St John the Beloved
Sermon and teaching audio from St John Church in Cincinnati Ohio.
St John the Beloved
The Body of Christ
What does it mean to be part of a community while maintaining your individuality? In this thought-provoking examination of 1 Corinthians 12, we explore how the church functions as "the body of Christ" – a powerful metaphor that captures both our unity and our diversity.
Through three key principles – membership, diversity, and interdependence – we discover why God intentionally designed us with both gifts and limitations. Your limitations aren't flaws; they're invitations to depend on others in community. When you feel you don't fit the mold, that difference might be exactly why you're needed.
Most powerfully, we see how the church operates by a radical alternative to "survival of the fittest." Instead, the strongest members slow down to accommodate the weakest, just as Jesus – the fittest of all – condescended to save us. This creates a countercultural community where groups that typically can't get along in the world find unity in Christ.
If you've ever felt frustrated because something seems missing in your church, this message offers a surprising perspective: that frustration might be pointing directly to where God has gifted you to serve. The areas where you feel most concerned often reveal your unique contribution to the body.
Join us as we explore how embracing our limitations, celebrating our differences, and caring for one another creates a community that truly embodies Christ to a watching world. How might your unique gifts strengthen the body of Christ today?
From 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, beginning in verse 12, the Word of God reads this way Just as the body is one and has many members and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body, jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and all were made to drink of one spirit. We were all baptized into one body, jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and all were made to drink of one spirit. For the body does not consist of one member, but of many. If the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, god arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is? There are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet I have no need of you. On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. And on those parts of the body that we think less honorable, we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it, and God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating in various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, do all work miracles, do all possess gifts of healing, do all speak with tongues, do all interpret, but earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. This is God's word. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. May God bless this reading and preaching of his word.
Speaker 1:Fleet Fox's lead singer, robin Pecknold, once sang years ago I was raised up believing I was somehow unique like a snowflake, distinct among snowflakes, unique in each way you can see. And now, after some thinking, I'd say I'd rather be a functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me, but I don't know what that will be. I love those lyrics. Those lyrics capture attention that we all feel that we are each individuals. We're each unique individuals with unique stories and gifts. No two people are exactly alike, and yet we can't do life alone. Yet we long to be part of something bigger than ourselves. And how do we bring those two things together? How do we both belong to a community and be part of something bigger than ourselves without losing our individuality and our individual identity? Well, we've been walking through 1 Corinthians and we have entered into a section in 1 Corinthians that's all about spiritual gifts and diversity within the body of Christ and different giftings and yet the unity that's in the body of Christ. And different giftings and yet the unity that's in the body of Christ. And today we really come to the heart of that section, where Paul famously teaches that the church is the body of Christ. This is a metaphor or an analogy that is unique to Paul, and we find it in a few places in Paul, but primarily here in 1 Corinthians 12. And it's a beautiful analogy because it captures those very two things Christians know.
Speaker 1:The answer to Robin's question that he sings about in his song is that we are the body of Christ and individually members of it, that we are united together in the church as one body. But that does not eliminate our differences. As a matter of fact, it makes them more important. So what does it mean to be a part of, to be united together as one body and yet to be individually gifted and different from one another and distinct? And today we're just going to unpack what that means by meditating on three principles that we find in this text Membership, diversity and interdependence. Those three things we see Membership, diversity and interdependence. So that's what we're going to walk through as we think about 1 Corinthians 12. So first, membership, and the point here is that if you are a believer in Jesus, if you belong to him, especially if you're a part of a local church, you are a member. You're a member of the body of Christ Because you are only a member and not the whole thing. You must embrace your limitations. That's part of the teaching here. Because you are only a member, you must embrace your limitations.
Speaker 1:Again, throughout the New Testament. There's a few core metaphors for the church that we find in the New Testament. I'll just mention a few. The church is described as a temple being built up together, jesus being the cornerstone. The church is described as the bride of Christ, with a marriage metaphor, jesus being the husband and we being his bride. The church is described as the planting of the Lord or the field of the Lord. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. All of these are great and powerful metaphors and images. And then, finally, the body of Christ, with Jesus being the head. Each of those metaphors teaches us something different about who we are, who Jesus is, what our relationship to him is, and the body of Christ. That metaphor mainly focuses on the idea of unity in diversity, that we are diverse members, very different from one another, and yet bound together in a very unique way. Unity in diversity. We're all gifted differently and we all have different functions, and yet bound together.
