UNITY IN THE CHURCH
...
'One Body'
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There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:4-6 |
Message begins at approx. the 28 min mark.
I’d like to begin today by asking a piercing and probing question. It’s rhetorical, so don’t get too nervous. What do you do when you are driving and the check engine light comes on?
A recent study conducted by Jiffy Lube found that 1 in seven cars out on the road has a potentially serious problem. The study also found that that 15% of Americans who are out on the road today will have that check engile light flick on. But out of that 15%, 30% of them will admit to have been ignoring it for over a month? (and that is only those who will admit it).
Here are two of what I believe to be the best statistics that came out of this study: Of the 2,000 people who were surveyed 39% of them feel relief when they reach their destination without their car breaking down. And 32% actually thank their car for not breaking down when they get there.
It’s studies like these that make you kind of wonder what is going on out there. But we might say that Jiffy Lube has simply told us something we already know, but might not want to admit, our vehicles are just machines. And when it comes to these vehicles, we understand that they need regular maintenance. Driving is a privilege, but it also carries with it responsibility.
We find a parallel to what goes on out there on the road and what is here in the book of Ephesians. Last time we were together we saw the responsibility that we have as Christians. We understand we are blessed to be one of the called. God has blessed us by calling us into this calling, but that carries with it a responsibility. And part of that responsibility has to do with maintenance. When it comes to our church life, we are responsible to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
As we begin to move into verses 4-6 the Apostle Paul wants to help us maintain that unity. What he does is lay before us some truth about the church.
In other words, Paul knows that being humble, gentle, patient and forbearing is not easy. And so we will likely need some further motivation. So, in order to help us maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, he lays out some doctrine about our unity as a church.
In verses 4-6 Paul shows us 7 ways in which we as Christians are united. And you notice that the first way Paul describes us there in verse 4. He says is that we are one body.
If you are familiar with the NT, you know that Paul will often use this language of the body to talk about God’s people. As a matter of fact, it is the single most frequently used metaphor Paul uses to describe the church. Paul talks about the church in a lot of ways. He calls us a kingdom, a household, a family, and many other things. But his primary way of referring to the church is by means of this concept of a body.
And so you see that this is our motivation to maintain the unity of the Spirit. Why should we maintain our unity? It’s because we are one body.
What about the fragmentation of the churches?
Now, one of the questions we have to ask ourselves is whether or not it is appropriate to talk about ourselves, here in the 21st century, as one body. What I mean is that we need to think about the fragmentation of the church and if it is appropriate to say that we really are one body.
In the first century, you might have had some credence to say that we were one body. It was early in the history of the church and the believers at that time didn’t have the kind of divisions and fractures that exist in the church today. Back then, they were just Christians. They all belonged to the one church.
But here in the 21st century we can look around and see that Christianity has through the ages come to be expressed in a lot of different denominations and local expressions. And many churches today, like Hopewell, are qualified as “independent churches.” In other words, there is no affiliation with another body and each stands as an autonomous body.
Because of all the divisions we can be tempted to say that the Christian church looks anything but one body.
Last week we talked about the Roman Catholic Church and their structural unity. And we said that in recent years people have been drawn to that. They think that there’s one body called the Roman Catholic Church.
Of course, we pointed out the error that underlay that kind of thinking. But we should recognize that they do have a legit claim. Protestantism has suffered a great deal of fragmentation. There’s no doubt that most of you probably drove past quite a few different types of churches to get here.
And so the question does need to be asked, “What do we mean when we say that the church is one body?” Or, can we even say that the church today is one body?
Before we delve into that I would like to say one thing about denominations.
What about denominations?
Now, you all likely know that I am a denominational guy. I belong to the Presbyterian Church in America, which is a fairly conservative Bible believing denomination. I was ordained in the PCA almost 20 years ago and, even though I minister here at Hopewell, I still retain my ministerial credentials in the PCA and participate in its life /ministry of that denomination to some degree.
I would just like to insert here one little item regarding denominational affiliation. I know there are some who are against denominations. Many of my baptist brothers believe by conviction in the autonomy of the local church. There are others who are against denominations because of their skepticism or because they have an anti-institutional spirit about them.
