Spiritual Gifts - One Body In Christ, Part 2

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October 8, 2024

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Daily Bites Of God's Word - Part 3 - Psalm 119:3

00:01: We are finishing up our sermon series on spiritual gifts this morning.
00:08: There is a lot more that could have been said, but I want to transition our thinking and discussion into Easter and everything that that brings our way.
00:18: So I want to complete everything and sort of put a bow on this this week. So you can turn in your
00:24: Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. We're going to be looking in earnest at verses 14 through 25 this morning.
00:32: I'm going to start out by piggybacking and picking back up where we ended last week. And no,
00:38: John, I'm not going to have you come join me at the front. We're still working through that, and I'm glad to see you'll smile at me.
00:45: So we're still friends, I'm guessing. But in using that example, I want to make sure I clarify and expound a little bit more past where I went.
00:53: We were talking in Romans chapter 12, verse 10, where it says we were to give preference to one another in honor.
00:58: And this is the general operation of the church, and they use the verb there as the understanding of leading or going before.
01:05: So that we are to go before one another and leading and demonstrating the example of what it's like to give preference to one another in honor.
01:14: Now I want to make sure I note, which I did not note last week, I'm going to make sure this is explained.
01:20: This does not mean that we either ignore or don't deal with sin.
01:27: Matthew chapter 18, and I don't have these in the slides, the verses in Matthew.
01:33: But in Matthew chapter 18, verse 15, it says, if your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private.
01:42: That will be key in a minute. If he listens to you, you have won your brother. And then if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every fact may be confirmed.
01:54: If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a
02:01: Gentile or as a tax collector. This is the famous passage in reference to church discipline, and the world we live in, they would probably fall out on the floor and pass away just over the use of the word discipline.
02:14: But discipline is an important thing, and just like everything else, the Bible has a much different point of view and a much different point for doing things than the world does.
02:23: The point of church discipline is not to put someone down. It says to go to them in private, and when you go to them in private, if someone either gossip against you, lie against you, they've done some sin against you.
02:36: And keep in mind, too, this is not petty annoyances. Just because you don't like someone or they don't operate the way you think they should, that does not mean that they necessarily have sinned against you.
02:48: It also does not exclude you from the responsibility to give them preference and honor. I've said many times, we all are not going to get along equally.
02:58: Our personalities sometimes won't mesh. Some people have common interests with some people more so than they do other people.
03:06: But those people that you don't necessarily get along with as well, if they have a need that you can meet, as a
03:12: Christian, you would still meet that need. The whole idea of church discipline and this understanding that if someone sins against you, you would go to them privately, is so you go to them with only one goal in mind.
03:28: That is forgiveness and restoration. We are never to go to someone to get even.
03:34: We're never to go to them to make them feel bad or to think you have some sort of superior high ground. The goal in going to them when we should be humble, something to the effect of, look,
03:44: I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding, I really appreciate what you do, it's just something you said or something you did,
03:51: I'm sure maybe it's just maybe a misunderstanding, but it hurt me and I just wanted to talk about it. Some variation of that, you're going to them in a humble way because you're not seeking to harm them as a brother or sister.
04:02: You're seeking to have them come to restoration of that relationship and then once it's restored, then you're back at square one and we give preference and honor.
04:11: That always want to put in agape love others' needs above our own. Why is this important?
04:18: Well, it's important because it feeds into and it is a part of what we're talking about with spiritual gifts.
04:24: I've said from the start, spiritual gifts has nothing to do with us, has everything to do with others.
04:32: We use our spiritual gifts in obedience to Christ and service to Him ultimately and for His glory, but we're doing it also in service to our fellow
04:40: Christians. It's for the building up of the body of Christ. And if we have sin in any capacity, that stops and sort of harms or can, you know, so for instance, like I say, if John and I have an issue, that's going to, if I, until that issue is resolved, if he, you know, there's going to be that thing that always is sitting out there.
05:01: And when I said last week, you know, that this is the one thing that we struggle with more than anything. It could be true about us, but don't think that means it's just us.
05:10: The church at large, anywhere you go, we struggle with this. All churches do.
05:16: We either are scared or we shy away or we think that, you know, it's not going to go the way you think it would.
