back to index2015-11-12 Study of 1 Corinthians Part 3 - Week 1
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Well, let's open up our Bibles to 1 Corinthians. 00:00:09.600 |
And I'm going to start reading from verse 12 down to verse 31. 00:00:17.720 |
And it says, "For even as the body is one, and yet has many members, and all the members 00:00:23.320 |
of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. 00:00:27.840 |
And by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether 00:00:32.640 |
slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 00:00:40.120 |
If the foot says, 'Because I'm not a hand, I'm not part of the body,' it is not for this 00:00:47.360 |
And if the ear says, 'Because I'm not an eye, I'm not a part of the body,' it is not for 00:00:51.040 |
this reason any less, any the less, a part of the body. 00:00:54.760 |
If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? 00:00:57.760 |
If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 00:01:03.040 |
But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. 00:01:07.760 |
If they were all one member, where would the body be? 00:01:10.580 |
But now there are many members, but one body, and the eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have 00:01:14.000 |
no need of you,' or again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.' 00:01:18.140 |
On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker 00:01:23.660 |
And those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant 00:01:30.500 |
honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable. 00:01:34.820 |
Whereas our more presentable members have no need of it, but God has so composed the 00:01:38.660 |
body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division 00:01:43.700 |
in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 00:01:47.520 |
And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. 00:01:50.580 |
If one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. 00:01:54.140 |
Now you are Christ's body and individually members of it. 00:01:57.220 |
And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, 00:02:01.580 |
then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. 00:02:15.980 |
All do not have the gifts of healing, do they? 00:02:22.740 |
But earnestly desire the greater gifts, and I show you a still more excellent way. 00:02:33.020 |
And I asked this question, what do we know from the immediate context so far? 00:02:38.940 |
And the reason why I asked that is because we started chapter 12, but it was two weeks 00:02:49.440 |
If you would glance over at chapter 12, verses one through 11, we started this conversation 00:02:58.580 |
And I want to highlight to the fact that chapter 12 all the way to chapter 14, that entire 00:03:04.100 |
section deals with the gifts of the spirit, spiritual gifts. 00:03:09.500 |
And what's very interesting is as he starts to talk about them, you can deduce the various 00:03:15.140 |
problems that are taking place within the church. 00:03:20.020 |
And so in the current context, we know there is confusion. 00:03:26.420 |
There's confusion in the worship place, there's confusion in the church, and there's confusion 00:03:31.860 |
So in chapter 12, verses one through 11, Apostle Paul describes the various character traits 00:03:38.720 |
of the gifts, and he lists the various gifts that exist. 00:03:44.220 |
And in so doing, he's going to give the nature of the gifts, but one of the main things that 00:03:47.980 |
I highlighted to you as a way of review in the last Bible study is the fact that Apostle 00:03:53.660 |
Paul emphasized what is the source of these gifts. 00:04:00.560 |
So if you look at basically almost all the verses, it contains certain phrases that are 00:04:10.060 |
For example, starting from verse four, "There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. 00:04:17.700 |
There are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. 00:04:21.260 |
There are varieties of effects, but the same God." 00:04:23.660 |
So what you have there is a trinity, the Spirit, the Lord, and God, who are the source of the 00:04:33.940 |
So in so laying down the spiritual gifts, the nature, and the source of it, Apostle 00:04:41.580 |
Paul in the last time gave a command to the church that these spiritual gifts really were 00:04:47.340 |
meant to reveal the Spirit's power, and they were to be used for the common good of the 00:04:54.140 |
Now, what we pick up in verse 12, what we pick up in verse 12 is he's going to start 00:05:00.020 |
to talk about the nature of the church itself. 00:05:04.740 |
So he's began talking about the spiritual gifts, but now he's going to start talking 00:05:15.500 |
