Which is His Body - Applications, Part 1

Introduction: The Church as Christ's Body and Fullness

0:02 And again to Ephesians chapter 1, to this tremendous prayer which the Apostle Paul prayed on behalf of the Ephesian saints, and having opened up, I trust, the thread of the mind of the Spirit of God in these words of the Apostle as to the precise things for which he prays, we came several weeks ago to the latter part of verse 2, verse 23, in which the Apostle describes the church under this twofold description as the body of Christ and as the fullness of Christ. And since these words do not bear the same necessary connection with the preceding context, I will not weary you with a lengthy review to give the overarching thread of the Apostle's thought. Suffice it to say that he introduces this description of the church as the body of Christ and the fullness of Christ because, in the concluding part of his prayer, asking God

1:24 by the Spirit to help the Ephesians to understand both their hope, their inheritance, and the power of God towards them, he had described the church as being the recipient of an exalted Christ, one who is made head over all things, and then given as head to the church. And having mentioned the church as the recipient of so great a gift, it's almost as though he anticipated the question, why should the church receive such a gift? And his answer is, The nature of the church makes it very consistent that she should receive such a gift, for the church is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. Now, in the two previous Lord's Day mornings, we have been focusing our attention on this concept, the church, as the body of Christ. And what we have really done is simply rearranged every reference to the body of Christ, the church, and the body of Christ. And we have sought to collate those references under the distinct headings of concepts which they are meant to convey.

Review of the Body-Head Concept: Five Relationships

2:43 As we continue our study this morning, let me remind you of the substance of what we've thus covered. I have underscored two principles which are the background of all of our study concerning this phrase, the body of Christ. Principle number one. It is a figure of speech conveying substantial reality.

3:08 It is a figure of speech to convey some wonderfully real things that exist between the Lord Jesus and his people. And secondly, whatever is true of the church universal becomes the pattern of what should be true of the church local.

3:30 And that principle is nowhere seen in its image. And so I hope that we will be able to understand this concept by focusing upon the major main principles and be able to understand its importance more forcibly than it will be this morning. With those principles behind us, in governing us in our study, we then saw that this body-head concept conveys at least five distinct lines of thought. It speaks of the organic relationship that exists between the Lord Jesus and his people and his people in one another.

3:58 It speaks of the subordinate relationship that exists between the Lord and his people. It speaks of the organic relationship that exists between the Lord Jesus and his people and his people in one another. that exists between the people of God and their head, the Lord Jesus. Paul explicitly states it in Ephesians chapter 5.

4:11 As the church is subject to Christ, who is the head and Savior of the body. And then it speaks of a coordinated relationship. A body is not simply a number of things connected to the same source of life, but they are coordinately related one to another. And then it speaks of a sympathetic relationship.

4:36 We read of it this morning. One member in the body suffers, all suffer. One member rejoices, all rejoice. And then we concluded our study by noting that it is a necessary and a functional relationship.

4:51 My body carries out the will of my head. The church exists to carry out the will of its living head, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I emphasize. That in carrying out the figure of the church as the body of Christ, we were not guided by our imaginations, but by the clear teaching of the word of God, which in other places describes the body of Christ in these various relationships.

Application 1: The Necessity of a Biblically Guarded Membership

5:21 As we close last week, or rather as we ran out of time, I said there were some very practical deductions and applications which I share with you today. which flow out of this biblical concept of the body of Christ. I only gave you the headings after seeking the face of God concerning His mind for this morning, I believe. I ought to take those headings and now flesh them out by way of application.

5:51 Remembering the principle that the individual and the particular church receives its perspectives from the corporate universal church, what does all of this say to us right here at Trinity Baptist Church, a manifestation of the body of Christ? If the church as the body of Christ is set forth in Scripture as a relationship thus described, an organic relationship, a subordinate relationship, a coordinate relationship, a functional relationship, a sympathetic relationship, what does that say to us? Does that come with any regulative power to our own life and practice as a body of Christ? The answer of the word of God in good plain horse sense is yes. And as time permits, I want to trace out four lines of thought with you this morning. First of all, it speaks of the necessity for a biblically guarded membership.

