This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - This is day three together of our look through First
Corinthians chapter 12. We're going to look at verses 12 to 19 today. We've been
talking the last couple of days about gifts for the body, how they're given by
the Spirit, and saw a beginning list of those gifts yesterday.

Today we begin to look at what is really Paul's emphasis in this chapter, and
that is a body for the gifts. God gave gifts, but he gave them to be used in the
body of Christ, in the church. And so listen to verses 12 and 13.

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts. And though all its parts
are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.

For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks,
slave or free, we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Paul introduces this
important discussion, verses 12 and 13, with the truth of baptism. He's not
talking about water baptism here.

He's talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. When we become a believer,
when you got saved, you were immersed by the Spirit. And Paul says that makes us
one, the fact that God's Spirit is in every one of our lives.

He says you're all immersed in the Spirit, baptized. It's the same word,
immersed or baptized in the Greek language. He says also you're also given the
same Spirit to drink.

That word for drink actually means to irrigate, almost to flood. It's not the
idea that you're sipping the Holy Spirit like a glass of iced tea. It's the idea
that he's flooding every corner of your life.

And because we've got God's Spirit in our lives, there is unity in us. Whether
we recognize it or not, live it or not, it is there to be recognized. It's there
to be lived, Paul says.

The body is made one by the Spirit that Jesus has put in every one of us. And so
when it comes to gifts, gifts are made effective in the body through our unity.
It takes unity to make a body, and it takes a body for the gifts to be used.

Gifts will not work without unity. Because all these different gifts that we
have, unless they're used together, the whole picture doesn't come together. If
you imagine a human body that was not unified in its intent, where the hand went
one way, the leg went the other way, the elbow went the other way, you didn't go
in the same direction, it just wouldn't work.

I remember one time in a youth group, we tied a big rope around a bunch of
junior highers, like 30 or 40 of them, and just put a rope all the way around
them. And then we put different likes and dislikes on all the corners of the
room, things that they might like, like music they might like or food they might
like. And we said to them all, okay, now all at once, run towards the thing that
you like the most.

Well, obviously it was chaos. They were, in one sense, unified, they were tied
together, but they were going in different directions in our lives in Christ.
He's put us together in a body, and under his leadership, he has a direction for
us to go, and he has gifts that he's given to each of us to allow that direction
to happen.

How does that happen in a church? 'Cause if you've been around a while, you may
have found all churches don't work like that. It feels like sometimes we're more
disunified in a church, we're more confused in the church than we are unified.

How does it happen that we get unity? There are two major truths that help us to
understand how a church can begin to live out its responsibility in the body of
Christ, the truth of many and the truth of one. Today we're going to look at the
truth of many.

The fact that the body is not one member, but many. Tomorrow we'll look at the
truth of one, that we're one in Christ. But let's begin with the many.

The body is not one member, but many. Paul talks about that in verse 14 to 19.
Now he says the body is not made up of one part, but many.

If the foot should say, because I'm not a hand, I do not belong to the body, it
would not for that reason cease to be a part of the body. And if the ear should
say, because I'm not an eye, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that
reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would
the sense of hearing be?

If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact,
God has arranged the parts of the body, every one of them, just as he wanted
them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be?

So this is the truth of many. God has given many gifts, many varieties, many
experiences within his body, many of us to complete what he wants to do. Now
what does that mean?

What does it mean that we have these many different gifts? Two major things in
this passage. Many, the fact that we are all different, means I don't have to
compete, and it means I don't have to copy.

We're meant to be many. So that means, number one, I don't have to compete. And
Paul gives the picture here.

Can you imagine a human body competing with itself? A foot saying I want to be a
hand, or an ear saying I want to be an eye, or an eye saying I'm depressed
because I'm not an ear, so I'm not going to opt out, I'm not going to be a part of the
body. But the truth is, even in the church, that temptation towards competition,
that temptation towards jealousy is there.

A competition might be exciting on a football field, but it's devastating in a
church. It doesn't motivate a church to higher achievement. It pulls us to lower
levels.

And in these verses, Paul gives the answer to these temptations that we have.
And this temptation that we have to be competitive with other believers, the
answer to that is in verse 18. God plans the members as he desires.

If I begin to compete against you and where God has put you, I'm not actually
competing against you. I'm competing against God. I'm competing against the plan
of God for your life and what he wants to do in your life.

