Live in Community

Series: Grow Up

September 01, 2019 | Taylor Rutland
Passage: 1 Corinthians 12:14-27

Today we begin a new sermon series called Grow Up. We are going to spend the next 5 weeks unpacking the expectations we have of all of our members here at First Baptist New Orleans. Many in the room today have been members of First Baptist New Orleans for a lot of years so for you folks this will be a good review of what the Bible teaches about being a part of a local congregation. Some of you are contemplating what it would look like to join this body of believers. My hope is this series will enlighten you about what is expected of you as a future member of First Baptist New Orleans. Then there is a segment of the population who has a misunderstanding of what church “membership” is. The misunderstanding comes from the way we typically use the word “membership” in our society today. Typically, when you are a member of some civic organization or a member of a country club or alumni association you pay your dues and then you receive certain privileges for being a part of that group. That is not what we mean by church membership. You are not giving your money to the church in order to receive perks. You are giving money to your church because God’s word is clear that we should support the local financially with the resources God has given us. I hope to show you that church membership is not just an idea that churches came up with on their own, but that it’s all over the pages of the New Testament. In fact, in our passage today which is 1 Corinthians 12:14-27 we find the word for member used 11 times in our passage. So let’s see what Paul has to say to us this morning about the body of Christ.

We have many Parts:

"For the body does not consist of one member but of many." — 1 Corinthains 12:14

Paul uses a very practical illustration of the human body to describe the church. The human body is not composed of simply one member but is made up of many parts that work together to keep the human body working effectively.

Biology and anatomy teach that the human body is a system, which means that one part of the body effects the other parts of the body. No portion of the human body can work as a silo separate from the rest of the body. When certain parts of the human body are being used it also effects the other parts of the human body. No part of the human body can run off and do its own thing without the other part of the body knowing what is going on. And also, no part of the body can deny its role or function in the body. EVERY part of the body is important to the body. The feet, the toes, the appendix, the spleen, the eye lids, the fingernails, and even the nasty toenails are all important to our bodies and have a specific and important function.

 Just like every part of our body has an important function so every member of this church has an important function as well. Every member of this body is a vital part of First Baptist New Orleans. No gift should be prioritized over another. For the sake of an example though let’s use the gift of teaching. Maybe you have the gift of teaching and it might seem that the gift of teaching is more important because the teaching of God’s word is very important, but scripture nowhere states that those with the gift of teaching are somehow more important than those who have the gift of mercy, hospitality, or service.

Paul is saying that just because you don’t have the gift of teaching does not mean you can sit on the sidelines and just allow the teachers to do all of the work. You are still a part of the body of Christ regardless what gift you bring to the church. In the same way, if all we had were teachers in our congregation we would miss out on all of the other wonderful gifts that the church should be made up of. Teachers focus so much of their time on preparation, knowledge, and presentation that they are often not aware of the needs of those in their groups, which is why we need people who have the gifts of mercy, hospitality, and encouragement in the body to take care of people so that the teachers can teach.

  • Maybe you are here today and you don’t know what your gift is, and you don’t know how to serve in this body. Immediately following our service today at 11AM in 164 directly behind the worship center, Andrew Crosby, our missions minister, will be teaching a class that shares all of the ways that you can serve in this particular church, and he will explain why we serve as well. And next week, September 8th Christi Gibson, our minister of education, will be teaching a class on spiritual gifts. In this class you can discover all of the spiritual gifts that God’s word talks about and discover what your gift actually is. Then you can begin serving in our church according to the giftedness that God has equipped you with.

We are Arranged:

"But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose." — 1 Corinthians 12:18

God has uniquely arranged every individual in the body in a certain way and in the way that he chooses. This takes some of the pressure off of us. We don’t need to be jealous of someone else in the body who has a certain gift because God has given us the gifts individually that he wants us to have.

We also don’t need to complain about the gift that God has given us. He has created every single one of us with a purpose and a plan in mind. Be satisfied and content with the gifts God has given you. Maybe the gift God has given you is the one that is never seen or recognized, but that’s ok. Our identity shouldn’t come from recognition anyways. We have to trust that God has uniquely created ALL of us with certain gifts to strengthen his church.

If we try to go against the arrangement that God has arranged then we will become a weaker church. Don’t aspire for gifts that you know God has not given you. That is a waste of your time, and it’s not healthy for our church. We need you to be full go with the gifts that God has equipped you with. No one in this body has every gift, and God designed it this way. Every single person is needed and important to the body of Christ.

Paul makes it clear if we had a room full of legs we would not be a body. In the same way, if everyone in this room only had the gift of teaching than we would not be a body. We would be unhealthy and as a church we would malfunction.

