One Body In Christ

One Body In Christ

Romans 11:33-12:8

     Whether you are new to the church or you have been a member of the church all your life, it’s good to, once in while, ask the question, “What is the church?”  We may think we know the answer to that question because we have certain preconceived ideas about what the church is but we also live under the influence of our sinful nature and the world around us and the devil who is trying to destroy the church.  It’s good to hear what Scripture has to say about the church and how it should function in the world.  As we look at Paul’s words to the church in Rome, may we be given the wisdom to apply his words to our life in the church today. 

     When your human nature tries to influence you, the strategy usually makes you turn inward.  You start asking the question, “What is in this for me?”  “How can I benefit the most from my association with the church.”  “Does this church fit into my concept of what the church should be?”  Sometimes you see churches marketing themselves as a place to make friends or a place where you can fit in.  While that may make you feel more welcome, is that really what the church is to be?  Sometimes you hear about a church that has a great youth program or a great music program.  Those things are great but is that the main function of a church?

       When you look at what St. Paul says in our Epistle lesson for today, you will begin to get a clearer picture of the real function of the church.  The reading starts at the end of chapter 11.  There we hear a great song of praise.  “Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable his ways!  For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor?  Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?  For from him and through him and to him are all things.  To him be glory forever.  Amen.”  This is a profound expression of praise to God.  When we consider how far beyond our human understanding God is, when we consider the depth of God’s love for us, when we acknowledge that we could never understand his ways completely, we are in awe of our wonderful God.  Therefore we praise Him and give Him the glory with our whole heart.  That, then is the first purpose of our life in the church, to give praise and honor to God.

     In His mercy, our God has revealed to us His goodness and love.  He has revealed to us through the sacred writers of the Scriptures that we are sinners who deserve nothing but punishment.  He also has revealed to us that He loves us so much that He sent His only Son into the world to do for us what we could never do for ourselves.  Jesus came into the world and lived a perfect life in our place.  He died on the cross to pay the price for our sins.  He rose again from the dead to win the victory for us over sin, death and the power of the devil.  He sent the Holy Spirit to bring us to faith and keep us in the faith through the Word and the Sacraments.  There we find the second important function of the church: to proclaim the message of salvation through the proclamation of the Law and the Gospel.  As people of God we need to hear that life-giving message often in order to overcome the temptations of the devil, the world and our sinful nature that would try and turn us away from the will of God and convince us that we are the ones responsible for our place in God’s kingdom. 

     The second part of our reading then helps us to understand a third purpose of our life in the church.  In verse one of chapter twelve we hear: “By the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”  Along with the praise that I mentioned earlier and the hearing of the Word, you are to present yourself as a living sacrifice to God, holy and acceptable.  This is a part of your spiritual worship.  Think about some of the words that are used in this appeal.  Present your body.  That is not just talking about a good feeling.  He’s talking about the whole thing, mind, body, eyes, ears, hands, feet.  He is talking about action.  Another word that is significant is sacrifice.  A true sacrifice is not what is left over after you have done all you wanted to do.  A sacrifice that is holy and acceptable to God is one that recognizes God’s amazing love and responds with the best that you have.  Another word in this verse is worship.  Presenting yourself as a living sacrifice is a part of a life of worship.

     About this time, the human nature is ready to push back and say you’re asking too much of me.  I have a busy life and I don’t have time for anything else right now.  Maybe when things slow down I can try a few things.  That is the way our human minds usually work.  Paul had something to say about that as well.  In chapter 12, verse 2 we hear, “Do not be conformed to the this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  Your human nature wants you to conform to the ways of the world.  It is a constant struggle that we all face.  Left to yourself, you tend toward the ways of the world because that is what is familiar.  That is what makes you feel comfortable.  You need a transformation.  That can only happen by the grace of God and the work of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit works through the Means of Grace, the Word and the Sacraments.  In Holy Baptism, the Spirit began His work in you and that work continues through the proclamation of Word, the Law and the Gospel.  The Law convicts you of your sin and brings you to repentance and the Gospel reminds you of God’s great love in Christ.  Your sins are forgiven and in Christ, you can be that living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. 

