One Body, Many Members
First B Jackson
2015-01-04

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Hey. Good morning, everybody. It is good to see you. It is five after. We should probably get started here, but I am glad that you are here this morning, and we have the privilege of worshiping our great God.

So shall we stand up? And let's crown him with many crowns. Amen. Can we pray together? God, how true is that?

Thy praise and glory shall not fail through all eternity. God allow us right now to take our our time to to just focus on you, to lay aside the things that are distracting, and to worship you as you are to be worshiped. You are a good God, bigger than we know, bigger than we understand. Thank you. Thank you.

Amen.

Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements this morning. We're kinda getting back into our normal schedule which is comforting to those of us who like a normal schedule like Carl. Anyway, announcements are like this.

Monday nights at First B, that goes on. Monday nights, we had a great time last Monday night. Good meal, good music, and I did the message. So, it was different. It's different preaching to y'all than it is in there but come see how different it is.

It's great. We have a good good time. So, I'm glad you're back. Awana happens at the same time as Monday nights at First B. It starts about six in this room and here and they play games and they have scripture poured into their lives by lots lots and lots of adults and we are appreciative of that.

So, 06:00, Monday nights. Men's fraternity is at 06:00AM on Wednesdays. It's at 06:00AM on Wednesdays. Breakfast. I won't be here.

I'll just let you know. That's not one of the things that I do but it is fantastic and it's followed up by, sorry, whoo, seven: 3zero am. Wednesdays is a morning prayer meeting and if you had on your list of resolutions that you wanted to get together and pray with other believers more or you wanted to see how God is working in your community, that's a good place to do it. Seven: 3zero am on Wednesdays. I do come to that one a lot.

I'm I'm kidding about the men's fraternity. It's awesome. It's at six on Wednesday but this is 07:30 and it's great. They usually meet in the Fellowship Hall. And that goes on all the time too.

Wednesdays are very busy. From ten to twelve, we'll be doing Wednesday, women's worship or women's Wednesday worship. And that will be in this room also. So, all of the the men's fraternity is in this room and the women's Wednesday worship from ten to twelve is in this room also. Thursdays, preset Bible Bible study is starting back up.

Thursdays at 9AM sharp and that one is sharp. Not like the 09:05 worship service. This one is pretty sharp and Jane Cranenberg facilitates that study and they're in the New Testament instead of Old Testament this this coming semester. So, that's ten week study, I think and then, Thursday night, we'll have a combined board of trustees and elders meeting, 6PM this Thursday in anticipation of this, annual congregational meeting at 12:15 next Sunday. It's after the second service whenever that's finished.

We'll start into the annual congregational meeting. There are few things to vote on for those of you who are members and if you want to hang out and just see what happens at an annual congregational meeting, you're welcome to do that. And I think that's all of the announcements. Does anybody else have anything inaudible? Renzy, Solid Rock, we're back on.

All of the normal stuff that they do, if you can call it normal, is back on. The solid rock. Feeding frenzy with Renzy on Friday and Thursday nights, middle school. Very good. And I think that's it.

Why don't you all get up, greet one another, extend that right hand of Christian fellowship, Give a hug. Maybe a side hug.

Heaven's mercy seat. Let's repeat that verse again. It's so good. Worthy is the land he was named. Let's sing of his holiness together.

God, we come to worship you this morning. We thank you. Yes. You are good. Why should I be?

Lord, how true. Why should we gain from this great reward? And we can't boast in in anything that we've done. This is the work of you and you alone that brings salvation. And for that, we are just in debt to you.

And I pray, God, that throughout our lives that there would just be things where it would just draw us to you. It draw it would draw us to to the cross, that your Holy Spirit would would fill us up and renew us once again. God, we confess that we're we're sinners and we fall short, but we are most grateful, most thankful, God, for for the cross, for your sacrifice for us that gives us new life, and we can walk in that new life and enjoy it, and enjoy that life in you. Amen.

Cross.

Yeah. Let's sing it out. How true. How true. God, we do, again, give you thanks.

I thank you for the cross. Boy, it is it is far beyond just our our our our wildest we can't even grasp just what what what what happened when when you died on that cross and how you have forgiven us. Our sins, they are remembered no more. When we put our faith and trust in you, the the the slate is is wiped clean, and we thank you for that. And now, Lord, though, it's the sanctification.

It's it's what happens here in the everyday, making us more like your son Jesus. And I I pray that you would continue to do that. Prompt us. Lead us. Guide us.

Use your Holy Spirit, God, just to to to lead us through every day of our lives. God, we do thank you for everything that you give, the monetary gifts. I thank you God that we can sit here in this this warm room on a on a cold day. And just so many gifts God, we we want to to give you thanks for them. And this is a small way to do it, God, through money.

But Lord, there are so many other ways to do our service and through our our one another and they're just it doesn't end. So I pray God that we're not just putting a few bucks in that offer and play God. We're putting our heart in there. Amen.

Amen. I'm going to, the children are dismissed. They go to Peak Children's Church downstairs and while they're leaving, I think I'm just going to ask the band if y'all just hang loose for a minute. And I'll keep this base on for a few minutes too. I've got a couple of things before we get into the main body of the sermon.

Last week, I covered up through verse 13 but I want to go back and pick up a couple of things. I don't know if I dropped them but I just had further insight. So, I want to share. So, this is the text for the day. First Corinthians twelve twelve through 31.

It is a communion Sunday. So, we're going to do communion kind of in the midst of the sermon, in the middle of the sermon this time. I said we would keep coming back to this. First Corinthians twelve seven says, but the manifestation or the showing of the spirit, the way that God shows himself. The manifestation of the spirit is given to each one for the common good and I each one of those points is really really important.

It is the way that God shows himself. It is the way he manifest himself, the way he manifest his spirit is through human agency, through people, and it is given. What do you have that was not given? As a Christian, what do you have that was not given? Nothing.

