First part of first Corinthians
12 and then this section here on The body and its many members
are read separately and understood separately and they're certainly
distinguishable, but See here how they go together verse 12
again for as the body is one and and have many members and
all the members of that one body being many are one body. So also
is Christ. And so still speaking of the
diversities of gifts that God has given in his church, this
teaches unity, of course, we're all members of one body. But
also the need for one another in the way that God gives his
people not in a random way, but in a very particular and precise
way within his church. As a body is put together, and
of many members that cooperate well with one another, that's
how the Lord runs his church. We see that he runs it, and we
see how he does. And it's a beautiful thing to
behold. One and many are clearly key
words here. Both the oneness and the manyness
are both great blessings. That's the word for the day,
manyness. Write that down, use it in a sentence. But both are necessities. They're
blessings and necessities. We're not gonna make it unless
we're one. The various ways in which we
are gifted are also as we see in this text needed by one another
Now the verse says that Christ is that way It doesn't say the
church, but it's talking about the church the body of Christ
Is like the human body very simple and beautiful illustration but
he says Christ is that way and that's interesting this is Because
that makes it so much, it makes it so, such an elemental thing, if that
makes any sense. It just, if this is Christ we're
talking about, then let's get it right, shall we? By his grace,
let's pray that we would get it right and that we would understand
this and see glorify him in it. So it's Christ, like the body,
this is his body, one body, but made up of many members with
various different functions and purposes. The many is not only
different people, but different gifts, as he said, diversities
of gifts in the first part of this chapter. But what makes
us one The many is clear. In what ways are we one? Well,
what makes us one is Christ himself, the person of Christ. Every member,
whatever your distinctions are, every member depends on the blood
of Christ. to not only have washed us eternally
from our sins, but to constantly cleanse us from our sins. We
ask him, Lord, forgive us of our sins, as he taught us to
pray. And that happens by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's true of anything that
has it with a body. If there's a part of the body
that the blood doesn't circulate to, it dies. It's not good, it's
bad. So, Every member of the body
is dependent upon water. Our bodies are made up, I guess
it says, of 70% water, and every part of the body has that. Well,
Christ is the water of life. Every member of our body not
only benefits, but needs food to survive. And so we have all
of these things in common, but every thing that we have in common
is Christ. Christ is all of those things
to us. He's our nourishment. He's our
vitality. If we're not in the vine, we're
dead and fit only to be burned. So, and every member also moves
at the will of the head. My head tells my hands and my
feet and everything what to do. Christ is also the head of the
church. Every member is protected by
the head. I thought about this. It's the head that keeps the
hand from being burned or severed or damaged. And the rest of the
body keeps us out of danger. And so Christ is all of that.
We have him in common, and of course that's vital. That's our oneness. That's the
word one. Also, though, what makes us different
is Christ, too, because he's the one that gives us in these
various ways. He's the one that has made us
what we are within the body. And so he also is the director of the many. Christ himself is perfect. His
body, we individually, We're imperfect sinners, but what Christ
does is perfect and this is what he's done now the way that we
affect that and Deteriorate that is you know
obvious and Because of our sin, but what he has done is perfect
and we can rejoice in that He is The one Whereby we're united
and he is the one who makes us many Various Individuals in his
church that fit together In that one body Verse 13 for by one
spirit. We are all baptized into one
body Whether we be Jews or Gentiles whether we be bond or free Have
been all made to drink into one spirit so this is a This tells us how we came to
be the many yet one Verse 12 were introduced to the illustration
to the comparison between Christ's spiritual body and a human body
a physical body and Verse 13, now we're told how this comes
to be. It's by the spirit of Christ,
which dwells in us, and we in it. Notice the language here
in verse 13. We're immersed into one body. That's that word, baptized, just
means to immerse. Whether we be Jews or Gentiles,
whether we be bond or free, whatever distinctions we may have otherwise,
we're immersed into one body. by that one spirit. And we've
also all been made to drink into one spirit. So we are immersed
in the spirit and in the body of Christ and we're in him and
he in us. We drink of that spirit. And
so earthly distinctions, certainly Jew, Gentile, bond free. So not
only our nationality and the different ways in which we're
born into this world, but different statuses in this world, different
positions in this world, bond or free, rich or poor, whatever
our condition is, whatever our circumstances are, we're in the
spirit and the spirit in us. And that's what makes us one.
