I come from a long line of active participants in sporting events. Some people refer to my kind of people as hecklers, but I prefer the phrase “an active participant in the grandstands”. My Dad would shout and heckle and correct umpires at Little League baseball games, college basketball games and high school football games. He is the only guy I know to have been ejected from a basketball game – as a fan in the stands! Apparently, he had corrected the referee one too many times, challenging the man’s diminutive stature and poor eyesight. I’m not necessarily proud of this behavior, but I must explain that this is the environment in which I grew up. Giltses were not mute spectators in the stands, but active participants in the grandstands. This has made my visits to Olsen Field very difficult. You see, I typically sit with season ticket holders, sophisticated people of position in this community. I myself am a pastor of this great church and am called to behave accordingly in the community. However, I am also a Gilts and there are some things that Giltses have a hard time tolerating at sporting events. One of those, of course, is a mistake in officiating, but what is worse than that is any hint of a player not giving it his or her all. Nevermind that I have never played an organized game of baseball in my life, I’ve played hundreds of sandlot games and I can tell “dogging it” when I see it. So when a player takes three strikes with the bat never leaving his shoulder, or a basketball player misses a free throw and doesn’t seem to care it takes all my pastoral reserve not to holler out, “Did you pay for your ticket to watch this game?!” So far, I’ve done alright, but I’m afraid one of these days the Gilts in me is going to win out and I will be ejected from the game.

I’m pretty sure the Lord feels the same way about church. I just get the feeling from reading this Bible and from sensations I get when praying, that God has little patience for passive spectators in the Kingdom of God. Listen to God’s instructions to Moses regarding the construction of an elaborate tabernacle in the middle of nowhere, somewhere between Egypt and Canaan. It is found in Exodus 31:1-6 on page of your pew Bibles. Hear now the Word of the Lord:

The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 See, I have called by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: 3 and I have filled him with divine spirit, with ability, intelligence, and knowledge in every kind of craft, 4 to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, 5 in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, in every kind of craft. 6 Moreover, I have appointed with him Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and I have given skill to all the skillful, so that they may make all that I have commanded you.

The Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. In this passage God promised the prophet the people to accomplish all that God had outlined. Let’s pray.

Bezalel and Oholiab are no longer common names, but I have met them before and I’ll bet you have too. These are the talented people of the church who always seem to know what to do and how to get it done. These two craftsmen and all who assisted them remind us of a truth we mustn’t forget. There are no spectators in the Kingdom of God. God explains the plan and God equips the people, but make no mistake, God expects implementation. There are no spectators in the Kingdom of God.

God explains the Plan

The plan for Moses was to construct a portable, yet elaborate tabernacle in the wilderness. This would provide a center for worship and a physical reminder of the spiritual presence of a caring and capable God who was not “out there” but rather “right here”. The tabernacle was to include curtains, clasps, beams, pegs, an ark of the covenant, a lampstand, a table, an altar and much, much more. It was a big project. As God began to explain the plan, Moses was assured that just as God had called the prophet to lead Israel out of Egypt, so too God had called Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab for this particular work. God had a plan.

Of course, the knowledge that God has a plan does not eliminate all human anxiety. This project would require carpenters, goldsmiths, engineers, seamstresses, perfumers, gemologists, priests and lots of manual laborers – all employed without pay in the middle of nowhere without a Wal-mart or Home Depot anywhere around. I’m sure Moses may have felt as overwhelmed as Noah when the patriarch was instructed to build an ark. No one captured the comical sense of this task better than Bill Cosby. Listen to his treatment of this story:

Just because God explains the plan, does not eliminate the anxiety. How will such a mammoth task ever get accomplished? One thing is for sure; there can be no spectators in the Kingdom of God.

Just as God had a plan for the Israelites in the wilderness, so too God has a plan for A&M United Methodist Church in College Station. We are certain that the plan involves this congregation of 1,400 members having a significant impact on a community of 55,000 students in our area. We are certain that God has a plan for us to have a transforming influence on the lives of tens of thousands of residents in our community who do not know Christ. After all, Jesus charged his followers in Mark 16, “ Go everywhere and announce the Message of God's good news to one and all.” God has a plan and it is no less extraordinary than the plan given to Moses. How are we going to accomplish this plan? One thing is for sure; there can be no spectators in the Kingdom of God. We also need to be assured that…

God equips people to carry out the plan

God had set Bezalel apart before Bezalel was ever even aware of his calling. R. Alan Cole wrote in his commentary on Exodus, “In early Old Testament days, every form of skill and strength and excellence is directly and bluntly credited to the Spirit of God. This is because God is rightly seen as the source of all wisdom.” Not only had God equipped Bezalel and Oholiab to carry out this massive project, but look at verse six of our passage - God had also given skill to all the skillful. God seems to have thought of everything.

