Word of Salvation – Vol.42 No.22 – June 1997
Being A Part and Not Apart
Sermon by Rev S Bajema
on Romans 12:3-5
Scripture Readings: H.C. Q&A 55; 1Cor 12:11-27; Rom 11:33 – 12:5
Suggested Hymns: BOW 100:3; 65; 450; 479; 503:6
Precious Body of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This text is about belonging to the Church. This text is about being an active part of the Church. This text is about never being apart from the Church. So far so good, you might be thinking. Then why is it that more than 58% of Christians in Australia today feel that they cannot be part of their church? How come that – putting aside those believers who transfer from one place to another – how come that there are people who feel, without changing residence, that they need to change church?
And, further, why is it that the majority of those believers – so most who leave their church in this way – why is it that they leave for reasons other than theological liberalism? In other words, why do they leave… essentially… because of their feelings?
Congregation, this state of affairs says that the Church is in a desperate state. Any outsider looking upon Australian churches would see that. But, you know, the Lord already knew that when these words were being written by the apostle Paul, nearly two thousand years ago. Way back then, God’s Spirit, who searches all things, knew the heart of mankind enough to inspire these words through Paul. Because taking into account the verses just before our text, we may well wonder how come he writes what he does in verse 3. You see, this is a real attack on our egos: “Don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought…!”
Some would wonder, “Why would this be a problem? Aren’t our problems today really because of the low self-esteem and the negative imagining we’ve received as children?” Perhaps I’m generalising a bit, although, isn’t this a dominant thought today? The modern psychologist or therapist would dispute Paul’s words most strongly! He’d have to, wouldn’t he, otherwise he’d be out of a job! And coming back to the context, after that expression of the glorious riches we have in Christ, and the response of being changed to be like Him, isn’t this a bit out of sync? I mean, the verses before are on a high, euphoric almost; now we’re told to sober up, get real.
And, yet, congregation, these words are natural flow-on. Offering ourselves up to the Lord, as in verses 1 and 2, means all the difference in our relationships; especially in the church. The end of Galatians has a hint of how the church is the place where we ought to start making a difference with other people; as it says: “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let’s do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” (Gal 6:18).
In the words of our first point…
BY GOD’S GRACE IN CHRIST… YOU CAN KNOW YOUR PART
Going back to that question raised before, as to why Christians are leaving churches, what we’re hearing is that somehow what we think of ourselves is caught up in this. Now, the situation of the church when the Heidelberg Catechism was written, is somewhat different than today. It was all very well and good to write then that the communion of saints meant “…that believers one and all, as members of this community, share in Christ and in all his treasures and gifts…!” But, that was then, when you had to belong to a church and there was only one church in your village or town; and this is now, and well, things have changed, haven’t they?
Have things really changed? Is man’s nature all that different? Do we know it better now? To ask those questions is to answer them. Of course things aren’t any better; if anything, it’s worse! Still… BY GOD’S GRACE IN CHRIST… YOU CAN KNOW YOUR PART!
Though the apostle is not yet speaking of the specific gifts, Paul has turned our focus to considering the Body in which they are found; and he has begun this reflecting by getting us to think about it first of all, in fact, thinking is what verse 3 is all about, four times, in different forms, the same root word for the process of thinking is used. William Hendriksen believes that in a play on words Paul is urging us, “Don’t fancy yourself to be MR BIG!” So, think about what you ought to think about, and not what you shouldn’t think about.
You know, the mind is a phenomenal thing. Up here, between these two ears, compressed between the bones of the skull, encased in body tissue, is a most amazing thing. So much so that it is the source of all that we say and do. Paul has recognised as much in verse 2, “…be transformed” he said, “by the renewing of your mind.” It’s by this renewing mind that YOU CAN KNOW YOUR PART. It’s certainly not a part you can know if you don’t believe; but it can also be a part we aren’t properly knowing it we haven’t begun to know.
The state of the church today cannot be separated from the lack of knowledge in believers today. That there is much movement between and often out of churches is because Christians aren’t thinking of themselves with sober judgment. Like the selfish player in the football team, they forget the need to pass the ball around, and realise they are just one in the team after all, John Murray comments, “If we consider ourselves to possess gifts we don’t have, then we have an inflated notion of our place and function; we sin by esteeming ourselves beyond what we are.”
Mind you, believers nowadays are not helped by what many of their own ministers are preaching. In many churches there’s certainly no preaching which finds us on our knees before the face of Almighty God; preaching which finds us ever so grateful that we are joined to Christ’s Body by faith through grace. No, no, it’s this psyche-heresy of self-fulfilment, of loving yourself first and last of all! There would have been the same sin in the Roman church that there is among us today; the same sin indeed that Paul has just so roundly condemned in the Corinthians.
We read the passage in his first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 12, where he especially confronts this sin. There he dealt at length with how the different parts of the body were all, each one, vital for the whole. He concludes his case, “…there should be no division in the body, but… its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it, if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a part of it” (VSS 25-27). BY GOD’S GRACE… YOU CAN KNOW YOUR PART.
