WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:07.360 Alright, this morning we're continuing in chapter 12, and we'll do some overview, and we're gonna do a little bit more overview. 00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:21.120 Maybe this is as much for my sake as everyone else's sake, but we're gonna build some of the context because there's there's a number of things kind of coming together in the passage, though the passage itself is pretty simple in in uh in its application. 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:28.480 So we're in the book of 1 Corinthians, so this is Paul writing, Apostle Paul writing to the Corinthian church. 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:34.159 He was there for a year and a half, and we read that in Acts 18 on his second missionary journey. 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:36.880 So he's been there, he has relationships. 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:42.719 If you go to visit a place for a year and a half, you're gonna have some pretty meaningful relationships. 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:46.719 So he's primarily, I wouldn't want to initially get this letter. 00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:51.200 I'm if I put myself in their shoes, he's primarily writing because there were issues in this church. 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:53.520 There were some things that weren't going great. 00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:59.039 He had to address division, uh some sin, and some sort of worldliness. 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:03.600 He's wanting this body, though, to grow in Christ. 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:21.040 We're in this chunk of Corinthians, and as we're kind of narrowing in, at chapters 12, 13, and 14 is sort of this little, this uh, some would say it's gifts, but really it's this sort of gifts in light of love. 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:22.879 So we can't separate them. 00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:47.680 And so there's really three passages we'll kind of mention a few times through the message, and that's because Romans 12 and Ephesians 4 are gonna have similar subjects and they're gonna be framed in similar ways, and we're gonna see gifts in each of the three chapters, each of the each of the three books, but at the same time, we're gonna see each of those passages address uh gifts in light of love. 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:52.959 Because if we don't address, if we don't see them in view of love, we're gonna miss them. 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:57.519 And that's what Paul's partly trying to get through in the passage this morning. 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:07.519 So in the first 11 verses, uh Pastor Chris went through chapter 12, 1 through 11 last week, and we really got this introduction to gifts. 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:16.960 And part of that introduction, we'll kind of refresh on a couple of those things, and we're gonna bring in the grand some of the grand context as well. 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:22.639 So we're not gonna talk about gifts without also seeing a lot of the Holy Spirit. 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:29.680 So the Holy Spirit, just a very quick and broad context and overview. 00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:35.840 So we have God's Spirit, who we've seen since Genesis 1, chapter 1, verse 2. 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:42.000 So from the very beginning, we've seen the Holy Spirit, the third person trinity, uh, in Scripture. 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:46.159 And uh the Holy Spirit wow. 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:50.400 So we have uh good time drink or something more. 00:02:50.639 --> 00:03:00.719 Um so anyway, we see the Holy Spirit active in these spiritual gifts. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:04.080 Overall, we see Jesus. 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:10.879 Um, if if we then this is we could do an entire huge study on this, but just big picture. 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:22.240 We see the Holy Spirit, and Jesus teaches us in the Gospel of John, um, that the Spirit, there's really three ways that we can kind of contextualize the way that we see the Spirit relating to us. 00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:26.560 And those are the prepositional phrases, in, with, and upon. 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:29.120 So the with is he is with us. 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:38.639 The in is like the indwelling, as in Jesus uh we we receive the spirit as a seal and promise of our salvation, and he lives within us. 00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:49.280 And then there is the upon, and this is the uh, he comes upon, he fills us uh to overflowing, and he um uh empowers us. 00:03:49.520 --> 00:04:09.120 One of those, it's one of the marked verses we see that happening is it or at least uh foretold is Jesus says in Acts, um Book of Acts, chapter one, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and at the end of the earth. 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:16.639 So as we see the gifts, we're gonna see the Spirit working in the believer for these gifts to be uh used. 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:30.240 So as we see the the the upon, really 1 Corinthians 12 is really where we're seeing the upon happening in for the most part. 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:37.920 We're really seeing this this is about the Holy Spirit uh coming upon or working um uh and filling the believer. 00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:59.439 And so we have as we the framework of the Holy Spirit, we've got the the context of the gifts, and then there are a few main passages that we we aren't going through all of these all at once, but at least to kind of give you the context, you can read through these sections yourself, and we're gonna I'm gonna we're gonna be through them in a uh to some extent, so it's good to know that the full context of them. 