Speaker 1:Paul says in verse 12, he says, for just as the body is one, it's one thing and has many members. And all the members of the body though many, are one body. So it is with Christ. Our bodies, your physical body, it's a living whole. It's one thing. If one part of your body suffers, there's no part of your body that you can easily do without. It's one thing, even your pinky toe. If you lose your pinky toe, you're going to have a hard time walking. You're going to be imbalanced. You're going to have to learn how to live life differently. Your body is one thing, but only because each part does something different. And Paul says that's exactly how the church should be. It's one body, but only because each part has a different function.
Speaker 1:And then, in verse 27, we read now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. So God created us to not. We can't do everything ourselves. We don't have all of the gifts that we need for life and for success within ourselves. We're members. God created us all to function as a member of a body, and this means that you are not only gifted by God. That's part of the message of when, as Paul is talking about spiritual gifts, you are gifted. Each one of us is gifted. You are not only gifted by God, but you are also limited by God. God has given you certain gifts and not others. He's given you certain experiences and not others, certain perspectives and not others, and that means that you must learn to embrace your limitations. You have to embrace the fact that you are limited, that you can't do it all, that you depend not only upon the Lord, but you depend upon other people whom he has created you to be in community with. You don't have to be everything and, as a matter of fact, you can't be everything. God made you, whether or not you're a believer in Jesus. Believers in Jesus realize that they are limited, that they must be members of a body, but God, no matter who you are as a person created in the image of God, god created you so that you cannot do it alone. You can't do life alone and you have to depend on the gifts of others in order to flourish and to grow into maturity as a person and even to use your own gifts. To grow into maturity as a person and even to use your own gifts.
Speaker 1:If you've ever sat by the bedside of someone whose body is failing, if maybe one part of their body is failing, maybe some. I know that some of you here work in healthcare. I'm sure you see this all the time. You know how quickly the whole person can begin to unravel if one part fails. Both of Julie's grandparents died from Alzheimer's disease and from mental issues, and the saddest part about it in living through that was that they were otherwise healthy. Their bodies were healthy. They had healthy hearts and lungs and there was nothing wrong with them except for their mind. But because the mind failed the health of the other members, it didn't make a difference. The health of the other members could not do anything to save the body. One member suffered and the whole body suffered with it.
Speaker 1:Each member of your body, your physical body, is essential, but it's also limited by God to do a specific set of things and because of its limits it cannot work without the other members. So, for example, your liver has a few gifts. It's able to do a few things it filters, it helps to digest, it stores. Your heart has different gifts it circulates and it delivers resources to other parts of your body. Both of those organs are absolutely essential, but they can't replace one another. The other can't do the job of the other. In fact, they need one another to function. If the liver fails, the heart can't do its job, and if the heart fails, the liver can't do its job. Every person made in God's image is like that. We are uniquely gifted. We don't have all of the gifts. We have a certain set of gifts and we're uniquely limited.
Speaker 1:And the point that I'm trying to make here that I think what Paul is saying is that God made you to be limited by design, and that is why we need one another in the church. We can't do it alone. So what does it look like to embrace your limitations? Well, here's just a few thoughts in applying this before we move on to our next point. The first don't make significant decisions alone.
Speaker 1:If you are limited, you should not make significant decisions alone. Decisions made with a multitude of counsel are just better decisions, and I'm not talking about decisions of like what you're going to have for breakfast. You don't need to call your pastor or your accountability partner to figure that out. But when it comes to big things like who you're going to marry or who you're dating or courting or will be engaged with, what city to live in, whether or not you're going to move or relocate, whether you should switch careers. Those are significant decisions. Don't make those decisions alone. Don't make those decisions, even just in counsel with the person that you're married to if you happen to be married, why not? Because you are limited and you and your spouse are limited. You cannot see the whole picture. So as we include others in the church in our decision making, the picture becomes more clear. If you're a college student, you don't need your church's permission to switch majors. You're free to do that on your own, but you will greatly benefit from your church's input and wisdom as you make decisions like that.
