The Body that Suffers Together | 8:18-30, 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 | Pastor Dave Hentschel

Well, good morning.

Please turn with me to Romans chapter eight.

We'll be starting there today.

And as you do that, let me just share with you this perhaps common experience.

If you've ever been in a hospital late at night, you know the sound.

It's not loud, it's not dramatic.

It's the sound of groaning, machines humming, footsteps in the hall, somebody coughing behind a curtain.

No one is pretending everything is fine.

My daughter Felicity is working as a certified nursing assistant while she's in college on the weekends, and she'll come home on Saturdays and tell me about the suffering that she sees there and the groaning that she hears during the day.

I've been in those rooms many times myself.

I find it difficult to see that level of suffering.

If I visit someone, the Lord has wired me in such a way that I'd like to be helpful.

I'd like to be useful.

And those scenarios remind me of how helpless I really am.

And so I have to sit back and allow the Lord to just be present there in the discomfort.

The groaning.

The Bible tells us that all of creation is groaning.

The church is groaning as well.

Not because we lack faith, but because we are a people in waiting and we are waiting for something.

We groan and we suffer, and this is especially true for those who may have a disability.

This morning I assert that the problem isn't just that we suffer, it's that we suffer alone.

And so the title of my message for today is The Body That Suffers Together.

And I want to talk to you about three things in this message this morning, starting in Romans 8 and then landing over in 1 Corinthians.

First, we'll talk about the reality we share, and then secondly, we'll talk about the hope that sustains us, and then we will finally finish up talking about the way God cares.

We're in our series on upside down glory talking about disability and the church, and we've talked about a lot of different topics.

We've talked about the topic of identity, the topic of advocacy, the topic of theology.

Today we're talking about the topic of suffering, specifically tied to the role of the local church.

And so that's our plan for this morning.

Let's pray and then we'll dive into God's word together.

Heavenly Father, we come before you as your people gathered, but not all the same.

We're united, yet each of us carry our own burdens in here today.

And you know every story in the room.

You hear every quiet grief, you know every hidden fear, you know every weary heart that's come into this place today, longing to hear from you.

Thank you that you are not distant.

You see all suffering, you hear it all, you enter into it, and through your spirit you meet us.

You meet us in your word, you meet us through your people.

Even when we don't have words, you meet us in our prayers.

Today we pause for a second to pray for our dear sister in Christ Palma, who lost her husband Fred last week.

We ask for a peace.

We pray for our brother Steve Gunderson, who continues to fight multiple myeloma.

We would ask for healing.

We pray for our sister Betty Gallagher, who's recovering from hip surgery.

Would you grant her strength?

Open our hearts now to your word.

Help us to hear, not just with our minds and uh but hear with our truest souls.

Give us humility before your word.

Give us faith, give us tenderness toward what you have to say here.

And Lord, where there is groaning, would you plant hope?

And where there is isolation, would you build some connections?

And then when there's weariness, would you renew our strength?

We offer our time to you.

Uh we're here to listen.

Shape us and comfort us and renew our minds, draw us closer to you and to each other.

We pray it all in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

So the first thing we want to talk about is the reality that we share.

Um suffering.

It's inevitable.

Romans chapter 8, uh, picking it up with verse 18.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

If you're there with me, say amen.

Paul says this I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Pause right there.

Notice, Paul does not minimize suffering, he normalizes suffering.

We know from history, Paul himself is not a stranger to suffering.

He was shipwrecked, he was persecuted, he was stoned, he was even left for dead at one point.

But here in verse 18, this is Paul talking, and he says, I consider something.

Notice those words, I consider.

What that means is he's been thinking about something and thinking over something very carefully and weighing the evidence.

And this is his conclusion.

As I consider, no matter what I go through, I consider that the sum total of all this suffering is not even worth comparing to the glory that awaits me one day.

This is the great Christian hope that one day this universe will be transformed.

One day, even our bodies will be made new, and we will be like Christ.

We will feast with him and reign with him and shine like the sun.

When we lift our eyes toward that hope, toward that future glory, when we set our minds on things above, where Christ is, when we think about feasting with him and reigning with him, then we will find that there's simply no comparison with our pain that we experience now compared to the glory that will be revealed in the future.

