The doctrine of spiritual gifts is developed throughout the New Testament, with foundational principles laid out in the Gospels, their application in service in Acts, and their role in sanctification in Romans. First Corinthians, particularly chapter 12, focuses on the diversity and function of spiritual gifts within the body of Christ, emphasizing that each member has a unique and necessary role. The sermon highlights that true spiritual gifts are evidenced by acknowledging Jesus as Lord, contrasting this with counterfeit manifestations. It concludes by stressing the interdependence of all members in the body of Christ, urging against jealousy, monopoly, and independence, and promoting harmonious exercise of gifts for the body's edification.
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Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God call of Jesus a curse, and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same law. 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 to profit with all. For to one is given by the Spirit a word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge, by the same Spirit. to another faith by the same spirit to another the gifts of healing by the same spirit to another the working of miracles to another prophecy to another discerning of spirits to another diverse kinds of tongues to another the interpretation of tongues but all these worketh at one and the self same spirit dividing to every man severally as he will For as the body is one, and of many members, and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is the Christ.
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and of them 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 of the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye. I am not of the body. Is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God said, The members, every one of them in the body, as it has pleased him.
And if there were all one member wherever the body, but now are there many members yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honourable, Upon these we bestow more abundant honor, under uncommonly parts of more abundant calmliness. For are commonly parts of no need. But God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacks.
That there should be no sin in the body, but that the member should have the same care, one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it, knowing he are, body of Christ, on members in particular, and God hath set sound in the church, first apostles, second early prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers?
are all workers of Myrtigals, of all the gifts of healing. Do all speak with tongues, do all interpret, but call with earnestly the best gifts, and yet show unto you a more excellent way. May God again add His blessing to the reading of His own precious Word. Many years ago there was an outstanding teacher of the Word called T.D. Bernard. and he wrote a book called The Progress of Doctrine in the New Testament. That book is still in print. And anyone who is interested in the interpretation of the great doctrines of the New Testament, I think they would profitably read that book.
Dr. Bernard, he points out that in any particular doctrine and holy scripture, When you get the foundation offered in the Gospels, you find the development offered in the Epistles. And he points out that right throughout the New Testament there is a development of Christian teaching. Now we find this in connection with the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. That is what we have been looking at. And you remember in looking at the Gospel according to John, our Lord himself in the upper room lays down the great broad foundation principles concerning the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. He was the one who gave us those basic principles.
And it has to do particularly in John's Gospel with the truth of salvation. Now going into the Acts of the Apostles, those seventy-one references to the Holy Spirit in that book, it has to do particularly with their service. And then going on into the Epistle of the Romans, as we're looking up this morning, the great outstanding truth of the development of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit there is the great truth of sanctification and holiness in the life of the believer. Now tonight I want to look at First Corinthians. I notice in the passage that we have read together, it has to do particularly with spiritual gifts in the body of Christ.
And again, tonight for about half an hour, I want to speak on spiritual gift in the body and how it is developed. I believe that every single one of us here tonight, this is a believer, a believer in the Lord Jesus, that is a member of the body of Christ as a function to perform. There's no such thing as a member in the body that hasn't a function. everyone that has been linked to the head, our Lord Jesus Christ, members of the body of Christ, God has given you a specific function to perform in that body. And I think that the important thing is to find out what it is and then develop it and then go ahead and exercise it.
Notice what we want to talk about just for a few minutes tonight. By the way, to take the overall picture of the doctrine of the Spirit, in the first epistle of the Corinthians, if you took a concordance, you'll find that the word occurs twenty-two times, the Holy Spirit of God, twenty-two times in first Corinthians. But eleven of those times we find in chapter twelve. And here it has the relation of the development of spiritual gift in the body of Christ, and this is what we want to talk about. Now, before we do that, just again a very brief little outline of the whole epistle. You know, you can take a passage out of its context and you can teach anything at all, and you can go very far astray.
