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Sermon Manuscript |The Body and Its Members (II) | January 18, 2026(Pre-release)
Sermon Manuscript
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:14–21 (ESV)
Title: The Body and Its Members (II)
Series: Loving One Another in the Church (Part Five)
Date: January 18, 2026
Author: Rev. John Chen
Translated & Edited by: Brother Joseph Wang(Yufan)
Theme Sentence:
Through understanding the relationship among ourselves, we learn more deeply how to love one another.
Guiding Question:
What does the communion of saints mean for us?
Transition Statement:
In order to understand the communion of saints, we must consider the following aspects.
Key Word:
Aspects
Introduction
Today we continue our sermon series, Loving One Another in the Church.
I. Understanding That the Saints Need Communion with One Another
1. Human beings have profound mutual needs beyond our imagination
We begin with the most basic human needs. At the beginning and the end of life—infancy and old age—we are absolutely dependent on others. We are entirely unable to rely on ourselves and must depend on other people. Through this most basic reality, God communicates to us a simple truth: human beings are created to need one another.
In marriage, a man absolutely needs his wife—not merely in terms of sexual desire, but also in emotional intimacy. Many men hide this need or deceive themselves with false forms of satisfaction. Pornography addiction among men often reflects a deep longing for intimacy. This phenomenon is particularly widespread in East Asia, largely because traditional Confucian culture discourages men from cultivating intimate relationships. Yet human beings are created with a need for intimacy. When this need is unmet in God’s ordained way, people resort to distorted substitutes. True intimacy can only be found within a stable marital relationship.
Therefore, the relationship between husband and wife, between man and woman, is far more complex than people often imagine. It involves deep and comprehensive intimacy. For this reason, a man must entrust all financial management to his wife as an expression of his commitment to his family and to his wife.
Women likewise need men—not only for economic provision, but also out of a longing for intimacy. This need, too, can only be fulfilled within marriage. The phenomenon of corrupt female officials engaging in immoral relationships with young men reflects the same underlying issue: a pursuit of counterfeit intimacy to satisfy genuine human needs.
Therefore, women must also commit themselves to marriage and family, so that their need for intimacy may be rightly fulfilled.
Two counterexamples further demonstrate humanity’s craving for intimacy. One is a popular app called “Are You Dead Yet?” The other is the so-called “pig-butchering scam,” a type of romance fraud. These cases reveal that scammers often understand the human heart better than we do.
Turning to the church, there is likewise a deep mutual need among the members of Christ’s body. The church provides financial support for pastors’ living and education, while pastors shepherd the flock—this is a beautiful picture. Mutual comfort, care, and encouragement among believers are precious. The concern that brothers and sisters show for one another is precisely how God manifests unity within the church.
2. Personal independence is a shameful lie
From this perspective, any ideology that promotes radical independence or self-sufficiency is evil and shameful. Whether male chauvinism or feminism, such ideas must be completely rejected in both family and church contexts.
All films and novels that emphasize absolute individual autonomy essentially promote the false notion that human beings can exist independently of God. This is impossible. Humanity cannot exist apart from God, nor can individuals exist apart from others.
Acknowledging our need for others is not shameful; it is simply telling the truth.
Within the church, brothers and sisters need one another. No one is superior or inferior. All are members appointed by God, each with a specific function. Our calling is to coordinate with one another and to serve one another.
3. Saints must not deny their belonging to the church by personal declaration
Verses 15 and 16 teach us that we cannot say, “I do not belong to the body.”
Our belonging to the body is not determined by our own judgment, but by God’s judgment. Those who leave the church on their own initiative often do so without genuinely seeking God’s guidance.
4. Saints cannot exist without mutual need
Communion among saints is intrinsic to our nature. Verse 21 teaches that we cannot say to one another, “I have no need of you.” The functions of the members are designed to complement one another. To lose another member is to lose a dimension of our own life. Our humanity becomes restricted.
Certain aspects of who we are only emerge in the presence of specific people. When we lose a particular member, we also lose part of our own humanity.
II. Knowing That God Builds the Body of Christ
1. God uses each member to build the church for the benefit of the whole
Consider the coordination of the human senses. We do not fundamentally know why we are designed this way—because God has done it.
The mystery of how God arranges the members may only become clear much later, or perhaps never. Yet by faith we confess that God acts according to His good pleasure and never makes mistakes.
Just as we often fail to understand why our spouse is the way he or she is—and may even complain—God never mismatches. God is righteous and just, and His purpose is the building up of our lives.
The coordination of members within the church follows the same principle. God places different people together to build His church. The way God has led the International Fellowship is a particularly vivid example of this.
2. Every saint benefits within the church
The glory of the body far exceeds our imagination. After proper coordination, as verse 17 indicates, we are able to hear and to smell—we are able to enjoy the richness of God’s household.
3. God’s ultimate purpose is His own glory—and our shared glory in Christ
God is glorified through the church. As God is glorified, all the members are glorified together in Christ.