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:20.639 So 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, and Ephesians 4, and uh some would kind of say in my brain I kind of uh categorize these in a few different ways, and sometimes it's a little harder to pinpoint, and it's hard to say, well, the Lord is gonna work in these gifts in this way at this time in this person, and it's a little hard to like put everything in a box. 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:42.240 And I don't really like when I put the Lord in a box, but I kind of look at them as manifestational, as in we see him showing himself in a greater or bigger way or in a certain situation, um managerial positional, sort of maybe the gifts acted out in someone in a more of a formal setting, uh, and then motivational or in a disposition. 00:05:42.399 --> 00:05:49.360 So maybe some the way someone is wired inherently that the Lord uses and uses in a supernatural way. 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:59.279 So ultimately, these gifts, as Pastor Chris said last week, we believe the gifts are active and uh and real. 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:02.879 Because that, and I say that because some don't. 00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:10.480 This is but we believe that the gifts are real, that it's plain, and that the spirit that the Lord and the Spirit want to work in us. 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:15.360 Um but we shouldn't see the gifts glorifying the believer. 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:21.680 The objective here is not to focus on the gifts and how we're going to be benefited out of this. 00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:28.240 And one of the best ways I can describe the overall working of the gifts is to go to Ephesians 4. 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:29.680 So this will be one of the passages. 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:40.319 If you'd like, you can turn to Ephesians 4, Ephesians chapter 4, and I'll read it because one of the best commentaries on scripture is scripture. 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:44.319 And I just can't say it this well otherwise. 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:55.360 So Paul is writing to the Ephesians, and this is another one of a portion of another one of the sort of the gifts chapters, or sect or passages. 00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:56.879 Let's start in verse 11. 00:06:57.040 --> 00:07:16.160 And he himself gave some to the apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, equipping the saints for the work of the ministry, to build up the body of Christ until we all reach unity in the faith and the knowledge of God's Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ's fullness. 00:07:16.399 --> 00:07:33.920 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning, with cleverness and the techniques of deceit, but speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ. 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:37.519 Hearing the parallels already to 1 Corinthians? 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:49.199 From him, the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part. 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:58.959 I could probably stop there because I think it's almost commentary on this passage, and it's so consistent with the different passages we we learn about and see about see gifts. 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:09.279 So as we're turning the corner into the passage itself, we're gonna be in verses 12 through 31. 00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:17.279 I see these this coming section, there's a couple themes that reside, and we're gonna apply this. 00:08:17.519 --> 00:08:36.559 This is more of an application chapter, so um we're more focusing on the application, but a couple of the themes continuing, we saw it in Ephesians 4, is Paul is driving home diversity but not division, unity but not uniformity. 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:43.519 So the Lord is not looking to um make us all the same and simple. 00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:49.679 We are many parts and we're diverse, but in our diversity, he doesn't want uniform. 00:08:49.840 --> 00:09:02.320 So in other words, he doesn't want uniformity, but he does this kind of way of, I guess, pulling the big picture together is that as much as we are different, we don't want to be divided. 00:09:02.639 --> 00:09:06.480 As much as we are different, we also have to be unified. 00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:13.679 So really these concepts aren't the applic, they're imp they're important, but they're not the application. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:19.600 What Paul's really gonna dive into are kind of two, maybe one, but really two sets of people. 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:31.440 And uh uh maybe we can all find ourselves in these places, and that's really uh we can find ourselves in discontentment and we can find ourselves in pride. 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:34.960 And if you kind of look at them, maybe that's all about pride anyway. 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:37.120 Maybe it's about self-focus. 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:40.720 So we're gonna jump in. 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:43.600 Paul starts in verse 12. 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:47.840 Uh and we read verse 11, we'll read it again. 00:09:47.919 --> 00:09:54.879 One and the same spirit is active in all these, and he's referring to the to the gifts, um, distributing to each person as he wills. 00:09:55.360 --> 00:10:00.720 For just as the body is one, so it's a continuing thought from verse 11 in the previous section. 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:07.519 Just as the body is one, it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many are one body, so also is Christ. 