Open your Bible with me there
to 1 Corinthians 12. Brother Paul's done read the
scriptures I want to speak from tonight, and I know this much about God's
people. They revere and honor and love
God's Word. What they don't understand about
it, they still believe it. I remember one time as a young,
years and years ago, I run across the passage in Acts chapter 8. when Paul was spitting down on
the Damascus Road in one place, it says there that they saw a
great light. Everybody saw it, but didn't
hear no man's voice. And I read later on in the book
that they all saw the great light and they heard the voice. And
I thought, oh my, there's a contradiction in God's word. I thought it was
a bad print in my Bible. I thought, man, I've got a Bible
that they've misprinted in. It really shook me up until I
understood that With one place they didn't hear the voice it
meant it's like talking on telephone with other place they did. You
know that you don't hear the distinct words. You don't hear
somebody talking on telephone you just hear the voice you know
somebody talk loud you don't know exactly what they're saying
you just hear the sound of a voice that's what they were and I know
that we. We revere and esteem and honor
and bless God for his word. We know that he's forever settled
in heaven. And God does what he does for us through and by
his word. And I know that every believer
wants to learn more about the word of God and wants it to speak
to them individually. They want it to, Lord, speak
to me through your word. Now, a bunch of us gathered out
here tonight, we got all different kinds of personalities. nature's
constitution, likes and dislikes, difference in intellects. Some
of us, some of you all, I shouldn't say us, some of y'all pretty
smart and some of us ain't so smart. Some of us pretty fast
and some of us not too fast. But everybody here tonight has
come, Lord, you speak to me. What have you got to say to me
at this hour? We want to learn from God's word,
want him to speak to us. And I want tonight, if the Lord
has helped me, to talk about the Church as the Body of Christ,
the Church as the Body of Christ, and hope that God will be pleased
to teach every one of us and help us all know something about
this. I ain't got this thing on here.
Hope that God will be pleased to teach us something from His
Word. that Paul here talks about in
verse twelve, as the body is one, hath many members, and all
the members of that one body being many are one body, so also
is Christ. He uses the body here as an illustration,
an example of the image of the church of God which he purchased
with his own blood. In the human body, our bodies
are perfect examples or illustrations of the body of Christ, the church
of the living God. says the human body is a living
organism. It's not an organization, it's
a living organism. It has many, many members. Yet
every member of our bodies is controlled by one spirit. The
spirit, you know, men wonder what the body, soul, and spirit,
what's the difference between soul and spirit? Well, the spirit's
what animates us. The spirit's what makes us to
be what we are. It's our personality. It's my opinion of it. The spirit,
you say, you'll hear somebody say, well, he's got a good spirit.
or he got a bad spirit, or he got a joyful spirit. It's what
animates us, makes us our personality. And the soul is that part that
communes and feels and talks with God, and that part in us that hurts, and that part that
rejoices, that we're going to live on eternally. But this living
body, our body is controlled by one spirit. One spirit moves
about, animated by one spirit. So is the body of Christ. It's
a living organism. I know that we have organized
churches and organized religion, but the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is a living organism controlled by one spirit, by the Holy Ghost
of God. And that's the way the body of
Christ is. And let me say this, my first point. The church is
one body. I know there's lots of so-called
churches, but the church is one body. That's what he said there
in verse 12. The body is one, has lots of
members to it. And all the members of that one
body, though there's many of them, there's still just one
body, so also is Christ. Down in verse 27, now you are
the body of Christ and members in that body in particular. The
apostle said in Romans 12 and 5, he said, For we, being many,
many people, many, lots of us. In fact, you as a multitude in
the church of God that you can't number. And yet we being many,
we are members of the body of Christ, and every one members
one of another, joined to one another by the Spirit. Now, a
body has to have a head, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the
head of the body. He's the head of the Church,
and the head always represents the whole body. If I show you
a picture of myself, I don't care what I have on, I don't
care what I—you don't look at the rest of me, all you do is
look at the head. And what you do, you look at the head. And
that's the way, when you got ready to come to meeting tonight,
because the head represents the body, you made sure you had your
makeup on, you had your hair combed and brushed your teeth
and done all those things because the head represents the body.
It's the glory of the body. And the Lord Jesus Christ, he
represents the body. The Lord Jesus is the head of
the church. He's the life of the church.
The church has no life apart from the head. Now, I can do
without an arm. I can do without a leg. I can
do without a kidney. I can do without a lung. I can
do without a spleen. I can do without an appendix.
