Communion Message
The Body of Christ
June 5, 2005
Pastor Leighton Sheley

When we sing about the body of Christ there are several images that may come to our minds, one of them is the body that Christ was in after the crucifixion and resurrection; the body that could not be restrained by locked doors or walls that seemingly, instantaneously was translated from one location to another, a body that is evidently going to be a model of sorts of the kind of body that we are given the next time God gives us a body. For others, the picture that comes to mind when we speak about the beauty of the body of Christ is Christ hanging on Calvary's cross. Not that that scene was beautiful in any fashion, it was a gruesome scene, but what was accomplished because Christ went to Calvary's cross.

But there's also another understanding in the Scriptures when we speak of the body of Christ and that is, it's a reference to His church. We are the body of Christ. Each and every one of us is a part of the body of Christ, and each and every one of us in order to function, perform the function that we've been called to, needs to be connected to the head so that we can receive instruction is, and we need to be obedient to the instructions that we are given from the head, which is Christ who is the head of His body, the church.

I invite you to stand right now and we are going to pray together. We are going to pray together in song that the Lord will make us, each and every one of us, active and obedient parts of the body of Christ.

[The congregation sings the hymn 'Take My Life and Let It Be'.]

Many, many years ago back when I was in junior high and high school I played football, and I can remember one instance on the football field in high school where I took a hit that left my right arm numb, in fact I couldn't feel anything. It was just hanging there like a dead limb.

I tried to play the next play but what I found is I couldn't do a three-point stand where you put your hand down and so forth, and I found that I couldn't tackle anybody with it anyway and I was not likely to do it with the one arm I had left, and I further found I couldn't really play as well because I was trying to protect the arm that was not performing its function.

We're the body of Christ and each and every one of us has a function that we are called to perform, and when we don't perform the function that God has called us to perform, the body of Christ has to compensate for our absence, for our rebellion, or whatever the case might be, and the body of Christ cannot do everything or be everything that it was called to be.

There's another memory that I have when I was first starting out in football and that is this, I hated standing on the sidelines. I hated suiting up and getting out on the field and standing on the sidelines. There were all kinds of intense feelings I dealt with when I was standing on the sidelines and I was not in playing the game. I dealt with the feelings of being worthless. I dealt with the feelings of being a leftover. I dealt with the feelings of being a spare part, and I would venture to say that there is probably no exception in this room. I bet you at sometime in our life whether it was in grade school or something, where each and every one of us have felt those feelings.

We felt like spare parts or leftovers or worthless. On God's team there are no spare parts and there are no leftovers. The body of Christ is described as this: "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one 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 the one Spirit to drink.

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 do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be 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 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.

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 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. 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."

Each one of us is a part of the team. Each one of us is in uniform. Now you say, now it's not a football uniform, what do you mean by uniform? The Scriptures say that we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Each and every one of us has a uniform. Why would any one of us want to stand on the sideline when we are called to be a functioning part of Christ's body?

The Scriptures say at times like this we should examine our self, and so I'd like to invite you, if you are physically able, to join with me now as we kneel in the presence of our Lord and Savior. And I invite you this morning to examine your self and how have you fulfilled the calling with which God has called you to the part of the body that He has for you, and it's also a time for us to ask the Lord to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Lord we thank You that You don't make spare parts, that we are not leftovers. We are a vital part of Your body, the church. Lord we want to honor You and bring glory to You by being an obedient part of the body of Christ. Lord, there have been times where we in our negligence or rebellion have been displeasing to You. We have ignored the head and we've done things our own way, and we have sinned against You.

Lord, we ask You to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We thank you Lord for Your great love and provision for us, Your mercy, Your grace towards us. We are thankful Lord that we can come and we can ask You to forgive us, and You are ever so faithful and desirous to do exactly that. Forgive us our sins and cleanse us - we pray in Jesus' name in whose remembrance we now partake of these sacred elements. Let's partake of the bread, and also the cup.

Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, and all God's people said, amen.