Speaker 1:Don't make decisions alone. Include the body in your decision-making. The worst decisions that you will make in life, the decisions that you're going to regret later, are significant decisions that you made alone, that you made without any input, without any counsel, without any other perspectives from the body. We're limited. We can't see it all. God made us to be limited. We need to rely on one another.
Speaker 1:Another application of this this is hard for me. It's hard for some of us in this room too. Some of us, this comes naturally, which is good. Room too. Some of us, this comes naturally, which is good. Ask for help. Ask for help. You cannot follow Jesus alone.
Speaker 1:All of us in this room have besetting sins, that we're struggling with life difficulties, that we're struggling with meteors that just hit our world and we have no idea what to do with them. Them or just our own dysfunction, how we were raised and the sins that we carry with us. All of us are carrying that around and I think we're mostly ashamed to ask for help or to let it be known that we are struggling. We want to be able, or foolishly believe that we will be able to figure it out on our own, but we can't and we shouldn't. God made us so that we must ask for help because we're limited. We're members of a body. We can only do certain things. God made us so that we must depend on one another. We must ask for help.
Speaker 1:Part of our mission as a church, st John, is to help one another to grow in Christ, and we want to see our neighbors and our friends come to know Jesus and help them to grow in Christ. But we cannot help you if we don't know what's going on. We can't help one another if we don't know what's going on. So you've got to muster the courage to say out loud whether it's over a cup of coffee or on a phone call or in your community group or a call to one of the elders or a pastor, we have to muster the courage to be able to say I'm struggling and I need some help. When you do that, you give the church the opportunity to be the church. Because you are only a member, you must embrace your limitations. You must embrace the fact that you are not only gifted by God but limited by God and you need other people, you need other believers in the body of Christ. So membership number one. Number two. Point two diversity. Because the body's health requires different parts, you must embrace your differences. Because the body's health requires different parts, you must embrace your differences.
Speaker 1:In Corinth, the showy gifts like prophecy and tongues, some of these extraordinary gifts were prized and were flaunted and were sought after, while the quieter gifts, like helping, administrating, serving, the things that happen behind the scenes, like that, were overlooked and maybe not even seen as spiritual gifts or not even seen as important or essential. And that meant that some in the church in Corinth started to feel like maybe they didn't really fit in and maybe they thought you know if I don't have that gift or if I don't look like that, I'm not, I don't know that I really have anything to offer. Well, listen to how Paul responds to that in verse 15. He says if the foot should say, because I'm not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. Paul's point there is that God himself arranges the body, he gifts the body as he chooses.
Speaker 1:Every church is prone to imbalance and prone to favor certain kinds of gifts and certain kinds of personalities over others. So maybe you've felt this way before, whether it's in this church or somewhere else, maybe at another church. You look at who you are, you look at your gifts, your personality, your experiences, your background, your perspective and you think I'm not sure that I really fit in here. I don't know that I have much to offer here. I feel so different from these people. Or maybe you've built up an image in your mind of what a Christian is supposed to look like, or what a man in the church or a woman in the church is supposed to look like, and because you don't fit that picture, you just don't feel like you belong.
Speaker 1:But Paul says that actually the exact opposite is true. Just because you feel like you don't fit or feel like you don't belong does not mean that you're less part of the body or not part of the body. In fact, it may mean that we need you even more. It may mean that that particular church or let's just talk about our church it may mean that we need you even more because you are bringing something to the body that we don't yet have. So we have to embrace our differences. If you are different, that's a good thing.