I can do without feet. But I tell you, I can't do without
my head. That's the way Christ is the head of the body of the
church, and as the head. In the whole human race, there
ain't but two heads in the purpose of God, in the will of God. There
is only two men in all the purpose of God. And the whole human race
was represented by one head, Adam in the garden. And what
that head done, because of our union with him and our association
with him, what he done, we all done. And when our head, Adam,
our federal head, fell in the garden, rebelled against God,
the whole body, his whole Ever want to affiliate with hell with
it? We suffered the consequences of what our head does. And yet,
God in His sovereign mercy had a head of a redeemed race, a
chosen race, an elect race, a race chosen before the foundation
of the world, and chosen in Christ, and chosen to be the body. And
the Lord Jesus stood as our representative, and our head, and all the glory
that God had for His body in this world is vested in that
head, the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the purpose of God, we
were joined to that head before the world ever was. We had life in Him before the
world ever was. And as the head of the Church,
He's the chief glory of the Church. When we gather, as Paul sung
the hymn tonight, y'all sung the hymn to Saul. When we gather,
we sing about him, we talk about him, we pray to him, we praise
him, and to him belongs the chief place and the glory in the body.
I have no glory, you have no glory, he gets the glory. He's
the one with the beauty. He's the one with the power.
He's the one with the authority. He's the one with the rights.
He's the one with the majesty. He's the one that's august in
his person. And he gets all the glory, not
ourselves. And let me tell you something. And listen, folks didn't like
this much down home, but I'll tell you something. This was
years ago. The church is not democratic. No more than my body's
democratic. I can just see my right hand
asking my left hand, listen, let us have a debate. Which one
of us is going to do this? Which one is going to do that?
Let's have a vote. My head won't let him. My head won't let him. My head don't know how to do
that. I can't separate, make my head say, well, let's debate
over whether my right hand or my left hand is going to do it.
You just do what your head tells you. Just intermix it with this.
Don't fall about it. And the body, the church of the
Lord Jesus Christ is not democratic. Not one vote for every head,
more than my body is. The body is directed by the head,
and you've heard that old illustration, you know, two heads are better
than one? Not in this instance. There's
only one head in this body, only one. You know, and I'll tell
you something, I had my two heads in the Church of Christ. Uh-uh.
No, as much as you love and respect and honor and esteem your pastor,
and I bless God for the way you've received him and love him and
his family, That still, under Christ, can only be one head
here. It can't be two. It can't be two. And the Scripture says
that God hath made him, put all things under his feet, under
Christ's feet, and made him to be head of the body, the church,
who is the fullness of him that filleth all and in all. And he
is the head of the body, the church, the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things, he might have the preeminence. He might have the preeminence.
Now, there's lots of so-called churches, but the Lord has only
one church, only has one body. And you go through this chapter
sometime at home on your, at your own leisure, look at how
many times the word one is used. It's used twelve times here.
In verse eleven, I believe, down through verse twenty-seven. Twelve
times one, one, one. And not only is the church one
body, just one body, it has one head. That head gets all the
glory and all honor. It's the chief glory. But the
members are all united by one spirit. Just one body got lots
of members, but all the members are united by one spirit. Look
there at verse 13. For by one spirit are we all
baptized into that one body. Whether we're Jews or Gentiles,
whether we be bond slaves or whatever, or free, We've all
been made to drink into one spirit. But how in the world we get in
this body of Christ? This way you get into it. The Holy Ghost
puts you in. The Holy Spirit puts you in. It's the only way
to get in the body of Christ by the Spirit. And, beloved,
we're not trying to get men to join the Church. We desire to
see men join to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we desire
to see. That just amazes people down
home. When I first started pastoring, after about two or three years,
folks would start coming And then, after about four or five
months, they'd come and want to take church membership. And
I'd always say, just wait a while. I said, there ain't no big hurry.
I said, you're doing everything a church member's doing anyway,
so you're attending the gospel, you're supporting the Word, you're
listening to the preaching. I said, what more could you do?
I said, just sit and listen a while. Make sure you understand what
I'm saying. And they'd just stand back and say, you mean you don't
want us for a member? I said, I didn't say that. I want to
see men and women, because if you let folks come as a member
before they get to Christ, they'll stop there lots of times. And
the only way to get in the Church, in the body of Christ, is by
the Spirit, by the Holy Ghost. The Lord Jesus Christ said, look,
it's the Spirit that regenerates us. That's just more of the flesh.
It's flesh. And our Lord said, except a man
be born of the water, which is the work, and of the Spirit,
he can't enter the kingdom of God. He can enter a church, he
can enter religion, he can enter tradition, he can enter doctrine,
but he can't enter the kingdom of God, which is the body of
Christ on this earth, where God manifests His glory through the
preaching of His blessed gospel. And the Lord, John the Baptist,
said, I baptize you with water, but there comes one after me
whose shoes I'm not even worthy to bow down, and I'm tired. He's
going to come, and when He comes, He'll baptize you with the Holy
Ghost. And, beloved, the Holy Spirit
regenerates us. He's the one that takes... Paul's
mentioned this several times. Ben mentioned it so many times
this week. Look in John chapter 16 with me. I could quote this,
but I'm I'm too bad for that. We need to look more at the Scriptures.
The Holy Spirit regenerates us. He's the one that quickens us.
He's the one that raises us from the dead. The flesh profiteth
nothing. That's what our Lord said. The
flesh absolutely profits nothing. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God, but we're no longer in the flesh. But in the Spirit,
if so, be Christ. The Spirit of Christ was in us.
