They say that strengthening your core… that is your stomach muscles, your pelvic muscles, your back muscles can lead to a lot of incredible benefits.
Improved Posture and Reduced Back Pain, Enhanced Balance and Stability, Improved Coordination and Agility, Reduced Risk of Falls, Enhanced Breathing Efficiency, Improved Digestion, Reduced Stress on Other Body Systems, and Improved Mental Well-being.
Strengthening your core is vital for your body to function at a higher level. The same is true of the body of Christ. If the body of Christ… us… are to function like we should… then we too need to strengthen our core.
We began a new series last Sunday called, “At the Core”. And for the next several weeks, we will be going through each of our Core Values that are posted on the wall as you walk out of this room.
Last week, we discussed how the Bible is the absolute standard of truth. Today, we are going to take a look at how we are the body of Christ.
How many of you have have that one friend who’s super into DIY projects? They watch one YouTube video on home improvement and suddenly they’re Chip and Joanna Gaines.
I remember when I preached in North Vernon… there was one weekend, a lot of church friends decided to build a ramp and a deck for someone in our community who desperately needed one.
They asked me if I wanted to “help”. Apparently “help” meant I was supposed to bring tools and know what a joist was. The only joist I knew of was Joyce (Joist) DeWitt of Three’s Company.
Anyway, I showed up with a small bag of tools, a large bag of chips for the pitch-in lunch, and moral support.
I’m not kidding you… Everybody else who was there… looked like they were in a Lowe’s commercial… Tool belts, gloves, tape measures hanging from their hip.
They’re all yelling out measurements and carpenter terms like, “Cut that 2x4 at 45 degrees!” “Make sure that’s flush!” (the only thing I new to flush was in my bathroom)
“Let’s just rip that down the center and we’ll be fine.” “Make sure it’s plum”
And I’m standing there holding a hammer like,
“Uh… Can I just pray for the wood?”
By the end, they had a beautiful ramp and a deck.
I had a sunburn, a splinter, and a newfound respect for Do it Yourself-ers who know what they are doing.
And sometimes life feels like that… everyone else seems to know what they’re doing, and you’re just standing there with an Ikea tape measure.
But here’s the deal… God can still build something solid with people who just show up. God can do something with people who just want to belong.
And I think most everyone, wants to belong….
There’s something deeply human about wanting to belong.
You see it in a family gathering, on a sports team, or even in a group project… people want to be part of something bigger than themselves.
But what’s different about the Church is who we belong to.
We don’t just belong to a club, or a cause, or a crowd…
We belong to Jesus Christ Himself.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:27,
All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.
That means we are not just like His body…it means we are His body… we are His presence on earth.
Where His hands once touched the sick, now ours reach out.
Where His feet once carried the Good News, now ours go.
Where His heart once broke for the lost, now ours must break too.
We are the body of Christ. And I think there are a few things that are true… or at least should be true about the body that we are a part of. Here is truth number 1.
1. We are united in one body.
1 Corinthians 12:12–13
The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. 13 Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles,[e] some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit
Paul reminds the Corinthian church that unity isn’t based on sameness…it’s based on the Spirit. We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body… Jew or Gentile, slave or free.
In today’s terms: rich or poor, young or old, black or white, Republican or Democrat, traditional or contemporary… in Jesus Christ, we are one.
Because here’s the deal… The Spirit doesn’t erase our differences; He redeems them. He brings harmony out of diversity. He creates unity in mission, unity in vision, and unity in love.
While I was on sabbatical, I met a good friend of mine in Louisville one evening and we went to hear a jazz band. I’d never done that before and I was looking forward to it.
He invited me and paid for my ticket. So… I thought… why not. Sounds fun!
We had great seats right up front. We got there really early because my friend was friends with several of the musicians. And I met some really great musicians and some pretty cool folks.
But the one thing about getting to a jazz band concert early is… you have to hear the musicians warm up and tune up.
You ever heard that before? Trombones, trumpets, French horns, tubas… so on and so forth… all tuning and playing something different at the same time.
You know what it sounds like to me? It sounds like every instrument, got into an argument with each other, all at the same time. It sounds like a flock of dying ducks and geese.
But when the show started and the band leader stepped to the front… and they started playing… it was incredible.
When all the different instruments follow the same conductor, the result is something beautiful and it was enjoyable… and it was a great place to be.
That’s the Church when we follow the Spirit’s lead.
You see… what was happening in the Corinthian Church was that they were putting way too much emphasis on the gift of speaking in tongues.
So he includes in his letter to the church a list of all these gifts and he puts tongues way down at the bottom of the list. But he starts out by saying…
Listen… your skin might be a different color than someone else in the church, your language may be completely different than others in the church, your social status may be different than others in the church…
But when you were baptized into Christ, you were filled with the Holy Spirit and that has united all of us in Christ Jesus.
We are all on the same team and should be pulling in the same direction because we are unified into one body. Could you imagine what would happen if… when you take off walking… and your feet are going one way but your upper body decides it wants to go some place else? That doesn’t happen… usually. The body is all connected together in unity.
Now… while we are all unified in Christ… we are different in our giftedness.
2. We are diverse in our gifts
Look at verse 14-20…
Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. 15 If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?
18 But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. 19 How strange a body would be if it had only one part! 20 Yes, there are many parts, but only one body.
Imagine your hand refusing to work because it isn’t the eye. It says… “I want to be able to see and I can’t… and because of that… I’m just not going to work at all.”