05:23: So we don't confront, and what ends up happening is people just hold it for years and years and years, or they just up and leave, or they won't talk to somebody for years, and that's just not the way we're supposed to be.
05:35: Now I will revisit this at some point down the road where I can get into more detail with examples and kind of walk through what this looks like.
05:42: But for today, I just want to make it clear that this giving preference and honor doesn't mean that we don't confront or deal with sin as it happens.
05:50: And notice that we are to go to them privately. We're not going to make a public affair of it, and in fact, most people that argue against church discipline, they immediately go to the third option.
06:03: Oh, you're going to drag them in front of church and make a public spectacle of them. Jesus makes it very clear that taking somebody in front of the church is a last resort, and you pray and you beg and you hope that you would never have to do that.
06:19: The key is that if I go to someone privately, we work it out. We had a misunderstanding, and we've had things happen at this church since I've been here where there's a misunderstanding, something happened, somebody said something or did something, and it was just a thing.
06:34: They go to them privately. Sometimes they may just have me kind of help, and you know what? You never hear about it.
06:42: Never happened as far as they're concerned. You know why? Because it was handled correctly. Restoration came.
06:49: Everything's good. You never hear a word about it when it's handled right. What do you always hear about?
06:55: Church splits, blowups, crazy business meetings that go haywire.
07:02: You hear about those things. Why? Because they weren't handled correctly. They weren't handled biblically.
07:09: The key for this forgiveness and restoration Jesus is speaking of here is the key because when handled correctly, the church is in harmony.
07:17: The unity is maintained. Sin can disrupt the unity of the church. A Christian not using their spiritual gift can disrupt unity.
07:27: And just so you think the person that's seeking or going to the person privately would ever be off the hook, it's interesting to me that right after that place where he speaks about how to do this,
07:38: Peter comes up and says, well, how many times am I supposed to forgive my brother? Seven times? Jesus says, no, seven times 70.
07:46: That basically means if I go to Earl over there and Earl is, you know, he's, he's, we got to watch Earl. So if Earl sins against me and I go to him privately and I say,
07:55: Earl, you know, I'm sure it's just a big misunderstanding, but such and such happened and I just want to talk about this. And Earl says, man,
08:01: I'm sorry. You know what? I shouldn't have said that or done that. I'm sorry. Will you forgive me? There is no limit to the amount of times
08:07: I'm supposed to forgive him. Jesus says, you forgive them. You forgive them. You restore them and you should rejoice in the forgiveness and the restoration.
08:16: Why? Because unity is restored. Sin is dealt with because while it may be
08:22: Earl or maybe me or maybe whoever that time that's going to someone, never think yourself so superior that you would not be the one that would need to become too.
08:32: We sin, all of us, we are all sinners. So Jesus makes it clear that love, agape love, forgiveness and restoration are the goals of church discipline, not judgmental attitudes or an attempt to get even.
08:51: By giving preference and honor, confronting sin and love with the goal of forgiveness and restoration of the sinning brother, we promote unity in the body and also key to our series, create the best environment for Christians to use their spiritual gifts and serve each other's needs.
09:11: We have spoken this sermon series and you can go back and reread it later. But in verses four through seven of 12, where it talks about the fact that there are a variety of gifts, but the same spirit variety of ministries, the same
09:23: Lord variety of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.
09:29: We need unity and we need that unity to come with the diversity of roles and gifts that we have.
09:39: The most beautiful thing about the gospel, the most beautiful thing about how Christ works in his church is that it transcends everything.
09:48: Backgrounds, races, rich, poor, employed, unemployed, whatever classification you can find, attempt to find to put anyone in, it transcends all of that.
10:01: And I've already covered the fact that no matter what your combination of gifts are, we're not even to classify ourselves as Christians by what gifts we have.
10:08: We don't put the givers over here and the teachers over here. It's all one body. There is never any room for any classifications whatsoever.
10:20: We're all one body. That means we all have different roles, different gifts, different talents, different places of service.
