Building A Better Body Series

BETTER BODY BUILDING INTRO part 1

Can you believe that we are headed for the holiday season already? Very soon we will be looking at celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas and it will be another new year. I am praying that 2009 will be a year when we see great growth and decisions as we have the latter part of this year. Next week we will have a guest speaker as our missionary host from Haiti will bring us a message, and the following week we will have our Thanksgiving dinner and service, then the following week we will be starting a 4 week series for Christmas, and our New Year’s sermon and then we have a five week slot before REVIVAL! This morning I am going to introduce a series of sermon’s I am working on for that five week slot. Inspired by my most recent excursion to get in shape, I am calling this series “Better Body Building.” I see that many people in our country and perhaps in the world, pledge to “get in shape” at the first of the year, and I think we as the Body of Christ, should build a better body as well. The benefits of getting our physical body in shape are easy to see, the benefits of getting the body of Christ in shape may be a little more difficult to see, and yet, they are equally important. Let’s face it, we get our bodies in shape because; we want to live longer, feel better, do more, look better, grow in proper proportion, and be healthy. The body of Christ is no different, we as Christ’s bride should want to live forever, (as churches across our country are dying everyday). We should want feel better, this is our FAMILY.

We should want to do more, a church that is not DOING is DYING. We should want to look better, the world will judge us on what they see. We need to grow in proper proportion, meaning we cannot succeed with 300 people in church and 50 doing all the work. AND we want to be healthy, that is being God’s church not our country club. This morning I want to show you why we are a body that needs to get in shape, and why we need to “Build a Better Body”

Turn with me this morning to 1 Cor. 12 we are looking at a lot of scripture here so keep your finger in your Bible as we go through God’s Word this morning, first let us look at verses 12-14.1 Cor 12:12-14 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. 14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.

We are a UNIT of many parts, but together we are powerful.

In a Peanuts cartoon, 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 are nothing, but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold." "What channel do you want?" asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, "Why can’t you guys get organized like that?"

WHY? Indeed, why can the church not get organized into the powerful unit that God intended it to be? Part of the answer to that question has been addressed in weeks gone by. We have looked at the fact that many Christians have made a decision to follow Christ and be a part of the church, BUT they have not made a commitment to that decision. Building a Better Body will take a commitment. Another reason that the church is not nearly as powerful as it should be is because we spend a great deal of time making false judgments about each other. We as God’s children have no business passing judgement on those outside the church as the scripture tells us and we are to be careful how we pass judgement on those inside the church family as well.

Two taxidermists stopped in front of a window where an owl was on display. They immediately began to criticize the way it was mounted. Its eyes were not natural; its wings were not in proportion with its head; its feathers were not neatly arranged; and its feet could be improved. Just when they had finished with their criticism, the owl turned his head...and blinked. It’s easier to be critical than correct.