Don’t Leave Anybody Out

“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 thee.”

Introduction

Most of us are familiar with the story of the ugly duckling that, though ridiculed, thought of as being very insignificant among the other little ducks, persecuted for being so unattractive and simply kicked to the curb; who eventually grew into a beautiful swan don’t you? But what are we to do when we are all grown up and still find ourselves treated this way, and worst we are treated this way as a member of God’s Church and the body of Christ. I heard somebody say that one of the worst hurts you could ever feel is that of church hurt.

The writer and author, Nina M. Thompson has even written a book about it entitled, “Church Hurt Ain’t No Joke” and she talks about those of us who have a strong desire to follow God but have gotten deeply hurt on the way to the altar. I used to love to hear the late great Rev. Dr. C. A. W. Clark of Dallas, Texas with his fragile yet strong voice admonish every one who would listen to not count anybody out—but sadly in our Churches today we are doing just that, can you believe it is happening in God’s house? I can’t, but yet it is.

Although we serve a God who is no respecter of person, we sure are! Sadly, we have come to accept that this is the way church is. There is an epidemic of fractured believers out there and we have actually come to accept this as the norm. So we either stay away or let our hearts become cold … or we put on our Sunday best, put our best foot forward and then call out to ourselves “forward march” and we prepare to endure the rolling of eyes and the fiery tongues of some misguided brother or sister who really should know better, in order that we not forsake the assembly as we have been taught through the years. However, God has given us instruction on how to live and work with our fellow Christians, and what He says in His word concerning this subject is just as binding and just as necessary as any other subject that can be taught from His word. We should treat each other like family because we are family, the attitudes we should have toward one another as we live and work together for the cause of the body of Christ, which is the Church is laid out very clearly in God’s Word.

In the text, Paul uses his imagination in regards to the body of Christ and he attempts to settle an argument between the eye and the hand. I believe that he calls upon us to use our imagination as well if but for a moment. Imagine if you will, that you hear the eye belittling the hand, the eye looks down at the hand and says, “you are sooo insignificant” in a sarcastic voice it continues to say, “Just look at you dangling at the end of the arm, I don’t need you!” Have you ever heard somebody say, “I don’t need you?” Anybody who says I don’t need actually exposes the fact that they are the ones who desperately needs somebody.

We are all bound together in the bundle of life, we have an inter-dependency that ties us together and the truth is I need you and you need me! “Strangely enough, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be…” a wise quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. But yet, there are a few saints who will not accept everyone as their equal even in the house of God, Paul says, we are “…many members, yet but one body” that’s just how close we are or at least should be.

1.) We Are Many Members

We are many members, but one body and all do not have the same function. Guess what? God purposely made it that way, and Paul had to continually write the Corinthian church to remind them of what God said concerning the Church. Corinth had its backdoor problems. Many problems come in at the back door as an individual enters the church. They bring their false ideas, customs, etc. The rich want all to act like rich folks; the poor, like the poor; businessmen.... wanted to be recognize as businessmen, and politician as politicians, etc. Paul had his work cut out for him when it came to the Corinthian church. They had a deep problem of getting along with the brethren (1 Corinthian 6: 1 – 8). They were still babes in Christ, and they forced Paul to take on the role of a spiritual babysitter. Do you realize how difficult it is to get grown-ups who act like children to start acting like adults again?