Members of the Body of Christ (Part 2)

Introduction - Today I’m continuing this series called “Spiritual Goals for 2022”. Last week in the context of the Lord’s Supper, we began to discuss the importance of church membership. The Lord’s Supper is built around the Biblical truth that the spiritual family is part of the body of Christ. Today we want to expand on the Biblical truth that being formally connected to a local body of believers is still the NT model for believers to follow and practice.

Quickly by way of review:

1. NT Church membership is expected - Many of the commands given to believers are impossible to correctly observe if you are not a member of a local church. Jesus knew every single one of those disciples in that upper room, even better than they knew themselves. They knew each other well and there was no guessing who was a member and who was not.

2. NT church membership is directed - It is directed under the Lordship of Jesus Christ who is the Head of the Body. God has called and appointed men to be the spiritual leaders of this spiritual body. They are under-shepherds, who serve under the Chief Shepherd Jesus Christ.

3. NT church membership is protected - Paul clearly ties the family unit to the bigger spiritual family unit of the church - The husband is the head of the wife, just like Christ is the head of the church! The word for “submit” is the Greek word “Hupotasso” it is a military term - Hupo, means under & tasso to arrange. Literally to arrange, or line up under in an orderly manner.

4. NT church membership is connected - Develop the relationship aspects of church membership. In chapter 12:25ff we looked at earlier, we are to have the same care and concern for every part of the spiritual body. Life is all about relationships, and being a member of the body of Christ carries with it great responsibility.

Today we’re going to dive in and look at the metaphors the NT uses to describe this spiritual body of believers of Jesus Christ and we’ll see that in each case, the NT assumes & expects church membership in an identifiable, directed, protected & connected spiritual family. Each when we think about the responsibilities of these metaphors or pictures, we’ll understand the great responsibility we have to this spiritual family.

NT Metaphors for the church:

1. A body - 1st Cor. 12:12-20 - 13 times in just a few verses Paul refers to body being one yet made up of many individual parts or members. Paul’s argument is that Jesus established the spiritual family and the Holy Spirit has united through baptism (the entrance to church membership) both Jews & Greeks, (all races of people) regardless of social status into one body. Then Paul illustrates the folly of any individual part of the body saying it is not connected to the body with absurd examples. Rush Limbaugh wasn’t the first to illustrate absurdity by being absurd! Look down at your feet. Did your feet come schlepping in her on their own? No. Did you look down and your first thought was “what are my feet doing here?” Of course not. Now some of you may have realized you have on the wrong colored socks…made you look!

Of course your feet got here because your brain sent neurological signals to your arms and hands to take a shower, get dressed, brush your teeth and come to church! It doesn’t matter if your feet think they are independent of the rest of the body, facts are facts and they are connected to the body! Same goes for your ears, hearing the sound of my voice today. His illustration gets even more ridiculous, it’s like a scene from monster’s inc - The whole body is an eye, or an ear or better yet what if your whole body was just one big old schnoz? That’s a nose by the way…

Notice the importance of vs. 18: “But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.” It is the Lord who decides who is part of this spiritual family because He knows what this spiritual body, this spiritual family needs! The Apostle Peter explained it this way to believers in 1st Peter 2:4-10. The picture Peter paints for us is Jesus is a living stone, the chief corner stone, and then the master stone mason who chooses, shapes and places us as living stones in His Spiritual House! The church isn’t the building, it’s the people! Back in 1st Cor. 12:26, Paul says when one member suffers, all the members suffer with it.

Have you ever walked barefoot through your house and stubbed your big toe on an end table or stepped on a lego block? Instant pain everywhere in your body! If one of our body parts, members isn’t working the whole body suffers doesn’t it? We take care of them, we mend them care for them. Why? Because each member is important! So the NT teaches us to:

• Love one another - John 15:12 and many others… “Giving of myself, even to death for the holiness & righteousness of another.”

Serve one another - John 13:14

Comfort & edify one another - 1st Thess. 5:11

Pray for one another - James 5:16

Admonish or correct one another - Rom. 15:14

Restore one another - Gal. 6:1, after correction takes place. Bear one another’s burdens Gal. 6:2.

Consider one another in order to stir up love & good works - Heb. 10:24, then in vs. 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but so much the more as we see the day approaching! In other words, missing your spiritual family gatherings ought to be the exception rather than the rule! People find all kinds of reasons to miss gathering with their spiritual family!