But in any particular passage that we want to look at, it's very necessary to get the context where you find it, and particularly the overall teaching in any particular epistle. I suppose the first epistle of the Corinthians... one great word that you could write over it from beginning to end as the word correction. You know, there was no assembly that was founded by the Apostle Paul, gave him so much heartache and so much trouble as the Church's car. He was the man who founded it. You remember you get the historical account of that in Acts chapter eighteen.
The Apostle went there and for eighteen months elaborated in that wicked city, a place that was the cesspool of iniquity. I'm not going to talk in any detail tonight about the environment in which Paul went at that time and where he labored, but it was one of the most wicked, immoral cities in the world at that time. outside the city, on the Acropolis, on a hill outside the city of Corinth, there was the pagan temple. And in that pagan temple there were one thousand abandoned women. The word that we would use today is prostitutes. That is religious women. And the worship in that temple was connected with immorality of a very gross type.
Now that was the environment where Paul went. And in that city he lived for eighteen months. And he lived in the home of that godly couple that we mentioned this morning. Mr. and Mrs. A and P. Mr. and Mrs. Aquila and Priscilla. He lived in their home. And their home was a beachhead for the spread of the gospel in this wicked city. And after eighteen months an assembly was formed. And out of that wicked pagan, heathen environment, a New Testament church was established. Now, on account of persecution, the Apostle had to leave there. And he went on to Ephesus, to a religious city, one of the great religious cities of the world at that time.
And while he was evangelizing in Ephesus, there was a little delegation came to him from Corinth. Now we know their names. There was Stephanus, Archaicus and Fortunatus. These were three brethren who came from Corinth with a letter in their hand. There were some problems and difficulties in the church at Corinth and the one at council and advice how to deal with these things. Now the first had a relation to the Christian home. That is how a Christian home should be established and the problems and difficulties in the broken home. You know, this is something that's very relevant at the present time. All over the United States and this country today, everywhere we go, we find problems in connection with marriage and divorce and remarriage and separation.
These are things that are very, very common in the world today, and in the religious world particularly here in the United States. Out of every five marriages in the United States today, two of them end up on divorce, on the statistics that are becoming more and more acute all the time. And I believe that any man who exercises leadership among the people of God should know what the Bible has to say along this line. But this in any case was one of the problems that we had at Koran, the broken home, marriage, separation, divorce, remarriage, and so on. And the first question in their letter, they wanted to know how these problems should be resolved.
Now the second difficulty was in connection with that pagan temple on the Acropolis. On anyone who wanted to buy meat, they had an abattoir. In that temple, on meat that was slaughtered for food, it was first of all offered and sacrificed to a pagan idol, that is to a demon, in the temple, and then it was offered for sale. On anyone who wanted to buy meat, they had to go to the temple and buy it. And the result was that the Christians had that difficulty in their mind, should we buy meat that has been offered and sacrificed to an idol? That was the second problem. Now the third problem was in connection with spiritual gifts.
And apparently those gifts that were exercised at Pentecost, the gift of tongues, the gift of miracles. Those early sign gifts were being exercised of karma and were being abused. Apparently there was a good deal of confusion in their public meetings. And the third question they had in the letter, they wanted to know how these gifts should be regulated, how they should be controlled. And then the final problem was in connection with the sacrificial offerings that were given by the church on the Lord's day. Now, the Apostle in writing, in replying to that letter, he uses one word, and that word is not concerning, not concerning, not concerning.
