Trouble in the Body | Pastor Lungz Makaula | Engedi Church

Oh, praise God, praise God. Is anybody glad to be in the house of the Lord this morning? Tell you what, there is nothing like the presence of God. No substitute for His glory, no substitute for His presence, because in His presence we find everything we need. And I never want to miss a moment to give honor where honor is used. Can we thank our worship team for doing a phenomenal job of taking us to the throne room this morning. It's good to see you all again. It's been a while. Doing good? You look good. Gary, you look about 10 years younger. Aging backwards, are we? It's so good. I love you all. Send greetings from our church. We're in the, pray for us, we're in the middle of a renovation project. God's been good to us. We have a, now a more permanent facility that's open seven days a week for us to minister to our community. And so pray for us as we go to the permit processes and all that fun stuff. But we're so thrilled at what God is doing around the church, around the world. So I want to get right into the word this morning, if that's okay with you. We've been in First Corinthians. Have you enjoyed the series NSYNC? I've enjoyed what, it's blessed me. It hasn't blessed you. I tell you what, it's blessed me tremendously. And so I'm thrilled to be a part of it. We have a large chunk of Scripture to unpack this morning. We're in First Corinthians chapter 12. I'm gonna be unpacking from verse 12 all the way through to verse 31. So there's a large body of Scripture we need to get into today. I won't read it all up front, but we will cover every bit of it today. But I want to open up by getting to us from verse 12 to the 14 to lay the groundwork and really the foundation of what Paul is trying to communicate in this text. So turn with me to First Corinthians chapter 12 from verse 12 through to verse 14. It says this, for just as the body is one and has many members, all the members of the body, though many, are still one body. I'm gonna read it again because that's the key text this morning. Just as the body is one and has many members, all the members of the body, though many, are still one body. So it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the

body does not consist of one member, but many. I want to talk to us this morning around a thought titled, Trouble in the Body. Trouble in the Body. Let's pray together. Father, we are so grateful for Your Word, for the church, for Your presence, for Your glory, for Your Son. We're grateful this morning that as we have come with open hearts, You are faithful to meet us here. And Your Word is alive and active, and it does not return void, but goes out and accomplishes what You have set for it to accomplish. And we pray the purposes and plans of Your Word this morning will truly transform us from the inside. Would we be challenged where challenge is needed, encouraged where courage is needed? But above all else, God, would You transform us into Your likeness? Above all else, God, we pray that as we rummage the text this morning, we are drawn ever closer to You, and You are revealed ever greater to us. So we thank You in advance for what You're gonna do, and we're expecting for the Word. And a faithful people sit together. Amen, amen, amen, amen. I don't know about you, I'm a bit of a, I can be at times a little bit of a hypochondriac. And if I'm hurting, everyone's gonna know I'm hurting. There's a thing, there's a, there's a, there's a virus that goes around, about, around August, sometimes in the winter, getting closer, it's called man flu. I don't know, I know, some of you haven't ever heard of it, it's man flu. And so it takes me out. And if you've ever been sick, or you had a body part not working right, if you're around me, you'll know about it. But again, if you've been sick, you'll know that there's nothing more disruptive, really, than when the body breaks down. When the body's just not working like it needs to, and especially my house, everything stops. Everything. Everybody needs to know about it. Everybody needs to come to my aid. No one's going to work. No one's going anywhere. I need 24-7 care, you know. Yeah, I'm high maintenance. And, but it's just true, you know, I think for many of you, if you've had anything go wrong with your body. Many of you remember a few months ago, I had knee surgery, so I was hobbling up here with crutches and a brace. How inconvenient.

