Transcript

Well, let’s all turn together to 1 Corinthians chapter 12 this morning, and we resume study, verse by verse, chapter by chapter, through this wonderful New Testament epistle.

The word epistle just means letter, its a letter the Apostle Paul is writing to a church, the church at Corinth. A church that had written him and inquired of him concerning a number of things, and it would actually be hard to conceive of a church with more problems and more troubles than the church at Corinth. You talking about a mess. They had a mess. I suppose they’d made a mess of about everything you could make a mess out of in a local church.

Now I know some of you have been in bad situations in church and church fights and week in, week out, month in and month out, somebody’s fighting and bickering and this group’s against that group and they have it all, on the church business meeting floor. By the way we don’t have that here, we just don’t allow it. Amen, say amen, somebody, we just don’t allow it. That’s not the way the way a church is suppose to conduct itself or conduct its business.

But anyway, a lot of folks been in that. And, and they’re used to that. But I guarantee you, whatever you have experienced, as far as messes in church, it cannot be compared to the mess they had at Corinth. Issue after issue, area after area, they were so carnal, so back slidden, so immature, and now we come and we’re right in the middle actually of this new emphasis where Paul is dealing with spiritual gifts. And of all the areas they had made a mess of, this was the greatest. Greatest mess of all was how they dealt with spiritual gifts.

And we’ve had several messages, and I know its been a while, but we come to a new section. Last time we were together we were talking about the diversity of spiritual gifts. Well, I say last time, we actually had a message that was sort of an interlude message, it wasn’t really a part of the exegetical context. But following the text through chapter 12, Paul began to talk about the diversity of gifts. That God’s given some in the church these particular gifts and he’s given others these particular gifts, a few more he’s given this type of gift, and they are diverse.

And what has happened, the church at Corinth had begun to rank the gifts. And everybody was clamoring after the same type gifts they were enthused over, and enamored with those awe inspiring sign gifts: the speaking of other languages, the signs, the wonders, the miracles, the healings. And they were concluding particularly the speaking in other languages, the tongues, they were concluding that those gifts made you in an elite class. You had something others did not have if you had those gifts. So they were causing a division, they were using the truth of the diversity of gifts to establish a viewpoint that some are above others in God’s eyes, as far as worth or value or importance as God was concerned.

So Paul continues after he covered the diversity of gifts, with a new emphasis and that is on the unity of spiritual gifts, and that’s where we are today. We are going begin talking about the unity of spiritual gifts. That even though they are diverse, they are diverse to the end that there might be unity. So I’ll give you hopefully the first part of that message this morning, and the last part tonight, and the title is simply the unity of spiritual gifts.

Now look at 1 Corinthians 12, let’s begin in verse 12 and just go through verse 14 for our purposes this morning. Paul writing to the church says: “For even as the body”, that is the physical body, “is one, and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many are one body, so also is Christ.” And you may want to at the end of verse 12, if you’ve got the New American Standard, and it ends with that phrase so also is Christ, you may want to write in so also is Christ’s body, the church. So he’s making an analogy between the physical body and the spiritual body, the church.

Alright, verse 13. “For by one spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.”

Now, the unity that we Christians enjoy together is not like the unity of marbles in a bag. The unity we enjoy as a local church family of Christians together should not be like two cats in a bag. But the unity we enjoy, the spiritual unity we have is more like chunks of chocolate having been melted together over heat. An intimate oneness. You see the unity we have is not an external unity like those in some civic club or organization. As if in your human mind and human intellect, you decided I’ll join up with this group. That’s not the kind of unity we have. We have no external visible bond. This isn’t a club for brown haired people. Because some of you ladies, your hair changes, and we wouldn’t know which club to get you in, sometimes. There’s no external visible bond, this is not a club for young folks, or for older folks. Its not a club  for the wealthy, or the upper class, or the lower class or for one race or another, there’s no external visible bond to this unity that we have.

It is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that makes us one. And even in professing Christendom, there is a movement that abounds, that tries to force and external unity, but really if we want Christian unity, we all need to be chasing Jesus and then we become one, instead of chasing unity, trying to be one. Unity is not the goal, Christ and truth is the goal. But as you get a lot of individual seeking for Christ, to honor his truth, then unity comes. That’s the unity we have. Its a supernatural inner-unity. A unity created by God Almighty.

Now continuing in sort of an introductory manner, look at verse 12 there. Here Paul uses the analogy of the physical body and how the physical body has many members he says there, yet its one unit, and all the members have a unity together. He said, so also is Christ’s body. Christ’s body, and Paul is writing to a local church so we can say local church each time when we say Christ’s body, even though there is a universal church. But you see, you can’t function in a practical sense in a universal church. That’s why God gives us local visible New Testament churches. So when you look at the local church, its the same way as a physical body.

There are many members, and the members have various functions, but they are united as one whole. So he begins to pick on, pick up on that truth that the unity of the spiritual gifts, differing gifts, which are all one unit. So this analogy that the physical body truly teaches the unity principle of the spiritual body or the local church. You see, the human body has unparalleled harmony and interconnectedness. Think about it. Ask some of our doctors about the marvel of the harmony and the interconnectedness of really the mystery of the human body. We understand a lot about the human body, but there are vast amounts we still do not understand. Its a marvel beyond comparison. So even though it has all of these parts, all of these organs, and all these various functions, it still is a unit. And the body is, the human body is immeasurably more than the sum of its parts.

I mean, you could take all the parts of the body out and you could lay a liver here and the kidneys here and some lungs here, and the eyeball here, and the ear there, and say well, here’s all the parts. As a matter of fact, you know, we’ve all read where they took the material value of the human body and it comes out to a few dollars or something, you know. I mean, just lay the parts out, but put it together, and you see that human body has immeasurable value far beyond just the sum of the various parts.

