Authentic Roles

Introduction

Junior Church Dismissed

Great couple of weeks

Enjoyed Josh being here and the meeting we had last Sunday night

Finishing out our Authentic series today with a look at our role in the New Testament church.

We have been through a variety of topics that have shown us how the New Testament church lived and conducted themselves. Today it is my prayer that we will see how God brings people together in local NT churches to encourage us and to carry out His will in our lives.

Follow along with me as I read this morning:

1 Corinthians 12:12–14 KJV 1900

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.

1 Corinthians 12 KJV 1900

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.

PRAY

Illustration: Feet to eat with, ear to smell with, effects of misuse…not effective for individual, not helpful for the body, puts more strain on the body.

Paul uses the illustration of the body in verses 13-27 to help us understand our place in the body of Christ and how we should operate.

He begins by first identifying how we become part of the body, we are placed into the body.

I. Placed into the body

Verse 13 says “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body...”

The word baptized there is the same one Jesus used when speaking of a physical baptism and Paul used it here to speak of a spiritual baptism.

There has been false doctrine preached on this subject for years. The baptism of the spirit is not something that takes place after you have been obedient or you recieve a second blessing from God. It’s also not something that is signified by speaking in tongues…tongues means different languages not gibberish.

The biblical understanding of the baptism of the Spirit allows us to understand 2 things about our placement into the body.

A. It’s personal

When Paul writes about the baptism of the Spirit He is speaking of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that we receive at salvation.

Ephesians 1:13 KJV 1900

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

2 Timothy 1:14 KJV 1900

That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.

The Holy Spirit indwells each of us and gives us a personal relationship to the same body.

That relationship is based upon our individual decision to trust in Jesus as our savior.

When we decide by faith to have a personal relationship with Christ we are then baptized, indwelt, by the Holy Spirit of God and grafted into the body of Christ.

This relationship with Jesus is a personal relationship and it is also a permanent relationship.

B. It’s permanent

Ephesians 1:13 KJV 1900

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

Salvation is not something that must be repeated. It is a one time thing. Same with baptism. The Bible teaches that once we have placed our faith in Christ we can never be removed from His hand of protection

John 10:28 KJV 1900

And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

We are eternally saved and we are eternally apart of the Body of Christ. We are unified through our faith in Jesus and joined together with different roles with one purpose: To function as the head directs us. See with me who the Head of the church is...

II. The Head of the body

Colossians 1:17–18 KJV 1900

And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

Jesus is the head of the church, the mind of the church and is the one who calls the shots.

He is the one that is to be directing the ship and not us. He is the one that gives us our purpose.

That’s why we have been in this study. To find our direction as a church and as individuals from the Word of God.

But what do our lives look like when we have Christ at the head? What does a church look? How can we get our lives and our church to have Christ as the head?

It begins by knowing who the Jesus is and then by knowing what Jesus desires.

A. What Jesus desires

1. A relationship

While I believe there are many things that could be listed here, I want you to see just a few.

We know that He desires for all to be saved and have a relationship with him.

1 Timothy 2:3–4 KJV 1900

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

Jesus is not a disciplinarian, He is not looking over your shoulder waiting for you to mess up. He is not there to shame you when you fail.

He is not trying to push people to hell or beat you down so you pay a penance in order to feel that He loves you.

Jesus is God and God is love. He loves you and wants a relationship with you and desires to be there to pick you up when you do fall.

Confession of our mistakes is not so that he can chastise us…it is so He can forgive us and move on.

First and foremost, Jesus desires a relationship with you based on love and not on rules.

Secondly, Jesus desires your love

2. Jesus desires your love

When Jesus was asked the greatest commandment, he did not spout off a rule of obedience. He did not say “the greatest commandment is that you do xyz”

He said...

Matthew 22:37 KJV 1900

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Love the Lord thy God. Jesus is God. Love Jesus with all you have.

What does that look like?

John 14:15 KJV 1900

If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Loving God is shown through our obedience to Him. Now does that mean we don’t love God if we sin? no…That means we are not God. Is that an excuse to sin? NO..Paul told the Romans “God forbid” God forbid we use the grace of God as an excuse to sin.

We love God by keeping His commandments. We fulfill the desire of Jesus to have our love by showing our love through action.

How do we keep our actions in line with the commandments of God? We get the right perspective on life. We get God’s perspective.

B. God’s Perspective

What is God’s perspective?

Through our salvation and relationship with Christ we can understand and take the perspective of an almighty God, creator of the universe on life.

When we take on God’s perspective we begin to not look at the things of this life as important as a person without His outlook.

We care so much about the money we make, the house we live in, the clothes we wear, the car we drive, and the food we eat…yet the Lord told us not to worry at all about that...

Matthew 6:25–33 KJV 1900

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Jesus told the people, don’t worry about all this stuff. God will provide for your basic needs. You seek first my kingdom. You seek first the spiritual things of life. You seek first what is important to me and I’ll take care of what should be important to you.

What is the Kingdom of God though.

Broadly speaking, the kingdom of God is the rule of an eternal, sovereign God over all the universe

How do we seek that? Well God rules over our hearts as we decide to first put our faith in Christ and love Him.

If that’s the case, then I propose to that at the center of our lives we are to be seeking the salvation of souls for God to rule over.

Jesus’s last words call us to that

Matthew 28:19-20

Matthew 28:19–20 KJV 1900

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

When we have God’s perspective on life and what’s truly important…we won’t be bothered by the house, the car, the clothes, the food. We will be more concerned with the souls of those around us. Our families, our friends, our neighbors, strangers in town, and people in far off lands.

