Christ, the body of Christ. In the fourth chapter of the
book of Ephesians, God, the Holy Spirit, inspired the Apostle
Paul to give us some specific and very needful instructions
with regard to our privileges and responsibilities as members
one of another in the body of Christ. Let's begin reading at
verse four, Ephesians chapter four, verse four. There is one
body and one spirit, even as you're called in one hope of
your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father
of all who is above all and through all and in you all. But unto
every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the
gift of Christ. All is telling us here that God's
saints, each of God's saints are given grace to feel their
place in the body of Christ. grace to fill their place and
function in their place in the body of Christ for the benefit
of the whole body and for the glory of God. So that doesn't
matter whether you're the pastor or whether you're the pastor's
wife or you're one of the men, one of the ladies, one of the
young people, if God has given you faith in Christ, He gives
each of his own by the measure of his grace, the grace you need,
the grace I need to function in the body of Christ for the
welfare of the whole body and for the glory of God. Our ascended
savior, the Lord Jesus, also gave and continues to give his
church faithful men, gifted and called and sent of God to preach
the gospel, serving his church as his instruments, as his messengers,
as his angels to the church for the health and wellbeing of the
body. Verse eight, wherefore he saith, when he ascended up
on high, he led captivity captive, He took captive those who held
us captive and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what
is it? But that he also descended first
into the lower parts of the earth. He that descended is the same
also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill
all things. This one who came down here as
Jehovah's servant has ascended back to glory, having finished
all the father gave him to do. And when he took his seat in
glory, verse 11, he gave some apostles and some prophets and
some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. He gave these men
for the perfecting of the saints. He gave these men for the work
of the ministry. He gave these men for the edifying,
the building up of the body of Christ. And he continues to supply
his church with these men till we all come in the unity of the
faith and of the knowledge of the son of God unto a perfect
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. And here's the reason they're
needed all the time. that we henceforth be no more
children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind
of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby
they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love,
may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.
These men proclaim the gospel of God's grace. And As much as
they're charged with being bigots, and divisive, and dogmatic, and
all the stuff preachers are charged with, faithful men boldly proclaim
the gospel, regardless of cost or consequence, because of the
love God's given them for you, for his gospel, and for him.
They proclaim the truth in love so that you may be established
and firmly established in the faith of the gospel. Read on,
verse 16. From whom, that is from Christ,
the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every
joint supplieth. according to the effectual working
in the measure of every part, make it the increase of the body
under the edifying of itself in love. This I say, therefore,
and testify in the Lord. that you henceforth walk not,
as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having
the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God
through the ignorance that's in them, because of the blindness
of their heart, who being past feeling, have given themselves
over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. Verse 20. but ye have not so
learned Christ. If so be that ye have heard him
and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, that ye
put off. Now, make a note somewhere, this
is important. And you can compare it with Colossians
chapter three, because Paul says virtually the same thing in Colossians
three, but words a little differently. That you put off. Paul is not
here commanding us to do the impossible. You can't put off
the old man. You can't renew the spirit of
your mind. You can't create a new man in you in righteousness and
true holiness. That's what God does for you
by his grace. So read the text like this, that
you having put off concerning the former conversation, the
old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust. and you
be renewed, that is being renewed, being renewed by God's grace
in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on, quite literally,
that you have put on the new man, which after God is created
in righteousness and in true holiness. Matter of fact, just
hold your hands here at Ephesians and turn over to Colossians for
just a second. Colossians chapter three. Paul's telling us exactly
the same thing here. He says in verse nine, lie not
one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man. This
is already done. When you believe on the son of
God, you put off the old man with his deeds and you put on
the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image
of him that created him. So this is something that we
have experienced. And now Paul's telling us back
here in our text that we live as men and women. who have put
off the old man, who are being renewed in our minds, who have
put on the new man, Christ Jesus the Lord, that we live for the
honor of that man who is the God-man, our Savior, that we
live as men and women created anew in Jesus Christ in righteousness
and in true holiness. Having experienced the grace
of God, being new creatures in Christ, Children of God, seek
in everything, God's honor. Seek in everything, God's honor. You didn't hear me yet, did you?
Seek in everything, God's honor. If I could live just a little
bit of what I preach, oh God, teach me. in everything to seek
your honor. Nothing else matters except the
glory of God, the honor of God, our Savior. Now look at verse
25. Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man the truth with
his neighbor. And here's the reason for this.