And as he's talking about the church, he describes it as one unified body, or unified in one body 00:05:25.140 |
Now, as we take a look at this, let's take a look at verse 12. 00:05:28.860 |
It says, "For even as the body is one, and yet as many members, all the members of the 00:05:33.900 |
body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ." 00:05:38.980 |
I'm going to ask you what seems to be an obvious question, but it's a trick question. 00:06:06.860 |
And I don't like, if you volunteer and you put your, you know, you risk it, I'm not going 00:06:17.380 |
A lot of times you look at this whole section, and chapter 12 has been most frequently preached 00:06:28.540 |
And that's typically with, you know, umph and passion, what a preacher would teach this 00:06:34.940 |
But the fact of the matter is, he's not just emphasizing one half of that picture. 00:06:39.420 |
He's emphasizing both the aspect of unity and the variety, that there are many. 00:06:49.860 |
And so he uses the analogy or the metaphor of the body. 00:06:55.980 |
And I think that's something really important to highlight. 00:06:59.820 |
So as I asked the question there, "What abstract truth is Paul highlighting with the church 00:07:05.260 |
You guys can jot those two things in, that there's unified, and yet there are many pieces. 00:07:10.900 |
But here's the more important question as we think about that. 00:07:15.980 |
He's emphasizing this point with the metaphor, you know? 00:07:25.900 |
And I want to ask you guys to take a moment to think about that. 00:07:28.220 |
And I had you guys think about it in your discussion groups. 00:07:41.740 |
In thinking about the fact that, okay, the church, okay, and talking about the nature 00:07:46.420 |
of the church, we are to be united, we are to be together, one spirit and whatnot, but 00:07:54.860 |
And that truth he's highlighting with the analogy of the body. 00:07:58.900 |
So if we are truly like a body, what are some of the implications you can draw from that? 00:08:12.900 |
Let's write some of these down underneath that section. 00:08:19.620 |
And that functionality is important because we literally have a role to play. 00:08:25.700 |
And that's how he describes it later in the passage. 00:08:30.620 |
Does not a part of your body have a certain, you know, purpose to it in which it's supposed 00:08:36.460 |
to be for smell, for sight, for taste and whatnot. 00:09:04.900 |
If you guys have ever hurt one leg, you know that after hurting one leg, the other one's 00:09:10.380 |
going to start hurting too because you need both. 00:09:15.900 |
So there's a sense in which, you know, every piece of the body is necessary because together 00:09:28.300 |
I just want a couple more and I'm going to make a point with it. 00:09:36.140 |
So there's a sense in which you could think that, I don't know, some parts of the body 00:09:46.740 |
And typically, I'm not in the medical field so I don't know a whole lot, but a lot of 00:09:52.180 |
people think the appendix or whatever, you know. 00:09:54.660 |
But recently they said, "Hey, there is actually a purpose to this." 00:09:58.020 |
And then if I can use another example, just for this study, I Googled importance of the 00:10:06.940 |
If you get super bored, it's actually a really interesting thing you could do. 00:10:09.980 |
Just go to Google and just type in importance of the thumb. 00:10:12.940 |
It's really crazy just thinking about your little short stubby thumb. 00:10:17.900 |
That if you did not have this thumb, like, there's so many different tasks, so many different 00:10:28.740 |
One of these days if you guys get really discouraged and I'm going to be like, "You're so important 00:10:35.540 |
You might be short, you might be stout compared to the rest. 00:10:39.100 |
I'm short and stout so I can say that, right? 00:10:46.140 |
Now, the reason why I say this is because he's going to use this analogy to teach the 00:10:51.740 |
entire congregation that whatever problems they're having, whatever issues they're having 00:10:56.460 |
with even spiritual gifts, he's going to use this analogy to prove them wrong. 00:11:01.860 |
He's going to use this analogy to say, "This is how God expects you to be." 00:11:06.660 |
So it's good for us to think through all the implications and to see this. 00:11:11.060 |
What's more, this analogy most closely connects us with Christ our Lord. 00:11:19.100 |
Here's an interesting part of verse 12 that I think we should pay attention to. 00:11:23.820 |
If you look at verse 12, it reads, "For even as the body is one and yet has many members, 00:11:29.820 |