How inconvenient. So really, when the body breaks down, so many of you know that everything else comes to a grinding halt. Things that were easy become difficult. Things that we take for granted, all of a sudden we realize, oh, that's what that's for. Can't getting out of the shower like I used to. Can't get dressed like I wanted. Can't drive, need somebody to be a companion for me. Can't help, can't walk myself up the stairs. You ever broken a toe? Anybody ever broken a toe? You know exactly what I'm talking about. You don't think about that sucker until you break it. Then you realize everything comes to a halt. When that little thing, we don't think about it, but that little sucker's working overtime. Every time you take a step, that little sucker's doing this. Trying to grip the ground, keep you balanced. When you break your toe, you find yourself on crutches most of the time because you've lost your balance. You can't walk, what will happen to you? Broke a toe. They don't understand. People don't understand that. You're on crutches for a broken toe. Yes, I'm on a crutch for a broken toe. Let me break your toe and I'll show you why I need one. We laugh about it, but it's interesting

when the body breaks down. It's one thing for the body to break down because of injury or because of illness. And it's pretty remarkable, it's on those times you realize how great the body is because you watch all the different parts of the body work together to bring healing to that part of the body. But what's really interesting and it's really what Paul, I think, is addressing here and it's worth observing is that it's a whole other matter when the body breaks down because it's working against itself. I was thinking about this thought and I remember there's actually a condition right now that is really still being explored. There's no cure for it, but it's called autoimmune disease. And it came to mind when I thought about it because that's exactly what that looks like. It's when the hand refuses to work with the arm. It's when the eye stops trusting the foot. It's when the organs that were meant to sustain life begin to compete for control. In fact, what's even worse about autoimmune disease, here's what happens, watch this now. It's when the body mistakes its own members for enemies. Lord have mercy, that'll preach all by itself. The body works against itself when it starts to read the person who's actually part of the body, a member. Somebody who are meant to be doing this thing with

as the enemy and it starts to attack each other. And again, autoimmune, it says it's when the system that's designed to preserve life begin attacking one another. And if you know anything about autoimmune, if you know somebody, the tragedy is not just the pain that it causes, the real tragedy of autoimmune disease is that it's watching the body slowly disintegrate and lose the ability to function as it was designed. Strength remains in the parts, but life drains from the whole. This is the picture we have jumped into in Corinthians chapter 12. This is the very condition that Paul is addressing here because he realised that the Corinthian church had developed a similar sickness and he's confronting it. Paul is not confronting persecution from the outside in this text, Paul is not confronting the opposition from the empire, no, he's addressing something far worse. He's addressing a body that's fighting itself. He's addressing a body that has begun to compete with one another. He's addressing a body that has become fragmented, a body that's working independently, everyone siloed, everyone thinking only about themselves, people comparing themselves, different classes and different status existing within the church. He's addressing a church that is working independently, not realising that while we work independently as the body, we are draining life from the whole. He's addressing trouble in the body.

The people who were brought together by the Spirit of God are now dividing themselves by class and status. Some were magnifying their gifts, which I think Pastor Ryan touched on here last week, some are magnifying their gifts, but others were minimising their value in the same body. Others believed that they were indispensable, while others believed they were unnecessary. And all the while, while this is happening slowly, quietly, watch this, the church that was supposed to reveal Christ became a mirror of Corinth. When we don't function as the body as God has designed, when we no longer reveal Christ as the church, we become a mirror for our culture and our city. We wonder why we've lost our efficacy. We wonder why our witness has diminished. We wonder why we lack power, because we no longer operate the way God has designed, but we look more like the world we're trying to reach. And so Paul writes them with a pastoral urgency. This is where we are. Because he understands something that we have forgotten, that a church divided cannot carry the life of the Spirit. A church divided cannot carry the life of the Spirit. We wonder why so many churches are powerless, so many of us don't see signs and wonders, so many of us don't move and operate in the gifts of the Spirit, so many of us lack discernment, lack wisdom and knowledge,

