Harvest
The Body of Christ
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Call to Worship:
We gather together in the name of Jesus Christ—
members of God’s family, and brothers and sisters to one another.
There are no outsiders here among us, no one has any special standing or bragging rights.
For we have been brought together by the redeeming love of Jesus.
Let’s join together in worship!
Dear Heavenly Father, We come before you today with hearts filled with gratitude and reverence, as we gather to lift our voices and hearts in praise and worship. We thank you for the privilege of being able to enter your presence and seek you in this place.
Songs
Let us pray as we continue in worship with those online and in the hearing of His Word:
Almighty God, you have built your Church on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ himself is the chief cornerstone.
Join us together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may become a holy temple,
acceptable to you: through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
We are taught in His Word that we are the Body of Christ of us who have received Christ as our Lord and Savior, joined together with Christ as the head. We are bound together through the bond of peace and unity of the Spirit. This is all to the glory of God so He might display His power and love through His Body in motion in this world.
Before we read our key Scripture, I want to talk for a moment about the comparison of the church body with our physical bodies. We read in His Word that God knits us together in the womb-weaving every intricate detail of our human bodies together. Aren’t our bodies truly a wonder to behold? When we are in motion there are so many different parts and complex systems working in harmony; all in unity, and all for the same purpose-which is for each of us to live and live well!
This is the purpose and God’s ideal for His creation.
This is also God’s purpose and God’s ideal for His Church. This is how the Church was designed; many different parts flowing in harmony, love, and with one purpose- to collectively live and live well!
I was just at the church of some of my dear friends and pastors for our IMA conference. Bethel Church in Eau Claire. I have known these two for nearly a decade now and every encounter I have had with them has been one of immense kindness, generosity, encouragement, and love. And a lot of fun too. This is who they have chosen to be as ambassadors for Christ and this fruit just radiates from them in all they do. So when they agreed to host our conference I had every expectation their staff and church body would be just like them and they absolutely were! I had the pleasure of working with a few of their team members early on for promotional and registration purposes and they were so responsive, so willing, and their talents were shared with excellence! At the conference other members of their body were extremely welcoming; they didn’t wait for us to have to ask for something, they were ever watching for opportunities to help and bless those in attendance. Every part from planning to follow-up post-conference was done seamlessly and with a joyful spirit. Every part was active and the result was beautiful and a work of art to behold. There is an indescribable joy when we serve with others in a unity of spirit.
By the way, I have heard these same sentiments when others have the opportunity to attend our church and events through our church-I have been told we have a gem of a church. I agree!
Just as it is awesome to behold a body in motion when all systems and parts are working in unison-So it is when we see the Church doing all that it was designed to do and growing into the full expression of Christ within it.
Let’s look at this call from the Apostle Paul to the church in Ephesus and see what we can glean from it for our lives and the purposes of God’s Church yet today when it comes to praying for laborers to be sent to gather the harvest.
Ephesians 4: 1-16 NIV
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be 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. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.”
9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until 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.
14 Then we will no 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 people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
- Living Worthy of Your Calling.
Paul’s first words in this chapter are to exhort the church to live a life worthy of the calling we received. Meaning we have been given something incredible by our receiving the Good News of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior; our sins completely forgiven and remembered no more; given new life in Christ; and a new purpose is to love God with all our heart out of our gratitude for who He is and what He has done and also to love others fully. In loving others, we are to share this Good News and bring Jesus to the world around us. We don’t want to keep Him for ourselves and we don’t want to continue living as we had. Notice Paul said he was a prisoner for the Lord. He was saying I am enslaved to the Lord- my life is His, not because I must but out of willing submission and humble gratitude, I now live for Him.
So we too should heed Paul’s words and consider how we are living and who we are living for.
What do our daily choices reflect? Are we serving ourselves or Christ? Are we loving self the most, or loving others and making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit and to bear with one another?
Are we remembering we are joined to a Body and if we fail to love others and bear with one another, we are hurting the Body? We are causing it to become ineffective or immobilized.
Look at a few Scriptures that speak of how we are to live out our calling:
Isaiah 49:6 I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
We are called to live as a light to the Gentiles-meaning everyone around us. To be the light of Christ.
2 Corinthians 5: 19-20 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
Ambassadors. God is making His appeal through us His chosen vessels of light and love.
Ephesians 4: 1-3 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be 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.
You and I can’t do this on our own very well or consistently. Do you know these qualities are fruits of the Spirit. So, the key is to walk in the Spirit, be Spirit-led and the fruit that manifests in and through your life will mirror that of Christ. To be living worthy of our calling we must be surrendering to the leading and teaching of the Holy Spirit. We must be living God-focused vs. self-focused.
If you want to know where your focus is or has been, look at the fruit being manifested in your life. Does it reflect how Paul is calling us to live? If it’s not or it’s hit and miss, it’s a matter of your heart surrendering your will and asking the Spirit to lead you more and more into God’s will.
