The Beauty of the Body ... of Christ!

Reflection:  Today we experience with David and Job their desire to be vindicated by the Lord.  They both cry out to God to deliver them in their mourning.  In Job’s case his suffering is so severe he longs to go to his grave.  He is very depressed, yet his friends try to make a case that God is disciplining him and that he should plead his case before the Lord who disciplines those whom he loves.  To this Job compares his friends to an intermittent stream that doesn’t produce when it is needed. 

The friends are quoting scripture which is truth, but not aware of what Job really needs encouragement and coming alongside and bearing the burden with him.  Sometimes in our own anxiety in the face of someone else’s pain, we would prefer to give them easy answers as if these would solve the problem.  Of course the solution ultimately lies in God’s will being done, but yet as we wait for God’s will we will need a few good and faithful friends to walk through the valleys of the shadow of death with us.

As Paul gives a summation of the Christian life in Romans 12:1-2, he then goes on to describe how the body of Christ works together to shape us into the image of Christ.  He describes the different gifts of grace given, which all are there to mold and shape us.  Prophesying, teaching, giving, serving, encouragement and leadership are all needed to help us live out the call in Romans 12:1-2 to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice and not conform to the world’s thinking but be transformed in the renewing of our minds through the prophetic and teaching ministries of the Church. 

Romans 12:1-2, cannot become a reality in our lives without Romans 12:3-8.  Ultimately this is what King David and Job needed, the Church.  God rewarded them for their individual faithfulness despite their many trials, but you only wonder how they would have done with the encouragement of a few gifted people in the church.  Which gift has God given you to serve with?  As a response to God’s grace and mercy, God calls us to serve in the body of Christ so that we all might be conformed to the image of Christ and be there for each other when trouble comes! 

Psalm 43

1 Vindicate me, my God,

    and plead my cause

    against an unfaithful nation

    deceitful and wicked.

2 You are God my stronghold.

    Why have you rejected me?

Why must I go about mourning,

    oppressed by the enemy?

3 Send me your light and your faithful care,

    let them lead me;

let them bring me to your holy mountain,

    to the place where you dwell.

4 Then I will go to the altar of God,

    to God, my joy and my delight.

I will praise you with the lyre,

    O God, my God.

5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?

    Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

    for I will yet praise him,

    my Savior and my God.

Job 5,6

5 “Call if you will, but who will answer you?

    To which of the holy ones will you turn?

2 Resentment kills a fool,

    and envy slays the simple.

3 I myself have seen a fool taking root,

    but suddenly his house was cursed.

4 His children are far from safety,

    crushed in court without a defender.

5 The hungry consume his harvest,

    taking it even from among thorns,

    and the thirsty pant after his wealth.

6 For hardship does not spring from the soil,

    nor does trouble sprout from the ground.

7 Yet man is born to trouble

    as surely as sparks fly upward.

8 “But if I were you, I would appeal to God;

    I would lay my cause before him.

9 He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,

    miracles that cannot be counted.

10 He provides rain for the earth;

    he sends water on the countryside.

11 The lowly he sets on high,

    and those who mourn are lifted to safety.

12 He thwarts the plans of the crafty,

    so that their hands achieve no success.

13 He catches the wise in their craftiness,

    and the schemes of the wily are swept away.

14 Darkness comes upon them in the daytime;

    at noon they grope as in the night.

15 He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth;

    he saves them from the clutches of the powerful.

16 So the poor have hope,

    and injustice shuts its mouth.

17 “Blessed is the one whom God corrects;

    so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

18 For he wounds, but he also binds up;

    he injures, but his hands also heal.

19 From six calamities he will rescue you;

    in seven no harm will touch you.

20 In famine he will deliver you from death,

    and in battle from the stroke of the sword.

21 You will be protected from the lash of the tongue,

    and need not fear when destruction comes.

22 You will laugh at destruction and famine,

    and need not fear the wild animals.

23 For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field,

    and the wild animals will be at peace with you.

24 You will know that your tent is secure;

    you will take stock of your property and find nothing missing.

25 You will know that your children will be many,

    and your descendants like the grass of the earth.

26 You will come to the grave in full vigor,

    like sheaves gathered in season.

27 “We have examined this, and it is true.

    So hear it and apply it to yourself.”

Job

6 Then Job replied:

2 “If only my anguish could be weighed

    and all my misery be placed on the scales!

3 It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas—

    no wonder my words have been impetuous.

4 The arrows of the Almighty are in me,

    my spirit drinks in their poison;

    God’s terrors are marshaled against me.

5 Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass,

    or an ox bellow when it has fodder?

6 Is tasteless food eaten without salt,

    or is there flavor in the sap of the mallow?

7 I refuse to touch it;

    such food makes me ill.

8 “Oh, that I might have my request,

    that God would grant what I hope for,

9 that God would be willing to crush me,

    to let loose his hand and cut off my life!

10 Then I would still have this consolation—

    my joy in unrelenting pain—

    that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.

11 “What strength do I have, that I should still hope?

    What prospects, that I should be patient?

12 Do I have the strength of stone?

    Is my flesh bronze?

13 Do I have any power to help myself,

    now that success has been driven from me?

14 “Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend

    forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

15 But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams,

    as the streams that overflow

16 when darkened by thawing ice

    and swollen with melting snow,

17 but that stop flowing in the dry season,

    and in the heat vanish from their channels.

18 Caravans turn aside from their routes;

    they go off into the wasteland and perish.

19 The caravans of Tema look for water,

    the traveling merchants of Sheba look in hope.

20 They are distressed, because they had been confident;

    they arrive there, only to be disappointed.

21 Now you too have proved to be of no help;

    you see something dreadful and are afraid.

22 Have I ever said, ‘Give something on my behalf,

    pay a ransom for me from your wealth,

23 deliver me from the hand of the enemy,

    rescue me from the clutches of the ruthless’?

24 “Teach me, and I will be quiet;

    show me where I have been wrong.

25 How painful are honest words!

    But what do your arguments prove?

26 Do you mean to correct what I say,

    and treat my desperate words as wind?

27 You would even cast lots for the fatherless

    and barter away your friend.

28 “But now be so kind as to look at me.

    Would I lie to your face?

29 Relent, do not be unjust;

    reconsider, for my integrity is at stake.

30 Is there any wickedness on my lips?

    Can my mouth not discern malice?

Romans 11:33-12:8

Doxology

33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

    How unsearchable his judgments,

    and his paths beyond tracing out!

34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?

    Or who has been his counselor?”

35 “Who has ever given to God,

    that God should repay them?”

36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.

    To him be the glory forever! Amen.

A Living Sacrifice

12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform 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.

Humble Service in the Body of Christ

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me. Psalm 13:6

Philip baptized the eunuch. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. Acts 8:38-39

God, you hold the salvation of the world; thank you for not being stingy with it (for our sakes!). Still, there are people who, like the eunuch, need to know that this grace is for them also. Make us more like Phillip – sharing your bountiful love and bringing to others the joy of inclusion into your baptized community. Amen.