14 Sermon Illustrations on Unity in the Body of Christ

That divisions exist in the body of Christ is apparent to everyone. The spirit of exclusive denominationalism is evidence of it. Denominations need not be schismatic; they need not cause the entire body of Christ to accomplish less than God intended it. All born-again believers are members of the same body, with God-created differences. We are not uniform, but we need not fight each other on that account; we are to care for all the members of Christ's body equally. Isolationism kills the effectiveness of the body of Christ. Paul says in Romans 14:1, "Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations." A Sympathetic Body In our physical bodies a toothache makes the whole body react in sympathy; the cessation of that ache makes the whole body give a sigh of relief. Why can't it be that way in the Church? Is it because we're so blind to the close and sympathetic union that Scripture enjoins between the members, that we allow the folly of selfishness to take the place of the wisdom of unselfishness? The Church-an Organism Seminary graduates are needed, and God can use them mightily, but Christ's body is not to be served only by those who have 20-20 vision, but also by some myopic Christians who have to wear glasses. Is it any wonder that after two thousand years the Christian gospel is still unknown to three out of every four people in the world? It's because the Church has become an organization devoted to uniformity instead of realizing that it should be an organism, a body that has a diversity of organs with varied gifts to serve the unified body of Christ. A lack of committed believers with no college education is just as deadly to the progress of the Church as a lack of seminary graduates.

As one member of the human body harmonizes its function with the other members, we must harmonize our individual functions in the Church with those of others. There is beauty in variety, even as there is a spiritual uplift from music that harmonizes a variety of instruments and voices. We must never get out of tune by harping on the one gift we consider ours. No one of us can act independently as a member of the body. We have to cooperate with other members if we are to be of any use to the body of Christ as a whole. The Church's One Foundation Paul calls himself a wise architect because the foundation he laid was not different from the one eternally laid. How foolish an architect would be if he refused to follow the laws of nature and civil engineering which are actually the laws of God. You, too, are unwise if you diverge from the Church's one Foundation, "Jesus Christ, and Him crucified," laid down by God from the beginning. The Perfect Church I think that I shall never see A church that's all it ought to be: A church whose members never stray Beyond the strait and narrow way; A church that has no empty pews, Whose pastor never has the blues, A church whose deacons always deak, And none is proud, and all are meek; Where gossips never peddle lies, Or make complaints or criticize; Where all are always sweet and kind, And all to others' faults are blind. Such perfect churches there may be, But none of them are known to me. But still, we'll work, and pray, and plan To make our own the best we can. -Author Unknown The Lord's Trumpet In the Old Testament, under God's command, trumpets were used to call the princes and the congregation together, to announce the journeying of the camps, and as an alarm or notification device. Trumpets were also blown in the days of Israel's "gladness," "set feasts," and over their sacrifices in the beginning of their months (Numbers 10:1-6, Numbers 10:10). I believe that it is in this sense of gladness for the Church of Jesus Christ that this last trumpet will be blown. Can there be any more joyous event than this, when the dead in Christ shall be raised incorruptible, and living believers shall be similarly changed? The Lord's trumpet will call all believers, dead and living, to join Him in possessing a glorious resurrection body. The Discontented Member Hubert Brooke comments: "A selfish existence in one, who is in membership with many others, is a contradiction of terms, and must mean loss to all the rest, and misery to the idle member." May not this explain the restless discontent of many who are really united to Christ? They are not subject to the Head; they are not using His gifts for the common profit; they keep for themselves what is given for all. In short, they are disobedient and dishonest, and therefore discontented and missing the joy of the Lord.

If the body is ill, the head hurts, the body temperature is elevated, the heart races, the lungs labor, the skin flushes or cools as needed. The kidneys work overtime to filter out infection; the brain directs each organ and each function of the body to cooperate in throwing off the enemy and restoring the organism to health. This cooperation, this united effort against outside forces that invade the body, is an illustration of how the separate members of the Body of Christ ought to unite to work against threatening forces of evil. Where Is the Piccolo? It is a great discovery to know what we can do well; doing it well is the only way the whole body of Christ can function. Don't be like that member of an orchestra who played the piccolo. Amid the thunder of the organ, and the roll of the drums, the player on the piccolo said to himself, "In all this din, my little instrument doesn't matter," and he ceased to play. Suddenly the great conductor threw up his arms, and all was still. "Where is the piccolo?" he cried. God listens for our share in His orchestra no matter how small that share may be.

One hot day, Herman Trueblood, all clean and cooled off by a nice swim in the ocean, saw a sweating man and his two sons trying on a hot day to push his disabled car up an incline. Two voices started yelling at each other inside him. One said, "There is an opportunity for service; you ought to help them push." The other voice protested, "Now that is none of your business. You will get yourself all hot and dirty. Let them handle their own affair." He finally yielded to his better impulse. He put his shoulder to the task. The car moved and kept moving. A simple thing then happened which Trueblood never forgot. The father stuck out his dirty hand, and Trueblood stuck out his dirty hand. The father said, "I am very glad that you came along. You had just enough strength, added to ours, to make the thing go." "Years have passed since that hot day, but I can still hear that man saying, 'You had just enough strength, added to ours, to make the thing go,'" Trueblood reflected more recently. "There are many thousands of people struggling to get some heavy load over the hill, and I probably have 'just enough strength, added to theirs, to make the thing go.'"

"I did," said the sticks. "I did," said the paper. "I did," said the boy. "No, I did," said the wind. But they all flew the kite together. If the sticks had broken, the tail caught in a tree, the paper torn or the wind was lulled, the kite would have come down. Each had a part to play. The application is inescapable. We each have a work to do. If the work of the Lord is to be a success, then every member of the church must play his part. We have the work of visiting, giving, preaching, and countless other jobs to do to make the church and its work successful. We must all work together and each do what he can to help. It is a matter of teamwork (1 Corinthians 3:6-9).

D'Azara informs us, that, during the inundations of the low districts in South America, the anthills, which are usually about three feet in height, are completely under water. The ants, for their greater security, collect into a compact mass, and keep firm hold of each other, previously attaching one of the extremities to some neighboring plant or fixed point of support, leaving the other end free, and floating on the surface of the water as long as the inundation, which usually lasts a few days, continues.

As the stone called tyrrhenus, being whole, swimmeth, but, being broken, every piece doth sink; so by concord we are sustained and held up, but by discord and strife, we come to decay and ruin.

— Cawdray