III. Understanding the Coordination of Diversity and Unity
1. There are many members
God does not create people according to a single template. Diversity expresses God’s richness. Because God is triune and infinitely abundant, He delights in richness rather than uniformity.
Uniformity carries the scent of death, but God is the God of life. Springtime—with its blooming flowers and singing birds—is a beautiful picture of this truth.
People in society vary widely; spouses often have completely different personalities; church members differ greatly. All of this reflects God’s richness, and Christians should learn to appreciate it.
A preference for uniformity reflects fallen human nature, whereas a love for richness reflects renewal through regeneration.
2. The body is one
Unity is also an expression of God’s attributes. God is not only rich in diversity but also emphasizes unity. The body is one, and this truth is repeated five or six times in the passage.
God desires the members to be coordinated, not separated. He unites completely different people through love to glorify His holy name. We must love one another, showing patience and acceptance toward those who are entirely different from us. Such people broaden our vision, enrich our humanity, and make our lives more full.
The greater the differences among people, the greater the glory of God when they are united. When individuals with vastly different backgrounds and experiences are brought together, the result is more comprehensive, deeper, and more effective.
3. Christ is the key to uniting diversity and unity
The key remains Christ—imitating His self-denial, crucifying the old self, and becoming more like Him. Christians must not become people who repel others, but those who attract others.
In the church, believers must practice self-denial, lay down personal preferences, minimize personal demands and expectations, center themselves on God, and trust that God will provide and govern their needs. In this way, the church becomes unified.
4. True diversity and unity are found only in the Triune God
The church is called to display—or imitate—the diversity and unity of the Trinity so that the world may know this is the beautiful truth. The world has gone astray, and people are still learning within the church how to live with one another so that both their own souls and the souls of others may find rest.
5. God builds and betroths the church, not isolated individuals
What God ultimately builds and receives as His bride is the church, not individual persons. God treats the church as a unified whole.
Closing Sentence
May God lead us to be united in Christ.
Translator’s Notes (TN)
“Communion of saints” is a fixed confessional term originating from the Apostles’ Creed and classical Reformed ecclesiology. It refers to the spiritual and covenantal participation believers have in Christ and therefore with one another, not merely to social interaction or friendship.
The sermon appeals to infancy and old age as universally recognizable stages in which human beings are completely dependent on others. This illustration assumes a biblical anthropology in which dependence is creational rather than a result of weakness or failure.
“Intimacy” is used broadly to include emotional, relational, and covenantal closeness, not merely sexual relations. The sermon presupposes a biblical view in which such intimacy is properly fulfilled only within marriage.
References to Confucian culture reflect an East Asian context that traditionally values emotional restraint, particularly among men. The sermon assumes this background when discussing difficulties in forming open and intimate relationships.
“Counterfeit intimacy” refers to substitute forms of closeness that imitate genuine relational connection but lack covenantal commitment, such as pornography or manipulative emotional relationships.
“Did You Die?” is a Chinese social app that allows users to send automated messages to selected contacts if the user becomes inactive for a prolonged period, often framed around loneliness, emotional reassurance, or fear of being forgotten. It is referenced as an illustration of modern isolation and the human desire to be noticed and remembered.
“Pig-butchering scam” is a Chinese colloquial term for a type of long-term online romance fraud. Scammers cultivate emotional relationships over time before exploiting victims financially. The sermon uses this example to illustrate how deeply human longings for intimacy and trust can be manipulated.
The description of believers caring for and supporting one another reflects a Reformed understanding of the church as a covenant community, where material provision, pastoral care, and mutual encouragement are shared responsibilities.
“Personal independence” refers here to an ideology of self-sufficiency that denies dependence on God and others. The sermon critiques this concept theologically rather than addressing ordinary maturity or responsibility.
The sermon assumes an ecclesiological framework in which belonging to the church is determined by God’s calling and placement of believers within the body, not merely by individual choice or declaration.
The claim that losing a fellow member limits “our humanity” reflects a communal anthropology: certain aspects of personal identity and expression emerge only within particular relationships.
Statements about God arranging the members of the body presuppose divine providence, affirming that differences in personality, gifting, and background are intentionally ordered for the good of the whole church.
“Diversity” is used in a theological sense to describe the richness of God’s creation and gifting, rather than as a reference to modern political or ideological frameworks.
The repeated emphasis on “one body” reflects Paul’s rhetorical pattern in 1 Corinthians 12, underscoring unity as a doctrinal reality rather than merely an ethical aspiration.
“Self-denial” and “the old self” draw from biblical sanctification language (e.g., Romans 6; Colossians 3), referring to the ongoing mortification of sinful nature rather than the suppression of individuality.
The sermon presupposes Trinitarian theology: God is one in essence and three in persons. The church is called to reflect this unity-in-diversity analogically, not ontologically.
The image of the church as Christ’s bride derives from biblical covenant imagery (e.g., Ephesians 5; Revelation 21) and emphasizes the corporate identity of the redeemed rather than an exclusively individual relationship with Christ.