1 Corinthians 12_12-30a
哥林多前書12︰12-30a
12:12就如身子是一個、卻有許多肢體、而且肢體雖多、仍是一個身子．基督也是這樣。 12:13我們不拘是猶太人、是希利尼人、是為奴的、是自主的、都從一位聖靈受洗、成了一個身體．飲於一位聖靈。 12:14身子原不是一個肢體、乃是許多肢體。 12:15設若腳說、我不是手、所以不屬乎身子．他不能因此就不屬乎身子。 12:16設若耳說、我不是眼、所以不屬乎身子．他也不能因此就不屬乎身子。 12:17若全身是眼、從那裏聽聲呢．若全身是耳、從那裏聞味呢。 12:18但如今 神隨自己的意思、把肢體俱各安排在身上了。 12:19若都是一個肢體、身子在哪裏呢。 12:20但如今肢體是多的、身子卻是一個。 12:21眼不能對手說、我用不著你．頭也不能對腳說、我用不著你。 12:22不但如此、身上肢體人以為軟弱的、更是不可少的． 12:23身上肢體、我們看為不體面的、越發給他加上體面．不俊美的、越發得著俊美． 12:24我們俊美的肢體、自然用不著裝飾．但 神配搭這身子、把加倍的體面給那有缺欠的肢體． 12:25免得身上分門別類．總要肢體彼此相顧。 12:26若一個肢體受苦、所有的肢體就一同受苦．若一個肢體得榮耀、所有的肢體就一同快樂。 12:27你們就是基督的身子、並且各自作肢體。 12:28神在教會所設立的、第一是使徒．第二是先知．第三是教師．其次是行異能的．再次是得恩賜醫病的．幫助人的．治理事的．說方言的。 12:29豈都是使徒麼．豈都是先知麼．豈都是教師麼．豈都是行異能的麼． 12:30豈都是得恩賜醫病的麼．豈都是說方言的麼．豈都是翻方言的麼。 12:31你們要切切的求那更大的恩賜、
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
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. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would 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. And if the ear would 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. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. 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.” On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?
Topic: Christ’s many members of a body.
Verse: 1 Corinthians 12:12-12-30a
Date: January 21, 2007
1 Corinthians chapter 12 is the only book that recorded the most word of “members of a body” in the Bible, and also the most in a chapter.
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What is “members”? There are two meaning. First, it talks about every parts of a body. Example: hands, legs, eyes, ears etc. Second, it talks about the family members.
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First of all, we have to know that Jewish family concept is very Oriental.
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There are several characteristics. (1) All the possession owned by a father has to be passed over to the next generation. Even the religious belief has no exception too.
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(2) After the children’s marriage, if they don’t have place to stay, they can come back and stay with the parent. (3) When their parent become too old, the children has the obligation to take care of them until they pass away. If they can’t live with the parent, they still have to live near them in order to take care of them easily.
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(4) The head of the family is the authority. (5) No one can do anything that goes against the family principle, especially which everybody has agreed to. (6) Emphasis on the union of a family.
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Does that sound like the spiritual big family of a church?
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Of course, in our modern day value, we will not agree, but this is the oriental family concept. We can see these values in the Old Testament too. Today there are still many Asian people that practice these kinds of family concept.
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So don’t feel surprise if one day I take a flight back to Malaysia to take care my father until he pass away to be with the Lord. Of course, there is no need for the moment.
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When Paul mentioned about “members”, and it is related with family members, maybe he really have these kinds of Jewish big family concept background.
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The other meaning of “members” is talk about every members of a body. Where did Paul get this idea?
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Paul should be influenced by Luke, a doctor, and his co-worker, Luke never left Paul alone in the journey of sharing the gospel to every place; and the mission trip. Even when Paul was ill, Luke took care of him. Paul has some medical knowledge properly learnt from Luke too.
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Example: Paul told Timothy that “No longer drink only water, but take a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.” (1 Ti 5:23)
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“Members” is talking about every part of a body. When one pair of hands is working, sometimes it will make a mistake too. When one pair of legs is walking, they will kick each other too. When one pair of eyes sees something, they will have the different angle too. Sometimes, a pair of ears will hear a wrong message. Even when the teeth need to bite food to eat, it will bite on the tongue.