6:56 Secondly, we shall see that it speaks of the necessity for a biblically disciplined membership. Thirdly, the necessity of a biblically, and I must look at my third point, get them in the right order, a biblically active membership. And fourthly, the necessity for a biblically supplied membership. First of all, then, the church as the body of Christ speaks of the necessity for a biblically, biblically guarded membership. If the church universal is the body of Christ, then the only person who's in the body is the one who has been incorporated into Christ. Now that's obvious. It's biblical. If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is what? None of his. But by one spirit,

7:51 Paul says, we were all baptized into the one body and have been all made to drink of the one spirit. Now if no one belongs to the church universal, the universal body of Christ, unless he shares in the very life of Christ by the indwelling of the spirit, then no one ought to be admitted into the local body, into the church, geographically located in any given place, who does not evidence that he has been savingly joined to Jesus Christ. There is nothing in scripture to warrant that a new element enters in from the church universal to the church particular and to the church local. No, no. What is true of the universal is to be the pattern for the local. Therefore, when we turn to the book of the Acts and notice the Torah and the Bible, we are not going to have the same pattern as Jesus Christ.

8:51 we are not going to have the same pattern as Jesus Christ. We are going to have the same pattern as Jesus Christ. the principles upon which the churches were founded, you will notice that the Holy Spirit is very careful to emphasize that no one was admitted into the membership of a visible local body of Christ who did not give credible evidence of having been united vitally through the Spirit to Christ. And the pattern is set, of course, in the very second chapter of the book of the Acts, where we read in verse 47 concerning that early congregation that they were praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to them day by day those that were being saved. And salvation in the biblical concept is nothing less than regeneration by the Spirit, incorporation into Jesus Christ, and the resurrection of Christ, being brought to repentance and faith, receiving the gift of the Spirit, to use the language of Acts 2 and verse 38. And that note sounded in that second chapter of Acts is sounded again and again throughout the book of the Acts. Two more examples as specimens

10:10 of that assertion, Acts chapter 5, verses 12 to 14. By the hands of the apostles were many signs. And wonders wrought among the people, and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. But of the rest dared no man join himself to them, albeit the people magnify them. Now notice this careful description. And believers were the more added to the Lord. Multitudes, both of men and women. Believers were added to the Lord. Isn't that a strange phrase?

10:51 Not when you read it. Not when you understand that the church is the body of Christ. For what's added to my body is added to me. And some of us have too much addition. You see? What's added to my body is added to me. And the believers were the more added to the Lord. Believers, all believers. Keep that in your mind. Move on to chapter 11, verse 24. Barnabas, a servant

11:40 of God, comes preaching the word. Verse 23, who when he was come and had seen the grace of God was glad. And he exhorted them all that would purpose of heart they should cleave to the Lord. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and much people was added unto the Lord. And how was he added to the Lord? How was he added to the Lord? Being added to the Lord is an inward spiritual experience. Ah, but being added to his visible body is an external discernible experience. And so he's simply using this as a synonym for the word. The church grew, but it grew only of those that were added to the Lord. Not just put

12:25 on the church roll, but the Lord himself. So the pervasive concept of the church in the epistles, they are always viewed as people who are in vital union with Christ. When Paul addresses the churches, he uses one little phrase more than any other. He calls them the people of God who are in Christ.

12:52 Christ Jesus. Look at several examples of this very quickly. First Corinthians 1 in verse 2. Paul called to be an apostle through the will of God and Sosthenes our brother unto the church of God which is at Corinth, even them that are sanctified in union with Christ Jesus. Paul views no one as being part of the visible church of whom it cannot be said in the judgment of charity. He's in union with Christ. If I'm in union with Christ, then I belong in his body, visible, local. If I'm not in union with Christ, I have no business in his body, visible, local.

13:39 Because the visible local is to be a reflection of the universal and the church in general. The same phrase again in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 1. The very book we are studying. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God to the saints that are in Ephesus. That's the church. And the faithful in Christ Jesus. He assumes that the church local, the body of Christ visible at Ephesus was a body of people in union with Christ. And we could look at Philippians 1, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, all the way through the epistles.