Now concerning. And you remember in chapter seven he starts off and replies to the four questions and he said, Now concerning the things of which he wrote unto me. So we know that written a letter. The things concerning which he wrote unto me. And in chapter seven he deals with that question of the Christian home. Now in chapter eight he uses the term again. nor concerning meat offered in sacrifice to an idol. And in chapters eight and nine and ten, he deals with that question. And then in the passage that we have read here tonight, in chapter twelve, he says, Nor concerning spiritual gift. And in chapters twelve, thirteen and fourteen, he tells us how a gift, the public exercise of spiritual gift in the church.
how it should be controlled and how it should be regulated. And then finally, in chapter sixteen, we get the term again now concerning the collection. So these are the four questions that they ask. And the main body of the epistle is the answer to the problems that they had at Corinth. But you know there are other problems that they hadn't mentioned at all. And the apostle, he says, he tells them about a report that he had received. They hadn't mentioned that in a letter. But he tells us about a female believer who had communicated to him other problems that they had in the assembly that they hadn't mentioned at all. And the first one was the fact that they were divided among themselves.
They had divided into four different parties. It had the tendency to develop into a division. And in the first four chapters of the letter, the Apostle deal with first things first. He recognizes the fact that if God's people there start to divide over leaders and over men, it could completely wreck the assembly testimony. And so in the first four chapters, He deals with that disunity among them, and he tells us how that could be regulated and how it could be resolved. Now, a second question was the fact that there was a man in their assembly fellowship who had been guilty of gross immorality.
Now, he tells us what that is in chapter five. He said, it is reported. It is commonly reported. That means to say it wasn't just something it was talked about in the local church itself. but it was a matter of conversation of the man on the street. He said, it is commonly reported that there is fornication among you. Now the word that he used for fornication there is fornia. He recognized the word in pornography. It is a general word. That means sexual sin of any type. And the word, it's not just so much fornication that he's speaking about here, but it was something even worse. And he tells us what it is.
He says, there's a man among you who is living with a woman that was the wife of his father, that one should have his father's wife. Now that is a very serious thing. They hadn't taken any action and discipline about it at all. Possibly they were boasting in the fact that they had shown their love to this man. And I hadn't exercised any discipline at all on that case. And the apostle has to take them to task for it. And he tells them the procedure that should take place when sins of that type raises their head in the church. Now, I think when we look at these things, we would say that the first epistle of the Corinthians, the whole teaching from beginning to end is correction.
Oh, he's pointing out some things among them. that never should lift its head among the assemblies of God's people. Right on the center of the Epistle, he tells us actually that some of them were intoxicated while they were sitting at the table of the Lord. I have been in all five continents in the world, and I've literally been in thousands of assemblies in every part of the world. And we know that God knows there's plenty of weakness and failure among us. We have no reason to be complacent. We have no reason to be proud. I believe we should be on our faces before God as the condition of God's people today.
But I have never, in my life, ever met an assembly anywhere where you had comparable conditions to what you find at car. The Apostle here, he's dealing with the most serious case, not only of immorality, but also of doctrinal trouble. There were some there who actually were denying the bodily resurrection of the believer. And the Apostle has to deal with that in chapter fifteen. So this is a very, very difficult thing to even speak about. And if we were to go into any detail about it, I think we would all feel most uncomfortable and we would feel, well, why talk about it?
Because we don't find that kind of thing amongst the day. The only reason I mention it is, that these four questions that the Apostle deals with, it shows an assembly that was very far astray, not only morally, but doctrinally as well. And yet, five times over in the Epistle, he uses a little word. He says, you're puffed up. You're conceited. You know, it's a word that means to blow up with hot air. Puffed up. Puffed up. pucked up. They were as proud as they could possibly be in spite of these conditions. And this was the assembly that was boasting of these spiritual gifts, these Pentecostal gifts.
They were boasting of these things that were among them. They were boasting of their knowledge and of their gifts. And yet at the same time, there were these very distressing conditions among them. Now, the only reason I mention that is to show the condition of the assembly and to show that these were the people who were professing to have these outstanding, distinguished gifts that were granted at Pentecost. Now the Apostle has to deal with that in this big chapter. And all I can do in a very short time is just look at some of the salient points in the chapter, in chapter twelve. We want the time to deal with the question of tongues tonight, in any detail.
