The Body

Intro

continuing in series

Jesus came to the earth and provided the solution the longing of the human heart.

When he left, he left the church behind as the answer.

The church is his people…

Can we sometimes overlook and undervalue what jesus left behind, the church.

I really believe that Jesus left the church as the answer for lifes greatest longings.

The church is the hope of the world.

Last week we said Church isn’t just a place to attend, but a people to belong.

The church answers the belonging question.

One of the major questions we have is, what’s missing?!?

Something just seems lacking.

Every felt like you forgot something but not sure what. It’s just a lingering feeling...

You leave your house and you feel it.

Is the oven on… Maybe the doors unlocked… forget to submit the report...

kenzie and my puzzle

But we all feel that on the soul level.

Something seems missing, lacking.

There has to be more.

Even in times when it seems everything is good, should be happy, something is off...

It’s about Fulfillment.

Fulfillment literally means, a feeling satisfaction that nothing is lacking.

that’s the struggle we things we need to attain somethin

Most people live not knowing how to find that feeling.

But all of there motivations and actions are all about finding it.

I don’t know what I’m missing, So I’m trying to fill with a whole lot of things that just don’t work and make me feel less full.

This may be you today.

The Church is the ANSWER.

Church isn’t about filling a seat, but fulfilling your purpose.

How does the church answer the what’s missing question?

Romans 12.

Romans 12:1-2

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

JESUS IS WHAT’S LACKING!

Fulfillment begins with that fact that only Jesus fills.

He fills all the cracks and gaps. (message of the gospel)

Colossians 2:10

and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.

Present your bodies to him.

Your whole self. You’re complete self.

He can’t fill completely if you don’t give yourself completely.

Romans 12:3

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

Bridge verse to the next thought.

It’s not all about you.

Not matter how great you are, you’ll never be fully complete alone.

You aren’t meant to be.

Fulfillment can’t happen in isolation.

Romans 12:4-5

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

We are created to function in connection with others!!

The church is his body.

Jesus is the head.

We as individuals make up the whole.

Give your body to God.

Then connect your body to a larger one.

I think of power rangers megazord!

(show picture)

You become part of something bigger.

Bigger than yourself.

Bigger than your struggle. Biggest than your past.

Bigger than your own abilities.

Can do an accomplish more than you could alone.

1 Corinthians 12:12-19

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be?

1 Corinthians 12:27

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Each part matters, but only makes sense together.

A hand is awesome. I like having a hand.

But a hand only reaches its full potential when it’s connected to an arm, to a torso etc.

So often what’s missing is you being truly connected to something bigger than yourself!

Romans 12:6-8

We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

We are each unique.

Gifted with different abilities, passions, positions in life.

Like no other person.

It’s your uniqueness that completes a part of the Body of Christ.

It’s our differences coming together that make the body of Christ function like its supposed to.

The church is to be the perfect example of unity in diversity.

The body needs you.

You need the body.

I’m for you, you’re for me.

It’s only when I’m In Christ and connected with you that I become fully me.

My gifts become more realized, my purpose becomes more clear.

My value is understood.

I don’t just exist, I actually matter and have a place to come alive!

eph 1:22-23

“And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”

Some of us have things buried inside that we don’t know are there because we’ve never gotten connected long enough to see them brought out.

also dark laces in heart never uncoverEd

pray for one another to be healed

As we come together, united under Christ, we make a bigger difference than we ever could on our own, a greater impact, a greater purpose, greater fulfillment.

More effective together, stronger together...

Each part isn’t created to function independently, but together.

Somehow our wold has equated independence with maturity. I don’t need anyone else.

Problem… It’s not how we were created.

Not to be dependent, but interdependent.

I can be to you what you can’t be and you can be to me what I can’t.

I can’t fulfill God’s purposes for my life all by myself

It’s so easy to get caught up in filling my life with so many things trying to find what’s missing, but Jesus already gave us the answer.

The Church. his people coming together, for his purpose.

I’m not meant to find what’s missing on my own, it’s a group effort.

It’s not about being a member of a church.

But being a member of the body. Getting connected and using your gifts to make a bigger difference.

“The church is not a religious community of worshippers of Christ but is Christ himself who has taken form among people.”

— Dietrich Bonhoeffer

CONCLUSION

What Christ wants to do on the earth, he will do through his body, the church!

Will you be a part?

Jesus is the head, are you connected to him?

If so, we are the body of Christ!

Have we been living as a disconnected body?

How can you connect?

Have you been on an island. isolated.

One of your greatest enemies to fulfillment is apathy toward connection.

Act.

How can you use your gifts to serve?

How has God gifted you? Resourced you? Put in your hand?

Join a serve team.

Find and tell someone the passions in your heart.

Talk about the deck project.

Imagine you buy a car and then it breaks down!

But you are convinced you can fix it yourself.

You open the manual and piece of paper falls out.

You pick it up, but aren’t sure what it was.

So you use rip off a piece and use to wipe off the oil.

you wipe your hands on it.

You buy a book on how to fix your car and you use part of the paper as a bookmark.

But you fail to realize, the paper was the previous owner left behind that said, “if you have this this problem, there is the exact answer”

The answer was there, but you didn’t notice it’s value and didn’t utilize it correctly.

I wonder if sometimes we can do the same thing as it comes to the church?

The church isn’t just a place to belong, but also a place to become.

Become fully you. Find fulfillment. Discover your purpose. Become part of something bigger.