Diversity of Gifts

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.

Glory to God. Let's speak today of the epistle.

St. Paul wrote to the Roman Church a treatise,

15 some chapters, or is it 16? In the year about

56 or 57, all his letters had a purpose. That

is to correct something that was going in the

wrong direction. So when we hear a reading like

we heard today, and I'll review it a bit for

you, we should be thinking that he's speaking

to us. He's speaking to a parish. He's not writing

to an individual. He's not saying, Demetrius,

this is what you should do. Or John, this is

what you should do. He's telling the parish,

this is the way parish life is. And he wrote

the letter in 56 or 57 because the Jewish community

had earlier been expelled by Emperor Claudius.

And in the meantime, Christians had begun to

gather and to worship in the city of Rome. The

Jewish community came back to Rome. You had Gentiles.

You had Jews. It's kind of like the Russians

and the Greeks trying to get together, except

not as bad. St. Paul was very keen to begin his

epistle. and take through 12 chapters to tell

us whether you are a Jew or whether you're a

Gentile, ultimately you are in the same condition

without Christ. You can keep the law to the letter.

You will still die, and your sins, that is, that

which defiles a person. that which corrupts the

heart, that which makes it impossible not just

to love God, but to be like God, to be holy,

to be righteous, to be the image and likeness

of God. It's impossible without Christ. So he

says to the Jews and the Gentiles, you're in

the same position, you're in the same boat, you

can't judge one another. You have to be united.

And he spends 12 chapters telling them about

sin, about grace, about the Holy Spirit, the

walk in the Spirit. If you walk in your sins,

you will die. If you walk in the Spirit, you

will live, and you will be raised to glory. And

by chapter 12, he has some extremely practical

advice. And this is what I want to focus on just

for a few moments. And you heard in the gospel

today how Christ first forgave the man's sins.

Son, thy sins are forgiven. The friends had taken

this man to Jesus. And it says in the gospel,

seeing their faith, the Pharisees were scandalized.

But the fact is, what Jesus does first for us

is to lift the burden of corruption, the burden

of sin, the burden of alienation from us, to

cleanse us, to make us shine. The healing of

this man is a prophecy in action. It's what's

going to happen to all of us. We will be raised

from the dead. Sins forgiven. Shining like Christ

at the resurrection. This is what we are hoping

for. This is our goal. This is what we desire.

So we're free now. We're free. Redeemed. Forgiven.

And now we can offer ourselves. And our freedom

to Jesus. That's what St. Paul is saying. Because

it's to him or it's to something else. If our

freedom is offered to Christ, we become his servants.

Then it's complete. If our freedom is offered

to something else, well, you've got to serve

someone, said Bob Dylan. And that something or

someone is not God. and you will no longer be

free. Christ says, if anyone would come after

me, he does not say, like it or not, you must

come or else. That's not our Savior. The devil

says St. Paisios, on the other hand, is shameless.

He will then try to trap us. God respects human

freedom. You can do what you want. You don't

have to come to church. You don't have to pray.

You don't have to fast. You don't have to love

the brethren. You don't have to forgive. You

don't have to do anything. But if you want to

walk with God, of course, we do those things.

But the devil, says St. Pius, because God did

not create slaves but children, but the devil

entraps us in our freedom, in our offering to

God. Well, this is where the words of the epistle

to the Romans apply. We've been reading the epistle

to the Romans since we finished Acts after Pentecost

and we began Romans. Now we're in chapter 12.

Words that tell us what to do with the grace

that we have been given. He says many things,

but let me focus on five simple things. God gives

gifts to each of us. I don't mean your talent

when you're born that you develop. I mean the

gift is given when you are baptized and charismated.

God gives gifts. St. Paul says to rejoice in

the hope that you have. To rejoice, not to mourn.

Get out of the malaise. He says to be patient

in your sufferings. He says to pray, not just

now and then. He says to care for the saints.

He says to bless those who persecute you. So

let's start with the first thing, the gifts.

