I titled this message, The Importance
of Every Member in the Body of Christ, The Importance of Every Member
in the Body of the Lord Jesus Christ. in preaching, we are reminded,
and need to be reminded, what we are by nature, how sinful we are by nature,
and we are. We still have a sinful nature. Put it that way. We still
have a sinful nature. We're not wicked people. We don't
live like that anymore. Paul says, you were washed. You
were once that way, but now you're washed. You're born of God. You're clean. And there are some who think
and feel that they are so insignificant that it doesn't matter whether
they're here or not, and that's not so. That's not so. There's not one insignificant
part of my body. You know, it says that God has
put everyone in the body as it has pleased Him. But He put it in the body wisely
and for a purpose. And that member belongs to Him.
That body, the body of Christ, which is made up of you who believe
the gospel, made up of everyone who believes the gospel. is very
significant. And here's the reason why. If
you believe the gospel, without you, the body of Christ would
be incomplete. You cut my finger off and this
body is incomplete. So you take away any member of the body of Christ and you
have an incomplete body. incomplete. He says in verse
14, I'm going to pick up in verse 14. Well, the body is not one
member. But many. Many. You know, the body here is not
me. It's not me. It's many. It's all of us who believe the
gospel. It's made up of all of us who believe. Me and you. And
I'm serious, I'm no more important as far as believers. Now I'm
talking about believers here. I'm no more important than you are.
I'm not one ounce more important than you are. You just can't say that any one
part of the body is insignificant. You just cut off of your body
what you think is insignificant. You won't cut anything off. The
church is made up of many, it says, many members. It's not
made up of one type of people. It's not made up of all Jews
or all Gentiles. The body of Christ is made up
of people from all nations, kindreds, and tongues. All. And all, listen, all are equally
important to the completeness of the body of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Equally important, if I were missing my hand, if I
were missing my hand, you know what you'd be paying
attention to tonight? My missing hand. You'd be thinking,
how'd that happen? You don't ever want to have a
blemish around coal. There could be a thousand people around.
If I had a spot on my head, he would say out in front of everybody,
what's wrong with your head, Pawpaw? Guarantee it. He did have to
share me with somebody who doesn't embarrass the daylights out of
him. That's what draws our attention. That part that's missing. I know
a man, I've known him for years. He's got one eye. I've never talked to him that
I don't think of that one eye. I know how you've got to put
out stuff, but every time I talk to him, that comes to my attention. If the body of Christ is missing
any member, that's where our attention will be drawn to. And
we'll be thinking, how did that happen? And the body of Christ
would not be complete. It would not be complete. Now,
if the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand? I'm not of
the body? I'm insignificant? I'm not needed? Is it therefore not of the body?
You know, Paul's teaching this church something. See, this church
was a very gifted church, and there were some that got really
lifted up with pride over their talents and their gifts that
God gave them. And some of them were just feeling
like they were just absolutely useless because they didn't have
those kind of gifts and talents. And so that's what Paul is dealing
with here. So he's saying here, if the foot shall say, because
I'm not the hand, I don't feed the body, I don't pick up and
handle things. You know, the hands are so, they're
always out here in front, always working, doing something. You
shake someone's hand. You know, you can tell a handshake
in the film. My grandfather, boy, you get
over his hand and it was just a, it was a tough hand. I'm telling
you, it was a tough hand. He was a carpenter. And he worked. And you could tell that man worked.
I mean, he had a tough, he had a huge hand. And you can tell
something about it. You know, the hands, but the
foot, he said, the foot says, I'm insignificant. The foot is
the lowest part of the body. It's always walking in the dirt.
It's always down in the dirt. Back in those days, when they
came in and visited the home, they washed their feet because
it was always in the dirt. No one brags on your feet, do they? Might brag on your shoes
or something, but not your feet. Someone might feel that low about themselves and
their gifts. And they may think, I'm not that
important. If I'm not there, nobody will
miss me. You want to bet? I can tell you who's missing
every Sunday. I can tell you to the person who's here and
who's not. And I'm not trying to. I mean, I'm not counting.
I just know where you sit. I know where everyone sits, and
I know who's here, and I know who's not. It's important. And I'll tell
you this, your presence is important. Don't think it isn't. We come
here together as a family to worship the Lord. You love it when your children
come to worship, don't you? I tell you what, I enjoy it when I see
everybody walk in here. These are the Lord's children.