And my friend, so it is with the church. I mean, if you’re a lone ranger Christian out there with an individualistic spirit, and you’re just out there doing your own thing, I’m going to tell you, you’re not going to be effective for God. nor blessed, nor fulfilled. That’s not the way you were designed to function. You’re like a liver on the sidewalk, who wants a liver on the sidewalk. But I want a liver in my body, amen. It works well in there, its essential in there. With the other organs and the other members of the body.

Christians may appear like the scattered parts of a watch, strewn across a tabletop. If you just look at one of those old timey watches and the pieces scattered across the table you’d see unrelated springs and gears and bolts and little nuts and pins. But when the master watchman puts his hand to the pieces and the parts, and he brings them together, he makes a beautifully functioning timepiece. The function and the meaning of the pieces depends upon the touch of the watchmaker. And once assembled, those pieces are a credit to his workmanship. So it is with the local church. Individually on our on doing our own thing, with no genuine, serious commitment to a local church body, we lose our meaning, we lose our purpose, we lose our effectiveness. Like an eyeball on a table. Doesn’t mean much there does it, but I like it in my head. But when we come together in God’s will, like the watchmaker brings the pieces together, then we are a credit to our Lord’s workmanship. And he gets glory in the community and in the world. We’re beautifully functioning instrument, greater than that, organism, a testimony to the greatness and the wisdom and the superior intellect, all to the glory of our maker, our designer. We bring him then the glory he deserves.

Now we jump down to verse 13. And Paul begins to give two aspects of the same glorious work of salvation. And in the first part of verse 13 he gives one aspect, in the last part of verse 13 he gives the second aspect. Now first of all, look at verse 13, the first phrase there. And he says: “For by one spirit we were all baptized into one body.” Now the first thing you need to know about the verb baptized here, is that it is an aorist passive verb. Now they taught us in seminary that an aorist tense verb always means finished action in past time. It means there’s some action that happened in the past, its done, its finished, but the result remain. I had some work done on my house this past year and we did that work on the house and now it has a different color and a different look, the work is done but the result remains. And that’s the way this verse reads, that at some point in the past, “we were all baptized into one body”.

Now the word “all” there means every single believer has had this baptism with the Spirit. Let me repeat that. Paul is emphatic here. The word “all” means every believer has had this baptism with the Spirit. Now, literally, the scholars tell us the text could read, “all were baptized with one Spirit”, instead of the way the New American Standard reads, which is “we were all baptized into” what, or “by one Spirit we were all baptized”. In other words, we were not baptized “by” the Spirit so much as we were baptized “with “the Spirit, there’s a significant difference there. The word “by” can be translated “with”. There’s a difference between the concept, or the connotation when you say I was baptized by the spirit rather than with the spirit. I am convinced the text means you were baptized with the spirit, not by the spirit.

Now here’s why. In the truest sense, Christ is the baptizer and the Holy Spirit is the agent of the baptism. Let me say that again, in the truest sense, biblical sense, Christ is the one who performs this spiritual baptism. The agent, used by Christ is the Holy Spirit. Now we see that very clearly in verses like Matthew 3:11. Jot that reference down. In Matthew 3:11, John the baptist is baptizing folks in water. And what John the baptist was doing, he was he was baptizing them in water as a symbol of their repentance. Because he says, you need to repent of everything else you’re trusting in, and everything else you’re believing in, because the real Savior’s coming. He hadn’t starting ministering yet, but he’s coming, John says, so be baptized to show forth that you are repenting of trusting in everything else, so you can trust in him when he comes. And then they talked to John about his baptism. He said listen, “there’s one coming after me, and I’m not even worthy to tie his sandals”. “And He”, listen to this, John said: “He will baptize you” with what? “The Holy Spirit.”

So whose the baptizer, whose going to do the baptizing? Jesus. Jesus, he’s coming, and he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit, but notice there’s something else, “and with fire”. John is simply saying this, there’s one coming after me that’s infinitely superior to me, and all people will receive his baptism. You’ll either be baptized by the Holy Spirit by him, or you’ll be baptized with fire by him, one of the two. Now when Jesus came he came as Savior. And all who receive Jesus up unto the time he comes again as judge are baptized by Jesus with the Holy Spirit. But when he returns as judge one day, he will baptize all the rest of those who did not receive him with the fires of eternal judgement. All people will be baptized by Christ either as the Savior he baptizes you with the Holy Spirit or as a lost person, he will baptize you with fire. One of the two.

Now this is not a primary or rather a secondary teaching, its a primary teaching. Mark 1:8 shows that Jesus is the baptizer. Luke 3:16 says Jesus is the baptizer. John 1:33 says, Jesus is the baptizer. As a matter of fact, why don’t you look with me to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2 as the early church has received this endowment of power from the Holy Spirit for their special unique, one and only task of initiating the work and the foundation of the church, and look at what Acts chapter 2 says. Look at verse 32. Acts 2:32. Peter is preaching and he says: “This Jesus, God raised up again to which we are all witnesses, and, therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured forth this which you both see and hear.” The Holy Spirit was acting with and under the authority of the Son Jesus. Now, as you follow the way the Godhead works, what happened. The Father sent the Son, the Son sent the Spirit. The Father sent the Son, and what did the Son Jesus said. He said: “I did not come to do my will, but who? My Father’s will.” And now the Holy Spirit comes, not to do his will, but to do Jesus’ will. Now they are still co-equal, coequally and fully God. But in their offices of work, they have different responsibilities. The Father sends the Son, the Son sends the Spirit.

