I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of 1 Corinthians
chapter 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, continuing through
this blessed book. The Apostle Paul has been dealing with question after question
after question. that obviously has been asked
by the church at Corinth concerning the order of the church, the
bride, the walkings, the conversations of God's people. Let me just
read this for you, Romans 12 verses 3 to 5. Paul says, through
the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to
think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to
think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure
of faith. For as we have many members in
one body, and all members have not the same office, So we, being
many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of
another. So the Apostle Paul, having said
that to the church at Rome, now he's going to say the same thing. to the church at Corinth. And
what we want to understand about what we're going to deal with
tonight is the Holy Spirit's direction and teaching concerning
the importance of every member of the body. There is for every
regenerated saint, There is a gift given, or gifts given by the
Spirit of God. Now the gifts that were given
back in the time of the Apostle here, gifts of healing and gifts
of tongues and different gifts, discernments. Those gifts, and
Lord willing we'll deal with this in the next chapter, after
the completion of the Scriptures, There was no need of those gifts,
and those gifts died out with the apostles. I'll show you that,
that these gifts could be transferred from the apostles that had them,
could be transferred by the laying on of their hands, but after
that, they couldn't be transferred anymore. They left. Until then, there were no New
Testament scriptures. So these apostles that wrote
these, God confirmed them, their testimony by these gifts. But
to every member of the body of Christ, there are still some
gifts that have been given. That's what we'll deal with.
And what Paul is going to through the inspiration of God's Spirit
is to show this. There are no inferior gifts. There's not one member. Now listen to what I'm about
to say, because I'm going to show you this in Scriptures.
There's not one member of the body of Christ that's more important,
or more needed, or more elevated than another member. You say,
well, I don't know about that. I don't know. I mean, you know,
you've got these men, these preachers that stand up and you know, they
preach and stuff. I may be more visible, Neil may
be more visible, or Fred, or you men, Carl, that have preached
before may be more visible, but not more important. Who's more important? The man
standing here proclaiming the gospel? or the member or members
that's out there praying for him, asking God's blessing. Who's more important? The one,
the deacon or that saint that after the meals that we have
here once a month is out there washing dishes. Who's more important?
None. None. They're all. This is what
the Apostle Paul is going to set forth. We are members one
of another. I was telling David a few minutes
ago, I thought about it. I'm going to give you an illustration
before I start. I always, I love, you know, growing
up as a kid, I always liked, you know, I like military stuff.
I like soldiers. I like, you know, that kind of
stuff. And I got to thinking one day
about you take a fleet out in the oceans. You've got an aircraft
carrier and then you've got battleships. and then you got destroyers,
and you got kind of a network of stuff to guard that aircraft
carrier. Because that aircraft carrier
has got a mission, and it's to take care of that airplane and
that pilot that's out there doing business with the enemy. Now,
let me ask you something. In this whole conglomerate, in
that fleet, what's more important? the airplane, the pilot, or the
navigation system on that aircraft carrier, or the rudder, or the
propeller on that aircraft carrier. If that carrier is dead in the
water by a broken propeller, that airplane's in trouble. Now,
what's more important? There are no less important parts. They're all important. They make
up the fleet, they make up, that's just like the body of Christ.
