asked, "So how did the 6 legged turkey taste?" The farmer replied, "I don't know. It ran so fast I never could catch it!"

All of us have notions about what it means to be "the church." But the perfect church seems to be like that 6-legged turkey. We kind of know what it should look like but we can never quite catch it. Howard Hendricks, who is a great Bible professor, used to counsel young students with these words, "You are looking for the perfect church. It does not exist. But if you do happen to find it, DON'T GO. You will ruin it!"

There was a church in Corinth that was anything but perfect. The Corinthian church had issues: pride; favoritism; jealousy; people bragging about their holiness and they were conceited about their knowledge. Some of them were stuck up intellectuals. The Corinthians had doctrinal issues. In fact, they were suing each other. Some of them were sleeping around in pretty perverse ways. They were misusing their freedom in Christ to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols. Some of them who were well to do were upset that they had to help support others in the church. And during the worship service itself, they were out of control. There was chaos with people showing off their spiritual gifts, speaking arrogantly, intimidating visitors, and interrupting each other. After worship when they were sharing a meal the guys in the front of the food line gobbled up everything and didn't leaving anything for others.

In other words, they were just like US: a bunch of imperfect people struggling to follow Jesus. Paul wrote a letter to help them work through their issues. SO what did he tell this group of men and women?

" First he sent them his peace from the Lord
" Then he thanked God for His grace in their lives
" Paul told them that the Lord was working in their lives, developing and deepening the way they communicated with each other and expanding their knowledge
" He wrote that he could see them growing in Christ
" That they had everything they needed to grow and serve spiritually
" That the Lord Jesus would give them the strength to finish well, without guilt or shame all the way to then end when Jesus returns
" And that God's faithfulness is the glue that holds their fellowship together.

But wait. Didn't we say this group had some issues? So how is it that Paul could write that this group of misfits has everything they need in Jesus? GRACE. Grace is God's Riches At Christ's Expense. They couldn't earn grace and it isn't cheap. But it is a free gift from God. And His grace is powered by His love.

For centuries, the weeks before Christmas have been called the season of Advent. Advent is the time when we prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord as an infant at Christmas, but also when He comes again. Lots of people think that the world doesn't "get" Advent. Oh really? When do they bring in Christmas trees for sale? What is Black Friday all about? The world gets the preparing part. They just don't know WHO they're preparing for.

Let's stop for a moment and ask, "How did the world prepare for the first Christmas?" The religious people (Pharisees) seemed to get more rigid. The Roman invaders levied more taxes. The rift between distant kinsmen (Jews and Samaritans) got even more tense and bitter. There were insurrections and public protests, which got violent and deadly. The royal family (the Herods) got richer while the common Jewish people struggled everyday with a vague hope that things might get better when the Messiah came.

In other words, they did not prepare for the entrance of the Messiah in any way except to watch things get more desperate. Most of them didn't study harder or work smarter. They didn't get more holy or pray more. They didn't do a darned thing to earn the presence of Jesus. They did absolutely nothing to make themselves appealing to the Lord. But God loved them anyway. And Jesus brought his Light of Life into that dark and broken world. GRACE.

How did the world respond to His grace? They showed their thanks by abusing Jesus and hammering Him to a cross. And still Jesus loved them. Grace isn't cheap. It cost the Son of God His life.

After Jesus died, how did the disciples respond? They ran away and fled. Even in the tomb, Jesus still loved them. That's grace. When He rose from the dead, how did the disciples receive the news? Disbelief. Some of them got so "holy" that they went fishing. How did Jesus respond? HE STILL LOVED THEM! That's grace: God's love even though we don't deserve it, most especially when we don't deserve it.

Now if this were a story about perfect people, we would say that as soon as all these people received the Holy Spirit they never had problems again. Right! They had already received the grace of God and still they weren't living happily ever after.

This was the early church in Corinth, after the Pentecost experience. Grace had been poured out on them. They had been forgiven. But they didn't have instant perfection. They had received new life through Jesus Christ. But there were still corners, closets, and rooms in their lives that had spider webs, and rat nests, and dirty laundry that needed cleaning. That's the paradox of God's grace. He loves us exactly as we are, but He also loves us too much to let us stay there. That's because those places spill over to the cleaner places and can stink them up.

Imagine that you have cleaned your entire house after cooking a huge turkey with all the goodies. Now the counters and floors are spotless. But what if someone, during the clean up, hid the box of turkey bones and half-eaten food in your closet?