These are but a few responsibilities that go with being a member of the spiritual body of Christ. Not only is the church pictured as a body, it’s also pictured as:

2. A bride - (Show verse slides) 2nd Cor. 11:2, Eph. 5:22-32, Rev. 21:2, 9 We touched on this last week from Eph. 5:25-33 where Paul ties the marriage relationship to that of the church being the bride of Christ. John the Baptist was the first in the NT to use this imagery in his announcement of the coming of Christ. “You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:28–30).

John proclaimed Christ the bridegroom and himself effectively a friend of the groom. Jesus would later use a parable about Himself being the Bridegroom and His disciples should be wise virgins who wait for His return with lamps lit (Matt. 25:1-13).

There are implications of purity, holiness, exclusivity, loyalty, nurturing, cherishing, providing, protecting, serving, all tied up in the marriage relationship. It’s not each person giving 50%, it’s both Bride & Groom giving 110% to each other 110% of the time!

There is sacrificial, mutual love and respect and total commitment forsaking all others as long as we both shall live. For better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health till death do us part! Can you imagine any situation where Jesus does not fulfill His responsibilities to His bride? Of course not!! So why do so many Christians treat their relationship to Jesus as His bride so flippantly & carelessly? How would you feel if you were Jesus knowing what you know about your commitment level to His bride your local church & to Him as your bridegroom? How would you be feeling if you were Jesus and you only came home once every 6 weeks or so? What would Jesus say about your level of support and commitment?

Folks, if you love Jesus, you’ll love what Jesus loves, and Jesus loves His church and He not only gave Himself for her, but He continues to give Himself to her!

Oh the shame of being an unfaithful bride! Repeatedly the Bible paints sin as infidelity! May it never be said of any of us as individuals or collectively as His spiritual bride and family here at CCBC! Not only is it pictured as a body, a bride, but also as:

3. An army - (show slides)

A. Equipment of the soldier - Eph. 6:10-20,

B. Wage the good warfare - 1st Tim. 1:18

C. Fight the good fight of faith - 1st Tim. 6:12

D. Endure hardship as a good soldier - 2nd Tim. 2:3

E. Please your Commander & Chief - 2nd Tim. 2:4

In military structures, there is built in accountability, soldiers receive their orders and they faithfully carry out those orders. They are trained in their MOS or their job. So too we Christians serve our Commander & Chief Jesus Christ, we take our marching orders from Him. In the local church we can be trained to use our Spiritual Gifts to further the churches mission.

There are no “Lone Ranger” Christians. They say there is no closer bond than that of fox-hole buddies! The relationships you forge among your fellow soldiers for Jesus Christ are deep & incredibly special!

Sabine Baring-Gould understood this metaphor well in the mid 19th century when he penned the following words:

Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,

With the cross of Jesus going on before.

Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe;

Forward into battle see His banners go!

Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,

With the cross of Jesus going on before.

So not only is the church pictured as a body, a bride, an army, it’s also pictured as:

4. An athlete - 1st Cor. 9:24-25, Heb. 12:1-2 (Show slides)

Athletes train, the labor to get really good at their sport. Most of the time athletes compete on a team. Even in olympic competition, individual competitors in different sports are part of a larger Olympic team made up of their countrymen! When they prepare to compete, they lay aside all extra weight of sweat pants & warmups, keys, wallets, cell phones are all set aside so they can run & compete all out. The behind the scenes work they put in is staggering all for the hope of competing on the grand stage of competition for their sport. Calallen has had great success through the years not just in football, but with baseball, softball, volleyball, band, and soccer! I’m sure there are other sports their teams have won at. All individual effort goes toward making the team successful! But even the most talented athlete is not going to achieve great success apart from the support of his team! I can’t tell you how many top shelf quarterbacks have competed at the highest levels in college and even become 1st round draft picks to the Cleveland Browns, only to see their careers fail because they don’t have a good team backing them up! Colt McCoy, Johnny Manziel.

Athletes have a coach who pushes them to be their best and achieve more than they think they can. Tom Landry, the legendary coach of the Dallas Cowboys said (Show Slides)

“The job of a football coach is to make men do what they don’t want to do in order to achieve what they’ve always wanted to be.”

He also said:

“A coach is someone who tells you what you don’t want to hear, who has you see what you don’t want to see, so you can be who you have always known you could be.”

Now equate all that to the spiritual team, the spiritual body. We run together as a church, we train together, support one another, encourage one another. Work together and yes go to war together! It’s called discipleship.

My job isn’t to tell you what you want to hear, my job is to tell you what God wants you to hear so you can run with endurance the race set before you!