14:25 All of the promises, the consolations, the directives, the exhortations in the epistles assume the reality of this relationship. If the churches make any other matter than evidence of union with Christ, the ground of her membership, confusion comes at a most delicate point. What is the nature of the church? And if the church is meant to be the pillar in the ground of the church, then it is the pillar of the church. And if the church is meant to be the of the truth, and we're confused about what the nature of the church is, then all the other truths which the church is to proclaim become confused. And so the great battleground of the ages has been, what is the nature of the church? And someone has said, we had the first reformation, which answered the question, how can a man be justified? We thank God for that reformation. We had a second reformation, which answered certain questions relative

15:29 to why is a man justified, and the great hammering out of the doctrines of God's decrees and election and the doctrines of grace. But we need a third reformation, that the reformation in the 1600s never answered, and subsequent reformations, what is the nature of the church?

15:48 And I say with all due deference to my forefathers, whom I have loved, and whom I have loved, and whom I have loved, and whom I have loved, and whom I have loved, and whom I have loved, and whose shoes I'm not worthy to unloose. The dear Martin Luther, and even John Calvin, and Knox, and these great men, never penetrated to the heart of this issue, what is the nature of the church? They came a long way from Rome, but they didn't go all the way into the full blown teaching of the New Testament. They stopped short, and said, Pastor, you seem excited. You seem like this thing has got, yes it has, dear ones, because I'm convinced with all of my being that if God the Holy Ghost describes the church as the body of Christ, any view of the church that views any church particular as consisting of anything other than people united vitally to Jesus Christ is a deflection from the biblical concept and can only be the mother of all kinds of error. Now let me give you a little lesson in church history this morning. This concept that the church is the body of Christ speaks of the necessity for a guarded membership. What have been the major errors in this area in the history of the church?

Errors in Church Membership: State, Family, and Decisional Structures

17:09 There have been three. One is the tragic error of the state church structure. The idea being that in a given geographical area, the only officially recognized religion is the Reformed Church of this, or the Lutheran Church of that, or the Roman Catholic Church of this particular area. And everyone who is born in that area is automatically not only a member, a citizen of the state in which he's born, but he's automatically made a member of the church which is circumscribed by the same geographical boundaries. So what you do is you take the state, and whatever the shape of the geographical area is, you can pick it right up and transpose it over to the state. And you can pick it right up and over here, and say the church equals the state. And that's what you have had in the past, and the curse of it is very, very obvious to anyone who knows even a little bit about church history. They're not concerned if people are united to Christ by the Spirit.

18:13 There's no concern that the preaching of the Word is the means by which we are regenerate. No, there is this concept that if I'm born in a certain place, I'm automatically a member of the church of Christ. Now, the second tragic error is the error of the family church structure. And now here, dear ones, I wish to speak kindly, fairly, and tenderly, and I've pleaded with God, I mean this honestly, that I would speak fairly, and kindly, and tenderly, but I want to speak biblically and forcefully. Why is it that when in the church of Presbyterian persuasion, they have the baptism of their infants, why is it that the children are baptized? Well, let the official order of church worship in the Trinity Hymnal, the official organ of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, answer the question. Will you turn in your hymnals, please, to page 607? You see, the question of baptism is not a question of how many children are baptized. It's a question of how many children are baptized.

19:28 It's a question of how much water and on whom. It is a question of what is the nature of the church. 667, please. Page 667. At the top of the page, forms for public profession of faith, baptism and services of ordination and installation of church officers. Will you notice the first question? The italics, before the baptism of an infant, the minister shall require the baptism of an infant. The minister shall require the baptism of an infant.

20:01 Do you acknowledge that the parents acknowledge the duty of believers to present their children for holy baptism and that they assume publicly their responsibility for the Christian nurture of their children, proposing the following or similar questions? Question one. Here's the question addressed to a parent who's holding his child at the baptismal font. Do you acknowledge that although our children are conceived and born in sin and therefore subject to condemnation, they, Christ, and I, put it there as a caricature, this is the question. I say that is the error

21:09 of the family church mentality. That child has come into the church not by union with Christ through faith and the regenerative work of the Spirit, but because it's connected to someone else who is joined to Christ. I read from the Psalter hymnal, the official organ of worship and worship. I read from the Psalter hymnal, the official organ of worship and worship. I read from the Psalter hymnal, the official organ of worship and worship.

