We Have Gifts

Romans 12: 1-8, page 157
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.
For the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
Sermon
You’ve all heard about the dangers of low self-esteem. How some, or maybe all of us at certain times, look in the mirror and don’t like what we see, don’t see beauty, intelligence, or creativity, but a person who could stand to look better, work harder, and give more.
What you don’t hear as much about is the flip side of that same coin – high self-esteem. I’m not sure that’s even a real term, but I heard about it once on TV and it’s stuck with me, as there are always people around who seem to suffer from thinking too highly of themselves.
Paul writes, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment,” and he follows this statement with his rational, “For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function.”
In our world however, some functions seem to matter more than others. A search of the word “celebrity” on Google will come up with 382 million results, but you won’t have much luck trying to find information about their mothers, without whom they would not exist; their housekeepers, without whom they would not survive; or their agents, without whom they would know what to say or where to go.
There are some people in our world who seem to matter more than others, whose names you know and can remember, but Paul calls us to recognize that humanity is like a body – there are many members with different functions – and while the world might celebrate some functions more than others you must not be tricked into believing that some functions matter more than others.
Take the first two chapters of Exodus for example. Certainly you know who this story is about, the heading of chapter two tells you everything you need to know, it’s the story of the “birth and youth of Moses.” But notice that Moses wasn’t mentioned in our reading for today – he’s not given a name until verse 10. This story isn’t really his story yet – the first two chapters of Exodus is the story of strong women whose names have mostly been forgotten because our world values some functions more than others.
The heroes of this story are Shiphrah and Puah. The king of Egypt said to them, “when you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live.”
Maybe even Pharaoh himself valued some functions more than others, believing that only a man would rebel against him toppling him from his seat of power, but here he underestimated two midwives who saved the lives of innumerable boys, saying to Pharaoh, “the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”
These two are named in chapter one of Exodus, because these two women, Shiphrah and Puah, matter. Without their faith in God, Moses would have been killed at birth.
More than that, by these women we know that Moses was not the first to defy Pharaoh’s orders. He was not the first to stand before the most powerful man in the land without cowering. These two women went before him, defying Pharaoh’s power, refusing to follow his orders, finding a means to execute justice in a time of terror and fear.
But their names could have been forgotten. Moses is the name that we remember today. He is the one who seems the most important, as it is his function as liberator of the Israelites, bringer of the 10 Commandments, and as the guide into the Promised Land that has been valued by generations of the faithful over these two who function as his crafty and brave midwives.
It falls to us then, to remember the names Shiphrah and Puah, because without them there would have been no Moses.
On the other hand, to most people their names will be forgotten. Like mothers or housekeepers or agents of celebrities, it’s not their function as nurturers or promoters that society values, it is the one they nurtured or promoted whose name goes up in lights.
The same is true for so many in our world who live their lives disconnected from reality and ungrateful to those who held them up. Rev. Bill Williamson, longtime pastor of this church was known for saying, “There are some people who we were born on third, but think that they’re there because they hit a triple.” So it goes for the well born who go their whole lives believing that they deserve their privilege, the entitled who believe it is their right to receive gifts and handouts. For some life is easy, blessings overflow. And should they ever ask why, we should pity those who reach the conclusion that they deserve what they have been given.
Paul urges you, “not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think,” as those who fall into positions of power, prestige, and privilege without recognizing how they got there miss out on the opportunity to be thankful.
Tina Fey is not a notoriously religious woman. She’s a comedian notorious for her Sarah Palin impersonation and her role as lead actress and writer of the Thursday evening show 30 Rock. But in her recent book she included a prayer titled, “the Mother’s Prayer for Its Daughter.”
The prayer begins, “First, Lord: No tattoos,” and it ends with this: “And should she choose to be a Mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 AM, all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back. “My mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans [who knows what] off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a Mental Note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know. Because I peeped it with Your God eyes. Amen.”
For Moses there were two incredible brave women, without them he never would have breathed his first breath. Then for him there was a mother who hid him as long as she could before she placed him in a basket and prayed; and then there was his sister who watched the basket float downstream into the hands of Pharaoh’s daughter. His sister was brave enough to suggest that a Hebrew woman be called to nurse him and Moses grew up nurtured in Pharaoh’s house by Pharaoh’s own daughter and his own mother.
Without these women there would be no Moses – so who can say that one gift is better than another.
For you there are others – some whose names you remember while the memory of others has faded. There are generations of faithful, those who witnessed firsthand the mighty acts of God all the way to the forefathers and foremothers of this church who gave us a place to hear the Good News and be saved. We are the recipients of their legacy. Give thanks for them all, because without them there is no you – so who can say that one gift is better than another.
The foolish may go their whole lives thinking that nothing important happened before they showed up on the scene – but those of you who know the truth will remember and be thankful for all those who came before. Those of you who know the truth will face the trials and tribulations of today knowing that generations have passed through hardship before and lived to tell the tale. Those of you who know the truth will enter into the unfolding drama that is the great story of humanity, serving this church as many have served before, giving of your gifts just as so many before you have given.
Rejoice and be thankful – not thinking too highly of yourself, but giving thanks to all those who made you who you are.
Amen.