Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

One Lord-One Body Pt.1

Let's go ahead and turn to the book of 1 Corinthians. I want to take a look at--I shared with you some of the things we had talked about as it related to the decision for Forbe and Ruth. We do everything in ministry based upon necessity. There's a great need that we have right now in that part of the body. In 1 Corinthians, Chapter 12, the Lord speaks to that particular spirit. We're not going to just talk about Africa. We're going to talk about the ministry here. It's been a long time since we've really spent some time on these principles. I know it's going to be a blessing to each one of us to be assured again of our place in the ministry.

We're living in a society--we're living in a time when every one of us is inundated with how special we are; the emphasis of the "I," the self. We're living in a kingdom that operates from the exact opposite; a kingdom that isn't ambitious for self but for the glory of God. None of us living to ourselves or dying to ourselves, as the Scripture says. A real process that's taking place (none of us have arrived), but a real process to where we begin to prefer others over ourselves. Why would that be? We begin to see the value in each other that the Word of God places on that individual; bought with the blood of Jesus. Next time you look at somebody in here--just maybe in invisible ink or something. Maybe we ought to get some invisible ink and just write it on the forehead of every person in here, "Bought with the blood of Jesus." It would help us look at each other differently, the value. It would help us to look beyond personalities, class, gifts, preferences, and place on every one of us as individuals the worth that should be there--bought with the blood of Jesus and placed as it pleases Him.

Every one of us has been called. Every one of us has been placed into the community as it pleases Him. In every one of us, of course, is an ambition. We want to be--that tendency to be important, to be needed, to be the best, to be loved, to be recognized. We need to come to the place where every one of us realizes we have one desire: to find out where God wants me and do the best job I can there. No other ambition but to fulfill the call of God on my life. Every one of us has been made unique, has a distinct call, a supernatural sovereign placement. That should create in us a joy, a peace, and an excitement about what our involvement is.

It's just a blessing. Most of us are walking in that to a greater degree than we ever have. We see it in our midst here more than I have in many fellowships. You can look all around this country and around the world, and this is working in our midst. Guess what? It can work even better, amen? When it does, it brings glory to God. The Scripture says, "People look from the outside, and they say, 'Behold, how they love one another.'" By this shall all men know that you're my disciples: when you die to self; when there's a love, a preference, a serving of one another. Why, because of the worth of that individual? No, because of the glory of God. Not a natural worth but a spiritual, supernatural worth. What is that worth? Bought with the blood of Jesus. Bought with the blood of Jesus. I want to talk about the uniqueness, and yet the commonness, that God has called us to.

Look at 1 Corinthians, Chapter 12 for just a moment, and look over at Ephesians if you would. We're going to look into Ephesians and allow the Lord to speak to us in Chapter 4. See what the Spirit of God has to say to us.

1 Corinthians, Chapter 12, let's read these verses and allow the Lord to speak to us. "For as the body [verse 12] is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, [Say the next three words with me] are one body: so also is Christ." There are many members--one body.

You heard our young people say in graduation the other night and so emphasized that it became a common theme, "It's not about you." Amen? As we've been sharing that principle for a number of years, it goes contrary to everything that's natural. Because, frankly, in our members every one of us believes it's about us. To the extreme, we believe it's about us to the place--though many people wouldn't verbalize this--many people believe God exists for the purpose of making them happy, blessing them, protecting them, killing their enemies. Most of us wouldn't verbalize that, but it's in our flesh; it's who we are. We're all self-centered, selfish, and prideful. There has to be the consistent choice of that daily cross. There has to be the habitual coming to, as James said, the mirror of the Word of God so we don't forget what manner of man we are. To constantly go, look, and see what God's trying to form in us, and what we are without Him. That's what James means when he's talking about that mirror and not forgetting what manner of man we are.

There's such a tendency to want to isolate and be the exception and be the preeminent. The moment that you eat that fruit your eyes will be opened, and you'll be as gods. Without that daily cross, that's exactly what we are, self-sufficient: independent deities, wanting to create our own kingdoms, wanting to be served instead of serve, worshipped instead of a worshipper. There's no way around it. There's not one person in this room that's any different. God, in His wisdom, has not only redeemed us from the curse, not only reconciled us back to Himself; but He's placed us in this community called the body of Christ for the purpose of allowing us to learn to serve. [We] learn to identify what our role is in the Kingdom, to practically begin to understand what the wise man said in Ecclesiastes, "The whole duty of man: to love God and to keep His commandments." To be able to recognize the love of God in His body because, John tells us, "How can you love God who you have not seen when you can't love your brother who you have?"

