When the body pleases God
TEXT: 1 Corinthians 12:11-26
SUBJECT: The Body Of Christ
THEME: When The Body Pleases God
INTRODUCTION
Lead Sentence -On any given day we encounter various circumstances. What makes the difference between success and failure is ATTITUDE!
1. When we make a stupid mistake at work our attitude determines whether we set ourself up for additional failures.
2. When a disagreement happens with someone, our attitude determines whether the situation is difused or becomes a blowout.
Sermonic Explanation - Our text reveals that in the Body of Christ, ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING!
Proposition - It is our duty as a local part of the global Body of Christ to be pleasing to Him
§ Now the Bible has given a collection of names to the church
§ It is called "the church" in Acts 2:47
§ It is called "the bride of Christ" in Ephesians 5:30-32
§ It is called "the temple of God" in Ephesians 2:20-22
§ It is called "the body of Christ" in Ephesians 5:30
§ As the Body of Christ it is imperative that we please Him and we do this by having the right attitude
§ What are these attitudes?
BODY
1) There is INDIVIDUALITY in the Body (Vs 11-17)
1CO 12:12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
1CO 12:14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16 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 cease to be part of the body. 17 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?
a) What we have in common
i) The possession of ALL true Christians regardless of denomination and belief
ii) Look at verse 13
(1) The key word here is ALL!
(2) There is no such thing as second class Christians!
(3) ALL of us have been baptized by one Spirit
(a) Baptism is a word that means to be fully whelmed (overwhelmed)
(b) The moment you are saved you are baptized by the Holy Spirit and you become a child of God.
(4) ALL of us have been baptized into one body
(a) As if being a child of God was not enough, the Holy Spirit does something else
(b) The Holy Spirit makes us a part of the Body (the Church of Jesus Christ)
(c) Our joining the local church only makes us a part of a much smaller church.
(5) ALL of us have been made to drink of one Spirit
(a) The word for "drink" could also be translated irrigate
(b) The way to word is used it means "to make drink"
(c) Listen to what Jesus told the Samaritan woman when he met her at the well;
JN 4:11 "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"
JN 4:13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
(d) The old saying is "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink" does not apply here!
b) What we have as individuals
i) We retain our own individual temperaments
ii) We retain our own individual personalities
iii) We are not building blocks (where all are the same) for the body but Peter said this;
1PE 2:4 As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him-- 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
c) What the Corinthian Church did wrong
i) They neglected the truth of individuality, listen to what Paul said;
1CO 3:1 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly--mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4 For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?
(1) We shouldn't long to be someone else
(2) We should accept ourselves as we are
(3) Do not compare yourself with someone else
(4) Listen to what Paul said about this problem
2CO 10:12 We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.
d) Application
i) The Body of Christ should be pleasing to the Lord
ii) When we are dysfunctional WE ARE NOT PLEASING TO THE LORD
iii) It is pleasing to the Lord when we remember and act upon our individuality
iv) It is not pleasing when we try to be someone else or when we envy someone else
v) It is pleasing to the Lord when we at Pleasant Grove can be individuals and yet function as a unit with a purpose
2) There should be no INFERIORITY in the Body (Vs 18-22)
18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
1CO 12:21 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!" 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
a) Look again at verse 18
18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
b) God has set us in the Body AS IT HAS PLEASED HIM!
i) We should be spending our efforts learning our part and not trying to be another part
c) We must learn to accept ourselves and others
d) We must remember that we are all in this together and we need each other
i) Just as we all DO NOT LOOK THE SAME we are not the same
ii) Our personalities, our emotions, our likes and dislikes, even our beliefs
e) We must remember that we actually compliment each other
i) Our goal needs to be how can we interact together to serve the SAME LORD accomplishing the SAME PURPOSE.
f) We must remember that it is the DEVIL who would have us concentrate on our differences in order to magnify them for his destructive purpose
i) He is a thief, robber and a liar
ii) He purposes only to divide and destroy
g) We must remember that even the FEEBLE members are needed
23 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,
i) No one is to be looked down upon
ii) There is enough honor for us all, no one will be slighted
h) Application
i) Resist the temptation to classify and judge other Christians because they do not see things exactly like you do
ii) Let's band together in an effort to accomplish more for the kingdom and give the Devil a black eye
3) There is to be INTIMATE fellowship in the Body (Vs 25-26)
25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
a) There should be NO DIVISION (SCHISM) IN THE BODY!
b) We are to care for one another
i) Think of sibling rivalry, you may fight and argue with your brother or sister but when an attack from the outside happens you fight for that sister or brother.
ii) We don't need rivelry in the church, what we need is to stand together
c) We are to love one another
i) Jesus said this was the way the "world" would know we are really His disciples.
d) When another member of the Body suffers WE ARE TO RESPOND!
i) How about looking out after each other when the chips are down
e) We are to rejoice when another member of the Body is honored
f) We are to be of one accord
i) Listen to how it was in the first church;
AC 2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
AC 4:32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.
g) Application
CONCLUSION
§ What happens when the church functions as a body?
§ What happened during the days of the first century church?
§ Thousands were converted
§ New churches were established
§ New disciples were made
§ If we are the Body of Christ, where are new converts?
§ If we are the Body of Christ, where are those in need of baptism?
§ If we are the Body of Christ, why are members of this church that are able to be here, NOT HERE?
§ If we are the Body of Christ, why do we have our own personal agenda
§ If we are the Body of Christ why do we act so dysfuntional
§ INVITATION