Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

The Body of Christ Pt.1

Praise You, Jesus. Amen! We want to continue on the subject of the knowledge of God. We've been talking about Paul's passion to know Him. We saw that he had the intellectual knowledge and the natural pursuit of God like a lot of people do in religion today. Then, of course, after the Damascus road encounter, and he really saw Him in His glory, he had an appetite for God that was unquenchable. That's what happens in all of our lives as we've really encountered the resurrected Christ. You can have religion and be motivated by it to a great extent, as we saw in Paul's life, but when you encounter Jesus, it doesn't just motivate you; it changes you.

The Bible says you become a new creature and old things pass away and all things become new. Sin is no longer, as we saw in Romans 6, the dominant force in our life anymore, though it's still in our members. It no longer dominates. We don't have an appetite for it. We don't justify it in any way. It horrifies us. The closer you get to the Lord, the more you are aware of your sinfulness, not less. Drawing closer to God makes you more aware of how filthy you are and the desire to be free and to cry out as Paul did in that passionate pursuit to say, "I just want to know Him in the fellowship of His sufferings. I want to be made conformable into His death. I want to know that power of resurrection that will cause me to be able to live free from sin and live free from my own will to where we can constantly say, as the Lord did, and pray, 'Not my will but Your will be done.'"

We want to look at that a little bit as we use this same general study and emphasize one of the aspects that we touched on in our last session. And that's the fact--you remember, we were saying that you'll never really come to the full knowledge of God without knowing how you fit into the body of Christ. Because we can best experience the Lord through His body. Some of us think that we're going to best experience the Lord by some kind of a visitation. You know, a light will appear in the room or an audible voice will come, or something. And that's not how you're going to get to know Jesus. You're going to get to know Him through the body of Christ. Just like Jesus said, "If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father." He said, "Those that have seen you have seen Me."

We're going to see here in Ephesians--turn over to Ephesians if you would tonight. We've been in Ephesians, Chapter 1. What we saw in this particular passage was that Paul was praying for them that they would receive enlightenment. Verse 16, "[I] Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him." So you go, "Well praise God! I'm looking for that spirit of wisdom and revelation. I just really want the Lord to appear to me." Now, how many of you, and be truthful, this is no trick question. How many of you would rather have the Lord visibly appear to you than one of your brothers or sisters talk to you? Let me see your hands. Okay, that's because you're flesh.

The reason we all say that--you know what's the motive behind some of that? Number one is, because frankly I'm not that easily convinced or persuaded and so I want to know for myself. I want that experience. What we're saying, then, by that, if we're not careful, is that this is not the more sure word of prophecy. It's very important that we guard our hearts in these particular areas. We would want that spectacular visitation. Can I ask you, if the Lord appeared to you in this way, in this visitation, and gave you a directive, how many of you think you would do it to a greater degree than you're doing it right now? Let me see your hands? Hold them up if you really think you would? I think you would. A lot of us said, "Hmm, I really don't know."

I think you would. It wouldn't last. But I think you would start off with a little better than you're doing at this moment. If we're not careful, see many of us without knowing it, we're demanding that of God. "You reveal Yourself to me in a spectacular way, where I can really know You and know it's You, and maybe I'll change. But just this written revelation, just the admonition of my brothers and sisters, their love for me, and their reproof and their rebuke, isn't sufficient. Because, you see, I'm more important than that. I'm different than everybody else. The rest of the body of Christ can submit to that and be influenced by it and subordinate themselves to the will of God and be washed with the water of the Word, but you see, I'm unique."

Now, we wouldn't verbalize that, but that's where we are, and we're going to have to own up with it. So, when Paul's praying here and he said, "I want you to come to this revelation knowledge of Jesus Christ." He's not encouraging them to seek, nor is he telling them that they are going to have the same experience that he had on the road to Damascus. Now, some of us have had visitations similar to that in many ways. Some of us have had transformations and visitations that are very similar to that and it's by the sovereignty of God usually for a specific reason. But the majority of us aren't going to get it that way.