This is why the apostle adds to thinking of ourselves with sober judgment, the words, “…in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” “Oh, but I don’t have much faith.” Have you ever heard that? It’s a common cry from Christians. For just as much as there is the danger of exaggerating our self-esteem, there’s also the danger of copping out altogether. That’s what it really is, copping out; it’s not actually believers thinking lowly and humbly of themselves, rather, they live in someone else’s shadow. Instead of drawing out and developing their gifts, they become overwhelmed with someone else’s. Just as much as trying to be MR BIG is a problem, so allowing ourselves to be MR SMALL is equally damaging for the church.
Dear believer, have you ever prayed, “Lord, please make the best use of my gift so I can benefit others?” We can so easily turn to the gifts below the text, in the verses 6 to 8, and try to see what we’ve got. And Lord willing, (tonight / next week] we’ll do just that. But have we been open first of all? Have you realised that… YOU CAN KNOW YOUR PART?
Friend, are you growing in that wonderful knowledge about being a member in Christ’s Body, the Church, His chosen and precious, for whom He gave Himself. Of all creatures and of all people, the Lord has picked us to be His witnesses in this world.
I mean, to think that He could have had angels proclaim the Gospel; heavenly beings could have bathed this world in ethereal light, as New Agers desperately try to convince us, but they didn’t! Out of all eternity, dear friend, He, the King of kings chose you – yes, you, sitting there right now on a plastic stack-away chair in this building at the back of [name of suburb the church is in]; you, insignificant, inadequate, sinful man or woman, boy or girl that you are, too. He chose you to bear His flaming lamp into this world!
In fact, he has joined you to Himself that there’s a gifting of His in you, so that in you He would be in this world. It’s only in Christ that your gift can be used; through faith it fulfils its purpose. In the words of Phil 4:13, “…I can do everything through him who gives me strength”.
And, looking at Jesus, considering Him who is the author and perfecter of our faith, what could we possibly lack? And wouldn’t our gift be exactly right for what he wants? Friend, see the Great Giver and you will know your gift; more than that you will see how much you’re never separate from the wonderful work of salvation.
That’s why our text flows on to say…
BY GOD’S GRACE IN CHRIST… YOU ARE NOT APART
This is what we find in verses 4 and 5; but especially in the first phrase of verse 5 we have it in a nutshell, “…in Christ we, who are many, form one body…”. We have referred already to Paul’s expansion of the body theme in 1 Corinthians 12. In verse 27 of that chapter we have precisely this same thought, “…you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” Later in Ephesians and Colossians Paul develops further this concept of the Church.
It’s here though, and written here this way, because in contrast to verse 3, where we saw God as the distributor, here is this drawing in of all the parts into the one whole. We began with the Lord expanding out; now in Christ he draws it all back in. But the thing is that when we are brought into this realisation that we can know our part and yet not be apart, we are that much more enriched with what the Church is about.
It’s a little like an earthly family. And much as earthly families can have their problems, when it comes to the crunch, blood is thicker than water! You can have family sticking up for each other even if the one they’re supporting has done the most vile and crazy thing! They’re family.
Ephesians 4:25 says of how we live now, “…each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbour, for we are all members of one body.” You see, realising we’re in Christ’s Body means living as though we are Him every day and in every way! That’s communion, congregation. That’s realising that in Christ we belong to each other in the church. We are not our own anymore, but indeed, we belong, body and soul, in life and death, to our faithful Saviour, Jesus Christ. If believers could more and more fix this in their minds, what a difference the church would be in this world! Imagine, too, how positive that makes your perspective of the Church. Besides all the future glory of being Christ’s Bride, she is already now beautifully adorned. Do you see that? Are you praising God for it?
A new minister in a congregation thought they needed a strong message on being involved in spreading the gospel. So, as ministers can be apt to do, there was a round broadside at the congregation on the coming Sunday. After that service a senior member of that congregation took that minister aside and began to tell him how each of those members were involved in God’s Kingdom work. Going through all the families in the church, he detailed their Christian work and witness. They were not apart. Quite the contrary; because of who they were in Christ, they had to be united in him and in one another. No matter how lowly you feel your gift may be, it is a vital part of God’s unfolding plan, and the sooner that can be totally laid out, the faster His Kingdom will come.
I mean, we pray, don’t we, “Thy Kingdom come…”? I hope we mean it when we pray it; I hope we really work at it as much as we can. Because, what is our prayer if we don’t actually show we meant it by doing it? And what kind of people are we, if, having asked the Lord for it, we don’t ourselves go out and believe it?
And what a phrase to end our text with in verse 5, “…and each member belongs to all the others.”
What a contrast with the greedy footballer, for here is one who just cannot find a fellow player quick enough to pass the ball to! In soccer the coach used to tell us, “no one can beat a pass”, and they couldn’t. Because exactly when they would go for you, you wouldn’t have it. That’s an amazing strength about Christ’s Body. As we use each other in Christ, we become unbeatable. There’s a bond which no man can break. Not even demons can damage it, despite what you might read in recent fanciful Christian books. You know, not even the gates of hell can ever overcome it. Matthew 16:19 spells out clearly Christ’s own word on that. You see, it was Jesus Christ who went all the way to be totally apart, so he would keep us together in Him, forever. That was the most expensive price ever paid. But, then, could you think of any better gift?
Amen.