And our Lord said it's the Spirit that quickens us, it's the Spirit
that gives life. and the words that I speak unto
you, their spirit and their life." And look here what our Master
said. If we know anything, if we learn anything, if we're in
the body of Christ, the Holy Spirit's got to do it. And look
what he said in verse 13, "'Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth,
is come, he'll guide you into all truth.' Just wait a while. He'll get you. He'll eventually,
you'll say, Oh, I'm so hungry to learn truths. I'm so... How
can other people in the church grow so fast and grasp things
so fast? But I'm telling you, when it's
God's time and you're mature, God will bring you, and He'll
bring you the truth at the time you're able to bear it. And He
shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that's
what He's going to speak. And He'll show you things to
come. He shall glorify me, for he's going to receive what mine
is assured unto you. He's going to take of my person.
He's going to take of my work. He's going to take of my glory.
He's going to take of my sacrifice, and my substitution, and my sacrifice,
and my redemption, and my justification, and my righteousness, and my
blood. He's going to take of me, my
priesthood, and kingship, and prophet. He's going to take of
me, and that's what he's going to teach you. And, beloved, that's
what the Body of Christ is wanting to learn, and of Him to Him.
And the Holy Spirit brings us, and then He says, all things
that the Father hath, they belong to me. Therefore said I unto
you, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you, and
a little while you'll not see me. Uh-oh. I'm not going to see
you any more, Lord. And again, a little while you
will see me, because I go, but how am I going to see you? And beloved, the Holy Spirit
sanctifies—that's how we're getting a body of Christ—baptized, immersed. This word here means immersed
into Christ. It's like, you know, it says
He's the fullest of Him that filleth all and all. You take
that glass right there. It's not full of water now. It's
good water. Into that glass. That's what we are, just into
glass. Easy, just drop it and it'll break like that. But you
take this glass and you take it out to the ocean, and you
dip it in the ocean, and it's in the fullness of the ocean.
And you take it back out and it's full of the ocean. And you
ain't taking a thing in the world away from the ocean, the ocean's
still full of—it's just vast and immense, powerful and awe-inspiring. And it's full of the ocean, but
it got its fullness from the fullness of the ocean. And you
didn't take anything from lotion. And that's the way we're the
Spirit when He puts us in Christ. We're full of Christ, and we're
filled with Christ as empty glasses. Huh? And He gets all the praise
and all the glory and all the honor. And He sanctifies us.
Sanctification is not something of the flesh, it's something
of the Spirit. And the sanctification in Scripture means to set apart
to the service and use of God. We were of service and use to
the world. We were servants of sin. We were servants and slaves
to Satan and self and flesh. And the Holy Spirit, seeing we
have purified our soul in obeying the truth through the Spirit.
And the Holy Spirit, brethren, Paul said, we're bound to always
give faith unto God for you because you have, God has chosen you
unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. takes us in our sin and depravity and religion and tradition,
and He lays hands on us and quickens us and gives us life and brings
us from darkness to light, from death to life, from sin to righteousness,
from self to Christ. Takes us out and sets us apart
here to the glory and service of Christ in the body, don't
you see? And the Holy Spirit is what inspires us. Oh, we can't
pray without Him. We can't think any spiritual
thought without Him. We can't understand the Bible
without Him. Any joy you ever feel hits the
Holy Spirit. You women go about cleaning your
house, washing your dishes, and you get in the drudgery of it,
and then all of a sudden you stand there one day, and all
of a sudden your heart just fills with joy, and you just start
thinking about God. You say, Oh, I bless God, He's so gracious.
It's the Holy Spirit inspiring you. He empowers us. We can't preach. We can't witness,
we can't testify, we can't endure, we can't persevere without. He
illuminates us. Paul said, Brethren, we know
your election of God because our Word didn't come to you,
our gospel didn't come to you just in words, but it came in
the Holy Ghost and in power and in much assurance. He comes and
he takes these things, the gospel, and he brings the Word, and he
takes with that Word and makes you understand that this is the
Word of God. It's true and it's so. It faces
you. You've had your traditions and
your beliefs and your ideas, and then when the gospel starts
coming to you, you'd always been a help to God, and you'd always
been cooperative with God, and you seek to obey God, and you
seek by your will to do this and that. And the gospel comes
along, and it starts tearing down your false gods and your
false idols and your false concepts. And yet you say, oh, is it true?
Is it so, Lord? I need to know. But when it comes
in the Holy Ghost, it brings the assurance that, yes, the
soul is showing me how to work. It's so, huh? And beloved, that's
the only way we know Jesus Christ is Lord. They can put signs all
over and say, Jesus is Lord all they want to, but look in verse
3, "'Wherefore I give unto 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.'" And
what that means there is that no man can really acknowledge
in their heart and bow and submit to his Lordship but by the Holy
Ghost. That's what that means. Our Lord
Jesus said, who do men say that I am? They said, well, some say
you're John the Baptist, some say you're Jeremiah or Elias
or one of the other prophets. But who do you say that I am?