What is more important? They're all important. Now let's
look at these scriptures right here. 1 Corinthians 12, verse
12, 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. Obviously, there were some in
this congregation in Corinth, but this is needful to be heard
in every congregation in this world where God has raised up
a true church. Listen. There's no laity and,
you know, the hierarchies, you know, the Presbytery and the
laity. No, sir. We're one body. This is one body. I need you
and you need me. We need each other. The scripture declares in verse
13, for by one spirit, are we all baptized into one body, whether
we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have
been all made to drink into one Spirit, by the one and only Spirit,
the Holy Spirit of God, regardless of our background, regardless
of where we came from. Jews, Gentiles, rich, poor, male,
female, every believer. And the Lord Jesus Christ, the
scripture says, has been baptized into one body. Baptized into
one body. Now, not that water baptism,
that's not what he's talking about. John baptized with water,
the Lord said, but I'll baptize you with the Holy Spirit. There
was two different baptisms right there. What is he talking about
when he says by one spirit are we all baptized into one body? The scripture sets forth that
the Holy Spirit in regenerating grace and that's what he's talking
about in regeneration is poured out upon the vessel of God's
mercy and that spirit of baptism by the Holy Spirit in regeneration
that's what he's talking about is called being baptized into
the body visibly Obviously, they've always, all of God's elects,
always been one in Christ, in His body. But until they're brought
into open recognition, in regenerating grace, and the Spirit of God
moves upon them as they sit under the sound of the Gospel, and
God gives them a new heart, a new mind, a new spirit, and gives
them eyes to see and ears to hear, then they believe. That
in regenerating grace is called being baptized into the body. So the Spirit of God, by the
Spirit of God, we are spiritually immersed. Spiritually, not in
water. We're baptized in water to confess
outwardly what the Spirit of God has done for us by baptizing
us into the body, openly revealing it, is what he's saying. So we're
made to be baptized. We're baptized into one body,
whether Jews, Gentiles, bond-free, and have been all made to drink
into one spirit. We've been grafted in to that
body openly, and we drink by faith of the water of life himself. the fountain of life himself,
the one that we thirst after. Blessed is the man that hungers
and thirsts after righteousness. So the Father himself, who eternally
purposed this baptism, this immersion by the Spirit of God, the Son
procured and answered all of the requirements and the demands
for that baptism. And then the Holy Spirit in time
marvelously and secretly reveals and applies that power in regenerating
grace to the objects of God's mercy. And they're called out
of darkness and they see now and they confess him in believers
baptism, water baptism, not for life, but because of life. That's what water baptism. Almighty
God's got to baptize them by the Holy Spirit into the body
and open them up and show them and reveal them. They see themselves
for the first time. And then they'll say, Lord, save
me. I don't trust myself anymore.
I trust in him. And I want to confess him the
way that he has ordained that I confess him. So the apostle
Paul says, by one spirit, We're all baptized into one body, same
way. God saves all of his sheep the
same way, through the preaching of the gospel, by the blessing
of the Holy Spirit. I mean, Jews, Gentiles, bond-free,
they were all made to drink into that one body. Verse 14, the
scripture says, for the body is not one member, but many. No one member makes a body. but many members. One pastor
with no members, no other people. That's it, you got a pastor,
one pastor. And I show up here every Wednesday, every Sunday,
and I preach one time on Wednesday nights, and I preach two times
on Sunday. And I'm the only one here. That's
not a body. That's not a body. The scripture
says the body is not one member, but many. There's many members,
there's many parts that have particular functions. No one
member of my body makes a complete body. My eye, my nose does not
and cannot say I am a complete human body. A body is made up
of many parts that function together. It does different things. I see with this, but I grab hold
with this, and I lean with this, and I stand with these. This is a body, and I'm a complete
human. called a human body. Even so, no one member of the
body of Christ is a complete body, even though many may think
they are. Maybe they think that they're
that important, but we, again, need each other. So here we're
taught that each member, whether it's physical body or whether
it's a spiritual body, makes up a vital part of that complete,
just like that illustration of that rudder on that aircraft
carrier. It's got to be there. It's got
to. That propeller, it's got to work. It's got to, to make
this function. That guidance system, that radar,
start taking out those parts. You've got a mess. You've got
a mess. So every part of the body is
to be content in his position. You know, we never have a right
to question God's good pleasure as to where he placed his people,
his members. There's a vital part. Every one
of us here, listen, I'm telling you. You think, well, I don't
see where it's a big deal. I mean, if I'm not there, it's
not that big a deal. It's a big deal. It's a big deal. One that's not here, there's
something missing. There's something not there.
All the members are an assembly, just like a body. They're one
body and they're all vital. I'm thankful for my nose, don't
get me wrong. I needed that breath of air.
I needed that one too. I'm thankful for my nose, but
I'll tell you what, I'm thankful for that oxygen that I just inhaled
and it went into my lungs and in my lungs there's some alveoli
that take it and somehow, I don't know how this works, but somehow
the oxygen that was out here got into my body and went into
my lungs and got into those alveoli and somehow that oxygen got into
my blood and it's just going all through my body and it's
feeding every bit of my, feeding all my organs and it's taking
care of me. I'm thankful for my nose, but
I'm thankful for everything else that goes with it. We need each
other. Verse 17. I'm sorry. Yeah, verse 16. If the foot, I'll get it right
in a minute. Let's look at verse 15. What
do you think about that? Let's just go there first. If the foot
shall say, because I'm not the hand. I'm not of the body. Is it therefore not of the body?