21:34 In the Christian Reformed Church, a lovely Psalter hymnal. I wish we could have it incorporated into our own Trinity hymnal, and then we'd really have by far the best Psalter hymnal, I think, available. But I read now from page 56 a similar section on the formularies, the liturgy for baptism. And under the section on baptism as it relates to infants, I quote. Now, dear ones, I'm not creating straw men. I'm reading word for word.

22:05 First, this is what's to be addressed to the parents. First, whether you acknowledge that although our children are conceived and born in sin and therefore are subject to all miseries, yea, to condemnation itself, yet that they are sanctified in Christ and therefore as members of His church ought to be baptized. Here is the prayer of thanksgiving to be given at the end. Almighty God and merciful Father, we thank and praise Thee that Thou hast forgiven us and our children all our sins through the blood of Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and received us, us, we and our children, as members of Thine only begotten Son, and adopted us to be Thy children, and sealed us with Thy blood. We thank Thee that Thou hast fulfilled and confirmed the same unto us through holy baptism. Beloved, I did not put it there. There it is. What's the tragedy of this? The tragedy

23:21 is that it's doing with the family what the church state concept has done with the state. It's merely limited the confines, but it's partaker of the same basic error. We are only in the body of Christ if we're indwelt by the Spirit. The Spirit works by and with the Word, and He works according to His own sovereign electing purpose which oft-times divides families, not unites them.

23:57 Jacob have I loved. Esau have I hated. The children having not been born, having done neither good nor evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, it was said the elder. shall serve the younger.

24:18 John 1, 12 and 13 as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name which were born not of blood nor is the will of man and says if I'm born of blood I have some sense in Christ. No, no. No, no. Not of blood.

24:45 Not of blood. Hence Jesus said often the gospel does not unite families, it divides them. Think not that I came to send peace I came to send a sword I'm come to set a man against the father the father against the daughter the mother against the daughter and the daughter against the mother-in-law and a man's foe shall be they of his own household. This idea that if the head of a household is incorporated into Christ all the members of the household are automatically in some sense incorporated into Christ is a flat denial.

25:19 Jesus' own way.

25:27 God and I don't mean this with tongue in cheek that many pious sincere godly men who having swallowed the error of the family church structure saw the concept that the church must have vital piety and so what they've done to put a check on the natural and inevitable tendency of considering your children members of the church they have made them second class members non-communicant members a phrase nowhere found in scripture and they won't let them come to the Lord's table or be considered full-blown members till they give some evidence that they are now vitally joined to Christ. So they've had to come up with an unscriptural concept to try to negate another unscriptural concept rather than do what the scripture calls us to do throw out the mother and then you won't have to be nursing its baby.

26:25 You see it?

26:29 And it's a tragic error because in spite of all the protestations and denials if I as a pastor believe that all of you little children here all my children your children if I believe that when you stood at the front of this church and the water was placed upon you in the name of the Triune God that you were quote I'm quoting now sanctified in Christ and as a member of the church ought to be baptized I would not preach to you children you must repent you must believe you must be born again I would say having been born again you must grow up to be good Christians I would assume you are already saved and if I assumed it it isn't long before you assume it and when I and your parents and your Christian school teachers all assume it is it no wonder that the presumption in those circles is sickening to the poor?

27:24 Beloved we're not fighting straw men God knows with all of my heart when I say these things I feel pain because I know I'm talking about dear John Flavel and dear esteemed Dr. John Owen and I'm speaking about John Calvin who is this little pipsqueak I've got two eyes and I read the church is his body and by the spirit we're baptized into the body not by our genes and I know the difference between genes and spirit and therefore I dare to stand alongside those mighty giants and say I believe they erred call no man master be he Calvin be he Flavel be he Owen be he Edwards be he Martin call no man master what sayeth and then the third great error in this area is what I'm calling the tragic error error of decisional church structure you have the error of the church error of the church state structure born in the right place geographically you're in the church the error of the church state structure the error of the family church structure born in the right family you're in the church and you have this third great error

