LIVING IN UNITY

Romans 11:33 - 12:8

 Doxology

^33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable his judgments,

and his paths beyond tracing out!

^34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?

Or who has been his counselor?”

^35 “Who has ever given to God,

that God should repay him?”

^36 For from him and through him and to him are all things.

To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Living Sacrifices

12     Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. ^2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

^3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. ^4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ^5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ^6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. ^7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; ^8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

INTRODUCTION:   

The sign on the stage proclaimed, "The Motionless Man: Make Him Laugh, Win $100." The temptation was irresistible. For three hours boys and girls, men and women performed every antic and told every joke they could dream up. But Bill Fuqua, the Motionless Man, stood perfectly still.

Fuqua, Guinness Book of World Records champion at doing nothing, appears so motionless during his routines at shopping malls and amusement parks that he's sometimes mistaken for a mannequin.

He discovered his unique talent at the age of fourteen while standing motionless in front of a Christmas tree as a joke.  A woman touched him and exclaimed, "Oh, I thought it was a real person."

 

Doing nothing is really impossible—even for the Motionless Man. Fuqua attributes his feigned paralysis to hyperelastic skin, an extremely low pulse rate, and intense concentration. He may not laugh at your jokes, but he readily admits that he still has to breathe and blink—occasionally.

"The Motionless Man.” Sounds like a lot of church members I know.  They have mastered the fine art of doing almost nothing.  In the first part of Romans 12, Paul challenges that kind of thinking with three observations.

I.          THERE IS ONLY ONE BODY (and it is Christ’s)

^4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ^5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

I remember junior high band.  And I remember a girl in our class who was learning to play the oboe.  Oboes have a piercing sound because the notes of an oboe have no overtones.  Based on my experiences in junior high band, I’d like to make this observation: preaching about the church resembles playing the oboe: it is easy to do it badly.  But I’ll also add that it badly needs to be done

 

Within the business and corporate community, the typical organization chart looks something like this:

Unfortunately, in most churches, the org chart looks similar.  But then we argue about who is where on the chart. 

·        Are the elders on top and does the preacher work for them?

·        Is the minister the CEO and are the elders under his oversight?

·        Do committees answer to the preacher, the elders or the board or the congregation?

·        Or do the preacher, the elders and the board answer to the committees?  To the congregation?

·        And what on earth are deacons supposed to do?  (And is it okay that they can outvote the elders?)

 

I want to suggest to you that we have misunderstood the org chart of the church.  Far from representing a hierarchy of authority or different levels of accountability for an organization, the org chart of the church is a dynamic picture of a functional organism.  Paul draws a vivid word picture of this org chart in Romans 12:4-8.

^4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ^5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ^6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. ^7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; ^8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

 

If you followed what Paul had to say, you will have detected that the org chart for the church is not an organizational chart but an organism chart and it looks something like this:

 Within Paul’s writing, there are two observations about our org chart that I want to highlight.

 

Each member is to serve.   It is our responsibility to work together for the common good of the whole Body Christ.

 

The church is an organism, not an organization.  No one is more important than anyone else.  Elders are not more important than deacons, ministers are not more important than elders. 

Likewise, there are no unimportant people in the church and there are no more important people in the church: not based upon how much money they have, how long they’ve been a part of the church, how many family members are in the church, how pushy they are, how handsome they are, etc.  There are no unimportant people in the church just as there are no unimportant parts in the human body.

II.    THERE IS ONLY ONE RESPONSIBILITY (to one another)

^4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ^5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

Within the human body, everything works for the good of the whole body

·         The stomach feels hunger

·         So the brain remembers what is in the house

·         The legs and feet take the body to the fridge

·         The hand and arm open the door

·         The eyes see the contents

·         The hand and arm reach out and grasp it.

·         The mouth opens

·         The teeth chew

·         The tongue tastes

·         The salivary glands flow

·         The throat swallows

·         The stomach receives the food and sends a message to the brain to say it is satisfied

And all of this is but the layman’s illustration of what happens.  A doctor could give you a much more detailed explanation of digestion.  But the point is, each part of the body functions for the benefit of all of the other parts.

 

Within the church, the Body of Christ, each part should be working for the good of all of the other parts.

·         This means that every part needs to work, to function, to operate

·         Every part must be sensitive to the needs of the others.  I love the way Bill and Gloria Gaither put it in one of their early songs: “When one has a heartache, we all share the tears and rejoice in each victory in this family so dear.”  Every part of the Body of Christ is to be sensitive to the needs of every other part of the Body.

·        And every part must be responsive to the needs of the others.  In the human body, such a response is often autonomic or reflex.  If I hit my thumb with a hammer, my whole body will tense up, my eyes will shut, my vocal chords will engage and my arm will bring my thumb to my mouth in a split-second.  In the Body of Christ, we must be responsive to the needs of the other parts of the Body.

III.    THERE IS ONLY DUTY (use your gifts)

^6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. ^7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; ^8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

Every person has a part and every part has a purpose.  But we don’t all have the same purpose so we have not all received the same gifts, abilities or aptitudes.

 

In the body there are various functions to perform, therefore, there are a variety of gifts.

·         Some are bone and provide us with structure

·         Some are muscle and do lots of work

·         Some are nerves and convey feelings

·         Some are eyes and supply the vision

·         Some are mouths and speak for us and to us

·         Some are hearts and provide passion

·         But all are gifted; all have abilities

But note: a variety of gifts does not mean variation in importance.  For example, which is more important, the lungs or the heart?  Frankly, I’d hate to try to get along without either.  Within the human body, there is no hierarchy or pecking order.  And within the Body of Christ there should be no pecking order, either.

 

Look around you at the people and the pews.  I am serious: right now, look around you at the people and the pews.  There is no first-class seating in the church.  We are all in the same seating section.

CONCLUSION:

 Erma Bombeck is quoted as having said, “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me.’”  You know, I would wish that for all of us.

To live in unity is to recognize that we are one living organism, that we have a responsibility to one another and that we have a duty to use our gifts for the common good.  When every part of the Body of Christ is functioning, every part is responsive to one another and every part is controlled by the head, who is Jesus Christ, there will be unity in the church, influence in the world and rejoicing in heaven.  Will you commit to being that kind of a part of that kind of a Body?

INVITATION:                        #165 – “Living for Jesus”

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