Good Morning Beloved,
It is always an honor and a privilege
to join together with all of you
Together, we are the body of Christ
Heavenly Father,
You call us to be followers of Christ
may we not only follow Him
but may we not forgo our study of Your Word
may we always strive to become more like Him
Let us not be disillusioned by the world
tempted by the desires and allures of the flesh
partakers in it's ways
May we always hold fast to You
trusting in You and be reminded we are Your called
In Jesus' name
Amen
"For as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. So the body is not one part but many. If the foot should say, “Because I’m not a hand, I don’t belong to the body,” in spite of this it still belongs to the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I’m not an eye, I don’t belong to the body,” in spite of this it still belongs to the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed each one of the parts in one body just as He wanted. And if they were all the same part, where would the body be? Now there are many parts, yet one body.
So the eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” But even more, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are necessary. And those parts of the body that we think to be less honorable, we clothe these with greater honor, and our unpresentable parts have a better presentation. But our presentable parts have no need of clothing. Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable, so that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other. So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and individual members of it."
I Corinthians 12:12-27
Today's Message: The Body of Christ - Part 9
As I said previously, there is a lot of discussion regarding this particular chapter of 1 Corinthians.
And as you can see, it has taken us quite a while to get this far in our study. Now, I have not been going as quickly as some had hoped perhaps, but that's because I believe this all relative and as such, I believe it deserves a great bit of care and attention when teaching it. So I hope you haven't become, as I often have, disillusioned into thinking we're likely finishing it all today. (laughing)
Well, I suppose we had ought to get started, am I right?
I want you all to notice that teaching and preaching is a balanced ministry. It’s kind of a balance of evangelism and edification. It’s preaching is motivation, while the teaching is instruction. Not always an easy task, I might add. However, we must always remember, they go hand in hand.
I Corinthians 12:9, "To another, faith by the same Spirit." That brings us to a third gift. Which is the gift of faith. Now, I find this to be an interesting gift. Faith. Faith is one of the Spirit-given gifts, there's certainly no question about it. Verse 2 of chapter 13, "If I have the gift of prophecy
and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith.." Now, there we have, under the term "all faith." Many have asked, "What exactly is all faith?" Essentially, "all faith," is the same basic concept of the gift of faith. And, there are some, who have been given the gift of faith. Every believer has faith as a fruit of the Spirit. Isn't that true? We know, that one of the fruits of the Spirit is faith. So, as a believer in Christ, we all have it. And, whatever gift we have, we have the faith to operate it. So, we all have faith, but some have the gift of faith.
However, as I always say, just as with every gift, we all are to exercise it. at least to a some degree simply because we’re believers. But some have the gift of faith, and they rise a little higher in the body of Christ. They rise higher, in order to exercise that gift and share it with the other members of the body. And what a much needed gift that is. Wouldn't you agree? I mean, we all need to have faith, but there are times, when our "faith tank," is running a little low, and we need someone to encourage us, to grow in our faith. So, some have the gift of faith. That’s a gift.
And we can find much scriptural corroboration for this. I believe this could just as well be called the gift of prayer. It is not just faith in something for no reason. Why, "If anybody asks Me believing, you’ll receive." Our faith is what moves the hand of God. This could well be the gift of prayer.
I've found, some Christians just have a way of laying hold of God in faith and energizing the Spirit, it's a faith as strong as steel, I have been often told, "You have such strong faith," But, it really has little to do with any effort on my part. God did the work. I mean, it's easy to have great and strong faith, when God has never done anything to let you down.
I have known, many people that had the gift of faith, the gift of prayer. Some have the gift of faith. Some of you people have that gift. Exercise that gift because the rest of us desperately need you to do so.