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:17.200 For we were all baptized by one spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all given one spirit to drink. 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:25.279 So Paul is is, before he's really diving into application, he's going to remind us that he's leveling the playing field. 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:28.000 There's no spiritual haves and have-nots. 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:31.600 He's breaking down the walls of social and economical status. 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:40.080 It doesn't matter if you're poor and homeless, it doesn't matter if you're wealthy, it doesn't matter if you have a great spiritual background and legacy. 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:43.039 We've all been brought into the same body. 00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:44.639 And that just adds diversity, right? 00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:53.279 Because we can often in the church we sit next to someone you may never have even that much interaction with otherwise, but we can be, it can be a very diverse place, and that's a good thing. 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:55.679 We we we think that's a great thing. 00:10:55.919 --> 00:11:00.480 Um and he says we've all all been, we were all given one spirit to drink. 00:11:00.559 --> 00:11:04.639 And so I go to John chapter 7, the Gospel of John chapter 7. 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:15.120 The way Jesus put this is he says, On the last night, most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried, I guess the this this is John speaking. 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:20.080 Jesus stood up and cried out, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:28.639 He said this about the Spirit. 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:33.919 Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit. 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:54.559 Paul transitions here right into some of the application in verse 14. 00:11:54.960 --> 00:11:57.600 Indeed, the body is not one part, but many. 00:11:57.759 --> 00:12:06.159 If the foot should say, because I'm not a hand, I don't belong to the body, there's some intuit- I don't know if I'm getting the voice intuition here, but I think you can imagine. 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:10.480 Um maybe this is sort of what happens in our this is what kind of what happens in our heart. 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:18.080 Uh if it is not for that reason any less part of the body, verse 16, and if the ear should say, because I'm not an eye, I don't belong to the body. 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:21.120 It is not for that reason any less part of the body. 00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:23.679 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:26.879 If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 00:12:27.039 --> 00:12:33.200 But as it is, God has arranged each one of the parts in the body just as he wanted. 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:42.960 The danger here, and this is so this is point one or or section one, is we can find ourselves discontent. 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:52.080 Maybe you're in this place or you've experienced this, but you can go, man, that guy is that person is such a ministry. 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:54.399 Like the Lord just uses them. 00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:57.200 He gets in these conversations and people just get saved. 00:12:57.600 --> 00:13:01.440 Or maybe it's like, man, that just is such a voice. 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:08.720 Like, I wish I could sing like that, draw people into the into the uh at the feet of the Lord in worship. 00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:11.200 And and these are real feelings. 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:18.000 I mean, I think for a lot of us, we can we can start thinking, what what am I even, why am what am I even here for? 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:19.360 What am I doing? 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:24.159 And really what this is, is it's we're kind of focused on self. 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:27.200 I mean it's good to want, it's good to want to be used, right? 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:34.720 And to and to kind of maybe there is a good, maybe there is a God-given discontentment that we don't see the Lord using us. 00:13:34.879 --> 00:13:41.279 Maybe there is a a good discontentment because we should feel like, okay, Lord, how do you want to use me? 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:45.519 But but we want it to not be focused on self, on me. 00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:51.120 Oh, you know, it's not this, it's not, oh, I don't belong to a body. 00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:55.840 Um, because that is really how it how we can feel sometimes. 00:13:56.399 --> 00:14:13.200 Um I think what we what Paul wants us to emphasize is even though we might be an eye, and I keep I take it down maybe to the nth degree, I think like eyelid, or I think like fingernail, right? 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:28.159 Though we may not be a um the part that we think we want to be, but Paul's saying it's not just because you might might be a different part or a smaller part, doesn't mean that we're not we're not insignificant. 00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:41.200 It can feel that way, but but as you know, and we Paul is going to use this analogy of the body, there are parts of our body that are definitely not insignificant when they stop functioning. 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:50.320 Paul, uh uh Paul in in verse 18, he says, as it is, God is arranged. 