THE CHURCH: THE BODY OF CHRIST

Introduction

-Being able to celebrate the CDM today highlights an important truth about the Kingdom of God. The local church body is made up of many different ministries, each having a vital part in what we do as a whole for the cause of Christ.

~The youth ministry has their part. The children’s ministry has their part. The CDM has their part. And yet, they all work toward the same purposes and goals, fulfilling the mission of the church in their own unique way.

-Now, if these ministries decided not to do what they were called to do, if they didn’t do their specific part, the ministry of the church would become chaotic.

-It makes me think of when my kids were young and played baseball and softball. It especially makes me think about in the early days of T-ball when the coaches would try to line up the kids into different places on the field. But after the ball would be hit, every single one of them would run after the ball. It could be hit down the third-base line, but the first-baseman is running after the ball, the right-outfielder is running after the ball. It’s complete chaos out in the field.

~Imagine our ministries doing that.

-Or, to stick with a baseball/softball theme, imagine if everyone on the team decided they didn’t want to play their position anymore. Maybe all 9 players decided they wanted to be pitcher and stayed on the pitcher’s mound. The shortstop wanted to be pitcher…left-fielder…etc. There would be no defense. The other team would crush them because they couldn’t throw anybody out at the bases, because all 9 guys/gals hanging out on pitcher’s mound trying to pitch. They have practiced and played for weeks; they are gifted and have trained to play the positions they are in, but everything would just plain fall apart if the different players who were gifted and trained in their different positions didn’t do their part. There is one team, yet everyone has a different job to do if the team is going to win.

-And as much as that is true of the various ministries within the church, it also reminds me that this is the way the membership of the church is created.

-According to Paul in 1 Cor. 12, through the Holy Spirit He has gifted every person to have a part to play/ a role to fulfill within the church—every born again believer is given a supernatural inclination toward a ministry, and what is neat is that everyone in the church is given something unique/special, and without everyone doing their part the church isn’t what it was meant to be—this is very important if we are to be a part of a victorious church=living in the power and authority the Lord has given us as His people

-Today I want us to see that being a healthy, New Testament church means that we fulfill the calling of the church in being the body of Christ=we are a body of believers, all different people given different gifts, but united as a whole for the benefit of the kingdom of God—for the church to be healthy, all of us need to find what God has gifted us in, find our place in this body, encourage one another in each other’s gifts, and do the work of the kingdom for which God has called us

1 Corinthians 12:12–31 ESV

12 For 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. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should 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. 16 And if the ear should 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. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 21 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.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

-There are just three observations I want us to glean from what Paul wrote:

I) There is harmony in the diversity

-12 For 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. (1 Cor. 12:12 ESV)

-Paul uses this picture/metaphor and in essence says look at your body—you only have one body, yet look at all the parts (ears, mouth, nose, legs, feet, hands, arms, etc.)—there are many parts and each one does something different=nose smells, mouth tastes and talks, etc.

-each part has its function, and yet they complement one another as they make up just the one body—a nose itself is not a body…arm…yet all together they make up the body

-the parts of the body don’t function for themselves, but everything they do they do in harmony with one another for the benefit of the body as a whole----what nose/foot does it does for the good of the entire body

-Paul says that each member of a church has been gifted by the Holy Spirit (vv. 7, 18), according to His plan and will, to have a special part/ministry in the church, and these gifts work in harmony w/ everyone else in the church so that the church will function properly as a whole

-God gave me gifts for a ministry in the church, God gave you gifts for a ministry in the church, and they are different from each other, yet they work together for the benefit of the entire church, and then in extension the work of the Kingdom of God

-It made me think of the choir where there are many different people singing many different parts, yet it is one choir and one song—there are 1st Sopranos, 2nd Sopranos, Altos, Tenors and Basses all different, yet together in one choir singing one piece in beautiful harmony—if everyone in the choir sang the melody, sure it would still be a song, but the beauty comes when the different parts complement one another—all are singing in unison but the uniqueness of each part is what makes the choir what it is supposed to be

-each and every one of us has a part in the church—as a part of the body, you have a function that compliments and harmonizes w/ my part and his part and her part—we all have our part

-so here’s the practical section, if you’re not doing anything in the church for a ministry, find your part—I’ve read the Bible and one spiritual gift that I have yet to find is pew sitter----find your part=pray God reveals it; search your heart to see where your passion lies; there are numerous tools out there to help you find your spiritual gift, and it can be used as a catalyst to get you functioning in the role God has for you in the church—{almost every spiritual gift assessment I have taken tells me my gifts are teaching and prophecy, and I know my passion is for the Word of God, so here I am doing the thing God gifted me to}—now, find yours and we will work in harmony for the benefit of the church

-Another observation I want to make:

II) There is value in each member

-Every single member, and the gift and function given to each member, is very important to the body—no gift/member is more or less important than any other

-yet what can happen is that one of two extremes will lead us to wrongfully judge that a gift or ministry is more important than another

-one extreme is discouragement that what we do is of little importance to the church—we look at others in the church who have a more visible role in the ins and outs of the church {especially the staff}, and then we get discouraged that maybe our part really isn’t making a difference—

But look at vv. 15-16:

15 If the foot should 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.

16 And if the ear should 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. (1 Cor. 12:15-16 ESV)

-I guess it’d look like this in the church today when someone says:

I’m not the preacher and I don’t teach and I’m not musically inclined, so really the church could do without me—but what does Paul say: v. 17:

17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? (1 Cor. 12:17 ESV)

