The church as a body

Let's turn to the book of Colossians chapter 1. Brother Matthew spoke to us about the church as the temple. I would like to speak to you a little bit about the church as the body. There's a number of passages in the scriptures where we read about the church.

Sometimes it's the wide aspect of the church, the body of Christ, the universal church. Sometimes it's the local assembly seen as a body. But there's a number of times in the scriptures we read about the church being seen as a body.

And I would like to share with you some of the things the Lord has shown me about this. We're going to see in the book of Colossians the church and affliction, the church and trial as a body. Then in Corinthians we're going to see the church and participation as a body.

And then in Ephesians we're going to see the church and the unity of love, the church as a body showing that. So let's read here in Colossians chapter 1 first of all. We're going to start at verse 21.

Paul says in you that we're sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works. Yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unapprovable in his sight. If you continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard and which was preached unto every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister.

Now we need to stop there. This scripture teaches us a rather naughty scripture here at first glance. Do you notice what it said? It says in verse 23, you have been reconciled, verse 21, if you continue in the faith grounded and settled.

Now at first glance that might seem to be a little jarring. Is that teaching a works-based salvation that we must continue in order to be reconciled? How do we explain this? Well there's a few things I would suggest to you. First notice what it doesn't say.

It doesn't say he has reconciled you because you continue in the faith grounded and settled. That would be a works-based salvation, a clear denial of the truth. By grace you have been saved through faith.

But rather he says he has reconciled you if you continue in the faith. Further notice that it doesn't say he will reconcile you if you continue in the faith grounded and settled. That would imply that we needed to wait until we had continued and only then we would be able to have our reconciliation.

What it does say is you have been reconciled in the past if you continue in the faith in the present grounded and settled. What does it mean? I believe it's what my father taught me when I was a teenager a couple of years ago. He said this, he said it is faith alone that saves.

But the faith that does save is never alone. It's always accompanied by good works. As James 2 and 20 says, faith without works is dead.

A genuine Christian will always evidence in some degree in their life that they belong to Christ. So there's no contradiction. You have been reconciled if you continue in the faith.

This is the teaching that genuine Christians will continue in the faith because God is with them as their Savior. Not because they have any ability of their own but because God is at work in their lives. But notice a second extremely strange expression as we continue here.

Verse 24, he says you're continuing and I'm preaching. And notice what he says, verse 24. Paul says I rejoice in my sufferings for you and I fill up that which is behind or that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake which is the church.

And so there we have the church as a body. And Paul says I am filling up what's lacking of the afflictions of Christ. Now I don't know if that expression strikes you strange.

I hope it does. What is lacking in the afflictions of Christ? He said I was taught from first Peter that Christ suffered once for sins. And when he sat on the cross it's finished.

It was all done. What could be lacking in his sufferings? But this passage says I should be careful there's something lacking in the afflictions of Christ. I need to tell you that this is not talking about what I have just referred to the sufferings of the Lord Jesus on the cross.

The Lord Jesus finished those sufferings and there is no contribution that we can make to that. But what this passage is talking about is not his sufferings but his afflictions. As he lived in this world as a man following God, as the son of God, he was persecuted for righteousness' sake.

And he is no longer here. All of God's people throughout history have been persecuted for righteousness' sake and have gone through a multitude of trials. And the Lord Jesus did as well.

And he is no longer here to do it. And so Paul says he has left that job to me, to us. To continue in that pathway and to fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ.

See there's many reasons for suffering given to us in the scriptures while we go through trials and tribulations. But perhaps this scripture gives us the highest one. When we go through trial and suffering we are identified with the Lord Jesus.

We are made Christ-like. Now we all wish to be Christ-like but perhaps not in this dimension. But I would like to encourage you.

Perhaps you are going through a trial or maybe someday you will. The next time that you are in a fiery trial and questioning what on earth God is doing. Maybe he is just allowing you to be like his son, the Lord Jesus.

You know the Lord Jesus experienced almost every trial that we could imagine. You think of the trial of separation. And on the cross there was that separation.

You think of the trial of the loss of a child. And the father experienced that as his son went to the cross. You think of the trial of illness.

And the Lord Jesus, his beloved friend Lazarus was sick. You think of the trial of being slandered. And the Lord Jesus knew that so fully.

You think of the trial of having to bear with unfaithfulness. An unfaithful partner. Unfaithful children.

