Sermon: "Body Image"

2nd in the "What is Real Spirituality?" series.
Delivered May 20, 2007 by Rev. George Antonakos.
Other sermons in this series - 1 / 2 / 3

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(Opening Video Played)

I do imagine this church as being that way, but I wonder if any of you can relate to some of the words that were right up there on the beginning of the video; stress, fatigued, burnt out, overburdened? I wonder if you have felt like that? I wanted to bring along another visual aid and I did today. Last week it was traffic cones. Today it is something much smaller. I am not a green thumb by any means. I am not a brown thumb, but I am not a green thumb and it hasn't taken me too many years, but I finally learned that these impatients need to be planted in a certain place. If they are planted in too much direct sunlight, what happens? They die. They wither, right? They need mostly shade, but a little sun and if they get the right environment then they thrive. When they were planted in sun, does that make them a bad plant if they die? No. They are a good plant; they are just in the wrong place. And so, what we are talking about today is being in the right place. How does a planter or a gardener know what the right place is? They have to know the needs of the plant and they have to place it in the right environment. Correct?

That's what the text today is talking about, but before we get there I want to remind you of a powerful story from the life of King David. The season in his life was not a season of thriving at all in some ways. He was very tired himself. He was still being pursued by King Saul and it was in the twilight of Saul's career as king. He had just been kicked out of an alliance with Philistia and King David and all his men and he returns to his headquarters city called Ziklag and as he returns weary and exhausted with all his men, all his warriors and he discovers that the Amalakites have come and raided the city and taken off captive every women and every child in the place. The Bible says that they wept so much that they couldn't weep any more. And David was in a very difficult position. He was feeling their breaths on the back of his neck; threats of mutiny. They were going to stone him to death and it says in the text that he was greatly distressed. But then it says that he strengthened himself in God and he said to God, "Should we pursue and overtake?" And the Lord said, "Yes."

And so he gathered 600 of his warriors and he says, "We're going." And they come to a ravine and at this ravine 1/3 of them, 200 are so exhausted that they can't continue. And so he says, "That's okay. You guys stay here with these supplies. We will come back to you after the mission". He goes on with the 400. He finds the raiding party. He takes them all out. He wins back all of the women and children and everything of worth. When they get back to the 200, they all love on each other, at least most of them and then there is a verse in 1st Samuel; 30 in Verse 22, that reads this way. It says, "But all the evil men and troublemakers among David's followers said because they did not go out with us we will not share with them the plunder we recovered. However, each man may take his wife and children and go." Well to that, King David, the leader said, "No way. No way." And he goes on to say in Verse 24; "The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of those who went down to battle. All will share alike." And the Bible goes on to say that this became a statute for generations to come. It became an ordinance for all of the people of God.

Now, I wonder if in this declaration of the way things ought to be in the family of God, if this inspired the Apostle Paul to deal with the problem that he had to deal with among his comrades in Corinth? I wonder if he might have recalled this story as he spoke of the worth of each individual in the body of Christ, as they carried out the call and mission of God in the church? Because, in a similar way there were some scoundrels, if you want to call them that, in the church who were devaluing the contributions of others, putting them in a different position, as though they were not all equal before Jesus Christ. And so, Paul corrected this unspiritual attitude and he tried to teach them what life should look like as God's people. It's why we began this three-week series on spiritual gifts in 1st Corinthians 13, because love is paramount. Love never treats someone else in the body of Christ as second class. So there are three truths that I want to bring to you. Hopefully you got one of these little yellow sheets; the little note guide. It may be helpful to you if you want to take some notes. But I want to read the text at this point. 1st Corinthians 12: 1-13 and then skip over to 25-27 and I want you to listen to this text and understand what Paul is trying to say to each of us today as well. So let's pray and read the text.

Lord, we thank you for guiding us, for blessing us, for leading us to this point. There may be some here Lord who feel like those 200 of David's men, exhausted, not planted in the right place, not thriving and we all want to thrive and be fulfilled in the way that you designed. So as we read this Lord, we pray that your Holy Spirit would teach us so that it would not only instruct the mind, but it would nurture the heart and we ask it in Christ's name. Amen.

1st Corinthians 12:

"Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free-and we were all given the one Spirit to drink."

And then he speaks of the many parts of the body, and comes over to Verse 25: He says,

"So that 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 honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."

Now Paul starts out this text and he says, first thing right out of the shoot, I want you brethren and sisters to understand something. I do not want you to be ignorant about things spiritual. Now in the grammar it says, I don't you to be ignorant; it could read not only about spiritual gifts, I don't want you to be ignorant about spiritual people, because you can't tell if the noun is masculine or neuter. So that aside, the thing that he is trying to get across and that's kind of a subtitle, the overall title of the series, what is really spiritual? He says, I don't want you to be ignorant about things that are really spiritual, that what God produces that you could call spiritual and he begins by saying, it begins with a confession. And that confession is that when it comes to autonomy and running my life, I am not to be in control if I really want to be spiritual. He says, Jesus is Lord. That is where spirituality begins.

