Sunday Morning March 2, 2003 Bel Aire Baptist Church
Series: ¡§Church On The Rocks¡¨ [#15]
HEALTH WATCH
1 Corinthians 12:1-31
Introduction:
1 Corinthians 12:1-3
1. Why did Jesus come to this earth? To seek and save what was lost. In order to fulfill His purpose, Jesus had to pay the price for sin on the cross. As Jesus was nailed to the cross and His blood flowed from His body, it was for a purpose. The Bible says, ¡§Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.¡¨ Jesus, knowing His purpose for having to hang on that cross like a ¡§dirty¡¨ criminal said, ¡§It is finished¡¨. Then He died. He was taken down from the cross and placed in a borrowed tomb. During the next few days Jesus descended into Hell and defeated death, sin, and Satan. On the third day He arose from the grave. He did this for me and you.
John 3:16
2. God doesn¡¦t wish that any person would die without salvation. He sent Jesus to this world because He loves us so much. What is God¡¦s goal for humanity? That we would all be saved. He¡¦s God; why not just let everybody ¡§off the hook¡¨? Because He is a perfect, righteous and holy God He cannot let sin go unpunished. So He sent Jesus Christ to pay the ultimate price for us so we could have the opportunity to be saved; but salvation is not inherited, earned, or bought by us. How do we accept this free gift of salvation?
Romans 10:9-10, 13
1 Corinthians 12:12-13
3. The moment you are saved, you are baptized by the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit takes residence in your life, and you become a part of the Body of Christ. As a child of God we are told to strive to be like Jesus Christ in all that we do. That means that if Jesus¡¦ main purpose was to seek and save what was lost so that none would have to perish in Hell, our purpose is the same. This is a huge task! We, as a Body, are to the reach the entire world with the Message of Jesus Christ. How effective are we being in reaching the world for Christ? Let¡¦s get a little more personal. How effective are we being in reaching Hobbs for Christ? I believe we have to admit that we are not ¡§hitting the mark¡¨ as the Body of Christ. Why not? Did God not give us enough tools to reach the lost? We will find in our text that when we are saved, we are given gifts from the Holy Spirit. All believers make up the Body of Christ. This means that every believer matters. This morning I pray that you would realize how important you are to fulfilling Jesus¡¦ purpose of seeking and saving the lost. I also want you to understand that if you do not use your gifts that part of the body will not be functioning. God needs each one of us to come together, with our gifts functioning, so that more people will be led to Jesus Christ. Do you know what your gifts from the Holy Spirit are? If not, you must discover what they are so you can begin to use them. Let¡¦s begin at this point as we first look at the different gifts that the Holy Spirit gives Christians. To do this we must look in several passages of Scripture.
The Gifts
1 Corinthians 12:4-11
Romans 12:6-8
Ephesians 4:11-13
1. As you have been listening to this lengthy list of gifts you may be thinking, ¡§How do I know which of these gifts I have?¡¨ I have inserted a spiritual gift survey in the bulletin that you should take. I have also included a sheet that summarizes most of the gifts. Will this show you which gifts you have. No, but it will point you in the right direction.
2. Once you are going in the right direction, then you must be willing to take the next step. That step is, work! The way you find out what you are gifted in is by serving God. You will find out quickly if you are serving in an area that you are not gifted in. Once you discover your gifts and you begin using them for God¡¦s purposes, you will be exercising those gifts and your part of the Body will begin to help the Body become stronger and healthier.
3. You must understand that you can use your gifts in a negative way by simply exercising them for the wrong reasons. For example: If I use my gift of preaching to ¡§beat someone up¡¨ because I want to get even with them for doing something to me, then I am using my spiritual gift, but not for the purpose of edifying the Body and leading the lost to Jesus Christ. Don¡¦t forget that God needs the whole Body functioning. It¡¦s not about just me or you.
The Body
1 Corinthians 12:27-31
1. Each part of the Body is important. There is not one part that is more important or less important than another. Jesus Christ is the head of the body. This means that He is the ¡§brains of this operation¡¨. Jesus makes the decisions. [I want everybody to wave their right hand at me. Now you may not realize this, but in order for you to wave your right hand at me, your brain had to make some decisions. See your brain found out what needed to be done and it sent a message to all of the body parts needed to perform that task. Each muscle, nerve, joint, etc¡K had to do its part in coordination with the other parts involved in order to complete the task.]
2. Jesus tells the Body what their part needs to do. If one of the parts doesn¡¦t function, then the body becomes handicapped. [I have a cousin who is confined to a wheel chair, and has been all of her life, because from the legs down she is paralyzed. Does this mean that she cannot accomplish anything in life? Absolutely not; but it is much more difficult on the rest of her body.] Let me give you another example: [My first college room-mate was completely blind. He could still do most things that I could do, but at times he was hindered. A good example is driving. Duran could drive. In fact, my buddies and I would let him drive us around campus on the small one lane roads. Why only the small one lane roads? Because if he got to go crooked he would bump into the curb and know he had to adjust. Now as fun as that was to do, would you have ever wanted to be driving down the interstate and look over to your left at the fast lane and see Duran driving? No, because he would run over you or someone else.] When a part of the Body is not functioning properly, limitations are placed upon the entire body.
