1 Corinthians 12:12-31 | "You Are The Body"
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· 133 viewsSunday, September 26, 2021. 1 Corinthians 12:13-31 | "You Are The Body." We are what God says we are. It's that simple! The same Creator who said in the beginning, "let there be," and "there was," speaks a similar word to His Church today. God says, "You are the body of Christ and individually members of it!" What God creates, God sustains in Christ through the Holy Spirit. This reality has profound meaning for the identity and function of every local church and individual believer gathering in the name of Jesus. This message preaches from 1 Corinthians 12:13-31. It is part of a preaching series through 1 Corinthians "To The Church." The title of this sermon is "You Are The Body."
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I. The Reading
I. The Reading
A reading from 1 Corinthians 12:12-31:
[ One verse per slide ]
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
If all were a single member, where would the body be?
As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
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.”
On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty,
which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it,
that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.
If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.
Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
But earnestly desire the higher gifts.
And I will show you a still more excellent way.
This is God’s Word, Amen.
[ Title Slide ]
1 Corinthians 12:12-31 “You Are The Body”
1 Corinthians 12:12-31 “You Are The Body”
II. The Exhortation
II. The Exhortation
When God’s Word says to the church — “you are,” God is revealing something about our being, our identity, our belonging, our purpose. God is defining that for us.
When God’s Word says to the church — “you are,” God is not telling us what He hopes we will be, if we work hard enough, if we do good enough, if we give money enough - No!
God is telling us what we already are - because He said so!
When God spoke in the beginning, He said “let there be...” - and there was!
This same God says to us now, “You are....”
We are what God says we are, it is that simple!
God says, of His church, “You are…the body of Christ.”
There is nothing we can do to become the body of Christ.
We cannot create all of our various members and set them together in a way that functions. We cannot compose ourselves for any good purpose.
Have you seen children playing with Potato Heads? Mr. Potato Head, Mrs. Potato Head…?
We are like children trying to compose a potato body. Noses end up on feet. Eyes end up on backs. Lips end up as arms. Legs end up on the head.
We fail to put a potato together correctly. How much more would we fail to put together a human body, or even a church?
There is nothing we can do to become the body of Christ.
We already are the body of Christ because that’s what God says we are. That is what God has already made us to be.
And in the same way, there is nothing we can do to become something else, other than the body of Christ, because what God speaks is done! What God creates God sustains, and it will survive to the end by the grace of God!
Which means, like it or not,
you - church in Corinth,
and we - Southside Baptist Church in Decatur, AL -
are the body of Christ, that God has set together, that God has composed, with every part that we need to do God’s will, right now.
When I look out at our church, I see missing parts. You see missing parts.
We share the same conversations about what we think we need and where we think we need to go, and how we think we need to get there.
We ask: Where are our children? We long for more!
Where are our young families? We yearn for more!
Where our our givers? We need more!
Where are our doers? We desire more!
Where our our supporters? We plead for more!
Because our potato, doesn’t look right to us. It looks like we are missing pieces.
And perhaps the Lord would have us understand, that we don’t need to put pieces on a potato head. Because Christ is the head of the church. And the Spirit takes all of the pieces, and forms them into something a Potato Head doesn’t have — a body, underneath the head.
Have we forgotten what God says of us? Are we among those who are “uninformed”?
Perhaps we should ask the question today - Whose voice are we listening to? Whose voice is informing our strategy? What bucket are we picking pieces out of?
I confess that I, and we, are looking around so faithlessly focused on what we are not! And that is not the voice of God!
I need to hear again, and we need to again, the voice of our Creator saying: “You are...”
“You are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”
If we are the body of Christ, that means we belong to Christ, and every member functions in service and witness to Christ and for his purposes.
This means, as we look around at each other, if we are thinking about what we are not, or what we have not, then we have lost our sense of purpose. WE are putting pieces together on the wrong head!
Preban Vang says this (TTC):
“According to Paul, churches that think they need more, or different, gifts from what the Spirit has given them must consider whether they are using their gifts according to God’s purpose or attempting to become a community that is different from what God intends them to become.”
If we think that we are lacking in our church, we must ask WHAT it is we are trying to do, and WHO it is we are trying to become!
Are we the body of Southside Baptist Church? Or are we the body of Christ?
Brothers and sisters - we exist on the most basic level, to “be God’s witnesses, who do God’s will, as revealed in God’s word.” That’s a clever way of saying, that we exist for God! We exist as the body of Christ! Which means, everything we do, and everything that we are, exists for the glory of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Preban Vang again says (TTC):
“many modern churches…have grown used to relying on attractive facilities, strong programs, natural talents of a few members, and ministers’ rational power to persuade spiritual seekers”
when what we need, and what we have is the “empowerment” of God’s Holy Spirit!
And the Holy Spirit always leads us to Jesus!
The Holy Spirit doesn’t empower us to make much of our plans. The Holy Spirit empowers us to make much of Christ’s purposes.
This is why when we gather, we gather in the name of Jesus. To say: Jesus really is our Lord. Jesus really is our Leader. Jesus really is our Life!
Jesus is the head of the body. And we believe the voice of God who says: “You Are the Body of Christ.”