Now, let’s come full circle back to Paul’s point. What is the point Paul is making here? He’s making this point. All believers are equal. “All”, he says, very emphatically, first phrase verse 13, “all have been baptized with the Holy Spirit”. So he’s saying there to the church at Corinth, you guys have had this elitist mentality among you. You said some have this special gifting, this special anointing, this special blessing from the Holy Spirit, and that gave you a uniqueness and in essence a superiority over the others who have not had that particular situation, or that particular experience of the spirit. And Paul is crushing and eliminating that elitist spirit. He’s saying, there is equality, therefore there ought to be unity, because every single solitary believer has been baptized with the same Holy Spirit. You’re equal. Be gone with this carnal immature elitist mentality that some of you have some sort of anointing or blessing that others do not have. Paul says, all have all of the Spirit.

Now let me, let me just as a side note here, even though it does go along with our text, talk about this thing of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, baptism by the Holy Spirit, and as I told you, I believe the proper translation is the baptism with the Holy Spirit, that Jesus does. That teaching is so prominent in professing Christendom today that there is this experience that comes later and you get a special blessing, special anointing, special empowerment, that he gives you a superiority at least in your walk with God and your effectiveness for God. And most often they go to the book of Acts to substantiate that there is this second event that happens. And they will go to a place like Acts chapter 8:17. Where there were those believers in Samaria who were converted under the ministry of Philip. And then those believers in Samaria were exhorted or rather they had to wait a short time to receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact, they had to wait until the apostles Peter and John came up to lay hands on them. And sure enough they laid hands on them and then those people were baptized with the Holy Spirit, they spoke in other languages, as an external evidence that they had had that baptism with the Spirit.

But I believe that was a unique transitional situation in the beginning of the church. You see, those particular believers did wait for the Holy Spirit, but listen, they were not told to seek the Holy Spirit. You cannot find one phrase in scripture where you are to pray, fast, plead, beg, get instruction or anything else to receive the Holy Spirit. They waited for him but were never exhorted to seek him in any way, shape or fashion. The purpose for this exception for these believers, that is the exception of them having to wait, was to demonstrate something to the Apostles, and to the Jewish believers back in Jerusalem, that the same Holy Spirit that they were baptized with and filled with in Jerusalem was also baptizing and filling people of the Samaritans. And then what happened. Just a short while later, Peter and a few other Jewish believers again, were sent by an angel of God to see a man called Cornelius, a Gentile this time. Not a Samaritan, but a Gentile. And so they go to see Cornelius in his household, and then while they are there sharing the gospel, what happens. The Bible says the Holy Spirit was poured out on those people also.

So what do we have here in this transitional book of Acts. We have the Holy Spirit coming, in especially unique way, as the church is being founded on the Jewish believers there in Jerusalem. And then in a special unique way God wants some of the leaders from the Jerusalem church, Jews, to go to these Samaritans. Now who were the Samaritans, they were half-breeds, they were half Jew, half Gentile. Folks, you couldn’t get any lower than being a Samaritan. You talking about racial division. The Jews had held for thousands of years you can’t be right with God and be a Samaritan. So what was God doing. When the Samaritans therefore had the Holy Spirit come upon them and gave a visible evidence, God was saying to the Jews that were saved, the Samaritans were a part of my family also, they were equal with your Jewish believers. That the Samaritans believe they are equal with the Jewish believers. But that wasn’t enough. There’s another distinct category. And God wanted to say they are equal also, so what happened. God used the experience of Cornelius. And God sent that angel to Peter and said, go to a man’s house called Cornelius. Peter, a Jewish believer, a representative of the church in Jerusalem, goes to this Gentile home, and folks listen to me, a Jew didn’t even go in a Gentile’s home, they were Gentile dogs, you talk about racial division. For thousands of years, they had taught that the Gentiles can’t be God’s people, they can’t be blessed of God, they can’t belong to the family of God. But God said, I’m going to show you, you Jews remember what you got when you were saved. Holy spirit came upon you, well, I’m going to do it for the Gentiles also, and what happened. Sure enough Cornelius and his household had the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and gave the evidence by speaking in another language.

Now how do we, how can we have more enforcement to know that God was doing a particular thing at a specific time, and that would not be the pattern for the church of all ages. Here’s one of the key reasons, Acts chapter 11. In Acts chapter 11 we have Peter, after the experience with Cornelius, going back to the church at Jerusalem. And he says, fellows, we knew this thing of following Jesus was radical. We knew that following this Savior, the true Savior sent from God would mean some radical changes. But fellows, you’re not going to believe what I’m about to tell you. You’re not going to believe what I’m about to tell you. Jewish brothers and sisters in Christ, I’m here to tell you, that I was there when God saved Gentiles of all people. And they had the baptism with the holy spirit and they spoke with other language, I’m telling you, it happened. They kind of rubbed their heads and say, that means Gentiles are spiritually equal to us. Well, I guess if they’ve been saved and they gave that outward evidence, then they truly are. They truly are.

So God, through the supernatural element of the speaking in other languages, showed the early church Jews, Samaritans, half-breeds and Gentiles are equal when they receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. So what was the message of Acts. As far as those events are concerned. Here’s the message. We’re all equal. We’re all equal. Therefore what, we all can have unity. The very book of Acts teaches there are no spiritual elitists. The message of the book of Acts, there aren’t a few that have it and a few that don’t have it. A few that are anointed and others who are not anointed. The message of Acts is, Jew, Samaritan, Gentile, rich, poor, doesn’t matter, if you’ve received Jesus, you’re equal before God.

But some well intending believers today try to take the book of Acts to teach that there is a spiritual elite group. That there is this blessing that comes that makes you more superior or more spiritual than the other group, and I think they are really missing the context of what God is saying. So first, Paul, building on this concept of unity says, listen, you are all baptized with the same spirit every single solitary one, and that makes, gives you an equality and therefor look at the unity that ought to build in the family. Wouldn’t that build unity to know that you are all equally worthy and valuable to your Father. That’s what he’s building.