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:52.399 Does that sound haphazard to you? 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:57.279 God is arranged, that's that means purpose, intentional. 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:05.519 It's not sort of uh it's not again haphazard or or last minute. 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:07.279 God has arranged the parts. 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:11.519 That means you or it's organized, it's intentional. 00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:19.279 He says, each one of the parts, not just arrange the parts, each one of the parts. 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:36.480 God, and and so uh Paul will also write to the Ephesians in uh chapter 2, verse 10, he says, We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do. 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:39.039 So God's intentional. 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:42.639 It's not just that he's thinking, today I think I'm gonna do this. 00:15:42.799 --> 00:15:45.120 He's known it before time, he set it up. 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:52.480 He's a glad and happy father who really has things laid out for us in ways that he wants to use us. 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:58.480 This next section, as we get into 19, is more on the pride side. 00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:08.080 Where I'd say more of the the the uh, even though they might all be centered in our pride, this is more of the the arrogant or the uh thinking more highly. 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:16.639 And I as I think of Paul even says in 12 in Romans 12, 3, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:22.000 Paul starts in 19, and if they were all the same part, where would the body be? 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:25.519 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:28.879 He's kind of said that a lot in the passage, hasn't he? 00:16:29.039 --> 00:16:32.080 That I cannot say to the hand, I don't need you. 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:35.360 Or I don't need you, I think is a better way of putting it. 00:16:35.600 --> 00:16:39.039 Or again, the head can't say to the feet, I don't need you. 00:16:39.679 --> 00:16:44.000 On the contrary, those parts of the body that are weaker are indispensable. 00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:49.919 And those parts of the body that we consider less honorable, we clothe those, these with greater honor. 00:16:51.200 --> 00:17:00.480 And our unrespectable, or some translations unpresentable parts are treated with greater respect, which our respectable parts do not need. 00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:05.440 So Paul's addressing the two, kind of the two big splits. 00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:33.839 It's the, in this case, it's like uh it's a little bit in the opposite, instead of uh the envy and discontentment about what our gifts are or where we're at with the gifting, it's more of the the body part that just isn't, is more focused on how great the body part is and not recognizing the full the many parts and the full workings of the body. 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:45.039 The best, and Paul's already saying it here, the way I look at this, um, again, I kind of go down to my so I have an example. 00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:46.400 What I'm one of these examples. 00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:51.279 I don't know if you've ever had um have you ever had a blister? 00:17:52.319 --> 00:17:54.480 Have you ever had the blister pop? 00:17:55.599 --> 00:18:04.559 Have you ever been out like hiking, backpacking with that pop blister, walking for hours? 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:16.880 We don't really take, we take for granted sometimes how important the bottom of our foot is or the or the toe until it doesn't function. 00:18:17.200 --> 00:18:24.559 And when it doesn't function, man, you can start walking a little funny because of it, and then suddenly you know the knees hurt your knees hurting, right? 00:18:25.599 --> 00:18:28.960 Similarly, and my my wife doesn't know I'm using this example. 00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:39.519 She had uh my wife had Bell's palsy a few years ago. 00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:40.799 Yes. 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:47.279 I don't know, and I'm I uh I did not have to go through this, but I saw it, right? 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:50.960 And one side of the face becomes paralyzed. 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:58.640 Um or other, you know, other parts, and I mean, literally to the extent of not being able to move, and you'd think that's it's just muscular. 00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:01.200 Well, you know, the eyelids have muscles. 00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:07.359 And if when the eyelid becomes uh paralyzed, it doesn't close. 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:10.799 Have you ever had an eyelid that doesn't close? 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:11.680 Yes. 00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:19.759 Did you know that in the eyelid, and I'm not a doctor, so don't get me wrong, but I just think it's stuff fascinating. 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:23.599 Do you know that there are lubrication glands in your eyelid? 00:19:23.920 --> 00:19:27.680 It's not just tear ducts, there's there's lubrication like oils. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:33.759 When those are clogged, you don't get the like the eye is this very complex thing. 00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:39.359 The the the tear ducts, the saline, the oils, those all lubricate and they keep the eye moist. 00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:42.480 Do you know what happens when you can't blink or close your eye? 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:44.559 It gets incredibly dry. 