Please read the following Scriptures before you read the message:

First, from the 28^th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel 16^th verse

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.  When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.  And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.  And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Then our next reading is from the 12^th chapter of the First Letter of the Corinthians beginning at the 12^th verse.

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 the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would 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 would 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 the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 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 members, 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 members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.  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 deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, 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 in tongues?  Do all interpret?  But strive for the greater gifts. 

And lastly, from the 4^th chapter of Luke’s Gospel:

Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
    to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
    to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

SMELLY FEET!

When I was in Boy Scouts there was a fella would had smelly feet.

He was a good guy, but after a long hike none of us wanted to share a tent, an old canvas tent, with our buddy with smelly feet.

Why do I bring this story up?  I think it will become clear in a moment.

Today my message has three parts: a premise, a problem and finally a solution.

Let’s look at the premise.

We started our service this morning with this prayer:

“Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works…”

In fact if you look at the church season we are in, (it’s called Epiphany), the prayers for the first three weeks are about us telling people about Jesus.

We’ve prayed that we “might boldly (boldly) confess him as Lord and Savior” and we prayed that “we may shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory, that he made be made known, worshipped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth…”

So we’ve been praying for the last three weeks that we be focused, and that we might be living our lives, in ways that tell everyone about Jesus.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.

GO – MAKE – BAPTIZE – TEACH: Strong words and even a stronger phrase: ALL AUTHORITY.

When you hear this language what do you think of?  I think of almost an “army” and hear the song “Onward Christian Soldier”…

But as I reflect on Jesus telling us to GO, and as I have thought about these prayers, I don’t think we are supposed to go out with a type of “military model” – we aren’t to go out and “conquer others”.

If we look at how Jesus “made disciples” did He use a military model?

He didn’t – did He!  Instead we see people:

Ø      drawn to Jesus’ teaching,

Ø      drawn to Jesus’ healing,

Ø      drawn to how Jesus set people free from their oppression to build on Luke’s Gospel,

Ø      drawn to how Jesus lived.

The power isn’t in “conquering” others, but rather in “conquering” ourselves”.

So if we, following Jesus, are to “GO – MAKE – BAPTIZE – TEACH” it would seem to me that we need to be a people that when others look at us they are in fact “drawn” – “drawn to how we present the teaching of Jesus, drawn to how we seek Jesus’ healing, drawn as they see us set free from our oppression – drawn to how we live.

Does that make sense? 

Let me say it again because it is my PREMISE:

If we, following Jesus, are to “GO – MAKE – BAPTIZE – TEACH” it would seem to me that we need to be a people that when others look at us they are in fact “drawn”:

Ø      “drawn to how we present the teaching of Jesus,

Ø      drawn to how we seek Jesus’ healing,

Ø      drawn to how we “are set free from oppression”,

Ø      drawn to how we live.

So the way that we GO – MAKE – BAPTIZE – TEACH people is not by using a military model; rather it is by living together in a community, we call it a church.

And by living together in this church in a way that models Jesus’ impact on us – others are drawn to Him.

In fact Jesus has told us:

By this all men will know you are my disciples, that you love one another – John 13:35

So if this PREMISE is true, then it seems to me that the big part of our work is to learn how to love one another – to learn how to be a people that when others walk through the door on Sunday, or come to a Parish Supper, or to a Bible Study, that they don’t see us, but they see the power of Jesus living in us.

If you walked into a place where you could see genuine love, would you be drawn to it?

Please hear me – this message isn’t about how we can become some “super wonderful people” who have a “super wonderful church” – it’s not to be about us – it is that when people walk in here they see Jesus.

And to see Jesus is to see His love for us on the Cross.

Ø      The Cross is God’s story of redeeming His people,

Ø      The Cross is God’s story of our “old selves” dying and our “new selves” rising to new life.

Ø      The Cross is God’s best picture of love – Jesus unjustly crucified yet crying out “Father forgive them”.

Following Jesus, being His disciples, is not so we can become some “super wonderful people” that get along 100% of the time and that everyone looks at and admires.

It’s not: because that would be drawing attention to us and not to Jesus.