all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body. 00:11:42.380 |
Jesus is like this, so also should you, right? 00:11:46.180 |
Typically, it goes, Jesus is this character trait, Jesus is like this, and so you should 00:11:53.900 |
But what's really interesting is he highlights this analogy of the body and says, "So is 00:12:33.700 |
So, this aspect of it is contained in, I think, what Apostle Paul's getting at. 00:12:40.660 |
Reason why is because this passage actually is, that little segment is so brief that a 00:12:46.980 |
lot of people have a lot of questions about it, but you're right. 00:12:50.500 |
If we were to think about the harmony and the unity that exists, we'd first think of 00:12:58.300 |
And what's more, when we talk about husband and wife and that unity, we talk about the 00:13:03.180 |
Trinity because there's that unity that we basically aspire to, the perfect harmony within 00:13:14.460 |
That has a lot to do with it because there is this question of, in what way is his concept 00:13:22.900 |
of Christ connecting with his concept of many but one? 00:13:30.980 |
And what I would like for you guys to just kind of jot down is, there is a theological 00:13:36.180 |
concept that's really deep and profound, which is union with Christ. 00:13:45.460 |
And if you ever get a chance to dig deeper into that theological topic, do it. 00:13:52.420 |
You're going to realize there is this supernatural, God-given miracle to his people in which by 00:14:02.780 |
his power, and only his power, can he make you one with Christ. 00:14:08.780 |
Can he make the church, the entire church, one with the Lord. 00:14:13.500 |
And in that sense, I think that's why he's talking about, "So also is Christ." 00:14:18.260 |
Remember that Jesus is the one who taught in John 15, five, "He who abides in me, and 00:14:29.340 |
And so, the nature of the church, the nature of Christ, the nature of our relationship 00:14:39.740 |
And I think that's something important to think about. 00:14:43.780 |
And because it's getting closer and closer to Thanksgiving, today I'm going to highlight, 00:14:49.380 |
as we go and study the passage, a couple things that we should super-duper really be thankful 00:15:00.400 |
I want you guys to just take a moment to think about that. 00:15:08.660 |
Like, I have people to lean on when I'm just dead tired. 00:15:12.780 |
I appreciate, like, a lot of the people that I serve with. 00:15:15.900 |
I appreciate that sometimes I feel like, out of all my seminary buddies and the pastoral 00:15:22.380 |
buddies, I feel like I have the greatest support system ever. 00:15:24.620 |
I've got elders, Pastor Peter, the church, the deacons, the people I serve with in our 00:15:28.460 |
different ministries and stuff, and I just feel super-supported. 00:15:32.380 |
Now, the reason why I talk about that is because there's a difference between somebody being 00:15:38.300 |
with you, somebody supporting you, somebody seldomly checking up on you, asking you a 00:15:45.020 |
good question, as opposed to somebody who is one with you. 00:15:49.740 |
As opposed to somebody who is above and beyond just with you, but in you, and you are in 00:15:56.380 |
That God's presence with us is so much above and beyond what we experience and are encouraged 00:16:05.460 |
That is a mystery of the gospel, mystery of the Christian truth, that we should really 00:16:15.620 |
So, again, highlighting this idea, Jesus identifies Himself with the church, with the believers. 00:16:23.940 |
Not in such a way with, like, "Yeah, I'm attached to that guy." 00:16:26.620 |
No, like, He identifies Himself in such a way where, in verse 12, it's analogous. 00:16:34.100 |
That the church is literally Him, the expression of His body, right? 00:16:39.980 |
And that the church, as having Christ as its head, literally is identified, wrapped up 00:16:56.580 |
When we look at verse 13, it continues this idea. 00:16:59.580 |
It says, "For by one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, 00:17:05.100 |
whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit." 00:17:10.620 |
Here and now, here and now, He starts to highlight the unity. 00:17:17.620 |
Because remember, verse 12 served as kind of like an intro, and He says, "The emphasis 00:17:27.820 |
So here in verse 13, He's highlighting the unity aspect of it. 00:17:33.220 |
And for us, I just want for us to think about that. 00:17:35.980 |
Because what He's highlighting here is, one Spirit, one baptism. 00:17:44.860 |
And in this, I just want us to think for a moment. 00:18:08.940 |
You guys can just duke it out in the parking lot later. 00:18:14.540 |
My point exactly is, we had like 30 people raise their hand, but it was silent. 00:18:20.340 |