Applications by implication -

1. Every member of the body is important for the healthy functioning of the body!

2. Don’t be an unfaithful, uncommitted bride to your husband Jesus Christ!

3. Be a good soldier of the cross & fight the good fight of faith!

4. Don’t coast across the finish line, run!

Close - Describe the scene being depicted in Heb.12:1-2. All the saints you know and love that have finished their races. Every church has them. I know for sure Bro. Harold Sturm & Sister Jo Sturm.

My pastor Dr. Bill Sutton, Bro. Monte Richards, Brad Hart, Hillary Ranson, Bill Patterson, Bill Atchison, godly deacons who encouraged me when I first became a deacon at FBC McAllen, who laid hands on me and prayed over me at my ordination when I was called to preach. My grandpa & grandma Wednger, my dad & granddaughter Addison.

Your godly friends, maybe parents, grand parents who’ve all crossed the finish line ahead of you. Your spouse, a grandchild covered by the grace of God. A precious baby you miss-carried.

All there in glory as you enter the great stadium. You hear the roar of the crowd! Paul, Peter, James & John urging you to run! You’ve struggled, and endured the grueling race called the Christian life, but you can see the finish line 500 yard ahead. Your body screams in pain but the adrenalin pushes through and you begin to sprint.

You’re in the final turn and as you round the corner you look up, the noise of the crowd ringing in your years and you see this larger than life person, seated on a giant throne, wearing a long white robe, a golden crown and not a crown thorns. He has a purple sash meaning He’s royalty.

His smile is visible so far away as the sweat and even tears are making it hard to see. He stands & stretches out His arms and you see the unmistakable marks of nail-scarred hands telling you what you already knew, it’s Jesus!

Your Lord and Savior, your Master, Redeemer, Defender and Friend. He’s the one you’ve labored to please all this time! He’s moving down to the finish line to meet you, you’ve got 50 yards to go and the pain is nothing to you now as you feel like you’re gliding to your Savior’s arms. You cross the finish line and feel like you’re about to collapse but Jesus scoops you up in His arms and gives you the warmest, most tender bear-hug you’ve ever had and says “Well done! Well done my good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord!”

I don’t know about you but that’s how I want to finish my race! Do you think for a second that’s how it’s going to end if you didn’t have any care, concern, support or labor for God’s Kingdom by being connected to a local church? You didn’t bother to pray to see what your spiritual gifts are that God wanted to use to build up His spiritual family?

Church membership, baptism, even going to church doesn’t save - only faith in Christ does that, but let’s not pretend they are not important!

Share the ABC’s!

Invitation - I’d like every head bowed & eyes closed as we come to this most important time of response. This is not the time as some do to get up and leave unless absolutely necessary. Our musicians are quietly making their way to the platform to lead our invitation song. Would you quietly in the privacy of your heart and thoughts say “Lord Jesus? How do you want me to respond to this word from You today?” What decision or commitment do I need to make today?

Folks, I’m not the Holy Spirit. Maybe you hear God’s clear call that it’s His will for you to formally join this spiritual family known as ChristCentral BC. You’ve been saved, you’ve been attending and scoping us out, but God is saying it’s time for you to join here. If that’s the case, on the first note sung, you simply walk down here to meet me and let me pray with you and celebrate your decision!

Maybe you’re not even a Christian but you want to be. Let us open God’s word and show you how to be saved and adopted into God’s family! Different than church membership!

Maybe you’ve been saved but never baptized by immersion and before you can go any further in your walk with Christ, you have to get that right! We will schedule baptism later this spring when it warms up and want to explain what baptism is all about. But you can come today in obedience to the Holy Spirit’s prompting.

Pray

Members of the Body of Christ Part 2

1st Corinthians 12:12-20

New Testament Metaphors of the local church:

1. A body - 1st Cor. 12:12-20

2. A bride - 2nd Cor. 11:2, Eph. 5:22-32, Rev. 21:2, 9

3. An army -

A. Equipment of the soldier - Eph. 6:10-20,

B. Wage the good warfare - 1st Tim. 1:18

C. Fight the good fight of faith - 1st Tim. 6:12

D. Endure hardship as a good soldier - 2nd Tim. 2:3

E. Please your Commander & Chief - 2nd Tim. 2:4

4. An athlete - 1st Cor. 9:24-26, Heb. 12:1-2

Applications by implication:

1. Every member of the body is important for the healthy functioning of the body!

2. Don’t be an unfaithful, uncommitted bride to your husband Jesus Christ!

3. Be a good soldier of the cross & fight the good fight of faith!

4. Don’t coast across the finish line, run!