This week I heard devastating news from a friend of mine who will soon be ordained as a pastor. His son was just diagnosed with cancer. This is a young man, 18 years old, graduating from high school in just a few months and having to now face stage three cancer. It’s heart wrenching – especially when we see such a young man beginning his life as an adult. It just happened – you don’t know why and you leave it in God’s hands.
There are others though, who have brought devastation on their own bodies through neglect, mistreatment, lack of care. And the consequences become high blood pressure, heart disease, sexually transmitted diseases, and sometimes cancer.
Our bodies are a gift from God and we are given them for only a limited amount of time. They are for God’s glory and so we care for them as they are not our own.
The same must be said about the body of the church. Paul, in Romans and in other places in the New Testament, compares the church to a body. And if we are a body, we need to take care of our body so that it can bring the most glory and honor to Jesus Christ.
The very fact that the church or even our congregation is a body says something amazing. We are not related. We are different ages. We come from different towns and backgrounds. And yet we are called ONE BODY. What makes us one body? Our confession of faith? Our name in the membership book? Our baptismal certificate? Our friendships with one another? All of these are important but they don’t make us one body.
The one thing that puts us all together as one is the HOLY SPIRIT. We have ONE SPIRIT. Ephesians 4:4 says “There is one body and one Spirit…” There are not one hundred Holy Spirits! And then in 1 Corinthians 12:13 it says: “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - Jews or Greeks, slaves or free - and all were made to drink of one Spirit.”
I remember losing my grandpa and seeing his body in the casket. It didn’t look like him at all. I could tell that that wasn’t really Grandpa but an empty shell. Why? Because his spirit had left his body. He wasn’t there.
Friends, that is all our church is without the Holy Spirit. We are an empty shell. We may have a common confession, friendships, a building, an organization, and activity but without the Holy Spirit there is no life. So if you are not trusting in Jesus Christ for your salvation, surrendered to Him, the Holy Spirit is not dwelling in you and you are not a part of the body. But if you ARE living for Christ – the Spirit dwells in you and you ARE part of a living and breathing and active body. And that is amazing!
Like I mentioned earlier, sometimes a body simply gives out for unknown reasons – a cancer develops and we trust God through it. Accidents happen. But many times a body is broken by sin. The most important thing for a body is that it is functional and the fact that we are living because of the Holy Spirit doesn’t mean that the body will function perfectly. We need to be unified.
Paul in Romans writes about four different diseases to a functioning body, to a functioning church. What are they? Pride, self-sufficiency, ignorance, and laziness. I’m not here this morning to say that any of these are a problem in our congregation, but simply to reveal what is a warning to us and to any church.
The first disease is PRIDE. Romans 12:3 says: “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.” This is talking about the person who has “an unwarranted pride in oneself or in one's accomplishments - conceited, arrogant, thinking too highly of oneself.” An inflated ego. It’s the secret thought that “without me, they can’t survive, they will suffer, they won’t be able to do anything.”
That kind of thought whether it comes from the pastor or from a church leader or from anyone is deadly to unity. Why? Because the church is not centered around any individuals – it is centered on Jesus and he is the one that receives the glory. He receives the honor and gives us our sufficiency.
The second disease preventing the unity of the body of the church is SELF-SUFFICIENCY. This is the idea that we are part of a church but we don’t really need anything from the church. Certainly we have our faith and trust in Jesus but that is our private faith. We read our Bible and don’t need someone else to tell us what to believe. It’s better not to get involved because there will just be arguments and fights and I can take care of myself.
That attitude of self-sufficiency is deadly to a body. Paul writes about this attitude in his first letter to the Corinthians (12:21): “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."” Just imagine what would happen to your body if your right leg decided it would do what it wanted without coordinating with the rest of the body! Your walking days would be over! You certainly would do a lot of stumbling. As much as we think we might be self-sufficient, we’re not if we’re part of the body.
The third disease of the body is simply IGNORANCE. I don’t mean stupidity by any means. But this is the idea that we don’t have anything to contribute. Others have talents and gifts and abilities but when we look at ourselves, we don’t see anything but a useless space filler. We see ourselves as members, as participants in worship and activities of the church but to actually serve in some way – there are others who can do much better than we could ever do.
This is another sad obstacle to unity because a person like this is completely missing a crucial part of the ministry that has been custom designed for that person. We all suffer when there is a lack of involvement. What needs to happen? Look at what the Scripture teaches about the Spiritual gifts! Don’t go by what you think or feel but by what God’s Word says about you!
