01/27/2019

A scripture reading this morning comes from 1st Corinthians chapter 12 verses 12 through 31 for just as the body is one and has many members and all the members of the body though many are one body. So it is with Christ for in the one Spirit. We were all baptized into one body Jews are Greeks slaves are free and we were all made to drink of one spirit. Indeed the body does not consist of one member but as many if the foot would say because I'm not a hand. I've do not belong to the body that would not make it any less part of the body that the year would say because I'm not an I I do not belong to the body that would not make it any less a part of the body if the whole body where am I? Where would the hearing be if the whole body we're hearing where would the sense of smell be? But that is it is God arrange the members in the body each one of them as he chose if all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is there are many members yet one body the I cannot say to the hand. I have no need of you nor again the head to the feet. I have no need of you on the contrary the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable and those members of the body that we think less honorable. We closed with greater honor and are less respectable members are treated with greater respect. Where is our more respectable members do not need this but God has so arranged the body giving the greater honor to the inferior. Remember that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another if one member suffers all suffer together with it, if one member is honored all Rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles second prophets third teachers, then Deeds of power then Gifts of healing forms of assistance forms of leadership various kinds of tongues are all Apostles are all prophets are all teachers do all work miracles. Do all possess Gifts of healing do all speak in tongues do all interpret but strive for the greater gifts and I will show you a still more excellent way the word of God for the people of God.

butter spray Lord

May the words of my lips And the meditations of our hearts. Be pleasing in your sight. our Rock and Our Redeemer amen

Repeat after me. Put on your deodorant.

Try again. Put on your deodorant.

intrigued little bit As a body of Christ, there are many parts. And sometimes in our faith we can begin to to become so minded that are particular part is more important than the other parts sometime this weekend in even begin to believe that the other parts aren't necessary. So what if your hand every morning said you know what? I don't know why I got to keep putting on this deodorant. It doesn't affect me. I'm all the way over here.

Put on your deodorant.

I know it's weird to say say it again put on your deodorant. Okay, I'm not asking everybody go like put on your deodorant. Okay. We're assuming everybody did but we're just keep our arms low, okay. So so the idea is that in faith in Ministry. We have a responsibility to the rest of the body to make sure that we do the things that are necessary for the health and care of the rest of our body in Ministry. It's not necessarily about all just one part of the body, you know, you like yesterday. We had a we had a meeting here and we talked about what it means to to reach out to others what it means to be genuine in our faith and being genuine means that we share part of what God has done in our lives with others. So many times we have protected ourselves in the body of Christ that we've begun to believe that we can't be real. That we've begun to believe that we can't be honest. And we've begun to believe that Were Somehow different from the world around us.

We're representations of the world around us the same struggles that exist in the world exist in this place. Because God has brought us through them because God is bringing us through them because we've got no idea what the heck God is doing but we're here to help understand it better. But because God has called us to be the body of Christ. And as part of the body of Christ some of the things that we do aren't necessarily for us. I'm not even going to begin to ask how many pay property taxes do a school district that you no longer have children in okay. But we do things for the better of our church. Because it's what we have to do. Let me explain something to you when people begin to feel like they're they're no longer important or they're no longer needed in the church. The first thing they do like the first action they take the first action they take is they stop giving okay giving is the first thing that stops will call that week 1 week one giving stops they continue to go to see if anybody's noticed week 2 week 3 week 4

Nobody said anything. Do they even care? You know what next week I'm not going to go. action number to they don't attend Week 1 week to week 3

You know, they've been gone a while. I'm sure the weather was bad. Maybe they're visiting grandkids. Maybe they're having a way tournament. It's week four. Which is really week 8. Before you end up on my radar. It's week 8 before you end up on the radar.

That is about relationship. That is an insight into what people struggle with when it comes to the body of Christ. So by the time you might even think you upset somebody. They've been checked out for 2 months and in all likelihood. Then coming back. Because in their mind you've already said you don't care. for two months But as the body of Christ, we know that we do care. We know that we do love but sometimes it's the body of Christ. We don't know how to love.

