We are members of Christ's body / Somos miembros del cuerpo de Cristo
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
There is an old fable that tells the story of a time when the various body parts rebelled against the stomach. It goes something like this:
The various members of the body noticed that they worked hard day after day only to bring food to the stomach.
The feet complained that they walked to work every day to earn a decent wage in order to have money to purchase food.
The hands complained that day after day they were used to bring food to the mouth.
The teeth complained that they had the hard job of crushing the food until it could be swallowed.
Each of these members of the body noticed that they all worked very hard so that the stomach would enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Each of these body parts was no longer willing to put up with the stomach’s laziness.
They worked hard.
Every day was the same.
…and all for what? To keep on repeating the say thing over and over.
The stomach never seemed to grow tired of enjoying the fruits of their labor.
At once, these body parts decided they would no longer be slaves to the stomach.
The feet refused to work.
The hands refused to bring food to the mouth.
The teeth refused to crush the food.
Their goal was to slowly rid themselves of the stomach.
Slowly but surely the stomach started to feel the effects of not having nourishment but at the same time each of these body parts became affected.
The hands and feet became weak.
The teeth no longer had the same strength and slowly fell out of the mouth.
…until the dreadful day came that the body died.
This old fable has lots of similarity with the lesson that Paul wants to teach us through 1 Corinthians 12:12-31. Paul teaches us:
The church is the body of Christ.
The body of Christ is consists of many members.
Each member has a specific function.
Each member should value the other members.
I. The church is the body of Christ.
I. The church is the body of Christ.
Paul writes to the Corinthians to teach them this wonderful truth:
Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
Porque así como el cuerpo es uno, y tiene muchos miembros, pero, todos los miembros del cuerpo, aunque son muchos, constituyen un solo cuerpo, así también es Cristo.
Pues por un mismo Espíritu todos fuimos bautizados en un solo cuerpo, ya judíos o griegos, ya esclavos o libres. A todos se nos dio a beber del mismo Espíritu.
Paul speaks about basic human anatomy.
A single body has different parts.
There is but one body but it consists of internal organs and external appendages / members.
Nevertheless, it is a single body.
Paul compares this to Christ.
Although we know that Paul is using this example to speak about how the church is one, but it consists of different members; notice how Paul says “so it is with Christ”.
It seems that Paul uses the word “Christ” in the place of “church”.
Paul could have easily written “so it is with the church”.
Why would Paul use the word “Christ” instead of “church”.
First of all, we know that the Bible teaches us that the church is Christ’s body.
Therefore, we understand that each member of Christ’s church is a member of his body.
Each one of us belong to the body of Christ.
Also, this is the way that Christ identified himself with the church.
When the risen Christ appeared to Saul of Tarsus (who was persecuting the church), he expressed these words:
He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
Al caer a tierra, oyó una voz que le decía: «Saulo, Saulo, ¿por qué me persigues?».
Paul was persecuting Christians. Christ had already risen from the dead and had ascended to the right hand of the Father.
Why would the risen Christ ask Paul “why do you persecute me?” when in reality Paul was persecuting Christians so that he would destroy them.
We come to the conclusion that Christ so identified himself with the church that to persecute the church was the same as persecuting Christ.
This reinforces the biblical truth that the church of Christ that gathers in a local congregation is the body of Christ.
To be part of the body of Christ is not insignificant.
God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, has made us to be the body of Christ.
For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
Pues por un mismo Espíritu todos fuimos bautizados en un solo cuerpo, ya judíos o griegos, ya esclavos o libres. A todos se nos dio a beber del mismo Espíritu.
Paul tells us that we have been baptized by the Spirit and have become that one body of Christ.
This is contrary to the teaching of certain congregations that say that there are people that believe in Christ - those are simply saved Christians.
Then, there are other believers that speak in tongues.
They’ve had the experience of being baptized by the Holy Spirit such that they now speak in tongues.
This is a misinterpretation of the Scripture. The Bible clearly teaches that all who believe in Christ have been baptized by the Holy Spirit and has made us to be members of the body of Christ.
All believers are actively drinking of the Holy Spirit. This “drinking” refers to a word related to “irrigation”. Irrigation is the process by which we water a crop field.
In the same way, each believer is daily drinking of God’s Holy Spirit as we commune with God in our daily lives.
II. The body of Christ is consists of many members.
II. The body of Christ is consists of many members.
It is a grand truth to declare that we are members of the body of Christ.
However, the Corinthian church was struggling due to some believers believing themselves to be superior to other believers.
