Sunday Message
January 18, 2004
Robert D. Bohnsack
Text: Psalm 36:5-10, 1 Corinthians 12:12

Birthday gifts are fun. We enjoy giving them and getting them. In the comic strip, "Get Fuzzy," Rob, the human is asked by Satchel, the dog, "Whatcha Doin?" Rob replies, "Susie at work's birthday is coming up and it's my turn to figure out what to do..." Bucky the cat suggests, "We could wait on the top shelf of her closet all night and, when she opens it in the morning, we could all jump on her head screaming. Rob says, "We'll call that 'plan B.' Satchel calms Bucky by suggesting that "'B' is for Bucky!" Bucky seems satisfied and says, "Cool." ¹

Would you ever get a birthday present if people did not know it was your birthday? Would you be able to eat for free at Denny's on your birthday if you did not tell the waitress it was your birthday and show her your driver's license? Would the entire wait staff at Chi-Chi's sing happy birthday to you in Spanish if one of your friends did not tell the hostess it was your birthday?

Would you ever know if you were a tremendous golfer if you never picked up a golf club? Would we know that the Chicago Cubs were destined to fall short of the World Series every year and continue to frustrate their millions of fans? Okay, we do know that the Cubs will continue to frustrate their fans.

All of these are what we might call initial or foundational statements. People know that it is our birthday because we tell them. We know that we are good or bad at golf because we pick up a golf club and try. If we never picked up a golf club we would never know. If the Cubs would never play 162 games in a baseball season would never really know if they were going to lose.

For you and I the foundational statement of our life together, as a community of faith, as members of the church of Jesus Christ is, "Jesus is Lord." In the Christian Church we have many other statements of belief. Presbyterians are creedal people. We have many written statements of belief. Our most basic and encompassing statement is simply, "Jesus is Lord."

It is our common confession, "Jesus is Lord," that unites us. We are united in proclaiming and believing in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We can receive gifts of the Holy Spirit because we have first received the gift of Jesus Christ. "Jesus is Lord," is that foundational statement.

During the German occupation of France during the WWII some amazing things happened. People who declared, "Jesus is Lord." Did amazing things because they were people of faith, because they received the diverse gifts of the Holy Spirit, and because they were united in the confession that "Jesus is Lord."

Some remarkable events took place in a small French town named, Le Chambon. ²

"One day in 1942, two khaki-colored buses pulled into Le Chambon, a little village in the mountains of southern France. They were the buses of the Vichy French police, and they had come to round up the Jews who were there. The police knew that Le Chambon had become a refuge for them, so they rousted everyone into the village square. The police captain stared straight into the face of the pastor of the Protestant church, Andre Trocme, "warning him that if he did not give up the names of the Jews they had been sheltering in the village, he and his fellow pastor, as well as the families who had been caring for the Jews, would be arrested.

The pastor refused, and the police, after a thorough and frightening search, could only find one Jew. They loaded him into an otherwise empty bus. Before they drove off, "a thirteen-year-old boy, the son of the pastor, passed a piece of his precious chocolate through the window to the prisoner, while twenty gendarmes who were guarding the lone prisoner watched." Then the rest of the villagers began "passing their little gifts through the window until there were gifts all around him–most of them food in those hungry days of German occupation of France." ³

The people of Le Chambon did not hide Jews in their village because they were trained resistance fighters. They did not hid Jews because they were awaiting the return of Charles DeGaul. They hid Jews because they were a people of faith that declared, "Jesus is Lord." They hid Jews because they received varieties of gifts, services, and activities from the Holy Spirit. They risked their lives because they received diverse gifts for the common good. They risked their lives. They listened to God's call for their lives because they declared and believed that, "Jesus is Lord," both while they were in worship, and during the rest of their lives.

In declaring that "Jesus is Lord," we are refusing to have a life divided. ⁴ The people of Le Chambon refused to have a life divided. In saying, "Jesus is Lord," they said that the Holy Sprit was working in their lives. The Holy Sprit was not confined to the four walls of their church, or the Sunday School hour. The Holy Spirit gave them gifts for the service of God both in the sacred and secular worlds. ⁵ In affirming that, "Jesus is Lord," they declared that evil and suffering are unacceptable and inappropriate, and that God will prevail over evil. ⁶

The people of Le Chambon could not declare, "Jesus is Lord," in church and then watch Jews being rounded up by the police. For no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says, "Let Jesus be cursed." ⁷ We say, "Jesus is Lord," because we all have the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The gifts of the people of this church and community are not all that different than the gifts of the people of Le Chambon. Some have the gift of wisdom, others the gift of knowledge, some the gift of healing, some work miracles, some prophesy, others have the gift of discernment, and some even interpret tongues.

The use of those gifts is our choice. We, people who declare, "Jesus is Lord," can use those gifts for the common good, for the glorification of God's kingdom, for the service of God's people, or we can use them to serve ourselves.

It would have been wise of the people of Le Chambon to tell the police where the Jews were hiding. It would have been wise to save scare food and not give it to the lone Jewish prisoner. A knowledgeable leader may have also suggested that they do everything they could to preserve themselves. Preserving the Protestant church of Le Chambon would have served the common good. At least the common good of the Protestant Church.

The people of Le Chambon chose to use their gifts from the Spirit to serve what they discerned to be the common good. The common good involved all God's people, and not just Protestants or Catholics. These humble people used their gifts to serve the common good because they believed and declared that, "Jesus is Lord." They did what served the common good because they knew that the steadfast love of God extends to the heavens. ⁸ They knew that the steadfast love that is revealed in Jesus Christ is for all people.

You and I live in a different time than the second World War. Fortunately, the police of this community are not rounding up people and taking them to concentration camps. Fortunately, we are still people that declare that "Jesus is Lord." We are people with a diversity of gifts. Sometimes the common good is not as clear as it was to the people of Le Chambon. Our diversity of gifts can sometimes be a stumbling block to serving the common good. Our variety of gifts, services, and activities are all united in the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Our challenge just as the church in Corinth, just as the church in Le Chambon is how to use our gifts for the common good. It is also our challenge to remember that we are all members of the same body, the body of the church of Jesus Christ. It is a challenge to use our gifts even when they may seem to conflict with other members of the body. It is easy to forget that our gifts come from the SAME spirit, we serve the SAME Lord, the SAME God activates our gifts, and it is the SAME spirit that works in each and every one of us. It is the SAME Lord, the SAME God, the SAME Spirit that is calling us individually and as the church of Jesus Christ to serve the common good. We serve the common good that is the body of Jesus Christ. For through our actions and use of our gifts we serve the same Lord, the Same God, and the Same Spirit. Through our actions and use of our diverse gifts we declare, "Jesus is Lord."

Friends, let the steadfast love of the Lord extend to you in the same way it reaches the heavens. Extend the steadfast love of the Lord through the use of your diverse gifts. Proclaim, "Jesus is Lord."

1. Conley, Darby, "Get Fuzzy."
2. Dykstra, Craig. Growing in the Life of Faith. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1999. p56.
3. Ibid. p56-57.
4. New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol X, p942.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. 1 Corinthians 12:3.
8. Psalm 36:5.