Members of One Another

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00:02
Okay, so as Brother Mike opened it up last week and we talked about love and a little bit about peace, so this morning, following our breakout, we'll kind of stay in order and we'll talk about being members of one another and being kindly affectionate to one another.
00:25
And again, it's something, good morning, something I noticed this morning as I was just looking at my notes and that is that it's interesting to me that many of the one another's that we're going to look at are in the Book of Romans and not only just in the Book of Romans, but in the, if you will, in the practical part of Paul's letter to the Romans.
00:53
No, as you think about it, Paul sets out this great doctrinal statement, right, through the Book of Romans.
01:00
We could look at that and think about all the different truths he lays out as he works through his epistle and then you get to chapter 12 in the Book of Romans and Paul then says, therefore, in, because of what he has said in the previous 11 chapters, he then begins this practical teaching and so it just made me, it just reminded me again that our practical living, right, whether it be individually or with each other in a community of believers is really to be grounded and founded in doctrinal truth.
01:42
In other words, if you have strong doctrine, it ought to lead to strong practice.
01:48
And I think the opposite is true also, that if our doctrine is weak and if the truth sets us free, then if our doctrine is weak, our practical living is going to suffer also.
02:03
So I thought it was interesting that, again, I think I counted, there were 10 of them specifically out of the 36 that we listed here, 10 of them were in Paul's final chapters of the Book of Romans.
02:18
And so I thought that was significant.
02:22
You can come in, you have the secret password.
02:30
Good morning, Charlotte.
02:33
All right, so let's go to Romans chapter 12, we're going to look at, and Brother Lee had pointed out, if you have the breakout, Brother Lee came up to me last week and said if I was going to try to understand Romans chapter 12 verse 25, I was going to have a lot of problems and I agreed because there is no Romans 25, 1225.
02:51
So hopefully you've picked up on that.
02:54
If you've looked at it, it's actually verse five.
02:57
So I'm going to read the first five verses of the book of chapter 12 and then we'll begin to discuss it.
03:05
Paul says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
03:18
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
03:28
For I say through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
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For we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function.
03:46
So we being many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.
03:54
And that's so the text will use to consider this truth of one of the one another's and that is being members of one another.
04:06
Couple of things to lay out as we work through this.
04:10
And here I think is what needs to be said at the very beginning of any of these specific instructions given to us.
04:23
And so I want to say clearly and I want to say it pointedly and unless we really understand, unless we really understand the lordship of Christ and his him being the head, us being the body, him being the master, us being the servants, him being Lord, us being his disciple, unless we really understand the lordship of Christ, we are going to struggle with a proper understanding and a proper outworking of being members of one another.
04:59
Because there is a great tendency I think to especially in the day that we live in and especially in our situation in our country that I think we need to remind ourselves over and over again that Christ is the head, we are his body.
05:19
And that we live in a day when it just seems to me and maybe you would agree, maybe you wouldn't that the motto and the force seems to be behind people who say you know what it's really all about me.
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I'm the center of the universe, I'm the one that matters, it's my world and basically don't mess with me.
05:45
I think we seem to be pounded with that over and over again and then we see the outworking of all that right? But I think you and I as Christians and as God's people we really need before we even begin to try to figure out okay so how are we to be with one another that we first need to understand this all has to be under the lordship of Christ.
06:08
That's why the teaching of the lordship of Christ is so essential and I hope you would agree that we need to understand him as lord, as king of kings, lord of lords, as the ruler overall to help us to begin to work out.
06:24
There are so many scriptures to help support that truth but I thought about what Ephesians 5 and you don't have to turn yet, Ephesians 5 says this that we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones and really until we gain our right understanding of our true identity and that being that we are of his body of his flesh and of his bones and therefore because of that we are now members of one another that we will be able better as we work through that to if you will to understand okay so I'm a member of not only of Christ but I'm a member of all those that are Christ.