The rich / well-to-do believers thought of themselves to be above the poorer Christians.
The believers that had the supernatural gifts of prophecy, healings, discernment of spirits, etc…felt that they were superior to those believers that did not possess these more spectacular gifts.
For this reason, Paul reminds the Corinthian believers that each believer is an equal member of the body of Christ.
Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
Porque el cuerpo no es un solo miembro, sino muchos.
1. Each member has a specific function.
1. Each member has a specific function.
Paul refers to various body parts: the hand, the eye, and the nose.
Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
Si el pie dijera: «Porque no soy mano, no soy parte del cuerpo», no por eso deja de ser parte del cuerpo.
Y si el oído dijera: «Porque no soy ojo, no soy parte del cuerpo», no por eso deja de ser parte del cuerpo.
Si todo el cuerpo fuera ojo, ¿qué sería del oído? Si todo fuera oído, ¿qué sería del olfato?
Paul sees the certain body parts complaining against other body parts.
In this case, the foot complains that it is not a hand and therefore should not be part of the body.
The same could be said about the ear not being an eye or the nose.
Paul is teaching the believers that each body part has been designed to fulfill a specific function.
The hands cannot be the feet for they have been created by God for a specific function / ability.
The nose has a specific function that cannot be performed by the eyes.
…at the end of the day, it is God that has designed the body in such a way that no body part is useless and not body part is all-sufficient - each body part has a specific function and each working together promotes the body’s overall well-being.
But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
Ahora bien, Dios ha colocado a cada uno de los miembros en el cuerpo según le agradó.
Paul mentions some of these gifts / functions in vv. 28-30.
And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?
Y en la iglesia, Dios ha designado primeramente, apóstoles; en segundo lugar, profetas; en tercer lugar, maestros; luego, milagros; después, dones de sanidad, ayudas, administraciones, diversas clases de lenguas.
¿Acaso son todos apóstoles? ¿Acaso son todos profetas? ¿Acaso son todos maestros? ¿Acaso son todos obradores de milagros?
¿Acaso tienen todos dones de sanidad? ¿Acaso hablan todos en lenguas? ¿Acaso interpretan todos?
Notice the diversity of the gifts.
…and also notice that not all of us have the same gifts.
Each of us has been uniquely gifted by God with a specific function.
We are to find our place and function within the body of Christ.
There are no useless Christians. We are all meant to serve a specific function.
People do not serve because they lack gifts from God; rather, people may not serve because: 1) they are in a church which does not recognize that all believers are gifted, 2) they are consumed with the affairs of this world that they do no have time to serve, 3) …or they may need to be taught how to serve.
There may be other reasons, but I would encourage each of you to see how you can can be an active servant in the body of Christ.
2. Each member should value the other members.
2. Each member should value the other members.
In verses 21-26 Paul stressed to importance of valuing and taking care of those members that seem less “important”.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
Y el ojo no puede decirle a la mano: «No te necesito»; ni tampoco la cabeza a los pies: «No los necesito»
Por el contrario, la verdad es que los miembros del cuerpo que parecen ser los más débiles, son los más necesarios;
y las partes del cuerpo que estimamos menos honrosas, a estas las vestimos con más honra. Así que las partes que consideramos más íntimas, reciben un trato más honroso,
ya que nuestras partes presentables no lo necesitan. Pero así formó Dios el cuerpo, dando mayor honra a la parte que carecía de ella,
a fin de que en el cuerpo no haya división, sino que los miembros tengan el mismo cuidado unos por otros.
Si un miembro sufre, todos los miembros sufren con él; y si un miembro es honrado, todos los miembros se regocijan con él.
Paul understands the importance of every body part.
Each part of our body is valuable for if we were lacking in something then the function of our body would be impaired.
It is possible that some who possess more notable or spectacular gifts receive the most attention and care.
However, that does not mean that the quieter members of Christ’s body are useless or of less worth.
Rather, it means that we would care for one another without regard to our gifting.
We care for each other because we are convinced that each believer is a member of Christ’s body.
Our worth / dignity / value does is not derived from our gifting but rather from our identity as members of Christ’s body.
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
Ahora bien, ustedes son el cuerpo de Cristo, y cada uno individualmente un miembro de él.
Let us find recognize our identity in Christ.
This is what should mark us out.
We are not primarily pastors, evangelists, Sunday school teachers, musicians, we are primarily sons and daughters of God, redeemed by Jesus Christ, and baptized with the Holy Spirit to be made members of the body of Christ.