Also, that's how it came to be. So that ebb and flow into one
body, but also we drink. It's by the spirit that we're
immersed. Notice that by one spirit, we
are all immersed into his body. That's who did it. And also it
says we are made to drink. So clearly this is God's doing. It's not, It's not a voluntary
thing, although he bends our will, he makes us willing in
the day of his power, but we would never be part of his church. Not the true church, there's
nothing really for the flesh in the worship of Christ. If
there is something for the flesh, really, then it's probably not
the worship of Christ. But for the spirit, it's comfort
and peace and rest and joy. Salvation, life. Which I know that affects the
flesh, that makes us confident and comfortable and strong in
the flesh too. But I mean as far as fleshly
entertainment and things like that. I wouldn't be part of this
if not for the grace of Christ. if not for the doing of the Spirit
within me, the glory is His. And this calls
for great thanksgiving unto Him that we're included in this.
And that's something that really needs to govern the way we think about the worship. It really is. To be included
in his church, he clearly did that. He made us to drink. And
by him and his spirit, we're immersed into this body. That's
grace. That's privilege. That's honor. It's life, isn't it? Isn't it
life? Verse 14, for the body is not
one member, but many, one body but not one member. If the foot
shall say, therefore see how he's advancing into this. So
verse 12, we're introduced to the, I guess the allegory or
whatever it is, comparison illustration of the physical body, picturing
the spiritual body of Christ. Verse 13, we see how that came
about. God did it by his spirit. He made us to participate by
his grace. And now he begins to elaborate
on what it is to be in the body and what we need to conclude
from that. The body's not one member, but
many. If the foot shall say then, therefore, all this being true,
that I am not the hand and so I'm not of the body. Is it therefore
not of the body? You could see how the foot might
say that. This is obviously not literal, but the truth of this
is literal. You could see how somebody that might compare to
the foot might look at somebody that might compare to the hand
and say, well, the hand can do lots of stuff. All I do is just
kind of pick up and go down. I can't pick things up, really.
I could probably learn that, but I'm not going to. You see
what I'm saying? It's a lesser, it's not thought
of, it's covered up. It's not like the hand. And so he may say, well, the
body doesn't really need me. I'm not really part of the body
in the way the Lord's talking about this, but does that make
it so? 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? And you see in both cases, it's
the member that might be less thought of that's saying, well,
I'm not like so-and-so. I think Vicki has beautiful eyes.
You know, people say that of each other, like your eyes are
so pretty. Ears, don't really get that, do they? Your ears
are so lovely, darling. It just doesn't work that way,
does it? So you see the teaching here. And if everybody was an
eye, if everybody said, well, man, the eye, what a fantastic
thing that is. We can't perceive anything without
the eye. Even the brain depends upon the
eye because we make decisions and judgments based on what we
see in the earthly realm. And so everybody decides they
want to be an eye. Well, that'd be weird, wouldn't
it? In the illustration here, that'd
be really weird. And it would be in spiritual
matters, it would distort. the body of Christ, if the whole
we're hearing, where were the smelling? As necessary as each part of
the body is, it's limited in and of itself. Even the more
important parts of the body are limited in and of themselves. Nobody can just bow out and say,
I'm not gonna be part of it. And the foot says, well, I can't
do what the hand does, and so he excludes himself, but the
hand can't do what the foot does. The hand can pick up stuff, but
you're not gonna pick up a whole lot of stuff without the feet.
You're gonna run out of things to pick up. If the foot, both are limited. The ear is
not the eye, and the eye's a wonderful thing, but so is the ear. The eye can't hear music, The
eye is limited in its perception of danger. A lot of times your
hearing is what protects you from danger. And neither can
do what the other does. That's a very clear teaching.
You see there's a lot of teaching in this, but that's a very clear
teaching. One without the other is limited. And what a wonderful illustration
of what's going on in Christ's church. Each member is part of what it
takes to function as a body. And there's no church without
someone to preach the gospel, for example. But neither is there
a church without people who support the ministry of the church. We
could get by, I suppose, without being gifted in any way musically,
but I don't want to anymore than I wanna live without one of my
thumbs. I could probably get by, but I don't want to, do you? And I like to talk about all
the many gifts that there are in the church that we experience
and we see because not everything, there's no way Paul could deal
with every gift that the Lord gives in the church. And so,
but we can, by experience, we see the kind of things he's talking
about. And we see how the Lord has blessed
us in so many different ways that are not mentioned specifically. The gift of encouragement is
vital to me. I don't believe that there could
be a church without that. And of course, when I say that,
we understand that God can do what he wants to do, but I believe
that's an integral part of his church, is to be able to encourage
one another. And not everybody has that. I'll be real honest with you,
not everybody has that. I wonder if I do. I won't do.
I don't want to be a downer all the time. We're prone to that,
aren't we? We're prone to the negative because of our sin. But, you
know, encouragement comes in many different forms in support
of the ministry, of course, and with an encouraging word, but
just being there. How many times have I talked
about this? Just being a fixture, being like
that piano. You walk in this room, you're
gonna see that piano. That's encouraging. I believe that's a vital gift.
