Please open your Bibles tonight to Romans 12.
In a few minutes I'm going to read
verses 3 to 8 for Romans 12.
And my text tonight, my main text, will
be verses 3 to 8.
Now some of you are wondering what these
baskets are about up here, and I have
them up here not to make you wonder.
I have them up here so nobody could
cheat or mess it up before we got
to it.
So please try to forget that they're up
here and follow along with the message until
we get to it.
And in good time it will all be
explained, you will get your gift, you'll get
angry at me, and everything will be fine.
Okay?
What?
Somebody have a sense of humor?
Oh well.
It doesn't bother me to get laughed at.
Fit or misfit, number four tonight.
When I was a pastor of Brown Street
Alliance Church in Akron, Ohio, we had on
our church board a man who was our
financial secretary.
He was a certified accountant with a large
accountant firm in the city of Akron.
He was very good at what he did,
he was very helpful on the board.
We just love to have a man with
this ability to help us understand finances and
where it was going and all that kind
of thing.
He could actually predict where they would be
six months from now, all that kind of
thing.
It was very, very helpful person and loved
the Lord.
We were in a particular board meeting and
he had a business matter that he had
asked to have on the agenda and it
was there and it was time for him
to present it.
So he went ahead and presented a proposition
that was much on his heart.
He explained it at great length, very carefully.
The entire board sat and listened very carefully.
I listened very carefully.
When he was all done explaining it, he
made a motion that we adopt it and
someone seconded it to get it to a
vote and then everybody on the board but
him voted negative.
Of course he voted for it, everybody else
voted against it including the pastor and he
couldn't believe it.
So he started in again.
He said, I'm sure you don't understand what
I said.
I thought, yeah, we understand it perfectly.
So he went ahead and he went through
the whole thing again and explained it very
carefully and he did better the second time
than the first, but I understood it the
first time and he went all the way
through it.
He got to the end and he made
his motion again, which was really out of
order, but we let him do it and
somebody seconded it and everybody voted no again.
He looked absolutely nonplussed.
Then he got ready to do it again.
About that time, I said, well, wait a
minute.
Before you do that again, I said, the
reason you're thinking of going through that and
explaining it again is you don't think we
understand it.
He said, it's obvious you don't understand it.
I said, the reason you think we don't
understand it is because you think if we
understood it, we would all vote positive with
you.
Oh, absolutely, he said.
I said, no, I know this comes a
great shock to you, but we all understand
it perfectly and none of us agree with
you.
Is that possible?
You better believe it's possible.
Absolutely.
I know it's possible because I think that
most of the time I make myself fairly
clear when I'm preaching and a lot of
you don't agree with me and that's your
privilege and it's okay.
I love you anyway and fortunately for you,
I don't just go ahead and preach the
whole sermon over again, taking it for granted
you didn't get it the first time.
You got it, you just didn't agree with
it or decided not to do it, right?
But see, life is very interesting because of
the way God has created us and because
he has created us so differently and because
there are basically, according to God's word, we're
going to read in a minute, seven motivational
drives and each person that comes into the
life is designed by God with one of
those motivational drives and because that's true, all
of us see life differently.
It's just the way it is and that's
why people disagree.
We have two children and when Larry went
out the door, I would find myself saying,
don't slam the door, you know, blam, shake
all over and then when Jan went out
the door and said, Jan, shut the door,
she never got it quite latched.
Same house, same parents, same rules.
Why in the world was that?
Well, they were very, very different and had
totally different basic motivational drive to their life
and I wish somebody had preached this sermon
to me when I was their age so
I'd have understood it by the time I
got around to trying to raise them because
I didn't fully understand how completely different you
could be.
There's no question in my mind, the motivational
gift that my son has and when he
was just, you know, just a little kid
who could barely push a power more and
probably a little too young to be doing
it, he could go out in one afternoon
and come back with $12.
He could make money, you know, right off.
He's always been able to make money.
You say, man, I wish I was like
that.
Well, it has some disadvantages.
So people come into the world totally different
because God has designed us to function different.