So, how are we going to come to the knowledge of Him? You'll probably never hear an audible voice. You probably won't ever have a vision. So what's next? Well, I guess we're just going to have to settle for God's way. Are you ready to change? Are you ready to really come to the knowledge of Him? If you have an appetite to know God, then you're going to have an appetite to listen to your brothers and sisters. "Well, I didn't really want to hear that."

But there's no other plan for the kingdom. Most of us confuse revelation, coming to the full knowledge of God, with one-on-one personal attention of the head. And He didn't set it up that way. So as we read on, then, he says, look, verse 18: "[I want] The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints." I want you to understand how He sees the church. The riches, look at it. "The riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints."

I want you to come to understand how valuable the body of Christ is to Jesus. That's why He died. That's why He came. That's who He's left to represent Him. When you come to the knowledge of that, you'll understand why all of His power is available to go out and do exploits in His name, to cast out devils, heal the sick. But until you understand the value of the church and the program of God, you're never going to be a candidate for the power of God that we're going to read about in a couple of verses.

As Paul's praying, he said I want you to come to this revelation because it's going to make you a candidate for the power of God, the visitations of God that so many of us would like to have. You're more likely to have them if you're not seeking them, demanding them, if you're humbling yourself, if you're serving as He's placed you in the body, you're probably more likely to come to that, than with the method you've been using.

So he goes on to say, "And [to know] what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 1:19-20). I'd say that's a pretty good quantity, pretty good taste of the power of God. Paul said, "This is what I'm praying for you. I want you to know the exceeding greatness of His power to those of us who are believers." That same power that raised Jesus from the dead, it can work in you and it can work for you, but not for your glory, for His glory. Not for your purpose, for His purpose, and not for your benefit, but for the benefit of the body of Christ. This is what he's going to go on and say.

Now, you see, many people have read this and we've heard sermons on it, especially from the "faith camp" over the years, people take these verses and they turn them inward. It's all about selfishness, "What I can get from God. How God's power is available to me to affect my will." When you read the context of these first two chapters, it's the exact opposite of that. And that's why most people haven't really tapped into the power of God, and that's why most people fabricate His presence and His power, mimic miracles, and some even to the place of being con artists like Peter Popoff , fabricating the gifts of the Spirit. We're going to look at that over in 1 Corinthians 12 in just a moment tonight. It's because they don't know Him. But they want to give evidence that they know Him, so they have to mimic all of these visitations of God and all of the miracles and all of these things so that we can vindicate that God is in our presence, in my life, that I am a believer. The Master already told us how to do that. He said, "If you love one another, then they'll know that I've been sent of the Father."

You want vindication of God's presence in our fellowship and in your life? What are you doing to lay your life down and love other people and be a giver and not a taker? By this, you'll know that you know Me if you'll obey Me, if you keep My commandments, 1 John says.

So, Paul says, I'm praying that you'll come to the knowledge of what God's wanting to work in your midst and how He's going to do it. And that what's available to you is this exceeding greatness of His power, that that raised Jesus from the dead. He wants to raise you up and cause you to be seated with Him in heavenly places. Look what he says. "Far above [verse 21] all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come." That's exciting stuff, man! We talked to you before about reputation, and some people seek it among men--not some--all, to different degrees. But, then, we can have a reputation in the heavenlies here. You remember, when the disciples came back, and they had been working in the power of the name of Jesus and they came back rejoicing. The Lord said, "Don't rejoice in the miracles. Don't rejoice that you're casting out devils and healing the sick in My name. But rejoice in this rather, that your names are [what?] written in heaven."

We know in another place it talks about our names being written in the Lamb's book of life, but that your names are written in heaven, that you're known in the heavenlies. The fact that we're the redeemed of the Lord, the fact that we're known in the heavenlies, is what makes us candidates for the angels of the Lord that are working on our behalf and hearkening to the Word of God, protecting us, warring for us.

