Role in the Church - Sunday Morning
Teachers
Lesson Summary
The class began with a discussion about the significance of names, both personal and corporate, and how Scripture reveals that God values names, even changing them for Abraham and Sarah. Larry highlighted that the New Testament never assigns a proper name to Jesus' church; instead, it uses descriptive titles such as "church of God" or "church of the saints," underscoring the church's undenominational nature. Larry then reviewed the threefold mission of the church—evangelize, edify, and glorify—originally covered in week one, and tied it to the principles of service. He referenced 1 Corinthians 12 to illustrate that each member, regardless of perceived strength, plays an essential role in the body of Christ. The discussion moved to Romans 15, where Larry emphasized the responsibility of the strong to bear with the weak, welcome one another as Christ welcomed us, and work together in harmony to glorify God. Throughout, he encouraged members to view their diverse gifts as God‑given and vital for the church’s effective functioning.
Key Scriptures
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, 'I am not a hand, so I am not belonging to the body,' it is not for that reason not belonging to the body. And if the ear should say, 'I am not an eye, so I am not belonging to the body,' it is not for that reason not belonging to the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you,' nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.' On the contrary, the members that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the members we consider less honorable we treat with special honor, and the less honorable, we give greater honor. The less respectable, we treat with respect. The members that are honorable do not need anything. As for the members that are dishonorable, they are treated with honor. The members that are not important are treated as important, so that there may be no dissension among the members, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. God has arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves but to please our neighbors for their good to build them up.
Now may the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.