Peter said, well, Dr. Christ, you're the Son of the
living God. He said, blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. Flesh
and blood didn't make you know that, but my Father. which is
in heaven. Reveal that unto you. And I'll
tell you how else these members, we're all united by one spirit.
How in the world do you think I could come up here? We don't
get to see one another often. We'll go two or three years and
not see one. How do you think I can come up here and fellowship
and worship with you all and preach and we just talk and speak
the same language and ain't seen one in two or three years and
eat together and laugh and cut up and rejoice together and just
feel like we've known one another all our life? because we all
have the same spirit. I could come here and function
in the body of Christ just like I'm at home. If I was at home,
I wouldn't preach. No difference. Same liberty, same—just feel
right at home. Why? How can you do that? Because
we all—we're united by this one spirit. We have this common faith.
And here's how else we get united and put into the church of God,
and it's by a sovereign act of God. Look down in verse 18. And now hath God set the members,
every one of them in the body." Has it done what? Has it pleased
Him? You don't like where you are
in the body of Christ? God put you where you are. God
made you what you are. You may be the least member,
but God made you that. You may be the biggest member,
but God made you that. And that's how God puts us in
the body of Christ. God sets us in. It's a sovereign
act of God. He does it as it pleases Him.
And thirdly, the body of Christ got many members. Many members. That again in verse 12. For as
the body is one, have many members. Oh my, I've got ten fingers on
my body. When my little grandson was born,
they brought him out. I got to watch and clean him
up and suck his lungs out and do all the things, see if he's
motor skills that he had. If he reacted right to certain
things, and the first thing I want to know is it. And you know,
when they bring them out, the first thing they do is start
counting the fingers and toes. You know? And I said, Has he
got all of them? Has he got them all? That's what
I wanted to know. Huh? Got many members. He had
ten toes. Five on the right, five on the
left, five on the right. Two eyes, two ears, a nose and
two nostrils. in his teeth coming in slowly
but surely. You're going to have a whole
mouthful of more of these things. But the body of Christ got many
members. There's many members in the body, and all the members
of that one body, though there's so many, there's still one body.
That's the way it is in Christ. Down in verse 14, for the body
is not one member, but many. The church, you know, people
think, well, they just can't hardly get by without many. Church
is not one member. Church is not one member. I can
imagine that when Brother Jim got up here and told you all,
here's fixin' to leave, here's some of you, some of you is all
the pastors you'd ever known. And you got scared and you got
worried and said, oh my, maybe God's fixin' to just leave us
be. Maybe we're dead-headed around somethin', God's gonna let us
go. Man, what are we gonna do? But this, the church, the body
of Christ, not one member. When one member's moved to another
part of the body someplace else, I've got another to move ready
and take up his place. The thing ain't going to go down.
If I get killed in a car wreck going home, it'll be sad and
it'll break a lot of people's hearts. But I'm telling you something,
God will just put somebody else in there and the folks will love
him. He'll go that old preach because it's not one member. Many members
in the body of Christ. And when these things happen,
those other members go to function and work and to take up with
my arm. If this arm got broke, my right arm would take up the
slack of my left. And it said there in verse 20,
But now are they many members, many members yet, but they're
just one body. And this body of Christ, Lord,
has many members. It includes every member. It
can't do without any member. Any member. It said in verse
13, You who are Gentiles, bounder free, all been made to drink
of one spirit. It don't make no difference.
And each member has its own function, though as many members in our
bodies. I sure hate to do without any member of my body. I really
would. Whether it's a little toe, whether
it's the tip of my finger, I just don't want to do without any
part of it. I'm partial to it, and I need all of them. I need
all of them to function fully and completely. God made me a
member of this little body. You do. You do. But you need every one of them.
You may be a Jew, Gentile, you may be a slave man to work for
a living, you may be a boss. But just one body. You may not
be very educated, and there may be the fellow sitting next to
you that may have three doctorate degrees. In fact, he may have
360 of them. That means he can go in a full
circle. But he's a man who's got his
own function. And look there in verse 25. I'm going to take
my time right here if I can. I'm taking too much time anyway.
Look in verse 15. See, the body is not one member,
but many. Well, wouldn't we be a side?
If the foot shall say, because I am not the hand, I'm not of
the body, is it therefore not of the body? And we see this
happen in churches sometimes. We see it happen in local assemblies. And my foot says, well, I'm not
the hand. I don't get as much glory, don't
get to do as much. I'm not of the body. I'm just
not going to partake. I'm not going to help everybody.
I'm not going to help the rest of you. I'm not going to carry
you since I'm not the hand. I'm not going to function. I'm not
going to move. I'm not going to Not to see my life, but I'm
not the hand, so I ain't gonna move, and I just, I can't move.