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:49.200 So let's just say the eyeball says the eyelid, I have no need of you. 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:51.119 Who's doing the work, right? 00:19:51.359 --> 00:19:58.160 And maybe we in general we kind of go, um, yeah, he's just he vacuum. 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:01.680 Well, they, you know, they're doing children's ministry. 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:03.599 I can't believe I said that. 00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:08.400 Because I this that is so because that can happen. 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:18.160 But that but children's ministry is uh that's a whole nother that's a whole nother tendency that we we neglect those parts of the body that we don't realize are so important. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:23.680 But you know, physically we we find we get these reminders periodically. 00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:35.440 Paul is saying uh don't get in the attitude, and I I've kind of gotten this passage and I I kind of think um the saying is gratitude not attitude. 00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:41.119 Because if we we're thankful and recognize the parts of the body, we we have a different perspective. 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:49.039 We even if we the Lord is using us in a big way, um it the thankfulness really helps to ground us, I think. 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:52.960 Sometimes I think just grabbing a mop helps to ground us. 00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:54.799 You know, things like that. 00:20:55.119 --> 00:21:05.599 Uh and some people will even say, can I I bring this up only because it's as we're getting into this passage, some this was really kind of getting into the heart of the gifts. 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:08.400 Paul's not teaching about the gifts as much. 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:12.319 He doesn't break them out and say, I'm gonna teach you about each of the gifts. 00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:14.240 Those are kind of a given, right? 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:19.279 And he says in first, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, they have the gifts. 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:20.720 They're not lacking. 00:21:21.359 --> 00:21:25.119 Paul is really talking about how the gifts are used. 00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:30.319 He wants to address the heart issue. 00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:33.519 And so he says there's a balance here, and God has created this balance. 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:37.359 I think sometimes physically the balance is, oh, your eyelid doesn't close. 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:43.920 Let me remind you that you should be thankful when it does close because when it doesn't, it's miserable. 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:58.640 And this attitude of gratitude, Paul will remind us that the Lord has done this balancing thing, and he really wants to uh he wants us. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:03.920 To balance these issues by honoring those things which are less honorable. 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:06.319 And he's he's using it kind of even the physical body, you know. 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:15.759 Sometimes you don't want to look at your feet, so sometimes we keep our feet covered, or we don't, you know, you don't just um flash these things around, right? 00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:18.720 I mean, some people have great looking feet. 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:25.200 I'm not, I'm just like I think we all understand that sometimes there that we there are some parts that are less respectable. 00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:27.680 We don't put our feet in people's faces, right? 00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:37.759 But the Lord wants us to remember, the Lord wants us to remember that He balances these things. 00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:56.640 Maybe we don't treat the unrespectable or unpresentable parts with greater respect in general, but we should one of the one of the analogies that I've heard in a sermon was this analogy of a gift. 00:22:57.200 --> 00:23:03.920 And as we get into thinking about gifts, who is the gift giver? 00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:06.480 It's the Holy Spirit. 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:23.279 If someone gave you a brand new car, running well, not one of these you like that leaves you with repair bills for months on end, someone gives you a car, are you gonna are you gonna say, oh, that's an amazing car, or are you gonna say, No, thank you for giving me the car. 00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:26.000 Who's the one who gave you the car and created the car? 00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:35.200 Or at least you didn't build the car, but um the we're focusing here on the body and on, and we want to, and we, and the Lord is really the gift giver. 00:23:35.519 --> 00:23:37.920 He wants to use these gifts in our lives. 00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:57.200 We transition to uh as we transition into verse 20 through verse 24, it says, instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable, so there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other. 00:23:57.359 --> 00:23:59.200 This is it's like sympathy. 00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:06.960 This may be just being thankful and graciously and having gratitude for people and their role in the body for what they do. 00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:09.359 Not that we want to glorify one another. 