VARIETY PAK

Romans 1: 8-12

I Cor. 12: 12-27

       Do you remember the story of David and Goliath?   I bet you do.  It’s one of the best remembered stories of the Bible.   Do you remember how the Philistines thought so much of Goliath that they were willing to place all their hope in a victory over the Israelites on him?   After all, not every army could boast of a giant who wore armor from head to foot and carried a spear twice as long and heavy as any other soldier could hold!   And when the shepherd boy David smacked Goliath on the head with a perfect strike of his sling, killing him, the Philistines fled in amazement and terror.   For it was Goliath’s ability and Goliath’s work upon which they entirely depended.   And when he was gone, they were disorganized and useless.   Goliath was supposed to do alone what the others could not do, to carry the weight of victory on his shoulders.

      In this morning’s scripture lesson from Romans, we see the Apostle Paul in a similar situation.   But Paul’s idea of how his relationship with the Romans should be differs greatly from that of Goliath and the Philistines.   In what way?   First of all, Paul shifts the emphasis from himself to the others.   He says,  “I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world.”   He does not speak of “my faith,” as Goliath might boast of “my ability” or “my strength,” but centers his conversation on the faith of the people he is talking to.   He thanks God through Christ for them, because their faith is proclaimed throughout the world.   In other words, their faith is strong enough that it exists on its own, completely apart from his faith, strong even in his absence.

This faith which exists on its own is remarkable.   Elsewhere, Paul speaks of the faith of the Thessalonians sounding forth like a trumpet.   When all common sense would have dictated a way of life that would have escaped notice, the early Christians proclaimed their faith instead.   They were never ashamed to show that they were Christians and that they sought to serve Christ.   Like the song we learn as children,  “This little light of mine—I’m gonna let it shine.”    The faith of the early Christians shined into the world.

      I have now been here as one of your temporary pastors for nearly four months.   I have heard of your faith in Jesus Christ.   It is proclaimed to the world.   It blazes forth from the pages of your annual reports which I read before I came and your church records.  It calls out from your committees and Deacons and Session in their deliberations and discussions.   And it sounds forth like a trumpet each Lord’s Day when you come together, as Christians have for centuries, to worship.   Your faith was here in this place long before mine and your faith is what brought me here.   Your light, the light of Christ, shines.

      The next verses from our scripture reading tell us more of Paul and the Roman people.   He says,  “God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you.”   This tells us that, even though Paul was not yet present with them, he was nevertheless praying for them.   It says he was praying that he might come to them.   Even though each had to have his or her own faith, their life was together.   They were in relationship with one another.   Paul would not simply be part of a group where each member of the group operated on his or her own, independent of the other members.  He would be part of a group where each member depended upon the others and related personally to the others.

      An excellent way to see what Paul meant by this can be seen in our scripture reading from I Corinthians.   Here Paul talks about the body being one unit but having many parts, one body with many members.   He is comparing the Church, the Church universal throughout the world but also each local church, with a body.   The body is an organism and has many parts or members.   But it can only be what it is, a body, if all those members are governed from one center;  there is one life in all of them.   The philosopher Plato pointed out that we do not say,  “My stomach is sick.”   We say,  “I am sick.”   We don’t say,  “I’m not sick, only my stomach is.”   If your stomach is sick, you are sick.   There is something which gives unity to all the many, varying parts of the body.   And that is the Spirit.   Paul says,  “In one Spirit we were all baptized into one body and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”   The Greek word here for “made to drink” is sometimes used for irrigating from which comes the thought of saturation.   In other words, the body is one body, the church is one church, because it is saturated in every part, in every member, by the Holy Spirit.   So we are one.   As a local church, the Wallingford Presbyterian Church, we are one body in which lives the Spirit of God.

       But, still as a body has different parts, different members, the eyes, the ears, the hands, the feet, and so on, we too as a church have different parts, different members.   We are not the big 2 lb. box of Wheat Chex you buy at the store.   We are more like the Variety Pak in which you find assorted kinds of cereals, some made from corn, some from wheat, some sugared, some plain, some with candy and some without.   We have a variety of members, older members, younger members, men, women, children, students, business people, teachers, doctors, attorneys, housekeepers, blondes, brunettes, redheads, silver and gold, those who have been members a long time and those who just recently joined.