And the Lord he dealt with that with his people Israel. You know I was enjoying just a little while ago in my meditation of the scripture that little phrase, a little while. And I think this will bear out what I am thinking about here from this passage.

As we go through trials, we become like the Lord Jesus. Peter talks about a little while of trial in his book, 1 Peter 1. And he says this to the people that were going through a trial. He says you are rejoicing though now for a little while.

If need be you are in heaviness. A little while of heaviness. And then at the end of his book in 1 Peter chapter 5, he says the same thing.

He talks about how after we have suffered a little while we will be made perfect. And so Peter is occupied with a little while. A little while of the suffering of trial.

The Hebrew writer writes about a different little while. It's not the suffering of trial. It's the trial of waiting.

Remember what he said, yet a little while. And he that shall come will come. The trial of waiting.

And there are those among God's people who have these two kinds of trial waiting. Waiting for something to happen that your heart yearns for and God has not yet brought it. Or going through the suffering of a trial, a little while.

Do you know why we can go through our little while of trial? It's because the scriptures speak about another little while. It's found in Hebrews chapter 2. And the writer says that our Lord Jesus Christ, he was made for a little while. Lower than the angels.

He had his little while. As he waited to do the Father's will. And as he went through the pain and the suffering and the contradiction of sinners against himself.

He had his little while. So that when we go through these trials, we have this assurance that we are being made like the Lord Jesus. And one further thing we have, as I compacted this passage in Colossians.

You know, if you were to hurt my body, you also hurt me. And we're thinking here about the church as the body. And Saul on the road to Damascus discovered this.

He thought he was only persecuting the Christians. But the Lord Jesus said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Because when he persecuted the body of Christians, he was hurting Christ.

And so the Lord Jesus was right there with those believers as they went through their trial. And so it is with us. He's been through our little while.

And as he brings us through our little while, he is making us like himself. But how does suffering connect in this passage to the body of Christ? Because what Paul says here is that I'm rejoicing in my sufferings. I'm filling up what's lacking of the afflictions of Christ.

And I'm doing this for the sake of the body. Because Paul's particular trial, his particular difficulty was linked with the growth of the body, the church. You see, as the Apostle Paul spread the gospel, he suffered much.

And Christian history furnishes many examples of this. When the church has suffered, it has been purified and it has grown. But when the church has become worldly and carnal, no desire, no willingness to go through persecution and trial for the Lord.

Oh, how weak it has been. You know, I think there's a scripture in 1 Peter that would bear out a little bit of this. The Apostle Peter, he says, be ready always to give an answer of the hope that lies within you.

You know, some people as they share the gospel are looking for ways to bring up conversations. And that's a valid method in sharing the gospel. But that's not the method that Peter was promoting in 1 Peter chapter 3. He said, be ready.

And when they ask you about your hope, be ready to give an answer. He says, live in such a way that people will realize that you have hope. Live.

Live. Live. So that people will see your hope and then they will ask, what makes you tick? That's a different strategy, but it's a beautiful strategy.

And I'm afraid sometimes in the modern age, as so many of us have been consumed by that thing commonly called materialism, or perhaps more properly called consumerism, this idea that life is made up of everything that we can have. And we're buying into it hook, line, and sinker. And we're forgetting the words of the scripture that says, godliness with contentment is great gain.

1 Timothy 6, those who want to be rich will fall. You see, brothers and sisters, when we live with Christ as our hope, then we have great opportunities for evangelism. And that's what Paul had.

He had nothing of this life. He had all these trials and these difficulties, but through these trials and difficulties, he hung on to God. And as people saw that, they said, I want that Jesus.

He must be precious. He must be beautiful. He must be valuable.

And they asked reason of the hope that lies within them. And perhaps that is the reason why God allows us to go through our little while of trial, because then will people be able to see our hope. I quoted to you the words of Hudson Taylor this morning, though I didn't quote them all.

Let me quote them again now, what he said as he went through that trial. These words deeply moved me. He said this regarding the trial, the uprising in Anking.

He said, what shall we say? Father, glorify thy name. Though the flesh is weak and trembles, Jesus is our strength. He was abiding in Christ, and he had that strength.

And he said, what we cannot do or bear, he can both do and bear in us. We are not our own, nor is the work ours. He whose we are and whom we serve will not prove unequal to the emergency.

