Page 29 - Demo

2.Membership emphasizes equality.%u201cJust as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.%u201d (Romans 12:4-5) The context of that passage is Romans 12:3 \grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.\body. Have you ever seen a picture of a lung? Have you ever seen a picture of a liver? They're not very pretty, are they? I don't care for them. I'd much rather see a picture of a pretty hand, or a pretty face. But what God has deliberately done is designed the unseen less sightly parts to allow the visible parts to do what they do. You know I'd rather see a face than a lung. But a face can be a pretty ugly thing if the lung is not working.Some people think the visible parts of Christ%u2019s body; i.e., the preachers and teachers, are more important than other people of the Body. Not so, not any more important than the face is any more important than the heart or the lungs. In reality the visibleparts can only function because the many invisible parts of the body have all been working together performing their much needed function. See all the members of the body are important; that's why we care about one another.But clubs and organizations don't operate that way. They have a hierarchy, a pecking order or pyramid. Clubs operate on this principle. Visibility is equated to significance. If you don't believe that, just go to the annual club dinner. Do you want to knowwho the most important people are in that club? It's easy, just look at who is at the head table. Who's going to stand up at that podium, and who's going to speak over and over again? Those are the chief Kahunas, those are the ones who are more important.In a club and most organizations, visibility is equal to importance, but a body doesn't think that way. If anything, the less visible parts of the body are more important than the visible parts.Paul said at the end of 1 Corinthians 12, and whenever one parthurts, it doesn't matter if it's big, little, visible, or invisible; every part comes to help it.I'm not a handyman by any stretch of the imagination. This happened many years ago and is part of the reason I'm not a handyman now. I was out hammering something in the garage, putting up a shelf, and I was sitting there hammering away. I got a little cocky and I hit the nail. It was the wrong nail. It was my thumbnail. Have you ever done that? You burst a thumbnail, blood is coming out and you're wondering if it's broken. You don%u2019t think or say, \ you stupid thing, it's your own fault. I'll just let you dangle there and maybe you'll just rot off.\the body, and the saliva glands act like the immediate EMTthe legs are the ambulance, they start running to the bathroom, and the voice is a siren \begins to say, \it finally soothes, you say, \