Every Part Matters

Introduction

Every Part Matters. We know this is true for any thing that is made. A car will not go without a driveshaft even if everything else is in place. Nor will a car go without wheels and tires.

Try roping a cow without a saddle, it gets sketchy. But a saddle without a tree is not a saddle but leather. Also, a saddle without leather is nothing more than wood and rawhide. They need every part to work the car and the saddle.

Each part by itself is not much but together they are a functioning car and a functioning saddle.

Much like this prayer.

A Cowboy Church preacher was attending the men’s breakfast and Bible study. He asked one of the older cowboys in attendance to say the opening prayer.

The cowboy began, “Lord, I hate buttermilk.” The pastor opened one eye and wondered to himself where this was going. Then the cowboy said, “Lord, I hate lard.” Now the

pastor was worried. But the cowboy prayed on, “And Lord, ya’ know I don’t care much for raw flour.”

As the pastor was about to stop everything, the cowboy continued, “But Lord, when you mix ‘em all together and bake ‘em up, I do love those fresh biscuits. So Lord, when things come up we don’t like, when life gets hard, when we just don’t understand what you’re saying to us, we just need to relax and wait ‘till You’re done fixing’ and it’ll likely be somethin’ even better than biscuits. Amen.”

I am with this man, I am not much on any of those ingredients alone but together they are tasty. But alone, not so much.

This is what Paul is telling us in this passage. We alone are not much because we cannot do all the things we can for the Lord. We are not capable of doing it all, but together we can do many things for the Lord.

Not only that, but we are supposed to be together because when we believed in Christ for our salvation, we became the body of Christ. Not like the body, but the body of Christ.

This means that we must function together if we are to function correctly.

We are many members but one body. Just like those biscuits the man described are many parts but one biscuit, that is us. Many make the one.

Paul lays this out clearly in 1 Cor. 12:12-27

1 Corinthians 12:12–27 ESV

12 For 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. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should 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. 16 And if the ear should 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. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 21 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.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

There is a lot to unpack in this section so I will focus on the main points that the many makes one, we are to do the work that only we can do, we all depend on one another, and we share all things.

It may seem like crazy math but...

The Many Makes One (12-14)

The body is one but has many members. Like arms, hands, feet, legs, and many other parts. Paul says this is the same as the body of Christ. I am not you and you are not me but we are the body of Christ.

We we all. who are believers, have been baptized by the Spirit into this body. We were made one with the Lord as His body. And as such we are many members that make one.

This is like doing math like 1+1+1+1=1

We all come into the body but the body is one. The reason why this is not off and wrong is because the body has many parts.

Like Chuck Swindoll said:

In our physical bodies, an eye may be able to see a piece of nourishing fruit, but it requires an arm to extend its reach to pluck the fruit from the tree with the fingers. Then the body requires a mouth with teeth to eat it, along with a whole host of unseen internal organs to digest the fruit so it can nourish the body. (Swindoll, Charles R.. Insights on 1 & 2 Corinthians, (p. 186). Tyndale House Publishers.)

One body has been nourished by the many members working for it. In our lives as followers of Christ, disciples, we are part of this body and it takes all those members to make a difference.

No arms meant no apple picked. No teeth meant no apple ate. It takes members to make a body and as those parts we are to...

Do The Work Only We Can Do (15-20)

Here in these verses Paul uses rhetorical questions to answer what it would be like if parts said they were not part of the body because they were not another part.

Just think of the silliness of this. An ear saying it is not part of the body because it is not an eye. The foot saying it is not because it is not the hand.

That is foolish and silly. Yet, the same happens every week with people who are in the body.

We tend to compare ourselves against others. We will look at another who does great work for the Lord and say things like,

I can’t do that.

I am not that gifted.

I am not eloquent and talented so why try to do anything.

Yet, you are gifted with what God has given you and it is to that work you must do.

No believer can function alone nor is any one gift or talent from God enough to make the work of the body happen.

It takes every part to make the body function.

As important as any one part might be to the whole, their reliance on the rest, even to accomplish their vital role, is far more crucial...No one should feel superior about his or her gift; instead, all should use their gifts to willingly serve. Too often the “up-front” gifts, like speaking or teaching, are more highly regarded than the “behind-the-scenes” gifts, like helping and serving. No one should discount the contribution of another person, no matter how insignificant it may seem. We should not be dissatisfied with the gift God has given us but be eager to serve. Nor should we envy those who seem to have more gifts than we do. In love, treat everyone’s gift, yours included, as valuable to God. (Bruce B. Barton and Grant R. Osborne, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Life Application Bible Commentary, 177-78)

Just like the body needs the eye to see the fruit, the arm and hands to grab it, and the mouth to eat it, and the intestines to work and spread the nourishment to the body, so you are to do what you can do to help build up the body.

I am here to tell you that each one of you are important to the body. There is not one person here who is better than another. We are all important and necessary to the body of Christ.

Do not fall into the deception that you are not important. You have the Spirit of the Lord inside you and He guides, directs, and helps you in all you do.

You are unique and irreplaceable to the body. Stop acting like you have been amputated. There is no such thing as Lone Ranger Christianity. We are meant to be together because we are a body. Let us all work together and do what only we are gifted to do.

We can do this when we continue in the Lord and decrease ourselves to increase Him and deny ourselves our desires and follow Christ as He has said to do. We serve Him until we find what we are gifted to do. We do this because...

