1 Corinthians 12:12-26 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. 13 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.
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
21 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.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome, once again to Orphan Sunday at Grace Church. This year, the Christian Alliance for Orphans (the ministry that promotes/oversees Orphan Sunday) has chosen collaboration for the cause of the fatherless as the theme. The simple point they’re trying to make is that caring for orphans in the fullest possible way always involves working together with others.
Of course, as Christians, we know better than anyone the power and necessity of collaboration. For to be a Christian is to be saved by God into the “body of Christ,” where every part needs every other part to properly function. I hope to help you see that more clearly and embrace it more fully as we consider 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 this morning. That is, I hope to help you see that in a way that is even more effective and essential than you probably thought, orphan care is for the church.
To properly ground that claim, we’re going to consider it under the banners of (1) God and orphans, (2) Christians and orphans, and (3) The Church and orphans. Because I’ve spent a good deal of time on the first two banners in previous years (you can read/listen to them from 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021), I’ll only briefly cover them. The main thrust of this sermon is the third banner—the Church and orphans.
The big idea is that God cares for orphans, God calls Christians to care for orphans, and Christians care best for orphans within the Church. Let’s pray that the Spirit would make all three would be clear and compelling.
GOD AND ORPHANS
God cares for orphans, God calls Christians to care for orphans, and Christians care best for orphans within the Church. Let’s begin by taking a closer look at the first clause: God cares for orphans. This, as I hope to help you see, is the foundation for everything that follows.
To help you see that most clearly, I’m going to take on the approach Kyle commended to us last Sunday (and every time he preaches from the Psalms). He urged us to recognize the God-designed reality that “God-exalting feelings … are rooted in powerful, God-revealed truths.” And I would add a third component (which I know Kyle agrees with). God-honoring actions always flow from those two things.
Genuine truth leads to proper feelings which leads to right action. Given that, we’re right to ask what truths define God’s understanding of orphans? What feelings does God have in light of those truths toward orphans? And what actions does God take for orphans in light of those truths and feelings? First, the truth about God and orphans.
Truths
It is a simple and profound thing that all morality is rooted in God’s nature. Unpacking that is another sermon for another day, but let me simply say this—Lying is wrong, not because the Bible says it’s wrong or because society determines it, but because God is truth. Murder is wrong, not because the Bible says it’s wrong or because voters voted for it, but because God is life and justice. And idolatry is wrong, not because the Bible says it is or because a culture prefers a specific God, but because God is the One True God. The Bible says those things because God is those things. And God is those things regardless of whether anyone acknowledges them or not.
Therefore, orphan care is right, not because the Bible says it is or because certain people are burdened for it, but because God is Father. In other words, the first truth to see, and the foundation of all of all God-honoring orphan care, is the fact that God is (as a part of His very nature) Father to the fatherless. One simple passage that makes this clear is…
Psalm 68:4-5 Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts; his name is the LORD; exult before him! 5 Father of the fatherless…is God in his holy habitation.
There’s a second main truth to see. By God’s design, physical orphan care is a picture of spiritual orphan care. God cares for physical orphans, in part, to provide a clear, living picture of His care for spiritual orphans.
Ephesians 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ…
Again, the two most central truths concerning God and orphans are that: (1) He is father to the fatherless and (2) This serves as a picture of the gospel. Those two truths drive God’s feelings and actions, and are the basis for ours as well. We’ll never be able to provide the best possible care to orphans if we don’t begin here.
Feelings
As a result of these two truths, God mainly feels toward the fatherless what any good father mainly feels toward his children in hardship (whether physical or spiritual)—love and compassion. We see this in passages like…
Deuteronomy 10:17-18 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. 18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.
For God, the orphan, widow, and sojourner (homeless), are all in the same category—vulnerable. And God has a particular fatherly love for the vulnerable. What’s more, He’s filled with compassion and mercy for them as well.
Hosea 14:3 In [God] the orphan finds mercy.
Likewise, both of these (love and compassion) are clearly part of God’s spiritual orphan heart as well. Consider the familiar passage in 1 John.
1 John 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.
Are you tracking, Grace? It is eternally true that God is Father to the fatherless and that physical orphan care is a picture of spiritual orphan care. Therefore, God is eternally filled with love and compassion for the physically and spiritually fatherless.
Actions
Finally, then, the holy truth and feelings of God regarding the orphan, lead to holy actions from God for the orphan. There are a few short passages I want to highlight to give you a sense of what God does for the orphan.
Psalm 146:9 The LORD watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless…
God watches over and upholds the orphan.
