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you know often when we think of unity i i think that we get it confused with uniformity and i think that uniformity is often sort of a buzz term for what we think unity to be but uniformity is really a focus upon the outward appearance that is often looked at as unity now any of us here tonight that are maybe in the business world or you know you belong to a company you often will hear terms like this are you a team player that's often one of those terms or they refer to themselves as members of the family and some of the companies that maybe we work for they'll have monogrammed shirts or they'll tell you you know you can wear this color and we we dislike if you wear this color or or they'll have you know just you know you'll have a certain tag that you have or some identifying fact or some little little piece of material or something that will identify you as part of the team or as part of the family but unity is not uniformity unity comes from within and is a spiritual grace while uniformity is the result of pressure from without that's literally what it is for instance in ephesians chapter 4 verses 3 through 6 it says being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace so the bible teaches that we already have unity if we're in christ so what god wants us to do is to preserve it we don't manufacture unity as a believer we preserve it because being in christ unifies us it makes us one he says there is one body one spirit just as also you were called in one hope of your calling one lord one faith one baptism one god and father of all who is over all and through all and in all so the bible teaches that every true believer is unified through christ it is the spirit of god that has placed us within this family or we call it the body of christ so that is our unity that's why sometimes with professing christians there isn't that union because they're not in christ you have to be in christ just because someone names the name of christ there won't be that unity if they're not in christ so god uses many different examples in the scriptures to describe the church and let me mention a few of those he uses a family a family is often a description of what we call the church sometimes it's a flock god relates it to sheep sometimes it's an army as he uses it in in timothy uses the picture of an army paul has been using the example of a building a building is another favorite term our ephesians abridged but what paul does now in this 12th chapter is he uses the illustration of a body he uses the body with the various members of it to teach us about god's unity that a body is made up of many different parts but it makes a body it's not bodies it's a body so there's different parts to it in order to make a body and so here's the thought of our passage this evening our thought is this the church through the baptism of the holy spirit enjoys unity and through god's giftings diversity so our unity comes through faith in christ we're brought to faith in christ and because of that we are baptized into the body and then in that body god then gifts us every person is gifted with spiritual gifts we we looked at this last time that at least every believer has one spiritual gift at least one and i think some of us in this room tonight have multiple gifts but we know that we have at least one spiritual gift and god has chosen to gift us in the specific area that we might be unified in his body that he might use the unique person the gift that we have to be a blessing within the congregation now here's how i want to break it down tonight we're going to look at it in five different ways this evening first of all in verses 12-13 oneness in the body so we're first going to talk about our oneness this evening then in verses 14 through 18 we want to talk about diversity in the body so we talk about that we're one but then he looks at the individuals that make up that one and then in verses 19 to 21 the mutual need in the body that though we're different we need each other we're necessary and then in verses 22-26 is the importance in the body the importance of each part and then in verses 27-31 god's lordship in the body it is god who is the head it is god who sovereignly gives to each member a special spiritual gift gifts abilities and talents that we might use those to unify and to complete god's work so let's pick it up here tonight in verses 12 and 13 and let's talk about this oneness in the body so he says here in verse 12 for even as the 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 now the context of this in the past 11 verses 11 verses that are before this paul himself has introduced the fact that believers have been gifted by god and there's some question as to when those gifts were given to us were they given to us at conversion you know the moment we confess our sins and place our faith in jesus christ is it at that moment that god then gives to us spiritual gifts or are these gifts already planned by god and then when we become a believer they kick into motion they begin to function within us because they're spiritual we're not really sure but we do know that god has given to us spiritual gifts he mentioned that there were a variety of gifts and variety of ministries so there's various opportunities that god has given to us as believers there's variety of effects there's literally energies that god gives to us and then it's for the common good to bless others so the gifts that god has given to each one of us tonight as believers is to be a blessing to others it's not so that people look at me people look at you and they think wow man that person is really gifted that's not what it's for we have been given these gifts these energies these opportunities from god so that we can be a blessing to other people now i mentioned this we were looking at this several weeks ago and i i was telling you i get excited when i talk about first corinthians chapters 12 13 and 14. and let me tell you why because in these chapters paul is talking about the gifts and what i get excited about is the fact that each one of us in this room tonight that are believers have been gifted by god now i won't ask you to raise your hands tonight how many of you have really asked the lord and sought the lord as to the gifts that he has given to you because if you're a believer you have at least one spiritual gift and some of us in here have multiple gifts so i kind of want to just put this thought out here as we begin this evening do you know what gifts god's given to you are you aware of the spiritual gifts that god has entrusted to you because if if you have not asked the lord we certainly need to do that don't we and it would be a good time tonight after the service when we have our prayer time that if you're not aware of what gifts god has given to you then that this would be a perfect time to come up tonight and get some prayer in order to ask god what they are maybe tonight you go stephen say i already know what gifts god's given to me god is has blessed me he's blessed me with the gift of eating that's one of my best gifts you know so i have the gift of the remote control you know all these little