-Transcript-
00:38 Amen. Thank you for joining me today. We are continuing our series on the body of Christ.
00:44 You know, think of a body, what a body does. You know, the concept of harmony and productivity, all the different parts of the body working in alignment with the head. Yesterday I noticed my hand was feeling burnt for some reason, I think I had scraped it or something.
01:03 And the rest of my body was kind of focused on that hand because the hand wasn’t quite right. Amen. And that is how the church body should be.
01:12 As we look at others and their circumstances, we should bear their burdens. And when they have success and they’re doing well, we should celebrate their successes. And the church body is very important to the Lord.
01:23 Amen. He gave it to us for a reason. He gave us a body to help symbolize the church body, not the other way around.
01:29 Amen. He gave us a body to help symbolize the church body. And who’s the head of the body? Because we know our head controls our movements, our brain controls our movements.
01:34 Who’s the head of the body? That is Christ. Amen. That is Christ.
01:42 And our verse here today is Ephesians 4:16. Ephesians 4:16. From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
02:05 Amen. The edifying of itself in love. And so we’re going to pick up here in the second part of this series on the body of Christ, discussing the minority, how the body of Christ is a small group in comparison to all the people in the world today.
02:18 Amen. So we’ll just pick it up right here. Thank you so much for listening.
02:23 But the minority of all people over all time is still quite a large group. And that group is the collective body of Christ. And you can read a little bit about that in Revelation, how there was many people there.
02:35 God works every part together for the overall good of the body. When we think of our body, our mind, if we’re thinking clearly, it’s not actively going to try to hurt our body. Again, I mentioned exercise and cooking, these things.
02:48 What would it be? Helping our body. You know a great thing to do? Go for a walk. Amen.
02:52 There’s nothing better than going for a walk, if you’re able. Amen. And what are you doing when you go for a walk? You’re trying to help your body and all your body parts are moving together to try to give your body some peace, some fresh air, and so forth.
03:05 God’s church, the body of Christ, all works together for the overall good of the body. And that’s His will being done. And that gives us an idea of our responsibility in the body.
03:15 And we’ll get to that in a little bit. The body grows in love. Ephesians4:16 says, the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
03:25 And so the body grows in love. Remember that as well. It grows in love.
03:30 Love for each other. Amen. We’re going to grow as a church body when we start loving each other and stop talking about each other and stop being clicky and having problems and putting each other down and writing people off because of a denomination or because of whatever.
03:45 We’re all imperfect. Amen. And the body’s going to grow in love.
03:51 The body’s also going to grow in love for each other, but also for the lost as we love the lost and see their need, and we put their need above our need. Amen. When we say, you know what, we care about them so much, we’re willing to be a little uncomfortable here.
04:01 We’re willing to go out and knock on some doors. We’re willing to go out and do God’s will. Then that’s how the church body’s going to grow.
04:07 Amen. And of course, another reference to the body would be when we live for the Lord and the Spirit’s working within us and through us, then we are the hands and feet of Christ. And I think that’s more literal than a lot of people will understand, that when we do something for God, that’s of God, it’s actually not us doing it.
04:28 It’s the Holy Spirit working in us to do it on God’s behalf. Amen. So we are working as God would have us to do, and we can’t take the credit.
04:39 It’s all Him. And I’ve seen God do some great things through people, and sometimes it’ll almost be like surreal where they don’t even realize what’s happening because they’ve yielded themselves over to God. They’re obedient to God.
04:51 They’re living for Him, and He’s able to use them. Amen. Again, it’s not resources that God’s looking for, it’s obedience.
05:00 So let’s look a little deeper here at some of the key characteristics of what the church body truly is. Firstly, one body, different members. One body, different members.05:10 1 Corinthians 12: 27. Now, you are the body of Christ and members in particular. Members in particular.
05:20 We, Paul’s always writing to the believers in his epistles and here to the Church of Cornuth, he’s saying you are one body, different members. Members in particular. The uniqueness of each role in the body is important.
05:35 How did God make you? He didn’t make everyone the same. He made everyone unique, like a snowflake. All the snowflakes are unique, and there’s so many of them.
05:44 God made every person unique. I have yet to meet anyone that is identical to me. I have a brother who’s only a year and a half older, and we’re polar opposites pretty much for the most part.
05:58 Jenny and CJ are 10 and a half months apart, and they’re very different in a lot of ways. You can think of anyone that you’ve ever met that would be different than you, they all would fall into that category. Very few people could say, I’ve met someone that’s just identical to me.
06:13 God has made everyone different. What abilities did he give you? What talents and skills did he give you? What interest did he give you? You know, when you’re just thinking, where do you often spend time thinking or spend time doing things? What is it? I mean, some people will just gravitate towards music and spend a lot of time playing the piano or singing hymns or writing songs or poetry. Some people gravitate towards science and will be constantly doing experiments, even when they’re not even tasked to do an experiment.
06:47 Other people are geared towards math and numbers and find themselves crunching numbers. Some people, I think of engineers, how detail-oriented they are. I met an engineer once, and he showed me some of his spreadsheets that he had for his business, and I about fell over.