I recognize all that. But I would like to make one quick remark about denominational affiliation and maybe give some credence to it. There are many reasons why people like myself think that being a part of a denomination is legitimate. The primary reason, I think, is the accountability it gives. Churches work together to keep one another accountable. As a result, there is a way to maintain the purity of the church.
I’ve joked with some of you about this before. I’ve said that if you ever find anything heretical in me, you have this blessing of me being part of the PCA. You can notify them and they will take up the case. You don’t even have to do anything. The ministers and elders of the PCA churches in our area will come in and do the investigation for you. If they think there is a problem, they will bring charges against me, if need be, and determine if I should be defrocked or not.
So the denominational affiliation can often provide some accountability and a way to help ensure the purity of the church. That, I think, is the primary function of denominations.
But there is another reason why denominational affiliation can be a good thing. And it has to do with our text right here. A denomination is a way in which we seek to evidence the fact that we are one body. It is a way of showing that we are united.
To be one body is to be interconnected, is it not? The finger is connected to the hand. The hand has union with the arm. The arm is linked to the torso and so on.
There is a sense in which a denomination is trying to express that. They want to say, “We are one with other Christians. We are united as a body of believers. We recognize that we are interconnected and should have some kind of relationship that expresses that attachment.”
I know some of you are Presbyterians and others have some denominational backgrounds. And you might have wondered why that was a thing. Well, this is one reason. In belonging to a national denomination we give some evidence that we have a a bond and union with other Christians. By this association with other churches, what we are attempting to show our tie and make visible the reality that we are one body.
I mention this because I want to qualify what I said last week. If you were here last week, you may remember that I spoke against the RCC and the structural unity last week. I don’t want you to think that structural unity is all bad. I think there is something to it. It does, at least in some way, seek to say that I have an affiliation with the wider church.
Now, having said that, we recognize that there is a real limit to how a denomination can show forth this idea of being “one body.” We still have hundreds and thousands of different denominations. So even if you say, “You know what, Matt is really on to something here with this denomination thing,” we still have the same question before us: With so many different denominations and fractures within Christendom can we really say that we are ‘one body?’
So this is where we can return to our original question: How can we say that the church is one body? Or, can we say that the church is one body?
How can we say that the church is one body?
The answer to this question is yes, even despite our different denominations and local expressions of the church, we can say that God’s people are a united body.
This is where we need to recognize that the oneness of the church is, first and foremost, a spiritual oneness. Structural unity may have its place, but we have to understand that our union is not primarily physical in nature. The church has a union that transcends earthly ties.
This is why I as a Presbyterian can say that I am united with all of you here at Hopewell Church. This is why baptists and Methodists and Pentecostals can all say that, despite their differences, they are all the united people of God. Whatever flavor of Christian you may be, you have union with every other Christian in the world because of the spiritual realities that unite us.
We are united because each of us has been united to Christ. Our oneness comes from and flows out of our union with Christ.
What do I mean by that? Well, you may remember earlier in our study of this epistle we came across the phrase “in Christ.” It was repeated almost ad nauseum in that first chapter. Each and every person who truly believes comes to have a spiritual union with Christ. They are “in Christ” and Christ is “in us.” And because of that union, each of us who has been truly converted and believed has been spiritually united to one another.
The other day Dave Lillo was talking with my father in law. And Dave mentioned that he is in the process of applying to become a citizen of Italy. Apparently, there’s a law that if you have an ancestor who was from Italy, you can become a citizen too. Well, if that goes through, Dave will have dual citizenship. He’s going to be in union with the other citizens of Italy because he has gained this special status with the country.
As Christians, we have a similar sort of union with Christ and each other. Before we became a Christian, we were in Adam. We were sinners because we had a union with our first parents. But God was gracious in that he saved us out of that state and put us in Christ. Now we enjoy life and salvation because we have been united to Christ.
Christ is our new head, and because we have this relationship, no matter what sort of church affiliation we have (and, no matter where in the world we are), we have a vital connection to each other.