And to his mother, he said, I'm more happy in the Lord than I have ever been. I cast more fully every burden on him. To be content with God's will and his way is rest.

He said, things may not be as I would wish, but if God permits them to be so, I may well be content. I cannot just bear up with this new trial at Anking, but I am fully satisfied about it. Not to wish it otherwise, but to thank God for it.

Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. There's a man that had hope in his trial, like the Apostle Paul. And what a testimony it was.

The Lord was with him. I think I learned something here about how to comfort people in trial. Often, you know, when somebody's in a trial, we think, what should I say to them? I don't know what to say.

Often there's nothing that can be said. Do you know how the Holy Spirit comforts us? You read through the upper room ministry of Christ. And as the teacher, the Holy Spirit educates us in many ways.

But when the upper room ministry speaks about the Lord, our comforter, it doesn't tell us what he says. It just says that he's there. That's what I'm seeing from this passage.

We go through our little while, but he's already there, who for a little while was made lower than the angels. Non-Christians persecute the body. The Lord Jesus says, I'm there.

I'm with you. Years ago during the Civil War, an old friend, Billy Brown of Abram Lincoln, came from Springfield, Illinois to visit him. Traveled all the way to Washington.

Came to the door and met the aide to the president who asked him if he had an appointment. Billy said, no sir, I ain't and it ain't necessary. He said, maybe it's all right and fitting to have appointments, but he said, I reckon for Mr. Lincoln's old friends, they don't need them.

So he says, you just trot along and tell him Billy Brown's there and see what he says. And sure enough, they did that. And the president came out and shook his hand, invited him to dinner.

They stayed all night, all evening, and they were spinning all the old yarns from Springfield, Illinois, laughing. Like the president hadn't laughed for a long time during that war. Later that evening, Billy said goodbye.

The president tried to get him to stay, but Billy didn't want to impose on him. So finally as he was leaving, the president said to Billy, he says, why did you come here? He said, I came to see you, Mr. Lincoln. He said, but Billy, you ain't asked me for anything.

Come on out with it. What did you want? He said, no, I just wanted to see you. I felt kind of lonesome.

And Lincoln gazed into his friend's eyes and he said, you mean to tell me that you came all the way from Springfield, Illinois, to have a visit with me? You ain't got complaints in your pockets or advice up your sleeve? Billy said, yes, sir, that's about it. Tears began to run down the president's eyes and his cheeks. And he said, I'm homesick, Billy.

The boys are dying. I hear the calls of their moms. I can't bear it.

But he says, you'll never know what good you did for me today. Just being here with me. That's how the Holy Spirit comforts us.

And that's how we comfort one another. Colossians tells us about the church and trial and persecution and suffering. He's with us.

And he's producing something good. Let's go to 1 Corinthians. Because we're going to get something a little different.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. We're going to read about the church, the body, and participation.

Let's take a look at this. The church, the body, and participation. Because you see, in our lives as Christians, there are three large areas of growth.

There's character growth. The fruit of the spirit, growing in love and joy and peace. So character growth.

And we all need character growth. Then there's growth in knowledge. 2 Peter 3.18. Grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Growing in knowledge. But you know, there is a third area of growth. And that is growth in service.

Because it is God's plan, as we're going to discover in this passage, for each and every believer to be involved in some kind of Christian service. What's your service for the Lord? You say, well, your service for the Lord is a preacher, and that's the important one. No, we're going to find out in this passage that actually there's more important roles of service than preaching.

What's your service for the Lord? Every believer in the body needs a service. Let's take a look. 1 Corinthians chapter 12.

Start at verse 12. It says, For as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body.

This is the church, the body of Christ, the universal church, every believer part of it. Whether we be Jews or Gentiles, bond or free, we've all been made to drink into one spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.

And the first thing that we learn about the church as a body is that there is diversity. That each of the members contributes in a different way. This passage emphasizes many members.

Being member, many. They're not one, but many. And there's all kinds of diversity.

There's ethnic diversity, Jew and Gentile. There's social and economic diversity. Some were slaves and some were free.

Because God is a God of diversity. You know, we see this in creation. God is a God of diversity.

He's created a diversity of creatures. He's created a diversity of flowers. He's even created a diversity of snowflakes.

God is a God of diversity. I mean, he could have created the world in monochrome, but he didn't. He loves color.

