Nobody Is A Nobody In The Body Of Christ Series

1 Corinthians

Nobody is a Nobody in the Body of Christ

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

May 25, 2003

Intro:

A. [illustration]

Imagine the Master Carpenter’s tools holding a conference:

Brother Hammer presides, but several suggest he leave the meeting because he is too noisy.

Brother Hammer replies, “If I have to leave this shop, Brother Screw must go also. You have to turn him around again and again to get him to accomplish anything.”

Brother Screw speaks up. “If you wish, I’ll leave. But Brother Plane must leave, too. All his work is on the surface. His efforts have no depth.”

To this, Brother Plane responds, “Brother Rule will also have to withdraw, for he is always measuring folks as though he were the only one who is right.”

Brother Rule then complains about Brother Sandpaper: “He ought to leave, too, because he’s so rough and always rubbing people the wrong way.

And so goes the discord.

In the midst of all this discussion, in walks the Carpenter of Nazareth.

He has arrived to start his day’s work.

Putting on his apron, he goes to the bench to make a pulpit from which to proclaim the gospel.

He uses Brothers Hammer, Screw, Plane, Rule, Sandpaper, and all the other tools.

After the day’s work, when the pulpit is finished, Brother Saw arises and remarks, “Brethren, I observe that all of us are workers together with the Lord.”

B. Brothers and Sisters of Somerset, I am here today to say, “Nobody is a nobody in the body of Christ!” (Say it with me.)

I. Everybody is important because we are all part of the body of Christ

1 Corinthians 12:12-13 (NIV), The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

A. Our bodies have many members.

1. God has created some wonderful bodies.

2. Our physical bodies are the most wonderful creation on the planet.

3. One of the many wonderful things about our bodies is that they have many significant members.

4. Our mouths, our eyes, our teeth, our toenails, our knees, and our hair are all members of one body.

5. We don’t have more than one body (although I know most of us wish we had another one!).

6. We only have one body that is made up of many, many members.

B. And the body of Christ has many members.

1. We are all members of Christ’s body.

2. We are all members of Christ’s church.

3. All those many, many people who are saved are members of Christ’s body.

4. Paul also wrote in Romans 12:4-5, "Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others."

5. Then skipping down to verse 27 of our text in 1 Corinthians 12 says, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”

6. Paul says that just as our physical bodies have many members that form just one body, so the many people who are saved are all members of Christ’s body: the church.

C. In verse 13 Paul says that we are one because we are baptized by one Spirit.

1. The HS has made us one body.

2. If we are saved, we are members of the body of Christ.

3. If we are saved, we are included—no one is excluded.

4. The HS has united us in the body of Christ just like all of the parts of our bodies have been united to form one body.

D. Say it with me: “Nobody is a nobody in the body of Christ!”

E. Everyone is important because we are all part of the body of Christ!

II. Everybody is important because we are different.

1 Corinthians 12:14-20 (NIV), Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.