Why the Church Needs You (Teaching 3)

Now turn it around

Yesterday we said you need the church. Today we turn it around: the church needs you.

That may sound strange. The church is the body of Christ — surely she is fine without one more face? But that is not how the New Testament talks. The New Testament treats every believer as essential, every member as needed, every part as significant.

If you are born again, the church is not complete without you.

Every member, every part

Paul is plain: For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ [1 Corinthians 12:12 KJV].

Then he presses further: If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? [1 Corinthians 12:15 KJV].

We laugh at the idea of a foot quitting the body because it isn't a hand. But believers do this every Sunday. "I'm not the preacher, so I'll keep quiet." "I'm not on the worship team, so I'll stay at the back." "I'm not a leader, so I don't need to serve." That is exactly the lie Paul is dismantling.

You are not less because you are not loud. You are not unnecessary because you are not upfront. Every member matters.

Christ gave gifts — to you

When Christ ascended, He gave gifts to His people. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men [Ephesians 4:8 KJV].

And those gifts are not decorative. From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love [Ephesians 4:16 KJV].

Every joint. Every part. The body grows by every part working. Take one part out, and the body limps.

Peter says the same: As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God [1 Peter 4:10 KJV]. The gift in your hands was given for the body, not the shelf.

The church is poorer when you stay away

When you don't come, somebody misses the encouragement only you could have given. When you don't serve, somebody picks up the slack who shouldn't have had to. When you don't pray for the body, prayers go unprayed.

You may not see it. The room still fills up. The service still runs. The lights still come on. But spiritually, something is missing — you.

Don't underestimate what your seat costs the body when you leave it empty.

Your presence preaches

The very fact that you walk through the door on a Sunday says something to the rest of the body: Christ is worth gathering for. Your singing strengthens the believer next to you, even if you think your voice is rubbish. Your "amen" emboldens the preacher. Your handshake comforts the visitor. Your testimony in a small group lifts someone who came in defeated.

You preach without speaking, just by being where God put you.

Your gifts are not optional

Paul keeps hammering it: Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness [Romans 12:6-8 KJV].

Notice — none of those gifts is "spectate." None is "comment from a distance." Every gift is for use.

If you don't know what your gift is, ask your pastor. Ask the believers who know you. Try something. Serve somewhere. Gifts get sharper when you use them, not when you guard them.

"But I have nothing to offer"

That is the very thing Paul predicted you would say. And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? [1 Corinthians 12:16 KJV].

You are not in charge of deciding whether you belong. Christ decided that the moment He saved you. But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him [1 Corinthians 12:18 KJV].

If God set you in the body, who are you to take yourself out?

The body suffers when one part hides

Paul finishes the picture with a warning we rarely hear: And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it [1 Corinthians 12:26 KJV].

When a member of your body hurts, the whole body feels it. When a member rejoices, the whole body lifts. That is how connected we are. So your absence is not neutral — it costs the body something. Your presence is not pointless — it gives the body something.

Your step today

Stop being a consumer. Start being a contributor. Ask one question this week: Where can I serve? It might be welcoming, cleaning, praying, teaching the children, visiting the housebound, driving someone to church, sending an encouragement, lifting a chair, making a brew. Pick one. Start there. Then keep going…

Key Takeaways:

• Every believer is a member; no part of the body is unnecessary. [1 Corinthians 12:12 KJV]
• Christ gave gifts to His people for the edifying of His body. [Ephesians 4:16 KJV]
• Your gifts are stewardships, not decorations. [1 Peter 4:10 KJV]
• It is God who sets you in the body — your job is to serve where He put you. [1 Corinthians 12:18 KJV]
• When one member hides, the whole body feels it. [1 Corinthians 12:26 KJV]