The Body and All Its Gore
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Have you ever visited a really weird exhibit? You walk in, look at everything, and wonder why in the world you are there.
The weirdest exhibit that I have ever been to was one on the human body. It was at a science museum in Dallas. For some reason, some scientist had decided to freeze two bodies, male and female, and then, they created thin slices of the whole body. Like they ran the entire body through a deli meat slicer. They colored all the organs, bones, muscles, etc., in different colors, and then laminated the slices.
So, you walk into a room and are met by life-size laminated slices of the inside of your body. It was a mixture of uncomfortable and awkward.
To make matters worse. I was there with a female friend, that I wasn’t dating and had no intention of dating, but for some reason, I was there with her and her folks.
I tried to act nonchalant, but how can you really when you are faced with what appear to be relics of an ancient torture session?
The goal of the display was to show the viewer the amazing interrelation of the body. All the different parts working together. Each is necessary. Each is important.
While Paul is not envisioning dissected bodies in this passage, he is talking about the various parts of a body and correlating the body to us.
Let’s read the passage.
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? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.
And yet I will show you the most excellent way.
Will you pray with me?
Today we are going to talk about the Body of Christ. We are going to define it, discuss what it is made of, talk about the interworking of it, and then the focus of it all.
1. Body of Christ—Definition
1. Body of Christ—Definition
So often, we talk about the Body of Christ. In several sermons I have thrown that phrase around. But, how often does anyone define what it means?
We could talk about the physical body of flesh and bone that Jesus had. The one that died and was resurrected. But, when we refer to the Body of Christ, we aren’t referring to that body.
Paul writes:
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.
What is Paul talking about here?
If you have been part of my membership classes, you know what I am about to say. Unless you forgot, and that’s okay.
We can give two definitions to this.
We could talk about the spiritual body of Christ. This is everyone who has placed their faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior, entering into that personal relationships with Him.
Paul speaks of this process in Ephesians 1:3-14. I wish that I could read the whole passage, but you can read it for yourself.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
So many amazing things about this passage. It speaks of our salvation and how God now views us because of Jesus Christ.
The bottom line is that we are saved because of God’s grace, when we believe. It is not based upon anything that we have done.
If you have placed your faith in Christ alone, you are saved and you are part of the Body of Christ.
Everyone who has done this is part of the Body of Christ, whether they became a Christian today or 2000 years ago. Up in Heaven, there are many people waiting for the resurrection of their bodies who are part of the Body of Christ with us.
So, that is one definition of the Body of Christ.
But, Paul is being more specific in 1 Corinthians than the spiritual body of Christ.
So, we will talk about what I call the Physical body of Christ. Everyone who is part of the spiritual body of Christ should be part of a Physical Body. These are Christians who live in a location and they meet together regularly to worship together, to perform the ordinances, and to encourage one another in sanctification.
We call it church. Not a building, but people who covenant together to teach truth, to edify each other, to encourage each other in the fulfilment of the Great Commission, and to restore each other when we sin.
This is what we see happening in Acts.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
I said something specific earlier. I said that the Local Body of Christ is a people who covenant together. We live in a transient society. Everyone is on the move. Unfortunately, that has effected the church. We are used to people coming and going in a church, attending a little bit here and a little bit there.
But, God designed the local church to be a body, holding each other accountable. However, it is hard to know who you are holding accountable if there is not commitment. That is one reason that we have membership here at the church, so that we know who we are covenanted with and so that we know what we are holding each other accountable to.
If you want more information on that, please let me know.
The body of Christ: Christians who live in a location and they meet together regularly to worship together, to perform the ordinances, and to encourage one another in sanctification.
2. Body of Christ—Material
2. Body of Christ—Material
What is the Body of Christ made up of. Well, each one of us. And we are all different.
Paul writes:
Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
Paul gives two illustrations about how this works out. He writes to those who think that they don’t belong because they are not like someone else.
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.
It is easy for us to compare ourselves to each other. I have had people say that they wished they knew as much about the Bible as I did. I’ve had some people say that they wished I knew as much about the Bible as they did. It all comes around.
Just because we do not have the skill or the gifting or the personality of someone else, does not mean that we are not useful to our brothers and sisters in Christ.
The second illustration Paul gives is to those who don’t want someone else part of their church.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
We are all human. We cannot deny it. We naturally look down at others. We naturally want people to be like us. However, the people we look down on are indispensable to us.
I think about a lady who attend this church past, who then moved away. When she was here, she thought that she was such a burden to us. During Sunday school she kept asking questions because she couldn’t understand portions of Scripture. At times she told me that she was going to stop asking questions, because she didn’t want to distract the learning.
But, God had given her a great gift. She had the humility to say “I don’t know.” And she had the desire to learn. That is a rare merging. There are plenty of people who don’t know anything but they don’t have the humility to admit it. And there are plenty of people who don’t know anything and they don’t want to learn.
But she wanted to learn and she had the humility to ask. I know there were others who had the same questions that she had, but they weren’t willing to ask them.
We as a church would not be the same if we didn’t have members like her.
Our church wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t have members like you.
Paul writes:
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.
God brings people into this local body on purpose. If you attend here, it is because God has brought you here. You may not believe that right now. You might not even believe that there is a God!
