When I was in high school, I was a member at a tiny, little mission congregation in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania. We did not have our own church building, so we had to meet in the basement of a bank. Everybody, everybody pitched in, to do his or her work.

There are people I will never forget, from that congregation. I remember old Mr. and Mrs. Stadler. Every Saturday night they would drive to this bank and Mrs. Stadler would show up with her iron. She would iron the cloths that would go on the altar, which was a folding table. And, she did that very lovingly.

I remember old Mr. Stadler. He would get out chairs and put them in place, so everyone would have a place to sit.

I remember Bill and Lilly Marlow. Bill Marlow had very lovingly built a portable pulpit. He had painted it white and gold. Every Saturday night he would come from his house, with this pulpit in the back of his car. He and his wife would gently carry it out of the car and set it up in the church, so there would be a pulpit to preach from on Sunday morning. And I remember Mrs. Marlow. She really had a special love for the youth of the congregation. I remember Confirmation Sunday, the day I was confirmed. We, the confirmands, were all off in a corner of the church. She came up to us, with tears in her eyes, and said, "You don’t understand, today, what an important day this is in your life." That made a real impact on me, to think, "How important must this day be, that I am promising forever to be faithful to my Savior."

I remember Ron Neumann. We did not have an organ. We did not have a piano. And so, every week, Ron Neumann, would take one of the high school girls, named Karen Stahlfeld, to the local high school. She would play the organ and record all of the hymns, and the entire liturgy on Ron Neumann’s recording equipment. And every Sunday morning he would set up all of the recording equipment. He would push all of the right buttons, so we could sing all of the hymns.

I remember Lou Wigand, and his mentally retarded son, Eric. Lou was a very humble man, who took care of the treasury at the church. There were only a few of us youth, and he would ask us, "Can you make sure you include Eric in the things you do?" Since there were not many of us youth, none of us could think, "Well, somebody else can take care of Eric." So, we all took Eric under our wings.

I remember Mario Costillo. He was a convert who came from Columbia. He was a young man who really wanted to do something for the church. And so, he offered, on Saturdays, if any church member needed their car fixed, they should bring it to the parking lot and he would fix their car.

The awesome thing about that little, tiny congregation was that everybody had to do their part. One of the dangers of a large congregation, like our congregation, is that it is easy for us to think, "Somebody else can do it. Somebody else will do it." And it is easy for us not to all do our part, as part of the body of Christ. But, if you listen to today’s scripture reading, there is a really strong Bible verse in there that all of us should take a really good look at in our own lives. It says,

"Live a life

worthy of the calling

you have received."

Live a life worthy of the calling you have received. What is the calling that you have received? Let’s look at it, on different levels. Number one, you have been called by the Holy Spirit to be a member of the Holy Christian Church. Through Baptism and through Word and Sacrament, the Holy Spirit has worked in your heart, and He has made you a part of the body of Christ. He has delivered to you the same Jesus that everybody else in this room has. He has delivered to you the same forgiveness of sins that was won on the cross two thousand years ago, when Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world. That has been delivered to you. You have been called to be a member of the Holy Christian Church. You have been called to faith. That means the Holy Spirit lives in your heart. And, you have the same, the very same Holy Spirit, who lives in you, that lived in St. Paul, that lived in St. Peter, that lived in Martin Luther, that lives in the person next to you.

We have been called,

by the Holy Spirit.

We have been called to a future glory in Heaven. Heaven is your home. Heaven, (which has been purchased by Jesus), is the same Heaven that St. Paul enjoys right now, is the same home that belongs to you, and belongs to the person sitting next to you.

"Live a life

worthy of the calling

you have received."

Not only have you been called to salvation, but you have also been called, on this earth, to serve Jesus.

You have been called to serve Jesus.

You have been called to serve the One who died for you.

You have been called to serve the One who shed His blood for you.

You have been called to serve the One who has assured your eternity in Heaven.

Live a life

worthy,

worthy of the calling

you have received.

You have been called to serve Christ, how? We don’t see Jesus. He is not visible in this room. But, Jesus tells us, "Whatever you do to the least of one of these, my brothers, you do for me."

So, we have been called to be members of the Holy Christian Church, part of the body of Christ. And, we have been called to serve the body of Christ. You, as part of the body, as part of the body, (one body - each of us being different parts of the one body), have been called to serve one another, fellow members of the body of Christ.

"Live a life

worthy of the calling

you have received."

Now, our scripture reading goes on. It lists and makes some distinctions.

"To each one of us

grace has been given

as Christ apportioned it."

There is one body, but there are many parts. God in His grace has apportioned to you, what He wants you to have. He has apportioned to you a specific station in life.

He has called you to that specific station in life. It may be that you have been called to be a son or a daughter, a mother or a father, a husband or a wife. And by God’s grace He has called you to that station in life.

He has also placed you in to this world with certain skills and abilities that are unique to you, which the person next to you may not have. And in His grace, God has chosen you, you, to have those skills and abilities.

"To each one of us

grace has been given

as Christ apportioned it."

Now, he goes on and mentions those who are in the called ministry of the Word. He says,

"It was He who gave some, (God appointed and called some) to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, (for a purpose), to prepare God’s people for works of service."

Why do you come to church? Why do you come to church? It says here that God has appointed some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service. The role of the pastor and teacher is to prepare you, God’s people, for works of service, for your calling in life, to live a life worthy of the calling that you have received.

And how does a pastor or teacher do that? The role of the pastor and a teacher, as we learn from scripture, is to clearly, boldly, faithfully, teach and preach the Word of God and to properly administer the sacraments of Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper.