And I don't want to compete against God. That's not where I want to live. So you
realize it's not just about that other person, it's about the plan of God and
the greater plan of God and what he's doing.

Because we are many, God has designed us to have many different gifts, many
different responsibilities. I don't have to compete. It's not like there's just
a few opportunities in the church.

There are hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of opportunities. So where does
God want to use me? Now I understand that if you're about getting noticed, if
you're about getting applause, you're going to compete for those places where it
seems like somebody's getting notice or applause, but you know this, you know
this.

The notice and applause that we get in this world, it lasts for a moment. Really
what we're looking for is the glory to God that's going to go into all of
eternity. And we're going to see later in these verses that the truth of the
matter is some of those things that are least noticed are actually where God is
doing his greatest work.

So I don't have to compete. That's one of the truths behind the fact that we are
many. The second truth is I don't have to copy.

And Paul talks about that in these verses by giving the ridiculous picture of a
body that's just one part. The whole body were an eye. Everybody had to copy
each other and be the same thing.

If the whole body were an eye, that would be great for reading until you needed
to turn the page. Then you'd be in trouble. If the whole body were a nose, you
could smell the steak, but you could never eat it.

If the whole body were just a foot, who would tie the laces on your shoe? Who
would even get the shoe on your foot in the first place? It takes all the parts
of the body to make it work.

And yet in the church, we're often tempted to copy other people's gifts rather
than allow God to develop his gifts in us. You cannot Xerox copy gifts. They are
unique to you.

Now, some of them are the same in how they work, but they're unique to you and
your experience and how God has made you. And God has an answer to this. The
answer to the temptation to copy.

The answer is recognizing that if we're all the same, we're no longer a body.
And God has not made us to be all the same. He's made us to be the body of
Christ, not the eye of Christ or the mouth of Christ or the foot of Christ or
the hand of Christ.

We are to be the body of Christ. And when I recognize that, it releases me from
this temptation to copy. You see, the church is not to be a place to compete
with our gifts or to copy our gifts.

Instead, it's meant to be a place where we confirm our gifts and we commit our
gifts. Let me say that again. The church is not to be a place where we compete
with our gifts or copy our gifts.

It's meant to be a place where we confirm our gifts and we commit our gifts.
Gifts are confirmed through the body. As we use those gifts, we find out what
our gifts are.

As they're used in the body, it naturally follows that they're discovered in the
body. It helps us answer a question, by the way. Should I discover my gift and
then get involved in some kind of ministry or should I get involved in doing
something and hope to discover my gift by that way?

Without a doubt, first you get involved. The only way to really discover a gift,
99. 9% of the time, is by getting involved, trying it out and seeing what God
has given you to do.

I don't know about the answer of the chicken and the egg, but I do know this
one. Involvement almost always comes before discovery because it is through the
body that the gift is confirmed. People say God uses that when you do that.

So you confirm that by using the gift and then you commit those gifts that
you've confirmed. You commit those gifts to be used in a local church in the
body of Christ. A spiritual gift without a church is like a firecracker without
a match.

It's like a lock without a key. It's like a camera without any film, without any
picture behind it. A spiritual gift without a church is empty.

Now, committing your gift is hard for some people. Elizabeth O'Connor once said,
"Commitment at the point of my gifts "means that I must give up being a
straddler. "Life will not be the smorgasbord I have made it, "sampling and
tasting here and there.

" So now instead of just, "Oh, I'll try this out. "Oh, I'd like to try this out.
"I'd like to see if I'm good at this.

" Once you discover something that you're good at, then you commit it. Then it's
not just trying it out anymore. Then it's making the sacrifice to commit that
gift to be used again and again and again and again for his glory.

And there's no doubt. It's more fun sometimes to be in the discovery phase, but
there's also no doubt there's more fruit always when you're in the using of your
gift phase. What gift has God given you?

How can you confirm it and then how can you commit it to his body for his glory
in this world and all the way into eternity? Lord, as we pray together today, we
want to thank you. Thank you that you've made us many.

Thank you that there's many different gifts, many different responsibilities,
many different opportunities to serve you. And Lord, help us instead of being
tempted by that to be strengthened by that. To be strengthened to see how you
want to use us and how you want to use your church in this world.

Lord, forgive us for those times when we've been tempted to compete and copy.
Instead, let us confirm, let us commit the gifts you've given us in your church.
In your name we pray, amen.

Tomorrow, we're going to look together at the importance of one.