Sticking Together or You Never Stand Alone

August 20 , 2000

Ephesians 4:1-16

Diptera muscidae.

The common housefly.

The ubiquitous insect

that can spread diseases

and contaminate food.

Over 700 varieties of diptera exist -

horseflies, dump flies, dung flies,

the Mediterranean and Oriental fruit flies,

sand flies, cluster flies, robber flies,

stiletto flies, flesh flies and the biting midges

- to name a few.

They don't live long,

typically, about 20 days

in the adult stage.

Adults of many species

bite or passively transmit pathogens for diseases such as

typhoid fever, dysentery, anthrax and African sleeping sickness.

But that's not why scientists

at the Marine Science Laboratory in North Wales

are studying them.

Flies do something else

besides mate, contaminate food and irritate us.

They walk on walls and ceilings.

These scientists would like to know

why and how they do that.

What keeps them on the ceiling defying gravity,

when they should be spinning off

and dropping into our soup?

But they're not bug scientists.

These scholars are the world's most elite experts

in the field of zygology -

the science of joining things together,

named from the Greek word for "yoke" -

and any insights into this field

can have very important practical applications.

Think about it.

Rivets, nails, screws, welds and threads

play a large part in the zygology of our world,
keeping roofs over our heads

and clothes on our backs.

And where would we be without adhesives?

Furniture would rattle and shake,

tiles would drop from walls,
books and shoes would fall apart
and we couldn't cap our teeth.

Imagine life without wallpaper, stamps, Scotch tape

or Post-it notes!

The science of adhesives is obscure,

to be sure,

but oddly interesting ...

and it raises the question of

what binds and joins together

the Christian community.

You gotta wonder:

What is the "zygology" of the church?

In a world

that seems to be coming apart at the seams,

what keeps us from becoming unstuck to God

and one another

and falling apart?

These questions are anything but new ones -

in fact, they are at the heart

of a sticky situation that Paul addressed
back at the beginning of the first millennium.

Concerned about the unity of churches

in Asia Minor,

the apostle implores the Ephesians

to make "every effort

to maintain the unity of the Spirit

in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3).

Paul knows full well that

there exists a diversity of spiritual gifts

among the Christians of this region

and that this diversity can lead to

either a splintering of the community -

or a binding together of the body of Christ.

Here is where modern zygology comes in.

Any investigation of stickiness

really has to begin at the microscopic level.

It requires us to think small,

microscopically small,

before we can draw any big conclusions.

Research shows that

for something to act as an adhesive

and bind things together,

it must have at least two molecular qualities:

mobility and

the ability to form strong links.

For starters, an adhesive absolutely must have mobility -

its molecules must be able to flow

into the nooks and crannies of a broken object

such as a plate,

bringing molecules close enough

to attract one another.

Just think of what happens

when a little honey is placed between two fingers.

It has mobility,

as we all know when we spread some

on a porous piece of toast.

But would honey be a good glue for a broken plate?

Of course not!

Mobility alone is not enough.

To act as an adhesive,

a material not only must flow onto both surfaces,

but its molecules also must

form strong links to each other

so they are not separated

as outside forces act on them.

While honey has sugar molecules

that are attracted to each other

as well as to other molecules,

it's not sticky enough to use

as an adhesive.

For that,

we need something like the flour-and-water paste

familiar to children.

How does that stuff work, anyway?

I'm glad you asked,

I'll tell you...

When wet, the paste is mobile.

But as it dries,

the long starch molecules in the flour

become intertwined with each other

and thus very difficult to separate.

Protein molecules can also do the job,

as can synthetic materials

such as polyvinyl alcohol,

which can be dissolved in water

to make "white glue,"

a current household favorite.

But what about our broken plate?

We still haven't found an adhesive

strong enough to bind this break.

An even better way to stick things together

is to use small, very mobile molecules that,

through a chemical reaction,

link to form a matrix of giant molecules,

or polymers.

This is the way epoxy glues

and Krazy Glue work.

This stuff is super-sticky.

If you doubt this,

just ask the patron of an Irish pub

who sat on a toilet seat

that vandals had coated with Krazy Glue.

He had a long time

to contemplate the wonder of flies

walking up and down the walls

before he was transported to a hospital

with the seat still attached to his derrière.

But enough high-browed technical talk!

What's the significance...

what's the link between

the science of binding and

the science of the church?

Mobility and strong-linkability?

In the person of Jesus Christ,

the church has the one "adhesive"

that binds the church together.

He is highly mobile,

the apostle tells us,

active in a variety of spiritual nooks and crannies

as he gives his followers

an entire spectrum of spiritual gifts.

"The gifts he gave were that

some would be apostles,

some prophets,

some evangelists,

some pastors and teachers,"

asserts Paul,

"to equip the saints for the work of ministry,

(and who are the saints preparing for ministry? You.)

for building up the body of Christ,

until all of us

come to the unity of the faith
and of the knowledge of the Son of God" (vv. 11-13).

If Jesus were not mobile,

not willing to flow

into areas of light and darkness,

health and brokenness,

he would be unable to bind together

the many diverse pieces

of his sanctified and sinning church.

Jesus Christ is in the church,

always moving, exploring, infusing,

infiltrating and inspiring

his people in new ways.

I happen to believe that

what we need

is what God provides...

there is not a single soul surface

he cannot reach,

nor a single crisis in the community

that he cannot cover and correct.

If the church needs a prophet,

he provides one;

if an area lacks an evangelist,

he calls one;

if people hunger for a pastor,

he delivers one;

if students are missing a teacher,

he empowers one.

The spiritual gifts

are not one size fits all,

but instead they flow in various forms

into the places they are needed most.