See how absurd that is? Just because it says it, is it
not therefore the body? And if the ear shall say, because
I'm not the eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not
of the body? If that ear says, well, since
I can't see and all I can do is hear, it seems like the eye
gets to see so much more than the ear can hear and perceive
everything. I just don't believe in our lesson
anymore then. I just believe I'll shut up. How many times have you said
that over the years? You get a little offended or you try
to do something in the church and get your feelings hurt and
you just say, well, I'm just going to go there and smell,
just sit there like a knot on a log and not do nothing. Just not do nothing. I tried
to do something, and I didn't really want to, but I just wanted
to do something, do nothing. Since I ain't God, I'm just here,
I just couldn't listen. You ever done that? Surely you
ain't. And the ears. And if the whole
body, verse 17, if the whole body were an eye, well, where
in the world are you going to hear? Can you see a body that's
just nothing but a big eye? It'd be a weird-looking something,
I'm telling you. Couldn't walk, couldn't talk,
couldn't hear. If it's just that, everybody
here is seeing. If everybody here would just
see it, nobody was listening. You didn't have no hands, you
didn't have no feet, you didn't have a heart of compassion and
grace and courage. They're just an eye, just looking,
just looking, just looking. You'd be a weird bunch. And that's
what Paul said here. Huh? And if the hole were in
here, where's the smell in there? Oh boy, we've been to supper
over at Jenny's and Rick's and Nancy's and Joe's and Mindy's
been making good food and my sister's been bringing. The more
you go and you're hungry, you start smelling that food. Can't
see it. Can't see it. I never stepped
in Rick and Jenny's house another night until they said supper's
on the table. We sit outside for an hour or so. Man, I could
smell that food the minute we walked up there. Couldn't we? I couldn't see it. Couldn't hear
it. Never went in there where it was. What I thought I was
was just a meal. And I couldn't smell it. I wouldn't
have enjoyed that meal near as much. I enjoyed it real good
before everybody noticed that I lived. Because I could smell
it. So if you know, if we just got this one function, this one
member of a body. So it's not just one member.
We're many members. And then it says, Now God hath set some, and the
members, every one of them, and the bodies of priests, him, and
they are all one. And if they were all one member,
then where in the world's the body? If everybody's in the ear,
or in the eye, or hand, or foot, where in the world is the whole
body at? How's it going to function? But now they are many members,
yet they're still just one body. And the eye can't say unto the
hand, I've got no need of you. Oh no, in fact, in fact, the
hand, the head, have you ever watched anybody blindsided? You know, they have to, they
have to take their hand, and when they, they have to take
their hand and watch, and make sure that they, and then they
put their hand like this, because their hand has to guide it to
their mouth, because they can't see. And so the eye and hand go together.
Eye and hand coordination. I can see that glass out of the
corner of my eye and my hand is just reaching in. Got to have
both. If my eye could see it but didn't
have a hand, I couldn't get it. If I was blind and had a hand, I
couldn't get it. Got somebody to direct it. And so we have,
just because we have these different members of the body, yet one
can't say, well, I don't need you. nor again the head to the
foot. I have no need of you." And,
Beloved, so every member has its own function. And there's
diversities of gifts, but there's only one spirit and one purpose.
Look in Ephesians 4 where there's diversities of gifts. Everybody
here has got different gifts. And it's such a joy to me to
see brethren and sisters grow, you know, to come back in a year
or so after you've been there and watch how people have grown. Watch how they're starting to
function in the body of Christ and their love and kindness to
one another. And you love to see it, how they've
grown in the gospel and how they start seeing more and more things
in the Scriptures. There's all kinds of diversity
out of all the people in here. Some of you can pray, some of
you can't. Some of you don't have any problem
getting up and praying publicly, some of you have a hard time
doing it. Some of you can write, some of
you can't. Some of you can be real outgoing and real forward
and real open and like a lot of company and some of you is
kind of timid and diffident and you don't like a lot of company.
And yet it all works together for the glory of God, and his
body just balances itself out. And though there's all these
different gifts, they all work for the same will and the same
purpose. And look here in verse 11. And this is God setting these
members in the body. He gave some apostles and some
prophets and some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, as
these gifts he gave to the Church. And here's the reason, here's
the reason he gives us different gifts, for the perfecting of
the saints. for the maturing, the growing
up of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ. And I'll tell you something,
if us preachers didn't have somebody to preach to, we would have no
business being here. If you all didn't come on Sunday
and Sunday night and Wednesday night, Paul wouldn't have no
reason to get up here. You've got to have somebody to
minister to. You've got to have ears and eyes
And look, it says, "...for the edifying, for the building up,
and the establishing, and the strengthening of the body of
Christ, until we all come," watch this, "...in the unity of faith,
until we all come where we see the gospel, and all believe,
and all rejoice in the same gospel, in the same word, in the same
doctrine, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a mature
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
until we grow up into grown men and women in the faith, not having
to be babied around, not having to be coddled about, not having
to be stroked, until we grow up in this knowledge and unity
of the faith in Christ, that we be henceforth no more children,
tossed to and fro. You know how children are? One
day you know you've seen this all your life. Your children's
done it, mine's done it. They have a girlfriend that's,
this is my best girlfriend. You might, they get three or
four girlfriends, little girls do, and say, you're my best girlfriend
today, until they make a man. And then they'll tell another
and say, you're my best girlfriend. She's not my best girlfriend
anymore. Just tossed to and fro. Every time somebody says, get
upset. And don't be here, children, tossed to and fro and cared about
with every wind of doctrine that comes through, dispensationalism
and this, that, and the other, and by the sleight of men and
cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to pounce on you.
