An Undivided House
1 Corinthians 12:12-27
April 23, 2006
Morning Service
Introduction
The year was 1858 and the newly formed Republican Party was seeking a nominee for the senate from the state of Illinois. They chose a young lawyer, who had some limited politcal experience, to run for the position. You’ve likely heard of him, it was Abraham Lincoln. During his acceptance speech for the nomination, Lincoln made an appeal to change the status quo of the practice of popular sovereignty. This allowed half of the country to exist as slave states and the other half to be free states.
The words that Lincoln used that day still hold essential truths to them. “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.”
The greatest problem of the Lincoln’s day was division. Has our society changed that a great deal since then, no. We see division in all levels of society.
• Politcal division runs deep even among members of the same party
• Issues of moral, ehtical and political importance divide our nation - (Abortion, war and homosexuality)
• Families are divided by problems and dilemmas
• Churches are divided over minor issues that hold no importance to the Kingdom of God
Is this really anything new? Absolutely not!
• The Israelites were divided theologically and spiritually by the creation of the Golden Calf
• The nation of Israel was divided into two Kingdoms - Northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Both were eventually conquered
• The people continually proved disloyal to God and often abused the Prophets
• The apostles argued constantly over issues that proved to be pointless
• The early church saw various divisions over doctrine and practice in the church
When I was young a neighbor caught two cats and decided to see what happened if their tails were tied together. Those cats were united but trust me there was no unity. They were fighting, scratching and clawing just to get loose form that rope.
Division is nothing new in the fabric of society or to the life of the church. One of the greatest problems facing the church today is division. Division is one of the most effective ways Satan has to make the church ineffective. Jesus is glorified and honored by a church only when they complete His plan as one body. This morning, I want to look at the words of Paul on the issue of the church being the Body of Christ. Open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 12:12-27
12 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. 15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don’t need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don’t need you!" 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
I. Every Christian is part of the Body of Christ (12-13)
Paul makes an emphasis on one in these verses. The word one appears four times making two important distinctions: one body and one spirit.
One in Action
The church is meant to be one in action. We are meant to work together to accomplish the work Christ has for us. When you choose not to be involved in the ministry of the church, and it is a choice, it has a crippling effect on the church body. What would happen if a person’s leg stopped functioning? What would happen if a person’s arm refused to work? The same thing happens to the church when you refuse to commit to serve.
When you refuse to serve in the church, you are saying that you do not care if you hurt Jesus or not. When you refuse to get involved you don’t hurt me, you don’t hurt the church board or the ministry directors, and you don’t hurt the person down the pew. There are always two people who get hurt when you don’t serve: yourself and Christ. When you do this, you might as well,slap Jesus in the face.
One in Attitude
The church is meant to be one in attitude. The attitude is an outward expression of an inner reality. We are meant to live with one heart and one mind. The Spirit works through the heart to unite the church in spiritual matters. The Spirit also works through the mind to help the church to remain the same in their thinking. What I mean by this is that the Spirit helps the church remain on the same page together.
This church has been blessed with an amazing piano. It is an incredible instrument but needs to be tuned regualarly. The piano tuner uses a tool to provide the correct pitch and sound to make sure the instrument is in tune. Then the piano can then keep everyone on the same tune. The same is true of heart of the church, only when we have our hearts in tune with the heart of Christ can there be true harmony.
You have a role to fill, are you on the team?
II. The church is meant to have diversity without division (14-20)
Our church, like the early church, is filled with diversity. Paul uses the example of the human body reveals the nature of the church. Just as the human body has a variety of organs or parts that perform a variety of vital functions, the church too thrives on variety.
Christ uses different kinds of people with different kinds of gifts for different kinds of work. The reality is that not everything can be accomplished by one person in a church or even one group of people in the church. Every person has a part in the church.
My sister used to do a lot of puzzles when we were growing up and I have to admit, I hate puzzles. Every so often I would pretend to help my sister with one of her puzzles and hide one of the pieces. Just one so that nothing looked out of place. There is nothing more frustrating than having a puzzle almost completed and not having that last piece. When you do not step up and become a part of the church, you are hiding a piece from the picture Christ is creating here in our church.
We are not all life long Wesleyans. There are many in this church who come from different church backgrounds. There are those who were Baptist, Methodist, Nazarene, Pentecostal, Church of Christ, and Catholic. The key word there is were because now we are part of this church.
We do not all have the same gifts because Christ uses our diversity to accomplish His work.
• There are some who are gifted in the area of music
• There are some who are gifted in the area of hospitality
• There are some who are the area of craftsmanship
• There are some who are gifted in the area of evangelism
• There are some who are gifted in the area of administration, teaching, faith, encouragement, intercession or even service
The church can only become what Christ means for it to become when every person gets into the work and fulfills their role.
You have a part to play, are you on the team?
III. Every person is important to the church (21-26)
Every person matters to the church
There is no such thing as solitary Christianity - John Wesley
Take just a moment, look around the santuary, every person that you see in these pews is needed in tis church. Every person that you see is significant to God and is important to the church. Therefore, they need to be important to you.
No one is any more or less important than anyone else in this church. Look at the prhase Paul uses in these verses: "I don’t need you!" There may be more visible roles or roles with more responsibility but none are more important than the other because all are needed. We need you and you need us.
We need to remember that there is no such thing as an insignificant child of God.
Every task matters in the church
There are a great many tasks in this church that go unnoticed but are essential to the life of the church. What would happen if no one cleaned the church? What if no one put together the bulletin? How would you feel if there was no one to greet you when you came in? These tasks may seem insignificant but they are essential to the church.
Conclusion
Several years ago I was thoroughly impressed by the up and coming New England Patriots but it wasn’t for their start platyers, excellent coaching or their impressive record number of wins. I was most impressed by their incredible teamwork.
During the first of their latest Superbowl victories, I watched in amazement as not one of the premere players was introduced at the start of the game. Instead of introducing a few stars, the team was introduced together. Here are the 2001 New England Patriots and the entire team came through the ribbon.
After the game was over many of the Patriots players were asked what they credited for their victory. Overwhelmingly, the same theme was repeated over and over, we played as a team.
The name of our church is United. The question that remains is this: will we join together and be a united church or will we need to change our church name to something else?
Who benefits by division exisiting in the church? Is God honored and glorified by divisiveness?
