The Body of Christ

05-24-2020

The Body of Christ

Welcome

Intro -

Welcome to Maranatha Baptist Fellowship

This morning since we have finished our study on the fruit we are going to look at the church this morning

The church is the Body of Christ with Christ as the head of the church

Ephesians 4:1–3 NASB95

1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Paul gives this instruction to the church as Ephesus

Paul tells them to 1st and formost walk in a manner worthy of your calling

Would you know that to be a part of the church the first thing you must do is your personal walk with Jesus

You cannot expect to be a part of a body that walks with Christ if you yourself are not walking with Christ

Then once you have that you can begin to be a part of the body

Then Paul explains that the Body should be at peace with each other

And we will see this throughout church

That the Body of Christ should be unified

As we will see later that Paul gives us the example of a human body

See for a Body of Christ to be successful they must be unified for one common goal

and you might be asking well what is that common Goal

I am so glad you asked this morning

Ephesians 4:11–12 NASB95

11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

Paul shares that Christ as appointed or given us people to equip the saints for what

For work of service

The purpose of the church is to build you up and equip you so that you can go out and serve God

To serve God means to share the Gospel, to serve God means to glorify God, to serve God means to care and love for people

That is the purpose of the Church

That should be the top goal for all of our ministries

How can we as ministry leaders equip the people in my ministry to go out and serve

I believe you have probably heard this here but gone are the days of meeting a lost person and then calling the pastor so the pastor can share the Gospel

My job as the pastor is to equip you to go out

To go out and share the Gospel to go out and serve Jesus, to go out and love others, to go out and care for others, to go and be a light in the dark work

And so church as a body of Christ that should be our common goal

As a body we should begin to work collectively towards that common goal

but sadly some churches do not work together

1 Corinthians 12:4–7 NASB95

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. 6 There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. 7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

So reach that common goal, Christ has equipped each and everyone of us so uniquely that we would work together for a common goal

Understand that it is Christ at work inside of us for that common goal

God has given you and specific gift to be used for the common good

to be used for the growth of not only yourself but the body

And church it is about time that you begin to use your gift that God has given you for the purpose God has given it to you

Paul then goes on to give examples of the different gifts and how they are used

The Paul will begin to address the problem that arises in churches is the disunity because adults throw adult temper tamptrutions because they don’t like their gift

1 Corinthians 12:12–14 NASB95

12 For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are 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 we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body is not one member, but many.

Paul at least twice explains that we are one body with many member

That we are not many bodies but one body with many members

Do you understand that Paul is stressing the importance of unity with the Body of Christ

That we as a church should be unified and that means we should be working together

then Paul gives these great examples using the Body

And I really wanted to use those examples but I am not a Body expert

1 Corinthians 12:15–25 NASB95

15 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 the less a part of the body. 16 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 the less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. 19 If they were all one member, where would the body be? 20 But now there are many members, but one body. 21 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.” 22 On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; 23 and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, 24 whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, 25 so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

We are all part of one Body

We are different parts of 1 body

just like there are different parts to your body and they all work together to make your body work

If I knew more about the body I would go on to explain that to walk you have a number od different muscles that have to relax and tighten for you to simply take a step

For you to talk there are a number of different moving parts that must take place for you to speak

Church the list goes on and on

For a church to do something as simple as Sunday worship there are a lot of different moving parts that must take place

For us to reach out the community through the food pantry there are a number of different moving parts that must take place

And would you know that if one of those parts don’t work or do not participate because they are upset or which is more likely because they are not walking with Jesus themselves and then are not part of where God has called them, things don’t work

Now we know that we could probably make things happen but then that only causes stress on different parts of the body that were never intended to carry that type or that much stress

So since I don’t know the body because I am not that guy

I do know legos

I used to love legos when I was a kid

My girls love legos they will play and build with legos

They have a number of different sets of legos

This one in particular

It has a rollercoaster and theme park going on

There are a number of different pieces

Very specific pieces

And to put it together you have to use the manual or else you will use the wrong piece in the wrong place

And yes it does take time to read through the manual and find the right piece

You can ask Emma, she has used the wrong piece in the wrong place and she has to take it apart because it doesn’t work the way it is intended

But there are rubber bands, there are wheels, there are extreme pieces and if you put them in the wrong place or don’t have them because you lost them then it wont work the way it was intended

Our church is not different

If we are not unified for the common goal of serving Christ, then we won’t work the way God has intended

you the church member need to be reading the instruction manual to be knowing what piece you are and where you fit in the Body and how that piece should operate

Then church you should begin to participate, physically doing your part as your member of the Body of Christ

My fear is that we have a number of members who have become so laxed it causes stresses on other parts of the body that were never intended to carry that unique stress load

Just like the lego there are specific and unique legos for specific purposes and yes we could make something cool if we just threw them together but it would only be that it would be what God intended and it would only be a work of man

So this morning as we move into a time of invitation this morning

maybe you are here this morning and you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus

We want to invite you to the front and there will be someone up front who can open up the word of God to show you that you are loved by God and God desires a personal relationship with you to show you how your own sin separates you from Jesus to show you can repent and believe this morning and walk out of this place with the Spirit of God living inside you

or maybe you already have a relationship with Jesus and simply need to spend sometime in prayer this morning

The altar is open