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So, when a “member” of a body has some error or mistake, we can’t talk to it and say, get out from me. We can’t cut away our leg just because it unintentionally kicks the other leg. We can’t dig out one side of our eye just because it can’t see clearly as the other one.
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No matter how bad our members in our body, we still need to preserve it, and can’t hurt it. When one member gains benefit, everybody will enjoy the fruit of the benefit. Likewise when one member is hurt the whole body is hurt too.
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Paul is using this family member concept and the members of a body to tell us the relationship of brothers and sisters in a church.
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I can use a simple application. When a church member is in need, and we can help them, do we have to help them? Of course, yes! We should help them more then helping the outsider.
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If there is no need to help a church member, then we should help an outsider. This is the concept of helping family members, and members of a body.
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When one of our body members is ill, should we heal ourselves first? Is that anyone will send the money to others to heal themselves first, and not to heal our body members first? If we are not strong enough, how can we help other?
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Let look at these two PowerPoint graphs. Please tell which one is correctly in order. The first one shows “Jesus Christ in center, Church-members of a body in middle circle, and those who don’t attend church, outsiders, in the outer circle.” The second graph shows, “Jesus Christ in center, people who don’t attend church, outsiders, in the middle circle, and Church-members of a body in outer circle”. Which one should be correct?
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The graph no: 1 should be correct in order.
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The church will not exclude anybody and the church belongs to everybody, but when it comes to helping our body of members, we should put our church members first in priority.
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There is one thing we should know: we can’t ask a non Christian, people who don’t attend church to live a Christian life; if one person doesn’t has Christ’s life in their heart, they can’t live the life that a Christian should have. Sometimes the teachings of the Bible make no sense to them.
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Paul in Romans says “For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.” (Ro 12:4-5)
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There were bugs having a party. They danced and drank all kinds of drinks.
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Everybody was enjoying the party. Suddenly, they lacked ice in their drinks. So, beetle the host of the party ask Mr. Caterpillar to help them to buy more ice. Beetle thought that Caterpillar was the right person because he has many legs so he can run faster and he had many hands so he can hold more ice.
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So, Caterpillar went out and went to buy ice. Everybody waited for one hour and caterpillar has not come back yet. Everybody was testily impatient, and had a view that he was not a person that you can trust. Then beetle thought he should open the door and see what happen with caterpillar.
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The beetle was shocked when he saw caterpillar. He was wearing his shoes near the door.