You know, you think of the Great Barrier Reef there in Australia. For thousands of years, not one person saw it. Why did God make it that way with all those rich colors? For thousands of years, no one would see it.

I think God just likes color. And on the day when he created the fish, he was having a heyday. If I can just say it that way.

As he splashed all that color across all those fish. Because God is a God who loves diversity. And brothers and sisters, if God loves it, we ought to learn to value diversity as well.

I'd like to show you this. This is something that's found in nature. I learned this from a brother, Paul Brand, whose insights were written in a book by Philip Yancey called Fearfully and Wonderfully Made.

And he talks in this book about how the body, the human body, is indeed a picture of the body of Christ. And there are so many marvelous parallels, miraculous things. And here's one of them.

In our bodies, there are so many kinds of different cells. Heart, lung, liver, skin, nerves, all kinds of different cells. And all those cells are different.

Our body understands the diversity of cells. And the heart doesn't try to do the job of the lung. There is diversity.

You know, respecting diversity in the local church is not always easy. It involves us resisting our self-centered tendency to want everybody to be like me. Now, it's very common and natural for us to be like this.

We feel uncomfortable with people that are slightly different from us. But it is also extremely self-centered to want everybody to be like me. Think of our Lord.

And think of how far he came in his incarnation to love and to accept people who were vastly different from him. And brothers and sisters, we are all different. Diverse as snowflakes or flowers or fish.

And we need to learn to respect and to value one another with all of our diversity. C.S. Lewis wrote that when he first started going to church, he thought that the songs were fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music. He was a literary man.

But you know, after he went for a while, he wrote this. And he said, I realized that the hymns, which were just sixth-rate music, were nevertheless being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic side boots in the opposite pew. And he said, you start to realize you're not fit to clean those boots.

He said, it gets you out of your solitary conceit. Brothers and sisters, we need to learn to value one another with all of our diversity. That's verses 12 to 14, diversity.

But go to verse 15. Paul continues in this body, the church as a body. He says, if the foot shall say, because I'm not the hand, I'm not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? Then in verse 17, he says, if the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? And in verse 18, he says, but now has God set the members, every one of them, in the body as it has pleased him.

And notice what it says in verse 21. The eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee. And then notice what it says in verse 22.

Those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor. This is not now teaching us diversity, but dependence.

Each person's contribution is not just different, but it is essential. Essential. A foot can't do the job of a hand.

The ear can't do the job of an eye. In fact, the parts that seem smaller are indispensable. And each part has its valuable function.

Because as it says in verse 18, God has set every member in his own specific place. Do you notice what this verse is teaching us here? Down in verse 22 and 23. It shows us that the parts of the body that we can't see are the most important and honorable.

That's what it says. The members of the body which we think less honorable, we bestow more abundant honor. Those which seem feeble are necessary.

So the parts of our body that seem very obvious and honorable are our hands, and our eyes, and our ears, and our nose, and the outward parts. But you know, most of those parts are, in some cases, replaceable. I mean, if I lose one ear, or one eye, or one hand, it's a tragedy, but I can go on with my other one.

And even any of those parts, if I lost all of them, I can still live. But what about my liver? Can't see it? You say, oh, the liver is not very important. Or the heart.

Or the kidneys. You can't see them. But you lose them.

And it's over. So in the body, God has made it this way. You see, we don't need to put honor on my job to teach the Word of God.

Often we fall into that trap of saying that it's the preachers and the teachers in the assembly. They're the important people. I was at a conference once, and I was sharing with one of those really high-power, top-rung speakers.

I don't know what on earth I was doing there. But it was one of these places that engages in what my wife calls preacher-olatry. The adoration and the idolization of preachers.

Now, my wife says that people who behave that way, they should just kind of live with a preacher for a while. And they would be very, very quickly cured. And she's right.

And I was talking to some of the young people, and one of them said, you know, I come from the same place as the speaker, but he's the important one. And I took him to task on it. I said, actually, that's not true.

I said, we're all equally important. Everybody is valuable. And did you know that Dr. Paul Brand pointed this out about the human body? I mean, take, for example, the nerve cell.

You don't see it? And in fact, when you bang your finger with a hammer, you might wish you had less nerve cells. But you know, if you had no nerve cells, you'd be in big trouble. You'd step on nails, and you wouldn't realize it.