IF THAT IS THE PREMISE THEN THE PROBLEM PRESENTS ITSELF FAIRLY QUICKLY.

What happens when someone has “smelly feet”?  What happens when we really don’t like some part of a person who is the church – it could be their personality, or the way they dress, or the way you’ve been treated, or ….

How do we deal with this problem because it’s real?

Have you ever been unjustly treated in a church – in this church?

What do we do?

Well we aren’t the first to face this situation.

The Church in Corinth faced this problem to a large degree – so much so that they weren’t taking communion as a church, but as individuals, here is what we read:

¹⁷ In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. ¹⁸ In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. ¹⁹ No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. ²⁰ When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, ²¹ for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk.  1 Cor 11:17-21 (NIV)

As you read this you can begin to imagine what their church was like: They were too much about themselves, the text earlier says they had great “gifts” (see 1 Cor. 1:7), but they got too much about themselves.

They began noticing that some had “smelly feet”, so much so that they wouldn’t eat with each other.

Who wants to go to a place where people are arguing or grumpy with each other? No one does.

So how – how do we do this – how do we be church – because the reality is I’m going to act in ways that are at times not worthy of you loving me aren’t I?

Seriously, I’m going act, or maybe have acted, in ways that don’t deserve you loving me back.

So while we recognize we are to be a community of Jesus’ love, that in being this kind of community people are draw to Jesus, there’s a problem: THE PROBLEM IS THAT OFTEN WE HAVE DIFFICULTY LIVING THIS OUT TOGETHER BECAUSE SOMEONE ALWAYS HAS SMELLY FEET.

THE SOLUTION

So what’s the solution – let’s turn to 1 Corinthians 12, because here we find words from God to a church that faces this exact problem.  We read:

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 the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would 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… But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.  Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

God’s Word says that we need to realize that we are: members of ONE body, the body of Christ and that if we think about what that means, then we will realize that in fact we need each other if we are to do the work of Jesus.

Can the hand say to the foot, I don’t need you, even if the foot is a little smelly?

God’s Word is drawing our attention to who we are:

“Now you (that’s us) are the body of Christ and individually members of it”.

We are members of Christ’s body!

This is hard work.

After all we don’t have to look at other people’s smelly feet to realize how hard it is – we need only look at ourselves. 

None of us are perfect, we all have hurts; we all have past experiences that cause us at times to bother others – to react to others – to hurt others.

The key is to remember who we are, and who we are following: if we are “following Jesus”, if we are living our lives His way people will see:

Not that we are a “super perfect people” with a “super wonderful” church; instead they will see is that we aren’t “owned” by all the stuff of our lives, they will see us “bearing with one another”, even the one another’s that have smelly feet – and others will be drawn.

Think of Jesus, He was always getting harassed, His disciples would argue about who would be the greatest; He was unjustly judged and criticized, but it didn’t own Him – and others were drawn to His love.

So I come back to how – how do we do it?

Well it is not for the faint of heart.

Three thoughts:

1. Part of “the how” is the dying of our old self, being free from that which holds us captive.

2. Part of “the how” is seeing the value of others – seeing that “feet, even if a little smelly” have value when you are a “nose”.

3. And part of “the how” is that when you can’t “get rid of the old self”, when you can’t see the value in “the feet”, that you and I go to the Cross.

All of this means doing “want I don’t want to” – it means looking at ourselves – that’s hard work because when “a foot” hurts me, I immediately think, “Stupid foot, all feet are stupid, and they smell”. 

And then I lash out at “the foot” – what does the foot say?  It says, “Stupid nose, they are always sticking themselves where they don’t belong”.

When in fact what we should be saying is something quite different. 

We should be thinking, “Why am I reacting this way, what part of my old self hasn’t yet “died”, or what part of me needs to show more love.

This is how people are drawn to God.

They are drawn to him when others see that we are acting in non-natural ways; when we are acting in super natural ways.

When we do we are proclaiming the Good News.

We are going to continue this discussion next week, we are going to continue reading in God’s Word his advice for how we might be a people who live in a way that draw others to Him: Let’s pray.

 “Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works…”