Verse 19 continues.

Here, Paul is poetically describing inanimate creation as if it can wait eagerly.

The term eager expectation is the idea of someone craning their neck and looking to see what's coming around the corner.

What Paul is saying here in sort of a word picture, if you will, is that this whole world is like up on its tiptoes, waiting to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into our own.

Why?

Why is that?

Verse 20 tells us the problem.

For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

Right here, Paul is saying that creation itself is waiting.

It has been subjected to something, and he calls it here, it's been subjected to frustration.

Now, why is that?

It was subjected because God subjected it, and the reason God subjected it to frustration is because of something called the curse.

In Genesis chapter 3, we're told that humanity broke away from God, we fell into sin, we rebelled against our Creator, and then at that point, creation itself began to experience this groaning, things like deadly diseases and decay and even death.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

All of creation knows this, Paul says.

All of creation is waiting eagerly for the future.

All of creation also knows that the reason why they're waiting is because of us.

George Whitfield, the great Puritan preacher, used to say, haven't you ever noticed that when you come near to the animals, they growl at us, they bark at us, the birds screech at us and fly away.

Do you know why?

They know that we have a quarrel with their master.

Just think of that the next time you're chased by your neighbor's dog or a bird messes on your car.

Creation is frustrated with you.

Even the loveliest scenes of nature will still witness the fury of the elements, floods and hurricanes and tornadoes and droughts and earthquakes.

We see at times the forces of nature are almost fighting against themselves.

Can you feel the gears of this world grinding?

Do you hear the sound of the groaning?

Verse 22.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

The illustration that he chose to use here is the illustration of childbirth.

In case you don't know this, the moms in the room will tell you, childbirth hurts.

I do not know about this firsthand, but secondhand, I have seen this pain not once, not twice, but three different times in my life with my three daughters.

Paul says, when you see pain like that, that is an echo of the larger story.

Now, as I said, though I've never experienced that kind of pain firsthand, I have had three kidney stones in my life.

Just please raise your hand if you can relate to me on this.

A couple of you.

I am so sorry.

I am so sorry.

I feel you guys, it's rough.

It's rough.

My body likes to create these stones like every seven years or so.

I don't know why.

It's horrible.

But one of the things I know about kidney stones is it's very different from the pain of childbirth.

There is no comparison.

You know why?

Because I never hear people sitting around going, you should see that kidney stone, man.

It was all worth it.

Now that I got to see this stone, I forgot about all the pain.

No, we don't talk about it like that.

We only sit around and talk about the pain.

We only sit around and talk about the suffering.

We only sit around and talk about the excruciating tragedy of it all.

Why?

Because there's no glory afterwards.

There is no glory like there's glory after the birth of a child.

Paul says the groaning of this world is not like the groaning of the kidney stone.

The groaning of this world, rather, is more like the pain of a woman who's bearing a beautiful child.

The groaning of this world is more like the kind of groaning that's followed by beauty and joy for the people of God.

One day there's this great hope in front of us after the groaning.

Until then, creation is groaning.

Almost as if it could speak, saying, This is not the way it's supposed to be.

The whole creation groans.

Suffering, Paul says, is cosmic.

And suffering is quite personal.

Let me give you an example.

In 1982, Nick Voyczych was born in Brisbane, Australia, with Tetraamilia syndrome.

It's a rare genetic disorder where Nick was born with no arms and no legs.

Although he has two small feet attached to the bottom of his torso.

Growing up, Nick understandably struggled emotionally and physically to accept his condition.

When he was ten years old, Nick actually attempted to drown himself.

He tried to commit suicide.

He gave up.

He did not see any hope.

You know, one of the reasons I like the Bible is because it deals with the hardest issues of life.

It does not sweep the painful things under the rug, or the complex things, or the confusing things, or the provoking things, or the shocking things, or the controversial things.

And one of the hardest things in life is suffering, and one of the hardest kinds of suffering is the suffering experienced by a child.

Especially when that early suffering turns into a lifetime of living with a profound loss.

But the Bible is not silent on these things at all.

In fact, I found the opposite.