  • My wife’s car was leaking some fluid. And as you all know as an incredibly cheap person who hates everything about vehicles I wait until the last possible moment to fix anything on my vehicles because the thought of having to spend money on fixing something that I already paid thousands of dollars for makes me sick. So Ashley took the car in the other day and I was prepared for the worst like always. It turned out she was leaking fluid because her front struts were in really bad shape. According to the mechanic they were practically non-existent and the car was beginning to malfunction. Now the struts are a vital piece of the suspension of a vehicle. But you can’t see them, they aren’t pretty, and the suspension of the vehicle is not a glamorous job, but without them the car will eventually malfunction. Every part of the body of Christ matters just like every part of a vehicle matters.

We are One Body:

"As it is, there are many parts, yet one body." — 1 Corinthians 12:20

Even though there are many parts within the body, we are still one body. The body as a whole has to work together or it will not be able to function properly.

First Baptist New Orleans is not comprised of different churches. We are one church. Your small group is not the church. Your Care Effect group is not the church. We ALL together are the body o Christ. One of the most dangerous things we as individuals can do in the church is to begin to create our own little churches within the body.

Every person in this body of believers has value, worth, and they deserve to be heard. We shouldn’t pick and choose whose opinions matter or whose voices should be heard. And the reason I know this is because Paul says it himself.

He tells us that the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are in fact indispensable. They are necessary and they are needed in the body of Christ.

Confession time: As a pastor I have to admit sometimes I can be guilty of this. I can be guilty of showing preferential treatment to those who I think have a better chance of helping move the needle in the church. And that is not the right mentality to have. In fact, Paul says the parts of the body that we often think are less honorable should actually be shown greater honor.

  • I often think about the parts of the body that don’t really seem to serve a purpose. Let’s take the appendix for example. Even though your body can live without it, it actually serves as a safe house for good bacteria. So it does in fact have a positive role in the human body. The gall bladder is another organ that can be removed from the body, but without the gall bladder fatty, greasy, and high fiber foods become difficult to digest because there’s no place for the bile to collect without a gall bladder. So your liver releases that bile straight into the small intestines. This is more information than you probably wanted to know, but every role in the body has a function and even without those parts there are side effects of not having them.

Everyone in the body of believers is indispensable. From the smallest child to the oldest senior adult. Everyone matters in the kingdom of God.

We Stand United:

"that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another." — 1 Corinthians 12:25

The devil wants the church of Jesus Christ to become divided. The devil wants this local church to become divided. We cannot allow that to happen friends. The church of Jesus Christ is bigger than our individual preferences or our individual gifts. If we as a leadership team or as a congregation begin to prize certain gifts or people over the body we are will not be united.

In the church at Corinth division was beginning to pop up concerning eating at the Lord’s Table. Chapter 11 references some of this division and the problems that were taking place because of it.

Paul is saying that every member should receive the same type of care. And that the body of Christ suffers when a brother or sister suffers, and rejoices when a member is honored.

Here is the beauty of the church of Jesus Christ. We have unity in our diversity. This is the plan that God had all along. We should be celebrate the diversity of gifts and personalities present in this church. We should strive to have a church where every race and socio-economic class is represented. Heaven will not be a homogenous place. Every tribe, tongue, nation, and people will be represented and the church of Jesus Christ on earth needs to reflect what heaven will one day look like.

So we want to celebrate the diversity that we have as a church. Whatever gift you bring to the table we will celebrate it. Whatever friends or family members you invite regardless of their background or what they have experienced, they are welcomed into this place. Lest we forget the words of James when he tells us that when we give “extra treatment” to those who are well dressed and give them the best place to sit and recognize them, and then tell the poor man to sit in the back. We’re not going to be that type of church. We are going to celebrate the unity in our diversity.

I hope you see the value in being a member of a church. If this passage of scripture doesn’t convince you of your importance in the body of Christ than I am not sure anything will, but next Sunday we are offering a lunch where we will talk about what it means to be a member of First Baptist New Orleans. And if you have recently joined or are thinking about joining we will talk about what is expected of you, and what we as a church believe. Perhaps some of you here today are considering joining our church. I would suggest you come to this class before you make that decision. #2 I hope you see the value in what you bring to the body of Christ. Everyone in this room is important to this local body. You have a gift. Perhaps you do not know that you have or maybe you are not using it properly but you have a gift. Our body is not effective with 500 eyes, or 500 ears, or 500 toes. We need ALL of the parts of the body. Let us equip you to use your gifts in this body.

 

Series Information

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