In I Corinthians 12 Paul compares the church to a body. I want to use the body as a teaching point to teach the benefits of a church family.
1. My church family provides a team to work with. A Christian is not a lone ranger. We need a team to support us. A team is a unit working together. Paul compares the church to a body. Some members are arms. Some members are legs. Some members are hearts. My church family provides a unit that I can work with to make me a stronger person.
I saw an acrostic this week that illustrates this point.
T= Together
E= Each
A= Accomplishes
M= More
Illustration: In what the news called "The Miracle at Quecreek," nine miners trapped for three days 240 feet underground in a water-filled mine shaft "decided early on they were either going to live or die as a group." The 55 degree (Fahrenheit) water threatened to kill them slowly by hypothermia, so according to one news report "When one would get cold, the other eight would huddle around the person and warm that person, and when another person got cold, the favor was returned." "Everybody had strong moments," miner Harry B. Mayhugh told reporters after being released from Somerset Hospital in Somerset. "But any certain time maybe one guy got down, and then the rest pulled together. And then that guy would get back up, and maybe someone else would feel a little weaker, but it was a team effort. That’s the only way it could have been." They faced incredibly hostile conditions together—and they all came out alive together. What a picture of the body of Christ. (SOURCE: Bill White, Paramount, California; Citation: adapted from "Teamwork Helped Miners Survive Underground," CNN.com (7-28-02) from preachingtoday.com. Quoted in "Living The Call" by Joel Smith on www.sermoncentral.com.Contributed by: SermonCentral PRO)
A team requires dependability in its members. Paul compares the church to a body. What happens when some parts of the body do not function? Several years ago, in a church I was serving, a senior adult man had a serious surgery. After the surgery was completed, this man’s kidneys would not wake up. There were several days when his situation was critical. I believe you would agree, kidneys are vital to body function. That is true of the church. Every member must be dependable.
Illustration: I picked up a church newsletter some time ago that had an article about faithfulness and dependability. It asked the following questions.
• If your car starts one time out of three, do you consider it dependable?
• If the paper carrier skips the Monday and Thursday editions, would they be missed?
• If you fail to come to work two or three times a month, would your boss call you a dependable worker?
• If your refrigerator quits for a day now and then, do you excuse it and say, “But it works most of the time?”
• If your water heater greets you with cold water one or two mornings a week, would you be understanding?
• If you miss a couple of mortgage payments in a year’s time, would your banker say, “Oh, well, ten out of twelve isn’t bad?”
We expect faithfulness and dependability. That should also be true in the church. Many people want to attend church without any demands. The Bible teaches that we have gifts, abilities, and passions that other people need from us.
2. My church family gives me a place to belong. In our vision we refer to a place for family. That refers to a father, mother, and children; however, it is deeper than that. We want to give people a place to belong, a sense of roots! When you have that kind of environment it meets two basic needs of mankind.
When you have a place to belong you have a place where you feel as if you are “important.” Notice verses 15-19. “If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be?”
Illustration: There is a television commercial that speaks to this need. The setting for this commercial is a high school prom. The master of ceremonies announces that it is time to crown a prom queen. You can sense that everyone is excited about the announcement. The master of ceremonies announces the name of the winner. A young lady steps to the front. You are expecting a knock you dead gorgeous beauty queen to step forward. Instead, a young lady who, by appearances, has a physical problem steps to the front to be crowed prom queen. The message of the commercial is to promote human dignity. Everyone is a winner.
That is one of the things I appreciate about the “Upward” sports program. It emphasizes the value of every child. Sometimes children get lost in the shuffle in our sports programs. It is hard to strike a good balance between competition and building people.
That should be the goal of the church. It should be our goal to let every individual know that God loves them and that they are special in his eyes. The heart is vital to the human body. The kidneys are vital to the human body. The lungs are vital to the human body. Even so, people should understand that they are vital to God’s body and that God loves them. Jesus reached out to people who, by societies standards. were losers and made them winners.
Everyone has a need to feel appreciated. Notice verses 23-24 “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, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it.”
In the church there should be a healthy dose of appreciation among the members.
- The senior adults should appreciate the youth and the youth should appreciate the senior adults.
- The singles should appreciate those who are married and the married should appreciate those who are single.
- The new people should appreciate those members who have been here longer and those who have been here longer should appreciate the new people.
- Those who are carrying the work load should appreciate those who are developing and those who are developing should appreciate those who are the developmental stage.
- The traditional people should appreciate the contemporary people and the contemporary people should appreciate the traditional people.
- The perfectionist should appreciate those who are laid back and the laid back should appreciate those who are perfectionist.
You may think me to be a starry eyed dreamer, with my church vision. To me, this is what a church should be. It gives people a place to belong. It gives people a spiritual family.
3. My church family gives me love. In I Cor. 12 Paul deals with a subject that was troubling the church. The subject was spiritual gifts. There was division, confusion, and controversy surrounding the subject. Paul follows up chapter 12, a chapter about controversy, with a chapter about love. It’s as if Paul is saying, when you cannot agree, when you cannot find answers, when things are tense, let love be your guide. In my new member class I discuss our belief system. I explain that Baptist beliefs are like an umbrella. There is room for several people under the same umbrella. The umbrella represents our core beliefs. There is room for variation in our interpretation of many doctrines. The core doctrines (the umbrella) there is no option.
- Salvation comes by faith in Jesus Christ.
- The Bible is the word of God.
However, there are interpretations of doctrines that allow room for variation.
- The second coming of Christ
- The method of inspiration of scripture
The underlying premise of I Cor. 13 is that love overcomes the obstacles that separate us. Love covers our differences.
A. Love succeeds when all else fails. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing." (I Cor. 13:1-4)
Love succeeds when prophecy fails. Love succeeds when faith fails. Love succeeds when benevolence fails. Love succeeds when confusion over gifts fails.
B. Love endures all difficulties. "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.Love never fails." (I Cor. 13:4-8)
C. Love overcomes all short-comings. "But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." (I Cor 13:8-13)
My church family provides a team to work with, a place to belong, and love. That is worth the investment.
