A Part of
Something BIGGER Sept. 9th
Scripture: 1
Cor. 12: 12-14
Introduction: In essence
this Scripture is telling believers (the Corinthians and modern day believers)
that we are all part of one Body (the Church); even though there are many parts
(represented by believers everywhere) this Body is a unit. Notice the sentence
which says, “So it is with Christ.” As you study Scripture you learn the rest
of the story which explains that the Body (the Church) has a head, and that
head is Jesus Christ. The fact that
verse 13 talks about each of us (believers) being baptized by one Spirit into
this body introduces to us the idea that we as believers are “in Christ.”
Two Results of Becoming a Christian
What does it mean to be “in Christ;” what are the
implications? There are two things that
happen when a person becomes a Christian.
A) Christ comes to live in us: notice the words of Rom. 8:9, “If
anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” It is
Christ living in you by His Spirit that makes you a Christian. Notice the words of 1 Cor. 13:5 where we
read, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith, test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in
you…? Are you a real Christian? How do
you know for sure? Is there evidence
that Jesus Christ lives in you?
So that’s the first thing that happens when you become a
Christian; Christ comes to live in you.
B) We
come to be In Christ: The second
thing that happens when you become a Christian is that you come into Christ.
Notice what is said in 1 Cor. 12:13, “We were all baptized by one Spirit into
one Body;” the Body of Christ, consequently we were baptized into Christ. But what is the true meaning, emphasis and
purpose of these two complementary events (Christ coming to live in us and we
coming into Christ)? The best way for us to understand these ideas is with an
illustration taken from a story of a very unfortunate, yet fortunate farmer.
Miraculous Re-attachment
A farmer was bailing hay on his farm one day when
something got into the bailer and jammed it.
The farmer got off the tractor to see what was wrong but he did not
disengage the bailer. He reached his arm
into the machine and pulled out the debris. Immediately the machine began to
work again and before the farmer could get clear, the moving parts of the
bailer caught his arm, pulled it in and chopped it off just below his shoulder.
In shock the farmer shut off the bailer, picked up his severed right arm and
walked about a third of a mile to the next farmhouse. He knocked on the door and when it was
answered he explained what had happened to his neighbour’s wife. She quickly put his arm in the deep freeze
and called 911.
When the ambulance arrived the attendant
packed the farmers severed arm in ice and rushed him off to the hospital. Through a long and delicate operation the
surgeons re-attached the farmers arm to his body. The story showed a picture of the farmer 3
months later standing outside his house, bare-chested flexing the muscles of
both arms—the scar still visible on his right arm but the article said he was
regaining the use of his right arm and that within 18 months to 2 years the
farmer would have almost full use of his arm again.
I told you this story
because it is an excellent illustration of what it means for Christ to be in us
and us to be in Christ.
A) The Arm Received the Life of the Body
When it was severed from the
body the arm died and became lifeless.
It was unable to respond to the body, because it was severed from the
body. When it was re-attached to the
body the sign that the surgery was successful was that the life of the body re-inhabited the arm. The arm became
re-attached to the body and became part of something much bigger than itself by
now being part of the body.
When you become a Christian, you receive life, God’s life,
when Christ’s Spirit comes to live in you.
Prior to this experience Eph. 2:1 says, “You were dead in your sins…”
Now at the same time that Christ comes into you and you receive life, you, like
the farmers re-attached arm, become re-attached to Christ and His life flows
through you.
What does this mean?
Now
that you are re-attached to Christ and His life flows through you, that life
becomes your source of power. Look at my hand and arm; they are attached
to my body which is their source of
ability and power.
Not only is our attachment to the body our source of ability
and power, but it is also our source of purpose.
You see my arm is no longer just an arm doing what arms do. It is an arm working in cooperation with the
body to accomplish the purposes of the head.
(example- I am thirsty, my brain tells my arm and hand to reach down
take this cup hold it in just the right place and I drink).
The significance of my arm and hand is not just that they
have my life in them but they now have purpose and function that is related to
the fact that they are part of something much bigger—my body. The emphasis of being in Christ is not just
that we have life—Christ in us—but that we now have purpose, we now have function—that comes from
the Head of the Body into which we have been incorporated, which is
Christ.
So if Christ in me
gives me power, then I in Christ gives me purpose. Christ
in me gives me salvation and I in Christ leads me into service; operating under Christ’s
headship. Christ in me gives me
resources, and I in Christ gives me responsibilities. Christ
in me is personal, but I in Christ is corporate because in Christ
I am now part of something bigger—the Church which is Christ’s Body. I am no longer the lone ranger
Christian; it’s not just me and Jesus, me and my little kingdom. I am part of something much bigger, the
Church—of which Christ is the head and His Spirit is its life, into which I
have been incorporated.
Jesus still has a Body here on earth—it’s His Church, which
is made up of different men, women, and children just like the ones here in our
fellowship. Each part of this Body is connected to the whole and we have to
learn to function as a Body, with Christ as the head, if we are going to be
affective for Christ in our community. Let’s pray that God will open the eyes
of our hearts that we may know Him better and understand more clearly what it
means to function as the Church, the Body of Christ and to be collectively
committed to the purposes of the Head of this Body which is Jesus Christ our
Lord.
