or a plurality of congregations. But still the fact remains, the
reference or the word was used to, as a local gathered assembly,
not a universal invisible church. 1 Corinthians chapter one, look
if you would at verse two. Let's start with verse one, Paul. called to be an apostle of Jesus
Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes, our brother, unto
the church of God, which is at Corinth. Okay? Unto the church
of God, which is at Corinth. So again, the term church here
is in reference to a particular congregation, not a universal
invisible body. Now he goes on to say, To them
that are sanctified in Christ Jesus call to be saints with
all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ.
So see, he actually makes a distinction between the church at Corinth
and the elect of God everywhere else. Call to be saints with all that
in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,
both theirs and ours. So he could have just said, to
the church, and mean a universal invisible body, but he didn't.
It was the church at Corinth, a particular congregation. Look at chapter four, 1 Corinthians
4. Start in verse 16. It says, wherefore I beseech
you, ye followers of me, for this cause, have I sent you unto
Timotheus, who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord,
who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways, which be in Christ
as I teach everywhere in every church. You notice he didn't
say that I teach in the church, meaning some universal body,
but he said in every church. So basically Paul is saying,
Hey, I'm sending you Timothy and he's gonna bring you into
remembrance of the doctrine that I taught you. Remember whenever
Paul had went to Corinthian, to the church at Corinth and
he had taught them all things that Jesus had given him to tell
them or to give to the churches. And so he gave everything that
Jesus had told him to give. And so now he's writing back
this letter to the Corinthian church because they had become
aberrant. They had begun to do things and
follow after things not the way Christ had commanded it, okay? And so Paul was writing a letter
of correction to the church at Corinth, and he sent Timothy
to reiterate those things or to corroborate or to verify,
to vilify the things of Paul with that church at Corinth. And Paul makes the distinction,
the doctrine and practice that I told you is the same that I
tell every church. He didn't say that I tell the
church, but every church. So again, the word ecclesia is
found here, and it has reference to local congregations, not a
universal invisible body of people. Okay, so, so far, we're into
Romans, or excuse me, into 1 Corinthians. We still got more to go in 1
Corinthians, but we're in Corinthians. And we've yet to find one place
where the term ekklesia refers to a universal, invisible group
of people. It has reference to local assemblies,
gathered assemblies. Okay, look at chapter six there. Start in verse one. Dare any
of you having a matter against another go to law before the
unjust and not before the saints? Now, he's giving instructions
again, remember, to the local church in Corinth and to every
saint everywhere. That's what it was at the beginning,
remember? So he's saying, so you as a church
in Corinth, this is true for you, but it's also true for every
Christian. Now if that's true for every
Christian, then he is now fixing to give a command that every
Christian should be gathering with a local assembly so that
this instruction can be carried out when needed. He's assuming
that every Christian is going to be a part of some local congregation. See, that's the assumption. We've yet to find any assumptions
of any group of people that have not been gathered into a local
assembly. Dare any of you having a matter
against another go to law before the unjust and not before the
saints? Do ye not know that the saints
shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged
by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? So what's
Paul saying here? He said, if you're a Christian
and you're part of a local congregation and you have a dispute with another
brother or sister, you shouldn't be taking them to court, to the
courts of the unjust. Your matters should be taken
to the church. They have been given the place
of judgment among the people of God, which is totally foreign
and opposite of what we hear today, right? What do we hear
from most people in churches, modern churches today? You don't have any right to judge
me. Only God can judge me. I don't know how many shirts
I see on youth today. Only God can judge me. Well,
if you're a professing Christian, that's not true. The church has
been ordained of God to be the place where judgment takes place
among the believers. He says, know ye not that we
shall judge angels, how much more things that pertain to this
life? If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this
life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. Now that's also something that's
not practiced very often. Who are the ones that they usually
set up to listen to all the arguments? the ones who are most esteemed
in the church, the pastor, the deacon. But what's it saying
here? The ones who are the least esteemed
in the church, those are the ones that you ought to have sitting
in judgment upon these matters. Something worth studying, huh? But again, we see that this has
reference to a local congregation. Because if this is talking about
a universal invisible body, how are you even going to accomplish
this? How are you going to accomplish going before the church and allowing
the universal invisible body to judge upon the matters that
pertain against you and another brother or sister in Christ?