Here's the reason he gives in this passage, beginning all the
way back in chapter one at verse 22. And going all the way to
the end of chapter six, Paul begins to talk about the church,
the church, the church, and our relationship to one another in
the church, in the body of Christ. And he's telling us now, I'm
calling on you to behave like this because we are members one
of another. We are members one of another. In verse 12, he calls us the
body of Christ. The church of God is the body
of Christ. And if we're members of the body
of Christ, not his physical body, obviously, but his spiritual
body, his church, if we're members of the body of Christ, we are
members one of another in Christ Jesus. Christ is the head and
believers are the body. So whatsoever you do in word
or in deed, do all for the glory of the head and for the benefit
of the members, each benefiting the other as members of Jesus
Christ the Lord. There is one body, we're told
in verse four. And each member of Christ's body,
we're told in verse 16, is fitly joined together. Studying this
passage, I couldn't help but to think, and I've never discussed
it with him, whether Marx is a mechanical engineer, is that
what you are? You fit this. Fitly joined together. Fitly joined together. That fellow
travels all over the place for the company he works for, inspecting
bits of machinery. that have to work everything
fitly joined together. Is that a pretty good description
of what you do? Everything fitly joined together. He designs it
and maintains it. He's smarter than everybody.
It's got to all work together. And things are fitly joined together. If one piece is messed up, the
whole machine's messed up. What a description of Christ's
body. fitly joined together as members one of another in Christ,
fitly joined together to Christ the head, and fitly joined together
each to the other as members of his body by the power and
grace of God the Holy Ghost. Paul tells us throughout his
epistles that there is one body. There are many local churches.
There are many folks who are gathered like we are in various
parts of the world at their appointed meeting times in local assemblies.
And that's very, very important. No one, no one places greater
value or importance than your pastor in this matter of local
church and the privileges that are ours as members of a local
church. If you're a believer, you ought
to be united with a local assembly, and you ought to faithfully support
a local assembly. Not two or twenty, a local assembly. You ought to be committed to
a local assembly. You need it, and the assembly
needs it. You need that for your own soul's
welfare, and you need to be part of an assembly so that you're
constantly mingling with the members of the family. You need
one another's influence. You need one another's care,
and we ought to do that. I once heard Brother Herbert
Wilson, a friend of mine who pastored Winston-Salem many years
ago, he and I were preaching together out in Appomattox, Virginia.
And he was talking about sheep. He said, sheep are always found
in flocks, except when they're sick. He said, anytime you find
a sheep out by itself in the field, you can mark it down,
the sheep is sick. And I've observed that. The only
time you see sheep by themselves is when they're sick. That's
the only time you see them when they're by themselves. Otherwise,
they stay in a flock. They stay together. They need
to. They need each other. And God's
people are his sheep. And God causes his people to
gather as a flock of sheep. That's talking about the local
church and the privileges and responsibilities that are ours
as members of a local church. But when I'm talking tonight
about the church, the body of Christ, I'm not talking about
a local church. I'm talking about the whole body
of Christ. All those who believe, all who
are united to Christ by faith, are one body in Christ. All the
saints of the Old Testament and all the saints of the New. All
who have gone before, all who are here present, and all who
are yet to come. All who are on earth and all
who are in heaven, who believe on the Son of God are one body
in Christ. One church of the living God.
We are people joined together permanently. Permanently. So that this union,
this mystical oneness, this wondrous thing called the body of Christ,
will ultimately come to its perfect fullness when we are raised in
the likeness of Christ with him in glory. This union will never
be dissolved. This body will never be broken
up. This body is such that not a
bone of it shall be broken, even as the scripture spoke of our
Lord's physical body. Now I stress again, we do not
in any way, uh, suggest that all churches go together, make
one big church or that everybody in all churches together is one
church. Nothing could be further from the truth, but all true
believers are one body in Christ, the body of Christ and being
one in Christ members, one of another. Now, let me show you
seven things from this book about this body. Nothing new, be as
simple as I can possibly be, but seven things clearly set
before us in this book, and I'm gonna be working my way to our
text in verse 25. First, the members of this body
were all chosen in Christ by God the Father before the foundation
of the world. God's church, the church of our
Lord Jesus Christ, is his elect chosen church. Let's just look
at one passage, just turn back a couple of pages to chapter
one. I recall the first time I recall hearing someone upset
with the doctrine of election as it's set forth in scripture.