We had like four people raise their hand, and it was loud. 00:18:22.180 |
The idea is, there's a solidarity just from where you went to school. 00:18:27.220 |
And obviously, we have solidarity with different stuff. 00:18:29.940 |
We have solidarity because we experience the same sufferings. 00:18:33.300 |
Why do like, I don't know, guys who went to training, like military training together, 00:18:44.740 |
If you have like, you know, Asian pride, if you have, why are you guys all laughing? 00:19:02.180 |
But, you know, people do have solidarity based on ethnicity. 00:19:13.180 |
Although, yeah, we're against racism and all that kind of stuff. 00:19:16.620 |
I mean, people are okay with the fact that sometimes, yeah, if you're from Taiwan, you're 00:19:21.620 |
Or if you're from a certain background, you say, yeah. 00:19:35.460 |
I love getting introduced to the Brazilian culture through my wife because that culture 00:19:48.020 |
It's been like, you know, Sundays are really tiring. 00:19:56.220 |
Sorry for those of you guys who said you're from LA. 00:19:58.220 |
But I really don't like LA because my personality is I like it calm and I don't like the bustle 00:20:09.300 |
But then I show up and there's like 40 people there. 00:20:12.540 |
The Brazilian culture is very much like anything for family. 00:20:15.860 |
It's if they need money, if they need a place to crash, if they need food, whatever it is, 00:20:23.620 |
And I kind of envy that because I felt like maybe it's just my family, but we didn't have 00:20:32.140 |
If even if you're a cousin, like a distant cousin, certain cultures will fight for you. 00:20:37.980 |
Certain cultures back when I was in high school, you just don't mess with certain cultures 00:20:42.180 |
because he'll get his brothers, his cousins, his nephews and everybody. 00:20:48.820 |
So I want to talk about that because there are certain ties that make you just have solidarity. 00:20:55.340 |
Here he's highlighting the fact that not only do you have a shared experience of being baptized 00:21:00.860 |
by Jesus himself, you were dunked in the Holy Spirit, right? 00:21:06.380 |
But now you have in you the spirit living in you. 00:21:15.280 |
You have a spiritual tie identifying who you are. 00:21:19.520 |
There should be a sense of unity above and beyond any other superficial thing on this 00:21:25.000 |
Whatever school experience, hardship you went through, yeah, that can build a sense of solidarity. 00:21:30.060 |
But shared experience of being saved from the wrath of God, right? 00:21:36.220 |
Shared bloodline where we're co-heirs with Christ. 00:21:42.700 |
If we're talking about unity, that spiritual aspect of what he's talking about should bring 00:21:53.840 |
And so obviously we know that that doesn't just come naturally in the sense that it doesn't 00:22:03.760 |
But that's exactly what the Lord desires of us. 00:22:06.840 |
Here's some cross references for you guys in Galatians chapter three, verse 26 through 00:22:14.020 |
He says, "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 00:22:18.700 |
For all of you who are baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ." 00:22:24.660 |
And then Ephesians four, four through six, "There is one body and one spirit just as 00:22:28.720 |
also you were called and one hope of your calling. 00:22:31.780 |
One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through 00:22:42.500 |
How much he's emphasizing this fact that we should have this kind of unity. 00:22:47.380 |
And I just want to again take a moment to get God thanks as we think about that kind 00:22:54.540 |
I just mentioned that we have both shared experience, shared identity, shared bloodline. 00:23:00.820 |
Now, as I was reading one of the commentators, it made me stop because he said, "God has 00:23:10.740 |
given us the absolute best to which there is no more for him to give." 00:23:23.300 |
And I want you guys to think about that for a moment and see if that sits okay with you, 00:23:30.380 |
If that strikes you as weird or wrong and why. 00:23:36.660 |
There's a statement, "God has nothing better to give us. 00:23:54.500 |
Correct statement, incorrect statement, and why? 00:24:12.580 |
So I wanted to use that point as a means of giving thanks to God. 00:24:17.580 |
And then, obviously I'm making a kind of a tricky question about, is this statement right 00:24:25.900 |
But I want to use this opportunity to say, when we think about that which unites us, 00:24:32.220 |
it's simply the person of God indwelling us, right? 00:24:36.740 |
And there's a sense to which, yeah, God is already ours and he's left his presence in 00:24:44.700 |
