Unity in the Spirit, Unity in the Body of Christ
This is my sermon text for the week 08/06/06. This was my first time leading a communion service. It was quite an experience and I felt that it went a long way toward building the pastor and congregant relationship.
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Unity in the Spirit, Unity in the Body of Christ
In a Peanuts cartoon by Charles Schultz, “Lucy demanded that Linus change TV channels, threatening him with her fist if he didn't. "What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?" asks Linus.
"These five fingers," says Lucy. "Individually they're nothing but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold."
"Which channel do you want?" asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, "Why can't you guys get organized like that?"”
I wasn’t sure why I felt led to preach from this lesson on unity from Ephesians 4 today and then I thought about the political ads that are showing up in increasing numbers on TV and radio as we enter election season. As I thought further about it, I remembered the news coverage of the conflict between Hezbollah and the Israeli army on the north end of Israel and in Lebanon. I also thought of the daily reports of terrorist attacks perpetrated by various terror groups in Iraq against American soldiers, and aid workers from countries around the globe, and average Iraqi citizens that really want nothing more than to go to work or school and live their lives in peace. Then it became clear, the world in which we live is filled with divisions. Us and them. Have’s and have not’s. But in the Christian church, the body of Christ, we are all united through the acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Savior and the baptism of water and the Holy Spirit.
John Wesley once said, “I want the whole Christ for my Savior, the whole Bible for my book, the whole Church for my fellowship, and the whole world for my mission field.” I have not been here long, so I don’t really know if there are any divisive issues or feelings in our church. I do have a sense that this is a faithful strong small body of Christians, yet no two people here is exactly alike. We are all different ages. We have different family backgrounds. We have lived through different experiences in our lives. Even our stories of how we came to know God as our creator and accept Jesus Christ as our Savior are all at least slightly different. Many of us may have grown up in Christian homes and had parents that brought us to church and Sunday school almost every Sunday. There may also be other folks here that learned of the teachings of the Bible and turned to Christ for redemption later in life. Although we are each individual persons, we are all members of the body of Christ.
Let’s take a look at why Paul may have felt it necessary to write this passage on unity in his letter to the church in Ephesus. In Acts 19, we can read the accounts of Paul’s early experiences in Ephesus. Paul went to a group of believers there that had already accepted the baptism of John the Baptist and he taught them and laid hands on them and they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Then Paul went to the synagogue and spoke out boldly and the scripture says that some stubbornly refused to believe and spoke out against the Christian Church. So if it says that some stubbornly refused to believe, that must mean that others that Paul found in the synagogue must have become believers. So Paul left with those that did believe and went to a lecture hall. My Student Bible has a note about lecture halls from this time period. These halls were normally converted training rooms for Olympic athletes. There probably would have been quite a diverse group of people in that hall. So the Ephesian church is born with a congregation of different peoples, converted Jews, and converted believers in John the Baptist, and converted believers of pagan religions and idol worshipers. Later there is a riot because some of the Ephesians and others are turning to this new Christian faith and away from pagan worship of idols. The artisans and silversmiths that had made a good business of crafting those idols were angry because Paul’s teaching and preaching was bad for business. Do you suppose such a body of believers would experience any problems with differences of opinion or disagreements as they tried to continue to grow and learn and worship in communion with one another?
So Paul writes to them from prison to remind them that they have all been baptized by the Spirit and therefore they should approach each other in all gentleness and humility. He reminds them that they are all members of one body and one Spirit. Paul also teaches that God has given them all gifts and graces. They may come in different areas or forms, like teaching, preaching, or other work for ministry that builds up the church, which is the body of Christ. But no gift is more important or more right than any other.
So what does this mean for us?
In the book The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. The author wrote, “Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers [meeting] together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become 'unity' conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.”
Differences in age, economic standing, or political beliefs are not what really matters when you get right down to it. Those are all superficial and temporal divisions. The issue that matters is that we agree on the basic values of the Christian church. In simplest terms, that means that we know that God created everything that exists, Sin entered the world through Adam and Eve and has been passed down to everyone that has lived since then except Jesus Christ. He was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus was the one and only Son of God. He suffered and died on the Cross to wash away our sins, and on the third day he rose again. He defeated power of sin and the devil. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father. Some day he will come again to judge all people, sending the unbelievers away from God’s presence to Hell and bringing the believers home with him to be in the presence of God in Heaven forever.
If we share these beliefs in common with one another, than it will be evident in the fruits of our faith, which is the way that we serve Christ through helping each other. Whether you teach a bible class, help with making crafts at VBS, send a card to a family grieving the loss of a loved one, give a shut-in a ride to a doctors appointment or the grocery store, or provide the bread and juice for communion, you are all using the gifts given to you according to the grace of God after being united in the washing of the Holy Spirit. Amen!