At first, you might only smell something when you walked by or opened the door. But soon, the entire house would begin to be a bit hauna. No matter how clean the rest of the house is, the odor of that stinky trash would affect every corner. You could point to the clean floors, but something would still be off. You could show off your spotless windows, but things would still smell until that rubbish was taken out. That's where the love and grace of God come in.

The Corinthians needed those places to be cleaned as only the love of Jesus can clean. Sometimes He scrubs. Sometimes He sprays water and cleaner and lets things soak. Or He will use a gentle stream of running water that gradually softens and then cleans those hard to reach corners. But often it takes heart-burning heat to get many of those places clean. And nobody likes being purified and cleaned like that.

But even though the Corinthian church had some unclean places, the fact that they had Jesus in their lives meant that everything they needed for a complete life had been given to them. EVERYTHING.

They were lacking in nothing. They were being enriched in every way by God's grace. They were growing and learning to apply His grace in many different aspects of their lives. Every day they were being made stronger and had been given the gifts to serve and honor God. And importantly, they weren't chained by their past sins. Jesus had taken care of them on the cross. And here is something that amazes me. God didn't see their sin. When He looked at them He saw new creations in Christ. And He was at work in them.

What does that mean for us? We are like the Corinthian church. We are imperfect, fallen, broken, struggling… and all brand new, with the love of God coming into dark places to free us from the tangles of the spider webs and the stink of our sin. We have the light of Christ, which opens up the dark places that can trip us up and make us fall. And Jesus loves us and has given us everything we need for abundant life if we open up our hearts to Him….

And here is what Advent is about. We need to let God break the mold we live in. It is by releasing the grip on our old life that we discover new life in Him, each day. We need to return to the cross daily. You see, self-righteousness and grace can't live in the same room. And there is nothing that can melt humility as quickly as pride and arrogance.

But there is also nothing that can bring joy like God's grace brings. His love can instantly fill our tanks to overflowing. If we bring him a thimble, He will fill it. If we bring him a 2 oz cup, His love will fill it. If we bring a coffee mug, He will fill it. If we bring a gallon jar, His love will overflow it. And if we bring an empty 55-gallon barrel, His grace is enough to fill that until it overflows.

So think about Advent in this way: how can I bring a deeper bucket for Christ to fill? What things need to be cleaned or removed to make room for the grace that Jesus brings?

As I read the words from 1 Corinthians again, it reminded me that after Jesus fills us, He makes us His ambassadors to the world.

Later, in this letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 12) Paul wrote, "Now all of you together are Christ's body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it." Even though they were imperfect, they were still the Body of Christ. Then he says this, "There are different ways God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work through all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church."

We receive God's grace so that we can share God's grace.

Chris and Matthew McGuire helped hang the greens around us this morning. Pualani gave this frontal, which was her dad's. It used to hang from the Kawaiahao pulpit. Marybeth Maul's daughter Robin wove these bookmarks as her masters in fine arts thesis at UH Manoa. Dick Hanchett and his family laid this floor. So many of us work behind the scenes unseen, using our spiritual gifts to help the church.

This weekend we've been so blessed to have the Kamehameha students home, to have other family members reunited. We know what it's like to have everybody back together. We feel whole, complete. We know how much each one is missed when they aren't here. It's the same in our church family. We need each other. And each and every one of us is important. You are missed when you aren't here, when you don't offer your gifts.
But we fall short too. We blow it. It's not up to us to catch each other failing or to show one another up or point out flaws. We are here to extend the grace we have been given. We are here to build each other up, not scare each other off.

As we said during the thank offering, over 60 people helped with the Aloha Night Thanksgiving meal. We worked together to bring a meal to people who didn't have a family or a home to go to. When we thanked those who served, the first words out of their mouths were "I didn't do much. It was fun!" In fact many of the people we were there to serve actually joined us in decorating, dishing out food, and being Jesus to those who came. That's what being a part of the Body of Christ means - each part doing its part with joy. That's what it looks like when we let God's grace fill us to overflowing. Even though we are not perfect, we are growing in Him. In Him we indeed have everything we need for abundant life.

Turn with me to the end of 1Corinthians, to chapter 16, verses 13 and 14, page 178 of the New Testament. Here are 5 ways to prepare for Christmas and open your hearts to God's grace. Ready, together, go "Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love."

May God's peace and His grace fill each of us today and may we share His grace with everyone we touch. AMEN

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