Building the Body

FINAL EDIT 2 Intro material:

If you want to find your way to the passage today, we will be in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 here in just a moment. This week we are continuing our series entitled Build Your Church. Knowing that God’s church is not a building but a people this week we are going to put an emphasis on building the body, certainly not to be confused with body building, but the scriptures love to use physical examples to help us understand the functions of the Spirit, and our passage today especially helps us consider lessons that we are to learn about the body and it’s parts acting as one unit that cannot be separated from one another. Let’s jump right in today.

1 Corinthians 12:12-26

1 Corinthians 12:12–16 “For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one part, but many. If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any less a part of the body.”

1 Corinthians 12:17–21 “If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has arranged the parts, each one of them in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one part, where would the body be? But now there are many parts, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again, the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.””

1 Corinthians 12:22–26 “On the contrary, it is much truer that the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those parts of the body which we consider less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor, and our less presentable parts become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable parts have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that part which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same care for one another. And if one part of the body suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if a part is honored, all the parts rejoice with it.”

Let’s pray

You matter to the body

Let’s look again at verses 15 and 16

1 Corinthians 12:15–16 “If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any less a part of the body.”

Some of you don’t think that you matter, not just to the body, but perhaps in various areas of your life. A lack of self-worth is a really issue in our culture today. We are seeing it in the way people turn to various forms of distraction, attention-seeking, and self-serving behavior as they try to justify their existence.

Let me be clear today. YOU MATTER! Your life has value, and not just generally but in very specific ways.

In our passage today the writer Paul wants to get us thinking about how ridiculous it would be to think about wanting to function without any given body part. Inside of 10 verses he talks about the foot, the hand, the eye, the ear, and the head. This is not to be understood too literally in the sense that we aren’t going to determine which one of you might be a kidney, a liver, or a big toe this morning? But we get it right? We need them all! Which one would you want to live without?

Over the fall I was going to physical therapy for some tendinitis in the arch of my foot. Wasn’t too big of a deal, but the discomfort was in a location on my body that reminded me it was there with literally every step that i took. I was really intrigued when we got in there to work and the doctor talked about all the exercises we were going to do. We were going to do exercises for the ankle, the calf, the thigh, the hips, even the back a little bit. And i thought, wow this is a little more than I expected for a little tendon pain. But he explained the idea of overcompensation to me. When any one muscle, tendon, or ligament is under developed or weaker than the others, the others have to work harder to make up for it. So by conditioning and strengthening the other areas, we could help support this tendon that was hurting, isn’t that good? You play a part in the larger work of the body, and this body of believers is here to support you. Let’s look at Psalm 139:14 to see what David said about his recognition of his earthy existence and from where He came. David said,

Psalm 139:14 “I will give thanks to You (God), because I am awesomely and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.”

If you are here today and believe that your design was anything less than what God expected you can know that Psalm 139 goes on to say that God skillfully formed you and before you had lived one day, He ordained all of your days to do His work.

Being part of the body, starts with understanding you not only have a place, but you have a place in the body that God knew only you could fulfill.

When you are hurt, we hurt. So let us help you carry your burden. When you succeed, isn’t a celebration more fun with others, I think we call that a party.

With verse 15 and 16 addressing that group of us that perhaps struggles with our value and place in the body, it’s also important to recognize the value of others.

They matter to the body

We titled this point, “They matter to the body” and by that we simply mean, “they” being others…… anyone who is not you. I wonder who we sometimes think doesn’t matter to the body? We obviously don’t say things like this forthrightly but perhaps our actions and time spent with certain individuals says otherwise. Our belief in other people having more or less value is seated in pride within us that needs dealt with at a deeper level. Perhaps what we value in someone such as intellect, physical appearance, work ethic, social status, or similar tastes and preferences keeps us from connecting with those who don’t line up with what we value. But praise God they are different than you! Eyes can’t hear, and ears can’t see, so i’m glad I have both and that they both have particular and independent functions. I mean i think it would be cool to see out of all 4 sides of my head, but i don’t think I would look to cool with an ear on the front of my face. Looking back at our text verse 18 says.

1 Corinthians 12:18 “But now God has arranged the parts, each one of them in the body, just as He desired.”

Have you ever allowed yourself to get deep in thought about why you are where you are in life? Why you were born in America instead of Europe? Why you have those parents? Why you have 1 sister, 2 brothers, or are an only child? I have moments of asking God why He blessed us to live in such a a great place while we have Christian brothers and sisters all over the world living in more difficult circumstances. And He answers the same way every time, I need you to be where you are. We might have thoughts of grandeur about travelling the world to share the gospel, but God needs you to lead YOUR family to Christ, YOUR neighbors, YOUR Co-workers…… if you would lean into this belief that you have been called, designed, and placed in the very place you are right now, you could experience great fulfillment and carry out His will in this current season of life, no matter what that looks like for you.

For this point I want to look at one other passage of scripture in the book of Acts chapter 10.

Acts 10:34–35 “Opening his mouth, Peter (one of Jesus’ disciples) said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the one who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him.”

In this context, Peter was speaking to those who were outside of the nation of Israel to make sure that they knew that God was no respecter of persons, but the principal spreads deep and wide. If we at all ever believe that we are more important to God or His work than someone else we are mistaken. In fact, we are actually taking on the opposite attitude which Paul described in his letter to the church at Philippi when He said I want you to think of everyone else as more important than you, and think about their needs as more important than yours, and He said by doing so, you are going to be looking like, acting like, and thinking like Jesus, pretty awesome huh?

