Transcription
I love the church. Do you? It's beautiful, isn't it?
I was recently walking into church with my six-year-old, and he asked this question, which I just—it was so funny because it's an authentic, just honest six-year-old question. He's like, "We go to church, and he goes, 'Is it free?'" I was like, "To go to church?" He's like, "Yeah, is it free?" Because we've been, you know, starting to talk about like giving and all the things. "Is it free to go to church?" And I was like, "Actually, it is free to go to church." Like, and then we talked about where worship kind of falls in and where giving falls into that picture.
But the fact that this is just a time that we gather, and you get to be with people, and then you get greeted by people who pray for you and love you, and then they try to push you to get into a group, and then you're like, "I don't know, maybe, maybe we'll see. Is the video good enough?" You know, we just do this as humans. But the church is for you because we are the church. You get to show up. You get to be known and loved here.
I really love the church, but I also recognize it is ugly at times, right? There's a lot of ways the Bible describes the church. One of them is the bride of Christ. Have you heard that description? The church is the bride of Christ. Have you ever seen a bride on their wedding day? There's some really lovely ones, and then there's what's called a bridezilla, right? Which is the bride you don't want to be around because on that day, she is not at her best. Uh, because she has all these pressures to be all these different things, right?
What we're going to be studying today, today is one of the ways the church is described, and it's this: as the body of Christ. The hands, the feet, the heart. God's body here on Earth. The way sometimes that God quite literally touches us through the hug of a greeter or the people around you when you need it most. We, if you've given your life over to Jesus, you are the body of Christ. And what I mean by the body, I'd heard a lot of messages on the body, but what does it mean to be the body of Christ? It's literally, ready, Christ embodied in you. Wow. How do we get there? How do we make sure that we're functioning with the right purpose? Well, of course, we go to scripture to see it. But the description of us as the body, one of our callings as his people, is found in the book of Romans chapter 12. Will you turn with me? And I love this talk because it's a lot about us, but I think it's going to give us some guidance on how in the world we can get there. Here we go.
Romans chapter 12, starting in verse 4, says this: "For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member..." The next word is this: "...belongs to all the others." The reason this is in this series is because there's a lot of people who feel and have come to believe, "Well, that they don't fit. No one's like you here." And I want to tell you straight from God's word, if you just need a word from the Lord, oh, this is it. You do belong. And by his Spirit, I hope you believe it. Have faith to believe it more so by, by the end of this message. But mind you, you may not feel like you fit. And my response to that, you ready? Good. You are not meant to fit in, but you absolutely belong. You are not meant to look like everybody else because that's what makes it so beautifully diverse. See, we're going to make a difference as the church in the world by being different than the world, not by fitting into it. So we are not meant to fit in, but we absolutely do belong.
And even in these two verses, we have these words: formed. We are formed. We're to function. And these are the words that really, we're going to do because they are the words of scripture. Today, we're going to talk about Romans chapter 12, and we're going to go back to the beginning when we were first formed. So let me read this other passage, and then we'll get into prayer and jump into the message. And that's in Genesis chapter 2:7. Very beginning says this: "Then the Lord God formed..." God does the forming. He formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, so the order of creation is that God forms, then he fills. And the man became a living thing. He fills us with life. And when you continue on in that narrative, you jump down to verse 15. We see a little bit of why. "The Lord God took the man, put him in the Garden of Eden to work and take care of it." To function. Here's the order for those of you who take notes or really like knowing where we're headed. This is for you: God forms us, he fills us, to function. Formed, filled, to function. And by the way, the order matters because if we have the order incorrect, then our functioning, our being, will be for the wrong purpose because we'll think by our doing that that's how we're filled with life. No, he forms, he fills, that we might function in response.
Will you pray with me? Because I believe in order for us, this message to go deep, we've got to be open. So, Heavenly Father, here we are, all of us here for a lot of different reasons. And even now, would you just share with the Lord your reason why are you here? He knows your heart, but maybe he wants you to know it more. So, just in this prayer time, would you just connect with them? Tell them whatever is on your mind, and that we might become a little bit more aware of our heart. I'm going to ask that you grab a feeling word in your prayer to the Lord. I know that's kind of, for some of you, really easy, and some of you are like, "What is happening?" I want you to put a feeling word about your life. "I feel..." and just present it to the Lord. "I feel..." and fill in the blank. This morning, sitting here in church, I feel... Is it tired? Sad? Okay? Lonely? Numb? Happy? Excited? Expectant? God, there are thousand, thousands of different places that we are, and you somehow want to unify us in a message. So, Lord, we come as we are, and we ask for you to fill us. So I pray over each of those listening right now that can hear my voice. I, I pray the same prayer that Paul prayed, that you might be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. And the Lord, I ask this to you who can do immeasurably more than I could ever ask or imagine. So, Lord, fill us to overflow. We pray. And all God's children said, amen.