gifts you know no those aren't gifts but the point is is that maybe you do know tonight what your gifts are well here's the next one have you prayed about how you might use them have you filled out a ministry questionnaire have you have you sought out one of the pastors or one of the leaders maybe you're in the women's study in the men's studies you're in singles whatever group you're in and said hey i believe god's gifted me in this area how could i utilize that gift or what is some of the ways that god could use this gift that i have so that i might be a blessing so that's why i get excited about this tonight because you think of this church here tonight and we'll see this that that god has gifted people within this church to meet the needs of this congregation so the needs that we have here god is going to meet those needs but he's going to do it through the people that he has placed here in the congregation so it's a matter of us really seeking the lord and attempting to find out what those gifts are and then after finding out what those gifts are it's then our time to say god how might i utilize that gift so every believer has a gift every single one to each one is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good so paul gives an illustration of the church is like a human body the human body is one but it's made up of many parts and all of us know this and it says in all the members of the body though they are many are one body so we have different parts of our body that compose a body and we know the importance of all of those parts working in unisons working under direction not being sort of spazzy you know and and just doing their own thing because that's that would really be more of a disease wouldn't it and so that's that's what the body is for and it says so also is christ so he's referring to the body of christ he's talking about a physical body but he's saying so is christ so is his church which is the body of christ now a poet said it this way and i thought this was really great he says christ has no hands but our hands do his work today he has no feet but our feet to lead men in his way he has no voice but our voice to tell men how he died he has no heart but our heart to lead them to his side so here's an illustration we all look at our hands right now we look at our wrists and we see that our wrist right here is connected to our hand and then it's connected to our arm and then maybe if you look over at your left side like i'm looking at mine right now you notice i have a watch on it's a fitbit watch okay and i've had problems with fitbit's but this is a fitbit watch okay and as i look at this watch though it is on my body it's not part of my body some of you have cell phones that are part of your bodies i mean you never get off them but we're not talking about that we're talking about the watch so what the watch is though it is on my body it is not part of my body it is an attachment that's what it is you know and some we have rings on our fingers our rings are are not part of our body they're attachments you got necklaces around your neck they're not part of your body they're attachments so i think it's interesting to note something that every single believer in the body of christ has been gifted by god and and i understand when some believers are reluctant about serving god or reluctant about committing themselves to serve god but sometimes it's possible that the reason a person will not serve the lord is because they're an attachment they're really not part of his body and this fear that they have of serving is rightfully so because they're really not a member of the body if you're a member of the body you will function in the body you have you're connected to the body there's a purpose for you in the body but but that's an important thought as we begin this evening if we're not serving the lord if we're not involved in some way of of ministry for the lord we must ask ourselves the all-important question am i part of the body or am i an attachment to the body maybe i'm not born again tonight maybe i've not placed my faith in jesus christ and rightfully so i'm not involved i'm not part of what god is doing because i don't feel like it's my place i i don't i'm not comfortable in doing it because i'm an attachment i'm really not a hand or a wrist or an arm i'm really not a part of the body so our bodies function based upon organization and it is the head that ultimately leads the body it is the head itself with the brain that ultimately sends out signals that cause the body to work our bodies are growing and changing and we know this to be so some of the clothes that we wore five years ago we couldn't wear them today and there could be reasons maybe because of style or because we've gotten bigger or smaller or whatever we've done and so might not be able to wear them but but our body is ever growing it's ever changing but it is a body it is the whole that is changing so verse 13 says for by one spirit we were all baptized into one body now i call attention to the word baptize that's a great word it it literally means to dip or to submerge are literally to die this word was used of dying a garment it's the idea of submerging the garment and they die in order to cover it to engulf it to to to diet to change it so what he's saying here is is by the holy spirit every single person every single believer is submerged into the family of god they are baptized or submerged into god's family every single person that is a believer the moment a person trusts jesus christ they're submerged into the body of christ regardless of their background and what happens is they are regenerated they're made new they're indwelt by the holy spirit they're filled and they're baptized by the holy spirit now this is one way of saying it the baptism of the spirit means i belong to the body of christ but being filled with the holy spirit means my body belongs to christ now that's that's differentiating between the two the moment i am born again i am baptized into the body of christ and what that simply means is the moment you and i put our faith in jesus christ at that moment we become the property of jesus christ we're literally submerged in christ we're we're put in a vat of die where we're identified and baptized into jesus christ then when we are filled excuse me with the holy spirit what we're saying is is that my body now belongs to god i'm surrendering my body to the spirit of god so that the spirit of god can have his way in me so that's the big difference so the holy spirit baptizes every believer now we looked at being filled sometime back when we were in ephesians chapter 5 verses 18 to 21 and paul went on to describe the three evidences of being filled with the holy spirit he says we are joyful thankful and submissive those are the three evidence that we have been filled with the holy spirit some people think being filled the holy spirit means you speak in tongues you roll on the ground you bark and you do all this weird stuff now that's that is not that's just being weird that's not that's not being filled with the holy spirit being filled with the holy spirit means you are joyful thankful and submissive