"Members of One Body"

Joshua 22

Psalm 133

1 Cor. 12

We have been working through the benefits of union with Christ,

as they are described in our shorter catechism.

By its very name, the shorter catechism suggests that it is a brief summary,

so we should not expect it to be complete.

One of the areas that the shorter catechism does not cover is the doctrine of the church.

But the larger catechism does address those issues as well,

and does so right in the middle of its section on Christ and his benefits.

The Presbyterian church, therefore, teaches that participation in the visible church

is a part of the benefits that Christ has given his people.

Q63: What are the special privileges of the visible church?

A63: The visible church hath the privilege of being under God's special care and government; of being protected and preserved in all ages, not withstanding the opposition of all enemies; and of enjoying the communion of saints, the ordinary means of salvation, and offers of grace by Christ to all the members of it in the ministry of the gospel, testifying, that whosoever believes in him shall be saved, and excluding none that will come unto him.

We saw from Joshua 22 how important it was to be in fellowship with the people of God.

When the 2 ½ tribes on the east side of the Jordan built an altar,

it was feared that they were turning away from the Lord.

God had commanded Israel to have one place of worship

-one place where the sacrifices would be offered.

So the construction of a new altar looked like a violation of God's commands.

But the eastern tribes made it clear that they had built the altar

simply as a reminder that they, too,

had a part in Yahweh with the rest of the tribes of Israel.

The fact that Israel nearly went to war over the building of this altar

makes it clear how important it was to be a part of the covenant community.

But what about today?

Different churches have different ideas about church membership.

In some churches "membership" is restricted

to those who can sign a detailed doctrinal statement.

In other churches "membership" has to do with who gets to vote at congregational meetings.

Many churches require adherence to special rules (no drinking, smoking, or card playing).

All of these restrictions have caused some churches

to eliminate the category of "membership" altogether.

If we are going to have "church membership," then we need biblical warrant for it.

If membership is something that the church has created,

then becoming a member would be optional.

It would be like Sunday School.

The Bible never says to have Sunday School,

so the church may not command you to come to Sunday school.

It's a useful thing, and so I would highly recommend it,

but I won't command you to come to Sunday School.

On the other hand, the Bible does say not to forsake the assembling of yourselves together

in Heb. 10:25, in a passage which is talking about the corporate worship of the church.

So because the Word of God commands it,

I will tell you that you must come to worship God together with the rest of the body.

But what about membership?

1 Cor 12 says something about what it means to be a member of Christ's body.

Paul says that as the body is one and has many members,

and all the members of the body, though many, are one body,

so it is with Christ.

Does that strike you as odd?

You might have expected Paul to say, "so it is with the church."

But Paul says, "so it is with Christ."

Christ and his church are inseparable.

As the body is one-so also is Christ one.

And therefore all who are in him are united to him and to one another.

It is striking, though, to hear how Paul explains this.

How do you become a member of Christ's body?

"For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-

and all were made to drink of one Spirit."

You become a member of Christ's body through baptism.

Baptism is not just a matter of getting wet.

Baptism includes both the water, and the grace that the water symbolizes.

Baptism with water and baptism with the Holy Spirit are not two different baptisms,

but one.

Paul mentioned baptism to the Corinthians in chapter 1,

when he said that he had only baptized a few of them.

When dealing with divisions in the church, Paul asked,

"Is Christ divided?....Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" (1:13)

Paul says that baptism in the name of Jesus Christ is the badge of membership,

it is the outward sign that demonstrates that this person belongs to Christ.

And that is why he says that "in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body."

All who are baptized with water are brought into the body of Christ.

That is not to say that they are all saved.

Look back at I Cor 10. [read]

all of the Israelites were baptized into Moses

all ate of the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink

And notice that Paul says that all drank of Christ.

This is why we say that the substance of the Old Testament sacraments is the same as the NT.

It was Christ then-and it is Christ now!

But, (v5) most of them rebelled, and God was not pleased with them.

And Paul explicitly states that these things happened as a warning to us,

that we might not follow in their footsteps.

So not everyone who was baptized into Moses,

and drank of Christ in the wilderness was saved.

Then,

only two chapters later,

Paul says (12:13)

We were ALL baptized into one body by one Spirit.

All of you who have been baptized are members of Christ's body.

