YOU ARE THE BODY OF CHRIST, Part 1
In the past month we have examined a number of ways the Bible describes you and me. The Bible describes us as disciples of Jesus Christ. We are soldiers in the army of God. We are perfume bottles, carrying the sweet fragrance of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. You are called to be a fisherman, catching, rescuing others. You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and I want you to know my friend, that if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, then you are part of the Body of Christ.
- 1 Corinthians 12:4-7,12-27
Paul wrote this letter to the church in Corinth. If there was ever a church with problems, this was it. The people in that church were allowing themselves to be led by their flesh, instead of being led by the Holy Spirit. Because of that, they quarreled with one another. They took each other to court. They fell back into immoral lifestyles. They messed up their marriages. They argued about what preacher they were going to follow. Some said they were following Peter. Others said they were following Paul or Apollos or Christ. They became self-centered, over confident & worldly. They were more interested in being noticed and praised than they were in being obedient and faithful. They were even selfish and petty when it came to sharing in the Lord’s Supper. It was a church with issues.
We find that Paul wrote this letter, 1 Corinthians, in response to some of the problems he was hearing about. In it he addressed the different issues he heard about.
One of the issues he was forced to address was the question of spiritual gifts. It seems that some of the people in the church thought they were something special, or somehow more important, because they had certain spiritual gifts. Others, since they didn’t have those gifts, were beginning to feel that they were unimportant or somehow lacking. Paul attempts to deal with this problem in chapters 12-14 of this letter.
As we look at this issue, I want you to notice first that in this passage Paul is talking about spiritual gifts. He is talking about gifts of the Holy Spirit, not the fruit of the Spirit.
In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul says, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self control.” Those are the fruit of the Spirit and each of those should be present in every believer.
Here in 1 Corinthians Paul is talking about gifts of the Spirit and they are different. The gifts of the Spirit are gifts given specifically to individuals. While you should have all of the fruits of the Spirit, no one has all of the gifts of the Spirit.
Now, as we study this passage together I would like you to notice that:
I. YOU ARE PART OF THE BODY OF CHRIST
- 1 Corinthians 12:12-13
My friend, when invite Jesus Christ into your heart to be your Lord and Savior, you become part of the Body of Christ. Now, Paul here is writing to a specific church, a specific group of people worshipping together, and he tells them they are part of a local Body of Christ.
Did you know that? You are to be part of a local body of believers.
> Romans 12:5 In the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.
You and I are part of each other. We are connected. We are part of the same Body.
II. YOU ARE PLACED IN THE BODY OF CHRIST
- 1 Corinthians 12:18
Different people have different gifts and different responsibilities in the church. It is God Who has placed you here. It is He Who has equipped you in a special way to serve in a specific place.
You and I, if we are led by the Spirit and not by our flesh, don’t get to decide what we will or will not do in the local church or in the Body of Christ. It is God who equips us and it is He Who gives us our assignments.
Now, my body is different than yours. How many of you can say “Amen” & “Thank you Lord” to that? Your body is different than mine. According to the Bible, God formed me in the womb, just the way He wanted me. He made me this way because He had a specific task for me in mind. He gave me the looks He did, the personality He did, and the experience He did, because He wanted to use me in a specific way.
Now what is true of my body and me is also true of the church. God is building this church, this local body of believers in a specific way because He has a specific mission for this church. In other words, you are not here by accident. God brought you here for a reason. He placed you in this body of believers, with Christ as the Head, for a specific reason.
Tell somebody, “God put me here for a reason.” My friend, God equipped you in a specific way, placed you here for a reason.
Now, since God equipped you in a specific way, and since He placed you here for a specific reason, which means you are needed in this church body.
III. YOU ARE NEEDED IN THIS CHURCH BODY
- 1 Corinthians 12:17-20
No church is complete without all of its members. That also means that no church is healthy if all of its members are not functioning properly.
The other day, Vito and I had the opportunity to visit with David Black. David is in the hospital again. Although they just took him off dialysis, he was on dialysis for some time. Now, someone tell me, why is a person placed on dialysis? (He is placed on dialysis because his kidneys are not functioning).