In the previous eleven verses, the apostle “zooms in” as it were, from many to one.
Not several, but same. Not each, but every. Not idols, but God — One God.
The starting place when discussing spiritual things is always with God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Whatever questions the Corinthians were asking about various gifts, various services and various activities, the apostle knew that the only way to fix their lack of knowledge was to first fix their focus.
Listen to how he did this:
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;
6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.
7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
The apostle doesn’t seem to have any interest in expounding upon the varieties until they get the singular source right - God. And the purpose right - the common good.
With those two foundations in place, he now “zooms out” from ONE to the many.
We function as ONE body with MANY members. We are Christ’s body and individually members of it.
III. The Teaching
III. The Teaching
There is a simple and well known strategy for organizing any speech, or presentation, or sermon, or teaching, and that strategy goes like this:
First, tell your audience what you’re about to tell them.
Next, tell them.
Finally, them them what you told them!
The apostle seems to employ this strategy in these twenty verses.
[ Show this slide while explaining ]
[ 12-13 ] He tells them what he is about to tell them.
[ 14-26 ] He tells them.
[ 27-31 ] He tells them what he told them.
In verses 12-13, he tells them what he is about to tell them. He tells the church that the human body is one and has many members, and that this is the same with Christ.
In verses 14-26, he tells them what he needs to tell them. The many parts belong to the body. The many parts perform necessary functions. The many parts rely upon each other. The many parts share and care for one another. These are all a result of God’s setting, and God’s composing the body as He chooses and as He wills.
In verses 27-31, the apostle concludes by telling the church what he told them. They are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
A. [12.12-13] One Body
A. [12.12-13] One Body
Continuing on with the theme of “one God” the apostle highlights for the church the reality of one body. He begins not in the spiritual realm, but in the “somatic” realm. The realm of the body. A physical body.
12.12
12.12
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
This is what the apostle is going to tell them!
He has a destination that he’s moving toward in his teaching and in his examples, and that destination is Christ.
“so it is with Christ.”
Notice, he doesn’t say “so it is with the church.”
The apostle is not leading us into a better understanding of the church, he is leading us into a better understanding of Christ. Christ is our destination.
Southside Baptist Church, if we set our destination as “Christ,” if we are faithful and obedient toward His end, to be His people, and do things His way — then we will enjoy God’s blessings and God’s empowerment for that endeavor!
But if we set our destination for other things: for membership growth, for financial sustainability or profitability, for the preservation of our facility or for the codification of our constructs, our traditions, our way of life, our comfort -
We are prone to do these things, and some of these things are even good and wise - but hear this: NONE of these things should be our destination.
And our destination will inform our decisions. If our decisions are being made to advance the church, we are arranging pieces on the wrong head.
Our destination is Christ. And God is arranging the pieces to lead us to Christ.
We cannot be lead to Christ without the Holy Spirit. So in verse 13 —
12.13
12.13
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
The body apart from the spirit is dead. And the Holy Spirit is what gives life to Christ’s body, the church.
And this one Spirit makes us all one, through baptism.
When we pass through the waters of baptism, it is not a mere symbol. It is not just a picture.
Baptism will not save you, but it does represent so much more than your testimony.
Through baptism, God makes us one with Christ, uniting us to Christ and Christ’s body, the church.
And perhaps we shouldn’t miss the obvious point that the Holy Spirit is not a racist and the Holy Spirit is not one to show partiality.
Let me say that again - the Holy Spirit is not a racist and the Holy Spirit is not one to show partiality.
Meaning, a church that says “we only want to accept Jews, not Greeks.” Or “we only want to accept free not slaves” is not in the Holy Spirit, is not moving toward Christ, and is in fact lacking God’s provision for the body.
Because in the Spirit, Greeks become one with Jews. Slaves become one with Free.
Christ is not divided.
The apostle wrote in Chapter 10:
1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,
2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
3 and all ate the same spiritual food,
4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
Ephesians speaks of —
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
So there is ONE body.
That’s what the apostle wants to tell the church in Corinth, from verses 12-13.
But this one body is composed of —
B. [12.14-26] Many Parts
B. [12.14-26] Many Parts
I want you to notice now in verse 14, the placement of the word “one.” It shifts. It moves. It is not next to the word “body.”
Look with me at verse 14 —
12.14
12.14
For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
Where did the word “one” move to in this verse? What does it modify?
The word “one” does not modify the word body — but the word member.
And the statement shifts from a positive statement in verse 12 “the body is one” to a negative statement in verse 14 - “the body does NOT consist of one member...”
You cannot have a church as one person.
You cannot live in the dessert by yourself and be a church.
You cannot say “it’s just me and Jesus” because Jesus is not a member, he’s the head. So you are the only member, and “the body does not consist of one member.”
Your pastor is not the church.
Our biggest giver is not the church.
Our most active servant is not the church.
“for the body does not consist of one member.”
Jesus said:
19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
We need at least two, or three, to have a church.