So hopefully now you understand what Paul means when he talks about us being a body. Hopefully you understand how this metaphor expresses our unity. We are one body because each of us who believes has a vital, spiritual union with Jesus Christ.
Now that you understand that, we can then speak to our last question. As we’ve thought about this idea of being one body we’ve thought about the purpose of denominations and we’ve consider how (in the midst of all the fragmentation of the church) we can be called one body. But there’s one more thing that we must address. And it is the question of “So what?” or “What now?”
It would be foolish if we did not think about how this idea of being one body should affect us.
How should this doctrine of being one body impact us?
You have to understand that Paul is not just setting forth a doctrine. Yes, it is true, he’s giving us something to believe. We need to believe in our unity and how we have this invisible, supernatural connection. But we also need to think deeply about how this doctrine should impact us.
Remember that this doctrine is supposed to help us “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” The doctrine is supposed to have some sort of visible impact upon the way we live and relate to one another.
So what can we say? How does this doctrine impact us. Well there are a few things we can note.
The first of which is that if you really are going to maintain the unity of the Spirit-- if you really are going to be one body, you need to be in Christ. You cannot promote the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace if you do not first have a personal, spiritual union with Jesus Christ.
As a matter of fact, if you have not come to Christ and been united to him, you are actually working against the unity of the church. It doesn’t matter if you are part of a church (or if you are part of a denomination). You can be a member of a church body, but you might not be a true Christian in heart. And if that’s the case, you cannot do anything to promote the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. It is impossible because you are still in Adam. And as such, you are a sinner who is in rebellion against God.
That’s why we emphasize the need for repentance and faith in Christ. It is not enough to be in church. You need to be in Christ through faith and have your heart transformed by the Spirit. It is only when that happens that you can begin to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
So that’s the first way this passage should impact us. To be one body means we need to be part of that body. And we need to be sure we have turned to Christ and put our faith in him.
But the fact that we are one body also emphasizes the need to do everything in our power to preserve our unity. That God has made us one body reminds us how important those initial qualities are. Remember we talked about humility, gentleness, patience and forbearance. Paul mentions our unity as a body to reinforce how critical it is that we pursue these characteristics.
Let me put it this way. If we are one body, that means we should not be given to self mutilation. You can think of your body. You don’t go cutting yourself or slashing off parts of your body for no reason.
Granted, there are people who are into cutting and doing weird things to themselves. But we understand that there is something wrong with them. They are not caring for themselves properly. Those kinds of people need help. They need to stop.
But that’s exactly what happens when a professing believer gets angry with someone in the church and blows up on them. Then that person gets offended and they respond by avoiding that person and holding a grudge against them.
What just happened there? It was as if you took a knife and put a nice size gash in the skin of your body. There’s been a rift in the body. And if neither of them take steps to rectify the situation--if they do not seek to reconcile their differences the way Scripture teaches, then that is just like leaving an open wound in the body of Christ.
If you are familiar with the book of Galatians you know that Paul uses some rather extreme language in that epistle. He really speaks with some strong words in that book. And rightfully so, because those Galatians needed some severe correcting. But in chapter 5 Paul says this, “But if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.”
You know what he is talking about there, don’t you? He’s talking about how the believers in Galatia were mistreating one another. There were obviously some divisions and some real contention within the Galatian body. And Paul points out that their communication with one another was rather savage. Maybe they were being sarcastic, maybe they were envious and showing some condemning attitudes. But the language Paul uses is language of cannibalism. They were biting and devouring one another.
That’s the kind of thing we are talking about here. That’s a mutilation of the body.
We’ve started this Peacemaker study in our Sunday evening gathering. And we have talked about how different Christians have gone to court against one another. They had ignored the teaching of Paul in 1 Corinthians 6 about how inappropriate it is to go to the civil courts and take their problems to the unbelieving world to have them serve as judges. And one of the things we’ve noted is how going to court makes it all that much more contentious.
When you look at it though, it is nothing more than a mutilation of the body of Christ.
Really, when you think about this body image, it really does bring you back to the idea that we have looked at in the last couple of weeks. It reminds us of how important it is to be humble, gentle, patient, and forbearing. When that’s your attitude, it is impossible to do anything against the body. We won’t be slashing at ourselves. Rather we will be maintaining the unity of the Spirit.