Are you excited? There are some of you. Oh, wasn't it good to pass the baskets again? Wasn't that fun? I know I, me, you. Okay. So, Genesis chapter 1. So, not only do we look at chapter 7, that we are formed to be filled to function, we're going to start with God formed us. So we are formed by God, but he forms us in a specific way. And so we talk about the body, and that we're joined together, and that we belong here, and that we all kind of work as one body. Where did that begin? That began all the way in the garden with how God formed us. See, God formed us. We are formed by God for community. Take a look with me, if you have your Bibles, to Genesis chapter 1. If not, keep your eyes on the screen, beginning in verse 26. Chapter 1, verse 26. The very first chapter, the beginning, says this: "See, by the way, the context of verse 26 is that God spoke a bunch of things into existence. He spoke, and then it was. And then he spoke, and then it was. And then he spoke, and then it was. And then you get to day six, and the language changes a bit. He didn't just speak something according to its kind, and it was. God gets a little more intentional. Verse 26: 'Then God said, Let us...' Who's us? Of course, the Triune Godhead: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. 'Let us make mankind in our image.' And that is a contrast to the first five days of creation, which was created according to its kind. Now he's changing it to say, 'With what we're creating today, let's create it according to our kind. So let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky.'" Notice the function of us. So he creates us to function. "And the birds of the sky, over the livestock, over all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." God formed us for community. How do I know? Because he formed us in His image, and His image is a community in and of himself. Notice the language: "Let Us. Us." He is a community, and then forms us in His image. We were built for community. And I don't have to convince you of this. That's not new news. Some of you are sitting there going, "I know, I know, move on." And I love this. After he builds us in this way, according to His kind, community is God's intention for good. Now he looks over all that he created, and before day one through five, he creates according to its kind. It's good. Creates good. Creates according to its kind. Good. Creates good. Creates good. Then he creates humanity, and now he describes it a little differently. Chapter 1, verse 31: "God saw that all that he had made, and it was..." Oh, he adds a very... I heard a theologian once describe that very good descriptor of us like this. He said, "Very good means whole, complete, lacking nothing. You need to honor and glorify God with your life." By the way, that that's talking about you. Whole, complete, lacking nothing. You need to honor and glorify God with your life. But notice something: very good, in essence, in the wrong environment, can be not good. See, he describes us as very good, whole, distinct, complete, lacking nothing. And yet, we were not created independently. Why? Because he said, "Let Us." Humanity. In fact, he describes it this way: After all the good that he creates, there's one thing in the garden he describes as not good. Chapter 2, verse 18: "The Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.'" I don't have to tell this to you for you to know that the isolation our world is feeling is not good, is it? And many of us know that from experience. Not good. But he created us very good to be a part of us. Good job showing up, by the way. Very good. But not good to not be known. Not good to not be isolated. Not good to not actually allow yourself to be known by others. In fact, in those first two chapters, he describes how good good really is. And he describes it this way: way in chapter 2:25, "Adam and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame." You might be like, "That was a left turn, wasn't it? Whoa." Okay, I'm not just talking physically. So let's move on. Let's go here. Okay? They were fully exposed, fully known in every way, and not ashamed. That's perfection. And then the church, we pray, "May your kingdom come on Earth as it is in heaven." And guess what part of that perfection is? Guess what heaven will be? It will be being fully, fully, fully known. Every part of you, and not ashamed. Doesn't that sound really good? Quick shout out for rooted to be known and to maybe even deal with part of the parts of our story that we do feel shame. It matters to be known.