00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:20.559 This is not about we want to give God the glory, but I think but there's still an attitude about recognizing someone in their role and what they do because it puts our heart in the right spot. 00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:23.440 And we can thank the Lord for that person, really, is what we want to do. 00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:27.279 We want to thank the Lord, but uh it's it's really the place of the heart. 00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:30.559 And again, in verse 26, the same thing. 00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:34.160 So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. 00:24:34.319 --> 00:24:37.759 If one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. 00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:44.240 So again, if uh we look at gifts and we see someone who's just amazingly gifted. 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:55.119 I think this levels the field and brings it back to the heart because gifts and a gift, seeing someone who's very gifted doesn't necessarily equate to maturity. 00:24:55.359 --> 00:25:13.200 We can be very gifted and not find that we are, well, we'll get we're gonna get into chapter 13 next week, uh, but we're we're going to we can be gifted and we can also do and exercise those gifts immaturely or um selfishly. 00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:23.440 As we get in, uh Paul is gonna continue to emphasize the point in verse 27. 00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:30.160 He says, Now you are the body of Christ, and unique or individual members of it. 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:42.799 And God has appointed these in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, next miracles, and then gifts of healing, helping, administrating various kinds of tongues. 00:25:44.880 --> 00:26:01.279 If you've noticed, and I we start in verse 11 because I wanted to try and keep some of the verses together, but four times uh Paul is mentioning uh 1 11, the Spirit is active, distributing each as he wills. 00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:05.519 In verse 18, he says, God has arranged. 00:26:05.759 --> 00:26:09.759 In verse 24, he says, God has put the body together. 00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:13.440 And in verse 28, God has appointed. 00:26:13.759 --> 00:26:16.000 You see the theme developing? 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:20.720 Who is the one who's really orchestrating, assembling, arranging the body? 00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:24.319 Over and over, it's God is doing these things. 00:26:28.960 --> 00:26:38.640 He wants us to remember that we're all, it's not just one body of Christ, and he is the head, but that we're all unique and individual. 00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:41.680 We have special function and purpose. 00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:46.720 But he is still the head and he's still in charge. 00:26:48.960 --> 00:26:57.839 So as Paul gets in, he's he's uh the appointing is done by by God, and we're gonna kind of get into a list of gifts. 00:26:58.400 --> 00:27:08.319 It's an interesting little list because we're gonna kind of see the way I see it is that he's pulling in some gifts that we're gonna see in Ephesians and we're gonna see it in Romans. 00:27:09.039 --> 00:27:13.200 And he does say that he establishes these, he sort of gives an order. 00:27:13.279 --> 00:27:21.200 There's a God has established or appointed these in the church, and he says, uh, first apostles, second prophets. 00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:40.000 So if we go back to Ephesians, Paul will also kind of address, uh, he'll kind of bring up as a whole uh apostles and prophets, and so foundationally, this is this is some some of the nuance. 00:27:40.160 --> 00:27:54.160 He says, now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. 00:27:55.680 --> 00:28:03.200 So there is a foundation that won't necessarily be repeated, that has established us. 00:28:03.359 --> 00:28:10.799 He says, we're built on that foundation, but that there are still people that God chooses and he makes apostles. 00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:13.359 He makes them sent, they're sent out ones. 00:28:13.599 --> 00:28:18.799 These people are people that God appoints to be his vessels as he moves out. 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:20.880 The Johnsons are a great example. 00:28:21.200 --> 00:28:23.759 He's taking people and he's sending them out. 00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:28.720 In Acts, we see believers sent out from Jerusalem and they're scattered, right? 00:28:29.680 --> 00:28:35.759 Prophets, again, there were uh this is declaring the the word of the Lord. 00:28:36.240 --> 00:28:42.720 Declaring or for or not necessarily foretelling, but forth telling, right? 00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:47.279 Speaking a message or speaking a message from the Lord. 00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:52.720 Third teachers, and again, we see the order kind of makes more sense. 00:28:52.799 --> 00:28:55.680 If you think, why would it be first apostles and prophets? 00:28:55.839 --> 00:29:02.480 But foundationally, he used the apostles and prophets to establish uh those in the church. 00:29:02.799 --> 00:29:06.400 Teachers, yes, that that can make sense. 00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:19.839 God's appointed teachers because he is this is this is the way that he's defining and and maintaining and teaching others the truth of God, the word of God. 00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:23.359 He goes into several other lists. 00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:44.079 Teachers, the thing is with the gift is we see uh here it's fairly fairly high in the list, but but broadly speaking, when we look at teaching, we're gonna see it again later in the other uh gift passages, but sometimes we think, oh, teachers, so that's like standing in front of a huge group of people or in a stadium. 