At a meeting of the American Psychological Association, Jack Lipton, a psychologist at Union College, and R. Scott Builione, a graduate student at Columbia University, presented their findings on how members of the various sections of a 11 major symphony orchestra perceived each other. The percussionists were viewed as insensitive, unintelligent, and hard-of-hearing, yet fun-loving. String players were seen as arrogant, stuffy, and un-athletic. The orchestra members overwhelmingly chose "loud" as the primary adjective to describe the brass players. Woodwind players(flutes, Saxophone, Clarinet etc) seemed to be held in the highest esteem, described as quiet and meticulous, though a bit egotistical.
Interesting findings, to say the least! With such widely divergent personalities and perceptions, how could an orchestra ever come together to make such wonderful music? The answer is simple: regardless of how those musicians view each other, they subordinate their feelings and biases to the leadership of the conductor. Under his guidance, they play beautiful music. In the same way, if we respect one another, consider others better than yourself and come under the guidance of the conductor (the head) of the Church our Lord Jesus Christ.
The imagery of the Orchestra seems to convey the essence of what Church should be like and how its members ought to function. Just like in an Orchestra in the Church it is not about who is the loudest, or most visible, but it is all about preferring others, loving and serving one another. Does our Church reflect a well coordinated orchestra? Or a chaotic Rock Concert where everyone tries to dominate the other person?
We have been following a series called “Life in Christ” So far we looked at Christ being the son of God, the Savior and a servant King. The Apostle Paul gives a picture in Romans 12:1-13 of the Church being the body of Christ and the responsibilities of both the individual and corporate believers in the Church. The letter to Romans was written in AD 57. This particular passage can be divided into three parts. 1 The transformed Lives. 2. Church: The body of Christ. 3. Unity in diversity. Let me read Romans 12:1-13
I. THE TRANSFORMED LIVES.
Many people attend Church regularly week after week, month after month, pay their tithes and show up at community events, read their Bibles yet they never seem to be experiencing the power of transformation. Why? Simply showing up at Church every Sunday or listening to great sermons will not change you, then what will help? Paul highlights two ways how one can live transformed lives.
A. PERSONAL WORSHIP:
Paul began his letter saying “To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints.” That tells me that this letter is addressed to the believers in Rome and not to the unbelievers. If Paul were to write a letter today to our Church he probably would address us the same because all those who are saved are loved by God and called to be saints. In Chapter 12 vs 1 he says “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” This scripture is loaded with deep meaning. Let me unfold it for you. The word urge has a range of meanings: “To beg, push for, appeal to, beseech (with a strong force), charge, implore, plead and drive etc.,” the word “urge” here is anything but a request or a good suggestion. It is a passionate appeal.
Why was Paul so passionately urging the believers? The last verse in Romans 11:36, gives us the reason, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” In other words Paul is saying, because we all came from Jesus and through Jesus and to Jesus we belong, and to Him belongs all the Glory, so I beg you to offer your bodies (not to sin and idolatry as we were previously used to) as living not a dead sacrifice which is our reasonable or rational service of worship to God. In other words are we honoring God in our bodies? Or are we tearing down this body by indulging in sin? How are we releasing ourselves when we come to worship Him on a Sunday morning? What is a living sacrifice? In the OT people used to offer animal sacrifices, but now God doesn’t require animal sacrifices from us, then what does he require from us? Paul explains what a living sacrifice is in Hebrew 13:15-16, “Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of our lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
What does this mean? It means when we sing praises to God during worship and give thanks to Him we are offering the fruit of our lips to Him but that is not enough along with that we show our devotion to God by doing good and sharing with others. In other words, worship is the fruit of our lips coupled with the work of our hands. The second way to live transformed lives is by making a personal resolution not to follow the demands of the culture.
B. PERSONAL RESOLVE:
Romans 12:2-3, “Don’t become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” (The message Bible).
When Paul wrote this letter, the Church in Rome was fairly a new Church with a few Jewish believers living in a predominant pagan culture. The believers were told not to conform to the life style of the culture that was around them. Instead they were to be transformed and live as though they belonged to another world. Each individual personally have to make a resolution to live a transformed life no one can make that decision for you.
What does it mean to be transformed? The Greek word used here is metamorphoo from where we get the English word metamorphosis. What is metamorphosis? It is a biology term explains a profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism, as from the caterpillar to the pupa and from the pupa to the adult butterfly. It can also be used to describe a complete change of form, structure appearance, character, circumstances, etc. In religious terms it means turn around, conversion, transformation, alteration, change, changeover, rebirth, or born again.