Well, he gives another aspect of this same truth of conversion in the last phrase of verse 13, look at it there, last phrase, verse 13. “And we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” Now where the earlier verse says we were baptized with the Spirit, what’s the word baptism mean by the way. Baptism means to immerse, to place into. So the Holy Spirit saved you and when you saved you, he placed you into God’s family. He placed you into the body. Alright, now he uses another aspect of the same conversion truth, when he says, last phrase of verse 13, “we were all made to drink of one Spirit”. Now, its very important to note here that the word drink here once again is in the aorist passive, that means it is a definite past event. Finished action in past time with continuing results. At one time all of you, now how many does he say, verse 13? Last phrase, “and we were all made to drink”. Wouldn’t a group in the church that went out and fasted and prayed and got instructions to get another blessing. No, “we were all made to drink”.

That means folks, are you listening to me, that means you didn’t have a whole lot to do with it. As a matter of fact, can I let you in on a secret. You had nothing to do with it. That’s why its phrased “all were made”. You didn’t save yourself, you didn’t decide to get saved, God did it through the supernatural sovereign work of the holy spirit of God. And the Holy Spirit indwells all, that’s why he says made to drink, take it in, all have been, have had the Holy Spirit imputed, even you have ingested it, that’s why he says made to drink the Holy Spirit of God. You ever been sick and mama made you take the medicine. Well, its not totally unlike the phrase here. All believers have the Holy Spirit. Now what does that say to us again. It says once again that our worth and our value for God is based on the presence of the Holy Spirit in us, and Paul has said twice, used that word “all” twice with two different analogies, two different concepts of conversion, to say that “all” fully completely have the Holy Spirit.

He dwells in all who are saved. Romans 8:9 says: “If anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him.” If you got saved, you have to wait later to get the Holy Spirit, then you didn’t belong to God until you got it. The Bible says in John 3:34, “God gives the spirit without measure”. He doesn’t measure out and say okay I’m this fellow here, he’s getting so much of the Spirit, this fellow over here, I’m going to measure him out, no, he gives the Holy Spirit without, listen, he’s a person, you can’t chop him up. God does not give the Holy Spirit on the installment plan. Now listen, the Holy Spirit may not have all of you, but you’ve got all of him. And God in his sovereignty may put some people through events and situations whereby they’re broken and they’re repentant, and they quit functioning in the flesh and therefore more of the Spirit is controlling and ruining them than someone else, but its not because they got more of the Spirit, its because more of the Spirit got more of them. That’s the biblical truth.

So he indwells all believers, and therefore Paul’s point is, all believers are equal in worth and in value and importance to God. And to his work. And it doesn’t matter what your gifts are, remember in Corinth they were hung up on the gifts. Well, if you’ve got the gift of tongues, you’re right at the top, the spiritual elitism. I mean, you’re the really important person in the church, and if you’ve got the gift of service and helps over here, well, as a matter of fact, they didn’t have any problem with those gifts, because nobody wanted them. The carnal believer always wants what brings the attention of man. And you get more attention if you stood up and talked in an unknown language in the church at Corinth. But Paul says, doesn’t matter if God gave you the gifts of service or helps, or if God gave the gift speaking in other languages, and miracles, signs, wonders, whatever. You’re all equal before God. And what’s that do, that builds unity. A oneness and that’s what Paul is trying to get across.

Now look at the middle part of verse 13. We looked at the first phrase, and we looked at the last phrase, but look at that middle phrase. Let me just read all of it: “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether…” Now this was an extreme radical statement for the day. “Whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free”. Now the Jews and the Greeks of course, that was the problem the Jews would have. You mean we’re going to let these Greek Gentile in the church, why they’re dirty Gentile dogs, they’ve never been God’s people. But for the Gentiles, they have a problem between the free man and the slave. We’re going to let these old slaves be equal with us in the church. Paul said, all have been baptized with the same Spirit, all have been made to drink of the same Spirit, all are equal before God. What’s Paul’s point. Equality of believers, which breeds unity. Unity.

You see, your value and your worth as Christ’s servant is not about what you used to be. You can come strolling in the church and say I’ve been president of this, I’ve managed this corporation, I’ve been successful in this, I’ve got this education, doesn’t matter, your usefulness to Christ doesn’t have anything to do with what you used to be. Your value and worth as Christ’s servant has nothing to do with what you know. Its not about what you know. Your value and worth as Christ’s servant has really nothing to do with who you are. Slave or free, Jew or Greek, doesn’t matter. Your value and worth as Christ’s servant has nothing to do with what gifts have been entrusted to you, whether you have those night shift behind the scene, gifts of grace or rather mercy and helps, or those public gifts of preaching, teaching or speaking in other languages, doesn’t matter. You value and worth is not dependent upon that.

Your value and worth as Christ’s servant does not depend on who you know. According to the first phrase of verse 13, your value and worth is about “whose” you are. Whose you are. “We were all baptized with the same spirit into one body”. In other words, you’re God’s, you’re his family, you’re in his body the church. That gives you worth and value, and that alone.

And then according to the last phrase of verse 13, its also about whose in you. He, the Holy Spirit lives in you, that gives you worth and value to God. Different roles, different ministries, different functions, different gifts, but all with equal worth. Which builds unity in the body.

Now look at verse 14, and we’ll close this thing down for this morning. In verse 14, sort of a summary statement of what he said so far, he says: “For the body is not one member” And that’s true of the physical body and the spiritual body, “but many”.

Now here’s the point. Your effectiveness for God in this world is inseparably linked to other believers. Your effectiveness for God is inseparably, inseparably linked or connected to other believers. Just like the effectiveness of any bodily organ you have, physically speaking. Its inseparably linked to the other organs of the body, the other members. I mean an eyeball is a wonderful, beautiful organ, that God’s developed and made, but its worthless without the heart, without the lungs without the kidneys, without the liver, with the head to hold it. And so are you. You may be talented and gifted and self assured and secure, but your effectiveness is inseparably linked to the full church family. We’ll talk more about that dependency factor tonight. But what does that breed, that breeds a unity. We need each other, we depend on each other, and that’s what Paul’s getting at.