It can't be done. It's impossible. It only can be done among a local
congregation. Look at chapter seven. By the
way, if anybody has any questions or any comments in any of these,
just raise your hand and holler, because I don't want to just
skip over something if you've got a question. 1 Corinthians
chapter seven, verse 17. Matter of fact, let's back up
to verse 16. For what knowest thou,
O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband, or how knowest thou,
O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife? But as God hath distributed
to every man as the Lord hath called every one, so let him
walk, and so ordain I in all churches. Okay, and what's Paul
talking about here? He's talking about some orderly
things within the family. Again, among the married. Verse
10, going back to verse 10, But unto the married I command ye,
not I, but the Lord. Let not the wife depart from
her husband. But, and if she depart, let her remain unmarried,
or be reconciled to her husband. And let not the husband put away
his wife, but to the rest speak I, not the Lord. If any brother
hath a wife that believeth not, and she is pleased to dwell with
him, let him not put her away. which hath a husband that believeth
not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave
him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and
the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband, else were your
children unclean, but now are they holy. But if the unbelieving
depart, letting depart, a brother or sister is not under bondage
in such cases, but God hath called us to peace. For what knowest
thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband, or how wilt
thou know how thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife, but
as God hath distributed to every man as the Lord hath called everyone,
so let him walk. So ordain I in all churches."
So again, this is a rule that Paul has laid down to all churches. It's a practice, it is a judgment
that should be held within all churches. Now, he again uses
the word plural indicating that church is a local congregation
and that he is speaking to all congregations who are the Lord's
churches, who are the Lord's church, okay? So whether it's
the church at Antioch, the church at Corinth, the church at Rome,
the church at Centuria, the church at Joplin. These are the things
that he has given and that is to be kept within the churches.
meaning that the institution of the church, if it be the Lord's
kind of church, the church that was instituted by Christ, set
by his laws and his rules, then if it be that kind of church,
then it's to adhere to these things, okay? If you claim to
be that kind of church, then these are the things that you're
to adhere to, okay? So again, the reference to Ecclesia
here is not a universal invisible body, but it is a local congregation. Look now if you will at chapter
10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Verse 28 says, but if any man
saying to you, this is offended and sacrifice unto idols, eat
not for the sake that showed it, And for conscience sake,
for the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Conscience,
I say, not thine own, but of the other. For why is my liberty
judged of another man's conscience? For if I by grace be a partaker,
why am I evil spoken of for that which I give thanks? Whether therefore ye eat or drink
or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offense,
neither to the Jew, nor to the Gentile, nor to the church of
God, even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine
own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved."
Now, again, this letter is written to who? The church at Corinth. So Paul is saying that whenever
you eat, even though you have liberty, even though you have
freedom in Christ to eat whatever you want, Drink whatever you
want, okay? He says not to be offensive to
other people. And he says, give none offense,
neither to the Jews. Why did he say that? Well, because
there was Jews that were offended if you ate food sacrificed to
idols, okay? Or to the Gentiles. Why did he
say that? Well, the Gentiles might take
offense if you do something like this. if you abstain from eating
foods to idols. Okay? They may cook that food
and it was offered to an idol and you have a conscience that
says, I don't think I should be eating that. And now you may
offend the Gentile because you're not going to eat the food that
they prepared for you. Not because they prepared it for an idol,
but maybe they bought it from a place that did. Okay? Whatever the case might be, the
point is, is he's saying it doesn't matter whether it's a Jew or
a Gentile, whatever you do, don't do anything and don't bring an
offense. But he says, give none offense
neither to the Jews nor to the Gentiles nor to the church of
God, which the churches of God are made up of Jew and Gentile.
There is no separation. If we would have somebody that
was a Jew come in here who professed faith in Jesus Christ and was
baptized, professed the gospel of Jesus Christ, guess what? They're just as much a member
of this New Testament church as a Gentile, okay? Why? Because we don't make preferences
between Jew and Gentile. And so we're not to give offense.
