Together (Session 3)

Intro

Let’s review what we have talked about so far.

o In session on we talked about how when we have faith in Jesus, we are adopted by God into His family.

o In session two we looked at how e are joined together with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

o And in session two we also looked at how being together as a family means showing love to each other as we would our own family.

Teaching Point 1: As Christ-followers, you are called together as the Body of Christ.

• Turn to 1 Corinthians 12. Let’s talk about the context of the book of 1 Corinthians a little bit.

o The Apostle Paul wrote 1 Corinthians to the Church in Corinth.

o Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians was written from Ephesus likely between 53 AD and 55 AD.

o Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians was written to a divided church to call them to become united for the sake of

the Gospel. He was calling the church to lay down the things that divided them to fully embrace the one thing that

is strong enough to unite them: Christ crucified!

Let’s read 1 Corinthians 12:12–20

1 Corinthians 12:12–20 NKJV

12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. 19 And if they were all one member, where would the body be? 20 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body.

o You may recall that last time that in our last large group session, we looked at the metaphor of the Church as a

family. This session we’re going to look at the metaphor of the Church as a body. Paul uses this metaphor to

focus in on how the local church functions. Look what he says in verses 12-13. Paul says that our churches are

like a body. There is only one body, but it has lots of different parts. A body is made up of legs, arms, etc., but is

still only one body. That’s how our churches are. Many people, one church. The unifying theme in all of this is

faith in Christ.

I want to focus on verses 14 through 17. What do you think these verses in particular are telling us? These verses are showing us that each person in the Body of Christ has an important role to play.

Every single person in a church has a role to play. Paul helps us see this by using the example of different body

parts. It’s foolish to see the foot as less a part of the body just because it’s not a hand. We understand that both

feet and hands are a vital part of the same body. Verse 17 shows us that every part of the body is valuable, just

like every member of a church is valuable.

Every part of the body is valuable and it is important not to envy the role of other parts of the body. Every person no matter their job is valuable. In session one I touched on this. The work of Christ is done through the church and in order for this work to be accomplished the church must function correctly. It is important to not be disgruntled with your position in the body otherwise you might do a bad job.

When I was younger I was asked to play frosty in a Christmas play, but I was not really cut out for the role I didn’t really do the role well at all and I didn’t put in effort into it I just didn’ want to give up the place I had as an important actor. I was the saddest most boring frosty the snowman you have ever seen. In the same way each member of the church was gifted and given a specific skill set for serving the church and of we try to fit another roll it just might not work out.

Verse 18 helps reminds us that God gave each member of the church a specific role.

How cool is it that God has called us together to be a part of a specific church family? We’re not here by

coincidence. Just like God created the human body, God creates His Church. And God intentionally created the

Church with many different people bringing many different gifts and perspectives to the table.

Teaching Point 2: As the Church, we are the Body, but Christ is the head.

to turn to Ephesians 1. While they are finding it, remind them that, as you have discussed previously in

your large group sessions, Ephesians was written as a letter from the Apostle Paul to a specific church in Ephesus. Let’s Read

Ephesians 1:22–23 NKJV

22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Here we see Paul making a profound truth: As the Church, we are the Body, but Christ is the head. Paul says that

God the Father gave Jesus, the Son, authority over all things and put Him as the head of the Church. This is Paul

extending his metaphor of the church as a body. We see a pretty awesome description of the Church here as

well. The Church is supposed to act as the “fullness” of Jesus.

What do you think fullness of Christ means? It means we’re supposed to reflect Jesus in

the way we function and interact with the world. We can’t do this unless we live under the authority of Jesus as

the “head,” just as a body can’t function without the leadership of the head.

Flip over to Ephesians 4. Explain to students that as the head, not only is Jesus the authority of the

body, but He is our example. Read Ephesians 4:15-16

Ephesians 4:15–16 NKJV

15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

o Paul says here that we are to “grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.” As the head of the

Church, Christ is our example. He leads us in love and calls us to follow His example. Not only that, the Holy

Spirit gives us the power to do this. God has called us as a church body to represent Him in the world. We do this

most fully when we seek to become more like Jesus.

There have been many corrupt leaders all throughout history who have led people astray or led them into more captivity. There have been many poorly managed business. The thing that is reassuring for believers about Christ being the head is that Christ is perfect and he cannot misguide the church his plan is perfect and on top of all of that Christ is not a distant far off leader who does not identify with us. Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Christ went through our struggles and prevailed so he knows our weaknesses.

Hebrews 4:15 NKJV

15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Teaching Point 3: We must care for and value every part of the Body.

Let’s go back to the passage we started out with in 1 Corinthians 12. The metaphor of the Church as the body with Christ as the head is a powerful way of understanding our relationships Jesus and with the world. But it is our relationships with one another that you want to focus in in this final point.

1 Corinthians 12:21–26 NKJV

21 And 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 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. 23 And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, 24 but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, 25 that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

Under normal circumstances, we don’t look at our body parts and say, “Oh, this part of my body is not really as

important as this other part. I think I’ll just chop it off.” No, that would be crazy! We don’t think of our bodies

like that. Paul is reminding us that we can’t think about the different people in our church that way either. All

parts are valuable because they belong to the whole. In fact, Paul says, parts that seem like they may not be that

important are every bit as important because of the very fact that they seem unimportant! Confusing? Not

really! Paul is bending over backward to drive a point home: EVERY person in a church is valuable (simply

because they belong to the church) in the same way that EVERY body part is valuable (simply because it belongs

to the body).

This is a powerful picture of the togetherness that God has called us to. The picture of your church as

a body where everyone is useful and valued should be the goal they work toward. This picture should change the way they

view each other and their purpose as a youth group and as a church.

Look at verses 24 and 25. God, in His sovereignty, knits together the Body in the way He sees fit. He intentionally

calls His Church to Himself in a way that honors all who belong. God did this so that the Church, the Body, would

be united with no division. Paul says in verse 25 that we are supposed to have the SAME level of care for each

other that God has. Verse 26 says it all: if one member of our church is hurting, we all should hurt. If one

member is flying high, we all should be. THIS is the picture of the church as a body.

When you get an injury the body releases certain cells in your blood to scab and heal the wound. In the same way the church should be supportive and take care of those who are hurting. Sometimes living the Christian life is hard and it even harder to do it out on an island. Unfortunately the church has not always lived up to the ideal in this area. What are some reasons why the church might not be supportive? Often it can be because of strife caused by selfishness or pride. James speaks to this a little bit in his book James. James was a leader of the Jerusalem church and James wrote the book of James to teach and encourage Christian Jews who were scattered. Let’s turn to James 4 (pause). Let’s read James 4:1-12

James 4:1–12 NKJV

1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? 6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” 7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. 11 Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

James not only talks about what causes fights among believers but tells us how we can avoid seeking to fight. Often people fight with each other because of pride because they want things a certain way or because they want more influence and power. James tells us that these are worldly things and we should not seek them in the church. James tells us to do what instead of seek pleasure? James tells us to humble ourselves before God.

So, if we seek to be better church members and avoid strife and continue to care for one another we should seek to be humble about ourselves before God.

Conclusion

We have just looked at the Body of Christ with Christ as the head, I hope with this understanding ever believer can treat each other with respect as having an important function.

Spend some time reflecting on how they see each other. Do they share God’s view that every

one of them is valuable simply because they were called together by God?

Pray over your group and their approach to one another. Pray that God would give them a spirit of unity and togetherness,

valuing each other as important parts of the Body of Christ.