But speaking the truth in love, this is what we do. We talk to
one another in love and speak the truth in love that we may
grow up under Him, under the glory of Christ in all things,
which is the head. Even Christ again, huh? And so,
beloved, the ear can't take the eye's place. And I'll tell you something about
the body, just like our bodies. They don't covet one another's
place in the body. My hand does not covet to be
mine. It's never entered my mind. And
I've never coveted. And I know you as bodies of Christ.
We may covet We're to emulate one another and provoke one another
unto love and to good works. And we may see people say, boy,
I sure wish I could be like that. I wish I could understand or
grow like that and see things that way and that easily. But
there's not a person in this building tonight that covets
his focus. Not a woman. Not a woman. There's not a person
that covets another person's office. Cause no more than your
foot cupboards to be your hand in the body of Christ. Huh? And
there's no paralyzed members in this body even. Jimmy Swagger,
do you know, when he fell, he said, before he fell, he said
the church of Christ had a canker, had a cancer in it, it was sick.
Oh no, the body of Christ is not sick. It's fine. It's healthy. It has no faults
in it. And then quickly, all the members,
all the members are dependent on the head, and all the members
are not only dependent on the head, they need the head, they've
got to have the head, they have no direction, no sense, no how
to do anything without the head, but they're also interdependent.
Every member of the body is interdependent on the other. Look in verse 17.
If the whole body were an eye, where's the hearing? If the whole
were hearing, where's the smelling? Things that you can't see, you're
fixin' to get in, you're fixin' to fall into something. Somebody
hollers, watch it, watch it! Boy, your ear saved you. You
couldn't see the person. You met him last summer? That
ear saved you. Sometimes your eye saves you.
So our eye and ear and hands and feet, they're so dependent,
interdependent on one another. And then in verse 21, in the
eye can't save the hand, I've got no need of you. A girl, the
head to the feet, I've got no need of you. Oh no, we just,
this body desperately needs one another, and each member of the
body is dependent upon the other. We really are. People need the
church. They need the body of Christ.
I do. I really do. You know, the Scripture
says that we're joined under the hand. Joined together with
bands, joints, nourished together. A little baby, when it's born,
it has all the parts that it's ever going to need all its life.
It'll grow up, and the joints will grow, and he'll learn to
use them more, and he'll be nourished, and that whole body's nourished
and grows up into the head. And so as the body's dependent
on one another, that's the way we're so dependent on one another.
And all these members in this body, We, as we're interdependent
and dependent on one another, we have an unlimited liability
for one another. And I wish, how I wish that folks
could really grasp this. We have an unlimited liability
for one another. Look in verse 25. That there
should be no chisel or no schism in the body, but that the member
should have the same care of one for another. And whether
one member suffer, I'll remember suffer with him. Or one member
be honored, all the members rejoice with it. You brag on one part of my body,
you just went bragging on the whole part. One part of my body
hurts, the rest of it hurts. I hurt my back last night playing
badminton, and now I mean I hurt all over. I hurt all over. And
that's the way it is in the body of Christ. We have an unlimited
liability. We have it unlimited. When one
member suffers, you suffer with it. When one rejoices, you rejoice
with him. I went to—Paul took me out to his house. We got here
Tuesday night, and I rejoiced. I said, Oh, bless God. How the
Lord's blessing this man. Give him such a beautiful house,
beautiful spot of ground. It's just like if they'd been
doing it for me, I couldn't have been any happier. There's a couple
moving to our church, and they haven't even got moved yet. They
were staying with us, and their little daughter got sick, and
here she was Monday. They had to rush her up to the
emergency room, and she's just about three years old, two and
a half, and they didn't know. They thought she might have spotted
Rocky Mountain spotted fever or something like that, or spinal
meningitis. The doctors were scared. She is bad sick, just
got sick like that. And they was in the process of
moving. They didn't, they was staying with other people. He
didn't have no insurance. And in all the fear of that baby
being sick, and it might be some sick, then when they called and
told me that, my heart got just as scared as if it was my own
child. I went through everything. I
thought, boy, he's thinking, what about my baby? Here I'm
in a strange place, strange doctor, strange hospital, no money. Who's going to help us out? Oh,
I got just as scared from this stuff. There'd been many calls,
said, that's Josh up there, and they don't know what. I couldn't
have been any more afraid. We've got this unlimited liability
for one another. That's why Paul said, wouldn't
you rather if a man be overtaken in his fall, or to fall to you
that a spirit shall restore such a want in the spirit of meekness,
probability, and submission, considering yourself, let you
also be tempted, and bearing in one another's burdens, and
so fulfill the law of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you
something, one or two members can cause the whole body to hurt.
