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Hello
all!
I had stated I would like to share some things gleaned
from a visit to Haiti that turned from a tourist like atmosphere
to one of a mission for His purpose. God in His loving way decided
that I was not going to get away with being Joe tourist and made
it a missionary trip for us instead. I had hoped to write
on what happened over there but will have to wait another day to
do so! He has given His approval to share some things on 1
Cor 12:12-31 which has bolstered me any many others who have been
commanded to hit the Evangelism trail.
A potpourri of love
in Christ:
1 Corinthians 12:12-27
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12 For even as the body is one and yet has many members,
and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body,
so also is Christ.
Let's see, three of us, Pastor Dennis,
Brother John, Brother Ben. A motley crew of adventurers at
best! Only pastor has been there before! The unique
thing about the above verse is in How God interweaves us into the
fabric which makes up His body of believers in which He has set
aside to select whom He will give specially gifts in order to do
that which He chooses to do for His His Kingdom. As one visualizes
this verse it is readily seen Jesus is the head and we make up all
the rest of the Body of Christ! no one is spared. We are all
given a position in The Body as God sees fit.
13
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews
or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink
of one Spirit.
Thus no one can say they are from so and
so! All are one in the Spirit of God in Christ. Baptized
as a body of one even tho' we come from all walks of life! Thanks
be to Gods loving kindness He does not pick only from certain life
styles to build His church from. Jew, Greek, bounded slave,
free salve, given to drink from one Spirit. Makes no difference
to Him only that those who come to Him do so of their free will,
for does not The Word teach whoever will may.
If so then one
becomes a member of The Body of Christ and will drink from the Spirit
14 For the body is not one member, but many.
You name it! Former liars, robbers, murders, cheats,
self righteous, you name us we are all here. Not just some but many
15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a
hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any
the less a part of the body.
For what good is it to say
I am just a foot and not a hand, therefore God does not need me.
Can the foot go and do the things of God without the hand being
a part of it. We need to understand that the hand can go nowhere
unless it has a foot to make the pathway.
16
And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a
part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part
of the body.
Does it do any good for an eye to be able
to see and not be able to hear that which is in it's path to help
pave the way?
17 If the whole body were an
eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing,
where would the sense of smell be?
It is beginning to take
shape where Paul was going with these verses! The Body must be a
complete singular unit in Christ in order to function properly.
Thus if the body existed as eye only, to what good would it serve
without being able to hear?
18 But now God
has placed the members, each one of them, in the body just as He
desired.
One thing that pleases me is that I have rarely
witnessed jealousy among Believers as to the Gifts of The Sprit.
Have seen some jealousy using them in the wrong manner. But
God does not make mistakes in giving gifts to all the members of
Christ's body. As He desires we all have gifts which are to
be used to further Gods kingdom. Thus every part of the body
of Believers is fit for duty and when God calls each member will
go into the World to serve in whatever capacity he Chooses.
Being given Power from on High to the Works of Jesus Christ
19 And if they were all one member, where would
the body be?
Assuming the body is made up of one member
to what good purpose can it sustain? Jesus might just as well
do what He wants done by Himself for all the good we could do for
Him
20 But now there are many members, but
one body.
The body serves one head- that is Jesus Christ.
It is made up of many hands and feet- all that is necessary.
21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have
no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need
of you.”
The Church that stands is the one that recognizes
that all the gifts of The Spirit are available to further Gods Kingdom.
Too often tho' this is not the case.
22 On
the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body
which seem to be weaker are necessary;
Oops! does
this mean truly that the weaker members are just as necessary as
the stronger ones. Makes sense in that both are put into to
the Body so that it can function on any level God desires.
The eye needs the hand and the hand needs the feet- all functioning
properly to build upon the very founddation of life in Christ!
23 and those members of the body, which we deem
less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our
unseemly members come to have more abundant seemliness,
I have to apologize here! I know we are to seek the greater
gifts so am I to understand the lesser gifts are not as important!
To coin a phrase from Paul may it never be because the less honorable
are to have more abundant honer heaped on them. That is what
it says, so be it! Then with this in mind we are to look at
lesser gifts as just as suitable for use in Christ's Kingdom!
Look at the next verse:
24 whereas our seemly
members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body,
giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked,
Thus the greater gifts it seems do not need honor similar to those
which do In essence then it is a true statement that we are to more
greatly honor that member that is lacking and give it great honor!
25 that there should be no division in the body,
but that the members should have the same care for one another.
Too often this is not the case in most churches. Those
that have "blank" are those who a held in great honor
for they supply all the "blank" the church needs to function-
this can and does cause divisions! If the members look at
each other
properly they will see where the body is lacking
to keep it undivided.
26 And if one member
suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored,
all the members rejoice with it.
Pretty hard pill to swallow!
I mean lets face it why do we have to suffer whenanother brother
or sister is hurting! To this I say why not! Jesus suffer
and died for us so that we might live! Are we to be excluded
from the suffering of the membership just because it is hurting!
May it never be! Seems we are right there when there are honors
to be handed out but seem to disappear when faced with having to
suffer when any member is suffering
27 Now
you are Christ's body, and individually members of it.
We are the body that makes up the Kingdom of Jesus Christ!
What needs to be explained here?
In retrospect as we study
The Word and apply it to our lives we come to see how and why God
has established a body of Believers to love! Jesus Christ
was made the Head of the True Church. The True church must
have members to be a body. The allegory seen in the above verse
give ample evidence we are welded into Christ who is head so that
He has a membership from which to draw form as necessary!
God has ordained that the body of believers is the vehicle from
which He will use to spread The Word. Thus then Jesus is given
charge to send the body wherever He chooses! But the body
cannot go unless it has a complete form from which to work from
can it? The Body has to have:
A head-
Jesus Christ
Eyes in which to see where it is going
Ears
in which to hear Christ's commands
A mouth to speak the Word
as Christ give it
Shoulders in which the burden of Christ Kingdom
will rest on
Arms and hands to do the physical work as necessary
A torso in which the lifeblood of life to sustain the body
Legs
to bear the entire burden demanded of the body to carry
Feet
to walk the paths chosen for the body to follow
Praise be to God
Almighty
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Who is Jesus 