lack all these gifts that come in the Spirit, because the Spirit will not reside in a church that's divided. The Bible tells us that God commands a blessing only where there is unity. So this passage, this text we're diving into this morning is of paramount importance, because without a grasping of the importance of me playing my part as a member of one body, I diminish and drain life from the whole. That's what Paul is addressing. This is where the tension of this text exists, because they fail to recognise that the Gospel does not merely reconcile us to God, but it reconciles us to one another. Ah, let me tell you church, God cares about our relationships. God cares about how we treat one another. God cares about how we engage. There's a reason why six of the 10 Commandments are all about how we treat one another than they are to God. Four are about how we interface with God, six are about how we interface with each other, because God is invested in how the body functions as one. God is invested, and this is why the power of the cross can never just be reduced, only the salvation of our souls. Here's what I've come to know, that the salvation, the spirit, the cross that forgives sin, also has the power to dismantle the hierarchies,

the walls and the divisions that we have built as a society. I am encouraged by that because it tells you and me that if I have a broken relationship with the son, if I have an estranged child, if I have a broken relationship with my spouse or a broken relationship with my family, or have a strained relationship with my colleagues, that I can believe that the power of the gospel cares about my relationships as much as it cares about my soul. And you can believe today that God can restore, that God can reconcile again, that God can heal your marriage, that God can bring your children back to the house, that God can work because God cares about the body, cares about you. The same spirit that saves individuals is the same spirit that forms the body. And until the church learns to live like a body, we will never fully reveal the Christ who is its head. That's our job. So many people fail to see Christ into the church because the church is not operating as the body. The world does not see Jesus through our brilliance, our individual brilliance. The world sees Jesus through our unity. This is why this is important. So that's the backdrop. Ready to get into the text? This is why Paul opens up with this phrase right here,

that just as the body is one and has many members, though many are, all the members of the body, though many are still one body, so it is with Christ. In other words, what's he saying? The church is not a collective of impressive parts. It is a living body. And if the body is going to live, then every member must learn what it means, watch this, to belong and to build. To belong and to build. See, if we're not paying attention here, we'll miss the point of Paul's primary objective in this teaching. He's not teaching about gifts. It's a lot less about gifts as much as it is about identity. Are you tracking with me so far? He does not say you should become a body. Did you pick that up? He doesn't say you should become a body. He says you already are one. He's teaching us that we have to align ourselves. We come from a culture that's individualistic. We come from a society and a world that's about me, myself, and I. But when you are grafted into the family of God, you give your life to Jesus, you form part of a body where you are no longer individual parts, but you form part of one body, identity. This is why it's so important to understand your identity in Christ.

Why? Because identity informs your function. So many of us don't know how to behave. Don't know how to live right because we don't see ourselves the way God sees us. Too many of your identity is shaped by the world you grew up in, or the family you grew up in, or the space you lived in, or the school you went to, or the culture that you come from, or the color of your skin. Can I tell you that when you become a believer, all that must come under the power or the authority of the identity that God has for you. You will never live up to who God has called you to be, and we will never be the kind of church that we are called to be, unless we come into alignment with the identity that God says we are. It's about identity, because identity informs function. For us to get this right, we must align our thoughts about ourselves and align our thoughts about each other with the Word of God. So many of us, our thoughts about our neighbor, our thoughts about ourselves are so skewed and are so destructive because we don't allow the Word to shape our thinking and to shape our identity. Unity in the church is not something that we try and manufacture. It is something the Spirit has already created. Our job is to catch up with that. There's a phrase that people use these days, and I've lived it to some degree, when I was a younger man, called imposter syndrome. Anyone ever heard that or know what that is? Where you are living in a space or working in a space, or you have a title, or you are in a season of life, and everyone sees you one way, but you have a hard time believing that you are that, and you feel like you're an imposter, like, I don't belong here. I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't be on this platform. I shouldn't be in this role. I shouldn't be married. And so you spend your life trying to catch up to what everybody else says about you or where you are. I'm convinced that the church today is living in the fruit of imposter syndrome. It's time that we catch up to what God says we already are. It's time we aligned ourselves with who God says we are, and it's time to diminish and silence any voice, any class, any culture that tells you otherwise. We are the body of Christ. In fact, verse 13 says this, in one spirit, we were all baptized into one body. That word baptized does not describe a ceremony that's going to happen. That word baptized describes immersion. It tells us that every believer, when you give your life to Jesus, you are automatically, immediately immersed into the same life and the same body that Christ is the head of. Yes,

