Gooding, David: 1 - 1 Corinthians 12

Tonight, as I understand my brief, we, I am to lead our thinking on the chapters twelve, thirteen, and fourteen of First Corinthians. Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14. And as I say it, I can't really believe it. And I hope, uh, that you are among those who believe the age of miracles is not past. Because one chapter, as you know, would be a great temptation to me. Three in a row, uh, you'll see, to get through them in forty minutes or just a half an hour, I mean, obviously would require a miracle. I hope you do still believe in miracles, though by the end of the evening you may be disappointed. More seriously, we shall all of us need more than natural grace, can't we? Because these chapters deal with topics that go deep into the hearts of believers, over which in these past years there has been much difference of thought and difference of practice. And therefore, doubtless, when I speak, some of you I shall please in some things, and in other things I shall displease you enormously. Do you see? And therefore we shall all of us need grace, uh, to bear with one another. And above all, I shall need grace to remember the exhortation that is given us in chapter thirteen. More than human grace, lest my remarks become merely sounding brass and clanging cymbal. Now, what I want to do to try and fulfill my brief tonight may at first sight appear very selfish. I'm not going to invite general discussion. Three chapters in a half an hour is big enough. Three chapters plus discussion in a half an hour would be, uh, tempting I don't know what. Dorsae. And why I don't propose to invite discussion is not because the discussion isn't valuable, nor because I suppose that I must be right in everything I say and need no discussion. That's far from being the truth, but because it seems to me it is helpful in dealing with these topics, first of all, to get the bird's eye view of them. It is so easy to come to these chapters, fasten on a verse or two verses, and then go off at a tangent and discuss all kinds of things and get it all muddled up. Whereas to watch the apostle dealing with these problems is in itself a very instructive thing. Because by the time we're finished, we shall see that chapters twelve, thirteen, and fourteen form one long, coherent argument. And being a spiritual argument, it is balanced. As we read chapter twelve, we shall find its general thrust lying on one side, namely that you cannot say of any gift that you don't need it. You cannot say of any member of the body you are not necessary. But when we come to chapter fourteen, we shall find the opposite emphasis that balances that, namely that some gifts are more important than others, and that we are to seek some and not others. So that we need to see all three chapters together, and the many different arguments that Paul brings to bear upon the topic. So that what I hope to do is to point out those different arguments and observations as best I can, and as we proceed, show how they follow one another and what is their general drift. Argument number one is not really an argument, but a basic statement. It comes in chapter twelve, verses one, two, and three. It's a something that we must know, we must be aware of as background knowledge when we come to think about this matter of spiritual gift. Now, concerning spirituals, whatever you translate it, spiritual people or spiritual gifts, the Greek leaves it open. Brethren, I would not have you ignorant. You know, and we do have to keep this background knowledge in our front of our minds. When you were Gentiles, you were led away unto those dumb idols, howsoever you might be led. Notice the word led away. In the paganism in which many of these Greek Cor- Corinthians had been brought up, they already knew the power of ecstatic religion. Notice the form of it. You were carried away. You were led away. It is a basic thing that we should contemplate, that ecstatic experience is not confined to Christianity. It isn't so today, of course. If you go to the Muslim world, you will find among the Sufis a great deal of ecstatic experience and visions and trances and, uh, dancing in the spirit and whatnot among the Sufis. And in Greece, there were religions like the worship of Bacchus, much patronized by women and led by young men, where at certain times they would go up the mountains and get back to nature, so to speak, and end- and enjoy, if that's a word, various forms of ecstatic experience. They would sing as a group in most wonderful, beautiful musical sounds, with nobody leading, but somehow managing to sing in harmony, what if it happened today would be called singing in the spirit in some quarters. That is not peculiar to Christianity, and Paul asks the believers to remember that even in their unconverted days, uh, they had been, some of them at least, carried away by this kind of religious experience. If ecstatic religion is to be found in other religions, and not just in Christianity, ecstatic experience, how would you basically decide between the two? How would you recognize the true thing from the false thing? That is absolutely basic, particularly in pagan societies. And the answer is given in verse three. You'll know the difference, among other tests, by the doctrinal content of what is said when people are saying things under the power of whatever power it is. I give you to understand that no man speaking in the Spirit of God says Jesus is anathema, and no