it is possible we can be baptized with the holy spirit and yet never become a spiritual christian the moment we receive jesus christ we are placed into the body of christ but being placed into the body of christ does not mean that i am going to grow in the grace and knowledge of god that is cooperation with the holy spirit it's surrendering to god allowing the holy spirit to fill me so the holy spirit has that control so and we all probably know christians like this people that have went forward at an altar call or or said the sinner's prayer but really nothing has changed and so if they are truly born again they've been baptized into the body god has placed them into the body of christ but being placed in the body of christ does not mean that they're going to become spiritual it doesn't mean there will be spiritual christians notice he says whether jews or greeks are whether slaves are free so regardless of our culture our nationality our economic background none of that matters to god god god so loved the world that he gave his only son so all lives matter to god period god god loves all people there isn't any group on this planet that god loves more than another god loves all people and to say that he loves one group above another is to misrepresent god and it's to speak when the bible doesn't so god loves all people and he says and we were all made to drink of one's spirit so not only are we placed by the holy spirit but we're also given the holy spirit in romans 8 9 paul said these words he says however you are not in the flesh but in the spirit if indeed the spirit of god dwells in you but if anyone does not have the spirit of christ he does not belong to him now that is the distinguishing mark between a christian and a non-christian the difference is a believer has god dwelling in them has the spirit of god dwelling in them if a person does not have god dwelling in them then they're not a believer they're not born again they're not a child of god so that's the great distinction here so he says that by the spirit of god we are unified in that when we receive jesus christ we are placed in the body of christ we'll never be more loved by god than that moment when we give our hearts and lives to him we become the property of jesus christ and then as we're filled with the holy spirit we give the holy spirit power in our lives we submit to the spirit of god to take control of our body so where is our oneness our oneness is being in the body of christ our oneness comes through the holy spirit that that conversion places us in the body of christ that is our unity that is the basis for our unity it's not the clothes we wear it's not the terms that we use our unity comes from the new birth of being placed in the family of god or the body of christ through christ so that's our unity we don't we don't we don't have to try to you know force unity upon others because if they're born again and we're born again our unity comes from the very fact that we've been placed in his body by the spirit of god so this brings us now to our next area now in verses 14 through 18. we now come to diversity in the body he says in verse 14 4 the body is not one member but many so back in verse 12 he says for even as the body is one and yet has many members so now paul wants to talk he's talked about the oneness now he wants to talk about the diversity in the oneness so he's talked about the oneness we're part of one body we have unity because we're in that one body but now he wants to look at it from the aspect that we are made up of individuals we are extremely diverse but at the same time we're still one some of you growing up i don't know you remember the show was a goofy show the addams family just some of you remember that show okay well do you remember they had this this thing called thing remember thing that would come out of the box this hand that would come out of the box you know and it would like make like question marks with its hands and all this stuff you know that's that's fine but it doesn't exist there's no such thing as just a hand that lives you know a hand has to be connected to the body it is a part of the body but it's not the body it's an active part of the body and we all know you know how hard and difficult it is when maybe you get a splinter in one of your fingers and you learn that you're not able to use that finger because it hurts every time you bend it or every time you use it but it's because it is part of your body it's it's a hand that is needful that that makes up the whole body it's sort of like if you you know you're going to buy a a computer you know you're thinking okay i'm going to buy a new computer you're going what am i going to get a laptop you know i'm going to get a notepad going to get a desktop those are just computers but then you start thinking okay what size screen do i want to get you know what you know what kind of screen do i want a large screen do i want a smaller screen then you start going well you know what about the speed what's the what's the chip that is in this computer though it is a computer there's different speeds within a computer and then the next is you know again what is the storage in it what kind of what kind of capacity is it a terabyte you know what is it i mean what what capacity what's the ram you know in the computer itself the memory part of the computer what is it then the next thing what about the warranty i mean what's the warranty on this thing and so you you start looking at all these various aspects but you're looking at a computer but the computer itself is made up of different parts so though you're looking and shopping for a computer you don't walk in and go i want the memory or i want the hard drive you know something like this no that's all part of it it's it's the computer itself and so that's how paul wants us to approach this that it is one we have our unity through christ we've been paced into the body through the spirit of god but at the same time we are extremely diverse so in verses 15 and 16 he talks about each function is important he says here in verse 15 if the foot says because i am not a hand i am not a part of the body it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body so you have the hand versus the foot each one has a specific you know task you can imagine if we didn't have feet and we had to learn how to walk on our hands wouldn't that be fun you know that we wouldn't get too far each day and so we thank god for our feet but at the same time you want to grab something you want to work with something you want to use your hands so they're they're part of the body but each one has a specific purpose i remember years ago when i was really kept getting sore throat sore throats and back in those days it was you keep getting sore throats we'll fix it we'll take out your tonsils that was the answer you know just we don't know why we came with tonsils so we'll get rid of these tonsils and thus you won't have any more sore throats well over the years they've come to find out that that's not what you should do god had a little wisdom when he gave us tonsils the tonsils are used to fight off infections sometimes that it becomes problematic