So the term church here, While it may be somewhat vague, it
doesn't just come out and say the church at or church of, but
it just says, or the church at or specific churches, it says
to the church of God. But again, once the context is
led up to this very point, and who is he writing to again? The
context has been the church at Corinth. The letter was written
to the church at Corinth. He's given instructions to the
people in the church at Corinth and how they should be acting
with one another in the church at Corinth. So why would we be
led to think that he's talking about anything else besides the
church of Corinth there? Or any other church where believers
are founded to be? So no offense. And let me say this. If I was
to eat meat offered to an idol, today at lunch? How in the world
could that be an offense to somebody over in Africa? How could that be an offense
to somebody on the other side of Joplin for that matter? How are they going
to get offended? How are they going to even know? How is this admonition and instruction
have any reference to a universal body? If I live somewhere and
There ain't nobody to be seen, and I just eat and do whatever
I want that my conscience is fine with. I shouldn't have to
worry about it, right? Because these people live in
another country, another state, another city, another county,
another part of town. They ain't seeing me do this.
Now, what's the assumption here? You're doing it among the local
congregation, the people that are there with you to see you. Okay, so again, the reference
is back to a gathered group of people. You can only offend somebody
in what you eat and drink for those people who are around you
when you eat and drink. Look at chapter 11. This is Paul's discourse on women
and head coverings. And in verse 16, Paul says, but
if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither
the churches of God. Okay, so if this was an issue
of a universal visible thing, if ecclesia meant all the people
of God, then he would say singular. We have no such custom, neither
the church of God. But what's he talking about here?
He's saying that this custom, that they have no such custom. We have no such custom. Who's
he talking about? We, the people of God, the apostles. Who's he talking about? Neither
the churches of God. So he's saying that we as the
apostles don't have any customs that we are giving you. and neither
do any of the churches. We don't have any of this contention. So he's saying we don't have
any problem with this, we don't make a problem with this, and
neither do any of the other churches. Where I've been, where I've instructed,
where I've admonished, we don't have that there. Look at verse 18. For first of
all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there
be divisions among you, and I partly believe it. So here again, we
see that the term church, he's talking to the church of Corinth,
and he says, when you come together, isn't that part of the definition
of ecclesia? Is a gathered assembly, okay? When you come together in the
church, Why didn't he just say, whenever ye act as the church,
or whenever you, who are the church, but he doesn't say that. Matter
of fact, how can there be divisions among a universal body that isn't
gathered together? How am I divided with somebody
on the other side of the world? How can I have division with
them, if for one, I don't know them? Brother Paul and Sister
Susan Brown, who are missionaries over to Thailand, there's churches
over there that they minister among. You know what? I don't
know one person in any of those churches. How could I be divided from them? How could there be divisions
among them and me? Now, in this day and age, we
have the internet. technology where we can converse with people
in Thailand like we were right there beside them. And can we
obviously have disagreements and arguments? Absolutely. But
again, was that true whenever this was written? We got to go
back and look at what was Paul's intent when he wrote this because
the internet was not his intention when he wrote this. He was writing
this to a congregation in Corinth for their understanding at that
time. See, let's not get away from the historical aspect and
context of the passage. Don't lay our modern day understanding
upon the historical application, okay? We have to let the historical
application take precedence over our world. Today, we can do that.
Today, we can assemble all over the world by internet, by Skype.
When Paul wrote that, did they have Skype? So that wasn't his
understanding. Y'all can get together on Skype
in the future. No, what was he talking about?
He was talking about local congregations, why? Because local congregations
was the assumed format for anyone who had been saved. First of all, when you come together
in the church, so there has to be a coming together, not a signing
on, okay? Not a linking up, not a diving
in, okay? Not a messenger. My kids message
their cousins up in Kansas City all the time, and their friends
down at Coahuila all the time, and sometimes they're talking
to each other back and forth in the bedroom like they were
right there, but they're not, they're not there, right? They're
not coming together. Coming together is what we just
did today. We came together in one place. And he says, whenever
ye, first of all, when ye come together in the church, in the
church, meaning that you have to come together to be in the
church, right? Called out, gathered assembly,
to conduct business, a lawful assembly. When you come together
in the church, there was an assembly, remember, in Acts 19, there was
an assembly that took place. But the people said, hey, we
can't go any further than this. We must meet in a lawful assembly. And the word was ekklesia, a
lawful ekklesia. Why? Because just an assembly
ain't gonna cut it. Only the ekklesia has the right
to do this, this, and this. And in that case lay judgment
upon those men. Same thing here. The lawful assembly
must be come together for it to be considered the church. Look at verse 22. What, have ye not houses to eat
and drink in, or despise ye the church of God? and shame them
that have not. What shall I say to you? Shall
I praise you in this? I praise you not." Now again,
this is kind of vague. It doesn't say the church of
Corinth. It just says what? Despise you the church of God.
