turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 12th chapter the more I reflect upon the sermon title except for the first three words the more boring I think it sounds now the first three words of the sermon title are okay it says I am going perhaps you've heard those three words at some point here at South Eastern I am going those are the exciting parts but then the second line of the sermon if there were a second line of the title would be to be a church member to be a church member you hear I am
going and you start thinking about the mission fields in Southeast Asia you think about the churches that need revitalization across North America you think about the opportunity to plant churches anywhere and everywhere and then you hear this sermon title I am going to be a church member it almost evokes yawns and sense of boredom immediately but as we dig into the text that the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth as we look at the paropy of 1 Corinthians 12: 21 through 27 we're going to see that perhaps it does not evoke the boredom
as I described it perhaps there is something a bit exciting perhaps there is something to be commended when you say today and in the future I am going to be a church member listen to the Apostle Paul as he writes this church it was it was a church that had many blessings marked blessings they knew the new life in Christ but they were having trouble letting go of the old order they really wanted to hang on to the worldliness that was around them in many ways well at the same time grasping Christ and the Salvation
which was free to them and so it became a church of many problems morality issues doctrinal issues the list would go on and on the purpose of this message is not to go through the problems of Corinth but simply to say in many ways that this was a church that's not unlike many of the churches that we know today let's pick up in verse 12 as Paul begins to use a metaphor an analogy if you will of what the church is like in verse 12 he says for as the body is one and has many
parts and all the parts of the body though many are one body so also is Christ for we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body whether Jews or Greeks were their slaves and free so we were all made to drink of one Spirit now with that foundation allow me then to skip some of the the verses and go to the essence of the sermon beginning in verse 21 so the eye cannot say to the hand I don't need you or again the head cannot say to the feet I don't need you but even
more those parts of the body that seem to be weak or unnecessary and those parts of the body that we think to be less honorable we clothe these with great honor and our impr presentable Parts have a better presentation but our presentable Parts have no need of clothing instead God has put the body together giving great honor to the less honorable so that there would be no division in the body but that the members would have the same concern for each other so if one member suffers all the members suffer with it and if one
member is honored all the members Rejoice with it now you are the body of Christ an individual members of it local churches are weird they're different they have problems any of you and all of you know the reality of walking into a local church thinking that perhaps it was going to be the the the New Order of Christian Life and joy and continuous no problems day by day and then you're at the local church for a day or two or or three and you begin to discover it's made up of Sinners just like you and
me and you begin to think okay is this what the local church is about what why why would God give us this manifestation why would he give us what he calls the body of Christ with his imperfections we know that the universal church will never die but local congregations local expressions of this will have their struggles now keep in mind that this is what God left us this is what Christ left us this is what he said would be his witness whether we are going to Southeast Asia or Southeast Alabama he said the local church
will be the manifestation which you will serve now certainly there will be places outside the church certainly there will be opportunities beyond the context of the local body but you have been given this local congregation to make a difference I love the local church with all of its problems with all of its challenges with all of its crazy business meetings with all of the wackiness that sometimes takes place I love the local church I've been a part of a local church in one way or another for virtually entirety of my life though I was unchurched
as a teenager from the point I got married forward I have been closely tied to the local local church and then in vocational Ministry I've served as a pastor of four churches as an interim pastor of nine churches researched over 50,000 churches and hear from about two-thirds of Protestant churches across the United States every year through the blog Tom r.com and I get to hear what God is doing and sometimes it's not very pretty my first church for example First Church Southern Indiana preached in view of a call we used to call it trial sermon
you know why it's called a trial sermon because you go on trial and if they vote you guilty you become the pastor vote in view of a cal I preach there literally week after week and every time I would be told I was not good enough and finally on a particular day I was met by the search committee his name was Merl and and and Merl said I think we're going to vote on you as Pastor I said why did I preach a sermon that was good enough he said no he said you still stink
but it's Palm Sunday and we need a preacher for Easter so we're going to vote on you what I'm about to tell you is a true story this is not an exaggeration I'm no longer a pastor I have no need to exaggerate it is absolutely true this is the vote to call me was six to one there were seven people in this church and I could not get a unanimous vote Mary Mullin voted against me it's funny that I still remember her name she was also the first one of the seven to die I'm not
trying to make a correlation I'm just pointing that out and it was from that point where I began to serve as a pastor to this day at Lifeway that with all of its laws with all of its inadequacies just like this forgiven sinner named Tom rer I have learned to love the local church allow me to share at least from this context this metaphor of the body of Christ what Paul would say we need to remember I I just I read these verses again and you know how you dive into scripture sometime and you you
just get excited all over again God reveals new insights and and you see things from A New Perspective that happened to me as I dug into these verses and began to prepare for this message for chapel and it just reminded me again and again what God has done for us but now let's ask the question as he has so graciously given to us what are we to do for him if we are going to be a church member I will would contend that these four that these verses have four primary themes as the metaphor of