we have different stories. Yes, we have different backgrounds, different personalities, different gifts, but we must remember that we are of one spirit. Jew and Greek, slave and free, rich and poor, young and old, educated and uneducated. In other words, when you give your life to Jesus, the categories that define the culture should no longer define you. Because the church is the body of Christ, when the spirit builds the body, he erases the lines that the world draws to divide us and diminish us. Too many of us are coming into the body of Christ, still segmenting ourselves according to what culture says is important. The lines that culture draws and the statements and the words and the classification that our culture puts you in no longer count in the body of Christ because we operate by different set of rules. In the body of Christ, there is no person who is higher than the other. In the body of Christ, there is no slave or free. There is no Jew or Greek. We are one body with Christ as head. We have all been saved by grace through faith. We have all been rescued from death to life. We have all been loved by the God who called us. We have all been fearfully and wonderfully made. We have all been called to a higher purpose of serving the kingdom of God. It doesn't matter your past. It doesn't matter your history. It doesn't matter where you grew up. It doesn't matter your family makeup. It doesn't matter how much you have or how much you don't have. It doesn't matter how much you know, how much you don't know. When you are inherited into the family of God, you're adopted into his family. Your identity in the world dies and you pick up the identity that Christ has for you. Quit living like you are still unsaved. Quit living like you're still bound. Quit living like you're still broke. Quit living like you're still whatever. You are in the family of God and you are part of the body of Christ and his words over you become your future, not what culture says about you. And suddenly the question then changes. It's no longer about where do you rank or where are you from or how much do you make or what do you... That's the way of the world. In the body of Christ, the only question is this, where do you belong? And Paul answers simple this. He says, you belong here. And I felt that so richly. I felt the Lord say, slow down there. Take a moment on that because there are so many people, and I'm going to touch on it in a moment, so many people in the room who don't feel like they belong. They don't know enough, not long enough. not saved enough, not spiritual enough, not holy enough, not gifted enough, not and you can put all these excuses in there and you have disqualified yourself from being a part of this body you slip into the back, you slip out early

but I just want to let you know this the beauty of this expansive gospel we preach is to remind every person, every sinner, every person that you belong here because the kingdom of God's posture is this whosoever will to the Lord may come never let anybody keep you from God never let any church make you feel like you don't belong don't let any leader ever convince you that you don't you aren't good enough for the presence and the power of God because the posture of the kingdom is this you belong here you belong in the body and so what Paul addresses next is that very point it's so crucial what he touches on next in this next verse 15 to 16 he's addressing a quiet voice that might exist in so many of us but it's a destructive one it's the voice of inferiority it's a voice of insecurity look at verse 15 or 16 it says this if the foot should say because I'm not a hand I do not belong to the body that would not make it in any less part of the body and he goes on let me say let me remind you if the ear should say because I'm not the eye I don't belong to the body well let me remind you that does not make you any less a part of the body your function in the body your role in the church the giftings that God has given you do not make you any less significant or any less powerful any less important than any other function of the body in fact I love how Paul puts it he's basically saying this that that um just because a part feels unnecessary it does not mean it is unnecessary I love that so much because what is he saying here what you think is not always what is oh lord someone needed to hear that what you think is not always what is there's a phrase that I've said and people have said forever

