What makes a person part of the family?  What are the marks of a healthy church member?  In I Corinthians 12-13 Paul lays out the marks for a healthy member, and we will be camped out there until the holidays.


The great comparison that Paul gives for a church is the body of Christ.  You don't have to be some great intellectual or wise man to understand his analogy.  A body must work together, many parts coming together for one purpose, even for a single small thing like lifting an arm in the air.
So too must be the Church of Christ, the body, be dependent on one another to accomplish the task that God has given us. To make disciples of all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. A healthy church member is one who is dependent on others around them in the church.  
There is no one person who is more important than another for a church to fulfill it's mission.  And to do so means that:
1. You must be in the body to be in the body.  There are no lone ranger church members




2.  You must do your own job, the one that God has uniquely gifted you for.
3.  You must trust others to do their own job, as God has gifted them.

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.  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.  For the body is not one member, but many.  If the foot says, "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.  And if the ear says, "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.  If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?  But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.  If they were all one member, where would the body be?

But now there are many members, but one body.  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."  On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary;  and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable,

whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked,  so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.  And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.  Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it.  1 Cor 12:12-27

Marks of the Family

Bill and Gloria Gaither have wrote many great songs, but one that sticks in your head and you sing forever is "The Family of God" It was written during a time of suffering for a family in their church, and they were glad to know there was someone around to take care of them.

But what makes a person part of the family?  What are the marks of a healthy church member?  In I Corinthians 12-13 Paul lays out the marks for a healthy member, and we will be camped out there until the holidays.

A church member has unity in diversity
There is a variety of gifts, but the same Spirit
There is a variety of ministries, but the same Lord
There is a variety of effects, but the same God

Churches tend to fall in two camps
Diversity at all costs
Unity at all costs

Neither is a biblical picture of what God intended for the church to be.  Unity in diversity is a picture of the triune God-head, and can be accomplished by keeping the little things little and the big things big.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.  And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord.  There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.
But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.  For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit;to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.  But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.

1 Cor 12:3-11

What is our Mission?

Being a parent of a first grader comes with all sorts of challenges.  Namely, math homework!  It is certainly one thing to know what to do.  It is another thing entirely to know how to do it.  How much more so when the task is given to us by God?  We saw last week that we are ambassadors for Christ, begging others to come to Christ. But how are we to accomplish this mission? This mission was given to us by God, but how are we to do it.

Isaiah points the way for us.

Isaiah 55:8-13

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD.
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.  "For you will go out with joy And be led forth with peace; The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
"Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up, And instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up, And it will be a memorial to the LORD, For an everlasting sign which will not be cut off."

First off, we must know it is not our plan.  God has already laid out a way for us.

God's Word is what must shape and form how we accomplish our mission, because it never returns void.  Like water on the earth, it always accomplishes that which GOD set it out for.

In our church, this is done in serveral different ways.

1.  Preaching - God's word is proclaimed , not man's thoughts or opinions, but God's Holy Word.  And so we can rest in knowing that it always does it task.

2. Worship  - Gospel centered worship brings us to the throne of God.  Songs and hymns that get the word of God in our hearts makes all the difference.

3.  Scripture Memory - A simple, honest way to get God's word in your heart.  Remembering a mantra or slogan will do you no good, but the Word of God will change your heart.

4. Sunday School - Every week men and women spend hours in preparation to get God's word into our hearts in a small group setting, so it can do what God's word does.

When proclaimed, preached, sung, taught, memorized, the Word of God will always:

Produce Change

Bring Life

Cause Growth  

What Is Our Mission?

My father was a principal, his father a mechanic.  And his father (my great-grandfather) raised crops.  (if moonshine is a crop).  And I am a pastor.  That doesn't sound unusual to us, but in human history it's abnormal.  Because for most of time son's followed their fathers in their footsteps.

Your profession chose you!  And there are vestiges of this leftover in last names that describe occupations:  Baker, Carpenter, Smith, Brewer, Cook, Gardner, Miller, Parker, Skinner, Tanner, Tillman, Warden.


As we have explored the church, what it is, and what church members are, we now come to a place where we wonder:  What is our mission?  And simply put, our mission is our Father's mission.  Just like son's followed in the occupation of their fathers, so are we to follow in the mission of our Heavenly Father.  Jesus told his parents when they found him in the temple as a child.  "I must be about my Father's business"

So the starting place for us is clear.  2 Cor 5:17-21 lays out God's plan, and in turn our plan as well.

 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.  Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.  He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

-Our mission is to offer the conditional transformation available within Christ to all who will listen.

-Our mission is to offer the reconciliation to God available within Christ.

-Our mission is to be a picture within the church of the reconciling power of God, bringing all tribes, ages, political parties, and tongues together.



In a divided world, the message of reconciliation stands out loud and clear. The mission of the church is to be a living picture of the Gospel that all may see God and worship Him.