The True Nature of Guarded Membership

28:53 the tragic error of decisional church structure the idea that if you've walked down an aisle that means you're in Christ therefore you ought to be found in the visible church if you've raised your hand if you've made a decision and the only question asked of people before they're admitted to the church is have you believed some propositions have you made some decision there is no concern or little about the church to ask if there's evidence that the spirit of God has regenerated people are asked what have you done they ought to be asked what has God done what's he done I'm not concerned what you've done what's he done has he done that which warrants us to believe that you have been made one of us by God that's the question and so whereas in the church state structure you have people utterly indifferent all they do is get baptized get married and perished under the auspices of the church whereas in the era of the family church structure you have presumption people growing up assuming they're Christians because they've been told they're Christians and thank God others who because they have godly parents and prayerful parents and godly preachers they do come to vital faith in Christ thank God for it thank God for it but then they look around and when they try to share

30:20 the reality of what God's done for them with all their other fellow covenant children they look at them like they're nuts and there's some of you here who know that I'm talking the truth and you try to share what God has done and you say what are you all excited about do we all have this stuff what's the difference one has been reunited to Christ and all the others don't have a clue what they're talking about and I'm speaking to people who know by painful experience that what I say is true and then you have this decisional church error where people think because they've made a decision all is well oh dear ones if the church is the body of Christ then hear me this morning this speaks of the absolute necessity of a guarded membership individual churches must admit none but those whom they have reason to believe are united to Christ but individual churches must admit all whom they have reason to believe are joined to Christ the weak ones the ignorant ones that's why we don't ask people to take a 20 week course in theology before we admit them as members the church is the school of Christ not the graduate school it's the kindergarten of Christ baptize them then teach them to observe we don't ask people have you got victory over all these external sins have you got

31:47 no no dear ones you don't set the standard any higher than God has the man may be united to Christ and still have an opportunity to live and still have an opportunity to live and still have an opportunity to live there's an awful lot of the grave clothes hanging on him the Lord may have brought him out of the grave of sin and he's a new man in Christ and he's walking he's not just laying in the tomb stinking with a record player next to him saying I'm alive, I'm alive, I'm alive, I'm alive there's evidence of life as there was when Lazarus came out of that tomb he was walking it was a spooky sight but he was walking there was life and he still had grave clothes and it's a beautiful analogy it's not a type that isn't what the passage is intended to teach I'm just making up an illustration from an incident that is vivid in all our minds and so a man may have been brought out of the death of sin by the sovereign work of God and have many grave clothes upon him the church is to welcome him if he says I purpose to walk with Jesus Christ in the ways of obedience and to be his obedient child well that's the first implication of this teaching that we've considered and I know by now we're not going to get to all four of them so then let me just move to the second and we'll have time just for that it shows us the necessity for a biblically disciplined membership if the church is the body of Christ then only those who continue to give credible evidence of the reality of their union with Christ

Application 2: The Necessity of a Biblically Disciplined Membership (Reflecting the Head)

33:15 are to continue in the church you see the church as body reflects its head and the head the Lord Jesus is filled with truth and filled with righteousness and therefore whenever there is error cropping up in the church there is to be discipline whenever there is ungodliness cropping up there is to be discipline now how does the Lord Jesus feel towards churches visible manifestations of his body that deal brutally with error and those who propagate it who deal firmly in love with those who are guilty of moral deflection and will not repent well he stands in the midst of the churches now as he did in the picture of Revelation 2 and 3 and will you notice carefully what he says to the church at Ephesus before he rebukes that church he commends it he says in Revelation 2 and verse 2 I know thy works thy toil and patience thou canst not bear evil men and thou didst try them that call themselves apostles and they are not and didst find them false you see what he's commending two things he said you disciplined evil men

34:44 you did not bear with them when they would not repent of their sins you dealt with them and you dealt with false teachers these false apostles verse 6 this thou hast that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitans Nicolaitans which also I hate our Lord commends the church that has the exercise of discipline what does he say to a church that doesn't discipline chapter 2 and verse 14 chapter 2 and verse 14 I have a few things against thee because thou hast some that hold the teaching of Balaam who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication so thou hast some that hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans in like manner he says I have this against you false teaching is there it is evident it is rife in the congregation and you haven't dealt with it similarly chapter 2 and verse 20 but I have this against thee that thou sufferest that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess and she teacheth and seduceth seduceth my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed to idols now can you see the relationship of this to the concept of the church as the body of Christ the body represents the head as it is here to perform

