October 13, 2002 1 Corinthians 12:12-13
¡§All for One, and One for all!¡¨
INTRODUCTION
One of my son Benjamin¡¦s favorite movies is ¡§The Three Musketeers¡¨. It¡¦s the story of the struggles that a young man named Dar Tanyan goes through in order to fulfill his life¡¦s goal of becoming a musketeer. The job of the corp of musketeers was to protect the king and queen of France. The musketeer believed so much in the importance of the role that he played and loved his homeland so much that he would defend France even to the point of losing his own life. Dar Tanyan¡¦s father had been a musketeer, and he had lost his life protecting the king.
The musketeers had a slogan that they lived by. It governed how they lived their lives and how they served their nation. ¡§All for one, and [let the congregation add the second half of the slogan]. The first part of that phrase simply meant that if one of them was in trouble, all of them would come to the defense of that one. And the second part meant that each of them would be willing to set aside their own personal ambitions and needs in order to be unified in accomplishing the common purpose of the whole group. They were a group that looked out for the individual, and individuals that were unified into a group. ¡§All for one, and one for all.¡¨ Sounds like a good slogan for a church, doesn¡¦t it.
Last week, we began an examination of 1 Corinthians 12-14 to help us understand what makes a church healthy and strong so that we could diagnose and increase the health of this church. We defined health this way - health is when all the parts of any given organism function together just as the designer intended with the result that they accomplish exactly what the designer planned. A healthy church is one in which the people use their gifts properly resulting in 3 things ¡V Jesus is lifted up as Lord, people are unified and needs are met.
This morning, we¡¦re going to look at the next 2 verses in 1 Corinthians 12. These verses will excite you when you discover that God is doing something huge. They will make you want to shout when you discover that you get to be a part of it. And they will motivate you when you embrace the reality that God¡¦s Holy Spirit is living in you to empower you for service and to make us all one. By the time that we are done, you will say with me, ¡§All for one, and one for all¡¨!
1. There is something that is bigger than you¡K ¡§The body is a unit ¡K they form one body.¡¨
From the moment of creation, God put a plan into motion. It began with the creation of a perfect world and two perfect bodies into which God breathed the breath of life so that they became human beings. God¡¦s plan was for these human beings to have perfect communion with Him and with one another and for them to have total dominion over the creation that He had made. When man sinned, it looked like God¡¦s great plan was going to be undone. But it was then that God made it clear that His plan would cause Him to send His only Son to be the Savior that could cleanse man from His sin.
Adam and Eve had children who had many descendants including a man by the name of Abraham. For some reason known only to God, He chose Abraham to be the father of a people that God would choose as His own treasure on earth ¡V the Israelites. God continued to work out His plan through this rebellious people allowing them to become slaves in Egypt and then setting them free and giving them a land of their own. And even when God could stand their idolatry no longer and caused them to go into exile, He watched over them and taught them so that they would be ready for the next step in His plan. He brought them back into the land of Israel and told them that soon, a deliverer would come ¡V a Messiah who would bring them the freedom that they had been searching for.
Four hundred years later, a child was born to a poor couple. They laid Him in a manger and called Him Jesus. This child would make possible the completion of God¡¦s plan for His creation. For this child grew up, lived a perfect sinless life and died on a cross to pay for the sins of all mankind and then rose from the dead three days later. It was this sacrifice that made it possible for men to once again have an intimate relationship with God. Man and God could live in communion again.
About two months after Jesus¡¦ resurrection from the grave, another part of the plan came to pass. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down to permanently indwell believers for the first time. On that day, something big came into being ¡V the church, the body of Christ. It is the body of Christ that Paul is talking about here in verse 12.
Everyone of you that is sitting out there has a body. It is how you interrelate with one another. It enables you to communicate through your voices, your movements and your touch. You become aware of one another¡¦s presence through the bodies that you possess.
Christ has a body too. It is the church. The church is the actual physical presence of Jesus Christ here on earth. The church is not an institution, an organization or a business. It is a living organism. It has Jesus Christ as its head directing and guiding it, the Spirit as its life force empowering it and unifying it, and Christians as its substance to physically accomplish God¡¦s purposes and God¡¦s mission here on earth.