Why do good men and women sometimes disagree
so strongly?
We ask that question again and again.
Why do good men and women, many times
husbands and wives, parents and children, why do
they sometimes disagree so strongly?
The answer is because God has made us
with different gifts and we have not learned
how to function like the members of a
body.
And that's true in a family and it's
true in a church.
I am so glad that I didn't marry
someone like me.
Really.
It would be terrible.
It's hard enough for her.
But if I had married somebody like me,
I don't know what would have happened.
We wouldn't have got divorced.
We don't believe in it.
We probably would have killed each other.
Just, you know, somebody says you should never
marry somebody that's very different than you.
Yes, you should.
You should marry somebody that's completely different than
you.
Can you imagine having a couple married and
they both are exactly alike and they both
have the gift of mercy and they both
are so gentle and so kind that they
never disagree about anything and nobody can make
any decisions about anything and nothing ever gets
done.
Now, I'm not preaching on marriage tonight.
I'm just throwing that in extra because when
we talk about this, it's important not just
for the church, the body of Christ, but
it's important in all of our functions in
human life.
So look with me at Romans 12 verses
three to eight.
For I say through the grace given to
me to everyone who is among you not
to think of himself more highly than he
ought to think, but to think soberly as
God has dealt to each one a measure
of faith.
For as we have many members in one
body, but all the members do not have
the same function.
So we being many are one body in
Christ and individually members of one another having
then gifts differing according to the grace that
is given to us.
Let us use them.
If then it starts to list them.
If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to
our faith or service.
Let us use it in our serving.
He who teaches in teaching, he who exhorts
in exhortation, he who gives with liberality, he
who leads with diligence, he who shows mercy
with cheerfulness.
And God says, think soberly about yourself.
Think seriously about yourself.
Take a good, serious, sober look at yourself.
And with God's help, try to understand how
he has designed you.
Did you notice the seven gifts in that
passage?
Prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, ruling, and showing
mercy.
These represent the seven motivational drives implanted in
human beings by God.
Every human being is born with one of
these motivational programs locked in.
Now listen, his basic gift never changes throughout
life.
I'm talking about his motivational gifts, spiritual gifts,
that's different.
But his motivational gift, the DNA that God's
implanted in him never changes since the gifts
and callings of God are unchangeable.
That's the word of God.
That's what the scriptures say.
There's a verse of scripture that's often misused.
Bring up a child in the way he
should go.
When he is old, he will not depart
from it.
And a lot of us have a lot
of trouble with that because we thought we
were bringing them up in the right way.
When they got a little older, they did
depart from it and rebelled and broke our
hearts, right?
None of you have had that problem?
Well, you see, that's because that's a very
bad translation of that verse.
It really says bring up a child in
the way he is bent.
And when he is old, he will not
depart.
He is bent.
The direction that God has designed into his
life, bring him up that way.
So you should never bring up all your
children the same because they're probably all different
and they all have a different bent.
They all have a different gift.
They all have different interests and they should
be brought up according to how God has
designed them.
And if we do that, we'll be amazed
at the freedom and we'll be amazed at
their attitude toward us.
If all parents could understand this, it would
do away with a lot of rebellion.
You say, well, if you don't bring them
all up the same, someone will feel neglected.
No, they won't.
They'll just be glad that you didn't bring
them up like you did their brother.
So there it is.
Since God has programmed each one of us
to act out of certain basic motivations, we
will react differently in every situation of life.
So what I want to do now is
I want to take you on a hospital
visit.
Now in my time, I have visited a
lot of people in hospitals.
I have been in a lot of hospitals
and I have been in a lot of
situations in a lot of hospitals.
And so I have a pretty good idea
of what happens in a hospital and what
happens with sick people, people that are there
as patients.
So what we're going to do, we're going
to take each one of the seven and
have them go to call on somebody in
the hospital.
Now some of these people wouldn't do this.
They wouldn't go to the hospital at all
unless you almost threatened their life.
You understand that that's no, that's not me.