Speaker 1:At the same time, paul doesn't say that we should be passive about that. In verse 31, he writes but earnestly desire the higher gifts. And so he's teaching the church that they should not only use their gifts but they should pursue and desire and he says the higher gifts In that he's not telling us to chase gifts for our ego or to prove ourselves. Chase gifts for our ego or to prove ourselves. The higher gifts are the gifts that most build up the body, that most build up one another, the gifts that most serve each other. Those are the higher gifts. They're not the more extraordinary looking gifts, but the gifts that most build up the body. And he tells us to pursue them. And what that means is that God does gift us. He gives us gifts, but we have a responsibility in that. Our responsibility is to develop, to nurture and to sharpen them. And that's why, in 2 Timothy 1.6, paul tells Timothy he says fan into flame the gift of God that is in you. He says God has gifted you Timothy. He says fan into flame the gift of God that is in you. He says God has gifted you Timothy, but you need to fan that into flame. You need to feed that and use that and sharpen that and develop that.
Speaker 1:It is possible to neglect the gifts that God has given us. It's even possible to quench the spirit that God has given us, but it's also possible to grow in them, to stretch them, to practice them and become more fruitful in using them. So the body's health and let's just talk about any local church, any particular local church our health requires difference. We need to have a diversity of gifts and perspectives and a difference from one another. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing. If we were all the same, the church would be terribly unhealthy. And so, in order to grow in health, we need to embrace our differences, trusting that God knew what he was doing when he made you the way that he did. Our differences, trusting that God knew what he was doing when he made you the way that he did and when he brought you to this place. And then we must develop those things God has given us, even if they aren't flashy or impressive, even if they aren't always understood right away, because the church needs every part doing its work.
Speaker 1:When we planted this church, we started with five families and then a handful of single folks. They pretty much looked like our family, all in the same stage of life, kids around the same age, and since that time we have grown in diversity and demographics. Janice and Anna, for example, moved here from West Virginia, and Janice was our first, if I can say it with respect. She was our first elder statesman, and she is different from us in many important ways. Coming from a different generation, having raised children, having had a successful marriage to a husband who's now in glory, how easy it would be for someone like Janice to enter into our church community. Look at a young church like ours and think do I really fit in here? I'm so different from all of these people, but I can testify I spend time with Janice every week. Me and Janice and Pierre read the Bible together. She has been such an amazing gift to our church, not because she's so similar to us, but because she is so different. That's why she has been such a gift to our church. Her gifts and her experiences are different and that's exactly why we need her. And that's exactly why we need you. We don't need you because you're the same. We need you because you are different. We don't need you because you're the same. We need you because you are different. Maybe you feel, like Janice might have felt like you don't fit the mold here and you feel like, man, is this really the right place for me? And Paul would say that's exactly why you should be here, that's exactly why you're needed. The church does not thrive on every member being the same, but on each member being different and yet united in love. And so to apply that before we move on, I just have one application Pursue your gifts, the area of your gift, and I'll put it like this the area of your gifting.
Speaker 1:I've said this before the area of your gifting. I've said this before the area of your gifting and the area of your frustration are probably the same. I'll say that one more time the area of your gifting and the area of your frustration are probably the same. If you look at our church and you get frustrated if you notice that we struggle with administration, well, that's a dead ringer that. It could be that you are gifted in administration and that's why you're frustrated. Otherwise it wouldn't bother you. I'm not very administratively gifted. It doesn't bother me at all. I don't lose one bit of sleep over that because I'm not really gifted there. So what do you do with that? You need to press into that gift and lead our church in growing an administration by using your gift. Many of you are already doing this and I just want to encourage you to do it more and more.
Speaker 1:Don't give up, because we need that. Maybe you're frustrated that we don't have much of a presence on campus or with some other demographic, and if that's bothering you, it could be that it is you that are gifted to help move us in that direction. If you value something that we don't, if you see something that we don't. If you care about something that we don't, it does not mean this is not the place for you. It means we so desperately need you. We need you to help us. We need your gifts and your perspectives to help make us a healthy body.
