FPC - Willmar
Sermon
July 15, 2012
“ The Body of Christ”
Scriptures: Amos 7.7-15; Ephesians 1.3-14; Mark 6.14-29 [Using “The Message”]
Since coming to Minnesota I have encountered an anomaly in Presbyterian tradition. I haven’t found many Scottish or Irish surnames. This past week held a day that is infamous in religious intolerance, although at the time it had a very specific political outcome. Though celebrated on the 12th of July, it was on the 11th of July, 1690, the Protestant, mostly Scottish Presbyterian forces of William of Orange defeated the French and Irish Roman Catholic forces of King James. The Dutch Prince William and his bride Mary ascended the British throne and began 322 years of sectarian – sometimes mistakenly called religious – violence on the Emerald Isle.
Historians often point out that the death toll in our Civil War – which was recently increased to 750,000 – clearly indicates that the largest number of Americans killed in war have died at the hands of other Americans. I haven’t ever seen numbers, but I’d be willing to bet that more Christians have died in violence and warfare at the hands of other Christians than at the hands of pagans and infidels. I’m not aware of any evidence that Christians persecuted each other with deadly fervor in the first three centuries, but once Constantine gave political freedom and power (and property) to Christians they did begin deadly factional persecution of one another.
In the very first century of the Christian era, Paul was kept busy trying to encourage members of various congregations to stop squabbling with one another and focus on the mission of Christ.
Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus, for example, is an attempt to restore wholeness to a congregation that has suffered massive trauma at the hands of the tempter. He begins with some very fundamental statements about who God is and then tries to restore the shattered parts of a congregation that has lost the life of genuine Christian integrity; a life in which faith and action comprise a unified whole in the life and death and resurrection of Christ.
In Paul’s second letter to the congregation at Corinth, which we heard part of last week, Paul is addressing the broken nature of a church which he himself founded. It had been fractured by divisive bitterness as groups of people gathered around individual leaders with esoteric beliefs, differing social habits and political postures, all determined to have their way even if it meant tearing the body of Christ into pieces.
It sounds a little bit like the PC(USA). Six years ago the long awaited report of the Theological Task Force, titled ironically the “Report on the Purity, Unity and Peace of the Church,” was reported out to the General Assembly. During five years of wrangling and debate, the Task Force had discovered that if they acknowledged the faith of each other – stopped judging each other – and prayed that God would lead them to a revelation of God’s delightful plan for glorious living a strange thing happened: they found a way that they could come together in faith, respect one another and offer a plan for the purity, unity and peace of the church without insisting on who other than God was right!
Although the recommendations of the report were accepted by the General Assembly, the many dissatisfied groups on all sides of all the arguments who didn’t get what they alone thought was needed have been working hard at trying to disrupt the purity, unity and peace of our denomination. Two years ago the atmosphere became even more toxic, and two weeks ago our peace and unity appeared to hit an all time low.
As part of the discernment of God’s will for calling a new pastor to First Church you are doing some things that are commonly done in all social organizations. As many people as possible have been asked what they want for the future of the church. The Session and the Pastor Nominating Committee have developed a mission statement: “Doing the work God called us to do when Christ said, ‘Take up your cross and follow me.’” They are also trying to define the characteristics that they think the congregation wants in a new pastor. It is a spiritual process, but it is also a political process. They may try to accommodate all the differing interests within the congregation in an effort to define a future direction and describe a new pastor in a way that would make the largest number of members reasonably happy. Of course, implicit in that approach is the assumption that making each of us happy by providing the right kind of pastor and programs is what we should be doing as the body of Christ.
I’ve reached a few conclusion of my own about the process. First, I think that we need to stop using the words “church” and “congregation.” We are the called together assembly of God’s people, called out to find our joy in the praise of our God. We are not a collection of special interests and subgroups whose various interests must be reconciled. We are the body of Christ. We are not here for your comfort or your convenience. We are here to stretch your soul and impact the world. The emphasis is on the “we” and our role as parts in Christ’s body, not “I” and our individual expectations.
The other words that I’d like to replace are “member” and “membership.” They are wonderful words with great weight and meaning but we have lost their meaning as we have spread their usage to include social clubs and political parties and condominium associations.
When we think that all group memberships are the same then we ignore the mandates of God. We reduce grateful stewardship in response to God’s blessings to “dues paying.” If we are not happy with the services we are receiving then we reduce our stewardship commitment as if it were some kind of tip.
The “members” that we are meant to be are the “limbs” of the body of Christ.
We are the assembly of God’s people, called together to be – not individuals – but a part of the body of Christ bringing Christ’s presence into this world through worship, spiritual development and mission.
Mark Achtemeier was a member of the original Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity. He said: “… the devil continues to prowl about like a lion seeking well-intentioned people to devour. And one of the great ironies of this sub-group approach to church life is that it very easily devolves into something that the New Testament recognizes as sinful distortion of Christ’s will for his followers and an abject failure of the church to live up to its divine calling as the one body of Christ.” Perhaps the biggest and most demonic result of all these special interest groups, whether their organizing rationale be theological or social, is that they eventually start to look at members of any other group than their own as less Christian, as people who don’t count. “And so,” says Achtemeier, “the ‘church of subgroups’ dissolves into arrogance, into boasting, into putdowns, and most of all into bitter and never-ending conflict. [The Layman.org; news, 2006, “The church of subgroups,” July 12, 2006]”
Paul is trying to tell us what we should be as a church, and it doesn’t start with what we want this church to be. It’s starts, continues and ends with God. Who we are is simply this: we are the people whom God has greatly blessed. We are the people whom God has drawn into his glory and joy. We are the people whose entire purpose will be revealed as we live out our lives in grateful response to the gifts of God.
That’s where it must start. The next step is integrating that response in a life that respects and loves all of God’s creation. God has already redeemed us through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our challenge now is to grow into the life of Christ’s followers through spiritual challenge and development. That takes a conscious effort to pray, to study and to challenge your soul to grow toward God.
The joy of the Lord is in sharing salvation with all of us, and our greatest joy will be found in returning God thanks and praise. Accept the invitation now and prepare yourself to grow closer to the Lord, for as Paul says: “It's in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit.” You have been set free to share the joy of the Lord. You have been set free to grow to the Lord. What will you do with that freedom?
Let us pray:
Lord God, bring us together to learn our roles in the body of Christ. Bring us together in prayer and study that we might work for the good of your kingdom and the joy of your heart. Lead us to recognize our own needs for spiritual nurture and growth, and bring us together as the body of Christ to pray and read your scriptures and study for the sake of your good pleasure, set out for us to see in the life of Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.
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