I want to do that, God willing, tomorrow morning. In looking at chapter thirteen and chapter fourteen, where these gifts are regulated, and the control that's put upon them, I believe, if we recognize those controls today, it would rule out an awful lot of what is called spiritual gifts at the present time. Now, looking at the chapter itself, the Apostle, he opens up this question of spiritual gifts in this way. Now, concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles carried away under these dumb idols, even as you were led. Therefore, I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus anathema, and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
Now the test that the Apostle lays down here for all public speaking among the people of God is, how do we use the name? How do we use the name? And you know he's pointing back to something that happened in their old life in that pagan heathen environment before they became believers at Tahoe. In that pagan temple, behind the table, in the temple there at Corinth there was a demon. It was satanic power was behind it. And the Apostle points out that in their old unconverted life, they were controlled by demons. They were controlled by satanic power.
Because the religion with which they were associated, before they became believers at all, it was controlled by Satan. You know, every time I look at this, I think of some things that have happened in my life. The only time in Africa that I ever heard anyone speak in tongues, it was done under the power of a demon by a pagan witch doctor. And one could occupy a lot of time in talking about this the night. It's what Paul is referring to here. Remember your own life there in that pagan temple. You were carried away onto these dumb idols, even if you were laid. And that pagan environment here reminds them of some of the things that happened at that time.
I was sitting in a little village many years ago on a tributy of the Congo River, a river called the Kwango, on a way up in the north of Angola and a place where the gospel never was preached. I was sitting in a little palaver house, reading the scriptures and preaching the gospel. The people were gathered around my feet, men on one side and the women on the other, and the children sitting around a fire burning in the middle of the floor. There was an old man sitting on the other side of the fire, and I noticed when I was speaking, I was speaking on John three sixteen and giving the gospel to them. And while I was speaking, I noticed that the old man's eyes became glassy.
and it was perfectly obvious that he wasn't listening to anything that was being said. And then I could see the great beads of perspiration come out on his forehead and trickle down to his chin and drop on the floor. And then suddenly he started to speak. Now he wasn't using his natural voice. It was coming from the pit of his stomach. and he started to speak very slowly and as he did the whole air seemed charged with satanic power it was perfectly evident he was speaking under the power of adina and he was speaking in a language that none of us understood now in that area there are different languages we speak four of them and we didn't understand a single word that the man was saying I stood it just about as long as I possibly could, and as we listened to that man speaking under the power of a demon, I couldn't take it any longer, and I put out my hand, and I pledged them.
And I said, Friends, what are you doing? And I must have mentioned the Lord's name. I want to say this. I have never felt myself competent to cast out a demon. I've never felt that I had that power. I suppose that may be a lack of faith. But there's one thing that we have done under circumstances like that. We use the name of our Lord, the Lord Jesus. And we bow our heads in prayer. And you know the man, he suddenly snatched out of the condition he was in and he came back to his senses. He came back to normal. And I spoke to him. And I said, tell me, friend.
I said, what were you doing? Oh, he said, that's my familiar spirit. He said it was speaking to me, speaking through me. He said, that's not my voice at all, but a familiar spirit that comes and takes possession of me at the most unexpected times. I turned around to the people that were sitting there. I said, do you understand the language that man was speaking? Oh, no, the said, we don't. We don't understand that language. And yet at the same time, it was perfectly evident that it wasn't gibberish. It was a real language that the man was speaking. It was grammatically formed. but we couldn't understand a word that the man was saying. Now that was a pagan witch doctor. And he was speaking under the power of a demon, and he was speaking in tongues.
Now that's the danger here. And the Apostle is pointing back to their old life in that pagan temple there that was dedicated to Aphrodite. It was dedicated to the goddess of love. And in that temple, the Apostle tells himself in chapter ten that the satanic power behind that was demon power. That is the danger. And notice that the Apostle, he gives the test here of all public speaking. No man can say that Jesus is anathemat, speaking by the Spirit. And no one can say that Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. When anybody starts to speak, either in preaching the gospel or in the ministry of the word, I lift up my ear and I listen very carefully.