Rather, that the scriptures are permeated with stories of suffering and sorrow.

And I'm so thankful that we have more than just a human opinion on these matters.

Left to ourselves, where would we go?

Where would we turn?

Left to ourselves, we would be completely lost.

Left to ourselves, we would be like this piece of graffiti that I saw one time that just said this: life is hard and then you die.

Now, in some ways, that's true.

But that's way too cynical.

The Bible's much more complicated than that.

And it's much more nuanced than that, and it's much more hopeful than that.

May I ask you, do you hear the groan of creation around you?

It's not just creation that groans.

Verse 23 continues, where Paul says, it's not only so, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly, as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.

What do we groan for?

I want to draw your attention to that phrase.

We groan for the redemption of our bodies.

Meaning we will one day trade in our old vessels for a body that will not decay, will not age, will not ache, will not have kidney stones, will not break, and will not sin.

This is good news.

We're going to talk much more about this good news in an elaborate way next week and next Sunday's sermon.

There is good news for our bodies coming.

Until then, we groan.

You may remember the Lord Jesus, when he took on flesh and walked in ministry on this earth, approached the grave of his dear friend Lazarus, and at that grave, even Jesus groaned in sorrow because he knows this is not the way he created things to be.

We groan for a positive reason, also.

Paul says, we groan because we have the first fruits of the Spirit.

That word first fruits referred to the first batch of an incoming harvest.

It's a first installment of what's going to come later.

It's a down payment, if you will.

Have you ever wanted to buy something and you had to put a deposit on it to reserve it for yourself later?

That's the idea here.

This is what God has done for us as a deposit.

He's given us his very Holy Spirit to live on the inside, telling us we have a wonderful inheritance that we look forward to.

And so we are a people that are waiting eagerly.

Here's the point of this first section.

You and I have an inconsolable longing for our heart's deepest desire that will not be satisfied by anything in this world.

We have a desire for our greater joy, and that joy is not going to be found in this creation because God has subjected this creation to frustration on purpose, so that you will not be able to find your joy here.

You will have to wait for your greatest joy in the world to come.

The faith of Christianity doesn't deny pain, it gives it context.

Christianity both explains best the pain and the beauty that we find in this fallen world.

There is real suffering in the world.

There's real suffering in this room.

Chronic illness, disabilities, grief, caregiver fatigue, loneliness.

This isn't to be minimized.

We need to hear the groaning.

So if you're groaning today, the scripture says you're not weak, you're human.

And you're not alone.

But remember this believers always groan with hope, not despair.

That leads us to our second section today.

The hope that sustains us.

God is actively redeeming.

We have to look forward and wait patiently for what God has for us, because when we see what He has for us, it puts the pain in a different kind of perspective, if you will.

Paul continues in verse 24.

Paul says, For in this hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is no hope at all.

Who hopes for what they already have?

But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

So here, Paul is saying, Yes, I know you are suffering, but hang on, it will one day come to an end.

That's why our great hope is important.

This world is not your home.

Your best days are still ahead of you.

Yes, in this life, our experiences will be tainted by pain and sorrow and suffering, but none of that is the last word.

Friends, we can't even comprehend how good it is going to be.

Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it even entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him.

Therefore, we can suffer now with patience and dignity and hope.

Why?

Because we know what's coming.

Verse 26.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless what?

Groans.

Notice that word weakness there.

There is weakness in our lives.

And when that weakness occurs, we feel our flesh is weak and our spirit is weak.

Our faith can even be weak.

And if we're honest with ourselves, there are moments where we're so weak it's difficult to even pray.

I can attest to that.

Even as a pastor, I find it sometimes it's difficult to pray.

Thankfully, in those moments, Paul says the Spirit Himself intercedes for you.

So as Christians, we suffer and we groan and we look forward, but we also can look inward.

I'm so thankful that we have a God who doesn't sit back and just tell us what to do.

I'm so thankful we have a God that just doesn't sit back and give us some good advice.

I'm so thankful that instead we have a God that enters into our suffering with us and groans alongside of us and has sent his spirit to live in our very hearts to help us to bear this sorrow.

He is God Himself.

He is the one who has created you.