Is it yours to claim as yours or is it something that God gave you and it's the way that he shows himself to people and it was given to each one. So, whether you know it or not, you do. If you're a Christian, have a spiritual gift. At least one. I think you have might have a gift mix is the way that I see it.

To each one and for the common good. So, we'll keep coming back. The common good is the main portion of that because this, as much as Paul, I believe in these three chapters is trying to unify the body of Christ in Corinth, It divides the body of Christ around the world in different denominations and so we're going to keep on looking at for the common good, for the profit of all. Oh gracious, that didn't show up very well. I darken that so it show up so much better.

We're going to be talking today about, you know, Paul sending a letter to Corinth. This is a Corinthian church and we've talked about how much like America, Corinth kind of is. You know, the trappings of paganism back then, they were obviously religious and everybody knew it. Now, we don't say they're religious but they still kind of are. Sports, very very important in Corinth, very important here.

This is Corinth and Paul's writing to them from Ephesus. Now, he has by this time been all over this place. He has been couple of trips and he is right in the current. And on his travels, I started thinking about this. I'm an art major.

I've admittedly, I I do this every once in a while. There are lots of different places where this practice is practiced. They're called ex botos. Ex botos is not just Catholic. If you see this, a lot of you might think, oh, that's a Catholic thing.

It's not just Catholic. It's a pagan thing from way way back. It's still something that goes on all in lots of places in the world. So, people, if they had some part of them that was ailing or not doing well, they would make a vow to to God or to the gods and they would form something either out of clay or tin or some little material and they would make these things and so you see this hand, you see these eyes, this is a breast. I don't know exactly what that is.

I'm guessing but I don't really know. Kneecap maybe, not really sure. This is a church in Portugal. Carries on the tradition. This is an old Greek tradition.

It's found in lots of different places all over the world. This is a Catholic church in Portugal and all these are either feet or hands or other parts. This is relief made out of a bunch of Milagros. They call em in Mexico. Little miracles.

So, this is what people would pray for and they'd leave these. They climb a hill to go up to the highest hill in the valley where there's a cross and they leave these little miracles, Milagros and they're asking God for a miracle to heal this specific point and this is like I said, not necessarily Christian. It's pagan. You can approach God wherever you are. You don't owe him any little miracle.

You don't owe him any little thing. But the more I thought about it, this is constant. You see this all over the place where you go and Paul would have seen it in lots of places. These are clay hands that were found at the Esklepion which is Esklepius is one of the the Greek gods of healing and he would have seen a lot of these things on his travels and there's an eye, there's some ears, and this one's funny. This one actually says, if you translate it, it says, to Isklapius and healthy fortune in the place of good grace.

Eucharist, the Eucharist, like communion, is good grace and this is a pagan concept right here. This is not the Eucharist like we're practicing it today but this is the situation that Paul would have found himself in in this area. So, the Eucharisterion is a place of good grace and this is if you can't tell what that is, it's a leg and I'm feeling my legs this morning. I went skiing for the first time yesterday. Oh my goodness.

And that's a foot and it's clay and these are these things are disconnected from the body because this is the part that's alien. So, that's the part that people are praying for God to redeem and heal and it's kind of like this. This is what I thought of when I started studying this week. Now, this is after the fact. This is a retablo from Mexico and I took a picture of it and thought it was interesting.

It says, coming out of mass at set of the 07:00 mass on the 06/15/1942, Rosa and Carmen Ruiz, the sisters, had a fright in the street behind the market when a man, a bad guy with a pistol jumped out and immediately, they started praying to the Virgin of San Juan of the Lakes so that he would so that the man would not kill them or hurt them and the bad guy only took their purses and and took a few little coins and there was no other injury whatsoever and for this, we're giving thanks with this retablo. This is a remembrance. It's a way of doing that. Now, this one is something that I'm from where I was down there. I I saw these in the different churches This is after the fact that it's thanking God for something.

That's a little different. The other ones are going forward and saying, this is what I want. This is this is my deposit. This is what I want back. I don't know.

When we get into this text, 12 through 31, it says, for just as the body is one and has many members and all the members are of the body, though many are one body, so it is with and I'll leave the blank there for a minute. Y'all got it last week. You probably remember what it is. Seeing all those disconnected little members that are hanging up in those churches all over the place, it looks like these one little individual thing like it's a separate part, you know? It's a separate part and it's not.

The body is a whole and this body is a whole. The body, though many, are one body, so it is with, and what what might we expect Paul to say here? It seems like he would say, the church or maybe the body of Christ but that's not what he says and as I was considering it again this week, I go back a little each week and read what came up to this because what's the old saw, doctor speak? A text without a context is a pretext for a proof text, right? A text without a context is a pretext for a proof text.

So, I went back and I was reading over this and I thought of Paul in Acts nine at his conversion but Paul, while he was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. Who is that? The church. While he's still breathing threats against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest and he asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus so that if he found any belonging to the way, who is that?

The church. Men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now, as he went on in his way, he approached Damascus and suddenly, a light from heaven shown around him and falling to the ground, he heard a voice say unto him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

This verse says, for just as the body is one and has many members and all the members of the body, though many are one body, so it is with Christ. Christ so believes that you are his body and his way here on this Earth that this is what Paul says. So, is with Christ, not the body of, not just the assembly God, not just the PCA, not just the Baptist, not just any of us. So, it is with Christ. Essentially, he is a unity and his body of Christ is a unity and so it's it's it was interesting to me that Jesus says to Paul, why are you persecuting me when who he is going after is the church?

Y'all get that? Is that strong for you? This is where we're gonna do communion. So, I'll ask the elders if they will come forward and the band is gonna play and I'll just work my way through this but think about how that is that Christ believes that you are his way. You are his way to reach a world with the message, the saving message of Jesus Christ, the message of love and forgiveness and as we partake of this, we're partaking as one family united.