but tonsils are are are good they really are but their thought was well you know you keep having these problems just get rid of it but that's not was never god's design so we're going in and getting rid of something that was unseemly or something that we didn't deem was that important but later on we came to find out that it was important well the body does not function as many members but many members function as one body so that's sort of a play with words so we have this one body with many many parts to it that must work as one is literally what it is so in verse 16 he says if the ear says because i am not an eye i am not a part of the body it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body it's just different each one of those parts are necessary each part fulfills a purpose in the overall of the body so we can start to belittle what we do in the body of christ and we can start to think well hey if i'm not the one teaching you know maybe i'm not really necessary or or i'm the one you know you know ushering i i i mustn't be that important because i'm not a teacher and it's not that way at all and i think when i think about this i think of this evening for instance i mean some of you are are so blessed to be here tonight i mean maybe you were all day with your kids and and maybe you're you're being the new school teacher and you're just like so happy to be here and so we often take this for granted but praise god for those teachers over in the education building that have really loved your children and tonight one of the teachers was praying they were so excited about being able to share with the children tonight they were talking about it in the prayer time and so for to them that is their ministry that they are going to reach your children at their age with the gospel message so that you're able to come in at an adult level and receive from the lord and what a blessing that is and especially you you that have real small children maybe you have infants tonight you have toddlers so you've got folks over there that love those toddlers they love those infants just absolutely love them and and they're over there loving your children so that you could be in here this evening when we pulled in the parking lot where there's directions on where we're supposed to be parking there's also a flow of how we come in the building and how we get out there's also a a seating a a seating assignment sort of a system going here where we have people you know that are separated and so forth it takes people to do all of this and it takes a lot of thought to do all of this and because people are doing those things we're allowed to be here tonight i'm allowed to teach here tonight you're allowed to sit there and listen tonight because there are those that that see their part in teaching your children um ushering working in the nursery working with the toddlers answering the phones coordinating the children's ministry working with the youth everybody's doing their part so that we can reap the benefits tonight of physically being here and that's just an example of that and that happens throughout here whether it's the women's ministry of the ladies preparing to teach and then those group leaders that facilitate and encourage others to answer the questions they're praying for them they're they're planning the lessons ahead see that is a person that is taking their calling they're taking what god has called them to do and then the results of that is we're blessed because we get to receive from what they're doing so in verses 17 and 18 each function must be performed look at verse 17. if the whole body were an eye where would the hearing be if the whole were hearing where would the sense of smell be and and again this is where we often suffer in the church with the curse of imitation we're always trying to duplicate somebody else or to try to be what god's not called us to be and this is where the problem comes in because each one of us are not called to do the same thing the ear has not been called to smell and have you ever smelled with your ear try it sometimes it doesn't work that well and so because it wasn't that design the same thing you know talking through your ear you don't talk through ear you talk to your mouth and so each part of our body is designed for a specific purpose and a function and so the danger comes when we start to look at what other people are doing and we say well i want to do that and maybe god hasn't called us to do that maybe you want to sing and you can't play the radio right or something like that and so it becomes a problem because you're attempting to do something that god hasn't gifted you in and and because of that you're not able to do it and you can't do it as the person that's called to that that's been gifted in that and so it literally falls flat is what he does and so what he's saying here is is basically this whole thing of of not trying to copy someone else let us function in the place that god created us to function in let us enjoy the place that we've been placed within the body to accomplish its purpose verse 18. now it says but now god has placed the members each one of them in the body just as he desire now notice this god assigns each function and i love that it is god who has placed the members each one of them and that's an amazing statement it's not something that we choose to do it is something that god has called us to do it is that gifting that comes at conversion or before conversion when god has gifted us in an area and then god gives us that and that's why we pray about what god has gifted us to do and then we pray for opportunities to be able to utilize those gifts that god has given unto us and that's our purpose is to find out where god has gifted me and to find out how in turn i can be a blessing notice in the body just as he desired so it is god's plan through gifting us and placing us in the body that he will be able to meet those needs that are present within the body now this one verse and i love this verse this verse can liberate us forever from jealousy because our part is to discover what god has gifted us in that's our part we need to discover what it is and then after discovering it we want to find out how we can use those gifts what opportunities god has given to us so this is where jealousy could be just squelched if we would do that because so often we're attempting to be someone that god doesn't want us to be we're attempting to use gifts that we don't have and then it's frustrating because we're not able to do and bless others with the gifts that others really need so we're not just not able to do it so our part is to pray and say god what is it that you have for me you know what gifts and abilities do you have for me and then how might i use those to be a blessing within the congregation how might i do that so you can think about this if we did that can you imagine how we won't be envious of somebody else because that's not our gift it's not our calling it's not what god wants us to do in our functioning in the body of christ so we have diversity in the body we have unity through the holy spirit secondly we have diversity in the body and now number three