When someone’s kidneys are not working, they have to be placed on dialysis or they will die. And you know what happens when a person is placed on dialysis? The rest of the body gets weak, and tired, and is unable to function like it should, all because parts of the body are not working correctly.
What is true of the physical body is also true of the Body of Christ and the local church body. When all of its members are not functioning the way God has called and equipped them that body is not able to function as God intended it to.
My friend, you are needed in this church body. God did not equip you, and place you here by accident. You are needed in this church body.
Can other organs; can other body parts pick up your slack? Can other people do the job God has called you to? Perhaps, but the whole body doesn’t function as God intended when they are called to pick up your slack instead of doing what God has called them to do.
If a person’s eyes are not working, sometimes they can read or figure things out by using their hands, but who can truthfully say they are as well off as they would be if their eyes were working?
If God equips a person to be an evangelist and she ends up teaching instead because someone with the gift of teaching is not using the gift God has given him, the whole body suffers.
My friends, the church is not called or designed to be an organization. The church is an organism, and as an organism made up of many parts, we need each other. You are important; you are needed in this church body.
IV. YOU ARE TO SERVE IN THE BODY
- Romans 12:3-8
My friend, God did not give you the gift you have, He did not equip you in order for you to sit on the sidelines. God has called & equipped you to serve. You have a ministry & a mission. You are to serve in the Body.
V. YOU MUST RESIST DISEASE IN THE BODY
Now, as a body, as an organism, the church can get sick, can get diseases just like any other organism. You must resist those diseases in the body. In this passage Paul mentions 2 diseases that attack the body of Christ.
- 1 Corinthians 12:14-20
1. Envying – One of the diseases that attacks the Body of Christ, is the disease of envy. That’s when you want to be someone, or do something God didn’t build or equip you to be. You want to do this job, or that one, because you think it is more important or it gets more recognition or whatever.
Envy is frequently pouting. If it cannot have its own way, it will take its ball and go home. That’s what some of the immature believers in Corinth were doing. In apparent humility, they said, “I don’t have such and such a spiritual gift, so I’m not really part of the church. Or, my gift is second rate and unimportant, so why participate? But that attitude doesn’t reflect humility. It is self-centered, selfish and an affront to God’s wisdom.” (John MacArthur, p. 315).
Whenever you are tempted to covet the more prominent places and desire to have another person’s position in the church and become jealous, remember verse 18. God has set you where you are. Do not desire to be someplace else, or someone else, but instead strive to be better in the place He has placed you.
Envying is one disease that attacks the Body of Christ. There is another one mentioned there in verse 21.
- 1 Corinthians 12:21-26
2. Despising
This is when you begin to act like you don’t need other Christians. It is when you begin to act like they are unimportant because they don’t have your position, your gifts or your responsibility. It’s when you begin to attack them, or point out all of their weaknesses, just because they haven’t walked with Christ as long, or grown as much as you.
If your body begins to attack itself, we call that arthritis. If one part of the church body begins to attack another, we call that sin.
Listen, if you had an ear that was messed up, that was disfigured, and they couldn’t fix it with plastic surgery, what would you do? (I’d grow & comb my hair in such a way that I could cover it up). When your hair is out of place, what do you do? (I comb it or put it in place with my hand).
When one of us suffers, we all suffer, so it should be our goal to play the part in the Body that God has given us, and to help, rather than hurt each other.
I watched them tearing a building down-
A gang of men in a busy town:
With a ‘Ho heave ho’ and a lusty yell,
They swung a beam and the side wall fell.
I asked the foreman: ‘Are these men skilled,
And the kind you would hire if you were to build?’
He laughed and said: ‘Why no, indeed;
Just common laborers is all I need:
They can easily wreck in a day or two
That which has taken builders years to do.’
So I said to myself, as I went on my way:
“What part in the game of life do I play?
Am I shaping my deeds to a well-made plan,
Carefully measuring with a rule and square,
Patiently doing the best that I can;
Or am I a wrecker – who walks the town –
Content with the labor of tearing down?”
Dear friend, you are important to the Body of Christ. You are an important part in this local body of believers. I ask you, will you play the part God has equipped and called you to play? Will you say this morning, “I will fill my spot, and I will build up and encourage other believers.”