So, y'all can go ahead and distribute and we'll start this song. Lord, would you please bless this distribution of bread, lord, because we do this in remembrance of you. Would you bind us together, lord, so that we may be an essential unity with one cause and that's the cause of Christ. On the same evening that Christ was betrayed, he took bread after supper and he broke it and after giving thanks, he said, this is my body given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

God, we thank you for your broken body and we ask that you would not unite as a whole body, your church, lord, and may this whole body take the whole of your gospel to the whole world. God, it is through your blood and your blood alone that cleanses from sin that we can do this. We ask your blessing on this cup as we distribute it, lord. To each one who has put their trust in you. Amen.

And in the same way, he took the cup and he said, this is a new covenant in my blood. Drink this in remembrance of me. Alright. Are we picking back up where we left off? Thank So, just as it is with Christ, for in one spirit, we were all baptized into one body, Jews or Greeks, slaves, or free.

Americans, Mexicans, Peruvians, and all were made to drink of one spirit. I think this all were made to drink of one spirit is interesting. All were made to drink of one spirit is the way that translation takes it, but alternate literal translations is we were all watered. We were all drenched. We were all irrigated.

You might go so far as to say we're all baptized in it. We were all given the drink of one spirit. So, we were all and it says, all, all, all, we were all, we were all, we were all. I think right here, this is something that says, we were all baptized into Jesus. It does not happen except apart from the Holy Spirit.

Luke speaks speaks of multiple and separate fillings of the Holy Spirit and I think that that place right there says, we were all baptized into. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say because I'm not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. Right? Everybody agrees with that?

So I'm not what I wanna be, so I'm not having anything to do with it. I'm taking my ball and going home. If it's a foot, guess it'd be a soccer ball. But I'm not doing this. No.

It wouldn't make it any less a part of the body. Even though that's the part that's hurting, even though that's the part that doesn't feel good, that is still a part of the body. And if the ear should say, because I'm not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye can you imagine how grotesque that would be? A six foot six eye just looking at you.

Some of y'all don't like it when I look at you with these little bitty eyes. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? And just think of these ex botos, these retablos and things that are saying, this is the part. This is the part.

This is the part. This is what I want your attention on right here, God. It's not making me a hole. It's just this part right here. This is only part that needs any attention.

But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them as he chose, the sovereign act of God. God sovereignly chose which gifts he would give and to whom. If all were a single member, where would the body be? And I put the hands up there. All hands.

You've heard the phrase all hands. That's not a good thing. All thumbs is even worse. If all and you think about the thumb being opposing, it is opposing. Never mind.

I cut off my thumb one time. You need it. Trust me. You need some opposition. As it is, there are many parts, yet there is one body, and the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

We need a whole body, and God made us the way that we are. On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. How about seem to be weaker? You can see what your hands can do. You can see what your biceps can do.

Can you see what your spleen does? No. You don't do well without one, though. Kidneys, interior parts, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable, we bestow the greater honor. We cover those.

That's probably a euphemism for genitals or the unpresentable parts probably is. Unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty. We we bestow greater honor on the heart, the lungs, things like that. And our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which are more presentable parts do not require. Now, he's using a metaphor.

You don't try to make a metaphor stand up on absolutely every front. But this is a really, really good one. That the body of Christ, we are one body and we need the parts. Some of em we don't know exactly what they do like the spleen. We don't know exactly what they do.

Not everything. But it's saying that we all need one another. We all need one another. He says it over and over but God has so composed the body giving greater honor to the part that lacked it that there may be no division. Why did he make it the way that it was?

Oh, that there may be no division in the body, that it may work together in harmony, that it may sync up, but that the members may have the same care for one another. I cut my finger yesterday, and I cut it pretty bad actually. Probably should've gotten stitches. Anyway, I cut it with a razor knife, and I was thinking, well, I'll just wrap it in some electrical tape, and it'll be fine. And I did, and I was fine.

And I finished up what I was doing here, and then I got through and I thought, well, I'm not doing anything now. I put a band aid on it. I put a band aid on it, and it was fine until I got here and started playing bass this morning. And the blood started gushing out from the front of the band aid. This hurts.

It still hurts. And if I try to do something with it, it hurts. My legs, like I mentioned, oh, skiing. That's a different thing, man, from standing like this all day. Just do that.

If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, I'll rejoice together. I brought up Florine several times last week and it too, you know, he kinda sinks down a bit but we all know and when he's honored, we can all rejoice together. Everyone of y'all had a smile on your face like, yeah, it's obvious that God's using him in that way but if one member suffers all suffer together. If we see one of our brothers and sisters that's not doing well, we need to come around them and not be like Job's friends or what you're doing wrong is this.

We'll help you get back through. We'll bring you back into health for the rest of the body, alright? Split them up. If one member suffers, I'll suffer together and if one member is honored, I'll rejoice together. Now, you are the body of Christ and individually, you're members of it.

Now, y'all, this is one of those plurals right there. Y'all, the collective, right there. You all are the body of Christ. Y'all are. Not any any individual one of you is the body of Christ but y'all collectively are.

And individually, you're members of it. And God has appointed in the church, first apostle, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and the various kinds of tongues. He list those and that's another. It's a separate list from the first list that he's given. It's slightly different.

There are some variations. It's a slightly different list than the one in Ephesians. There are some variations. There are couple other places where he leanses and there are variations. I I take that to mean these are not exhaustive lists but without the apostles, the first apostles that Jesus sent out, there would be no church, right?

He, they were the sent ones. The prophets. Typically, anytime, even Old Testament and New Testament, the job of a prophet is not just to foretell the future, it is to foretell what God has said. That's primarily the job of, I believe, of of anyone who will proclaim what God has said. I I feel like that's a good portion of what it is that I'm supposed to do.

This is what the Lord has said. Now, some of that prophecy gets a little fuzzy and this is where people start to disagree. This is where I start to sweat because prophecy is not just the forth telling of what God has said. In some cases, especially in the Old Testament, you see him forecasting a vision of what will come to pass and it's fuzzy on the front side of prophecy. It's really fuzzy.