And in case after case

in churches where the congregation decides that

the one who is to do ministry

is the pastor

and their job

is to pay her or him,

the church fails, dies.

And in case after case

when churches decide

the ministry of the church

is theirs to do,

the church flourishes

beyond expectation.

The bottom line is that

when we get busy in ministry,

Jesus forms incredibly strong links

within the community of faith.

Our church

can experience a kind of chemical reaction

in the course of its ministry and mission,

one that forms an epoxy-style matrix

of giant spiritual molecules.

This binding reaction is called

"speaking the truth in love" (v. 15).

Both truth and love

are essential ingredients

in this reaction

because Christ is committed

to both justice and mercy.

Truth without love

can be harsh and judgmental,

while love without truth

is often soft and undisciplined,

but together

these two form an unbreakable bond.

When both honesty and compassion

are practiced within the church,

links develop

between surprisingly diverse groups of people,

and the body of Christ is strengthened.

Speaking the truth in love,

predicts Paul,

allows us to

"grow up in every way

into him who is the head,

into Christ,

from whom the whole body,

joined and knit together

by every ligament with which it is equipped,

as each part is working properly,

promotes the body's growth

in building itself up in love" (vv. 15-16).

The church needs

to recover a sense of

what and who it is

that holds it together.

It is not

the color of our skin,

our preferences in music,

our socio-economic status,

our political affiliation,

our gender,

our marital status,

our clothes,

our political party,

our sexual orientation,

our language,

our pastor of choice,

or even our belief

that matters.

Until we remember that

we are bonded together

in the person of Jesus Christ,

adhering to one another

in a culture of love and truth

and get to putting that into ministry,

we're just hanging around

looking for a warm fuzzy.

It's a matter of spiritual zygology.

Christians have what it takes

to stick together.

The economist Herbert Stein,

eyeing the new hordes of men and women

who walk city sidewalks

with cell phones at their ears and mouths,

decided that our need for information on demand

is as primitive an instinct

as any animal can have.

he says,

are a way of regaining the steady, comforting beat

from the lullabies of infancy.

After all,

we were born connected.

Solitude came with maturity.

-James Gleick, Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything (New York: Pantheon Books, 1999), 92-93.

Two brothers worked together on the family farm.

One was married and had a large family.
The other was single.

the brothers shared everything equally,

produce and profit.

"It's not right that we should share equally

the produce and the profit.

I'm alone,

and my needs are simple."

So each night

he took a sack of grain

from his bin

and crept across the field

between their houses,

dumping it into his brother's bin.

"It's not right that we should share

the produce and the profit equally.

After all,

I'm married,

and I have my wife and children

to look after me in years to come.

My brother has no one,

and no one to take care of his future."

So each night

he took a sack of grain

and dumped it into his single brother's bin.

because their supply of grain

never dwindled.

Then one dark night

the two brothers bumped into each other.

Slowly it dawned on them what was happening.

They dropped their sacks and embraced one another.

-Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, A 2nd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul (Deerfield Beach, Calif.: Heath Communications, 1995), 37.

Houseflies are in short supply

in the poultry houses at Zephyr Egg near Tampa, Florida.

with USDA's Agricultural Research Service

teamed up with University of Florida cooperators

to release a predatory fly -

the black dump fly -

that gobbles up housefly larvae

that live in poultry manure.

the scientists released 70,000 black dump flies

into the poultry houses at Zephyr.

with two million chickens

that can produce up to 300 tons

of wet manure a day -

heaven for houseflies

that breed in the manure.

can kill up to 20 housefly larvae a day.

the house flies had virtually disappeared.

no longer had to spray

an estimated $12,000 a year in chemical pesticides

to control the pests.

Also, organic farmers

are now interested in buying

the chemical-free manure.

native to the United States,

will kill more housefly larvae

than it can eat,

making it an excellent biocontrol insect.

Dump flies won't bother people.

will also eat the larvae of stable flies and other pests.

are sold commercially

in the United States, Canada and Europe,

and have been used predominantly

in the midwestern United States.

But this is the first time

the flies have been used

as far south as Florida

to control houseflies in a commercial poultry house.

ARS scientists are now working with

a Florida poultry farm

that wants to breed the flies

in an on-the-farm insectary.

are also testing the dump flies

for controlling pest flies

in manure at dairy farms.

-Sean Adams, "Dumping on Houseflies," March 24, 1997.

On male bonding,

from an unknown source:

Seems a couple got

a new Jeep Cherokee for Christmas

and drove it to visit relatives in Michigan.

to do that male bonding ritual of

duck hunting.

So they load up the Cherokee

with decoys, food, beer, guns, warm clothes, etc.,

and head off for the lake.

when duck hunting in cold climates,

it's common to drive the truck

out onto the ice.

It's also a little known fact that,

to break a hole in the ice

for the decoys,

a stick of dynamite is commonly used.

This particular stick of dynamite

has a short fuse,

estimated at 20 seconds or so.

you put the dynamite on the ice,

light the fuse,

and run away.

But with only 20 seconds,

they didn't want to do that

since they might slip while running.

So, to be safe,

one of the guys lights the fuse

and throws the stick of dynamite out onto the ice.

thinking it's time to play "fetch,"

runs out onto the ice,

picks up the lit stick of dynamite

in his mouth

and starts running back

to the group of guys.

but, as he's played fetch so many times before,

he just keeps bringing the stick back to his master.

loads his shotgun

and shoots the dog.

As the gun is loaded with birdshot,

the dog isn't hurt much,

but is confused.

stick in his mouth,

under the Cherokee.

The Cherokee is now

at the bottom of the lake.

The insurance company won't pay up

because it was destroyed

due to the illegal use of explosives.

The first payment

was due January 23.