The Body — Working As One

Good morning, everyone, and for those of you who are online and those of you

who do not know who I am, my name is David Frank. I usually go by Dave.

I was a pastor for 20 years in this area.

I recently changed ministries a couple years ago. I moved up to Medford,

Wisconsin to become a chaplain.

So now I normally go by Chaplain Dave instead of Pastor Dave. Same difference.

But I was going to preach a sermon today But it's already been preached for

me Terry, don't mean to single you out But the work that you've done for this

church You deserve a major round of applause.

Brayden, who isn't here today, we see how important he is to the music of this

church and just a great asset he is to the worship team.

Today, I want to talk about the body of Christ, the church, who we are.

And I was actually looking through some of the brochures in the back there,

and I was reading through what it means to be part of the Free Methodist Church.

And one of the things it says in there is that the church is the people, not the building.

And I thought, that's awesome because it's true.

Yeah, we call this building a church, but we are the people.

So a little more about me. I don't want to take up too much time about myself,

but I do have connections to this church.

I have been attending here for the last few months with my sister.

My sister is the one who brought me here. This became her church when she attended

with my grandmother. My grandmother's name was Hilda Frank.

My grandmother Hilda and my grandfather George were members of this church for a long time.

Pastor Marsh, you may have known them. My grandma was probably my biggest encourager

for me going into the ministry.

And she was a lot of my financial support too because I was poor for quite a

while. and she loved me and she spoiled me and.

By the way, I was putting on this headset earlier, and Phil noted that my head

is bigger than Pastor Tim's.

So you could take that in a literal sense, and you could probably take that

in the other sense as well.

But today, I want to read to you from the book of 1 Corinthians 12.

And I'm going to begin at verse 12. It says.

Body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one spirit into one

body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free.

And we were all given this one spirit to drink.

Now the body is made up of not, now the body is not made up of one part, but of many.

If the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I don't belong to the body,

it would for that reason cease to be a 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 cease to be a 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 arranged the parts of the body, every one of them,

just as he wanted them to be.

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

All it is there, all it is, are there many parts but one body.

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 combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to

its 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.

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.

If one part is honored, every part rejoices with it,

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it And the

church, God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers,

then workers of miracles Also those having gifts of healing,

those who are able to help others Those with gifts of administration,

and those speaking in different kinds of tongues are all

apostles are all prophets are all teachers do all work miracles do all have

gifts of healing do all speak in tongues do all interpret but eagerly desire the greater gifts,

now in hospice i've learned a lot about how the body works and and sometimes how it doesn't work.

And I've learned that there are different signs that we look for when people

are in the stage, active stage of dying.

One thing that I learned that has really hit me hard is that as the brain starts

to die towards the end of life,

the last part of the brain that dies is the part that remembers music.

And as a chaplain this is extremely important

for me to know because I have people that have dementia that have end-stage

dementia that I really struggle to communicate with and part of my job is to

connect with people I had one lady her she I don't think I had one complete conversation with her.

But at Christmas time, we went together and we sang Christmas hymns.

And she knew everyone and she knew every word.

And for that reason, I always, whenever I meet my school teachers who are like

choir directors or music teachers, I always say, I'm sorry.

Because I never thought in a million years music would have any impact on my

life. And now I found out it's one of the most important parts.

I got a kick when the physical education teacher came up because it reminded

me of meeting up with my former physical education teacher.

I was doing laundry in the laundromat, and he came in.

Claire Hagg, I don't know if you knew Claire, but Claire was fit until the day he died.

And all I could think of as I left the laundromat that day is Mr.

Hagg must be thinking to himself, where did I go wrong with this kid?

Physical education is extremely important, and God bless you.

God bless you. Make our kids fit. Don't let them become like me.

I've been reading this book, and the book is by Charles Coulson,

and it's called The Church, The Body.

And a quote that I took out of that book is, To be the church,

our highest calling Depends on understanding the very character Of the body of Christ on earth,

Our goal is to be like Jesus We are called to become like Christ And whoever

read that, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17,

2 Corinthians 5:17

When you come to know Christ You become a new creation And I can't begin to

tell you of all the changes that happened in my life when I became to know Christ.

When I was a kid, I hated to talk. I didn't like people.

I just wanted everybody to leave me alone and I wanted to stay in my own little bubble.

When I found out that who Christ was and I gained an understanding of who he

was, I wanted to talk to everybody.

And that's my life now. I talk to people. And I'm learning just amazing things

about people. And people are amazing.