In the New Testament, we see some prophecies that are way way future, still future to us and that's a little sketchy. Are there still prophets today that are forecast in the future? I'm pretty uncomfortable with it. I'm pretty uncomfortable with that. This doesn't, so far, we've not hit anything that would limit it.

It's just saying that that is one of the gifts that God gives. So far, we have not hit anything that would limit it. So, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating the various kinds of tongues. I'm taking them all together just Paul did. He list them in the same list and then he follows it up with this question.

Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing?

Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? Those are all rhetorical questions and they're all a series of rhetorical questions and he he's rapid fire when he names them off and they're kind of in the same order that he gave him but he he leaves out a couple. He adds a couple more. Are all apostles?

Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gift of healing? Do all speak with tongues?

Do all interpret? Now, in English, we look at that and we'd go, I mean, it's a good question But it's obvious and I think it's fairly obvious in English but it's absolutely obvious in Greek that the answer is supposed to be no on all of those. Not all are prophets. Not all are apostles. Not all are teachers.

Not all work miracles, not all possess give from healings, and not all speak with tongues, and not all interpret. So, he's saying this pretty outright. No. No. No.

No. No. There's no such thing as an individual Christian that is the body of Christ. Is this, are you with me? There's no lone ranger Christian that is the body of Christ and there's no lone ranger Christian that has all of these gifts.

It just doesn't exist. He says that. No. They're not. And then he ends up with but earnestly desire the higher gifts.

Now, this one from a exegetical standpoint has an ambiguous term in there and it's ambiguous in that it can be taken a couple of different ways. I'm going try to illustrate that and this actually leads to some of the disunity that the church has experienced over the years because he's saying, no, not everyone has all of these. No, not has everyone has all these. No, not everyone has all these and then he follows it up. He says, earnestly desire the higher gifts as if there were a ranking, the greater gifts and so then you go, oh, what is the greater gift?

Well, speaking in tongues is the last one on the list on both lists and that's the one that a lot of people take and say that if you don't speak in tongues, then you're not filled with the spirit. It's listing that as one of those things and I I don't think theologically that we can say that that's true. It is one of the gifts but I don't think we can say that you're a junior varsity Christian unless you speak in tongues. I don't think that the Bible proclaims that anywhere. Earnestly desire the higher gifts can be taken these two different ways but earnestly be desiring the higher gifts, y'all.

Just throw the y'all in there. So, it's all of you. It's an imperative or command and that's the way most Bible translations take it. It's an imperative. It has imperatible force.

It is a command for you to be earnestly be desiring the greater gifts, whatever they are. But the other way to take it is to say, but y'all are earnestly desiring the higher gifts. You remember the sardonic or the sarcastic tone that he used in chapter four and a couple other places? He used a little sarcasm. This one seems to make more sense to me because of the flow of his argument but I'll take either and I think that y'all can take either.

I I love to nail it down for you but I don't think I'm going to do it today if we haven't done it in all these two thousand years of history at the church. Consider both of those though and the reason I ask you to consider both of em is because some of you who've already made up your mind and you've decided on it. Maybe you need to let loose a little bit of what it is that you believe and see if what it is you believe is your self chosen opinion of many options that have been given in the denominations we have right now. Or see if see if you can go there. Earnestly be desiring the higher gifts y'all.

I I don't know. I I would say earnestly be desiring to know what your gift is and and function in it completely. That's what I would say. That's not what he said. He said, earnestly be desiring the higher gifts y'all.

If you look at the list and the order that he puts them in, it's apostles, prophets, and teachers. Fourth telling, foretelling, prophets, teaching what the word says. Apostles are sent ones. The ones who are going into a new place where the gospel is not and making the way. God goes before you but being ready to go with it.

Earnestly be desiring to be that. I would say that's like earnestly be desiring for God to give you the call to missions. Earnestly be desiring that he would use you in some profound way in somebody else's life and I think that's what Paul say and earnestly be desiring that but I also think that's this sarcastic tone actually works too. He's saying, y'all have elevated and it's obvious in Corinthians that they had elevated the gift of tongues to a status that that was, wow. That was a big deal.

It was a rock star status almost and he's saying, but y'all, after he does all this, are all prophets or all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?

No. No. No. No. No.

Then he follows it up and says, but y'all are earnestly desiring the higher gifts, the higher gifts, the ones you esteem, not the ones you have. He's already said two or three different places in this passage that God sovereignly gives as he chooses. But y'all are earnestly desiring to be something and you're not. That was the point of the head and foot. If I'm not a hand, I'm not going to do this.

Does that make sense? I think that's the point. So, This is a strange sermon. I know. Earnestly desire the higher gifts.

The manifestation of the spirit is given to each one for the common good. That common good keeps ringing in my ears and that's what it's gotta be about. We know that he wants us to be one just like he is one. He wants to bind us together. How can we make this be about unity and not about division?

We've gotta look at it in love. I'm going to skip that. This is 31 b. It follows up this earnestly desiring higher gifts and then it says and I will show you a still more excellent way. Now, that's the lead in the chapter 13 and that's where we'll go next week.

Paul is, this is a to be continued sermon. Paul says, and I'll show you a more excellent way and we're going to talk about first Corinthians 13. In this context from 12 to 14 about spiritual gifts, love is the more excellent way and so the higher gifts could be pointing towards faith, hope, and love which is forecasted in the next chapter but I want you to I want you to dwell on it this week and think about what it is that God has gifted you to do. If you don't know, let's seek and pray together to see what it is and open ourselves up for what he'll do. Renzi, can we play that last little thing?

I've got one little blurb before I ask you. The band can come back up. Hopefully, this won't take, but just a second. This is a new can you all see that that's crosshairs? It's very, very thin, but can you see that's crosshairs?

Maybe this screen is better. There are at least four different approaches. I think this approach is really really good for looking at scripture. You can think of it in a naturalistic fashion like Thomas Jefferson did where he removed all the elements of the supernatural. Any miracles were just thrown out the window because God doesn't work like that.

