You see how in verse 20, Paul
approaches this from two different directions in verses 15 and 16.
If you'll glance back at that, that's some members feeling less
useful and saying, well, since I'm not, I don't have that kind
of capability, I'm not really part of it. And they get discouraged. they seem in their own mind and
heart to be less useful and so it causes them to shrink back.
But in this evening's text, it's some members feeling proud and
discouraging others. And so Paul uses this analogy
of the one body with many members to show that both of these are
wrong. if you're one of the less seemly members, as it's called
here, in other words, just not thought of, not out front, not
seen and maybe celebrated as much. Not that any of us are celebrated,
but as far as the body, the picture of the body, you see my face,
you see, and we take a lot of care with that, don't we? Some
people spend a lot of money on their head. And that's a good
thing though, right, Jennifer? But you know what I mean, and
a lot of attention is given to how that looks, but not our feet.
We don't, you know, well, some people need to care more about
what their feet look like. And some do, but you know what
I'm saying. It's not as prominent, not as
out front as our face is. Y'all love to see me start getting
in trouble, don't you? I start digging, and y'all are
laughing about it. So neither should what he calls
the less seemly or the less comely members, they should not be discouraged,
nor should those who are maybe more out front and more appealed to maybe at times and
more prominent, they shouldn't get haughty about that. The Lord
uses different people in different ways deliberately. And it's according
to his will and design, and he's perfect in that. And as we saw in the reading
here, those members which seem to be, that word seem is a key
word, because being physically and outward and visible in a
physical sense is a whole different thing than being useful and prominent
and important in a spiritual sense. It's not the same thing. The ones which are despised here,
he says, are very especially important, not just as important,
but more honor is bestowed And as we said, the head, he mentions
the head, that's what people see. And as we are aware of that,
we spend time presenting ourselves, but our feet are hidden most
of the time. That's how it is spiritually
with a lot of church members. They're not as often out front or prominent. But who wants to do without their
feet? Wouldn't want to do without them.
And so it is with members of the body. They may be reserved.
They may think little of themselves. They may be very unassuming,
but they're irreplaceable. And that's what Paul is saying
here, simply that God placed you in the church with a purpose.
There are a lot of different personalities. There are a lot
of different gifts, but each member is part of the body and
each part of the body is necessary. And sometimes the ones that are
less seen are more necessary. When I look at verse 22, he says,
nay, much more of those members of the body which seem to be
more feeble are necessary. That word means indispensable. What one cannot do without. And again, notice the word seem
here. They seem physically, outwardly,
feeble. But physically feeble and spiritually
feeble are two different things. It just seems that they're feeble,
because what matters in the church is the spiritual. All of our
other distinctions are meaningless. Greek nor Jew there's no male
nor female. There's no bond or free in Christ
Now somebody may be such before God That their prayers avail much
you think that's true of some people more than others that
their Lord said sexual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth
much and there may be someone that Like that whose prayers avail
much, but we wouldn't even know that and yet That would be a
very valuable valuable thing in the church The church the
true church of the Lord doesn't thrive on the things that this
world's religion thrives on Financial pledges, you know you get up
and You know, hold up a piece of paper. You pledge to give
this much per month and everybody's showing off and trying to outdo
everybody else. I've seen that one or two times
and it's disgusting. Fake forced revivals. You know,
revival is a scriptural word. But how can somebody just say
we're going to have a revival? Did you check with God before
you scheduled that? Because he may not show up. Especially
with that kind of attitude. We're gonna have a revival really Hope that goes well for you It doesn't thrive on promotional
events and outreach programs not the true Church of God it
thrives on prayer It thrives on heart commitment not verbal
showy commitment And Thrives on what the next
chapter talks about Chapter 13 of 1st Corinthians All things that God works in
us Let's pray for revival and not
announce it that we're gonna like we're gonna do something
Let's desire it let's seek it let's I'm gonna use this word a lot
tonight, let's care. That word is in our text and
I pray that it'll describe us. You don't need to be able to
work a room to be a help in the church, you
need to care. If you've been in religion, you
know what I mean about working a room. They'll meet you in the
parking lot and they'll work you the whole time. They know
how to glad hand everybody and not leave anybody out, but they
don't really. There's not much to it. You know