And you'd hurt yourself in all kinds of ways, because pain, Dr. Paul Brand discovered, was the gift of God, so that we could discover a problem. And so sometimes the parts of the body that we don't realize are valuable, they are so very important. And it's at this point that I want to press this home.

Because you see, every part of the body, every part of the body has its own specific task. Did you know that every cell of your body has your entire DNA? The DNA that produces your lung, and your heart, and your liver, and your skin, and your nerves. It's in the whole pile of information, your DNA.

But that heart cell just reads the part to produce heart cells. It's really interesting. That cells have this idea that they know what their part is to play.

It's called in science, for those of you who study science, it's called specialization. I want to ask you. In the local church, God has a specialized role for you to play.

It may be a public role of teaching, of leading, and if it is, you do it with all your heart. But it may be even more important role of a quiet part. The non-speaking roles which this passage teaches us are so important.

We read about helps, people that help one another at the end of Corinthians 12. We read about people that are able to administer or to organize. We read in Romans 12 about people who are able to serve with joy.

We read about people who are able to give. We read about people who are able to show mercy. Have you found your particular area of service? God has one for you.

If you haven't found it, you've got a few problems. The first problem is that somebody else is probably trying to do your area of service and they're burning out because they're doing yours plus theirs. Or if you're trying to do something that isn't God's plan for you, you may be robbing somebody else of their particular area of service.

Or maybe up to this point in your Christian life you just haven't found your area of service. I would like to encourage you, whatever the Lord puts before you, do it with all your heart. That's what Colossians says.

And the Lord will lead you. In the new assembly that I'm part of in Toronto, we were concerned about this because so many assemblies function on the 80-20 rule in business. Eighty percent of the work is done by 20 percent of the people.

And from this passage we believe that the church is a body and each part has a, each member has a contribution to make and their contributions are diverse but they are all essential. And so we wanted to see that. So we started each year to meet with all the members in the assembly to ask them how it's going, what they'd like to be involved in.

And it was a wonderful, wonderful exercise. And the brothers there are continuing that now because sometimes people fall through the cracks and it would be, think of the power for God if each and every one of this 300 people, we were all serving God in our individual areas of ministry. But you know the last thing we learned, read verse 20.

It says, but now are they many members yet but one body. In Colossians we discovered the church in suffering. Here in Corinthians we have discovered the church in participation and we've seen that we're diverse.

We're dependent on one another but verse 20 tells us that we are united. Although we are diverse we are brought together by the Lord Jesus Christ. And Dr. Paul Brand points out one further example.

I didn't know this but I'm in farming country here so I'm probably speaking to the converted. But did you know that when a little chick dies, if you took some of the cells of that dead chick and put them under a microscope, the cells are still got a little bit of life and they'll be pulsating. But they'll all be pulsating at different rates of speed and time.

But if you watch them under a microscope over a short period of time, did you know Dr. Paul Brand indicated that they will all start pulsating in unison. I thought that was kind of cool that even cells from a dead chick had it figured out to pull together as one. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 5 for our last little section and with this we'll close and we'll have to go very quickly.

Ephesians 5 and we're just going to read one verse. We don't have time to read more but I refer you to this part of the book of Ephesians for further study. We're just going to read verse 30.

Paul is talking about husbands loving their wives just like Christ loved the church. And then he says about Christ and the church, verse 30, we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Ephesians is the great book about the church as the body of Christ and the body as one.

It's introduced to us in chapter 1, the church, the body of Christ. Chapter 2 talks about the composition of this unity, Jews and Gentiles, and the middle wall of partition being broken down. Chapter 3 talks about the mystery of this unity because in the Old Testament it wasn't viewed in this way that Jews and Gentiles would be brought together in one body on an equivalent standing.

That's the first half of Ephesians, describing the unity of the church. But the last half of Ephesians talks about the methods, how the church can become united. It applies in the church, the body of Christ, but it also applies in the local church, which is like a body.

In chapter 4, Paul shows us how teachers can promote the unity of the church, and you can read it. He raised up evangelists and pastor-teachers, and it says in verse 12 that they equip and build up the body so that there can be a unity of faith, believing the same thing. But chapter 4 is only half of the equation for Christian unity.

It won't be enough to achieve it. And so in chapter 5, Paul shows us that in addition to the teachers teaching the truth, we need a gentle, forgiving love. And that is the only way that Christians can achieve unity.