They can't stop the function of it, but I mean, they sure
hinder the function of it. They sure can. Yeah, you'd be
driving a nail and you'd smash your finger real, real good.
Your head will still work with the fingers, but I mean, it'll
hinder it real bad. And that's the way with lots of church members.
Lots of church members, people that's in the body of Christ,
they can cause the whole body to hurt. They can start acting
ugly. They start saying things they ought not say. They can
get in the spirit they ought not get into. And many times we hinder
the function of the body of Christ or another member of the Church
by our attitude. If our attitude's not loving
and kind and gracious and forgiving, we'll hinder the body of Christ.
If our actions are not right, we'll cause men and women to
stumble. And if our attendance... I don't know how many times,
boy, I went to prayer meeting on Wednesday night, and I'd wait
until about two minutes to seven. I'd say, if somebody don't show
up, I might have to go back to the house. And I'd be so downhearted,
boy, oh, I'd be so discouraged. I'd think I was going to die.
And sure enough, about one minute to seven, somebody pulled up
in the driveway, and I'd still say, well, I'm just going to
go in there, and we're going to have prayer, and we're going to go home. I'd just
be so defeated. That's where all the members
would function. work and labor together, I would have been strengthened
in my little part in the body of Christ. So it's so, you remember
then, you've got a liability for every other member in there.
You desperately need one another to function together. And then
quickly, boy, oh boy, little old, taking too long, Paul, I'm
sorry, brother. There is no division in the body
in the sight of God. There is no division. He said
in verse 25, there should be no chism, that there should be,
God put this thing together, that there should be no chism
in the body of Christ, but that the members should have the same
care for one another. And now you're the body of Christ
and members in particular. And beloved, whether we're in
the church of Christ, in the body of Christ, there's neither
male nor female, bond nor Jew, Gentile nor Greek, barbarian. It don't make any difference.
We're all one in Christ. We have a function in the body
of Christ. And beloved, there's one faith, one baptism, one hope
would you call him, one Lord, one faith, one God who is above
all, in all, and through all. Everything about it is one. We
have the same Father, we believe the same gospel, we have the
same Spirit, We worship the same Lord, and believe it or not,
we all have the same experiences to some degree or another. We're
all born in the same direction, we're all in the roses of Celestial
City, the straight and narrow way. And in this church, in the
body of Christ now, there's no divisions in the sight of God.
There may be down here among men, there may be to our eyes,
but not before God. We're just one, and everything's
perfect in God's sight. Because there's no unbelievers
in the body of Christ. There's no tares in the body
of Christ. There's no hypocrites in the
bodies of Christ. And there's no false professors
in the body of Christ. Now, there may be some in this
church, and there may be some in Faith Chapel. There's some
tares and hypocrites and false professors, troublemakers. But in the body of Christ, there's
not a single one. They get along, but they don't
know just exactly how they meet one another. And all the members
of the body are in mutual sympathy. One member suffer, all the members
suffer with it. I guarantee you, boy. Mary stubbed her toe on one little
old table in our living room all the time, bless her heart.
I don't know how many times she stubbed that toe going into the
kitchen. That table sits right there when you go in there. She'll
walk through there and she'll whack. I don't know what I do. I say, sweetheart, I'm sure I'm
sorry. I sit in the house with her, and when she get by, the
thing rubs something in her toe. I would talk with her. I said, I'm glad you made it
by this time. Oh, do admit mutual sympathy
with one another. That's the thing about, that's
Todd Nybert, laying up there in the hospital. And how many
times does he cross y'all's mind now that you know what his shape
is? Some of you maybe never met him. Maybe never even met him. There's Jeanette Hardman up there,
after she had all those brain surgeries. And you pray for him,
and pray for her mother and her daddy. And when you hear about
something good happen someplace in another work, somebody professing
faith, or God adding to the church, you rejoice because you're all
members, that we're all members of this same body, universal
body. And there's no place for envy
or jealousy here, no place whatsoever. That's why Paul said in verse
31, covet earnestly the best gifts, but yet I show unto you
a more excellent way. There's a more excellent way.
Church members, they'll fuss and fight and argue. And all
of that, but the body of Christ don't have this envy and jealousy
in it. And you notice this, whenever any kind of a division or trouble
starts, the one who starts it generally ends up leaving after
he gets everything stirred up, hurts everybody. They generally
end up leaving to show that there was the body of Christ. And we
show, he passed it, and there is a more excellent way, the
way of love. And he said in chapter 14, verse 1, follow after charity.
Follow after it. Run after it. Seek after it. Follow after that love. Beloved,
we can have anything in this world, but if we don't have the
love of God in our hearts and souls, I can preach like an angel.