I'm starting to not like it anymore it's this phrase that says this perception is reality you ever heard that before my perception is my reality so we then we then work hard at changing people's pressure I just want to say this it's time to stop letting your perception it's time to stop letting your experiences it's time to stop letting your culture your race your age your sex your your your upbringing determine your reality because that's the very thing that made the foot say I don't belong on the body because I'm not a hand it's time to stop letting your experiences and your perception become your it's time that the word of God become your reality because just because that's how they talk out there it doesn't mean that's how it is in here just because they divide by class and wealth and race out there it doesn't mean that exists in the body of Christ just because they divide us by where we grew up out there in the body of Christ that does not exist just because you feel one way and you've been told one way it does not mean it is this is why we all have to make a decision that unless it exists in the word of God it will not be my reality unless it exists in the word of God it will not be my confession unless what you say about me comes into alignment with the scripture then baby keep moving because I'm not interested in what you have to say too many of us have put too much weight on people's words that do not align with God's words of your life well let me ask you a question who made you who formed you who knew you who dreamt you up who took time to breathe his life into you who's writing your story who is the author and the perfecter of your faith who's the one who sits awake and thinks about you who's the one whose thoughts about you outnumber the sand on the seashore who's the one who lies awake and sustains you in the middle of night but you want to listen to Joe sorry if your name's Joe

it's just what came to me all right guys it's time to shift and move on from people whose words and thoughts about us don't line up with the God who made us but can I go deeper it's time to challenge even your own thoughts many of us are good at shutting out the haters many of us are good at putting people at bay who are not good for us but too many of us you are your own worst critic you are your own worst enemy because your own internal thoughts because your own internal dialogue is quietly killing you. Your own internal thoughts are diminishing you, are robbing you of what God has for you. This is why I came to say this morning, it is time for some of you to take captive every thought. We're good at taking captive of our bodies, working out, looking good, eating clean, drinking your matcha's. Disgusting. But the Bible says, as a man thinketh, so he is. So if I'm gonna, if I'm gonna, if I'm gonna prioritize a discipline that's first, it's taking captive my thoughts. In fact, I want to get a little African on you. It's time to beat your thoughts into submission. Beat them into submission. I refuse to let my thoughts run wild like an undisciplined child. I refuse to let them run wild like a wild racehorse. It's time, like David did, to minister to your own soul. It's time to bring your soul, your emotions, and your thoughts into alignment with God's Word. Because if you don't, you'll never measure up to who God says you are. Quit beating yourself up. Quit ruling yourself up because of the parts you play or the hand you were dealt in this life. Let me remind you, why is the hand a hand? Why is the foot a foot? Why is the kidney a kidney? I'll tell you, because it is what pleased the designer to do so. What do I mean by that? It means that the hand has no reason to boast about being a hand. You didn't make yourself. And it also means that the foot has no reason to feel ashamed. Because God is the master designer. Because God is the one who arranges our lives. You know, too many people think like this, I'm not like them. I'm not, I don't have their gift. I'm insignificant. I'm not important enough, or I'm not spiritual enough, so I don't belong, or I can't do that, or I'm not important. And can I tell

you, we have to quit thinking that way. Your inner voice does not have to have the final say. Your self-talk does not have to define you. Why? Because the designer determines the function. The designer determines the function. We have let our culture tell us whether or not our value is worth or not. But we have to let the designer tell us. Can I tell you something? Because God made you, doesn't matter how he made you, it's good. It's time to quit fighting how God made you. Let me put it this way, God can't bless who you're pretending to be. Let me put it another way, if you look at every miracle in the Bible, God will always use what you have, not what you lack. Too many of you think that you can't get what God has for you. Too many of you think that that ship has passed you by. Too many of you think that you can't get what you're going after. Too many of you think that your value is diminished because you don't have what so-and-so has. You don't have what they have. You've not been the way they, you didn't grow up with it. But can I tell you this? If you, I've said this before, if you needed it, you'd have it. God does not make mistakes. God did not leave you short of what you needed to live the life he called you to live. And if you're struggling with comparison, and you're struggling with insecurity, and you're struggling with a with a feeling of insignificance, you're struggling with the role and the part that God has you playing in this thing called life, if you're struggling with the hand you're dealt, can I maybe address something here to say this, that oftentimes those things are a root of a heart that has not yet found its value in Christ. I said this way, if you're still longing for somebody else's gift or longing for somebody else's function, it's because your value is in the role you play, not in the body that you're a part of. Christ is the head of this body. And if Christ is the prize, if Christ is my treasure, and if Christ is the one who I'm going after, then what do I care if I'm a doorkeeper on the house of God? Because I'm connected to Christ. The wisdom of God's design is this, everybody has something. Everybody has something, and everybody has a function, and everybody has a purpose, and everybody has a calling, and everybody has a future, and everybody has a hope,