Naturalistic is one way of looking at it and if you shoot down into the right, you're going to hit naturalistically or you can shoot a little bit high into the left and that's supernaturalistic. Supernaturally, if you think that God is supernaturally controlling absolutely everything from your toothpaste choice, that might be supernatural way of reading the Bible. Existential is all about our experience and how we feel about our feelings. It's existential. As we exist, we are processing through this world and it's how we feel.

An existential way to look at scripture would be like, have you ever been to a Bible study where you sit down, you read a verse, and then they say, how's it? What do you think about that? What's that mean to you? Well, that's probably not nearly as important as what it meant to the guy who wrote it or the spirit that inspired it. We want to know what it means and if we want to know what it means, sometimes we become dogmatic And so dogmatic is exactly what it says and this is what it means exactly.

For sure, this is the way that it is. Doctrine becomes absolutely important and the way you feel about it is less so. Well, over the years, we have shot a pretty dogmatic line on a lot of things. And then from time to time, we've gotten really supernatural. Some denominations are really, really supernatural.

Some are very naturalistic, and they've removed all of the all of the things that make God, God. And then others are so concerned about experience that it's all about them and our existential way we process it. But what we're shooting for is right there, right in the middle of all those. So, some of y'all are going to fall into one of these quadrants and some of you are going to fall in the other. I would ask you to embrace the one that's directly across from you and see if you can learn from one another because I think that's what God wants for his body to be one.

Praise God. Let's sing together. Would you stand with us?

I love belief statements. I always have. But this is one, and it's just the chorus of a song, but I invite you to sing it with us here.

May the Lord bless and keep you and make his face to shine upon you and give you peace so that you can give it to somebody else. Amen. Thank you, Judy. I have I have a couple of things to do. Judy, I'm giving you fair warning.

We're probably gonna do communion before the sermon is over, okay? And y'all spare warning for y'all too. It's a little bit out of the norm but I I feel like it kinda hits in the center of this lesson and so we're gonna we're gonna go with it like that. So, be ready for an audible, okay? First Corinthians 12, last week, we went up to verse 13.

If you'll notice, I'm going back to verse 12 this week. I had a little bit more, it it kept hanging up with me that there was something about this that really spoke to spoke to me about communion for one thing but I wanna I wanna go through that and go back to verse 12 and kinda reapply that a bit but we'll get on through the rest of chapter 12 and we'll set up chapter 13 which we've all heard 100 times probably at weddings but it's right in the middle of the study on spiritual gifts. So, we're going to get into that. I told you last week that I will be bringing this up from time to time but the manifestation of the spirit is given to each one for the common good. Each one of those things is really really important and that's what the sermon was last week was going over that.

The manifestations of the spirit, the way that God shows himself to the world is through believers. He, day after day, the heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament declares us. Yeah. He does always speak all the time in general revelation but the way he manifest himself primarily is through human agency.

The manifestation of the spirit is given. What do you have that you have not been given? Paul said earlier in this letter. What do you have as a Christian that you have not been given by God? The manifestation of the spirit, the way he shows himself, the gifts of the spirit are given not earned to each one, every single one of us as a believer has a spiritual gift.

For the common good and that's what they're to be used for. The building up of the kingdom, the building up of the church for the common good. The manifestation of the spirit is given to each one for the common good. So, that will come back to. I keep on and I'm going to drum it over and over the common good because I think that's the main thing in this passage.

The spiritual gift study from 12 all the way up to fourteen forty. He's promoting unity within the body the whole time. We know from the earlier chapters in Corinthians that there were strong divisions in the church. We know that they had, y'all appreciate this little. Over realized eschatology.

Over realized eschatology. They felt like they were further along in eschatology. The end things than they were and they were very very adamant about it. They had elevated some gifts above others and they were consciously, earnestly seeking after those things more than maybe the ones that they had. So, he's promoting unity, manifestation of spirit given to each one for the common good.

Now, for those of you who like maps, this is just a map showing where Corinth is and that is Corinth, the Aegean Sea. It's the terrible. It didn't show up as well as I had hoped but Corinth and Paul is writing from Ephesus. By this time, he had been all around from down here, up through here, across, heard the Macedonian call, down through here, across again. He's in the middle or on his second journey at this point.

He's been all over this land and seen a lot of things but he's writing from Ephesus to Corinth about reports he'd heard back from the church and at this point in the letter, he's going over things that they specifically sent a letter to him listing the things that they were concerned and worried about. So, he's naming those things off one by one. As I was looking at this map, about right here, which is in modern day Turkey, there is something called the Esclepion. The Esclepion is a it's a a healing center. If you ever look up online, New Age Healing Centers, half of em are called Esclapion and these places were to promote healing.

They had some warm springs and they had some different ways that they did that but Paul would have seen this. This is a common thing for people to have. Nowadays, we see it primarily in I I see it primarily in Latin American Catholic churches. You see ex voters. These ex voters or retablos in some cases are where people would pray for God to heal a certain member of their body, whatever purse part of their body and they would see this.

Now, it's not just in the Catholic church and it's not just something that's kind of a superstition in any specific place. This is all over. Ancient Greece had these all over the place. You find tons of small x botos in the far the ancient world and this is eyes, obviously. This is a hand, pretty obviously.

I'm not sure what this part is but it's all found in the same place and this is a breast. These are in a church in Portugal and you can see that people are petitioning God to help them with their feet, legs, different wall might have hands. There are some that have eyes and ears. This is a common expression in Latin America and Europe. You'll see little tin shapes that have been beaten into relief and these are feet and hearts and hands.

These are things that people are praying for. Some of those are sacred heart but eyes and you see wisdom, different things. In this one, you see parts for a lot of these are babies and these are things that people are petitioning God for whole wall of hands. Ears, eyes, but they're disconnected. They're just, this is the offending member.

This is what's hurting right now and so this is what I'm praying about. It's kind of strange for a lot of us to see. This one, I thought was interesting. This is actually carved out of stone and what that says is a I'm sorry. I'm it is to Asclepias and healthy fortune in the place of good grace.