I led a Bible study with a gal this summer at my house, and what we studied was all the women in the New Testament who had encounters with Jesus. That's what we studied. And here was what was true: Jesus saw them. He knew them, and he loved them. I mean, that's every single one. He knew them intimately. He knew how he wired them. He knew how he formed them, really specifically and purposefully, and he loved them. And then we get to the next person, then, and then we get to the next person. It was just this constant story. And I'm standing in front of all these women, just in my living room, there's like eight of them. And I'm looking at them, I'm like, "Do you, do you know how important it is to be known by each other?" Because if you only bring your best and you perform, then guess where you feel loved? In your performance. And then you'll never be able to show up anywhere and be authentic. In fact, the lady I was leading the Bible study with kind of was always miss chipper. You know those people? Are you those people? She's, you know, she's kind of always in a good mood. I'm like, "How nice." And, um, but one day she came in, and she was so grumpy. And I was excited. She go walks into my house, and I'm like, "How you doing?" She's like, "I'm okay." I'm like, "She goes, 'Boo, you smiling about?'" And I asked her, and she shared a little bit of her heart. But I'm like, "I'm so proud of you." She's like, "That I had a bad day?" I'm like, "No, no, I'm so sorry. Hold on. I'm so proud of you because you just showed up to my house as you were, and you didn't hide." Because, yeah, yeah, that is worth it. But you can... Okay, and we're done. Um, because, because, because, because if you show up to church or you show up to your rooted group and you only bring a really perfect version of yourself, then you're hiding kind of all the stuff behind you. And then you feel loved. Then you're just going to be tempted to perform all the time in front of people, and you're only going to feel loved by the person that you present. And the rest of it, you're going to keep hiding. And that was the problem in the garden in the first place. They hid from the Lord. Do you remember? They weren't—they didn't experience that perfection of being naked and unashamed. And that's God's good for us, that we might show up and go, "Like, I want to be loved here." But you obviously have to be careful with who you show yourself to. And that's why Christian community is so beautiful because even when you bring your mess, there's a potential that they might respond like Jesus does to it. And then you might know that God doesn't just love you at your best, he loves you all of it, all of you.
And the thing is, I don't think we just show up to friendships like that and bring our best. I think we also show up to our prayer life like that. Think about it. I mean, maybe I'm the only one that does some of this. You just rhythmically get into the, "God, I'm so thankful for just how thankful I am and of your gratitude and what am I saying?" And then we, and then our mind begins to wander, and then we pause the prayer, shame ourselves back to the performance prayer. "No, no, God wants my best, right?" And then our mind begins to wander again, and then we pause the prayer, shame ourselves to get back. "No, God, I just really thankful again with my thankful gratitude heart." And right? Because we're convinced of something that God loves us just when we're good. I'm here to tell you, he just loves you. Period. And if that, if you're not shocked by that, then I wonder if you've let him really know you. If you've opened up your heart, which, by the way, he already does. So, because there's something shocking about when you show yourself to a friend, and then they go, "And I love you there." And then you go, "That's shocking." It's easy to love the best in people. No wonder Jesus is like, "Love your enemy." It's much harder, and it looks more like me. Why? Because we were once an enemy to God, and guess what? He loved you right there. Is that shocking?
See, we were formed for community by God, for community. But he doesn't stop there. He forms Adam, then he forms Eve, then he, generations go by, then he forms a man, and then he forms a family, and then he forms a people group. But he just never leaves them just formed. He always fills. I mean, he creates the people that form a tabernacle, and then he fills it with his presence. There's always a filling by God throughout the story. There's a family, then there's a people group, and then God himself forms himself in the womb of Mary. I mean, formation is everywhere. And then he comes, lives the life we couldn't, dies the death we deserve, raises back to life, gathers the few, and says, "Here's the plan: I'm going to fill you with my life." Oh, and by the way, you don't deserve it. To be honest, I've heard a lot of messages on the function, the body of Christ, and how we're meant to function. I've heard a lot of those. I don't often hear the, like, beforehand of like him filling us, but also recognizing the context with which he fills us is us not deserving it. We don't deserve his life in us. That's the beauty of grace. The beauty of grace is not, "You did really well, and then he finished off the rest of it." No, no, no, no, no. We deserve to be far from God. That's why he went to the cross on our behalf. He took that which we deserve. He, by grace through faith, gifts us that which he deserved, which is his life. He puts his life in us.