Very uncomfortable with that.
But so we're going to start with the
prophet, the one with a gift of prophecy.
He is thinking as he goes to visit
these people in the hospital, and I know
what he's thinking, he is thinking, I wonder
if there is a spiritual need in this
sick person to which I can minister while
I am there.
I wonder if there's any way that I
can help them spiritually and maybe even help
them physically by encouraging them to look to
God and trust him.
It may be that through this visit, there
will be something happen here by the power
of God that will make it possible for
this person to trust God for their healing.
And who knows, they may even be healed.
You say, how do you know that's what
a prophet is thinking?
Because that's what I am.
And so I take hospital visiting very seriously
because to me, it is a very serious
business that has to do with how God
has designed me and what he has called
me to do.
So when I go to visit somebody in
a hospital, it's serious.
I want to be a help.
I'm not just there to be friendly or
because I'm the pastor.
But to me, it is a very serious
matter of ministry, a Mr. Fix-It.
Now, I shouldn't even tell you this, but
it won't hurt anything since I've already shredded
it.
But when I first came here, I sat
down after I've been here a few weeks
and I wrote out a list of all
the things that needed fixing in this church.
But since I'm not your permanent pastor and
I didn't want another pastor to have to
struggle with what I started, I finally just
prayed about it and shredded it.
You say, well, why did you do it
in the first place?
I couldn't help it.
Are you listening?
I mean, I couldn't help it.
It just comes as naturally as breathing.
Okay.
So if, if a prophet goes to visit
somebody in the hospital, that's what will happen.
What about the one who has the gift
of service?
Well, if someone with that gift of service
goes, he will probably bring a gift.
It may not be great or big, but
he will bring a gift, something practical.
If he brings flowers, he will bring a,
he will bring one in a pot, a
plant that will grow, not flowers that will
wilt in a day or two.
But if he has a gift of service,
he will bring a plant so that the
sick person can take it home.
Makes sense, doesn't it?
And all the servers said, amen.
Yes.
And he may bring a book or if
it's a lady in the hospital and the
lady that calls, she may even bring a
mirror or some things to help the lady
fix her hair or offer to fix it
for her.
She may go if the sun is coming
in too strong and pull the shade, tidy
up the room, put things away, fix the
towels, and ask what she can do for
the person.
That's this.
Now I never do that.
Sorry.
It doesn't even cross my mind, but thank
God there are wonderful people with this gift
that do do it.
And if you're sick in the hospital, you're
glad to see them because they come in
there and just want to do everything for
you that they possibly can.
Then here's the teacher going to make a
call at the hospital.
Now this is really, it's a funny thing
and it says to call them a teacher,
but teachers do this kind of thing, but
they are research people.
They want to look at all the options.
They want to know everything they can know
about it.
So when they go to call, they want
to know, first of all, what is your
problem?
You know, you're here in the hospital, you
must have some problem.
So what is your problem?
So they want to hear all about your
sickness.
Who is your doctor?
Is he a good doctor?
Is he good enough or should you have
a check with another one?
Check him out.
And then this person, once they found out
what the sickness is, they will go home
and look up the symptoms of the disease.
They'll get on the internet or a health
book or something, and they'll look it up
and find out everything they can about this
sick person's problem.
Okay?
And they will, they will ask your history
and your family history of illness and has
anybody else in your family had this?
And they tell you about someone else sometimes
with a similar problem.
Hopefully the other person didn't die.
They are a researcher and they want to
know all the options and all the possibilities.
Okay?
It's not for me, but that's the person
who has that particular gift.
Now here's the person with the gift of
exhortation.
They will go in, sit down, show the
person how Romans 8 28 applies to them
for all things work together for good to
those who love God.
They want to counsel and encourage this person.
They want to encourage them in every possible
way.
They will read a comforting scripture or something
else comforting.
They will have, if they pick out a
card for them, it will be a card
that really has an encouraging message that will
lift this person up.
They, if the person isn't too ill, they
may even joke or they may even challenge
the person, but their whole point in being
there is to encourage and lift this person
up.
