In this sermon, Pastor Joe Babij begins examining 1 Corinthians 12:12-20 to show how all Christians are called to minister and not simply to wait for someone else to do so. In Part 1, Pastor Babij explains the church-as-Christ’s-body metaphor as well as the first primary reason Christians do not get involved in using their spiritual gifts: an inferiority complex in which believers feel they have no useful gifts to contribute.
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before i head into the book of jude i thought i’d do a few messages that i started actually doing right before covid and then all everything changed a little bit and so i want to go back and just look at some of these passages that deal with really spiritual gifts everybody’s serving in the body but before i look at that let’s have a word of prayer lord this morning as we come before you and as the summer is winding up and september is here and we’re getting back into the fall of things back to school back to regular routine i pray lord that we would always be available to use the gifts that you give us as christians to be ministering to the body so lord your body is built up it’s your name is glorified and lord um that people are growing in the lord so lord i pray that from your word you would just expose our heart show us where we’re at so we can if we have not been getting more plugged in and involved in ministry in the church and i pray and thank you lord for those who are serving who have been sacrificial who have used their gifts who have given their time and lord i praise you for them and and i pray you would give us more that our whole church would be characterized by servants and we know lord from the word of god those who are greatest in the kingdom of god are those who serve and i thank you lord for what you’ll do and i ask it in christ’s name amen i had read this um antidote not too long ago where um a man named mel johnson wrote it in what he called getting it together and he said wrote this he says about the church about getting involved in the church and sometimes people don’t get that and he said that fred somebody thomas everybody peter anybody and joe nobody were neighbors but they were not like you and me they were odd people and most difficult to understand the way they lived was a shame all four belong to the same church but you would not have enjoyed worshiping with them everybody went fishing on sunday or stayed home to visit with his friends anybody went to worship but was afraid somebody wouldn’t speak to him so guess who went to church nobody nobody was the only decent one of the four nobody did the visitation nobody worked on the church building once they needed a sunday school teacher everybody thought anybody would do it and anybody thought somebody would do it and you know who did it you’re exactly right nobody did it it happened that a fifth neighbor an unbeliever moved into the area everybody thought somebody should try to win him for christ anybody could have anybody could have made the effort everybody thought somebody should try to win him for christ anybody could have made the effort and you probably know who finally won him nobody and the moral of the story is each of us is personally responsible for doing god’s work we all do this by using our spiritual gift regularly in our own local church body and let’s not assume let’s not assume somebody everybody or anybody is doing it because it will end up being done by you guessed it again nobody so the church is the visible body of christ on the earth in verse number 12 if you look at that verse it says for even as the body is one and yet has many members and all the members of the body though they are many are one body so also is christ the local churches are hands to do his work feet to run upon his errands a voice to speak for him and as his body the church should exhibit christ to the world until he returns so paul the apostle paul draws a picture of unity which really should exist inside the church it is it uh if it is to really fulfill this function in the world so the body analogy remains uh something that paul uses often but it reminds us that certain things need to exist within a healthy body a body is healthy and efficient only when each part is functioning consistently and in the proper way also the parts of the body do not act as if they are jealous of each other or covet each other’s functions or remain ignorant of what the others are actually doing the body works as a unity and not in competition with one another so all spiritual gifts are given to god’s church the body of christ and they have a common origin and function within a common organism when the apostle paul speaks about spiritual gifts he does so with the analogy of a human body in particular christ’s body the church so jesus christ continues to be a living spiritual being a living in a spiritual relation to the church his body and all spiritual life and power of the local church are drawn from christ the head jesus christ is sovereign over the body the church he is the source of its life he is its chief he is its leader the one who guides and governs it and the term church from the greek word ecclesia means called out or called out from a lost humanity the term is really best interpreted as a term embracing all the redeemed people of god the word of god often uses the term body to refer to a local body of believers that is meeting together to worship god and then functioning together to do god’s work actually the term body suggests several points of importance the first is that the church is a living organism it’s not a dead organism it’s a living it’s composed of members joined vitally to one another a second