We are the Lord's children. So don't think you're insignificant
because it's like the feet, you know, they say, I can't be a
part, I'm not, nobody ever looks at me. Nobody ever sees me. You
tell me who carries the weight of this body? My feet. And I tell you what, I stand
here and I preach, which you all support, You all support. I stand here. Frank stands here.
But man, we couldn't do this if the body didn't come in here
and support. It couldn't do it. Could not
do it. The feet bear the weight of the
body. It bears the weight of the body.
Try to do it without your feet. I tell you what, the first thing
I get up in the morning, the first thing I'm made aware of is my
sore heel. in my left foot, and I mean it's
painful. And I limp to the bathroom, and
limp around back, and limp to the bed, and limp here, and limp
there, until it finally starts easing up. And it carries the
weight of this, that's probably why it's hurting, carrying the
weight of this body. But that's, I tell you, it's
just trying to do it without your feet. Our gifts may not be visible,
as visible as others. But they're just as important.
Or this wouldn't even happen. The body wouldn't function. The
body wouldn't function properly without it. And if the ear shall
say, because I am not the eye, I'm not of the body, is therefore
it not of the body? I've seen some people that's
got beautiful eyes. I mean, just beautiful eyes.
Beautiful blue eyes, green eyes, you know, just beautiful in the
way their eyes are set, just beautiful eyes. And I got to
think about this. I've never seen anybody with
beautiful ears. Never thought about it. Never in my life thought
about, you've got beautiful ears. What he's saying here, if the
ears are saved because I'm not of the eye, I'm sitting on the
side of the head and most of the time hair is covered. You
know, the hair covers the ear. You know, it's just, I'm unseen.
I'm not important. That's why I said, I'm not, yeah.
I thank God I got my hearing. Why does faith come by? Hearing. My feet carry the weight of it.
My ears hear. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing
by the word of God. Ears are no less important than
the eyes. I'll tell you what, they add
to the well-being of this body. How many times have you heard
danger coming before you ever saw it? I'll tell you this, sitting in
that pew there, you will hear danger from a pulpit long before
you'll ever see it happen. You'll start hearing it before
you see the effects of it. Before you see the real effects
of it, you'll start hearing something's not right. You'll hear that C note's not
being sounded. It's off course. I mean, it's
off, you know, it's like out of tune. Can't do it. That's how important each one
of us is to the body of Christ. I can see the light. I can see this light. But I cannot
see the beautiful music Mike's playing over there. I hear it. So often I do this. When Mike
starts playing, I shut my eyes. I shut my eyes. How many times
have you ever listened to the music you like? You just shut
your eyes and listen to it. There have been times I've listened
to Henry preaching the gospel. There have been times I've just
shut my eyes. I didn't shut them very long
because he'd think I was asleep. But I just wanted to shut my eyes.
I do it at home though. I will. I shut my eyes at home.
And just listen. Just listen. God never made anything insignificant. Nothing. If the whole body That'd be an oddity, wouldn't
it? It wouldn't be a body, it'd be
an eye. Where's the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where's
the smelling? Aren't you thankful for the senses
that God's given you? Your seeing, hearing, smelling,
touch, feel, all these senses that God's given us, they all
have spiritual implications. For us to enjoy, listen, for
us to enjoy the fullness of our bodies, all the senses have to
be at work, right? For us to truly enjoy, I believe
this, for us to truly enjoy the fellowship of the Spirit of God
in the body of Christ here, all these senses need to be working.
All of them need to be working. The ones that count themselves
insignificant, the others who may be more talented or more
gifted, however the Holy Spirit gives it. When it's all working
together, that's when we can really enjoy a worship service. That's when you can really enjoy
Christ. Our head is when the body is operating as it ought
to. If we were all eyes, we'd never
know the joyful sound of laughter. Would you? I can remember the first time
Jason laughed. I can remember that just as if
it just happened today. He was just a month or two old,
something like that. I just bent over him. He must
have thought his daddy looked funny I just bent over and he
started cackling and he couldn't shut up. And I can still remember
hearing that laugh. If we were all eyes, why sing? Why sing? If we were all ears,
we would never know what a rose smelled like. We'd never know. We'd never know
the sweet fragrance of a rose if we didn't have the sense of
smell. So it's foolish for anyone to
say that the body has no need of me. Now you know what? The humility of that's okay.
