Rev. Dr. M. Taylor Bach Church Picnic

I Corinthians 12:14-26

Usually at our annual Church Picnic, I preach about finding God in nature. This morning I want to do something differently. I want to continue on with the theme I started last week, the theme of recommitting ourselves to our purposes. Last week we talked about the major purpose of life which is to love God with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind. We show that by worship. This gives meaning to our lives and also enables us to get to heaven. So our getting to heaven is our major purpose in life. That is the goal. God has given us two motivations to get there. One is fear motivation. We get there by avoiding hell because God can be a God of wrath when we do evil. But He would much prefer us getting there by choosing to love Him and do good out of love which then gets us to heaven. And in doing so, we become His companion  His friend  and He dwells within us.

This morning, we want to focus on the second purpose. The second purpose is to create a fellowship. It is to show love to other believers. It is to form the family of God.

C.S. Lewis says that God seems to do nothing of Himself that He can't delegate to His followers. Sometimes it seems like folly but God knows what He is doing. Remember Paul on the Damascus Road was struck down and as he lay there on the ground, he heard the voice of God saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” This message he heard was from Jesus and when he recognized it was from Jesus, it really formed the basis of most of Paul's major theology as it appears in the epistles. That is that we here on earth are the body of Christ. When Saul was persecuting Christians, he was actually persecuting Christ himself. Saul, who then became Paul, in his epistles, used the phrase “In Christ” over 72 times. His point was that Christ dwells in us through baptism, repentance and faith, and we dwell in Him. In other words, here on earth, Christ is present in us through His indwelling or through the power of His Holy Spirit.

There are things that follow from that that are absolutely profound if we think about it. The scripture that we read this morning, I want to read again in a different version because it makes this theology even more clear. This reading is from the Biblical paraphrase called The Message and here is how the interpreter writes Paul's words. “The way that God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church, every part dependent on every other part. The parts we mention and the parts we don't. The parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into exuberance. You are Christ's body. That is who you are. You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your part mean anything. You are familiar with some of the parts of the body that God has formed in His church which is His body. Apostles, prophets, teachers, miracle workers, helpers, healers, organizers, and those who prayed in tongues. But it is obvious by now, isn't it, that Christ's church is a complete body and not a gigantic un-dimensional part. It is not all apostle. It is not all prophet. Not all miracle worker. Not all healer. Not all prayer in tongues. Not all interpreter in tongues. And yet some of you keep competing for so called important parts.”

From this scripture, we really get the idea that the church is the living body of Christ here on earth. As a result of that, each person plays an important part in forming this body. Each is given special gifts to make this body function in the world. Though we are all sinful people, as we repent and as we trust in God and follow the ways of Jesus Christ and ask for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we become that body in a way that is significant. Here while we picnic at the park, there are people all around us who will be looking at us. Will they see Christ through us? You and I form the primary representation of God's presence in the world. For the watching world, we are the proof that God is alive. So will these football players over to our right see God as alive in us? Will they see Jesus Christ in us? Will the mothers and wives of the football players and the children over on the swings, while this service goes on, see Christ functioning in us? Many of them probably don't know Christ. So how we behave even in this park will reflect on how Christ is known in the world.

There are some rewards for being the body of Christ and for participating in Church. Dr. Trogisch made a list of what he found to be rewards. He said, “For the first time, I am doing something significant in my life, by participating in church. Secondly, I've learned to do things I didn't think I was capable of.” Have you had that experience? Perhaps you had that experience by being on a committee or taking a church office or going out into the community and doing some work of mercy that you didn't dream you could do until someone in the church challenged you to do it. Then you found that you had talents and abilities that you didn't know you had. Christ gives those to you to build up His body. “Thirdly,” he said, “I have received the affection of others that I needed.” Now that to me is one of the great benefits of the church. When I was sick last year at this same time and came here in a wheel chair, I was very aware of how much affection I received and that you all prayed for me and cared for me. I credit my healing, as you can see I am dramatically better as I stand here this morning, to the affection you've given me that was expressed in your prayers for me. And I am very grateful and thank you for that. I believe in the power of prayer. That is one of the benefits of being in the church, of being the body of Christ. We can love one another and pray for one another and bring about Christ's healing for one another as we share our affection for one another.