He is the one who loves you.

And there is no pit so deep, Corey Temboon used to say, whereas God's love is not deeper still.

God is on the inside to help us.

And this is the help we need.

Verse 27 continues the same thought.

Paul continues saying, And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people.

That's us, in accordance with the will of God.

So here he's saying that the Holy Spirit intercedes for you, meaning he says those things that you want to say, but you can't quite articulate those things in the moment.

He comes alongside of you, like your lawyer.

He's advocating for you, he's speaking for you, he's interceding on your behalf.

You and I are not alone.

We're surrounded on the outside by our loving brothers and sisters in Christ.

And we also have God the Holy Spirit living on the inside who is comforting us even in our suffering and groaning within.

In the meantime, while we groan, while we wait, we are also given one of the most amazing promises in the whole Bible.

Romans 8, 28.

Look at this.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who may who have been called according to his purpose.

This is such, I know you know this verse, this is such a powerful promise from God to you, who's always working in difficult circumstances for your good if you love God.

This is a promise that God will literally, somehow, providentially, sovereignly, work out all everything, our circumstances, our failures, our victories, our desires, even suffering, for your good.

All things, Chuck Swindah used to say to us, the promise is not partial, it's total.

All things.

Notice, Paul is very confident here.

He says, we know, circle that.

We know.

He doesn't say we suppose.

He doesn't say we hope.

He doesn't say we wish.

He says we know God is working all things together for the good.

Amen?

It's like that song that we sing.

Even when we don't see it, he's working.

Even when we don't feel it, he's working.

He never stops.

He never stops working.

We the reason we gather and sing those kinds of songs is because we need to be reminded of the promises that are right here in God's word.

And so we come week after week to reinforce the promises of God's word into our hearts.

All things.

Notice this verse doesn't mean that we won't experience pain.

It doesn't mean that we won't experience difficulty.

Rather, what it means is that even in our pain, there's a purpose.

So yeah, it's hard, but it is never senseless.

Never senseless.

There is always a purpose.

And it is all under the control of a sovereign, perfect, wise, omnipotent, omniscient God.

And in the meantime, what is the main thing that this God is doing in my life and in yours?

What's the main thing?

Because I'm pretty sure he's not as concerned about alleviating my suffering as I am.

What is the main thing that God is doing in this world?

It tells us in verse 29.

For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

This is what God is doing, He's making us.

More into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect one.

So when Romans 8.28 says God is working all things together for the good, this is the primary good that he has in mind here.

Meaning God is working all things together for the good in order to conform you to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is good.

And this requires some remodeling.

Have you ever seen a home remodel?

Sometimes it's messy.

Sometimes you got to tear that thing down to the studs.

It doesn't look comfortable or good at the time, but God is working to remodel us into something beautiful.

We are all a work in progress.

And sometimes that work involves groaning.

Amen?

But Chuck Swindah used to tell us the greater the groan, the greater the glory.

Amen.

Going back to Nick Vojacich.

On the inside, he was wrestling with all this.

He was wrestling with this crushing question.

And the question that he couldn't figure out was, why would God make me like this?

By age eight, he believed God intellectually, but emotionally he felt totally abandoned by God.

As a child in an early teen, he started to battle depression.

As I mentioned, he once contemplated ending his life.

The theology he knew in his head had not yet become the hope that he trusted with his heart.

The turning point came when he was 15 years old and heard a sermon on John chapter 9, the same text that we looked at last Sunday.

John 9 · chapter mention

The story of the man born blind.

You remember that story, right?

Nick hears this story for the first time, and there's a verse in that story that lands on him and like is like a key that unlocks a door in his heart.

And the verse was John 9 3 that says, Oh, this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in this man.

That verse changed Nick's life.

In that moment, all of his perspective pivoted.

He realized his disability was not a cosmic mistake.

Rather, he could be a canvas that God could use to paint something meaningful.

So in that moment, instead of asking why me, he started asking a different question.

And the new question was, how could God use me?

That shift didn't immediately erase the hardship, but it ignited something inside of his faith.

He surrendered his life to Christ in a deeper and personal way, choosing to trust that God had a purpose even in his limitations.