I don't want to get sidetracked right now on another subject, but just recently I've really been conscious of the warfare and the workings of the messengers of God in our midst. And how He's protecting us on a continual basis and what it is that keeps us in that safety. So it's very important that we understand this working of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Now, watch what else goes on in this passage. It's very important for us to see. When you abide in that place and we saw that our name being written in the heavens, that there's a reputation there. You remember when the seven sons of Sceva were going to cast out the devil, they come to that demon possessed guy and they say, "In the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches, come out." We all know that story. That demon speaks out of that man and says, "I know Jesus. I know Paul. Who are you?"

Good question. Who are you? Is your name written in heaven? Do the devils know who you are? Do you have authority? This exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe. Have you been raised up and seated with Him in heavenly places? If you are, they know who you are. You know, when the demons go down to get their mail lost; you know they go down to the post office. There are little posters of you there in their post office. "Hell's enemy number one." Don't you want to be known in the heavens? It can only be by coming to the knowledge of God, that this is what He wants for you, that this is His purpose. The plan is to work in you for His own glory. To set you in His body, to see the body of Christ edified, to see the kingdom of God exalted, to see principalities and powers opposed and finish the work for which Jesus came as Paul's writing in this first chapter.

So watch what he goes on to say. He says, I want you to have that reputation and I want you to know that power. And know how He values the church, His great inheritance. "And [that He] hath put all things under his feet [Jesus], and gave him to be the head over all things to the church." I want you to know this. This is the knowledge of God that I want you to know, that Jesus is the head of His church. You go, "Well, hey, that's pretty elementary."

Then why does the church act like a "spastic" so often? If we, as the church, know the head, if we're in direct communication, if every member has been fitly joined together, we should be working in harmony to the glory of God. We should be working in direct order from the head to fulfill our mutual care one for another. And that's our highest calling. And if you know God, you'll know that. "Well, I thought my highest calling was to be a personal success and to do things on my own and do as little as I could and still be able to stay in fellowship."

What is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe? That power to die to self, that power to become great in His kingdom, which is only done by what? Being servant of all. So look what he goes on to say. Understand this about God. His program is, if you're going to know Him, you're going to know Him in this way, by being raised up and seated and placed in the body, His body, the church. He is "... the head over all things [verse 22] to the church, Which is his body, [say the next phrase with me] the fulness of him that filleth all in all."

The church is the fullness of Jesus. Now, the church isn't all there is to Jesus. We understand that. The fullness of Him; the full expression of Him as it pertains to the kingdom of God. The fullness of Him as it pertains to edifying one another, to fulfilling His role and His purpose for His glory. Much of Christianity focuses, especially in the American church, because we are so perverted in individual roles, the worth of the individual. We've lost the concept of community, family, team. You know, in the sports today, I mean, players used to stay with teams for their whole career. Today, they don't last the season hardly. It's just whoever's going to offer up the most money. It's a tragic thing to watch this same spirit begin to manifest itself in the church. The important thing is, and I'm not talking about our fellowship here, but it's interesting, talk to most Christians and ask them which church they go to. Most people go to the church that's closest to their house, the one that gets out the earliest. Today, of course, the churches have Saturday evening church. I don't think any of them even use the Scriptural principle of everyday being alike for us as true believers. I don't think that they've even applied that. But it's a convenience for those who want to go on a picnic on a Sunday, or watch the football game or whatever else it is. The Lord's Day is dictated to by our convenience, my convenience really. Everything is subordinated to the individual in his own eyes.

Jesus is wanting to build us a church. And he says, listen. Here's what I want you to know: the exceeding greatness of the power that's available to you, that that raised Jesus from the dead. I want you to be seated with Him. I want you to understand His headship over His body. I want you to understand that those of you, he goes into Chapter 2, who he has quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins are now made alive in Christ; and it's by His grace that this has happened. And so I'm going to build a church. He ends up this chapter and he says it's going to be "...built upon the foundation [verse 20] of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: [Now watch. It grows into a holy temple in the Lord.] In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit."