God has a big mission for the church to accomplish. Just before Jesus left the earth behind, He said, ¡§Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you¡K¡¨ (Matt. 28:19-20) It¡¦s a huge mission. But the church is large enough to accomplish it. Jesus said of the church, ¡§I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it¡¨ (Matt. 16:18) The church has been given the responsibility of bringing to completion God¡¦s mission here on earth ¡V bringing man back into fellowship with God. That¡¦s big! That¡¦s huge!
Have you ever wanted to be a part of something big? Many of you have seen the movie ¡§October Sky¡¨. It is about a young man who grew up in West Virginia. Like most of his friends and the generations before him, he was destined to work his whole life in the coal mines. But he knew that there was something bigger than that. He wasn¡¦t satisfied with living a small life. So he began working to build rockets. He studied trigonometry and calculus so that he could calculate the trajectory of those rockets. He bucked his family, the community and everything that life had already picked out for him because he wanted his life to have significance. Through his hard work and his persistence, he became a part of NASA. He was one of the engineers who helped to design spacecraft that launched from Cape Canaveral. And every time that he watched one of those rockets blast into the sky, he got to say, ¡§This is something that is really big, and I get to be a part of it.¡¨
As big as the space program is, there is something that is even bigger. It is the church ¡V Christ¡¦s body ¡V and the mission that the church has been given to accomplish. For you see, the space program may reach into the orbit of the earth or to Mars or even further one day. But it will never reach into the throne room of God, and it will never be able to take a sinner and cleanse them so that they can have a relationship with God. The church makes both of these things possible.
But do you know what the most wonderful news is? As big and as important as the church is, you get to be a part of it!
2. ¡Kthat you get to be a part of... ¡§many parts¡¨
Everybody wants a sense of belonging. That¡¦s why children form neighborhood clubs, teenage girls join a cheerleading squad, and adults get involved in community civic organizations. We want to have a group that we belong to and people that recognize when we are there and miss us when we are not.
A few weeks ago, a Vietnamese man was rescued after having been adrift in the ocean for several months. No one had reported him missing because he had no family, no friends ¡V he had no sense of belonging. When he was interviewed on Good Morning America, he was wearing a hat like the ones worn by the crew of the boat that found him. They had adopted him as family. Several churches in the area where he lived heard about his story, and they too reached out to him in love to help give him the sense of belonging that he had never had. As human beings, we crave to have that need for belonging fulfilled.
What is something that you would like to be a part of? Would you like to be a part of a great orchestra like the Boston Symphony Orchestra? How about being a part of a disaster relief team that goes and ministers to people during a time of crisis. Or how about being a part of the team that wins the World Series. Why would you want to be a part of groups like that? Part of the reason that we want to be a member of a team like that is because that organization is really making a difference. Or maybe the work that they put out is of such high quality that you would be proud for other people to know that you had a part in it. And being a part of that organization becomes still more gratifying when the part you play contributes significantly to the overall success of that organization.
It was military recruitment day at the local high school. Each of the branches of the military was represented, and they each took their turn giving their speeches about why the students should sign up with them. The last to speak was the recruiter from the marines. The other recruiters had used more than their allotted time, so the marine only had 2 minutes. Instead of giving his usual appeal, he walked up beside the podium and stood at attention for a full minute and a half of his allotted 2 minutes. He just glared at the students with those cold blue eyes. Then, in the last 30 seconds of his time, he said, ¡§I don¡¦t think that there is anyone here who has what it takes to be a Marine. We are the best, and we only accept the best.¡¨ And with that, he marched off the stage. When it came time for the students to make their choice, guess which recruiter had the most to sign up? It was the marine. Why? Because he had appealed to their desire to belong to the best.
Did you know that if you have Jesus Christ as your savior, you are already a part of the greatest group on earth? You are a part of the church. I¡¦m not talking about the group that meets in Bridgeport High School at 10:45 on Sunday mornings. I¡¦m talking about the body of Christ that is composed of all Christians all over the world.
Being a part of this group carries certain benefits with it. It means that you are never alone in the work of God. Elijah, the prophet of God, complained because he felt like he was all alone. God revealed to him that there were still 7,000 in Israel that were faithful to God. Sometimes, when you are faithfully serving God, it¡¦s easy to get discouraged and feel like you are the only one. You¡¦re teaching that Sunday school class, or out in your neighborhood witnessing to friends and strangers, and you wonder, ¡§Am I the only one?¡¨ Take courage, at the same time that you are witnessing in your neighborhood, there is someone else that is witnessing to his friends, and there is someone else still that is praying for you both.
