Unity In The Body

Introduction

· This morning as a church body, I want to challenge your thinking and faith as it relates to unity among the believer.

· It’s important to understand that the church is not a building.

· Church in the Bible never means “building.” It refers to groups of committed Believers in any location assembled to carry out the Great Commission throughout the world".

· Members of this Church come into this building where we meet, but this Church is never the building. It is not a denomination. It is the Body of Christ.

· We are all called to be in unity as a body with Christ alone as Head.

· Lets go see what scriptures say about Unity in the Body of Christ.

1. The church is Christ’s Body

(NKJV) 1 Corinthians 12 12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

(NKJV) 1 Corinthians 12 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.

A. The church belongs to Jesus and it is His body.

B. The church does not belong to a denomination.

C. The church does not belong to the “Pastor”. Despite popular opinion, the church does not belong to the people. It is not my church. It is not your church. It is not Grandma’s church. Whose church is it? It is Jesus’ church!

(NKJV) Colossians 1 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

D. Programs, plans, personalities and personal agendas, must all take a back seat to Jesus Christ.

E. The church must establish priorities for their work in order to effectively minister to the lost or un-churched.

i. We must first be committed to Christ.

ii. Then to one another in Christ.

iii. Finally to the work of Christ in the world.

2. The church is made up of many different parts

(NKJV) 1 Corinthians 12 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. 19 And if they were all one member, where would the body be? 20 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body.

A. We must not judge others because their feelings have not been precisely similar to ours.

B. If we reject all believers who labor under infirmities, or are marred with faults, our fellowship will be quite limited.

C. God strategically placed diversity within the one Body with many members.

(NLT) Ephesians 4 16 Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

D. What is exciting about the Body of Christ is that although we are all different, we are all important. There is no such thing as an unimportant member within the body of Christ.

E. Each member of the Body of Christ is unique, meaningful, and purposeful to the accomplishment of God’s purposes.

F. The Body of Christ is comprised of many parts. There are limbs, organs, and various members that, when left alone, are useless, but when assembled make up the entire body.

G. The Bible tells us that the body is a unit made up of many parts; and although all its parts differ, they form one body. Likewise the church as the body of Christ, being baptized by one Spirit into one body - whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free.

H. This means each believer is an equal part of the body of Christ!

3. The church functions properly only when unified

A. People are different in fundamental ways. They want different things; they have different motives, purposes, aims, values, needs, drives, impulses, and urges.

B. Nothing is more fundamental than that. They believe differently: they think, recognize, conceptualize, perceive, understand and comprehend differently.