Paul can. You can. You can go there, witness
and testify. And after you get through leaving,
you say, oh, I feel like the Lord really blessed me to say
something to this. But if you don't have love, you're
just a noise. Huh? Have you ever considered,
let me ask you this, have you ever considered your responsibility
as a member of the body of Christ here? Have you? Somebody needs to, I, it'd be
such a refreshment, well maybe you do it, I'm sure you do. Somebody
turn off the lights, when the light goes out somebody change
the light bulbs, floors have to be swept before somebody leaves,
somebody needs to make sure the commodes have been flushed so
it won't be stinking in here when you don't get in here for
three days. All kinds of things. that people need to do. It has
to be done. And if you consider it your responsibility,
phone calls to be made, prayers to be offered, thanks, and I'll
tell you, just a thank you or I appreciate that. It goes a
long, long way. It goes a long way to say, boy,
I sure appreciate that. Paul does such a fine job up
here teaching the Bible class. He stands down here and he studies.
He comes over here two hours before the service. And he goes
down there and he sits and he studies. And he prepares. He
does that and then he preaches another message. And boy, just
a word of kindness. Brother Paul, I sure do enjoy
that Bible lesson. How you go verse by verse and
show us things and teach us. It goes a long way. Somebody
invites you for supper. Somebody's fifty-five or ten
or twenty dollars. Boy, I think it goes a long way. Let me take care of these lights
tonight, or let me take care of...it goes a long way. Have
you considered your responsibility as a member of the body of Christ?
And, beloved, seek your place. Seek your place in the body of
Christ. Seek your gifts and your talents, and take whatever God
has blessed you to do. If all it is is to sing, sit
there on the pew, and to pray for the preacher, And just to
be faithful week in and week out, and week in and week out,
and week in and week out, so that whenever the preacher and
other people come, they say, boy, they're so-and-so. Right
there they are. They're right where they are
in every service. If they're not there, well, they're sick.
I better call and find out what's going on. That faithfulness that
goes so far. Seek your place, your gifts,
your talents, and take whatever God's given you to the glory
of Him who loved us. and gave himself for us. Use
it for his glory. And if God in his sovereign mercy
puts your eye in the body of Christ as a member, let us by
his grace take our responsibility sincerely and seriously. Let's take it seriously. I was
telling you about Brother Elbert Blalock this morning. Here's
a little old bitty fellow, poor as a snake. I mean, he's just,
he's a poor man, never has been cuts wood for a living, up in
his fifties, and has to go out and cut firewood to make a living. Don't have much. His wife came
to the church for years and years and years, heard me preach the
gospel, and finally she got tired of it, and she quit about five
or six, seven years ago. He just keeps that on coming.
Children won't come, he just keeps that on coming. And I drank
a lot of water, as you can tell. I got a bigger glass than this
at home, and I generally in a Sunday. I'll drink a whole winter morning." And he sees that I have cold,
fresh water every service. He's sitting right there. He's
the first one to get there, and he goes in, and he empties the
dehumidifiers, turns on the heat in the winter, turns on the air
conditioning in the summer, unlocks all the doors, turns on the lights,
and he sits over there with the And boy, sometimes I look at
him and I think, boy, when God takes Brother Albert, what in
the world will I do? He's just such little simple
things. He don't have any money to give.
If he can come up with five dollars to put in the church, he's really
done something. It takes every nickel he can
just to buy gas to get up there and cut some wood to make a living
on. Boy, he's right there. If he ain't there, he never fails
to call and say, Brother Donnie, I can't be there. I'm sorry. Never. Never. Oh, boy. God, another man is
coming. He does that, boy. Whenever service's
over, he starts running around making sure everything's turned
down, shut off. I don't have to worry about it.
In all truth, the simplest things go so far in the kingdom of God.
If it's a bologna sandwich or a cold, our Lord said, if you
give a cup of water, I drank a cold water in my name. He said, you won't lose the water,
just a cup of cold water. Whoever got me this water tonight,
I thank the Lord for you because I sure love it and I need it. Paul, I got another song to sing.
Can I pick it out? Let's sing number 51. and you
come to pen. Folks, I love you all so much
and what God's doing for you and among you. And it's such
a blessing to be able to come up here and function and work
and labor among you and worship with you. It's such a blessed
thing to do. Let's stand together and sing
this 51. This is such a Praise the Savior, ye who know
him, who can tell how much we owe him. Gladly let us worship
to him, all we love and have. Jesus is the name that charms
us, keeps all conflicts, fits and arms us. Nothing moves and
nothing harms us while we trust in Him. Trust in Him. He thinks forever. He is faithful, changing never. Neither force nor God is better. Those who love from Him. Keep us moral. Keep us free. Do not tell that you still believe
me. In the hour of our receiving,
promise to walk with me. Then we shall be where we would
be. Then we shall be what we should
be. Thank the Lord that there are
good things that will be. Well, on behalf of the church,
we're thankful to God that you've come. We appreciate it so much. Christ's exalted and profitable
and edified and providing. We appreciate it so much. Amen? Amen. So, y'all come greet with
us, Donnie. You're dismissed.