You see, the truth on its own is inflexible. It doesn't change, and rightly so. And on its own it can become hard and oppressive.

Have you ever met a Christian who is long on truth and doctrine and short on kindness? You know what I'm talking about. See, in chapter 5, Paul uses the example of the physical body. And in our physical bodies, there's nourishing love.

We take care of our bodies. And then he shows us that the same thing is true in our marriages. A husband's joy is to build up his wife, who is one flesh with him.

And he does it, verse 28 says, through a nourishing love. He sanctifies, verse 26, he beautifies her. He's building up the church just like any good husband would do with his wife, with a nourishing love.

And so perhaps this is why verse 30 comes in. We are members of his body. And some manuscripts add, of his flesh and of his bones.

It's the deepness of our membership in Christ. But Dr. Paul Brand shows a further marvel. Bones are an amazing thing.

On the outside, they're very hard. And if our bones were fully made of that hard material, we'd be so heavy that we couldn't move. So God made our bones hollow.

And inside that hollow space, he's put the blood cell factories. But you know, our bones allow us to walk. If we didn't have bones, we'd be like slugs or earthworms.

And you see, the bones are like the truth. In fact, Paul uses this example in Ephesians 4 when he's speaking about the teachers teaching the doctrine. He says it allows us to grow up.

And every joint is growing up and becoming stronger. Because the truth, the teaching is like the framework that allows us to be strong as Christians. And we need to imbibe and embrace the teaching of the doctrine of the Word of God.

But you know, there's another interesting thing about bones that Dr. Paul Brand points out. And it's this. They're on the inside, usually.

There's a few animals where bones are on the outside, exoskeleton animals, things like lobsters and crayfish. And although they may be tasty, they are not very cuddly. That's an understatement.

You see, brothers and sisters, what Paul is teaching is that Christian unity will never just be achieved by teachers teaching the truth. That's the bones of chapter 4. We need the flesh, the skin, the soft, the warm part. We are members of his body, of his flesh, of his bones.

I'm concerned about this. I don't know if you are, but I sense at times in Christians a hardness. Almost as if it's okay to treat other Christians without love.

To be mean, to manipulate, to be rough. But you know, we're members of his body, of his flesh, of his bones. The time is now done.

I don't have time to trace this. But Paul talks about what kind of love we will have. He talks in chapter 4 and verse 32 about a love that forgives.

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another. We need to have a love that forgives one another. Then he talks in chapter 5 and verse 2 about a love that serves and sacrifices for one another, just like the Lord Jesus was sacrificed for us.

And so in love we serve each other. In love we forgive each other when one has wronged one another. We find it in our hearts to forgive.

And then we have in verse 32 where we've read of chapter 4 a love that is kind and tender and gentle. You say, well, it's not part of my personality to be gentle. Well, maybe.

But that's part of your self-centeredness. And God wants to change it. Because the fruit of the Spirit is gentleness.

If God is working without restriction in my life, I will be becoming more gentle, loving by forgiving, loving by serving, loving by kindness, avoiding those awful ills of gossip and evil speaking that he speaks about here. And in love, treating one another with the love that will bring unity. I'll close with a little story written by Karen Maines.

It's called A Brawling Bride. It's a scene of a wedding. The bride is about to enter, and the groom is at the front, spotless, handsome, smiling, every hair in place.

The pipe organ reaches the full crescendo, and everybody's about to welcome the bride, and in she comes, and everybody gasps. Because there is a limping woman, her dress soiled and torn, her leg twisted with ugly cuts and bruises and nose bleeding, one purple eye, hair disheveled. And Karen Maines, as he writes the little story, says, does not this handsome groom deserve more than that? Alas, his bride, the church, has been fighting again.

Andrew Jackson became the seventh President of the United States. In the War of 1812, the morale of his troops were failing, and they were fighting with one another. And one day he gathered them outside, and he said, gentlemen, let's remember, the enemy is over there.

Chuck Swindoll, in writing about that, said this, he says, does Christ ever look down and say with a sigh, Christians, your enemy is over there. Stop your infighting. Pull for one another.

Support one another. Believe in one another. Care for one another.

Pray for one another. Love one another. So we've studied the church, seen as a body, linked with suffering in Colossians, linked with participation in Corinthians, and linked with love and unity in Ephesians.

May the Lord help us that we would be able to fulfill his word when he said, By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.