ONE BODY OF MANY PARTS (PART 4)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

1 Corinthians 12:24b-26

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The church is one body made up of many parts. Each of the parts is important and none are to be treated as more significant than another. If this mindset is adopted, then division can be avoided. This is the main point that we find the Apostle Paul making in the twelfth chapter of 1 Corinthians as he writes to the Christians in Corinth.

Indeed, seeing everyone as equally important builds a spirit of unity within the church but it also constructs a framework of caring. Every single person in the church is seen as significant and therefore everyone is worthy when it comes to concern. No church member should be forgotten or treated with less compassion than others.

To show how every part of the church is to be treated with equal interest, we can go back to the illustration Paul uses through this entire chapter as he makes comparisons and contrasts between the church and the human body.

Let’s say that you are perfectly healthy. Your heart, mind, and lungs are functioning perfectly.

You decide to walk barefoot through your house after dark and misstep, running your big toe into the leg of an end table. You fall to the ground in severe pain and your toe begins to swell and discolor. You go to the emergency room and an x-ray reveals your toe is broken. They place you in a walking boot while you heal and your ability to walk normally is hindered.

Now, no one would say the big toe is a critical part of the body but if you break it, the rest of your body suffers. Pain floods your healthy mind. You end up walking with a limp which places undue strain on other lower extremity joints as well as your lower back.

In other words, when one part of the human suffers, other parts will suffer as well.

In the church, we need to see that we’re only well as a body of Christ if all the parts are well. If one person is suffering, then their fellow members should feel their pain and suffering with empathy. Likewise, we should rejoice and celebrate when a member of our church experiences a joy-filled happening in their life or are honored for some significant accomplishment.

In the church, members should share their joys and sorrows as all the different parts show equal concern for one another.

God has put the body called the church together, each person being purposed to carry out a specific role, each person important in their own way to the overall success of the ministry. He has designed the church to be one body made up of many parts and tomorrow we will finish this five part series by looking at the closing verses in this chapter.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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