We have so many things for which to be thankful in our lives that transcend the temporal matters that we so often consider. As a child of God He has bestowed a multitude of blessings upon all who call Him their Lord. For instance:
- We have been justified!
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ… (Romans 5:1)
- We are saints!
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus… (Ephesians 1:1)
- We cannot be separated from God’s love!
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)
- We have been accepted by God!
...to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:6)
- We are God’s temple!
Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16)
- We are free from condemnation forever!
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1)
- We can do all things through Christ!
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)
- We are citizens of Heaven!
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. (Philippians 3:20-21)
And this is only a partial listing of the blessings that all Christians enjoy. One of those blessings that we want to consider today is that we have been made part of the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit.
The Apostle Paul uses the human body to illustrate how we are all members of Christ’s body of which He is the Head.
From our text there are three things we should seek to understand:
1. God has placed us into the body of Christ as He pleases so that He might manifest His love for the world through us.
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. 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. For in fact the body is not one member but many...But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. (1 Corinthians 12:12-14,18)
A. This is an event, not a process that takes place at the moment of our salvation (12:13).
B. Everywhere you see the true church meeting today, there you will find a local manifestation of the body of Christ declaring God’s love for man.
C. Everywhere you see a member of Christ’s body functioning in the world he is a representative of God because he is a member of Christ’s body.
D. God could have used anything other than you and me to communicate His love for mankind, but He chose to use the church: the body of Christ.
E. He could have made the rocks cry out or written it in the sky above.
F. He could have used the angelic host to announce His salvation, but He chose us.
G. This is a privilege beyond compare that we should be the instruments of communication to a world that needs to know Him.
H. It is important for us to see ourselves as Christ sees us because we are to live according to our identity in Christ.
I. When we recognize that we are members of Christ's body reflecting His love to the world, it affects the level of our living.
Illustration:
A teenage girl started attending church, but she wasn’t a very attractive young lady nor did she have much of a home life. Her father was an alcoholic, her mother worked two jobs to make ends meet and her brother ran drugs in and out of the family home. In spite of all this, the young lady had been introduced to Christ and had become a believer in Christ. When she came to the church she began to understand who she was in Christ and the result was that it transformed her life. Just about everybody in the church who knew her liked her and she ended up marrying the nicest guy in the youth group. What this young girl had done was take on the identity she had in Christ rather than the one into which she had been born. That is what all of us must do if we are to represent Christ well. We are members of His body, reflecting Him to our world.
2. Each Christian has been carefully placed into Christ’s body and is valuable to all of the other members of the body.
A. There are no unimportant members in the body of Christ.
1.) We cannot say about ourselves that because we don’t have a demonstrative part in the body that we are unnecessary.
If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 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? (1 Corinthians 12:15-16)
Illustration:
A conductor was rehearsing his great orchestra. The organ was rolling, giving beautiful melody. The drums were thundering. The trumpets were blaring out. The violins were singing beautifully. Suddenly something seemed wrong. Someone in the orchestra had thought, with all this going on, I can rest a while. This is a rehearsal anyway.
The conductor threw up his arms and said, "Where's the piccolo?"
The piccolo player said, "I'm obscure. I don't amount to much. With all of this going on, I don't have to keep playing."
But the one with the trained ear said, "Every one of us is necessary." When you and I feel obscure, we must remember God has something significant for our lives, and we need to respond. – (Gordon Johnson, "Finding Significance in Obscurity," Preaching Today, Tape No. 82. [Bible Illustrator for Windows])
2.) Nor can the demonstrative parts of the body of Christ belittle the diminutive parts of His body.
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.” 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... (1 Corinthians 12:21-23)
B. If a body was made up of only demonstrative parts it would be a monstrosity rather than a marvel of creation.
If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? (1 Corinthians 12:17)
C. The diminutive parts of the body often have greater significance though they are less noticeable.
D. For instance, I recognize that my noticeable responsibility to communicate the Gospel is directly affected by the less noticeable sound and media personnel, the greeters and ushers, the nursery and children’s workers, as well as the maintenance staff and gatekeeper of the thermostat. All of these things have a significant part to play in the opportunity afforded me to preach.
E. Every member is a valuable member of the body of Christ and is necessary to the healthy functioning of the body as a whole.
F. Repeat with me: “I am a valuable member of the body of Christ.”
3. Within the body of Christ our interdependence should result in a mutual care one for the other.
A. The world often accepts others on the basis of their performance, but the church accepts members of the body because of their position.
B. Because our bodies are made up of many members and no member is unimportant, there should be a mutual care expressed for every member.
1.) If any member of the body hurts it affects the body as a whole.
2.) If any member of the body rejoices it also affects the body as a whole.
...but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. (1 Corinthians 12:24-26)
3.) If the body loses feeling for a member of the body then atrophy and deterioration set into the body and the whole body is harmed.
4.) Someone has said, “So much of the sorrow in the world is due to the selfishness of one living organism that simply does not care when another suffers. In Christ's Body we suffer because we do not suffer enough (i.e., sympathetic w/others).” Because we lose feeling for others in the body the whole body suffers.
C. God has graciously seen fit to place us into His body where we can experience the love and care of other members of the body.
D. As the members of Christ’s body we must reflect His grace toward other members of the body.
1.) One of the greatest fears we have as believers is rejection by those who are supposed to love us.
2.) Reflecting God’s grace as a member of Christ’s body means accepting the other members of the body because of who they are.
3.) Every member of the body of Christ is valuable because of who he is in Christ and not just because of what he does for Christ.
E. Thank God we are part of the body of Christ.
Closing:
- You are a member of the body of Christ because the Holy Spirit has made you a member.
- You are valuable to the body of Christ and you are valuable to others members of His body!!
But, the real question is: “Are you rightly related to the divine head?"
Illustration:
Remember putting your face above a headless frame painted to represent a muscle man, a clown, or even a bathing beauty? Some of us have had our pictures taken this way, and the photos are humorous because the head doesn't fit the body.
If we could picture Christ as the head of our local body of believers...would the world laugh at the misfit? Or, would they stand in awe at a body so closely related to a divine head?
