The Body of Christ Pt.2

In this sermon the speaker expands on the seven biblical metaphors that describe God’s people, emphasizing that the final image—Christ’s body with Christ as its head—is unique to the New Testament and defines the church’s distinct identity. He cites passages from 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, and Romans to illustrate how believers, regardless of background, are united by the Holy Spirit into one body, sharing each other’s joys and sufferings. The preacher stresses that this oneness is characterized by unity, diversity, and similarity, and that the church’s visible unity serves as a powerful testimony to the world of Christ’s reality. The message then turns to practical ways of building that unity, highlighting love and humility as the two essential keys. Love is presented not as a fleeting feeling but as an intentional, unconditional action toward every member, free of prejudice, gossip, or conditionality. Humility follows, modeled on Christ’s self‑emptying attitude, calling believers to value others above themselves and to serve sacrificially. By living out love and humility, the body of Christ can demonstrate the unique, transformative power of the gospel to the surrounding community.

What is Houston's First Baptist Church?

Houston's First Baptist Church is a relevant biblical community where we gather our hearts, grow our souls and give our lives as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). This podcast provides weekly messages from Pastor Gregg Matte and others. Visit us at HoustonsFirst.org to learn more about HFBC, and visit us in person the next time you're in Houston!

I said last week that there are seven basic metaphors that Jesus uses to describe his people. Three of them are prominent in the Old Testament where Israel is described as a flock, as a vineyard, and as a bride. Then we come to the New Testament and we find alluded to that God's people are also a kingdom, a family, and a building. In all of this there is oneness. We too are one flock with one shepherd. We are one vineyard with one vinedresser. We are one bride with one bridegroom. We are one king with one kingdom. We are one family with one father. We are one building with one foundation. And then we come to the seventh. We are one body with one head. But only this concept of the body is neither taught nor alluded to in the Old Testament. Therefore, it is the distinctiveness of the church. It is our uniqueness. It is our unique position in Christ. It is a new thing that has never been done before. Therefore, that a group of people, simply by faith in Christ and the regeneration process of the union of the Holy Spirit who places us in Christ, makes of us one new man. Now, these scriptures that we looked at last Sunday, I am going to read very quickly. You do not need to turn. The first is from 1 Corinthians 12. There are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit. And there are differences, but the same Lord. And then, as the body is one and have many members, and all the members of that body being one are many, so also is Christ. By one spirit, the Holy Spirit, at conversion, we are baptized into one body. Whether Jews or Gentiles, whether slaves or freemen, we have all been made to drink of the union of that one spirit. And whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. When one member of the body is honored, all the members are honored. Now, ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. From Ephesians 4. There is one body and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father, who is above you all, and through you all, and in you all. And in Ephesians chapter 2. But now, in Christ, you who were sometimes afar off from each other, are made near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both Jew and Gentile one, and hath broken down the middle wall of petition, and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you who were afar off. There is therefore neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ. Let me repeat again, he says that he has made of us all one new man. The key word then is new. It is something that has never, ever been done before. There is no organization in the world like it. There is no organism that is like the church. It is something that has not been done before, and could never be put together by a man. It is an incomprehensible thing that has been created, the union of oneness, through mutual faith in Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit. We are one in the Spirit. We are one in the Lord. Now, in our union, it is a very special thing. It is an unusual thing, this oneness. The three characteristics of any body are its unity, its diversity, and its similarity. Our unity is our distinctiveness. Two hands cannot go on a world tour by themselves and play the violin. They must be attached to the body. And the body cripples along to the degree that any of us withhold our love and withhold our gifts and withhold the contribution that we can make. we operate collectively, or we operate as a crippled body that does not present Jesus Christ to the world. Now, Jesus said the purpose for this unity. Father, he prayed, oh, that they might all be one, that the world might believe that I came from you. It is so marvelous. It is so distinctive, this visible expression of Christ on earth called the church, his body, that Jesus says it is the greatest attestation to the validity of the reality of Jesus Christ. He says when the world sees this, Father, we'll know that they are one. And the commonness, the uniqueness of the thing is our common mutuality and unity