And now we come to the gift of wisdom. That's the fourth gift. The gift is wisdom. And that’s in I Corinthians 12:8, "to one is given a message of wisdom through the Spirit." Wisdom is a spiritual gift. Now, there’s one guy I know, well not personally, hey, I'm not that old yet! Now Paul really had this gift. Paul had the gift of wisdom. We read back in I Corinthians 2. You know, Paul kept saying it over and over again. He said, "We speak wisdom. Not the wisdom of this age; we speak the wisdom of God." And I've got to say, that man really did have wisdom. He had the gift of wisdom and to a degree that few I've ever met has.
And just what you may say is wisdom. It is the ability to see deeply into the mysteries of God. That is the kind of insight that sees what the natural eye is unable to see, wisdom hears that which the natural ear cannot hear, and the natural heart can’t imagine. That’s the ability to take a simple phrase of Scripture, or one simple truth of God and dive into it and pull out of it all the spiritual truth and mystery that’s there. Paul had that unique gift. And that also the gift of wisdom is the ability to take that and apply it to life. That’s what wisdom is. I, like many, would love to be able to claim that particular gift, and at the same level as Paul had for my own, it is, however, unfortunate, that I cannot.
A simple definition of wisdom, is the application of spiritual truth. The ability to take spiritual truths and apply them to life. Dig deep, pull it out and then put it into practice. This was one of the requirements of deacons, that they be able to do this. Not only have insight into the mysteries of God and great spiritual truths, but have the ability to be able to apply it.
There are some people, who have the gift of wisdom. Then there are some, you wonder about. They can take a verse, and look at it and just say, "Well, isn’t that a nice verse. It means this. See?" And then, someone else comes along and rights an entire sermon series, literally volumes on that same verse. I know that I have had people ask me, "How did you get that out of that verse?" Some people have been given wisdom, and it has absolutely nothing to do with their human ability. It’s nothing they’ve done, and it’s certainly nothing they can, at least legitimately, take credit for. It’s a divine, Spirit-given gift, that allows a man to be able to see the mysteries of God and apply them practically to our human life.
Now we know, all believers are to have wisdom to some extent, aren’t they? Just like we’re to have faith, and just like we’re to teach, and just like we’re to preach, we’re to have wisdom. Colossians 1:9
You can take a sigh of relief, you don’t look these up, I’m going to just read them to you.
Colossians 1:9 says, "For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding."
James said, "Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him." So, in a sense, we all are to have wisdom, but some have the gift of wisdom. They rise above to minister to the body in a unique way. So, the gift of wisdom.
Five, the gift of knowledge; that’s in chapter 12, verse 8, also in I Corinthians, "to one is given a message of wisdom through the Spirit, to another, a message of knowledge by the same Spirit"
So, if wisdom is the application of truth, knowledge is just the facts and nothing more.
Knowledge is understanding the facts, that’s it. Scholarship in a human sense. And you know there are a lot of people like this. There are scholars who dig into the Scripture and they can just – they work in research. Some people spend their whole life studying ancient manuscripts and archeology and all kinds of scholarly problems and exegesis and eisegesis and history and all kinds of other things. And they spend their whole life, I heard one guy one time, he gave a whole big series of lectures on the doctrine of the homoousios. And it started on Monday, and Thursday we finally found out what he was talking about. He was going on and on and on, and nobody even knew what was happening.
There are people who are able, by the Spirit of God, to spend their life in searching out the things of God in terms of knowledge of facts. And boy, you want to know something? Upon the work of these men, we build our faith. Do you know that? This Bible didn’t drop out of heaven like this, friends. This was over the years and years and hours and lives of labor to determine which manuscripts were right, and the principles, and the research of scholars. And you want to know something? Sometimes those with the most knowledge have the least wisdom. The absent-minded professor: all the facts and runs into the walls and loses his papers and can’t apply any of it to his life.
You see, knowledge is the academic side of it, and some men have the gift of knowledge. Wisdom is the application side. Knowledge is academic; wisdom is application. Now, some Christians have both of those, praise God. Some have neither, and some have either one.