Do you remember how the book is broken down? We have a slide about it. Here's how the book of the first five books of the New Testament, right before Romans, again, context to Romans, it is like this: The life of Jesus is recorded in these guys, eyewitness accounts: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You see those four guys? Those four guys begin the New Testament again. That's when God comes to Earth because he acknowledges that we can't get to him, so he comes to us. Good news. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John tell the story about Jesus, the life of Jesus. At the end of those Gospels, remember, he gives those great commissions. Matthew is probably the most famous. After his death and resurrection, he gathers them at the end of Matthew, and he goes, "Get out of here. Church is not meant to stay here. Get out of here. You got to function." And he gives the Great Commission, not the Great Suggestion: "Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teach them to obey everything I commanded you. And surely I am with you always." And then the next chapter, that's good news. Yeah, you can enjoy that. Just you, just you. The next chapter is the book called Acts, right? We've done this before. Acts is what happens next. Why? Because in Acts chapter 1, Jesus ascends into heaven to sit at the right hand of God, which always makes me laugh, and I just have to take a moment. Remember Matthew, the end of it? So that's like chapter one is like the Gospel, the life of Jesus. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Chapter two, if you will, in the story, is like the church era, which, by the way, is the book of Acts, which is like what happens next. At the end of Matthew, he's like, "I'm with you always." In Acts chapter one, he's like, "See ya." Remember? Remember how funny that is? And it would be crazy except we get to Acts chapter 2, which what happens in Acts chapter 2? God descends by the power of the Holy Spirit to what? Dwell in those who believe. Why? Because Jesus said, "I'm with you always." He promised his presence. He promised to fill us. He promised we would not be alone. And the way he makes that possible is he lives his life. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John record it. Then he gathers them, goes, "You're the plan. Church, it's you. Don't screw it up, but you will, and there's grace for that. Then you'll be transformed again." And then he ascends into heaven, descends to give you life, to fill you. And in Acts chapter 2, it even describes this, that he forms a people group, fills them with his Spirit, and then, if you read the book, the end of chapter 2, verse 42 to 40-something, it's all about how they're meant to function. Every this story is constantly, "I formed you on purpose to be a group." So, Willow, you are formed this morning. This is us, and online, and the campus is, this is us. By the way, we're massive. We are massive for Christ in this state. Do you know that? Oh, okay. Forms, then he fills you with everything you need to function the way he intends. You have everything you need the moment you give your life over to Jesus. His Spirit dwells within you. And then after Acts, you get all these letters. You get Romans, kind of for theology. Then you get to all these iens, which basically are letters to churches written by some guys. And then the story. Okay, so Romans, not only are we formed by God for community, we are filled with life, but we have to make sure we get the order. Romans chapter 12. Now, here's our key passage for this morning. Romans 12:4 and 5 talk about the function, us being the body, but we have to get the order correct. And here's why. Because the context in Romans chapter 12 is this: it begins like this: "Therefore." And every time you read "therefore" in scripture, you should figure out what it's there for. You should say, "Four, right there." That would have made sense. Let's try it again. Let's pretend like we didn't. Okay. And even everyone, I mean, if you're home alone watching this, let's try it. Ready? Anytime you read in the Bible, it says the word "therefore," you should always figure out what it's there for. How cool. So it says this: "Therefore." So you have to know what the "therefore" is there for. And the "therefore" is stating that everything we do is from chapters 1 through 11. Everything we do is in response. And in fact, it says this: "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, which has been on display through chapters 1-11." Don't believe me? Chapter one: God formed everything on purpose with a purpose, and we were meant to for, uh, worship and serve created Creator, not created things. Problem was, we actually formed and worshiped the created things rather than the Creator. Chapter two: No amount of being good enough will ever fix that. Chapter three: We all have a sin issue. Chapter four: You can't fix yourself. Chapter five: You don't have to, because God made a way. And he didn't just say he loved, he demonstrated his love. Chapter six: We earned death and separation, to be very far from God, worthy of really nothing. But God gives us what he deserved and takes what we deserve on the cross. He took our sin and consequences and gives us his life. Chapter seven: We will still wrestle. Chapter eight: He fills you with his Spirit. Chapter ten: Confess he is Lord, not you are Lord of your life. Chapter 12: Therefore, in view of all that God created you, you missed it. He came. Made a way. In view of the grace, the grace, by the way, is unmerited favor on your life, unearned blessing, in view of what you don't deserve, in view of God's mercy, not getting what you deserve, offer your body as a living sacrifice. In other words, look like Jesus. Jesus doesn't ask us or command us to do anything he wasn't willing to do himself. Why offer your body? 'Cause he offered his, and he wants to form us to become more like him. Why? Because we're his body. Therefore, offer your body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. Don't try to just please people all the time because oftentimes that you'll have to choose one or the other. Holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. I love this part. "Do not conform to the pattern of this world." I imagine it like this: Don't try to look like everybody else when you were meant to stand out. "Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."