A couple of weeks ago, I got a call from the secretary of a church in Florida. She said that the ladies group of which she was a part was looking for a small church in West Virginia that they could be in prayer for and that someone had given her our name. She asked if it would be all right if they became our prayer partners. How do you think I answered her? We are not alone in the work of God! We are a part of the body of Christ!
Another benefit to being a part of this body is that no matter how small my contribution, it is still significant. There is no gift and no act of service that is so small that it cannot benefit the health of the whole body or so small that it goes unnoticed by God himself. Do you ever feel like your contribution is small? Maybe even so small that it¡¦s not even worth making the effort to give it. Do you remember hearing about the day that Jesus was standing outside the temple watching as people put their offerings in the bucket? Do you remember who¡¦s offering impressed Jesus? It wasn¡¦t the offerings of the rich who gave so much out of their surplus. It was the small offering of the widow who though she gave so little ¡V just two copper coins [pick up the jar of pennies that we are collecting for the building fund as you say this] ¡V she gave all that she had. Any gift, given out of love and given for God¡¦s glory has significant effects for Christ¡¦s body. Because as each part of the body gives its small part, the head of the body takes all those small parts and combines them all together to meet the needs of the body and to manifest God¡¦s presence in the world. In a couple of weeks, as we participate in the OnMissions Celebration, you will get to hear from some of the missionaries that your small offerings help to support. And you will see that God can take small things and make them work together to accomplish His marvelous plan.
We are a small church ¡V 50 people on a good Sunday. But we are a part of the Southern Baptist Convention that has several million members. And even more important than that, we are a part of the body of Christ ¡V billions of people who claim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
We are a part of something big. You are a part of something big. I am a part of something big. I am only a part (humbling), but I am a part (uplifting). [have them say this with you, maybe even have them say it to their neighbor] You get to be a part of God working out His plan on earth.
How can I get in on the action?
3. ¡Kthrough the work of God¡¦s Holy Spirit. ¡§baptized by one Spirit¡¨
The way that I can become a part of God¡¦s big plan for His creation is through a work of the Holy Spirit called the baptism of the Spirit. Like spiritual gifts, there has been a lot of confusion about the issue of the baptism of the Spirit. Some people say that is a second work that God¡¦s Spirit does on people once they reach a certain level of spiritual maturity. They say that the person who has experienced this work will show it by exercising the gift of tongues. And they say that it is something that all Christians should seek after because they can never experience the fullness that God has to offer without it.
Though this message is not strictly about the baptism of the Spirit, I feel that I need to at least discuss what this passage has to say about it so that we can understand what the baptism of the Spirit is all about and see who gets to enjoy it. Is it something that you can have for yourself today? Is it something that you have already experienced but just have not learned how to take advantage of? Let¡¦s take a look at verse 13 part by part so that we can have a better understanding of the whole unit.
„X ¡§we¡¨ ¡V Christians, specifically at this point, Paul and the Corinthian Christians. So in order to experience the baptism of the Holy Spirt, you have to be a Christian.
„X ¡§were¡¨ ¡V it is something that happened in the past. Then the question we must ask is when. The only way that Paul could with assurance say that all of them had been baptized in the past is if the baptism happened as a sure result of or at least at the same time as another event that he was sure of in their lives ¡V namely, their salvation. In other words, their Spirit baptism happened at the same time that they gave their heart and life to Jesus for Him to become the savior and lord of their lives.
„X ¡§all¡¨ ¡V not just some, not just the ones who had sought it or asked for it and not just the more spiritual ones. Paul doesn¡¦t say, ¡§All of use who were baptized¡¨. That would limit the size of the group that he was talking to. Some of the people that were included in this group were living very carnal, sinful lives. Look at 1 Corinthians 6:19 [read it]. Paul is talking there to Christians who had already received the Holy Spirit but were involved in sexual immorality.