And there, the boy who once felt disqualified started to feel commissioned.

From there, this guy's life became a living sermon.

He starts speaking in small settings, in school settings, in small churches.

Then they move him up to larger settings.

And now he's in Colosseums and stadiums.

The very body he once viewed as a barrier became the pulpit that God uses to preach hope.

This guy doesn't stand before hundreds or thousands.

He stands before a hundred thousand people and preaches the message of Jesus.

Huge crowds, millions of people have been impacted by Nick Voychic.

Why?

Because he surrendered his life to God.

Romans 8, 30 concludes this particular section with a great word of hope, as Paul says, and those he predestined, he also called, and those who called, he also justified, and those he justified, he also glorified.

The hope that's being seen here in Romans 8 is on the one hand future-oriented, on the other hand, it's present-tense sustaining.

God is not reacting, he's purposefully at work, and our hope does not escape suffering, rather, it finds God redeeming through it.

And sometimes our God does his deepest work through the groaning and through the waiting.

But God never intends us to endure that kind of waiting alone.

He has sent his son who can empathize with our every weakness.

And then his son sent his spirit and lit the flame of the church of Jesus Christ.

And the body is designed to come around those who suffer to care well.

And that's the third section I want to talk to you about today.

The way God cares, it's through his body.

Flip over with me now to 1 Corinthians chapter 12 as I shift gears without a clutch, and I look at a different text, same author.

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

Paul is speaking again.

This time he's using a different metaphor.

This time he's using the metaphor of a human body.

1 Corinthians 12, 12 says this just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.

So here we are, this image of the church that Jesus Christ has founded.

And the image Paul chooses to get into our minds is the image of a body.

And so right here, I think there's a couple of wrong attitudes that can happen when it comes to being part of the body.

And this applies to maybe somebody who has a disability, but also it could apply to somebody who doesn't have a disability.

There are two wrong attitudes when it comes to relating to the body of Christ.

The first one is this the church doesn't need me.

Sometimes people won't say this out loud, but they will think this in their heart.

The church really doesn't need me.

If that's you, if that's your thought, that is a lie.

That is not true.

If you have somehow felt that the church doesn't value you, or the church has no need for you, or hey, it's all taken care of by those professional people up there, that is not true at all.

If we've given you that impression, may I ask for your forgiveness, please.

That is not the way God has set up his church to function.

God has set up his church in such a way to function as it needs you to be a functioning, healthy body.

So if we have communicated somehow that you're not important, that is not a message from God.

God specifically designs his church with a body, and the parts function together.

So if Millington Baptist Church is your church home, we desperately need you here.

That's not true at all.

Paul continues to draw this out in the next paragraph.

Bear with me as I read.

Now, if the foot should say, Because I'm not a hand, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.

And if the ear should say, because I'm not an eye, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.

If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?

If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?

But in fact, God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.

If they were all one part, where would the body be?

As it is, there are many parts but one body.

So what he's talking about with this body image is that each of us, after we accept the Lord Jesus Christ, have been given gifts to serve the body, spiritual gifts.

A spiritual gift is a supernatural ability given by the Holy Spirit to a believer to empower them to serve the body of Christ with effectiveness.

And can I say that gifts are wonderful?

But if you think that that gift is given for you, you mistake the understanding and the meaning of God's spiritual gifts.

One of my prophets, Michael Spiegel, used to say it this way: spiritual gifts are not what the Spirit gives to you.

They are what the Spirit gives to the church through you.

Spiritual gifts are not what God has given to you, they are what the Spirit has given to the church through you.

That's what a spiritual gift is.

I saw this troubling statistic this week.

And the statistics showed that only a small percentage of church members feel like they have opportunities to use their giftings at church.

The lowest percentage was Gen Z.

Now let me share with you something with you that was a revelation to me as a young Christian, might be a revelation for you today.

I don't know.

Here it is.

You are the ministers of the church.

You may have never thought of yourself as that word minister before, but the Bible very clearly teaches that God gives pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.

You are the ministers of the church.

It can never be done by a couple professional people who are somehow going to figure out how to do all.