Now remember, none of these operates on human ability. Just because a man has an IQ of 165 doesn’t mean he has the gift of knowledge or the gift of wisdom. Some of the wisest people I’ve ever met didn’t have an IQ like that, but they had obviously the Spirit-given gift of wisdom. I can think of one illustration, perfect, graphic illustration of an individual like that.
These are Spirit gifts, they’re not intellectual, we can't obtain them by education; they only come about by the sovereign act of the Spirit. And they may or may not come to someone who’s considered to intellectual. Because a man has insights into Scripture, that hasn't anything to do with his IQ.
Allow me to just interject this thought. Even though there’s a gift of knowledge, we are all responsible to have knowledge, isn’t it true? I mean, aren’t we all responsible to study, to show ourselves approved unto God? I believe the apostle Paul said to the Colossians, "that by Him you were enriched in everything in all speech and all knowledge?" in I Corinthians 1:5. Then, in verse 30 of I Corinthians 1, verse 30, he says the same thing, "But it is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became God-given wisdom for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption."
In other words, both wisdom and knowledge are to belong to the believer. And even though we’re all to have these, there is a certain sense in which some are especially gifted and rise above to minister to the body, as in the case of every other gift.
Now, number Six, number six is the discernment of spirits. This gift is listed in I Corinthians 12:10. There are some who have the discerning of spirits. Because God wanted to protect the Church from false doctrine. God wanted to protect the body of Christ from people entering into the church and teaching the wrong thing. So, He gave certain members of the body the ability to discern who was right and who was wrong. So to protect the church, there are people that have the ability to discern spirits. To whether it’s of God or of Satan.
And because the body is continually facing strong opposition from a host of demonic spirits and because these demons always pose as messengers of light, attempting to counterfeit the gifts of the Spirit and zap the energy of the Church, God gave certain gifts so that men could discern what was of God and what was of Satan. And natural insight can’t determine it. And let me tell you something else, no board on earth, or no committee can determine this unless there is somebody there who has the gift of discerning spirits. So every body needs someone with this gift, the gift of discernment.
The apostle Peter had this gift, he had the gift of discerning spirits. Now, as a side note, I find that in itself to be kind of funny, because it just shows you how God doesn’t particularly care what your problems are, or what your physical aptitudes are. That He gives you the gift at His own free will through the Spirit. We can see this in Acts 5:3, "Then Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds from the field?"
You may be wondering, how did Peter even know that? I'm pretty sure, Ananias was wondering the same thing. He knew because he had the gift of discernment. He knew Satan had filled the heart of Ananias. Peter was able to discern the energy of the Spirit. And you want to know something else? Peter wasn’t really an expert in that particular area. If you turn back in your Bible, to Mark chapter 8, you’ll hear Jesus say to him, "Get behind Me, Satan, because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns, but man’s!" Now, I don't know if might have helped Peter to understand the problem a little, you know, be able to spot the problem, in the future. And that’s the same Peter who was possessed of Satan, who then received the gift from the Holy Spirit to discern when a man was filled with Satan or one of his demons. Is it just me, or is that kind of humorous? So, the point is here, that it really doesn’t have anything to do with our background or our natural aptitudes. Peter received that gift from the Holy Spirit and that was quite a switch from what happened in Mark chapter 8.
And yet, is it not true that every Christian, in some aspect, is to be discerning? Well, yes, it certainly is. If you read your Bible carefully, you’ll find these words in I John 4:1. "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." Every believer is suppose to do that. Each and every believer needs to be sensitive to spirits, whether they’re of God or of Satan. We all are to do that, so some of us are gifted in the area of discernment for the health of the body. Now do you understand how this works?