That's what coming to know Him is all about. Understanding His plan, what it is that most glorifies Him. Listen to me very clearly. What most glorifies Him is not your personal sanctification, but our corporate sanctification. He doesn't want one guy sanctified; He wants a body sanctified. I want to tell you something. You can't be holy, you can't be separate to God and be living to yourself. If you're not helping somebody else, if you're not discipling, if you're not bringing reproof and rebuke and instruction into righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect and thoroughly furnished unto good works, then you're not experiencing the true visitation of God. You're still living for yourself. You're content because now you don't have the guilt that comes along with sin. You're content because you have a stature in the eyes of others of morality, of good works, accomplishments. But you're not living for the community. You're not living for the body. You're not living for the glory of the head, and subsequently it just means that you haven't known God.

Let's go back and see if, and you can spend some time, I don't want to spend a lot more time in this passage right now, but I want you to see when you read the context of these two chapters, see what that's talking about. What all this power and revelation was all about. So often, it just has to do with me knowing God, me experiencing God, me being healed, me being able to use the name of Jesus effectually, cast out devils and have a reputation as to how holy I really am. And we miss the point.

So, let's look at the body of Christ for just a second. Turn back to 1 Corinthians 12 and let's look at what Paul was praying for when he said, "I want you to come to the wisdom and revelation of the knowledge of Him. I want your eyes enlightened. I want you to know the exceeding greatness of His power, that that raised Jesus from the dead, that which caused Him to be ascended and seated at the right hand. I want you to understand that He has put all things under His feet and made Him head over all things to the church which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." It's about establishing the body of Christ. I want you to come to the knowledge. Because until you know Him, until you take His yoke upon you and learn of Him and find out that He was meek and lowly, until we can subordinate our will to His, the one thing that's not going to happen is this: We will never be in harmony. We will never be in unity. We will never subordinate ourselves because, frankly, we all think that we're the most important person. "Well, I don't really think that I'm more important than anybody else."

Now you're lying. Okay. Now, I didn't say that you may not have that put under at this particular moment. I'm saying it's in you. Praise God, if that's not dominating you right now--and it shouldn't be--but it's in there. How many of you agree, it's in there? Because we all have the same father, Adam; so, it's genetic. So what are we going to do? Now all of us who believe that our perception is truth, the keenest, we don't consciously think this at all times, so don't get confused when I'm making these statements. Don't get confused into thinking that what I'm saying is that you're sitting around, that you're some kind of egomaniac and you think you know more than anybody in the world. You verbalize that and you're assured in that. It may not be expressing itself like that. It's in you. However it expresses itself, that's not the issue. That's not what we're addressing right now. The point is that's what's in man. So when we come to realize that, we've got all of these people with that symptom, that sickness, that sin in us. God says, "Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to put you all in this group and I want you to cooperate. Now, I'm going to give you gifts that are different. I'm going to give you different glory and honor. Some of you I'm going to make wealthier than others. Some of you are going to have a little more gray matter. Some of you are going to have a little more gray hair. In all of this diversity, I'm going to bring harmony and unity for My glory."

But it's going to take every person, listen, glorying in the gifts that God has given them. Can I ask you a question? Do you think God made a mistake? Or are you exactly where and how He wants you? Now, we're living in a society right now where everybody is so displeased with themselves. But we've got ways to change it. You know, we used to just dye our hair. Now there are hair plugs. That always looks good doesn't it? "Oh, nice plug you have today." "How do you like my hair?" "What is it like 'growing in?'" We've got makeup. Dye and makeup didn't do it, so now we have plastic surgery. We have that stuff, what is it, collagen? Is that what it is called? They put it in their lips and everybody looks like Mick Jagger. You can just get them and stick them on a wall somewhere. Splat! They just hang there. We have [breast] implants. Now they're putting them [in their backside]. Nobody's happy with what they've got. Tragically, it comes into our spiritual lives also, because you see, what it is, is pride. It's the desire to be God and to be able to control everything according to our wishes.

