Understanding the Household of God
1st Corinthians 12
Aug 10, 2014 AM
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland
I.
Introduction (Galatians 6:10)
A.
Our memory verse this month,
Galatians 6:10
B.
Understanding “The Household
of Faith”
1.
A born again Christian is more
than a religious expression
2.
He or she is part of the
family of GOD Almighty
3.
It is a new relationship –
more real and better than any relationship we have ever had before
C.
This morning we are looking at
what else God describes us as – a Body. The Body of Christ
II.
Background (John 1:1-3, 14; 1Corinthians 12:27)
A.
God prepared a BODY for His
Son
1.
God’s Word ACTUALLY Became
Flesh
2.
He literally Lived, ate,
slept, walked, helped, and served as he lived
3.
And then He died on the cross,
and was buried
B.
But then, three days later, He
rose again out of His sealed tomb
C.
And then 37 days, He ascended
up to heaven, and is sitting at the right hand of God the Father
D.
So, I guess that is it, huh?
Christianity is finished, right?
E.
No. He gave US the job now!
(1Corinthians 12:27)
III.
Message
A.
What We WERE (1Cor 12:2) – I
love the word “WERE”…
1.
Gentiles
a.
That may not mean much to you,
but it means we are NOT in God’s program
b.
God’s people have always been
the Jews – not Arabs, Europeans, Americans!!!
c.
We are outsiders. We are pagan
idolaters. Foreigners, strangers
2.
Carried away with our idolatry
of anything we want to label as a deity
3.
Controlled by unholy spirits,
and only following animal instincts
4.
That’s who we all WERE
a.
Those of us who have been born
again!
b.
Thank God some things can
change!
B.
What Salvation Made of Us (1Cor
12:13)
1.
We were immersed into Jesus
Christ Himself!
2.
It made us Christian – not
Jewish or Gentile now
3.
It made us part of the family
of God – sons and daughters of GOD as we learned last week!
4.
It made us each a part of the
BODY of Christ Jesus
a.
Living, working together kind
of like a sports team works together for a goal
b.
But actually working together
much more than that
c.
More like a HUMAN body
5.
By One Holy Spirit
a.
All the various ideas of what
the holy Spirit is doing, aren’t all true
b.
Not everything spiritual, is
holy!
c.
The work of the holy Spirit in
every person’s life is only
1)
To convict us of sin
2)
To direct us to a life of
righteousness and personal holiness, getting us ready for God’s presence in
heaven
3)
And to honour ONE person – the
Lord Jesus Christ – NOT Mary, or the Pope, or some great guru or pastor or
teacher!
6.
All this is hard to understand
how we work together until we understand how the human body works
C.
The Example of a Human Body
(1Cor 12:14-25)
1.
It is Many members (12:14)
a.
You are not a body of just one
member – there are an innumerable number of parts to you, working together to
keep you alive and well!
b.
206 bones (26 bones in each
foot alone)
c.
62,000 miles of blood vessels
d.
20 feet of small intestine
e.
A heart that beats 100,000
times a day
f.
A brain that stores every
smell, every sound, every touch from childhood, and can recall any of it decades
later, with the right stimuli
g.
Two lungs that if opened up
and laid out flat, would be as large as a tennis court!
h.
There are over 700 known
muscles in the human body – the eye muscles are the strongest muscles in your
body
i.
Two of the most amazing eyes
ever imaged
j.
Ears that can hear so many
different sounds
k.
A nose that can smell so many
different smells
l.
Every bone is joined to
another bone by incredibly strong tendons and ligaments
m.
Two kidneys, a huge liver, a
spleen, gall bladder, stomach, lips, tongue
n.
All different – all of them
important!
2.
Each member important
a.
Did you ever hear of any of
these?