Great hospital people.
Wonderful to call on sick people.
Then here is the giver.
He doesn't want to go to the hospital.
He may go if he has to, but
he doesn't want to visit anyone who is
sick.
He does not know what to say.
So if he does go because it's a
relative or because the pastor asked him to,
or for some reason, if he goes to
visit a sick person in the hospital, what
he wants to know fairly quick is about
their health insurance.
Are they covered?
That's what he's asking.
What about their job?
Is there their job in trouble because they're
sick and in the hospital or is that
all covered?
He wants to help in some financial or
practical or material way with the problem that
this person's facing.
When I went to Akron, Ohio, I went,
we arrived in April, right?
Not Akron, Ohio, Regina.
Boy, after a while you get these churches
mixed up.
In Regina and it was in 1977 and
the winter came on and I wasn't used
to the winter in Regina.
Believe me, if you've been there, you understand
that and it gets down to 40 below
and everything.
Anyway, we had a big snow and our
garage was on an alley.
Now it's a paved alley.
It should have been kept open, but it
wasn't and the snow was quite deep out
there and then along came the city scraper
and scraped the street at the end of
the alley and pushed a great big bank
of ice up against it and blocked the
whole alley with it and I had to
get out to go somewhere with a car.
I couldn't get through there, so I backed
the car out and I tried to make
a run down the alley the other way
because it was open at the other end.
It was a whole block long and I
got stuck and so I dug the car
out about three times, finally got the thing
out.
I'm totally exhausted by this time, drove it
around front of the house, slipped on the
ice, fell under the car.
Thank God it didn't run over me.
I started to be short of breath.
I was 50.
I was out shoveling snow in 20 below
zero weather without adequate clothing, working at something
I wasn't used to.
My breath got more and more of a
problem.
All that night I had trouble breathing.
The next day it wasn't any better.
I called a nurse in the church.
She said get to emergency.
When I got to emergency, I was having
a heart attack and I still remember the
poor nurse trying to get a needle in
my hand and she punctured my hand at
least five times and she was swearing.
It did hurt and she said, why aren't
you swearing?
I said, well it's not helping you.
The truth is, the truth is that I
feel more sorry for you than I do
myself, you know, and my veins were collapsing
and things were going downhill and they took
all the tests and said yes, I was
having a heart attack and so they put
me in coronary care and the chairman of
the board was a businessman and a farmer
and I know what his gift is.
Of course, I've known him for years now
and so he got really upset and he
never did come see me in the hospital
but I wasn't surprised at that.
But what he did do was try to
help me.
So he called up the city and he
said, what do you think you're doing?
He said, you've almost killed a man.
You know, he really read him the right
act and he had his farm about an
hour's drive out from the city.
He went out there and got a hundred
and fifty thousand dollar tractor and loaded it
up and brought it in town and cleaned
out the alley and cleaned out the ice
at the end of the alley and dumped
it in the street and parked the thing
in my backyard in case it happened again.
There was the rest of winter, this great
big, huge tractor, wheat farmer.
He had the gift of giving.
So there it was.
He was greatly relieved when God healed me
the third day and I went home with
a very healthy heart which I have to
this day.
Amen.
Hallelujah.
It doesn't always happen but it did that
time, thank God.
Then we come to number six, a ruler.
Someone who is an administrator.
He has somewhat of a hard time calling
on somebody in the hospital.
He wants to know first, how long are
you going to be in here?
And of course, maybe they don't know, maybe
they do.
Not too much empathy.
He says, don't worry about things at the
office.
We have everything under control.
Things at home, how are they?
He will organize all your affairs to relieve
the pressure while you're in the hospital.
Yeah, wonderful.
When I'm sick, I want one of those
guys come and see me, get everything organized,
you know, take care of it for you.
That's the way they're made.
The very same heart attack.
I had a district superintendent and he originally
was a little upset that they were bringing
a pastor up from the United States to
pastor one of his best churches.
