Sunday,
June 23, 2013
THE BODY AND THE
SPIRIT
I Cor. 12:12-27
Have you ever heard the expression
that goes something like this: "He
is looking at the world through rose-colored glasses"? The idea is that such a person isn't seeing
the real world; he is sugar-coating all the bad things and just focusing on the
good. The truth is that the lenses we
wear can affect the way we see things.
That is even true in the physical realm.
I have a special pair of sunglasses.
Actually, I have had a number of pairs just like this one. My late beloved father-in-law used to order
them for me at $5 a pair. I love them,
but I've pretty well worn them all out.
They are special glasses. They
have an orange tint to them. Some people
think I look funny in them and that everything seen through looks unrealistic,
but I love them. They tend to give
things more color. They also have some
special powers that other sunglasses don't have. Calvin Porter used to drive a little pickup
which magnified the power of my sunglasses.
Without them, the body of the pickup was all one color. But when I looked at it through my
sunglasses, it was two colors. At some
point the hood had been repainted. No
one could tell it except me and my sunglasses.
Now I am not telling you all this in
order to persuade you to buy a pair of sunglasses like this or to steal mine,
but I do have a purpose. We look at life
through various lenses that color the way we see things. Most of us, because of the society in which
we grew up, have a powerful lens called "individualism." We tend to look at everything as an
individual. That concept has been
drilled into us in dozens of ways. I am
not saying that is always a bad thing, but we must realize that we tend to look
at life through that lens.
When we read something from the
Bible, our first tendency is to look at it from an individual standpoint. For example, let's read that well-known
passage from Phil. 4:4-9...
Rejoice
in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be known to
all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by
prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to
God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are
true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are
pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there
is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things.
9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do,
and the God of peace will be with you.
There are several commands in this
passage. The first is, "Rejoice in
the Lord always." When we read
that, we immediately conclude that God wants me to rejoice in Him always. That is certainly true. But do we ever consider the togetherness
aspect? When Paul wrote that command, he
wrote it to the members of the Philippian church. Yes, the church was certainly made up of
individuals. And it is certainly true
that no one else can rejoice in the Lord for you. However, am I conscious that this is a
command that is also given to my brothers and sisters? I am to be concerned about all of us rejoicing
in the Lord always. The same is true of
the command not to be anxious and to meditate on the things listed in verse
8. I am an individual, but I am part of
the Lord's church, which goes beyond the individual.
I suppose you could make this
argument for anyone who is a member of a club or civic organization, but it
isn't the same. The church is not an
organization; it is a living organism.
To put it clearly -- the church is a body. I didn't say that; the Word of God says it,
and not just once. We who belong to
Jesus Christ form the body of Christ, with Jesus being the Head of the body.
Let's come to the Word and begin in
Ephesians 1. There are two wonderful
prayers of Paul recorded in Ephesians, and the first is in chapter 1. Let's read Eph. 1:15-22...
Therefore
I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the
saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my
prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may
give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the
eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the
hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the
saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who
believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in
Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the
heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and
dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that
which is to come. 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be
head over all things to the church, 23 Which is His body, the fullness of Him
who fills all in all.
Notice that last part. Not only has God the Father raised Jesus from
the dead and set Him at His own right hand and given Him a name which is above
every other name, but He has also given Him to be head over all things to the
church. That would be a fitting place to
end this section, but Paul goes on with verse 23, and in that verse is a brief
but beautiful description of the church -- "which is His body, the
fullness of Him who fills all in all."
The church is Christ's body. Not
only so, but the church is the fullness of Jesus Himself, the One who fills all
in all. I don't know exactly what that
last statement means, but I know it is powerful. It speaks of that majestic One who rose from
the grave and is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The church is His body, and the church is His
fullness. Wow! That ought make us very careful when it comes
to criticizing the church of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now go over to chapter 3, where we
find the second great prayer of Paul in this letter. Let's read Eph.
3:14-21...
For
this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom
the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you,
according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His
Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;
that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with
all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height-- 19 to know
the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the
fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above
all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be
glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
I read you that prayer to identify
one particular phrase. Notice the words
at the end of verse 19 -- "that you may be filled with all the fullness of
God." ________, that you might be
filled with all the fullness of God.