man can say Jesus is Lord but in the Holy Spirit. Now, obviously, any old body, the worst old atheist under the sun, can, if he want to, say, uh, Jesus is Lord and not mean a thing to him. Paul isn't talking of what people might say in their karma moments. He's talking about what people say when they come under the influence of some kind of spirit and make ecstatic utterances, such as prophecies or speaking in tongues. When they, uh, engage in this ecstatic experience, how would you know the difference between what is true and what is false? You will know it by the doctrinal content of what they are saying. If somebody under the power of whatever spirit it is confesses that Jesus is Lord. Then you will know it is of the Holy Spirit. But their experience also would tell us that you must be very careful. Many evil spirits are prepared to say Jesus is Lord, meaning a Lord. Who are to question them more deeply whether Jesus is the only Lord. They, of course, would not confess it. If anybody speaking under the influence of some ecstatic impulse says Jesus is a curse, that is not of God. And you will see how basic and fundamentally important this is, because as presently we shall find, gift is primarily given for the communication of God's truth, to comfort and to edification. What is conveyed doctrinally is exceedingly important, of course. That is why eventually, when it comes to the matter that Paul discusses so much at length in chapter fourteen, speaking in tongues, he insists that in the church you must be certain of what is being said. The only way you could possibly decide whether it was of God or not is by knowing what is being said at that particular moment. We shall come to see that even when it is a case of prophecy, you don't just accept what is said because the man says, look, I'm a prophet, and thus saith the Lord, and it is so. Even when the prophets have spoken, the rest will be called upon to use their spiritual judgment, and in the spirit of Christian charity, but and grace, but firmness, criticize what is said. Is it according to the faith? And if that is true of prophecies, it will be even more true of speaking in tongues. You must ever insist to know what is being said publicly. That is exceedingly important. It is basic, as you'll see, from, uh, Paul's observations. Second series of observations, from verse four onward, down to verse eleven. There are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit. There are diversities of ministrations and the same Lord. And there are diversities of workings, but the same God who worketh all things in all. So we notice that all the Trinity is involved in this matter of gifts. And secondly, we notice that there is not just one gift, but there are diversities of gifts. Some people will content themselves with the evangelist. To their mind, he's the supreme man. It's good to, uh, to, to praise the evangelists, how vastly important they are. It's not the only gift. There are other gifts. There are diversities that we must accept, you'll say. And the diversity itself is not a bad thing. It's a good thing, of course, and stems from the Holy Trinity. Secondly, from verse uh seven to eleven: but to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit with all. For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith in the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healings in the one Spirit, and to another workings of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another discerning of spirits, and to another different kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh the one in the same spirit, dividing to each one severally, even as he will. And now the second point is being made. Not only are there diversities of gifts in general, but secondly, not everybody has the same gift. You'll see. It could have been, couldn't it, that there were diversities of gifts, all sorts of different gifts, but, um, one person had the lot and the next person didn't have any. So the second set of verses, you'll see, verse seven to eleven, is making the point that not only are there different gifts coming from the Trinity, but the Holy Spirit distributes them in such fashion that different people have different gifts. Notice then the sovereignty of the Holy Trinity in these things, both in the fact that the, the Trinity is involved in the dis- the work, the giving and the working, the same spirit, the same Lord, the same God who worketh all things in all. You will see. We're not to suppose that because a man is a powerful evangelist, he is somehow, uh, a a better favorite of God than the man who is a prophet, for instance. It's the same God working behind them. The man who is neither prophet nor evangelist, but a help in the church or given to the governing of the church. He's no less energized by God than the man who might be used of God to do a miraculous healing. Why is it important to get hold of that notion? Well, it has been always important because throughout the ages and in these last twenty years, uh, people have inclined to think, haven't they, that somehow supernatural gifts, as they call it, are more important. I once was in a place, I even now forget where it was, so it can't have been all that important, can it? Where this matter was being urged, and I was being urged to accept a supernatural gift. I said, tell me, if I'm anything at all, I'm not much, but if I'm anything, perhaps I would be a teacher. If I came to your assembly, would I be