You Are the Body of Christ – February 10, 2019 – Steve Miller
I gained a greater appreciation of my right arm when I fractured it. Every body part is important.
1 Corinthians 12:27 says: Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
In Numbers 2, when Israel was in the wilderness, the Lord prescribed a specific place for each of Israel's tribes in the camp surrounding His tabernacle:
· On the east, toward the sunrise, was the camp of Judah: the tribes of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. They were to set out first.
· On the south was the camp of Reuben: the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad in their.
· In the middle, around the tabernacle, were to camp the divisions of the tribe of Levi. They would carry the tabernacle when traveling, and set out next.
· On the west side was the camp of Ephraim: the peoples of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin. They would set out third.
· On the north was the camp of Dan: the tribes of Dan, Asher, and Naphtali, the last in line.
Do not despise your brothers and sisters. In preparing for this message, this is what I felt the Lord was saying:
“You are all My children. There is not one of you who is not important to Me. Just as I surrounded My tabernacle in the wilderness with the tribes of Israel, so I surround Myself with My people and dwell in your midst. I have a place and purpose for each one of you, so do not despise your place. Do not despise your brothers and sisters, My children. The sons of Jacob thought they could cut off their brother Joseph, but he ended up delivering them from death. Thankfully, he did not respond by cutting them off.”
We know the story of Joseph and his brothers from Genesis, how they despised him for reasons that we generally might agree with, to be honest, if we were in their shoes:
Genesis 37:3-11
Like the Israelites in the Old Testament, we are the body of Christ; we are God's children. Everyone who has faith in Jesus as Lord is a member of Abraham's family. But we must remember that there is only one Lord in our family. Paul writes about this to the Ephesians:
Ephesians 4:1-8
Joseph's brothers were jealous of the gifts Jacob gave to Him. Are we ever envious of brothers and sisters for the gifts they've been given? The calling God has given them? The station in life and circumstances He's put around them? How do you think Paul felt about his position: “Prisoner for the Lord”? Do we ever despise our own place and calling that the Lord has given us?
Do we despise other believers because they've got it wrong? Their style is different. Their personality is different. Their doctrine is messed up. (We know because it's different than ours.) They sin. They're immature. They haven't got it all together like Jesus and we do.
Remember that we come into God's family by repenting of sin and giving over our lives to Jesus as Lord, and He responded by putting His Spirit in us to renew and empower us. He's the One in charge, and He has our best interests at heart. He's the One who loved us enough to die for us. This same Lord Jesus is the One with a plan for each of our lives, and has given special grace to each one of us for His purposes.
1 Corinthians 12:1-31
12Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
24But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
There are two overarching messages here:
· First, the Lord is the One who has made each of us who we are and placed us in the unique calling and place in His body that He wants us to function in. It's His plan, not ours. We are not all the same, but we are all important.
· Secondly, we need and depend on each other. If I or someone else is missing or not functioning, you and I and all of us will suffer. On the other hand, if we are all present and working together, we're all blessed and successful. We are a body, and we are His body.
Here's the remainder of the message I felt the Lord telling me as I was preparing:
“You are all My children, and I love you. Now dwell in My love. It is a roof over your house that protects you from the cold and the elements. My love will bind you together as one body. You cannot survive without My love, just as the parts of the body cannot survive without blood. I am your life. I shed My blood that you may have life abundantly. This happens only when you remain in My love and share it with one another.”
The body is dead without love. No matter how gifted or right or effective or important we might think we are, without love, each of us is more non-functional in the body of Christ than my fractured arm was for me. So let's examine Paul's most excellent way, which is love:
1 Corinthians 13:1-7 – 1If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
We can think we're completely right – and yet be totally wrong. Our enemy works by deception. So we need to become experts at what love really is. We need the Spirit's revelation,conviction,grace and empowerment to see and live out God's love in the midst of His body. I exhort each one of us to meditate on these last four verses that define love for us, asking that the Holy Spirit will do His work to change us by His grace as we yield to Him as Lord.