here now in verses 19 to 21 we have the mutual need in the body it's necessary it's it's what the body needs so he says here in verse 19 19 if there were all if they were all one member where would the body be so if all the members were the same where would the body be there wouldn't be it wouldn't be a body would it they're all ears i mean we're all ears i mean where would the sense of smell be where would the eye be where would the communication be where would the fingers the feet it wouldn't be so verse 20 but now there are many members but one body that's the necessity of it the mutual need verse 21 and the i cannot say to the hand i have no need of you or again the head to the feet i have no need of you so we're not to think that we don't need other ministries that we have all that we need and and and and we don't need anything else that that's absurd this is why the church is so important we talked about this on sunday you know we're living in the last days and what an important thing it is for us to gather together and to use the gifts that god has given us so that we can minister to one another and you think about this a person that is not in fellowship in a in a church in a local church in a fellowship how are they ever going to exercise their gifts well they can't so they here's these here gifted persons that are not in a fellowship able to bless that fellowship with their gift because they're not accountable they're not they're not functioning within the fellowship so they're literally off to themselves and what they're saying is i don't need any of these other gifts i don't need any of these other ministries i i have what i want i have myself and i have christ and that's all i need and what he's saying here is that's impossible because god has gifted you so that you might be a blessing to others but how could you bless them if you're not part of the body you can't and that's his point so an independent christian just doesn't make sense and in it when you read the book of acts you see it over and over and over again how paul always held himself accountable he always reported back to antioch when he would travel to churches he would name names he would send envoys he would do this he was always accountable always first thing he'd go right in and find a fellowship of believers into a community and if there wasn't one he'd start one that's what he'd do so that was that was the way that paul conducted himself he was he he he was intertwined with the church he he looked at christ as the church the church was christ it was his body so paul just felt this great need to fellowship and to be with other believers so we have this mutual need in the body we all have it we every single believer is not an island unto themselves they need others others need them and so we have this this mutual need of the body itself and this brings us now to the fourth area in verses 22-26 is the importance in the body so verse 22 says on the contrary it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary so when he says on the contrary what he's simply saying is it is the opposite that those members that we think are weaker or all the more necessary is going to be his point so the importance is not based upon appearances he uses the word seem or are not so to be weaker weaker is weakness you know it's like your toes you know every once in a while i'll hear this you know we have folks that are diabetic and so forth you know and when you're diabetic sometimes you're not you know you're not taking care you're not balancing you know the the sugars and so forth and and what happens is you can start losing extremities right i mean you can start losing toes you know my my grandmother was severe diabetic she lost both of her legs i mean they had to be amputated and and so you know you start with the toes i mean if your toes are amputated and you try to stand up and walk you're in for a rude awakening though you don't think much of those toes even your little toe you don't think much about it but god gave us those unseemly those small little parts of your body in order for us to have balance and to be able to walk and to stand up and and to be able to remain standing we don't think much about our toes i mean some people do they put little toe rings on and all this other stuff but you don't really think about i mean really when you compare your toes to your fingers i mean their toes are the less glorious are they not you know it's you know you don't i know some people go and they get them all painted and doing all that stuff but that's something the point is is that you probably you know your hands you know you we give a lot more attention to our hands and so forth than we do our toes but the toes being unseen we don't seem like they're that important but oh you know you you you're a diabetic you lose a toe and you're gonna know it you're gonna have to learn how to walk you're gonna have to learn how to stand you're gonna have to go through a whole bunch of things that unseemly thing that you didn't think was unemployed i didn't think was that important important boy does it change everything and that's the point that he's making here those those those members of the body those individuals that we think so little of those ones that aren't the teachers those ones that that aren't up there doing announcements and and leading whole ministries and all that we just look at that can't be that really that important you know i don't even know what that person does and so i can't really see how you know how needful they are well verse 23 says and those members of the body which we deem less honorable on these we bestow more abundant honor and are less presentable members because much more presentable so again you know our our feet our socks we keep them covered but oh they're so important with the idea of being able to walk being able to stand being able to walk all of that is is so important me see on scene we keep them all covered generally speaking but they're extremely important verses 24 through 26 importance is equality dis distributed so he says here in verse 24 are equally distributed he says whereas our more presentable members have no need of it but god has so composed the body giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked there are folks in this church that probably you're not aware of and i think not all of them i'm aware of even but there are folks that support this church through prayer that i couldn't even be here tonight if it wasn't for their prayers there there are there are ministries that exist in this church because there are folks behind the scene that are prayed up that are a vital part of behind the scenes getting those ministries to function they really do and maybe we don't bring them up on the platforms they want to acknowledge so and so for doing this or doing that but oh they are so important i i i think we're going to be very surprised when we stand before the lord and and we find out some of those those real quiet ones behind the scene that allowed us to accomplish the things that we did it was through their prayers through their words of encouragement through their behind the scenes work that that allowed