WHAT WE HAVE

Preached by Gregory W. Lee
18 June 2005 at Wright's Chapel UMC, Lake Park, GA

I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to 1 Corinthians 12
-- several years ago, a local businessman decided to build a tavern in a town that was located in a dry county -- a group of Christians from a local church got concerned and planned an all-night prayer meeting -- they wanted to ask God to intervene and stop the tavern
-- the next day, lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground -- well, the owner of the bar sued the church, claiming that the prayers of the members were responsible
-- but the church hired a lawyer to argue in court that they were not responsible -- "we're only a small church -- what could we have done to cause this to happen?"
-- the presiding judge was a man who was very wise -- after his initial review of the case, he stated, "no matter how this case comes out, one thing is obvious -- the tavern owner believes in prayer and the Christians do not"

-- let me ask you a question this morning -- what do you believe about Wright's Chapel UMC? -- do you believe that God is using Wright's Chapel and has plans to use us more and more -- or do you think like the members of that church in my story -- that we are just a small church and nothing much happens here through us?
-- take a moment and think about what you actually believe

-- you know, I think a lot of times we kind of think like that small church in our story -- I think we look at ourselves and we look at the number of folks who come on a Sunday morning -- and I think we sometimes think, "we're doing all we can" -- "if we were only larger, then we could do more -- if we only had a few more people, we could do more ministry -- if we only had more money, God could do more through us -- if we only had more people praying, God would listen and act more" -- we get to looking at the big churches in Valdosta and we get envious of them because they are able to do so much more than us -- large youth groups -- nurseries -- mission trips -- multiple services -- something going on every night
-- we send folks off to conference and they come back and talk about what all the other churches are doing that we're not doing -- and we start feeling jealous of them and start thinking that we're not doing enough

-- you've done it -- I've done it -- we've all done it -- we've all visited other churches and larger churches and felt that they were doing more than we ever could -- we've all thought to ourselves, "we're just a little country church -- we can't have as big an impact on others as those large churches can" -- but, you know what -- we were wrong

-- there's nothing wrong with being small, if that's what God has called us to be -- think about Chick Fil A and the story of Truett Cathy
-- Truett Cathy started out in Atlanta with a restaurant so small, it was called the Dwarf Grill -- later, he called it the "Dwarf House" -- it only had 10 stools and four tables
-- and, when he opened it, he didn't offer a full menu like all the other big restaurants had -- he didn't even offer hamburgers -- all he offered was chicken sandwiches and french fries -- and he did something else strange -- he refused to open on Sundays, even though other restaurants got over 20% of their income on that day -- Cathy wanted to make a stand for God
-- for almost 20 years, Cathy operated the Dwarf House -- it was the only restaurant he had -- but this restaurant met a need in the community -- McDonald's didn't have chicken sandwiches -- neither did the other big restaurants -- and business grew

-- finally, in 1967, Cathy opened the first Chick-fil-A restaurant in Atlanta's Greenbriar Mall -- but he didn't change the way he did business -- he didn't try to do everything the big chains and the big restaurants did -- he just sold chicken sandwiches and fries -- and he didn't try to make his restaurants bigger than his neighbors -- he just did what he felt God had called him to do
-- and, by doing what God called him to do, God blessed him -- currently, there are over 1,000 Chick-fil-A restaurants in 35 states and South Africa
-- a recent article in Atlanta Business Chronicle noted that Cathy could make a fortune if he made a public stock offering for Chick-fil-A, but he refuses to consider it -- he said, "We're able to do a lot of things that we couldn't do if we were a large public company" -- Cathy has made the decision to keep Chick-Fil-A small

-- do you know what the biggest problem is with small churches today? -- they want to be large -- they want to do everything the large churches do -- and when they try it, it causes them to lose confidence in themselves when they fail, because there is just no way for small churches to compete with the larger churches

-- but, we don't have to -- in 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul tells us that the body of Christ is comprised of many different units -- different members with different gifts and talents and responsibilities -- we typically think of individual members in a church when we read this passage
-- but, it also applies to churches as a whole -- every church in God's kingdom has been called to a different mission and given different gifts and talents and responsibilities -- follow along in your Bibles as I read from 1 Cor 12:14-20

14. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.
15. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.
16. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.
17. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
18. But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
19. If they were all one part, where would the body be?
20. As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

-- what Paul is telling us here is that small churches can't look at big churches and say, "I wish I was them -- I wish I had their ministry -- I wish I had their money -- I wish I had their youth" -- they are what God called them to be -- we are what God called us to be
-- there are many parts, but there is only one body -- we need to keep this in mind -- we don't have to try to be Valdosta First or Park Avenue or any other large church -- even though we are small -- even though we sometimes have only 20 or 30 people sitting in the pews, we are still a part of the body and we still have a role to play

-- I want to look at a passage in Acts 3 to bring this home -- please flip over to the Book of Acts and read with me as I start at verse 1-- as we go through this, try to think of what God might want to do through us and in us
-- vs. 1-- One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer--at three in the afternoon.
-- why were Peter and John going to the temple? -- they went to pray -- they went to worship God -- but more importantly, they went expecting something to happen
-- when you pray -- when you come to church, do you think something is going to happen -- do you think God is going to work through you and through this church -- or are you like that small church in my story who prayed for a miracle but didn't believe it when it happened

-- vs. 2 -- "Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts."