But again, what's the context? Matter of fact, look at verse
20. I forgot to add verse 20. I've got it highlighted in my
Bible and I didn't put it in the notes. Look at verse 19. We just read back to 18. It says,
For first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear
that there'll be divisions among you, and I partly believe it.
For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are
approved may be manifest among you. When ye come together, therefore,
into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. So again,
he understood that a church was someone who came together, and
they came together in one place. That's where we get the local
part. It comes together into one place.
They're not gathered by internet or technology. They're gathered
by the fact that they come together. They meet together. So why would we think that in
verse 22, when he says, despise you the church of God, that he
would be talking about a universal invisible thing. Whenever he's
talking about church discipline within that local congregation,
that whenever they come together in the church, in one place,
they're disorganized. They're not doing what Paul had
instructed them to do. And so he's disciplining, he's
correcting, rebuking the church at Corinth for their conducting
of church. And he said, you're not conducting
church the way I instructed you from the way that Christ instructed
me. What I give you was what Christ gave me. And so what you
have from me is directly from Christ. Look at verse 23. For I have
received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you. See,
Paul got the instructions from Christ and he delivered them
to the churches as he went around, as the apostle was meant to do,
was to go around establishing these churches in the faith.
That's what they were there for. They were the messengers, the
apostles were messengers of Christ that were called to establish
the churches and to bear witness of Christ and his doctrine and
his church. And so, there isn't any way that
we can see that other than in the context of a local assembly,
verse 22. Look at chapter 12, verse 28. Matter of fact, let's back up
because I want us to read some things because again, context
matters, right? 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and
we're gonna deal with this. We're gonna deal with this particular
passage of scripture as we go further, but I want you to see
that it's in this same context that this passage is written. Chapter 12, verse one. Now concerning
spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye know
that ye were Gentiles carried away into these dumb idols even
as you were led. Wherefore, I give you to understand
that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed,
and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the
Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities of
spirits, but the same spirit, and there are differences of
administrations, but the same Lord, and there are diversities
of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all diversities
of operations in all who are part of that local congregation.
Verse seven, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every
man to profit So again, he's saying, hey, there's spiritual
gifts that's given to everyone. And everyone that receives that
spiritual gift is given not from the church or mama or daddy or
anybody else, it's given by the Spirit of God. But the Spirit
of God giveth to every man to profit with all or profit everyone. Now again, how does my pastoral
gift profit somebody over in Africa? Does it? They probably don't
even know me unless they're on Sermon Audio. They might look
up there, see if there's any downloads in Africa. But still,
my pastoral, my preaching may edify them over the internet,
but my pastoral gift that God has given me doesn't even apply
to them, does it? Okay, so let's keep that in mind.
That's the context. That the manifestation of the
Spirit and each child of grace, or the gift, and each child of
grace is given to profit everyone. Now, if that's true, then who's
the everyone? Is it talking about everyone
everywhere? Because if that's the case, you guys better get
busy. We all better get busy. There is a lot of elect out there
that we're not serving. There's a lot of elect that's
close that we don't serve. much less abroad. For to one
is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word
of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same
Spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit,
to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another
discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, to
another the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh
that one and the self same spirit dividing to every man severally
as he wills. So everyone's given the gift
and it's given by the spirit as he wills. So guess what? You can't take
a test. What's my spiritual gift and
find out your spiritual gift. You can't take a class on how
to get a spiritual gift. I know for a fact, an assembly
of God, and I won't say which one, but one that back whenever
I used to travel and sing, we went to, that in their church,
they have classes on how to speak in tongues, which isn't biblical
tongues anyway, but they teach on how to speak in tongues. Well,
how are you able to teach somebody a spiritual gift that the Bible
clearly says that it's the spirit that gives the gift, as he wills?
