Sermon Tone Analysis

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There is a saying that goes something like this: “To dwell above with saints we love, oh, that will be glory; but to live below with saints we know, well, that’s another story.”
Unfortunately, there is a lot of truth to this.
Relationships in a fallen world, even for those who have been redeemed, are often very difficult.
Churches mentioned in the Bible met with varying degrees of success in establishing godly relationships.
The Philippians probably had the best record.
In the four chapters of the letter Paul wrote to them, the worst problem he had to confront was two women who could not get along.
But the Corinthians had the absolute worst record.
They struggled with such awful sins as divisiveness, incest, suing one another in a court of law, eating sacrifices offered to idols, abusing the Lord’s Supper and a misguided emphasis on the miraculous gifts.
All the other New Testament churches were somewhere in between.
Of course, the modern church fares no better.
It is often said now that the choir is the battlefield of the church.
Choir members vie for special parts and thereby engender envy and jealousy.
So how do we promote godly relationships within the church?
The answer is actually very simple.
Each person must exercise his own spiritual gifts within the body of Christ.
In fact, this answer is so important that the early church made it an article of faith.
We know it today as the “communion of saints.”
Now, let’s look to see how Paul develops this doctrine in our text.
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The Church is One Body
The first thing we notice is that the apostle answered our question using an illustration.
The church, he wrote, resembles a human body.
Just as a human body is an individual body with many parts, and each part having its own function, so is the church.
This is what Paul wrote in verse 12, where the Lord so closely identifies himself with his people that he calls the church by his own name.
After all, Jesus is the head of the church and he bound himself to the church in such a way that his life flows to his members through the ministry of the Word.
Now, we all know how our bodies operate.
The fingers go off and do their own thing without any regard for what the knees want or need.
The knees do something else altogether.
The neck likes to stay home and relax.
In other words, what one part of the body does has no effect on the rest of body.
Right?
Of course not.
The whole idea of the individual parts of the body doing different things is ridiculous.
Look how much emphasis Paul puts on the fact that the church is one body.
Three times in verse 12 he spoke of /one body/.
Twice in the next verse he mentioned /one Spirit/, and insisted that it is only by this one Spirit that all believers are incorporated /into one body/.
Then he summarized all of this in verse 20, where he wrote, /But now are they many members, yet but one body/.
You see, if it were true that the various parts of the body could do whatever they wanted without regard for the rest, then it would be impossible to talk about “one body.”
There can only be one body if all the parts of that body depend on each another and interrelate with each other.
The Lord made the human body this way to teach us how the church of Jesus Christ should operate.
Likewise, there is only church of Jesus Christ.
I don’t mean that there is only one denomination — the Reformed Church in the U.S., or the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, or the PCA.
Rather, there is only one invisible church.
This is the church that Jesus Christ, by the operation of his Holy Spirit and through the ministry of the Word, gathers out of the mass of fallen humanity, unites to himself in true faith and preserves unto everlasting life (Heid.
54).
It is a church that has existed since the beginning of the world and will continue to exist in the world until the Lord Jesus Christ comes again.
It includes men, women and children.
It knows no ethnic or racial barriers.
It’s not limited by a person’s age or intelligence.
This church includes everyone who has ever believed and will ever believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
As we think about this, it’s important to remember that Christ alone builds this church, not we.
According to verse 27, the church is /the body of Christ/.
That is, it belongs to him and it derives its life from him.
In fact, every reference in this chapter to Christ building his church shows that the church is passive.
The /one Spirit/ baptizes us /into one body/ (v.
13).
Baptism is a sign and seal of what God does for us — he cleanses us from our sins through the blood of Christ and unites us with the Savior.
It is not a sign of what we do for God.
Even our drinking of the Spirit in the same verse is not something that we can do on our own.
We drink of the Spirit only causes us to drink of himself.
Verse 28 addresses the gifts that Christ gave to the church.
Here we find again that God appoints for the church whatever gifts he wants it to have.
Because God sovereignly distributes his gifts within the one body of Christ, it is the duty, calling and privilege of every believer to exercise his gifts in the way that God intended.
Christian service is not something that only pastors and elders engage in.
Pastors and elders shoulder the responsibility to teach and govern, but Christian ministry extends far beyond teaching and governing.
If any church wants to grow and prosper, all the members must work together to make it so.
There is no such thing as a true believer who has not been gifted to some particular work in the body of Christ.
New believers might not see how they fit in right away.
They’ll need time to mature, to test their gifts and be observed by others.
But if a person has been in the faith for more than a few months, he should have some idea of what his gifts are.
And the gifts of older believers continue to increase so that in time they are able to take on new responsibilities.
The use of our gifts, therefore, is not an option.
It’s a divinely-given imperative.
Misusing and wasting the gifts of God are grievous sins.
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Feelings of Inadequacy
As Paul explained these things to the Corinthians, he noted that he had heard of two problems in the church.
One problem was a feeling of inadequacy.
Because certain people did not have prominent gifts that were seen by others, they came to believe that their gifts were not really necessary for the body of Christ.
The second problem was exactly the opposite: a feeling of absolute independence.
The gifts of some people were so prominent that it seemed they did not need the gifts of others.
Paul wrote that both groups were mistaken.
Let’s begin with the feeling of inadequacy.
The apostle evaluates this way of thinking in verses 15 and 16: /If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?/
But why would anyone want to be a foot or an ear?
A foot is walked on all the time.
It bears the weight of the whole body.
At the end of a long work-day, the foot is often more tired and sore than any other part of the body.
Being a foot is no fun.
Being an ear is no fun either.
All day long it hears nothing but the noise of screeching tires, blaring sirens, loud children, complaining workers and bad news.
It never enjoys the richness and beauty of the visual world.
Perceiving shades of color and texture are not among its skills.
Ears miss so much.
But, you see, this kind of thinking completely misses the point, doesn’t it?
Bodies need many different parts to perform many different functions.
While it’s true that eyes see a variety of colors, they cannot do it alone.
They need feet to take them to the mountains to see landscapes or to the ocean to discover its endless waves.
And what good are hands if the ears do not warn them of impending danger?
The lowliest, unseen organs — livers, kidneys, and gall bladders — provide functions without which no other part of the body could survive.
So, what part of the body can we do without?
Where’s the unnecessary part?
The answer is that there is none.
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