10:30: And I want to share with you, I found this quote, and those of you on Facebook probably already saw this. I shared it last night, but the one thing that I personally have learned through this whole series that I personally or recently or beforehand could not have articulated this way, but this is the one thing that I have learned, and it's a quote by one of my favorite
10:50: Bible teachers, John MacArthur. He says, a believer's gifts can be an overlapping combination taken in different proportions from the categories of gifts.
11:04: One person may be obviously strong in a single gift, such as teaching. Another may not be strong in any one gift, but have some measure of three or four categories.
11:18: And I think we see this a lot in our church. We have a lot of people that have percentages or certain measures of a wide variety of gifts.
11:26: And then we have some that may be strong in one or two. And that is how God makes it all work.
11:32: He goes on to say it is best to see each person's gift as a unique blend of the categories of giftedness granted to that individual in connection with his or her traits and experiences and the needs of the church.
11:48: So here's the cool part of this quote, and here's what
11:53: I've learned. Understand this. Each believer becomes as unique spiritually as his fingerprints are physically.
12:08: Why do you think fingerprints are so important, especially when you start in the realm of law enforcement and so on and so forth?
12:14: Your fingerprints are unique. Another example MacArthur uses a lot when he speaks of this is snowflakes.
12:21: There are no two snowflakes alike. No two Christians are gifted the exact same way.
12:29: You are unique. So here's the bottom line.
12:36: You matter. You matter to the body of Christ.
12:47: Picking up at verse 14 in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 for our main text this morning, it says,
12:52: For the body is not one member but many. Now Paul is going to use the analogy of a human body to make a point.
13:02: And the point, you matter. You matter.
13:11: Every one of you, every single Christian, regardless of your age, background, how you view your talents, how you view yourself, you matter.
13:26: Every single Christian is divinely gifted by the Holy Spirit. There's no sideline
13:33: Christianity. There's no retirement plan. There's no 401. There's no beach somewhere with a nice sweet tea and a
13:42: Bojangles biscuit where you can just sit there and live out the rest of your years. Yes, there is a time and place for retirement.
13:50: There's a time and place for vacation and enjoying the fruits of your labor. But when it comes to spirituality, your time of service to the body of Christ does not end until you take your last breath here and take your first breath in heaven.
14:10: Verse 15, here's where he picks up with the analogy. If the foot says, because I am not a hand,
14:18: I am not a part of the body, it is not for this reason any less a part of the body.
14:25: And if the ear says, because I am not an eye, I am not part of the body, it is not for this reason any less a part of the body.
14:35: If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
14:43: The foot is not left out because it is not a hand, and the ear is not left out because it is not an eye.
14:59: You matter. You matter.
15:05: Every one of you matter. And our unity is not uniformity.
15:14: Remember the example I gave last week? What if every single person on a football team was a quarterback?
15:21: I don't care if the, I think it's 53 man roster now, if the entire 53 man roster was
15:26: Tom Brady, as good as he is, that team would win zero games. Look, I know those of you that don't like the
15:35: Patriots, you'd come up with some kind of conspiracy to say they'd somehow still win. I'm with you. I'm with you.
15:43: But in reality, if you had all quarterbacks, you would not win.
15:50: If you think some scrawny little 205 pound guy who just happens to have an arm like a missile is going to stop a linebacker, well he's retired now, but like Ray Lewis coming through to take your head off, you're living in crazyville.
16:06: There's a reason we have a diversity of people on a football team, and there is a reason why you have a diversity of people in the body of Christ.
16:20: Not everybody can be a pastor. Not everybody can be a Sunday school teacher. And we've already seen there's only one
16:29: Glenda. Not everybody is qualified to do what she does. Not everybody's qualified to do what you do.
16:35: Why? Because God gifted you to do what you do. You matter.
16:43: You matter. Verse 18 says, but now
16:48: God has placed the members, each one of them in the body, just as he desired.
16:59: Now this is where the context of why this letter was written comes back into play. These Corinthian believers were so enamored by tongues and healings and all these temporary sign gifts and that they said, well, those people are out in front, they're the ones sort of in their minds getting all the glory and they're doing all these cool things.
17:21: And you know, they're the ones getting all this honor and you know, everybody's flocking to see what they're doing.
17:27: And I'm just a little so and so over here. What this verse means is that we should not go chasing after a gift that is not ours.