what I mean? They don't care to get to know
you. They just want you to show back up and give some money. You need to care. Verse 24, for our comely parts
have no need. God has already, you know, they
are what they are, and it's not diminishing them. Wouldn't want
to live without my feet, but I wouldn't want to live without
my head either. And not everybody can be an eye. Not everybody
can be a hand. Our comely parts have no need,
but God has tempered the body together having given more abundant
honor to that part which lacked. Very simple teaching here and
a very simple analogy. We see that in the body, parts
that don't shine, and yet in a way they do. God has tempered, that means
mixed together and united the body. the whole body so that
those who either consider themselves lacking or tend to be thought
by others to be lacking. The two ways that he approaches
this, if you feel that way, don't, about yourself, because the Lord
will use you. He's used worse than you, maybe. I don't know. Depends on how
bad, if you're as bad as me, I don't know if he's used anybody
worse. Because, but he, the blessing of it is that he deliberately
uses the weak and the base and the vile, those that are not. That the glory may be of him,
but the blessing is to those weak ones, those base ones, and
everybody that benefits from God using them. You know what I'm saying there's
there's we see in the scriptures how that he's He he shows to be those whom
he has used very greatly he shows them to be sinners just like
we are And also if you a little puffed
up maybe about God using you that's a mistake and Don't despise
others that may seem to be less important. Be a huge
mistake to take for granted or neglect those who are less prominently
perceived. They seem to be less, but not
necessarily. Verse 25, that there should be
no schism, no division. in the body, no division, no
tear, no split, no division. But notice, but
that the members should have the same care. That we should care about one
another. The same, the same care, the
same love, the same concern. That word means anxiety. Those of you who have children
understand why the word care would mean anxiety. You're anxious
over them. When you care about somebody,
you worry about them. You make it your business to see to it
that they're safe and that they're happy, Fulfilled and everything
that they need So that's an important word We should have the same
care it means to look out for To seek to promote one's interests So God did what he did for that
purpose right there that there should be no division And that
everybody should care for one another. Verse 26, and whether
one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. Boy, that's the
sure sign of it being real, isn't it? Or one member be honored, all
the members rejoice with it. That's verse 25 defined. That's caring. When you're in on it, when it
matters to you, when you've got skin in the game, that's caring. That's verse 25 in practice,
to care indeed. When you care, like verse 25
says, we are to care for one another. You actually hurt when
somebody else hurts. Any who have children, again,
know what that is. The Lord uses children. And even
in this very context, we've seen how that a mother and a father
are used to define the terms of this love and the relationship between the pastor and the members
and vice versa and all of the members for one another. And you rejoice with them. Maybe you can identify with this,
this is rare. But I bet everybody has felt
this one time or another, when you would actually rather
see somebody else succeed or be blessed than for you yourself
to be blessed. You're in on it now. You're connected
in a rare way. It's a gift of the Lord. God has done something wonderful
when it's like that. And that's what we need. We need God to do something for
us. God's done something priceless
when what happens to you matters that much to me. Verse 27, now
you are the body of Christ and members in particular. Now, we've known all along that
this is what he's been saying, that the church is the body of
Christ, but we're called upon to particularly consider that
what these physical body parts mention translate into when you're
talking about Christ. A human body is designed to perform
certain functions. We're made to work our hands,
our shoulders, We're made to work, we're made to run, we're
made to walk, we're made to swim. We can eat, we can drink. We perform these physical functions
as a human body without really even thinking about it. And all of the muscles of our
body and all of the parts work in conjunction to accomplish
a purpose. It's that way also with the body
of Christ. It's designed, marvelously designed
to accomplish a purpose. And we see what that purpose
is very, very clearly in the context. We're gonna look at
it in just a minute. But as the body, parts of it perform
different functions, the hand, is able to take hold of, the
eye is able to see and perceive and predict based on what it
sees. And all of the intricacies of
that, that's true also in the body of Christ. And notice the
word particular. Members in particular, it's not
random. It looks that way, doesn't it?
You say, well, are we sure that we have the right amount of this
and not too much of that and not too little of this thing
in the church? That's God's business. What we
need to worry about is what is God giving us to do right now?