regarded as charismatic? They said, oh no. Oh. Why not? Because we're talking about charismata. One of the words for gift is charisma. It simply means something that is given you. There are diversities of gift, and the good elder in the church, godly man who is leading the church and spends hours at it, and a lot of it is humble pedestrian work, routine work, but if he's a God-appointed elder, he is as much charismatic. It's as much a supernatural gift as a man who could speak in tongues, and as we shall see in chapter fourteen, it's far more useful anyway. The idea that some gifts are charismatic and some gifts are not charismatic is quite false. The gift of a pedestrian teacher, you'll find that harder to believe, but the gifts of a pedestrian teacher, if it's a genuine gift from God, is charismatic, of course. And if it is not being given by the Holy Spirit nor empowered by the Holy Spirit, it is useless. Yeah. That is a very important point to get hold of, isn't it? We shouldn't allow folks to get away with the notion that only some gifts are charismatic, because it will give us a wrong attitude to spiritual gifts. Evangelist, pastor and teacher, prophet, the, uh, elder in the church, governor, two or three helps. These all are God-given gifts by the same God and worked and energized by the same spirit. Because it's sometimes difficult for us to recognize that what you might call the routine things are worked by God, and we're enticed by what seems spectacular and miraculous. We get our values wrong and our sense of the supernatural wrong. Secondly, not everybody has the same gift, and what determines it? Well, ultimately, of course, verse eleven, all these worketh the one of the same spirit, dividing to each one severally as he will. To my little heart, that's a tremendous comfort. The sovereignty of the Holy Spirit. I know you're going to tell me that in a later verse, Paul tells the church at Corinth to seek this gift and the other gift, but ultimately, we shall bow, shall we not, even in our prayers and seekings, to the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit. He distributes as he will. We would be unwise to distress people, shouldn't we? Urging them to seek this or seek that, that the Holy Spirit never intends to give them. We would be much more powerful people if we really believed in our hearts that what I am, I am by the grace of the Lord Jesus. He has chosen me. He has put me in the body. He, in his sovereign pleasure, has put me in the body where he wants me to be in the body. And if I am what he has made me, not trying to be something else, if I am what he's made me, I am pleasing the sovereign Holy Spirit. In that conviction, I shall be more likely to be a powerful worker in the place that the Lord has put me. And that is the, uh, uh, thrust now of the the rest of this chapter. It all say from verse twelve onwards, that there are diversities of gifts, that not everybody has the same gift, and Paul uses in verse twelve an analogy to show us how that is. For as the body, that is the physical body, is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ. Thus we should translate the end of that verse. So first of all, the analogy of the human body. As you have often observed, you'll say the human body is a union- unity, isn't it? And yet it is a plurality. Any human body has got many members, and yet it is one body. To have a body at all, you've got to have many members, haven't you? That's what you mean by a body. A body is a s- something singular, one body. But to be a body, it wouldn't be a body if it had just a chest and no head, would it, and no legs and no arms and and just a torso. You'd hardly call that a body, would you? To be a body, it's got to have many members. On the other hand, having many members, uh, we'll see, only adds up to one body. If that is so in the physical world, it is even more so in the spiritual world. So also is, notice the question, the Christ. Not simply Jesus, but uh, the Christ. What do you mean by the Christ? By the Christ, you mean in this context the head of the body, which is the Lord himself, and all his members forming the one great body which scripture calls the Christ. How does that come about? How is this great unity achieved? Well, verse th- uh, thirteen is going to tell us how it's been achieved. For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free, and were all made to drink of one spirit. So now we come across a verse much quoted and a phrase much used, and that has been understood in many different ways, you see, so that very often people, when they're discussing it, talk at cross purposes. They use the phrase baptized in the Spirit, but person one means one thing by it, and person two understands it quite differently. So while they talk, they never get a meeting of minds because they all, uh, are taking it to mean different things. How should we decide what it means? Well, what we want to do now is, whatever our theories are in general, to see this thing in its context, and we shall have to think, we'll say. Well, you will notice there is not just one action, but two in the verse. Baptized in one spirit, made to drink of one spirit. Not one, but two aspects of the Holy Spirit's work. Secondly, you will notice that Paul informs the Corinthians that all of them have experienced both these things. All have been baptized, and all have been made to drink. The next thing to get hold of. Not some of the believers have been baptized in the