36:13 the work of the head it is here to represent him John 17 that's why there's the constant prayer of our Lord for the perfection of the church because the church represents him here upon the earth how does he feel towards sin how does he feel toward error his attitude is to be reflected through his body does he bear with the child of God who's pursuing holiness but who's stumbling and falling oh yes and so the church is to bear with its weakest saint but does he bear with the person who says I'm sinning and I know it's sin and I refuse to repent oh no so he says neither should the church bear with such a person isn't that the whole teaching of Matthew 18 15 and following if thy brother sin against thee go show him his fault between thee and him alone if he hear thee that is if he acknowledge his sin and repent you've gained your brother if he will not hear thee what do you do forget it no no take two or three witnesses if he will not hear them bring it to the church if he will not hear the church then what does the Lord say let him be to thee as the heathen and the publican what's he saying he's saying my church is a body of imperfect saints yes a body of sinners redeemed but imperfectly sanctified yes but when any one of them says

37:39 here's an area of sin and I refuse to deal with it I'll justify it I'll continue in it Jesus said we no longer have reason to regard him as a member of the body therefore let your action display what his attitude conveys put him out there with those who say we don't care about this we're not joined we have no union with the Holy Son of God we don't being like he is the Lord says put him out then with that crowd why if you don't do that you blur the church's image as the body of Christ the body that is to reflect his holiness same way with error how is the body edified Ephesians 4 speaking the truth in love grow up into him may I say it reverently the meat and the potatoes and the vitamins and the minerals and the nourishment for the body is truth error is put in the body error is put in the body error is put in the body error is put in the body error is put in the body error is put in the body poison error is foreign bacteria error is foreign viruses infectious diseases so how is the body to be healthy as it feeds upon truth so what happens when a man rises up who begins to speak error an heretic after the first and second admonition reject

39:06 thou hast tried them that say they are apostles I have this against thee error is in the midst and you haven't judged it you haven't judged it you haven't judged it oh dear ones when we catch a vision of what it is to be the body of Christ we don't make ourselves some kind of spiritual gestapo but oh we are careful to do all within our power under the leadership of the spirit and the word to make sure that the given body of Christ in which we find ourselves reflects the head it's going to be a pure body it's going to be a truthful body now turn to 1 Corinthians 5 to see another aspect of why if the church is body it must have a biblically disciplined membership reason number one is because it reflects its head and the head is full of grace and truth he is a holy head he is a truthful head therefore ungodliness and error cannot be tolerated in his body but then there is the vertical relationship the horizontal I'm sorry when the body of Christ we are members one of another and if the church is a body in that biblical sense then there must be discipline not only because she reflects her Lord but because she affects one another you see

The Necessity of Discipline (Affecting One Another)

40:34 1 Corinthians chapter 5 Paul is dealing with the subject of this immoral person at Corinth who has not been disciplined he gives his directions in verse 6 I'm sorry to verse 4 and 5 in the name of the Lord Jesus ye being gathered together by my spirit with the power of the Lord Jesus deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus excommunicate him give him up to Satan that is take him out from the ranks of those who are in Christ visibly and vitally hoping that this drastic final step may shake him and jar him loose and bring him to repentance that he may prove himself to be a saved man but whether he be saved or not his present conduct is such Paul says that he cannot be tolerated within the church now he's going to give some subsidiary reasons verse 6 your glorying is not good you pride yourselves that you can be so broad minded to tolerate this immoral man don't you know that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump how many of you kids have seen your mummy? make bread that's one of my fond memories growing up I used to love to be able to get the bread when it had risen some and it had to be kneaded and punch it down I'd take out all my meanness on the bread and mom would call me in