And I say right now because it's easy to start thinking about
what if, and someday, and this and that. Or look to the past
and worry about that. None of that matters. None of
that matters. It's right now, what is the Lord
giving me to do? And he does that. Well, what
if somebody leaves? Well, then they're not part of
this body anymore. And the Lord does what he does. What if somebody's
added? Well, they're part of this body
now. Not because they're on a paper list, but because they're one
of us, they're here. They're defined here as being
one who cares, who participates, who's in fellowship with us,
worships with us. And so we see this now, this
word particular has to do with being assigned a particular role,
a certain role. Like he said, are all apostles
or teachers? No, that's not your particular
role. That's not your certain position in the body. So look at verse 28 with all
that in mind now. And God hath sent some in the
church, first apostles. Those got their
marching orders directly from the Son of God. They're mentioned
first here, not just on a list, but in, I guess you'd say authority. They had authority that others
didn't. They had gifts that most didn't, nobody did. Secondarily,
prophets. Thirdly, teachers. Some say that
prophets still, like in the Old Testament, had some ability to
foretell things, that it wasn't, just being a preacher, they did
that, and it was all connected to the word of God. Everything
that the prophets foretold of was what? Christ. So it's still,
it's not just some weird, you know, thing like the world seems
to delight in where you can just foretell events that are gonna
take place. No, it all had to do with Christ, just like it
did in the Old Testament. But some say that that was, what
they were, but others say that was just the preachers and teachers
were just kind of under the preachers. But most, I think, consider the
prophets to have had some ability to foretell things, but that
teachers is the word that includes preachers and evangelists and
those that primarily preach the gospel. Like Paul said, the Lord
didn't send me to baptize, he sent me to preach. But, and then
after that, key words, don't miss the words. After that miracles,
then gifts and healings, helps, governments, diversities of tones. Notice that the first three are
all, by definition, those who minister the word of God. So what's this body designed
to do? What are the members in particular?
Why do they fit together the way they do? The gospel, this is God's lighthouse in this
place. Many have come and heard the
gospel. Many hear the gospel recorded from here. I could tell you stories, it'd
take time, but the gospel goes forth from here, and that's all
of his churches. That's all of his church as a
whole. That's our purpose. That's our commission. We're
designed to go and preach. Teaching all things whatsoever
I've commanded you. If somebody believes you, I'll
save them. That's what the Lord sent us
to do. Now that's what we're designed to do. You know, if it promoted the
gospel for us to dress up, you know, I could be Moses, you know,
and one of y'all could be some angels, you know, and put on
a play, then that's what we do, but we're not designed for that. The world's church loves to entertain.
Let me tell you something. They're not designed for that.
They're not good at it. They're really not good at it.
Leave that to the professionals, please. If I wanna be entertained,
I'm not gonna come to the worship of God to be entertained. But that's the business that
God is in and that he's commissioned us into. That's the purpose that
his body is designed for, to tell the truth, to shine as a
light. Not hidden under a bushel, it's
shined, put on a candlestick so that the whole room is lit
and everybody can see by that light. That's what it is. And notice when we get beyond
that, beyond the different roles of different creatures of the
word, it says after that, after that. Now we talked about a couple
weeks ago about miracles and healings, and we see why the
Lord gave those gifts to the church. What a wonderful, wonderful
thing. What could God do that would
convince us more that he's with us and blessing us than if he
gave us the capability of healing? That's God, you know that's God.
Not putting on some kind of show and using trickery. But true, true miracles. But we're told plainly now, what
has that got to do with the gospel? Mark 16, 19. So then after the
Lord had spoken to them, he was received up into heaven and sat
on the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached
everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the
word with signs following. Even that had to do with the
gospel. It's the gospel. What everybody needs is to hear
the gospel. What we're designed to do is
to set forth the gospel. Still all about the Word, even
the healings and miracles. The gospel is how God is pleased
to save sinners. And that's what He's doing here
in this world. He saves them by grace through
faith in Christ. As the gospel is preached, the
body of Christ is designed to perform that function. We talked about helps a little
bit before. Everybody can be a help. And this is still mentioned before
speaking in tongues. Isn't that interesting that the
one thing that religion, there's a whole religion It's pretty
much based on being able to speak in tongues, and everybody knows
that's what they're all about. They're trying to convince everybody
in their so-called churches to acquire that gift. Well, even
then, not everybody had that. It would have been foolish to
try to do that. The Lord either gifted you or
he didn't then. What are they doing now? Well, I'll tell you what they're
doing. They're majoring on the minors and they've missed the
majors altogether. Majoring on the minors, that
which was the least gift. It was a gift that was used at
Pentecost very mightily and I'm sure at times after when someone
couldn't understand the apostles and disciples in their language,
in the language they were speaking, God made it so that either they
were able to speak, they were able to speak in the language.
It says in Acts 2, I believe, that everybody heard in their
own language. So I don't know exactly what
the Lord did there, but the purpose of it was clear, and it became
less and less prominent as time went on. Paul said, whether they
be tongues, they shall cease. They have. They have. But you know why they major on
that? Because it's easy to fake. Actually healing somebody, it's
not that easy to fake, although they'll set that up. They'll
find people that'll cooperate with them to make it look like
that. That's a lot harder to do. A lot harder to do. You see, people start asking
questions like, why don't you go down to the hospital instead
of putting on a magic show up here in the church? But speaking in tongues, that's
so easy to fake. And it's creepy, it's disgusting. But you see why they do that.