I think Shelby might remember this, I don't remember the gal's
name who got so upset, but when I was 17 years old, Shelby and
I were dating on Thursday nights, we'd always join other folks
to go out on visitation, invite folks to come worship God with
us. And one of the ladies, I forgot her name, just as well, Somebody
said something about election. Might have been me, I don't remember.
But she said to the pastor by the town of David, said, you
don't believe in election, do you? He said, well, sister, we
believe the Bible around here. He said, let's see what the Bible
says, you remember? And he went to John 15 and he
says, ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. Well,
that looks kind of like election. And he went to this passage here
in Ephesians chapter one, and he began reading at verse three,
and he said, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world. And he said, that looks a little
like election too. And he went to Second Thessalonians
and read that. He said, that looks a little
like election too. And he went to a half a dozen
other places. He said, I guess you'd have to say we do if we
believe the Bible. If you believe this book, you
understand we are God's people because of God's choice. We are
God's people because God chose us, not because of our choice,
not because of our decision, not because of our works, not
because of the place where we were raised. We are God's because
God chose us. That's true of the whole body
of Christ. Every member of the body chosen
by God and put in its place by God, fitted in its place by God,
to function in its place by God for the glory of God and the
benefit of the whole body. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that
amazing? God, before the world was, chose
me. Chose me in union with His Son. and put me in his son from eternity
and calls me in time to be brought to life in union with his son
by the blessed gift of the spirit and life and faith in his son
to function in his body exactly where he put me in the day in
which he ordained that I should function in his body. And what
he's done for me, he's done for you. Every one of you, every
one of you who are in Christ Jesus. Here's the second thing.
I want you to turn back to Isaiah chapter 53. And we'll, I may
quote several passages, but we'll just look at one text in each
of these. Isaiah 53. The members of this body, the church,
were all redeemed, that is purchased by the Lord Jesus Christ, by
his perfect obedience and his substitutionary sacrifice at
Calvary. We are complete in him. By one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Those for whom he died are made
perfect by him. They're sanctified by him. They're
washed in his blood. They're justified by him. They're
made righteous by him. Now, when you think about the
death of our Lord Jesus Christ, whenever you think about redemption,
these words ought to just automatically come into your mind. Special. Special. This is something God
did special for his people. He didn't send his son to die
for everybody. He sent his son to die for a
particular people. He said, I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. You are specially
redeemed. You're God's peculiar people.
God's special people. Second word, sovereignty. The
Lord Jesus Christ died by his own will. He said, I lay down
my life. I had the power to lay it down.
I had the power to take it again. He exercises absolute sovereignty
in the sacrifice of himself. Men tried to kill him. They time
and again took up stones to stone him. They would have thrown him
off the hill. He just escaped out of their midst. And he pressed
on until he came to Jerusalem at the appointed hour that he
would be crucified by the hands of wicked men. Sovereignty. Third
word, substitution. All that he did, the son of God
did for someone specific. He did it for someone specific. He lived in the place of his
people. He died in the place of his people. He arose in the place of his
people. He sat down in heaven in the
place of his people. Now that doesn't mean he did
it instead of us. That means he did it for us and
we did it in him. When the substitute lived, we
lived. When the substitute died, we
died. When the substitute arose, we
arose. When the substitute sat down,
we sat down. He is our substitutionary redeemer. And you ought to always think
this word when you think about the death of Christ, satisfaction. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. You have all heard preachers
use the blasphemous language, and it is blasphemous language.
Oh, won't it be a shame? There'll be so many in hell for
whom Christ died. Yes, a terrible shame to him. A terrible shame to Him. If He
died to save them and they're in hell anyway, a terrible shame
to Him. And that cannot be. Our Lord
Jesus, who suffered in our stead at Calvary, all the wrath of
God as one in travail to give birth, so our Savior shall see
of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied. The last
word, success. Success. Whatever it was he came
to do, he succeeded in doing. Whatever he died to accomplish,
he accomplished. Now let's look at Isaiah 53,
verse four. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all." Now, I have to pause because
you automatically have ringing in your ears, what you hear all
your life. Well, there it is, all, that means he died for everybody.
