The Point: WHEN WE ARE ALL TOGETHER DIFFERENT, WE ARE MORE THAN THE SUM OF THE PARTS.
ME:
GOOD MORNING, Gateway Church. It is great to have you with us today as we continue in our teaching series ONE.
Throughout this series, we're looking at what it means to be a COMMUNITY that comes together as ONE. We have a tendency towards INDEPENDENCE. And there’s nothing wrong with being independent to a certain degree. But we are WIRED to do life in COMMUNITY. We are CREATED and CALLED to come together as ONE.
And this is important because, when we come together as ONE, there is NOTHING we can't do for the KINGDOM.
LAST WEEK: We said that this community of ONE begins when we recognize what we are and what that means for our lives. We said that YOU ARE A MASTERPIECE: ACT LIKE IT.
You are a masterpiece - made in the image of God. (He created this amazing world and said it was 'good'. Then he created you and me and said it was 'very good.')
And as a masterpiece, made in God's image, we are called to serve all the other masterpieces made in God's image.
And when we recognize what we are – MASTERPIECES… and when we begin to live up to that ideal by serving others the way Jesus served us, we begin to come together as a community that serves and ultimately transforms our world.
WE:
Today we are going to continue looking at what it means to be a community that comes together as ONE.
And I want to start by asking a question:
Have you ever noticed that we tend towards homogeneity? Have you noticed that we gravitate towards people who are like us?
• People who look like us…
• People who think like us…
• People who believe like we do…
• People who vote like we do…
• People who are in the same socio-economic demographic as we are…
We like to be alike. Which is ironic since our culture values and pushes independence and being your own person.
We CLAIM to want diversity. We CLAIM we want to be different. We CLAIM to be very anti-groupthink. But the truth is we really like to be like others.
[High school. Group of friends who claimed to be 'non-conformists.' They all wore the same black clothes, had the same basic hair style (black and blacker, with a streak of blonde and a bit moppy). The all listened to the same music (Usually the Cure or some other angsty alt-rock band). And they all hung out at the same places. This group of people who all looked the same, acted the same, listened to the same music, etc., called themselves 'Non-Conformists.' Ironically, to be a part of their group you had to conform to their standards.]
If you aren't sure about this, look at most churches on any given Sunday. Sunday morning has been called the most segregated hour of the week in America. This isn't necessarily because we seek to exclude others, but because we are naturally drawn towards sameness. Churches that are marked by diversity are generally that way through INTENTIONAL EFFORT.
While this is obvious in terms of culture/race… you can SEE this. It's not as obvious below the surface. But, it's still there
However, SAMENESS doesn't add life or strength. In fact, it's quite the opposite.
"Unity without diversity would produce uniformity, and uniformity tends to produce death. Life is a balance between unity and diversity. As a human body weakens, its “systems” slow down and everything tends to become uniform. The ultimate, of course, is that the body itself turns to dust."
(Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary(Vol. 1, p. 609). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
UNIFORMITY tends to produce death. UNIFORMITY decreases the strength and value of anything.
It's kind of like this:
If you have a building where the walls are all covered with the same masterpiece, over and over and over - it's called wallpaper.
If you have a building where the walls are covered with masterpieces of varying size and color and shape - it's called an art gallery.
Nobody plans a great heist to steal your wallpaper…. But art galleries are targets because they have VALUE.
This may be counterintuitive, but as a church, (the body of Christ) when everything is the same, we cannot be a COMMUNITY OF ONE that transforms the world.
If you’re taking notes, write this down.
WE ARE NOT STRONGER WHEN WE ARE ALL THE SAME. WE ARE STRONGER WHEN WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT.
Or to put it another way:
WHEN WE ARE ALL TOGETHER DIFFERENT, WE ARE MORE THAN THE SUM OF OUR PARTS.
And that's THE POINT. WHEN WE ARE ALL TOGETHER DIFFERENT, WE ARE MORE THAN THE SUM OF THE PARTS. That's the ONE THING I want you to get today. WHEN WE ARE ALL TOGETHER DIFFERENT, WE ARE MORE THAN THE SUM OF THE PARTS. If you get nothing else, get this: WHEN WE ARE ALL TOGETHER DIFFERENT, WE ARE MORE THAN THE SUM OF THE PARTS.
Open Bibles to 1 Corinthians 12:12
GOD:
UNPACK CORINTHIANS 12
• This is a letter written by Paul to a group of Jesus followers in a town where it was very tough to be a Jesus follower.
• Corinth was a very diverse city. People from all over the Roman Empire lived there.
o Jews
o Greeks
o Gauls (France, Spain, Etc.)
o Germanic
o African
o Slaves
o Free
o Ex-Military
o Those conquered by that military
• Many religious backgrounds
• Many socio-economic backgrounds
• They didn't all get along because they were so different
• The church - the community of Jesus followers - reflected the diversity of the community
• This meant that sometimes the people in the church didn't get along
But the differences and the friction weren’t simply limited Race/Culture/Economics/Social Status/Religious Background.
Some of the friction was caused by the fact that different people had different gifts and different roles in the church.
Some were more obvious… Leaders/Teachers/Preachers
Some were more behind the scenes… Hospitality/Service/Encouragement
And, just like many of us today, they began to look at each other - and even look at themselves - and assign value based on how obvious and out front… how desirable certain gifts were.
We do this all over our culture today.
• CEO - more important than the regional manager.