We All Depend on One Another (21-25)

We are not cliques in church. We do not find our “group” and only hang with them.

We are one together and if you do not like that that is a you problem not another person problem. Your heart is wrong if you are against another member of the body.

Who are we to say to a member of this body of Christ that we have no need of them.

Like Paul said, the eye can’t tell the hand it has no need of it as we see in verse 21. Or the head to the foot that it has no need.

What happens is we begin to “cut off” indispensable parts of the body when we do this. We run out people who are gifted for exactly what God has them here for.

Just think about it like this.

You may not think much about your big toe until you stub it. Then you know a great deal about it.

Now, that toe does more for you than just getting hurt. It helps you keep balance. It helps you walk. Without it walking and balance are off for a long time until you relearn them.

How many times have some of you in here hurt a finger? When you hurt that finger you then realize just how much you use it don’t you?

When we hurt any of these we think more about them the next time we do something. We protect them to help keep from hurting them.

That is the same thing we must do for every member of the body.

Just because they are not in a big and bright ministry, they may irk you, they may drive you crazy, we need to see them as just as important to the work of the ministry as any other part.

We depend on every part to make the body healthy and functioning. We are in this battle against evil forces together.

What good is a divided and spiteful body to fight that? If a military unit is not working together as they should there will be disarray on the battlefield and heavy loss.

We are in this together and we will spend eternity together. So, it is high time we all start getting along and caring for one another as we should.

None of us are any better than another. We are all in this together and we depend on one another whether you like it or not.

Just as Christ prayed for us all in His High Priestly prayer in John 17:21-23 “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

So if there is grief between you and another member of the body go and be reconciled to them before giving a gift. Or even stronger words from Paul found in Romans 14:10 “ Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God;”

We are one together and we can behave that way as disciples when we see each other as part regardless what role they play. All roles are important and necessary. Just think about parts of your body that are not so nice. Then try to think how well you would function without those parts.

Not to good I am sure. So we must always care for and help one another because we all depend on one another. And because...

We Share All Things (26-27)

We all suffer together when one suffers and we rejoice together when another is honored. We do this because we are the body of Christ.

Christ died for all and when they have believed they are part of the body. As such we share in pain and joy with all believers everywhere.

When another believers child is ill, we feel the anguish.

When one loses a loved one, we all hurt.

When one receives great news or wins something great or gets a good job, we all celebrate.

When a church down the road grows to massive size while still preaching the word rightly, we celebrate.

We do not compare and become jealous but we rejoice.

I have talked on the phone to many people who are still down as members of this church and they somewhat sheepishly tell me they have joined another church.

Do I jump at them and condemn them?

Do I become angry?

Do I boil over?

No, I say “GREAT. THAT IS AWESOME! I am so happy that you are still attending church and getting fed. I am so thankful that you are still gathering with other saints.”

Their tone changes and they talk more openly then. That is how we should be.

Yes, it is tough losing people to other churches but that is only because we will miss them not because we are angry at them.

We rejoice together and we grieve together.

We do not attack one another.

I am sick to death of the many people out there who constantly attack and belittle other members of the body.

They ridicule some for not being as nuanced and smart as another. They attack others because they see something a bit different in the Word of God.

All these attacks that I am describing are not over false teaching and something that can condemn another, but over minor disagreements.

Yet, they attack them like savage wolves going after a baby calf.

They are out to destroy them because they are not as good as they are.

It infuriates me and I can only imagine what God feels from this nonsense.

We have untold millions dying and going to hell and all we can do is try and show how much better we are than others?

That is sad and disgusting and not at all what Paul here tells us we are to do, or is it what Jesus told us and prayed for us.

We are one together and we can make a difference in this world when we all get together and serve together using what we have been gifted with.

We are all necessary and needed to do the work of God. He chose to leave us after salvation and He sent the Helper to us and gave us gifts to do the work He desires us to do.

That is working together and reaching the lost with His gospel.

We can do this if we will work together as one body.

I have a quote that Nick sent the other night that fits here perfectly:

The work of the church requires every member’s effort in order for the body of Christ to function effectively. The body needs all of us, are you doing the part you’ve been called to do?

Are you? Or are you seeking to tear down others more than build up the body?

Conclusion

As members of one body we need to care for one another. God desires that there be no division in the church. When we compete with other churches or with one another within the same church or create cliques in the church we have a diversity in the body that leads to disunity. But if we care for one another and seek to build all up seeking total unity in the body, then our diversity leads to unity.

If we are not careful we will be like these chickens.

In the church there is the bond of family, yet room for variety. The devil tries to disrupt unity. Two chickens tied at the legs and thrown over a clothesline may be united, but they do not have unity. (Charles R. Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart and 1501 Other Stories, 599.

Right now I would say that is the biggest problem within the church today, lack of unity in diversity. We are one body and we need one another.

I want to end with this story of this wise preacher:

A famous preacher was speaking at a ministers’ meeting, and he took time before and after the meeting to shake hands with the pastors and chat with them. A friend asked him, “Why take time for a group of men you may never see again?” The world-renowned preacher smiled and said, “Well, I may be where I am because of them! Anyway, if I didn’t need them on the way up, I might need them on the way down!” No Christian servant can say to any other servant, “My ministry can get along without you!” (Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1, 609.)

Every part matters because every part is attached to Christ. We are His and as such we work best when working together. Let us all serve as we can and seek to build up this body with muscle and power rather than fat and weakness. Amen.