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Sermon as Preached at Lambs and Evington UMC on 1/19/14
(Week 1 of Sermon series "Becoming the Body")
In a couple of weeks
the nation’s eyes will be glued to the television to watch two teams battle the
cold and each other at the champions from the NFC face off against the
champions in the AFC in the “big game” as they call it. They all will be
competing for the Vince Lombardi trophy and the right to call themselves the
NFL champions. A lot goes into wining
that prize, hours of working out, studying film, practicing techniques; there
is blood, sweat, tears not, just in the
game itself, but yearlong that the players pour out all striving for that
national title. The beauty about this sport is that it doesn’t matter how
talented each individual on the team is; if they don’t play as a team they
won’t win. Don’t get me wrong it takes incredibly gifted and talented players
to win as well, but they cannot win alone. Think about it, you can have the
best quarterback in the world, but if the offensive line isn’t able to block
the defenders, it doesn’t really matter how good the quarterback is. On defense you can cover you position and
your player so well that there is no way that they are going to get the ball,
but if your teammate let’s his player free, it doesn’t even matter because they
are off to races. Football is a team sport, in which each player has a different
but equally important gift and position, and a team is only great, if all of
the members of the team work in perfect unison.
The church is very similar to one of these football
teams. No of course we are not playing a game, we are not tackling each other,
at least I hope not, but this concept of every member using their own unique
talents and gifts to come together to create a great team, is the same in a
church as it is for the champions of the NFL.
Paul in his letter to the church in Corinth actually makes this very
point. No he doesn’t use the analogy of American football, which of course
didn’t exist at the time, but instead he uses the analogy of a body. He says that we are all members of one body,
and just like our own bodies we have very distinct yet important parts. The eye is extremely important it helps us to
see, but it cannot say that it is more important than the mouth which helps us
to speak and to eat. Even our eyelashes which we often forget about, serve the
important function of protecting the eye.
Paul reminds the people of Corinth that they together make up a body,
and that the head of that body is Jesus Christ; making all of us part of the
body of Christ.
We are part of the body of Christ, but what does that
mean, what does that entail? Today we start a six week series in discovering
what it means to become part of the body of Christ, and what it means as a
church to live as the body of Christ. We will do this by looking at portions of
Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth. As we have already seen, Paul
address this idea of the Body of Christ with the people of Corinth, but he does
it for an important reason. Paul writes this letter to the Church in Corinth
because the church had many gifted members and wonderful leaders, some were
great teachers, others were great speakers, while other were great
organizational leaders. While the church
in Corinth had so many gifted members, they did not have a particularly gifted
church; they were not living as the body of Christ. There were divisions
amongst the leaders, many believed that their own gifts were the most important
gifts. While these members surely had the heart and the passion to be followers
of Christ, the really did not understand how to go about doing it. They did not
understand how they were to stop being individual believers and how they could become
the body of Christ.
And so today we start off our series by looking at the
very beginning of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. At first glance this part
of the letter is quite boring. Paul starts off with a typical salutation for a
letter of the time explaining who it is that is writing, “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of
God” and to whom he is writing, “To the church of God that is in Corinth.” He then begins to write in what sounds to a
lot like flattery; it sounds as though Paul is trying to butter the people of
Corinth up before he lays the smack down upon them. In a way this is true, Paul
most likely is trying to gain some favor before he begins to criticize what is
happening at the church. That being said, I don’t think that it necessarily
means that Paul’s words are hollow. I believe Paul starts with a very important
aspect for members of the body of Christ, and that is affirmation.
The people of Corinth know the problems that they are
having with their church, and they know that this letter that they have
received from Paul is not just a random letter he sent for fun; the know he is
going to have some tough words for them; and so Paul starts out by first
reminding them that though there are struggles, they have a lot to be proud of.
He acknowledge that many of them truly have amazing gifts given to them by
God. He
reminds them that they truly have shared their testimonies and the good
news of Christ with others. Paul starts out his letter by thanking them,
thanking them for their faithfulness, their gifts, and the energy and passion
that they have put into the church.
Sometimes isn’t this just something we need, to be
appreciated for our efforts. Even when we know there are struggles,
difficulties, even when we know we can do better; it is nice to start out
knowing that we are appreciated. And so this morning before we dive too far
into our lesson, before we really start to scratch and dig into what it means,
what it takes to be the body of Christ let me first stop and let me express my
gratitude for all of you. Thank you for all you who come and participate each
week or as often as you are able. Thank you for all of you who teach, who sing,
who organize, who lead, who do the tough nitty gritty work that no-one really
wants to do. Thank you for all of you bring you children or your grandchildren,
it is not the easiest thing to do on a Sunday morning. Thank you for all of you
who keeps records, reports, copies of the business and history of this church,
and thanks to all who help with the maintenance of this building. Thank you to
all who go and visit those who are sick or shut in, and thank you to all of
your for your kind words, your cards and your gifts. This church truly has some
wonderful people; people who have some extraordinary gifts given to them
through the power of the Holy Spirit. There is so much that this church has
already accomplished, but as we all know, there is so much more that we could
do. So as we recognize the gifts that we have and the gifts those around us
have, let us now ask, how can we become a stronger, healthier body of Christ.