• Regional Manager - more important than the store manager
• Store Manager - more important than the janitor.
• The principal is more important than the Teacher
• The teacher is more important than the Para
• The para is more important than the lunch lady
It's our nature to look at the differences, determine some to be better than others and to then pursue the 'more important' positions and to dismiss those in the 'less important' positions.
And this attitude carries over into the church.
I mean, if you're a preacher or a worship leader or an elder or a member of the worship team… you know a job that's up front and visible… then you must be more important than someone who sets up the chairs or hands out food or cleans the kitchen…. Right?
So, this little community of Jesus followers is struggling with the whole difference thing and the whole “whose most important” issue. And as Paul writes this letter to them to help them navigate these issues in the way that Jesus would, he begins to explain the power of differences.
Paul understands that those differences don't divide us. Those differences, if we allow Jesus to have his way actually bring us together as ONE and make us STRONGER.
Paul understood that WHEN WE ARE ALL TOGETHER DIFFERENT, WE ARE MORE THAN THE SUM OF THE PARTS.
Then he says this…
Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
I Corinthians 12:12-14
In helping them work through their "differences" he goes to one of the best examples from everyday life that he can find. Something every one of us can relate to.
THE HUMAN BODY.
"The body," Paul says, "is made up of many parts. And every part has a role to play. And every part needs ever other part. And if the whole body were the same part, it wouldn't be the body."
If you take the time to read the rest of the part of his letter he goes on and on about how all these different parts coming together are better than any one part. And how the whole thing fails if each part doesn't show up and play it's rule.
Paul is saying,
WHEN WE ARE ALL TOGETHER DIFFERENT, WE ARE MORE THAN THE SUM OF THE PARTS.
There are no insignificant members of the local community of Jesus followers. It doesn't matter what you can or can't do. Every one of us who consider ourselves to be followers of Jesus are an essential part of the community.
• It doesn't matter if you are "only" a nursery worker. You are an ESSENTIAL part of the body.
• It doesn't matter if you are "only" a greeter on Sunday morning. You are an ESSENTIAL part of the body.
By the same token, there are no members of the local community of Jesus followers who are indispensable.
• It doesn't matter if you are a musician on this stage or the worship pastor. You are ONLY one part of the body… but an ESSENTIAL part.
• It doesn't matter if you are the pastor and you preach most Sundays. You are ONLY one part of the body… but an ESSENTIAL part.
Paul sums the whole thing up by saying…
Now you are the body of Christ and each one of you is a part of it.
I Corinthians 12:27
WE – collectively – are the BODY OF CHRIST. And YOU – individually – are each a part of it.
WE – as a community of ONE – are the BODY OF CHRIST. Paul stays on that theme of a body. The church is called to be the BODY… the PHYSICAL REPRESENTATION… the HANDS AND FEET of Jesus in our world.
But a lot of churches are crippled. I often think the BODY of CHRIST comes off as crippled because we don’t each use our gifts, talents, skills, abilities, passions, to serve the church and to serve the world through the church.
• YOU have gifts and abilities
• YOU have skills
• YOU have talents
• YOU have passions
And every one of those can be use in all of their differences to create a COMMUNITY OF ONE that changes our world.
• STEVE B. HARLEN K. & OTHER BOARD MEMBERS – Have leadership skills and use them to lead in our church
• JOANI has a passion to entertain – She uses that to make our dinners and events excellent
• DONNA & RICK REECE – great organizational skills and people skills. They use those to make events like our EASTER outreach and TRUNK or TREAT excellent ways to connect with our neighbors
• TONY H, MARK R, RICK P, all have technical skills and tend to be bulldogs about solving problems. The keep our sound/tech/online ministries running
• SOME of YOU are FRIENDLY – greeters
• SOME of YOU are TEACHERS – lead SS & Small Groups
• SOME of YOU are BLESSED and GENEROUS – you fund what we’re doing
• SOME are MUSICIANS – Worship Team
• ED & CHRISTY – keep the building clean
• JOHN O fixes things
I could go on and on and on (I know I didn’t mention everyone). All of these different parts help make the BODY WORK. And that’s just a few people/areas. What if everyone here used a skill, talent, gift, ability, passion to engage in serving the church and through the church serving the community? WHAT WOULD HAPPEN? And then imagine what happens we take those gifts, skills, talents, abilities, passions out of the church into our neighborhoods and served our friends and neighbors.
WE WOULD BE UNSTOPPABLE!
WHEN WE ARE ALL TOGETHER DIFFERENT, WE ARE MORE THAN THE SUM OF THE PARTS.
SO WHAT?
YOU:
So what's the takeaway this week, Pastor Steve? What do I do with this?
I want to issue a challenge to you. I want to challenge you to step into ministry. I don’t necessarily mean full-time, vocational ministry. Although that may be what you need to do. But I want to invite you to step into ministry. I want to challenge you to take your gifts, skills, talents, abilities, passions and start to use them in the church to serve the world.
1. You may need to spend some time identifying them.
2. You will need to pray and see where they can best be used.
3. You may need to explore – and be free to fail.
4. You may need to start something new.
But if we will all take those gifts, skills, talents, abilities, passions – and come together – DIFFERENT AS WE ARE. We will begin to change our coumminity.
WHEN WE ARE ALL TOGETHER DIFFERENT, WE ARE MORE THAN THE SUM OF THE PARTS.
WE:
Let's Pray.
Close with Communion and Prayer