Finally, this idea of the body helps us understand what we need to do if we do get wounded. If we think about the idea of being one spiritual body, it shows us the importance of being in Christ. It reminds us that we should strive not to put a gash in the body by sinful conduct. But it also reminds us of what we should do if we do sin against one another.
We know that, when it comes to our physical bodies, we sometimes get hurt. We scrape our knee or we hit our thumb with a hammer. We all physically get hurt. Now what do we do if that happens? Well, we do what we can to make it right. We give special care to that wound so that it will heal and get better. You make sure the wound is cleaned out. Maybe you put some ointment on it. You get a Band-aid and you get it sealed up so that it can start healing.
You certainly do not ignore the thing and let it bleed out, do you?
That kind of care is what should be indicative of the body of Christ. You know, until Christ comes again, we are going to struggle with sin. And there will be actual hurt in the body of Christ. You will get hurt at some point. And you will hurt others. And what we need to do in those instances is give it the kind of care that the wound needs in order that it might heal.
And so this highlights the need for that kind of humility and gentleness that comes in the form of repentance and forgiveness. That’s the way the Lord brings healing to the rifts that occur among us. That’s how we maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. It is by following Christ’s instructions on what we must do when there is a breach in any of our relationships.
When the body is hurt, we naturally pull that knee or finger close and give it the care it needs. And that is what we must do if we experience any relational pain among us. We must seek to cherish one another and mend our wounds that we may maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. For we are one, spiritual body.
Conclusion:
One of the things that makes Hopewell so great is that I can talk about denominational affiliation and you can look at me and think, "He's weird." It is perfectly fine that we might have some diversity of views on this matter. It is a secondary (if not tertiary) issue. That shows that we are demonstrating forbearance and allowing the principle of our being one body to rule the day.
I love the fact that when our church was founded those families pledged that they would make every effort to work out their problems in a godly fashion. We committed, perhaps unconsciously, to making visible the reality that we are a united people in Christ.
As we grow and go forward as a church, may we be all that much more motivated to do so. May knowing the spiritual reality of our being one body only enhance our unity as a church and make us all that much more able to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
A recent study conducted by Jiffy Lube found that 1 in seven cars out on the road has a potentially serious problem. The study also found that that 15% of Americans who are out on the road today will have that check engile light flick on. But out of that 15%, 30% of them will admit to have been ignoring it for over a month? (and that is only those who will admit it).
Here are two of what I believe to be the best statistics that came out of this study: Of the 2,000 people who were surveyed 39% of them feel relief when they reach their destination without their car breaking down. And 32% actually thank their car for not breaking down when they get there.
It’s studies like these that make you kind of wonder what is going on out there. But we might say that Jiffy Lube has simply told us something we already know, but might not want to admit, our vehicles are just machines. And when it comes to these vehicles, we understand that they need regular maintenance. Driving is a privilege, but it also carries with it responsibility.
We find a parallel to what goes on out there on the road and what is here in the book of Ephesians. Last time we were together we saw the responsibility that we have as Christians. We understand we are blessed to be one of the called. God has blessed us by calling us into this calling, but that carries with it a responsibility. And part of that responsibility has to do with maintenance. When it comes to our church life, we are responsible to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
As we begin to move into verses 4-6 the Apostle Paul wants to help us maintain that unity. What he does is lay before us some truth about the church.
In other words, Paul knows that being humble, gentle, patient and forbearing is not easy. And so we will likely need some further motivation. So, in order to help us maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, he lays out some doctrine about our unity as a church.
In verses 4-6 Paul shows us 7 ways in which we as Christians are united. And you notice that the first way Paul describes us there in verse 4. He says is that we are one body.
If you are familiar with the NT, you know that Paul will often use this language of the body to talk about God’s people. As a matter of fact, it is the single most frequently used metaphor Paul uses to describe the church. Paul talks about the church in a lot of ways. He calls us a kingdom, a household, a family, and many other things. But his primary way of referring to the church is by means of this concept of a body.
