What Difference Does It Make? Rev. Kip Gilts I Corinthians 15:58

           

There was once a Velveteen Rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid.   He was fat and bunchy, as a rabbit should be…On Christmas morning, when he sat wedged in the top of the Boy's stocking, with a sprig of holly between his paws, the effect was charming.

“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender.

“Real isn't how you are made,” said the Skin Horse.   “It's a thing that happens to you.   When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful.   “When you are Real you don't mind being hurt.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”

“It doesn't happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse.   “You become.  It takes a long time.   That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.   Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby.   But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.”

So begins one of my favorite children’s book, The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams.  Like most children’s stories, it has much to teach adults.  You might already know or may have guessed that that the Velveteen Rabbit does become Real - the little boy said so.  The child would go nowhere without his stuffed bunny.  When the boy became real sick with Scarlet Fever, the Velveteen Rabbit was right there by his side the whole time, comforting him with his softness and warmth.  After the child recovered, the Velveteen Rabbit excitedly began to anticipate returning to the beach and going on picnics.  That’s when the news came.  The doctor ordered all the toys, clothes and bedsheets that had been around the boy during his bout with Scarlet Fever to be burned, so as not to re-infect the child.  We find the Velveteen Rabbit, well-worn from being so loved by the child on the Trash Heap behind the garage where he wondered:

“Of what use was it to… become Real if it all ended like this?” And a tear, a real tear, trickled down his little shabby velvet nose and fell to the ground.

That’s the story of the Velveteen Rabbit from the Christmas Stocking to the Trash Heap.  It is a story that we all know too well even if we have never read the book.  Haven’t there been times in your life where you’ve wondered, “Of what use was it… if it all ended like this?”  Throughout the month of September we are considering Questions that Matter, questions that rumble around our hearts, souls and minds.  Today we seek an answer to the question, “What difference does it make?”  The question is a legitimate one.  The Corinthians must have wondered this, because after Paul presented a marvelous statement on the resurrection of Jesus and the future resurrection of his followers, he brought the teaching down to the “therefore”, the “so what” of this truth.  Listen to his words in this one verse, found in I Corinthians 15:58 on page ___ of your New Testament.  Hear now the Word of the Lord:

Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

The Word of God for the people of God.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.  In this one verse Paul encouraged the Corinthians to remain constant in their Christianity.  There are still times when individuals wonder, “Do I really make a difference or am I just an insignificant piece of lint floating through a vast universe of time and space?”  There are times in almost every human soul where one wonders, “What difference does it make?”  I have good news today – good news found in one verse of scripture.  You do make a difference!

 

Your Commitment Makes a Difference.  Paul challenged the Corinthians to become steadfast and immovable.  There were so many things that could distract the Corinthians from their Christian lives, people telling them that it really did not make that big a difference how one person lived.  “Do what you want.  Live a little.  You only go around once.  What’s it going to hurt?”  The apostle added to his charge for them to become steadfast and immovable an inclusive command, “always excelling in the work of the Lord” the New International Version translates this phrase, “always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord”.  The message is clear – your commitment makes a difference.

           When I was 20 years old, I was fired from a job only weeks before my wedding.  Technically I resigned, but I had no option.  I was told that I would have to work shift work (one week on day shift, one week on evening shift and one week on the graveyard shift).  I had risen to the top in this organization as a warehouse supervisor, making about $7 an hour.  I had worked hard to get to such a lofty status.  When they needed someone to work overtime, I volunteered.  When they needed someone to don a paper suit and clean out a carcinogenic bin, I put on my gas mask in the 100⁰ heat and got the job done.  But when I was offered shift work I turned it down.  I was a full time student and those were impossible hours.  My supervisor then told me it was not a request.  I either went to shift work or I would be out of work.  I was furious and said, “After all I’ve done for this company, you’re going to treat me like this?” 

I can still see his face as he responded, “Everything you do, you do for yourself.  That’s the way we humans are.  If you work hard, you do it to get ahead of others.  If you work overtime, you do it for time and a half.  You have done nothing for this company, you have done it all for you.”  I think those words stung more than getting fired.  I found another job, but those words have never left me.  If he is right, I’m not sure that I do make much of a difference to anyone else.

Then I hear Paul’s words, “Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord” and I am certain that my commitment does make a difference.  It’s not about you or me, it’s about a God who loves you and me and expects us to share that love with others in practical ways.  Never stop doing those things that express that love.  Your commitment makes a difference.  You do make a difference!

 

Your Confidence Makes a Difference.  Paul assured the Corinthians that their labor in the Lord was not without effect, empty or vain.  The Greek phrase literally translates, “your hard work in the Lord is not without reaching its goal.”  That is, it accomplishes what it is intended to accomplish.

Garrison Keillor once wrote about his Uncle Al taking him fishing.  He assured the reader, “Nothing you do for children is ever wasted.” And then he wrote, “Thousands of gifts, continually return to us. Uncle Al thought he was taking his nephew fishing, but he made a permanent work of art in my head, a dark morning in the mist, the coffee, the boat rocking, whispering, shivering, waiting for the big one. Still waiting. Still shivering.”  How true it is. 

That’s why the ministry that Guy Pry is sponsoring along with our Invest Ministry Team is so important. This Thursday you can discover how you can make a difference in the life of a child whose parent is incarcerated.  You can be the person to help a child become a happy and productive citizen, sharing the love of Christ in this child’s life.  The meeting is in our parlor at 6:45 p.m. Thursday evening.  Your confidence makes a difference, “because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” 

This confidence is why we honor Mark & Linda Johnson today as we bless them on their journey to Huntsville where Mark will serve as the Head Coach for the Sam Houston State University Bearkats Baseball team.  Mark coached the Aggie Baseball team from 1985-2005.  Linda served with United Way, Hospice, Boys and Girls Club and so much more.  Both of these individuals were active in this church serving on a number of committees and representing so many ministries.  We honor them today to assure them that their confidence makes a difference.  It would be easy to wonder after 23 years in the same place, What difference does it make?  There are all sorts of cards and letters that proclaim to this couple, “You do make a difference!  You have made a difference in my life.”  But they are no better or different from any of us.  They will be the first to tell you that.  The same expectations from God are on us all and yet we wonder, “What difference does it make?”  Pastors wonder it nearly every week as we prepare sermons.  Sunday School teachers wonder it as they work hard on lesson plans.  Choir members wonder it as they spend hours on a four-minute anthem.  University professors wonder it, office assistants wonder it, acolytes may even wonder it.  Your confidence makes a difference, “because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”  

Whatever happened to the Velveteen Rabbit, remember it was back there on the Trash Heap behind the garage wondering:

“Of what use was it to…become Real if it all ended like this?” And a tear, a real tear, trickled down his little shabby velvet nose and fell to the ground.

From where that tear fell, a flower grew and from that flower emerged a beautiful, mystical creature who said:

“I am the nursery magic Fairy…I take care of all the playthings that the children have loved…and turn them into Real.”

“Wasn't I Real before?” asked the little Rabbit.
“You were Real to the Boy,” the Fairy said, “because he loved you. Now you shall be Real to every one.” …And she kissed the little Rabbit again and put him down on the grass. “Run and play, little Rabbit!” she said.

 

 “Now you shall be Real to everyone.”  That is the hope of resurrection.  That is the power of the statement, “You do make a difference!”

●       Your commitment makes a difference.

●       Your confidence makes a difference.

You make difference!  Amen.