-- here we read about this crippled man who was "put" by the gate of the temple -- there was a big difference between Peter & John and this man - Peter and John went seeking God -- they went expecting to see God work through the two of them
-- but this man didn't come to church seeking God -- he didn't expect God to do anything for him -- he went looking simply for what the world had to offer
-- that is exactly what we do, when we try to compare ourselves with larger churches -- we are, in effect, saying that the reason God is working through them is because they are large and the reason why God is not working through us is because we are small
-- this shows a lack of faith in the power of God -- the same God who is working in the life of the large church is the same God who built a kingdom through just 12 disciples -- in 1 Cor 1:27, Paul tells us that God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise -- He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong
-- God loves to use small churches because it shows that it was Him who did it and not the size of the church

-- verse 3
3. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.
4. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!"
5. So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
6. Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk."
7. Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong.
8. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.

-- now, don't miss what is going on in this passage -- this crippled man had come to the temple at the same time as Peter and John -- to this large place of worship -- to this large church
-- we don't know how many times this man came to this site -- we don't know how many times he sat by this gate, begging for money but needing a miracle -- we don't know how many members of this church walked past him every day
-- but one thing is sure -- despite all its money -- despite all its members -- despite all its programs and ministries -- this large church couldn't meet the needs of this crippled man
-- instead of using the priest and the congregation there to heal this man, God chose to work through a church of two men -- Peter and John -- to reach out and meet that man at the point of his need
-- he wanted money -- but God wanted to give him what he really needed -- physical and spiritual healing -- and it was only the small church who could meet him where he was

-- look again at Peter's words in verse 6 -- "Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." "

-- silver and gold I do not have -- we don't have money -- we don't have lots of members -- we don't have lots of programs and lots of ministries -- but what I have I give you

-- what does Wright's Chapel United Methodist Church have to give -- what person -- what group of people -- has God called us to reach out and touch for Him -- because no one else and no other church will

-- what do we have to give?
-- well, the first thing that we have to give is Jesus -- just like Peter and John, we have the living Son of God in our midst and in our hearts -- and I don't care how little we are or how little money we have, we can give Jesus away free of charge to everyone we come into contact with
-- and, when you think of it, when you only have Jesus to give, you still have the greatest gift in the world

-- another thing that we have to offer is that we have a stronger sense of family -- we know each other -- we couldn't get lost in a crowd even if we wanted to -- and this makes us closer
-- when someone in a small church is hurting, the entire church hurts -- when something goes good for someone in a small church, everyone rejoices -- this is a major advantage that we have over the larger more impersonal churches
-- it also translates into a more loving, caring atmosphere -- everyone who has ever visited here has said the same thing to me -- it seems like these people genuinely care about me -- they are really friendly

-- a few months ago I went to a large church for worship on Sunday night -- even though there was a small crowd there, it was considerably larger than we have here -- but, the only person who spoke to me was the pastor -- that doesn't happen here
-- we also have more opportunities for spiritual growth -- everyone in a small church is needed -- we can't just come and leave on Sunday -- if you're a member here, you get put to work -- sometimes even guests get put to work -- but that's o.k. -- God uses that to help challenge us and to stretch us and to help us grow into the people He's called us to be

-- so, what can we do? -- we need to build on our strengths -- we need to reach out to people and touch them at the point of their need -- we have been gifted by God to reach those the other churches tend to forget about and those whom other communities don't want anything to do with
-- just this week in the Valdosta paper I read about the county denying the request to build a new church on Shiloh Road -- the people in the community said they didn't want another church there, because the traffic would be too great -- but, I think the real reason they didn't want the church was because it was to be for the hispanics in the area
-- we've got a lot of churches here in Echols County that won't reach out to the Hispanics -- but we've been reaching out to them in many ways over the past several years -- we need to continue to reach out to them and minister to them and offer support to them however we can
-- we need to expand on our opportunities for spiritual growth -- we just expanded our Sunday School to bring in a new class for young adults -- now we need to reach out and invite others in our community to join our classes
-- we just had a successful VBS with over 30 kids each night -- but we can expand on that by arranging transportation for kids who can't come because their parents can't bring them -- and we can reach out to the hispanic children and bring them in, even if that means we have to have a Spanish-speaking VBS Class
-- what else can we do as a church to grow spiritually while at the same time touching people? -- community events? -- servant evangelism? -- we've got that River Festival coming up in August in Statenville -- what can we do to reach others and tell them about Christ and about what good things are going on here at Wright's Chapel?
-- all of these can be unique ways we can reach others for Christ that the larger churches can't do
-- the important thing for us to remember is that -- even though we may not be large -- even though we may not have lots of money or lots of people -- we still have something to offer
-- silver or gold I do not have -- but what I have I give you
-- what can we give today?
-- let us pray