1As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope when you were called - 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all....
11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14Then we will not longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does it's work.
Series - The Body of Christ
Last wee, who are we...a soul
this week, we are connected...the difference that makes
next week...why I think WCC is worth supporting
Step card
early
Toby Keith - country song - I wanna talk about me
You know talking about you makes me grin
But every now and then
I wanna talk about me
Wanna talk about I
Wanna talk about number one
On my me my
What I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see
I like talking about you you you you, usually, but occasionally
I wanna talk about me
the sermon today is not about you and it is not about me. It is about us, it is about we
the scripture says-
make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope when you were called - 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Unity - oneness - All of us souls are connected
So what we do and do to each other, matters
God has a body, we are it. Yet we tend to act like individuals
The respiratory system will not function without the digestive system, circulatory system, vice versa
The reformation did us some favors and no favors - positive changes in society
Introduced individually - One-ness out of hand is an attack on community
We used to have to work together just to survive
Our modern life is focused on my and mine
Yet we are all interconnected
The holding of hands. The hugging of necks.....
Scriptural basis for this - it is a theme of scripture
Remember in the big inning. It was not good that man was alone
In Genesis, in Abraham, We are blessed to be a blessing
John 17 - Jesus prays that they might be one
Romans 8 everything is waiting for redemption
1 Corinthians 12 - 16
there is no other. We are in this together...If the hand thinks its not a part...to bad - you are still a part of the body
1 John 4 God is Love... If we are connected to God, we must be connected to each other because God is love
What does this mean
- We are in this together
- We can't hurt another without hurting ourselves. 12:26 if one past suffers
- We have to begin to think about using our resources for the common good. Time, talent and treasure, for the good of all
- Think of what can be done when the body works in synch
We spend a lot of time differentiating that which is not me. More things are you than you think
many illustrations of the principle of the connectedness in life
Steve Cook is my neighbor. I feed his dog. He kills my wasps. I water our common tree. He paints my house.
Kevin Bacon - 6 Degrees of Separation - see below
The largest living organism in the world is an Aspen Grove - A Single grove can grow large enough to cover an entire mountainside while the trees within the grove are interconnected through their shared root system. Each tree stands as an individual and at the same time is connected to the whole.
The aspen grove is our model for the interconnectedness of all life
Names of people you are related to.
kemper, toll, heising, mather, hanson, richardson, wallace, howe, degraff, teller, lee hammett, field, dudley, lewis, webster, williams, stebbins, taylor, schmidt, smith, stadler, wright
DNA - book by a scientist who became a Christian...6billion people go back to 10,000 sources of dna
There is no them and us. Only we.
Late - so what - We are all connected
-the church is more than what is here for me
-the christian faith invited us into a family, a very big family
Healthy families build each other up, support each other emotionally, spiritually, financially
the body, the earthly things, the time, talent and treasure are given to us to bless the soul. Ours and others, for the common good
the result is a unity, that
I am living for something greater than myself
When we are rooted in Christ, we live out of him, towards everyone else
16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does it work.
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