Harmony In Christ, Not In Our Sameness

Text: Romans 15:4-13

In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

We, humans, are deeply wired for community. We need someone to listen to us, to see us, laugh with us, and cry with us. We aren’t designed to be islands unto ourselves. And when we are isolated, we will go to great lengths to fill that void.

Now, since this need for community is deeply embedded in all of us, it makes sense that Christians would be called together into a community, called the Church. But keep in mind, though, the Church is not a random collection of individuals who happen to show up at the same place for an hour on Sunday morning. No, the Church is a communion. A fellowship. A gathering of baptized believers, knit together in Christ, gathered around the Word and Sacrament. 

Yet, while this is true, we Christians still do something strange. We like to group up according to our own preferences. We seek out the familiar: people who look like us, talk like us, vote like us, and live like us. 

But dear friends, Christ’s Church does not work that way. When Jesus stretched out His arms on the cross, He didn’t just die for the people of His own race, background, or tribe. He died for all. This is why our Epistle reading from Romans says: 

“Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” 

That is to say, you were welcomed by Christ—not because you earned it, not because you were the same as Jesus, not because you had anything to offer. You were welcomed in your sin, welcomed in your weakness, welcomed in your rebellion. That Christmas long ago, Jesus came to humanity so that He might make it possible for you to be welcomed before God the Father.  That is grace; that is love; that is the Gospel.  

And so, the Church can never be exclusive based on sociological or cultural preferences. The blood of Christ has gathered us from every tribe and language and nation. 

Listen up; here at St. Paul’s Lutheran, we are not built on shared hobbies, matching politics, or similar tax brackets.  If we were, it would not only be unwise but also anti-Gospel. It would deny the power of Christ’s blood to unite what the world keeps divided.

As we heard this last Wednesday, Paul hits this point in Galatians 3:28, saying, 

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” 

In other words, Paul is not talking about civil rights or modern-day equality. This is not about flattening society or denying the differences God has created. No, Paul is making a much deeper theological point: none of these categories matter when it comes to justification. None of these categories earns you a spot at the Table. None of these groups contributes even an ounce to your forgiveness. You are saved by grace, through faith, in Christ alone—period.

So, this begs the question: what happens when you bring all these different people into one Church? What happens when you baptize the rich and poor, the educated and uneducated, the young and old at the same font? What happens when you serve the Body and Blood of Jesus to farmers and bankers and mechanics and teachers and stay-at-home moms and teenagers? Well, quite simply you get the Church — the real Church. Not a uniform social club, but a communion of saints, united not by hobbies or politics or economics, but by the blood of Christ.

And here’s the beauty: in that Church, we are not called to live in self-service. 

Immediately before our Epistle Reading from today, we hear in Romans 15:1-2:  

“We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” 

Obviously, you are here at St. Paul’s Lutheran primarily to be receivers – to receive from Christ’s gifts of Word and Sacrament.  But beyond that - let me say this as gently as possible – as a Christian, in the Church, your goal is not to be pleased. Instead, you are here to please your neighbor. 

Now, this idea of "pleasing your neighbor" can go terribly wrong if we misunderstand it. Let me explain.  Way too often, churches begin to operate like businesses: 

“The customer is always right!” 

But the church is not a business. The customer is not always right in the Church—because in the Church, we are all simultaneously saints and sinners. And the sinner in us is most certainly not right. To please your neighbor does not mean giving them a spiritual lollipop to appease their old Adam.  It does not mean caving in to sinful desires to avoid conflict. That’s not love; that’s cowardice. That’s not edifying; that’s enabling.

Instead, to please your neighbor means to serve their ultimate good—their eternal good. It means to bear with their weaknesses. To support them in their trials. To point them back to Christ and build them up in Christ again and again… This kind of neighbor-pleasing takes on a thousand forms depending on vocation.

Let me give some godly examples: 

Pastors please their neighbor by preaching Law and Gospel, rightly dividing the Word of Truth, administering the Sacraments faithfully. 

Elders, please their neighbors by making sure the Divine Services are organized and ensuring that sound doctrine permeates from the sanctuary and bible studies, so that their neighbors would know the truth of the Word.  

Trustees, please their neighbor by making sure the boiler works and the lights are on so that the Gospel can be heard and received by their neighbors without distraction.

The Altar Circle pleases their neighbor by reverently preparing the candles, filling the vessels and containers that carry Christ’s Body and Blood for their neighbor’s forgiveness of sins.

Sunday school teachers and LYF leaders please their neighbor by catechizing children in the faith, so that their neighbors may grow in the knowledge of Christ and His gifts. 

The choir pleases their neighbors by singing the Gospel into their neighbors’ ears.

The servant teams please their neighbors by preparing food for grieving families during funerals.  

The finance team keeps a watch on the dollars and cents, trying to stretch their neighbors’ contributions to cover the cost of the Gospel.  

We could go on and on and on.  These are just a few examples.  But as you can see, each of these callings works to build up their neighbor in Christ. 

It should be stated, though, that not everyone is called to be a pastor. Not everyone is gifted for music. Not everyone has a discerning eye for theology or can fix a boiler.  And that’s okay! The Church is a body with many parts. Each part serves the neighbor in its own way with an eye to the Gospel.  All vocations in the church lead to the Gospel – lead to the end of Christ’s Word and Sacraments. This is what harmony looks like and acts like.

But what about disharmony? Let’s be clear:

Disharmony arises when we think that unity comes through cultural or social sameness, rather than through Christ alone.

Disharmony arises when we seek to please ourselves instead of our neighbor -  when the Church becomes about our preferences, our comfort, our entertainment rather than the Gospel.

Disharmony arises when we cave into sinful desires instead of working for the good of our neighbor’s salvation. 

Disharmony arises when we neglect the calling God has given us and try to control callings He has given to others.

But harmony—real harmony—happens when we understand that our unity is in Christ. When we live out our vocations, not for ourselves, but for the good of our neighbor, always pointing them to Christ. 

Listen again to what our Epistle reading says, 

“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Did you catch that? God grants harmony. It is His work. We do not build harmony; we receive it. We don’t fabricate unity; we are given unity in Christ. And in that unity, with one voice—rich and poor, young and old, Jew and Gentile, black and white, male and female—we glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dear Baptized Saints, our harmony at St. Paul’s Lutheran is not artificial.  It is not manufactured.  It is given.  Christ has welcomed you to this church. He has bled for you. He has baptized you. He feeds you with His own Body and Blood. And He has placed you into this community where you are called, not to please yourself, but to serve your neighbor by helping them receive Christ and being built up in Christ. 

So, let us reject the false unity of worldly sameness. Let us resist the urge to please ourselves. Let us deny the temptation to appease sin. And let us rejoice in our vocations and build one another up in the Gospel.  Let all of our vocations, our unity, our efforts towards one another point to Christ and His gifts, because in Christ we have harmony.  This is what the real church is about: harmony with one another in accordance with Christ!

In the name of Jesus – our harmony and unity - amen.