Eucharist is this last word right here and Eucharist, y'all recognizes the good grace, good, you, charis, grace and so, when we come to the table, we are coming celebrating God's good grace that he's provided for anyone who will believe in Jesus Christ but the terminology was around. They were praying for to the gods, Eucharistarion, a place of good grace and healthy fortune and so this person had a leg that was ailing them. I actually have legs that are ailing me today. I went skiing for the first time yesterday. For first time this year, yesterday, so I'm a little ailing too.

That's just a foot, a clay foot, feet of clay. No. This is another one of those little x botos. And this is a common expression in South South And Central and Mexico especially. And this one I thought was interesting.

I'll translate it for you. It says, I'm leaving mass on the the 07:00 mass on the June 15 in 1942. The sisters, Rosa and Carmen Ruiz, had a scare, a fright in the street behind the market when a bad guy jumped out and had a pistol, and immediately they began to pray to the Virgin of San Juan Of The Lakes so that they would not be killed or hurt, and the bad guy only took their purses and then took a few pieces of money or coins out of it and left and he didn't do any other damage. For this. We're thankful and we leave this retablo, and the retablo is an after the fact.

So this is not something. This is just what we'd call a praise. This is something that they had prayed for. In this particular case, it was to the Virgin of Guadalupe of of the Los Lagos but it's something that's a slightly different thing. I, as I was considering this and reading back over chapter 12 verse 12 especially, I thought about all those disconnected body parts and disconnected things and how honestly kind of morbid it was and kind of unusual it was to see all of these items that are there that are of absolutely no use.

They're disconnected. They don't have, they don't really serve. Now, that maybe that that was the problem that was bothering him and that was what they're putting forward but they were doing something and trying to earn it. Doing something and trying to earn it. It's not grace if it's earned for one thing.

But as I look at this and we come to the table, I was thinking, for just as the body is one and has many members, many parts, and all the members are of the body, though many are one body. So, it is with and I left a blank there. Now, last week, I mentioned it and it's in your bulletins but what would you expect to go right there? It seems like with the body analogy that he's made that the what would go there, what we might expect Paul to say is the church. It says, so is the church.

We're one body made up of many members but he doesn't say that. You might expect the body of Christ but he doesn't say that either. Paul doesn't say the body, the church, or the body of Christ. This is what impressed me. Thinking about Paul's own conversion experience and how central this was.

But Paul still breathing threats and and murder against the disciples of the Lord. Who is that? The disciples of the Lord. At that point, church. Called out ones.

This is the church and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus so that if he found any belonging to the way. What's that? Church. Anyone belonging to the way who's put their trust in Jesus, the only way, truth, and the life. They're the church that called out once.

Now, as he went on his way, he approached Damascus and suddenly a light from heaven shown around him and fallen to the ground. He heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Had Paul seen Jesus before the resurrection? Maybe. We don't know.

Had he persecuted him personally right there? Jesus says he has. He's persecuting Christ in that. He is persecuting those who are of the way. Those who are disciples of the Lord.

It is so central to Paul's theology that we are the body of Christ that he just says it like, it's Christ. We are his continuing body on this Earth and he said, who are you lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. I'm Jesus whom you're persecuting. You're persecuting me by persecuting those who believe in me.

To me, that that really underlines that Christ right there. Essentially, what we are to be about. What did Christ pray in the garden? Chapter 17 of John, he prays that we would be one just as he and the father and the spirit are one. Unity is what this is about and so, he says, it is with Christ like this, one body, this body, one body, all members, though many.

For one spirit, we were all baptized into one body. So, we're all baptized into the spirit, into one body and we were all made to drink of one spirit. Now, this were made to drink of one spirit can be translated as follows. This is all were in every translation you'll check. It says, all were because that's what it says.

The alternate literal translations where we were all watered, we were all drenched, we were all irrigated, overcome, we were all given to drink. It was flooding over us. All of us and he's very specific about it and he just said, if you look at this, we were all baptized into one body. Jews or Greeks, slaves, or free, Americans, Mexicans, Peruvians, Alaskans, whatever. Doesn't matter.

We're all made to drink of this one spirit. Now, I will say that looking at this, there are couple things that come up. Denominationally, I know that there are some denominations that really really push for a second blessing, a second second act of God where he fills one with his spirit and there are sometimes that's only happens if it's displayed by a manifestation of his spirit. Most specifically, people mention speaking in tongues. That is just not the way that it is.

We were all baptized into the spirit. We're all flooded, overcome, irrigated, drenched, given that to drink. There are times Luke would say when there are fillings of the Holy Spirit. I I take it that God is always pouring himself out like your Email the other day. God is always blessing.

He is always pouring himself out. Sometimes, we are better equipped to be catching some of that blessing and so, the feelings that Luke speaks of, I think are legitimate. I think that if we take this or any other passage and we say that there has to be a second blessing where God fills you up with his spirit. I I don't think that's biblical and I don't think you can make it stand. You definitely can't make it stand from this passage.

So, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say because I'm not a hand, I do not belong to the body. That would not make it any less a part of the body, Right? Just because it says that it's not. So, if a foot just decides, I'm not going to do this anymore.

I'm taking my ball and going home. He's going take a soccer ball. Sorry. But that would not make it any less a part of the body and if the ear should say because I'm not an eye, I do not belong to the body. That would not make it any less a part of the body.

If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? Plus the fact that how grotesque would it be to have a six foot six eye up here staring at you. Y'all don't like it when I look with these little bitty eyes if I look at you. It's grotesque and it doesn't serve a function in the body if it's just that alone. There are no lone ranger Christians.

We have to be connected to the body. If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? It's obvious though when part of you is not right, you know? If your ears are not working right, it's irritating. If your knees are not working right, your feet aren't working right, it's irritating and that's all you can kind of concentrate on.

But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. And I cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you. We need our whole body.