Now, what happens when the Word of God is taught in its truth, purity, and clarity and the sacraments are administered rightly? What happens is that unity in the body of Christ is created. As the pastor preaches about sin, every single person in this room, (pastor included), looks at him or herself and says, "I am no different from the person beside me. We have all sinned, every one of us. None is better. None is worse. We all deserve eternal condemnation. We are united in sin. But, we are united in a Savior. We all need a Savior."

As the Word and Sacraments are preached, it is taught that there is one way of salvation, and that one way of salvation is for everybody in this room.

That one Jesus Christ, one Christ, died for you and everybody in this room.

That one Jesus Christ belongs to each one of us.

That one Jesus Christ has changed our hearts, (everybody in this room) from the inside out.

How united, how much more united could a people be, than that? And we, through Word and Sacrament, as the pastor preaches and teaches, have the same Holy Spirit.

The same Holy Spirit who inspired the writers of the Bible.

The same Holy Spirit whose word is infallible, (it cannot fail), whose word is inerrant, (it is without error).

The same Holy Spirit who works in our hearts and delivers to us, all of us, every one of us, the same thing - faith, saving faith in Jesus.

As the Word is taught in its truth and purity, the Holy Spirit builds us up in unity, unity of doctrine and teaching, so that we can truly say, "I am one with the person beside me. We believe the same things. We confess the same things. We teach the same things. We are one. We are united."

The work of the pastor and the teacher is to faithfully preach the Word and administer the Sacraments so that unity, the unity of being part of the body of Christ, grows in our midst.

The Bible says the whole purpose God made some to be pastors and teachers, is for what? It is so that unity is created and fed through the Word of God, and God’s people may be prepared for works of service.

Why do you come to church? You come to church to hear the Word and receive the Sacraments, to be built up in your holy Christian faith, to be united with your brothers and sisters, and to go home asking yourself, "I am part of the body of Christ. I am part of the body of Christ! And, I want to live a life worthy of the calling I have received. I have been called to serve the body of Christ. I have been fed Word and Sacrament. So, how can I serve the body of Christ?"

How can we do that? Everybody here, you are not an island unto yourself. You are not an island unto yourself. We have a duty to the rest of the body. We have a duty to the rest of the body. And in utter, (as our scripture reading says), complete humility and gentleness, patience and forbearing with one another in love, we are to look out for the spiritual welfare of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

"Live a life

worthy of the calling

you have received."

You have been called to do that, by your Savior. Your Savior wants you to look out for the spiritual welfare of the rest of the body in this room. So, how can you serve? Well, certainly pray. Do you pray for the youth of the congregation? And youth, do you pray for the senior members of the congregation? Do you pray for the parents of the congregation? We have been called to serve one another. We are united. We are a unity. We are part of the body of Christ. So, pray for one another.

If you see a member of the congregation straying, (and you know it, and no one else in the congregation may know it, but you), do you serve them and speak the truth to them in love? Christ put us on this earth for that purpose, to live lives worthy of the calling that we have received, and to serve one another so that the body may be built up (and not fall apart, because nobody does their work).

We have been called to be part of the body of Christ. Each one of us has been given different skills and abilities. And, you know, there are many ways here at Holy Cross that each one of you can serve. Not all of us are made the same way. Not all of us can or should serve the same way. St. Paul says if we were all an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? Each part of the body has been given a specific purpose and calling from God. And, that was so fun to see that, back at that little church in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania, where each person used their skills and abilities to serve the body of Christ.

Can you serve the body, here at Holy Cross? You don’t need to be asked. You can find ways to serve, even simple ways. For example, if you are walking past the front of the church and you see some garbage lying on the lawn, you don’t have to say to yourself, "I can’t believe they don’t pick up the garbage at church."

We are one. We are part of the body of Christ. We are here to serve. Let’s live a life worthy of the calling we have received. What an awesome calling it is!

It is an awesome calling that God has given to us!

We are one in faith.

We have one forgiveness of sin.

We have one Lord,

one hope,

and one Heaven.

We are united, as nobody else on earth could possibly be united. And, we are called to serve one another.

Now, not just serve each other and build up the body internally, but also, to cause the body of Christ to grow.

I read a very interesting article yesterday. There is a man who said, "There is something you can’t do in Heaven, something you absolutely cannot do in Heaven, that if people came back from Heaven, they would want to do, here on earth." What is it that you can’t do in Heaven, you absolutely can’t do in Heaven, but if you were in Heaven, and you came back to this earth, you would really want to do? It is to witness your faith to the lost. There are no lost people in Heaven – zero. In Heaven you cannot witness your faith to the lost, but here on earth, here on earth there are the lost. And so long as we are here on this earth, we can witness our faith to the lost and cause the body of Christ, not only to be built up internally, but also to grow.

A study was done by a group called Promise Keepers. They studied Christian males. They discovered that only 10% of adult Christian men say that they have ever, ever in their life witnessed to someone who is lost. Which means the other 90% haven’t. Our Bible passage says, "Live a life worthy of the calling you have received." Jesus says,

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations."

We have been called to share our faith. When the rich man and Lazarus both died, Lazarus went to Heaven and the rich man went to Hell. Isn’t’ it interesting the rich man pleaded with Abraham, who was up in Heaven. He said, "at least send Lazarus back from the dead, so he can witness to my five brothers, so they do not end up in this place." What was that man in Hell interested in? He was interested in evangelism. Isn’t it interesting that people in Hell are interested in evangelism? How much more so should we, the people of God, the redeemed of Christ, who have the awesome treasure of salvation, how much more so should we be joyfully ready to live a life worthy of the calling we have received and spread our faith in Jesus, as our Savior! So, as our scripture reading says, "From Him (that is Christ) the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does it work."

Amen.