And then to turn around and say that if you don't speak in tongues,
then you're not born again. But all these work at the one
and self same spirit dividing to every man severally as he
wills. For as the body is one, okay, for as, for as, so what's
he doing now? He's taking a metaphor and he's
given an illustration of how the local church is compared
to a body. But you know what people want
to say here? They want to say this is a statement of fact.
That we are the body. That the universal, invisible
church is the body. For as the body is one, and hath
many members, and all the members of that one body being many or
one body, so also is Christ. And they want to apply that to
all the elect everywhere. But again, the context leading
up to this From chapter one, verse one, all the way to chapter
12, verse 12, has been the context of a local assembly. And Paul
leads off in verse 12, by the Holy Spirit, by the way, for
as the body. That's how you start out a metaphor,
right? He's comparing something that
is pictorial with something that is Actual, okay? 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. For by one Spirit are we all
baptized into one body. Let me ask you, what was one
of the prerequisites to be added to the church? You have to be saved or believe
and baptized, right? And whenever they were baptized,
they were added to the church. For by one spirit, are we all
baptized into one body. So whenever we are baptized and
added to the church, we are baptized into that body. Whether we be Jews or Gentiles,
whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into
one Spirit. Is that not the case of a local
congregation? Do we all not drink of the one
Spirit? Do we not all get our quickening? Do we all not get
our understanding, our teaching, our learning, our edification
from the Spirit of God? So by one Spirit, we're all fed,
we're all given. to drink into one spirit. For
the body is not one member, but many. What we have here, one,
two, three, count them up, the members that we have here. But
we make up one body, right? For the body is not one member,
but many. If the foot shall say, because
I'm not the hand, I'm not of the body, is it therefore not
of the body? If the ear shall say, because I'm not of the eye,
or I'm not the eye, I'm not of the body, is it therefore not
of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where
is the smelling? But now hath God set the members,
every one of them in the body as it pleased him. So again,
he's making the metaphor of the local church. And he's saying,
listen, God has said, you can't say that the preacher is the
most important guy in the town or in the church. Why? Because he has given everyone
gifts and that all those gifts are to work together just like
one body has a finger, has toes, has a nose, has ears, has eyes,
and all those members have distinct individual workings that bring
edification to the whole body So it is like it with the local
congregation, the church, that Christ has put many members together
to make one body and that everyone has their own working and they
are given for the with all. Okay, this finger is given for
the with all of this whole body. So he's making just a metaphor.
He's not saying that all the people of God are the body. He's
making a metaphor so that we can understand the local congregation.
And to its larger context, church at Corinth, you're acting as
individuals. What were they doing? They weren't
preferring one another at the Lord's Supper. They weren't waiting
on each other. They were gorging themselves.
They were being selfish at the Lord's table. What else were
they doing? They were having fights among
each other in divisions because they cared about themselves.
What else were they doing? They were thinking, hey, I have
this spiritual gift, so I'm the most important. I speak in tongues,
so I'm better than this guy over here. They were puffed up in
pride because of their gifts. They were acting as individuals. And Paul was trying to tell them,
listen, a church is a gathered assembly that comes together,
that works together, that is unified. Matter of fact, back
in chapter 11, or chapter 10, he even makes reference to how
the church makes up one loaf or one bread. In chapter 11,
he talks about in the Lord's table, how we all come together
and we're supposed to come together as one. And so he continues that in verse
12 when it comes to spiritual gifts. He's saying, listen, these
spiritual gifts are given for the local congregation as each
member has its part. He goes on and says, but now
hath God set the members, every one of them in the body as it
hath pleased him. And if they were all one member,
where were the body? But now are they many members,
yet but one body. The eye cannot say into the hand,
I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have
no need of you. Again, if I'm the I, how am I
to function with somebody that's on the other side of the world?