When somebody commits themselves to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, that is the beginning point of true spirituality. When one yields their life to the Lord Jesus Christ who has come to die on the cross for us, would be raised the third day and bring us back to God for eternity. When we give allegiance to him, that's what it means. Jesus is Lord. I swear allegiance to him as the ruler of the universe. People would say Caesar is Lord. And if they said Jesus was Lord and didn't say Caesar is Lord they would get killed.

So, the first step in spirituality is confessing that we need God through Jesus Christ. He was basically saying that when you were Pagans you were fascinated just by the spiritual experience, the ecstatic experiences that you had. You didn't even know who you were worshipping or what you were saying. So that brings up a principle that even today in a church if we are exercising spiritual gifts, but we are not exercising them in a way that points to Jesus Christ as Lord, if we become self oriented in them, then we are not spiritual either. We are semi-spiritual. We are pseudo-spiritual. That's where he says spirituality begins with Jesus Christ as Lord.

So all of the truths that are on this little piece of paper apply to Christians, people who have personally committed themselves to Christ, and if you haven't done that yet, then don't stop listening because many of these things are still true and could apply in different ways, but the benefit of this teaching is not going to be for any other person than that person who is open and honest before God about who God has made them to be and about seeking to follow Christ and has their heart open to each other. See spiritual gifts will get quenched really quickly if love and openness and honesty before God is not taking the lead. If there is anger or bitterness in our hearts or we are unreconciled with people, all the spiritual gifts in the world don't make a hill of beans. But with those who are seeking God and seeking to follow Christ this stuff really makes a difference in terms of developing our spirituality. So here we go. Three truths that help us develop an understanding of spirituality and the church in general.

Number one; spiritual gifts are God given. You can see that in the first six verses, especially those that I highlighted on the sheet. I would like you to circle a few things. Circle the word different. You can see how it says different kinds of gifts, different kinds of service, different kinds of working. And then, circle the end of those sentences. Same spirit, same Lord, same God. Nice Trinitarian focus; that this Trinitarian God has given different kinds of gifts. They are from God. He has given them just as he pleases; just as he desires. When it says different kinds of working, it simply means that if you have the gift of teaching then one way of working it out may be to teach in a seminary. Another way may be to teach a first-grade Sunday School class. It is the same gift, but it may be a different working. So here is the definition of spiritual gifts; one that comes right out of the network. In fact, that opening video was part of the network curriculum. But this is the definition that is given here. Spiritual gifts are divine abilities, not necessarily natural talents, but divine abilities given by the Holy Spirit to every believer for the upbuilding of the body of Christ. If God gives you a gift, how do you say thank you? You say thank you by using it to benefit other people.

In 1st Timothy, Chapter 4 in Verse 14 Paul writes to Timothy and he says, "Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you." Do not neglect your gift. Would Paul have instructed Timothy in this way if neglect were not a possibility? Obviously not, but unfortunately neglect of gifts happens all the time, because we are either ignorant like Paul said I don't want you to be; that's not a slam, that's just saying we just don't know what our gifts are, which is why we challenge people to get in the gift discovery class so you can get as much information as you can to discern how God has uniquely made you or thru, neglect or disobedience or indifference. I know when the whole topic of spiritual gifts comes up many who have been in the church a long time feel like I have been there and done that. I have heard it all.

But that's not the right attitude. The right attitude is God you may be gifting me in a different way at this season in my life for a different purpose than even before. Nobody knows for sure how many… I mean when it says that somebody has the gift of healing that doesn't mean you can go clear out a hospital ward. It just means that God somehow has given to a person, but the Spirit is always in charge that's sensitivity to bring connections. So God's spirit is the one in charge. He might gift us and then here is the other question. Is it anything to say that he might gift us for a certain season in a certain way based on a certain context? It doesn't mean he takes away that gift, but it may be more prominent at a certain time in our life. He goes on to say that if we are ignorant and we don't understand the gift as a God given thing and we don't use the gift that God has given us; he uses a human body metaphor and he says, "You are going to be like a muscle in the leg that doesn't work."