I don't think it happens without that, by God's arrangement. I need encouragement and I want
to be that. And I fear that it's not that
way. If you can't sing, it doesn't
mean that you're not needed. If you can't preach, it does not
mean that you're not needed, necessary. If you can't give
very much, others can, and we're taught to give, in the words
of scripture, everyone according to his ability. were called upon to be witnesses
of the Lord, but some are certainly not gonna be as gifted at that
as others. Ultimately, everybody needs to
hear the gospel, and so if all you can do in that regard is
just invite somebody to church, just say, we've got a church
over here if you ever wanna visit, our pastor preaches the gospel. People need to hear the gospel That's a very important Thing
now verse 17 we read let's look at it again If the whole body
were an eye where were the hearing if the whole? We're hearing where
were the spelling this exhorts us? Not to try to be what we're
not But for an ear to aspire to be
an eye is not commendable. Where were the hearing? It distorts the body. Ears don't
see very well and eyes don't hear. You know what's wonderful though?
When the Lord speaks of his people doing good works or, you know, people say, you know,
I'm active in my church. That usually means you sing in
the choir or you teach a Sunday school class or something like
that. Scripture don't say a whole lot of that when it mentions
good works. You know what it talks about? Very simple things, very simple. If you feel like you're not gifted
at anything, let's look at some scripture. Matthew 25, 34. You'll
be real familiar with this. Matthew 25, 34. Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, come, ye blessed of my father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me meat. I was thirsty and you
gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you took
me in. Naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited
me. I was in prison. And you came unto me. You don't have to be a superstar
to do any of that, do you? And yet that's a gift from the
Lord. A lot of people don't have that.
A lot of people just thinking about
themselves all the time. Everybody just thinking about
themselves all the time really This is good, it's a gift This
is the Lord. This is salvation Is it anything
less than that? Honestly, I'm not saying you're
saved by what you do, but I'm saying when you're saved That's why you do what you do
because God saved you I You're blessed, come ye blessed. Come
ye blessed. Come ye righteous, come ye blessed. And of course the righteous say,
well, we never did anything like that. What are you talking about?
And he said, The last part of verse 40 and
as much as you've done it unto one of the least of these my
brethren you've done it Unto me Did you know that's really
the only way you can really do anything for the Lord He doesn't need a drink of water
he made the water But One of us might He's not in prison, you see,
he sets the prisoners free. But he might put one of us there.
He did Paul. What a blessing, I don't think
we've ever come close to understanding that passage of Scripture. Thank
God for it. Simple, simple. Listen to Matthew
10, 42. Whosoever shall give to drink
unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the
name of a disciple or as a disciple of Christ. Verily I say unto
you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. You know, when he's
talking about the little ones, he's talking about his sheep. He's talking about his sheep.
Tear with me to Acts 9.36 again. I know you, well, you know, it's
weird. I say, boy, I've used this a
lot, probably about 12 years ago, the last time I read this
passage. It just seems like yesterday, though. We've probably talked
about this three or four times over the last 20 years. It seems
like I've overdone it. Acts 9 36 I love love this passage
of scripture talking about gifts and up I Hope that I can show from the
scripture in a minute why we're talking about these type of things
rather than The preaching and that we're gonna get to that
in the last part of this chapter, but right now we're talking we're
going to talk about the way that that the Lord uses each of us
in the church now, Acts 9, 36. Now there was at Joppa a certain
disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas. And this woman was full of good
works and alms deeds, which she did. And it came to pass in those
days that she was sick and died, whom, when they had washed, they
laid her in an upper chamber, And for as much as Lydda was
nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there,
they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to
come to them. And then Peter arose and went with them. And
when he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber, and
all the widows stood by him, weeping, and showing the coats
and garments which Dorcas made while she was with them. But
Peter put them all forth and kneeled down and prayed, and
turning him to the body, said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes, and
when she saw Peter, she sat up. And he gave her his hand and
lifted her up. And when he had called the saints
and widows, presented her alive. They loved this woman so much,
they sent to find Simon, knowing that likely he could do something
about this. And you know, Tabitha would have
been fine, don't you think? If the Lord said she was full
of good works, that means she was washed with the blood of
Christ, is what that means. It's the Lord that creates us
anew in Christ Jesus unto good works. But when we're given an example,
it's so simple, isn't it? The ladies, the other ladies
said, look, she made this coat for me. I just can't get over
that. Look at this coat. And she, yeah,
she made me this scarf. And they were all showing Simon
the things that she had made for them. And you can just picture
that. And it's such a simple thing,
but the Lord said she was full of good words. All of them's
deeds. kind things that she did for
people and supported them and helped people. And I'll be honest
with you, I can't make a coat, and you may not be able to make
a coat either, but we can all do things like that. We see what
that is. It's just a simple gesture of
love. Can you make a pecan pie? Because
I'll love you if you can make a pecan pie. Everybody can do something, that's
a gift, isn't it? To do something for somebody
else, just selflessly. And I commend all of y'all in
that, but you think we could be better at that? You think we could just think
about it all the time about other people and what can we do for
them and not just think about our own stuff all the time? and
serve one another, that's the gift now. And we're gonna see
that in a minute here. You know, and these things are
all so, such beautiful gestures. You
can't possibly offend somebody by making them coat. Can you? You think anybody's gonna be
mad at you for that? Or bringing them something to eat when they
need it. Or visiting them when they're
down. You see the kinds of things that the Lord talks about when
he talks about one believer. Not only helping one another,
but doing something for him. He don't need you to set the
world on fire. He can do that all by himself. He don't need
you to get anybody saved. That's his business. Just be kind. Just be there. That's his gift now. And that's so clear in the scriptures. And don't
ever seek any recognition for whatever the Lord has gifted
you to do. It's all for the glory of God,
not us. That's so hard for this flesh
to remember. It's not about you and me. We are, this church is an incredibly
gifted group of people. There's just no question about
that in so many different ways. And I encourage us to, I don't want to say the kind
of words that religion says about using your gift and things like
that. I don't know if that's the right way to say it or not.