So, we do everything. Braces on our teeth and everybody's got to have braces today. Everybody's got to have straight teeth today. Who said? I want to lobby tonight for crooked teeth. I've got crooked teeth, right here. It's always been that way. I want to tell you something. I can bite you as good as anybody with straight teeth. You mess with me; I'll bite you. They'll know who it is. So we're in this "I generation" that's out of control. Then, we're going to think it doesn't influence the church?

Ephesians is talking to us here and telling us, "I want you to come to the knowledge of God so that you can get away from the spirit of the world that's going to cause you to stand as an individual, because if you try to live that way in the church, you're going to die. You'll never make it on your own." Satan wants you to think that you're always a little more spiritual than everybody else. That you can do it, just you and Jesus. There is no "just you and Jesus" in the Scriptures. You can't find it. He relates to His church. "Upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it." He didn't say He'd build His relationship with you. He said, "I'm building a church."

We're not talking just about a local gathering like up here at Calvary Temple. He's talking about His church, the body of Christ, universal. That's why you can go to other countries and be in perfect harmony with people that are of other cultures and the other nations, because it's the same spirit. I've been in worship services in many of the other countries, as I've been in India, Korea, Haiti, Africa, and you name it, some of the different places we've been. You can always sense the Spirit of God. You can't understand the words they're singing, but you're very aware that where two or three are gathered in His name, He is there in the midst of them, praise God! So in a nutshell, what we're saying is, we're wanting to come to the knowledge of Him so that we can introduce Him to other people, so we can help other people come to that knowledge of Him, so that the benefits of knowing Him are being shared. Is that the motivation behind this walk in the spirit that we're involved in?

Well, Paul's speaking to the Corinthian church. We know that the Corinthians had a little bit of a problem with self. The disorder that was in the church and all of this stuff that was going on was because everybody was worshiping God in their way. "I have a relationship with God. My time with God's more important than the corporate time; so, I'm going to prophesy as long as I want, as loud as I want, whenever I want." Everybody saw that and thought, "Wow, that dude's spiritual." So, then, everybody wants to do that. Now we've got absolute chaos in the church and all of these things that are going on. They're fighting over which gifts are the most important and who's the most spiritual. Each one's seeking a blessing from God and seeking to express their holy pursuit of God. And he says, "You guys are carnal!"

In Chapters 12, 13, and 14, you know, the "love chapter" is just sandwiched right in there. He's basically saying. "What I want you guys to understand is this. I want you to understand the importance of the corporate body." In these three chapters there's three key words, "Church," "Love," and "Edify." That pretty much sums up 12, 13, and 14 of 1 Corinthians. If we're going to come to the knowledge of God, it's not just for theological understanding. It's not ever for personal gain. It's always for corporate edification. It's always for the glory of God. It's always an expression of the love of God. So, he speaks in the context of correcting all of these abuses of the gifts of the Spirit. When we begin to talk about the body, the principles of the body, roll them over and understand the context of these abuses of the gifts of the Spirit and the different gifts. It will help you appreciate these principles even more. Because he speaks about in Chapter 12:4 this diversity and says, "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man [say it with me] to profit withal." Or, to profit everybody. So anything that God gives to you is to profit who? The body. He's not going to give you a gift, a talent. He's not going to give you wisdom, wealth for your benefit, but for the body's benefit. Always. It's about the church.