The humility is okay, but the knowledge of what you're saying
is not okay. You know, humility is one thing.
But to say that I'm insignificant is to deny God's glory in what
He's given me. To say I cannot preach, and I
feel like it most of the time. But first of all, what in the
world am I doing standing here? And then secondly, it would be denying
God the glory of the gift. See what I'm saying? You know,
it's like a... I'm not going to say that. Despise
not the day of small things. Despise not the day of small
things. But now hath God, and this is the one who has done
it, God. Now hath God set the members,
every one of them, in the body as it hath pleased him, sovereignly. He has sovereignly put me here,
put you where you are, doing what you do. I do what I do.
And I'm telling you what, this ought to give us contentment.
We ought to find some contentment in this, that God has put me
here. God has given me to do what I
am doing. He has sent me in the body as it pleases Him. And everything
He does, He does with infinite wisdom. I don't need to be anyplace
else. Not at all. God has set the members
of our physical bodies. Like I said, I'm just amazed.
I'm amazed at the physical body. He made the eye. He said, I make
the seeing eye and the hearing ear. He made the nose. The eye
didn't make itself. The nose didn't make itself.
God made all. He made these bodily parts, members. Gave them their function, and
I think, you know what, there's no other way you could have made
a body more perfectly than this one. Just take a cent out of
it. Just take a cent out of it. He's one of them, they didn't
make themselves. But you know what he did, you know why he
made the eye, the eye, the ear, and the nose, the smell, the
mouth, the taste, the hands, the lips, and do things with,
the feet to walk. You know why He made all these
members? To serve this body, me, to serve
me. So every member of the body of
Christ is made to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. It's made to serve
Him where you are. Not one member of my body has
ever been jealous of another member of my body. My right hand
or my left hand, let me say my left hand because I'm right-handed.
I do everything right-handed. And my left hand is not jealous
saying, well, you don't ever do anything with me much. I'm
just along for assistance because I do everything right-handed. And you know how stupid it would
look for my two hands to be sitting there fighting with each other
and for me trying to talk? How stupid does that look? Well,
you should apply that to the body of Christ. Two people, two
members of the body of Christ going at each other and you're
trying to have a worship service. It's unbelievable. Your own body wouldn't do that.
Isn't it amazing how harmonizing our body is? God has placed every member of
the body of Christ where it pleases Him. He wisely placed us where
we are, giving us the gifts we have for the good of the whole
body, and that ought to make us happy. That ought to put a
snap in our step. He's put us here. And if they were all one member,
then where's the body? There's not a body. It's not
a body. It's just parts. We're not parts. I mean, I have memory, but we're
not parts. I'm a body. I'm a person. A body is a person. If you go along the road and
you find a severed finger, you don't call the police department
and say, I found a body. No, you found a finger. But if
you call the police department To say, I have found a body laying
here on the road. You know what you just found?
A person. You found a person. That's what you found. But now,
are they many members? Yet but one body. There's only
one body. There are many shapes. There are many different parts.
But there's only one body. Listen, and one body has only
one head, and that one head is the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's the head of the body of
which you and I who believe the gospel are members. And the eye cannot say to the
hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet.
I think he's getting me point across, but just in case He's
not. He hammers on it. Like Scott
Richardson. Well, when Scott would get on
a point, you knew what he was talking about when he was done. Nor again the head to the feet.
I had no need of thee. But now listen here. Here's what
Paul's doing. He's going to switch the roles. He was talking about
the leaves feeling like they were not worthy. That they were
insignificant to the body. because of their lowliness and
their lack of talent and gifts. But now he's going to switch
and he's going to, now he's going to switch to the highest who've
been lifted up with pride. And he's going to say, and he's
going to bring them down. You don't say to your feet, I
don't need you. I don't care how beautiful you are. Just do
it at your feet. You may be a swift runner, but
let your feet be cut off. You won't be a swift runner anymore. Anyone with any sense knows it
would be stupid for the eye and the head to say to the hand,
I don't need you anymore. See, he was talking to the lowliest.