That's a disjointed body. If you're talking about everyone
everywhere, that's a disjointed body. Because for one, we're
not coming together in one place. Second of all, my gift cannot
supply the need of those who are somewhere else. Nay, much
more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble
are necessary. And those members of the body
which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant
honor, and our uncommonly parts have more abundant comeliness.
Okay, now that's a whole nother study to go on, talk about the
importance of every member from the person that mops the floors.
There's no greater significance to the one who preaches in the
pulpit over that person, okay? They're all needed, whatever
the case might be. Mopping the floors ain't necessarily
a spiritual gift, but service, the gift of serving, okay? It says, for our commonly parts have no need, but God hath tempered
the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part
which lacks. that there should be no schism
in the body, but that the members should have the same care one
for another. So see, there's his point. He's
getting down to the point. Why did he give you that metaphor?
Why did he give you the metaphor of the body? Because everything
leading up to this point has talked about how they've been
individuals acting as themselves and not being unified in the
church. And so he gives them this illustration or this metaphor
of a body to get the point across that we're going to be working
as one unit here. The local assembly is one unit
that God has gathered many members and made one body, Christ being
the head of that body, and that every member is just as important
as everyone else. So in the church, every member
is just as important as every other member. And every member
has been given a gift to help each other out. And so he gets
down to verse 25 and says, the reason I've given you this thing
is so that there is no schism. What does the word schism mean? Separation, it means separation
or split or division, which he accused them of already. I know
that there's divisions among you, there's schisms among you. So his whole point is that a
church, as directed by Jesus Christ, is to be a gathered assembly
meeting in one place who is unified in purpose, in worship, in direction,
no schism, but that the members should have the same care one
for another. Now again, how can I have the
same care for Sister Louetta as I do for somebody over in
France? I can't. It is literally impossible for
that to take place. Can I pray with those who...
Can I weep with those who weep over in France? I don't know
who's over there weeping. Can I rejoice with those who
rejoice over there in France? I don't know who they are. But guess what? When somebody in
this body weeps, I know about it. When somebody in this body
rejoices, I know about it. Whenever there is reproof and
correction that needs to take place, guess what? I know it
because we're around it. We're around each other. Let's
go on, what does it say? And whether one member suffer,
all the members suffer with it. Now again, how can that happen
in a universal, invisible group of people? or one member be honored,
all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ
and members in particular. Now what's Paul doing? He's laying
down the metaphor and saying, look, you're that body that I'm
talking about, Corinthian church. You shouldn't be schismed but
you should be unified. You shouldn't be seeking your
own in spiritual gifts, but seeking the edification of the whole.
You shouldn't be running amok, you should be working together.
You shouldn't be esteeming one better than another, but esteeming
all the same. See, there's this synergism among
the people of God where we work together We cooperate, we work
together, we love together, we cry together, we worship together,
we minister together, we encourage together. See, it's all about
unity among the body. And that's what Paul was correcting
him on because there wasn't at Corinth. The church at Corinth. He's not saying that about the
church at Achaia. He's not saying that about the
church at Ephesus. He's saying that about the church of Corinth.
And if anybody falls into this, be warned and admonished that
that is not what Christ has ordered. So if you are a body of Christ,
you should be following these things because a body, local,
again, it's not a body. If we want to use the metaphor
body, it's not a body, a localized thing. I mean, my arm's not at
home this morning. As much as I wanted to sleep
in, my eyes and head is not still in my pillow. My body is localized. Wherever my body is, guess what?
All the members are together. But what would it be if my arm
was at work, my head was at home, my legs were still out in the
car? I'd be dismembered, wouldn't I? And it wouldn't be called
a body, would it? If you're, another example, we
watch a lot of criminal shows on TV. They go out to a crime
scene and they find somebody's hand has been chopped off and
it's been thrown in the bushes. They don't come out and say,
hey, we found a body. No, what do they say? We found a hand. Somebody threw a hand out in
the bushes. But if they come upon a dead body, what do they
say? We found a body. Why? Because
it's whole, it's all there. You see what I'm getting at?
Don't let the metaphor take precedence over the meaning of the metaphor.