„X ¡§baptized¡¨ ¡V the word that is translated ¡§baptized¡¨ here is actually the Greek word baptizo. It means ¡§to immerse¡¨. It¡¦s the same thing that you kids do to one another in the pool during the summer. You dunk one another. You immerse one another.
„X ¡§by¡¨ ¡V If you look at the word ¡§by¡¨ in your Bibles, you will probably see a letter or a number beside it. That letter or number is telling you to look for some kind of further explanation at the bottom of the page or in the margin. When you look there, you will discover that this word ¡§by¡¨ can also be translated ¡§with¡¨ or ¡§in¡¨. Well what¡¦s the difference whether we¡¦re baptized by the Spirit or in the Spirit or with the Spirit? The question is, who is doing the baptizing, and what substance are they baptized into? In Matthew 3:11, John the Baptist says that Jesus will baptize ¡§with¡¨ the Holy Spirit. Based on this, it is best to conclude that it is Christ who baptizes us with or in the Holy Spirit. Think of it this way. Just as I was baptized with water by a pastor, so I have been baptized with the Spirit by Jesus.
There are some differences between water baptism and Spirit baptism. Water baptism doesn¡¦t change anything. It just gets me wet. Spirit baptism changes everything because it makes me a part of the body of Christ. Water baptism is an outward show of what has already happened in my heart. Spirit baptism is an inward change that gives me gifts and empowers me to use them so that I outwardly show that God¡¦s Spirit is alive in me. Water baptism occurs at some point in time after salvation. Some of you have been saved for a long time but have not yet been baptized. But all of you, who have Jesus as your savior have been baptized by the Spirit because that event is simultaneous with your salvation. Water baptism is a matter of obedience. Spirit baptism happens whether you want it or not once you have said ¡§Yes¡¨ to Jesus¡¦ offer of salvation. There is no obedience involved. The Bible never commands for us to be baptized with the Spirit or even suggests that we should seek it. Why seek something that automatically happens as a result of salvation? And in water baptism, the water leaves you. You dry off after you get out of the baptismal or the river. In Spirit baptism, the Spirit stays with you forever. He clings to you for all time. You couldn¡¦t get rid of him even if you wanted to.
There¡¦s one more way that water baptism and Spirit baptism differ from one another. And I¡¦ll illustrate the difference by telling you about the time when I baptized Victoria. It was the first time that I had baptized someone. I was nervous. I was so nervous that I forgot to empty the pockets of my pants, so my wallet, my keys, my watch ¡V everything that I had on went into the water with me. Victoria came down the stairs opposite me, and she walked up to me. She was quite a bit smaller then than she is now, so she had to stand on a block at the bottom of the baptismal pool so that her head would stay above water. I had already instructed Victoria to keep her mouth closed, and to hold her breath while I held a handkerchief over her nose and mouth. The time came for me to put her under the water. When I leaned her back, Victoria¡¦s legs floated off of the block she had been standing on, and in her fear, she opened her mouth. Water went in, and Victoria came back up as quick as she could sputtering and choking all the way. Her body told her to get that water out. It didn¡¦t belong. The goal in any baptism is to get the person in the water without the water getting inside of the person.
And that is the final difference between water baptism and Spirit baptism. Look at the end of vs. 13. ¡§and we¡KSpirit to drink¡¨ As we are submersed into the Spirit, rather than keeping our mouths shut to try and keep the Spirit out, we open our mouths wide to let the Spirit come in and take over every corner of our lives. We not only get into the Spirit, but the Spirit gets into us. When Jesus first told His disciples about the Holy Spirit, He said that the Holy Spirit would be with them and would live inside of them. (John 14:17) He is not a foreign substance that will destroy us if we let Him take control. He is the one who can make us into exactly what God intended for us to be in the first place.
„X ¡§one Spirit¡¨ ¡V This action that Jesus Christ does puts us into the Spirit and puts the Spirit in us. And we all have to be immersed into and drink of one Spirit, the same Spirit. There is not more than one Spirit that will get you into the body of Christ. There is only one.