us to look so good that allowed us to accomplish so much and it's because of their prayers it's because of their support it's because of of them just being there that they allowed these things to function verse 25 says so that there may be no division in the body but that the members may have the same care for one another so there's no superiority those ones behind the scene that we think so little of god says they're the ones that probably make the whole thing run and those that are up there on the front lines making you know speaking and doing everything else if it wasn't for those behind the scenes they wouldn't even be there so there isn't one that's better than another there isn't one that's more important than another they're each fulfilling their god-given tasks they're fulfilling what god has called them to do and because they do what god called them to do the whole thing dysfunctions and i think we often take it for granted i think of like retreats we have retreats i mean people have no idea what goes into a retreat i mean it's it is just it's insane i mean there's the whole planning first of all you have to secure a facility and even that in itself is always quite difficult you know you maybe have a group of of a hundred or maybe a women's group have a couple hundred women you know so you'll go to say hey we like to have one in in march so you call them they say i'm sorry we only have enough room for 100. so then you call now okay we we can do that but we don't have those dates available you know so so it's like just they're securing that then it's the whole idea of what is the theme what what is it that the lord is saying to us as a church what do we think god is wanting to say so the group gets together they pray and they after prayer they say you know i think god wants us to do something on spiritual growth and so they say okay so then who is who is going to give the sessions you know and so then you start brainstorming but you know what let's bring this person in now or maybe this year we'll just have the ladies that have been teaching let's assign them each one of these areas regarding spiritual growth and we'll put them in okay okay so then the next thing goes on okay then what are we going to do for the groups i mean who can we put over the group so you can start to see what's involved in all of this and then of course you know with the late if there's a ladies there's tablecloths that match the candles it was guys would be sitting on a tailgate eating pretzels out of coke and belching and that would be our retreat that would be it you know but you know the girls they gotta have matching you know food tablecloths and all that stuff and that's that's what they do but a lot of planning goes into that and you can just see by just just a quick little description of some of the things that are involved that that take place and so again he's saying there'd be no division because every single person is necessary to the function of the body so again and here's where the danger comes in where he says so that there be no divisions in the binding let me just say this and this happens and i and i can understand why it happens what often happens is say for instance you're in the women's ministry you can begin to think that the most important ministry of the church is the women's ministry why because i'm in it and that's the best ministry of the church and then you go to the man and man go no everybody knows it's the men's ministry that that that is it and the next one it's the youth oh it's the singles it's the cafe it's the bookstore it's and so and you can understand why people would promote them because that's the ministry god called them to that's the one where they're serving in it and it's just their world it's what they love but we got to go beyond that we have to say okay the women's ministry is important the men's ministry is important the singles are important the bookstore the cafe all of these ministries are extremely important because they all meet a specific need in the body of christ they all meet a need one's not better than another the children's ministry regions beyond what a tremendous ministry region is beyond got kids here that have disabilities and and you have one adult for one child isn't that awesome and i've had over the years i've had people say you know i've never been able to go to church and now i'm able to go to church because your church provides a one-on-one for my child no place that i've ever gone would ever provide that so i just kept from going to church couldn't go to church so because of that one ministry you're allowing a family to go to church isn't that amazing when you think about this because of that one region's beyond you're allowing an entire family to go to church because one adult steps up and says i want to minister to that child that has special needs so that's just an example of it it's not the women's ministry is not better than that it's just different every single ministry has its part of ministering in the overall picture of what we call the body of christ look at verse 26 and if one member suffers all the members suffer with it if one member is honored all the members rejoice with it so again it should be our heart that when one suffers we all suffer we empathize that word empathize means to get in their skin so we want to get in their skin we want to attempt to identify with the pain that they have but then on the same time which is much harder is we want to rejoice with those that rejoice we know i think it's easier to empathize with someone that's hurting than to rejoice with those that rejoice but we need to do both because this is the body we're looking at the overall picture that one member is hurting that we need to rally alongside of that one member that is hurting that one member is rejoicing that we want to rejoice alongside of them we want to encourage them and be thankful as to what god is doing and you know it's it's this way one described it this way you know you smash your finger with a hammer and what happens the eyes fill up with tears the face twists the mouth opens the voice can be heard across the street the feet start doing the michael jackson moonwalk you know as they're just in this constant pain and you see how just that one smash thumb or finger the whole body goes into motion you know screaming crying yelling running all that stuff just begins to happen and that's the body working in unisons the whole body working together he says if one member is honored all the members rejoice with it so that's the importance of the body so we come now to our fifth and final area which is god's lordship in the body it is god who appoints it is god who is orchestrating it is god who is the head it is god's plan through the lord so starting in verse 27 he says now you are christ's body and individually members of it now when he says now what he's saying is we are individuals that are all different but important because we are all part of the one body that functions so with that in mind he says you are christ's body every true believer is part of that body is a member of that body and by the way we don't do church membership here we don't do it