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A BIBLICAL DESIGN
FOR A HARMONIOUS CHURCH
SERMON
TEXT: I Corinthians 12:12-13
SERMON
THESIS: Unity is to be the distinguishing mark of the church.
INTRODUCTION: “I’m
so glad I’m a part of the family of God . . .” Did you know that
as a “part” of the family of God, the church, you are a member of
Christ’s body–a living organism? Therefore, church membership is
not something that we can take lightly. When you become a member
of a local church body, you are a part of something big. In fact,
you are not only a member of a local body, you become a part of the
universal church, made up of all the redeemed of the Lord. Thus as
a member of Christ’s body, it is His desire that we be unified. Such
hymns as, “The Bond of Love,” “The Family of God,” “We are God’s
People,” “In Christ There Is No East or West,” “Blest Be the Tie That
Binds,” and “Our God Has Made Us One,” depict this idea of unity.”
The Bible describes the unity called for in God’s Word . . .
The
Psalmist speaks of the excellence of brotherly unity - READ Psalm
133:1-3
In
His High Priestly Prayer, Jesus prayed for unity . . .
“I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity (lit.
into a unit), that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and
didst love them, even as Thou Didst love Me”(John 17:23).
Paul
called on the church to be “ . . . diligent to preserve the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace . . . until we all attain to the
unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature
man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of
Christ” (Ephesians 4:3, 13).
Likewise,
Paul wrote to the church at Colossae, “And beyond all these things
put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity”(Colossians 3:14).
As describes in these
hymns and in these Scripture passages, unity is to be the distinguishing
mark of the church. Paul’s metaphor for a harmonious church is found
in his 1st letter to the Corinthians, chapter 12, in which
he shows how many diverse members unite into one body in Christ.
Thus he gives us a biblical design for a harmonious church.
In
this biblical design, we see, first . . .
I. THE ENTIRE CHURCH
IS OWNED BY CHRIST
One of my favorite hymns is, The Church’s
One Foundation. The first verse reads like this, “The
church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord; She is His new
creation By water and the Word: From heaven He came and sought her
To be His holy bride; With His own blood He bought her, And for
her life He died.”
Note the phrase, “With His own blood He bought
her, And for her life He died.” It is His church because He
bought it with His very own blood. Jesus said to Peter, “ .
. . upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades
shall not overpower it” (Matt. 16:18). The church is undisputably
His.
It is a misnomer for us to speak in terms of
“our church.” While serving as a young deacon of McPheeters Bend
Baptist Church, in Church Hill, Tennessee, an older lady got angry
with me and said, “Benny Woods, you have torn our church apart!”
The Apostle Paul said, “Now you are the body
of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it”(I Cor. 12:27).
We are a part of it, but we do not own it - therefore, we have
no right to try and control it.
The “our church” concept has caused men down
through the ages to try and control “their church.” That is when
problems arise. We cannot control something that is not ours in
the first place. The entire church is owned by Christ.
A second part
of the biblical design of a harmonious church is that . . .
II. THE LEADER OF THE
CHURCH IS CHRIST
The apostle Paul
said, “For the husband is the head of the
wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He
is the Savior” (Ephesians 5:23).
In an interview with Dr. Adrain Rogers, pastor
of the 24,000 member Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee,
while speaking of headship in the church, said, “Anything with
no head is dead and anything with two heads in a freak.” As
the head of the church, Jesus is the indisputable leader.
This is not to say, that He does not have leaders
in His church. In the words of the Apostle Paul, Christ gave leaders
to His church. He writes, “And He gave some as apostles, and
some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and
teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service,
to the building up of the body of Christ”(Eph. 4:11-12). He
goes on to say in I Cor. 12 . . . “And in the church God has
appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers,
then workers of miracles, those also having gifts of healing, those
able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those
speaking in different kinds of tongues”(v. 28).
According to one writer, “The ‘head’ or leader
of the church is Christ alone, and not any merely human member of
the church,” as seen in Ephesians 5:23). As the head, and leader
of the church, our role as members, is unquestionable obedience
to Him. As members of the church, we know that Christ desires unity
in the body. According to one writer, “ . . . unity is disrupted
and can be destroyed if we do not live in obedience to Jesus.”
On the positive side, however, he goes on to say, “Unity
is inevitable when all of us in a church live in obedience to Jesus
Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.”
As seen in this
biblical design for a harmonious church, there is a third truth
. . .
III. MEMBERS OF THE
BODY ARE DEPENDENT ON ONE ANOTHER FOR THEIR WELL BEING
Like the human body, the church is one body with
many parts. You and I make up those parts. Paul said, “The
body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though
all its parts are many, they form one body”(v. 12).
As a one body unit, with many parts, Paul goes
on to say, “So that there should be no division In the body,
but that its parts should have equal concern for each other”(v.
25). What happens to the body when there is division? Paul
tells us, “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it .
. .” On the other hand, however, “ . . . if one part is honored,
every part rejoices with it”(v.26).
At present, this
body is suffering . . . The parable of the lost sheep . . . Matthew
18:10-14.
One writer said, “Without harmony and love
between the members, the unity of the church is broken and the body
becomes sick.” Needless to say, holiness and love are a must
for a united fellowship.
Finally, the biblical
design for a harmonious church shows that . . .
IV. THE UNITY OF THE
BODY IS PROVIDED BY THE SPIRIT
1. The Unity of the Church is described by a
metaphor . . .
2. While the unity is described by a metaphor,
unity is provided by a spiritual reality
Paul goes on to
say, “For we were all baptized by one Spirit
into the body–whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free–and we were
all given the one Spirit to drink”(v. 13).
What did Paul mean by, “We are all baptized
by one Spirit?” 1) The Spirit indwells the believer at conversion.
2) All believers are to be filled with the Spirit . . .
The Apostle Paul said, “And do not get drunk
with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit”(Eph.
5:18). One writer explained it like this, “Believers are
filled as they willfully, obediently, and afresh submit their lives
to Jesus Christ and ask God to take control and fill them with His
presence.”
CONCLUSION:
Does this biblical design for a harmonious church describe Greenwood
Baptist Church?
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