And if the ear shall say, because 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
were the smelling? If every member had the same
office. Every man in here was a preacher. Every man had a message that
morning. He had a message. And we got 20 men standing up
here. And they're all going to stand
up here and preach at the same time. Their message. And if every
member had the same talent, the same function, You wouldn't have
a body. I have one mouth. That's the
only thing on me that speaks. I have one ear. That's the only
thing it hears, that sees, that tastes. All these members, how marvelously
we're put together. So the foot can't say. Well, I'm not a hand. So I'm
not part of the body. Somebody could say, well, I'm
not the pastor. So I guess I'm not a member of Katie. You know,
I don't have this position. I don't do this. I don't do this.
I don't take care of that equipment right there. I'm thankful. I'm
thankful for those that do. But because one does that and
another doesn't, does that make someone else not a member of
the body? Part is necessary, but it's not the only part. Look at verse 18. But now hath
God set the members, every one of them, in the body, as it has
pleased Him. And if they were all one member,
where were the body? But now are they many members,
yet but one body, humanly speaking. My eye sees, but my eye did not
give itself the ability to see. My eye didn't sit down and by
its own free will and ability, how does my eye see? God made
it that way. God made it. I mean I could go
into all the stuff that I don't have a clue what I'm talking
about. About how the eye sees. I mean I remember just about
that much science or biology or whatever I took, anatomy or
whatever it was when I was in school. I don't know, somehow
it gets on the backside and it's upside down or something. I don't
remember. I know it sees. I can see you. I can see you. I didn't, I didn't get, God gave
it. The ear, how does my ear hear? God made it that way. Likewise,
every member of the body of Christ is made to function the way it
does. All of these different personalities. I mean, not one of us is exactly
the same in our ability, in our, you know, your personality is
different. But it works, it fits, it's perfect. Every member, every talent, person,
place, every vocation that you're in. God puts you. Your interest
of service. Why do you have an interest to
do that? Why do you want to do? I mean, the service. Mitch, you
come over here. Nobody's making you come over
here and do what you do. You know, Carl, you know. Why
do you do it? Because you want to. This is
what I want to do. I have a heart to do this. Well, who gave you that desire?
Who gave you that ability? The Lord and gifted you as a
member for His service and for the good of the body. Let me go back, way back. Hold
your place right there and turn with me to Psalm 139. Let me
show you how far this goes back. I'm talking about your personality. I'm talking about your ability. Psalm 139. I'm going to read
verses 14 to 17. Now, your desire to be in the
body of Christ. Now there was a time when you
didn't care. Before the Lord called you out
of darkness. You didn't really care about
being here. I didn't either. Until the Lord
gave me a heart to preach, I used to wonder how, I've told you
this before, how in the world can anybody come up here every
day, every day, and do the same thing every day, and just stay
here and study every day. How do you do that? If the Lord
ever gives you a heart to do it, you'll do it. Why do you
do what you want to do? You want to. Why do you go hunting?
Why do you go fishing? Why do you do that? Because you
like it. You want to. You have a heart for it. Look
at Psalm 139. Let me show you how far this
goes back in the formation of the body of Christ, their desires.
Look at Psalm 139 in verse 14. I will praise thee. For I am fearfully and wonderfully
made. Now let me tell you something,
this is primarily first, you know, speaking of the Lord Jesus
Christ, as He was made flesh and formed in the belly, in the
womb of a virgin, receiving all of His life from the Spirit of
God that made Him. This is speaking first of the
Lord, but also of His people, also. He says, I will praise
thee for I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works,
and that my soul knoweth right well. That speaks of him, but
he said he's In particular, it's Christ, but also we're going
to look for a couple of verses here at His body being formed. His spiritual body, His people.
Not only His flesh, which it was, but I'm talking about His
body right here. This body right here. It was marvelously, wonderfully,
fearfully, wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works, that
my soul knoweth right well. Then he says in verse 15, my
substance. Now if you have in my Bible,
in my margin, that word substance is right there, is strength or
my body. And again, his flesh, yes, but
his people, his body right here. He said my substance, my substance
was not hid from thee. when I was made in secret and
curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth." His substance,
His flesh, His being made flesh, but also His body, the church,
was not hidden from the God of all grace while we were in Christ. There have been a lot of believers
that have been called out of darkness in this world. And they
go back thousands of years, thousands of years. And if the Lord tarries,
there will be more believers that will be born, and will be
called out of darkness, and will come to see the glory of God.