       That brings us back then to your life in the church.  There you have the opportunity to follow the example of Jesus and give your life in humble service to the Lord and to one another.  The church is compared to a body.  A body has many parts and each part has an important function.  In the same way we are one body in Christ.  Each individual in the body works for the good of the whole body which has Christ as its head.  In this passage from Romans 12 we are given several examples of the kinds of gifts that God gives to the parts of the body, the people in the church.  This is not a complete list of the gifts.  There are others mentioned in I Corinthians 12 and in other sections of Paul’s letters to churches.  Here he mentions the gift of prophecy, being able to speak for God.  Also mentioned are the gifts of service, teaching, exhorting, generosity, and acts of mercy.  You don’t have to think too hard before you see how these gifts are used all the time in the church.  Not everyone has every gift, but everyone has some gift to be used for the efficient functioning of the body. 

     It is then that we hear the key statement that expresses another purpose of the church.  In verse 6 we hear, “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us let us use them.”  The church is the place where we have the opportunity to use the unique gifts that God has given to each of us.  Those gifts then are used to carry out the primary purpose of the church which is to make disciples of all nations.  The church is to be a witness for Christ to the world around us beginning in our own community and then branching out eventually to the whole world.  It sounds like a big job and it is for one person or even a small group of people.  But we are one body in Christ, the whole body working together, each one using its own God-given gifts to do the work that God has given us to do. 

     When you look at a text like this you can see clearly that life in the church is not a spectator sport.  You don’t just buy your ticket and watch the show.  Life in the church is praise, hearing and studying the Word in order to be equipped for service, then using the gifts that God has given to each one to carry out the work of the one body in Christ. That is what we truly are.  We are one body in Christ, doing the work that He has planned ahead of time for us to do.  May God bless this One Body in Christ as we work together to further His kingdom.  Amen.

Rev. Gerald Matzke

Zion Lutheran Church

Painesville, Ohio

11th Sunday after Pentecost

Why Did You Doubt?

Why Did You Doubt?  

Matthew 14:22-33

      Do you ever worry?  That may sound like a strange question to ask.  Who doesn’t worry?  We all worry from time to time about a variety of things.  You worry about your health.  You worry about finances.  You worry about the weather.  You worry about your children.  Children worry about their parents, especially when the parents get older.  You worry about the government.  You worry about world affairs.  Did you ever wonder why you worry so much?  As we think about what happened in the Gospel lesson for today and we apply that to our own lives, I pray that you will be able to understand yourself a little bit better and that you will find that your faith and trust in the Triune God are just what you need in the times when you are tempted to doubt and worry.

     Our Gospel lesson from Matthew 14, tells us what happened to Jesus and His disciples after He had fed the large crowd near the Sea of Galilee.  Jesus sent the disciples off in boat as He sent the crowds on their way and He went off to a solitary place to pray.  Later on when the disciples were well on their way, Jesus came to them walking on the water.  This in itself was an amazing experience for the disciples.  At first they thought He was a ghost.  Fishermen on the Sea of Galilee knew about the superstitions that had been around for generations that said if you saw a phantom image out on the water that something bad was going to happen very soon.  That was their first thought.  This is a bad sign!  They did what most people would have done under the circumstances.  They screamed!  They were scared out of their wits. 

      But Jesus spoke to them and said, as He often did, “It is I.  Do not be afraid.”  His comforting words drove away their fear but at least for Peter, the fear was replaced by curiosity.  We can imagine what he was thinking.  “How does He do that?  I wonder if He would show me how He does it.”  His curiosity got the best of him and he said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”  That was a pretty bold request but Jesus granted his request and said to Peter simply, “Come.”  At Jesus’ command, Peter got out of the boat and walked to Him on the water.  Imagine his surprise.  Imagine the shock and surprise of the other disciples who stayed in the boat.  We don’t often think about them and their response to all of this but they must have had many thoughts racing through their minds as they saw their companion walking on the water with Jesus.  “How could this be?  Do you suppose I could walk on the water too?”  When it was all over we are told that they worshiped Jesus and proclaimed, “Truly you are the Son of God.”  That is generally the outcome when Jesus did a miraculous sign.  That was actually one of the purposes of miraculous signs, to show people that Jesus was the Son of God and the fulfillment of the prophecies regarding the Messiah. 

