GET WHERE YOU FIT

Staff Chapel - 6.21.22

It’s an honor to work here. It’s an honor to call this home. It’s an honor to serve under this leadership, these pastors. It’s also an honor to serve alongside all of you. You make working at EMIC/KCM special, because you bring something so unique to this family and we would not be the same without you. Regardless of what your job is here, I want you to know that your supply is not just appreciated…it’s needed. What you bring every single day is valuable. So I want to start this morning by saying “thank you” for bringing your best to the Revival Capital of the World.

Today, I want to talk about just that.

We’ve been in a series in The Bridge on Tuesday nights about the gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12 and in that same chapter, there’s a passage that I want to jump into with you this morning.

1 Corinthians 12:12–27 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.

My message this morning is simple, but I believe the Lord put it on my heart to encourage you this morning with this, and if you’re taking notes, this is probably as good a title as any for this message: get where you fit.

Paul uses the example of a human body to make his point and it’s a brilliant one for a lot of reasons, because it illustrates just how much we need each other. We were never meant to walk through life alone. We were never meant to build the Kingdom in isolation. From the very beginning, God saw that it wasn’t good for man to be alone. We need each other!

This analogy of a body as it relates to the Church - and Paul is gracious enough in verse 27 to tell us, “Hey, I’m talking about you. You’re the body!” - gives us several takeaways that I want to share with you today from this passage.

1.) Be who He’s made you to be. If you’re an eye, we need you. If you’re an ear, we need you. What you bring to the body is necessary for the body to operate at maximum capacity. That’s what makes this analogy of a body so great. Every part of the body has purpose. Even when one part is removed, its function can never be fully replaced by another. Think about that. Without YOU, we aren’t operating the way we’re designed. No matter how small or insignificant you may feel, you matter. And you do something that no one else can do. And if you aren’t here, we aren’t operating at our maximum capacity. If you’re a hand, be the strongest hand you can and stop comparing yourself to feet. Comparison kills contentment. There’s no competition for God’s plan and purpose for your life in the body of Christ; it’s all yours! The only person you’re fighting is yourself. Find what makes you who you are and get determined to be the best version of that possible.

2.) God has put us in the body where He chose and He puts us where we fit best. Find out who you are and who He’s made you to be and get to work being the best one of those you can. In being a part of that body, we are united by the same Spirit. Nine times between verses 1 and 12 Paul says we are of the “same Spirit” or of “one Spirit.” He puts us where we belong and then His Spirit empowers us by grace to be successful in being who we’re called to be. Unity in the body is important? Ever had your legs run two different directions? You don’t get very far. Our unity as a body is vital to our success.

3.) Where you fit is important. It’s more than just being a hand, it’s being attached to the wrist. A healthy hand attached to your ribcage can’t do a whole lot. We can’t allow strife to separate us from the part of the body we should be connected to.

4.) When you win, we all win. When you’re hurt, we all suffer. Ever broken a toe? Your whole body loses functionality. And sometimes the stuff that goes wrong and causes the most pain is internal and unseen.

The body of Christ was meant to run. It was meant to build. It was meant to thrive. And that requires all of us finding our spot, committing to the whole mission of the body, and celebrating one another.

In closing, I think it’s important to note the importance of what comes after 1 Corinthians 12. Anybody? 1 Corinthians 13. What’s the secret to being a functioning body? Love. Patience. Kindness. Humility. Rejoicing in truth. Bearing all things, believing all things, hoping all things, enduring all things.

Love never fails. And Love, the fruit of the Spirit Paul wrote to the Galatian church about, is what united us and equips us to be the body of Christ we need to be to build this Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven.