We're back in 1 Corinthians 12. And we need to remember that
these are words that are as relevant today as they were then when
they were written. And they're words of wisdom,
and they're words of comfort, and they're words from our God
for our good. So I just want to start with
the last verse of this passage. To covet is to desire, to want
something, and it involves issues of the heart. It's from the heart that proceeds
our reason and our motivation behind a thing. And basically
we either serve our own flesh, as we began in Genesis 3, until
the Lord does the work, or we serve God and we serve the good
of others. And sadly, usually it's the former. Because flesh gives birth to
flesh, and in turn, flesh gives birth to fleshly attitudes, like
envy and strife. Now, Paul's already dealt with
this to some degree in 1 Corinthians 3, 3, where he says, for you
are carnal, are yet carnal, whereas there is among you envying, and
strife and divisions. Are you not carnal and walk as
men? So that's man's way. That's the
way of the wicked that we looked at in Isaiah 55 earlier on. That's man's way. But as our
passage tells us here, there is a more excellent way. And that's God's way. And we
read in Isaiah 55, that my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither
are my ways your ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens
are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. So I just want us to look at
how Paul shows us this more excellent way. And I want to do it because
through seven simple, logical, and yet very effective arguments,
because that's how Paul has done it. That's how God is revealing
his more excellent way in this passage. So the first argument
comes from verses 1 to 3, and I'd like us to look at the fact
that all salvation is by God's grace. He says, Now concerning
spiritual gifts, brethren, remember that word's not in the passage.
Now concerning spiritual, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
You know that you were Gentiles, carried away unto 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. Idols here represent worldly
religion, basically. The pagans had false idols. As we've seen in John, the Jews
had a false god. The Lord Jesus Christ stood before
them, and they didn't know him. And professing Christianity of
today have false Christs. The Lord promised that there
would be many Jesuses in this world. But they're all the same,
and they all represent the religion of men. The Lord tells us in
Galatians 4.9 that these things are weak and beggarly elements,
whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage. See, that's God's
description of the religion of the flesh. It's self-centered. We go about establishing our
own righteousness. We go about desiring self-gratification
and glorification. It's true what we read in Genesis
3.5, ye will be as gods. So I just want to look a little
bit closely here at verse three, because In verse 3 we have this
revelation that all salvation is by grace. To call Jesus accursed
is to say that he failed to meet the righteousness of God. It's
to say that he failed to perform the will of his Father. Now we're
taught the truth in our conversions. If you're converted, you've been
convicted of sin, of righteousness, and judgment, John 16.8. So if
we say that Christ died for all men, and yet all men aren't saved,
then at that point, we're not speaking by the Spirit of God,
and ultimately, we're blaspheming God's holy name. See, we need a work of God to
turn us from that. Look at the second half of that.
To say that Jesus is the Lord is to say that he's a sovereign
king, especially in regarding to salvation. And again, we only
learn this in our conversion. It's something that only the
Holy Ghost can teach us. If we're really saved, If we've
experienced these convictions from the Holy Spirit, we're not
going to declare that salvation is by the will or the work of
man. We'll know what salvation is. We'll know that it's a work of
our God alone. See, men can't change themselves. Only God can. And that's a more
excellent way, isn't it? Our second argument comes from
verses four through to seven. All salvation is by God's wisdom. Now again, these are simple arguments.
They're not complex, but they're effective and they're logical.
Verse four, now there are diversities of gifts, 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 in
all. But the manifestation of the
Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. Now we're talking about gifts
again, and these are, as I said, the manifestations of God's characteristics
in the vessels that he chooses. They're like salvation. They're
the work of the Holy Spirit. They're not the work of man's
wisdom. They're not the work of man's
efforts and energies. See, this has come by the wisdom
of our triune God. The distribution, the administration,
and the operations, every facet of our salvation are according
to our God's wisdom and according to His perfect purposes. And look at the purpose in verse
seven. It's God's provision to save
and sustain His Church. It's His purpose to do good for
all, rather than serving the fleshly ways of man. And again, it's simple, but it's
a more excellent way. Your third argument comes from
verses 8 to 11. All salvation is by God's work,
by his power. Verse 8, for, or because, 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 selfsame spirit, dividing to every man severally
as he will. See there's a variety of these
gifts or manifestations, but they're all given by the
operation of the one Holy Spirit of God. In 1 Corinthians 4.7
Paul says, For who maketh thee to differ from one another? And
what hast thou that thou our glory as if thou had not
received it." And that's the central issue, isn't it? Men
continuously, by their flesh, are robbing God of His glory. It's like, if I were to remember
the days in religion, it was like this big chunk of glory
that we all carved up and gave to each other. What's the Lord's recognition
in all that? We don't have time to look at
these different gifts or manifestations, and in a sense that's for another
sermon, but we will speak more of these gifts as we go through.
But they're given primarily for the establishment of the early
Church of God, and yet at the They represent God's provision
for all the needs of His Church, of all His churches, throughout
all the ages. Every aspect of our salvation
is by God's wisdom, through God's work, and for our God's purpose. Romans 11.36, for of him and
through him to whom be the glory forever. Amen. You see, it's about His
glory. And that's a more excellent way. The fourth argument comes to
us in verses 12 to 16. Our God is sovereign. Verse 12, for or because and all the members of that one
body, being many, are one body. So also is Christ. For by one
Spirit we are all baptised into one body, whether we be Jews
or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and
have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For as the body is
not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, because
I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not
of the body? And if the ear shall say, because
I am not the eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not
of the body? See, we have a great illustration
here, don't we? We have this composition of the
human body but it's representing the mystical body of Christ.
It's representing the church. Notice in verse 13 there, we
enter this body by God's work. We're made members of Christ. It's not by our choice. It's
not by activities, but it's by the election of God in the everlasting
covenant. It was finished from the foundation
of the world. So our will and our desires,
our failings and our fallings can't affect our union with our
Lord and Savior at all. Our failings can't change our
God's purposes. So not having the gift that we
want desires and our carnal wisdom. Not having that gift, it doesn't
cancel our membership in this body in any way at all. Again, we're in this body by
God's will, not ours. His works were ordered and finished
from the foundation of the world. What a great comfort What a more
excellent way. The fifth argument's in verses
17 to 20. If we had our own way, and I
know this is really simple, but if we had our own way, there
wouldn't even be a body. Verse 17, if the whole body were
an eye, again, it's simple, But now God hath set the members,
every one of them, in the body, as it is pleased him. And if
they were all one member, where were the body? But now they are
many members, yet but one body. Every single member of this body
has been perfectly chosen and perfectly placed in this By God's
wisdom, what means? Our God makes a distinction between
each member of His body for His own perfect purposes. Now this distinction, and we'll
look at it a bit closer in a minute, means that every single individual
plays a particular a particular and essential part of the makeup
of this body, which is the Church of God. It means that each of
us, whether we see it or not, contributes something that is
absolutely necessary to the Church as a whole. In fact, as we see
there in Verses 19 and 20, and again it's simple, there wouldn't
even be a body, but by God's distinction. That's got to be a more excellent
way, doesn't it? Argument 16 comes from verses
21 to 23. We actually complement one another. by providing in some way for
each other. Look at verse 21. And the eye
cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the
head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those
members of the body which seem. And look at that word seem, that's
by our own fleshly wisdom. That's our eyes, the way we look
at things, which seem to be more feeble are necessary. And those members of the body
which we think, and again, this is our carnal judgment thinking,
to be less honorable, Upon these, we bestow more abundant honour,
and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. You see, every member provides
something completely individual. Every member provides something
each of us need. And so each member, by the purpose
and by the grace of our God, provides for and actually complements
the whole. We don't have to see it, we don't
have to understand it, but it's a promise and it's a reality
for the Church of God. See, it's only as the Spirit
of God unites us and applies our God-given of him in us, that
these things become characteristics of the body as a whole. There's a mutual dependency. We actually desperately need
each other, every single one of us. And whether we realize it or
not, we desperately need each other's individual gifts. No matter how great they are,
or how small they are, we desperately need them. See, we naturally
think that without grand and obvious gifts, it's a shame,
somehow shameful for us. But look at God's way. It's actually
an honor. Because those that don't have
these great gifts are served by those that do. And you know,
it's only in the church of God that this is a problem to men.
All of us want to be kings at some time in our life. All of
us want to have heaps of servants. All of us have no problem being
served by men until we get into the church for some reason. Paul
in 2 Corinthians 4, a great apostle, wrote a great deal of the New
Testament. He says he was a servant, our
servant, for Jesus' sake. God's way is a more excellent
way. The last argument comes from
verses 24 and 26. God's wisdom and works are completely
opposite to ours. Verse 24, For our comely parts
have no need, but God hath tempered the body together, having given
more abundant honour to that part which lacked. You see, if
you have a gift, it's not just for you. It's for the sake of
everyone. Verse 25, that there should be
no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same
care for one another. And whether one member suffer,
all the members suffer with it. For one member be honoured, all
the members rejoice with it. Brothers and sisters, we were
born dead, dead in trespasses, dead in sins, and our carnal
mind is enmity against God. All we do in the flesh is for
our own selfish gain. Whenever we act on the basis
of our flesh, whenever we judge according to our carnal wisdom,
we're necessarily serving ourselves at the expense of others. And that's what this word schism
means there. In verse 25, it's referring to
division, separation. It can even refer to alienation. And yet as a church of God, we're
to be united. We're to be of one mind and one
mouth. We're to be driven by love and
not love for self, love for one another. When we fell in Adam,
we died spiritually. And our understanding from that
moment on was turned upside down. It was turned on its head. See,
flesh desires strength, honor, and comeliness for personal gain. When we meet the Lord in saving
grace, He turns our understanding right side up. Those who are
spiritual desire these things for the sake of the glory of
God and for the good of his church. And again, in this way, God's
way is completely opposite to men's ways. Now, before we move
on, I just want to talk about this word tempered used in verse
24. Tempering, as some of us might
know, some that work with metal or some that even work with chocolate,
is a process. But this word is a reference
to a process that's really significant spiritually to us. See, tempering firstly uses heat. Spiritually, heat's a reference
to our trials, the needs that arise in our church, the difficulties
that come upon us. Tempering also requires various
elements. Again, spiritually, we're members
of the church. We're elect from eternity, and
each of us are vessels in which the Lord uses to bring something
to this church. So there's a variety of elements. These elements are then mixed.
The heat's measured, the elements are measured, and they're mixed. They're combined in perfect measure
by our God, Tempering's a process that produces
things, that produces strength. Individually and collectively,
we're strengthened by church and through the activities of
God in church against all the assaults. all the trials of our lives,
all the tribulation that we go through. Our strength is in the
gospel. The second thing it produces
is flexibility. I had to think a bit about this,
but spiritually, by the encouragement and the impact of our Lord in
church and by the union that we have with each other, we're
unable to move further and further away from our own fleshly traits
and become more and more like our Lord and Saviour. Again, that's a more excellent
way, isn't it? Okay, verse 27. Now you are of Christ and members in particular. And God has set some in the Church,
first apostles, secondarily the prophets, thirdly teachers, and
after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments,
diversities of tongues. 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. Remember, this is a simplistic
argument, but effective. Believers are all individual
members of that mystical body of Christ. By God's perfect design,
as I said earlier, we're all bringing something different
but we're bringing something desperately needed. As I said
earlier, some of these gifts, they're relevant to the early
church, the establishment of the early church. But this list
is a representation of gifts that are necessary for the establishment
and the sustaining of a faithful church in this world, no matter
what age we're in. Turn in your Bibles to Ephesians
4. We'll look a bit more at the
great purpose. It's the gospel which is the
power of salvation. It's the gospel that brings forth
fruit in each individual. It's the gospel by which we stand. The purpose of these gifts, the
purpose of the Church of God, the purpose of this church, is
to declare the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ faithfully
for the saving and sustaining of all God's children. I just want to read Ephesians 4,
1-16. Because we have a great summary of the reason that all
this is going on. I therefore, the prisoner of
the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith
ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering,
forbearing one another in love. Endeavouring to keep the unity
of the spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and
one spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all
and in you all. But unto every one of us is given
grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Notice
there, it's the gift singular. Christ is that gift. That's why
it's not in the text, because it's a manifestation of our Savior
in each of us. Wherefore, verse eight, he said,
when he ascended upon high, he led captivity captive and gave
gifts unto men. Sorry, now that he ascended,
what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of
the earth? He that descended is the same
also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill
all things. This is a victorious savior.
We're victorious in him. And he sits as our advocate.
All things come through his hands. And He gave some apostles and
some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. And here's the beautiful reason
behind it all. Verse 12, for the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the
faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That we henceforth be no more
children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind
of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby
they lie in wait to deceive, but speaking the truth again
in love may grow up into him in all things, which is the head,
even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and
compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to
the effectual working in the measure of every part. maketh
increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. That's a more excellent way,
isn't it? All right, let's finish with
the last verse. But covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show
I unto you a more excellent way. It's a great exercise for each
of us to ask ourselves regularly the reason that we covet the
best gifts. Is it for your own glory? Or
is it for the glory of God? Is it for your own good? Or is
it for the good of others? Recently, when Cole did the financial
report, I was encouraged with what Angus said about the fact
that the Lord had used abilities that Cole and Merrin had to quietly
go about doing so many things in the church that we don't think
of, that we take for granted. And it reminded me of our church
history. We were small, we were isolated
from the rest of the world. We don't have the support, I
suppose, of big churches and people that can buttress us.
We have internet, yeah, and we have phone calls, etc. But we're
quite isolated down here by ourselves. We're alone in faithfulness. One of the first things we did
was seek another church that agreed with us on the gospel.
And we looked, and we examined statements of faith, and we had
discussions with people, and we were desperate to find someone.
And there was no one that we could find. Some of us still
look, and still there's no one that we've found. There's been
a few individuals that we've found that haven't known us. They've contacted America, and
then America's told us about them. In general, we're quite
alone in faithfulness. We're small in number. I mean,
there's not many of us here today, but we've doubled in a sense
in some ways from the start. We're quite insignificant by
the world's standards, and we're quite insignificant to most of
the religious places around here. But have we lacked anything?
This is what's amazing. This is what dropped into my
head when Angus said it. Have we lacked anything? Our
gracious God has provided every single thing we need. And he's done so as small as
we are, as insignificant as we are. He's done so from within
us. And after 15 or so years, here
we still are. We still have all that we need. And like Jacob in Genesis 33,
we have enough. In Genesis 33, Jacob, I don't
know if you remember, but he was trying to pacify his brother
Esau, and he was doing what we all do. He was acting on his
own wisdom and his own activities. But when he got to meet Esau,
there was no problem. The Lord had already sorted it
out. And he gave gifts to Esau, and Esau said, I have enough.
When Esau said enough, it's a different word to what Jacob said. Certainly
he had plenty, but when Jacob said enough, He was complete. He had everything that was necessary
before his God. We have enough. And if that's not an Ebenezer
that we can continue to think of, I don't know what is. That's a more excellent way,
isn't it? Our God provides. There's one more thing that we
need to consider about this way and we'll finish. His more excellent way, it's
actually a person. Our Lord said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. He's the way. We love Him because
He first loved us. Because of His love in us, true
believers also love one another. It's Christ in us, loving Christ
in others. That's what 1 John's all about. Now remember, there's no chapter
divisions here, so as you read on into the next chapter, and
we don't have time for it today, but as you read into the next
chapter, that's exactly what Paul's talking about, love. And
if you read that list, those characteristics of love, they
can only be meaning one person. our Saviour, our Christ, our
King, our Lord. He is that more excellent way. May our great God unite us through
love. May He remind us of His gracious
provision thus far. And may He continue to operate
sovereignly amongst us for both our good and for his glory. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,
we thank you that you truly are an amazing God, and we thank
you that all things necessary to bring us to yourself for eternity
have been completely fulfilled in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus
Christ. Help us, Father, when we become
weak and when we turn back to our own fleshly ways, help us
look again with new eyes to see freshly the wonders of your provision
in the great things of this life and in the small things of this
life. Please just give us a glimpse
of the wonders of your grace, of your sovereign grace, and
make us to know that all things, all things have been ordered
for our good. Father, these are things that
we can only embrace spiritually. So put us in remembrance of these
facts. Give us faith, strengthen our
faith. Cause us to see the wonders of
your hand, of your power in the face of your Son. And settle
us, Heavenly Father, no matter what trial comes along. We have
many things to deal with in this life. Please make them all yes
and amen to us, by faith, in your dear and precious Son, our
more excellent way, our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray in his
name, for your glory's sake, Father. Amen.