But I pray that the Lord will cause us to desire to be a help
to one another more and more. Just an encouragement to one
another. You know what a difference it
makes? Just to make somebody's day. I've had some days that
could have been completely different, and you have too. But you see the characteristics
of these things. They're things that nobody's
gonna be upset about. Nobody's gonna get mad about
that. It's simple. Anybody can do something like
that. If you can sing, work on a song, let me know when you're
ready. We've talked about that. I know
that that's not working out that great right now, but I still
think it's better than making a list and then whoever's on
the list doesn't sing. So just let me know when you're
ready. I like that a lot better. That means you actually want
to do it and it's not just, oh, well, I gotta sing this week.
So nobody ever got mad because somebody brought some fresh garden
vegetables up here. That's a blessing. Did you know
that? We take that for granted. That's a blessing. Cleaning or
fixing something is not ever a problem. Nobody's feelings are ever gonna
get hurt by that. There's absolutely limitless
opportunity to be a blessing to God's people in some way. And the Lord Jesus said, if you
want to do something for me, here it is. Here it is. You don't have to be smart. You
don't have to be real talented at anything. It's the gift of
the spirit, not the flesh. You don't have to have any physical
ability, really. to do things like that. You just
got to care. You've got to care. You've got
to love somebody. Because if you don't and you're
just doing it because it's what you're supposed to do, we're
going to figure that out. It's not going to be the same. It's not going to be the same. And let me show you the reason
that I'm focusing on things like this, when the scripture that
we're reading, especially the context of it, talks about preaching
and teaching and speaking in tongues and things like that.
Look at verse 28 of chapter 12. and God hath set some in the
church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after
that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments,
diversities of tongues. You see that little word helps?
That means help, support, or be a partaker. In other words,
you're in on it. Whatever the need is, whatever
needs to happen, you're in on it. You're part of it. Help,
support. Let me ask you a question. Does
any of the other stuff in verse 28 apply to you? Any apostles
here tonight? Prophets? We have a teacher. But that leaves most of us out,
doesn't it? You know where I fit the most?
Helps. That's all of us. That's what
we're talking about tonight. Just be a help to somebody. Support
them. Encourage. Love indeed and not
word only. Is that in the scripture somewhere?
I'm pretty sure that is. Not in word only. Let every man think not on his
own things, but also. on the things of others. Miracle, you may work any miracles.
You see why I'm talking about the things that the scripture,
cup of cold water, we know what that represents. You can get
your own water, but we know what that means, don't we? There's
a need, and I can do something about it. By the grace of God,
I can do something about it. And doing something about it,
there's no merit in it. It's by God's grace, but what
a glorious thing if the Lord says, you've done it unto me.
Can you think of anything better in this world than that? The one who shed his precious
blood for me, for him to count it a favor unto himself. Just some small gesture. That's a door wide open and that's
so beautiful. Such a privilege. But now verse
18, we'll close. But now hath God set the members,
every one of them. Think of how beautiful this is.
It's not random. It's not random at all now. Now
hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body of the
church. The church is the body of Christ. As it hath pleased
him. He set you right where you are
tonight. Not just your position in the
pew. That's important too, you don't want anybody stealing your
spot. But the way you fit into the body, The way the Lord has
gifted you. The Lord has arranged that very
particularly, very deliberately, very powerfully, and very graciously. Amen, let's pray.