My first draft of this message, I did Romans 1, 2, and then I skipped number three because it's a little bit like I didn't like it. But we're going to read it because it's here, um, and it's God's word. But in studying this passage, I realized, I think this is actually the key. I've heard a lot of messages on being the body. I haven't heard a lot of messages preached on verse three, which says this: "For by the grace given me..." So again, Paul's writing, "the grace given me, the unmerited favor that I didn't deserve, given me, I say to you, do not think of yourself more highly than you ought." You would think a message on being the body was a very motivational one of like, "Yeah, you're amazing." And you wonder how he starts that. Although he does get there. You are amazing. You are the body of Christ. You want to know how it gets there? Recognize it's all grace. Being the body, being a part of this, so undeserved. You deserve to be in the corner, isolated and alone, because of your choices and how we've harmed people. But guess what? By the grace given to me, Paul says, "I give it to you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought." But how, how humbling and how freeing to have a right view of yourself. "But think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed with each of you." I love this moment. He's like, "Think of yourself humbly because of the faith God gave you." And I love that because some of us are like, "I don't have as much faith as her." Well, God gave it to her. Don't think of yourself more highly. He's given you everything you need. He's given you himself, his life. He's given for you to dwell within you. "In accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you." Four. Now we get to verse four. Our function. Here it is. "Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function." We don't all have the same gifts, which, by the way, the gifts are meant for us, not just meant for you. And I think sometimes when we ask questions about, "How's my gift you being used here?" I wonder if that question is more about us than how it's to bless others. See the difference? Wow.
I remember when I went to Westmont College. I remember one of the chapel speakers taught on this verse, and here is his props. He's like, "We are all a part of the kitchen." And, um, do you guys know what these are? What's this? Cheese grater. Okay. A little bit harder. What's this? A melon baller. You just knew that. I think I, I think I use this one. Although I have one, I think I use it more for like, ice cream scoop or like, right, or cookie dough scoop. I eat unhealthy. So, um, okay. So I remember he gets up there, and he's like, "This is amazing, right? You know what else is amazing? This guy." And you know what's really cool about it? You can hand it to a kid and give him watermelon. It's like fun for an hour because you ball the melons. Did you know that's what that does? It balls the melons, right? He goes, "But this is unfortunately what we do. This guy's like, 'I wish I could do that. I wish I could ball the melons.'" And this guy's like, "Did you see what you did to the cheese?" Right? So silly. But they're the same. They're just part of something greater than themselves. I mean, this one's a little greater. But oh my gosh, that was so cheesy. Okay, I'm done. I'm done. Okay, okay, okay. It's weird when you plan a joke. I planned that. Okay, okay. You're different. Good. Because if you were the same, it we have comparing would be more natural. I don't fit in. Good. We are all members of one body, but we have different functions. Good. Because we're better and stronger with each other.
And then it continues on, verse 5: "So in Christ..." Remember, what's the one thing that unifies us? Not our perfection, but His. Why do we need community? Because we have no perfection outside of Him, and He's perfecting us day by day. He's forming us into His likeness day by day. So in Christ, verse 5, "we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to each other." The more diverse, the better. I am in a group of gals that three years ago, I had heard all the messages. And have you noticed about friendship? Like, it's easy when you're a kid. You just show up and you go, "Will you be my friend?" And then we grow out of that. And then you become, like, 20s, and maybe even in the 30s, and you're like, "Oh, you have to like try. It doesn't just come anymore." Like the church doesn't just put you in a small group. You have to like sign up for it, right? And friendship, by the way, I think we don't talk about this. It's really hard, and you have to give time to it. And sometimes we expect the world, or we expect perfection. No, no, no. That's only Jesus.