thing is that the church is the means by which christ carries out his purposes and performs his work the lord jesus carries out his work through the people it lives his life through that body and when spiritual gifts operate through any member of the body it is the manifestation of christ’s life at work the church as the body of christ should be christ’s means of communication not only to us in the body but also to to the external world and the third thing would be that the union which exists between christ and his people is a most intimate and vital union and together with christ it constitutes one living unit each in a sense being incomplete without the other in our own doctrinal statement the bible in in our statement it says we teach that the holy spirit ministers spiritual gift to the church and that the holy spirit glorifies neither himself nor his gifts by showing us but does glorify christ by implementing his work of redeeming the loss and building up believers in the most holy faith so there are certain points of understanding that ought to be found in every local church if the body is to function as god intended it to function we need to think correctly concerning the use and function of spiritual gifts in the body now the the meaning of spiritual gifts would be it’s a concept that comes primarily from the greek word charisma meaning an endowment of god’s grace something given out of grace and not a debt but a spiritual working of god within an individual believer so a spiritual gift therefore is imparted because of god’s grace and then there’s reasons for why he imparts that gifts and the gift or gifts to the church so exploring this section of scripture this morning and this is part one of two should really greatly enhance each member’s understanding in the area of service specifically using their god-given gift or gifts within the body so it brings me to the first point this morning in verse 12 and 13 is that the church body is really one organic whole notice what it says in these two verses it says for even as the body is one verse 12 of first corinthians chapter 12 even as the body is one and yet has many members and all the members of the body even though they are many are one body also so also is christ for by one spirit we were all baptized into one body whether jews or greeks whether slaves or free and we were all made to drink of one spirit now if you notice in those two verses that the term one is used five times and the term is used throughout these two verses to the fact and pointing to that the body is one organic whole yet its various parts perform widely different functions within a unity and just as there is a is unity in the midst of diversity that pervades the physical body it also characterizes the body of christ it was francis schaefer uh who writing in his uh book on true spirituality said that the basis basic thing when he was talking about um unity within the body of christ he said the basic thing is not organizational unity though it has its place in the church the human body is directed by the head the hands are not in direct relationship with each other the reason they cooperate is that each of the hands each of the joints each of the fingers is under the control of a single control point and that is the head block the body from the head and the body becomes [ __ ] the fingers for example could never find each other and uniformity of action could come to an end in that body it is exactly the same with the church of jesus christ the real unity is not basically an organizational unity the real unity is not one part the real unity is really not basically that of organization as i just said but the real unity is not of one part with the other parts but the unity in which each part is under the control of the head and therefore functions together the unity of the church is basically the unity of the head controlling each part and we know the head of the church is christ christ will be functioning like hands and of course in the end christ is the head of everything controlling all things within the body so the work of god can get done within that particular body so the church body has really an outward formation and an inward life brought together by the holy spirit which is the head which which brings me to verse number 13 talking about the outward formation of the church body it says for by one spirit we were all baptized into one body whether jews or greeks whether slaves or free so it is like a physical body in disrespect though composed of many and varying members the body is still one and every member having been inducted into the body through the baptism of the holy spirit no matter how assorted the backgrounds all have been made a unit in this spiritual organism the life principle of which is christ himself so in other words that the holy spirit is the immediate agent of baptism so then spirit baptism is the divine action where whereby really all christians at the moment of conversion that is the effectual calling where you’re no longer resisting the call of the holy spirit but you are now brought being brought by god to believe in christ as the only way for our salvation at that point a person becomes becomes part of christ’s body and if you notice the phrase in our passage where it says where whether jews or greeks whether slaves or free this means that not one single person in christ is excluded from being part of the spiritual body the church it doesn’t matter what religious background one gets saved out of here the jews or racial background one gets saved out of here the greeks or the social stratum a person may belong to before conversion here slaver free again the only prerequisite to becoming part