i don't think church membership is biblical i just don't i don't see it in the scriptures i just don't see it and the way we look at it is this way that if if you come to this church and you believe god has placed you here then this is your church that's how we look at it and if this is your church you're going to get involved you're going to be accountable you're going to serve you're going to pray for this church you're going to give to this church and you're going to become an active part of this church if this is the church that god called you to so who is who are we as leaders to say god hasn't called you here you don't belong here you need to go i mean who are we to say that so that is something that each one of us must pray about we must look at we must give great thought to it that if this is the church that god has called me to then i need to get my roots down here i i need to find out what my gifts are and i need to start using them to be a part of this church so i can be a blessing i'm not here just to be a sponge to take in and take in and take in i need to give out at the same time and i need to be a blessing to other people i need to be an active part of this church and so that's what he's saying here he goes you are christ's body i mean that you're you're a member of that and he says and individually members of it we're all part of it so verse 28 and god has appointed in the church first apostles second prophets third teachers then miracles then gifts of healings helps administrations in various kinds of tongues now notice it is god notice this and i underline this and god has appointed in the church it's not the church leadership it's not the pastor it's not the church board it is god god has appointed god has gifted us god has sovereignly chosen us it is not for us now leaders can recognize that god has appointed us has gifted us and others may see the gifts in us and call attention to that and that's really what ordaining a pastor is we're not making a person a pastor we're simply acknowledging that god has called them to be a pastor and we're just agreeing that that is their calling and we're in support of what god has revealed that they are a pastor that's what that's really what ordination is and so we can't go to bible college go into bible colleges and make us a pastor we can go and become educated we can learn and we can grow in our knowledge of the lord but growing in the knowledge lord does not produce a calling it does not mean that god has called us at all so the first one that he mentions is apostles now we looked at this a couple weeks ago when we're going through the book of um of luke the gospel of luke and we define the term apostle apostle is one who was sent with a commission or descend away the apostles were the ones that guided the infant church but every christian is called to go we are commissioned and called by god to go john 17 18 as you sent me into the world i also have sent them into the worlds there were also apostles of the church they were like missionaries they were special envoys of the church that we see in the new testament specifically acts and when you read paul's epistles you'll read certain individuals that paul would send such as barnabas timothy silas and they were special apostles that were sent on special errands they were sent to accomplish certain things like you know like the book of titus and so forth you know and crete sent him to crete to finish you know and set in elders of the church so these were individuals that were in a sense secondary apostles they were sent on errands they were sent with the commission sent with a word and a message from god to accomplish something and then there is the 12 apostles that are so unique and we looked at this just a few weeks ago in our study in luke chapter 6. and we talked about this that after the death of judas iscariot that judas's position the 12th position was replaced with matthias we know that these men were extremely important because we note that in revelation that there are 12 foundation stones of the wall of heaven that have these 12 men's names written on them so they're extremely important they were the foundation of what we call today the church is what the apostles are very unique they were men that had been called directly from jesus christ god had empowered them to do the miraculous i do not believe that there are apostles today i don't believe there are i believe that these 12 were unique apostles i don't believe there's anything so if someone says here i want you to meet this apostle you know get on your reeboks and smoke them out of there run for all your life because there's no such thing and and again the very fact that you know we look at our bibles tonight you know look at our bibles has a front cover has a back cover you can't add to it right well i don't think we can add any apostles either i think that god used them to direct the infant church and that's exactly what happened the next one is prophets prophet is to stand in the counsel of god one who foretells but is one who is foretelling and they were gifted with the infant church to direct the church to let the church know what the church needed to know there was the office of the prophet ephesians 2 20 says having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets christ jesus himself being the cornerstone also ephesians 3 6 first corinthians chapter 12 verse 28 goes along with this and so again the prophets and the apostles were extremely important in the beginning of the new testament church it's kind of like when you build a house you know there's all there's all sorts of different trades that go into building a house the first thing of course you know we'll you know take infant steps when we describe this first we want to first choose the land we're going to build on and then of course we want to we want to have an architect draw up you know a blueprint of the dimensions and all the details and so forth of what the house is going to be but what's the next thing you bring someone in that's going to grade the lot they're going to come in and they're going to grade the lot and then you're going to bring in the concrete people that are going to set the forms for the foundation so they're going to come in they're going to say this is where the front of the house is this is the rear of the house this is the sides of the house this is where the garage is going to go and so they come and they lay out the foundation now if it's going to be a two-story the footings are going to be deeper to be able to support the second story and so you can have that so so after they're all done they pour the foundation we don't tell the concrete guys just stick around and stick around till we get done wiping down the windows and decorating the house and then you can go no we're done with them they they did what they're supposed to do later on we'll call you back when we're going to do the sidewalks but for right now bye-bye so they're gone so they leave so who comes in next the framers come in these guys come in and they they put up their sticks you know they come in and they start framing the house and and then again you know electrical comes in