There's a tension, there's glory in that for them. I've got an
inside scoop here on heaven. And maybe you don't. So verse 29 here, it goes right
with verse 28, doesn't it? Talking about sort of the order of importance
of these various gifts. You know, really all of them
having to do with the gospel. The miracles and the healing
had to do with the gospel. Speaking in tongues was so people
could hear the gospel in their language. Gospel, all of it,
every bit of it. You see what the body was designed
to do? the spiritual body of Christ.
And so he's asking here, are all apostles? No, of course not.
These are rhetorical questions to make a very clear point. Not
everybody can do that. Not everybody has gifts of, had
gifts of healing and all that then. It was clearly from the
conversations Recorded in the scriptures. It was those the
apostles were able to confer those gifts on people But when
they did that the people that got the gifts of the spirit were
not able to confer them They just had them and so now all
of those people are gone And we don't have that Are you an
apostle? Let's read verse 29 and 30 this
way. Are you an apostle? Are you a
prophet Teachers, there are teachers
now. There's not very many, right? Not very many. If you look at
everybody that's proposing and presuming to teach the scriptures,
as opposed to how many really are, there's not many. Anybody here work any miracles?
or have the gift of healing? Can you speak with tongues? Can
you interpret what somebody's saying in a language that you
can't understand? Rhetorical questions, simply
pointing out that what you are going to be and do is what God
gifts you for, and nothing else. He gifts different people with
different gifts, not all the same. Those who seem to be less
gifted are most vital He said that clearly So none of us can do any of that,
but can you be a help that just means support So you see why we focus on that
one particularly To be a help Oh As we've seen before, and I just
love that it's this way, and so I have to say it again, when
celebrated good works in the scriptures have been mentioned,
they're always simple things. And I just love that. The woman
in Matthew 26, she wasn't even part of the conversation at first.
They didn't even want her there, except for the Lord. She was
a sinner woman, but she had something of value, and she loved the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's it. She was thankful for
forgiveness of sin, and so she loved the Savior. And she wanted
to glorify him, so she kissed his feet and she wept at his
feet and she broke that alabaster box of ointment and anointed
him. And she was scolded for it. But the Lord described it
this way in Mark 14, six. Jesus said, let her alone, why
trouble you her? For she hath wrought a good work
on me. Or you have the poor with you always, and whensoever you
will, you may do them good. But me you have not always. She hath done what she could.
She has come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying." I bet
there was dead silence after he said that, you reckon? The Lord said, I was sick and
you visited me. I was hungry and you gave me
something to eat. Simple, simple things. Tabitha made coats for her friends
in Acts 9. Nobody's an apostle now. Nobody's
a prophet. There are very few that teach
the gospel. Nobody can heal or do a miracle, but helps, helps. How the pastor needs helps now. Helps were never more needed
than they are now. in verse 31, but covet earnestly
the best gifts, and yet show unto you a more excellent way. Now what this literally says,
covet earnestly the best gifts, means this, be zealous in the
more useful gifts. If God has gifted you in a way
that is useful in the ministry of what we do, in the function
that this body performs. Be zealous in it. Do it with all your heart. If somebody starts rattling off
in a foreign language and nobody knows what in the world they're
talking about, that's not helpful. Paul addresses that specifically
in the scriptures. That doesn't do anybody any good. If there's nobody to interpret
that, that means nothing. But if there's something useful
in the ministry of the declaration of the word, of the exalting
of Christ in this world, in the telling forth the glories of
his grace and salvation by his precious blood, if there's something
useful in that, just be in an encouragement, be in a help in
whatever way, using a skill that the Lord has blessed you with,
Singing a song and making us all just making our blood pressure
go down ten points That's useful So many many things God gives these gifts remember
verse 7 look at verse 7 again. Why does he give them? to be
a help, to be a help in that ministry,
in the performance of that function that this body is built to do,
to glorify Christ in the preaching of the gospel. And yet there's
something better and more important than even the best of these gifts
mentioned here. A more excellent way, a superior
way, a more preeminent way beyond all measure. That's what that
word means. I show you a way that you can't
even estimate the usefulness of. So if anybody wants to be a help,
wants to be useful, and a blessing in God's church, and I hope you
do, I hope every one of you do, I hope I do, that that's a huge
priority with us, to be a help. You don't need exceptional skill,
the Lord may give you, he may have blessed you with a skill
that you can be useful with. You don't have to be uniquely
inventive or talented, although we are. Many of you are. I'd say all of the Lord has blessed
us. I don't know how else to say
it. But whatever that is, here's
how to really, beyond measure, be useful in God's church. Just
care. Just care. Care. Let it matter to you. Because here's the thing now,
whatever you do or don't do, if it's done or not done out
of love, it's excellent. May God show us the more excellent
way. Let's pray.