Some of the people of that day would have had a real problem with that. There was a lot of division and animosity between the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews considered themselves to be superior to the Gentiles or Greeks as they were also called. The Jews thought that the message of the Gospel was only for them, so they had a lot of problems accepting Gentiles as true converts. The whole incident recorded in Acts 10 where God commands Peter to go to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile Christian was about trying to bridge the gap between the two peoples. Here were people who had accepted Jesus Christ as savior and Lord, but they had not yet received the Holy Spirit. At least part of the reason that Cornelius and his household did not receive the Holy Spirit prior to the arrival of Peter was so that Peter could testify to the fact that the Gentile Christians received the same spirit and manifested it in the same way as the Jewish Christians had. There is one Spirit. And that Spirit¡¦s main job is to unite all Christians from different backgrounds and different lineage into one body.
„X ¡§one body¡¨ ¡V Paul was trying to communicate a message to them. He was telling them that there is not more than one body of Christ. Jesus Christ doesn¡¦t have a clone or a twin. There wasn¡¦t a Jewish body of Christ and a Greek body of Christ. There wasn¡¦t a slave body of Christ and a free body of Christ. There is one body of Christ composed of all believers held together by the Spirit of God working for one purpose under the direction of its one head, Jesus Christ.
And I think that God would like to communicate something to us too. New Life Baptist Church is not the body of Christ. We are a cell or a group of cells within that body. The churches of the Monongahela Baptist Association of which we are a part is not the body of Christ. The West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptists of which we are also a part is not the Body of Christ. The Southern Baptist Convention is not the body of Christ. All Baptists worldwide whether they be American Baptists, free-will Baptists, 7th-day Baptists or whatever other kind of Baptists there might be do not have exclusive right to call themselves the body of Christ. We can¡¦t say, ¡§We are the Baptist body of Christ. You guys over there are the Presbyterian body of Christ, or the Catholic body of Christ, or the black body of Christ, or the Vietnamese body of Christ.¡¨ NO! Christ has one body! ¡§It is a unit; it cannot be subdivided into several bodies. If it is divided, the part that is cut off ceases to function and dies, and the rest of the body loses some of its functions and effectiveness.¡¨ - MacArthur It is made up of all Christians regardless of what their differences may be. We all share in the same Spirit, we¡¦re all going to the same place. And we all have the same purpose ¡V winning people to Jesus and helping them to become like Jesus. ¡§Paul¡¦s central point in 1 Cor. 12:13 is that baptism with the one Spirit makes the church one Body.¡¨- MacArthur Isn¡¦t it a shame that the very thing that God gave us to unify the body ¡V namely, the baptism with the Spirit ¡V has become an issue that has torn the body apart.
CONCLUSION
In one of my favorite Peanuts cartoons, Lucy demands that Linus change TV channels and then threatens him with her fist if he doesn’t. "What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?" asks Linus. "These five fingers," says Lucy. "Individually they’re nothing but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold." "Which channel do you want?" asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, "Why can’t you guys get organized like that?" -- Bruce Shelley, What is the Church, p. 38.
Folks, there is something that is bigger than you and me and our petty differences. It is the plan of God for His universe and the body of Christ which He is using to accomplish His plan. God has called each of us to be a part of that body and to serve in that body with all the gifts and resources that God has given us. And He has given us the gift of His Spirit to mold us into one body so that we ¡V like Lucy¡¦s balled up fist ¡V can change the world that we live in rather than simply accepting the world as it is.
INVITATION
I would ask that everyone here bow your heads and close your eyes. I want to ask you several questions:
1. Are you a part of the body of Christ? If you have taken Jesus Christ as your savior and lord, then you are. But if you have never come to Jesus and sought His forgiveness for your sin and given Him control of your life, then you are still all alone, like a tiny one-celled amoeba, trying to eek out an existence but experiencing intense loneliness. You can become a part of the body today. You can take Jesus Christ as your Savior and have His Holy Spirit invade your life so that you will never be truly alone again.
2. Are you working with other believers to benefit the body? Some of you have been coming here for a while and have enjoyed the people and what this church has to offer, but you have never made it public that you want to become a member of this church. You agree with what we believe, you¡¦re willing to contribute your resources to the health of this part of Christ¡¦s body and you¡¦re willing to work together with us to help us fulfill God¡¦s big plan for mankind. Why not make that public today?
3. Have you been baptized? If you are a Christian, then you have been baptized with the Spirit, but you might never have been baptized with water to let it be known to all that you want Jesus Christ to be Lord of your life. Why not make that decision today?