of the body of christ the church the true church is a genuine faith in jesus christ as savior and lord and every time a person is converted to christ spiritual baptism is repeated that is how the real church gets members you become a member of a real church at conversion in other words if you’re not converted if you haven’t believed in christ then you cannot be part of the body of christ so on the other hand a person can join a church go to that church and even become active in that church and not be part of the body of christ the real church and that happens more often than we like so spiritual baptism is purely an invisible action whereby the spirit of god places the believer in christ into the mystical relationship known as the body of christ therefore the spirit baptism is not verified by an outward sign like some would say tongues that if you speak in tongues that is a sign that you’re a part of the bible christ there is no sign in fact we teach in this respect that god the holy spirit is sovereign in bestowing all his gifts for the perfecting of the saints and that the speaking in tongues the interpretation of tongues the gifts of miracles the gifts of healings are given in the beginning days of the church for the purpose of pointing to the judgment of the unbelieving nation of israel and or the gentiles being included in the gospel of offer and or the often auth authenticating the apostles as the revealers of divine truth and are in no longer in operation today that’s what we hold to we believe the scripture teaches that but there is this outward sense in which god is outwardly bringing people from the world and bringing them into the church he’s converting them and then what he is doing then there is the inner life of the church body and the inner life is mentioned in verse number 13.
it says this and we were all to drink of one spirit now the holy spirit is also doing something else while he is pro he performs the inner baptismal act and what is he doing he is making us to drink of one spirit the figurative expression is consistent with the scriptural custom which refers to the holy spirit as by the symbol of water like like the apostle john uses in john chapter 7 and verse 37 where he says now on the last day the great day of the feast jesus stood up and cried out saying if any man is thirsty let him come and drink come to me and drink and then in verse number 30 um 38-9 he says he who believes in me as the scripture says from his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water but this he spoke of the spirit whom those who believe in him were to receive and at that point the spirit was not yet given because jesus christ had not been glorified yet but it was the promise of the father that when the form the church was going to be outwardly formed something was going to happen inwardly to the individuals of that church and what was going to happen is that they were going to receive the holy spirit so along with this inner baptismal act the holy spirit also takes up residence within the individual christian and that is called in scripture and theologically the indwelling of the holy spirit that holy spirit comes to make his permanent abode in the individual christian at the time of conversion and fall and paul of course brings this up in ever other books of that he has written and he like he says in romans chapter 8 verse number 9 however you are not of the flesh but in the spirit if indeed the spirit of god dwells in you so this inward indwelling is going to be an evidence that someone has been baptized into the body of christ and now has the spirit indwelling them and paul went on to say in rome and he says but if anyone does not have the spirit of christ he doesn’t belong to him that means he’s not a believer he’s not in the body he may be going to church he may be regular in church but doesn’t have the inner life going on inside of his soul see that’s what makes us different than just church attenders we are part of christ’s body we have the living spirit in us and the spirit of god the first person of the holy spirit the third person of the holy holy trinity the second person lives his life in the various members of his body and the visible evidences of that life is manifested through spiritual gifts so a spiritual gift can be defined like this the ability given to an individual believer by god in order that the believer might serve god effectively in some particular way i’m not going to be listing the gifts this morning i’ll do that next week but just be thinking through where where do you do you know you give do you know that you have one to be able to minister in the body and do you have the spirit of god indwelling you do you know that also in part it’s part of really the anointing of the holy spirit who sets us apart as believer priests and giving believers both the position and ability to serve the lord effectively now this is what god does so he he doesn’t just save us and take us home he saves us he puts us in in the body he keeps us here as the church as the real church and he then gives us spiritual gifts to be able to minister those gifts within the body so that body can become healthy and that body can now do what spiritual gifts ought to do all right so the second point in my text that i’m coming to this morning is this that the church body is a unit and yet with many members now of course paul is correcting a problem in the corinthian church we’re going to see what that problem is uh this morning before it says in verse number 14 it says for the body is not one member but many now it seems like this is a hard concept not only for the corinthian church but for many people is that we are not just we don’t