So I knew he was a little miffed
about that and but what happened was that
here I was with a heart attack and
he came to see me and he had
the gift of administration and I still remember
him saying, oh, don't die on me.
Went to all that trouble to get you
up here.
We just got you here and you have
a heart attack.
I'm laying there thinking, why don't you just
pray for me immediately?
We're great friends, have been for many years.
He told me later that he just thanked
God that I came there, but at that
moment he was a little concerned because he
wanted everything in order, right?
And it looked like he's going to get
his apple cart turned upside down.
Then the best hospital visitor there is is
the one with the gift of mercy.
They are bubbly.
They want to create a happy situation or
atmosphere.
They say the right things.
They're cheerful, they're comforting, and they're the very
best people to do hospital calling.
I had a secretary with a gift of
mercy and she just mercied everybody in sight,
took care of sick people, called on sick
people, called on sick people in the nursing
homes, just took care of elderly people.
Just wonderful gift of mercy.
Now are you beginning to get a picture?
And I'm going to all this trouble tonight
to give you a picture before we start
taking one gift at a time.
And I'll take a whole sermon for each
gift, all right?
So now let's switch now and let's go
to a church board meeting.
Now in a church board meeting it's very
possible that you'll have all seven gifts.
You don't always, but it could happen that
you'd have all seven gifts on a church
board.
This church board is I think supposed to
be 15 and I don't think it is
right now, but in 15 people you could
easily have seven motivational gifts.
So here they are, and they're facing the
problem of a full church.
Church is full.
What do we do now?
I've faced this numerous times.
So what do we do now?
Well, the pastor who usually is a prophet,
though he might be a ruler, a teacher,
or an exhorter, but in this case we'll
say that he's a prophet.
How does he see it?
He sees lost souls.
He sees an opportunity to reach them and
influence the city.
This is right.
Therefore we have no choice.
We must build.
Issues are black and white.
Any of you guys that have served on
boards ever seen that before?
That's the way it's likely to be on
this particular problem.
And when we got ready to build in
another church, in this one, I wouldn't hear
when you built this one, but our whole
theme was a place for people, a place
for people, because we wanted to reach lost
people for Christ.
All right, here's the ruler.
What he wants to know if we're going
to talk about building a new building or
enlarging the one we have is how are
we going to do it?
When are we going to do it?
What are our goals?
How will building help us reach those goals?
Can we do it without building or is
building the way to do it?
What should be our timeline?
When will we be in the new building?
That's good stuff.
He wants to organize the whole thing.
Not me.
I just want to go out and get
the money and build it.
But that's not the way to do it.
Thank God for the administrator who has a
gift that says, whoa, whoa, slow down, slow
down, slow down.
Let's ask all the right questions and let's
organize this thing and let's make it happen
properly.
Right?
Isn't that good?
Certainly it's good.
And then here's the giver.
And normally they don't do well on church
boards, but here is the first thing that
he wants to know is how much will
it cost?
And where's all this money coming from?
Mean, we're talking about millions.
Will it hurt our missionary giving?
I'm already contributing to the hilt or he
will say, we can do it.
Let's get on with it.
One of the two.
I had a man in my church in
Akron, Ohio.
He owned a business, a very profitable business,
and he gave basically 30,000 a year
to the Lord.
And he's very interesting man.
And I said to him one time, George,
you need to be on the board.
And he said, no, I don't.
I've tried it and I don't fit.
And he was right.
Cause I, I kept at it till I
got him on there.
And then I found out he was right.
And I was glad when he got off.
So it didn't work.
It wasn't a good idea for him.
Now, maybe some men could manage it, but
he couldn't.
And our Oregon broke down and I mean,
it really broke down.
It was basically dead.
And so we needed the new Oregon.
So the church board decided to start an
Oregon fund.
So I got up on a Sunday morning
and I said, the church board has decided
to start an Oregon fund.
It will cost about so much.
And we're going to, uh, you can give
above your tithes or whatever to the Oregon
fund.
And we're going to get a new Oregon.
I was standing at the doors.
People were going out that morning and George
come out and he stopped and glared at
me.