Now he's talking to those who have talent, who really have
the gifts and abilities as God's given. It would be absurd for a spiritually
gifted person to say to the doorkeeper, I don't need you. Let him leave. Let him leave. We don't need him. Well, then
you go back and open the door. Now, that doorkeeper is a support.
David said he'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than dwell
in the tent of the wicked. That doorkeeper is just as important
as the person standing behind his pulpit. Seriously. If that doorkeeper is a member
of the body of Christ. One thing I learned in business,
you cannot do it all. You're just not that smart. If you're going to be successful
in business, I think the smartest thing to do is get people, if
you can, smarter than you to work for you. If you can get
them to do it, get them to work for you, use their talents. God
gave them talents. I told Jeremy the other day to
beware of somebody. I said, you beware of this person.
He knows everything. I said, he knows everything. Beware
the man or the woman who knows everything. God doesn't give
that kind of knowledge to people. He doesn't. You find talented people and
let them run with it. Since you're responsible, you
have to keep your thumb on it, but you let them run with it. The eye did not make itself nor
give itself its abilities. I don't care how talented a gift
that a person is that God's given, the gifts he's given to him,
he can never do without the one who has the least, what we might
call the least gifts. He can't do it. The body doesn't
function that way. God has given us all this variety
so that the body can work in such harmony. That's what he's
done. Now he said much more, verse
22. Much more. Those members of the body which
seem to be more feeble are necessary. The body has members that are
more feeble than other parts, but they're just as necessary. You know, that's funny. We're
thinking about the body here, looking at it. You know, what part would I cut
off? You know, you can't see my heart. You can never see my heart, but
I sure can't do without it. I mean, how important is the
heart pumping in my chest? And you can never see it. My
heart, my lungs, my intestines, my brain. You can't see that,
none of those parts, none of those members. They're enclosed. They're protected. How feeble
are your lungs? Really? God's encased them around these.
He put rigs around them. He fenced them in so that they'd
be protected. It's easy to puncture a lung.
And you puncture a lung, you messed up. You messed up. Don't look down on that one that
may not be as gifted. No matter how weak one may be
in the faith, that one is necessary to the body of Christ. It's necessary. And here's how necessary it is.
By it, God will try your patience, your grace, and your love. He knows how to exercise his
own body. He can make an eye, he can make
an eye, realize that it still belongs to a weak body. That
it still belongs to a body that's in this world and is subject
to falling, subject to hurting, subject to this and that. He
can make it realize what it belongs to. And if it were not for the head,
the eye wouldn't work. If it were not for Christ, none
of us would work. It would all fall. And those
members of the body which we think to be less honorable upon
these, we bestow abundant honor. And our uncomely parts have more
abundant comeliness. We take care of the weaker parts
of our bodies. We cover the more comely parts.
We adorn the body. Those who think themselves less,
though they are not, they're not less. Let them adorn themselves, not only with humility. But with grace and love. Let's be clothed with that. Let
us be clothed with that. And those who are gifted and
visibly out there, they are to shower the other
parts of the body less gifted, less seen. With love and grace and kindness. It's not, I can do this, you
can't. That's what children do. That's
what children do. Fallen sons and daughters of
Adam. That's what they do. I can do
this, you can't. I'm smarter than you are. That's
the flesh. That's the flesh. Our comely parts have no need
But God has tempered the body together. He built this body,
just as He's building the body of Christ. Now look at your own
body. That's what Paul said. Look at your own body, how God
has tempered it, and how He's taken the uncomely parts, the
weaker parts, and He's protected them. And this is how He's building
the body of Christ. This is how we're prepared to look at it.
Our comely parts have no need. But God had tempered the body
together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked. You remember that time that our
Lord spoke of, and I think this will fit this situation. He was
standing there as a treasurer and he's watching them go by,
people throwing him chucks of money, you know, they're just
throwing them in. And this one widow comes by and she throws a penny
in. And he said that one woman gave
more than everybody else. Because she was so insignificant.
I guarantee you, she was so insignificant to that treasurer. He was just, you know, here comes
a rich woman. This was a giver. Here comes
this poor woman. Insignificant. I'm telling you that nothing
could be more insignificant than a penny that she gave. But the
Lord, God of heaven and earth, took notice of it. He took notice
of that one insignificant so-called, not to him, to this world. He took notice of her. He took
notice of her. That one, Mary, She anointed our Lord. She put poured oil on His head.