Its like the quarterback on a football team. The quarterback can be the most gifted, talented man in the world at his position, but his effectiveness as a quarterback is dependent upon the whole team. If they are not receivers and linemen and running backs and defense and special teams, what’s he going to do, throw a ball at a wall. You see, diversity is essential for unity. Diversity is essential for unity. That’s what gives us the beautiful unity that we have. Its true in the physical body, its true in the spiritual body.

So Paul has established very clearly the equal worth and value of believers, because all have received the same Spirit. And then he’s also established that we are united as one because we’ve all been the recipients of that same Spirit. So to the church at Corinth, and perhaps to parts of the church at Muscle Shoals, he says, be done with the elitist mentality that there’s some who have it, some that don’t. Some who are real special to God and have real special anointing, and some that don’t. But we’re all equal and worth and value before God. And that builds unity.

[Evening Service]

And then we’re coming to the second main point, and that is what I’m calling the practical nature of spiritual gifts. Now on a more practical front, Paul once again is going to show how we ought to be in unity together. Now let’s look at verses 15-19 of 1 Corinthians 12, as sort of an introduction to the practical nature of spiritual gifts. Verse 15. “If the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body. It is not for this reason any less a part of the body.” So very practical simple analogy there, he says, if your foot could talk and your foot would say, well, you know, I have to stay covered up in a shoe all the time, and socks beyond that and I’m not very important, I’m not important like the hands are, they get to flop around out here and nobody covers them up, everybody thinks they are pretty and nice to look at. Well, he’s saying, if your foot could say that, it wouldn’t be true. Just saying it doesn’t mean its true.

So if you’re walking around out here saying: “I’m an insignificant person, my gifts are not important, my role and my ministry’s not significant,” if you’re saying that, you may be saying it, but its not true. You are important just like the foot may think its unimportant, but it is important. Because the legs and the eyes and the liver and the hands and the heart, and all the other members aren’t going anywhere unless the feet take it. Alright, then he goes on, very practically speaking. “And if the ear should say”, because I am not an eye I’m not a part of the body, it is not for this reason any less a part of the body, and here the ear’s got an inferiority complex. Everybody’s been talking about how beautiful the eyes are. Maybe they’ve got colored contacts and getting everybody’s attention now. And the ear’s all put out about it all upset about it. Well, you know good and well that that doesn’t mean the ear’s not essential to the full functioning of the body. Maybe not essential to the very life of the body, may not be what we call a vital organ, but it is essential to the full functioning of the body as God created the body to function. So none of this thinking you’re not important or you’re insignificant because God gave you the wrong gifts or didn’t give you the right gifts.

Verse 18. Here’s a sort of a reproof to someone who has that idea. “But now God has placed the members,” that includes the gifts that member has, “each one of them in the body, just as he desired.” In essence, you have a pride problem. If you look at yourself and say, well, I’m not important, my gifts aren’t important, I don’t even really need to be in the church, I don’t really belong here, you’ve got a pride problem, you’re concerned about you. And how it looks to you and what fulfillment you get out of it. Any time you’re concerned with self, you’ve got a pride problem. And see you don’t need to have that. God gave you the gift and gave you the role and the function in the ministry you have, in the local church family, according to his own sovereign purposes. And you should be grateful and thankful for that. Now some roles and functions are more prominent and more seen in the eyes of men, some are behind the scenes, but God knows what he’s doing. So Paul is reproving them and saying, you’re really questioning God here.

And verse 19: “If they were all one member, where would the body be.” Now, here they are, and Paul sort of makes subtle reproofs in his letter, and if you study Paul’s writings very well, you find that he does that all the time. And I think what Paul’s saying, so many of you are enamored with speaking in tongues and he’s saying, if everybody spoke in tongues, what would the church do. Who would do the serving, who would do the helping, who would do the ministering, who would do the teaching. All those other essential things. Just like the human body, all the human body was just one particular organ, I mean, what if I stood up here and I was eyeballs, head to toe. Be something like those B horror movies out there. That’s exactly what Paul’s saying.

Now when we get to verse 20, we begin to see the thrust of our second major point, that is the practical nature of spiritual gifts, it starts coming out a little bit here, look at verse 20. “But now there are many members, but one body.” Now, one of the things he’s going to show here, is that we do have a diversity, he brought that out in earlier verses. But along with the diversity of gifts is a corresponding mutual dependency. Its very important. Diversity, balanced with mutual dependency. That’s what the Corinthians were missing. They loved the diversity because they said, “aha, we have some things you don’t have”. But now Paul’s going to say, but there’s mutual dependency. And that brings equality again, which builds unity. That’s the point he’s getting to.

So, he continues getting on to this practical side of how we are dependent on each other in daily life and ministry and so therefore that ought to breed a unity, and he says this in verse 21: “And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, or again the head to the feet I have no need of you.” Now, in other words, you can’t say that, you can’t say, “I have these gifts, and you with your gifts, you’re not even needed in the church.” Obviously some in the church at Corinth were at least implying that, if not openly stating that. But that simply is not the truth. And the reverse that we saw in verses 15 and 16 is not true either. The person that says I’m not needed. So whether its the arrogant person saying, “I’m important, but you’re not,” or whether its the insecure person who feels inferior who says, “I’m not important, but you guys are,” both of them are pride and wrong. Both of them are thinking about self and what self has and what self can do. And both of them imply that God did not know what he was doing when he gave you your particular gift, and therefore your particular functions and your particular role in the body of Christ.