And he said, what did you do that
for?
I said, do what?
Uh, he said, what did you do that
thing about the Oregon like that for?
I said, because we need a new Oregon.
It died.
He said, you knew that I would buy
the Oregon.
Why didn't you just come and ask me?
You say, was he serious?
Sure.
He was serious.
Absolutely.
He said, go out and find what you
need and just give me a call and
I'll write the check.
I like that in a church.
That's good stuff.
You say, did he?
Sure.
He did.
Yeah.
We took our music.
People went out and found a really just
the right thing for that church and, and
he bought it.
Nice.
Huh?
But that's the way he liked to do
things while he was on the board.
Uh, a shower, the church parsonage, and those
days we had parsonages blogger, the church and
the shower and the parsonage was leaking.
And, uh, so they were going to send
a plumber to fix it.
And he said, uh, they were going to
have a committee to go and get a
price on it.
And he's getting more upset all the time.
And he said, what are you going to
go to all that nonsense for?
He said, it just needs to be fixed.
He said, nevermind.
I'll get it fixed, man.
I wished he had kept his mouth shut.
He went and found somebody that was a
friend who would do it at a cut
rate.
And it leaked from then on until we
got it fixed.
Right?
So your giver on the board, your teacher.
Now we're going to talk about building a
new church.
So this is the research person.
And they say, wait a minute, not so
fast.
We need more information.
We should set up a committee to do
research, explore the possibilities, bring in all other
possible solutions to the problem.
Come to an intelligent decision.
Maybe we shouldn't build at all.
Maybe we should just start another church.
Maybe we should hive off.
Maybe we should divide.
I mean, we need to look at all
the possible options.
So let's set up a committee and study
all possible options.
Yeah, absolutely.
You say, is that bad?
No, not within limits.
It isn't.
It can be very helpful really, because this
person may save you from doing some really
stupid things.
Have you ever seen churches do stupid things?
Oh, no church you were part of.
No, just some that I've been part of.
And this kind of person on the board,
if he's godly, has his head on straight,
can save you lots of heartache, lots of
problems, and help you to do it right.
So thank God for him.
Then there's the server.
And what he wants to know is how,
when we build this new building, how much
of the work on this project can we
do ourselves?
Well, it depends on the size of the
building.
I still remember a couple of men on
the board in Campbell River wanting to know
how many thousand dollars can we save by
doing some of the work ourselves?
I said, brother, that's a good question.
But this is a big building.
We're building an auditorium that seats 1,200
people.
We're building a Sunday school plant to take
care of that, and a full-size gymnasium.
I don't think there's any of us that
can do anything on these big buildings except
maybe paint a few Sunday school rooms afterwards
or something.
But he wants to know how much of
this can we do because he is a
servant, and he wants to serve, and he
wants to help.
Can we stand to get any bigger?
Some of us are worked to death as
it is.
Servers need appreciation.
People who are servants need to be appreciated
and praised and thanked for their work.
And a lot of times they aren't, but
they need that.
Then there's the exhorter.
He wants to know, because he's very concerned
about people's feelings, so he wants to know
what does the congregation think?
We need to take this matter to the
grassroots.
The people need to be involved, so this
will be their project.
Will this project help hurting people?
He is an encourager, and he doesn't want
anyone to get hurt in this process.
The person with a gift of mercy will
say, we need to pray about this before
we do anything.
Thank God for that, huh?
Amen.
We need to proceed in such a way
that no one will be hurt, and he'll
vacillate and support each new proposition put forward.
Now, I went to all that trouble tonight
because as we get into these gifts, I
want us to be aware of how different
we are.
Listen, when you go home tonight after this
service, you're going home with someone who is
different than you.
Be patient.
Thank God they're different, and this is true
in all of our relationships.
Now, on your sheet tonight, I think that
you have a summary chart of gifts.
Do you have them there?
It's supposed to be a good deal.
There are three things that need to be
noted there.
For instance, let me read from 1 Corinthians
12, verse 1, now about spiritual gifts or
spirituals, brothers.