Psalm 10:14 … you have been the helper of the fatherless.
God continually helps the fatherless.
Psalm 10:17-18 O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear 18 to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed…
God listens to, strengthens, and protects the orphan.
And, of course, for the spiritual orphan, we see John 3:16 that God’s main action was to send His son to atone for the sins of and give life to those who would hope in Him.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
There’s more to the truth, feelings, and actions of God regarding the orphan, but this is the heart of each.
CHRISTIANS AND ORPHANS
How, then, do these things of God relate to Christians? What things are true, what feelings are right, and what actions are necessary for us?
Truths
The primary truth concerning Christians and orphans is that we were all spiritual orphans on account of our sin. Everything else we might know about our role in orphan care finds purchase in the fact that adoption is at the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Consider again Paul’s words in Ephesians 1.
Ephesians 1:4-5 In love 5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will…
Be amazed by this, Grace. Sin severed our union with God. Sin made us fatherless with respect to God. But God caused his Son to die as a ransom for our sins and his Holy Spirit to fall upon us to bring life and forgiveness and adoption. By grace through faith God welcomes us into his family as true sons and daughters. Really consider this, Grace. Being a Christian means that you have acknowledged yourself as an orphan. Being a Christian means realizing that you had no hope on your own. Being a Christian means that you’ve been adopted.
A second key truth concerning Christians and care for orphans is that, as a result of our own spiritual orphanness/adoption, and as an expression of it, caring for orphans is a mark of true conversion.
James 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
In the context of the passage James was trying to help his readers distinguish between genuine, saving faith in Jesus and the many counterfeit versions that were circulating in the days of the early church. Central to his argument is that true Christians are marked by a changed mind, heart, and life. They know sound doctrine, they increasingly love the things of God, and their lives are changing for good. In particular, James taught that a mark of every genuine follower of Jesus is a Holy Spirit-given compulsion to seek out the hurting-vulnerable and work to protect and provide for them.
Feelings
Godly people share God’s feelings regarding the fatherless. Love and compassion are chief among them. Similarly, passages like Zechariah 7:9-10 call for kindness, mercy, and benevolence.
Zechariah 7:9-10 Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, 10 do not oppress … the fatherless… and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”
Actions
In light of these truths and flowing out of these feelings, God’s Word lists many, many things God’s people are to do for the orphan. Indeed, as we saw in James 1, as Christians, we can’t not act in these ways. A good summary of the kinds of actions God calls for is found in Isaiah 1:17.
Isaiah 1:17 … learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.
Do good. Seek/bring justice. Correct oppression. Plead the cause.
There are many other passages that speak to orphan care, but they all fall fairly neatly under one of these four categories.
Because we were all (spiritual) orphans and because a mark of true conversion is orphan care, God’s people feel love, compassion, kindness, and warmth toward orphans. And because we believe and feel these things, we act for their good.
THE CHURCH AND ORPHANS
All of that brings us to our main text and the main thrust of this sermon: Christians honor God and care best for orphans when we do so in the context of the local church. When we grasp God’s thoughts, feelings, and actions toward orphans as well as the thoughts, feelings, and actions He calls us to as Christians, we’re left with a clear understanding that we need the help of the Holy Spirit and the people of God to think, feel, and do all of that.
Our passage for this morning, 1 Corinthians 12:12-26, says generally that which applies specifically to many areas of the Christian life, including orphan care. From these verses, I’d like to point out three main things: 1) Orphan care is for the Church, 2) Each person within the Church plays a critical role in orphan care, and 3) The Church cares well or poorly for orphans together.
Orphan Care Is for the Church
The charge to think, feel, and care well for orphans is not given to any individual, but to the Church. Of course, that will mean individuals doing specific things, but always as a part of a larger body. Grace, that’s more profound than you realize.
1 Corinthians 12:12 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.
When it comes to tying shoes, we tend to think mainly of fingers. Indeed, fingers must function to tie a shoe. If they do not, shoes can’t be tied. They play a specific and critical function in shoe-tying. At the same time, however, fingers only ever work as a part of a whole body. Detached from the whole, fingers are truly useless. If there’s no hand, there’s nothing for fingers to attach to. If there’s no arm, there’s nothing to steer the hand and fingers toward toe foot. No torso, no arms. No head, no mind to consider. No legs, no feet. And if there’s no foot, there’s no need to tie a shoelace. When any part of the body functions, it necessarily does so as a part of a whole.