The fourth disease preventing unity in the church is LAZINESS. Some Christians know the abilities and gifts that they have. They know the opportunities and needs for service in the church. They agree with all the teachings of the Scripture. And yet they simply don’t want to do anything. They would rather let everyone else do the work. Essentially, the self has gained the upper hand. This person would rather serve his own comforts and relax than join the ranks and dig in.
Mononucleosis is a sickness that is devastating to your plans. My dad had it in college and he missed half a year and graduated late because of the weakness. You just can’t do anything – all you want to do is sleep. Laziness is like mononucleosis to the body of the church. We just lie in the comfort of our situation and sleep away and the world and opportunities pass us by. And before long the church has faded away.
So these four diseases need to be removed and the body healed so that it can function. How can that be done? BY DEATH. That doesn’t sound very healthy. Turn with me to Romans 12:1 “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God.” The only way any of us is going to be unified in the body of the church is if we surrender our rights as individuals. We give our lives over to God and surrender to him. We die to our own personal wants, needs, desires and seek the needs of the Lord and his people. There is NO CHANCE for unity without that kind of death. Without sacrificing your life on the altar.
Instead of pride, we are to be HUMBLE. Verse 3 - “Not think more of himself.” Unless we die to ourselves, we will continually think more of ourselves than our neighbor. We will glorify our own person above others and actually above God himself.
Instead of self-sufficiency, the Scripture points out our NEED – our DEPENDENCE. In Romans 12:4-5 it says “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” God created us to be dependent on each other. According to what is written here, you can’t just say, “All I need is my Bible.” That’s simply ignoring the body of believers. God will meet our needs but not independently from other believers. He may use the least likely person to help you in exactly what you need. Will you receive it?
Again, it comes down to pride – that we don’t need help. But that’s simply a lie. And being needy instantly unifies the body. (maybe I told this one already) There was a pastor who had been in a serious car accident. He ended up being bedridden for months unable to walk. His members loved him so much and visited him constantly but he was not comforted by their visits but irritated. He was sick of being useless and helpless. But finally God convinced him of his pride of self-sufficiency. And the Lord told him to let his people serve him. And so when one of the men of the congregation visited him, as usual the man asked if there was anything he could do for him. His pastor said, well, I could sure use some reading material. Would you mind picking up a couple magazines for me? Absolutely! And the man ran out the door. In a matter of minutes he was back with a pile of magazines and a smile of pure joy across his face. He was so blessed to be able to serve his pastor. And from that day on, the congregation was unified in service as never before because their pastor had recognized his own neediness.
When there is ignorance, we need to die to our old natures, and surrender to the Lord’s teaching. Accept the KNOWLEDGE of the Lord. Notice what the Scripture says in Romans 12:6 – “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us,” Saying “I don’t have any gifts” is simply false humility. We all have gifts and it depends on the grace of God. It’s HIS decision what we have and what we don’t have.
Do you trust in Jesus for your salvation? Then according to Scripture you have the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38 “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
So you have the Holy Spirit. And if you have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you, you have at least one gift from the Holy Spirit. You may or may not know what it is but seek the Lord. You may not be a preacher, but maybe you have a gift of healing or of helps, or of encouragement, or special knowledge, or a number of other possibilities. You certainly have some kind of natural talent as well. Ask others. What do they see as your special ability? Ask God! He will lead you to serve him because that is his will for your life – to serve in his body of the church.
What do we do when there is laziness in the body? We need ZEAL! Again, we have to crucify the flesh. We must die to our comforts and ease and give it over to the Lord on the altar. It doesn’t mean that we will never be comfortable again and that we will enter a life of pure suffering. But it means that our comforts will not drive our life.
Look again at Romans 12:6 – “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, LET US USE THEM….” Friends, do you take the ten commandments seriously? Here in this verse we don’t have one of the ten commandments but we do have a command from our Lord: USE YOUR GIFTS.
God doesn’t expect you to do what others are doing. God doesn’t expect you to do what I am doing. God expects you to do what he has called you to do. Do according to the grace given to you. As with the parable of the talents that Jesus tells. Each servant was given by his master a different amount of money and told to invest it and bring good fruit from what he has given them so that when he returns from his trip he can hear a good report. The man who received the smallest amount buried it and after the master returned gave back to the master the small amount of money he had kept safe. Why did he bury it? Because he didn’t think it was worth much and he was simply lazy to try and increase what he had.
God has called all of us as part of his body, the church. We all have an important part whether it is in our eyes very small or very large. We are each needed. But the most important thing for us to walk together and serve God is self-sacrifice. Let us lay our bodies on the altar and surrender them to the Lord.
