May 27, 2007 Sermon Synopsis

Jesus’ Body - Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:1-27

One day I visited with a farmer who was outstanding in his field. As we talked I mentioned that the Bible is full of metaphors. He agreed, but I wasn’t sure he knew exactly what I meant. So I asked him, “What’s a metaphor?” He replied, “It’s to keep cows in.”

The Apostle Paul used metaphors to describe the church. He wrote to the church in Corinth, “You are the body of Christ.”

I showed the children the new USDA nutrition pyramid. Most of them had seen it before. They knew that a good mix of foods help make a healthy body.

God wants us to be health and strong. I asked them what we need to produce a healthy spiritual body. To grow up as health and strong Christians we need Bible reading, obedience to parents and other adults, prayer, church and Sunday School attendance.

Sometimes we pay attention to our physical needs more than our spiritual needs. It’s all important.

The first Christian churches were very different than ours. They had folks from very diverse backgrounds. 1 Corinthians 12:13 tells us that slaves and their wealthy owners were together in the church; Jews and Gentiles were sitting side-by-side. Even men and women gathered together for worship – something most religions of the day didn’t allow. There were rich – poor, urban – rural, educated – illiterate, Jewish – folks who formerly worshiped all sorts of Roman and Greek gods. The only thing many of them had in common was – Jesus.

I can understand why they would have a hard time working together. Many of them didn’t socialize in society, but they came together in the church. That’s a remarkable thing! They were the body of Christ.

They didn’t become the body of Christ because they had carefully worded by-laws or study groups to come up with catchy and inspiring mission statements. No, they became the body of Christ by being organically integrated with one another. They were one body.

History tells us that they didn’t always do it well. I’ve hear some people say, “I’d like to go back to being the early church.” Well, I’ve ready Paul’s letters to the Corinthians – divisions, factions, infighting, theological differences, marriage problems, immorality – they had plenty of problems. I think the church today has enough problems; at least I understand them.

Paul wrote at length to the church in Corinth, more than to any other congregation. Leading up to today’s passage he had just given instruction about worship, the Lord’s Supper and a talk about spiritual gifts. (It’s interesting that every passage about spiritual gifts in the Bible is followed by a passage about getting along together.)

We are the Body of Christ.

How is Jesus doing these days? How’s his body holding together after more than 200 years?

We like diversity and choices. Think about:
- A school orchestra with only trombones
- A grocery store with three items
- TV with only one channel
- A restaurant with only one item on the menu.

We love diversity and choices … everywhere, but in the church.

Here at Maple Grove, everyone is welcome. We don’t intentionally exclude anyone from worship or church activities. Why? Because God wants everyone to be part of the church!

The Bible begins with variety. Just look at God’s creation: bunnies and butterflies, tropics and snow capped mountains, rivers and deserts. God must have had fun creating all those different things.

The Bible ends with diversity. In Revelation 7:9 the Apostle John has a vision of what the Kingdom of God is going to look like. There will be a multitude of people from every tribe, nation, people, language; all gathered together to praise God. Only God can bring all these folks together in harmony.

The Apostle Paul writes to a church in Corinth that‘s pretty much fractured. They’re struggling with bringing together people from a wide variety of backgrounds. What does Paul tell them: “You are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” (verse 27)

Paul gives them a course in spiritual anatomy, how it all works together.

A. Working together as the Body of Christ is not a luxury, it’s a necessity.

In the human body, every part needs every other part. The parts are different, but complementary and interdependent. The Body of Christ should work the same way.

“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you.’”

What if Michelangelo only used the color green to paint the Sistine Chapel? It probably would have been painted over years ago. If the body was all eyes, it could see great, but it wouldn’t get anything done and it wouldn’t go anywhere. That’s a debilitating handicap.

The Body of Christ needs to work together.

B. Working together as the Body of Christ doesn’t happen by chance.

It’s not by accident; it’s not serendipitous. Look at verse 24: God has combined the members of the body. It’s God’s work. Just like God created the complexity of the human being; God creates the complexity of the church.

It’s God’s design that all of the very different people come together in the church. If God can put the universe together and make it work in harmony, we shouldn’t expect less from the church. God can help us to work together in harmony; that’s what God wants. Human free will sometimes makes it difficult.

Greek culture and Hebrew culture are like night and day. One has a western world view, the other eastern. The Greeks were people of the head; the Jews were people of the heart. Greeks think linearly; Jews think poetically. Yet God put them together. It caused problems – that’s what the discussion was all about in Acts 15 – but, God did it.

The Body of Christ needs to let God work in our midst. At a very difficult moment, Jesus said, “Not my will, but your will be done.” If it’s going to work – it has to be God’s work.

C. Working together as the Body of Christ helps us to appreciate each other. Diversity doesn’t mean conformity.

Let me put it in baseball terms. What would happen if the pitcher said to the shortstop, “I don’t need you?” How about if the center fielder told the others that he was the most important player on the team? What if, the first baseman said to the second baseman, “I don’t need you?” They wouldn’t win many games; they probably wouldn’t last long as a team.

Paul talks about the pride we have in our identity. That’s all well and good, but we need to appreciate and understand how we work together with the others.

What if the building committee decided to contract only stone masons to build the addition? It would look nice! But we probably wouldn’t have electricity or heat. Don’t even think about the restrooms.

God calls us to appreciate the part that each one has in the church. It’s all important to the overall functioning of Christ’s Body.

D. Working together as the Body of Christ means we look after each other and work for the mutual benefit of everyone.

A number of years ago Newsweek magazine interviewed Stacey King of the Chicago Bulls. They asked him, “What’s been your greatest moment in the NBA?” He said, “No question. It was the night, a glorious night, I’ll never forget the night, when Michael Jordan and I combined for 70 points.” What Stacey King did not tell the interviewer is that Jordan hit for 69 points that evening and King only scored one point.

The point is that they did it together. The team won the game. They were a part of the same team. God wants us, as Christians, to fully realize that we’re all on the same team.

At Maple Grove we all work together for the mutual benefit.

The Body needs nurturing and feeding. That’s why we have a Christian Education Commission. The Body needs to celebrate. That’s why we have a Worship and Music Commission. The Body needs a place in which to function and plan. That’s why we have a Finance Commission and a Building Committee. The Body needs to reach out to others – Evangelism and Service Commission; the Body needs to care for others during moments of crisis – Care team. Spiritual needs – Elders and others. Every part is important and appreciated.

We’re all working together for the same goal – to be a living, breathing vision of Christ in this world!

Next Sunday evening, we will get together and talk about how we are joined together and how we function as the Body of Christ. It’s going to be an important meeting because it’s at the core of who we are and what we do.

Paul told the church, “You are the Body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”

How’s Jesus looking these days?