17:39: God either confirms or denies to you through the power of the Holy Spirit and through you using and attempting to use certain gifts and variety of ways, you either get confirmation with open doors and the fellow
17:52: Christians telling you that that's your gift and that's where you should be, or you'll get steered in another direction.
17:58: And it's our duty to let people know, even if they're trying something, it's not them.
18:07: It doesn't mean that you tell them they're useless. It means, you know, Hey man, you know, you know, you tried really hard over here and you know, we've got some good things going, but you know,
18:16: I got this idea. I seen you do something one day and you know, I think you would be great over here. Always make it positive.
18:24: Keep in mind someone's spiritual state, their spiritual awareness, their spiritual health is vulnerable a lot of times.
18:31: And a lot of times, I don't know if you were like me, but just like something as simple as putting the wrong songs in the slides,
18:39: I don't need any of you to remind me. I already know, and I'm already beating myself up over it and thinking,
18:45: Andy, what did you do, son? It's a vulnerable thing.
18:52: I think too often we look to beat down on someone rather than lift them up, and if someone's trying, even if they're sort of misplaced and it's not quite where they should be, you still matter.
19:07: You matter, and they need to matter to us. We need to matter to them. We need to help them find where they can be of great service.
19:16: And some of the people that you would think are the most least likely to ever be in a place that would serve in just abounding ways will surprise you and knock the shoes off of your feet when they finally find that lane that God so divinely crafted for them to be in, just as He desired.
19:40: In using this analogy of the body, it's important to note that just as this verse pointed out,
19:45: Christ is the head of the body. He's the head of the church. We are not the head, but the members of the body.
19:59: Christ controls the body. We function under His control, under His direction, and under His lordship.
20:07: We owe our obedience only to Christ Jesus. You owe your obedience to no pastor, to no priest, to no one else but Christ.
20:21: Any authority that you follow that comes out of my mouth is not mine but Christ's, and you're only to obey anything that I would ever put forth in a sermon, insofar as it is accurate and submitted to the
20:32: Word of God, which comes through the authority of Christ and not man. I have no authority in the church.
20:40: It is Christ's church. The role that I play must be submitted to the Word of God, which tells me the things that I am to do in operation and in service to the church, just as every other
20:50: Christian member is to submit to the Word of God, submit to Christ's lordship, and submit to the things that He would have us to do.
21:00: It is only when we go and think we are superior or think somehow we have some inherent authority of ourselves that we find ourselves in great error.
21:11: Verse 21, he continues the analogy. He says,
21:16: And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, or again the head to the feet,
21:23: I have no need of you. To think that one is superior in any way is error and sin and just utter ridiculous.
21:40: Why? Because we had absolutely nothing to do with our giftedness to begin with.
21:48: We have absolutely nothing to do with the giftedness of others. It is what God desires is how
21:54: He has composed the body. We owe everything, and I do mean everything to God.
22:05: No glory is ours. If we keep any glory for ourselves, we are sinning.
22:11: All, solely deo gloria, all glory to God. We owe everything to Him.
22:18: It is He that so composes the body. Verse 22, it says, On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary, and those members of the body which we deem less honorable.
22:36: Notice, my friends, it did not say that God deemed someone less honorable, did it?
22:42: God doesn't see us in classifications or in this person's more important than the other one or because he's a pastor or he or she's a choir member or they're in front or in a position of leadership and they're seen and visible and the other ones aren't.
22:57: God didn't say they're less honorable. It says the ones which we deem less honorable.
23:04: The only time any Christian ever feels not honored or not important or that they don't matter in a church is if we do it to them.
23:16: That's the only time. My friends, you matter.
23:24: You matter. In our day, in our world, and this is more broad brush here.
23:40: You know, this is not just us, but I think Christianity at large. We've sort of developed this form of Christianity that mirrors way too much of the world.
23:49: We put way too much honor on those who are out in front, have something more showy, more visible.
23:55: They're seen. They're in a leadership position. They're on stage. They're on display. And not enough honor on those who are not out front.
24:06: Not enough honor on those who are behind the scenes. Now look, there's a certain amount of honor that a pastor is going to get just simply by the role that I play.