Now continue on in verse 22, as we see the practical nature of our unity and this principle of mutual dependency that’s there. Verse 22: “On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.” Now again he’s using the analogy of a physical body, using it to teach the spiritual truth of the spiritual body. So he begins here by comparing the two. And he uses a word weaker here. Now what he means, he said, in the physical body, there’s parts of the physical body that you view as weaker or less necessary. Or less important than other areas of the body. As a matter of fact, less would be too weak of a word, actually there are parts of the body that we almost act as if they’re not needed at all. He says, that happens in the physical realm and its also happening in the church.

In other words, to the casual human understanding or human estimation, these organs, these members of our physical body, well, we don’t even have to have them. For example, we often put emphasis on a person’s physical strength. We may say, “Hey that guy has a strong back.” And generally we don’t usually mean just his back, we mean he’s great at manual labor, he can get a lot done, man what a trait this man has that he has such physical strength he can get so much work accomplished. Or we’ll say a fellow has a brilliant mind. Or we’ll say he’s good at working with the hands, he has good hands. Or perhaps you’ll see a lady and say, she has beautiful hair or a beautiful face. These are some of the members that seem to get the attention, or we generally speaking, in general human understanding, we deem those physical members as the ones that we pay most attention to.

Yet the truth is, these are not as necessary as some of the unseen and lesser esteemed members of the body. How many folks you seen walking around talking about how wonderful your lungs are. Boy, I tell you what, old John, he’s got the best lungs, you know. Incredible lungs on that guy. Or somebody talk about your heart organ. Now we don’t even think about them much, we pay them no attention, we give them no credit, we talk about them, but they are vitally essential. You see, you can live without a strong back, but you can’t live without a heart of a lung. You could live without brilliant intelligence, but you cannot live without your heart or your lungs. You can be a person and not have any skills with your human hands, but you can live without both of your hands if you had to, but you can’t live without your heart or your lungs.

You may not have beautiful hair or a beautiful face, as another member of the body, part of the body we give a lot of attention to. But you can’t live without your heart or your lungs, and that’s what Paul is pointing to here in verse 22. Isn’t it much truer, as a matter of fact. He says, to a much greater degree sometimes, the members we don’t pay any attention to, the weaker, are the ones that are most vital. What a reproof to the Corinthians as they are taking some people with some gifts and putting up on a high platform, and totally forgetting some of the others, and I mean, Paul has their specific situation in mind. As this analogy wouldn’t always be a hundred percent true, but evidently in the church at Corinth he’s saying, you guys are exalting something that really isn’t essential at all, and you’re forgetting things that are vital to the life of the church. Again, what were they exalting chiefly, the gift of tongues. That was the one they really were exalting, along with other signs, wonders and miracles gifts. And Paul is saying, some of that’s not fully essential. And you’re totally ignoring some members of the body and therefore gifts of the body that are truly essential.

Now he continues with this strong analogy in verse 23. What a neat picture is here. “And on those members of the body,” this is the physical body again, “which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our unseemly members come to have more abundant seemliness.” That’s a lot of difficult language, let me try to sort out what the apostle Paul is saying here. First of all, he says, on those members of the body which we deem less honor, on these we bestow more abundant honor. Now the word “bestow” literally means to put a garland on. To dress it up. And he’s saying: Haven’t you noticed when it comes to the physical body, there are parts of the physical body that you just do not feel like they are presentable all by themselves. They need to be dressed up. They need to be covered up. They need some adornment on them.

I thought about this, what part of the physical body, generally speaking, do we hold needs some covering, dressing, you know, help it a little bit. Because just by itself, it just, we don’t feel its that appealing. You know what I thought about. Your feet. I mean, generally inhuman understanding, we don’t think feet are all that pretty. Now I could take my shoes off to illustrate that better, but I’m not going to. Have you ever thought about a foot. Have you looked at your feet lately. Is it not true that now, folks, you understand we don’t just wear these shoes for the physical protection it provides for the feet, we feel like the feet need a little adornment. They need a little dressing up. Now hands are different. Now I know ladies does some polishing and things on nails but generally speaking, we think hands are presentable basically they way they are, but feet, no, we need to wrap them up and strap them up and dress them up and socks and colored shoes and polish them up, they just need… Now what point is Paul making.

The part of the body that we deem less important we find ourselves putting great importance on it. I mean, I didn’t work hard at getting my hands presentable for you today, but I polished my shoes before today. Now here’s his point. The parts of the church body that we think are less important, often those members God greatly honors and puts special significance on them. Isn’t that a neat truth. That’s a neat truth, and its beautiful the way that Paul lays it out here. Notice in verse 23, the last part: “and our unseemly members,” that’s your feet again. They are just not presentable by themselves. “What they come to have more abundant seemliness.” I mean, look at this foot right here. That shoe is polished. That shoe shines, that looks better than my bare foot. It has a better seemliness now than it would by itself. We’ve come to give it that, so also it is in the body of Christ. There are those members that we may think are not that important or that significant, but in God’s providence, they’re some of the most essential, honored, dressed up. God putting the garland on them. Then even many of the other members of the body. What a beautiful truth that is.

Look at verse 24. He continues on this same thought. “Whereas our seemly members,” the parts of the body we think don’t need a lot of camouflaging and covering up and dressing up, they have no need of it. No need to dress them up, they’re okay by themselves, maybe like a hand. “But God has so composed the body giving more abundant honor to that member which lack.” Now he’s jumping over to the other analogy, so God has designed the members of the body, so that even those that we often think, they’re not very important. God says: I even put an extra garland on them. They are very essential. What is he saying. There’s a mutual dependency. You even have a dependency on those members in the church family you feel like are of the least importance. They have been exalted to a significant level of importance in the economy of God.

