The Body

Acceptance

Service at Randmeth Sunday 16 July 7pm

Different generations of people tend to like different kinds of music.

It would also be true to say that different cultures or races or nationalities like different types of music and that is not the only thing that is different about them. Let’s face it, we are all different. I am a different generation to my daughter. I think blouses and tops should be tucked into skirts and pants, she thinks they should hang out. The church is made up of different kinds of people.

Paul likens the Church to the Body of Christ. He says,

Now anybody who has ever done any Biology will know that our body is made up of cells. Perhaps you’ve had to learn to draw a diagram of a typical animal cell and it looks like this… …

Every cell in your body has the same DNA, bundled into 23 pairs of Chromosomes.

That is what makes you, you and me, me.

Now every part of Christ’s body has His Holy Spirit. If we have asked Jesus to come into our lives and take over ownership, we have the Holy Spirit living in us. That is our spiritual DNA.

But guess what? If we look carefully at the cells of our body, we don’t even see one that resembles the typical animal cell we just talked about.

Let’s look at muscle cells.

Kind of long and skinny, aren’t they. These cells are very active and use a lot of energy. They get things done. There are people in the church like this and let’s face it, the church would not function without them. They are always busy – feeding the hungry, raising money for the poor, educating the illiterate. If Martha was a body cell, she would probably have been a muscle cell. Other cells might say they are not spiritual enough. But even muscle cells need to be fed. They need a time to rest as well as a time to work. Otherwise the body would not function properly.

Then we have bone.

Bone gives structure and order to the body. Christians who have studied the bible extensively and have done a lot of reading are a bit like bone cells. They usually have an accumulated life experience as well and have walked with the Lord a long time. They are wise. They know the rules and stick by the rule book.

Other cells might say they are too rigid and set in their ways. The biggest danger to bone cells is if they lose their connection to the Lord. If routine and discipline and order strangle out the voice of the Spirit and they just keep going in the same path without the life of Christ, the bones might get brittle and break too easily.

Still with bone, we have bone marrow. This is where new blood cells are made.

These people are the evangelists. They are so excited when people come to the Lord.

They are essential for the life and the ongoing existence of the body. Billy Graham might be an example of a bone marrow Christian. It is the job of all cells to reproduce- to make new cells to replace old ones but bone marrow does it as its primary function. Other cells might say they are not practical. They are so busy thinking about people’s souls, they forget their bodies, their need for support and sometimes the new converts are left to flounder on their own. The danger for bone marrow Christians is when they start judging success by the world’s standards. How many people came to the rail or signed commitment forms. They forget whose work it is. Only God can make a person a Christian.

Then we have the pray-ers, the red blood cells,

supplying oxygen and life for every cell in the body,

the nerve cells,

the communication network ,

macrophages,

who guard the body from infection and distortion,

and my favourite picture, the cells in the eye.

These are rods and cones, the cells that make up the retina of the eye. They have different functions. The rods see light and dark, the cones see more detail. These are the people who see the vision. But unless they communicate with the nervous system, the vision is lost. Some cells might say they don’t do anything so they are useless.

There are many more. I could spend 100 pages showing you pictures of body cells but this is a sermon, not Biology class.

The point is, just as there is no typical animal cell, there is no typical Christian. We are all different and that is not a mistake, God did it on purpose. We are all unique and God made us with a purpose, with a plan in mind.

Of course we think that all Christians should be exactly like us, should think like us, should worship like us.

Because we are all different, God deals with us differently. Nobody can say to another Christian, because your experience is not my experience, you are not a Christian.

Paul says, “For we are all baptised by one Spirit into one body- whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free- and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” We can make this more relevant to our situation by saying “We are all baptised by one Spirit into one Body, whether Youth or Old Fogy, Black or White, Educated or Uneducated- and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”

He goes on to say, imagine of one part of the body felt inferior to the rest of the body.

Imagine if a bone cell were to say, because I am not a muscle cell, I am useless, or if a nerve cell were to say, because I am not a rod or a cone, I am not part of the body. We can all see that that is ridiculous. We would hate any such thing going on in our body.

And Christ hates such things going on in His body.

Jesus prays for His disciples in John 17:20-21. “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

In 2000 years, Jesus’ prayer has not been answered. His disciples are not one. Being one, does not mean being the same. God made us individual and unique, he does not want “typical Christian clones.” But what he does want, is unity. He does not want Christians refusing to accept each other, criticising each other because of their God made differences.

