Sermon Tone Analysis

*Secular:*

* Christmas tree

* Chopping it down… hot chocolate… snowball fights… lunch after….

* Lisa and I stand it up… (it falls down)… we keep trying

* I do the lights and garland

* The kids do the ornaments… they identify the special ones

* The excitement… and sense of family

* The tree looks great but is more about the memories… doing it together…

* I could do it by myself… but it would be empty…

*Biblical:*

Romans 12:3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; 7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; 8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

*Personal: *

* * Exercise…*

* *Love to use the elliptical… love to play sports…*

* *But I love to do it with someone else.*

* *I can referee… but with Josh it was special*

* *I can workout… but with Roland… or my mom… or a friend it was easier…*

* *We are built for community… we are made to be together….*

*Bridge: *

* *God didn’t create a bunch of Lone Rangers*

* *A myriad of individuals… running about doing their own thing.*

* * Jesus had disciples… Paul Timothy… Titus… the churches… *

* *Moses alone struggled under the burden… built a team… worked together…*

* *A right relationship with Christ… requires a right understanding of his body…*

* *We are not in it alone… not intended… not designed… not allowed!*

* *WE ARE THE BODY…*

*Body:*

*Seeing Clearly*

Romans 12:3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

*  Paul… understand… it isn’t my own arrogance that I bring this to you…

* Humility was an issue then…

* Humility is an issue now!

* Remember to have a right view of your self…

* Galatians 6:3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

* Hard message to our culture… we don’t like it

* Often we think better of ourselves than we should.

* We look down on the sins of others and can not see our own

* Matthew 7:3 "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

* To often… we look negatively on others… failing to see our own inadequacies!

* 1 Corinthians 4:7 For who regards you as superior?

What do you have that you did not receive?

And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

* We are children of grace!

* What we have has been given as a gift!

* Arrogance or boasting in our gift is like a Lottery winner giving financial planning advice.

* God places us in the body that we would have perspective…

* See ourselves well…

* Like a marriage…

* It is  a place for honest reflection, place of growth and sober judgement…

* *Seeing clearly!*

* *We are not in it alone… not intended… not designed… not allowed!*

* *WE ARE THE BODY…*

* *

* *

*Simple Stated*

 4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function,

*  We are different… we look different… we act different… a quick survey would confirm that….

* God made us unique… and God called us together…

* God gave us diverse gifts and talents… and gave us one mission

/A fictitious article published some years ago in the Springfield, Oregon, public school newsletter illustrates this principle very well./

/Once upon a time, the animals decided they should do something meaningful to meet the problems of the new world.

So they organized a school./

/They adopted an activity curriculum of running, climbing, swimming and flying.

To make it easier to administer the curriculum, all the animals took all the subjects./

/The duck was excellent in swimming; in fact, better than his instructor.

But he made only passing grades in flying, and was very poor in running.

Since he was slow in running, he had to drop swimming and stay after school to practice running.

This caused his web feet to be badly worn, so that he [became] only average in swimming.

But average was quite acceptable, so nobody worried about that—except the duck./

/The rabbit started at the top of his class in running, but developed a nervous twitch in his leg muscles because of so much makeup work in swimming./

/The squirrel was excellent in climbing, but he encountered constant frustration in flying class because his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of from the treetop down.

He developed “charley horses” from overexertion, and so only got a C in climbing and a D in running./

/The eagle was a problem child and was severely disciplined for being a nonconformist.

In climbing classes he beat all the others to the top of the tree, but insisted on using his own way to get there.…/

* The point of the story is obvious.

Like the animals, every person has his own special but limited set of capabilities.

Trying to operate outside those capabilities produces frustration, discouragement, guilt feelings, mediocrity, and ultimate defeat.

We fulfill our calling when we function according to God’s sovereign design for us.

* 1 Corinthians 12:12 For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.

* This is body dynamics… it is about edifying and serving the church

* The text isn’t about serving the community… it is about being part of the body.

* Not all are the same… but all have the same mission…

* Not all are Sunday School teachers… or greeters or preachers or singers….

But what are you?

* I love to see people step up when there is a need… people standing in the gap as it were…

* Like teaching a Jr. Church class… even when it is not their gifting… just to help out…

* But like the duck with worn webbing or the squirrel with a charley horse… it is exhausting… they delight  in the kids and the ministry… but it is like walking on their hands… disorienting and painful

* These same people in their area of gifting….

And laugh… and they serve… and they have joy….

* I remember watching my kids as the first discovered their hands…  the wonder of it all…

* We need to find out who we are… how we were made… and enjoy the wonder of discovering our place in the body.

*Simply Stated*

* *We are not in it alone… not intended… not designed… not allowed!*

* *WE ARE THE BODY…*

 

*Time to Exercise*

5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly:

*  We are one in Christ… communion of the saints

* We emphasize… the individual nature of our faith…

* Something we do alone