together. He says when one member of the body suffers, all suffer. When the hand shall say to the foot, because I am not the foot, am I not of the body? If the ear shall say to the nose, I am not of the body because I don't look like you? No, we need you. We need your love. We need what you can contribute. We are all one in the spirit of Jesus Christ. Where is another organization in the world where it can be like that? Where a man who is the president of the company can be ministered to by the janitor? Where in the world can a person of different ethical backgrounds, of ethnic origins and racial differences, come together and love each other and minister to each other? He said it doesn't matter whether a man is a slaveholder or whether he is a slave. It matters not. It may be that that slave can minister to his slaveholder. It may be that a man can minister to his fellow man. Well, it just can't happen anywhere else except in the body. And deep relationships are building. And people that love each other and contribute to each other at different crisis and times and needs of each other's lives. And these needs change. They go on. And what you can contribute to some brother today, when some brother is down and you are sensitive to him, and you can suffer with him, and you get down with him, and when he's up and needs to be rebuked, you can rebuke him in tenderness and in love. And when he needs whatever you can contribute, you do it right there. Jesus says the unity of the health and the wholeness of the body, when one suffers, when one rejoices, when all are together and each man prefers the other to himself, is a beautiful distinctive that causes the world to say, Jesus Christ is Lord. Now, we're going to stay today on the first point of unity and diversity and mutuality, the characteristics of the body. Now, if the unity of the body is its distinctiveness, how is unity to be experienced? How, as you turn it into terms of practicality, do you and I go about building this unity together as each man counts others more worthy than himself and gives to each other and functions together into translatable, realistic terms? Well, there are two words we must remember. The first word is love. There's the first key to the unity. The second key to the unity is humility. Love and humility. Now, let's talk about love. You remember that Jesus Christ said in John 13, 34, a new commandment, give I unto you that you what? Love one another. Now, you can't command love in the emotional sense. You can't say love this one and don't love that one, feel this way about the way you want to and don't feel about that one the way you don't want to. What was Jesus doing? When he was saying, I command that you love each other, he was not saying that you feel a certain way. He was saying, I command that you act a certain way to each other. For, for one thing, love is not necessarily emotional. It is possible to love someone you may not like. It is possible to act towards someone kindly and charitably in such a need that they don't understand. It is a self -abasing, a condescending kind of love which says, Brother, the most important thing in the world to me is not me, it's you. It's being sensitive to what you need. It's keeping your eyes open. It's not wearing your feelings on your cuff. It is acting, not necessarily feeling charitably and involved in the lives of other members of the family of God. And then it is not only not necessarily emotional, but it is not necessarily selective. In fact, it is not selective. It doesn't go around saying, I'm going to love this one, and I'm not going to love that one. It doesn't have a social strata. It doesn't draw lines and say, because a man doesn't live in my neighborhood, I cannot like him. Because the color of his skin is not the same as mine, I can't invite that man to my home. It doesn't say because a woman that is a dear friend doesn't happen to be my wife, that I cannot care about that person and minister to that person, and that I cannot love that person in Jesus Christ. It means that a man can have a friendship with a man that is an undying thing, and he meets that man's need. And they are brothers in Jesus Christ, and people don't look at them like they're funny. He says that in Christ there is neither male nor female nor bond nor free nor black nor white. All barriers, all distinctions are gone. We are one. We are sensitive to each other. We don't look at the kind of a tie a man has on. We don't look at the kind of a car he drove up in. We don't look at his criminal record. We don't think because he got arrested for drunk driving or spent four years in the pen before he met Jesus Christ that there are some people we just don't have anything to do with. It is not emotional necessarily. It is not selective, this kind of love. And it is not conditional. It doesn't say, well, I love you on this condition. I love you if you act like this. It says, brother, sister, I don't care what you do to me. I don't care if you step on me. It doesn't make any difference. I love you. You love me. We're one in the Spirit. Where then is room for gossip? Where is room for pettiness? Where is the room for criticism? Where is room in the life of the believer when we are one in Jesus Christ for us to hear stories and repeat them? Where is the room for us to say, did you hear about so and so? You wouldn't believe. Sometimes a Baptist church, any church, can be a rumor mill. Well, you can sit around in a circle and play gossip, and I'll tell you by the time it gets by, it's 10 ,000 miles from where it started. If there's one thing I have learned, it is that there's two sides to every story, and