You Belong Here

Text: 1 Corinthians 12:12–27

Big Idea

God never intended Christians to merely attend church but to become indispensable members of His body.

Introduction

Every part matters.

We know this is true of anything that is made to function as a whole.

Think about a saddle. A saddle is made up of all kinds of different pieces. You have the tree, leather, stirrups, cinch, rigging, and everything else that goes into it.

Take those pieces apart and most of them are not much use by themselves. A saddle tree by itself is not going to do you much good. A pile of leather is just a pile of leather. A stirrup by itself isn't going to help you rope a cow.

But put every part where it belongs, and suddenly you have something that can do the work it was designed to do.

Every part matters because every part contributes to the whole.

Paul tells us that the church works much the same way.

THE BIG PICTURE OF THE PASSAGE

Paul describes the church as a human body: one body made up of many different parts.

Those parts are different, but their differences do not threaten the body. Their differences are necessary for the body to function.

The Holy Spirit has joined every believer into this one body. Our backgrounds may be different. Our abilities may be different. Our gifts may be different. Our roles may be different. But in Christ, we have been made one.

And because we are one body, Paul is going to show us something important.

Every Christian matters.

Every Christian needs the other members of the body.

No Christian should look down on another member as less important.

And every Christian should care about what happens to the other members of the body.

Paul is confronting both sides of the problem.

There are Christians who look at themselves and say:

“They don't need me.”

And there are Christians who look at somebody else and say:

“I don't need them.”

Paul says both are wrong.

Because if God has placed us together as the body of Christ, then every part matters.

Let's look at how Paul develops that.

1 Corinthians 12:12–14 ESV

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many.

We are different people.

We have different abilities.

We have different personalities.

We have different gifts.

We have different roles.

But when we belong to Christ, we belong to one another.

We are many members, but we are one body.

And in that body, every part matters.

ONE BODY, MANY MEMBERS

The church is an organism, not an organization.

Paul begins with something everybody understands.

The human body is one body, but it is made up of many members.

You have eyes, ears, hands, feet, arms, legs, fingers, toes, and all kinds of organs that most of us never even think about.

Every one of those parts is different.

They do not look alike.

They do not perform the same function.

But all those different parts make one body.

Paul says:

“So it is with Christ.” (v. 12)

That is an important statement.

Paul does not merely say that the church is like the body of Christ.

He says that believers are the body of Christ.

When we believed in Christ for salvation, the Spirit placed us into this body.

“For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.” (v. 13)

It doesn't matter where you came from.

It doesn't matter what your background is.

It doesn't matter what your social status is.

Paul says Jews and Greeks, slaves and free—all were brought into one body.

In a strange way, Christian math looks something like this:

1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 1

There are many members.

But there is only one body.

That means Christianity was never designed to be a solo activity.

There is no such thing as Lone Ranger Christianity.

The church is not merely an organization you join. It is an organism you become part of.

And organisms only function properly when their members function together.

Think about something as simple as eating a piece of fruit.

Your eye may see the fruit, but your eye cannot pick it.

Your arm has to extend.

Your hand has to reach.

Your fingers have to grasp.

Your mouth has to receive it.

Your teeth have to chew it.

Then all kinds of organs that nobody can even see have to digest it and distribute those nutrients throughout the body.

One body was nourished because many different members did their part.

The eye couldn't do it alone.

The hand couldn't do it alone.

The mouth couldn't do it alone.

The body needed its members.

And so does the church.

EVERY MEMBER MATTERS

This is a divine thing. This is a sovereign thing.

Paul continues:

1 Corinthians 12:15–20 ESV

15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

Paul imagines something ridiculous.

The foot looks at the hand and says:

“Well, I'm not a hand, so I guess I don't belong.”

Then the ear looks at the eye and says:

“I'm not an eye, so I must not be important.”

That sounds ridiculous when we talk about our physical bodies.

But Christians do it all the time.

We look at somebody else and say:

“I can't do what they do.”

“I'm not that gifted.”

“I can't teach like that.”

“I can't sing like that.”

“I'm not eloquent.”

“I'm not talented enough.”

“I could never do what they do.”

But Paul never tells the foot to become a hand.

He never tells the ear to become an eye.

Instead, look carefully at verse 18:

“But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.”

God arranged them.

This is a divine thing.

This is a sovereign thing.

God determined the parts.

God arranged the parts.

God gave the gifts.

And God did it as He chose.

There isn't anything to seek for.

There isn't anything to chase after.

To constantly seek some other gift can reveal dissatisfaction with what God has already chosen to give.

Some people do not have the gift of teaching. Other people may have confirmed that they do not have the gift of teaching, and yet they continue seeking places of teaching.

There are others who have been taught that they have not reached some higher dimension of spiritual life until they possess a particular gift, such as tongues, and so they seek and seek after that gift.

But that is precisely the kind of thinking Paul is countering in 1 Corinthians 12.

God arranged the members in the body as He chose.

There isn't anything to chase after.

There isn't another member you need to become.

There is the place God has given you and the responsibility to faithfully serve Him there.

If God made you a foot, be a faithful foot.

If God made you a hand, be a faithful hand.

If God made you an ear, quit wishing you were an eye.

Because if the entire body were an eye, Paul asks:

How would it hear?

And if the entire body were an ear:

How would it smell?

The body needs differences in order to function.

So does the church.

The problem is that we tend to value the gifts that everybody sees.

We notice the preacher.

We notice the singer.

We notice the teacher.

We notice the person standing in front of everybody.

But there are countless gifts being used throughout the body that nobody ever sees.

Helping.

Serving.

Giving.

Encouraging.

Showing mercy.

Praying.

Meeting needs.

Working quietly behind the scenes.

Those gifts are not less important because fewer people notice them.

Visibility does not determine value in the body of Christ.

God does.

So stop comparing yourself to another member.

Stop wishing you had somebody else's place.

Stop thinking you don't belong because you aren't somebody else.

Stop acting like you've been amputated.

God put you in the body.

God gave you what He gave you.

God placed you where He placed you.

Your responsibility is not to become somebody else.

Your responsibility is to faithfully serve where God has placed you.

EVERY MEMBER IS NEEDED

A believer who doesn't have a ministry is a contradiction.

Now Paul changes the problem.

In verses 15–20, the problem was:

“They don't need me.”

Beginning in verse 21, the problem becomes:

“I don't need them.”

Paul rejects both.

1 Corinthians 12:21–22 ESV

21 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 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,

Notice that word:

Indispensable.

Not optional.

Not convenient.

Not nice to have around.

Indispensable.

Some of the parts we think matter the least may actually be among the parts we need the most.

Think about your big toe.

Most of you probably haven't thought about your big toe all day.

You didn't wake up this morning thinking:

“Thank God for my big toe!”

But stub that thing in the middle of the night.

Suddenly, your big toe becomes very important.

And it does far more than hurt when you run it into furniture.

Your big toe helps you balance.

It helps you walk.

It helps propel you forward.

Lose it and your body has to compensate and relearn how to do things you once did naturally.

The same thing happens when you hurt a finger.

You suddenly discover how many things you do every day with that one little finger.

That's Paul's point.

There are parts of the body that don't look very impressive.

Nobody notices them.

Nobody applauds them.

Nobody thinks much about them.

But take them away and suddenly everybody realizes how important they were.

The church is filled with people like that.

And Paul says those parts that seem weaker are indispensable.

That means there are no unnecessary Christians in the body of Christ.

There are no throwaway members.

There are no people God saved simply to fill a chair on Sunday morning.

That is why I would say that a believer who doesn't have a ministry is a contradiction.

Now, that doesn't mean every Christian needs a title.

It doesn't mean everybody needs to be a preacher, teacher, deacon, committee chairman, or ministry leader.

Ministry is not a title.

Ministry is a member of Christ's body doing what God has equipped that member to do.

If God saved you, placed you into His body, gifted you, and prepared you to serve, then refusing to function denies God the opportunity to use you in the way He has prepared you to be used.

The eye needs the hand.

The hand needs the foot.

The foot needs the eye.

And the visible parts need all those hidden parts nobody thinks about.

1 & 2 Corinthians (Believers are the Body of Christ / 12:12–31) (Barton) The pastor in a church may be well versed and eloquent, but he will not be effective if the other members are not utilizing their gifts to greet newcomers warmly, to make sure the building is maintained and clean, to plan the worship service, to make sure equipment is working properly, to follow up on people with needs, or to pray faithfully for the ministry. The church needs the visible members, but it needs everyone.

Every member matters because every member is needed.

Paul finishes:

1 Corinthians 12:27 ESV

27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

That's who you are.

If you belong to Christ, you belong to His body.

And if you belong to His body, you have a place in His body.

APPLICATION

So maybe we have been asking the wrong question.

We walk into church and ask:

“Do they need me?”

Or, “What are they going to do for me?”

Paul has already answered that question.

Yes. You are needed. And, we all serve one another.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you.”

But the hand needs the eye just as much, so neither are there to simply serve the other only, but both serve each other.

God arranged the members.

God chose their places.

God gave them their functions.

And God says that even some of the members that seem weakest are indispensable.

So stop asking:

“Do they need me?”

Start asking:

“Where has God placed me?”

And “What can I do right now?”

That is the question’s we are going to work through during this series.

Because if God saved me, placed me in His body, and says that I matter to the health and work of that body, then I need to know:

What has God equipped me to do?

How can I use what He has given me?

How do I serve the other members of this body?

How does my part help this whole body accomplish what Christ has called us to accomplish?

God never intended Christians to merely attend church.

He saved us into a body.

He placed us in that body.

He gave us a place in that body.

And He intends for us to function as part of that body.

You belong here.

And because you belong here, you matter here.

So don't just sit in the saddle.

Find your place. Do your part.

Because in the body of Christ—

EVERY PART MATTERS.