Spirit and some haven't, or some believers have been made to drink of one spirit and some haven't, but all of them, and they'll forgive me because they're now in glory, though I do remember that I shall have to meet them one day, so I have to guard my words. But from this epistle, you would get the impression, wouldn't you, that some of them were a little comical as believers. Huh? Ah, they weren't all the while living as really spiritual men and women should live, were they? And Paul has to tell them that many of them, in spite of their gifts, were downright carnal. And so severe are some of his rebukes. They didn't like it then, but they all agree with him now anyway. Uh, Julesy, and ha, ha, Julesy. While they were so full of strife and envy and jealousy and biting one another and proud and boastful and so forth and so on, yet Paul can say to them, they have all been baptized in one spirit. Notice there is no exhortation you ought to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but rather you have been, and you have all been made to drink. And the next thing we shall observe is this, surely, that somehow this being baptized in one's spirit and being made to drink of one's spirit has got something to do with the body, hasn't it? What's it got to do with the body? You've been baptized in one spirit into one body. What's the baptism of the spirit got to do with the one body? Well, of course, it has to do with it at the very fundamental sense. Being baptized in the spirit and being made to drink of the spirit is the, is the very means by which you got into the body, if you're in the body of Christ at all. For you observe this, uh, won't you? No glass of water, so I can't demonstrate it. But, uh, here are two complementary experiences. Let's start with water, like John the Baptist did. If you were baptized in water, or when you were, you were put into the water. That you go in the water, isn't it? Baptized in one spirit, you go into the spirit. John baptized in water by putting people in the water. Christ baptizes in the spirit by putting people in the spirit. That's clear enough. So when you're baptized in water, you go into the water. When you're baptized in the spirit, you go into the Holy Spirit. When you are made to drink of water, the water goes into you, yes? Baptize in water, you into the water. Made to drink of the water, the water in you. You in the water and the water in you. There are two sides to it, aren't there? Do you know how a fish survives? You will have all observed it, won't you? If you take out a fish, beautiful fish, lovely red salmon when you shouldn't, and you put it on the bank, it oh, gasps and dies. Why? Because for a fish to live, two things have got to happen. The water has got to be in the fish, and the fish has got to be in the water. Hasn't it? Have you never seen a fish in the water and as dead as a doornail? To be a live fish, you've got to be in the water and the water in you. Actually, to be a live human being, you've got to be in the air and the air in you. Haven't you? If you're in the air, but no air in your lungs, you are in the air, but the air isn't in you, you go black in the face. You cease to be, of course. I could prove it to you, but I won't. I strangle you, and then you'll find out. And it's no good if the air is in you, but you're not in the air. Take a deep breath, launch out into space where there is no air, and you'll go pop. Well, no good having air in your lungs if you are not at the same time in the air. You've got to have both. That's the secret of this body hanging together. If the oxygen that is in the air outside and comes into my lungs doesn't penetrate to the bottom of my finger, my finger will go black and fall off with gangrene. You must have it simultaneously. To have a body, it's got to be in the air and the air in it. And to have the body of Christ, to be a member of the body of Christ, you must be in the Spirit and the Spirit in you. Simultaneously. Thank God for the assurance that every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is in the body of Christ. How did they get there? By that double thing. You were baptized in the Spirit, for when you trusted Christ, he put you in the Spirit, and the Spirit is in you. He gave you to drink of his Spirit. If either of those things weren't true, you wouldn't be in the body at all. That is why, if I may say so, it is enormously important for us to be careful about our biblical technical terms. We're not going to make people offenders for words, are we? Folks who want to encourage us to be more spiritual, we know what they mean, and goodness knows we need the exhortation to be more spiritually minded, don't we? We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We need more and more to be led of the Holy Spirit. We need, in our church gatherings, to recognize more the sovereignty of the presidency of the Holy Spirit in the gathering o- of God's people. But you see, when some people use the term baptized in the Spirit for being filled with the Spirit, it is a pity, isn't it really? Because not only does it confuse things, but it confuses what lies at the very heart of the gospel. You're not in the body of Christ at all unless you have been baptized in the Spirit and have been made to drink of the Spirit. And to tell true believers that they haven't been baptized in the Spirit could be, couldn't it, the beginnings of a dangerous thing. For what you are, in biblical terminology, saying is that