nothing is hardly ever as it really appears to be. Sometimes we say, did you hear about old so and so? Oh, listen. Sometimes, you know that believers use prayer as an excuse to gossip. I want you to pray about so and so, but did you hear? You don't care about them. Oh, listen. I say that it is absolutely essential that not one believer in Jesus Christ, in the family, in the unity, that is the body of First Baptist Church ever under any conditions must ever repeat anything unkind about any other member of the body of Jesus. The ear is saying, did you hear about the foot? The nose, did you hear about the kidneys? They're in trouble. The spine is saying, did you hear about the hair? It's falling out. Let's pray for the hair. Oh, my. No room for it. No room. I challenge, I commend to you that the longest day you live, you will make an undying commitment from this moment on that your only interest ever in any member of the family of God will be a redemptive one, a conciliatory one. And the only way you'll ever be involved in their life is lifting them and loving them and helping them what's best for them. Don't pass it on. Don't gossip. Don't criticize. Don't cut. It is imperative. Listen, we have to have your love. The body can't function without it. Sometimes somebody says, well, oh, so and so, I love her in the Lord. Which is like saying, I hate her. You know, as though you can, you have a little valve and a spigot and you can go around squirting and I'm going to shoot you with eight drops of divine love unmixed with my own. You know, and you just squirt a little here and squirt a little there. You're either a lover or you don't. You either care or you don't. And I think the kindest thing that we can do is to learn to keep our mouths shut and learn to be sensitive to other people where they are and whatever they need and only to involve ourselves in people's lives redemptively. And those needs change. Life is fluctuating. All around us there are people with needs. Listen, if the world is to know Jesus and who He is, we must have your love. We must have your love. We can't get along without it. We must have your love. Your love. Make that your New Year's resolution. The unity of the Spirit, of the body of Jesus is experienced by love. Now, there's another key, and this is the last one, and that's humility. That's humility. The Bible has an awful lot to say about humility. I want you to turn now to two or three passages of Scripture with me over in Philippians, if you will. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians. Philippians, about half, two -thirds of the way through the New Testament. We'll all take just a moment to find it. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians. You'll find it right in there just before Colossians and 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Philippians 2, 2. Philippians 2, verse 2. Now, yours may read different if you don't have a King James, but these are essentially the same, of course. Now, Jesus was praying for the unity of the body worldwide. Paul is writing in concern and praying for the unity of the body of one church in Philippi. So we can learn a good deal about what Jesus said to the church in Philippi. Verse 2. Fulfill ye my joy. He says, here's what's going to make me happy. That ye be what? Like -minded. Just having the same mind together. Of the same one, love, being of one accord and of one mind. Now, what is that mind? How do we do that? How do we have one accord? How are we like -minded? Listen. Verse 5. Let that mind be in you, this mind, which was also in Christ Jesus. Ah, there it is. It is to have the mind of Christ. He is saying practically to the church at Philippi that the unity of the Spirit, the love, is expressed through a like -single -mindedness, which is the mind of Christ in you all. And now, what is that mind of Christ? Who? Being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. That means something to be kept hold of. Sought -after, desired. He left all of that. He made of himself no reputation and took on himself the form of a servant. And was made in the likeness of men and being found in the fashion as a man. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. It is the mind of condescending humility then. It is each preferring the other above himself. Let every man esteem each other greater than himself. It is letting people walk on you if they have to walk on you. It is turning the cheek if you have to turn the cheek. It is being insulted if you have to be insulted. You say, well, people walk all over me. Listen. For every person that walks over you, if you're this kind of a person, a thousand people will come along and lift you up. It is the mind of condescension. It is the mind of humility which says, Brother, I don't care what it costs me. I don't care what the price tag. I don't care what reputation. I don't care what business deal. I don't care how I have to suffer. If I have to get down here in the gravel and grovel, in the dust of the earth and hurt and bleed and suffer for you, I'll do it. I'll pay any price. It's worth it for your love and your wholeness and your unity. If it means saving you, if it means lifting you, I'm willing to do that. What kind of an impact would 7 ,000 or 8 ,000 members of a church moving collectively across the society that we call the city of houston texas have on the world it would be devastating would be devastating if they could see that kind of people no wounded egos no sour attitudes well that's the last time for that i'm not going back to that choir as long as she's in it no each preferring others above themselves it is the mind of