In 2 Cor 5:17, we read, “Therefore if anyone in Christ, he is a new creation, the Old has gone, the new has come.” What Paul meant here was metamorphosis, a complete make over. When we claim ourselves to be Christians then we are to live like Christians. Which means our behavior, thought and habit patterns, priorities; and lifestyle must reflect our Christian faith otherwise what the point in calling ourselves Christians is? In eastern cultures becoming a Christian is much more challenging. It means saying good buy to their old friends, burning their idols, in some cases even leaving their ungodly families. I know several friends were persecuted because they became Christians. But they withstood persecution. Because they realized what they found is much more worth than what they were giving up.
Unfortunately in the west we can hardly differentiate Christians from non Christians. We live compromised lives like anybody else; we pursue the same goals as others and have same priorities. One commentator said, “There is no greater weakness in the Christianity of our day than the fact that so many church members accept without question the dominant intellectual and social atmosphere of the age.” Those whose lives are transformed offer themselves in worship to God, get involved in acts of service and resolve not to live according to the demands of the culture. Are you living a transformed life? Let’s look at the Church being the body of Christ
II. CHURCH: THE BODY OF CHRIST:
When I ask you what is a Church? You may answer this question one or two ways: A church is a building where a group of Christians come to worship. Or a group of believers gather together for religious purposes. These are OK for quick answers, but when it comes to what a Church ought to be and do they won’t get us far. When people join a church they have certain preconceived ideas of what a Church should be like, or what a church should do for them. And for that matter what a Pastor should be like. When expectations are not met they become disgruntled with the Church and eventually leave that Church only to join another Church.
A few years ago during a New Year message my former Pastor spoke about his commitment to the Church. He listed the things he was committed to see happen in the Church. After mentioning several aspects such as a commitment to the un-compromised preaching of God’s Word. The pastor then said that he and his staff were also committed to disappoint the Church. I remember being a little baffled by that statement at the time. How could the Pastor say that he was committed to disappoint us? Now I realize how true that was. It is not that I or any pastor would desire to purposefully hurt or disappoint anyone. But the truth of the matter is no Church and no Pastor can meet all the needs and unrealistic expectations of all its members. Only in Christ alone can we find life and life in abundance.
Let’s ask the greatest church planter ever what he has to say about the role of the church and the role of its members. According to his definition the church is the body of Christ. He used the analogy of the human body to explain it. Romans 12: 4-5, “For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we who are many are one body in Christ and individual members of one another.” In other words, a Church is comprised of many individual believers from diverse backgrounds yet each of them are joined together (connected with one another) because they belong to one body that is the body of Christ.
Let’s take look at our Church how rich and diverse we are. We come from various ethnic, cultural, educational and socio economic backgrounds. When we understand that we are the visible body of Christ on earth a lot of misunderstandings and bickering will disappear, striving will cease, appreciation for the other members of the church will increase, disunity will have to make way to unity because just as the physical body can not function without the cooperation of the other parts of the body the same is true within the Church.
There is no place for lone rangers, in the body of Christ we need each other. We are not independent of each other but are interconnected in Christ. On one hand we are connected but on the other hand we are still individuals, so what is our responsibility as individuals in the body of Christ? The beauty we see in the body of Christ is the Unity in Diversity.
III. UNITY IN DIVERSITY:
Coming back to the analogy of the human body, we realize that each of our body parts is unique; all of them do not have the same function but has a specific purpose. No one part of the body is insignificant or useless. The hand, the eye, the mouth, the head, the heart the feet all belong to the same body. They can not exist on their own neither is the body complete without any one of them. When all these parts support and work in coordination with other parts then we have a healthy body otherwise we have a sick body. The same principles apply to the body of Christ. In order to explain our corporate purpose in the body of Christ Paul said, “We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is teaching, let him teach, if it is encouraging, let him encourage, if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously, if it is leadership let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.”( Romans 12:6-8)
In this passage of scripture Paul mentioned SEVEN different types of gifts. They are given by God. I can not dwell on each gift here for the want of time, However this is what I would say about these gifts. For a Christian these gifts are not given for their own pleasure or to serve their own selfish ambitions but to serve God and serve one another in brotherly love so that the body of Christ may be built up. Amen
