1 Corinthians 12:12-14
“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For 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. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.”
1 Corinthians 12:12-14 NIV
Just like a physical body has all kinds of different members, fingers, toes, legs, arms, a head, so the church is the body with all kinds of different parts and every part matters. The finger doesn’t say to the toe, “I don’t need you,” and the leg doesn’t say to the arm, “I don’t need you,” and our arms and legs don’t say to the heart, “We don’t need you.” To the lung, “We don’t need you.”
It all works together and so the church is this way. We are the body of Christ. He is our head and every part, every member matters and this is where I just want to encourage you. Every member of the church matters. May God help us to see that all members of the church have gifts from the Spirit for the building up of Christ’s Church.
I was reading this passage of scripture and preparing this devotional, I thought about the number of people who are in a church who feel like they don’t matter. Almost like spectators who come to church, sit on a pew on Sunday, maybe interact with some people, maybe not even that. They walk away and think, “Yeah, that pastor, he’s really important,” or, “that leader is really important. These people do all these things. They’re kind of the way that make this whole church-run.”
But in the process, the adversary has blinded so many Christians to the fact that they are members of the body of Christ and valuable members at that, every single one of them. I want to encourage you. When you think about your church, one, to be a member of a church and to be committed to a body, a local body of believers and then as you’re committed to that church realize that God created you with spiritual gifts and placed you there to grow and help grow the local church.
Paul considered that the correct use of our gifts and graces is of special significance when commemorating Christ's sacrificial death. Paul considered that particular attention should be given to the correct use of spiritual gifts in the breaking of bread which represents Christ body - broken for us, and the sharing of the cup which symbolises His precious blood shed for us.
And so, Paul reiterated the importance and responsibility of every individual believer to live and work together, by maintaining unity within the Church for collectively we are all Christ's Body while being individual members of it. Paul expressed it this way in Romans, "although we are many, we are one Body in Christ Jesus, and individually we are members of one another."
Paul made it very clear that just as a human body is made up of a vast number of different functioning parts, it remains one unified whole. Each of the different components and organs of the body has its own vital function and unique position within the body. A heart is different from an eye, a liver has different functions from an ear or a toe but all are needed if the body is to function smoothly.
While each individual member of the body is incapable of carrying out the function of another body-part, together they work for good. Each makes its own unique contribution in order to successfully function as one unified whole for the benefit of the body but if one member malfunctions, it affects the whole.
Just as the human body was designed by God to function as one unified whole so the Body of Jesus Christ has been designed to be a unified whole. Each believer has been endowed by the Spirit with his or her own gifts and graces. Each has been spiritually equipped to carry out the work that God has prepared for them to do, so that together with the rest of the Body of Christ, they will individually and collectively grow in grace and walk in the unity of the Spirit.
The Christian Church is composed of all individuals who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting. Each church fellowship is a microcosm of the world-wide Body of Christ. Each has its own unique role to play and all members are of equal value and import to our heavenly Father.
As Paul wrote in Ephesians, "we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ, from whom the whole Body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the Body for the building up of itself in love."
Yes, the Lord Jesus is the Head over the Body, and His supreme command is that love should prevail in the hearts of all His children. He desires that we consider the needs of others before our own and that we eschew evil, envy, independence, self-importance, or personal worthiness.
How important that the genuine unity of the Body is maintained, while at the same time recognizing that we are a diverse group of redeemed individuals that consist of Jews and Gentiles, male and female, young and old, black and white, slave and free. Praise God that we are all one in Christ Jesus our Lord and that by grace through faith, "we are now Christ's Body and individually members of it!!!”
Father, thank You for this day and the privilege of being united to Christ by faith and being part of Your Body the Church. Lord, let Your abundant blessings fall from the windows of heaven upon my friend and family today. Thank You for our brothers and sisters and we pray that we would be united together in love. We pray that in all things we would learn to love You with all our heart and soul and mind and strength and put the needs of our brothers and sisters before our own, for Your greater praise and glory. Lord, use my friend to be the touch of Your love to all today.
Father, we love You. Amen !
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