The meaning of the metaphor is that we are united as one body
here, as one. Now look at verse 28. And God hath set some in the
church, first apostles. Now, I'm gonna stop there. If the Israelite congregation
is the same as the New Testament church, a universal body, where
were the apostles? Because he said he set first
in the church apostles, but apostles weren't set until Christ's beginning of his ministry,
right? Matter of fact, not at the even
very beginning. At the beginning of his ministry, he called disciples
and out of those disciples that were already called by the preparer,
John the Baptist, what did he do? He called 12 men and made
them apostles. He had a called out among the
called out, right? They were already disciples,
but he called 12 men out of however many that were made disciples
already by that time, he called 12 men. Now is Jesus being sectarian? Is Jesus being seclusive? Is
Jesus, you know, is Jesus being biased? But yet, when we say
the same thing about the church, it isn't about having a hierarchy.
It isn't that we are better than anybody else. Was Peter better
than anybody else? No, we found out Peter wasn't
better than anybody else. Matter of fact, we actually found
out that John was better than Peter, because at least John
didn't abandon him at the cross. But Peter, who Christ said, feed
my sheep, who Christ left in charge of that Jerusalem church
whenever he left, as the overseer, Peter was the one who denied
Christ three times. So there was a called out among
the called out. And so we come here and we see, and he has set
some in the church, first apostles. So we find out here that the
church isn't just the elect everywhere. So it can't mean that Old Testament
saints, because there wasn't apostles there. It had to be
something of New Testament origin. It had to be something that began
with Christ because it said, and God has set some in the church,
first apostles. Secondarily, prophets are fourth
tellers. Thirdly, teachers. After that,
miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities
of tongues. And he says, are all apostles,
are all prophets, are all teachers, are all workers of miracles,
have all the gifts of healing, do all speak with tongues, do
all interpret, but covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show
I unto you a more excellent way. So again, we see here the context
is he has set some in the church, apostles, prophets, teachers,
and so forth. He set those in the church. So obviously he's talking about
the local congregations. The apostles were set first at
the Church of Jerusalem. And then from there, they begin
to minister and go out and to help in the organization of all
the other churches at the dispersion. And then what came there? As
the apostles went out to all these churches, as people were
beginning to believe and be gathered around, what happened? Paul said
that we went around to every church and did what? We ordained
elders. There's your prophets, your forth
tellers, your preachers. We ordained elders in every church. They didn't go to the seminary
and look for somebody and say, hey, come here, we're gonna appoint
you. No, they ordained elders out of those who have been gathered.
How did they do that? Well, they looked probably among
them and found the men that God had gifted to that church, just
as he went on in 1 Corinthians 12 to say that God has given
these gifts to every church. That's why I think that any church
should always, before they do anything, if they have need of
a pastor, that they should be looking among themselves. for
any men that's within them that God has given the gift to do
that and raised up. And they have to pray to that
end before they even start looking out anywhere else. And if God
hasn't done that and God brings along somebody else, that's fine. But I would always look within
because he gives us the promise that he has provided to the body,
to the congregation, all that it has need of here. And if we
are making disciples and teaching them all things whatsoever Christ
has commanded, and we are reciprocating that, and all of us are using
the gifts as God has given us, who's to say that that isn't
gonna perpetuate itself with men who are preaching the word
of God? Just like we've seen in all these other churches,
what happened? Men were raised up, Timothy,
raised up, what happened? He was ordained, sent out, began
to minister at other places. Barnabas. All these men that
were not part of the original group, but God had raised them
up within the church, and then they were ordained and sent out,
and they began to minister among other churches. So all these
things are biblical, brethren. Just a couple more here in Corinthians,
and we should be done. 1 Corinthians 14. Ooh, boy, we got more than that. I tell you
what, let's just stop right there. And the garlic bread is calling
my name. We'll stop right there. Seems
to be a good stopping place before we go into chapter 14. Anybody
got any questions or comments? Amen, hallelujah, or oh my me. All right. Well, hopefully you're
beginning to see that it isn't just a tradition of men that
we're following, and we believe in the church being just a local
visible assembly, that it is the careful study of God's word.
And hopefully whenever it's all over, we still can say that. All right, let's bow and have
a word prayer.