Now, how can we begin to see whether this is really something that's working in us or not? Paul goes on to say in this twelfth chapter, "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. For 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? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?" You see, wanting to be other than what we are? How many of you battle that, wanting to be other than what you are? Probably every hand should go up. Some of us are content, but we're the perfect ones (you know, there's no place to go). Other than that, most of us want to be "other than." It's natural. We want to look other than we do. There's a whole industry today to make you look other than you do. If you're not totally committed, then you just buy stuff and slap it on the outside. If you're really committed, you get surgery, and they pull stuff up. They grab all this skin and pull it way up here and tie a knot, snip that thing off. We want to be "other than." We've got liposuction. If they suck too much out they'll cut you and put something back. They have butt implants and--people are walking around today. This thing's sticking out here, and big lips. Look like a rooster on steroids. Hairdos--"other than." When are we going to realize that God hasn't made any mistakes?

Now, because of a lack of temperance and different things, some of us are a little bit out of round or a little too round, or whatever. However you want to say it. In some of those areas where we want to improve ourselves, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the extremes. I'm talking about the things that cause us to be discontent. The things that cause us really, though we wouldn't verbalize it, think God made a mistake. Some of us really never spent that much time; we just know we're not happy. We just know we deserve more. We just know that we never get our due. Nobody recognizes our worth. Nobody appreciates anything that we do.

We live in a society then that creates the "Wall of Gaylord". For you non-movie-goers, we were talking about this the other day. It's the participation awards. You get twelve-foot trophies for showing up. I remember when you used to have to earn things. I remember when you used to have to deal with not being put on the team. Everybody makes the team today. "You can't cut somebody. I mean, dear Lord, it would destroy their self-image! It would totally diminish their self-worth." No, what it does is recognize that we all have different gifts, amen? That's all it does. It never ceases to amaze me. You go to school, and in school, who's the big shots? You've got the jocks and they're the big shots. The little cheerleaders running around, they're the big shots, and they're the popular ones. You've got the little nerd carrying his brief case. When it's all over, those dudes are working for the guy with the brief case.

Callings, gifts, placements--God places us in the body, verse 18 (Look at it. Look at the wording!). The foot can't say, "Because I'm not the hand." Much of that statement is just self-pity. It's looking for someone to say, "Oh, yes, you're important. Because I'm not the hand, because I'm not preeminent, because I'm not 'other than,' I'm not important; I'm not worth anything." Who are you to diminish God's genius of creating a body of diverse parts, diverse comeliness, that must work together for the ultimate glory of the Kingdom? How can anyone say we're not important if we're fulfilling the call of God on our lives? How can we say, "Because I'm not preeminent, I'm not of value?" Because of the Adamic nature, the tendency to want to be preeminent, to think that the eye is greater; that God somehow has failed us, or in a lot of different scenarios, "Maybe I failed God, and He's judging me." How about, "He has a different value system than man?" You see, man says that the guy that puts a million dollars in the offering is the big shot and the guy that's important in the church. Jesus said it was the widow's mite because how can you give more than all? What greater contribution than all that God has given us?

Look back to the fourth chapter for just a second here in 1 Corinthians, and I'll show you what I'm talking about. First Corinthians, Chapter 4, verse 7, "For who maketh thee to differ from another?" He's talking about the fact that men have no right to judge and put values on positions or gifts, callings. He's saying, "I've transferred this example of Apollos and myself for your learning" in verse 6. He goes on in verse 7, "For who maketh thee to differ from another? And [by the way] what hast thou that thou didst not receive [from the Lord]? now if thou didst receive it [as a gift, if it's come to you by grace, then what are you boasting in?] . . . as if thou hadst not received it [as a gift or grace]?" He sets this principle for us to continually recognize that what we have, every one of us, is a gift of God. God called us, graced us, and gifted us, for His own purposes.

Go back to the twelfth chapter and look again as Paul speaks. He says, verse 17, "Don't you understand the need of diversity? "If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath [God] set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body?" We'd just be one gigantic eyeball, but not a body. Then he goes on, and makes this comment. "But now are they many members, yet but one body." Then he approaches this from the other side. "I can't say, 'Because I'm not the hand I'm not of the body.'" I have no right to place that judgment upon myself. "I don't have anything to contribute. I got short-changed." What you have you received of God. Therefore, don't diminish it, and don't boast in it. It's a gift; God's given it to you. God's made you what you are. He's placed you, we've seen, as it pleases Him. If God's happy, we should be happy.

