Tending the Garden
26th Sunday after Pentecost
1 Corinthians 3:5-11 and Hebrews 10:19-25
November 17, 2024
Today, we will be planting seeds and plants in our new Fellowship Garden, and what a beautiful day it is to be planting!
I want to especially thank those on the Property and Grounds committee that helped make this vision a reality, Bart Greer, Bryan Almand, Dick Shelton, Eve Renfroe, Laurelee Wilkerson, and Mark Crawford.
When we look at our scriptures this morning, we open in 1 Corinthians where Paul is speaking to the Corinthians, and to us still today, regarding the foundation on which we live, Jesus Christ. A foundation that is strong and steady. A foundation that does not crack under pressure, no matter how hard the wind blows.
Paul reminds us that we are servants in God’s field with a common purpose to plant and water good seeds for a common purpose of sewing Christ’s love. We have been shown by others how to love those we meet along our journey.
We are God’s servants working together, and it is up to us individually how we choose to build on Christ’s foundation, and also up to us as to how we will work together in community.
As we move into our Hebrews scripture, the writer reminds us that we have been assured of a place in God’s kingdom, the Holy place by which we enter due to the blood of Christ shed for us.
We enter with clean hearts and pure bodies because we have been washed through baptism. We have made our confessions and live in hope of the promises made, those told to us by Christ, and those shown to us by our God as we continue living out our faith.
Christ has removed all obstacles to our own access to God, and we desire to remain obedient to God’s will.
We can have confidence in approaching God because Christ has made the way available to us through his self-sacrifice.
We are admonished by the writer in Hebrews that our purpose is to worship the living God, and we are to approach worship with sincerity and integrity, or in other words, a true heart.
There is also one other thing by which we approach worship along with our true hearts, and that is with abundant faith.
These qualities by which we approach worship allow us to receive God’s love, and his will for us as we live in the presence of the knowledge provided to us by God’s commands.
Just like the heart of the widows we discussed last week, and the obedience of Elijah, we are able to fulfill the commands given to us by our One True God when we remain focused and faithful. When we tend the garden, so to speak.
Now let’s look at what I think is the key to what the writer wants most from his listeners, “consider how to provoke one another in love and good deeds.”
Let’s think about this. When I consider the word “provoke,” another scripture come to mind, that directs us to not provoke children to wrath or anger so that they do not become discouraged from what is good.
When I come across a word like provoke in the Bible, and remember another scripture, I like to Google to see how many other instances is the word used. Google reveals that the word appears as many as 70 times. So one gets to thinking, this must be a pretty important word that we might just consider a little further.
Provoke is defined in the dictionary as “something to cause a particular reaction to or have a particular effect.”
We are, therefore, admonished by the Hebrews writer to consider how we might cause others to respond in love and good deeds. How do we do this? Certainly, we do not control how others think or what they feel or how they act, yet here we are being admonished to do so. We are planting seeds.
I would submit to you that we do this by being the example in the same way that Christ was our example.
When others see us doing something good, they sometimes want to follow our actions. Although, I would say that what drives people even more, what provokes them, is when they see the results of those actions, those good deeds, that love that is shown. When the plant is watered, and God gives the growth, it flourishes and is able to feed others with beauty and nourishment.
The writer reminds us that we not only consider the deeds we can do to promote love and good deeds, but that we also meet together so that we have the opportunity to encourage one another.
Wow, now there is a novel thought, isn’t it, that we encourage each other. If you take a moment and consider when was the last time someone encouraged you to do something?
Many times, we forget to encourage each other because we are so busy trying to find another way that we disagree with someone because we don’t like the way they look, the way they sound, or whatever petty reason we may conjure up that they are not worthy.
We are called to do the exact opposite, and what a difference it makes when we shift from a negative thought to a positive one, right?
We are able to accomplish so many more good deeds that are filled with love and joy that overflows to others when we encourage one another. It’s such a simple thing, and yet we make it so hard.
In just a few moments I will ask Vickie Byrd, Matt Watson and John Vick to come forward to be installed as elders for the Class of 2027 to serve on Session.
These three are beautiful expressions of the love of people who stand on Christ’s firm foundation, and are choosing how to continue to build on it.
Being a Session member can be hard work, and sometimes it is hard to get a “yes” because everyone has so much on their plates, and lives are already full with things to do, yet we are called to do God’s work. We are called to continue tending the garden, and I am incredibly grateful these three have stepped forward to do just that for this congregation.
It’s amazing how God works things out. We had originally planned to have the Fellowship Garden Dedication and Planting in October; however, Helene caused us to delay the planting, and here we are today planting our garden at the same time we are planting three new elders in our congregation to be watered and encouraged by all of you, just like the plants and seeds we will plant in our Fellowship Garden today. What symbolism!
I would invite you as a congregation to not only pray for these three, but all of those who serve on Session, who choose to do the work that is required of them. I want to give a special thank you to Sissy Almand, Lamar Cole and Dick Shelton for their service on Session, not just over these last three years but also for the many, many years they have served this congregation throughout the life of this church. Thank you! You all are truly a blessing to all of us.
Let us all tend the garden so that we do not neglect to meet together, here in this Holy Place, and that we always continue to encourage one another provoking one another in love and good deeds!
(Silent Reflection)