OK, so now we are on gift number seven. And with gift number seven, we see the love gifts. Now, I know many of you maybe thinking, "Aren't all the gifts supposed to operate in love?" Well, that’s the meaning of chapter 13. It doesn’t matter what gift you have, if it doesn’t operate in love, it’s fleshly. All gifts are to operate in love. They have to, they really do. Just look at 13:1-3. No matter what you do, if it isn’t in love, it’s worth nothing; it’s useless. If your gift isn’t operating in love, it doesn’t have any value. Why? Because the one thing Christ wants in the body is love. Love is what He wants. So, all the gifts must be ministered in love.
Now He shows three love gifts. Now although all the gifts are to be ministered in love, and love is the fruit of the Spirit, and we’re all supposed to love, but there are three distinct love gifts that rise above to minister to the body. The first one of those is the gift of showing mercy. Mercy, the gift of showing mercy. And we find that in Romans 12:8. Now really, if you want a simple translation, it means to do loving kindness; that’s what it does. It means the acts of loving kindness.
Now, we all know that some people just can’t preach a sermon, because they don't have the ability to articulate, at least not well, but they are able to do the much needed deeds of loving kindness. The gift of the Spirit that just manifests itself in compassionate kindness, and not on a human level. As it is Christ’s love manifested by the Holy Spirit through the believer to the body. It’s not just sympathy either. It’s not exercised out of a sense of duty; because it’s a Holy Spirit kind of love. And some people have that gift of compassionate love that causes them to do things of compassionate kindness to people. That is a beautiful gift, a really beautiful gift. And the world today needs more of that.
There are some people who have the greatest testimony in the world and without a single word being spoken. You know what I'm talking about? And the love of Jesus is able to be expressed without saying a thing. You say, “Well, then, does that mean if certain people have the gift of showing love, that the rest of us don’t have to?” No. Because I'm sure all of you can tell, I am blessed to have that gift, right? No, I wouldn't say that's one of my stronger gifts. I mean, I'm very loving and caring, but sometimes, I'm not very good at showing it, at least that what some people have told me. But obviously, they're wrong. (smiling)
But if we turn to James 2:15-17, it says this, "If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself."
Wow, isn’t that good? "Oh, you’re naked and don’t have anything to eat? Well, go in peace, and I sure hope you can find something." That’s real good, isn't it? Not so much!
So, in other words, the implication is pretty obvious. It certainly behooves you to be merciful. Why? Because if you offer a cup of cold water in His name, you’ve done as offering to Jesus. Paul, in writing to the Galatians kind of nailed down the same basic thing in Galatians chapter 6, verse 2, "Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." Isn't that a word for every Christian? Well, isn’t it?
And we find another one, in I Corinthians 12:25, here it says, "so that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other." You know, we are to care one for another. We are all to be showing kindness to one another. And then, there are some people who have the specific gift of kindness that ministers to the whole body. That's rich.
So next gift number eight, and that is love gift is exhortation. Exhortation is number eight in the list of gifts. And that’s in Romans 12:8 as well. Now, this gift is very important, and some of you might get the wrong impression when reading the word "exhortation." So just let me explain to you what that means. The Greek word is paraklēsis. And paraklēsis is the act done by the paráklētos, which means advocate or helper. So paráklētos means one who is called alongside to help someone else.
And the paraklēsis is the deed done by the one who comes alongside them to help. Exhortation is not standing in the pulpit browbeating people. In fact, it’s not even a public gift. The gift of exhortation is the ability to come alongside somebody and comfort them with love. That’s what exhortation is.
The paraklēsis gift is one of the most wonderful and precious of all the grace gifts. It’s the word from which we get the word “Paraclete” which is the Holy Spirit’s title, isn’t it? And In John 14, Jesus said, "If I go away I’ll send you another Comforter" or Paraclete, "one who will come alongside and help you." Even Jesus, I John 2:1, "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." The word "advocate" is paráklētos, one called alongside to help.