I do not want you to be ignorant.
Verse 4, there are different kinds of gifts,
but the same spirit.
There are different kinds of ministry, really, but
the same Lord.
There are different kinds of methods, but the
same God works all of them in all
men.
So there are three things on this chart,
and I want you to just look at
them very briefly.
We're not going to take time with that
tonight.
You say, when are you going to get
to that?
I'm going to get to it pretty soon
now.
I'm almost there.
You'll notice over on the far left of
your chart, the motivational gifts, prophecy, service, teaching,
exhortation, etc.
In the middle are spiritual manifestations that have
to do with spiritual gifts.
Now, the natural gifts, the motivational gifts are
given to every human being that comes into
the world.
It has nothing to do with whether they're
Christian or not, but when they become a
Christian, they don't change.
That gift is still there, still real, is
still part of it, okay?
So there it is, and that's so with
everyone, but when you become a Christian and
you open your life to the Holy Spirit,
then the Spirit of God wants to give
you spiritual gifts, and the Holy Spirit will
give us spiritual gifts that go along with
our natural gifts as he sees in his
wisdom, and he does that so we can
end up in the third column, which is
ministry.
So you have a natural motivational gift by
God, you become a Christian, and God gives
you spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit, and
God does that as he wills, because he
knows best, and he puts it together, so
that you can then have a ministry for
Christ in the body of Christ.
And God expects every Christian to have a
ministry, and it's wonderful when people understand this
in the body of Christ, and people recognize
their natural gift, they recognize the spiritual gifts
that God has given them, those things that
are supernatural anointing from God, and they put
it together, and they find a ministry that
God wants them to participate in to his
honor and to his glory in the church.
You see that?
All right, I'm going to read one passage
of scripture, and then I'm about finished.
Oh, I'm going to get to this right
away, okay?
Here we go.
Now, in verse 12 of 1 Corinthians 12,
Paul says, the body is a unit, though
it is made up of many parts, and
now he's talking about the body of Christ,
the church, and though all its parts are
many, they form one body, so it is
with Christ.
Now, the body is not made up of
one part, but of many.
He's comparing the church to the physical body.
Christ is the head, we are members of
the body.
If the foot should say, because I am
not a hand, I do not belong to
the body, it would not, for that reason,
cease to be part of the body, and
if the ear should say, because I am
not an eye, I do not belong to
the body, it would not, for that reason,
cease to be part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye, where
would the sense of hearing be?
If the whole body were an ear, where
would the sense of smell be?
But in fact, God has arranged the parts
in the body, every one of them, just
as he wanted them to be.
So what God is saying is that all
the members of the body of Christ are
equally important in the eyes of God, and
are absolutely essential to the function of the
body of Christ.
And one of the problems is that many
times we're trying to do something for the
Lord, and it's not working, because either we
don't depend on other members of the body
of Christ to help us, or they're not
helping us, though we need them.
Did you get that?
In the church, we're trying to do something
for God, and it's not working, because all
the members of the body are not doing
their part.
Okay, now I'm going to illustrate it.
So I have up here, this is a
little bitty Mars bar, you recognize it?
That's what it is.
It's all wrapped, just the way it came
from the store.
In these baskets are all kinds of little
candies like this, all carefully wrapped.
Now in a minute, I'm going to ask
the ushers to pass them out, just to
pass the baskets down the aisles.
Just one a person, please, because I don't
want to run out.
Take your piece of candy out of the
basket, and do not dare to open it.
If you do, God will strike...no, he won't.
We'll call down fire from...no, we won't do
that.
But if you do, if you just go
ahead and open it, or start to open
it, well, you'll just miss the illustration, okay?
So when you get it, do not even
start to open it at all, just keep
it like that.
Have you got that?
Are you willing to do that?
I know you're hungry, but just wait, and
we'll have coffee in a minute.
Okay, ushers, will you please come and pass
these out?
We need at least four people here to
help this.
Okay.
Oh, yeah.