Listen, somewhere, like I don't know, 80 years ago or something, we got this idea that we would hire a minister and the minister would do the ministry.

Now that would, first of all, be totally impossible.

Impossible.

Even if I could do all of that, which I can't, even if I could do all that, it wouldn't be good for me to do all that because you would miss out on the opportunity to serve using the gifts that God has given you.

So that is the incorrect model of the church.

Everyone has a gift, and everyone is to serve the church to have an effective body.

It's kind of like if you've been turning on the TV after work this week, it's like Team USA.

We have this Olympic team, and there's all kinds of different athletes on this team.

The country's team needs all these different types of athletes to compete as a country together in the Olympics.

Like that.

Paul says the church is like a body with different parts and different giftings, and you all need each other, and you need each other's gifts to function in a healthy way.

The body metaphor is not just sentimental, it is functional.

You have a gift.

The only question is how has God gifted you and how are you using it?

Today, not ten years ago.

Today.

If you don't know your gift, our director of discipleship, Amy Huber, has put together this incredible discipleship portal.

Inside the portal, there's a lot of spiritual formation resources.

One of those resources is a very easy digital spiritual gifts test.

You can take out your phone right now and just like grab that QR code.

It'll take you to a link where you set up a free account through Millington, and we have an incredible discipleship portal there with all kinds of cool stuff that Amy has put together.

She's worked really hard at this.

It's really pretty awesome.

And it's a good tool to help you understand how God has wired and gifted you to serve the body.

I would encourage you to grab that QR code and just do it later.

And if you don't get it, Amy's in the foyer, she'd be glad to talk to you more about that because we want you to know what your gift is and be free to serve here.

So that's the first wrong attitude.

The first wrong attitude is the church doesn't need me.

Second wrong attitude is the opposite side of that coin.

It's I don't need the church.

That's an equally destructive, corrosive, toxic attitude that sometimes creeps into the body of Christ, too.

Of course you need the church.

There are many things you can successfully do alone.

Growing as a Christian is not one of those things.

1 Corinthians 12, 21 continues by Paul saying, the eye cannot say to the hand, I don't need you.

And the head cannot say to the feet, I don't need you.

On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.

And the parts that we think are less honorable, we treat with special honor.

And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty.

While our presentable parts need no special treatment, but God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.

So see the point he's making?

We need you, you need us.

There are no lone ranger Christians.

There are no lone wolf Christians.

We need you, you need us to function in a healthy way.

The problem, I think, maybe one of the problems is that word weaker.

See that?

We don't want to appear as if we need anything, as if we are weak in any way, shape, or form.

That is uncomfortable.

We don't want to burden people.

We don't want to be weak.

We don't want to have to depend.

We don't want to ask for help.

But yet God has set up his church in such a way that all of us should have the joy of being a giver, and all of us need to have the humility of being a receiver.

And this is the way the body works.

Maybe sometimes we don't think we are like the other people around us, and we compare ourselves with other people, and they think, you know, they got it all together.

Believe me, they don't, but we compare wrongly, and sometimes we misunderstand weakness and what that's supposed to look like in the body of Christ.

But we struggle to ask for what we need.

Some people have disabilities, and their weakness is very visible, very obvious.

And then other kinds of disabilities are more invisible and less obvious.

Sometimes disabilities look like this on the top line, and then sometimes disabilities look like this on the bottom line.

Right?

For some people, it's not obvious.

It may be that they struggle with autism or or Asperger's, or they may have a mental issue.

They may have ADD or ADHD, or they may have anxiety or depression, or they may have PTSD because they've seen some things that no one should have to see.

Or they may have some other mental health issue, or they could have issues like a severe food intolerance that creates a barrier for them to even fellowship sometimes.

And so the list goes on and on and on.

There are visible disabilities, there are invisible disabilities, and we need the church to come around us to help support each other in our time of need.

So you need the church, the church needs you.

Both of those ideas, they're wrong.

26 kind of wraps up this section, and I'll just finish with this.

Paul says this if one part suffers, every part suffers with it.

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.

That verse, I think, is a key verse when thinking about ministry to those who have a disability.

For this, God's primary instrument of care is not programs, it is people.

The body that reconnects what suffering isolates.

