Sermon

1-21-01
1 Corinthians 12:12-21, 26-27
3rd Sunday after Epiphany

ONE BODY, MANY PARTS

1. Cherish the Unity
2. Appreciate the Diversity

I wonder if we have any soccer fans here today. I know that some of you youngsters play soccer during the summer. And that means your parents are in a sense, soccer fans. But do any of you follow major league soccer? Do you have a favorite major league soccer team? I suppose it's a little hard, since Green Bay doesn't have a major league soccer team. It has some other kind of athletic team. In fact the closest major league soccer team is in Chicago. It's called the Chicago Fire.

Now, that's kind of an interesting name, isn't it? Notice that the name is in the singular. You realize that most athletic teams have names that are in the plural: The Chicago Bears, the Milwaukee Bucks, the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. But for some reason, a lot of Major League Soccer teams have names like the Chicago Fire, or Columbus Crew, the Dallas Burn. Actually, those kind of names are not limited to soccer teams. There's the Miami Heat, the Utah Jazz, even the UWGB Phoenix.

If you think about it, names like these must create some awkward situations at times, especially for the players. I mean, if a person plays for the Green Bay Packers, he's called a Packer. But what do you call a person who plays for the Dallas Burn? A Burner? (If he plays defense, is he a back burner?) Or how about someone who plays for the Chicago Fire? Is he a Fireman? My point is this, even though a person may play for the Chicago Fire, you can't call that one individual a Fire. It's not until you put all the players together that they become the Chicago Fire. One player does not make up the Phoenix. It takes the whole team to be the Phoenix.

Personally, I think there is something very appropriate about a singular team name. A name like the Chicago Fire reinforces the fact that every team designed to be one unit. Even though there are individual players, some of whom are stars, still it's not until you bring them all together that they become a team. Many players, but just one team.

My friends, it is that very concept of many players and one team which the Apostle Paul speaks of in our text for today. Only instead of using the example of an athletic team, he uses the example of a human body. In the human body there are many members: hands, fingers, arms, etc. Yet you can't call one of those individual members a body. It's not until you put them all together that they become a human body. One body, many members.

Well, as Paul says, in our text, "So it is with the body of Christ." The body of Jesus Christ is made up of many different members, each with a diversity of different talents and abilities. Those members are called Christians and the body is called the Holy Christian church. Today we want to focus on both the unity and the diversity within the Christian Church as we consider the theme:

ONE BODY, MANY PARTS

In this portion of God's Word, St. Paul encourages each one of us to:

1. Cherish the Unity
2. Appreciate the Diversity

Now, Any time we take up the topic of Unity in the Christian Church, we need to clarify exactly what kind of unity we're talking about. Scripturally speaking, there are two types of Christian unity: There is Unity of Faith and Unity of Doctrine. Let me attempt to define each of them.

Unity of Faith is what the Holy Spirit creates when people come to believe to believe in Jesus Christ as their only Savior from sin. When people believe that they are right with God because of what Jesus has done for them, rather than what they do for God, they are united together into one body, the Holy Christian Church. They enjoy a unity of faith. That's the unity which Paul describes in Galatians 3:28 when he says, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." In other words, if you trust that Jesus Christ is your Savior-no matter what denomination you belong to(Lutheran, Catholic, Methodist, Pentecostal), if you trust that Jesus is your only hope of salvation, then you are invisibly united with every other Christian in the world. That invisible bond with every other Christian is called unity of faith.

Certainly, that is a wonderful blessing for us to cherish, isn't it? To think that you and I are intimately connected to thousands of believers down through the centuries. From Adam and Eve, to Mary and Joseph, to the Apostles, the prophets and the early church fathers. In Christ we are united to people all over the world. People of different races, nationalities, languages-all brought together into one body because, by God's grace, we call Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. That's unity of Christian faith.

Now, in addition to unity of faith there is also something called unity of doctrine. Whereas unity of faith is what unites Christians in the invisible Christian Church, it is unity of doctrine which unites Christians within separate visible Christian denominations. You see, Jesus encourages us to gather together with our fellow Christians. But as we seek out fellow believers, we are given this warning, "Watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them."

In other words, we are not to unite with people who believe or teach things that are contrary to what we know to be true from God's Word. Instead we are to be united to those with whom we have come to a mutual agreement on all of God's word. Paul says it well in 1 Corinthians 1:10, "I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you be perfectly united in mind and thought." It's that mutual agreement, based on God's inspired Word, which creates true unity in a visible church body and thus true unity in a visible Christian congregation like Mount Olive. It's that unity which we express every time we kneel down together here at the Lord's altar. A unity which our new members confess when they are received into membership. A unity which our called workers profess when they are installed into the teaching or preaching ministry. It's a unity called Unity of doctrine.

