Membership Means
Incorporation
1 Corinthians 12:12-13; 25-27
Week 5:
Membership Means Incorporation
Central Bible Truth
The
local church is a single body of many believers under the headship of Christ,
designed to please God and serve one another.
Background passage:
1
Corinthians 12, 14
Focal Passage:
1
Corinthians 12:12-13, 18-19, 24-27
Lesson Aim for Week 5: (Informational,
How Come?)
Week 1, 3, and 5 are to be informational, or “how come”.
Weeks 2, 4, and 6 are to be instructional, or “how to”.
To show the progression of the church as a
whole, working together to glorify God in the health and development of the entire
local church body.
The Bible in Context
“You can’t see the forest
because of the trees” means that we often miss the overall picture because of
the details. This week’s focus is on the unified incorporated body, working together
to accomplish the will of Christ.
Several times in the New Testament, the local
church is referred to as a “body” of believers (See Romans 12:4-5, Ephesians
1:22, 4:15, 5:23; Colossians 1:18 and 2:19). The corporate unity of the church
is paramount for His glory. Our needs and wants, though important, must come
under the direction of the overall leadership of Christ in accomplishing His
purpose.
1 Corinthians 12 repeatedly shows that the
church is one body with many members, each one uniquely gifted and talented for
the service to the church. Last week we looked at the individual involvement,
the “trees”. This we focus on the entire incorporation of the members into one
body, or the “forest”. We will look at how our church works together, through
LifeGroups, Discipleship Training, Committees, Stewardship, Budgeting as a
church, and Cooperation with other churches to reach the world for Christ.
The recurring theme of 1 Corinthians 12 is
not to describe fully the effects of the various gifts within the body, but
rather affirm the necessity of how the entire body works together with overall
unity. Chapter 12 leads directly into the “more excellent way” of love found in
1 Corinthians 13.
1. God’s
church should function as a unified body. (1 Corinthians 12:12)
2. We
do not give up our individuality to accomplish incorporation. (12:13)
3. God
distributes the “gift mix” to arrange the parts. (12:18-19)
4. The church
is composed to mix together into the whole body. (12:24-25)
5. Every
person in the church is important to the success of the cause of Christ. (12:26-27)
12:12. As the local church, we
must never forget the ultimate purpose of the body is to be Christ’s physical
representation on the earth. We are His hands, feet, eyes, ears, etc. on
earth. While we can recognize our
differences, we are to never forget our ultimate unifying purpose is in Christ
and to show Christ to each other and to the world.
12:13. Unified
at salvation.
We have equality among believers at salvation. “Being baptized into one
Spirit” is not referring to water baptism, but the baptism of the Holy
Spirit at salvation. John the Baptist and Jesus both said that the believers
would be baptized with the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11, Acts 1:5). Paul says we
“all” were baptized by the Holy Spirit, meaning this spiritual baptism is not a
“second blessing” for a few elite Christians. He also says we “all” drink one
Spirit, signifying our “common union” in communion.
Jesus
depicted salvation as drinking “living water,” uniting us equally in one Body
at salvation (see (John 4:14, John 7:37 and Revelation 21:6 also).
Unified in service. Whether Greek or Jew,
slave or free, we are all on the same level, regardless of race, social, or
economic status. In Galatians 3:17-18, Paul explained more fully, “For as
many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither
Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor
female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
18-19. Arranged as a symphony. We do not give up our
uniqueness in coming to Christ. Our unique race, nationality, status, and
gender are no barriers to coming to Christ for salvation or service. Peter said
in Acts 10:34, “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism in
dealing with people.” We do not
cease being free, being male or female, nor give up our race in our Christian corporate
body. Rather, our differences are all united in Christ and there is no room for
prejudices in the church.
Verse 24. Composed by God. The truth of this verse cannot be overemphasized. God composes the
church. The Amplified Bible reads: “But God has so adjusted (mingled,
harmonized and subtly proportioned the parts of the whole) body...” Previously
we discussed individuality, but here we see God incorporated us as a
composition.
Verse 25-26. Caring for one another. Because God arranged
the members and composed the body, disharmony disturbs the reason for God bringing
the differing parts together. The divisions in Corinth were not doctrinal, as
in Galatia, but due
to feelings of inferiority and superiority. Factions motivated by selfishness,
not unlike the disputes within the disciples in the Gospels who argued over who
would receive the most honor in the kingdom (Matthew 18:1, Mark 9:34, Luke
9:46, and John 13:13-17).
Verse
27. Contribution by all. Every
part of the body has a purpose. Each part needs to contribute to the ministry
as a whole. God does not place “non-essential personnel” within the body of the
Church. If our work helps the good of the entire body, then we will be
successful in the eyes of God.
Summary.
God gifts the members, arranges the parts, and composes the body as He
desires. We, in turn, care for each other for the good of the entire church. The body is unified by
the salvation of Christ and by the serving in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The outline on Week 5
explains
WHEN we take First Steps at First Baptist:
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