condescending humility i want you to turn for a moment over to romans chapter 12 and that's back a little bit romans chapter 12 matthew mark luke john acts romans the sixth book let's look for a moment if you will please verse number three romans 12 verse 3 romans 12 3 he's talking about the perfect will of god the for the copulative continues the thought refers back to the perfect will of god i say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly according as god hath dealt to every man the measure of faith he says we're all different we all do as well as we can with what we have and if you're not like me whatever weaknesses whatever minuses i have i must understand that as an important as a member of the body of jesus you're important and there is something you can contribute to me as i am sensitive to my ability to be able to contribute something to you and we all do what we can god knows how many ears and arms and noses we need i've said publicly so many times if the spirit of god doesn't lead you to join this church don't come and if he doesn't need you to stay once you get here please don't stay we don't want too many noses somebody came up to me and said well i'm just an old toenail a day i said well that's don't feel bad i feel like a hangnail some some some days look he said for as the body as we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office so we being many are one body in christ and every one members one of another i want you to turn over the first corinthians please chapter six just go one book ahead first corinthians chapter six you have to explain to my methodist friends where these books are found uh not to mention a few baptists did you find that harry right after yeah all right romans chapter the first corinthians i don't know where it is chapter six all right hope none of you are in litigation at this time this can be devastating verse seven verse six but brother black back up five i speak to your shame is it so that there is not a wise man among you no one that shall be able to judge between his brethren if there's a problem can't you get the christians together if you need advice and wisdom if a christian has a problem with a christian brother couldn't get a few christian deacons that are attorneys and together on your knees in love find a solution look we we've we've got to go back uh to verse one dare any of you having a matter against another go to law before the unjust and not before the saints look for seven now now therefore verse verse six brother goeth the law with brother christian brother and that before unbelievers arguing our case before infinites now therefore there is utterly a fault among you because you go to law one with another why do you not rather take wrong take wrong but you don't know how much money is involved you don't know how much was at stake take it take it he said allow myself to be trampled i'd be trampled on then get trampled because i'm telling you that for every brother that tramples you a hundred other brothers will come and pick you up that's the way it works that is the magic that is the mystery that is the uniqueness the distinction of the christian faith why do you not rather why do you not rather take wrong take it why do you not rather suffer allow yourselves to be defrauded allow myself to be defrauded that's right psalm 37 4 romans 8 28 john 3 16 23rd psalm all those goodies they all came out of the same book i say to you that there is no salvation there is no future ministry of any impact left in the life of a church whose people publicly squabble and fight with each other nay you do wrong and defraud and that your brother it is the mind of condescending humility until the time comes that each of us cannot wear our feelings on our cuff and see that we are really not important but all that is important is you brother and your home and your sanity and your job and your well -being and your well -feeling and i don't count walk on me hurt me if you must until we come to that we'll never have the unity of the spirit that makes the world see jesus christ is real as a church let me tell you something you'll get more love you'll get more help you'll get more lifting than you've ever known that's what ties right into the sermon tonight on prosperity that is the distinctiveness of the christian gospel that's what life is all about that's the nature of christendom that you gain by giving and that life is to find be found by dying and the care of yourself is to be experienced by selflessness jesus came from heaven born of a virgin the king of kings and he went to a dung filled hole in the wall a cave where there was a bale of straw called a manger and he said that's all right no room i'll just be born there accused him falsely he just sat there they spat on him he just stood there they nailed into a cross i don't have to tolerate that you don't know who i am you can't do this to me no i've got my rights he just hung there father forgive them forgive them did you lose wherefore god hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of jesus every knee should bow every tongue confess that christ is lord to the glory of the father of things on the earth and in the earth and under the earth and above the earth all of earth will the hearts of men do all of eternity shall redound to the exaltation of jesus why because he practiced what he taught us and died he didn't care oh you won't lose you never lose when you trust him when you live like that oh that's my prayer for this portion of the body of christ love and humility unity are the keys to unity diversity mutuality we'll pick up there next sunday morning may we pray