Paul says in verse 18, “God has arranged the parts of the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be.”

God has put us where we are. He has put us with the people He has ordained. It is not for a toe cell to decide – I don’t want to be part of the foot – I am surrounded by calloused cells. I want to be part of the hand. That is where the action is. I’ll just move.

One part of the body, can’t say to another, “I don’t need you.” When that happens in our body and one part starts attacking another, it is an autoimmune disease and we die from it.

Vs 24 “ But God has combined the members of the body and given greater honour to those that lacked it, so there should be no division in the body, but that 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.”

When we first look at a body what hits us is skin. The skin is the largest organ of the body and statisticians would probably find out that there are more skin cells in the body than any other kind. So it would be easy for, say the adrenal gland to think I am not a skin cell, therefore I don’t fit in. Those who think they don’t fit in are all the more important because they have their uniqueness to offer. “God has given greater honour to those who lacked it”

What can we do practically, to accept other people, particularly those in Christ’s body?

First of all, Jesus accepted everyone. Here he was, the sinless son of God, and they brought Him a woman caught in adultery. As a good Jewish boy he knew very well that adultery was a sin forbidden in the law of Moses. Notice he did not condone her sin. He said, I do not condemn you, go and sin no more. He accepted her. He treated her with respect.

The Samaritan woman, a hated foreigner, he treated as a person of worth. South Africa’s equivalent today would probably be a Nigerian – after all many people think they are all criminals. We make jokes about them. But Jesus never treated anyone other than with respect and acceptance.

Paul says in Phil 2:5 “let this attitude be in you that was also in Christ Jesus.”

Let us treat others with the attitude of Jesus.

That includes the teacher at school who has it in for you, it includes the inefficient black woman at work who has been promoted over you because of affirmative action, It includes the loud, noisy neighbours who’s teenage son has just bought an ear splitting new car sound system.

As our section of the body, the Randmeth Church, I would suggest the following four steps.

1. Find out what your gift is, your purpose and use it to God’s glory and the building up of our church. Everybody has something to offer. But remember – Christ is the head. It is His Body and He is in control.

1. Don’t be oversensitive. I’m sorry to be the one who has to break it to you, but the world does not revolve around you. People are probably not talking about you when you come to a little group in discussion, they have much more important things to talk about, themselves for instance. If your name does not appear in the church notices, it is not because the office staff are out to get you.

If you are not invited to present your team’s report at some boring meeting, it is not because your team is unimportant.

Oversensitivity is a subtle form of selfishness. It is relating everything in the world to you and how it affects you. It is just as much a sin as the more overt form of selfishness.

Because sin has tarnished the image of God in all of us, you will sometimes get negative comments. Other people aren’t perfect either you know but just because one person in the church says you can’t buy two cakes at the cake sale does not mean that the whole church rejects you and you should now find another church. Just because one person criticises the work you have done for the Lord, does not mean that nobody values your work and you will never do anything for the Lord again. In fact it would be much safer if you just did everything for the Lord and not for people anyway. Christ is the head of the Church. He is the one in control. We should never confuse God’s work with our work. We are working for Christ according to His instructions, not what seems good to us.

1. Put on rose coloured spectacles. I have said we are all imperfect and a mixture of good and not so good. It is easy to see the not so good. Let us make an effort to see the good in people, in their work and filter out the not so good.

Can we see God’s image in other people? It is there, you know. One of the Holiday club leaders told us last week that although they had gone to teach children, in some cases they had learned from Children. That is seeing God’s image in other people.

Don’t look at the differences that irritate you. Look at the things we have in common. We are all working for the good of one body.

1. Let your words build up, not break down. Tomorrow, somebody will probably phone the church office to complain about tonight’s service. Perhaps they didn’t come for a Biology lesson, but an uplifting sermon. Perhaps they didn’t like the music. Let’s put on our rose coloured spectacles and filter out what we didn’t like and look for perhaps just one thing that we did like.

Compliment rather than criticising and complaining. When you feel a negative comment coming, zip your lip. Think hard to find a positive comment and then hand it to someone as a gift from God.

You know yourself how a simple thank you or a well done grows your spirit.

Shall we withhold life and growth to our fellow body cells?

And when you are given a compliment, sniff at it and then give it to the Lord. Any beauty you have is from Him. Any talent you have is from Him. Anything you have achieved is only because He has enabled you. Give Him the glory.

“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”