And this truth that God is in us, that he's so close to us, and this truth that what he's 00:24:49.300 |
given is himself, there's a huge sense in which the answer is yes. 00:24:56.300 |
But he has an inheritance to give us, yes, but he's given us already what's best. 00:25:07.900 |
But there's a supreme truth to which he's already given us what's best, his spirit that 00:25:20.140 |
And so that statement, I kind of glossed over initially, but then it made me stop when I 00:25:25.220 |
I was like, "Dude, this guy has deep insight into the spiritual reality of the fact God 00:25:35.700 |
So let's really make sure to give thanks to God for those things. 00:25:41.080 |
So that being done, verses 12 to 13, okay, emphasizing both the unity and diversity, 00:25:48.540 |
and verse 13 emphasizing the type of unity we should have in the spirit. 00:25:56.020 |
Can I have, let's see, Mitchell, since you're right in front of me, can you read out loud 00:26:09.660 |
If the foot says, 'Because I'm not a hand, I'm not a part of the body,' it is not for 00:26:25.460 |
And if the ear says, 'Because I'm not an eye, I'm not a part of the body,' it is not for 00:26:27.460 |
If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? 00:26:28.460 |
The whole we're hearing, where would the sense of smell be?" 00:26:35.900 |
So as you look at that, now as he's already talked about the unity, he is talking about 00:26:49.380 |
In this passage, another commentary said an interesting statement. 00:26:52.780 |
He says, "The Corinthian church was divided where it should have been united and tried 00:26:56.840 |
to be uniform where it should have been diverse." 00:27:02.420 |
And there's one way to which the attitude of looking at the diversity was wrong. 00:27:09.860 |
Can you guys just, it's kind of obvious in the text, but can you guys identify what is 00:27:14.060 |
the problem or the error in thinking about spiritual gifts in the Corinthian church? 00:27:41.660 |
When you look at that, what can you deduce about the error of their thinking? 00:27:46.240 |
That either they're putting certain gifts above others, and they're not this, they're 00:27:58.640 |
So it's just kind of this thinking of, he says, well, they're trying to start, they 00:28:03.440 |
started to stack different gifts, you know, tier it up, and then if you were on the bottom, 00:28:20.040 |
It's this kind of self-pity attitude of like, "I don't have this, and I'm not eloquent 00:28:25.080 |
And to tell you truthfully, honestly, I'm like that. 00:28:33.040 |
But here's the problem with that kind of thinking, you know, is even though we're grown adults, 00:28:41.040 |
I'm only a foot, you know, I'm not even a thumb, I'm like the toe, you know. 00:28:46.080 |
Or some kind of other pity parties is like, "I can't do what they do," you know. 00:28:50.360 |
Or they start to, through their rationale, not only say that they're like insignificant, 00:28:56.940 |
they start to demean their value, and so they say, "And so I don't belong." 00:29:01.360 |
I mean, that's the judgment that's bad, right? 00:29:04.800 |
It's not so much that, "Oh, like identifying that I don't have skill," because reality 00:29:15.520 |
Reality is some gifts are bigger, some gifts are smaller, some gifts are more pronounced, 00:29:19.800 |
you know, more noticeable, perhaps in humanistic sense, it's more glorious or whatnot, it's 00:29:27.640 |
So the truth of the matter is there is a difference of gifts. 00:29:31.100 |
But then the judgment, that's where it went all sour. 00:29:36.920 |
Now, my question to you is, what would be the ramification if we allowed people to think 00:29:50.680 |
What would be the consequence maybe of you thinking like that? 00:30:13.180 |
This isn't a question that doesn't have wrong or right answers, but you're absolutely right. 00:30:16.460 |
I think one of the results of that is you're not serving as you ought to. 00:30:21.460 |
God gave us a commission for the church, he gave us responsibility in the church, and 00:30:26.500 |
just because you say, "I don't have enough, so I'm not going to do it," that's you ditching 00:30:35.020 |
So yes, it's true that sometimes people are discouraged, so we don't want to be more heavy 00:30:40.860 |
on them, but the reality is, yeah, if you're so discouraged, you're not doing even the 00:30:45.780 |
small things you're responsible for, or that you could do, that's ditching your responsibility. 00:30:53.660 |
I sit here, in your eyes, you would elevate people above their station. 00:31:09.900 |
The whole paradigm kind of hurts the church, where you elevate other people who you think 00:31:19.580 |