The Paraclete, in the power of the true Paraclete, which is the Holy Spirit, is used by the Spirit to come alongside members of the body to minister comfort, and consolation, and encouragement, and counsel, and exhortation. It is not a blustering bullying type of individual who stands in the pulpit, yelling at the congregation, he’s energized by the Spirit to come alongside a believer who needs comfort, or care, or ministry, or counsel, or love and just ministers to him in that way. That’s exhortation. Those of you who have the ability, given to you by the Spirit and in his energy, to comfort people. You have this incredible love and this desire to sympathize and share words of counsel and words of comfort. Some of you who are a counselor, who are obviously responding to this gift, and this is the gift that qualifies you most of all to exercise the counseling ministry within the body of Christ. The apostle Paul had it. Man, did he have it. If you really think about it, he had all of these gifts. That is demonstrated in I Thessalonians, that's one example that I can think of.
So let move on to gift number nine, which is the gift of giving. The gift of giving. There are some who have this gift, they give. And if I daresay, if I asked you all to write down your gift, many people would likely skip over this one, you know, kind of hoping and praying they didn’t really have it. Afraid they would be giving all they had away, I don't know. But, anyway, number nine is a gift of giving.
So this is a love gift, and this gift has direct reference to the material ministry: food, clothes, money, shelter, whatever it is that they desire to give. This is a Spirit-given gift. It is related to the Holy Spirit’s supervision of everything that you possess, and it doesn’t relate at all to how much you have. Did you know that some of the people who have the gift of giving are the poorest people around? I mean, really, it's true. And I’m fairly certain, that there are some other people, these people have the gift of giving but they do not exercise it. And no, the gift of giving doesn’t have anything to do with your checkbook. It has only to do with the sovereignty of the Spirit of God, who has given you the gift of giving. And this means that you come to the aid of those who are in need.
Now, it seems obvious to me, too, that along with the idea of the gift of giving, for some people there may come a surplus of funds as well so that they can be able to give to a great extent. That may be true as well. But the gift of giving is to provide for the needs of others who cannot supply their own needs.
You know, if our church and the Church of Jesus Christ was one, like it should be, we wouldn’t even have to be on welfare, folks. We ought to be taking care of our own. The New Testament says we are to care for the widows and the orphans. And we are to supply the needs of each other. There’s no reason for us to be all hooked up with governmental agencies except that we’ve gotten ourselves so messed up over the years that we could never untangle ourselves.
But ideally, and working toward that goal, we should be supplying the needs to each other. If those who had the gift of giving would release themselves and work that gift, in the energy of the Spirit, that could happen.
Gift number ten.
Now, allow me to say that every Christian is to give, I mean, we all understand that, right? Second Corinthians 9 says that. Let me read you that verse real quickly, II Corinthians 9:7 and 8 actually. It doesn’t let any of us miss the joy of giving. "Each person should do as he has decided in his heart—not reluctantly or out of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work." That’s kind of the point every believer, every believer. To give.
Now in number ten, there are two gifts, which are the actually the same: Government or ruling. Government is the term in I Corinthians, and ruling is the term in Romans 12. These are the gifts of administration. And they are bestowed to those who are in places of spiritual authority; those who are, for example, pastors, teacher, or evangelists. They are who would exercise this particular gift. In the place of authority, this would be a gift which would be necessary, and the Holy Spirit would give it.
In I Thessalonians chapter 5 and verses 12 and 13, "Now we ask you, brothers, to give recognition to those who labor among you and lead you in the Lord and admonish you, and to regard them very highly in love because of their work."
Some people are just in the place of being over some of the others, to care for them. Now, this is important, that's not to lord it over them or to demoralize them or beat them down, or to subject them, but to guide them, teach them and instruct them. So, I just want to say, that you better love your pastor. I mean, why wouldn't you all love me, right? Wait, don't answer that.
I Timothy chapter 5, it gives us another one. In verse 17, "The elders who are good leaders should be considered worthy of an ample honorarium, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.