That doesn't guarantee (by itself) that you are saved,

but it does make you a member of His body.

To be a member of the body of Christ, you must be baptized,

because baptism is the way in which we enter the body of Christ.

Therefore all of you who are baptized are members of Christ.

In 1 Corinthians 12,

Paul is talking about the daily life of the visible church.

Some people have tried to say that they are members of the invisible church,

but not part of the visible church.

That misses the whole point of Paul's teaching.

Remember verse 27-"Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it."

To be part of the body means that you are organically related to other believers.

And baptism is what unites us into one body.

After all,

we are a bunch of very different people.

Baptism with water is the visible mark of the invisible grace which God gives to his people.

Remember the Israelites who were baptized into Moses.

They were not all elect,

but they were all united into one body--one covenant--

and all partook of the spiritual rock, who was Christ.

Even so,

We are united into one body through baptism by one Spirit.

Baptism doesn't guarantee your salvation,

it does mean that you belong to Christ and his body, the church.

Remember that Paul is talking to the Corinthians.

These were the same people who were allowing a man to live with his father's wife,

in gross immorality.

There were obviously people in this congregation who were not living like Christians.

Yet Paul tells them that "we were all baptized into one body".

And later, in v27, "you are the body of Christ, and members individually"

Also notice that Paul assumes that everyone who is a member of the body has been baptized.

In the New Testament,

baptism was administered to adults as soon as they believed in Christ,

together with their household.

An unbaptized Christian was unthinkable.

Notice what happens in Acts 19

These disciples of John had received John's baptism,

and believed in the Messiah, but had never received the Holy Spirit

What does Paul do?

He baptizes them on the spot.

John's baptism wasn't Christian baptism.

Only when they are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ

do they receive the Holy Spirit.

The same thing had happened at Pentecost, when 3000 people were baptized in one day.

The same thing happened with the Ethiopian eunuch.

The same thing happened with Paul himself.

Even though he had persecuted the church,

Ananias did not require Paul to prove himself before baptizing him,

rather as Paul reports the conversation in Acts 22:16 he said,

"arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord."

Let me ask you something.

Do you believe that anything special happens at a wedding?

silly question, perhaps!

But think about it:

half an hour BEFORE the wedding,

if the bride and groom were to make love, they would be sinning;

half an hour AFTER the wedding,

if they make love, they are being obedient to God.

And yet on the outside,

those two people are no different.

There has been no radical change in their personality.

It is simply that God has joined them together through this ceremony.

And marriage isn't even a sacrament!!

Where in the Bible does it say how to do a wedding?

But the Bible does give us Baptism and the Lord's Supper as means of grace.

So if the Bible says that "by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body"

is it too much to ask that we believe what it says?

So you become a member of Christ's church through baptism.

II. But what does it mean to become a member of the body of Christ?

This is Paul's second point in the passage,

and really his main point.

To be a member of Christ's body,

simply means to be a part of Christ.

There is one body, and many parts.

Each part,

each member,

is to work together with the rest to build up and edify the rest of the body.

Now Paul talks about the body on two levels.

In Ephesians 4, he includes the whole church in all parts of the world.

But here he is addressing specific concerns in a specific congregation in I Corinthians,

and so he tells the that THEY, the Corinthians, are one body.

In whatever setting you find Christ's church, we are one body.

So this morning, we are gathered together as one body in Christ.

When we had joint services with Walkerton,

we were not two bodies, but one.

When we all gather together before the throne of grace in the New Creation,

we will not be separate bodies, but one.

But you are one body

--we, all together, are members of Christ, and of one another.

Let's look at how Paul explains this:

First--each member has his or her own function [15-19]

each one of you has been gifted by God to operate in the body.

You all have abilities which others lack.

Just as the body would collapse if the whole body consisted of eyes,

so also the church would collapse if everyone had the same gifts.

Second--each member needs the other members [20-26]

Imagine what would happen if your arm decided to go on strike.

Some of us have body parts which seem to have gone on strike!

But it is the same way in the church.

Without your gifts and abilities, the church would suffer.

Notice the language about weaker parts in verse 22.

Some of you may be feeling weak.

Some of you may have thought in the past

that the church would be better off without you

--that your troubles are only getting in the way.

Paul says--no way.

You are necessary to the body.

v26--when one suffers, all suffer

when one is honored, all rejoice

What does this look like in the church?