I shared with you some time ago, something that happened to me that drove this principle home in my heart so deeply. I’ve never gotten over it. Its when I was sitting in Shoney’s restaurant up in Tennessee with some people who had known me when I first started preaching, I preached in a little country church. I would say none of you have ever heard of the name of the church if I told you. I mean, out in the sticks, and I preached there several times, just a brand new preacher, just starting out. And I remember a grandmother in that church, she had me in her home, she had fed me supper or fed me lunch and she just seemed to really love me and take an interest in me, and I had lost contact with her, or she really hadn’t lost contact with me, we’re on radio and television up there, so I’m sure she was keeping up with me.

But it was only about a year and a half or two years ago or so, and she said after the service tonight, I was preaching in Tennessee, she said: “After the service, I want to take you to eat.” Now that bumfuzzled me right there, because this lady’s on a fixed social security income, she don’t have any money, but she said: “I want to take you to eat.” And we went out to eat and there were some other people there, and we were just sharing a little bit and she shared with me in essence this is what she said. She said: “Brother Jeff, you know, God’s really gifted you to preach and teach the word of God, and he’s using you in a great way, but I don’t have any of those gifts, I’m not a teacher, I’m certainly not a preacher. I’m not, don’t have the gift of administration or leading where I’m over people, and in essence I had those gifts of service and helps.” And she said: “I can’t do a lot of things, but every morning of my life, I’m up between two and three o’clock in the morning, and I pray for three or four hours every single morning. And Jeff, you have been on my prayer list for 15 years.”

And boy God just spoke to my heart. And he said: “Jeff, why do you think it is, when you could have fallen into sin that could have disqualified you, but you couldn’t fall because somebody was in the prayer closet, unseen.” Maybe a lesser valued member of a church family, but she does what she does with fervently, with zeal and with compassion, and passion. And therefore today perhaps God has allowed me to pastor biblically speaking, one of the finest churches on the earth, because a grandmother in Tennessee who lives in the woods, goes to God every morning with me on her heart. And God said: “Isn’t it amazing how some of the unseemly members, when you really see it the way God sees it, have some of the most honored roles in God’s work.” I am absolutely, totally convinced I have an army of fervent intercessors. Many of you’ve never told me, some of you have. But you just discerned God wanted to do something with me, and you determined he’s not going to fail because I don’t pray for him. And I want to tell you, I am totally dependent on your ministry. I understand the mutual dependency factor. I understand it very well now. And I thank God for teaching me that lesson.

So Paul continues in verse 25. He says that “there should be no division”. The word there for “division” means a schism or a clique in the body. That doesn’t mean that some people don’t fellowship with some, and some fellowship with others, man, we’ve got a church of 2000 plus members, you can’t just hang out with everybody every time you hang out. He doesn’t mean that, he means a clique or a schism that has an elitist spirit. A clique or schism that says we’re the spiritual bunch, that other bunch hardly don’t even matter. He said, you’ve got to understand, there’s a mutual dependency, all throughout the body, and that builds an equality which builds the unity that the apostle Paul is trying to get across to them. We all understand. That mutual dependency.

Look at verse 26, he continues: “And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it.” Now carnal or shallow understanding would mean that well, if one person was sick, then all 2000 church members ought to be at their house, that’s what the Bible says. That’s not what he means. He means the principle. Of course, in a church of any size, you’ve got to be broken down into small groups to have this ministry. And so for our purposes, it would be like one of our small groups, and one person in the small group who has a vital ministry in that group, there may be suffering physically with a sickness. All the members of that small group feel that and sense that. And has a heart of compassion and mercy and understanding for them. And isn’t it true in the physical body that it works that way.

I don’t know why, but when I read this text I think about my grandfather. My grandfather was a diabetic, and as it is with diabetics sometimes, they do not heal when they have a sore, and he had one little sore on one toe that wouldn’t heal. My grandfather was a very selfless man. But I remember seeing the grimace on his face, the wrinkles on his forehead, and the strain in his eyes so many times, he’d say: “That toe is killing me.” That one little member of the body affected the whole body. So it is in the church that understands the mutual dependency we have, we know if that brother’s falling out and that sister’s hurting, if that one’s not fulfilling that role, it affects all of us. And we know that.

Then he continues in verse 26 with a verse that I believe I misunderstood until I really spent some time on it. The second phrase of verse 26: “and if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.” If one member is honored, or you could say glorified, all the members rejoice with it. Now when I first just casually read that I thought that means, every single person in the church must have the same public attention and recognition. And I thought: “How am I going to do that. Does that mean every single time anybody’s given any credit that every other person whose ever done anything should also have mutual credit or equal credit,” that’s not what he’s saying. Read the way its worded. If one member is glorified, all rejoice with it. Here’s what he means. Inevitably those of us who have the public ministry get most of the glory. That’s just the way it works.

When I preach the principles that God has blessed in this church, and maybe they do like they did at a recent place where I preached and they all stood and applauded at the end, that was some glory bestowed on me in a sense. But you know what, I preached what you’re living out. So all of you with your service gift and your ministries gift, and your helps gift, and your administration gift, and your mercy gifts, and all those gifts, you’re a part of me, and though one member maybe the one that in the public eye he gets the credit, all the members rejoice, because you know we’re equally connected, and my success is greatly dependent on your service and your area.

Now in God’s will and God’s timing, he may chunk me and get another person to fill this office, that’s fine if that’s his will. But if another person fills this office, they will be the one that gets most of the attention, as far as the public credit. But what is he saying. That guy, that lady that Sunday school teacher, that elder, that whomever, that gets some public attention, he knows full well that he’s dependent upon all those other servants. And when all of you doing your various roles and ministries, when you hear somebody reap some praise on your pastor, on whomever it may be in this church that has a public ministry. If we’re spiritually plugged in and we understand what God’s doing, we say: “Praise God, that meant I must be doing my ministry right also. Because I am inseparably connected to the success of our pastor teacher.” What a beautiful picture that is. Paul says, when one is glorified or honored, all rejoice in it. Cause they all know they are connected to him or her, and they all had a part in that.