the body of Christ is used let me just share those now and then we'll back up and look at each of those first of all there's the issue of contribution what we're to do to contribute to the body of Christ secondly there is the issue of unity third there is the issue of compassion and then fourth there is the issue of love if we can use these four words as our take aways from this message we will have gotten the essence of what Paul is saying to us whether we are serving as Pastor staff missionary
planter Deacon Elder church member what we are to do as church members contribution Unity compassion love let's look at this issue of contribution really spelled out in verses 21 to 23 I love the way Paul does this he takes different parts of the physical anatomical Body of Christ and he begins to use them to talk about us and this is where we get the word members this is where the word membership originated in the context of the New Testament Church the body of Christ he he divides this membership in essence into three different groups the
first of these is found in verse 21 where he talks about the eye The Head and the feet so the eye cannot say to the hand and the hand I don't need you again the head cannot say to the feet I don't need you and the first thing that he does is he brings forth what we would call the external parts of the body of Christ that are visible I head hand feet and he said this is these are parts of the body of Christ and they are integral to the body but then he has
a second group in verse 22 where he begins to say but even more those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are necessary now now now Paul is using language here that is the perspective of those who may be looking on the outside in what does he mean when he says those that are weaker in other words those that are not visible these first ones are visible to us but now we have another group that is really if you want to use this in the sense of church membership is behind the scenes but
it is vital to the body if Paul were to spell them out he would spell out the heart and the liver and the lungs and the Brain he would say you cannot see these they're they're they're invisible on the surface but think how important they are to the body of Christ but even more are those parts of the body that seem to be seem to be weaker or necessary and he goes from the external to the internal to what we would probably call the private parts the parts that are clothed in most civilizations and he
begins to speak of those in verse 23 and those parts of the body that we think to be less honorable we clothe those with great honor and our unpresentable parts have have a better presentation now what is Paul doing here he's presenting to us three different groups of members of the body the external the internal the private and in every context here he's saying that they are all vital to the contribution of the health of the body of Christ that there is no one no part that the body can do without and remain healthy he
categorizes them for a reason he understands that as we look at this we will understand that there's some people who are out front in our churches there's some people behind the scenes and there's some people who just don't want to be seen at any point and he said all three of these are necessary for the body of Christ they all contribute to the health the second issue the first one is remember contribution the second issue is Unity the second issue is Unity now I was literally born and raised in Southeast Alabama for for those of
you who who who remember and y'all are all too young to remember a song by Clarence Carter called patches and I used to I used to sing that song I'm not going to sing it now but it started I was born and raised on in Alabama on Farm way back up in the woods well I was born and raised in Alabama but it wasn't on a farm and it wasn't way back up in the woods but it sounds good when I sing it so sometimes I I sing it but I was born in this small
town called Union Springs Alabama Union Springs Alabama as far as amenities has absolutely nothing I mean it is really really a bad place to live and grow up but I remember when I was young and I'm talking about I'm 60 now I remember when I was about 8 or N9 years old and it was announced that Union Springs was going to get a country club I didn't know what a country club was never heard of such now to be certain this was not the luxurious Country Club of the big city this was mainly a place
that served you food had a swimming pool and had a nine-hole golf course and that was about it a couple of tennis courts but it was something that we had never seen before and and I remember so well the first time I went to the country club it didn't cost much for my middle class parents to be members I went to the country club and here is what I found out I could go swimming as long as I wanted and and when I got hungry there was a a a window from the dining room to
poolside and I had been told that we had this food allowance and from my perspective that meant you could get food free and I remember going up to there and I pointed to this person I said I would like a cheeseburger and she gave me one just the way I wanted and she didn't ask for any money and I said this is so cool this is so cool I went swimming some more got hungry again I would like another cheeseburger with Fri and onion rings she gave me all the health foods there right on the
plate it was absolutely incredible and I found this out ladies and gentlemen I found out what it was like to be a member of something I pay my dues or in this case my parents do and people serve me they give me everything I want they meet my every whim and desire and if I don't get my needs met I will protest and threaten to withhold my dues you get the point church membership in too many of our congregations has become Country Club membership we'll pay our way and I want the music my way we'll
pay our way and I will want the order of business to go this way we pay our way and I want you to meet my needs and church becomes All About Me Myself and I but listen very carefully for all of those who serve in the name of Jesus Christ that is not membership at all in scripture listen to what Paul would go on to say pick up at verse 24 but our presentable Parts have no need of clothing instead God has put the body together giving greater honor to the less honorable verse 25 so
that there would be no division in the body so that there would be no division in the body do you get what's going on here the members of the body of Christ are functioning they are giving they are serving they're doing what God has called them to do obviously these members of the body are doing so without fussing or fighting or dividing and hear this very well please this truth of contribution and then Unity not only applies to the greater body what we typically call the people in the Pew or the church members it applies
to those of us who've been called vocationally into servant leadership into these churches as well what happens in the midst of orary cantankerous have it my way church members we who are leaders going into the church and say I'm here to serve I'm here to be last I'm here to function I am here because I want to be a part of the body the way God has put us into this body of Christ and I know that there will be times that I will be hurt and I know that there will be times that I