So three years ago, my husband looked at me and he's like, "You know what I want to be?" Which this is a grief, this is a grief moment too. Um, he's like, "I want to be the 90-year-old guy in the coffee shop with the same group of guys we've been meeting there for 60 years." He's like, "I want that." So I'm going to have to start, um, actually initiating that. I'm like, "I like that." So I stole his idea. Um, and I do believe, man, he is communing like never before. So he has that. It's just a little different than we planned. But so I prayed, and then called up the people I knew that loved Jesus the most. I was like, "This is kind of a lot." And I realize it's a lot. And to be honest with you, it's never convenient. Friendship is never convenient. It's showing up to help someone when you don't have the time to. And so I call these people, I'm like, "Do you want to like, really be friends?" I basically felt like a little kid at the playground, like, "You want to be my friend?" And I called up seven girls, a wide variety of age, race, even different political parties. And this happened in 2019, that I asked different socioeconomic, and every single one of us came from different church backgrounds. One was like, super legalistic, and one is like, crazy charismatic, where it's kind of like, "You have to like..." She's always like, "God promised me." I'm like, "Let's be careful with that phrase." And then it just comes true. Like, "God dang it, you know." Um, it just, I have this wide variety of friends, and like, this one's a speaker, that one's a marriage and family therapist, that one's a spiritual director. Like, it's just like the dream team. You can actually choose your friends. So I chose them, and then we started meeting every other week for two to four hours. It's never convenient, and it's a sacrifice almost all the time. We all show up, and then we went through 2020 together. And I loved it because by the end of it, I couldn't say the phrase, "How could someone believe that side of this conversation?" I couldn't even say that because I knew someone well who did. It was profound. One of the gal, so all these people kind of have these ministry roles, except for one. One gal is a stay-at-home mom. And for her birthday, we got around and we're like, "Let's, um, encourage her with how we see Christ in her." And I like that because the word encourage means to give courage. And I'm like, "We could give courage on like, how she's funny, or how she's this, or how she's that." But then she's going to run. Or we could say, "We could give her courage on how stylish she is." But then she's going to run to her closet for courage. Nah. So we decided to do this, and this is our birthday tradition. You can steal it. Here's how I see Christ in you. So when you're looking for courage, you run to Him. So we all went around and we gave her like this, "I see Christ in you." And this, "I see." And one gal is like, "I see Christ in your kindness." And she starts crying. And we're all like, "I mean, it was nice, but not like that nice, right?" She goes, "You don't understand. When I was in middle school, I was really trying to figure out who I was because I wasn't like, really thriving in anything. Maybe some of you feel like that." She goes, "My dad sat me down, and it, although it sounds mean, it was one of the most loving moments with my dad. He looked at me and he goes, 'My girl, you're in middle school figuring out who you are, and I got to tell you something about our family. We're not that athletic.'" She's like, "What?" He's like, "Don't go for the sports. Like, it's just not going to be good for any of us." She's like, "Okay, Dad." You know. And then he looks at her, he goes, "And by the way, we're not even that funny. We're not funny." And she's like, "That was kind of funny." He's like, "That's a, that's rare. You know, that's rare. We're just not funny. Like, don't try to be the funniest in the room because it's not going to be good for you." He goes, "But can I tell you, my girl, something I see about how God wired you and how he's placed Christ in you, and I already see it, and you can go for it, and you might actually win. You are the kindest young girl." And she's like, "I'm going to win that one, right? No one's going for that." You know what they're not going for that at your workplace? They're going for who can earn the most, right? Who can have the most responsibility? No one's going for the kindest. And so fast forward 16 years later, and we're sitting in a group. Some gals like, "You're like the kindest person I've ever met." She's like, "I won." But why is that compelling? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness. It's Christ in her. She can boast in that because it is the best part of her. And to give context for anything good that's in us, it's grace. We are the body formed by God, filled with his life. It's undeserved to function and do our part. Why? We are Christ embodied.
I'll end with this poem, and then we'll pray in response and worship the God who gives us a purpose and a belonging outside of ourselves, that we might look more like him and look different in our workplaces and in our households, because maybe the most beautiful thing about us, us, is Christ in us. A poem by St. Teresa of Ávila. I'll end with this. It says this: "Christ has no body on Earth but yours. Christ has no hands, no feet on Earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion. Yours the eyes that give people eye contact to where they feel like what they say really matters. God uses your eyes in that way. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands with which He blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes. You are His body. Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on Earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world. Christ has no body on Earth but yours."
God formed and filled His church to function, not the same, but one body. So, church, let's become increasingly a church where you don't just come and receive from a limited number of people with certain gifts, but the church where everyone becomes more aware how rooted and things and invitations to seek Him and know Him and know how He made you, become aware of your gifts, and know they're not just meant for you. You're formed by God, filled with His life, to function for us. Let's pray. Father, forgive us for the ways we compare. And even now, would we just see that You've uniquely and distinctly, but not independently, created us. So, Lord, who are people You've placed in our life that we can thank today, or that we can open our hearts and our lives to? Teach us how to receive the good that You paved away for us to receive. Thank You for undeserved grace. We pray. And all God's children said, amen.