Sermon Tone Analysis

*I Need You*  \\                                         1 Corinthians 12:12-27

                                                           PH12~/05 \\   \\ I.

Each Member Is Indispensable \\ II.

Each Member Is Interdependent \\ III.

Each Member Is Interconnected

\\ Introduction \\ One of my favorite comics (or the funnies as we used to called them), is the Peanuts strip.

In one of those cartoons, Lucy demands that Linus change the channel on the TV and then threatens him with her fist if he doesn’t.

\\ \\ “What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?” asks Linus.

\\ \\ “These five fingers,” says Lucy. “Individually they’re noth-ing but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold.”

\\ \\ “Which channel do you want?” asks Linus.

\\ \\ Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, “Why can’t you guys get organized like that?” (Bruce Shelley, What Is the Church, p. 38).

\\ \\ While I don’t condone Lucy’s methods, however effective they might prove to be, she does give us a powerful illustration of how the Church, the Body of Christ, is designed to work together.

Remember what she said, “Individually they’re nothing but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold.”

It is when we come together that we become an effective instrument for not only tearing down the strongholds of Satan, but also for communicating the love of the Savior.

\\ \\ In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul compares the Church to the human body.

Through this analogy, he communicates the important truth of our need to accept our differences as individual members of the Body of Christ and to recognize these differences as vital to the proper functioning of the whole.

Our differences are not to be accentuated, resulting in division.

Rather, they are for the purpose of meeting the various needs that exist within the Church—both locally and globally.

There are many parts because there are many needs.

And without the various parts, some needs would be neglected.

\\ \\ I’m going to try to help us understand Paul’s teaching in this section by summarizing all that he says in just three words—so if you fail to hear anything else that is said, don’t miss these three words.

The point that Paul is trying to make can be summed up in this motto: I need you!

Let me repeat it so there’s no mistaking it: I need you!

Now say it with me: I need you! \\ \\ I’m not going to spend a lot of time tearing this passage into little pieces because I want to focus our attention this morning on the application of these words to our lives.

I’m simply going to call your attention to three principles of body life within the Church that Paul uses to drive home his point of our need for one another.

Please turn with me to 1 Corinthians 12:12-27.

\\ \\

Read: 1 Corinthians 12: 12-27

 

\\ *Each Member Is Indispensable* \\ The first principle that Paul wants us to understand about our need for one another is that each member is indispensable.

While each member of the Body of Christ is not the same, each of us is essential to the whole.

\\ \\ Paul uses the analogy of the human body which is made up of many different parts to show us how the variety of parts - eyes, hands, ears, nose, are essential to the whole-ness of the body.

Each part must be present in order for the body to be complete.

If the human body was made up of only one part, then it would cease to be a body—by definition, a body is made up of many parts.

\\ \\ But for the sake of argument, if it were possible for a body to be made up on only one part, then it would be an extremely limited body—it would miss out on all the functionality and potential of all the other parts.

We are given eyes to see, ears to hear, hands to touch, and noses to smell.

The various parts of our human bodies contribute to the whole in unique and significant ways that no other part can do.

\\ \\ \\

So it is with the Body of Christ, the Church.

God has made us all different and unique.

He gifts each of us in different and peculiar ways like no one else.

We are each special and necessary.

And we are to carry out the function for which we were created and gifted by God, whether it is for seeing, hearing, smelling, touching or whatever.

“Each part…must be willing to perform its own function.

\\ From an experience of her childhood, Mrs. Floyd Crook recalls how this great truth was impressed upon her with special meaning.

She writes,

“I came home from school one day crying because I had been given only a small part in the children’s program, while my playmate got the leading role.

After drying my tears, my mother took off her watch and put it in my hand.

‘What do you see?’ she asked.

‘A gold case, a face, and two hands,’ I replied.

Opening the back, she repeated the question.

I told her I saw many tiny wheels.

‘This watch would be useless,’ she said, ‘without every part—even the ones you can hardly see.’” \\ \\ Not all of us will play the leading role.

Some of us have to be the supporting actors and actresses.

But we all have a purpose and a place in the Church.

Each of us is important and essential.

In order for the Church to function properly, it must have a variety of parts that all work together as a whole.

Remember the phrase: I need you!

\\ I.

Each Member Is Indispensable \\ *Each Member Is Interdependent \\ *The second principle in this passage that supports the author’s thesis concerning our need for one another is that each member is interdependent.

Every part of the Body of Christ relies on the proper functioning of every other part.

\\ \\ Without the cooperative and corporate participation of the various parts of our human bodies, many (if not all) vital tasks would be impossible.

Take, for example, the simple act of speaking, like I’m doing right now.

If any of the parts of my body that are necessary for speech were to decide that they didn’t want to participate in this act, it would be impossible for me to talk at this very…moment.

Speech is possible only when my brain, nerves, tongue, jaws, lips, larynx, lungs, diaphragm, heart, veins, arteries, capillaries and parts unknown to me all work together for that specific purpose.

What appears on the surface to be the work of only one part of the body is actually a very complex and precise cooperative act of many members of the body.

\\ \\ The same is true of the Church.

Each member of the Body of Christ is interdependent.

Even the most menial functioning of that Body requires a coordinated effort between the various members.

Have you ever noticed that all the pictures of a church are group pictures?

The more mature we become in Christ, the more we realize that throughout our entire life we will continue to need each other.

\\ \\ In a mountain village in Europe several centuries ago, a nobleman wondered what legacy he should leave to the townspeople.

Finally, he decided to build them a church building.

\\ \\ No one saw the complete plans for the building until it was finished.

When the people gathered, they marveled at its beauty and completeness.

Then someone asked, “But where are the lamps?

How will it be lighted?”

\\ \\ The nobleman pointed to some brackets in the walls.

Then he gave each family a lamp that they were to bring with them each time they came to worship.

\\ \\ “Each time you are here the area where you are seated will be lighted,” the nobleman said.

“Each time you are not here, that area will be dark.

This is to remind you that whenever you fail to come to church, some part of God’s house will be dark” (Church Bulletin Bits).

\\ \\ Let me use another analogy, that of flying a kite.

As we consider this activity, we may ask, “Who flew the kite?” \\ \\ “I did,” comes a reply from the wind!

\\ \\ “I did,” shouts the paper!

\\ \\ “I did,” exclaims the tail!

\\ \\ “I did,” says the string!

\\ \\ “I did,” boasts the boy!

\\ \\ But in reality, they ALL flew the kite!

If the wind had lulled, if the paper had torn, if the tail had gotten caught in a tree, if the string had broken, or the boy had fallen, then the kite would have come down!

You see EACH HAD A PART TO PLAY! \\ \\ God has placed each one of us here in a strategic role!

You are an important part of the successfulness and effectiveness of this church.

Everyone else is depending on you to be here and to carry out your function.

And when we fail to be here and~/or carry out our function in this body, the whole church suffers.

So use your gifts to the glory of God and leave the results to him.

Remember the phrase: I need you! \\ \\

I.

Each Member Is Indispensable \\ II.

Each Member Is Interdependent \\ *Each Member Is Interconnected* \\ The final principle that Paul is trying to convey to us about our individual needfulness is that each member is interconnected.

That is, whatever affects one member of the Body of Christ is felt by all of the members.

\\ \\ Let me bring this principle home to you by giving you another example from our human bodies.

Most of us don’t give a lot of thought to our toes, especially our little pinkie toes (except, perhaps, when we’re playing with our children and it comes to that part in the game where it’s time to say, “And this little piggy went, ‘Wee, wee, wee,’ all the way home”).

Pinkie toes—it’s just one of those things we don’t normally spend hours reflecting upon.