Proper 13B, 2024:

Text: Ephesians 4:1-16

Title: Your Marvelous Body

+ INI +

The human body is a marvelous creation. 

Your body is comprised of roughly 30 trillion individual cells.  And those cells are constantly being replaced.  Every second, your body creates 25 million new cells. 

What’s most amazing is how all these cells, and organs, and systems all work together to keep your body living and functioning. Just in your face you have 43 different muscle groups, all working in harmony, allowing you to make any number of expressions.

For the most part, you don’t even think about what your body and all its members is doing throughout the day.  You don’t think about chewing and swallowing when you eat, you don’t think about picking up and putting down your feet when you walk. You just go.

The church body is also a marvelous creation, even more wondrous than the human body. 

The church body is more than just this congregation. 

And the church body is more than just The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. 

The church body is all Christians everywhere on earth, a number probably into the billions.  And more than that, the church body includes all people of all time who belong to Christ.

As we confess each week there is only one holy, Christian (or catholic) and apostolic church. 

Within that body there is both unity and diversity.

First, the unity. 

With all that divides us from one another, it may be hard to believe that there is only one church.  This is an article of faith, because sometimes it’s hard to see and experience this in this sinful world.

In Paul’s day it was the Jews and the Gentiles. He had to work to convince the folks in Ephesus and elsewhere that Jews and Gentiles were indeed members of the same body.

We don’t have those same sorts of issues, but there are certainly those Christians out there about whom you wonder if we’re really and truly united.

In the beginning of this chapter of Ephesus, Paul uses the word “one” seven times, to emphasize all the ways that we are united. 

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 

Seven ones, and then all, all, all.  All in one.

One body and one Spirit.  The Spirit is what keeps the body alive.  Without the Spirit, the body dies.

There is one Spirit, the Holy Spirit, that keeps the body of the church alive.  We receive that Spirit every time we hear God’s Word, and the Spirit creates faith in you and gives you eternal life.

But there’s only one Holy Spirit.

One hope.  One future for the church.  We are all going to the same eternal home.  You’ve probably heard jokes about a Lutheran heaven and a Roman Catholic heaven and a Baptist heaven.  You know, of course, that one day all of God’s people will be gathered around His heavenly throne, praising and worshiping Him together.

One Lord.  That’s Jesus, of course.  Jesus died for all.  Jesus’ gift of salvation is for all. 

One Faith.  We share in this confession of faith in Jesus Christ.  There is only one way to be saved.  There’s not a Jew-way and a Gentile-way.  There’s not an American way and a African way.  There’s not a Lutheran way and a Presbyterian way. The only way to be saved is through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

One Baptism.  There ‘s a reason why we don’t baptize you again when you change churches. You are baptized once.  No matter how old you were, where it took place, or what happened after, if you were baptized with water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you are a child of God.

One God and Father of all.  We are all part of one family under God, our heavenly Father. 

One body.  One Spirit.  One Hope. One Lord.  One Faith.  One Baptism. One God the Father.

That’s what gives us our unity.  That’s what connects us to one another throughout the whole Christian Church.

And yet, along with this unity, we have amazing diversity.

Now the word “diversity” is a charged, political term these days. 

Diversity in the church does not mean that we tolerate different beliefs that are in conflict with the truth of God’s Word.

When we do have these conflicts with our fellow Christians, Paul calls us to “speak the truth in love.”

Notice two things. 

First, we speak the truth.  We don’t compromise.  We don’t tell people what we think is true, but we rely on the unchanging truth of God’s Word.

Second, we speak it in love.  We don’t speak God’s word in anger or hatred. We don’t use God’s Word as a weapon to tear down and destroy, to hurt. 

When you talk to your fellow Christians you are talking to members of the same body, so it’s important to do so lovingly, gently, with an eye towards building and restoring our unity.

We don’t have diversity in beliefs.  What we do have is an amazing diversity in gifts that God has given to the members of His church, His body.

Just as the human body is made up of many, many different types of cells and organs, so God gives many different gifts and talents and skills to His church.

Every single person in this church has different gifts.  No one here has the same gifts that you do.

And that goes for the whole church everywhere. What are your gifts?

Whatever they are, God has given them to you to use for the good of the whole body.

When the mouth takes in food, that food doesn’t just nourish the mouth, but that those nutrients are used in building up every cell in the body.

When the heart beats, that blood does not just stay in the heart, but it flows throughout the whole body.

When the lungs breathe, that oxygen doesn’t just stay in the lungs, but it keeps every cell making energy to keep the body alive.

The gifts that God has given you are for the building up, the strengthening of the whole body.  It’s not just about you.

And that usually means working together. Think about how all the systems of the body have to cooperate, have to work together, even for the most simple tasks.

You’re like a single joint.  When you make a fist think about how many joints need to move in harmony to get the desired result.

Think about how you can use your time, your talents, and the treasures that God has given you here in this place.  We have countless opportunities to work together and do some good in strengthening each other and reaching out with the love of Christ. Simple things like serving as an usher or a greeter, helping out with fellowship events, serving on a board or in a leadership position, these are ways that we work together.

And then we as a congregation work together with our congregations, particularly within The Lutheran—Church Missouri Synod. The folks at Bethany and Peace and the other churches in our area are not our rivals or our competitors, but we’re part of the same body.

And beyond that, we can work together with other churches in other denominations to do some good, like caring for those in need, providing relief when there’s a natural disaster, or advocating for the right to life for unborn children.

How can this sort of coordination happen? There must be a brain behind in all.

And that’s where Christ comes in.

He is the head of the Church.  Everything happens according to His direction. 

There’s one person in charge of the Church.  And it’s not me.  And it’s not Brian.  And it’s not President Harrison or the Pope, or any other mortal.

Jesus Christ is the head of the church, His body. 

And Jesus’ thoughts, His direction to you is love. That is what the body of Christ is to do.  The body of Christ is a sacrificial body, giving itself in love for the whole world.

That’s why it exists, to love, to bring His love into the world around us, so that more people would experience the love of Christ and be incorporated into His body.  What a marvelous creation is this body of Christ.