When we practice living for God and being grateful for all God has given us, we can’t help but be a light to others. We automatically become ambassadors for Christ. We don’t have to try to be those things-they are manifestations of the Spirit at work in us.
Let us commit today to practice all the more living worthy of the calling we have received.
- Equipped for Service.
In His kindness God has given us all we need to live godly lives and serve well in His kingdom.
First He has gifted us with the precious Holy Spirit to dwell in us and connect us to the heart of the Father. The Spirit teaches us what is right and good; and what is truth. The Spirit guides us in our actions and gives us counsel in our decisions as we yield and learn to listen. This is not just for some, it is a promise for all believers.
Acts 2: 17-18 17 “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
All people; sons and daughters all receive the Holy Spirit. We are in the last days-meaning the Church age is now and will continue until Christ returns to call us all home.
John 16:13 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
When you surrender and accept your calling for life, which is to love God and live for Christ by loving others, you are positioning your heart to be teachable. We will never run out of things to learn through the Spirit because our God is infinite so it’s an incredible lifelong discovery.
But we must be teachable and we must learn to listen and hear the Spirit speaking to our hearts. As we do, whatever situation we encounter, God will ensure we are equipped to carry out what He asks of us.
But we learn so much more and in greater depth when we grow the Body of Christ. God has ordained certain roles and gifts within His Church to fully equip His people for works of service, so the entire Body may be built up.
Ephesians 4: 11-13 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until 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.
This is why we not only come to Church, but we engage in Church. We listen to truly learn and receive with a joyful heart. We honor those God establishes in various positions because they are called by God to help you; to help the Body be built up and maturing in Christ.
So no one can say I don’t have anything to offer, that is simply not true. We all have the Holy Spirit already within us guiding us into all truth. We have the Church to help teach, guide, and support us in our journey as we make ourselves teachable.
This is also why we invite others to come to Church, so they too might experience all that God offers through the Church and be strengthened by joining with the Body. Inviting is being an ambassador for Christ.
- Every Part Active.
All that we have been talking about these past few weeks is forming the ministry of the Church in Jesus’ all-powerful name.
God’s plan is for every part to be active. This was the theme for our IMA conference and it ties in very nicely with this final message on gathering the harvest. It takes all of us engaging, living worthy of our calling, being teachable so we can become equipped in our service, and then doing our part to support the Body. Those parts are all different let us not compare what one does vs. another. It’s about every part-whatever that is, being active.
Ephesians 4:16 . 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Think of our physical bodies- when we have an injury or illness, it affects everything in some capacity. Communication throughout the body can be affected; systems aren’t flowing together smoothly; some might not be working at all and the result is not living as well as we would like right?
So it is in the Church body. When all parts- are not engaged or connected, or if some are quite unhealthy in some ways-systems within the Church get clogged or stop working altogether. When this happens the Church isn’t thriving, there is a lack of growth, a lack of life, and a lack of joy. We have all seen this at different times if you have been part of churches for any length of time. It’s not a fun place to be just like it isn’t fun when our physical bodies are in pain or failing.
Our bodies will try to heal what is sick and injured; but if it’s significant we often need some extra help to guide that healing along.
The Church Body must also do the same, come together to heal what is sick or broken within. This is for the health of the whole body to do so. We don’t turn a blind eye or just cut that part of the Body off we send all our energy to it and we restore it. This is living worthy of our calling.
So how do we engage every part active to the health and well-being of the Church?
We can ask ourselves: Am I caring for the Church? Am I mindful of this Body I am called to? Do I pray for it, bless it, love it, and provide for it? Do I bring my talents freely to share so the Church might live well and abundantly to the glory of God?
This is in fact how we gather the harvest- we bring the lost home to the Church. We connect them to the Body. We notice how they fit perfectly because what they have and who they are was one missing part now filled to build up the Body in Christ.
Matthew 28: 18-20 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Conclusion: The harvest is ripe and in need of laborers. We have been called. We are being equipped through the Holy Spirit and the Church. Let’s each do our part to continue to build up the Body until we reach unity in faith and attain the whole measure in Christ.
God of love, you abide with us; you provide for all our needs and guide us in your ways.
Out of gratitude for your care, we bring our gifts before you. Use them for your work of caring,
so that all may feast at the table of abundance, walk without fear, and drink deeply
from the cup of compassion. Amen.
New member ceremony for Jessica and Lloyd
Offering:
Prayers:
Final Song
Final Blessing and Sending: We leave this place not as strangers,
but members of God’s own family, brothers and sisters through the blood of Jesus Christ. Together, we are being built into a holy dwelling place where God lives by the Spirit. So go out with joy and confidence to love and serve the world, for we do not go alone.