The main point here is that the most God-honoring orphan care cannot happen apart from the church. When any individual Christian seeks to care for orphans, he/she necessarily does so as one part of the body of Christ. Don’t try to do it on your own, Grace. You can’t. You can’t in that you are always attached to the body and you can’t in that you don’t have the ability to do all that God requires on your own. Orphan care is for the Church.
Each Person in the Church Plays a Critical Role in Orphan Care
Second, each person in the church plays a critical role in orphan care. This sounds a lot like the last one, and there is some overlap, but the main point is distinct. The last point was that when any part of a body functions, it always, necessarily does so as part of the whole body. This point is that each part of the body has a specific function to perform whenever the body does anything.
That second principle is the main thrust of our passage for this morning, and within it, there are two things to see.
First, having a hard time believing that you play a critical role in orphan care does not change the fact that you do.
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
If you are a Christian, you are a part of the Church. And if you are a part of the Church, God designed and gifted you to fulfill an important role within it. Believing or feeling otherwise doesn’t change that. Your essential role in orphan care might not be immediately obvious, but that doesn’t nullify God’s Word or change the fact that you have one.
While fostering or adopting tends to get all the glory, doing so well cannot happen without lots of godly people working in lots of ways (many of which are never seen or noticed). Without lots of prayer support, financial help, meals, kids to play with, wisdom, babysitting, and a warm gospel fellowship to grow up or adjust in, parents and kids will have to function without all the tools God intends them to have; making an already hard situation even harder.
Being a behind-the-scenes prayer warrior or simply a warm face at church each week to greet the foster/adoptive family is no less a part of orphan care than any other part.
This principle isn’t unique for orphan care, but it is especially important for it.
Again, first, having a hard time believing that you play a critical role in orphan care does not change the fact that you do. And second, believing you don’t need the rest of the body doesn’t change the fact that you do.
21 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.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.
While some struggle to believe they have anything to offer, others struggle to believe anyone but them has anything to offer. This second group feels like they can do it on their own. They might even feel like others slow them down. God’s Word makes it clear that both are wrong and destructive.
According to God’s gifting, you might be competent to do a lot of things for the orphan. However, by God’s design you cannot provide everything God intends the orphan to have on your own. You weren’t designed to. No one has every gift an orphan needs.
You might have shrunk orphan care down enough in your own mind to be able to do all that you think, but we don’t decide what orphans need, God does. Consider again the four basic commands of God regarding the fatherless. Do good. Seek/bring justice. Correct oppression. Plead the cause. No one can do all of those things on their own. For instance, God mean orphans to grow up in a healthy community and you need others for that. God means orphans to have a place to use their gifts to strengthen the church and you need others to do that. God means orphans to be strengthened by the myriad gifts of others and you need others to do that.
The Church Cares Well or Poorly for Orphans Together
Finally, 1 Corinthians 12:26 teaches that churches care well or poorly for orphans together.
26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
Grace, we’d do well to focus on this. You might not be at a place to foster or adopt yourself, but by coming here, praying, giving financially, and helping others grow in Christ, you are truly participating in orphan care. Therefore, whatever good anyone of us does for a particular child, you rightly get to rejoice and share in the honor. Likewise, whatever suffering any of us endures in working for the cause of the fatherless, you share in that as well. Where one of us honors God as a body in this way (or any godly way), all of us do as well; that’s part of what makes a church a church.
CONCLUSION AND APPLICATION
Orphan care is right and good ultimately because God is Father to the fatherless. What’s more, God is Father to the physically fatherless as an expression of the gospel. Along with that, God is filled with compassion and love for the orphan and works continually to protect and provide for them.
Because of these things, God calls His people to join Him in living in believing what’s true, feeling what’s right, and doing what’s good. Christians, therefore, understand ourselves to have been spiritual orphans apart from Christ and that caring for orphans is part of how we know we’ve been adopted by God. We too are to be filled with love and compassion and give ourselves to God’s commands to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, and plead the cause of the fatherless.
Finally, the main focus of this sermon is on the fact that all of this is lived out in a manner most consistent with God’s Word, most effectively, and most glorifying to God when it is done in the context of a local gathering of believers—within a church. This is because one aspect of what families need most is community and because all of what families need most is given through community.
I hope all of this is clear and clearly seen in the Bible. I also hope that as a result, you’re all thinking, “What can I do? How can I help?” To help you answer those questions, let’s watch one more video that the Orphan Sunday team put together.
- Speak up for them
- Provide for their needs.
- Support those who support them.
- Protect them from harm
- Visit them where they are
- Give sacrificially.
- Encourage them to press on.
- Adopt them.
- Help mobilize your church