And always, if a man deliberately refrains from using the term Lord, I put a question mark after it. You know, people sometimes today who profess to have these outstanding spiritual gifts, it's always Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, dear Jesus and loving Jesus and precious Jesus, on terms of that kind, these are terms you will never find in Holy Scripture. These are adjectives that you will never find. attached to that name, the name of Jesus. Oh, thank God that is a precious name. I love that hymn. Jesus, the very thought of thee with sweetness fills my breath.
But sweeter far are thy face to see, and in thy presence rest. I love that name, the name of Jesus. But don't forget what Peter said on the day of Pentecost. Is it that same Jesus whom you crucified has been made both Lord and Christ? On every intelligent believer today, either in speaking to him in prayer or speaking about him will always use the term Lord. And that is a vital test of any public speaking. Either in the assembly or on the proclamation of the gospel. You know, even in the gospel. You remember what the Philippian jailer said. What must I do to be saved?
And what did the Apostle say? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. What did he say in Romans? Romans ten and nine. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord. And believe in thine heart that God has raised them from the dead, thou shalt be saved. I have listened sometimes to someone preaching for three-quarters of an hour, preaching the gospel. And never once did they use the term, Lord. Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ all the time. And whether it's deliberately done, or whether it is a lack of spiritual intelligence, I don't know.
I'm not the judge. But there's one thing I do know, that any man who's intelligent in the teaching of the Word of God, either in the proclamation of the Gospel or in prayer or in ministry, he will use that term, Lord. And beloved brethren and sisters here tonight, I would like to appeal to each one of us, either in prayer to Bavaria Reverend, in speaking to God Almighty, And not only that, but in using the term in connection with that one who sits at God's right hand, he is the Lord. He is the Lord Jesus. And please do give him his title, even speaking to him or speaking about him.
Now the test of all public speaking and the exercise of all spiritual gift is the name. Is it Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus? I was in Ethiopia some years ago. There was a young man commended from an assembly in England. He came out there. He was there just a short time. And he started speaking in tongues, exercising this gift. And it gave a good deal of concern to his fellow workers. I happened to be there at the time. And he asked me to sit in and the meeting with him. We sat down and we talked to him, and we decided to have a little time of prayer. The month had been about half a dozen of us, and we got down on our knees and prayed.
But when it came to the turn of this young man, never once did he use the term Lord. It was always dear Jesus and precious Jesus and loving Jesus. Never once did he use the term Lord. And after the meeting was over, I said to him, Brother, I said, I noticed something about your prayer. It disturbed me. He said, what was that? I said, you never used the term Lord. Oh, he said, I never noticed it. Well, I said, I did. And it's the test of all public speaking among the people of God. Do they use the term Lord? Or do they deliberately avoid it? Or else they don't know the difference between the position that Christ occupies today at God's right hand than he had when he was here on earth.
Or it was Jesus when he was here on earth, his human name. But today he's both Lord and Christ. And all public speaking... The test of all public speaking is whether they use the term Lord or not. Now, looking down the chapter, we come to the source of all spiritual gifts. The first paragraph here has to do with the sign. The sign manual of all public speaking is the name, the name Lord. And then in verse four, we get the triune God. We get God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. On all public speaking, the exercise of all spiritual gifts, the source of it is in the triune God.
Then coming down a little bit further, because our time is going so rapidly, we come down to verse twelve. For as the body is one, and of many members, and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is the Christ. For by one Spirit, were we all baptized into one body? Whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be blonde or free, and of an all made a drink into one Spirit. Now this is a great key verse in connection with the body of Christ. and as we've been trying to point out and emphasize that this took place at the birthday of the church. Notice it's inclusive.