      But not only do we have a variety of members.   The different members also have a variety of functions.   We have the music director, the song leaders and worship leaders, the deacons, the session, the treasurers, the financial secretary, the trustees, the various committees, women’s association, Sunday School teachers, the custodian, the pastors, Bible study leaders.   Each group or individual within the group serves in the capacity God has intended for that individual and has been given a gift, the ability necessary to do the job.   Each person has an indispensable function without which the body is handicapped.   Therefore, each member should honor the others, not in spite of the differences, but because of these differences.   We all need each other.

       Then Paul goes on to speak to two different kinds of people in the church.   Are you one of these?   Sometimes I am.   First, there are those who look at themselves as somehow being less important and perhaps not even a bona fide part of the church because they view their function or job in the church as less important than the others.   The foot that says,  “I don’t really belong because I am not a hand.   After all, the hand is so much more visible and moves around so much easier and does so many more things than I do.”   Or the ear that doesn’t really see what is happening throughout the church and thus doesn’t feel so much a part as the eye.   Well, when the foot says it is not a hand and ear knows it is not an eye, they are right--- for there is a difference between the members.   But they are wrong if they then assume that they are less important than the hand or the eye.   For no member is unnecessary.    The arms, maybe seeming to us to be less important than the hands that do the work, are really what enable the hands to actually do the work.   Without the arms, the hands are useless—they reach practically nothing.

       Then Paul speaks of those who think they are of greater importance.  “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you.’   The head cannot say to the feet,  ‘I have no need of you.’”   The church cannot thrive if it considers some members all-important to its well-being and the rest nonessential.    That is what I call the “Goliath syndrome.”   It was the fallacy of the Philistines.   They forgot that every part is vital.   It is not necessarily the most visible or most talented whose service is highly regarded by God.   Christ, remember, thought very highly of merely a cup of cold water given in his name.   Great services may indicate our talents and capacities but small services indicate the depth and range of our devotion to God and are equally important as big, flashy deeds.   There is a place in life for candles as well as stars.   And God made that which forms both.

     God created the body in such a way that it has members and, more importantly, these particular members.   God gave each one of us a special place in this body, the Wallingford Presbyterian Church.   There is not one of us who is less important or more important than the others.   Consider how you might serve Christ as part of this church, particularly if you haven’t found your niche, haven’t gotten involved, yet.   You are needed.

      Why has Paul gone to all this trouble to explain all this?   His answer is “that there may be no dissension within the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.”    This brings us to the final point.   This understanding that we all have equally important parts to play in the working of this church for Christ in Wallingford means that all of us need to take care of one another.   And this means not only in balancing the church with our various functions or jobs, but also literally taking care of one another.

     We’ve seen that we all have our place in the church and can proudly serve Christ in that place.   We have our different chores in the church.   But there is one chore which we all ought to share.   And that is the chore of caring for one another.

      We ought to realize that we need each other.   There can be no such thing as isolation in the church.   There can be no such thing as claiming to be a part of the church but not contributing to the fellowship through worship and support.   If the church is to be a healthy body, we need the work and the participation and the presence of everyone.

      We ought to respect each other.   Remember that in the body there is no question of relative importance.   Whenever we begin to think about our own importance or unimportance in the church, we must realize that the body works in harmony and each member needs every other member.

      We ought to sympathize with each other.   If any part of the body is affected, all the others feel it.   They suffer in sympathy or rejoice in happiness because they cannot help doing so.   We are part of the same body.

     And, finally, we ought to encourage one another, building up one another in the faith.   There is something inspiring and uplifting when we share our faith, encouraging one another.

     In this year 2007, as our time as your temporary supply pastors comes to an end in a few short weeks, my wish for this church is expressed so well by Paul.   You might hear this as Ken and Deb’s words to you as they return to serve with you once again:   “I need your help, for I want not only to share my faith with you but to be encouraged by yours.   Each of us will be a blessing to the other.”    You have been a blessing to me.   I am grateful to God and to you.   And soon, with Ken and Deb and their family, you shall be a blessing to each other.   May God bless you all!

                                                                   AMEN