He's not talking about all everybody, he's talking about all us, us
for whom he died. The scriptures nowhere hint that
Christ died for all men. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He's brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth
not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment. And who should declare his generation? For he
was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression
of my people was he stricken. For the transgression of my people,
my Jacobs, whom I loved, my Israel, whom I've chosen, my Israel,
my firstborn, my church, my people, for the transgression of my people
was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no
violence. Neither was any deceit in his
mouth. He knew no sin and did no sin, could not sin. Yet it
pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. When thou shalt make
his soul an offering for sin. Now give you a homework assignment.
Go home, get your concordance and look up the word. The word translated offering
for sin here, as is the case everywhere in the Old Testament,
every single place in the Old Testament, no exceptions, is
sin. There is no such word in the
Old Testament scriptures as sin offering. It is translated that
way because it refers specifically to a ceremonial sacrifice. But
everywhere you find the word sin offering, the word is sin. And you can have better assurance
than my word for it, our strong concordance for it. You can look
at the way it's given to you in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse
21, and have the word from God the Holy Spirit for it. It pleased
the Lord to make him who knew no sin, sin for us. He's quoting from Isaiah 53 10.
when thou shalt make his soul sin. He was made sin for us,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. When he did this,
he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his head. That is,
I'll give him power over all flesh to give eternal life to
as many as I've given him, and he will save these for whom he
lays down his life. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge, by knowledge
of all that he accomplished, shall my righteous servant justify
many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Here's the third
thing. The members of this body, the
church of the living God, are all alive, quickened, born again,
called, awakened, regenerated. All of those words speak of that
work of God the Holy Ghost in us as necessary to our everlasting
salvation as God's election and Christ's redemption. All the
members of this church are born again by the preaching of the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you will turn over to 1 Peter
1, verse 18. 1 Peter 1. We know this, and notice how
Peter writes. He says, for as much as you know,
if you're born of God, there's some things you know. If you're
taught of God, there's some things you know. And if you don't know
these things, it's because God hadn't taught you yet. If you
don't know these things, it's because you're still blind. If
you don't know these things, it's because your mind is still
darkened. For as much as you know that you were not redeemed
with corruptible things, as silver and gold from your vain conversation,
for you were meaningless, worthless life, received by tradition from
your fathers, but you were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ.
Who is He? A Lamb without blemish and without
spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the
world, but was manifested in these last times for you. For
you who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him from the
dead and gave Him glory, that your faith and hope might be
in God. seeing you have purified your
souls in obeying the truth through the spirit under unfeigned love
of the brethren. See that you love one another
with a pure heart perfectly, being born again, not a corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. For all flesh is grass, and all
the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord
endureth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. The men and women chosen of God
in everlasting love, purchased by the blood of Christ at Calvary,
God's church, All of them at God's appointed time are caused
to hear the gospel and believe the gospel by the gift of the
Holy Ghost. Fourth, all the members of this
body, all the church of God are believers. Believers. They all believe on the Lord
Jesus. and they all believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ as he reveals himself in the pages of Holy Scripture. We believe on the Lord Jesus
as he reveals himself to us on the pages of Holy Scripture. What does that mean? They all
believe and love him as their prophet to teach them. as our
priest who alone saves us, as our king who alone rules everything
and who alone rules over us. Among God's people, in God's
family, there's no debate, no argument among God's children,
no division in God's church about who Christ is, what he's done,
where he is now, or what he's doing. I haven't answered the letter
yet. I have a letter from an old man who spent his life, I think
I told you about it a few weeks ago. I've been sitting on it
for a while. He spent his life, an old man now, laboring among and with folks
who hate the gospel of God's free grace. And he asked me my
opinion concerning such fellows, folks who don't believe. the
person, work of our Redeemer. They say they believe in Jesus,
but they worship their will. And I'm wanting to answer him
in such a way as to be perfectly clearly understood. I hope everyone
of you understand this. The imaginary Christ, the imaginary
Jesus of the religious world no more resembles the Christ
of this book. than a gnat resembles an angel. The God of this world no more
resembles the God of this book than a frog resembles an angel. The Word of God sets forth the
person and work of Christ with absolute clarity. And to deny
who he is, is to deny what he accomplished, and to deny what
he accomplished is to deny who he is. Let me see if I can state
it. I know this is gonna be heard
by lots of folks, and I know folks get mad enough they could throw
stuff at me if they could reach me, but that's all right. When you think of the Lord Jesus,
should you hear some blasphemer As you, all you gotta do is turn
on the television from now to the end of the year, and you'll
hear folks talking about Jesus of Nazareth. And you hear them
say, well, he's not really God. He wasn't really a virgin born.