and everybody can look to the world's tomorrow with expectation, and everybody can expect it and not expect it in. Why? Because Every because God made sure that everybody has something but nobody has everything God has designed this body to function specifically and no one part is greater because why if the whole body were an eye Where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear Where would the sense of smell be? God did not build a body of clones he built a body of Complementary parts different roles different functions different strengths No part is just tolerated. No part is by accident Everything is by design You have been uniquely made by design. I didn't think about my height till I came to this country Everybody in this country's tall and all your sports every six foot two six foot three to play I Just I'm a grown man. Look at him. I wish I was a little taller. Tell you something for what God has for me For what he wants to do with my life For everything he has for me for all the promises He's preached over me for all the things he has prepared for me. Guess what? I don't need to be six foot three I need to be exactly the way he made me You do not lack for what God has for you Now if you're trying to live somebody else's life If you're trying to be somebody else, of course, you'll feel inferior in the skin that God put you in but when you have a comfort and a Conviction about who God has made you to be and what God has for you, baby. I don't want what you got I like what I'm in Oh

How many wars would end how many jealousies would end how many disagreements how many disputes we would solve if Every single person became comfortable in who God had made them to be to realize that I have everything I need for the life that God has for one. Oh Okay, I'm gonna move on I'm gonna move on I'm gonna move on Verse 18 says this it is God who arranged the members in the body Each one of them watch this as he chose So why you are you jealous over somebody who has something else? They not any better than you. They just got simply dealt that hand and Here's the part. I want to lean in on too many of us want the prominent giftings or the Prominent positions in the body or the seen things But can I tell you if truly the body of Christ works at the body that we live in here's an observation Take a look at your heart Think of the lungs Think of your liver Think of your kidney think of your stomach think of your intestinal canal When compared with the arms and the eyes and the hair and the ears and the nose Which are all the outward-facing things that we put so much emphasis on You and I all know That when it comes down to it those unseen parts of the body are more essential for life When was the last time you heard somebody say oh, I like your heart Whoa, that's some good-looking livers Wow You have I don't know if you've ever someone's ever says to you, but you have remarkable kidneys Wow check out his stomach We don't talk about it we want all the things that people talk about but wait until one of those things malfunctions the whole system shuts down I Think it's a great picture for us to remind us that quit longing for things That God has not given to you and quit thinking that your part because it's unseen is

Insignificant and I think it's so smart the way God designed our body to remind us that it's actually the things that are unseen That have the greatest impact on the body This is why as we build a church and I think even about the beauty of this church I love our worship team who are up here. They do great I love pastor Brian and and all the teaching team who preach but I guarantee you pastors Brian and Christina will tell you That they value in this house Not just the people who are up here They value the prayer team who show up and pray for you and cover you They value the intercessors who awake when no one's watching and cover the church and cover them They value the people at the front doors who are greeters who hug people and embrace people in such a way that sometimes it can Give them life. They value the people serving our kids and our youth Youth teams who'll never have a microphone, who'll never have a platform, but they minister to our children and give our kids identity in Christ. They value the people who join the, what's that running thing that's happening, the tread. People run on tread and part of the, they value the missionaries who no one talks about. They value the people who spend time praying and support raising for missionaries. I tell you what, the beauty of the body is found not just in the parts that are external. The beauty of the body is that everything plays its part, external and internal. But here's where it gets cool. Paul doesn't just, oh, I'm running out of time. Lord have mercy. Paul doesn't just stop by addressing those who feel inferior.

