Take Care Of The Body

Take Care of the Body

1 Corinthians 12:12-27

(May 13, 2001)

Introduction

I have a feeling that since this is Mother’s Day, many of you, especially you ladies, thought this was going to be a Mother’s Day message.

And if that’s the case, my guess is that the title of the message may have got you wondering when the next pastoral vote was coming so you could get rid of this insensitive preacher!

A couple years ago, I was leading the singing at the Gideon State convention in Huron, and I had a song picked out for just after the big evening meal.

I picked, And Can it Be That I Should Gain?

It didn’t dawn on me that I had picked that for singing after eating a big meal at a convention!

Well, this message is NOT about physical health! We are not going to discuss drinking, smoking, overeating, or anything like that.

So you can relax bit, okay?

I will be addressing the issue of the Body of Christ, which is made up of every person who knows Christ as their Savior.

We are part of a wonderful, diverse bunch of people who love the Lord Jesus Christ and want to serve Him.

The book of Ephesians says that Christ cares for His body. Our text this morning says that we are to care for it as well.

Please turn with me to 1 Cor. 12-27, which can be found on page 813 of the Bibles in the seats.

We’re not going to read the whole passage right now, but we will cover it all through the rest of the message.

My purpose this morning is to encourage you to take care of the Body of Christ, and I want to do that by pointing our three main things. And the first of these is that…

I. We are part of the Body (vv. 12-20).

A. Our Church as a whole.

God has a plan for Aberdeen Wesleyan Church. I am convinced that He has a plan to advance the kingdom of God in this area, and that it includes this church in a big way.

And I want to illustrate from Scripture a principle that we need to grasp if we hope to have an impact.

Please follow along with me as I read verses 12-20 of our text.

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.

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.

Some would look at this church and think, because we are not one of the larger churches in the area, that we would have little or nothing to contribute to the Kingdom.

Others would say that because our name isn’t as recognized as say, Baptist, or Methodist, or Lutheran, that we have little or nothing to contribute to the Kingdom.

Well, let them say all they want. The danger comes when we think that way.

B. The Church is made up of individuals.

Folks, don’t ever let Satan convince you that we have nothing to contribute to the Kingdom.

Let me clue you in on something. The Kingdom of God, the Body of Christ, is not made up of churches and denominations, it is made up of people.

And you, as a born again child of God have something to contribute to the Kingdom.

God has gifted you uniquely for service. Your gifts are probably different from mine, and that’s great! We can complement and cooperate with each other.

Make no mistake, Christ established the institution of the church, and our fellowship is one manifestation of that church, but the church is made up of individuals.

And that is so important to understand.