"God has so composed the body ... that the members should have the same care for one another. "
1 Corinthians 12:24-25
GOD'S ANTIBODIES
Read It: 1 Corinthians 12:14-27
I was talking to a doctor friend of mine not too long ago. I love talking to doctors because they almost always give me dynamite sermon illustrations! trations! This brother did not disappoint. He explained that most people have cancerous cell growth a number of times, but they don't know about it because of wonderful little organisms called antibodies that God has already built into our bodies. My physician friend said renegade cells will decide to take off and do their own thing, becoming cancerous and gathering other cells around them. (Just the way some church members do!) These renegade cells call to their buddies, "Hey, blood, come on over here and grow wild with us." So the issue in your body is, which cells are going to win, the healthy ones or the renegades? Well, the reason you don't know there may be a cancerlike growth in you until it really gets to be significant is that your body sends out these antibodies. These guys get together and say, "Hey, there's a brother going off the wrong way. Let's get him!" So these antibodies go after the renegade cell and take care of it, and you don't even know it happened. All you have to do is be healthy, and your body will produce the needed antibodies.
Now the illustration doesn't fit at every point, of course, but basically this is what disciples are called to do for each other in the context of the church. When there is a need, when there is pain, when there is joy, when there is suffering, the church automatically sends out members of the body to take care of the need. But you have to be in a body of fellow disciples to pull this off consistently. tently. The test of our discipleship is not the programs we draw up. It's when we move to help others develop in their spiritual life. According to the Bible, you can't say to the other members of the body, "I don't need you." You may find out real soon how wrong you are. Think About It If you needed the ministry of the body, would anybody at your church know you well enough to pick up on your need and do something about it?
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