That sounds ridiculous… but that’s what happens when believers disengage. The Church is handicapped when its members don’t serve.
Or to be more politically correct, we are servant-challenged, when we don’t use our gifts for the good of the church?
And some people think… “well, my part isn’t that big a deal. Nobody will ever miss it if I don’t serve where I’m gifted. No one sees it anyway.”
Well… number one, we don’t serve to be seen. And number 2 God always sees what you’re doing. Jesus says this in Matthew 6:4
Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.
You might think you don’t have a gift of any kind but you do. God has gifted each of us with the ability to do something for Him. Earlier in this same chapter Paul said…
A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 1 Corinthians 12:7
Peter wrote this in his first letter.
God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 1 Peter 4:10
So, what’s your part?
What has God placed in you for the good of the body? You might say… I don’t know.
Let’s figure this out together. Ask yourself some questions. What activities bring you the most joy?
• What tasks do you enjoy doing, even if they are challenging?
• What kind of needs or problems do you feel a strong burden to address?
• What kind of activities have a positive spiritual effect on you and others?
Maybe you can ask yourself these questions based on your experiences.
• What are your earliest memories of God?
• Which characters or stories in scripture resonate most with you?
• What is a story from your life that feels like it represents your essence?
• Who is your spiritual hero or role model, and why?
Or maybe answer these questions about serving others.
• What are the needs you see in your church or community that you feel equipped to help meet?
• What can you do that encourages others and helps them grow in their faith?
• Do you have a natural inclination to help others in practical ways, offer words of encouragement, or lead?
• Are you alert to when others might be struggling and feel a pull to help them?
And then I think there comes a point where you just get really practical and get busy doing something.
• Serve: Actively get involved in different roles and ministries within your church or community to see what fits.
• Seek feedback: Talk to trusted friends and spiritual leaders about what they observe.
• Pray: Ask God for clarity and guidance in identifying your gifts.
• Observe and reflect: Spend time reflecting on your experiences to see God's hand at work in your life
We are unified into one body… but this room is filled with so many diverse gifts… and if they are not being used… then the body suffers.
The next thing that I think Paul is saying is that… wea are to care for one another.
3. We care for one another
Look at verses 25-26…
This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. 26 If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.
In the body of Christ, we don’t compete… we care.
We don’t criticize… we encourage.
We don’t tear down… we build up.
We don’t ignore pain… we enter in.
If someone in the body is hurting, the whole body feels it.
When a brother or sister rejoices, we all celebrate.
That’s what family looks like.
That’s what the body looks like.
I can’t tell you the number of times I have reached into the refrigerator… down low or toward the back… and stand up and crack my head coming out. Anybody here a part of this special club?
And you know what happens? My whole body reacts.
My hands reach up and grab my head, my face winces, my voice cries out.
Why? Because pain in one part affects the whole.
So it should be in the Church.
We can’t be indifferent to each other.
The watching world should see a love among believers that can only be explained by Jesus.
Herb Miller, in his book, “Actions Speak Louder than Verbs” writes…
"The intensive care waiting room is a different world. No one is a stranger. They help one another. They grieve with one another and shed tears of joy together. There is no distinction of race or class. Vanity and pretense vanish. Everything focuses on the next doctor’s report or the next telephone call. Here in this anxious stillness it becomes clear that loving someone else is what life is all about. Why does it take the intensive care waiting room to teach us to forget our irritations and love one another?"
We as a church cannot live insulated lives and pass by on the other side of the road when we see someone hurting… especially those within the body.
And then we are also to do that outside the body as well because Paul tells us finally in verse 27…
4. We represent Jesus to the world.
Verse 27
All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.
Jesus is the Head… and we are His hands and feet.
That means the world sees Christ through us.
When the Church forgives, the world sees His mercy.
When the Church serves, the world sees His humility.
When the Church loves, the world sees His heart.
We are not the replacement of Christ… we are His representation.
We carry His mission forward until He returns.
There was a song written years ago by Roger Bennett that asks the question…
When the world looks at me, do they see Jesus?
When the world looks at me, what do they see?
Do they see hope, do they see love, do they see charity?
When the world looks at me what do they see?
If we are doing a good job of representing Jesus in this world, then people will be attracted to that. If we are not doing a good job… they will be turned off very quickly.
We are the Body of Christ. United by His Spirit. Empowered by His gifts. Bound by His love. And sent by His command.
Let’s be a Church that moves in harmony with its Head.
Let’s be His hands to serve, His feet to go, His heart to love.
Let’s start living like what we are… the Body of Christ.
Ask yourself this week:
• Where am I disconnected from the body?
• How can I use my gifts to serve others?
• Who in the body needs my care right now?
Because when we move together under the direction of Jesus Christ… the Head, there’s no limit to what His body can do.
And maybe you’re here today and you just don’t feel like you are connected to the body. First of all… I would encouraged you to confess Jesus ( if you haven’t already), repent of your sins and be baptized. That’s where it starts.
If you’ve already done that, maybe you need to get connected here to the ECC family through church membership… now is a good time for that as well.
Or maybe you’ve been here for awhile, and you’re just not quite sure where or how to serve. Would you pray about that? If you’d like to set up a time to talk about that… contact me, I’d love to help you figure that out.
Whatever your need, come as we stand and sing this song of decision. Let’s pray!