I had a PE teacher who I will refer to as an old curmudgeon.

He said this all the time.

But that was really how my name was pronounced. now we had early dismissal. like every other Wednesday We also in Iowa had to run the mile. twice a year I do not run a fast mile. I'm tall. I know I got the leg length. I'm about a 15 minute mile. Really was 12 at the time. So there's probably 50 kids in my PE class. We had to wear all these matching like Maroon shorts and like bright yellow shirts that you wrote your name on the front of and markers in case they forgot whose clothes they were And so we go out and it was boys and girls. Okay. It's coed. I always pick the co-ed PE with the options always do that. I'm so we did that and so we go out and your first like 10 minutes is stretching, right? Cuz you shouldn't run without stretching. I go out there. And this curmudgeon goes Dillingham. I ain't got time for this. You're going to start running. Just go. Some what are you are you kidding me? He like that go in got time. Go go, right. We're going to run laps in front of everybody else. Okay, so I start running and in his mind he's going to do a very positive thing. I hope I've got Grace and his mind you were going to do a very positive thing. He was going to encourage me after everyone else had stretched. So when I come around the third, they start clapping. On my little last two minute and hung extra little bit of the mile. Do you all think I appreciated that if I'm telling the store you can bet your rear and I didn't appreciate that one bit. And I think in his mind, he was really trying to be supportive and wasn't trying to be as hurtful as it was but 20 years later I can still tell you what I had wished. I had said to the man at the end. Because sometimes in our attempts we fail, sometimes we fall flat on our face from what we hope gets conveyed to what really gets conveyed. You do the same is true in Ministry. So we do something in this church, really really well. We love little kids. We love little kids. We love little kids really really well.

We called it love little kids.

It's something that I've learned in the last 6 months is as much as we love little kids really really well. We is the body of Christ struggle to love older kids really really well. In fact, we've given up on it. almost entirely

the junior high and high school kids like it's tough for us. So here's what we have to do is a church. We have to decide we're going to put on some deodorant. We're going to have to decide that this is important enough enough that if this is what we want to do we need to do it we need to do it. Well because we know we're good at loving kids. But we're called to an area of growth to love them as they grow. This is new to you. You all of love kids as they've grown for your entire lives.

But how do we feed them? in the church How do we love them in a way that keeps them engaged? because we live in a world where most people

most people under 30 probably haven't been to church.

Haven't been to church.

And those people are raising kids. And if they were uncomfortable the next Generations going to be even more uncomfortable and so how do we reach out? How do we share the love of of them the love of Jesus with them? in a way, that isn't judgemental because we've got a really good habit of acting like everything's always okay. We have a really good it actually it's kind of an expectation for really good church membership is to always have your stuff together, right? You should always have your stuff together. You should never have to deal with a wayward child or an addicted family member or struggle with with adultery or or struggle with financial management. because sometimes those things would make us lesser than we're already less than or less than what we understand ourselves to be but because of God's grace.

We are loved and it's not about the action. It's about sharing the love of Christ with others, which means that in order to do that. We have to be willing. To share how we ended up is part of the body of Christ in the first place. We have to share what God has done for us. Not for our benefit, but for the building of the kingdom of God.

the body

has many parts.

We also as a body of Christ have a culture.

Sometimes our meetings are at 6 sometimes our meetings are at 7, right. Okay. So this last Monday I had to go to a meeting in Toledo. And I forgot if it was at 6 or at 7. So I hedge my bet and I went at 6 so I could be there early if it was really at 7 and it was really at 7. So I got there an hour early and I showed up in time for their backpack Ministry and some people were in the room and they were from the Free Methodist Church, which is somewhere in the area there and they were there for the packing of the backpacks. But they weren't actually packing backpacks. They're like stocking shelves.