—look, the body of Christ, the church could not function properly without you—something very much would be missing from the church if you didn’t do what God gifted you to do

-But the other extreme is to think too highly of our own ministry, and look down our noses at everybody else’s as less important—v. 21:

21 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." (1 Cor. 12:21 ESV)

-You wouldn’t be able to do your part without everybody else doing their part

-In fact, without everyone doing their part, the church would be utterly dysfunctional—it doesn’t matter if it’s in front of people or completely behind the scenes—the church is not able to do its work without that member

-in vv. 22-24 it speaks about weaker parts and hidden parts and just how important they are—think about this: there are organs in your body that you have never seen what they are doing, they are completely covered up by your skin, yet you literally wouldn’t be able to live w/o them=they’re working behind the scenes, yet they are integral to the body----I have never once scene my heart at work, but I do know this, if my heart decided to stop doing what it’s supposed to do it would have great bearing on the rest of my body

-It’s the same with the church—every member is gifted in so many different ways and each has value to the entire body—sure, there are a lot of ministries going on behind the scenes without which the church would be at a complete loss—so whatever your gift or what you think of your gift, big or small, visible or invisible, we would not be able to do it without you

-After a preacher preached a sermon one Sunday, a doctor came up to him and said, "You may be interested to know there's a certain part of your body that is absolutely essential to you as a preacher; you probably don't realize it or even think about it when you're preaching. Yet, without it, you couldn't do what you do." Very interested, the preacher asked, "What is it?" The doctor said, "It's your big toe. The big toe senses when your body begins to lean or shift or fall or get out of balance, and it immediately strengthens so that you can stand up and speak. Without your big toe, you could never preach."

-I don’t know about you, but when I think about my preaching and all the parts of my body that go into it, the big toe isn’t at the top of the list—sure, my vocal chords and mouth and tongue are all very important; my legs and my crazy flapping arms get some good use in preaching; hair’s got to be alright, gotta have preacher hair, that’s super important {that’s my area of vanity}—but who’d a thunk about the big toe—yet without it I couldn’t stand, I’d be falling all over this stage

-be encouraged that if you think your gift doesn’t make a difference just because it most of the time goes unrecognized by me and everybody else, just know that we can’t do it without you, and if you are not involved right now, there is something majorly missing from this church, so get involved=do what God has gifted you to do because it is valuable

III) There is a strong connection between members

-vv. 25b-26:

the members…have the same care for one another.

26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. (1 Cor. 12:25-26 ESV)

-Paul tells us that there is such a bond/an interconnection between the members of the body such that whatever happens to just one part affects everybody else

-you know this to be true with the human body---- when your back hurts, your whole body hurts even if it isn’t directly connected to your back (or headache or stubbed toe)—doesn’t matter that your arm in and of itself is feeling great, or your pinky finger doing alright, when back/head/toe hurts all the rest of you is concentrated on that area that is in pain

-but when something good happens to your body, the whole body seems to rejoice—after you’ve just had a great meal of steak and baked potato (followed by desert of {dare I say} cheesecake), your stomach is pretty happy, and when your stomach is happy, all of you is happy—at least for me: when tummy happy, I’m happy; when tummy grouchy, I’m grouchy

-Paul says that a church that is related the right way where everyone is using their gift, a church that is in the power and authority of the Lord, there is a strong bond in the relationship among the members that when one of us suffers in the church, we can’t just go on our merry little way unaffected—when one of us hurts, we all hurt—and with that, we as the body will employ our gifts to minister to you to help you heal

-That’s what our body does—when there is a problem in the body, other parts of the body go into motion to try and help out—if there is an infection other parts of the body starts to pump out white blood cells and antibodies to help you heal----when a member of the church has a problem, the rest of the church body goes into motion to utilize what God has given them for the benefit of that member—that is the special relationship we are to have as a church

-and in a more positive note, when something joyful happens to someone within the body of believers, we all rejoice

-too often in churches, what happens is that members are apathetic about those who suffer and jealous of those who succeed—Paul says there is no place for that in the body—what we do we do together as a body, united in the work of the Lord

Conclusion

-a church that is ministering in the power and authority given it by the Lord is a church that functions like a body—each ministry doing its part, each individual doing their part—everyone doing what God gifted them to do for the sake of the whole—the individuals that together make the unity

- In a very funny Peanuts cartoon, Lucy walked into the living room and demanded that Linus change TV channels, threatening him with her fist if he didn’t. "What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?" asks Linus.

"These five fingers," says Lucy. "Individually they’re nothing but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold."

"Which channel do you want?" asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, "Why can’t you guys get organized like that?"

-Well, we the church can get organized like that—God has gifted each of us in a unique way to be a part of the whole church, giving us a ministry all our own that is valuable and needed for the church to function as it was intended so that when placed in harmony w/ the other members the church truly is something to behold

-And one of the most important reasons that God wants His church to work in harmony is so that the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ goes out into a sinful world among sinful people to let them know that God has reached out to them

~We work together as a body to make it known that light has come into darkness. That peace has come into disharmony. Jesus Christ, God the Son, left the glories of heaven to take on humanity and then die for the sins of mankind. And if anyone would repent and believe in Him they have eternal life.

-A healthy body not only shares that message, but also lives out that message

~Maybe that’s a message you needed to hear. Your life is a mess. You aren’t able to dig yourself out. Jesus Christ can save you. During the invitation, I want you to give your life…

-maybe you are a Christian and don’t know your place and you’d like to come to the altar and pray that God would reveal what your part of the body is—others here may be Christian but have not found a church body with which you want to become a member, you’ve found your home here