As he goes on, he talks about the gifts of the spirit a little bit and we're not going to get into that right now, the different gifts. Then in verse 12, he says, "For as the body is one..." He's then relating this back to the operation of the gifts of the Spirit, some thinking that some gifts were more important than others. Paul classifies them and he says, "Look, it's obvious that tongues has become the prominent gift among us, and everybody is speaking in tongues. It's chaotic in here and there seems to be some type of a spectacular occurrence that's taking place here. And it is. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is very spectacular. It is supernatural. It is unique, intriguing. All of this is going on and some of you are putting more stock in the fact that you speak in tongues than that you're experiencing the fruit of the Spirit in your lives." But he says, " I don't want you confused. Let me tell you what the greatest gifts are." He says, "Greater is he that prophesies than he that speaks in tongues except he interpret that the body might be edified."

He's not saying prophecy is more important than tongues. He's not saying prophecy is greater than tongues. He's saying what's the greatest is [say it] what edifies, what builds the body up. The greatest gift is what builds the body up. You'll see that in the context as we go on here. We're going to look at all of our own gifts and talents here in just a moment as we go on in the study. You want to know which gift among us is the greatest? The one that at that moment is edifying the body. The greatest one is the one that's working; doing what it was created to do. It's functioning. It's bringing edification. It is sharing the knowledge of God. Not great nuggets about God and His infinite being and the ability to explain and apply the attributes. It's functioning as it was placed to edify to the glory of God, and those of us who stand by and watch it are humbled by it.

Let me give you a little bit of an example. One of the deacons in the Richmond church has been one of the biggest givers down there, not only of time but of money and different things. Just recently he has run into some financial pressure and some different things. He's ministered into our church that's in the prison, and has been there to minister and different things. Robbie was down there just the other day, ministering to the guys. He just mentioned in passing that this brother was in some financial trouble. Just, you know, under some pressure and different things. Robbie just got a letter the other day from one of the brothers in prison and he said, "Forthcoming is a check to assist my brother in his time of need."

He's been in prison for years and years and years. His life's savings, everything this man had, his total net worth is $500.00 that he's earned working in prison. And he's writing that check out to this brother who's in need. He said, "He's my brother, he's the body. He's in need and I have the wherewithal to assist him."

Does that humble you tonight? It should. Does he deserve some kind of merit badge? No, he's only doing what he was called to do. It should humble you. But it should express the Spirit of God and how it works in the body of Christ. How available are you for the Spirit to put His finger on you and say, "That's what you're in the body for. This is why I gave you that. Here's what I've called you to do. Here's why you have that talent. Here's why you have that little donkey on which no one has ridden before, to offer it up to the Lord. That's why you had it."

You are a steward. Now you see, one of the problems we have is in the other chapter that talks about the body of Christ, hold your finger here and go back to Romans 12 for just a second. Romans 12:4, "For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering," etc. We're going to go back to this chapter in detail. But I want you to see the verse that precedes all of this about the body of Christ. Verse 3: "...to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man [say it with me] the measure of faith."

Think about your self soberly. What do you have that you haven't received of God? We don't have anything that's our own. Every breath you take is a gift of God. So, we're looking to solely identify what He's doing in our life at this moment to cause us to be able to edify the body, to identify our role and have our conversation in the heavens.

Back to 1 Corinthians 12, we see then that as he's speaking he says, verse 12: "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ." Made up of many members, a diversity in harmony under the head Jesus. Different calls, different gifts, now thank God for the variety. It's not a cookie cutter. We don't all have the same personalities. We don't all have the same talents, but we're all here for the same purpose, the whole duty of man. So we all have the same purpose for being in existence. The more we come to know Him, the less we're distraught with the cry of the wise man, the vanity of life. I labor all of my life to acquire things and leave to another that will squander it. It's vanity. As the preacher meditated on these things and life in general, he said, "It's vanity. It's vexation. Nothing makes any sense. The race isn't to the swift. The wicked prosper." Until you can understand the whole duty of man, why we're here and why you are who you are in Christ, then, there continues to be the frustration. We're constantly, then, wanting God to still answer to us, instead of us yield to him.

