For the last while I have been doing some focused study. The
goal of my studying has been to answer this question. What does it mean to be
the Church? That might sound a little abstract, but the fact of the matter is
that we all have some sort of answer to that question. As a result, we all have
certain expectations of Faith Reformed, and we all have defined what
expectations Faith Reformed can have of us. So, the question isn't really all
that abstract. It affects an important part of our lives.
Bible has a lot to say about what it means to be the Church.
So, I will I continue to study and, hopefully, learn. And as I pursue that
study I intend to let you in on what I'm learning. This morning's sermon is an
installment on that project. And the goal is to answer that question in a
specific way: What does it mean for us here at Faith Reformed to be a church?
What does the Bible have to say about that?
Our text is going to be 1 Corinthians 12. I'll read the
whole chapter, which is on the long side. I'm not going to use all of it, but
hearing the whole chapter will help to understand the parts that I will use.
Please listen.
Paul is teaching the Corinthians what it means that they are
a church. To do this he uses the image of a human body. And just as a body has
different parts - feet, eyes, ears - so does the church. The parts of a church,
the people, are like the parts of a body. And so, Paul tells those Christians:
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I
have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
Paul's point is, I think, rather clear. No one here can say
to anyone else here, 'I don't need you'. No, quite the opposite. Just as my
hand needs my arm, each of us needs the rest of us. We need each other. That's
pretty clear.
Things get less clear for lots of folk when I take the next
step and ask a question. Yes, we need each other, but for what? Why do you need
some other person in this room? What does that other person help you to
accomplish? I think that the unstated assumption of many is that we need each
other to do churchy things. We need each other so that we can succeed as a
church (whatever that means). Our need of the others here is limited to things
related to this institution called Faith Reformed Church. I've thought about
that, and I need to tell you that I don't think that that is what Paul meant.
Paul's point was not that we need each other so that we can be a better church.
I actually think that Paul's point was that we need each other so that we can
be better people. And that goes way beyond just doing churchy things.
Now, why do I think this? Well, consider some of the
abilities that Paul mentions in our text. There's the gift of healing. How does
that make for a better church? Isn't that obviously about being a better
person? Then there is wisdom. If you bear in mind that wisdom is understanding
how life works, then you will agree that the use of wisdom goes far beyond
church decisions. Any wisdom that I share with you is to help you to become a
better person and that in situations that have nothing to do with this church.
Then Paul talks about apostles as gifts also. Reading any of the letters of the
apostles makes it clear that the point of those letters went far beyond churchy
things. They wrote to husbands and wives and children, to slaves, to citizens
under a harsh government, to people suffering at the hands of their neighbors.
They wrote about how to become better people in the face of everyday life. If
you consider what Paul included in our text his point is clear. Our need for
each other has to do with much more than being a successful church. It's about
who we are as people.
So, when Paul describes the eye as needing the hand his
point is about that eye becoming a better eye. As the church, we need each other
so that we can become better people.
That will make a lot of sense when you connect it up with
the point of Jesus' mission. Why did Jesus come? Far too many answer that
question by saying something about getting some people to heaven. The basic
thought is that while there are some Gospel benefits for people now, the real
benefit is all about later: the joys of heaven. The problem with that
understanding is that it has some truth in it - but only some. And that can be
misleading. So, why did Jesus come? A better answer is that He came to restore
humanity to our original beauty. Jesus' goal is for the world and its people to
be restored to life as it was in the Garden of Eden. We touched a bit on this
at the last Bible study when we looked at 1 Corinthians 15. One of the points
that Paul made there was that if Jesus had not been resurrected it all falls
apart. There is no Gospel. That makes no sense to most these days because they
think that as long as Jesus died on the cross then it's all good. My sins are
forgiven. I'm going to heaven, and that's all that really matters. But Paul
disagreed. He taught that if there were no resurrection there is no Gospel.
According to Paul, Jesus' mission wasn't merely to populate heaven. There is
more. He came to restore God's kingdom. He came to restore humanity in that
kingdom. He came to restore life to the way it was in the Garden. So, getting
people to be able to do churchy things well isn't the point of the church as a
body. The point is to help people become better people, whole people, restored
people. And, according to our text, the way that Jesus does this, the way that
He restores humanity, is through His Church. He uses all of us to help all of
us to become better people. And I think that that changes everything.
