As we continue to look at the topic of faith, we shift our focus a little today. In the last two weeks, we have seen Peter called a man of weak faith, and we have seen a foreigner called a woman of great faith. At the same time, we have realized that God can do amazing things even with weak faith and that those we consider outsiders sometimes have the strongest faith of all.
Today, in his letter to the Romans, Paul helps us begin to make sense of how our previous stories fit together (see Romans 12:1-8).
At the start of today’s reading, Paul points us first and foremost to God.
“...because of God’s mercies…” (Romans 12:1, CEB).
For Paul, grace is both the starting point and the ending point. As a former Pharisee, Paul knows the limits of the Law. As he argues elsewhere, the Law does not save us. In fact, it condemns us as none of us is righteous where the Law is concerned. Instead, the only thing that can save us is God’s mercy, God’s grace.
Paul’s point in saying this is not to imply that the Law is somehow unimportant or irrelevant. There is nothing wrong with choosing to follow the Law as an act of devotion. His point is that we all know we fall short where the Law is concerned. If the Law were the only way to salvation, no one would be saved. However, because of God’s love and faithfulness, we are offered a route to salvation.
Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we can know God’s grace. God’s love is available to us, even though we fall short. And few people can help us hear that better than Paul. Paul, who hunted down and destroyed many early Christian communities. This man was offered forgiveness. He had been present and responsible for the deaths of many early followers of Jesus. And yet, by God’s grace, the early church spread across the Mediterranean through Paul.
When we look back through the history of God’s relationship with humanity, this is not a new thing. Throughout the Hebrew scriptures, we see stories of the people falling short. God tells them what to do, and they balk. God tells them where to go, and they whine and complain and want to go back where they came from. God gives them guidance, and they fail. And yet, God remains faithful. God’s love never fails. Over and over, we - humanity - fail to live up to what God has offered us. And over and over, God grants us grace.
That is one of the central building blocks of our faith -- God’s unfailing love and grace.
After pointing us to God’s mercy as our starting point, Paul goes on to offer us an admonition as he so often does in his letters: “...don’t think more highly of yourself than you ought…” (Romans 1:3a, CEB). This type of admonition comes through most strongly in his letters to the communities he had a hand in founding, but even here in his letter to the Romans he can’t help but point out the ways in which we fail.
It’s not really hard to see why he might offer this little bit of scolding. Perhaps it is human nature, but we love to compete with one another and compare ourselves to one another. We show off our cars, our clothes, our homes as if to say, “See what I have that you don’t.”
In his other letters, Paul addresses this same sort of thing. As we noted a few weeks ago, he berates one community because their practice of communion actually highlighted their divisions rather than joining them more closely. When the rich eat their fill before the poor even show up, it divides them even further.
Paul’s concern is our unity through God’s grace. For Paul, God’s grace is the common denominator. As we are all in need of God’s grace, we are all equal through God’s grace. But what he sees in so many communities is that rather than treating one another as equals in God’s kingdom, there is still a tendency to treat one another unequal according to the ways of the world. This is at the heart of the difference between the ways of the flesh and the ways of the spirit that we explored a few weeks ago. It is at the heart of his concern for the communion practices in the church in Corinth. And it is at the heart of his admonition today.
This becomes clear in the very next sentence. “...God has measured out a portion of faith to each one of you” (Romans 1:3b, CEB). God’s grace has been granted to all, and it is God that has provided what each has received. The amount of faith one has does not matter as it is all a gift from God. This certainly helps us put a different spin on the stories we have read the last two weeks. Perhaps Peter had weak faith, but it is still what was needed. Perhaps the Canaanite woman was an outsider, but her faith was what was needed. They both had received exactly what they needed through God’s grace.
This idea leads us into another common element we find across Paul’s letters, the imagery of the Christian communities as a body, specifically the body of Christ. We see this in his letter to the Corinthians, here in Romans, and in the letters to the Ephesians and the Colossians. And, while it may not be as explicit, we see very similar arguments in Paul's letter to the Galatians. This is obviously an important concept for Paul.
In essence, Paul compares the gifts of faith that each of us has been granted to the working of a body. Our physical bodies are made up of many different parts. Most of us have hands and feet, fingers and toes. Most bodies have chests and heads, a mouth, and ears. Each of the different parts of a body has a different function, and it takes all of the parts each body has working together for that body to work.
In the same way, the portions of faith that each person has received manifest as gifts. Just as a physical body has different parts with different functions, each person has different gifts and different functions. Just as the parts of a body work together, the different gifts we each have work together on behalf of the body of faith. We each have what is needed to support the body of faith, the body of Christ which is the church, so no particular gift is more important than another; each gift is needed.
Of course, we must still be careful about the assumptions we bring to this idea. It would be easy to take Paul’s metaphor and try to emulate a particular body from one place to the next. But I think the strength of Paul’s metaphor is precisely that as we look around our communities, we see such a diversity of bodies. Physical bodies come in a variety of sizes, shapes, colors, and genders. Some bodies have more parts than others; some bodies fit together in different ways. But each body is still capable of functioning in its own way.
Each body of faith is the same. Bodies of faith have different shapes and sizes, colors and genders. The different people that make up the body of faith look different and have different gifts. Some have more parts than others; some are put together differently. But each has been given the gifts needed for that community.
Because each of these gifts comes from God, Paul reminds us that it makes no sense to boast about the particular gift one may have. No gift is more important than another, for each gift is needed. In the church community of which I am part, I am gifted in some areas and not in others. But when I look around at the other members of the community, I see that some of are gifted in the areas I lack. Together, we are all stronger.
This is why Paul admonishes us. And this is why Paul returns to this point over and over again in his letters. Our salvation is completely dependent on God’s grace. All that we have is a gift from God. And all that we have is meant for building up the body of Christ.
It is God that gathers us together from many places. God calls us from different backgrounds and experiences. And God draws us together, uniting us and giving each of us a part to play in the body of Christ.
God’s grace has given each of us a different gift. It takes all of us working together to make a difference. No one of us can do it all alone.
And so we gather together each week to be reminded of God’s grace.
We gather together each week to hold one another up.
We gather together each week to be strengthened for the work of the body.
To help us continue to think about what this means, I invite you to listen to one of my favorite hymns today. “Gather Us In” by Marty Haugen is often heard at the opening of worship as people come together. But it also works here as a way of reminding ourselves that each of us has a part to play. Each of us is a member of the body of Christ. And it takes each of us, using the gifts that God has given us, to do the work that we have been called to.