Speaker 1:There are some very healthy churches in Cincinnati that are wonderful, healthy churches that I would never be part of, and the reason I would never be part of them is because they have a dozen people just like me and they don't need me. And I could go. It would be comfortable for me to go to that church and be part of it and I could just sit and enjoy. But you want to be part of a church community where you are needed, where your gifts and perspectives are needed, and if you're frustrated, you're probably needed. If you're frustrated, you're probably needed. I just want to encourage you to pursue your gifts for the sake of the health of the church and keep fighting the good fight. So we have to embrace our limitations as members. We've got to embrace our differences and pursue diversity within the body and then, finally, we have to pursue interdependence, because no member is dispensable. We must embrace one another.
Speaker 1:Paul is talking here about unity in the church, unified as one body, and one of the ways that the church should be just different from the world is that groups that normally cannot get along in the world should be able to get along in the body of Christ, and that's what Jesus says. Jesus says that by this, all men will know that you are my disciples, by your love for one another. That's one of the things that makes us distinct. We're out in the world there's lots of division and tension, but somehow those groups within the church are able to coexist and to work together and pray for one another and love one another. You don't need me to tell you that we increasingly live in a tribalistic, divided nation, and I don't this is me shooting from the hip, I don't really have any prepared remarks on this but this past week was heavy for me.
Speaker 1:I think it was a dark and heavy week for myself and for our country, and you know I have lived through tragic events, public events, I've lived through assassination attempts, but this one, the assassination of Charlie Kirk this past week, really put me in a place. It has got me thinking and given me a lot to consider, and it's something that we should all grieve over, because not only does it remind us of how divided we are as a nation, it also reminds us not just that we live in a divided nation, but that we live in a spiritual war, that there are spiritual forces of darkness that are larger than what is happening just between people of flesh and blood. Spiritual forces of darkness that hate God, that hate people made in God's image, that want to sow division and violence. As Christians, we have to appreciate that and we have to engage in that spiritual warfare, not battling against flesh and blood, not battling with weapons of this world, but battling against the spiritual forces of darkness in the heavenly places with spiritual weapons. All of that is an aside to the sermon, but I just want to recognize that we live in such a fragile and divided world. But in the church it should be very different. There should be a unity and us being bound together in love. So how is it that very different people, people who are differently gifted and who have different backgrounds and perspectives, how can we be bound together in unity in the body of Christ? And Paul says that the answer it's really not complicated. The answer is love. The answer is it is love that binds everything together in perfect harmony. It is a mutual concern for one another, within a special focus on the weakest members of our community.
Speaker 1:Listen to what Paul says in verse 21. He says the eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet I have no need of you. On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. And he goes on to say that God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together.
Speaker 1:We live in a world that operates by the principle of survival of the fittest, where the fittest are the ones who rise to the top and those who are weak or those who are without honor get left behind. But there is a completely different principle at work in the body of Christ. What Paul is saying here is that in the body of Christ, the fittest should cater to the needs of the weakest. Paul says in the body, we pay a special attention to those members that are weakest and without honor. The most gifted should be focused on helping those who struggle. The healthiest should be focused on helping those who are unhealthy. No member, not even the least in the kingdom, is dispensable. Jesus will have them all, every person who believes in Jesus, no matter whether your faith is strong and you're very gifted, or whether you're a struggling Christian and you feel like you're the least in the kingdom, the weakest. Jesus will have them all. He will see them all safely home. And so those who are strong must slow down and bear with those who are weak. And analogies for this are endless, but I'll just offer three quick ones. Here's just a few images to help us understand this.
Speaker 1:When one part of your body is in chronic pain, it affects your whole body. Your whole body has to stop and slow down and seek healing and recovery for the wounded member before the whole body can move forward together. If you've ever broken, even like one of the small bones in your foot I broke my fifth metatarsal a few years ago. It's a very small bone in your foot. I can't just like cut it off and be done with it. It affects my whole body. My whole body is now moving at the pace of my weakest member.
Speaker 1:If you have a family, you know that when one kid is sick, the whole family is affected. You can't just leave the kid at home and then go. Do you know? Live life as normal. The weakest child, the sickest child, sets the agenda and sets the pace for the rest of the family until they're better. Your family is only as fast as your slowest child. If you ever take your family hiking, who sets the pace? It's not dad, who you just would leave everyone in the dust. It's not the strongest and fastest. The whole family has to move at the pace of the slowest child.
