Good morning.
I’d like to ask you to turn to 1 Corinthians 12 and read verses 12 through 31.
For even as the body is one, and hath many members, but all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ.
For also in the power of one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bondmen or free, and have all been given to drink of one Spirit.
For also the body is not one member, but many.
If the foot say, Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body; is it on account of this not indeed of the body?
And if the ear say, Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body; is it on account of this not indeed of the body?
If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If all hearing, where were the smelling?
But now God hath set the members, each one of them in the body, according as it pleased Him.
But if all were one member, where were the body?
But now the members are many, and the body one.
The eye cannot say to the hand, I have not need of thee; or again the head to the feet, I have not need of you.
But much rather the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.
And those parts of the body which we esteem to be more void of honour, these we clothe with more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.
But our comely parts have not need. But God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to the part that lacked, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members might have the same concern for one another.
And if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; and if one member be glorified, all the members rejoice with it.
And I want you to pay particular attention to verse 27.
Now ye are Christ’s body, and members in particular.
And God hath set certain in the assembly: first, apostles; second, prophets; thirdly, teachers; then miraculous gifts; then gifts of healings, helps, governments, kinds of tongues.
Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all in possession of miraculous gifts? Have all gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
But desire earnestly the greater gifts. And yet I show to you a way of more surpassing excellence.
Turn to Romans 12. I think you know these verses. I’ll begin in verse 4.
For as in one body we have many members, but all the members have not the same office, or, as some of your versions put it, function; thus, we being many, are one body in Christ, and each one members of the other.
But having different gifts, according to the grace which hath been given to us, whether it be prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or service, let us occupy ourselves in service; or he that teaches, in teaching; or he that exhorts, in exhortation; he that gives, in simplicity; he that leads, with diligence; he that shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
Let love be unfeigned, abhorring evil, cleaving to good.
Turn to Ephesians 4. I think you are quite familiar with it. Just a few verses, beginning with verse 15.
But holding the truth in love, we may grow up to Him in all things, Who is the Head, the Christ, from Whom the whole body, fitted together and connected by every joint of supply, according to the working in its measure of each one part, works for itself the increase of the body, to itself building up in love.
And probably one more verse. Let me read Ephesians 5:30. I think this is a tremendous verse.
For we are members of His body.
We are of His flesh,
and of His bones.
Lord, every time we read Your Word, we know that we come with a total dependence. We do not want to handle spiritual things with the flesh. We declare that once again as we are in Your presence.
We want to benefit in the Spirit from Your Word this morning as we are gathered together. We pray that the Holy Spirit will come upon us, every one of us, speaker and hearers alike, that we will be able to apprehend together what the Spirit says to the churches.
We know, Lord, You have made every provision. For that reason, we rejoice and delight in Your provision and ask You to meet us today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Last year, I was contacted by saints up in Long Island—that’s New York, for those of you that do not know—up on Noyac, which is quite a ways out. Near the end, but not all the way to the end; quite a distance out.
They shared with me that they had a burden that Dana and I come up and be with them for their annual conference. They have a big conference—well, big to them. They are an assembly of the Lord’s people, probably about a hundred or so, and they meet every St. Patrick’s Day.
Now, if you are in New York, St. Patrick’s Day is a big thing. So they have a conference every St. Patrick’s Day, and a particular burden on their heart was our response to God.
They said, “Brother, Dana’s going to share three times, and you’re going to share twice, and you get to pick.” So I thought, I wonder if they cleared that with Dana.
But nevertheless, the choices were our individual response to God, which is vital, and our corporate response to God. I cannot tell you the sense I had that the Holy Spirit quickened to me that burden for this corporate response to God.
I immediately felt that way, and I did the right Christian thing to do. I said, “Brother, I’ll pray about it.” But I knew immediately from the Lord that was a burden He laid on my heart.
As I prayed about it and meditated before the Lord, it seemed to me He had spoken to me several things that I would like to share also with the assembly here in Richmond.
There cannot be anything more important in the Word of God than our response to God. There cannot be anything more important.
All throughout the Word of God, from the beginning of the Word in Genesis right to the close of the book in Revelation, we can safely say God has been looking for a response from man.
As a matter of fact, we can say without fail that the reason He made us was to respond to Him. You may wonder sometimes why you were made. You may think, “What am I? What was the purpose of my life?”