And the others said, what are you doing that for? Why are you
doing that? That could have been sold and
given to the poor. Like they really meant that. I really believe they probably
really meant that. You could have gave that to the poor. You could
have done so much with that. She did much more with it. She
anointed the God of heaven and earth. And that was so insignificant
to everybody else. But he said, wherever this gospel
is preached, that's going to be mentioned. This insignificant
act is going to be mentioned. This insignificant person is
going to be mentioned. First shall be last, and what?
The last shall be first. That's it. Our face, our eyes, our ears,
hands, they need no covering. But God has so constructed the
body that the weaker members are just as protected as the
rest of the body. Now, let me wind this down. He says here in verse 25 that
God put all this together that there should be no division in
the body. But that the members should have
the same care one for another. I'm telling you the truth. I care for every part of my body.
And you do too. And that's the way he says you
are to handle and conduct yourselves in the body of Christ. We take
care of one another. We look after one another. Am
I my brother's keeper? Yes. By the way, yes, you are. You are and I am. We are each
other's keeper. There should be no division,
no rebellions in the body of Christ any more than in our own
personal bodies. Every member should take care
of the other member. My hands scratch my back. It
does. My feet carry the body. My hands
feed my body. This is how the body of Christ
is to function. We have conference here. The
ladies fix the food, and I'm telling you, half the people
in my company don't have food to fix, prepare, give out. Somebody was going to a conference
here not too long ago, and they said, are they going to have food?
I said, well, they're going to preach. But yeah, I'm sure they'll
feed you too. Something else. And whether one member suffer,
all members suffer with it. Isn't that so? Don't we hurt? I hurt when you hurt, you hurt
when I hurt. Or one member be honored, all
members rejoice with it. Someone said this, and I'm going
to throw this out. This has been a few years ago.
There was someone said to me, when a lot of stuff was going
on, I wish I never got involved in any of this. I wish I just
was separated from it. I said, well, if you were not
part of the body, you could be. If you're not a part of the body,
you could be separated from it. But you're a part of the body
of Christ and you can't separate yourself from the pain it's going
through, the problems or whatever it is. You can't do it. My foot hurts, my whole body
hurts. Like I said, when I get up in the mornings, my whole
body feels it. My whole body is affected by
it. If I'm honored, listen, my whole person is honored. Every
part of me, every member of me is honored. If I write a book, who's going to get the honor? My hands? writing it, my mind
for thinking it, I am, me. So when the body of Christ is
honored, Christ is honored. When Christ is honored, the body
is honored. There's no separation. There's no separation. When the body of Christ hurts,
No matter who it is, we feel it. We feel it. We feel it. Now you are the body of Christ
and members, now won't you listen to this. You are the body of
Christ and members in particular. I wrote out a little note here.
Not members insignificant. your members in particular, particular
place in the body, particular importance, particular significance. Without you, without you, the
body would not be complete. Not if you're His. We are joined together in Him.
This being so, how can we not weep with those who weep and
rejoice with those who rejoice? We are that connected. In verse 28 here, and I'll close. Read this out here. God has sent
some in the church, first apostles. Would you want to be an apostle?
They all died as martyrs. Now, would you want to be an
apostle? You know, they envied them until they got their head
cut off, and I bet you they, just like the apostles, the disciples,
they all followed Christ until it came to the Garden of Gethsemane,
and they all split, and they took off. They got out of there. That's us. Secondary prophets, thirdly teachers,
after that miracles, gifts of healing, helps governments, diversities
of tongues, are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers,
are all workers of miracles, have all the gifts of healing,
do all speak with tongues, do all interpret, but covet earnestly
the best gifts. And yet, here's the best, here's
the one to covet. Get your item to you in a more
excellent way. Covet this one. Love. And you'll be shocked how well
the body functions. Love just seems to be that food,
if I can call it that, that makes the body just function as it
ought to function. It's amazing how well your body
do when you put the right stuff in it. But Christ, listen, Christ is
the head of the body. We are the body. And there are
no insignificant members in the body of Christ. None. None.