Acts 1:8 KJV 1900

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

When a church loses the God sized perspective on life and makes material things more important than spiritual things it has ceased to be an effective body with Christ at the head.

When a Christian loses the God sized perspective on life and makes material things more important than spiritual things that Christian has ceased being an effective part of that body.

When we lose our focus on the kingdom we have been called to seek after we begin to focus on less important things. Ourselves, our problems, the material things around us.

I’ve been working in a church since 2013 and in my short time I’ve never had someone come to my stressed out, anxious, depressed, or bothered by the kingdom work that we are to be focused on and doing. It’s always about something material.

I’m not trying to minimize the things that you are concerned about, I’m note tell you that you won’t go through difficulties in seeking the Kingdom, but I am telling you the more of a focus we have on building the kingdom of God as a part of the body of Christ, the better perspective we will have on the things of this life that trouble us.

We see that once we believe that Jesus died for our sins and rose again we are placed into the body of Christ. Sealed by the Holy Spirit and never again to be removed.

Once apart of the body Jesus is to be the head of us corporately and individually.

Lastly I want you to take a look at specific roles in the church you can take part of to help keep your focus on the kingdom of God.

Look with me at the Role of the body

III. The Role of the body

1 Corinthians 12:25–26 KJV 1900

That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

The body of Christ is meant to be unified in all things.

The early church gives us this example in

Acts 1:14 KJV 1900

These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

They were unified. There was no schism. They didn’t care what the other person was wearing. They didn’t care what the color of the carpet was. They didn’t care what spiritual gift the other had…they were of one accord.

They had the same focus and they cared for one another.

A. The care of the members

Along with the great commandment to love God the next command given was to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

This doesn’t just mean the person who lives near you or sits next to in church. Neighbor here means those that are near you..those who you interact with.

Love them as yourself. You see the focus of the Christian seeking to live out their authentic role based upon Christian is never on themselves. It is on God and those around them.

Those are the two greatest commandments according to Christ…Those are the commandments He speaks of when He said “If you love me, keep my commandments.”

The care of the members is to be focused on others and not themselves.

Illustration: What if your hands only washed themselves but never scrubbed your feet?

Your hands knew they were dirty and how to get clean and even went through the steps to clean themselves yet kept your feet from being able to obtain the same cleanliness and peace of being washed. Pretty selfish hands huh? They would be acting on their own desires and not the desires of the head of the body. The head of the body wants every part to be clean and cared for.

We are those hands when we refuse to care for other parts of the body and deny the truth of how to be cleaned to potential members of the body.

When the body is unified in purpose we are willing to care for one another, care for others, and keep the God sized perspective not allowing the little things to cause us to get upset and lose sight of what is eternally important. The lost souls of men.

Jesus didn’t come to fuss fight and argue about how things are going, what things look like, how much any we have, what type of clothes we wear or what he said or she said....Jesus came for one purpose

Luke 19:10 KJV 1900

For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

That should be what we care most for and view everything else in light of how it enables us to meet that goal.

The role of the body is to care for its members and potential members.

There are some very practical roles given to those who are engrafted to the body of Christ.

Look with me at verses 28-30

1 Corinthians 12:28–30 KJV 1900

And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?

B. The Role of the members

God has gifted each person who has trusted Christ with a specific role in the church. These are the gifts of the spirit. Not fruit of the spirit that everyone can have. these are gifts of the spirit and just like the gift your sibling got that you wanted these gifts are not always the same or attainable to each person.

Each can be done but the level of giftedness will vary between individuals.

That’s why Paul wrote about not being jealous of these gifts to this church and others. it’s not about what gift you have, it’s about how you use your gift for the kingdom of God and for the purpose of the gospel.

Without going into much detail let me explain what these are and you see which gift you have..

Romans 12:6–8 KJV 1900

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.

Apostles do not exist now. That is someone who has seen Christ. and no matter how old you may think you are or feel…you aren’t that old.

What is your gift? Do you know? What are you passionate about? I believe God gives us the desires we have based upon what He would desire for us to do so long as it doesn’t go against the Word of God. So don’t come to me saying “Pastor, The Lord has placed a desire for a red corvette on my heart...”

We each have a gift, that needs to be used for the sake of the gospel. As multiple members of the same body we should all seek to strive together for the sake of the gospel.

Conclusion

Prophets in the traditional sense do not exist either. What do I mean by that? Typically when you think of a prophet you think of someone telling you about future events.

A teacher is someone who studies and teaches the word of God.

Have you asked God what your role in the kingdom is? How are you living to fulfill that role?

Are you here this morning and not sure about being a part of the kingdom? Do you know Jesus? Have you placed your faith in Him?

As we transition into a time of response to the message I’d like to ask you to bow your hands and close your eyes.

There could be someone here today that doesn’t know the love of God, the sacrifice of Jesus, and you may not understand what meaning your life has. You may be here and not know that you can have a personal relationship with Jesus and have a purpose in life that will have an eternal significance.

Knowing Jesus means knowing you are going to Heaven. It means knowing He is the son of God and died for you.

Is there anyone here today that would confess “I don’t know Jesus. I don’t know if I’m going to heaven?”

KJV 1900For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

​ KJV 1900For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

​ KJV 1900For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

​ KJV 1900For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

​ KJV 1900That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

If you just trusted Jesus as your savior would you raise your hand and let me rejoice with you?

What about those who have trusted Christ? are you fulfilling your role? Are you being a productive member of the body of Christ or are you inhibiting the kingdom work that could be accomplished?

Is there anyone here who could say “I needed that today. I’m going to commit to fulfilling my role in the body more effectively?”

Thank you.

PRAY

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