42:02 to punch the bread down and knead it and work it and I used to have to run down to the corner store to buy a little block of yeast and you always used to get enough so I could eat about half of it I used to love to eat that raw fresh baker's yeast don't you knock it unless you've tried it you can't get stuff like that anymore that's good stuff that's good stuff but I never ceased to be amazed that that little block of yeast about an inch cube of it put into that huge mass of oatmeal and all the water saved from the vegetables I mean that bread was so loaded it almost would explode it was good stuff and to think that that little bit of yeast would affect that whole thing until it would rise and all those loaves would come out of it a little bit of yeast affected the whole lump of dough now Paul says you've all seen your mama make bread you all make bread how much yeast is needed to affect the whole loaf very little he says don't you see you may pride yourselves and say oh well there are 600 of us here in the church at Corinth only one guy's living in immorality so what one among 600 pretty good he says a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump you're all affected by that evil man amongst you therefore what does he say purge out the old leaven that ye may be a new lump

43:30 even as ye are unleavened for our Passover also hath been sacrificed even Christ wherefore let us keep the feast not with old leaven this is all an analogy from the Passover supper neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity transparency godliness and truth then he goes on to say don't keep company with any man who calls himself a brother who is abandoned to fornication and extortion and railing et cetera why because a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump you see why there must be a biblically disciplined membership if the church is a body if we were all little isolated entities who did not affect one another we could tolerate anything but you affect me and I affect you because we are organically united you see the principle we are members one of another why must the surgeon at times be a hard hearted man and cut off a hand and arm a leg because gangrene is set in and it spreads and the only way to restore health to the body is amputation and I know of nothing more painful than church amputation and the only way to restore health to the body any person who can delight in church discipline

44:58 doesn't have a regenerate heart but because a man has a regenerate heart a heart that responds in obedience to the word no matter how much pain it causes him there must be discipline if he has love for the body so I leave with you this morning just those two things and perhaps God willing we'll take up the others on another Lord's day these are two of the great and practical influences of the biblical doctrine of the church as a body now can you come back to the flow of thought now do you see why the church needs such a glorious and an exalted head why Paul prays oh God give them the spirit to understand what is the exceeding greatness of your power to them power measured not only by the resurrection and session of Christ and the putting all things beneath his feet but then the giving of this Christ his head over all things to the church how can we rightly represent our Lord we are full of sin full of weakness but hallelujah we're joined to a mighty Savior his head over all things to the church which is his body that great unique concept that will enlarge in one of the applications perhaps next week

Conclusion and Call to the Unconverted

46:26 unlike the human body we hinted at it last week this body drives all of its life and strength from the head this physical body drives its impulse and its direction from the head but its strength and its energy is in its several muscular structures themselves but not so the body of Christ it's from the head that the body is supplied and that head is our exalted Lord who is all of that as God's gift to his church his body oh may God help us to see that if the church is indeed the body of Christ as we've seen this morning the absolute necessity of a biblically guarded membership non-regarded as part of any visible body who do not give evidence that they are vitally joined to Christ and then secondly the necessity of a biblically disciplined membership so that we may not misrepresent the head who is full of truth and grace that we may not wrongly affect one another may God be pleased to burn these things to our hearts but could I be speaking this morning to someone who could care less about the church's body you say this has gone clear over my head I don't know what in the world you're talking about

47:54 my friend may I say the reason you don't is because you're a blind deaf dead sinner you're a blind you're still in the grave of sin and grave men don't hear words dead men don't hear words men in graves don't hear words and the reason none of this has made sense to you is because what the Bible says about you is true you're dead in your trespasses and sins but my friend there's hope for you for the scripture says the hour is coming and now is when they that are in the grave shall hear the voice of the Son of God and live and you're dead and your hope is that Jesus Christ through the word will speak life to you if you've come into this building indifferent to Christ and his word I trust that you'll leave as one who's been sobered by the fact that if there's any hope for you it's going to come through this book and through the Savior that it portrays and you begin to seek the Lord you begin to call upon him you begin to search the scriptures you begin to take seriously what he says for outside of the body of Christ that we've been talking about this morning there's no salvation thank God there's salvation outside of this local body but there's no salvation out of that universal body unless you get joined to Christ to become part of his body you're lost forever

49:22 you're lost forever for he is the Savior of his body Ephesians chapter 5 and the only way to get into the body is to be born of the Spirit the only way you can ever know you're born of the Spirit is that you embrace the Lord Jesus Jesus Christ as he's offered freely in the gospel embrace him call upon him believe on him trust him he is an angel