stand alone as believers we are part of a corporate body each functioning the way they ought to so each member of the body has a part to its own work and this means that each part has a responsibility that can be handled really cannot only be handled by that particular gifted person yet yet it remains even though there are many yeti the church remains a unit so there’s two primary reasons why christians never become involved serving their local body of believers according to corinthians here and the first one would be that of having an inferiority complex see some feel that they have no gifts or abilities that are worthy and so sit back and let others do the work these are described in in really first corinthians 12 15 through 17 and they’re really missing a blessing when they don’t understand that and then secondly there are others who have a superiority complex and they feel that they’re so highly qualified that they don’t really need the help of others to perform their ministry and of course they also lose out so both of these groups that paul is mentioning here are committing actually the sin of pride one said one group says they don’t need me while the other says i don’t need them others would say i don’t have a gift or i have a second rate gift and still others would say it doesn’t matter because i’m so unimportant so all these are really self-centered ways of looking at what god is doing in the body and if they remain with this attitude they actually become an affront to god’s love and god’s wisdom and how he designed the body so this morning i want to take a look at the first group the group with the inferiority complex and those with the inferiority complex are thinking too lowly of themselves they’re thinking too lowly of their spiritual gift by complaining or depreciating its its position or its importance in the function of the body and this is how paul lays it out in verse number 15 the first group of body parts that he uses in verse 15 is the foot the inferiority complex using the foot it says if the foot should say because i am not a hand i am not part of the body is it not for this reason any less a part of the body so in other words the foot thought that it could not be part of the body because it wasn’t a hand see the hands are have visibility the hands can’t perform many abilities like writing poems and songs and and building things but the feet they can’t really do those things the foot is generally unappealing it’s usually covered it’s usually in a sandal or a shoe it’s usually covered by possibly a dress it’s not very visible and if it’s in a sandal it’s getting dirty and if it’s in a shoe too long it’s getting stinky so feet are really only good for odor eaters so it concludes i’m not as visible and gifted as the hand therefore i am not needed and so not part of the body so the principle is really clear no member can accomplish its own removal from the human body by complaining or depreciating its own importance therefore everyone has a responsibility to accomplish something toward the growth of the body no matter how inconspicuous their gift may be it may not be visible matter of fact you may not even be around many people while you are ministering your gift but nonetheless your gift is important so here is a christian whose gifts are less conspicuous because he or she is never in the limelight and seldom gets noticed so they get discouraged over their own gift status so this is what the apostle paul referred to like in romans 12 either you look at yourself too low or you look at yourself too high both sides of the coin one side of the coin is pride the other side of the coin is also pride because you’re saying to the lord lord you haven’t given me anything and yet god says i’ve given you something and then you say well i don’t have the gift of teaching so who am i or nobody even knows what i’m who i am or what i’m doing so who am i see that’s the completely the wrong way of looking at a person not discerning properly how the lord gifted him or her and fit him into the body or can become troubled to the body and trouble to themself actually because they begin to grumble and allow themselves to become discontent and jealous of those who have more visible gifts and usually those gifts are speaking gifts see they fail to realize every member is important no matter how hidden from view in fact the whole body is somewhat crippled when one member is not functioning they’re just sitting by the on the sidelines they just have the arms folded they’re letting other people do the work and yet god says well that’s not how i design the church so you got it wrong you need to find out what your spiritual gift and get involved in the body christians need to realize they have been given a spiritual gift and that only they can actively use that gift to edify the body so christian you and i need to be content and properly evaluate whatever abilities and gifts god has uniquely bestowed upon you and then used them now if you look at verse number 11 of chapter 12 it says this but one in the same spirit works all things distributing to each one individually just as he wills so god is saying if you are saved if you are part of the real body of christ if you have the spirit of god living in you you have at least one spiritual gift use it find out what it is and use it because that’s what brings glory to god and then paul says well if you didn’t get that i have another inferiority complex problem and that’s in verse number 16 where he says this and if the ear should say because i am not an eye i am not part of the body is it not for this reason any less a part of the body see the ear thought it was left out because it wasn’t an eye the eyes are