Speaker 1:And Paul's saying that's what it's like in the church. He says the members have a mutual care for one another and the strong must bear with the weak Because we have a mutual concern for one another. The culture in the church is the exact opposite of the survival of the fittest. In the church, the fittest condescends to the level of the weakest. Those who are able to move most quickly slow themselves down to help others, to bring others along, because a local church is only as healthy as its most unhealthy member. It's only as strong as its weakest member. We are one body. We're in this together, we have to help one another. Why does the culture of the church need to be like this? It's because we are the body of Christ and this is what Jesus has done for us all. So, to borrow from Wes Huff I've quoted this before, but I love how he puts this Every other world religion, every other worldview teaches some version of survival, of the fittest.
Speaker 1:Do this, think this, feel this. If you are fit in these ways, then you will succeed, and that's what you have to do. But the gospel of Jesus teaches something so different. It teaches that the way that we are saved is not by doing or thinking or feeling, because we'll never do or think or feel enough to overcome our own brokenness and our own sin. The way that we are saved is that the fittest of all, jesus Christ, came down to suffer in order to save the weakest, and that we are saved not by our fitness but because of the fitness of another.
Speaker 1:Paul says in verse 26, if one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together. Jesus Christ shared in your suffering. He shared in our suffering. He knows what it is like to suffer. He is a man of sorrowsrows acquainted with suffering. We worship a God who, not only who can imagine what it's like to suffer, but who knows exactly what it is like to suffer. And not only did he suffer, but he suffered beyond anything that we will ever experience suffering the guilt of our sins, the wrath of God against our sins, in order to deliver us from all suffering. That's what our Savior has done for us, and we rejoice in his resurrection because in his honor and in his glory we find our own hope of resurrection. Jesus is the one member who suffered and we all suffer with him. He's the one member who was honored and we are all honored with him. And what does this mean for us?
Speaker 1:We are prone, each of us, to misuse the gifts God has given us, by using them for our own advantage rather than using them to build up one another and especially to care for those who are weak, whether that be using them just using them to profit in some way, or using them to draw attention to ourselves or to gain something. That's how we use the gifts that God has given us. That was the big problem in Corinth. But the best way to use your gifts, the way that God intended you to use them, is by using them to minister to the unseen, to those who may be silently struggling, or to come alongside those who are moving at the slowest pace and just can't seem to get it or seem to be the most injured, helping them to grow strong, helping them to heal, helping them to become like you, because someone helped you to do that and because Jesus has done that for you. That's what our gifts are for.
Speaker 1:We are the body of Christ and individually members of it, so we have to embrace our limitations. We're all limited by God. As much as we're gifted by God, we're limited by God. We must embrace our differences. If you are different, we need you, and the health of our church requires that we would be different. And, above all, we must embrace one another, especially those among us who are struggling and weak and limping, because that is what Jesus has done for us. So I want to offer up some prayers. I'm going to pray for our church. I'm going to pray for our city and for our country as well. Let us pray together Our Father.
Speaker 1:This is a somber Sunday and, though we are continuing in the ordinary series that we've been going through Lord, we recognize that we live in a broken world.
Speaker 1:We recognize that tragic things have happened in our world this week that mean so much more than just the events of that day.
Speaker 1:We pray God, for your help. We pray that, as a church, you would help us to be united in love. Help us to be people who love our enemies, who pray for those who persecute us, who fight, who strive and struggle not against flesh and blood, but in a spiritual battle against forces of darkness in the heavenly places, against Satan, against our own sin and our own brokenness. Lord, help us to be people who hunger and thirst for righteousness, people who forgive, people who are merciful, people who are peacemakers and people who are bold and who know that to be associated with you does mean to come under fire and to be persecuted by the forces of darkness. So we ask God that you would empower us for that and embolden us for that, and that you would help us to grow more and more into a body that is united by love with one another and yet that is so diverse and different from one another, because you have designed us that way. Help us, lord. We ask all of this in the mighty name of Jesus, amen. Amen, stand with us.