He goes on and he turns his attention to another voice in the body, a louder one, a more dangerous one. Verse 21 says this. The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you. Nor again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Paul moves on from covering insecurity to addressing self-serving, self-sufficiency in the body. Because you see, some in Corinth, they were not saying I don't belong. There were some in Corinth who were saying, I don't need you. I'm better than you. Or I can do this by myself. Or the body serves me. But that's not how a body works. Here's how the body's meant to work. Every part of the body exists for the life of the whole. That's God's design for the body. Your giftings that God gave you, Bible tells us that you have been gifted for the benefit of the body. The way God made you, the way God made you think, the way you think, the way you speak, the way you see the world, the gifts and the talents you have, God gave you that for the benefit of the body because no one else can bring that that you bring. Every part, every member has a part to play and it's for the benefit of the whole.

The eye doesn't just see for itself. The eye sees for the body. You ever try to drive with your eyes closed? See, that's what we laugh about now, but it's foolish because there's some people who are the hand in the body who think they can do what they do without the eyes. I don't need you. Go ahead, try and drive with your eyes closed. Go ahead, try and fill your stomach without a mouth to chew and swallow. The ear is here, not just for themselves, but they're here for the whole body. The hands labor, not just for themselves, but for the whole body. Here's what I found. Things go horribly wrong in a body when one part or one cell in the body begins to live and function only for itself. In fact, when a part or a cell consumes all of what it receives and uses it only to feed itself for its own growth, you know what that's called? There's a word for it. It's called cancer. You ever considered that? That's what cancer is. It's a cell, it's an organ, it's a part in our body that consumes everything it gets and uses it only for its own growth while weakening everything else around it.

Paul is warning the Corinthian church that the same sickness can appear in the church. When the gifts that we were given for the benefit of the body become platforms that we use instead for self-service. When visibility becomes more important than faithfulness. When someone begins to believe the body exists to sustain them. When someone's only relationship to the body is to serve their needs. Uh-oh, they got quiet with me now. This is one of the things I believe is eroding the church faster than unbelief. Consumeristic, self-serving, self-focused, self-indulgent, self-sufficient believers whose only relationship with the body is I come only when the temperature's right, they're playing my favorite songs and it's my favorite preacher. I get what I need and I leave. I come, I receive, I consume and I go. I don't contribute, I don't serve the rest of the body, I don't use what I've been given to serve the whole, I use what I've been given only to serve myself. And when I don't feel like my needs are being met or that I'm not getting what I need, then deuces, see you later. Do you know that the average American church, It's higher here because it's a healthy church. The average church, about 20 to 30% of people

serve or volunteer in some capacity, which means 70% of the body in the American church is acting like cancer. That'll mess with you a little bit, but I'm gonna move right along. The body of Christ was never designed to function on the ideals of self. It was designed to function on mutual dependence. One body, many members. I need you like you need me. And when I don't show up, because it's inconvenient for me, or if I don't bring my gifts, or bring my part, or play my part, I forget that I don't suffer, but somebody else suffers. So finally, I wanna end the plan. I'm a little over time, sorry. I'll end the plan here. And finally, Paul then shows us in the backdrop of all this what a healthy body looks like. What does a healthy church look like? It says in verse 25, there is no division in the body. The members have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honoured, all rejoice together. This is not just sentimental language. This is a picture of shared life. A healthy body, the body of Christ,

is meant to do life together. It is a picture of shared life. The picture of the early church in Acts is not just a utopian example that only existed then. It is a picture and a model of what the healthy body looks like. When one had need, when one lost their job, when one was sick, the other parts of the same body sold their possessions, gave up their indulgences and extras to meet the needs of those who were needy and broken. A healthy body of Christ is a picture of shared life to understand that if you suffer, we suffer. I don't get to just sit beside somebody in my church and go, I have what I need. If you're suffering, well, I'm sorry for you. No, we are a shared body and together we help one another. I was talking to Christina and Brian earlier. I'm exhausted. I came over this weekend tired. We're in the middle of renovations. We're under pressure at home. There's a whole lot going on and I was exhausted. I was wearing my soul. I walked in here. I said, I don't know how I'm gonna get through this weekend but I thank God for the body of Christ because when I was weak, your worship and your faith made me strong. When I didn't have it in the tank, your strength, your worship, your faithfulness, your ability to show up