they're not really in the body at all. In all our desire to live spiritual lives, and some of us, and I in particular, am very lax in that regard, but in all our desires, we mustn't forget the basic gospel of our salvation. Every believer has been baptized in the Spirit and has been made to drink of the Spirit and is in the body of Christ. That's basic gospel. Because that is so, uh, now Paul is going to, to, to make some, uh, deductions from that and some exhortations. Verse fourteen, uh, you'll see down to verse twenty. For the body is not one member, uh, but many. If the foot shall say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, it is not therefore not of the body. And if the ear shall say, because I am not the eye, I am not the body, it is not 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 has God set the members, each one of them, in the body, even as it has pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now there are many members, but one body. So here Paul deals with what you might call the one who feels he's inferior. You'll see. I don't know about you. Uh, from verse twenty one onwards, he's going to deal with those who feel they're rather superior. You'll see. Two groups, very often, uh, people divide themselves into, those with inferiority complexes and those with superiority complexes. Uh, and those who feel they're no good, and those who feel that there's never been anything like them since the flood, we'll say, are marvelous, and they're all dear brothers and sisters in Christ, you see. We have to put up with each other, don't we? And our different personalities and temperaments, you'll see. And here are two groups. The people that feel inferior, people that feel inferior. Uh, take, uh, the foot, and he looks around and, uh, not being able to look down very far, he looks up, and you'll see he looks at the hand, you'll see. Uh, and he says, well, I can see all the things that the hand does and how a hand is much more be- able and dexterous than a foot. You try writing with your big toe and you'll find out. Uh, the hand is so much more manipulative, can do such more and more things than the foot, uh, and the foot decides, well, I'm not a hand, therefore I'm not of the body. This is the inferiority complex. I don't know if you suffer from that. I should think I do, perhaps. It's a great comfort for me to observe the mistake the dear old foot is making. Uh, how did you get into the body? Let me ask you that, to come straight to the application. Mm. How does a foot get into a physical body? Is it so that there's a stock of feet down in the supermarket? Ha! All kinds of feet, bony feet, chubby feet, flat feet, arch feet, all kinds of feet. And that the dear maker of the body comes along and says, now I'm building a body and I'd like a foot here. Now, which of all these is the best foot? And you have to be a very good foot in order to get into the body. And if you were not a foot but an eye, you'd have a bigger chance of getting into the body. Is that how it came about? Is that how it comes about with the physical body? You have to be a good foot to get into the body. Better still, you've got a bigger chance of getting into the body if you are an eye. You say, don't be so silly. You got it all the wrong way. You get in the body first, and then you discover you are a foot. You didn't get in because you were a good foot, did you? Here's the foot. He's saying something silly, but he doesn't realize it. Well, feet do sometimes. And he's saying, you see, because I'm not of the eye, because I'm not the eye and because I'm not the hand, I'm not in the body. Well, how did he manage to be a foot if he wasn't in the body to start with? He had to be in the body first before he could be a foot, didn't he? And this is a very important thing, you know, because sometimes people confuse their gift with their salvation. They do indeed. I know men, young men particularly, so enamored to, so wanting to get a gift. Why? Because they feel that if they got a gift, that would prove to them, after all, that they were saved. And that's got it all the wrong way round, hasn't it? We don't get assurance that we're in the body because of our gift, it's the other way round. We get put in the body by our great Lord and Savior at our conversion. It's given us, and we're in the body. And being in the body, we presently discover whether we are foot, hand, eye, or what we are. Yeah. And you say, I don't feel much good. Don't you really? How did you come to be able to feel anything at all? Who is this I that you talk about? I don't feel much good. Who is this I? Well, you say it's me. And how did you come to be me? Did you make yourself or something? No, the I that is talking, I don't feel much good. Ultimately, you are a creature of God, aren't you? God made you. And if you have trusted the Christ, the same God that made you, when you trusted Christ, God put you in the body even as it pleased him. You wouldn't be able to feel I'm not much good unless, first of all, he made you, would you? That's the way round it is. So I say to myself, I don't feel very good. Look at that splendid and successful, gifted man over there. Wish I were like him. I don't feel much good. And then I have to stop and think that this I that doesn't feel much good is the creation of God, now redeemed by Christ and put in the body as it pleased him. A cure, you know, uh, uh, uh, the ear shall say, because I am not the eye, I am not the body, it's