And I think when the church paradigm starts to do that, when you start having this hierarchy, 00:31:24.740 |
when you start having this, it's just a bad paradigm to have for the church. 00:31:30.720 |
And I think there's a sense in which, yeah, there's churches that can do that. 00:31:34.380 |
I mean, even our church could be susceptible of doing that. 00:31:37.500 |
If you raise certain people because of their performance, you don't value them based on 00:31:43.100 |
their true spiritual character, but because of their gifts. 00:31:46.380 |
And you start to evaluate who's valuable, who's more worthy, who should receive more 00:31:50.460 |
honor based on their contribution and production for the church. 00:31:58.180 |
And on the flip side of that, yeah, then what you feel is now even projected on the other 00:32:03.380 |
people who feel like that, who think, "I am only a half member. 00:32:14.820 |
Because I remember there was a, I don't know if I've ever told this story, but I went with 00:32:18.700 |
my dad to his church, and his church was highly charismatic in the practicing of gifts and 00:32:25.100 |
stuff, and I'm not going to go into that here now. 00:32:27.900 |
But one of the things that happened was they were trying to get everybody to do a certain 00:32:33.740 |
And one of the pastors was going around trying to impart this gift onto other people. 00:32:38.420 |
And he came to my dad, and my dad was praying, and then he started to lay his hand on my 00:32:42.700 |
dad and started to pray all fervently, and I was just kind of watching this thing. 00:32:46.980 |
And then I was just confused because I was younger, and I was just like, "What's this 00:32:50.660 |
And then this guy started really trying, so he started shaking my dad's head, he grabbed 00:32:54.940 |
my dad's arms, he raised him up, and he started doing all this stuff, but my dad couldn't 00:33:00.020 |
And I said, "Okay, it's kind of time for you to move on." 00:33:03.940 |
At the end of the service, my dad and I were driving back home, and my dad looked all sad, 00:33:08.540 |
all dejected, and he said, "I just couldn't do it. 00:33:11.660 |
I guess the Spirit wasn't with me, and I just almost flipped a lid." 00:33:15.980 |
I was like, "Shame on the church that makes a man feel like he's insignificant or doesn't 00:33:21.940 |
have the Spirit because he couldn't say stuff." 00:33:27.180 |
But you're right, if you function in that paradigm, then you create a culture of that 00:33:32.020 |
paradigm where people are assessed and your spirituality is assessed simply by your production 00:33:38.860 |
What's our other ramifications if you allow people to think this way? 00:33:53.860 |
So you can see that there's a lot of bad ramifications. 00:33:56.940 |
Another one I want to highlight is continued arrogance. 00:34:01.740 |
So a big part of the reason I say continued is remember the big problem in the Church 00:34:08.240 |
From the beginning it was, "I'm with this leader. 00:34:12.060 |
From the beginning it was, "I want to be here. 00:34:20.220 |
But in the end, even though they're having a pity party, that too can be because of pride. 00:34:25.780 |
"I want it to be like this, but I'm like this, so forget it." 00:34:32.860 |
Sometimes underneath all that could be arrogance inside, and that's just as dangerous. 00:34:39.780 |
You go against the design of God, and this is the biggest thing. 00:34:49.420 |
You're not just simply being disruptive to the church. 00:34:51.340 |
You're not simply being disruptive to your own growth because of your arrogance, but 00:34:54.860 |
you can be disruptive to the plan of the Lord, which God will not allow. 00:35:01.860 |
Because if you look at the passage, there are various points to which it describes that 00:35:07.140 |
God is the one at work in the church giving these spiritual gifts. 00:35:11.340 |
Take for example verse 18, "But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the 00:35:22.940 |
I'm not going to get all mystical and be like, "The Lord has a wonderful plan for you, and 00:35:28.100 |
you were here because of the sovereign will of God, and don't you ever leave." 00:35:34.900 |
You're like, "You guys can't ever leave because God placed you here, and you're now forever 00:35:48.980 |
So I can say this much, God has sovereignly brought you here. 00:36:00.300 |
And I think that's something to be cherished. 00:36:05.780 |
I think that's something to be recognized, and then obeyed. 00:36:10.480 |
To have the kind of attitude that they have, I think you can call that also perhaps disobedience. 00:36:16.660 |
So I would like to take a moment to thank God. 00:36:25.300 |
