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June 28, 2009AM

1 Corinthians 12:12-27

Worship Basics – Service

 

This service has been an illustration of the power of serving.

 If I have to spend much time explaining the illustration it hasn’t been effective.

  But let me draw out what I believe is its full impact.

   I would not want to have many services like this one.

    If the way the service began was normal, our church would be in trouble.

     It would be frustrating if Pastor Elliott and I did everything.

      You may not feel welcome.

       The service would be awkward.

        We would be distracted from our worship of God.

         A church that does not serve will not survive.

          You saw the impact that all our servers withdrawing had on this service.

But as important as that is within these walls, there are astronomical spin-offs.

 Those spin-offs impact the world.

  Using your God-given gifts and talents creates a noticeable difference.

   Imagine if the world was stripped of all the service offered by the church.

    What would happen if Christians withheld their gifts and talents?

     What if everyone was living for themselves?

      What if no one turned the other cheek or went the second mile?

       What if no one lived by a biblically moral and ethical code?

        What if there was no evangelism to reach the spiritually lost?

         What if everyone did what seemed good in their own eyes?

          What would the world look like?

           I would not want to live in a world like that.

           The world did look like that at one point in history.

            A long time ago the wickedness of man was great.

             A long time ago people’s imaginations thought of only evil things.

              A long time ago people’s hearts were filled with wickedness and self.

               There was only one solution which was recorded in Genesis 6.

                God sent a global flood that purged the world.

                 We are never far from living in a world like that.

                  Just how close are we to that world right now?

We the Church are the acid test of how close that generation is.

 If we don’t serve Jesus in the Church we won’t serve Him in the world either.

  If we neglect the body of Christ, the world will also be neglected.

   If you fail to serve one another here you will fail to serve Jesus there.

    You will fail to serve the world God loves in Jesus’ name.

     In our passage of Scripture Paul called the Church the Body of Christ.

      “There are many parts, yet one body.”  (vs. 20)

       This body has all the diversity necessary for it to serve.

        But there is a difference between diversity and disability.

         We understand disabilities in the physical realm.

          We make adjustments to assist those with disabilities.

           Special parking spaces are reserved.

            Special entrances are provided.

             Special seating is arranged.

              Visual and audio technology is supplied to enhance seeing and hearing.

               All this is offered so life can be fully engaged.

I’m not sure, however what could be done for one particular gentleman.

 I read about him in an article that appeared in the Express and Echo.

  It reported a high school teacher who tried to claim a disability.

   He appeared before a Scottish employment tribunal where he had filed for

   Disability Discrimination.

    He claimed he was constantly harassed by pupils for his disability.

     His disability was that he was follicly challenged.

      He felt that his baldness was a disability.

       His claim was of course, thrown out of court.

        They must have thought his disability was all in his head.

         That certainly is not true for most disabilities.

It is important to fill the voids created by physical disabilities.

 That is the sign of a healthy community.

  But what about the spiritual body that Paul writes about?

   The only thing that ever disabled Jesus was lack of faith.

“Jesus wasn't able to do much of anything there—he laid hands on a few sick people and healed them, that's all.  He couldn't get over their stubbornness [lack of faith].”  (Mark 6:5 TM)

    We show a lack of faith when we don’t serve as God’s Spirit gifts us.

     Paul never envisioned God’s body having disabilities.

“All the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.”  (vs. 12)

      The body of Christ must “drink of one Spirit.”  (vs. 13)

       The body of Christ is all baptized “by one Spirit.”  (vs.13)

        Disabilities occur when one part of the body says “I don’t need you.”

         The Church and Jesus are disabled if we fail to serve as God has equipped.

Serving is a basic of our worship.

 God arranges us as a body to serve.

  He has placed you where you are so, “there be no discord in the body.”  (vs. 25)

   Are you serving where you are?

    Service is the expression of the time we spend with our Father in Scripture, in Prayer, and in Praise.

     So much of our worship is dependent on service, service to God.

      Serving must be part of our worship if everything else we do is sincere.

       Paul said we die to our preferences “that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.”  (Rom 7:4)

        Pastor Elliott is going to come now to help each of us bear fruit to God.