So, basically all that I am, in the terms of the New Testament, is an elder. An elder, so I’m really no different than you are. I’m not Pastor Somebody. I’m just me, and I just happen to be an elder, and I also just happen to be appointed by God to teach. To teach the word and doctrine. And consequently, with that is great responsibility, with it also, by the great grace of God, is honor.
Now, I'll read you Hebrews 13, verse seven, so we can see this from sort of a different angle. Verse seven, "Remember your leaders who have spoken God’s word to you. As you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."
Then, "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you." That's verse seventeen, verse seventeen.
So by the grace of God, we may get the honor but we also are held accountable to God for the kind of leadership we give. "They must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you." Oh and don't just leave today without saying goodbye and shaking my hand, or any pastor, for that matter. In verse twenty-four it says, "Greet all your leaders and all the saints." Yeah, I know, that’s pushing it a bit too far, huh? So the one who is given oversight of the flock has the gift of government or ruling. And so you don't misread that, it's not like I'm getting a big head here, because there are many others. There are many ministries, there's missionary organizations, and executive positions with all different kinds of positions, where they would use this same gift.
Now, obviously, we can’t all have the gift of government and ruling. Just think about that, if we all did, there would be a whole lot of chiefs and no Indians. Imagine the problems with that scenario.
It would be chaos. Obviously, we just can’t have that. But in the same sense, doesn’t the Bible teach every believer to rule his own house and to rule his own spirit, and to subject his own body? So, in a sense, we are to keep the rule over this area, you see?
So now, the 11th gift, ministry or helps. Ministry or helps. Both of these mean service. These are gifts of assistance. The early deacons had this gift. The word "deacon" comes from the Greek word diakonia. Diakonia means service. That’s what it means. It literally means servants. Deacons means servants. They all had the gifts of ministry or helps. They’re helpers, workers, you know, the people who work hard behind the scenes. These are the people who break their backs, and nobody really knows they exist, except for those of us who desperately require their help to be able to do what we do. So if you don’t have the gift of teaching, one the people easily see and recognize, because maybe your work in some capacity, and you find the Spirit of God energizing you, and wonderful things are happening, and love is there, and a sense oneness is there. That’s the energy of the Spirit operating through these dedicated hard working people who have the special gift of helps or the gift of ministry.
And let me tell you something here, these people are a unknown, but very vital part of any ministry.
My point is, in some capacity, we all serve. None can say, "Well, I don’t really have the gift of service, so I don’t have to serve anything." Wrong! We all serve one another. In one way or another.
In Galatians chapter 5:13, it hit this point home pretty well, "For you were called to be free, brothers; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love."
We’re all called to serve, just in different area. But no less important, though, I am sure at times, it may feel that way. However, these people are especially grace gifted for the service of the body.
Well, those are all the permanent, edifying gifts. All eleven of them. I really want you to see the main point to everything I’ve said. So, here is the point to everything. I really hope that you don’t miss this. Every gift that we have talked about was part of the character of Jesus Christ. Every gift, all of the gifts we've learned about, was characteristic a of Jesus Christ. He possessed every single one of them in their fullness. Jesus had all of them without exception. He was a preacher. He was a teacher. He was faithful. He was wisdom personified. He was knowledge in the flesh. He was the discerner of spirits, He was mercy. He was the true Paraclete. He was the giver. He gave so much more than anybody has ever given. He was ruler and leader, and He was servant and minister. Every single one of these gifts was a characteristic of Jesus Christ.
In Closing....
Now, listen closely, this is important, because Jesus was all of those things, when we all come together, as the body, in unity, working together, in one spirit, we are collectively, a composite of Jesus Christ! I mean, doesn't that just blow your mind? Seriously, that is just beyond comprehension to me, together, it actually causes me to be emotional. Think about it, for a moment, actually meditate on it. Let that sink in... All of us, we make up a composite of Jesus for the world to see... Do you see how important it is we operate together? When Christ left this world, He formed a new body.
Christ in His body, is the Church.
Because, He was all those things. Together, so are we.
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Brian Monzon Ministries