But you are here because of him, and he is using you to help the body. None of us may know exactly what we are doing. Sometimes we do, but other times we don’t. One day, we will enter eternity, and God will show us how he used us.
Many times, when I am praying, I ask God to bring the people to this church that we need. And to keep away those that we don’t. To bring the people that will help us grow, and to keep the people away that will tear us apart.
The body of Christ: Christians who live in a location and they meet together regularly to worship together, to perform the ordinances, and to encourage one another in sanctification.
The Material of the Body: Each one of us in our differences.
3. Body of Christ—Interworking
3. Body of Christ—Interworking
I know there are some things that we are not supposed to talk about in polite society. And there are some things that you are not supposed to talk about in church. But, has that ever stopped me? I mean, I spent a whole sermon talking about what husbands and wives do together.
If I talked about that, I can talk about anything. And if I am quoting a child, I can say whatever I want.
A three year-old kid was talking to me one day. They said that when they ate food, it went into their mouth, down into their stomach, and then out through their poop. And they were true.
Isn’t it great how the parts of our body work together so well? When they don’t work together, we get worried and we go to the doctor and try to fix it.
When we aren’t able to poop, things are bad.
When we are, we don’t think about it.
When all parts of our body are working smoothly together, we think of ourselves as one unit. When a part of our body is not working well, we start feeling disjointed.
Paul writes:
so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
God has placed us in a body to help one another. We have seen that just this past year. When there has been deaths, we come around each other to support one another. I so appreciate how the widows here embrace those who have just lost a spouse.
There is more that we can do in this area, and we are going to start a GriefShare group here to help.
When someone lost their baby, we helped with food and support.
When one part suffers, we all suffer.
But, on the flip side, when someone is honored, we rejoice. Spiritually, we had a celebration when we baptized Mike, Gail, Wanda, and Marlena. We rejoiced with them in their declaration of faith in Jesus Christ.
But, all through out life, when something good happens, we want to rejoice. That is why we ask for praises every week. So that we can rejoice in the good things that God is doing in our lives.
What happens to one, happens to another.
Which means, if someone starts drifting from the faith, it affects those around them. If someone starts wallowing in sin, if affects those around them.
That is why the author of Hebrews writes:
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
When we covenant together in a local body, we say that we will hold each other accountable. We will call each other out on bad theology. We will call each other out on sin. We don’t do this because we are better than everyone else, because but for the Grace of God, I would be the one slipping away. But we do it with humility and pain.
As Paul writes:
Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.
We need each other in this life. Everyone of us needs everyone else.
That’s why Paul, when speaking of spiritual gifts, highlights those that help each other, those that push each other toward Jesus.
The body of Christ: Christians who live in a location and they meet together regularly to worship together, to perform the ordinances, and to encourage one another in sanctification.
The Material of the Body: Each one of us in our differences.
The Interworking of the Body: we work together to hold each other accountable to Jesus Christ.
4. Body of Christ—Focus
4. Body of Christ—Focus
Finally, we have the focus of the Body of Christ.
We’ve discussed this before. The focus of everything we do is to glorify God, to pursue him. So, we use his giftings, seeking unity as a church, so that we will glorify him.
Paul writes
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.
And yet I will show you the most excellent way.
The greater gifts, in Paul’s mind, is those gifts that are used to help others. And God has placed each of us in a local church in order to help each other.
As I said last week, we don’t just have a gift, we are a gift. God has placed us here as a gift. So let us use it for the glory of God.
Let me explain how it happens.
Someone has a burden for a ministry. Say this new ministry of helps that we are starting.
They approach me about it. I say, that sounds awesome. Let me equip you to do this. I work with them to start this ministry.
Whenever anyone has a burden for something, they normally do not want to be the person to start it. But, if God has given that burden, he will equip for the task. A gift of the Spirit.
So, the person starts the ministry. People start signing up to shovel snow and mow lawns, to help drive to doctor’s appointments.
Each of the people sign up because God has spurred them to sign up and he has equipped them to help. A spiritual gift.
Whenever someone is helped, God is glorified. Why? Because people are experiencing his gift firsthand through someone in the church.
Paul wrote it this way:
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Those good works we do, we do because of his gifting.
We could talk about the sound booth. We could talk about setting up tables and chairs. We could talk about cooking food for the fellowship meal. We could talk about painting. We could talk about teaching and preaching. We could talk about when someone sits down and listens.
We could talk about all sorts of things, both mundane and flashy. All are opportunities to use our giftings, whether we realize that we are using them or not, to glorify God.
Because, whenever people in a local church help and serve one another, God is glorified.
So, what are you doing?
Are you part of a local church? Yes, you might attend from time to time, but are you part of it? Have you committed to covenant with them pushing and being pushed towards sanctification?
Are you serving for the glory of God?
Or, do you just come when you feel like it to get something out of it?
I guess what I am asking is: if someone froze Calvary Bible Church and cut thin slices out of it, would they see you working as part of the body?
The body of Christ: Christians who live in a location and they meet together regularly to worship together, to perform the ordinances, and to encourage one another in sanctification.
The Material of the Body: Each one of us in our differences.
The Interworking of the Body: we work together to hold each other accountable to Jesus Christ.
The Focus of the body: the glory of God as we serve.