Hope Lutheran Church - Irmo, SC Pastor Jason Zahn
4th Sunday after Epiphany - ILCW- C
January 28, 2001
1 Corinthians 12:12-21,26,27
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Perhaps you’re like me. My eyes cannot stand to watch it. My ears cringe as the details are described. My mind cannot fathom the catastrophe and the suffering. My heart cannot bear the pain, and my soul cries out for an answer: Why did you let it happen, O God? Early reports estimate that as many as 6,000 people are dead and 14,000 others are injured in India. Why God? Why would you allow such a terrible tragedy to happen to so many unsuspecting people on a day when they as a nation were preparing to unite in the 51st annual celebration of their Republic?
As Christians we know that the world God made and the world that surrounds us today are different by catastrophic proportions. The world of peace and perfection that God created continues to suffer as a result of the earth-shattering decision that Adam and Eve made in the Garden of Eden. The cataclysms and calamities that we witness all around us are constant testimonies of the ongoing problem of sin. They are constant reminders that life in this world will never be heaven on earth.
But there is another purpose that these catastrophes serve. They are reminders to us of the importance and the urgency of the work that we have been called to do as Christians. We have the answer - the only right answer - that can and does rescue people from this world that is steeped in the sadness of sin and drowning in the depths of disappointment and despair. We have the answer that tears a soul from the clutches of Satan and gently rests it in the arms of our loving, heavenly Father. We have that answer to share - not only as individuals, but also as a congregation and as a church body. With that truth in mind we listen to the Apostle Paul’s exhortation to us this morning as he encourages us to: Embrace our Differences. Embrace our differences because we are united in the body of Christ. Embrace our differences because we serve varied functions within the body of Christ.
A.W. Tozer once remarked, "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." As Christians we are all tuned by the same tuning fork - the Holy Spirit at work through baptism. In baptism we drank of the same Spirit - that is we were brought together in a common, united faith. At baptism we drank of the same Spirit regardless of our age, our sex, our ethnic background, or our income. Through the work of the Spirit in baptism we are united to Christ as members of his body - and therefore - we are also united to one another.
I’ve heard it said that there are two ways of being united - one is by being frozen together, and the other is by being melted together. By our presence at this Christian congregation you could say that we are frozen together. We physically place ourselves together with this group of people. But notice that the Apostle Paul doesn’t want us as Christians to be content as the frozen chosen. He’s pushing us to the next level. He is urging us to unite together around Christ’s commission. As members of the same body he wants us to seek to grow in God’s Word and go with God’s Word into the world. As we grow and go the Apostle Paul points out that we will be melted together through our experiences. As we are melted together around Christ’s commission this is what happens: when one member of this body suffers we all suffer together. When one member of this body is honored we all rejoice together. That’s true Christian unity - the Spirit of God alive in the heart - and the Spirit of God at work in the hands!
I sometimes wonder if we really understand and apply that truth! Do you see the implications of that truth? Even if there is no one your age in this congregation, even if there is no one who shares a mutual hobby with you, even if there is no one who shares the same life experiences or the same problems, or has the same personality, or the same occupation, there is still a deep and firmly grounded unity in this body! What God has given us as fellow members of this congregation is truly special! Even if you feel like you don’t have a connection with the people of this congregation - God has united you to them in the most intimate of bonds - the bond of faith created in baptism and cemented through growth in the Word and displayed by going with God’s Word!
That means you’re sitting next to people with whom you will spend eternity. It means that you have a room filled with men and women, boys and girls - who are your real family! You are part of a family whose bonds are based on the spilled blood of God that washed away the guilt of your sins. You are part of a family whose bond no earthquake can disrupt and not even death can destroy!
What a joy it is to know that such a unity is established and held together by God himself. That makes this bond unbreakable. For that reason, and that reason alone are we united with those in the seats around us this morning and with all the saints throughout time. Through the unity that God grants to us as members of the body of Christ we are also empowered to embrace the different spiritual gifts and talents that God gives to each one of us. We are empowered to embrace our differences because we all serve varied functions within the body of Christ.