And so you see that this is our motivation to maintain the unity of the Spirit. Why should we maintain our unity? It’s because we are one body.
What about the fragmentation of the churches?
Now, one of the questions we have to ask ourselves is whether or not it is appropriate to talk about ourselves, here in the 21st century, as one body. What I mean is that we need to think about the fragmentation of the church and if it is appropriate to say that we really are one body.
In the first century, you might have had some credence to say that we were one body. It was early in the history of the church and the believers at that time didn’t have the kind of divisions and fractures that exist in the church today. Back then, they were just Christians. They all belonged to the one church.
But here in the 21st century we can look around and see that Christianity has through the ages come to be expressed in a lot of different denominations and local expressions. And many churches today, like Hopewell, are qualified as “independent churches.” In other words, there is no affiliation with another body and each stands as an autonomous body.
Because of all the divisions we can be tempted to say that the Christian church looks anything but one body.
Last week we talked about the Roman Catholic Church and their structural unity. And we said that in recent years people have been drawn to that. They think that there’s one body called the Roman Catholic Church.
Of course, we pointed out the error that underlay that kind of thinking. But we should recognize that they do have a legit claim. Protestantism has suffered a great deal of fragmentation. There’s no doubt that most of you probably drove past quite a few different types of churches to get here.
And so the question does need to be asked, “What do we mean when we say that the church is one body?” Or, can we even say that the church today is one body?
Before we delve into that I would like to say one thing about denominations.
What about denominations?
Now, you all likely know that I am a denominational guy. I belong to the Presbyterian Church in America, which is a fairly conservative Bible believing denomination. I was ordained in the PCA almost 20 years ago and, even though I minister here at Hopewell, I still retain my ministerial credentials in the PCA and participate in its life /ministry of that denomination to some degree.
I would just like to insert here one little item regarding denominational affiliation. I know there are some who are against denominations. Many of my baptist brothers believe by conviction in the autonomy of the local church. There are others who are against denominations because of their skepticism or because they have an anti-institutional spirit about them.
I recognize all that. But I would like to make one quick remark about denominational affiliation and maybe give some credence to it. There are many reasons why people like myself think that being a part of a denomination is legitimate. The primary reason, I think, is the accountability it gives. Churches work together to keep one another accountable. As a result, there is a way to maintain the purity of the church.
I’ve joked with some of you about this before. I’ve said that if you ever find anything heretical in me, you have this blessing of me being part of the PCA. You can notify them and they will take up the case. You don’t even have to do anything. The ministers and elders of the PCA churches in our area will come in and do the investigation for you. If they think there is a problem, they will bring charges against me, if need be, and determine if I should be defrocked or not.
So the denominational affiliation can often provide some accountability and a way to help ensure the purity of the church. That, I think, is the primary function of denominations.
But there is another reason why denominational affiliation can be a good thing. And it has to do with our text right here. A denomination is a way in which we seek to evidence the fact that we are one body. It is a way of showing that we are united.
To be one body is to be interconnected, is it not? The finger is connected to the hand. The hand has union with the arm. The arm is linked to the torso and so on.
There is a sense in which a denomination is trying to express that. They want to say, “We are one with other Christians. We are united as a body of believers. We recognize that we are interconnected and should have some kind of relationship that expresses that attachment.”
I know some of you are Presbyterians and others have some denominational backgrounds. And you might have wondered why that was a thing. Well, this is one reason. In belonging to a national denomination we give some evidence that we have a a bond and union with other Christians. By this association with other churches, what we are attempting to show our tie and make visible the reality that we are one body.
I mention this because I want to qualify what I said last week. If you were here last week, you may remember that I spoke against the RCC and the structural unity last week. I don’t want you to think that structural unity is all bad. I think there is something to it. It does, at least in some way, seek to say that I have an affiliation with the wider church.
Now, having said that, we recognize that there is a real limit to how a denomination can show forth this idea of being “one body.” We still have hundreds and thousands of different denominations. So even if you say, “You know what, Matt is really on to something here with this denomination thing,” we still have the same question before us: With so many different denominations and fractures within Christendom can we really say that we are ‘one body?’
