INTRODUCTION:
1. A metaphor is a figure of speech where one thing is used as an illustration and/or application of something else to help explain it.
2. In the Bible, GOD uses several metaphors to describe HIS people…
His Chosen. His Elect. His People. The Apple of HIS eye. His Family. His Army. His Servants. His Church. His Body.
3. Of all of the metaphors GOD uses to describe HIS people, the one that most clearly describes the life of HIS people together is “HIS BODY.”
4. The BODY METAPHOR used here in 1st Corinthians 12:12-27 is the most important – and therefore the most common – that HE uses to describe HIS People!
EXPOSITION: 1st Corinthians 12:12-27
(12, 14, 20) The Church of the LORD Jesus Christ is ONE BODY that is made up of many different members!
“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 the body does not consist of one member but of many. As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.”
* We currently have 31 actively attending or supporting members, 6 of which are either homebound or in physical rehab.
* This leaves us with 25 actively attending or supporting members who are usually present for Sunday Morning Worship.
* We are also blessed to have 3 non-members who faithfully worship and serve the LORD with us each week.
* We currently have about 10 members who usually attend the Sunday Morning Sunday School Class.
* We currently have about 10 members who usually attend our Midweek Prayer Meeting and Bible Study.
(13) The many members of GOD’s ONE BODY ‘The Church’ are immersed into HIS BODY by the Holy Spirit!
“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.”
(15-17, 19) Each member of GOD’s BODY is different and has a different purpose!
“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? If all were a single member, where would the body be?”
We certainly know what our individual and corporate purpose is!
“We exist to Live Out the Great Commandments and Carry Out the Great Commission by Loving GOD, Loving People, and Sharing the Good News!”
(18) The Place and Purpose of each member in HIS BODY is determined by GOD, HIMSELF!
“But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.”
(21-26) For a body to be healthy, all of its parts must be present and functioning!
“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.”
*When members of a body are either missing or not functioning, it has a disabling effect on the whole BODY.
* If enough of the members of the body are either missing or not functioning, the body will die.
(27) We are, in fact, right here and right now, the BODY of CHRIST!
“Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”
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