Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording, including sermon titles, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these sermons. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copied and/or quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
WORKING TOGETHER AS ONE BODY – Part II
(A continuation of teaching concerning the Body of Christ)
By Rev. James May
Last week we took a quick overview look at the Body of Christ as a universal worldwide body of Believers who have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and who are living for Jesus, and how that inside that body there are all sorts of divisions that are the result of men being used by Satan to make the church ineffective.
Even with all of its schisms and divisions, within the realm of the religious, there is a true church that forms the Body and Bride of Christ. These are the people who love Jesus, who fully trust in him, who have given their lives to him and who allow him to live in their hearts. This body of Believers is held together in common belief by the power of the Holy Spirit. The life that is in them comes from only one source, which is the Holy Spirit.
The Life of the Body of Christ comes from the Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Ghost for all of these refer to the same person of the Godhead.
Acts 17:28, "For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring."
The Head of the Body is the Lord Jesus Christ for it is the head that determines the identity of the body.
Take any picture (find or print a sample) and cover the head with your finger. In most instances the shape of the body can be only be identified as a specific person by those who know them well. Someone who is not so well acquainted will not know whose body it is. But, remove your finger and you will instantly be able to begin the true identification process by the appearance of the face and head. Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church, therefore through his identity we are known as the Body, or the Bride of Christ, because his mark is upon us.
Ephesians 5:23, "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body."
Every other part of the body of Christ falls under his Lordship and direction. God speaks through his Word and leads through his Spirit, to bring the entire body under obedience because the blood of Jesus has cleansed us from sin and set us free from the powers of darkness than held us within its dark grasp if we have accepted the Son of God as our Savior.
Under the Headship or Lordship of Jesus each member of the Body of Christ has a specific calling, duty and task to perform in service to the Lord under the direction of the Holy Spirit and in obedience to the Word of God.
Every member of this body, working together in unity, works to build the Kingdom of God and to bring forth fruit that worthy of our calling in God. All Christians, in every congregation around the world, are a part of this mighty army that is marching on to victory as the universal church, the first entity that we refer to as the Body of Christ.
**Now we will focus our attention to the second entity that is referred to as the Body of Christ**
Inside of and as a part of the universal Body of Christ are local congregations that are also referred to as the local Body of Christ or Body of Believers. This local body is called the Local Church and has been established as a method for training, teaching and working in the local area to build the Kingdom of God in the hearts of men.
Each local church, or body, is designed exactly the same as the whole body, only on a smaller scale where we can relate one to another and work together more closely to get the work done for the Lord.
The Head of the Local Church is still Jesus and the life of the local church is still the Holy Spirit.
Zechariah 4:6, "… Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts."
Psalms 127:1, “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."
Acts 2:46-47, "And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."
1 Corinthians 12:5-6, "And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all."
Thus we can see that there is but one head and one source of life. Without Jesus, there is no church per se. Without him no congregation of people can claim to be a real Christian church. Without Jesus, a congregation of people is nothing more than a crowd that is attempting to accomplish something through sheer will power and knowledge. That’s why so many churches fail, because there are a lot of people who will attempt to form their own ministry, their own church, without the direction of the Holy Spirit. They refuse to bow to the authority of leadership and thus place themselves in a position to disobey God and walk off into error.
So where do we all fit into this body? How does God bring us together to form a body that will accomplish the work that he wants us to do? How does the Holy Spirit work within the framework of the Body of Christ to bring about the will of the Father?
That’s where church government comes into the picture.
Ephesians 4:11-13, "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:"
God has foreordained that the church should operate as a body that performs under his direction through the 5-fold ministry that he appoints. He knows what we need and he knows what each member has to contribute to make the body perform correctly.
God establishes his various churches through the ministry of Apostles who go about planting churches around the world. These are the men and women of God who can’t sit in one place very long because there is a definite call upon their lives to continue to go to new places, with people of tongues that they cannot understand and who may even worship idol gods for the sole purpose of preaching the gospel in its simplicity and seeing a new Bible believing church planted.
He then appoints Prophets who will speak for the Lord through teaching and interpreting the Word of God along with occasional insights pertaining to future events that will affect the church.
He sends the Evangelist to preach the gospel that brings conviction upon lost souls so that they can hear of the Blood of Christ and surrender their lives to him, thus adding to the church all of those that the Spirit will draw.
Then the Holy Ghost places Pastors over each of those local churches that are established as a result of the work of the Apostles, Prophets and Evangelists. The Pastor’s job under the leading of the Lord and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, is to do everything in their power to keep the body together and acting as one in unity, helping to heal sores that pop up in the body, taking care of hurting members, ministering daily to the spiritual needs of the congregation, keeping it clean from sin, and gently leading the way to righteousness through the Word of God.
It is the duty of the Pastor to guard the flock, warn the flock, protect the church and see that it operates under and according to the will of God while the church moves in the direction that God would have it to go.