In fact, I've got eight baskets up here,
so it should go fairly quick.
Just pass them down the aisles like you
would an offering basket, and everybody just take
one.
And you've got a little bit of choice
in there, but please don't take five minutes
to choose.
If you have the gift of teaching, please
just take one.
Don't study the whole basket.
You think I'm kidding.
My wife and I went out for lunch
today with some folks.
We didn't go out that way.
We went into the restaurant, and they were
there, and they said, oh, come and sit
with us.
There were two couples, and we went and
sat with them, and up came the waitress,
and she said, do you know what you
want?
And I said, yeah, I know what I
want, and I told her, and my wife
said, could I please have a, huh?
Yeah.
Could I please, I knew you'd get it.
Could I please have a menu?
Now, it was in Swiss Chalet.
She knows what they have.
She knows what she's going to get, but
she had to see all the options for
the 500 time.
You got it?
Don't you pity this teacher married to this
prophet?
Has everybody got one?
Everybody have one?
Oh, not yet?
Raise your hand.
We Okay, this is, this is just going
to take a minute.
Now, what I want to do is demonstrate
how essential every member of the body of
Christ is.
You understand what I'm trying to do?
So, I want everybody to take their candy,
and I'm going to sit down so you
can see clearly what we're going to do,
and I want you to put, don't open
it.
I want you to put it down there
on your knee like that.
You got it?
Put it on your knee.
Everybody ready?
Now, I want you to put your hands
up on your head like this, and next,
I'm going to have you close your eyes
and then try to open that.
Go ahead.
I gained too much weight.
I can't even get down there.
You having difficulty?
It doesn't work very good, does it?
Even this guy up here, he almost got
it that time, but even when he gets
it, what's he going to do with it?
Eat the paper?
Now what are you going to do?
Yeah.
Am I making a point?
Huh?
Oh, you say you're being silly.
No, I'm not.
I am making a point.
I can just see the devil laughing his
head off at the church because they're trying
to do things with a bunch of the
members of the body not involved, and you
can't manage that little bitty piece of candy
without your eyes and your hands, just two
members of the body, and you're totally defeated.
You can't say, I don't need my eyes.
Of course you do.
You can't say, I don't need my hands.
No, you do need your hands.
In fact, sometimes I need three hands.
Yeah.
So that's my point tonight.
That's my point.
That in the body of Christ, all of
us are equally important and all of us
are essential to doing the work of God.
And if we can see it and surrender
ourselves to him and ask him to show
us and get in line with his purposes
and design in our life, we'll start to
see the church really catch on fire and
wonderful things will be happening and people will
come to God and everybody's needs will be
met.
I think sometimes about people who have heartaches
and problems and troubles and they feel sometimes
lonely like nobody cares.
And it isn't that nobody cares.
It's just that the people who have the
right gifts to minister to them have not
been put in the right place and aren't
doing it.
There are people who can make a lot
better hospital calls than I can.
That's right, really.
And I've been there in all kinds of
things.
So that's what God is saying to our
hearts tonight.
Well, when you go home tonight, take your
Bible and turn to Isaiah 45, write this
down.
Turn to Isaiah 45 and read verses 1
through 13 about God choosing a pagan man
by the name of Cyrus 300 years before
he was born and naming him as the
ruler of Persia and saying that God had
designed his life and was going to put
him there to rebuild the city of Jerusalem
for God's glory.
Though that man did not know God or
acknowledge him at all.
Read it.
It's there.
And see how completely God has designed us
to serve him.
Woe to him who quarrels with his maker,
to him who is but a potsherd among
the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter, what
are you making?
Does your work say he has no hands?
Woe to him who says to his father,
what have you begotten?
Or to his mother, what have you brought
to birth?
No, God has made us and designed us
beautifully to serve him together.
Amen.
God bless you.
You can eat your candy if you want
to.
And you can go and fellowship and have
some coffee because there's some people with a
servant's heart that have prepared it.
Good night.
God bless you.
Have a great week.
I like Mars bars.
I think I'll eat this thing.