PSALM 22:25-31 / EPHESIANS 4
In this word that comes to us from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians the great apostle begins by describing what unity and maturity in the Body of Christ is like. And just as your 5thgrade English teacher taught you – it’s all summed up in that first sentence – the “Title Sentence:”
“As a prisoner for the Lord then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
For all the words of this lengthy chapter you could do a whole lot worse than to just get that part down . . . Be WORTHY of your calling . . . Be COMPLETELY humble and gentle . . . BEAR with one another . . . Make EVERY EFFORT to keep the unity of the Spirit . . . through the BOND (that is the joining together) in the Peace that God will give if you do.
Maybe that’s all I really need to say today – because if we were to actually do those things well – in our day to day lives with strangers and friends and those whom we love the most (yet so often treat the worst) then guess what? ALL WILL BE WELL – Because if we do our part (if we are obedient to what God asks of us and create an environment wherein the Spirit can dwell) then God will do His part. On that you CAN rely!
But again – as our scripture seems to be convicting us over and over lately – words mean NOTHING . . . Our ACTIONS – that which we LIVE OUT – what we DO – mean EVERYTHING!
Having already read in the Book of Order this week that “the service of ordination and installation shall focus upon Christ and the joy / responsibility of serving him and shall include a sermon appropriate to the occasion,” I knew these words from Ephesians were meant for us.
Because frankly, we have often struggled being one body and have at times been “blown about by the wind,” as Paul states because we have not fully “built ourselves up in love.” Which is CLEARLY a key requirement of our calling as the body of Christ to serve our Father in heaven.
Perhaps it can be most simply put by the phrase: No Love in . . . No Love out. And recently we have seen some of the ramifications of that truth – and here’s the most important reality given those circumstances: If we don’t go to God’s Word – and LEARN to LIVE fully in accordance with God’s Word – then anything else we do will be utterly and entirely for naught.
For NO amount of honest and well intentioned worship or teaching or program success or strong stewardship campaigns or even new membership growth is ever going to help apart from a genuine living out of our faith as scripture demands. You might as well put a lock on the door now and go find a place where the Truth is lived out where (as Palm 133 tells us) the “precious oil of brothers dwelling together in unity flows down like it did upon the beard of Aaron.”
Frederick Buechner says that, “Sin and grace, absence and presence, tragedy and comedy, they divide the world between them – and where they meet head on, the Gospel happens.” Which to me implies that it is in just a place as this that the truth of Christ finds what it needs to be lived out – or not! Like every church we are a place of all of these things. For we are human – we are fallen – we are sometimes givers and we are sometimes takers. Our stories individually and collectively involve many victories – and likewise many defeats.
But underneath it all lies the spark of God’s truth for us and if we don’t fan that spark with genuine words and deeds born of REAL compassion, patience and forgiveness – as required by his word – then we are wasting our time and far worse the very beneficent presence and blessing of the grace that God would otherwise shed upon us.
Again – He IS going to do His part . . . Will we do ours?
My internet friend Ken Baker, who is a wonderful pastor and preacher living in Scotland, happened to write a passage this week on this very scripture. He entitled his thoughts One Body – One Love. Ken begins by referencing verses 4-6 of our scripture:
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
“It’s so straightforward! Seven times Paul reiterates the word “one.” And it is – first of all – the” body”, that he is talking about, It’s a metaphor that constantly suggested itself to Paul. One organism made up of many parts. And the foot cannot rebel against the elbow (etc.) because the body only works properly in synchronized unity. I saw a bizarre clip from a Jim Carrey film where his body was literally fighting against itself, hands, feet and brain in a tangle of rebellion.
Quite a brilliant performance – but of course an utterly ludicrous concept.
The verse here is in the context of telling us how we may “attain to the unity” of the Spirit within the body of Christ, the Church. So he begins by underscoring that word “one” seven times. I suspect that this word is important.
And this is how we do it. We “were called to one hope” and so we travel together on the same journey, in the same direction. “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.”
This refers to the image of a “Roman Triumph” when a conquering hero, trailed by his captives, would throw gifts out to the adoring masses in an ancient version of the ticker-tape parade. Also, the word “grace” comes from the same root as the word “gift.” So Christ is the conquering hero, and we receive the “grace-gifts” that he throws to us. They are not flung wildly, but carefully “given as Christ [himself] apportioned it.”
So here’s the story: Christ has given “people-gifts” to His people. The emphasis here is not on the specialness of those people (real or imagined!), but on the EFFECT they produce. Christ gave all kinds of different of people, all kinds of different gifts for one specific job. Only one! It is to equip the Body of Christ “for works of service, so that [that body] may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith.”
That’s some very well spoken truth – from across the big pond where our Presbyterian roots run so deep.
Both Paul and Ken make it clear: Each one of us is so utterly different and individual in nature AND in gifts received. So appropriately suited for some things – and not so much for others – yet all serving the SAME BODY of Christ. The body that scripture tells us IS Christ until he comes again.
And not just a body meant to flail and fling itself “wherever the wind blows” – but rather one that is enlivened and endowed and enabled and ENTRUSTED with the Holy Spirit of God – that – it – might – get – things – done (reach souls for Christ) to the GLORY of the Father!
Well – are we truly ready to do that in accordance with HIS Truth?
Are we?
I know I am.
Let us ALL go forward together – in Truth and in Love . . . in Wisdom and Humility – in Strength and Forbearance – in Spirit Confidence and Patience. Let us BE the Body of Christ in this time and in this place to which the God of creation has called us.
– Stuart Revercomb