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I think this story can tell us a few lessons. As a member of a body, we should bear each other weakness and accept the strong points and weak points of a member. Sometimes, a person who has a strong point is a person who has a weak point too. No matter how sincere we are in a spiritual family, we are in the same boat sailing toward the same destiny to the kingdom of God. We should bear with each other. Amen.
講題︰基督的合一肢體
經文︰哥林多前書12︰12-30a
日期︰2007年1月21日
哥林多前書第12章是整本聖經記載「肢體」最多的一卷書，也是最多的一章。
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甚麼是「肢體」？兩個意思。第一，指身體的每一個部分，例如︰手、腳、眼、耳朵等等；第二，指一個家庭裡面的獨立成員。
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首先，我們要知道猶太人的家庭觀念是很東方式的。
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東方式的家庭有幾個特點︰（1）父親所遺傳的每一樣東西都必須遺傳給新一代，給自己家裡面的成員。所以宗教信仰也是不例外，要遺傳新一代。
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（2）子女成家立室之後，如果沒有地方住，他們可以回來父母親的家裡居住。（3）自己的父母親年老的時候，子女有義務必須照顧他們直到他們去世；不然就是要住在靠近父母親的地方好照顧他們。
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（4）大家長所說的話就是權威。（5）不能做一些事情是違背家庭的原則，大家所同意的看法。（6）看重家庭成員的團圓。
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像不像教會這個屬靈的大家庭？
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當然，以我們現代的價值觀來看，我們不一定會贊成，但這就是東方式的家庭觀念。我們在舊約聖經很容易的就可以找到這樣的家庭觀念。其實今天許多的亞洲人都保有這樣的家庭觀念。
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因此，你不要覺得奇怪，如果有一天我突然想到要回去馬來西亞照顧我的父親直到他回天家。當然，目前還沒有這個需要。
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當保羅提到「肢體」，而又是指家庭成員的時候，他可能就是有這個猶太人家庭觀念背景的影響。
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「肢體」另外的意思也是指身體的每一個部分。保羅從那裡有這個觀念呢？
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保羅可能是受到路加醫生的影響，路加在保羅的宣教行程裡面從來沒有缺席過，可能保羅生病還是路加在照顧他。甚至保羅有的一些簡單醫學常識也是受到路加所影響。
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例如︰保羅告訴提摩太他的腸胃不是很好，喝一點酒可以幫助腸胃。
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「肢體」也是指身體的每一個部分。一雙手工作的時候，也會出差錯；一雙腳走路的時候，還會互相踢到；一雙眼睛不是度數都一樣的；一雙耳朵也不是能夠同樣聽清楚同樣的消息；牙齒吃東西有時候還會咬到舌頭。
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所以，身上的「肢體」不能因為有一個部分出了問題就對這個有問題的部分說，離開我。腳因為不小心踢到另外一隻腳，這隻腳不能就砍掉另外一隻腳。一隻眼睛因為看不清楚，另外一隻眼睛不能說，把她挖掉。
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自己身上的肢體，無論怎樣壞，我們都必須顧惜保養，絕對不會傷害它。當一個肢體得著好處，每一個肢體同樣的得著好處。同樣的，身上的肢體一個得著傷害，其他的肢體也是受到傷害。
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保羅就是這樣的使用家庭觀念，身上肢體觀念來告訴我們教會弟兄姐妹的關係。
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我簡單的舉應用的方法。教會肢體有需要，當我們可以幫助他的時候，我們是否應該幫助他？當然，是！不單如此，甚至應該幫助他比幫助外面的人更多。
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如果教會肢體沒有這個需要，那麼我們就應該幫助外面的人。這才是家庭和肢體的觀念做事方法。
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我們身上的肢體生病了，我們是否要先醫治自己？有沒有人是先把錢送給別人醫治別人，不先醫治自己的身體？當然沒有。自己不夠強壯，怎樣能夠幫助其他的人？
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請大家看看這兩個PowerPoint的圖形。請問那一個才是正確的次序？第一個是「主耶穌基督在中心，教會-肢體在第二圓圈，教會之外的人在外面的圓圈」；或者第二個正確，倒轉「主耶穌基督在中心，教會之外的人在第二圓圈，教會-肢體在外面的圓圈」？
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當然是第一個的圖形次序正確。
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教會絕對不會排斥任何一個人，教會是屬於每一個人的，但是論到幫助自己肢體的時候，我們應該以教會肢體為首要幫助的對象。
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有一件事我們要知道的就是，我們絕對不能叫一個非基督徒活出基督徒的生活；一個人如果沒有基督的生命，他是不能活出基督徒的生活的。聖經的教導對他來說是胡說八道。
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保羅在羅馬書說︰「正如我們一個身子上有好些肢體，肢體也不都是一樣的用處。我們這許多人，在基督裏成為一身，互相聯絡作肢體，也是如此。」（羅12︰4-5）
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有一天昆蟲們在開一個舞會，他們跳舞，喝各樣各式的飲料。
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當大家在歡樂的時候，他們的飲料缺少了冰塊，結果昆蟲主人的甲蟲請了毛蟲先生幫助他們去買冰塊。因為甲蟲認為毛蟲先生腳多可以跑的快，而且手也多，容易抱冰塊。
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因此，毛蟲就出發去買。大家等了一個小時都不見毛蟲先生回來，大家心中都非常的躁急。甲蟲就開門望一望毛蟲到底發生甚麼事情？
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原來，甲蟲驚訝的發現毛蟲先生正在門口穿鞋子。
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我想這個故事有幾件事情我們可以學習的。肢體要互相的擔當彼此的軟弱，要互相的體會對方的優點和缺點。有時候一個人的優點也是他的缺點。無論如何，既然我們在一個屬靈的大家庭，同樣的在一艘船，向著上帝的國度奔跑，我們就要彼此扶持。阿們！