A couple of years ago I was coming down wintry steps holding our little Yorkie in hand in slippers and it was a very stupid thing to do and my feet went out from under me and I slammed my bottom to a teeth-rattling jar. I saved my dogs life; that was the one good thing that came out of it and I ruptured my lower disc, my last disc, L5-S1, I ruptured it and although I didn't notice it immediately over days the part of the disc that got out started to hit the nerve and that's the sciatic nerve that runs all the way down to your toes and when then happened, it took its full affect, here's how I was walking. I could hardly move. It was amazing how my whole body was affected. If a person has been given a gift by God and they don't use it, its almost like the body's got to do this. It's not that we don't mind in some ways dragging along, but that is not the way that God designed it. We want every part of the body to function in the best way possible. And so, when the whole body has to do this when somebody is not using their gift it leads to fatigue for the entire body and it can lead to stress and burn out. So listen to 1st Peter 4:10. All of the apostles say the same thing. He says, "As each one has received a spiritual gift" notice again this is another part of the scriptures, "each one should use whatever gift they receive to serve others as good stewards faithfully administrating as good stewards of God's grace in various forms."

Have you ever been in a play? If you have been a play then you know that the director assigns parts and God is the director and he's assigned each one of us a part to play. I don't know if you have ever been a play where somebody doesn't like their part and wants another persons part, but that's not good or if you have been a play where somebody who is acting in the part really isn't; that's not their gift, that's not pretty either, okay? So God has given to each person a part and when we play our part to the best of our ability everyone is better for it. I mean if that foot wants to do what the hand's part is, you know when we introduce each other, and the foot wants to go, "Oh nice to meet you. I am really glad to." That's not pretty either, okay? Everybody needs to play the part that is a God given part.

Number two; spiritual gifts demonstrate the diversity of the body of Christ. I mean think again of the Trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The very character of God is diverse in that sense and so it would make sense that the things that the Holy Spirit gives would create, would have a diverse affect, that we would be different from each other. Many times when this text is preached it focuses on unity and rightly so, but especially in Verse 14 of Chapter 12 he says, "the body is not made up of one part, but of many." So Paul is really hitting here not so much we are all one body, but we are one body with many parts. And so he is really trying to help us understand the diversity that is supposed to exist, what the difference is and the way God has made us. Every part is necessary and valued in its diversity. But many times we get bugged and irritated by somebody else's difference. I mean have you ever been in a meeting where somebody is in the meeting and they want to know whose going to do what, by when, okay? And then there is another person sitting in the meeting who's caring about the weakest member of the body, the neediest person. And then there is another person sitting in the group and they just are kind of bored and sitting there twiddling their thumbs and they say, "Would somebody just tell me what to do." What you have in that scenario is somebody with a gift of administration, somebody with the gift of mercy and somebody with the gift of helps, all trying to come at the same thing in a diverse way. When we understand that, when we understand that God has made us diverse and different, we will have a richer understanding of who we are together and we will be more open in working together with love and receptivity because of the diversity, not in spite of it.

Some Christians say things like, "I don't get involved because I am just different from everybody around here. I am not like everybody else. I am different" and to them I want to say, "Yeah, and your point. That's right you are different. God made you that way. God made you diverse so that we would all be benefiting from it." See together you are the body of Christ. That is what it says. You are the body of Christ. Not you individually. You all collectively are the body of Christ. Individual isn't to function as an individual. Together we are the body. I mean seriously, can an individual do anything to affect the aftermath of Katrina? What can one person, even if Jesus is living in them, what can one person do? Can the whole body of Christ do something? Absolutely. I mean there is still much to be done, but its amazing waves and waves and waves of people. One can't do it all, but all can do it.

I see this coming through in the way speak about going on a mission trip. Some people say, "What am I going to offer to this team. I don't like to fly. I don't like to go places." And then they come back from the mission trip and they say, "You wouldn't believe what we did. We saw God work where we went." All of sudden it's no longer I can't do this; it's we, God did this. You see Jesus said, "Where two or more are gathered in his name there I am in the midst" You see two is more like a body than one and he says, three that is more like a body than two. He says, "But where two or three are gathered there I am." Jesus loves being in the midst to express himself true or diversity. You may not know your gift. You may not like your role. You may think that your value to this body is by the amount that you give, but that doesn't matter. It's wrong. Your value to this body is that Jesus has put you in it. You are a part of it. And you are expected to function as a part of it and not to ignore it and not to make excuses about well I am just different, so I get a pass. And he goes on to say, "Listen if the whole body were just one part that would be really weird." I mean can you imagine; I mean the church is weird enough as it is, okay? We are peculiar people the Bible says, but if we were all just one huge eyeball that would be really really weird. And so Paul is trying to make the point, we are many parts and it takes all of them to make it happen for God.

Okay, number three; spiritual gifts are for the common good of the body of Christ. It says it right there in 12:7. It can't be any plainer. Each one is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good so that there should be no division in the body; that its parts should have equal concern for each other. See the gifts that God gives us are for others, not for ourselves. See the main problem in Corinth was not that some had an elitist view of their gifts compared to the gifts of others. The main problem in Corinth is that they did not care for each other in the way that God was calling them to care for each other. In fact, they would come together at the table and the rich and poor would be separate and the rich would have their dinner over here and kind of kick the poor to the curb and Paul said that it just should not be this way friends. God did not design it this way. And he went on in this context and he said, "Look, Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, you can have the hugest polarity you can think of and God has broken all that down and put us in to one body for the common good of every other person in that body.