By one spirit were ye all baptized into one body, and have been all made to drink into one spirit. Now the reason I emphasize the carnal condition of the Corinthians at the commencement is the fact that here, although they were carnal, and although they have these difficulties and problems among them, yes, As there were believers at all, they were put into the body of Christ, and there's no difference. Every believer, when they trust Christ, they're made a member of that body and they're linked to the risen head. And for some to say that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a subsequent experience to someone who has attained a certain measure of spiritual attainment, it certainly is not according to the word of God and what I said here.
For by one Spirit were you all baptized into one body and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. And then the Apostle uses three lovely illustrations connected with the exercise of gift in the body. You know, I think that the Apostle, when he uses these illustrations, he must have had a smile on his face. You know, there's something a little bit amusing about the illustrations that he uses. Notice that twice in the passage we read, God has set, God has set, God has set. On the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit of God, and putting each member in the body with a function to perform, If the Holy Spirit of God is responsible for that, God hath said, God hath said, God hath said.
And then we read here of these three illustrations. He said, As the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body. Is it therefore not of the body? And of the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I don't belong to the body. Is it therefore not of the body? What is the Apostle speaking about here? It's an imaginary conversation between Brother Hands and Brother Foot and between Brother Ear and Brother Eye. And you can imagine Brother Foot saying, you know, I'm not very prominent. There's Brother Hand and then look at him. He's one of the most prominent members of the body.
And I'm Brother Foot and I'm covered with a sock in a shoe and I'm in contact with a gram and nobody sees me. But look at Brother Hand. You know, there's one thing I always admire, and that is when somebody sits down at the piano or an organ and those fingers going up and down the keyboard, to me it's a marvelous piece of coordination. I never was able to do that. When I was young, I attempted it, but I had to give it up as a bad job long, long ago. I can't coordinate my fingers going up and down the keyboard, and while I enjoy it, yet at the same time, I'm not able to do it. But I'll think of Brother Han. and those fingers going up and down the keyboard and not only that.
But a typist or a secretary, I've seen them sometimes with a telephone over their shoulder, talking into the telephone and typing a hundred and twenty words a minute on the keyboard. And that is a wonderful piece of work. And wherever you see a good secretary with those fingers going up and down the keyboard and talking into the telephone at the same time, to me that's absolutely amazing. Brother Han, oh, he's a wonderful member of the body. But yet, Brother Foot has exactly the same number of bones. Have you ever studied anatomy or physiology? You know that your foot is almost exactly the same as your hand. The formation of your hand and your foot is practically identical.
The same number of bones as you have in your wrist, you have in your ankle. And the two members of the body are so much alike. But yet, one is on the ground and you don't see it at all, you don't see it functioning at all. It's covered up and your hand is prominent. And so Brother Foote says, because I'm not the hand, I don't belong to the body at all. Because I'm not able to do what Brother Hand is doing, I'm not going to do anything. Can you imagine two members of the body talking like that? And then Brother Ear and Brother Eye. You know, brother, here is the way around here at the side of your head. It's not a very beautiful member. Nothing very beautiful about it. And he's right away around here at the side of your head.
But brother, I. You know, all the beauty of a human incontinence is concentrated in the eyes. It's one of the most marvelous members of your body. Did you ever see a person who was blinded? I have a brother-in-law. and he lost his eyes on the war. He was hit by a mortar shell and his two eyes were completely destroyed. He came home and he had plastic surgery in Valley Forge Hospital. But to see that boy, you know, all the expression has gone out of his countenance. The beauty of a human consciousness is concentrated in the eye. But brother here, around here, he says, because I'm not the eye, I would like to be an eye, because I'm around here, there's nothing beautiful about me.
I don't belong to the body at all. And therefore, I'm not going to do anything. What does it all mean? There must be no jealousy in the body. You know, brother hand has a function to perform, and so has brother foot. Brother ear has a function to perform, and so has brother I. There must be no jealousy in the body because God is sovereign, and he has put you in the body to perform a certain function. It may be obscure, but it may be most important. I never knew I had a spleen until I went to Africa. And when I got a few doses of malaria, I soon found out I had a spleen. It's a very important member in your body, but I didn't even know it was there.