We do. And when something's not right, we know it. I actually cut my finger yesterday. Y'all can barely see it from there because I have a band aid on it right now but I was I was cutting something with a very very sharp knife and I cut through and I thought, well, I'll just run down there, put a paper towel and some electrical tape around it and it'll be fine and it was for a while and this morning, I got up and I thought, well, I don't want everybody seeing this enormous black finger so I put on a band aid over and it was fine. It bothered me a little bit but when I got up to play bass in the first service this morning, it bothered me a lot.

It was very obvious something was wrong. There will be the next verses say it. On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable, we bestow the greater honor. That's probably talking about internal parts that are not seen like our lungs and our heart and our spleen and our liver and pancreas and all that sort of stuff. They are less honorable.

They're not on the outside, but we bestow great honor onto our heart and onto our lungs. It's not something that's seen. It just happens and there he is. Somebody that comes in and arranges things here at church so that all of us can be can just function. There's a guy who's been doing that for four straight years and he comes in, sets up chairs, and takes down the chairs.

He cleans up. If he sits, needs something vacuuming, he vacuums it. That's something that y'all don't see. I see it but you see a clean building when you get here. You see a comfortable place.

On that, we bestow even greater honor. It's not to be done so that you can see it but it is something that needs to be done. And our unpresentable parts are treated with even greater modesty. That is a euphemism for our genitals. That's an for our private parts.

And we cover those and we use even greater modesty for those. That one, I've heard all kinds of explanations for that. I will not subject you to any of them. Which are more which are more presentable parts do not require. There are some of us who are very obvious up here in the front all the time and it's not the same thing as those who actually are the ones who are causing the church to actually reproduce.

Does that make sense? The winsome behavior of the people here at this church, the warm, engaging people is what causes more people to come in to this family. So, God has so composed the body, given it greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division. Again, unity is the whole crux of this passage. In the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

What I did this morning since this finger was hurt is I played the bass with these two fingers together and that's what you do. Another might have to come alongside and help at some point if one of them is ailing In the body, the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together. Last week, I brought up music as a as a gift and it's not specifically listed as a spiritual gift and I've I've had a couple of different detractors since I did that last week which is fine.

That's fine because it's not specifically listed and I want to always say what it says but when we're talking about something that's obviously a god given gift or talent that's being done well. If that, if we see that happening, all of us in the body of Christ are rejoicing together for God having given that person that gift. Whatever the gift is, whether it's service or helps or administration or some of the ones that are further back down the list for most of us or if it's teaching, apostleship, prophecy, all of those things. If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together.

Now, you are the body of Christ and individually members of it and God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?

Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? Now, I switched that because it is a plural you. Now, y'all are the members.

Y'all are the body of Christ. Y'all collectively are the body of Christ. And individually, you're members of it. There is no such thing as a lone ranger Christian and by these last few verses here where he's given us the are all prophets are all apostles are all teachers. He's saying, and you don't have all the gifts.

That's the reason there are no Lone Ranger Christians. You don't have the gift to act as the body of Christ by yourself. It requires a collective. It requires the church. So, the rhetorical questions that he list right here in first Corinthians twelve, twenty nine, and 30 are these and in English, if you look at those, you can look at em and go, good question.

In Greek, when you look at em, this is the obvious thing. No. It's a rhetorical question that's supposed to be no. No. Not all are apostles.

Apostles meaning sent out ones, ones who have been sent out. If it's a capital A, they are the original apostles that were Jesus's 12 minus Judas plus his replacement, okay? Those 12 are the capital A apostles. Are they all prophets? Now, prophets are people who proclaim God's word.

Some of the Old Testament prophets said, this is what God has said in the past and this is what will come to pass in the future. So, it's not just foretelling the future but forth telling God's word, what he has said. In the New Testament, we have the same thing. A lot of people are saying, this is what the Lord spoken and Joel, this is what the Lord spoke here. This is what God has said.

We also have Agabus that says, you will be taken into Jerusalem bound just like this. So, there are some prophets that we see in the New Testament. So far in this passage, we have not hit anything that would limit any of the gifts at all. Paul is using all of these the foray of gifts that he just throws out there over and over. He's using them to say, you're not all of these things and each individual cannot be all of these things.

You need each other but the obvious answer to the rhetorical questions is, no. Not prophets. We're not all teachers. We're not all working miracles. We don't all possess gifts of healings.

We don't all speak with tongues. We don't all interpret. That over realized eschatology that the Corinthians thought that they had or at least a good division of them thought that they had was that they had the power to do anything that God could do on command. They were regularly speaking in tongues. They were regularly practicing some of these more miraculous gifts and they were trying for that.

They were overemphasizing those and didn't emphasize the helps and administration and other things and Paul saw a great division in this. I think that it's a shame that this three chapters that has been you that has Paul obviously meant to be about bringing the church together are three of the chapters that have separated Christians more than anything else because of a few interpretational difficulties but also because of what he said a couple chapters back. Remember, Heresia. Self chosen opinions. Republicans and Democrats get farther and farther apart.

Right? Because you gotta mobilize your base. You gotta preach pander, I would say. You gotta pander to your side and you get further and further polarization that way and denominations have happened like that in this country. This one says, but earnestly desire the higher gifts.

This is the one that's hard because this is what it says, the English standard version says it like this, but there are couple of different translation possibilities and folks on one side of the charismatic giftings say that it's one and folks on the other side say that it's the other. Both of them are grammatically possible. What I'm gonna ask of you today is consider the other side rather than considering your side, which side that you know you're already on, the camp that you're already in. I'm saying, why don't you consider for a minute what the other one might be saying? Earnestly be desiring the higher gifts, y'all, is the imperative, and that's the way nine tenths of the translations in English, you'll read, take it as an imperative.

The reason that they do that is because the closest context for it does say, be desiring the gifts where it is an imperative and there's no doubt about it. That's in chapter fourteen one and in fourteen thirty nine and so that's why most of em translated that way. I think what fits the flow of argument better though is the second right here where it's an indicative. The verb is indicative. Now, in Greek, it can be either.