Maybe, but I don't believe that was the intent of Paul's prayer. When we read this request in the context of
what Paul said in chapter 1, will we not understand that he is praying that we,
His people, may be filled with all the fullness of God? This is a tall order, too tall for an
individual. That interpretation is
further confirmed by what we read in verses 17-19, "that you, being rooted
and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what
is the width and length and depth and height--to know the love of
Christ." We come to know the love
of Christ in the context of the body of Christ.
The same is true of being filled with all the fullness of God.
Brothers and sisters, we need
regular reminders of the importance of the body of Christ. Tom T. Hall wrote these words to the song...
Me and Jesus, we got our
own thing going;
Me and Jesus, we got it
all worked out.
Me and Jesus, we got our
own thing going;
We don't need anybody to
tell us what it's all about.
We
need to know and understand well that it's a lie. The "me and Jesus" mentality does
not come from the mind of our God.
Instead, we find that God never intended us to walk alone in this
world. Not only do we cling to our Lord,
but we live and learn in the community of the saints. The mature Christian is not the one who has
learned to make it on His own with just him and the Lord, but the one who has
learned to esteem his brothers and sisters better than himself.
So does this church-as-a-body concept
have anything to do with the Holy Spirit?
Indeed, it does. And where should
we go to find this concept spelled out most clearly? Yes, I Corinthians 12. Let's turn there. This morning I want us to read I
Cor. 12:12-27...
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. 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. 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. 23 And those members of the body which we think to be
less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts
have greater modesty, 24 but our presentable parts have no need. But God
composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, 25
that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have
the same care for one another. 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.
This passage is packed and I have no
intention of trying to exhaust it this morning.
My goal is to point out three truths of which we need to be reminded.
I.
We Desperately Need One Another
Let's read again verses
12-13, "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."
I am aware that this passage has a context, that it is vitally linked with
verses 1-11 of this chapter. Verse 11
states, "But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing
to each one individually as He wills."
"All these things" refers to the various "manifestations
of the Spirit" (vs. 7) listed in verses 8-10, commonly referred to as "gifts
of the Spirit." These gifts of the
Spirit and the concept of the church as a body go hand and in hand and cannot
be separated. We will come back to the
first part of the chapter later. For
now, we see the strong connection in the first word of verse 12 --
"for," which could just as easily be translated "because." Later we will emphasize this strong
connection.
It is impossible to read this
passage without being impressed by the main point, that the church of our Lord
Jesus is pictured beautifully by the physical body. But how is the body of Christ like the physical
body? As the body has many members but
is still one body, so it is with Christ.
He is one, and yet His body has many members. Furthermore, as the
members of the body differ, so it is with the body of Christ. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that
we are different, particularly concerning the gifts which we have been given.
Out of this context comes the first
point I want to make: We desperately
need one another. This truth is spelled
out in much detail beginning in verse 14, "For in fact the body
is not one member but many." Does
anyone here possess a physical body that is made up of only hands? Or only knees? Or only ears?
Of course, not. We readily
observe that our bodies have many parts.
So it is with the body of Christ.
The members of the body vary greatly.
And that is why we need one another.
Paul goes on to speak of specific
parts of the body, such as the hand, the foot, the eye, the ear, and so
on. In doing so, he emphasizes that a
particular part of the body performs a function that other parts cannot
perform. We would not expect our ears to
carry us from place to place. That would
be very hard on the ears and we would look rather foolish trying to walk on our
ears. No, we rely on the feet for that
function.
Now come again to verses
15-16, "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?" Now think carefully about what he is
saying. This is the case of that organ
which appears to be less valuable removing itself from the body because it
doesn't see itself as necessary. In
general, the hand is able to do more than the foot, and the eye appears more
valuable than the ear. Now some of you
immediately want to jump up and say, "That's not true. You might think differently, if your feet
were cut off." That's the
point. We know that the foot is very
necessary to the body, and that's why it would be absolutely foolish for the
foot to consider itself not a part because it sees the hand as more
valuable. If the foot should have that
attitude, would that mean it's not a part of the body? Of course, not. The foot is a vital part of the body and is
absolutely necessary. The same is true
of the ear, though it may appear to be less valuable than the eye.