Then he brings the Teachers who begin to expound and explain the Word of God so that the body can gain strength and in knowledge of God’s ways.
We must realize that any of us can be used in any of these callings, or in any combination of these callings as the Lord wills. A Pastor can be an Apostle when he preaches and helps to establish new churches. A Prophet can become a Teacher by standing and explaining the Word of the Lord. A Pastor can be a Teacher or an Evangelist at times. In other words we move in and out of these callings as God gives direction. Of course there are basic callings of God to be a Pastor or a Teacher or an Evangelist or any other calling.
Within the local church there is also established a ministry of “helps”.
1 Corinthians 12:28, "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues."
The vast majority of those who are members of the Body of Christ fall into the category of helps. Without the Helps ministries, the Body will crumble and die. Without the helps ministry, the work of Apostles, Pastors, Prophets, Teachers and Evangelists can greatly hindered and made almost completely ineffective. Without the Helps ministries there can be no effective local church. I thank God for those of this church who are involved in the ministry of Helps. Without your Help there would be no Helps.
What are the “Helps” ministries? That can be anything that needs to be done in the church to form an infrastructure that will make the church operate efficiently and effectively such as being a prayer warrior, church secretarial work, record keeping, cleaning the floors, making the sound equipment work, keeping the outside clean and neat, getting water for those who need it, making phone calls to encourage those who are sick or having problems (but not gossiping), babysitting in the nursery, straightening chairs or pews, doing the necessary shopping for supplies, or any one of a host of other jobs. A lot of people are involved in helps and don’t ever receive much recognition but where would we be without them?
Acts 6:2-4, "Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word."
All of those chosen were to be involved in ministries of “helps” so that those who are chosen to be in full-time ministry and preaching of the word, who are part of that 5-fold ministry, may devote most of their available time to study, prayer and ministry to the Body of Christ as a whole.
Now I want to shift into a different vein of thought as far as the local body is concerned. We have seen and read that when it is operating perfectly, the body is one entity with many parts and all of its parts working together in unity.
Ephesians 4:16, "From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."
With this thought in mind I want us to see that there is no part that is unimportant. Each of us has our own special anointing, our own special calling, and our own job to do, and these are based upon God’s knowledge of our abilities, desires and skills. God is the one who puts the body together and assigns the work to be done. He often uses other people to help us find that place in the Body where we can best work to accomplish his will.
We have already spoken concerning the divisions that have come about in the Universal Body of Christ. These divisions are a hindrance and a detriment to the ultimate growth and well being of the entire body. Even so, the Church continues to move on in victory for God has promised that his church would never be defeated. Satan would love nothing less than to utterly destroy the Bride of Christ, which is the church. He will do everything in his power to weaken that Body, kill that Body or to steal its effectiveness.
Matthew 16:18, "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Jesus established his church upon the fact of his own shed blood. It was the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ that created the gospel of salvation and sparked the formation of the Church of Jesus Christ, thus forming the early church. From this small body of Believers has come the worldwide church that exists today.
The Universal Church will never be overcome or destroyed for Jesus has promised that hell shall not defeat it. The same promise holds true to each local Body of Christ, each Local Church, as long as that church or body stays under the lordship of Jesus Christ and allows the Holy Spirit to guide and the Word of the Lord to come forth in truth and power.
Satan continues to attempt to prevail against the Universal Body of Christ but he is never going to succeed totally. He will likely claim to have done so during the Great Tribulation when he comes against the Body of Christ in all his fury. God will finally take every Child of God out of the earth just before the end and, at that moment, Satan will likely claim a short-lived victory.
We see all of those who were saved during that time in Heaven with Jesus in Revelation 20:4, "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."
While Satan will never destroy the Universal Body of Christ he has succeeded quite often in destroying local churches or local congregations. Who can deny the vast number of churches that have had to close their doors because of Satan’s attacks and the impact that this has had upon the growth of Christianity? I wonder how many souls are in hell today because God’s own people allowed the enemy to destroy their testimony through church fights and splits? I wonder how much ministry has suffered because of our divisions and disagreements?
There is no one who has been in the church for long who has not seen the hand of the enemy at work. The saddest part of it all is that it is often those who are members of that body, people who really love Jesus, who are inadvertently used as tools of the devil to hinder God’s work and grieve the Holy Spirit.
So, in closing this session, let me say that our local church is a part of the Body of Christ, and at the same time, we are the local Body of Christ. As a part of the whole we have a function to fulfill. We may not be “comely part” right now but we are still necessary for the Work of the Lord.
Just look at how many people call this their church home, whether they come here regularly or not, they still look to Victory Temple as their connection to the presence of the Lord. Where would they be without us? What church would they turn to then?
There are people in this church and connected to this church who would likely never go to another church. We are their only hope. Each one of them represents a lost soul. That makes us a very necessary part of the whole Body of Christ.
As a local Body of Christ we have had our times of sickness and health, spiritually speaking. Next week we will continue with this study to examine the condition of the local body, what affects its health and how God moves to heal.