visible they’re colorful they could be made very glamorous but the ears well they’re on the side of your head and a lot of times you people don’t necessarily recognize them and sometimes they’re filled with wax they do not necessarily be build ego therefore they say i i’m not needed and not part of the body so you see the corinthian church and here’s the problem was caught up in the iron hand gifts the visible gifts the out front gifts the gifts that can be noticed and praised and they were neglecting the other gifts but he is saying here no those gifts are more needed than those visible gifts or they’re needed equally so many christians have have really never known the joy of ministry and of pleasing the lord simply because they have not recognized their spiritual gift or gifts and maybe they’re crippled because they’re thinking wrongly and they’re they have unbiblical thinking concerning spiritual gifts so paul continues his analogy of the body to receive to give us further counsel just just in case we didn’t get it so we cannot be individuals or stand alone being self-sufficient is actually satan’s philosophy it’s not god’s remember when we come to the church it’s no longer i it’s us right it’s it’s always the plurality within the body so in order to to actually avoid the inferiority complex there are several things to consider about the church and here’s the first thing in verse number 17 if the whole body were an eye where would the hearing be if the hole were a hearing where would the sense of smell be in other words the first thing is that no indiv visual part in the body is equal to the whole and he means here that no organism can survive where only one member is involved no matter how prominent that member so paul the apostle paul takes a a prominent member of the body the eye and a less prominent member the ear and concludes that the body is limited without the hearing and the nose for smelling there shouldn’t be spiritual loners in the body no child of god should understand his their own importance as a member of the body if they don’t under if they’re thinking incorrectly about how god has gifted them they need not to covet the prestige of another in god’s side because his operation in placing each member in the body is is significant which really brings me to the second thing to consider when we consider avoiding an inferiority complex in the body where you say to yourself well i’m nobody nobody needs me nobody recognizes me i really can’t offer anything to anybody uh and so therefore i’m not needed in the body that’s kind of thinking that going on here and yet secondly it would be this that no end of no individual chooses themselves where they are placed in the body that choice is god himself look at verse number 18 it says but now god has placed the members each of them in the body just as he desired wait a minute this is the work of god not only is salvation and conversion to work of god not only is god bringing the church together out of the world the work of god but god giving you an individual spiritual work to do a gift in the church is god’s work also that’s what he desires to do and who knows you better than god you don’t know yourself that well and god knows you he knows exactly what you need he knows exactly the gift that he wants you to have so god has planned this we have not determined this on our own god has placed appointed a sign to be uh a place that he arranged things in the body so god by divine appointment fits his body together so that there is a wisdom that lies behind the placement and ability of each member that cannot be disputed that a christian cannot select his own spiritual gift or gifts and determine the place that they are in the body we cannot question the wisdom of god we need to cooperate with the wisdom of god and give ourselves over to what god has done in our lives not only in conversion but in using us in the church and then god’s pleasure alone determines his gifts so instead really we should be thinking rightly and soberly and thank the lord for calling us to salvation and calling us to serve us and then with diligence actively use our spiritual gift to edify the body of christ this is the will of god for each one of us nobody’s exempt from this no one there’s a third thing if there’s no variety there’s no body verse number 19. and if they were all one member where would the body be so god’s design he designed the body with with diversity and variety and the point here is that no one can exist if it is if it only can consist of one member it’s absurd to think a body with one member what would we be if we had one member as a body what would we be we would be a blob that’s what we would be a blob god did not design the church to be a blob christians need to understand that there they are no island they cannot stand alone but their place and their particular function in the bib body is vital i need your gifts you need my gifts that’s the way god designed it so variety is mandatory for any organic unit and then fourthly plurality and diversity but unity in verse number 20 it says but now there are many members but one body so god is bringing ridley paul’s bringing them back to the same point within the body there’s many members many gifts that he he is uh that are operative today in the church and he wants you to function in those gifts as a unity as one as one body and that means everybody’s cooperating everybody’s using their gifts and then what happens when that takes place is that the purpose of gifts actually become manifest in the church so in this passage is really the same point said in a different way that the body of christ is composed of people with a wide variety of gifts and