I mean, that God is intricately placing us in the church. 00:36:31.460 |
He's providing and blessing the church with the church. 00:36:38.580 |
And as I think about that, it's like, "Man, thank you, God. 00:36:42.860 |
And then we were decaying, sinful, fallen people, but you resurrected us in Christ, 00:36:49.220 |
and then you built us up, and then you placed us in the church, and then you equipped us, 00:36:54.220 |
and you commissioned us, and then you thought us worthy enough to carry out your purpose 00:37:04.100 |
That's pretty crazy stuff if you think about it. 00:37:07.860 |
But again, just kind of summarizing that point, the church is unified and diversified, and 00:37:16.420 |
to go against the kind of diversity that God has ordained in the church, that would be 00:37:20.260 |
going against the plan and design of the Lord. 00:37:33.460 |
If I could have ... Chris, can you read that? 00:37:40.460 |
"As it is, there are many parts to that one body that I cannot see in the head. 00:38:06.460 |
But God has so composed his body, that it is greater honor to depart that body, as there 00:38:13.460 |
may be no division of body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 00:38:20.460 |
If one member is honored, all enjoy together." 00:38:26.460 |
"But you are a body of Christ, and a division of members of it." 00:38:32.460 |
So, if you guys get ... I think the thrust of the application for this is a perspective. 00:38:40.460 |
Remember I was saying that this body analogy is so important, that emphatic verse 27, "Now 00:38:48.180 |
you are Christ's body, and individually members of it," that's a perspective he's teaching 00:38:54.380 |
The application is going to go forth from that, but that's a perspective he is teaching 00:38:58.500 |
And the way that I would like for us to think about it is, mutual dependence. 00:39:09.460 |
For the individual who thought, "I'm not a part of the body," well listen, if you cut 00:39:13.940 |
off a piece of the body, what happens to that piece? 00:39:25.580 |
Is it like one of those mutants where you cut it off and it's like bloop, and then it 00:39:33.700 |
But furthermore, when the body loses its limb, is it going to be the same? 00:39:45.500 |
"You are Christ's body, and all individual members of it." 00:39:48.820 |
So, he starts talking about this whole idea of, "Hey, if you have this second bad attitude, 00:39:58.340 |
And you're all arrogant, and you think you have sufficient enough gifts to sustain your 00:40:16.460 |
What's the repeated question that he keeps asking as he's trying to teach them about 00:40:43.900 |
There's this question where he asks, "Where would the body be?" 00:40:49.780 |
He asks this question, like, "Hey, where would be the sense of smell? 00:41:02.780 |
Think about the impact it has on the whole congregation, on the whole body. 00:41:07.700 |
And so, the whole idea here is, I think, in this relationship, there is this mutual dependence. 00:41:12.420 |
And I love when he gets more specific in terms of the relationships in the church. 00:41:17.940 |
And if you start looking at verse 25 and 26, this is what it says, "So that there may be 00:41:23.300 |
no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 00:41:27.500 |
And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. 00:41:31.500 |
If one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it." 00:41:42.240 |
It's something really to think about, you know, that we absolutely need each other, 00:41:49.740 |
you know, that we absolutely need each other. 00:41:53.100 |
That to have a perspective where there's a sense to which, yeah, let's say there was 00:41:58.700 |
somebody who was being really problematic in the church. 00:42:09.260 |
I'm not looking at any one of you, I'm just looking at the ceiling. 00:42:15.440 |
Typically speaking, our natural humanistic response would be, it'd be so much easier 00:42:27.440 |
And if you think about this, I just want to ask you to think about, isn't that a beautiful 00:42:32.360 |
picture to be able to hurt together, be honored together, and rejoice together? 00:42:38.200 |
And then think about this, think about the kind of investment and the perspective it 00:42:41.680 |
would take for us to do that with each other. 00:42:45.600 |
That's the kind of stuff like lifelong friends say to each other. 00:42:49.220 |
After having invested everything, overcome each other's annoyances, been frustrated with 00:42:53.400 |
each other, forgiven each other, reconciled, and lived long together, and said, "I hurt 00:43:01.280 |
But realize that that's what God is striving for in the church. 00:43:06.660 |
And I hope that we can all buy into that perspective. 00:43:10.060 |