But you know, it has a function to perform. And every member of the body has an important function to perform. There must be no jealousy between the members of the body. And then the second illustration he uses, he said, 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 has pleased him. If you ever saw a great big ruling eye in the body, that would be a monstrosity. And the whole idea is this, that all the gifts in the body cannot be concentrated in one particular member.
The whole idea here is there must be no monopoly. No monopoly in the body of Christ. And then the third illustration he uses here. The first twenty. Nor there are many members, yet but one body. On the eye come and say unto the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary. The eye come and say to the hand, I don't need you. Neither come and head to the feet, I don't need you. You know, the part of the country where we live in Africa for many years was lion country. We don't often tell lion stories, but we've had many, many experiences with the king of beasts.
Sometimes we want to forget them. But in any case, quite often, we've got on the early morning, maybe about five o'clock with a string of chariots, and you go around the corner of a path, and there he's standing, the king of beasts. And he's standing right in the middle of the path, and of course we generally carry firearms. As you know, if you see him there, There's some people who have never met a lion face to face that say, all you need to do is look him in the eye and he's turned away and leave you. Now, people who talk like that have never met a lion. He's not afraid of you or he's not afraid of anybody. It's utter nonsense to say that he's turned away and leave you.
If he's looking for a meal, he's not afraid of you or anybody else. And if he's had a good meal, he'll just completely ignore you. He's a magnificent beast. But you know, you don't know whether he's hungry or whether he's not. And you have your gun. And you lift your gun, and there he's standing maybe about ten feet away. And you point your gun at him. And you put your finger, you put your hand on the trigger, and your eye, and your hand and your finger are all... tips and you point your gun at him. Now there's only one place if you hit him that he'll go down. You have to sever the spinal cord there and his neck and he'll both be paralyzed and you'll kill him and he'll drop.
But if you hit him in any other place, you better look at us. But any time that we have met a lion and generally if you're filling your hand, it's awfully hard to concentrate. And your nerves are all tense. But if you're fortunate, when you squeeze the trigger, you'll drop. But if you don't, and if you hit him in the wrong place, then Brother Foote, he comes into play then, and the hand cannot say to the eye, I don't need you. Neither can the head say to the feet, I don't, you need you. And Brother Foote, he comes into play, and you get out of that just as fast as you possibly can and get up the nearest tree, or if you don't, you better look out. Now, what does it all mean?
It just simply means the interdependency of every member of the body. My dear brother and sister in the meeting tonight, I need you. And I think you need me. We all need each other. There's no such thing as independence. Independence in the body of Christ. We all do need each other. And these three lovely illustrations that the Apostle uses here. I think in one way they are amusing, but at the same time they're most important. There must be no jealousy, there must be no monopoly, must be no one man monopolizing all the gifts in the body, a great big rolling eye, right in the center of the head a monstrosity.
Any man that would claim to have all the gifts, that is a monstrosity. And there must be no independency. We all need each other, and we all must work in harmony and love, on affection one for the other, exercising whatever God has given to us. And when we do that, it's for the building up of the body of Christ. My time is gone. And God willing, tomorrow night... I want to look at the practical application of this that we find at the end of this chapter, chapter thirteen and chapter fourteen, where we find the different gifts and how they are regulated and how they are exercised in the body of Christ. May God bless his word. Now shall we pray.
Our God and Father, again we thank thee for thy word tonight. O Lord, we pray that each one of us here tonight may know the function that we have to perform among nine dear people. We do thank you for the risen head, our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that he still controls every member of the body. And our Father, we do pray that we may work harmony and harmony, one with the other, onto the complete direction of that control. And we ask it be true that the Holy Spirit of God may lead and guide and direct among nine people. Bless thy word tonight. Bless thy dear people, we pray.
And we return to thee our heartfelt thanks. In the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.