00:29:44.240 --> 00:29:47.440 I mean, there's different there are different levels of this. 00:29:47.599 --> 00:29:48.960 What does that mean? 00:29:49.279 --> 00:30:04.400 The I think what sometimes uh I'll even get into the trap of thinking that being a teacher or being gifted with teaching doesn't necessarily mean that you're doing it in front of 300 people. 00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:17.920 Maybe God's giving uh one of us or one of you a gift of teaching, but maybe it's not in front of a huge group, maybe it's a small group, or maybe it's uh a gift of teaching one. 00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:26.880 And some people really are their their uh their jam, so to speak, maybe teaching just one person at a time. 00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:38.000 And maybe they are amazing, but you get maybe you get someone who does great in front of a thousand people and they freeze up in front of one, right? 00:30:38.880 --> 00:30:56.240 Maybe you get someone good in front of one person at a table, one-on-one, and they could not get up in front of a group, or they will would not get in front of a group if I don't search and say the life depended on it, but that's you know, sometimes that's how we feel about getting in front of a group. 00:30:56.480 --> 00:31:04.319 So when you look at the list, yes, he's giving this order, but there's nuance to that because sometimes these gifts were wrought out in different ways. 00:31:04.400 --> 00:31:15.839 And sometimes we think, oh, we have the gift of teaching, but maybe that gift, maybe the Lord has gifted you in a certain way to use that, and sometimes we try to fit it in to what we think it looks like. 00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:21.759 Maybe the Lord wants to fit it in to the way he wants to use us. 00:31:24.079 --> 00:31:28.480 Miracles and gifts of healing are here next in verse 28. 00:31:28.880 --> 00:31:33.759 We see we saw those earlier in uh last week in verses 1 through 11. 00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:39.359 Helping, this is we'll see this uh later again in Romans. 00:31:39.440 --> 00:31:41.039 So this is like the gift of helps. 00:31:41.200 --> 00:31:44.960 This is, do you find that you have this propensity? 00:31:45.039 --> 00:31:49.599 Like you just see something and you go, I'm I gotta take care of that. 00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:52.720 And you may not even realize that you do this. 00:31:53.039 --> 00:31:56.880 You get into a room and you realize the floor's dirty. 00:31:57.680 --> 00:32:03.680 Or, oh, that uh we need to, man, those chairs are really disorganized. 00:32:03.839 --> 00:32:16.240 Um so this is a real gift, and sometimes this is the way I kind of think of the gift of helps, usually as like a one's disposition. 00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:26.559 I often find, maybe this is just me, but that we have a sort of disposition where we have a propensity to kind of do things we don't even sometimes know that we're doing them. 00:32:26.880 --> 00:32:39.599 And we haven't talked about this, but a lot of us have um we it can be uh we can we can find ourselves frozen, some people anyway, thinking, man, what are my gifts? 00:32:39.759 --> 00:32:41.440 I don't know what they are. 00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:47.039 But the symbol of it is we don't always have to know what they are. 00:32:47.359 --> 00:32:49.359 There's tests, there's books, right? 00:32:49.519 --> 00:32:52.880 And those can be great learning about them here on a Sunday morning. 00:32:53.359 --> 00:33:06.079 The big thing here, as Paul is gonna drive through the end of the passage, is that not everyone has every gift. 00:33:06.720 --> 00:33:09.279 He's gonna go on in verse uh 28. 00:33:09.519 --> 00:33:10.319 Administrating. 00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:12.640 Did you know that administrating is a gift? 00:33:13.279 --> 00:33:19.440 For those of us who are administrators, um, this may like just do your heart some good. 00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:22.240 That God has gifted some to administrate. 00:33:22.480 --> 00:33:30.240 And someone who has the gift of administration may say, Man, I wish I could just like give me something like you know, neck up. 00:33:30.640 --> 00:33:33.599 I want to be the eyes or the tongue or the mouth, right? 00:33:34.079 --> 00:33:38.960 Um, but administrating is super important in the body. 00:33:39.680 --> 00:33:53.599 We'll see it again in Romans, but administrating, you can see you can imagine there are some who can they are amazing evangelists or amazing pastors or amazing teachers, but they can't organize or get the details together. 00:33:53.759 --> 00:33:55.200 It's just not their thing. 00:33:55.359 --> 00:33:57.920 Sometimes people may have both. 00:33:58.240 --> 00:34:04.400 Some people have a bunch of these gifts, and we can, again, like Paul says, why do I have not so many gifts? 00:34:04.559 --> 00:34:11.840 Well, I think Paul, as you, as we get into the application of this, what is the answer to all of these questions starting in 29? 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:13.440 Are all apostles or all prophets? 00:34:13.599 --> 00:34:16.400 Paul doesn't even answer it, it's it's just rhetorical. 00:34:17.199 --> 00:34:18.000 Are all? 00:34:18.400 --> 00:34:24.880 No, none, no, no one is, not everyone is a teacher or a prophet or an apostle. 00:34:27.039 --> 00:34:31.119 He says, but desire the greater gifts, or earnestly. 00:34:31.280 --> 00:34:37.679 Um another translation says, earnestly desire the best gifts. 00:34:38.880 --> 00:34:43.840 So is it out of the question to ask or to desire a different gift? 00:34:44.239 --> 00:34:45.199 It's not. 00:34:45.519 --> 00:34:52.800 We can pray, Lord, if you if you want me to have that gift, or maybe I think I have that gift, we we can ask him. 00:34:53.599 --> 00:35:02.079 If we want it and he doesn't give it to us, we can trust that he is our good, good Father and He knows what he has for us. 00:35:02.239 --> 00:35:07.760 So I think of it in this way. 00:35:09.039 --> 00:35:18.320 If God has called us and created works beforehand that we should walk in them, he's also gifted us for the things that he has created beforehand. 