The Body of Christ…The Church!

Judges 1; Judges 2; Judges 3; 1 Corinthians 12
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Scripture

1 Corinthians 12

One Body with Many Parts

12 The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. 13 Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.

14 Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. 15 If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?

18 But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. 19 How strange a body would be if it had only one part! 20 Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. 21 The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”
22 In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. 23 And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, 24 while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. 25 This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. 26 If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.
27 All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. 28 Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church:
first are apostles,
second are prophets,
third are teachers,
then those who do miracles,
those who have the gift of healing,
those who can help others,
those who have the gift of leadership,
those who speak in unknown languages.
29 Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we all have the power to do miracles? 30 Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not! 31 So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts.

But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.

Observation

The body of Christ, the church is amazing. Have you given much thought to the complexity of the church? God has made each member unique and each member has a gift that benefits others in the church. The gift that God has given a believer is for the body’s benefit and not for his or her own person.

When the body of Christ is functioning the way it should it is a beautiful thing, but when you have a few key people that are only concerned about themselves it takes the life right out of a fellowship!

Faithful people that are using their God given gift or gifts are a blessing to the church and they are a joy to the pastor. I have someone at our church that arrives early every Sunday to unlock all of the buildings and turn on the air conditioning or heat and probably most of the people in the church don’t even know that he does this ministry, but he is a joy to me. I know that I can count on him. I have a sound team that always arrive early on Sunday mornings and a small group of Sunday School leaders that faithfully arrive early just to make sure everything is ready for folks when it is time to start.

Application

I will write notes today to some of my most faithful people to thank them.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us so many different gifts in the church. Thank you for those folks that love to use their gift(s) to help the body. Help those that just don’t understand that life is not all about them to begin to use their gifts to help others. Help me to model a servant’s heart in the way I serve the people of our church. Thank you for our church and the wonderful people that you have led to be a part of it. Amen.

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