That's all just a myth. That's all a fairy tale. It's
a good religious story, but it's not so. Well, he's a good Christian,
brother. You know he is. He's a good man. Why, he doesn't get drunk. He
don't beat his wife. He don't steal. He's a good man.
Well, you couldn't think that he's lost. Do what? If you were to bow down and worship
this glass and call it Jesus Christ, I don't care how good
you are, you're still lost and probably crazy too. You lost
you and me. You don't know God from a bit
of goat. And folks who imagine that Christ tries to do what
he didn't do, that Christ died to do what he didn't accomplish,
That the son of God performed work. That's a benefit. Nobody, those who imagine such
may as well worship this glass or a stump or a rock. They don't know God. How could
you say that? There's such a holy fella. Where
did you get the idea? You can judge that. God's people,
God's people don't debate and argue and fuss about the glory
of the Son of God and his accomplishments. God's people are delighted to
know who Christ is. what he's accomplished, where
he is now seated on his throne, and what he's doing saving his
people. He's the sovereign Lord. God's people rejoice in it. His
blood is effectual. God's people rejoice in it. His
power is omnipotent. He has all power. God's people
rejoice to know it. His intercession always prevails. He intercedes for us. And that's our security. That's
our peace. That's our assurance. He shall
not fail. Fifth, all the members of this
body, all of them are new creatures in Christ. If any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature, a new creature. This is that new man created
in righteousness and true holiness. In the new birth, God doesn't
make this old man new. He doesn't cause Adam to become
holy. He doesn't cause flesh to become
spirit. Adam, the old man flesh, is going to die. Dying, we must
die. Thank God, Adam must die. But God created in you a new
man in righteousness and true holiness. You're made to be partakers
of the divine nature. As the Lord Jesus, oh, it's a
wonder of grace. I hope I can state this exactly
where I plan to. As the Lord Jesus, God's son,
was made flesh so that he might be made sin. As he was made sin
so that we might be made the righteousness of God. As we are
made the righteousness of God in him, so the son of God made
himself partaker of our nature, that he by his grace might make
us partakers of his nature. He wed himself to us eternally
and weds us to him experimentally in the operation of his grace,
and we are one with him, partakers of the divine nature. Pastor,
what on earth does that mean? I don't know. A whole lot more
than I've ever imagined yet. And a whole lot more than you've
ever imagined yet. We are one with Christ. Christ lives in
us, the hope of glory. And sixth, all of these redeemed,
chosen, regenerate, believing new creatures, all of them, persevere
in the faith. They keep on believing. They
keep on believing. I have had the sad experience
of watching many profess faith in Christ and get all gung-ho
and jump up and down and make a lot of noise. Man, you think—this is the fella
the church has been needing for 2,000 years. He's going to set
the woods on fire. And they last kind of like a
sparkler. You remember sparklers you used
to play with as a boy? Too young to get firecrackers, at least
not a lot of anybody knew you had them. And you get those sparklers
and just wave them around and make all kinds of sparkles. And
they're just so exciting. And they're gone. About that
quick. Just about that quick. Oh, there
are many who begin well and quickly end bad. Not so with God's people. God's people keep believing.
to the end because God said, I'll give them one heart and
one way and they shall not depart from me. God's people persevere
in faith because God perseveres in grace. If you believe, I can't
remember the date, David, I remember the first time I heard from you.
That fellow sitting there, he used to order tapes a hundred
at a time. And then I met him when I was down in Florida. And I'll be honest with you, be honest
with you, I look at you just like I do most people I hear
from around the world. Reckon how long this is going
to last. Reckon how long this is going to last. Because most
don't last very long. Most don't last very long. God's
people do. If you believe, it's because
God keeps you in faith. And that's all. That's all. I'll tell you why, Bill Raleigh,
we believe Him. Because we can't help it. God graciously forces our hands. He graciously forces us to look
away from ourselves. our thoughts, our feelings, our
experiences, our emotions, everything, and look to Christ for everything. One last thing about the members
of this body. The members of God's church,
the members of this body are united. They're one body. members of one another fitly
joined together and compacted by that which every joint supply.
