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The text which engages our hearts and our lives this day is taken from that epistle lesson: Paul's letter to the Corinthians verses 12 and 13 of chapter 12. "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts.
And though all of its parts are many, they form one body.
So it is with Christ.
For we were baptized by one Spirit into one body.
Whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were given the one Spirit to drink."
This is our text.
Well, greetings to you from the saints of God in Christ at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Stevens Point.
It's a pleasure to be with you here this morning.
Well, the 21st century brings with it a number of things, and I know we're a couple decades in, but I think about "I." I- everything.
In early 2000s, there were iPods.
How many of you remember, even owned one?
All right.
They were out there, they were out there, iPods, now we have iPads, iPhones, we have iCloud, i-Passes for your car.
Even the Nintendo Wii is spelled with two i-s.
There's no getting around it, in this culture of I, a lot of I-talk exists, for we are a people shaped by the culture of "Me, Myself and I." Yeah, there's no "I" in team, but there is a "me."
And so, when we think about movies that accentuate this self-concept - certainly, you can think of a few.
Jerry Maguire.
"Show me the money."
As we think about our lives in an age of rugged individualism: privatized spirituality.
The question before us today that Paul brings is what does it mean to be the church?
What does it mean to be part of a body?
When Paul captured the image of a body and used the two.
Flush out, what does it look like to be a part of Christ's body, where He is the head?
For not only in Paul's day were they divided.
Yes, in our day as well.
You can think of things that divide us - not just across party lines in the aisle.
Yeah, sure, politics divide us.
Yes, sure, we think about the things in our lives that we, we have different allegiances and things we support.
We're divided in many ways.
There's been a breakdown of our families, in our traditional families.
What's the blame?
Is it technology?
Is it politics?
Is it social media and going your own way?
What is it that truly divide us?
Well, for that answer, we turn to God's word, and it's the word of law that tells us we are sinners.
It's sin that divides us.
At the root cause of it all is the sinful, prideful heart of man and woman.
For we are concerned about ourselves, when it boils down to it.
We are spiritually blind, dead, and enemies of God on our own, doing nothing to merit God's worthiness or salvation in our lives.
So, as we think about ourselves, concerned about our own selves, where is true unity and connectedness found?
If it's not found within myself, where can I find that unity?
Where can I find a community?
A connectedness? Well, Paul tells us it's right here under our nose.
It's found in the church.
It's found in Jesus.
Of course, that's the Sunday School answer: it's always Jesus.
But we don't yawn at that answer, because Paul talks to us today as one who's been through it all.
He knows what it's like to be distant and separated from that community of faith.
He knows what it's like to be outside the family, to be hostile to the word of God, to be persecuted, to condone and to condemn God's people, and to condone the killing of God's people.
Paul talks about being a part of the body, being found in that body.
The body that is made up of many parts, but has one head: Jesus Christ.
And so we ask ourselves, what does it mean to be a part of this body of Jesus who doesn't change?
Well, our first president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, you may recall the name C.F.W. Walther.
Go ahead, google a picture of Dr. Walter - it's not a flattering picture of him, but he is a very learned man.
And Dr. Walther does tell us in his writings what it means to be a part of God's church.
He says, there are two markers.
Two markers to identify where the Church of God is found.
It is found in the word of God rightly preached in the sacraments, rightly administered.
Where do you have the church?
Where we have Word and Sacrament Ministry.
Now, they wrestled with this.
When they came over from Saxony, Germany, what were they to do without a pastor?
What were they do?
Were they the church?
They wrestled with this.
What does it mean to be the church?
Maybe, when a fallible church leader commits a sin and is ousted from the church.
What does it mean to be the church, when an egregious moral failure takes place, when pastors leave, when pastors go?
And we are the church.
What does that mean?
Well, Dr. Walther said, where the word is preached and the sacrements are ministered, there you have the marks of the church.
And it is true.
Here in your midst, you are the church.
The Church of God here in Wisconsin Rapids, holding out the word of truth, carrying on Word and Sacrament Ministry.
Yes, in the midst of a long vacancy, you are reminded of the words of Nehemiah: the joy of the Lord is your strength.
Because this is His work, His ministry, His blessings given forward in the word and the sacraments taking place here.
God, using the means of grace to create faith in the hearts and lives of people.
Paul talks about this in Ephesians, chapter 4.
He said there's one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope in your call.
One Lord, one faith, one baptism.
One God and Father of all.
Oneness.
That's what God is.
God is One: three persons, one God.
And yet, God makes us one as well.
The eye cannot say to the hand: I do not need you.
And the head cannot say to the feet: I don't need you.
Yes, the church is filled with pride.
But thankfully, that's not the only thing the church is filled with.
The church is filled with paradoxes.
Tensions we live in.
How can this be at the same time?
Three persons, one God.
God is man, yet God dies in a cross.
Gathered in the church is both saint and sinner.
The weak are made strong.
The poor are rich.
The rich are poor.
Suffering is actually blessing.
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