But how do we apply this when it
comes to people, to members of the body of Christ? Some of you desperately need this message
this morning. The fact is that you are
hindered and the body is hindered because sometimes (and maybe often) you are
afflicted with this attitude. You don't
feel like you are very needed in the body of Christ. You get to thinking, "I can't preach
like Jake; I can't teach like Alex; I can't sing like Rita; I don't relate to
people nearly as well as most others in the body. I just don't know of anything I do very
well. If I weren't a part of the body,
no one would miss me." For some of
you, this may border on self-pity, a bit of questioning as to why the Lord
didn't make you a bit different so that you would have something to contribute.
The Holy Spirit, through Paul, is
speaking to you this morning. Do we
discard the foot because it can't do what the hand does? Do we get rid of the ear because it can't see
like the eye? No, we are all thankful to
have feet and ears.
If
we had a whole bunch of eyes instead of ears and noses, how would we be able to
hear and smell? All the parts of the
body are extremely valuable. So it is in
the body of Christ. That is the point
Paul is making here. Don't think for a
moment that it is godly humility that leads you to see yourself as of little or
no value in the body of Christ. Rather,
it is misunderstanding at best, and unbelief at worst. If you are truly in Christ and His Spirit
dwells in you, then hear our Lord saying that you are a vital part of His body.
That's one aspect of the message,
but there is another. Now come to verses
20-22, "But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 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.' No, much rather, those members of the body
which seem to be weaker are necessary."
Now Paul is coming from a different angle. Do you see it? Now it is what appears to be the more
valuable member despising what appears to be the less needful member. The eye might feel that it can get along
without the hand. And certainly the head
can get along without the feet. Surely
anybody would be better off to lose his feet than to lose his head. The eye and the head must never come to such
conclusions, because every single part of the body, even those
"weaker" members, are absolutely necessary to the body.
Some of you desperately need this
message. If you don't need it today,
rest assured that you will need it in the future. Don't ever think that you can get along
without any member of the body.
"Well, surely this body could continue to function without
Billy. After all, he contributes very
little. And sometimes he causes
trouble. I know we should love him, but
we don't really need him." Of course, most of us would never say such a
thing, but such an attitude is an ungodly violation of the truth of this
passage. Every member of the body is
valuable and necessary, and don't ever forget it. Paul goes on to say that just as we bestow
greater honor on our more less honorable parts, so it must be in the body of
Christ. That is why we can give much
attention to new believers and not worry about other members feeling
jealous. It is because they are weaker
and more feeble at this point and they need special attention and care. The same could be true of a brother or sister
who has been overtaken by some sin and after repentance has been restored to
the body; he/she needs special care at this time. Brothers and sisters, beware of the kind of
pride that leads us to see other members as of little value in the body of
Christ.
II.
This Is God's Design
So that's the way it is. It is a fact that just as the human body is
made up of different parts which perform different functions, so it is in the
body of Christ. Everyone isn't going to
be a preacher; all will not be able to give large sums of money to mission
causes; all will not be able to come and share a beautiful song. We are different.
That brings me to the second point I
want to emphasis from this passage -- This is God's design. The reason we are all different is because
that is the way God wants it. This is
the way He has put the body together. We
do not differ in the body of Christ because some are more mature than others;
we differ because that is the God has designed it, and it is for His glory.
Let me put it this way -- the fact
that some stand before us preaching and teaching, while others work quietly
behind the scenes in ministering to others is not the weakness of the church;
this is the strength of the church. If
you feel like you are not a vital part because you can't do certain things,
understand that God has blessed you with a particular role in the body that you
and you alone can fill.
Come back again to the human
body. Think about the entire body. Consider again the ear and the eye, as Paul
uses these two organs to illustrate his point.
If asked which is more valuable, I think we would have to agree that the
eye is more valuable. If that is true,
surely it means that when God made the eye, He put much more thought, planning,
and work into the construction of the eye.
