Preaching Series: The Tie That Binds
The Unity of the Church
Text: 1 Corinthians 12:1-31
Introduction: A man had the misfortune of being stranded on a deserted island. To make the best of it he puts his talents to use and built a small town. Several years later, he was finally rescued when a passing ship saw his signal on the beach. As the captain’s party greeted him, one of the crew asked, "What have you been doing for all these years?" The man replied, "Come on, I’ll show you." With that he took them a little further in and presented his town. "This is impressive," said the captain. "What is that building?" he asked as he pointed to a rather large structure. "Oh, that’s the town hall." "And may I ask, what is that building?" The fellow burst with pride as he exclaimed, "That’s the library!" Another enthusiastic person pointed to a beautifully crafted facility with a large steeple and asked, "Is that building a church?" "Why, yes it is." Suddenly one of the landing party turned to a similar looking structure and asked, "Then, what is that?" "Oh, that’s the church I used to attend!" Human beings are a funny breed, aren’t we? If we can’t argue with someone else, we’ll find a way to be in conflict with ourselves. This is not how it ought to be, however, Next fall when you see geese heading south for the winter, flying along in V formation, you might be interested in knowing what science has discovered about why they fly that way.
• It has been learned that as each bird flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the bird immediately following. By flying in a V formation, the whole flock adds at least 71 % greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.
• Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone, and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front.
• When the lead goose gets tired, he rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point.
• The geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
• Finally, and might I add, most impressively, when a goose gets sick or is wounded by a shot and falls out, two geese fall out of formation and follow him down to help and protect him. They stay with him until he is either able to fly, or until he is dead, and then they launch out on their own or with another formation to catch up with their original group.
What a wonderful illustration from nature of unity! If we as believers could learn to get along in a similar way, there’s no telling the possibilities. Why if people knew that Christians would stand by them like that, they would line up to get into our churches on Sunday ;morning. I wonder if all we have to do in order to attract outsiders to our church is to demonstrate to the world that we have as much sense as geese here at CLCBC. That seems little enough price to pay to win the lost and minister to one another. Even geese have sense enough to know it works every time.
This is the 7th message in a series that I’ve entitled, "The Tie That Binds." It is my hope and prayer that God will use these sermons to increase our understanding and resolve to live out His plan and purpose for the church. Today I want to spend the next twenty-five minutes with you looking at a familiar passage that speaks to the topic of the body of Christ. It’s found in 1 Corinthians 12 and 13. Here’s what the Apostle Paul has to say about ’getting along’ with each other.
I. We must maintain unity in the body (See 1 Corinthians 12:1-13). The Corinthian church was a divided group with at least four different groups competing for leadership (See 1 Corinthians 1:11-12). They stood in opposition to one another with regard to a number of issues: sexual freedom verses abstinence; the role of men and women in the church; how much of a break should there be from their pagan pasts; the use of prophecy and tongues; and the bodily resurrection of Christ. It is obvious to Paul that the place to start in these verses about the body of Christ is with the oneness of the church. Here are four wonderful bonds of spiritual unity grounded in the theology of God.
A. We confess the same Lord (See 1 Corinthians 12:1-3). As unbelievers the Corinthians were influenced and led astray to idols. These dumb idols never spoke to them, but God did by His Spirit! As a result, they came to faith in Christ and so by the Holy Spirit confessed that "Jesus is Lord." It is our recognition of and submission to Christ’s lordship that makes unity possible.
B. We depend on the same God (See 1 Corinthians 12:4-6). Notice the presence of the Trinity in theses verses (The same Spirit; The same Lord; The same God). While the emphasis here is on spiritual gifts, Paul reminds them that it is God who works all of them in all men (See Philippians 2:13 where the context is also about getting along with each other).
C. We minister to the same body (See 1 Corinthians 12:7-11). These gifts are (1) given to each one (2) for the common good, that is, the benefit of the church. They were not given for individual enjoyment but for corporate edification.
D. We experience the same baptism (See 1 Corinthians 12:12-13). This baptism occurs at the moment we place our trust in Christ and are truly born again (See Romans 6:4). There is no other way that a person can enter into the kingdom of God except by this means (See John 3:5-8). Application: We would do well as Christians if we focused not so much on what divides us, but on what unites us. Too often when we think about other Christian groups we dwell on the things about which we disagree. What’s amazing is that many of these arguments that divide the body are not of a doctrinal nature, but about church practice. Illustration: There is a small town in Tennessee that has a place of worship with a sign in front that reads: "Left Foot Baptist Church." One particular student who frequently passed by it, wondered about the meaning of the name. Eventually he asked somebody in town about its significance. It seems that a number of years ago, there had been a split in the local congregation, which practiced foot-washing. An argument broke out over which foot should be washed first. The group insisting on the left foot taking precedence finally withdrew and started their own church...you guessed it..."The Left Foot Baptist Church." If we want to be Biblical in our approach to the body of Christ, we would do well to focus on the fact that we confess the same Lord, we depend on the same God, we minister to the same body and we experience the same baptism. I’m sure we’d get along a lot better if we did.