In one church, when a self-employed plumber tore up his hand with a saw,

as he was building a fence,

the church helped pay his bills while he recovered,

brought food for his family,

and then came and finished the fence for him!

In another congregation,

they help poor families pay the tuition to send their kids to a Christian school

In another body,

they had a graduation party for all the high school seniors.

Elsewhere,

when a man who had been unemployed for several months finally found a job,

the church had a special time of celebration

and refreshments after the service.

(they had also helped him and his family while he was unemployed!)

These are simple things.

But they are part of what it means to be the body of Christ.

There are also the ordinary, everyday things:

those who teach Sunday School,

volunteer for the nursery,

help to clean up the facilities,

or offer a listening ear to those who are suffering.

I had a friend who went to seminary wanting to become a pastor.

He was a good teacher, and a fine counselor.

But after his first internship,

the pastor told him,

"You will never be a pastor.

You don't have gifts of leadership."

My friend was stunned.

For several years he fell into a spiritual coma,

wondering, what can I do for Christ?

I can't be a pastor, and I'm not very good at evangelism, what else is there?

As the years went by,

He began to realize that there was something he could do.

He could encourage people.

Every time I came home from college,

Clark would invite me out for breakfast and simply encourage me.

He would ask all sorts of questions,

and look for ways he could build me up in Christ.

He was one of those people who didn't call for a whole lot of attention,

but everyone who ever knew him was blessed by his friendship.

You may ask, what can I do in the body of Christ?

What are my gifts?

The simplest way to find out,

is to ask,

what needs do I see, that I can meet?

Who needs to be encouraged?

Who needs to be comforted?

Who needs the grace of God to shine into their lives through a small act of kindness?

The body has many members, but those many members are ONE body.

Now, remember,

when I say "member"

I simply mean, being a part of the body of Christ.

Here at Michiana Covenant we keep a list of members.

We write down all the names of all those who have been baptized,

and who are under our care.

After all, part of what it means to be part of the body is to submit to the elders.

We don't require any doctrinal test.

There are no special rules.

There is nothing in the PCA church order that even requires you

to stand up in front of the congregation.

The elders simply meet with you to ascertain whether you understand the gospel,

believe the gospel, and desire to live according to the gospel.

1. Do you acknowledge yourselves to be sinners in the sight of God, justly

deserving His displeasure, and without hope save in His sovereign mercy?

2. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and Savior of sinners,

and do you receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation as He is offered in the Gospel?

3. Do you now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon the grace of the

Holy Spirit, that you will endeavor to live as becomes the followers of Christ?

4. Do you promise to support the Church in its worship and work to the best of your ability?

5. Do you submit yourselves to the government and discipline of the

Church, and promise to study its purity and peace?

These questions summarize what the Bible requires of believers.

First, to acknowledge that you are a sinner;

Second, to repent of our sins and trust in Christ alone for our salvation.

Third, to confess Christ as Lord, and walk in his ways.

Fourth, to live as an active part of the body.

And Fifth, to submit to the elders whom Christ places over us.

God tells us to submit to our elders in passages like Heb 13:17

"Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give an account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable."

Paul deals with this also back in I Cor 12:27-30 [read]

The office-gifts of apostles, prophets, teachers

the activity-gifts of miracles, healings, helps, administrations (governments)

We all have different functions in the body.

One of those functions is to rule--and that is the charge given to elders.

So when you promise to "submit to the government of this church",

you are merely promising to do what Christ already requires of you.

The key to all of this is then found in chapter 13--LOVE.

This is what enables the gifts to function in the way that God commands--

in the way that the Spirit intends them to be used.

57-2. The time when young persons come to understand

the Gospel cannot be precisely fixed. This must be left

to the prudence of the Session, whose office it is to

judge, after careful examination, the qualifications of

those who apply for admission to sealing ordinances.

57-3. When unbaptized persons apply for admission into

the Church, they shall, ordinarily, after giving satisfaction

with respect to their knowledge and piety, make a public

profession of their faith, in the presence of the

congregation, and thereupon be baptized.

57-4. It is recommended, as edifying and proper, that

baptized persons, when admitted by the Session to the

Lord's Supper, make a public profession of their faith in

the presence of the congregation. But in all cases, there

should be a clear recognition of their previous relation to

the church as baptized members.