This is the nature of the church. We have pretty much lost the sense of what the word church means. It comes from the Greek word ekklesia, which literally means “called out ones”. We, like Bezalel, Oholiab and all the skillful, have been called out to live out the kingdom of God. We have been equipped to carry out the plan of God and if we truly grasp that, we will be amazed at what can be accomplished.

There is a tiny village in Bavaria, Germany that was hit hard by the bubonic plague. The plague had already taken 15,000 lives in nearby Munich in 1633. The residents of this tiny town decided to put together a Passion Play about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. I’m sure part of the motivation was to get their minds off of the dreadful plague and the endless waiting for doom. I have no doubt that another part of it was to offer a community prayer to God for deliverance from the dreadful disease. On Pentecost in 1634 the residents of Oberammergau, Germany presented the Passion Play for the first time and vowed to do it every ten years from that time on. Over the centuries the play has moved to decade years mostly, the last presentation having been in the year 2000. It was their fortieth presentation of the play. The play involves only residents of Oberammergau who have lived there for at least ten years. The community only has 5,000 residents. The play takes 2,200 participants between stage crew, actors, orchestra and chorus members. The other 2,800 residents man the shops, inns and restaurants to accommodate the 500,000 visitors who flock to the tiny village for the six-hour presentation of the gospel set to music. How does such a tiny village do so much for such a long time? One thing is for sure; there can be no spectators among the residents of Oberammergau. Everyone has a job to do and everyone must do his or her job.

Wouldn’t it be great if every member of A&M United Methodist Church had that level of commitment to our presentation of the gospel? I have no doubt that God has equipped people in this church to carry out his plan. However, in order for us to fully be the church that God calls us to be, one thing is for sure; there can be no spectators in the Kingdom of God. For not only does God explain the plan and equip the people…

God expects implementation of gifts for ministry

Look at the last phrase of our passage for today. “I have given skill to all the skillful, so that they may make all that I have commanded you.” Don’t read over that too quickly. God has given skill to all the skillful, so that they carry out the plan of God. The reason they were equipped was so thatthey would do ministry. They were gifted for a reason. That has not changed in the last 3,000 years since Bezalel and Oholiab constructed that tabernacle in the wilderness. God still gives skill to the skillful for a reason.

John Ed Mathison is the pastor of Frazer Memorial United Methodist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. This church has grown to 8,500 members and holds eight worship services every weekend in which over 5,000 people attend. But the real power of this church is not in its worship attendance. It is in its ministry. Whereas most churches have 20% of their members doing 80% of the ministry, Frazer Memorial has for years involved over 80% of their members in ministry. John Ed Mathison wrote a book about this church entitled, Every Member in Ministry. In the book Pastor Mathison describes Frazer Memorial as “a church with a growing commitment of lay persons who volunteer to serve in an intentional meaningful ministry through the church.” He wrote of one member of the church who was unable to attend worship services, but saw what was happening in her church. She wanted to be a part of every member in ministry. She wrote a beautiful letter to her pastor and expressed her desire to do something. She asked if it would be alright is she used her letter writing skills to write a letter to every new member of Frazer memorial welcoming them to the church and encouraging each new member to get involved in some specific ministry.

What kind of impact do you think we could have on our community, what kind of church do you think this could be if every member implemented the gifts God has given to us, skills and finances, for the work of this church? That would be more exciting than building a tabernacle in the middle of nowhere. It would surely make a difference. How do we accomplish that? Where do we start? One thing is for sure; there can be no spectators in the Kingdom of God. God has explained the plan, equipped people to carry out the plan and God expects us, each of us to implement our gifts for ministry, so that we can do that which God calls us to do.

Forty-five years ago, Albert F. Bayly wrote a hymn that speaks of implementing gifts for ministry. He begins by acknowledging Jesus’ servant’s heart, Lord, whose love through humble service, bore the weight of human need, who upon the cross, forsaken, worked Your mercy's perfect deed. Then he began to express God’s expectations for implementating gifts for ministry when he wrote, We, Your servants, bring the worship not of voice alone, but heart; consecrating to Your purpose every gift which You impart.

I wonder if sometimes God finds himself in the grandstands watching us with our gifts and skills in hand, standing at the plate and watching pitch after pitch go by, opportunity after opportunity for ministry pass unheeded. I wonder if God like me is tempted to yell out, “Did you pay for your ticket to watch this game?!” I don’t know if that ever happens, but I am quite sure of one thing; there can be no spectators in the Kingdom of God.

Amen!