I am not an expert on the anatomy of the body, but I know enough to tell
you that the ear is a most complex organ.
It is absolutely amazing how the ear can receive sounds, interpret them,
and transmit them to the brain. Did you
ever see a picture of those intricate little bones in the ear? No, the ear was not an add-on part that God
decided to throw in at the last minute.
It is a complex, valuable, necessary part of the body. God did not design the ear to see or to
smell, but what a job He did it giving it the ability to hear.
Would you not agree that God did an
amazing job when He designed the human body?
It is absolutely astounding. It
is so complex that the greatest minds in the world will never fully understand
how it functions. Yet it has such a
simplicity about it that even a child can utilize all its amazing capabilities
without even thinking about it. Is there
anyone here who would dare suggest improvements for the human body?
Please hear the words of verse
18, "But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the
body as He pleased." Brothers and
sisters, if the assembling of the body of Christ is pleasing to God, then it
ought to be pleasing to us. Surely we
can delight in God's design. Praise God
that He made us differently and has given us different abilities. Let's rejoice in His design.
I suspect that most of us would do
things a bit differently, if it were left up to us. We might think that we know what kind of
people would be of benefit to the body.
Give us a person who can do this and another who can do that. I am not saying that it would be wrong to ask
God to send us someone with a particular gift or ability, but that must not be
our focus. Rather, let's rejoice in all
the members of the body, and let's give ourselves to working together that we
might grow into all He wants us to be.
III.
Our Unity Is in the Spirit of God
Now let's come
back to the Holy Spirit, which brings us back to verse 13, "For by
one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether
slaves or free--and have been made to drink into one Spirit." Translations will differ. The word translated "by" in the New
King James can legitimately be rendered as "by," "in," or
"with." So some translations
will read, "So in one Spirit we
were all baptized into one body."
We have talked about that some in the past, and we will not take time to
go into it this morning, though I am more than willing to discuss it with
anyone who is interested. I have come to
favor the translation "by."
But whichever way you take it, the Spirit is vitally involved in the
formation of the body of Christ. The
source of our unity is the Spirit of God.
We find this truth confirmed in
Ephesians 4. Let's take time to read Eph.
4:1-6...
I,
therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling
with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with
longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit,
just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one
baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in
you all.
Notice
that Paul speaks of the unity of the Spirit in verse 3. He does not urge the Ephesian believers to
become unified, but he does speak of them guarding the unity of the
Spirit. We, as well as they, have the
unity of the Spirit. Jesus prayed that
we might all be one, and the Father answered His prayer. We were baptized into one body by one Spirit
and all of us who are believers have been made to drink into the one
Spirit. Yes, the Spirit is the source of
our unity because He dwells in every believer.
"If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Rom.
8:9). In other words, if you
don't have the Spirit dwelling within you, then you do not belong to Christ.
Let me speak plainly. Too often we are conformed to the world and
pursue the goal of harmony. Harmony is a
nice thing, but it falls short of unity.
We are in harmony if we have similar ideas and we are not in
conflict. Unity goes beyond that. We have unity because we share the same life,
the life of Christ in the Spirit. Even
when our ideas differ and even when we have conflict, we still have unity
because of our common life. Difference
of opinions and conflicts among us are inevitable. They will occur until Jesus comes. But because of our unity in the Spirit, we
can deal with those differences and those conflicts. In the midst of it all, we can love one
another as Christ has loved us.
The church does not grow in unity,
does not guard the unity of the Spirit, by trying to accumulate people who
think and act just alike. Nor will our
unity be demonstrated by all of us trying to become more alike. The likeness we must long for is being like
Christ. As each of us is conformed to
the image of Christ, we will indeed become more alike, but that likeness will
not be seen so much in the outward things.
Most of us have seen Christian groups who believe it is important for
everyone in the group to dress alike, to engage in the same activities,
etc. That is only an outward counterfeit
of the unity of the Spirit.
What we see in I Corinthians 12 is
unity in diversity. Perhaps that phrase
is overused, but it still is an apt description of the body of Christ. We have a deep unity from the Spirit, which
we guard through humility and the forgiving spirit Paul speaks of in Eph. 4,
but at the same time we don't downplay our differences. Rather, we rejoice in our differences. Praise God that you are not like I am. If everyone in this church were a copy of me,
all of my weaknesses would be magnified.