     We need to go back to Peter though who actually walked on the water until he began to realize what he was actually doing.  He looked around at the waves and felt the wind and must have thought to himself, “What am I doing here?”  When that thought hit him, he began to sink and cried out to Jesus to save him.  Jesus reached out and took hold of him and helped him get back into the boat.  Jesus’ word’s to Peter exposed his lack of faith.  “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”  Why did Peter doubt?  Jesus described him as being of little faith.  Didn’t Peter believe in Jesus?  He was one of His strongest supporters.  Why did he doubt?  Think through what happened again.  Peter desired to do something. He asked Jesus to allow it to happen.  He did what he wanted to do.  He doubted.  He sank.  Jesus rescued him.  He believed that Jesus was the Messiah.  He had faith.  But when times got difficult, his trust in Jesus wavered.  The devil planted seeds of doubt in his mind and Peter’s human nature took over.  That sinful human nature relies too often on only human thinking that is limited to human experience and human reason.  It caused Peter to doubt and when he took his eyes off of Jesus and instead looked only at the waves and felt the wind, his trust in Jesus and His word disappeared and he began to sink into the water. 

     Before you shake your accusing finger at Peter and say, “How could you let that happen?” you have to think about how you react to the call of Jesus in your life.  When you are brought to faith through the working of the Holy Spirit, you are given the power to believe and trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior.  You believe and trust that God made you and has promised to provide you all that you need in this life.  You believe what the Scriptures say about how the Holy Spirit has given you the gifts and talents to serve the Lord and His Church.  Like Peter, you see the Lord doing amazing things in your life and in the lives of others.  You have heard the Lord’s command to go and make disciples.  You have heard the Lord’s promise that He will be with you always.  You have heard the Lord’s command to grow in your faith.  Like Peter, you desire to do all that the Lord commands.

     On the day of your confirmation you promised to be a faithful disciple of the Lord.  You meant it with all your heart.  Like Peter, you prayed for the Lord’s will to be done in your life.  You were filled with the Spirit and you had every intention to live a Spirit- filled life of love and service to the Lord, His Church and to those in need.  Like Peter, you also may have stepped out of the boat, out of your comfort zone, and tried something you had never done before.  You did it.  Then like Peter, you began to doubt.  You became afraid of what might happen, what others might think, you became discouraged when some of your efforts failed.  You started to rely on your own reason instead of trusting in the Lord and, like Peter, you began to sink.  In your desperation you called to the Lord and He pulled you up and placed you in the safety of His church.  There you were assured of His love and forgiveness for your doubt and fear.  You were reminded of the grace of God for fallen sinners, those who gave in to the devil’s temptations.  There you are reminded through the Word and the Sacraments, the Means of Grace, that through the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, you are restored.  You are strengthened so that when you hear that command of Jesus to step out of the boat, your comfort zone, and you will be ready and equipped to use your unique gifts and talents to serve. 

     As you think about what happened to Peter, you come to realize that this is actually a summary of God’s whole plan for our salvation.  God gives us His law, whether written on the tablets of stone like the Ten Commandments or that law that is written in our hearts.  Even though you know God’s will, you go your own way and fall short of what God expects.  Sin drags you down and finally you call to the Lord for help.  Your sorrow over your sin is the beginning of the process of repentance.  You call to Jesus for rescue and He pulls you up, not because of your good intentions but because of His grace, His undeserved love for you.  Your sins are forgiven and you are renewed and restored.  Like Peter, you are not allowed to sink but you have new life each time you are declared not guilty by the gracious hand of your loving God. 

     Like the disciples, you can stand in awe of the love and power of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  When you realize all that has been done to rescue you from the eternal punishment that you deserve because of your sin, you are moved to worship and proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior for all to hear.  That is why we come together as people of God.  When we sink because of our sin, Jesus picks us up in spite of our little faith and our doubt.  Therefore we praise and thank Him as a church and as individuals all our days.  Amen.

Rev. Gerald Matzke

Zion Lutheran Church

Painesville, Ohio

9th Sunday after Pentecost