you you when the guys were grading it they had popped in the pipes for the plumbing they hooked up to the sewer and all of that and so then you got that and you got the guys doing the wiring electricians come in and do the wiring they put in the also the plumbing in the walls and they do all of that and then what happens the next guys come in and start doing the drywall and so they could pop the roof on start popping windows in and all that so those are the trades but after each tray gets done they just they move aside because they had a specific purpose in that building so the prophets and the apostles had a specific task in the birth of the church they were needed and after they completed their part their service they moved on and others came in so that's in a sense is what he's describing here so there is the gift of prophecy and again prophecy according to scriptures it has to be a hundred percent i mean if a person says thus saith the lord and they they make mistakes i mean thus saith the rock you're gonna get stoned you know and so that's what would happen and so they would just take them out and stone them because again a prophet had to be a hundred percent and so first corinthians chapter 14 verse three says but one who prophesies speaks to men for notice these three things edification exhortation and consolation so he says if a person has the gift of prophecy and they are prophesying that prophecy falls into three specific areas the first one is edification the one who promotes another's growth in christian wisdom piety happiness and holiness so they they actually come and they build them up is what a prophecy should do the next thing is exhortation which is a calling near it's to summon it's an entreaty it's encouragement it's persuasive it's it's stirring up it's being instructive and prophecy should do that and then lastly consolation is whether uh the purpose of persuading calming and consoling a person so if a prophecy is truly of the lord it edifies it it exhorts us and it consoles us if it doesn't do those three things it's not from the lord and by the way prophecy is the proclamation of god's word that's what god's word should do god's word should edify it should exhort and should console us i believe that happens it's happening tonight that happens on wednesday nights it happens sunday mornings it happens tuesdays at the whim it happens thursdays with the men it happens with the senior saints it happens at the singles wherever the word is taught the youth the children's ministry you know god's word is is going forth and it's consoling it's edifying it's exhorting is what it does and then the third is teachers a teacher is one who opens up the treasures of god's word they take the word and make it understandable and applicable to our lives they give application to the word and by the way if a person is called to teach they're also called to study that's important i hear some people they think they're called to teach but they don't study and if that's the case then god hasn't given me the gift of listening to him either because i don't have that gift either because they're not saying anything and it drives me crazy because if we have you know 200 people here tonight that's 200 wasted hours is what that i don't look at a wasted hour look at 200 wasted hours so a person that is called to teach should love to study second timothy 4 2 says preach the word be ready in season and out of season reprove rebuke exhort with great patience and instruction so he didn't say preach psychology he said preach the word he didn't say preach healthy eating habits no he said preach the words preach exercise no he doesn't say that either they're all closed anyway he didn't say that he said preach the word is what he said then miracles this miracles of course authenticated the message and by the way miracles don't bring conversion and i say that because after all the miracles that jesus did how many believed in him well really was all said and done according to acts 120 went to the upper room that was it after multitudes and multitudes of people when it was all said and done about 120 people followed jesus instructions to the upper room wow so even though jesus did miracles they did not believe in him and people say well if i see a miracle i'll believe in him no you won't because you'll want just another miracle you want a more exciting miracle is what you want it just keeps going it's like it's like being doped up just more and more and more as all it is you're just getting more and more and more and it doesn't bring conversion then there's gifts of healings and this is healings of various types of illness diseases and various healings there's helps i think helps is is the most amazing gift that he mentions here because it it is so wide open it could be cooking a meal it could be giving a person a ride it could be making a phone call it could be watching their children it could be ushering it could be setting up chairs i mean it just goes on and on and on it's like the catch-all word for just serving god and all of us could do this and then administrations administrations is to steer or to govern it's the idea of giving direction and being an administrator is is is an amazing task because it just it's giving direction is what it's doing it's it's making directions understandable it's it's giving directions in a way that people can follow them it's not too much at once it's an incredible gift administrative gifts we talk about retreats you know children's ministry you know teaching bible studies all have to involve administrations and then various kinds of tongues we'll look at this we get in chapter 14 we're going to look at a whole chapter dealing with prophecy and speaking in tongues but he says in verse 29 all are not apostles are they and the answer you can keep saying no all are not prophets are they no all are not teachers i know all are not workers of miracles right no verse 30 all do not have gifts of healing do they no all do not speak with tongues do they know all do not interpret do they and the answer is no look at verse 31 but earnestly desire the greater gifts and i show you a still more excellent way now what is he referring i believe he's referring to the next chapter first corinthians 13 the love chapter we're going to look at that next time that's that to me is the more excellent way it's love and sacrifice that comes in love so let's look at application tonight as we close this out every one of us are have an important part in god's church and we need to thank god for the gifts that he has given to us but our part is to find out what those gifts are and then to find the opportunities to use them so i'm going to close tonight with these five points that we just looked at and i'm going to make them real simple number one oneness in the body is baptism of the holy spirit number two diversity in the body god's plan to be different number three mutual need in the body no independence number four importance in the body everyone is important and number five god's rule in the body god is the lord of the body he's the gifter he is the one that leads and guides us and he's the one that's going to complete it so