According to the effectual working in the measure of every parts,
we are one body, one body. Turn over first Corinthians chapter
12. I'll wrap this up. Look at verse 12. As the body is one and hath many
members, and all the members of that one body being many are
one body, so also is Christ. Verse 13. For by one spirit are
we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles,
whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into
one spirit. For the body is not one member,
but many. If the foot shall say, because
I'm not the hand, I'm not of the body, is it therefore not
of the body? And if the ear shall say, because
I'm not the eye, I'm not of the body, is it therefore not of
the body? If the whole body were an eye, that'd be a mess, wouldn't
it? If the whole body were an eye,
where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, if
the whole body was just one big ear, that'd be pretty, wouldn't
it? And helpful too, wouldn't it? Everybody just one big ear,
that's all. Where's the smelling? But now hath God set the members,
every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him. And if they are all one member,
where were the body? But now are they many members,
yet but one body, verse 21. And the eye cannot say to the
hand, I had no need of thee. Nor again, the head to the feet,
I had no need of you. Nay, much more, those members
of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary. And those members of the body
which we think to be less honorable, upon them we bestow much more
honor, abundant honor. And our uncomely parts, have
more abundant comeliness. We've clothed our bodies and
covered them up, the uncomely parts, so we put the best foot
forward. So we dress with modesty and
look the best we possibly can. For our comely parts have no
need. The beautiful parts of the body
don't have any, but God has tempered the body together. Churches try to make rules and
regulations to it. You can't do that. God tempered
the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part
which lacked, that there should be no schism, no division in
the body, but that the members should have the same care one
for another. And whether one member suffer,
all the members suffer with it. Or one member be honored, all
the members rejoice with it. Now, ye are the body of Christ,
and members in particular. Members of the body love, they
care for, they take care of one another. Members of the body,
this hand takes care of this body. I'll tell you how quickly. You let something start to fly
toward that eye, just like that. Just instinctively. Knock it
away. Just instinctively. Doesn't matter what it is. Might
risk getting my hand cut off just to keep it out of my face.
Just instinctively. Members of the body love. That doesn't mean sloppy sentiment,
I love you brother Don. That's fine, that's fine. Don't
misunderstand me. I'm not belittling saying that.
I tell my wife a hundred times a day I love her. But I'm not
just talking about sloppy sentiment. Love is care. All the saying
I love you in the world would be meaningless if I didn't take
care of her. That's what it is. It's committing
yourself to the care of another. Members of the same body are
united too and unified with one another, always working together. That's what a body does. You
say, well, your body ought to work together. Unless there's
something bad wrong, it does. Unless there's something bad
wrong, doesn't matter how weak the leg gets, doesn't matter
how twisted up the hand gets, doesn't matter how deformed the
face may become because of accident, the whole body works together. That's what a body does. That's
what a body does. Members of the same body do everything
they can to make the other members as comfortable, attractive, acceptable,
and commendable as possible. That's what members of the body
do. That's what they do. You know, every morning when
I get up, take a shower, I've got to look in the mirror. And
I never did like what I saw. Never did care much for this
face. And the older I get, the less I like it. It get more square,
more wrinkled, and less hair all the time. All the time. So
you know what I do? Know what I do? Man, I make sure
I don't have any jagged edge. I make sure the sideburns are
straight. Old men miss the corner of their mouth when they're shaving,
so I make sure I get that. Get underneath my nose. and comb
my hair, and then I'll let it dry, and I'll comb it again,
spray it down, get all three of them in place, just like that.
How come? Because I'm determined to make
it look as good as I can. God give me grace to do that
for Mark Henson, and Bobby Estes, and Claus Peters,
That's what members of the body do for one another. We're members
one of another. Isn't that wonderful? Our God
make us as members one of another to serve, care for, love, and
honor one another as Christ himself. as Christ himself. Amen. Let's take our hymn books and
try to sing another hymn. Number 187, I believe it is, just a
second. 188, I love thy kingdom, Lord.