So this is where we can return to our original question: How can we say that the church is one body? Or, can we say that the church is one body?
How can we say that the church is one body?
The answer to this question is yes, even despite our different denominations and local expressions of the church, we can say that God’s people are a united body.
This is where we need to recognize that the oneness of the church is, first and foremost, a spiritual oneness. Structural unity may have its place, but we have to understand that our union is not primarily physical in nature. The church has a union that transcends earthly ties.
This is why I as a Presbyterian can say that I am united with all of you here at Hopewell Church. This is why baptists and Methodists and Pentecostals can all say that, despite their differences, they are all the united people of God. Whatever flavor of Christian you may be, you have union with every other Christian in the world because of the spiritual realities that unite us.
We are united because each of us has been united to Christ. Our oneness comes from and flows out of our union with Christ.
What do I mean by that? Well, you may remember earlier in our study of this epistle we came across the phrase “in Christ.” It was repeated almost ad nauseum in that first chapter. Each and every person who truly believes comes to have a spiritual union with Christ. They are “in Christ” and Christ is “in us.” And because of that union, each of us who has been truly converted and believed has been spiritually united to one another.
The other day Dave Lillo was talking with my father in law. And Dave mentioned that he is in the process of applying to become a citizen of Italy. Apparently, there’s a law that if you have an ancestor who was from Italy, you can become a citizen too. Well, if that goes through, Dave will have dual citizenship. He’s going to be in union with the other citizens of Italy because he has gained this special status with the country.
As Christians, we have a similar sort of union with Christ and each other. Before we became a Christian, we were in Adam. We were sinners because we had a union with our first parents. But God was gracious in that he saved us out of that state and put us in Christ. Now we enjoy life and salvation because we have been united to Christ.
Christ is our new head, and because we have this relationship, no matter what sort of church affiliation we have (and, no matter where in the world we are), we have a vital connection to each other.
So hopefully now you understand what Paul means when he talks about us being a body. Hopefully you understand how this metaphor expresses our unity. We are one body because each of us who believes has a vital, spiritual union with Jesus Christ.
Now that you understand that, we can then speak to our last question. As we’ve thought about this idea of being one body we’ve thought about the purpose of denominations and we’ve consider how (in the midst of all the fragmentation of the church) we can be called one body. But there’s one more thing that we must address. And it is the question of “So what?” or “What now?”
It would be foolish if we did not think about how this idea of being one body should affect us.
How should this doctrine of being one body impact us?
You have to understand that Paul is not just setting forth a doctrine. Yes, it is true, he’s giving us something to believe. We need to believe in our unity and how we have this invisible, supernatural connection. But we also need to think deeply about how this doctrine should impact us.
Remember that this doctrine is supposed to help us “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” The doctrine is supposed to have some sort of visible impact upon the way we live and relate to one another.
So what can we say? How does this doctrine impact us. Well there are a few things we can note.
The first of which is that if you really are going to maintain the unity of the Spirit-- if you really are going to be one body, you need to be in Christ. You cannot promote the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace if you do not first have a personal, spiritual union with Jesus Christ.
As a matter of fact, if you have not come to Christ and been united to him, you are actually working against the unity of the church. It doesn’t matter if you are part of a church (or if you are part of a denomination). You can be a member of a church body, but you might not be a true Christian in heart. And if that’s the case, you cannot do anything to promote the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. It is impossible because you are still in Adam. And as such, you are a sinner who is in rebellion against God.
That’s why we emphasize the need for repentance and faith in Christ. It is not enough to be in church. You need to be in Christ through faith and have your heart transformed by the Spirit. It is only when that happens that you can begin to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
So that’s the first way this passage should impact us. To be one body means we need to be part of that body. And we need to be sure we have turned to Christ and put our faith in him.
But the fact that we are one body also emphasizes the need to do everything in our power to preserve our unity. That God has made us one body reminds us how important those initial qualities are. Remember we talked about humility, gentleness, patience and forbearance. Paul mentions our unity as a body to reinforce how critical it is that we pursue these characteristics.
Let me put it this way. If we are one body, that means we should not be given to self mutilation. You can think of your body. You don’t go cutting yourself or slashing off parts of your body for no reason.