3. [I want you to hold out your right hand that you were waving a while ago and just look at it. Tell me what you see. You see fingers, skin, finger nails, etc¡K Is that all there is to your hand? No! Without the tendons, bones, blood cells, and anything else we can¡¦t see; there would not be proper hand function. My finger that was cut off is a good example. There are two tendons in your finger. One of those causes your finger to bend at the knuckle and the other at the middle of the finger. When the doctors were repairing my finger they were unable to repair both tendons. They ended up taking both tendons out and making one good tendon. As a result of that I do not have full use of that finger.] You may be a part of the Body that is unseen, but it does not make you any less needed and important. I can¡¦t see your heart, but if it wasn¡¦t pumping blood throughout your body, you would be dead. In order for the Body to be healthy each part must function well at its task while at the same time functioning ¡§in sink¡¨ with the other parts of the Body. How is the health of the Body of Christ?
The Health
1 Corinthians 12:14-25
This Church was sick. How do we know that? Because of the symptoms of sickness noticed. How do you know when you have a cold? Probably because you are sneezing and your eyes are all watery and irritated.
1. Our text shows us some of the symptoms of a sick Church Body.
Symptoms:
„« Some parts of the Body are sluggish.
„« Some parts of the Body are exhausted.
„« Some parts of the Body are paralyzed.
„« The entire Body begins to hurt.
1 Corinthians 12:26
2. Once we have identified the symptoms then we are able to make a diagnosis of the illness or injury.
Diagnosis:
„« Sluggish parts: These parts are functioning but not at their best. Why? These parts know what their functions are, but because they feel unimportant and unappreciated they just function enough ¡§to get by¡¨. These parts become lazy, out of shape, and are easily injured or infected with diseases and viruses that cause sickness to the Body.
„« Exhausted parts: These parts think that they are the only reason the Body can function. These parts not only do their functions but try to do the functions of the rest of the Body. This results in exhaustion, soreness, and pain to the Body. Again injury or infections could easily occur.
„« Paralyzed parts: These parts are not working at all. It may be that these parts were injured or something foreign to the Body got to it and damaged it so badly that it just doesn¡¦t work. It also may be that this part lay dormant for so long that it became unable to function.
3. Once we have the diagnosis then something can be prescribed for the infected or injured parts so that the Body will be brought back to health.
Prescription:
„« Sluggish parts: A shot of encouragement. This shot¡¦s purpose is to remind the part of how needed it is. Without this part functioning to its best, the Body is limited. This shot is also needed to build up this parts energy and stamina so that it can function at its highest level.
„« Exhausted parts: Take 2 capsules of humbleness every 4 hours until the part is completely healed of its injuries and infection. These capsules are needed to remind this part that it must only do its functions and allow the other parts to do theirs. Rest in Jesus Christ is also needed. This rest will help strengthen this part of the Body and rest of the Body so that sickness and injury can be avoided in the future.
„« Paralyzed parts: Spiritual therapy is needed daily. This therapy consists of spending time in communication with the Head so that these parts can learn what their functions are and how to perform those functions. It will take time for these parts to function at their best because each part can only gain strength through being useful. Special attention needs to be given to these parts before they get infected and have to be amputated.
Conclusion:
1. How do you think the health of our Church is? The way we know is by looking at the results of the Body. Do the things that you do as a part of the Body build up the rest of the body and lead people to Jesus or is the Body sick? Don¡¦t forget verse 26.
1 Corinthians 12:26
2. I want everybody to bow their heads and close their eyes at this time as I ask you some questions. Do you know what part of the Body you are and what your function is? If you are here this morning and you do not know what part of the Body you are, but you want to discover what part you are and how to use that part; raise your hand so that I can pray for you. I will be glad to pray with you and try to help you discover what God¡¦s plan for you is.
3. If you are here today and you have never asked Jesus to be the Savior of your life I want you to know that if you died today you would burn in Hell for all eternity. If you have never given your life to Jesus, but you know that this is your only way of being saved from your sinful, hopeless life; and you want to become a part of Christ¡¦s Body I want you to listen very closely.
„« Know that you are a sinner.
Romans 3:23
„« Know the penalty of your sin.
Romans 6:23
„« Know the payment for your sin.
Romans 5:23
„« Know how to accept the gift.
Romans 10:9-13
If you would like to accept Jesus as your Savior I am going to lead you in a prayer that puts all of these things into a statement to God. At this time I am going to lead you in a prayer for Salvation. If you have never accepted this gift of Salvation and you want to, just repeat this prayer right where you are. If you are a Christian listen to this prayer so that you will be able to lead others in a similar Prayer.
Let¡¦s pray: Dear Jesus I know that I am a sinner and that you had to die on a cross for my sins. I believe You are the Son of God who arose on the third day. Today I ask you to come into my life and make me new. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus¡¦ name I pray, Amen.
If you said this prayer for the first time, asking Jesus into your life raise you hand.