Then he goes on and he makes this comment, "Now, you have to look at it from the other side, realizing that we're all diverse. We've all been placed as it pleases Him, many members, one body." Then, verse 21, "And the eye cannot say unto the hand, 'I don't' need you.'" The worst thing you can ever do is think that you can mature to the place where you don't need the rest of us. You'll never get there. If you think that you've arrived at that, you're out of order. No true member of the body can ever say, "I don't need the rest of you." We need you. We need every one of you. Every one of us needs every other person to provide for us the care of the head, Chief Shepherd; the head, Jesus Christ. Now, we don't need everyone, every day. But, in this process, in this journey that we're in, we're going to need each other. As one member goes through certain trials, we'll be able to comfort with the same comfort wherewith we've been comforted. Each of us has different gifts and wisdom that we can speak into one another's lives in time of need. There's going to be times when God just sends somebody alongside you to lift your hands when they're hanging down. Every one of us is going to need an Aaron and a Hur to come and lift our hands at certain times in our lives. You can't say, "I have no need of you. Nor the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.'" Now, the head's pretty important. But, we all know the need and importance of the feet. It takes those feet to get the head to the meeting, doesn't it? Well, I guess the head could get there, but it probably wouldn't be in much shape once it rolled in! Here we are, and that tendency to say, "I don't need them. I don't need that." Now, most of us wouldn't do it in a way of diminishing the other gifts. You know what most of us would do? Most of us would say, "Just me and Jesus. I don't need the body. It's just me and the Lord." What Paul's saying here is, "This is the Lord. This is the body of Christ. This is how God provides for you."

What we're going to look at in this study is how in our relationships--how ready are you to receive ministry from the body? Not just surface communication, but how ready are you to become vulnerable? How ready are you to really become the best instrument that you can become for the glory of God? How ready are you to stop trying to somehow advance from Toddler's Assistant to worship leader and think "Now, I'm going to do something for God!" How about becoming the best Toddler's Assistant that's ever walked the planet? Ecclesiastes says, "Whatever you put your hand to, do it with [Say it!] all of your might." Can we say this morning with what God's given me and where God's placed me in this body; I'm serving with all of my might? I'm doing what God has placed me to do with all of my might? Or is there somehow a little bit of ambition? Is there this one little part of the body that you think, that you--they haven't placed it upon themselves. You've placed it on them. They're the eye. They're a little better. That's "the in crowd". "Somehow I want to get in with "the in crowd," depending on who the "in crowd is." To you, "the in crowd" may be the Saturday morning, get up early yard sale group. You're here; I know it! I've seen you in my neighborhood. Who is "the in crowd"? "The in crowd" is all those timeshare folks. At a certain time of the year they create this large vacuum as they head toward Florida, "the in crowd". "The in crowd," the motorcycle gang, "I want to be part of "the in crowd". So, you come rolling in on your little Moped. (neep-nee-neee-nee-nee-ee!) You put that on them. You're the one that said, "Because I'm not on a Moped, I'm not of the body." God didn't say that. God gave you a skateboard. He gave you feet. Are you content, really, with God's call on your life, with His placement? Have you really come to see that in our midst there aren't any great or small, successes, failures, but as Paul goes on and says very clearly to us, verse 11, ". . . the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." As this body's being strengthened, we're going to become strong in direct relationship to our ability to humble ourselves and accept our placement. The weaknesses, the factions, are going to come because of our discontentment; what we would perceive as more important, greater, the "eye" ministry. Paul speaks to us very clearly, and he says, "Listen, grow up" [verse 22] ". . . much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary. And those members of the body, which we think [we, the Adamic nature, natural man, society, tradition, the value system of men, that we think] to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour, and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness." That word, in the Greek, "uncomely," just means "out-of-shape." (Some of us qualify for that. That's not what it's talking about.) It's talking about "distorted." It's talking about "fractured." It's talking about the rough clay vessel versus the fine porcelain or the gold vessels. The comely are the elegant, the graceful.

If you come to our house, our formal dining room is set up. All of the plates are out, and the gold--I think it is, last time I looked in there. I go in there like twice a year or whatever. I think last time I went in there, I think it used to stay set up in there. It's got a whole bunch of really cool, pretty stuff that we've accumulated over the years. It gets used on an average of once a year. You have that kind of stuff in your home some of you. Yet, most of you are drinking out of Redskins glasses. What gets used the most? The uncomely! What gets us through every day? This is what he's trying to tell us. There are those special occasion gifts. There is the fine gold and the silver and the porcelain, but here's where we live. Here's what gets the stuff done. Here's what hauls the water into the home that we all need to live, the uncomely, the clay vessels. Upon these we bestow more abundant honor. Why? We use them the most. We recognize how important they are.

