Hey everyone and welcome to Refinery Life Australia.
The Church The Body of Christ is the theme for the next few Sunday’s.
These messages are primarily based around Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.
Today we are discussing, The Church, The Body of Christ.
Text
1 Corinthians 12:27 NKJV
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
Scripture Reading
1 Corinthians 12:12-31 NKJV
Unity and Diversity in One Body
12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.
13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.
15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body?
16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body?
17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling?
18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.
19 And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
20 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body.
21 And 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 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.
23 And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty,
24 but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it,
25 that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.
26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.
29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles?
30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
31 But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.
Prayer
Father, we thank You for adopting us as your children.
With eyes wide open to Your mercies, we come to dedicate ourselves to you afresh.
Help us to use our talents and testimony that others may know Christ.
As be bring our tithes and offerings, we pray Your blessings upon them.
Help us meet the expenses of the ministry of this church and engage in ministries to the outer most ends of the earth.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Introduction.
Centuries ago the psalmist said in Psalm 139:14, I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.
The human body is an awesome example of unity in diversity.
Dozens of organs perform different functions yet work in such harmony that we must make a deliberate effort to think of the human body in a way except as unity.
In the church at Corinth, some had gifts the others did not have, and as a result, they thought of themselves more highly than they should have.
This provoked the less gifted to jealousy.
The result was discord and strife among the members.
In substance Paul was saying to them, “You do not realise your relationship to one another and to Christ. You are joined to one another and dependant on one another. You are the physical expression and instrument of Christ in this world just as the body is the physical expression and instrument of the mind.”
1 Corinthians 12:27, Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
Several practical suggestions about the church are called out by this text.
- **Each member of the church is different from every other member. **
The church has the unity of a living organism.
No two parts are alike, and each part discharges a different function for the good of the whole.
Some inescapable practical implications follow.
Every member of Christ’s church has some place of service cut out for them.
Sometime we might wonder about the function of the appendix or tonsils, but all in all, there are no useless members or organs of the body.
They each have a function to perform, and unless they do id, the whole body suffers.
Likewise, no two member of the church have equal abilities.
But every member has a function to perform for the common good.
Under the leadership of the Spirit, each person hs a privilege and duty to discover what that place is and to fill it.
Each member of Christ’s church must perform their own function in the church.
As Paul said in verses 22-23, No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty,
Every pastor has had members of their church say to them, “All I can do is just go to church and sit there.”
The majority of those who say this could do more if they would.
If every member of every church would only fill their place of service, what a difference it would make!
No place of service is so low as to be despised or looked down on, and no place is so high that it justifies conceit on the part of the person filling it.
Some member at Corinth were discouraged.
Their attitude was, “We don’t amount to much in the church.”
Paul said to them in verse 15, If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body?
Some at Corinth had too high an estimate of their worth.
To them Paul said in verse 21, And 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.”
To the Romans, Paul was even more specific.
1 Corinthians 12:3-6 NKJV
3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.
6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.
2. Each member of the church is to be devoted to the best interests of every other member.
Someone has said, “In brute creation, it is the stomach that rules the world.”
Selfishness rules.
The law of the jungle is “Every man for himself and the devil is in control.”
But in Christ’s church the ultimate aim is the well being of our fellow members and therefor the whole church.
Since the church is a living organism, each member is to be devoted to the highest good of every other member.
Paul told the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 12:25, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.
He gave two reasons for this.
Firstly, “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.”
When one member is the victim of half truths or untruths, when any member of the prey of cheap gossip, the church is the loser.
When one member falls into sin, all suffer.
Sinning o the part of one member of the church is like putting poison in the public water supply.
Sooner or later all the members are worse off for it.
Second, “If one part are honoured, every part rejoices with to.”
Since the church os a body, what is for the good of one is for the good of all.
Paul urged the Romans, “Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves.”
The members of a church are to be devoted to one another to the building up of the body in love.
If only we followed that ideal, how different things would be in our churches.
3. Each member of the church is dependant on every other member.
The human body is dependant on the functioning of each individual organ.
When one organ is diseased and unable to perform its function properly, the whole body is sick.
The proper use of hands and feet is dependant on the health of the nervous system.
The welfare of the nervous system is dependant on proper circulation.
No part of the body is independent of any other part.
In like manner, no member of the church is independent of any other member in the worship and service of christ.
And no member is the whole of themselves, their fellow member complete them.
If the church is to grow and move forward, every member must fill their place and perform their function, because every other member os dependant on them.
Conclusion.
Consider this sobering question.
What os the function of the whole body, each member performing their individual part?
“You are the body of Christ,” our text says.
What the physical body is to the mind and soul, the church is to Christ, the physical instrument by which He works His will in the world.
Until next time
Stay in the Blessings
I really want to encourage you to be diligent with your Bible study time, because God has so much more for us than we can get from just going to church once or twice a week and hearing someone else talk about the Word.
When you spend time with God, your life will change in amazing ways, because God is a Redeemer. Theres nothing thats too hard for Him, and He can make you whole, spirit, soul and body!
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2024 IS A YEAR OF DECISIONS AND OPEN DOORS
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