Sermon Tone Analysis

This is one of the most famous pictures of the unity of The Church ever written, we will look more deeply into unity in weeks to come.

Every Christian is Part of The Body of Christ on Earth.

as such Paul draws a picture of this Unity.

which should exist inside the Church for it to function proporrly.

A human body is only efficiant when it functions proporrly, as such a church only functions proporly when it functions proporly.

In a human body parts of the body are not Jelous of one another, they compliment each other.

We need to relize the folowing \

(1) We ought to realize that we need each other.

There can be no such thing as isolation in the Church.

Far too often, people in the Church become so engrossed in the bit of the work that they are doing and so convinced of its supreme importance that they neglect or even criticize others who have chosen to do other work.

If the Church is to be a healthy body, we need the work that everyone can do.

(3) We ought to sympathize with each other.

If any one part of the body is affected, all the others suffer in sympathy because they cannot help it.

The Church is a whole.

The person who cannot see beyond his or her own organization, the person who cannot see beyond his or her congregation—worse still, the person who cannot see beyond his or her own family circle—has not even begun to grasp the real unity of the Church.

At the end of the passage, Paul speaks of various forms of service in the Church.

Some he has already mentioned, but some are new.

(1) At the head of everything, he puts the apostles.

They were beyond question the greatest figures in the Church.

Their authority was not confined to one place; they had no settled and localized ministry; their commission and authority ran through the whole Church.

Why should that be?

The essential qualification of an apostle was that he must have kept company with Jesus during his earthly life and been a witness of the resurrection ().

The apostles were those who had the closest contact with Jesus in his days on earth and in the days of his risen power.

Jesus never committed his message to writing; instead, he committed his message to individuals, and these individuals were the apostles.

No human ceremony can ever give real authority; that authority must always come from the fact that the person has kept company with Christ.

Once, someone said to Alexander Whyte, the famous preacher and Principal of New College, Edinburgh, after a service: ‘Dr Whyte, you preached today as if you had come straight from the presence.’

‘Perhaps I did,’ answered Whyte softly.

Those who come from the presence of Christ have apostolic authority no matter what may be their church denomination.

(2) We have already spoken about the prophets, but now Paul adds teachers.

It is impossible to exaggerate their importance.

These were the Christians who had to build up the converts won by the preaching of the evangelists and the apostles.

They had to instruct men and women who knew literally nothing about Christianity.

Their supreme importance lies in this: the first gospel, Mark’s, was not written until about ad 60, that is to say, not until about thirty years after the crucifixion of Jesus.

We have to think ourselves back to a time when printing did not exist, when books had to be handwritten and were scarce, when a volume the size of the New Testament would be expensive to buy, when ordinary people could never hope to possess a book.

As a result, in the beginning the story of Jesus had to be handed down by word of mouth.

That was the teacher’s task; and we must remember this—a scholar will learn more from a good teacher than from any book.

We have plenty of books nowadays, but it is still true that it is through individuals that people really learn about Christ.

(3) Paul speaks of helpers.

These were people whose duty it was to bring relief to the poor, the orphan, the widow and the stranger.

From the very beginning, Christianity was intensely practical.

Some people may be poor speakers and have no gift for teaching; but it is open to everyone to help.

(4) Paul speaks of what the Revised Standard Version calls administrators (kuberneseis).

The Greek word is very interesting; it literally refers to the work of a pilot who steers the ship through the rocks and shallows to harbour.

Paul is referring to the people who carry out the administration of the Church.

It is absolutely vital work.

In the foreground, the

preacher and the teacher hold the limelight; but they could never do their work at all unless in the background there were those who shouldered responsibility for the routine day-today administration.

There are parts of the body which are never seen but which have a function more important than any other; there are those who serve the Church in ways that win no publicity, but without whose service the Church could not go on.

But, in the end, Paul is going to go on to speak of a greater gift than all the others.

The danger is always that those who have different gifts will be at variance with each other, and so the effective working of the body will be hindered.

Love is the only thing which can bind the Church into a perfect unity; and Paul goes on to sing his hymn to love.

Wednesday 12-19

Thursday 20-26

Friday- Put together

No member of the body is depencible just as no mber of the Church is.

THe Body of Christ is the CHurch.

every beliver must be a functioning Church member

A church reflects both unity and diversity.

The one who gives us our spirtual gifts is also the unifing agent we were all baptized in one spirit.

All beliver no matter natinality or identity are all identified with Christ.

We were given one spirit to drink: were past tence at salvation we were indwelt by the spirit, spirit Baptisim

each part of the body is dependent on the others

The diversity within the Church does not mean there should be divecity in puropse or mindset.

but rather that there are simply different people within a church

Now paul moves to His point of diversity in the body because if it is to opperate as one it must work together and each part must be willing to perform his or her function and must not try to function in an area which it was not made.

The whole Body can not be a single part and function proporly

It is the same with the church members with one gift should not flaund that gift or wish they had someone elces gift

It is absolutly wrong to say or thing that there are some memebres which are not nesesary.

The logic of this verse is compelling, no body can function and only see, or only hearso it is for the Church to function proporrly it must have different gifts and offices

God sovrignly places each individual with his or her gifts in each local church and He or she must use thier gifts, it is not a choice.

Paul exposes the absurdity of the Corinthian believers’ mindset.

A body composed of a single part is not a body and could not function as a body; it is the same thing for believers, with each playing his or her own role.

They must not fool themselves into thinking that one particular group or gifting represents the entire body of Christ.

Paul exposes the absurdity of the Corinthian believers’ mindset.

A body composed of a single part is not a body and could not function as a body; it is the same thing for believers, with each playing his or her own role.

They must not fool themselves into thinking that one particular group or gifting represents the entire body of Christ.

AGAIN THE FOCUS IS DRAWN TO THE FACT THAT IT IS ONE BODY

not only can we not say that the body can do without me, but we also may not say that we can do without the body.

There is no such thig as a fereelancing Christian, no part of the body can take leave of the other members as though they were unesesary Don’t home Church

Paul moves to mutual dependance and concern for verious members of the Body.

Those that seem weeker are importent and ought to be treated with respect .

So also is it with the Church those who all they can do is pray, those who tithe little all are to be treated with respect.

As in the human body there are some parts that seem weeker than others likewise there are some we deem less honorable.

Some parts of the body get more attention and exposure than others while other parts that are less presentable are never noticed.

as God views the body he does not see it in parts but in the whole.

If you take red and green they do not make a new shade of red or a new shade of green, but they bake blue so is the same for the church all different kinds of people make up the church.

Just as individual organs of a human Body need each other so also do members of a church need each other.

A Church is a family, a team be a functioning part

Application

Are you a functioning Church Member

Comit

I like the medaphor of membership.

It is not mebership as a civic orginization or countryclub.

It is the kind of membership hiven to us in 1 cor 12 “ now youy are the Body of Christ and individual members of it” Because.....