07:21
You know I was thinking as I was thinking about this I was thinking about you remember when Saul was on the road to Damascus and he was met by the lord Jesus Christ and you remember what Jesus said to him? He said Paul why do you persecute me? And what was Paul doing on the road to Damascus or Saul doing on the road to Damascus? Right in that interesting how it's so saturated within the scriptures and sometimes we read right past it but you see if you persecute God's people you persecute Christ and the reason being because we're all of his body and we're all his and we are members one of another and so therefore that is a true statement that if we do not understand being members of one another then we do harm to the reality of being a member of Christ.
08:26
Again those kinds of things run counter to in so many ways and I'm not trying to destroy individuality certainly not right there's many scriptures that would help us to understand 1 Corinthians 12 27 says now you are the body of Christ and members individually.
08:50
So in one sense not promoting that we lose our individuality because God has created us unique right every one of us but that with that understanding of our uniqueness and our individuality we also need to understand our being members of one another and certainly as it works out in the church of Christ.
09:18
So one of the ways to understand this and it's so laid out for us if you think about it in the New Testament is this whole idea of the body and the members of the body and how the members in the body interact and support and promote the welfare of the other members of the body right and that analogy is just it's something that we can really get our hands around because we deal with it all the time because it's we understand it in a great out work and so Paul when he says that in Romans chapter 12 he says you are members of one another he's really saying you're a limb in this body.
10:01
You're not the body in totality you are just a limb or part of that and I would agree I would hope you would agree with me that that is something that you and I can understand how every part of our body affects our whole body right.
10:25
I've learned a lot about that reality ever since I was a kid and I've learned a lot ever since my disease in my eye or whatever this is that I have because I really begin to understand more fully that what's happening in my left eye is not only affecting my left eye it's affecting my right eye and it's affecting my balance my equilibrium it affects my mind it affects what I do so it's really been helpful in that sense to teach me more about this reality that every limb must really be supporting the welfare of the whole and if it's not if there's a if there's an issue with something not operating correctly that it's going to affect the whole body and so when you and I think about this idea of membership and being members of one another it is so important for us that we realize not only who we are but where our place is in this thought of the body as a whole.
11:35
Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 12 and I know I'm quoting scriptures this morning and I should have wrote them down and I'm sorry I didn't but but in 1 Corinthians 12 Paul says but God has composed the body having given greater honor to that part which lacks that there should be no schism in the body but that the members should have the same care for one another that's another one of the one another's will look at but that the body that the members should have the same care for one another or the limbs ought to have the same care for the other limbs if you will and if one member suffers all members suffer with it if one member is honored all members rejoice with it and again if you think about it as the Lord Jesus Christ dealt with Saul who he turned to Paul and think about that and and remember the the teaching in the gospels when Jesus said as far as you did it what when I was hung Jesus when I was hungry you fed me right who when I when I was this you did that and and remember the response Lord when did we when did we do that as much as you did it to what of my disciples you did it to me again see from that from a doctrinal perspective there is no there's no dichotomy in in in the truth of it and we need to get closer to that not further away and again I believe we live in a day when things try to gravitate away from that truth more into the individual it's my world kind of mentality and it's so important okay let me ask us to think about something else along with this this idea of being members of one another I think there's there's at least two important ways to break it out well I mean let me pose it as a question I'd rather do that because that means you got to say something how do you understand being members of Christ in other words do you see in the scriptures any kind of divergent ways in which that is laid out for us yeah okay second chapter of Ephesians Paul says that we're members built on the apostles Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone yep those those members of the body or the this building are fitly joined together it if they're not if they're not joined properly together if you've ever built anything laid any block or anything if they're not laid right or even if you're building a house or something if it's not laid right at the foundation you don't notice it as much when you're down low but as you work up farther as you go to finish things out you see everything does not work together absolutely so you just made me think something so I one time put up a wall and I was putting wood on the wall you know how you put like the shiplap and and so I'm just I'm putting it up and then I'll put it up I get to the bottom right row because now I'm on the left side I got to meet a piece this thick and on the right side I need a piece that thick right we have the couch in front of it you're right baby and I will fix it I have extra wood to fix it but again one part affect the other right and here's what I was really thinking and ask you to think about would you agree with me that from we can say that we are members of one another in a universal sense what do I need to define