1)
The pituitary gland in the
middle of your head (oversees skeletal growth)
2)
The thymus gland just between
your two lungs (creates vital white blood cells)
3)
The pineal gland (affects the
development of the sex glands)
4)
The tonsils, and appendix
(both now known to fight disease)
5)
They ALL were thought of as
vestigial – worthless, unnecessary parts – until the last 20 years!!! Funny how
science finally catches up with the Bible
b.
Including the good bacteria in
your stomach that HELPS you digest food – without them, you will die!
c.
Even though UNSEEN! Think
about it – MOST of a person’s body is invisible to the outside viewer! There is
a whole lot more to a person that what you see on the outside!
3.
No Envy by any of the body
(1Cor 12:15-16)
a.
The foot is not to compare
itself with the hand – both are marvellous
1)
The foot cannot believe it is
not important because it is not a hand
2)
It cannot believe it doesn’t
belong to the body simply because it is not a hand, or it cannot do the work of
a hand!
b.
The same with the ear
1)
Which one is more important?
2)
Which one would you want to
live without?
3)
Neither!
4)
Both are marvellous, and very
good to have around!
5)
The ear cannot say that sine
it is not an eye, and cannot do what the eye does, that it is not important to
the body, and can be thrown away or ignored!
4.
A Human Body Needs EVERY Part
(1Cor 12:17)
a.
If the entire human body were
just one big eyeball… Would we miss hearing? The sound of rain, or birds
singing, or the words, “I love you”?
b.
If we were only an ear…
Wouldn’t we miss smelling Apple tars, lasagne, fresh popcorn, fresh baked
chocolate cookies?
5.
God designed the human body –
not an accident (1Cor 12:18)
a.
Totally disproves evolution –
the fact that we are here and alive and living!
b.
Rocks don’t breed living
things!
c.
Every member has its design
d.
Its place in the body
e.
As it pleased Him – you may
not be happy with His design, but HE is, and it works quite well I think!
f.
Thank God our feet aren’t
sticking out of our head
g.
And that our thumbs aren’t
sticking out of our tongue
h.
If evolution were true,
anything goes!
6.
All the parts of a body, are
part of ONE body (1Cor 12:19-25)
a.
Every member of a body needs
all the other members
1)
The eye cannot think it
doesn’t need the hand
2)
The head cannot say to the
feet that it does not need them
3)
A head would be stuck in one
place all its life if it weren’t for feet
4)
An eye could never reach out
and touch and feel what something it sees feels like, if it didn’t have the use
of hands!
b.
A human body EVEN NEEDS its
feeble members – weak members (22)
1)
They are necessary
a)
The little toes
b)
Nose hairs – very important
c)
Eyebrows
d)
Skin over every square inch of
your body
2)
All are vitally important
c.
The weaker and even uglier
parts usually get more attention and more honour
1)
A broken wrist get pampered
and coddled
2)
A scratch, gets ointment and a
protective plaster
3)
A hurting muscle gets massages
4)
A stubbed toe gets much
attention and protection
5)
A cramp in the stomach gets
much attention
d.
Our comely parts need no
attention (12:24)
1)
Strong muscles… they just work
2)
Healthy eyes… they just work
too
3)
Strong legs, just walk and run
and jump as needed
4)
Healthy skin, just works
5)
It is when something goes
wrong that we give it our attention, and we honour it so that it gets repaired,
and can work with the rest of the body again!
7.
God has tempered (Balanced)
all together into ONE magnificent body (24)
a.
Every part is designed to link
up together with other parts, to make a whole - a body!
b.
Not loads of separate bodies,
but one, unified whole!
c.
That is how God designed each
and every one of us
8.
You know this is true because:
a.
When just one part of you is
hurting… Your whole body hurts! Your whole attention is on getting it restored
b.
And when just one member is
blessed, your whole body is blessed
1)
Taste a good cup of coffee,
and your whole body just smiles!
2)
Hear a grandchild say, “I love
you Grandma”, you your whole body just melts!