Granted, there are people who are into cutting and doing weird things to themselves. But we understand that there is something wrong with them. They are not caring for themselves properly. Those kinds of people need help. They need to stop.
But that’s exactly what happens when a professing believer gets angry with someone in the church and blows up on them. Then that person gets offended and they respond by avoiding that person and holding a grudge against them.
What just happened there? It was as if you took a knife and put a nice size gash in the skin of your body. There’s been a rift in the body. And if neither of them take steps to rectify the situation--if they do not seek to reconcile their differences the way Scripture teaches, then that is just like leaving an open wound in the body of Christ.
If you are familiar with the book of Galatians you know that Paul uses some rather extreme language in that epistle. He really speaks with some strong words in that book. And rightfully so, because those Galatians needed some severe correcting. But in chapter 5 Paul says this, “But if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.”
You know what he is talking about there, don’t you? He’s talking about how the believers in Galatia were mistreating one another. There were obviously some divisions and some real contention within the Galatian body. And Paul points out that their communication with one another was rather savage. Maybe they were being sarcastic, maybe they were envious and showing some condemning attitudes. But the language Paul uses is language of cannibalism. They were biting and devouring one another.
That’s the kind of thing we are talking about here. That’s a mutilation of the body.
We’ve started this Peacemaker study in our Sunday evening gathering. And we have talked about how different Christians have gone to court against one another. They had ignored the teaching of Paul in 1 Corinthians 6 about how inappropriate it is to go to the civil courts and take their problems to the unbelieving world to have them serve as judges. And one of the things we’ve noted is how going to court makes it all that much more contentious.
When you look at it though, it is nothing more than a mutilation of the body of Christ.
Really, when you think about this body image, it really does bring you back to the idea that we have looked at in the last couple of weeks. It reminds us of how important it is to be humble, gentle, patient, and forbearing. When that’s your attitude, it is impossible to do anything against the body. We won’t be slashing at ourselves. Rather we will be maintaining the unity of the Spirit.
Finally, this idea of the body helps us understand what we need to do if we do get wounded. If we think about the idea of being one spiritual body, it shows us the importance of being in Christ. It reminds us that we should strive not to put a gash in the body by sinful conduct. But it also reminds us of what we should do if we do sin against one another.
We know that, when it comes to our physical bodies, we sometimes get hurt. We scrape our knee or we hit our thumb with a hammer. We all physically get hurt. Now what do we do if that happens? Well, we do what we can to make it right. We give special care to that wound so that it will heal and get better. You make sure the wound is cleaned out. Maybe you put some ointment on it. You get a Band-aid and you get it sealed up so that it can start healing.
You certainly do not ignore the thing and let it bleed out, do you?
That kind of care is what should be indicative of the body of Christ. You know, until Christ comes again, we are going to struggle with sin. And there will be actual hurt in the body of Christ. You will get hurt at some point. And you will hurt others. And what we need to do in those instances is give it the kind of care that the wound needs in order that it might heal.
And so this highlights the need for that kind of humility and gentleness that comes in the form of repentance and forgiveness. That’s the way the Lord brings healing to the rifts that occur among us. That’s how we maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. It is by following Christ’s instructions on what we must do when there is a breach in any of our relationships.
When the body is hurt, we naturally pull that knee or finger close and give it the care it needs. And that is what we must do if we experience any relational pain among us. We must seek to cherish one another and mend our wounds that we may maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. For we are one, spiritual body.
Conclusion:
One of the things that makes Hopewell so great is that I can talk about denominational affiliation and you can look at me and think, "He's weird." It is perfectly fine that we might have some diversity of views on this matter. It is a secondary (if not tertiary) issue. That shows that we are demonstrating forbearance and allowing the principle of our being one body to rule the day.
I love the fact that when our church was founded those families pledged that they would make every effort to work out their problems in a godly fashion. We committed, perhaps unconsciously, to making visible the reality that we are a united people in Christ.
As we grow and go forward as a church, may we be all that much more motivated to do so. May knowing the spiritual reality of our being one body only enhance our unity as a church and make us all that much more able to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.