St. Luke’s Evangelical Lutheran Church – Watertown, WI
Pastor Mark Gartner
Sermon for Pentecost 10 – August14th and August 17^th, 2003

Dear children of God,

Preseason football has begun marking the beginning of the NFL season. Football is an interesting sport. There are eleven guys on each team who are working together to either stop the offense of the other team or score points on the opponent’s defense. Football is one of many team sports that needs team unity. It just doesn’t work when some of the guys are not carrying their weight. They sometimes call this a lack of "Team Chemistry". Coaches and owners of teams may even go to the point of only drafting players who have shown that they can work as a team unit.

Today we are going to talk about the concept of unity. We are going to see that God wants all his children to be united around one thing and that is Jesus as he is reveled to us in his Holy Scriptures. The Apostle Paul was warning and admonishing the Ephesian Christians and us sitting here today to "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit." The Holy Spirit has brought us into this unity when he called us through the gospel to be one of his holy children. Today we are going to see that this unity is something that we always to need to work at and that is what we will use as our theme:

Some people like to try and trace their family trees. They sometimes will go to great lengths to study where their family came from and who were their ancestors. Some people have gone back many generations to see what their family history looked like. It is always good for us to remember our ancestors. It is all too important to remember that it was one ancestor in particular that has managed to stand far above everything else. Our text calls him the "Head" of the body. We know him as our personal Savior, Jesus Christ.

Without this perfect ancestor we would only remember our earliest ancestors and that would be Adam and Eve and the sin that they passed down to us and all generations following their fall into sin. Being in this family tree has showed us very clearly that we don’t deserve to be apart of God’s family. We are born in sin and are lost to sin forever.

But lets back up and talk again about Unity. We have clearly noted that the holy Sprit has brought us into the unity of his family. We have seen that God wants us "to make every effort to keep this unity." But how do we keep this unity? Paul begins by encouraging us to live a life that is rooted in a number of things. Listen to this list, . ⁴There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called -- ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." We were called to "one Lord, one faith, one baptism." God’s holy Word is to be the norm and center of all the unity we have. Paul is not jut talking about a unity that is based on mankind’s idea of unity. It is a unity that clearly stand on all the teachings found in God’s Word such as faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the true teaching about baptism as a tool to bring people to faith.

Let’s go back to the picture of a football tam. The coaches are the ones who create the playbook and expect everyone to follow them just as they are written or else people will be going in every direction. God has given us his Holy Word and he wants us to follow it which means that we are to hold to all of his teachings. The problem is that many people are not following god’s Word as he has given it to us. The are creating their own "plays" and are doing what they think is best. What is the result of this kind of belief in God’s Word?

The problem is that there is no real book to look to for the answers to what is right. Paul tells us that a faith that is not firmly united on God’s Word is like a child wandering back and forth and also like being blown back and forth by the waves, ¹⁴Then 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 men in their deceitful scheming." When we were on vacation we had the opportunity to swim in the Pacific Ocean. We decided that we were going to try some body surfing. The waves would come rolling in and all of a sudden you would see one coming that was going to come crashing down on you. These were the waves you tried to ride. The waves were so strong that they would pick you and carry you 10- 20 feet flipping you in all different directions. There was no way that you could control where you were going.

That is what happens to our faith and lives when we are firmly anchored to God’s holy Word. A weak faith seems to be swayed by any deceitful scheme or teaching. It is not quite sure what is right so it follows whatever comes along. What is so sad is that many people’s faith have been shattered by these strong waves of false teachings -- only to be lost forever. Our eternal welfare is not something that is a game. It is not something that we can leave to the whims and schemes of this world. Our true unity will only be safe as God leads our faith to mature and to grow together into Christ who is the head of his Church.

The problem that most of us have is that this is never easy. The devil never seems to stop. As we stood in the Ocean we realized that the waves just never stopped coming in. They would crash in and then try to pull you out. It was hard work. After a while you were so tired you had to come in and rest. As we live on this earth we realize that we sometimes might get a little tired in our battle to remain united in Christ ands his teaching. How many times have we kind of whispered to ourselves when the going gets tough that I just can’t take it anymore. I don’t think that I can hold on any longer. I’m just plain worn out.

That is why God has given special gifts to his people on this earth. Our text tells us, "but to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it." God in his grace has blessed each of us with different gifts and abilities to be used to help each other on our spiritual journey against the attacks of this world. We need to realize that these gifts by themselves can do nothing to help someone’s faith, but these gifts used with God’s powerful gospel are filled with God’s power to help each of us. Some of us may have the gifts to be pastors and teachers. Others of us may have the gifts to be Sunday school Teachers and leaders in our congregation. Others of us may use our gifts to share God’s Word or to support the ministries of our congregation with extra special financial gifts.

God tells us that these gifts are for one purpose, ¹²to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³until 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." We are to use our gifts and abilities that have come to us by God’s grace along to help us to grow together in God’s family and to grow in our faith as we hear and learn more about God’s Word.

Let’s go back one more time to our picture of the football team. Even the greatest players will tell you that they wouldn’t be where they are without the help of their coaches. Their coaches helped them to improve and to learn how to play the game smarter and better. As we live on this earth we don’t have coaches who need to tell us everything we need to know, but I pray that we will use every opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives. Who knows what our part in someone’s life may mean for the long haul as we seek to remain in the unity that the Holy Spirit has given us. May we praise and thank God for the unity that he has so freely given us. And may we live in this unity as we seek to grow together in our journey together . Amen