Now let me say this, if you show a lack of concern; if I showed a lack of concern for my back when I ruptured my disc, what would have happened to the rest of my body if I didn't take care of it? I mean, who knows if I would be standing if I didn't take care of it. The whole body would suffer if you don't take care of the weaker part. Now, instead of unpacking this any further, I want to get really practical so today I am asking two of our deacons; we are asking two of our deacons Mark Gratzer and Denise Simms if they will join me up here for a little Q & A as a way of suggesting some very real ways to serve the common good, to get in the game through the ministry of the deacons. And so I want to thank them for coming up and asked, "What would you like to communicate about who the deacons are and what the deacons do?"

Denise: Okay. Thank you George. The first we would like you to know is that there are 15 of us and we serve under the authority of the session and Pastor Laura Crihfield is our advisory member. The deacons exist to meet the needs of the friendless, the sick, and generally those who are in crisis and need our support. So that's why we are here.

George: Well could you give me some real examples of what the deacons do?

Mark: Sure, I will just give you some typical examples and some traditional ones. Some of you may know these or may not. We provide transportation. Sometimes people are without cars or without the ability to drive or maybe just homebound and need to get to the doctor, so we will take them to medical employment's. Also, we have a variety, if you have ever seen some of the prayer requests that come through emails and other means in the congregation; a lot of people are in the hospital and are sick or ill or waiting for surgery, chemotherapy or whatever and we are there to help. We will both from a visitation standpoint and prayer.

Denise: We also get involved in a deeper level and that would be to come around the family or individual in crisis. We would create something called a Care Team and what that involves is either contacting their small group or coming around them by finding people who are known to them, who then meets specific needs and that could be providing meals, that could be visiting them, that could be meeting a financial need. We also offer prayer support and maybe you have seen Sandy Strawhand from the office sends out almost a daily email, we are sure to pray for those people. We pray for them at our twice monthly meetings and we are also responsible for some behind the scenes work. An example of that might be preparing communion for the homebound, preparing the elements and also getting inviting prayer ministers on communion Sunday to pray with and for people.

George: So the 15 deacons take care of every hurting member, every hurting friend and every hurting person on the street?

Mark: No, we don't do that. We haven't all quit our jobs yet. Some of us have a little bit more flexibility in hours than others, but we do have a variety of needs and we have in the past and will continue to use people who come alongside us, members of the congregation that volunteer their time to do that and we just need to continue to ramp that up, because as we grow larger and larger and more and more diverse there is more and more needs. So we definitely have a capacity issue. The other thing is that just as Pastor George has said, we have a variety of gifts that God has given to us, spiritual gifts, talents, experience and we need to be able to utilize that and one way of doing that is come alongside the deacons and to offer those talents and gifts and we are very willing to come alongside you and help you in ministering to other people. So its not that you are doing it alone; we are doing it together.

George: And this is doing the work of the church, right?

Denise: Yeah, that is exactly what Jesus has called us to do and I also wanted to mention that a really specific example happened last week. There was a single lady. She needed transportation to have a cataract removed. We paired her up with another woman and it took less than an hour. They found friends that they had in common. They shared stories and I think they both left feeling that they had met a new friend. And we receive feedback like this all the time when people help one another. And that is specifically an example of something that you today could sign up in a very short-term way to help us with.

George: So the big question is, how would someone who is looking to figure out how to get involved do so?

Mark: Okay, well hopefully you will not leave today without either through reading The News and Views; the main article there is about the deacons. Also our talking today, but what we have is we have a table in the concourse after this, you will also receive a flyer on the way out from the ushers and this will give you more information about the deacons, how you can serve, but the table in the concourse actually serves two purposes. One is what would you like to do to help us in serving others and also are there some needs that you have, either yourself, your family or friends that we can help serve? So it's kind of a two-fold thing. The last thing I will mention is just at the beginning of the service you saw about the networking; there is a table in back in the concourse also that if you are not sure about what spiritual gifts God is calling you to use, or has, this is a starting place for that.

Thank you. Thank you Denise. Thank you Mark. I appreciate it. Let's give them a hand. Well, clearly when we are serving the common good we are being truly spiritual. We want to end with a video and it's a pretty neat account of how one person in a different kind of organization didn't let the excuse, I don't have much to offer stop him. And it challenges each of us to make a difference in the church as well. So let's take a look at that.

Closing video played: the story of Johnny the Bagger.
See "The Simple Truths of Service" at www.simpletruths.com and www.stservicemovie.com.

© 2007, Rev. George Antonakos
Central Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD 21204 410/823-6145
www.centralpc.org