Talk to people you don't know. Talk to people you know. Talk to everybody.

Just find out about people because there's a lot of things we can learn from each other.

Charles also had another quote. But what the church needs most desperately is

holy fear, the passion to please God more than the culture and community in

which we spend these few short years.

Meaning teach people about Christ, about who he is, about what he did for us.

I mean, there's a lot of people out there who don't know.

In my conversations in person and online, I'm seeing a lot of people who don't know who Jesus is.

The body of Christ was made to please God. And how do we please God?

We please God by sharing his love with others,

Now Ephesians, the fifth chapter, describes the relationship with the church

and Jesus The body of Christ and Jesus as a marriage covenant.

One flesh We are to be one with Jesus But like the human body,

the body of Christ is made up of many parts,

And every part is inspired by God,

Every part of the body of Christ is inspired by the Holy Spirit Each part has

a specific purpose And a reason to be a part of the body So every part is also an individual,

We are many but we're also one.

Like a contradiction, but it really isn't. And finally, every part is needed.

We need every part to work as part of the church so that the church can function

as a healthy body. So every part is important.

You see how he did that? I used all eyes.

Now the Hebrew word for spirit is ruach.

I took a little bit of Hebrew language. I don't remember much,

but this is one of the ones that I remember.

There's a reason why I remember it so much, is because that same word is used

to describe the English word breath.

So when God gives us his spirit, he's literally breathing it into us.

And if you read, there's a verse, and I didn't look it up, and I apologize for

that, but it says all scripture is God-breathed, and it's useful for rebuking, teaching, etc., etc.

We are inspired by God. God equips us to do ministry through his spirit.

The spirit is also the spirit of truth. God breathes the truth into us.

And again, that same truth is the truth that's found in scripture.

When the Bible says that scripture is truth, because it is God breathed.

There's also a verse in Hebrews that talks about God not being able to lie. Why?

Because if he did, he wouldn't be God. I've recently seen some of these quote

unquote political, oh, what do you call them?

Protests. They're the no Kings protests.

The original no Kings protest was done by God.

And I'll share this with you, 1 Samuel 8, verses 6 and 7.

1 Samuel 8:6

It says, But when they said, Give us a king to lead us, this pleased Samuel. So he prayed to the Lord.

And the Lord told him, Listen to all that the people are saying to you.

It is not you who they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.

God sent his son, and they rejected him too. And they still reject him today.

We are to have one king, and that king is Jesus.

1 Corinthians 12, verse 13, which I read earlier, it says, For all were baptized

1 Corinthians 12:13

by one spirit so as to form one body, whether Jew or Gentile, slave or free.

And we were all given the one spirit to drink.

Each part of us has the Holy Spirit. We are one.

And that spirit should lead us to God and what God wants us to do.

I found out in my life that there were a lot of things I wanted.

But eventually, when I became that new creation, I tried to find out what God wanted.

And what I find out is that God wants a lot.

First of all, he wants our hearts. He wants us to follow him.

And then he wants us to love others and to share with others.

We were all designed for a specific purpose, and part of life's goals and life's

ambition is to find that purpose.

To accomplish this purpose, as I said before, we need to set apart our own purposes.

We need to look at God and what he's doing and join him in what he's doing.

In John chapter 15, verses 4 and 5, Jesus says this, Remain in me as I also remain in you.

John 15:4

No branch can bear fruit on its own. It must remain in the vine.

Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

Two chapters later in chapter 17, Jesus prays for believers.

First he prays for himself, then he prays for his disciples,

and then he prays for all believers.

And as he's praying, we get down to verses 22 and 23.

He says this, I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be

one as you are one, I in them and you in me, so that they may be brought to complete unity.

Then the world will know that you sent me and that you have loved them even as you have loved me.

Remember what Jesus did to express his love for us.

Before we were even born, before

we were ever thought of, Jesus went to the cross and he died for us.

And then when we turned our backs on him and became sinners he still went to the cross and died for us.

Likes to make us conform to its standards. Every day we are being molded into

something that the world wants us to be.

And God wants something different.

You know, every day I stare at a screen.

Actually, I stare at a lot of screens. I stare at my phone. I stare at my work

computer. I stare at my television.

Everywhere I go, there's a different screen that I'm looking into.

I go into the restaurant and I stare up into their screens.

One of those screens is trying to program me into something.

And one of the things we have to do is fight against that.

I hate talking politics.

I don't decide one way or another. I'm a follower of Jesus. I'm a Christian.