Fourthly, Dr. Trogisch said, “I'm more responsive to human suffering.” Those of us who are deeply involved in our church will constantly hear the gospel preached that we are responsible for our brothers. We are responsible for those in the world. This is called The Great Compassion where Jesus said, “I was hungry and you gave me to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me to drink. I was in prison and you visited me. I was naked and you clothed me.” You say, “When did we do these things?” And He says, “Whenever you did these for the least of my brethren, you also did them for me.” So we learn to have great compassion for one another by being a member of the church and being involved in the church and acting on it through the church. This great compassion can be credited for civilizing much of the world.

Dr. Trogisch says, “I've questioned what is really important in my life.” He set his priorities straight. That is one of the gifts of church. It challenges us to look at what we really value and what is really important. We conclude that getting to heaven is of the highest importance. Loving one another is of the highest importance. He says, “I have new meaning and new purpose.” We talked about that before. He continues, “I've learned to be patient, tolerant and appreciative.” Who here doesn't need more of that? - More patience, more tolerance, and more appreciation. It is always wonderful when I hear members of our church sharing appreciation for one another. Maybe the appreciation is expressed for the job that someone did on a committee or someone did at a bereavement lunch or someone did by supporting the CROP Walk or something of that nature.

Finally Dr. Trogisch said, “I've discovered myself.” That is one of the greatest gifts that we all receive from church membership.

I wrote down some things myself to add to Dr. Trogisch's list that are the rewards for being in the body of Christ and being the body of Christ. First of all I wrote & as you worship, you can unwind. How many times have you come to church, sat in the pew and began to pray and feel the pressures of the world lift? You can sit in God's presence and communicate with Him all your cares and concerns and truly unwind. Secondly, you can spill your life story. All of us have things going on in our lives, and as we come to love one another, we find friendships built in the church and friends truly share their stories with each other. Maybe it is at a Pancake Breakfast that you share your story or maybe it is before the service starts when we are gathered together, or maybe it's when we are in a small group, a Bible study or go to lunch after a service with our church friends. We can pour out our life story and that leads to the next thing that I wrote down. We discover that we are accepted. People in church by and large have learned that they are not to judge one another but accept one another in love, with our flaws, our faults and there is a great sense of release and relief that comes from being accepted like that, which then leads to the next thing that I wrote down. That is you can find in church, in the body of Christ, that you can release your pain. None of us are immune from having pain in our lives. By sharing it with each other, the pain seems to lessen. There is one person who I remember in my counseling studies who said that just talking about our pain with another cuts the pain in half. That is the value of communication, the value of sharing, the value of talk. It is by talking with someone who accepts you and loves you in sharing your pain that your pain lifts. It doesn't necessarily go away but it does feel better. Lastly, it is in the church where we can feel loved. So it is extremely important that we be in the church and that we be the body of Christ.

When Jesus was on the earth, he defined his mission as one who is to free the captives. I believe that people are captives in multiple ways. Yes, some people get themselves into jail by doing bad things. Jesus can forgive and free one from that but people can also imprison themselves through their thinking, through their emotional problems. People can imprison themselves spiritually by becoming legalistic. Jesus was here to lift those burdens. He said, “My burden is easy.” So He doesn't place these kinds of burdens on people. What He does is free people from these kinds of self captivity. He frees the captives. Secondly, Jesus defined Himself as one who feeds the hungry. We do that through our benevolences, through our mission work. Part of the offering will go to the free store and things like that. Then thirdly, Jesus said, “I came to proclaim good news to the poor.” What is the good news to the poor? That by following Jesus' way, you will get out of your poverty, whether it is poverty of spirit or real physical poverty. Following the way of Jesus enhances people's lives and is good news.

So this morning, I am encouraging you to make church attendance your priority. The church needs you and you need the church. You are the Body of Christ. Your salvation may depend on your involvement in the church and the salvation of others definitely depends on it.