My friends, in a world that says, "It doesn't really matter what you believe"; in a world that says, "You have your truth and I have mine…"; in a world that says, "Unity is created by compromising your beliefs…" You and I have something very special to cherish in true unity of faith and doctrine. To think that God the Holy Spirit has led us from many different directions, different backgrounds, different mindsets and brought us all by grace to a common understanding of God's truth recorded right here in his Holy, inspired word-well, that truly is something to be cherished. Cherish the unity which God has created and continues to create among us.

And yet, here in our text, St. Paul speaks not only of the unity which God has created within the body of Christ. He also points to the diversity contained in its individual members. As we consider this One Body with Many Parts, Paul encourages each one of us to II. Appreciate the Diversity.

When it comes to the appreciating the diversity within the Christian church, Paul offers us three guidelines to keep in mind. The first is to recognize that our gifts and abilities, along with our function within the church are all things determined by God. Paul writes, "God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be."

What Paul is saying is this: If you are a part of the body of Christ (and by God's grace, through faith in Christ, you are a member of the body), then God made you a member of his body for a purpose. He's given you a task to carry out, a way of ministering to God and your fellowman. Maybe your area of ministry is teaching, be it as a full-time Christian day school teacher or as a part-time Sunday school teacher or basketball coach. Or maybe God has given you the tools to be an encourager, someone who can carry the burdens of others and share words of comfort and strength with them. Maybe God has given you the tools to be a leader, someone who steps forward to guide your fellow believers by word and example. Or maybe the tools God has given you as a member in the body consist for the most part, in these two things (hands) right here. Whether you're swinging a snow shovel or a paintbrush, typing on a computer or counting the offering, filling communion cups or watching the kids in the nursery, be assured that you are functioning as a member of the body of Christ. You are using the gifts that God has given you.

And yet, along with the gifts God has given, there often come a pair of related dangers. One is to downplay our own gifts. The other is to downplay the gifts of others. Paul speaks about both of these dangers in his second and third guidelines for appreciating our diversity.

In verse 15 Paul offers the hypothetical situation, "If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body." Sometimes we're tempted to think this very thing. I look around at the other gifts in the congregation and say to myself, "Because I can't sing like she can, or understand Scripture like he can or give the offerings they can, therefore I feel like I don't really belong to the body." But Paul says, "No, just because a foot doesn't function the same way a hand does, doesn't mean it isn't a part of the body. And just because a person doesn't have the voice, the Biblical knowledge, or the financial resources that another person has, does not mean that they're not a part of the body. They are! One person's gift is just as important as the next person's. The bottom line: Christian, don't downplay the gift that you bring to God's church.

But at the same time, don't downplay the gifts or the roles that other members play either. Paul writes, "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I don't need you.' And the head cannot say to the feet, 'I don't need you.'" You know, sometimes as we use our gifts within the body of Christ, we find ourselves looking around thinking, "Hey, there's a member of the body who's not doing anything. And she's not functioning at all. And if I were the head of this body, I'd amputate those members! We don't need them."

Now wait a minute. If Jesus Christ has made a person a member of his body, he has done so for a purpose. That member has a function. Maybe that person hasn't yet begun to carry out that function. Or maybe he or she is carrying it out and you or I simply aren't aware of it. I think of the elderly widow in a nursing home who hasn't been to church in years. Yet every day she prays that her pastors will continue to faithfully proclaim the Word of God to the congregation. Who of us can say she's not a vital member of the body of Christ? Who of us can say that her prayers aren't carrying out an important task?

Or how about the eighth grader who quietly goes about living his faith, and in so doing, makes such an impression on his friend, that the next thing you know, the friend is coming with him to confirmation class and in the end, is confirmed received into membership himself. Who can say to that young man, "We don't need you! You don't have such an important gift!"?

Friends, you and I are all members of one body. We have different talents. We serve in different capacities. Not one of us is more important than the next, or less important. By ourselves, we are just individual members. But together we are the Body of Christ. We are united by a common faith and doctrine. And we are blessed with a wide array of different gifts and areas of ministry. May God help each of us cherish the unity he has created among us and appreciate the diversity he has given us, for his glory and our eternal good. Amen.