So, consider the other people in this room, the other people
of Faith Reformed. You need them. They need you. And why? Because no one in
this room is whole. We are all broken in some way or other - or better, we are
all broken in lots of ways. Jesus' goal is to make us whole, to restore us to
our original perfection as subjects in the kingdom of God. And that perfection
affects us in body and in soul as well as in our relationships with God and
other people. That's what the Church - our church - is for.
To illustrate this let me tell you about one particular
person. Let me tell you about me. Here's one way that I am not whole. I am very
solitary. I have my public persona, but then there is the very private part of
who I am. I have put up walls to keep you out of that very private part of who
I am. I do that because there is a part of me that thinks that this makes my life
work. But, of course, that’s not true. One result of those walls is that I can
get pretty lonely at times. But whose fault is that, if I keep you at arm's
length? One of the joys of eternity for me will be my lack of walls. I will no
longer be afraid to let you see the real me. And one way that that will show is
that the emotions that I keep locked up and so very private will finally become
public. And that will make me a much better person than what I now am. That is
one of Jesus' goals for my life. But it isn't a goal that He is going to wait
to work on only later. He wants to work on that now. And how will He do that?
He will change me now through you, His Church. That's what Paul is talking
about in our text.
Now, how will this work? How will there be change? Do I
expect change in me and in you because we together are the Church? Yes, but
it's important to understand why I am optimistic. There is a critical quality
about the Church that brings about this change.
Listen again to Paul.
To each is given the manifestation
of the Spirit for the common good.
So, what is it about the Church that encourages optimism?
It's that the Spirit is involved in the Church, in each member of the Church.
He has given to each one of you something useful for the benefit of the rest,
some 'manifestation of the Spirit for the common good'. And He doesn't give you
that ability and then step back to let you figure out how to use it on own. He
gives it to you and then guides you in its use. We can be optimistic because
the Spirit is busy in the Church. He is busy finishing Jesus' mission to
restore humanity. He has made the Church a supernatural place where people are
made whole. It's so much more than a religious club for Christians. The Church is
a key part of Jesus' plan for the world. It lies at the heart of the Spirit's
work of bringing Jesus' plan to completion. The Church is a big deal. And that
means that Faith Reformed is a big deal.
So, now for the practical question. What do you do? Well,
not to harp on a theme, it would seem good for you to think about what I've
just told you. I’m guessing that some of what I've told you is new to you. It's
new to me. It would be good to think about it a bit. But to move beyond that,
there is something in the Apostles' Creed that relates here: 'I believe in the
holy, catholic church.' I'll leave explaining 'holy' and 'catholic' for another
time. That sentence explains something of what you are to do. You are to
believe in the Church. That is, you are to believe what this part of the Bible
has to say about Jesus' Church and His intentions for it. You are to believe in
the Church as the body of Christ and the place where the Spirit is busy
restoring people. You are to believe in the Church as the place where you have
a role to play in the lives of these other people and they have a role to play
in yours. Believe in the Church that Jesus has created by the Gospel.
What you believe about anything will always show in how you
live. And here is one way that belief in the Church can show. Friendships in
the Church, friendships with the other people in this room. Some of you are
like that eye that has said, 'I don't need that hand'. And that, of course, is
not true. But if that hand is going to meet needs in your life, if it is going
to be able to help you to wholeness, and if you are going to help it to
wholeness, you need to get to know each other. I know that that won't be easy.
Remember I'm the guy with the walls. But it makes sense. After all, you, the
eye, are already connected to him, the hand. Becoming friends, actually getting
to know each other, makes sense. And while there will be challenges, remember
that the Church is the place of the Spirit who does amazing, supernatural
things. He will make it work. There is a reason why I chose this particular way
that belief in the Church can show. Some of you have some very deep, long-term
friendships with people with whom you share all sorts of things that are close
to your heart. And that’s good. But my sense is that some of you don't have
those kinds of friends. And yet, you could. The people in this room could
become your friends. But they are not friends but only acquaintances. That's
not good. It's not good for them, and it's not good for you. So, believe in the
Church and pray that the Spirit would help you to make some friends so that the
mission of Jesus would continue to advance.