00:35:18.559 --> 00:35:27.519 So if we've been gifted for those things, we've been, and we have a calling for ministries and things that we should the Lord has for us. 00:35:27.679 --> 00:35:31.760 Maybe he's gifted us for that which he's called us to. 00:35:32.079 --> 00:35:39.679 Maybe there's a gift that I that I haven't developed, or maybe that isn't developed, or but the Lord will be developing in the ministry he has for me. 00:35:39.920 --> 00:35:46.559 But maybe that calling, maybe you or I don't have a gift because the Lord isn't calling us to that ministry. 00:35:46.960 --> 00:35:51.920 Maybe we don't have the gift of evangelism because that's not the ministry he has for us. 00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:58.639 It doesn't excuse us from preaching the gospel, because in Mark we see it we're commanded to preach the gospel to every creature, right? 00:35:59.039 --> 00:36:04.719 So as we're getting in, and I don't want to give away the next chapter. 00:36:06.079 --> 00:36:08.000 I don't want to steal the thunder. 00:36:09.440 --> 00:36:17.519 But it is so important because this chapter doesn't is not going to make sense unless we look at chapter 13. 00:36:19.760 --> 00:36:23.039 In Galatians 5, we see the fruit of the Spirit is love. 00:36:23.199 --> 00:36:28.559 Do you see, and we haven't read through all of these passages, but is love one of the gifts? 00:36:30.239 --> 00:36:31.440 It's not listed as a gift. 00:36:31.599 --> 00:36:34.960 I'm not saying that all the gifts are listed in Scripture and that that's the list. 00:36:35.039 --> 00:36:38.320 I'm just saying I don't see love listed as a gift. 00:36:40.800 --> 00:36:52.000 Love is a fruit of the Spirit, but love is the way by which we must exercise the gifts and that we must operate as believers. 00:36:52.159 --> 00:36:56.159 If we, and I hate giving it away, go for it. 00:36:56.559 --> 00:36:56.880 Okay. 00:36:57.760 --> 00:37:08.480 If we have all of the gifts in the world, if we are gifted more than any other, if we don't have love, we're a clinging symbol and a sounding brass. 00:37:08.960 --> 00:37:10.159 It's just that simple. 00:37:10.320 --> 00:37:14.400 We can we can study for two weeks these gifts and we can understand them. 00:37:14.559 --> 00:37:16.159 We can orate about them. 00:37:16.320 --> 00:37:24.000 But if we don't have the right heart when we exercise them and we don't exercise love, like I could teach teach, I hope I'm not prophesying here. 00:37:24.159 --> 00:37:32.639 If I could teach a message, but but just snub people and treat them poorly, I pray that would not be the case. 00:37:34.800 --> 00:37:39.440 But if we so if we use the gifts and don't have love, we've missed it. 00:37:40.480 --> 00:37:48.239 We don't want to be a body like the maybe the Corinthians, who were very gifted because really were not lacking a gift and then didn't have love. 00:37:48.320 --> 00:37:56.239 When people walk through that door, if they come in here, they might see a lot of gifts, but if they don't see love, we have missed the ball. 00:37:57.760 --> 00:38:06.400 If we're saying I don't belong to that body, I'm just an eye, I'm just an eyelid, I'm just an eye bland. 00:38:14.719 --> 00:38:16.880 Paul's saying you gotta get over it. 00:38:16.960 --> 00:38:25.920 We have got to get past the heart issues and really look forward to the way that the Lord wants to use us in these gifts. 00:38:26.000 --> 00:38:29.840 And again, Ephesians is a great, is a great way of summing that up. 00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:41.840 He wants to use these gifts, not for ourselves, for our own glory, for he wants to grow us up into maturity to the stature measured by Christ's fullness. 00:38:43.599 --> 00:38:46.400 For the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry. 00:38:46.559 --> 00:38:48.079 Does this sound self-focused? 00:38:48.320 --> 00:38:56.239 These gifts are to grow the body up, to progress us, to, and he wants to use his spirit and fill us to overflowing these ways. 00:38:58.559 --> 00:39:10.320 Next week we're gonna dive into chapter 13, and it's going to really sort of seize an insult and provide the perspective of the gifts and all the, and they're great, right? 00:39:10.400 --> 00:39:21.360 This is really cool to see and understand the ways the Lord uses us, but we're getting into going to get into chapter 13, and as Paul says here, I will show you an even better way. 00:39:22.239 --> 00:39:25.119 May the Lord show us how to love. 00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:30.800 We're gonna pray and then get into communion. 00:39:32.480 --> 00:39:44.880 Father, we thank you so much for your word that we have this, Father, this passage to encourage us in the ways that you have gifted us and used, that you want to use us. 00:39:44.960 --> 00:39:57.440 I thank you that your spirit is living and active, that these gifts or that you haven't left as orphans, but you've given us another helper, your Holy Spirit. 00:39:58.000 --> 00:40:03.679 Father, you said even better that Jesus said even better that you that he went away. 00:40:03.840 --> 00:40:11.280 And I thank you that you've given us this comforter and counselor, your spirit. 00:40:11.360 --> 00:40:22.719 And I pray that you would work in our hearts, that we wouldn't be discontent or prideful or envious, but that we would seek you for the ways that you want to use us. 00:40:24.079 --> 00:40:38.400 That you would have full reign to use us in those ways without us complaining, without um questioning, Father, that we would find ourselves serving you in the ways uh that you would have us. 00:40:39.199 --> 00:40:46.480 Whether in some situation or or just in life, in our walk, in our daily, uh, in our day-to-day. 00:40:47.199 --> 00:41:02.239 I pray, Father, uh, for right now for a fresh anointing by your spirit, here in this body, that you would build us up together in unity, that you would grow us into maturity in Christ, and you that you would be glorified in us. 00:41:02.800 --> 00:41:09.119 That in this place that that uh there would be love, uh, Father. 00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:13.679 Ask that you go before us this week and plant your word deep in our hearts. 00:41:14.000 --> 00:41:15.679 In Jesus' name, Amen.