Now look at verse 27: “Now you are Christ’s body and individually members of it.” That is somewhat of a summary statement. Paul has been building that principle of there’s a mutual principle of dependency, you have to have each other, and therefore that builds or really breeds an equality spirit which produces unity. Now he comes to verses 28 through 30, and verses 28 through 30 are sort of a creative rebuke to the Corinthians. And Paul begins to say some interesting things here. Notice he begins to list things and he uses first, second and third as he lists some of these gifts. And again, this is just a representative sampling of gifts, its not an exhaustive listing. He’s trying to make a point, he’s not trying to teach all the gifts at this point, he’s making a point to the church at Corinth.

And he begins in verse 28 and says: “And God has appointed in the church first apostles.” Well, we understand they had to be first, the apostles were the guys who first came with the gospel, if they didn’t come it wouldn’t matter who had service and mercy and helps, amen. Somebody had to come preach the gospel first. So Paul says, they were essential to the founding of the church, those guys had to come. “Then second prophets,” as the church was established, within individual churches, men and women with the gift of prophecy were used in the early church. They proclaimed God’s truth. “And then third after then, then teachers” come up as the New Testament canon was complete, God was not giving the direct revelation, he was giving men the capacity to preach and teach the given revelation, teachers. They began to take over the reigns thirdly.

And then without really any specific chronological order he throws the rest of some gifts in there, and when you get all the way to the end, you see the rebuke that he was trying to make, and the point he was getting across in this time and this letter. Notice he continues in verse 28: “then miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they, and all do not interpret, do they?” His point is, don’t be seeking somebody else’s gift, be grateful for the gift you have. But there is that subtle rebuke coming out there. Where Paul listed all the important gifts and at the very end he says: “and some speak in tongues.” Paul’s so crafty. He took the one gift they were so enamored with and when he listed them in importance he said: “I’m going to put it last.” Going to put it last. So I’m sure when this letter arrived at Corinth, the guys who had been saying, “nobody’s as important as we are, we can speak in other languages,” and then they read this letter, they thought: “Oh me. We have been esteeming something as real high and important that Paul says I’m going to put last on the list.” Now perhaps if they had another problem, he’d put another thing last, but he’s trying to get his point across.

Have you noticed that when all the members of your physical body, all those organs of your physical body are performing their diverse functions in unity, that the head gets all the attention. Have you noticed that. The various organs or members of your physical body are doing their multiplicid, various functions in unity, everything’s functioning in unity. All the members, then the head gets the attention. You know when an Olympic runner wins the 100 meter dash, and the 100 meter dash is over and he gets the gold medal, and the first thing you see is a reporter coming up to that runner, you know what the reporter does not do. He does not stick the microphone down at the feet of the runner and say: “Feet, whooo, you did a good job. Man, the pavement was hot and you were pounding against the pavement, and sweat was dripping off between your toes, but you hung in there feet, what a great job.”

He does not do that, the reporter doesn’t put the microphone to the legs of the runner and said: “Legs, I saw the muscles bulging, I saw the blood pulsing, but you stretched out, you strained, you thrust, you drove the body, the legs did a great job, how about it legs, let the people hear what you think.” The reporter does not put the microphone to your chest and say: “Heart and lungs, tremendous. Heart, you were pumping at such an incredible rapid pace and you were pumping that blood down through those legs, down through the arm, up through the head, so that the runner would not faint, heart, you did a great job how about a word heart.” No, when the organs of the body are doing their diverse roles properly and in unity and they are functioning as a whole, the head gets the attention. The reporter put the microphone to the head of the runner and says: “Tell us how you did it. Great job.”

So it is in the body of Christ. And all of us are performing our diverse functions selflessly, in humility, not worrying about who gets the credit and the glory, and if somebody does get credit and glory, we all rejoice: “Hallelujah, glad he got it, he needed me to get it. Glad I had a part.” Then what happens. The head of the body, Christ, gets all of the attention. He gets all the glory. That’s why we’re here.

But let one of the organs of your body cease to function in unity with the rest of the body. And here’s what happens in your physical body. When one of the organs, one of the members ceases to function properly.

Number one, that organ begins to poison the rest of the body. That’s why surgeons have to go in and so often remove an organ because if its not functioning in unity with the rest of the body, it begins to affect and infect the whole body, like a ruptured appendix, it has to be brought out, or the poison will ruin and wreck the whole body.

Number two, it begins to draw attention to itself. I mean, when you go see the doctor and you’ve got an organ that’s not functioning right, the doctor doesn’t look very much at your eyes, he starts poking and pushing and feeling and looking at that place where the organ is. Its a leg, he looks at your leg, if its a foot, he looks at your foot. The surgeon goes in there, what’s he hunting for, not your head, he’s hunting for that organ, it gets all the attention itself, and that’s what happens in the body when somebody gets in rebellion. Not functioning in harmony and as a unity, as a whole, they begin drawing attention to themselves.

Thirdly in the physical body you begin to rob the head of the attention it ought to get. You steal from the head the attention that ought to be coming to it, because the attention is going to that organ, and so it is in the body of Christ.

So Paul says, first of all, there’s a providential nature to this thing that we call Christian unity. Unity of spiritual gifts. God baptized all of you with the same spirit, you’ve been made to drink of the same spirit, you’re on equal ground, there ought to be unity.

Then Paul says, there’s a very practical nature to this unity of spiritual gifts, you are mutually dependent on one another, that mutual dependency breeds a unity. And when we use our diverse gifts serving one another, then the head of the body, Christ, gets all the glory.