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Unity in the Spirit, Unity in the Body of Christ
In a Peanuts cartoon by Charles Schultz, “Lucy demanded that Linus change TV channels, threatening him with her fist if he didn't. "What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?" asks Linus.
"These five fingers," says Lucy. "Individually they're nothing but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold."
"Which channel do you want?" asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, "Why can't you guys get organized like that?"”
I wasn’t sure why I felt led to preach from this lesson on unity from Ephesians 4 today and then I thought about the political ads that are showing up in increasing numbers on TV and radio as we enter election season. As I thought further about it, I remembered the news coverage of the conflict between Hezbollah and the Israeli army on the north end of Israel and in Lebanon. I also thought of the daily reports of terrorist attacks perpetrated by various terror groups in Iraq against American soldiers, and aid workers from countries around the globe, and average Iraqi citizens that really want nothing more than to go to work or school and live their lives in peace. Then it became clear, the world in which we live is filled with divisions. Us and them. Have’s and have not’s. But in the Christian church, the body of Christ, we are all united through the acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Savior and the baptism of water and the Holy Spirit.
John Wesley once said, “I want the whole Christ for my Savior, the whole Bible for my book, the whole Church for my fellowship, and the whole world for my mission field.” I have not been here long, so I don’t really know if there are any divisive issues or feelings in our church. I do have a sense that this is a faithful strong small body of Christians, yet no two people here is exactly alike. We are all different ages. We have different family backgrounds. We have lived through different experiences in our lives. Even our stories of how we came to know God as our creator and accept Jesus Christ as our Savior are all at least slightly different. Many of us may have grown up in Christian homes and had parents that brought us to church and Sunday school almost every Sunday. There may also be other folks here that learned of the teachings of the Bible and turned to Christ for redemption later in life. Although we are each individual persons, we are all members of the body of Christ.
Let’s take a look at why Paul may have felt it necessary to write this passage on unity in his letter to the church in Ephesus. In Acts 19, we can read the accounts of Paul’s early experiences in Ephesus. Paul went to a group of believers there that had already accepted the baptism of John the Baptist and he taught them and laid hands on them and they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Then Paul went to the synagogue and spoke out boldly and the scripture says that some stubbornly refused to believe and spoke out against the Christian Church. So if it says that some stubbornly refused to believe, that must mean that others that Paul found in the synagogue must have become believers. So Paul left with those that did believe and went to a lecture hall. My Student Bible has a note about lecture halls from this time period. These halls were normally converted training rooms for Olympic athletes. There probably would have been quite a diverse group of people in that hall. So the Ephesian church is born with a congregation of different peoples, converted Jews, and converted believers in John the Baptist, and converted believers of pagan religions and idol worshipers. Later there is a riot because some of the Ephesians and others are turning to this new Christian faith and away from pagan worship of idols. The artisans and silversmiths that had made a good business of crafting those idols were angry because Paul’s teaching and preaching was bad for business. Do you suppose such a body of believers would experience any problems with differences of opinion or disagreements as they tried to continue to grow and learn and worship in communion with one another?
So Paul writes to them from prison to remind them that they have all been baptized by the Spirit and therefore they should approach each other in all gentleness and humility. He reminds them that they are all members of one body and one Spirit. Paul also teaches that God has given them all gifts and graces. They may come in different areas or forms, like teaching, preaching, or other work for ministry that builds up the church, which is the body of Christ. But no gift is more important or more right than any other.
So what does this mean for us?
In the book The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. The author wrote, “Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers [meeting] together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become 'unity' conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.”
Differences in age, economic standing, or political beliefs are not what really matters when you get right down to it. Those are all superficial and temporal divisions. The issue that matters is that we agree on the basic values of the Christian church. In simplest terms, that means that we know that God created everything that exists, Sin entered the world through Adam and Eve and has been passed down to everyone that has lived since then except Jesus Christ. He was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus was the one and only Son of God. He suffered and died on the Cross to wash away our sins, and on the third day he rose again. He defeated power of sin and the devil. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father. Some day he will come again to judge all people, sending the unbelievers away from God’s presence to Hell and bringing the believers home with him to be in the presence of God in Heaven forever.
If we share these beliefs in common with one another, than it will be evident in the fruits of our faith, which is the way that we serve Christ through helping each other. Whether you teach a bible class, help with making crafts at VBS, send a card to a family grieving the loss of a loved one, give a shut-in a ride to a doctors appointment or the grocery store, or provide the bread and juice for communion, you are all using the gifts given to you according to the grace of God after being united in the washing of the Holy Spirit. Amen!
posted by Robert C. Howell at
7:09 PM