This church community is so important that I literally need these people. 00:43:15.840 |
And not to boast or whatever, but they need me. 00:43:19.000 |
I need to serve, I need to be here, I need to be engaged, I need to be present. 00:43:23.160 |
I think that's the kind of perspective that the Lord would desire of us. 00:43:29.240 |
And then moving forward, moving forward, in verse 30 and 31, he says, he starts asking, 00:43:35.080 |
you know, that, or he teaches that more specifically in the church, so moving away from the body 00:43:42.120 |
analogy, in the church, God has appointed and designed that there would be all these 00:43:47.120 |
And he says not every single person does all these gifts, and neither does everybody do 00:43:56.200 |
And then he starts asking various questions, and then in verse 31 he says, "But earnestly 00:44:02.020 |
desire the greater gifts, and I show you still more," wait, what? 00:44:10.520 |
Sorry, I skipped an article and then I started reading funny. 00:44:14.340 |
Verse 31, focusing on verse 31, I want to ask you guys, what is the command here? 00:45:03.040 |
I hope you guys can meditate and think about this for a moment, you know. 00:45:10.040 |
Yes, to both the sisters who answered, chapter 13 he's going to start talking about love, 00:45:20.040 |
And not only that, but there are these many, many gifts that Apostle Paul just listed, 00:45:24.640 |
and then he starts talking about there is this greater way, a more excellent path. 00:45:28.960 |
And yes, perhaps he's talking about harmony and love. 00:45:32.240 |
Perhaps he's talking about the kind of gifts that create what he just is envisioning. 00:45:37.960 |
The kind of gifts that strive to build that body of Christ that's so connected, where 00:45:43.480 |
each person is doing their work, each person is fulfilling their role, but they're all 00:45:47.120 |
joined together, not seeing themselves as any better than the rest, but constantly giving 00:45:55.720 |
So anyway, you guys can keep thinking about that. 00:46:00.720 |
I just want to give an encouragement, you know. 00:46:06.680 |
If you guys, you know, sometimes wonder, like, I don't know, like that sounds good, but I 00:46:11.720 |
just don't even know what God's will is for me, you know. 00:46:14.480 |
Like I don't know what to do and stuff like that, but sometimes just having this paradigm 00:46:20.880 |
and buying into this vision of I want to help build this church, I want to help build this 00:46:25.880 |
community, a lot of times it comes from simply your own individual faith and worldview. 00:46:32.960 |
Your own individual faith and worldview is going to create a culture in this church. 00:46:38.160 |
Your own individual faith and worldview and your paradigm is going to create a structure 00:46:42.600 |
It's going to create an environment, an aura around you, expectations you have, the way 00:46:48.040 |
It's going to influence the relationships you have and every single one of you is going 00:46:51.760 |
to have that kind of influence, at least to a pocket of the church, right? 00:46:57.560 |
So I hope you guys can buy into the vision that Apostle Paul is giving. 00:47:01.760 |
I hope you guys can have that kind of perspective that he's trying to teach, because insofar 00:47:06.320 |
as now what we've learned in this passage, he hasn't given a specific tangible thing, 00:47:12.800 |
What he said is, you are the body of Christ, right? 00:47:21.040 |
Father God, we want to thank you so much for your grace. 00:47:23.400 |
Lord, as we paused momentarily at different points tonight, we just realized sometimes, 00:47:30.000 |
although we feel like you're far, God, you are so meticulously involved in our lives. 00:47:36.200 |
Thank you, God, that you're constantly building us up individually and that you're also building 00:47:41.840 |
Thank you, God, that you are investing into your body. 00:47:44.840 |
Father, we thank you, God, that you are also gifting us for your service. 00:47:48.920 |
We pray, God, that we would be humble servants, desiring to carry out your purposes, to be 00:47:54.160 |
about your business, to desire to see your kingdom come. 00:47:57.800 |
Father, we again want to thank you, and I pray that throughout the whole week we'd be 00:48:01.400 |
encouraged and challenged, and Lord, that the words that we study tonight would reside 00:48:05.760 |
with us, help us just not to be forgetful, but to retain the things that you would have 00:48:12.040 |
We thank you, God, that the spirit is with us, and I pray for all of us that we would 00:48:16.040 |
have strength for our work, our classes, our family lives, and God, that we would operate