It is so much better that in your difference God has equipped you to do
things that I will never be able to do.
Again, it's what we see in the human body. That body is unified, as it responds to the
one head, but it is able to do thousands of things because of the diversity of
its members. So it is in the body of
Christ. We have one Head, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we share the one Spirit, who
makes real the life of Christ within us.
At the same time, the diversity of our members enables us to do the work
of God in our world.
Conclusion
So let me give us a quick review...
1. We desperately need one another.
1. We desperately need one another.
2. This is God's design. This need for one another comes from Him.
3. Our unity is in the Spirit of God, the life
we share together.
When
you think of the church as the body of Christ, recall these great truths.
Let me conclude by pointing out one
other thing about the body. Think about
your physical body. The members of your
body have a close connection with one another.
Your hand is never more than a couple of feet (no pun intended) from
your elbow. Even your foot isn't more
than about six feet from your head. Not
only do the various parts of your body perform different and unique tasks, but
they also work together. It is incredible
the way the feet quickly carry the body to the place where the hands will accomplish
a task, which could never be carried out without the seeing of the eyes.
Brothers and sisters, that is God's
design for the body of Christ. When the
members of the body are not in close connection with one another, but body will
be greatly hindered. I recognize that
there is a certain tension at this point.
One might lament the fact that we do not know each other better and
spend more time together. Another may
proclaim the danger of always huddling together instead of ministering to those
around us who are in great need. Both of
these are legitimate concerns. So do we
spend too much time together? Are we in
danger of neglecting ministry to those outside the body? No, and Yes.
No, we don't spend too much time together. Yes, we are in danger of turning inward and
not ministering to the world around us.
Here is the irony of it all. We can meet together very regularly and still
not function closely as members of the same body. Meeting together is an outward thing, and it
is indeed very important, as we are told in the book of Hebrews, but the body
life Paul presents begins with an attitude.
It is an attitude that values every single member of the body. That is why he says at the end of I Cor. 12
that when one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. When one is honored, all the members rejoice
with that one. This is far more than an
outward togetherness. This is an
attitude that absolutely delights in being a part of the body and values highly
every other part.
What we need to hear is this: This kind of body life requires
sacrifice. As someone mentioned
Wednesday evening, busyness can be a great hindrance to us. Some of us will have to let some things go in
order to cultivate the attitude we read about in this chapter. For others the hindrance is
independence. We have trouble letting
others into our lives. Sometimes in our
relationship we rarely get below the surface.
How long has it been since you have sat down with a brother or sister
and really shared what was in your heart?
While some of you battle busyness, others become so fond of peace and
quiet that you have little involvement in the lives of others. What about those of you who are retired? You have unique opportunities to serve in the
body of Christ. You say,
"How?" Through prayer and the
encouragement of others. Most everyone
of you drive here and there. During the
three years that Steve has been a part of us, have you gone by Betty Dare to
see him? Do you call people whom you sense
might be discouraged? You're right, such
things require sacrifice. Behind that
sacrifice is an attitude that delights in being a part of Christ's body.
My challenge to us is this: Let's read this passage over and chew on
it. Then let's ask God to give us a true
appreciation for the body of Christ and the way He has put it together. Let's pray over this passage. This is the kind of life that will draw the
attention of a world which rarely sees a demonstration of this kind of unity. Jesus prayed, "That they all may be one,
as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that
the world may believe that you sent Me" (John 17:21). So what does it mean to live out this
oneness? We have a beautiful
de-scription of it in this passage.
This message doesn't directly apply
to some of you, simply because you are not a part of the body of Christ. Though you may come to all the services and
be acquainted with all the people here, you will never be a part of Christ's
church until you have His life within you, until you come to a place of
repentance and faith, of hating your sin and trusting the One who died in your
place on the cross. Don't be fooled into
thinking everything is all right. Apart
from Christ you have no hope in this world or the next. I urge you to throw yourself on Him who loved
you and gave Himself for you.
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