These gifts are diverse. This is a letter to

the parish. This is what he says. Having then

gifts according to the grace that is given to

us, let us use them. The gift given in baptism

and in chrismation, which begins with the cleansing

of the soul and the heart, the mind, And the

body, when we receive the seal, you've seen a

seal on an old -fashioned envelope with wax,

the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit. The

Spirit was given to you. He was sealed within

us. And that gift over time, the Comforter, the

Spirit of Truth, he produces with our cooperation

and our goodwill many fruits, many gifts. Through

what we're doing today, worship, through prayer,

through confession, through communion, all things

we can choose to do or choose not to do. Just

like a farmer can choose to take care of his

field, but if he doesn't, what happens? Rodents,

animals, weeds, the weather. So we struggle against

sin. We struggle to acquire first, though, the

godly virtues of patience, love, mercy, joy.

And so we sing that the Holy Spirit is the treasury

of blessings. That diverse gifts becomes a treasury

within us. It's not magic. It's synergy. It's

cooperation. Secondly, after the diverse gifts,

St. Paul goes on. He says, rejoice in hope, for

that is your salvation. Rejoice that God has

saved you, that he has taken the burden of sin

off of your heart. that he has cleansed your

mind and your body, that you will stand in the

counsel of the saints in the life of the age

to come when Christ comes in his glorious appearing.

He says, number three, be patient. Be patient

how? Patience is not, oh God, give me strength

so I can deal with this person. God, give me

strength so that I can take care of this person

that I'm so tired of dealing with. Patient in

your sufferings, in your tribulations, in your

sicknesses, and in your sorrows. Why? Do you

remember what St. Paul wrote in chapter 5? Let's

memorize this, brothers and sisters. Commit it

to memory and recite it to yourself every day.

He says this. We also glory in tribulations because

they're going to happen. They will happen. No

one gets to heaven in comfort. We glory in tribulations

knowing that tribulation produces perseverance.

Perseverance produces character, godly character,

shapiness, and character produces hope. Now,

hope does not disappoint because the love of

God has been poured out in our hearts by the

Holy Spirit who was given to us, to you and me.

The Lord is good. As they say in the South, and

Baltimore is pretty close, someone said, God

is good, and I heard someone say the answer that

they say down there all the time. Not just now

and then. He will reward that patience with joy.

He enters into your suffering. He enters into

your tribulations. Every time I go to the hospital

or I visit someone who is desperately ill, I

see Christ with them, holding them up, giving

them hope and joy. Not that tomorrow will be

a better day, but that Christ will come and comfort

them. The martyrs today are a perfect illustration

of that. In their suffering, in their steadfastness,

in their witness to the truth, and especially

with Boris and Gleb, their passion bearing, that

is, they made the choice not to fight, but to

receive whatever God sent to them. They had joy.

Number four, St. Paul says, pray steadfastly.

Constantly. Not just now and then. Not when you

need something. Not, oh God, I forgot to pray

for so and so. Hey Bob, I'm praying for you.

Not like that. But when we leave this building

today, this holy place, let the prayer, the prayers

that you heard and you said, remain in your lips

and your heart. Carry that with you. Mother Susanna

said recently to me, she said, Every single Jesus

prayer, especially nowadays, is so important.

Each and every one, just one, is enough sometimes.

Pray every morning, thanking the Lord God for

your life, thanking him for your salvation, asking

him to be with those that you are concerned about.

asking for forgiveness. Number two, when you

pray, ask the Theotokos to extend her veil over

you, your family, this parish, and those who

are in need. Number three, thank your guardian

angel. You need that guardian angel with you.

Number five, St. Paul says, care for the saints.

Who are the saints? Look at the person next to

you. That person has been given the full potential

to be saintly, to be filled with God's love,

God's grace, the uncreated light. Each and every

person here has a destiny to be in the council

of the saints, the members who are striving to

be what God has created us to be, but what we

are not yet. And invite others. Invite others

when you care for the saints, your brothers,

your sisters, here or elsewhere. Invite others

to share in the great gift of the forgiveness

that you heard Christ give that young man today

in the gospel from Matthew. Rejoice in that and

let it be known that this is something that God

does for us. This is why Christ came to us. Finally,

did I say there were five things? Well, let me

make it six. Bless those who persecute you. Look

and act with love upon those who frighten you.

How? St. Pius says, consider them your own siblings.

And when we do these things, brothers and sisters,

it's not to get a reward. It's because that we

may with one mind as a parish, and one mouth

as a parish, glorify the God and Father of our

Lord Jesus Christ, and to him be glory now and

ever, to ages of ages. Amen.