will be criticized and I know that there will be times that I may even be fired but I will love the body of Christ because it's not about me it's about the greater good of the body I said Remember the issue of contribution the issue of unity quickly let's go to the issue of compassion picking up at the end of uh verse 25 we'll just start at the beginning of verse 25 and going through 26 so that there would be no division in the body but that the members would have the same concern for each
other so if one member suffers all the members suffer with it if one member is honored all the members Rejoice with it do you hear what's going on is that word called Compassion or caring or empathy it is it is that we are putting so much of our needs aside for the good of the body that we cannot help but to have compassion upon others think about all healthy relationships how do healthy marriages stay healthy it's when the husband says to the wife I want to do everything I can to be the type of husband
that God has called me to be I want to be the leader of this household I want to I want to love you as Christ has loved the church I want to do I want to just sacrifice in order to be the kind of husband you want me to be wife or that God wants me to be and the wife responds I will submit to you gladly and that in that I will find Joy because I'm putting myself last and each of these in this relationship are saying you're first I'm last think about friendships the
best friendships are where people are always trying to do for one another so those relationships have power and meaning in the body of Christ too it means that we will have concern for others compassion for others and when there's suffering within the body we suffer with it and when there's joy we congratulate there is no competition within the church or between churches there is Joy when something good happens in the body of Christ there is compassion for those who are hurting and who are needy you see the Corinthian Church really had all it needed spiritual
gifts were present just go back to 17 1:7 to read some of that the right Doctrine was there for the most part obviously they had some aberration but look at chap 11: 2 and you can see that there was right Doctrine but this four thing was what the greatest need was in the church at Corinth certainly they needed to contribute certainly they needed to be unified certainly they needed to demonstrate compassion but the fourth issue isue was the issue of Love look how 1 Corinthians 12 ends now you are the body of Christ verse 27
and individual members of it there's that church membership metaphor once again and then we can look at all the different giftedness that concludes verse 12 but then look at the transition verse to verse 13 which is verse 31 but desire the greater gifts and I will show you an even better way I'll show you the better way transitioning right into the Magnificent love chapter the love chapter is first and foremost in his context about the body of Christ it's about the church at Corinth and it's about our church and so when Paul begins that eloquent
chapter that has been read at weddings and other places where love has been demonstrated if I speak human or Angelic an languages but do not have love I am a sounding gong or a clanging symbol in verse three if I donate all my goods to feed the poor and if I give my body in order to boast but have not love I gain nothing love is patient love is kind love does not envy it's not boastful it's not conceited does not act improperly is not selfish is not provoked and does not keep a record of
wrongs Love Finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth it Bears all things believes all things hopes all things endures all things Love Never Ends it is easier to be Orthodox than to be loving it is easier to be active in a church than to be loving in the church above all Christ said if we're really going to be a part of the body of Christ if we're going to be contributing unified compassionate it all must be surrounded immersed and captivated by love sir and I'm not going to even talk about the nine
churches as I wrap this up I'm not going to talk about the nine churches where I served as interim pastor cuz that's a piece of cake it's like being a grandparent you know a deacon or an elder messes up and you just give them back and you leave it's not a big deal but serving as Pastor because I'm a thin skinned type of guy serving as Pastor was not always easy for me and to hear some of the critics and to get some of the barbs that were thrown my way was often extremely painful and
there was one time when one particular person was just on me he had accused me of doing some things I did not do he had made some statements in a business meeting you know the story almost every Pastor even staff have gone through this and all I could think of was to go to scripture and read in precatory Psalms about him but that wasn't what God wanted me to do and I was praying actually in my study on whether I should leave the church or stay because I was so beaten up and I'm not going
to suggest for one moment that I heard an audible Voice or even could tell you with Clarity exactly what was taking place but I sense that single word love love and I don't know why in the moment when I was just praying out of anger and praying out of Escape that word came to me or God brought that word to me love I didn't particularly like it at the time because it was in the context of my complaining about that guy about that church member about that fell who had made my life totally miserable love
him love him and it hit it that moment who are you Tom Rainer who are you that have sent Jesus to the cross with your sin who are you to act up and to think you're any better than even that biggest Troublemaker who are you and as Christ loved me I cannot say I loved him with equal measure but I prayed a different prayer Lord I cannot love him in My Own Strength help me to love him in yours did everything get okay immediately nope he's still a jerk but he was a jerk now that
was kind of a jerk like me he had been given God's grace and so had I he had known forgiveness and so had I and it gave me a brand new you perspective yeah yall are headed to excited places if you're not already there all over the globe all over North America planting churches revitalizing churches risking your life for the sake of the Gospel but everywhere you go there will be a church some of them May be traditional and with tall Steeples some of them may be underground in a house but there will be a
church remember I am going to be a church member as God has called me to be a church member and in doing so I will demonstrate those characteristics of contribution Unity compassion and love now these three remain faith hope and love but the greatest of these is love pray with me I am going father to be a church member I am going father to sacrifice to show compassion to show love to contribute I am going father and as I go so you go with me Lord thank you for the body of Christ manifest in local
congregations all across the world thank you that you have put me an imperfect one in the midst of an imperfect group together we are members of the body of Christ thank you in Jesus name amen