The Apostle Paul uses the human body as an illustration of this fact. Not every part of the human body is exactly the same - a foot is not a hand, an ear is not an eye. But each one of those parts serves a purpose in the function of that body. If the body were only one part than the body would lose many of its capabilities. If the body were just an eye where would the sense of hearing be? If the body were just an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
We are united as God’s people in the body of Christ, but we are not clones of one another. As God’s people his Spirit has given us different talents and abilities to use in service to this body, the Church. But what God intended as a blessing, the devil uses as a temptation device. At time the devil uses this truth to tempt us to minimize the gifts that God has given us as unimportant. It gives the devil great satisfaction when we consider our gifts from God as minimal. Then he uses our own self-created pity to keep us from putting those gifts to use for the good of the body. Or perhaps we like to downplay our abilities as a way of covering up our unwillingness to put those gifts to use for the good of the body of Christ. Either way the body suffers! But notice the God-given insight that the Apostle Paul expresses about the situation! Every gift - even the smallest gifts serve a special and unique purpose for the body of Christ.
Our God through the Apostle Paul also points out that not only must we guard ourselves against minimizing the gifts God has given us, so also we must guard against the opposite extreme. We must be on guard against haughtiness and arrogance. We must guard against the kind of conceited thinking that leads us to believe that we have all of God’s gifts in the greatest portion so we don’t need anybody else. After all think back to the human body. The eye can’t tell the hand, "I don’t need you." Nor could the head tell the feet, "I don’t need you." All the parts of the body are interdependent on each other so that the body can function at full capacity - to the best of its ability.
The same is true for the body of Christ. There is no, one, single person who has all God’s gifts in full measure. God tells us that he intentionally gives each of us gifts to use in service of the body. But God also makes it clear that he gives us varying gifts so that we our gifts might complement one another within the body of Christ. God has arranged us, the parts of Christ’s body, just as he wants us. God has done this intentionally because he has called all of us to be involved in the ministry of the church!
The beauty of God’s plan is this: The gifts we have are gifts from God. Our talents, our abilities, our gifts are not our own. That means that no matter how great the gifts we might have we have no basis for pride, or arrogance, or haughtiness in those gifts - after all these gifts are on loan from God - to be put to use not to be put on display as some sort of trophy case dedicated to our own honor. At the same time no matter how small or insignificant we may consider our gifts to be they are all still gifts from God - intended for use, not as excuses for laziness or objects of degradation and disappointment. Because each one of us is a unique creation - God has given each one of us something special and something valuable that we can contribute to the body.
What God has arranged is perfect. Yet who of us here this morning can say that we’ve never been envious of the abilities and talents that someone else has? Who of us here this morning hasn’t occasionally been puffed up on our own gifts? Have we always been faithful and diligent in putting all of the gifts God has given us to use all the time? How many times have we wasted the good gifts that God has given us because we let differing personalities, or misplaced priorities, or sinful stubbornness keep us from works of service? God doesn’t give gifts so that we might squander them! God gives gifts to be used for the good of others - and when they aren’t used for that purpose - the whole body suffers!
Thank God that in his infinite love he came to this earth and assumed a human body putting his gifts and abilities to work for our good. Be grateful to God that his Son used all of his abilities perfectly in accord with his Father’s will in our place. Be glad that in perfect obedience the Son of God in his human body willingly suffered the crash of the whip on his bare back, the pain of the thorns as they were compressed into his skull, and the crushing blow of the hammer upon the nails that were driven through his hands and his feet. Break forth in songs of joy that the Son of God willingly allowed the weight of the guilt of our sins of faithlessness in the use of our gifts collapse upon his shoulders so that he was the one who was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. Through is death on the cross Jesus has rescued us from under the rubble of our guilt.
We have been set free - united to the body of Christ in his death through baptism so that we might be raised to live a new life in thankfulness to him. In our unity let us also rejoice in the diversity of the gifts that God has given us. Give thanks to God for those whom God has gathered together in this congregation in prayer. Tell your brothers and sisters in Christ just how thankful you are that they are using their God-given gifts faithfully! In joyful response to all that our Savior has done for us may we all strive to use the gifts God has given us for the benefit of his body, the Church. Amen