capabilities a few gifts are showy but most are not and yet all are needed for the body life to exist and continue as a unity so what is the purpose then of god giving gifts to the church well there’s really a threefold purpose the apostle peter brings one of those purposes up in first peter when he lists the gifts and he says in first peter 4 11 the first purpose is god’s glory when this takes place when people are functioning in the church with their spiritual gift god gets the glory and this is what peter says whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of god whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which god supplies so that in all things god may be glorified through jesus christ to whom brings to who belongs glory and dominion forever and ever amen so when that happens god gets the glory god saved us god brought the church together god has gifted us and i’m enjoying the gift he gave me because he knows exactly what i need and where i need to serve in the church and i’m enjoying that i get fulfilled by that and when i do that god gets the glory but a second thing that happens is it’s for the common good of the church look at first corinthians 12 7 where it says but each one is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good of the church and of course the common good means that the church is helped and blessed with growth when we use our gifts that the spirit of god has given us and then a third purpose for spiritual gifts would be that of first corinthians chapter 14 and verse number 12 where paul writes there so also you since you are zealous of spiritual gifts seek to abound for the edification of the church so that’s it that the church is built up when you and i are using our gifts and though we’re not sitting on them we’re not complaining that we don’t have a gift that we think we should have but we are happy the way god has designed things and we’re cooperating with the spirit of god who indwells us and we want to use the gift that god has given us so we can bring glory to god so that we can be be a help and a blessed part of the body to the church and then part of building the church up strengthening the church making it strong so no believer no believer can biblically say that they have no gifts or abilities that are worthy to build up the body nobody could say that no believer can sit back and just let others do the work there’s something wrong if that’s happening after today’s message at least this first part you can no longer be a spectator all believers are chosen to do their part in building up the body to for the help of the church and for the glory of god so this is just the first part the next time i’m going to look at the superiority complex but each of us are personal personally responsible for doing god’s work we all do this by using our spiritual gifts regularly in our local church manifesting christ’s life at work through us through each one of us and therefore then fulfilling why god designed it this way in the first place so let’s not assume somebody everybody and anybody is doing the work of ministry because in the it will end up being done by you guessed it nobody and that’s what the lord doesn’t want and not only that when you use your spirit spiritual gift you you are encouraged you you are fulfilled matter of fact you walk away wondering wow god actually used me and you’re surprised almost and believe me you want blessing to come then use your gift in the church find out what it is first find a place to serve and then use it and then you’ll experience the results of that amen so then if nobody does it though god will not receive his glory in that place the whole church body will not be helped and blessed with growth and the whole church body will not be strengthened and built up for the unfinished work of christ that is ultimately to get the gospel to those who haven’t heard it yet right so ponder those things this coming week because i’m going to be pressing you on it in this sense if someone should ask you today what is your spiritual gift and you tell them what it is then the next question should be then where have you used it in the church and then give me an example on where you used it because believe me i need your what god’s given you and you need what god’s given me because that’s how god designed it amen let’s pray lord thank you lord we we want to be servants we really do we want to know what you’re doing in our life so lord we can bring glory to your great name so we can see the church get built up so we can be edified ourselves in that we are strengthened when we use our gift and we know that you are pleased with us when we do so oh lord i just pray lord at this time in our church body that you would lord work upon our hearts help us to be honest with ourself if somehow lord we have this inferiority complex where we think that we’re not gifted or that we think that we should have another gift or we think we have a gift that we really don’t have lord show us what it is so lord we can avoid this particular complex and lord we can get in the program and on what you want us to do and then lord go in there and just live for you serve you use our gifts and then produce the results of what real gifts are for thank you lord for what you’re going to do thank you lord for those people who already know what what their gift or gifts are and thank you lord for using them and for the servants that you have given us here in our church continue to multiply us lord multiply servants and lord i pray as we serve you we would do it with joy and we would do it lord from a heart that is willing and i pray as we do that lord you would be pleased with us and i pray this in christ’s name amen