Sunday
01/23/22 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “What Is Your Role In The Body Of Christ?” (“1 Corinthians” Series: Part 2 of 5)
Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 19
New Testament Scripture:
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
Last
Sunday I began a sermon series on the Book of 1 Corinthians. As I said last
Sunday, we have church lectionary readings from 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians
for the next 8-weeks. Since there are so many good things in our 1 Corinthians readings,
I prayerfully decided to create a five-week sermon series on five of our
readings from 1 Corinthians.
In introducing this sermon series last
Sunday, I also discussed how Corinth is a city in the country of Greece, and that
the people that live in the city of Corinth call themselves Corinthians. Since
the Apostle Paul went to the ancient city of Corinth, Greece and planted a new
church there nearly two-thousand years ago, 1 and 2 Corinthians are letters or
epistles that the Apostle wrote to the Christians in the Greek city of Corinth.
He wrote to the new church there, and in 1 Corinthians the Apostle Paul wrote
to instruct, to correct, and to encourage.
Last Sunday once again, we had a
reading from 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, and in this reading, the Apostle Paul was
telling the Corinthians about spiritual gifts. The Apostle Paul was telling the
church in Corinth that God gives or can give different gifts and graces that we
use to the glory of Jesus Christ.
This morning, in our reading from 1
Corinthians 12:12-31a, the Apostle Paul goes beyond just the spiritual gifts we
have all been given from God, beyond the talents and the abilities given to all
of us by God, to how we are all significant and vital to the body of Christ. In
fact, the Apostle Paul compares the body of Christ to a human body and talks
about how each of us here are part of the body of Christ, in the same way that each
part of a human body makes the body whole (1 Cor. 12:12-31a, NRSV).
In our reading for this morning from
Psalm 19 in the Old Testament, once again, we hear of the greatness and the immensity
of God. We also hear those famous words in Psalm 19:14 that say:
“14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer (Ps. 19:14, NRSV).
I know some pastors that recite Psalm 19:14 before they
give their sermons every Sunday. The wholeness, the greatness, the immensity,
and the saving nature of God.
This same God who took on flesh and came to earth as Jesus
Christ, has called us all. This same God has made us in his image, and as I said,
has given us all gifts and graces. Can any one person in the church do everything?
Of course not. Does any one person in the church possess all the gifts and
graces of God? Of course not. When we come together as the body of Christ, as a
community, all of the gifts and graces that come from God are represented. Or
as the old expression goes, “It takes many spokes to make a wheel.”
In recent decades, in some churches, some folks have begun
to look at their pastor or priest as the one who has all the gifts and graces
of God, or they must have the most gifts and graces. As a result of this, if
you look at your pastor or priest as having significantly more gifts and graces
then you, then over time this can harm your spiritual growth. By this I mean we
are made in God’s image, and we are given different gifts and graces.
The Apostle Paul in our reading from 1 Corinthians
12:12-31a for this morning, once again, compares the body of Christ, or the community
of faith to a human body. Let us hear once again what the Apostle Paul tells the
church in Corinth this morning. Once again, the Apostle Paul says picking up in
12:12:
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:12-13, NRSV).
So, the body of Christ, like a human
body has many parts, and the body of Christ includes all people who have faith in
Christ and are baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. It
does not matter what country you are from, what language you speak, what you look
like, what color your skin is, etc. All believers in Christ are part of the
body of Christ. To become part of the earthly Christian Church, or the broader
body of Christ, this happens through baptism. The Apostle Paul continues on in
1 Corinthians 12:14-26 saying
14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many members, yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; 24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, 25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it” (1 Cor. 12:14-26, NRSV).
I
really, really love this passage of our scripture from 1 Corinthians this
morning. What the Apostle Paul is telling us this morning, is that every part,
or every person in the body of Christ is important and is needed. All of us
matter. All of us are needed in the body of Christ. Which part of the body is
better than another part of the body? Further, the Apostle said the people who
are in the body of Christ are indispensable and needed, and those feel lesser
than, we will love you so that you will feel worthy and great. The Apostle Paul
tells us not fight, or quarrel, or to have dissension. We are told to care for
one another, to love one another, and if one in the body of Christ is suffering,
then we are all suffering together. If we honor a person in the body of Christ,
we all celebrate and rejoice together. We are a spiritual family, we are united
as the body of Christ.
Whenever
I read this passage about being the body of Christ, for some reason, I always
think of that toy “Mr. Potato Head.” Probably because you can put on and remove
different body parts on a “Mr. Potato Head.” In this way there are many body
parts to a “Mr. Potato Head.” I also sometimes think of the family game called “Operation.”