talking nonsense, isn't it? Because it's already an ear, because it's in the body. It's already in the body. And even if it isn't an eye, it's already in the body. How did it get in the body? By being a good eye? No. Got in the body because God put it in the body. Verse eighteen: but now hath God set the members, each one of them, in the body, even as it pleased him. Yes. And then I sit back in my seat and I say, fancy that. I'm in this body simply because I trusted Christ, and how did I come to have the gift I have, if I've got any gift, foot, ankle, toenail, or what? Well, ultimately, I'm, I'm what I am because it pleased God. And then I'm lifted up with, with a feeling of temporary superiority. Not, well, not superiority, but equality. And I say, look at Billy Graham. He only has to open his mouth and say half a syllable, and a hundred get converted. And the time he's at the end of his sermon, a thousand or two got converted, and the man has led more than a million to Christ. Who, I'm not much good, you'll see. And I said, have a minute. He's an evangelist, isn't he? Hm? And what was he put in the body for? And how? And what decided it? Well, it pleased God that he should be an evangelist. Marvelous. And I say, I'm a half of a toenail. And how did I come to be a half of a toenail? Well, that pleased God as well. Really? Oh, I'm as good as Billy Graham then, because aha, see that. He pleases God by being an evangelist, but I please God by being my half a toenail, or whatever you'll say. That's not bad going, is it? On that level, we're all equal. It pleases God, my brother, my sister, that you are where he's put you in the body. There is no greater joy in the whole of creation than pleasing God. It's the highest significance that anybody could have, that we please God. There was a BBC program at one stage, and it was a funny program. It said, if you weren't you, who would you like to be? And I pondered it a lot, and I decided if I weren't me, I should be myself. Why would I want to be anybody else? Because in the end I could only please God anyway. So I prefer to be me, because I'm me, because it pleased God to make me, me. Oh, not my sinning, but my position in the body and my gift. Oh, what a gospel this is, isn't it? To calm our nerves and give us that Christian poise and confidence that however little our gift may be, it's put there by God, and we please him by being what he's made us to be. Then, uh, Joel say, uh, there is the other consideration, what an absurd body it would be if instead of having feet and, uh, and, uh, hands, you only had hands. Be a proper body, would it? Where would the body be if every member was a, was a hand? Be grotesque. And you'll say if every m- uh, member, the eye were the only member there was, well, it wouldn't be absurd, it would be grotesque. We've got to be different in order to be a body. Then, on the other hand, we'll come to the other side, verse twenty one onwards. And now Paul has a word with those who feel themselves superior, as distinct from the inferior lot. They'll say, those who feel superior, I don't know whether you ever succumb to that at all. Uh, I'll just say most people belong to the first section, in my experience. Uh, some belong to the second, I suppose. You'll see, verse twenty one: the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee, or again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Marvelous gift as the eye is, far more intricate mechanism than the foot. You'll see, many people would prefer to lose a hand rather than to lose an eye. The marvelous ins- uh, thing is that I is, it cannot, well, if it does, it's being silly. It cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee, or the head to the feet, I have no need of you. The notion that I don't need other people's gift is, of course, in the first place, stupid, and then it could be proud of, couldn't it, and and silly self-confidence. We need all the gifts. And the notion that there are gifts that we don't need and we could dispose of is quite folly, isn't it? So now we're coming around to the other side, to people who think that because they've got some very big gift that seems to them to be marvelous, perhaps is marvelous, that they don't need others. But they do, you will see. In fact, if you look at the physical body, says God, and you take human instinct, uh, nay, much rather those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary. I got some very curious, uh, organs inside me, according to all reports, and when they X-ray me, they stand back with horror. But you'll see they aren't, I got pleased when I noticed that word. It's not merely those that are, uh, seem to be more feeble or, or are more feeble, are put up with. Are necessary. I said to myself, is that so? And is that really so? I'm necessary, one of the more feeble, but I'm necessary. I said, that's magnificent. Fancy that. I nearly did the polka. I'm actually necessary. Who would have ever have guessed it? Can't see how, why, but there what it says. I'm necessary. My dear brother, my sister, if you are Christ's, heaven wouldn't be complete without you. You are necessary. Why do you think God gave the blood of his son for you? If you're not necessary. Oh, what marvelous gospel it is, isn't it? Necessary. And when it comes to instinct on those parts of our body that are rather uncomely, we do our best to hide them up, don't you, or bestow more comeliness upon them, you'll see, so that there should be no schism in