The church is not a crowd that watches suffering, it is a body that absorbs it.

Independence sounds strong, sounds American.

The scripture would call that unnatural.

But the question is, are we willing to step into interdependence?

We have a ministry here called Stephen Ministry.

It provides one-to-one lay care to men or women who are going through a difficult season of life or loss.

If that ministry would bless you, would you please come up and talk to me after the service?

I would love to connect you with someone who would love to meet you and care for you and pray for you along your journey.

I want to show you a graphic that Dr.

Ed Carter, the Executive Director of Baylor University's Center for Disability and Flourishing, created.

This is something that Sarah Bush, the rep from Johnny and Friends who was here last week, showed us, and I think this is really helpful.

And I want to share it with the larger body.

This first circle, where all the tiny circles are the same color, represents exclusion.

This is when a church has become comfortable with everyone who attends on a Sunday morning, but everyone is the same.

There are no drastic differences among them.

And most often this is simply ignorance towards differences in our society.

They simply don't know what they don't know.

It's exclusive.

The second circle is still all white, but you'll notice there's a small group of colored circles just outside of it.

This represents segregation.

The church has become aware that there's a group out there of people who have differences in society, but they're not yet quite comfortable letting them in.

The third circle, still white, but that small group of colored circles has come just inside, but they stay together while they're inside.

This represents integration.

The church has become aware of a service opportunity and joyfully reaches out to serve this one group of people, but they must stay in their group or they must stay in just this one room of the church.

This fourth circle is still mostly white, but you see many colored circles are dispersed throughout it.

This represents inclusion.

Now the church has embraced this community full of differences.

They have a wonderful disability ministry where each person is served in a variety of ways and feels very comfortable at that church, even serving because they're loved.

Now I could stop here, because that's pretty good.

But it's this last circle that I think is the real goal.

This is what belonging looks like.

Now, every single circle is of a different color because the church has embraced the idea that no one person is the same, and each person is a part of the body of Christ.

Not only are they a part of it, but they each have their own role and they each have their own job to fulfill within the body.

Each person brings their own giftings to the church, and each person is encouraged to use their own giftings in the church.

By the way, this vision is not restricted to disability ministry.

This is the vision for everyone who would come to our church and anyone who would find our church to be their church home, right?

A Scottish theologian named John Swinton once said, You don't truly belong until you are missed.

And isn't that what each of us wants?

A place of real belonging?

A place like cheers, everybody knows your name kind of place.

Inclusion is a community that has got it.

As people, I think we long for a place of belonging.

And we have that place of belonging in the kingdom of God in the future.

But while we are here on this earth, the Church of Jesus Christ has the responsibility of reaching out as the hands and feet of the Lord Jesus.

Therefore, the church needs to be a place of belonging too.

Sarah Bush told us last week there's a woman at her church that texts her every time she misses a Sunday.

Her texts are simple.

They just say something like, I pray you had a beautiful and blessed day.

We missed you.

She gets it.

She makes her feel like she has a place of belonging.

If you were to look around today, would you notice who's not here today?

Would you just take a second and just look around?

Let me give you permission to do that for a second.

How many of our friends are not here and we don't even know it?

Now take that to the realm of disability.

How many of our friends who are affected by disability will ever get a text message like that or a call like that?

Their attendance, by definition, will be inconsistent.

But by reaching out to them in that way, just noticing their absence, that's a simple way to communicate.

We're a place of belonging.

It matters that you're not here.

So notice the emphasis in my sermon is not heroic moments.

It's just faithful presence, a care that's mutual, but not one-directional.

It's just friendship, not charity.

This is Romans 8 hope with 1 Corinthians 12 hands.

Nick Voyacic, today as a follower of Christ, has what he calls a ridiculously good life.

Nick has faced the obstacles that living without limbs brings head on.

He has participated in activities that many would say would have been impossible with his limitation.

Soccer, surfing, swimming, boating.

And while Nick has learned not only to enjoy the recreational side of life, which is impressive, it is his passion for encouraging others, which is most remarkable to me.

Nick travels all over the world to share the message of hope in Jesus Christ and encourages thousands through his ministry every year.