You know that game where you pretend to be a surgeon and you have to remove
body parts from the man with tweezers? If you hit the metals edges over the
body part with the tweezers, then the tweezer vibrates and buzzes, and you lose.
So which body part is more important?
Well,
you could say, “Well Pastor Paul, our brain is the most important part of our
body.” Yet without the oxygen we breath into our lungs that our brain needs,
and without the blood that our heart pumps, our brains would die quickly.
Without the food that goes through our digestive system our brain would not
have the energy it needed to survive. The body of Christ works together, and we
all are part of the body, no exceptions.
So
what part are you? Are you a toe? Are you an elbow? Are you a funny bone?
Whatever part of the body of Christ you are, you are needed to complete the body.
Just because I am the pastor of this church, does not mean that I am the whole body
of Christ. Without all of you, we would not be able to pursue the mission of
this church, for we would be missing all of the other parts of the body.
In concluding our reading for this
morning from 1 Corinthians 12:27-31a, the Apostle Paul, once again, continues talking
about the body of Christ. Picking back up starting in 1 Corinthians 12:27 it
says once again:
27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But strive for the greater gifts.
As baptized Christians
then, we are not the only part of the body of Christ as individuals, but also part
of the entire body of Christ. This scripture talks about apostles, prophets,
teachers, deeds of power, gifts of healing, forms of assistance, leadership,
and tongues. We all have different gifts and grace, and together we collectively
make up the body of Christ. The pastor or the priest is not the body of Christ.
We are part of it, and we have some gifts and graces, even though we are called
to be the spiritual leader of the church. Yet, we are not the church. The head
of this church is not Pastor Paul, the head of this church is Jesus Christ. I
serve in a set of roles in the body of Christ as the pastor, but you all are
part of the body. No one is better or worse than the other, and the sovereign head
of the church is Jesus Christ.
As my sermon title says for this morning
then, “What Is Your Role In The Body Of Christ?” As the pastor of this church,
I am supposed to administer and celebrate the sacraments of the church, order
the life of the church, preach the gospel, and show love and compassion to all
of you, the community, and the world. If am allowing God, the Holy Spirit to work
through me, then you are all growing, becoming more equipped, and discovering
and living into your gifts and graces more. In this way, a big part of my role
in the body of Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is to grow and to raise
up leaders. We are all part of the body of Christ, and we all need your and
your gifts and graces to make the body a complete body. So dear friends, “What
Is Your Role In The Body Of Christ?”
Before closing out this second sermon
in my five-week sermon series on 1 Corinthians, I wanted to touch on our gospel
of Luke 4:14-21 reading, once again.
So,
imagine this for moment, you love baseball, and MLB. Imagine you show up to the
National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY on the day that the new
members are inducted into the hall of fame. Imagine even further, if you were
to walk in about the time that those retired players are to be inducted into
the hall of fame. As you walk in and some of the greatest MLB players from all
time are about be inducted, and as they are standing around many other
prominent people, suddenly you look down at a large open book in front of you. For
some reason as you look down at the text of this book you start to read it
aloud. As you do, the whole crowd silences to listen to you read the text of
this book. As you read, the book says that one day a baseball player will emerge
that will be greater, faster, and more talented and gifted than all of the other
baseball players in the entire history of the world. After reading this, you
then say of yourself, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”
(Lk. 4:14-21, NRSV). You say, that you are the greatest baseball player that the
world has even seen. I wonder what the MLB Hall of Fame inductees and the whole
crowd would say as you just publicly declared to all of them that you will
become the greatest baseball player in the history of the world?
Jesus does something similar to this, this
morning, so let us look once again at our gospel reading from Luke 4:14-21.
Once again it says:
14 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. 15 He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. 16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Lk. 4:14-21, NRSV).
So,
Jesus, was saying in this Jewish Synagogue in Nazareth, which is where he grew
up, that he was the messiah, God in the flesh, the savior of the world. In
response to this the people in the synagogue and the community tried to drive
Jesus out of Nazareth, and even kill him. Jesus got away, as he had told them
that no prophet is welcome in their own town. This also makes me wonder what
happened to the made-up character in the story I told about the MLB Hall of
Fame in Cooperstown, just now?
So, what is the takeaway here? We are
not Jesus, and I would guess that we are not the greatest baseball player of
all time. When we put our gifts and graces together however, we form the body
of Christ. None of us has all the gifts and graces of God, none of us are
Jesus, and I am guessing that none of us is the greatest baseball player of all
time. Knowing then that the body of Christ is the combination of us all, is the
combination of all of our gifts and grace, with Christ as the head, then “What
Is Your Role In The Body Of Christ?” Amen.
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