strengthened me in my bones. I'm only doing this today not because I have the strength within me but because you are holding me up. That's the beauty of the church. No part should suffer alone. I need the body. The beautiful picture of the body of Christ is this. It's a body where no one suffers alone. It's a body where faithfulness is celebrated. It's a body where all members are honored. It's a body where everyone plays their part. I love what Spurgeon says. He says this, dear, also very dear to us must ever be the hand that helped us out of the depth of the mire where there was no standing and yes, we ascribe all glory to the God of grace but we cannot help but love most affectionately the instrument he sent to be the means of our deliverance. Here's what a picture of a healthy church looks like. It means this, can we commit to being the kind of person who has a tender heart to care for other people? Can we become the kind of people who have quick eyes to meet the needs of people around us? Can we be the kind of people who have quick feet to go to the aid of the needy? Can we be a people who have a loving face that cheers and encourages those who are downtrodden? Can we be the kind of people who are so firm-footed that those who cannot stand for themselves do not fall over? I thank God for Engedi Church

because Sozo City Church was that in our inception when we were young church, new church plan. We were like a baby giraffe, couldn't stand on our own. Thank God for Engedi who stretched beyond themselves, prayed for us, supported us financially that we were able to stand not on our own strength but we stood on the firm foundation that is this church. That is what a church that is healthy looks like. It is a church. It is a people who say, I will be the strong hand that holds you when you wanna fall over. I will be the person who's willing to bend over backwards to grab you and make sure that you're not left behind. I wanna be the kind of person who's humble enough to bend myself low and take you by the hand and walk you to the valley. This is what a healthy church looks like when all parts work together as one body for the benefit of each other. The Spirit is not just forming individuals. The Spirit is forming a body and that's the picture of a heavenly body. I thank God for the church. I thank God for your faith. I thank God for your gift. I thank God for your faithfulness. I thank God for your generosity. I thank God for your prayers. I thank God for your discernment. I thank God for your prophetic gift. I thank God for your ministry of helps. I thank God for your ministry gift. I thank God for your preaching. I thank God for the body of Christ. No man is an island. The only people I've ever seen not finish the race of faith are those who took the body for granted and weren't connected to it. My encouragement to you

stay connected to the body. Come be a part. Come take part in the breaking of this body. Come take part in the communion and fellowship of this body. Come be blessed by it. But at the same time would you play your part in blessing it? Because that's what the body of Christ looks like. The church is the visible presence of Christ in the city. Which means how we treat each other is not a small matter. It is a gospel matter. It is how Christ is revealed to the world. Why? Because if the body is fractured, the witness is fractured. If the body is divided, then the witness is diminished. When pride divides the members, the city cannot recognize the Savior. Oh but church, when the body is whole, when every member is on it, when every gift is used for common good, when the strong carry and cover the weak, the world begins to see Jesus. Not just in what we preach but in how we belong to one another. We have different backgrounds, different history, different culture, different race, but thanks be to God in Christ in the family of God, we are one spirit and we belong to another. My faith serves your faith. Your faith serves my faith. Your faith. Oh my God! This, this I believe is what the Spirit of God is calling us all to. A church where nobody says, I don't belong. And a church where nobody says, I don't need you. This is what the Bible says, never forsake the gathering of the saints. The Spirit is calling us to be the kind of church that is held together by humility, honor, and love. Because when this happens, the city does not just hear about Jesus, it sees him. And that's what we're called to be. You are the body of Christ. So let's start living like we belong to another. Amen. Amen.