Nick wrote this, I want to read this to you.

When I'm asked how I can claim a ridiculously good life when I have no arms or legs, people assume I'm suffering from what I lack.

They inspect my body and wonder how I could possibly give my life to God who allowed me to be born without limbs.

Others have attempted to soothe me by saying that God has all the answers, and then when I'm in heaven, I'll find out his intentions.

Instead, I choose to live by what the Bible says, which is that God is the answer today.

And tomorrow.

And always.

When people read about my life or witness me living it, they're prone to congratulate me for being victorious over my disabilities.

And I tell them, my victory came in surrender.

It comes every day when I acknowledge that I can't do this on my own.

So I say to God, I give it to you.

Once I yield, the Lord takes my pain and turns it into something good.

He gave my life meaning when no one and nothing else could provide it.

And if God can take someone like me, someone without arms and legs, and use me as his hands and his feet, that line.

If God can use this guy as his hands and his feet, isn't that amazing?

He can use anybody, he says, because it's not about ability.

The only thing God needs from you is a willing heart.

So, what made the difference in his life?

I assert this morning that Nick has had a significant number of people to come around him throughout his whole life, and that's what made the difference.

Family, friends, a church community, caretakers, professionals.

His family, despite facing severe bullying and depression as a child, Nick had the strong support of both of his parents and relatives.

His mother played a very key role in advocating for this little guy, including helping to change laws in Australia that initially mandated his segregation from the other students.

A support team.

Due to his physical limitations, as you might guess, Nick has a whole team of people who have to care for him and assist him every day with all of his daily needs.

A professional circle.

He works with an entire team, including a speaking coach and other people who work for his organization, Life Without Limbs.

And even marriage and children.

In 2010, he met his wife.

They married in 2012.

They now have four kids together.

And he has a global community.

As a motivational speaker and evangelist, he's traveled to 57 countries, spoke to crowds of up to 110,000 people, and has engaged with millions worldwide, who he encourages, but also encourages him.

Nick's journey, as he describes it, involved moving from a place of isolation to being surrounded by a loving family and a global community that shares the message of hope with him too.

That's the vision.

A place of Romans 8 hope with 1 Corinthians 12 hands.

How can we bear the load together?

How can we be a church that lives this out, where people aren't suffering alone, where care is shared, where if one part suffers, we suffer together.

Here's how.

Some of you, you're here and you need care.

And I want to give you permission to receive care.

And some of you, you're called to give care right now in this season of your life.

And we're going to give you an invitation to join the team.

In a couple weeks, when this series is over, we're going to talk about who wants to step up and be part of this.

And that will be your opportunity to do that.

Just pray about it.

But I promise you, it's not going to be about we need some volunteers.

It's going to be this is how the body works.

Now you might be thinking, uh, I don't know how to do any of that stuff.

But there's no need to be afraid.

You don't have to be an expert, you don't have to fix anybody, you just have to be present.

Today we've learned a few things.

First, we learned that we have to acknowledge the groaning of this world.

Secondly, we have learned that we thank God for his spirit who intercedes for us and gives us a great hope.

And third, we've learned that we need to ask our God to knit his body together in love.

That's Romans 8, hope, with 1 Corinthians 12, hands.

Amen.

Can we pray as the worship team comes together?

Gracious God, thank you for meeting us here today.

Through your word, through your spirit, through your people, thank you that any suffering here is not unseen.

It's seen by you, and it's never meaningless, and it's never faced alone.

So we praise you that you're a God who sees, and we also praise you that you are redeeming all things, even the pain we do not today understand.

And we thank you for your spirit who intercedes when we're weak, and for the promise that nothing can ever separate us from your love.

Now, would you help us to live out what we read about and what we've heard?

Would you make us more attentive towards those who are hurting?

Would you make us humble enough to receive the care that we need?

And would you make us faithful in presence, willing just to walk with others consistently?

Would you knit this church together in love?

Until the day of redemption is complete and all the groaning gives way to glory.

Would you give us steady hope and rich compassion for your people?

We entrust ourselves to you and our church to you.

You are building your church.

We pray it all in the matchless name of our Lord and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And everyone said, Amen.