II. We must celebrate diversity in the body (See 1 Corinthians 12:14-31a). Warren Wiersbe, former pastor of the Moody Church, says, "Unity without diversity would produce uniformity, and uniformity tends to produce death. Life is a balance between unity and diversity. As a human body dies, its systems slow down and everything tends to become uniform. The ultimate, of course, is that the body itself turns to dust." This may be why some churches and Christian organizations have weakened and eventually fallen apart. They mistook uniformity for unity and refused to allow anyone to express another opinion or take another approach to ministry. Paul cautions us against such errors by reminding us that the body is not made up of one part, but many. Each has a significant task to perform without which the church will in some way be handicapped.
A. This means that no believer should ever feel inferior about his gift (See 1 Corinthians 12:14-20). The body requires that every part fulfill its role if it is to live, grow and serve. Because God in His sovereignty has chosen to place each member with his or her unique gift(s) in the church, we must never doubt His wisdom in doing so. Were we not necessary to the body, we can assume that the Holy Spirit would have had enough sense to have given us different gifts that would more fully advance the common good.
B. This means that no believer should ever feel superior about his gift (See 1 Corinthians 12:21-31). Each member of the body actually needs the other members and no member can afford to act independently of the body. When a part of the human body acts independently it results in a serious problem that leads to sickness or even death. In a healthy human body the various members cooperate with each other and even compensate for one another when a crisis occurs. Application: God will give to the church exactly what is needed to be able to do His work His way. Consider the order in which the gifts were given to the early church. "God appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues." It would not have worked near as well had they been reversed! Illustration: Not long after the I.Q. (Intelligence Quotient) test was developed, several studies were conducted to find out how different groups of people scored on the test as groups. The test was administered to men and women, young and old, rich and poor, and many ethnic groups as well. It was in this context that the I.Q. test was given to a group of Hopi Indians. When the Hopi received the test, they immediately started to ask each other questions and to compare their answers. The instructor saw this happening, and quickly intervened, telling them that they each had to take the test alone. “You are not permitted to help each other or to share your answers among yourselves,” he told them. When the Hopi heard this, they were outraged and refused to take the test, saying, “It is not important that I am smarter than my brother, or that my brother is smarter than me. It is only important what we can do together!”
III. We must promote maturity in the body (See 1 Corinthians 12:31b-1 Corinthians 13:13). Paul calls it the ’most excellent way.’ The main evidence of maturity in the life of a believer is a growing love for God and others that is characterized by this description from 1 Corinthians 13. It has been said by some that love is the circulatory system of the body of Christ. It is what makes the gifts truly effective as they are put to use. Love was the missing element in the Corinthian church. Its absence is what precipitated Paul’s critique that they were mere infants (immature--See 1 Corinthians 3:1-2). The single greatest evidence that we are maturing as a church is not the increased opportunities for ministry or the improvement in our programs. It is our growing ability to love one another the way our Heavenly Father has loved us.
Conclusion: Maturity in the body means that we give a lot of grace to others and make it our goal to love them in ways like those described here. A number of years ago, in a mental institution outside Boston, a young girl known as "Little Annie" was locked in the dungeon. The dungeon was the only place, said the doctors, for those who were hopelessly insane. In Little Annie’s case, they saw no hope for her, so she was consigned to a living death in that small cage which received little light and even less hope. About that time, an elderly nurse was nearing retirement. She felt there was hope for all of God’s children, so she started taking her lunch into the dungeon and eating outside Little Annie’s cage. She felt perhaps she should communicate some love and hope to the little girl. In many ways, Little Annie was like an animal. On occasion, she would violently attack the person who came into her cage. At other times, she would completely ignore them. When the elderly nurse started visiting her, Little Annie gave no indication that she was even aware of her presence. One day, the woman brought some brownies to the dungeon and left them outside the cage. Little Annie gave no hint she knew they were there, but when the nurse returned the next day, the brownies were gone. From that time on, the nurse would bring brownies when she made her Thursday visit. Soon after, the doctors in the institution noticed a change was taking place. It was significant enough that after a period of time they decided to move Little Annie upstairs. Finally, the day came when the "hopeless case" was told she could return home, but Little Annie did not wish to leave. She chose to stay, to help others. Her name was Anne Sullivan and it was she who cared for, taught, and nurtured another person, who but for her efforts would have been cast off by society...Helen Keller. That’s the most excellent way! It is the way that the spiritually mature relate to one another in the body of Christ.