So this body, this substance, it was all in Him now. It was
chosen in Him. before the foundation of the
world. How many of them? All of them. Oh, you think all
of them? Yeah, yeah, all of them. God
has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. So all
of His people, all of them, were in Him and being formed in Him
and fashioned in Him and answered for by Him. And here there He
says that in verse 15, My substance was not hid from thee when I
was made in secret. curiously wrought in the lowest
parts of the earth while we were all in Christ, all made so according
to the secret counsel of God. He was consumed in the womb of
a virgin and God beheld us in him, curiously wrought. formed as His mystical body in
all of their callings and all of the talents and all of the
personalities being formed in His people as they were there. The whole of His church right
there. Look at verse 16. Thine eyes
did see my substance, my body, yet being unperfect. That is, unformed openly yet. in regenerating grace. But here
again, being made, being formed, yet unperfect, working in harmony
according to his will and purpose, and they were there. Look at
it, it says, Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect,
and in thy book all my members were written, they were all there,
which in Continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of
them. That is, they were all being
fashioned while they were yet to be brought into physical existence. The Lord is praying. He said,
you saw them. You beheld them. They were all
in Him. And when it pleased God to bring
them into this world, they were born. They were watched over
and kept. And they were being formed and
fashioned. Like I said, their personalities
and Almighty God made them just exactly the way He did. Gave
them that certain something about them. Then gifted them and taught
them just exactly the way He would. And that was the way that
He brought them forth. And so to say to another believer,
I have no need of you. No, no, no. That's the way God made them.
That's the way God brought them forth. That's the way God perfected
them. Now there are many members, but
there is still one body. Verse 21, I cannot say into the
hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet,
I have no need of thee, I have no need. That same illustration.
That airplane. It's coming in. He needs that
propeller. That pilot, he needs every part,
every division of that whole fleet. I need you guys back there. We need each other. Be informed
in him. We need to behold and to see
one another as being vital members. Verse 22. Much more those members of the
body which seem to be more feeble are necessary. Now that word
feeble right there, actually it means weak, weak, weak. It means weak, but to get a good
understanding, there are very, very vital parts of our body
that are very, very feeble and weak as to their ability to trauma
my eyes. Buddy, I tell you what, it doesn't
take but a speck, just a little bitty speck, to get under my
eyelid, and I'm telling you, my whole body is miserable. I'm miserable. That's all I can
think of. I'm just always trying to get it out, just rub it and
stuff, and that's irritating. That part, it's feeble, but it
means weak. That is, less able to bear fatigue
and encounter difficulties. More easily injured. We have
bodies in the church, members in the church, and they're feeble,
but so important. And here's the thing, I can't
name every one of them. I don't know who they are. But
the Lord does. And that's so needful that we
be sensitive to everyone, to all of them. Why? I don't know
what's going on inside of you. You may be going through one
of the greatest trials and you're hurting inside and you're just
struggling and you're struggling. That's feeble. It's weak. Somebody said, I'm always strong
in the Lord. I'm not. I'm not. I struggle and I need desperately
the consoling and comfort and encouragement. Somebody said,
yeah, but you're the pastor. I need the prayer. I need it. Those members which seem to be
more feeble, they're necessary. Look at verse 33, and those members
of the body which we think to be less honorable, upon these
we bestow more abundant honor and our uncomely parts have more
abundant comeliness. Now, that less honorable and
uncomely parts, now I'll just make a statement and you're just
gonna have to understand what I'm saying. There's parts of
our body that is members of our physical body that are considered
less appropriate you know, to be openly displayed. It's just
parts that we make sure that are covered, you know. The face
is not what I can, you know, I can show my face or my ears
or my hands or something, but then there's parts in modesty
that need to be covered. Likewise in the body of Christ. Those that need that protection
and to They need to have the abundance of love, and a covering,
and a watching over, and a protection, and our being sensitive to one
another. Remember, we're all one, gifted
as one by the grace of God. But there's those that to the
world, or through the pride of our own selves in this body,
and every other body, because of pride, are looked upon as
being less honorable. Let me tell you what God has
to say about that. Hold your place right there.
1 Corinthians 1, just turn back to the first part of this book.
1 Corinthians 1, 26-29. A lot of times we get in our
mind that there are some that they are the most visible, and
they are the most popular, and they are the most this, that,
and the other, and so therefore they are the most important.