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
Warren Wiersbe says this (WW, 609):
“Unity without diversity would produce uniformity, and uniformity tends to produce death. Life is a balance between unity and diversity…This helps to explain why some churches (and other Christian ministries) have weakened and died: there was not sufficient diversity to keep unity from becoming uniformity.”
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
So the apostle first teaches, that:
The many parts belong to the whole.
The many parts belong to the whole.
The following verses do not need detailed explanation because we all have a σῶμα , a “body” so we live as an illustration of what he is teaching.
12.15
12.15
If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
12.16
12.16
And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
The many parts BELONG to the whole.
The many parts BELONG to the whole.
Notice the repeated word “belong.” Literally, each member is a part, and each part together is the whole.
Each of you is needed, because each of you is part of God’s purpose for His church AS YOU ARE!
Don’t devalue your part.
One of the most obvious ways we devalue our part is to try to be a part that we are not.
There used to be a popular slogan in churches that said “Every member a minister” and that became distorted so that we thought every member was the same.
Rightly understood, “every member a minister” means every member is a part that belongs to the whole.
Don’t devalue your individual part by trying to be another part, because your part is needed.
Verses 17-19 reveal that this is God’s design because every part performs a necessary function.
12.17
12.17
If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
12.18
12.18
But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
12.19
12.19
If all were a single member, where would the body be?
Every part performs a NECESSARY function.
Every part performs a NECESSARY function.
Otherwise, the body would be senseless.
We may not be the part we want, but we are the part the body needs. And God knows what we need. God knows what his body needs.
This does not mean that you are free to do whatever you feel your gift enables you to do. That’s an individualistic way of thinking.
The apostle wants to avoid that kind of thinking. This letter is “to the church.” The community. He wants to maintain the communal focus of the Christ community.
You aren’t free to do whatever you feel gifted to do, but you are only free to use your God-given gift inasmuch as it serves THE BODY. For the SAKE of the body as a whole. For the sake of the other parts. (See TTC).
You receive a gift and are a gift perfectly arranged “as God chose.” As God desires. As God wants.
“Here am I Lord, send me!”
“Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done!”
Because God knows what is best for the body.
The apostle reminds of this in verse 20 —
12.20
12.20
As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
The many parts RELY on each other.
The many parts RELY on each other.
The many parts relate to one another.
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.”
12.22
12.22
On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
12.23
12.23
and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty,
12.24
12.24
which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it,
12.25
12.25
that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.
The many parts CARE for one another.
The many parts CARE for one another.
That means the parts are concerned for one another. Knowing that if something bad happens to one part, then something bad happens to the other parts because all the parts rely on each other, perform a necessary function, and belong to the whole.
This is why division, and schisms are so destructive. God does not want any division in His body. No discord.
Notice that sin will not make us any less the body of Christ, but sin will divide us and render us purposeless. Remember that Christ is not divided. If the body of Christ is divided, then we are not under the Lordship of Christ.
12.26
12.26
If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
If we are unaffected by the suffering of members among us, if we do not rejoice when one member is honored, then we are not united together as one body.
So the apostle has told the church want he’s going to tell them, then, he’s told them.
And now the text takes a Christological turn at the end as he tells them what he told them. He tells them about the body of Christ.
C. [12.27-31] The Body of Christ
C. [12.27-31] The Body of Christ
He writes in verse 27:
12.27
12.27
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
Notice He doesn’t say you are “one body” now, but he explains what that means by saying “you are Christ’s body.”
Christ is the possessor of the body. Therefore, Christ is the head of the body and the head of all the many individual parts.
This takes the focus off of you, or me, and puts it squarely upon Jesus Christ.
As he wrote in:
17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
We cannot glue ourselves together as one. Unity - oneness, is through being joined TO THE LORD.
And when we are joined to the Lord, we become on spirit WITH him.
So ultimately, this is not about unity. It’s about Christ.
It’s not about “one body” here but about “Christ’s body” here.
12.28
12.28
And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.
Notice the phrase “in the church.”
The “body of Christ” IS the “church” of Christ.
And again, God is the one appointing and setting each part in proper place in His church for the right function.
Each part has a purpose. And if we try to usurp that purpose, and take on the function of another part, we not only hurt the body but we also oppose God’s desire for us!
12.29
12.29
Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
12.30
12.30
Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
Only now, at the end, does the apostle highlight the many, the varieties, the diversity.
We do not all possess the same gifts or perform the same services or activities, and that is a good thing, in so much as we all are using what God has given us.
And that takes faith. That requires sacrifice.
If you need faith today to get moving and to serve the Lord as a meaningful part of His body, then look nowhere else but the cross of Christ!
5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me;
6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.
7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ”
Jesus died on the cross not because he wanted to perform that work, but rather, because he wanted the Father’s will to be done.
Jesus came to do God’s will!
And God’s will was for Christ to bear our sin on the cross in our place, so that through Christ our body of sin might be put to death and buried, and that through Christ we might be raised to eternal life and serve Him with our bodies as members of His body!
This is the Gospel! This is what we are empowered to do as the body of Christ. This is who WE ARE!
The apostle is not finished. In verse 31 he hints at what’s to come, and writes:
12.31
12.31
But earnestly desire the higher gifts.
And I will show you a still more excellent way.
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