1 Corinthians 12:12-27
(House Rules for The Upper Room Church gathering at Re-Hope Church Building)
Introduction:
1) The Upper Room Church is THE SAME CHURCH…(we are A CHURCH)…just meeting in a different place…
2) But…how are we meant to work together…to function…as A CHURCH…in a new place??
3) Our passage that we will briefly study tonight will help us understand what this means for us…NOW…in a new place…
4) Read the passage in two parts…Verses 12-18…and Verses 19-27…
A Number of (5) OBSERVATIONS about this Passage…
1) The Bible here is talking about THE CHURCH…(that is like a human body)…
– As we see in Verse 12…at the very beginning of the passage…and at Verse 27…at the very end of the passage…
– Like…BOOKENDS…(meaning that everything in between is all about THE CHURCH…TOO)…
– The Apostle Paul (who writes this Letter to the Corinthian Christians) is talking about How Christ is still at work in the world through the people in His Church…which Paul refers to as Christ’s Body…
– But…what is most important for us…is to understand that…in the New Testament…the Church is meant to function like the Human Body…
– The Metaphor (picture) of THE CHURCH…is THE HUMAN BODY…
2) We FUNCTION/SERVE in DIFFERENT Ways in the Church…
Like Different Parts of the Body…function in different ways…
As we read in Verses 14-17…
– In the Church…some serve like EYES…some serve like HANDS…some serve like FEET…some serve like EARS…
– Each type of functioning/serving is important…BUT DIFFERENT…
3) The way we Serve/Function in the Body/Church…is according (not to what we want)…but according to WHAT GOD DESIRES…
As in Verse 18…
– GOD decides and determines WHERE and HOW we can serve BEST…
– (Maybe you want to function like an Eye…but God says…“No, you will serve Me best like a Hand.”)
– It is all about WHAT GOD DESIRES…not what YOU WANT…
– (Grammatically…this is the most important bit in the passage…)
4) When the Body/Church is working well…We Recognize that WE NEED EACH OTHER…
As in Verses 19-24a…
– And…this is THE CHURCH…SO DIFFERENT from the world around us…
Because The WEAKER parts are declared to be MORE NECESSARY…and The LESS HONORABLE parts are given “more abundant honor”…
– Do you see that in Verse 22…and Verse 23…??
5) The Church as a Body…is all about CARE FOR EACH OTHER…
As in Verses 24b – 26…
– Such a DEPTH of CARING…that we SHARE in One Another’s SUFFERING…
– And we SHARE in One Another’s REJOICING…
– So that Verse 25…is critical for how a Church FUNCTIONS in the MOST HEALTHY WAY…
“…that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have THE SAME CARE for one another.”
Conclusion:
APPLICATION…HOUSE RULES…so that Upper Room can REALLY CARE for One Another:
1) Using the Re-Hope Building respectfully…staying away from main worship area for now…(especially musical instruments)…
2) SIGN-UP for Cooking & Clean Up CARE TEAM…
3) SIGN-UP for Set-Up CARE TEAM…
4) SING-UP for Music/Worship CARE TEAM…
(We will soon teach about GIVING FINANCIALLY…as way of showing CARE…)
ASK GOD…to show you how you can SHOW CARE to someone in the Church this week…