So, Paul speaks here and he says, Look, the body's made up of these many members. It's representative, verse 12, of Christ. "For by one Spirit [verse 13] are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." Now that baptism isn't water baptism. It's regeneration baptism or being placed into the body of Christ. This drink that we're partaking of is the communion of His blood, His life through regeneration, the walking in the light so that we can have fellowship with Him and His blood can continually cleanse us from all of our sin, 1 John says. He's dealing with the problem within the church of nationalism. The Jews seem to think they were superior because it was through Moses that the Law was introduced. It was through Abraham that the covenant was cut. But Paul goes on in his revelation and says, "No, you are all the seed of Christ. Not seeds as of many, but seed as one, even Jesus Christ." So he says, "There is no division among you. There's no place for these Judaizers who are wanting to add works to grace. There's no place for the Gentiles to bring in pagan gods, because we understand through the Law of Moses what is acceptable. The Lord our God is one God." This is what makes up the church, and the head of the Church is Jesus; so there's not bond or free.

James deals with this. When you come into church and though we don't have slaves today, you see, some of us are employees to others of us. When you come to church, the dude ain't your boss anymore. He's you're brother. Don't go to work and call him "brother;" call him "boss". You can call him "brother-boss" if you want. But what he is talking about here is identifying who you are and how God placed you, and there is not bond or free. Your role in the natural does not affect your role in the kingdom. The only thing that matters in the body is how God's placed you and how God's gifted you.

So, we'll close with this for tonight. As he's going on he says, verse 14: "For the body is not one member, but many. [The body is not one member, but many.] If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?" "You know, I just don't feel important because I don't meet all of this criteria, and I don't have these talents. I don't have this knowledge. I don't have this particular gift. So, therefore, I don't feel important. I don't feel like I can add anything to the body."

You can't call yourself; you can't value yourself. God has placed the value on you. The value is corporate edification. Your value is established by the effectiveness of how you're caring for the body of Christ and bringing edification through every contact, through every word that's fitly spoken, through humility, through the laying down of our lives. Just a word in season that's spoken. You never know how it can effect somebody's life, just one word of encouragement. A word of testimony; just how good God's been to you. Sometimes it's a reproof. You can't say, because I don't reach this standard in my own eyes, I'm not valuable. You don't have the luxury to say that. Also as he goes on here, we can't say to others, "We have no need of you."

"If the whole body were an eye, where were [would] the hearing [be]? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? [Then, we'll pick this up in our next session, but I wanted to get to verse 18 so that you can leave meditating on this.] But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, [Let's say the last phrase together.] as it hath pleased him." When you come to the knowledge of God, then, we're not seeking to have to be pleased with our placement; His dealings with us, or ours. But beloved, not where we are, but that we are part of the body. What a gift! What a privilege! Then, once you're thankful for that, you'll begin to have a new appreciation for your role in the body and see how valuable it is. But you'll never see how valuable you are when you're looking for your worth in your role instead of in the person of Christ, when you're looking for your worth in your performance, instead of the grace and the mercy that is the free gift of God to us.

Father, we thank You for Your Word. As we spend time in these great epistles and we catch the heart of Paul, this Pauline revelation, it is the revelation of the church. Great prophets and great patriarchs had one-on-ones with You and now You're building a work upon the apostles and prophets with Jesus being the cornerstone. This foundation isn't going to have any new prophets or any new apostles. The foundation's laid. We, as living stones, are being placed within this habitation of God; this building that exists for the very purpose of bringing glory to Your name, a holy temple in the Lord, fitly framed, the habitation of God through the Spirit.