That is not so. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse
26, For ye see your calling, brethren, having not many wise
after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But
God has chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the
wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty, and base things of the world,
and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things
which are not to bring naught, things that are white, that no
flesh should glory in His presence." You know, I heard one time that Abraham Lincoln said that God
must have truly looked upon in favor common people because there
were so many of them. And people, you know, I say,
well, that's true until they call you common. Until they say,
well, you know, you're just a common person, you know. Then it becomes
a slam, you know. No, let me tell you this. There's
no common. There's no common ones in the
body of Christ. The weak, lowly, those that seem
to themselves or to others to be the base things. That's what
God chose. That's what the Lord has raised
up. That's what the Lord has bestowed His favor upon. Verse
24, and our comely parts have no need. The comely parts there,
those recognized and honorable, they have no need. What do you
mean no need of being reminded? Let me say this, are encouraged
in their position in the body. Those that seem to be more recognizable,
but then there are those that may not see their vital, vital
need in the body of Christ. And the importance, the importance,
as I said, it's so easy to say, well I just don't see what part
I really play in this. You do. And being, being here,
being associated in unity with the body, it's a oneness and
it's so important that our comely parts have no need. That is,
no need of being reminded that they're a part of the body. Even
though, I mean, you know, some might say, well, there's a pastor
and a deacon and there's a, you know, and all these other parts
like this, but then there's the rest of us out here. Well, here's
what God says, but God has tempered the body together. having given
more abundant honor to that part which lacked. God Almighty has
set forth in His blessing of those parts that appear as though
either to themselves or to others to be less needful. set forth
His amazing grace upon Him. I mean, I recognize Gary leading
the singing, or Pat, or whoever, or the deacons here, or those
members, but those that are less honorable, they are blessed of
God. He's made one part dependent
upon another, necessary for the harmony and the proper action
of another, and God's people love that member in his place. I am so thankful To be able to
go through this congregation before and at halftime and shake
hands and say hi to you and just say, it's good to see you, I
thank the Lord that you're here. That's a blessing. To be able,
I'm thinking, this is one, one that's professed the Lord in
baptism, this is one that God chose. This is one that Christ
redeemed. This is the one that the Spirit
of God brooded over and called out of darkness and kept and
taught and has given a heart to be here. What do you mean
un-cumbly? What do you mean humbled? What
do you mean no need of? No, no, no. Look at verse 25. Why is it like that there should
be no schism, no division in the body, but that the members
should have the same care one for another. And whether one
member suffer, all the members suffer with it. Or one member
be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body
of Christ and members in particular. The Lord has so arranged the
body that there's no divisions, there's no gaps, there's no lack
in the body. Every member is perfect. All the parts are just fit together
in every member, though they differ. Maybe in an office or
in that talent, but there should be the same care and the same
love for every one of them and every member equally important. I wish I could remember that. I want us all to remember that.
There's no believer in here more important than another one. So
when one member suffers, My mind just went to Brother Tom. I was
just talking about Brother Tom and Ida Jean. And when you think
about this, it's one of our own. One of our own that's suffering
right now. And we suffer. We suffer with
them. I think about the need of that
dear pastor, this dear lady that's laying up in that nursing home
right there struggling to breathe. right now, as the body of Christ,
we support and care and love each other because the Lord's
made us so. The Lord said, by this shall
all men know you're my disciples, ye have love one for another. So the scriptures sets forth
now in verses 28 through the end of the chapter, but God has
set some in the church, first apostles, Secondarily, prophets. Thirdly, teachers. After that,
miracles, gifts, healings, helps, government, diversities of tongues. But 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 listen,
but covet earnestly the best gifts. And yet show I unto you
a more excellent way. I'm going to enclose you. I'm
going to show you. Turn over to Galatians 5. Let me show you
something. Let me show you the best gifts.
Somebody's saying, well, I don't know what gift I have. I don't
see myself having any gift at all. Well, let me just... Galatians chapter 5. Let me show
you the best gifts. Here they are. Verse 22. But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. These are not separated from the law. They
are approved of God's law. They are highly esteemed by God's
law. Let me say it like that. These
precious gifts. Somebody said, I don't see myself.
I don't see myself with any great, you know. Do you love the brethren?
What a gift. Do you pray for the brethren?
Do you have a meek spirit thinking this is where the Lord put me?
I thank God for everyone that I'll never, I'm sure I'll never
know all that goes on in the background. But I thank God for
everyone that finds their place to get into their closet and
to meet with God and pray. Pray for me. Somebody said, I'm
praying for you. I'm praying for you. Thank you.
Thank you. I pray that somebody tells me,
I lift your name up before the Father's throne daily. Oh, I'm
so thankful. Thank you for being long-suffering
with me. Thank you. What a gift. I needed that one
word of encouragement. Somebody just patient with me.
I pray the Lord bless this message to our hearts and give us an
understanding of the importance of every one of the members of
every assembly. This is where the Lord put us.
May we look and be thankful unto Him, loving one another for Christ's
sake and for the good and unity of this body. Amen.