And and they told me that the people that were going to come to pack the backpacks. We're going to get there in like 10 minutes get this. the people that that are there before 6 their whole job is to get ready for the people that just show up and pack backpacks. That's all they do. family unit showed up And a couple kids and they just simply showed them what they had to do do this do this do this to this great go. Into the backpacks for that week were packed by this family. This family had an opportunity to Mission and to minister. And to show their kids what it means to love others because these people have come and every week decided it's their responsibility not to pack the backpacks which will allow others the opportunity to pack the backpacks. That in and of itself is Ministry. Empowering others to experience the joy of what it means to give is just as important as a hundred and Thirty-One backpacks that were packed.

It's extremely servant minded. It's not just about the doing of the work. But it's the welcomed into the table to do the work. It's not about mending a fence. It's not about fixing a drain. It's it's not about vacuuming the carpet. It's about being together in Ministry on allowing us to serve one another. So what can you do to empower and give someone else the opportunity to serve alongside you? Because that's the job that's more difficult than it is to pack the backpacks. It's actually easier to just pack on your darn self. Because it's way too afraid to call people to arrange families to deal with the people that forget to show up to deal with the people. That just aren't really made for this kind of work. No matter how much you try to help them. That's Tuff Stuff. But doing that allows people to engage in Ministry together. It's not about the task alone. But about how we accomplish the task as well.

We as the Bonnie. No call at 8 the people in Corinth. Dead people that said well, I'm an apostle wont be lonely. But anyway different people have different levels of experience, right? You know what I thought about.

No. No disrespect to the to the deceased Stephen Hawking one of the most genius man in the entire world, right? Couldn't care for himself was physically incapable of caring for himself, even though he's one of the most intellectual and intelligent man in the entire world. Could not do for himself and had to rely on others. We cannot do it for ourselves. We have to rely on others and if we think that we can do it by ourselves. We are fooling ourselves because this is what happens. The other parts of the body begin to believe that they're not needed. In the beginning to think that they don't really matter. The begin to think that they're not really worth it.

We need to make sure that everyone is invited to the table. We need to make sure that others are encouraged along the way. We have to make sure to pay attention to the different parts of the body. The season in our church is about self care. How we care for the other parts of our body as we accomplish a mission together? Which means that we have to have multiple priorities. It doesn't work to put all of our eggs in one basket. Just like I said, we must work on how we love.

Satin At 7 to 8 year olds and up right they tonight. I don't know. elementary kids the older ones and up but we also after Focus on our family Ministries like the adult parts of our family Ministries, and we also have to focus on our elderly.

I need to know where the elderly you can get mad at me later. The older adult senior Adult Ministries. How about we use that good psychic, but our senior Adult Ministries, right? And so often we sell ourselves short on what our abilities are to do. what we can do for the body of Christ get this last week the new chaplain at the nursing home over there at Heartland Christian village, thank you for the village came in and he met with me and he's like hey, what can we do? Like I understand you guys are are helpful with the backpacks. Like what? What could we do like in service for our for our patients to help with the backpacks? And here I am sitting in my office with this cat like I got no idea like there's nothing possible. Right? Like I didn't say that but in my head I'm like, I don't really know like I'm guessing not very much and then I asked the right person and the right person said all that's all kinds of ideas of what we can do. Amazon Seller so short and what others can do to bring to the table as the body of Christ because we all have something to offer whether we teach weather we plan where they were part of the physical plant where they were part of worship in the creation of worship. We're all needed because we're not the body of Christ without all of the components. And so when Paul is talking to the early church, it's like he's talking to us as well. And we might not be split over who's teaching this class or who's who's doing this or who's serving in this way? But we have to intentionally decide that everyone is welcome at the table together and that everyone no matter what is needed. I'm here and you were here. Because we are needed. To serve and to grow the kingdom of God and all we need to do to be able to do that is simply be present and be available.

My prayer is that as we go this week that you will seek where Christ is leading you in service to others realizing that sometimes it's about caring for the rest of the body of Christ. Sometimes it's about putting on the deodorant.

What is go as we leave this place filled with the Holy Spirit love? Brothers hoping and praying that we can reach out with the love of Christ for the welcoming of more members of the body. Let us prey.

Or we ask that you might continue to guide us at the church. That you might lead us forward in service and in care recognizing the importance of each and every one. Guide us in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

But you to Stan.