Paul, after having said, all of these things, he's building his argument and he says, y'all are the body of Christ, unified. You're members of it, different points, different sides, different places in the body but you are all the body of Christ and God is appointed in the church. First elders, second prophets, not sorry, first apostles. Now, those literally were first. He had the apostles before he had anybody else.

Second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then and he goes on like that. Then he says, are all this, are all this? He's building up and then when he gets to this, he says, but y'all are earnestly desiring the higher gifts. Does that make sense? Y'all are looking for the higher gifts.

You've elevated some of em over others And they're not higher like spatially higher. It's greater gifts. The ones that you deem better than the ones he's already said by God's sovereign choice. He has chosen to give you the gift he's given. A portion that manifested to each one just like he intended.

And I think that the second one here is probably close to what's right but y'all are earnestly desiring the greater gifts, the ones you don't have because they're more phenomenal. They're out there. You might be a spleen but you want to be a mouth. Just consider it. Consider if that might be the possibility there.

Earnestly desire the higher gifts and this is the end of this chapter except for 31 b where he goes to, sorry, where he goes to this and I will show you a still more excellent way. That's next week. Next week, he'll go into chapter 13, that love chapter from Corinthians. I will show you a still more excellent way. Those two go to go together if you consider it but y'all are earnestly desiring these greater gifts.

I'm gonna show you a still more excellent way and he does that for the next chapter. So, that's next week. Judy, you can come on back up and I'll ask the frontline team or the elders if they're present to come, come on down. Frontline team, please. And we're gonna go into communion and I do have one more little bit to do in this sermon that I think I think it's helpful especially as a corrective.

Everything that he has said in this chapter has been pointing towards unity and in the last chapter, he was speaking specifically about the Lord's supper and he said that when you get together, this is where we come together and realize that we are all here. The foot of the cross equal, participants in the grace of God through no merit or effort on our part. We have partaken of him. We are all being offered that body and blood. So, as I pray, y'all can distribute the bread.

God, would you please, lord, call us into greater unity, not just in the walls of this church at 90 West Kelly but in the other churches in town. Would you call us into greater accountability with one another? Would you use those that are opposite from us to sharpen us like iron sharpens iron? God, we look back to your great sacrifice and we see that it was for for our sins that you were scourged and beaten, that your body was broken, lord and lord, as you do, would you bless as we remember you in Jesus name? Amen.

He took bread after supper and after giving thanks, he broke it and he said, this is my body that's given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Lord God, we thank you for your broken body, for your life well lived and undeserving of such treatment. But God, we also thank you for your spilled blood because we know without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin. We put our trust only in that blood of the new covenant lord and we remember it right now as we distribute this cup of grape juice.

Lord, we remember your spilled blood. Amen. And then the same way that he took bread after supper, he took wine in the cup and he said, this is the new covenant in my blood. Do this in remembrance of me. So, Renzi, can we go to that second, the white slides?

This is a crosshair. It shows up better on the screen for some reason but this is a crosshair. Y'all know about these things. Y'all are from Wyoming. Florist have guns.

Anyway, this is a this is a crosshair and looking in a scope, the crosshair right there in the middle is where you wanna hit. When we're looking at scripture, this is a simple, simple diagram I think that helps a lot. When you're looking at scripture, you want to hit the center of what it means. To understand it and to be able to apply it. There are though ways to get off center.

One way is naturalistic. Thomas Jefferson read the Bible, loved it, thought it had lots of great moral teaching but it, the supernatural stuff in it, he just cut out. The Jefferson Bible has no supernatural stuff, no miracles. It's all about the teaching. So, we can look at that in a naturalistic fashion and that is not dead center.

We can also look at it in a supernaturalistic way where absolutely everything superintended by God, it completely removes human equation humans from the equation, and we expect that miraculous is the norm in every single passage. Supernaturalistic is probably also not the way. Although, the book was written by God supernaturally through his Holy Spirit, through human agency, in a very natural fashion. Naturalistic and supernaturalistic are opposed to one another but there is dead center. Existential.

Existential is all about how it makes me feel. Have you ever been to a Bible study where they read a passage and they said, what does that mean to you? What? Wait a second. I don't wanna know what it means to me.

I wanna know what it means. What does it mean? Am I gonna bend it or is it gonna bend me? What does it mean? Existential is not just how it makes me feel.

It's not just about my own experience. Existential gets off of the mark. Dogmatic is the other option though. This is what it means. Period.

I don't care what you think. I don't care how it makes you feel. Whereas that might be true in some passages, some places, we're not going to like it but this is what it says. These are the four and I think it's a pretty good diagram to have it be a bull's eye. You know, crosshairs.

For many years, the church has been seen as dogmatic. And supernaturalistic. Oh, pie in the sky. Who going to come on. Really?

Or naturalistic when it's just about what we can see, hear, taste, smell, touch. Or existential, it's about us and how we feel and our experience. Have you all experienced each of these things? Have you seen it go wrong in all of these ways? People miss the target in a lot of ways.

Our goal is to hit it right there. That's what we're shooting for. And when I ask you a little while ago if you would consider the other option on that questionable thing, I'm asking you because I think that all of us know how many of y'all when I showed this diagram said, that's me. That's where I am. I grew up in, I don't know, three of those quadrants but not so much the fourth.

Some of you grew up in very much in one of them and you've got your experience that's telling you that consider crossing directly across from you. If you're one of the touchy feely types, consider engaging some of a dogmatist. If you're a dogmatist, consider talking to somebody that reals really feels really spirit led. Consider it because we are one body and we need to pull back towards that center. If you're a supernaturalistic person and you're you're supernaturalistic and experience based, you are going to miss a lot of the stuff that God has for you and a good, even, well rounded life.

If you are over here where it's all about fear and what you can do and it doesn't ever enter into the supernatural realm of what God can do, you're going to have a miserable life. Pull back towards one another is what I would give the charge today. So, we've already done communion. Do we sing again? We sing again.

Judy, would you come up and we'll sing one closing, quick closing song? And it's

about