To begin to answer this question let us once again turn
to Paul’s introduction to the book of 1 Corinthians. As we have already
noted, Paul begins by affirming and
recognizing the gifts of the people of the church; but did you notice a theme
that was present as he spoke about these early members. “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who
are sanctified in Christ Jesus….who
in every place call on the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, Grace to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ….. I give thanks to my God always
for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ
Jesus, so that you are not lacking in
any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He
will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of
our Lord Jesus Christ.” Every sentence, almost every phrase calls upon
the name of the Lord, gives thanks to God, tells us that something is through
grace of God. As Paul begins one of his longest letters to a church, a letter
addressed to a church with great strengths, and yet a church not quite
functioning as the cohesive body, Paul
makes it abundantly clear that all thought of spiritual gifts, all thoughts of
unity, all thoughts of growth and evangelism, all thoughts on becoming the body
Christ must begin with Christ. If
somehow we missed this point through the repetitive calls on the name of the
Lord throughout this introduction, Paul makes sure we don’t miss this point in
verse 9. “God is faithful; by him you were called into
the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
“God is faithful;
by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
You have not been called into fellowship with Christ because of anything you
have done. It is not because you are a
great singer, it is not because you are a great speaker, it is not because you
have the money to finance countless ministry opportunities, it is not because you are skilled with
numbers and management. There is nothing that we have within or without that
warrants our union with Christ, there is nothing that we have done or can do
that we can say causes us to deserve to be part of the body of Christ. It is
only through grace that we are drawn into fellowship with Christ, it is only
because we have been called, drawn in, invited by God, for God is faithful. This understanding is key if we are to grow
as the body of Christ. For as the body
of Christ we all have various functions, different gifts, different abilities,
some of us have even taken on different leadership roles in the church, and yet
we must be reminded that if we are the body of Christ then there is only one
true leader, Christ. This can be a very
humbling realization. We like to take ownership of our church, we like to claim
that because we hold this position or that position that we have control; but
the truth is if we strive to live as the body of Christ, then we do not have
control. We may serve the important
function of the eye, or the mouth, or the hands or the feet of the body, but we
will never be the head. Christ is the head of the body, and only once
acknowledge this fact, only once we humble ourselves to a recognize our role in
the body, can we truly begin to function in a healthy manner. We could spend the next five weeks of this
sermon series addressing many critical issues for the church, we can discuss
ideas and tactics to help us in our growth and functioning, but all of that
would be worthless if we do not truly recognize Christ as the head of this
body.
While
this recognition can be a very painful, humbling experience, one in which we
feel control slip through our fingers,
one in which we must put aside some of our own desires for the good of
the body; this experience can also be a very freeing experience. We may have to let go some of the control
that we desire to hold on to, but at the same time we may also be letting go of
some of weight of burden that has bent our backs for too long as it has rested
on our shoulders. For too long we may
have felt like if I don’t to this it will all fail, that it is up to us. Every
set back, every fall, every critique or dissention felt as though it landed on
us. Christ reminds us however that his yoke is easy and my burden is light. We
do not have bear the weight of the world, the weight of the church on our
shoulders, because Christ has already bore that burden on a cross in Calvary.
Recognizing Christ as the head can be a truly freeing experience.
That
is not to say though that we have no responsibility. That would be like saying
just because the brain is in control, the eyes can close, the heart can stop,
and the feet refuse to move. We of
course still have responsibility as members of the body of Christ, but
recognizing Christ as the Head, reframes the way in which we view our
responsibility. This is the framework that Paul has given us this morning
through the introduction to the church in Corinth. He acknowledges the gifts
and talents of the members of the church, he thanks them for their
faithfulness, he affirms that these gifts and how they use them truly do matter
for the vitality of the church, but he reminds them that these gifts are grace
given. That all they have is from God,
that all they have done is thanks to God, and that all they will do and the
ways in which they will grow will be because of God. He reminds them that at
the center of any church, that at the center of the Church universal rests our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That yes we have been commissioned by Christ to
go forth and make disciples of all nations, but that in doing such all
authority belongs to me, says Christ.
That through that authority he have the freedom to go forth in
confidence, that we may go forth using the gifts that the Lord has given us,
because with Christ as the Head we are reminded that Christ is with us to the
very end of the age.
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