the body. Nature teaches us that, you'll see. So it is therefore also, verse thirty twenty six, uh not only that you can't say that you don't need the other gift, even the most feeble are necessary, and should and are surrounded with the more honor, but now there's a mutual s- uh, mutuality in suffering. Whether one member suffereth, all members suffer with it. There is a community of life. We don't all realize that in our pleasures, when the stomach is enjoying, uh, you'll see, its five-course dinner in a five-star hotel, if it ever does. Uh, you'll see it's inclined to forget the feet. We'll say under the table, what has feet got to do with enjoying a good supper? But you let the big toe be full of rheumatism, uh, and then the stomach won't even enjoy the dinner. You'll see. Uh, is it not so? There is in the body a common life and therefore a, a common sensitivity to pain, such that when one member suffers, all suffer with it. Uh, uh, so we are, uh, all, uh, you'll say, and if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Let me just remark, President, I'm now going to close. Uh, uh, sometimes when people have been working hard for the Lord and they haven't seen many conversions, and then they hear that God has blessed remarkably in other countries, the tendency is to get a bit discouraged and say, well, I've been working for the Lord hard, why don't I see the blessing that the Lord gives? Well, my brother, I understand exactly how you feel. I preach sermons, and nobody gets converted, and other folks take my sermons, some, I won't tell you who they are, and they preach them, and they get folks converted. Well, it's in the Lord's sovereign hand, isn't he, butho? Who's it matter in the end who does the preaching when folks get converted? Uh, you'll see. But, uh, yes, I understand the the feeling. But if we're in the same body, then the success of the gospel in Belgium is ours, isn't it? You say, how are we in the same body, aren't you? And if we have had a part therein in praying for it and sustaining them, and thus by prayer, that's by gift, and that's by presence, we are part of the same body. And if the Lord honors them by seeing great fruit in their work, we share the honor, don't we? The body is not in competition. The members aren't in competition with one another. Now, this is not the world. This is the church. It is the Christian body. There isn't, or there shouldn't be, competition. All the members rejoice if one member is honored. That said, however, you'll come to the end of the chapter, and there's going to be a changeover. Every member is necessary. But now Paul is beginning to change the music, and he'll come down on the other side of things later on. Here comes the change. God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diverse kinds of tongues. Are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, are all workers of miracles? And the answer to all those questions is no. So let me go through it again. Let's notice what is said. God has set some in the church, first apostles, yes? Are all apostles? Well, of course not. Are all prophets? No. Are all teachers? No. Are all workers of miracles? Of course not. Have all gifts of healing? No. Now notice he doesn't say have all the gift of tongues. He says do all speak in tongues? The answer, my dear brethren, is no. It's a pity if in some quarters believers have been encouraged that everybody ought to speak in tongues. And scripture says the opposite. Do all speak in tongues? No. No, no. Uh, well, do all interpret? Well, no, of course not. So there are different gifts. But desire earnestly the greater gift, and you'll now notice the change. Every gift is necessary. So in Paul's day, that would have involved the tongues, wouldn't it? All were necessary, but there are some greater than others. In what sense, you say, are some gifts greater than other gifts? Well, look at the body. Is your heart necessary? You say, of course it is. Ah. Is your little finger necessary? You say, of course it is. It's got a tremendous grip, the little finger, hasn't it? More than any other finger on the old hand, the little finger, ooh, oh, what, even a baby's little finger has got a tremendous grip, hasn't he? Yes, it is necessary. Oh. Uh, could you live without your heart? Oh no, you say, no, no, couldn't live without your heart. Could you live without your little finger? You say, if I had to, I could. Oh. So some gifts are greater than others. That's no good hiding the fact from that, is it? You know, I shall have to admit forthwith I'm not Billy Graham. He's got a far greater gift than I've got. What ho. And you know, because I'm secure in my position in the body of Christ, I can afford to be like that and say, yes, of course, most believers have got a bigger gift than I've got. Of course they have. If it were a question and you had to decide it, and you were on a boat and it was about to go down, and the lifeboat was full, and there was Billy Graham and you for the one place, who would you give it to? Would you say I can go home to glory, nobody would miss me. Say Billy Graham. Yeah, wouldn't you? Why? Because you recognize it is a bigger, greater, and in that sense, therefore more important gift. How would you measure what is more important? Well, that's going to be the subject of chapter fourteen, where we shall be told how and why it is that some are more important and how we judge what are more important, so that we can then seek what is more important.