what I mean by universal what would I what do you think I mean when I say universal yeah absolutely that that you and I are members of one another with all the body of Christ that has been spread out through time and space okay because we are his bride and and in that day when we are with the Lord we will be in that sense in one place but we have we are members of one another from from every child to God from the creation till the end right and that's what we're looking for that consummation when all the members are brought together and united and can imagine the glorious reality of that so there's a sense in which we are members of one another in a universal way if in that way if the church in China suffers the church then we suffer or if they're on it we're on it there's another way in which you think about it does anybody have any thoughts on another way to look at that now as you're thinking I would say that this this this one is not as promote that's the wrong word let me do it the other way there is more emphasis in my understanding in the epistles that the idea of this membership is more of a look and what do I mean by local and I didn't say local I said local yeah in other words I I do think that you can find both of those teachings in a New Testament that there is a sense in which we are the members of one another in a universal way of all the gods people spread out through space and time but I would suggest the emphasis of the New Testament especially Paul's epistles is that this idea of being members of one another finds its out working locally in a local church and that you and I need to keep this in balance neither ignore don't disown one over the other but don't go too far to the extreme and I and again I've said this Wednesday night when we talk about something else that I believe that that sometimes we have a tendency to go to extremes and the reason why we go to extremes is because it's easy for us to defend ourselves because we got it we got a position and we're not changing it and that's it and what could be what could be a way you can go extreme with those two things no it was in the reality of being members of one another yeah in other words we can go so far to one side that people could almost say well you know what I don't really need to be a member of a local church right because I'm a member of the Bride of Christ throughout all the world and so you know I don't really need to function and act as a working limb in a local body because we're all of one family anyway just support your local church only never go outside of like we support yeah yeah you can almost become cult-like in this thought right so so nothing happened we're not members with anything outside these walls that's it and again I think we do have a tendency to go to extremes and many people once you go to extreme it's kind of hard to to get your way back into where you ought to be but I do think there's these are both realities that are laid out in the scriptures that you and I need to understand that much of the weight in the New Testament for our lives right now is that we ought to be members of one another here at Sovereign Grace Family Church again am I do I have a propensity to lean on this local church truth yes because I believe it's absolutely essential and again not disowning what takes place outside these walls but really my my real input comes where here right this is where I really can be helpful and be helped and I could be members of one another here in a in a much more demonstrative way than I can here that doesn't mean I don't understand that just means I my life basically revolves here and so again when Paul says this in Romans we being many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another you take it in both applications however as you begin to read through what he now talks about and goes further if we wanted to really look at this whole chapter he begins to deal with it in a very specific way about using what God has given us now I can use what God has given me in a much clearer way here than I can universally right there are other people have much more of a universal distribution of whatever it is that God gave him so you and I need to think about these things as we work through this thoughts again I'll take compliments insults go to brother Mike at all times this is the thought of like yeah he has a mom so that that's what he's done he's gone out into the the mountains of Indonesia to make the the bride of Christ meet its fullness by planning local assemblies yeah that's a good way to it's a good way to explain it brother you're right because he he he sees the need for for this right number in which not that we know that number but there's a number in which God says okay that's the last person I'll be saying that's it yeah in his mind in order for him this is in my conversations with him yeah and in order for that to happen he has to go into those furthest reaches where nobody is that last number so that's really again um the limbs of the body need to be gathered together and Scott understands that and therefore he realizes the importance of establishing local churches right where members can then what reach out to others that would become members and so and I absolutely agree with you brother that I believe the only thing that hinders Christ from returning is that the last sheep hasn't entered into the fold but once the last of God's elect is is ushered into the kingdom to me that's the end for what and I'll stop there because it'll take us down the wrong path if I go further on that okay so I want to kind of try to get both of them in this morning so I'm going to end this one about being members of one another but let me just close it this way I'm going to re-emphasize what I said at the beginning the more we understand the more we understand the kingship of Christ over the church the more we will understand the truth of being members both individually and corporately as we understand this headship we'll better understand the needs of the members and I wanted to I wanted to read a quote how many of you heard of A.W.
24:32
Toza okay so many people have heard of A.W.
24:35
Toza but I found a quote from A.W.