The Body Of Christ-3

The BODY Of CHRIST-III—1Corinthians 12:12-31

Attention:

For the past two weeks we’ve been looking at God’s design for Unity & it’s importance in the Body of Christ, which is the Church.

All the local-to-global manifestations of the Body of Christ are built upon a God-sourced Unity of ‘individual’ Christians. Any successful unity of the Body of Christ is seen particularly thru our cooperative successes.

And finally ‘some’ of those individuals, who are absolutely vital to the manifestation of the Body of Christ, are fathers of children. They are godly fathers for their children. They have made & do make every effort to raise up their children in the nurture & admonition of the Lord Himself(Eph. 6:4).

Today is officially Father’s Day.

So it would be beneficial to you ‘fathers’—of any age— to apply what we are learning to your own particular & unique fatherhood.

‘Godly’ fathers are committed to Christ & thus also to God’s design for the Church.

Godly fathers, you are key to openly presenting the fullness of Christ Jesus to a lost & hell-bound world!

*Remember that the church is the embodiment of Christ Jesus(Col. 1:24).

Colossians 1:24-25—“I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, & fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,”

The apostle Paul maintained the significance of the Church's being the Body of Christ.

What is exhibited by that entity known as the Body of Christ?

The last two weeks we’ve found that ‘The Body Of Christ Exhibits...’

1. An IDENTIFIABLE COMPOSITION(:12)

2. A WILLINGLY EMPOWERED INVITATION(:13)

3. BELONGING(:14-17)

4. A DIVINE PLACEMENT(:18)

5. A REASONABLE UNITY(:19-20)

Today we’ll find that:

The Body Of Christ also Exhibits...

6—A NECESSITY For DIVERSITY(:21-22)

:21—“And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

:22—“No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.”

On the one hand, we hear a lot of political talk in our nation about the subject of ‘diversity’ & ‘inclusion.’ Those are civilly acceptable when they intersect or parallel God’s design, & do not reach outside the realm of God’s moral truth.

•However what the world means by ‘diversity’ & ‘inclusion’, is that it expects Christians to receive & place their belief on a par with that of the world, regardless of whether the world's beliefs are ‘clever’ or ‘felt’ diversions from truth(God’s truth). The result being that Christian truth is made into a subjective religion.—No unique Savior, No unique God, No unique destiny(heaven or hell), No unique problem(sin), No unique anything.

•With such belief, everything becomes the same as every other thing, so that nothing means anything, & everything means nothing. That plays directly into the hands of a great deal of socialism & particularly into the hands of communism, fascism, & authoritarianism.

*Such worldly thinking is absolutely ludicrous!...If it weren’t so pitifully sad , so ill-thought-out, & so damning to so many, it would be funny because it’s completely illogical!

On the other hand, the ‘diversity’ that Paul is encouraging here, thru the Holy Spirit, is a ‘diversity’ of giftedness among God’s people, that makes the body whole or operational, at an optimal level or at the level of it’s greatest potential/possibility.

:21—“And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

Here Paul describes two pictures that illustrate identical concepts:

1)A picture drawn here is of the sheer arrogance of a ‘wrongly opinionated’ “eye.” It is the picture of a ‘wrongly opinionated’ “eye” that actually believes it is in-&-of-itself, so important that it “has no need of” “the hand.” This “eye” is so arrogant & close-minded that it believes itself to be all that an entire body should ever be!

•It does not see itself as one member of the larger body operating in harmony with other members. It does not see itself as fully supported by other aspects(members) of the body.

• the circulatory system(&/or every other ‘support’ system) would be cut off or ‘embargoed’ from “the head”...It would cease to function altogether.

2)Another picture drawn here is of the sheer arrogance of a ‘wrongly opinionated’ “head.” It is the picture of a ‘wrongly opinionated’ “head” that actually believes that it is in-&-of-itself, of such utmost superiority that it “has no need of” “the feet.” This “head” is so arrogant & close-minded that it believes itself to be all that an entire body should ever be!

•It does not see itself as one member of the larger body operating in harmony with other members. It does not see itself as fully supported by other aspects(members) of the body.