24:17: And it's my job to take that, appreciate it, but keep pointing people to the Holy Spirit.
24:22: Because it's not me that does anything, but it's God working in through me. There's a certain amount of honor that comes with it.
24:28: A certain amount of honor with being a wonderful piano player, wonderful singing in a choir, doing a great job with, say, vacation
24:35: Bible school and things where you're out in front or you're the seen or visible aspects of what the church is doing.
24:41: And there's nothing necessarily wrong with that. It's okay to be honored.
24:49: It's okay for someone to say, I appreciate what you do, so on and so forth. But the key to this is we too often forget those who are not visible, that are behind the scenes, that aren't necessarily seen or out front.
25:08: Verse 24, whereas our more presentable, I'm sorry, let's pick back up with verse 23.
25:14: And those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on those we bestow more abundant honor.
25:22: Giving preference and honor, going out of your way, going before others to give more abundant honor to those.
25:32: And our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it.
25:39: Picking up on what I was saying about someone that's out front, that naturally gets some of the honor that just comes with that.
25:45: Someone that's in one of those positions has no need of more abundant honor.
25:52: But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked.
25:58: And keeping the context is those that we would say that would lack or think that which would lack or not be as presentable, or maybe you don't think of them as often.
26:05: Why? Verse 25, so that there be no division in the body. Those that are out in front, like a pastor, church leader, someone involved in corporate worship, so on and so forth, these various things
26:20: I've said, they would not be in need of necessarily the more abundant honor being spoke of here.
26:26: It doesn't mean that they would not receive honor, or it's not a good thing to recognize or appreciate them. The point is
26:32: He's saying, if you want to have a healthy church, have unity, and have one body in Christ, we need to go out of our way to make sure those that are not as visible, not as presentable, not out there in front, make sure they have more abundant honor because of the fact they're not getting that natural honor that comes from being out in front.
26:52: And it is to maintain unity. Think of it this way.
27:00: I'm going to use my own analogy of the human body, separate from the way Paul used it, but just let this picture be in your head.
27:07: The body is whole with all the members that are a part of the body. You could potentially live without a leg.
27:15: You can live without an arm. You can live without one eye. You can live without an ear.
27:20: You can live without certain things that are visible. There are ways to make that happen.
27:28: Can you live without a heart? Can you live without the other organs?
27:35: Can you live without blood? Can you live without blood pumping through your veins?
27:42: Can you live without lungs? Are they seen?
27:50: Are they necessary? That's Paul's point. Just because you can't see them, just because they're not readily visible, not because they're out front where, you know, these people that juggle, you know, just crazy things juggling.
28:08: What do we always say? Man, isn't it amazing what they can do with their hands? Is that person going to juggle without a heart?
28:17: Somebody runs a race like Usain Bolt, fastest man I've ever seen, and they say, man, look how fast his legs move.
28:26: Usain Bolt going to run a race without a heart? If you're behind the scenes, if you're a prayer warrior, if you're a set -up or clean -up crew, if you do something that's not necessarily flashy or out front, you know what
28:41: Paul's saying? We can't live without you. You are the heart.
28:49: You're the heart of the church. You're the heart of Calvary Baptist Church. We make it do without an arm or a leg, and pastors come and go to some degree, but we can't live without the heart.
29:01: I am nothing without God, but I am especially nothing without you.
29:08: I can preach, I can equip, I can teach, but without you going out and doing the work of service, it profits nothing.
29:17: You matter. You can't live without a heart, and we can't live without you.
29:24: I don't care if you're on a stage or if you work in the quiet shadows and no one ever hears your name, which would be a side issue to deal with at a later date.
29:36: No matter what you do, no matter how important you or someone else may think you are, the only thing that matters is what
29:43: God says, and God says you matter. Lastly, in verse 25, he says, so that there may be no division in the body.
29:54: Why? But that the members may have the same care for one another.
30:00: That's the whole point. God is saying that nobody is left out.
30:07: Everyone matters. You matters. So how do we give preference to one another and honor?
30:15: How do we show our devotion to one another? How do we have the same care for one another?
30:23: By making sure that everyone in our local body knows that they matter, and especially the ones behind the scenes, for they are the heart that we simply cannot live without.