All my policy is based on the word of God and the life of Jesus Christ.

And it's a struggle because the world wants you to pick sides.

It is literally trying to drive us apart.

But Christ wants us to be one. You know, even the disciples came from different

backgrounds. Matthew was a tax collector.

Judas was involved in money as well, apparently taking it. John and James were fishermen.

They were all individuals.

But when they followed Jesus, they became one.

And even when they scattered after Jesus was put on the cross,

they came back together. They remained as one.

And even today, we have a church for eyes, a church for noses,

a church for ears, a church for feet, a church for hands.

See, everyone wants to be with people who are just like them.

But in a church, we need all those people.

And believe me, I was in a couple of church that I think were missing a couple eyes and a few hands.

And, you know, the churches I was in weren't healthy bodies.

And for that reason, I'm very skeptical about getting back into preaching I

mean, I like what I'm doing now, but there's opportunities out there Because

there's a lot of churches who are looking for preachers.

We're all preachers. I think it was St. Francis of Assisi who said,

you know, share the gospel and if necessary, use words.

You probably do more to share the gospel with the way you act than anything you'll ever say.

People won't listen to the words you say, but they'll watch your every move.

Ministry is as unique as its ministers.

Each one of us is an individual. Each one of us is responsible for sharing the

gospel, but we're all going to do it each in our different ways.

You just got to find out what that talent is and use it to the best of your ability.

Every two weeks, we have what is called an interdisciplinary group meeting where

all of us that are involved in hospice, we have nurses, we have.

Replens and then we have health aids and we all get together and we talk about

our patients and what we can do to make things better for them,

to make them comfortable.

When I heard that letter this morning about the lady who said she wasn't feeling

any pain, I just wanted to shout hallelujah because I know people that they're just in constant pain.

I see people who are just in constant pain all the time and all they want is

a little relief from that pain.

And when When Kim read that letter, I felt that.

I felt that. Somebody who was comfortable. And praise God. Praise God.

In Hebrews chapter 13, verses 15 and 16,

Hebrews 13:15

the writer writes, Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God

a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that openly profess his name,

and do not forget to do good and to share with others,

for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Acknowledge Jesus with your lips

And go out and Acknowledge him with your lifestyle Every part is important,

When I was Pastoring up in West Lima The church there Was.

Trouble with ministry. And the reason they had trouble with ministry is that

there were a couple of leaders there that were basically of the attitude,

it was my way or the highway.

And most of the time it ended up being the highway. And there were a lot of

ministries that were available, but were never done because the church could not get support.

And I had people who wanted to come in and they wanted to join the church and

they wanted to do ministry, but they weren't allowed because of the leadership.

Again, another reason why I'm very skeptical about getting back into pastoral

leadership because there's always those barriers.

We are individuals, but we have to work as one and every part is important.

Verse 27, now you are the body of Christ and each one of you is a part of it.

Skip down to verse 29 and 30. Are all apostles, are all prophets,

are all teachers? Do all have the gifts of healing?

Obviously no. You've got all these believers and you've got 12 apostles.

You've got a few prophets, but there are tongues.

And each one of us is. When Jesus leaves his disciples, he says,

therefore, go and make disciples of all nations.

Baptize them in the name of the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit.

And he says, and I will be with you to the very end of the age.

Jesus is going to be with us every step of the way.

We are each given gifts. And we're each given the gift of the Holy Spirit.

So God gives us the gifts to use. And then he gives us the Holy Spirit to give

us the courage to use those gifts and the ability to use those gifts and the wisdom.

In Romans chapter 12, verses 4 and 5, it says, For just as each one of us has

Romans 12:4

one body with many members, and those members do not all have the same function,

so in Christ we, though many,

form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

Same message. Romans 1, verses 11 and 12, I long to see you so that I may impart

Romans 1:11

to you some spiritual gift to make you strong.

That is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith.

We gather here on Sunday mornings to encourage one another.

I get encouraged by the worship team. I get encouraged by the message that I hear every day.

I get encouraged by the faces I see as I'm walking in the door because I know I'm not alone.

You know, there's a lot of people in the world that are suffering from loneliness.

They all just want somebody to be with them, somebody to care.

Where are we at, church? Use your gift to build up your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Encourage them daily, even your friends that you like to embarrass here at church.

Be an encouragement and do what Pastor Tim tells us to do at the end of every service.

Go out and serve a world that desperately needs Jesus because there's a suffering

world out there and it needs Jesus.