I was really blessed as I was talking to a brother at graduation. They live in Texas and, yet, really live a lot off of the teaching tapes in the ministry here. Over all the years they have watched the different things we do. One of the things that really made an impression on this life was the fact that everybody in the fellowship contributes to caring for the facility. The Home Fellowship Groups come up and work. He and his family at this church in Texas, they go help. They go clean the church. They're the only people that do it. Now, why do we do that here? We can't afford a janitor? We can't afford a cleaning service? We used to have a cleaning service here a number of years ago. We hired people to come in and clean the facilities. We really believed the best thing we could do was to be able to teach our children the value of the house of God, to be able to give of ourselves as servants to honor God through our time and honoring the house of God. What places the value on it? The recognizing of the call on our lives.

Our comely parts have no need. What he's talking about is no need of honor being attached to them. They carry their own honor. It carries its own honor. You look at that golden vessel, that fine porcelain, hand-painted, and it carries its own worth and its own honor, the intricacies of it. The interesting thing is that it doesn't get used that much. So often it just stands alone. This clay vessel is caressed every day and held and used and appreciated. We need to change our value system. We need to see that there's a time and place for each of them to have their honor. Verse 25, "That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the [Say it with me] same care one for another." We all work together. We all have a place and a purpose. We're diverse, and yet, when one member suffers, every member is ready, prepared, and capable of coming to the care, the need, of that individual. Verse 26, "And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it."

Had a man come to the graduation that was a deacon here many years ago, Ruth's father. He came to the service. Ruth said she was so blessed. She said she went to her dad. (He said, "Would anybody like a cup of coffee?" I just said that for Forbe and some of the guy's sake. It's an inside joke; you'd have to know Paul.) She asked Paul, "What did you think? Are you proud of your grandkids?" They were both there, and he said, "Yeah." He said, "I am. I'm proud of the kids." As she was relating this story, I had spoken to him earlier, and he had said the same thing to me. As he spoke to me, he had tears in his eyes, and he said, "But it's not just them, it's everybody. When those pictures went up there...It's a miracle." I said, "Yeah, and you're part of it." He's not here. How long have they been gone? Fourteen years. There are no dozen people that made this happen. It's not a hundred people. It's not five-hundred people. There's no boasting. There's no taking glory to oneself. God puts us in as it pleases Him. He uses this for His eternal purposes, that we might have the same care one for another.

As we begin to devalue our personal worth and give proper value to our community worth, to the worth of the community, we're going to be able to see some visitations of the Spirit of God in our midst. There won't be that tendency of any among us to boast. "Let he that glorieth, glory in the Lord." That's what Father's doing in our midst. That's where He's taking us as a fellowship. Verse 27 says, "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular." What's God called you to do? Serve that person next to you. Prefer others better than yourself. Whatever you put your hand to, do it with all of your might. Understand the diversity of gifts and the value of uncomeliness, commonness, the daily grind, the watching of the children, the cleaning of the facilities, giving of our time, our talents, and our resources. God's called you. He's placed you as it pleases Him. We need to boast in that.

Father, we thank You this morning for Your Word. As a people that constantly battle the desire to be preeminent, to have worth placed upon us, the need to be told how important we are, the need for titles, the need to fulfill a self-worth, the need to be involved so that I could feel better about myself; bring us to that place of understanding the genius of Your Spirit. From all over this planet You've brought us here for this time to fulfill a purpose. We're not going to reach the world. But, we can reach those that You've called us to reach if we'd do our part; willing to live beyond ourselves, to not need to be "other than," to hurt when those around us hurt, to rejoice when they rejoice. When one among us becomes exalted, we know we've contributed. Their elevation is only a platform to boast in You. Father, for all of those things, we just want to say, "Thank You." Use us for Your glory. Give us a new appreciation for our uncomeliness and a heart of thanksgiving and contentment with godliness. Be glorified in our midst we ask, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's stand before the Lord. As Gary comes, we'll just take a moment here with the Lord. In a day of self-interest groups, in a day of individual exaltation; we see it in every area of life, primarily in sports. It's no longer the team, it's the individual. "I'll gladly go from team to team for a few extra bucks. It's about my stats." We see it in the military, the Army of One. We see it creeping into the churches; churches being built on demographics. "What do the people want? They're the customers. They're always right."

Oh, we so want Jesus to be formed in us! We want to learn to wash one another's feet. We want to be free to give as we've so freely received. We want to make our boast in You, Lord, and not in ourselves. Let us become weak in the eyes of the world that we might be strong in the kingdom of light, invincible because of our love one for another, service for Your glory, a daily cross, a daily resurrection. Let's sing this together and just worship Him. "I enter the Holy of Holies..." Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Amen. Amen. Thank You, Father.

Before you go, turn to somebody next to you, say, "We sure need you!" Amen. Go in peace; God's love go with you, in Jesus' name.

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