Ultimately avoiding comparison with others will heal us of operating independently of the body. Comparison can only result in one of two things, believing others to be better than us leading to lack of self-worth, or believing ourselves to be better which will grow into a sneaky pride that causes us to think less of others. We must avoid comparison. Comparison results in us trying to establish rank rather than receive and give gratitude for our own gifting.REPEAT Rather than compare our stories, our gifts, our successes, and our failures, each one of us should recognize we are made for Him, and then we can truly recognize……

We are one

There’s an African proverb that says, If you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go together.

It’s so easy to get impatient in wanting to move forward with the plan and become frustrated that others that aren’t on the same wavelength as we currently are, let’s check back with our text again in 1 Corinthians 12. Verse 20 says……

1 Corinthians 12:20 “But now there are many parts, but one body.”

Then jumping to verse 26……

1 Corinthians 12:26 “And if one part of the body suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if a part is honored, all the parts rejoice with it.”

If the church is supposed to be one, Why are there so many different churches? I’m not going to answer this extensively as we are going to preach about this a few months from now and understand it more deeply in our discipleship training. But I was recently having breakfast with Steve Combs the pastor at leave a mark church just here behind us across the street. And we just asked questions like if we have the same theological views, are called to this area, and are going the same direction in ministry philosophy then why are we two separate churches? I’ll just leave that here for now. But there used to be a time where more church buildings were needed as our country was growing and people weren’t as transient as we are today. For that reason often times starting new churches was greatly neccessary Sadly, it was sometimes accomplished by arguments or disagreements with particular fellowships, but you can know this, when we get to heaven, we will be one. So we might as well start acting like it now. Today, like never before God is calling Christians to come together and show the world a unified picture of the kingdom of God forging ahead.

We have given ourselves permission to do Christianity our own way which often stems from selfishness or not wanting people to see our struggles. But we recognize that a call to be a Christian is a call to do life together. We must embrace one another. We must learn to lean on one another. We love to quote the passage that says in my weakness His strength is perfected. meaning His grace sufficiently makes up for my deficiencies. But consider this morning, that if we are the body, HIS body, if we are one, then what if just maybe He is going to ask you to rely on the strength of others to uphold you in your weaknesses? In order for this to start we have to confess that we have areas of weaknesses and vulnerably allow others to come in close.

So how do we embrace one another?

What if instead of avoiding those that are different, richer, poorer, weaker, stronger, smarter, faster, lazier, prettier, uglier, taller, shorter, whatever might make them different. What if our perspective was one that understood that the more we come together in the body with those whom we are different from, that the greater power the body would have to carry out the work of Christ.

THE PUZZLE

I have kind of a fun takeaway today…

Allison and I were doing a puzzle this week, by that I mean she did it and I occasionally stopped by to try to find a few pieces. If you are unfamiliar with the characters from this puzzle, these are the aliens from toy story who were originally in the claw machine at Pizza Planet in the movie, and while I don’t have time to develop this thought this morning, they were all waiting for their master (the claw) to choose them, interesting parallel huh?

Anyhow this puzzle was no joke. As you can see basically every piece has an alien, some are even wear similar outfits that trick you into thinking they belong in one part of the puzzle and just for a moment when you think you have the right spot you are rejected again, and you put the piece back in the pile. You have to know this kind of puzzle is not my cup of tea. The whole world is a math problem to me, so these little different nuances within each piece are very offsetting to me.

But as we did this puzzle it came alive to me. Though each alien was so similar, each was still unique enough that within the puzzle it served a unique function that only it could fulfill. I know none of you have tried to force a piece to fit where it didn’t. Never pounding it (pound on table) in with your fist just to be done with it? Church why do we try to force people into a mold for which they were not designed? Oh how about this, have you tried to become a piece of the puzzle, when God designed you to be a different piece? Alot of times we try to force our way in because we get tired of being part of the pieces pile.

When John Maxwell spoke here last year on leadership he talked about a concept that he referred to as the people pile. He said if we want to lead we have to get out of the people pile. He talked about how we have to be outstanding at an idea that separates us from others enough to where we can be seen and utilized for a particular purpose. If we aren’t careful we can be so concerned about getting out of the pile that we try to make ourselves fit where we don’t fit. But know this, when it comes to how God sees you, there is no people pile. Each piece is unique and matters to Him, and you will never simply be just part of the pile… unless you choose to be.

When we look at our pictures on the wall here this morning, it’s easy sometimes to only see our selves as the multi-colored middle-piece of the puzzle that has jagged edges, but when we focus on His body as a whole, we can be reminded that each of us is needed to show forth the full picture of God’s work.

Thom Rainer wrote a little book about 15 years ago called I am a church member. And I’ve actually preached through this book at 3 different churches I’ve pastored. I won’t be doing so here, but love the pledges he put within the book and I want to close with one here this morning that is built around the scripture that we studied today.

I am a church member. I must be a functioning member, whether I am an “eye,” an “ear,” or a “hand.” as a functioning member, I will give. I will serve. I will minister. I will evangelize, I will study. I will seek to be a blessing to others. I will remember that “if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it” (I Corinthians 12:26).

Let’s pray

God help us to remember that you taught us in your word that some will plant some will water and that You are Lord of the harvest, but no matter the task we’ve been called to, You are counting on us to do our part.

God remind us that healthy church requires healthy body requires healthy members. Help me to know that I matter to you and to the body, and remind me that I also need others to perfectly complete the plan that you have for my life. Help us to be one, as the very essence of your being is one. Help us be more like you Jesus. AMEN