3)
Sit in a comfortable chair,
and your whole body just sinks in comfort and rest!
D.
The Body of Christ (1Cor
12:26,27) All of that is the same with the Body of Christ!
1.
Some of you were taught a
piece of bread was the Body of Christ – it wasn’t – YE are the body of Christ!!!
(See also Rom 12:5)
2.
There are so many members – it
is not all about any ONE person here, but Jesus
3.
God designed the Church – not
designed by its members, or by its headquarters, but marvellously, by God!
4.
There is to be NO envy by any
of the members
a.
What if this church were just
the pastor – would be terrible, and lonely
b.
What if it was only full of
pastors - boring
5.
How you feel about how you are
not like someone else, does not matter – you are a member of Christ’s body!
6.
Every member in a Church needs
ALL the other members – EACH contributes!
a.
Even the less honourable, the
feeble, the weak
1)
The addict, the sick, the
dying, the needy, the confused
2)
Along with the strong, the
faithful, the godly, the labourers
b.
We all desperately need each
other!
7.
God tempers us – balances us –
joins us together (Eph 4:15,16) – links us up, tightly
a.
Alone we are useless! When
tempered, joined up & balanced together, we are amazing
b.
Eph 4:15,16 … 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.
8.
No Division in Christ’s body –
should be none here! If you get upset, let’s deal with it.
IV.
Final Conclusions
A.
Ye all are the body of Christ
– if you are born again! So, Take it SERIOUSLY!
1.
God made each of us a part of
the BODY of Christ Jesus
2.
Living, working together like
a HUMAN body does
3.
By the working of the Holy
Spirit
B.
And you are all particular
members of His body, already – the Holy Spirit put you in His body at your
salvation
1.
This is not a body of ONE, but
of many
2.
This isn’t about some
important person, leader, teacher, speaker, performer
3.
Each member here important
4.
Figure Out What part of the
body you are.
a.
Maybe you are His mouth, or a
helping hand, or a carrying leg
b.
Or maybe you are His beautiful
feet carrying the Gospel
c.
Or maybe you are His soft
heart, full of compassion
d.
Or maybe you are part of the
strong backbone of this church, determined to stand straight and tall for the
Lord, not giving in to sin and the pressures of the world
e.
Even though what you do is
UNSEEN! Remember – MOST of a person’s body is invisible to the outside viewer!
There is a whole lot more to a person that what you see on the outside! There is
a whole lot more to this church than just the choir and the preaching and the
Sunday School teachers!
C.
Take good care of each other -
Members should have the same care for every member
1.
When just one of you is
hurting… Believe me, we all hurt with you; And our whole attention is on getting
you better
2.
And when just one of you is
blessed, everyone is blessed
D.
Without Envy by any of us
E.
Let’s have No division
1.
God has tempered (Balanced)
all together into ONE magnificent body (24)
2.
Every part is designed to link
up together with other parts, to make a whole - a body!
3.
Not loads of separate bodies,
but one, unified whole!
4.
That is how God designed each
and every one of us
F.
Stay together – stick together
– PULL TOGETHER - like bones to tendons to muscles, to skin
G.
Join together in a local,
physical group of believers and BE PART of that Church!
H.
A church needs everyone in it
– strong, and feeble
I.
God designed us to be this way
1.
Every member of a body needs
all the other members
2.
When one is missing, it
affects the others
3.
Even FEEBLE ones, and weak
members! They are necessary
4.
GOD gives honour to the weaker
members! We should too!
5.
I spend more time and
attention on those that have needs – and that is how it is supposed to be
- this is not a social club where I spend all my time with the wealthy
and important people so I can get your money – NO!
V.
Invitation
A.
Are you even IN the body?
1.
Not the building of a church,
but the body of a church!
2.
Have you been BORN AGAIN?
3.
You can be today!
B.
Are you a member of THIS church?
1.
If you are born again, We need
you!
2.
You can join today!