Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: I Corinthians 12:12-13:13

Theme: Just as Jesus was the incarnation of God in the world the Church is the incarnation of Christ in the world.

Date: 02/06/2022 File name: 1_Corinthinas_22.wpd

ID Number:

The human body is an amazing creation of God.

It is a single structure but it is made up of billions of smaller structures of four major kinds: cells, tissues, organs, and systems.

Cells are the basic building blocks of all living things.

The human body is composed of trillions of them.

They take in nutrients, convert nutrients into energy and carry out specialized functions.

Tissue is a group of cells that function together as a unit.

An organ is an organization of several different kinds of tissues so arranged that together they can perform a special function.

For example, your liver is an organ that works something like an oil filter in your car – screening out contaminants that can hurt the engine.

A system is an organization of varying numbers and kinds of organs so arranged that together they can perform complex functions for the body.

Consider your cardiovascular system ... your heart beats 100,000 times every day and pumps 1.5 gallons of blood every minute through 60,000 miles of blood vessels in your body.

The right side of your heart is dedicated to pumping blood into your lungs.

The left side of your heart pumps blood back through your body.

Or consider you digestive system ... The average person produces 2 pints of saliva every day.

The Enzymes in your stomach are strong enough to dissolve zinc, but the cells of you stomach lining are replaced so quickly that those enzymes don’t have time to dissolve your stomach.

The stomach has the ability to stretch and hold up to 4 pounds of food at one time.

All eleven of you bodily systems work together, in fine-tuned balance, (normally) for the well-being of the individual and to maintain life.

Why the biology lesson?

Because one of the Apostle Paul’s favorite euphemisms for the Church is the Body of Christ.

There is no better place in the Scriptures where the Apostle illustrates that analogy then here.

The Body of Christ is a flourishing community

The Body of Christ requires functioning members

The Body of Christ is a fellowship of love

I. THE BODY OF CHRIST IS A FLOURISHING COMMUNITY

1. Christ wants his Church to flourish which translates into every single Christian flourishing in their walk with Christ and their life in his Church

a. he died for his church, he lives in his church through the Spirit

b. just as Jesus was the incarnation of God in the world the Church is the incarnation of Christ in the world

1) it is through our lives that — individually and corporately — that the world is to see and experience the risen Christ

2. the problem with the Church at Corinth is that it had devolved into a dysfunctional church

a. they are not a flourishing community of believers

b. they are struggling with divisions, and immorality, and spiritual immaturity

3. the entire letter is meant to call them to repentance, correct their problems, and restore their unity in Christ

A. THEY ARE ONE BODY

“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 Corinthians 12:12, ESV)

1. three times in vs. 12-13 Paul insists that the members of the Church at Corinth are one body and twice he reminds us that Christians are one in the Spirit

a. as I said at the beginning, the analogy of the Body of Christ to the human body is one of Paul’s favorite euphemisms for the Church

1) he uses it in his letters to the Corinthians, the Romans and the Ephesians

2. for Paul the Church is a divinely created union — one body of many diverse parts — all interrelated, interdependent, harmonious, and functioning as one body

a. how can this be?

1) how can a conglomeration of individual autonomous people — diverse in so many ways — be “one body”?

b. human beings like homogeneity — that is, we tend to gravitate toward people who are mostly like us

1) people who look like us ... who think like us ... who believe like we do ... who vote like we do ... and who are in the same socio-economic demographic as we are

2) we may talk about the importance of diversity, and our desire for diversity — God’s kingdom after all will be a diverse kingdom — but that said we really like being like the people we really, really like

3) even those who like to call themselves non-conformists all tend to conform to how other non-conformists don’t conform in dress and behavior

3. Paul writes to remind the Church that we are one, and we are one because of the supernatural, regenerating, work of the Holy Spirit — the Third Person of the Trinity

“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.”

(1 Corinthians 12:13, ESV)

a. this baptism of the Spirit is not some special “second blessing” for believers who want to “get serious” about their faith

b. it is the quintessential experience that makes one a Christian that Jesus referred to as the new birth

4. the Apostle is quite clear ... we were all baptized into one body and that body is the Body of Christ — his Church that is represented by local congregations

B. THEY ARE ONE BODY WITH MANY PARTS

“For the body does not consist of one member but of many.”

(1 Corinthians 12:14, ESV)

1. human beings are psychologically wired for community

ILLUS.

There is robust evidence that social isolation and loneliness significantly increase risk for premature mortality.

Isolation from others can wreak havoc on an individual’s physical, mental, spiritual, and cognitive health.

a. we don’t do “alone” well

2. similarly, God has spiritually wired believers to long for, and be a part of Christian community

a. I’m convinced that one of the signs of a true conversion to Christ is a deep yearning for authentic Christian community that can only be found in a flourishing local Body of Christ (as the meme says ... “Prove me wrong”

b. the Bible calls that community the Church

1) Paul here describes it as the Body of Christ and Jesus is Head

3. consider the Church at Corinth — it’s as diverse as is the community

a. Corinth is a city composed of Jews, and Pagans, Romans and Greeks, Gauls and Germans, Africans and Phoenicians, slave and free, the high born and the low born

b. into that community comes Paul with his entourage of fellow evangelists,and the gospel is proclaimed and a church is birthed and a disparate group of people become the representation of the incarnate Christ in that community

4. each born-again member of the Linn, 1st Baptist Church, in fellowship together, is representation of the incarnate Christ in our community

a. because of our unity in Christ we are a sanctified community within which we may draw near to the Father through the Son, and in the Spirit sharing in the eternal life, light, and love of the Godhead

b. and if this is true — and it is — then this reality is to be fleshed out in time and space through the union and communion of the saints

... the Body of Christ Is a Flourishing Community — or it ought to be

II.

THE BODY OF CHRIST REQUIRES FUNCTIONING MEMBERS

1. when one part of our body doesn’t function correctly the whole body is often affected

ILLUS.

My father-in-law has Parkinson's disease.

It’s a disease that damages cells in the brain causing dopamine levels to drop.

It is a disorder that leads to shaking, stiffness, and difficulty with walking, balance, and coordination.

It is a disease of the brain, but the whole body is gradually affected.

2. similarly, when even one part of the local church is not functioning properly — not using their spiritual gifts and abilities for the benefit of all — the whole church is diminished to some degree

A. EVERY PART OF THE BODY IS SIGNIFICANT

1. there are no insignificant members of the local community of believers

“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.”

(1 Corinthians 12:15–20, ESV)

a. it doesn’t matter what you can or can’t do — you are an essential part of the body

ILLUS.

It doesn’t matter if you are “only” a nursery worker.

You’re an essential part of the body.

It doesn’t matter is you are “only” a teller.

You’re an essential part of the body.

It doesn’t matter if you are “only” a committee member on some obscure church committee.

You’re an essential part of the body.

b.