07:05 I mean, they were incredibly intricate, and you could tell that this was beyond what was needed. This was just a passion of this person. And so we think of God’s sovereignty, we think on the way he made you, and we realize that, you know what? Everybody was made with a set of abilities or a set of gifts that they could use to contribute to the body of Christ.
07:27 And we see this here in 1 Corinthians 12:12 -27. We see this so clearly written. I love this passage of scripture, 1 Corinthians 12: 12- 27.
07:39 For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also in Christ. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free,and have been all made to drink into one spirit. So in the first two verses of 1 Corinthians 12, 12 and 13, we see here, first two verses of our passage scripture here, we see that we’re all one in Christ, that socioeconomic status, whether we’re bond or free, that would be like, are we dirt poor or are we rich? If we’re saved, we’re all one.
08:18 You know, whether we be a certain type, race, Jews or Gentiles, whether we be black, white, Asian, Latino, we’re all one. Amen. We’re all one.
08:30 We’re all unified in the body. And so we have to understand that we’re all one, because there’s so much in this world. There are certain societies and cultures where if you’re born to a certain kind of family, you’re poor your whole life because you’re part of that group or that caste.
08:47 Amen. And then even in America, in other places that are, quote, developed countries, we cast so much judgment. We have so many different points of view.08:55 I mean, you know how it is. You look upon somebody, you look upon their circumstance, and even if you’re your very best not to judge, there’s so many preconceived notions going through your head. Amen.
09:06 I could give a lot of stories, but I’m going to keep going here because I thought, oh, I’ve been judged before. Okay. Let me keep going.09:17 1 Corinthians verse 14, for the body is not one member, but many. Okay. Many members in the body.
09:21 We got that. And now we get into the details. 1 Corinthians 12, 15 onwards.
09:27 If the foot shall say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, because I am not the eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? And if the whole body were hearing, where were the smelling? And we see here now the idea that the body has different functions, right? And so if the whole body was like you or like me, we’d have a problem with producing what God wants to produce because we wouldn’t have the diversification in the body to do what needs to be done. Amen. But now hath God set the members, every one of them in the body as it hath pleased him.
10:06 And if they were all one member, where were the body? By the way, in verse 18, look who set the members, but now God hath set the members, every one of them in the body as it hath pleased him. So it pleased God to put us in the body where we’re at. Amen.
10:24 That’s a good one. Amen. A lot of people want to go somewhere else and do something else.
10:27 And God’s saying, I put you here, I gave you all these great skills and gifts, and I put you right here for a reason. Verse 19. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body.
10:41 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more of those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor, and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.
11:03 For our comely parts have no need, but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked. That there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it.
11:19 Or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ and members in particular. Okay, there’s a lot happening in this scripture and it’s excellent.
11:30 It shows us in a very practical way what the body of Christ looks like. We see here no one part is better than the other. In fact, if there was one part that would be better than the other, it’s the uncomely part, the one that’s necessary that a lot of people don’t look to.
11:45 But it works towards the functioning of the whole. I’ll give example of a church. Let’s say you have a large church and you have a very popular pastor and everybody loves that pastor at this big church.
11:55 You know, we’re not talking about my church now, Amen, the one Lord gave me. But hey, or I should say our church, we’re a church body. Okay, it’s a big church.
12:04 There’s a pastor and everybody loves the pastor, right? And let’s just say that big church has a lot going on. They support a lot of missions. They’re very involved in the community.
12:14 They have a food pantry and they have all other kinds of ministries, a helps ministry. They help with heating and air bills and all these other things. And they’re really involved.
12:23 And let’s say there’s an accountant there. And let’s say that accountant is an elderly woman that is very quiet and that sits in the very upper part of the balcony and nobody really knows her, okay? What that pastor is saying is that woman that’s involved with the accounting for that church is as important as that preacher up there that may be getting all the attention, all the accolades, and all the praise, and that God even the more so is going to bring comfort and love and what’s needed to her as he would to that preacher. Because the preacher may not need as much of that encouragement because he’s getting it from the congregation and from everybody.
13:01 But that lady up there in the balcony that no one really knows about, but is helping move all these pieces forward for God because she’s doing what God wants her to do and she’s using the gifts and skills that she has to glorify God and to bring forth his work, it all works together. That is the idea. No one part is better, but hey, guess what? Those necessary parts are very wonderful to God and very important to God.
13:26 So if you find yourself, wherever you are, and whoever’s listening to this, thank you by the way, if you find yourself in a position that you’re thinking, well, I don’t know what God called me to do. It’s not some big splashy thing. And I can just think that there’s this little area that I’m interested in that I always kind of think about that I’m pretty good at, and it’s a little thing.
13:48 Well, maybe that’s what God wants you to do, and all the more so it’s necessary. Amen? It’s necessary. And I wish I had more time to go into that, but we’re wrapping up part two here.
14:00 Realize that even the smallest parts of the body are critical to the whole function of the body. Thank God for the body of Christ. Thank you so much for listening.
14:08 We’ll continue with part three very soon here. Thank you again for listening. Take care, God bless, and Amen.