Among many of our young people and young adults we've had some encouragement on prayer. Prayer's nothing if you don't know why you're praying. What's the motive? The knowledge of God, the habitation of God, a zeal for the holy temple, and habitation of God. As we go out into the streets and we go out ministering, we're not trying to alleviate people of life's pressures and problems, but wanting to show forth the glory of God, that there's a temple that we can run into and be safe, that there is a power that will liberate us from the death of selfishness. Everything that's natural and in man recoils, but there's a remnant that the Spirit of God will draw if they can see the true church, the body of Christ worshiping its head, Jesus. Changed, because we know Him. We've tasted His goodness and He's at work within us to will and to do His good pleasure.

Let's stand before the Lord tonight. As Gary plays for us, and we'll take just a moment here. It's a question you can ask yourself. We've heard in different cyclings here, as things go on, "We've got to go to this thing. We've got to go to that function. We have to go to..." Why do you come? "Because you said if we don't, we can't be a part." Well, no; you can't, but why are you coming? "Well, it's the law. We have to." The law is death. The letter of the law is death. It's only a matter of time. It's only a matter of time and you'll rebel. You will do your own thing. It's just a matter of time. It's coming if you haven't understood the richness of the inheritance in the saints, if there's not a zeal in your heart for the house of God, the holy habitation, the body of Christ being built up. That's why we come together. That's why we don't forsake the assembling of ourselves together.

"Well, they won't miss me tonight." Well, we may need to blow our nose. If you're the nose, we need to honk you. That's all there is to it. If you're not here, then, we stay stuffed up. "Yeah, but I'm better than that, man. There should be more in my life than just snot coming through me." You were placed as it pleases Him. That's why you come. You don't come for what you can get. You come for what you can give. You come believing that God's going to speak through you to somebody else. You come so that your life can be an example to your kids and others can see your faithfulness. You come because you were told to come by the Master, the head of the church. You come because He's building His church upon a rock. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Flesh and blood has not revealed that to you. This isn't the Moose Lodge. It's the church. It's not a club. It's a living organism, the visible representation of the Lord of glory, the head of the church.

What are we investing in it? I want to know Him. You'll know Him as He reveals Himself through His body. You'll be touched by His love, His wisdom. You'll feel His tears. You'll hear His reproof and then we'll be more like Him. You'll become familiar with His voice. You'll hear it clearly on that day when He says, "Come up hither," and we're changed. All that truly know Him, everybody that was here for the right motives, not everybody that says, "Lord, Lord," not everybody that's here, but those that have the knowledge of God. We'll see Him; we'll be like Him. So shall we ever be with Him, praise God! Would it be worth the investment if just one person made it because of your coming to the knowledge of God? We'd all say, "Yes." Then, let's just continue to be busy investing our conversation in the heavenlies.

Let's sing it together and just worship Him tonight. We thank You, Lord. "Lord, You are so precious to me..." This holy habitation that's being built, the body of Christ, we need to be jealous for it. I want to just encourage you, because we are going to be looking at some things. There's been something on my heart for months that we want to just begin to deal with here in the midst of this teaching and I want you to be prayerful about it. Because more and more, there are more and more people that are just despising the home fellowship groups, prayer time and really becoming lax not only in their involvement, but when they are there it is obligatory. We're just going to encourage you not to come. We're going to encourage you to come on out to service but for your own good just to not allow that spirit of Ananias and Sapphira, that deception, that self deception to think that you are in a relationship that you're not. We're not saying that we won't befriend you. We're saying that we won't be yoked with you. It is not a "have to," it's a privilege to be in these areas of receiving ministry. So, we'll just encourage you in those areas. There are many, numerous among us. So, I ask you to be prayerful and if you don't change, then don't be surprised here if in the next weeks that your deacon says, "You're just not expected to be there anymore. Come on out for service and hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying and examine your heart. Then, you let me know, when you think you've come to the knowledge of God as to why these things exist, to edify His body."

We didn't establish these to inconvenience your life, to put you under control and tell you what to do. They are vehicles for one thing: to prepare you and give you opportunity to edify the body of Christ. That's the only reason they exist. Before you go, turn to someone next to you and say, "There's only one body, praise God." Go in peace, God's love go with you.

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