But if I can leave you with an impression this morning, the purpose of your life was for you to respond to God. That was the whole purpose. That is the reason you were made.
That is the reason He fashioned you so fearfully and wonderfully, and that is your reason for being here on this earth: to respond to God. We can say that without fail. There is nothing more important than our response to God.
Now, when you get into separating these two things, because we like to separate things and put them in neat little pockets so we understand them, we begin to talk about the individual response—and there has been a lot of talk about that lately, by the way, here.
Then we like to talk about the corporate response, but I do not think it is that easy. You know, these things tend to go together. If you respond to the Lord as an individual, as you were made to, then you will respond corporately.
You see, He is not just after your response for you to be some island, set alone all to yourself, sharing the glories of God and realizing the excellencies of the Lord Jesus. He is after you to be part of something far bigger, and that is the corporate response.
So I think maybe, for convenience’ sake, we talk about separating these things, but in reality, I think they are woven together throughout, and we cannot do one without the other.
Let me say this, though. One, I believe, is the essential beginning: the individual response. The second, the corporate response, I believe, is the ultimate end. You were not put here just for yourself.
Now, I know I have told this story before, and people tend to laugh at it, but it is a true story. This is not an embellished story.
I will never forget. It was right in front of Stony Point Shopping Center one day. I was riding home, and I saw this lady with a bumper sticker, and it said, “I am the center of the universe.”
I could not believe it. I could not believe it.
You know, I may have thought it, and you may have thought it just as well. You may have thought everything is for you, everything revolves around you, and everything was made for you. As long as all your needs are met and all your needs are satisfied, then all is well with my soul, as the hymn says.
But I am here to tell you, dear saints, you are not the center of the universe. You are not.
We need to see in our response to God that, in His mercy, He is the center of the universe. There is a big difference.
Christians—you just go talk with Christians—and many times, when you talk to believers, they just talk about themselves: “I this,” and “I that,” and “I’ve been reading this,” and “I’ve been discovering this,” and “It seems to me the Holy Spirit has been speaking this to me and that to me.”
Pretty soon, I get a headache. I do not know about you. But it seems like they are the center of the universe.
Oh, I think the Lord has something far bigger for us, and that is to see that He is the center of the universe and everything, including us, revolves around Him.
This individual response is absolutely vital. This corporate response is essential as well. If you only respond to the Lord as an individual—and many people do—you are living half the Christian life.
I am not sure I really want to, before this day is over—I’ll keep you until I do. Let me put it that way. The food will get cold and half of you will leave, but I will keep you until I do, at least.
It seems to me that the easiest way I can understand it is this: remember this. If you do not remember anything, if you doze off, if you go to sleep, if you forget what I say, remember this:
Without the individual response, the Christian life is impossible.
You cannot begin the Christian life. One day, just like me, the Holy Spirit began to make alive the Scriptures, and Christ began to draw you, and the Holy Spirit began to convict you. In that day, you believed on the Lord Jesus, and there was an individual response to God.
But just as without the individual response the Christian life is impossible, without the corporate response, the Christian life is incomplete.
Now, did you hear me? I am going to beat on that one until we all give up.
Without the individual response, the Christian life is impossible. Without the corporate response, the Christian life is incomplete.
There are many islands out there of Christians, and they go here and there. If it is convenient for them, they might be related to the bigger corporate thing. But their whole life is summed up in the individual response.
May the Lord help us, to bring us into a fuller understanding of what He is after. It goes way beyond your response as an individual.
Now let me share some Scriptures. I will try to convince you with Scriptures if I cannot otherwise.
God created man to respond to Him. This is the beauty in the Scriptures to me: even after man fails again and again, God is always calling man to respond to Him.
You would think He would give up. I do not have near that kind of patience. One failure, I am done with you. That is it. I have a pretty low threshold in that.
But God, it seems to me, in His mercy, even when man fails, continues to call and continues to look for a response. That is amazing to me. Why does He not give up? He never gives up. This is what He is after. This is His purpose.
I will give you a few examples. Maybe this will help.
In the beginning, all of you know about Adam and Eve. I do not have to read you the whole story, but I can at least make a point from it.
You remember Adam and Eve. Everybody knows they failed. They took of the tree and they failed. Everyone knows that story, even those of you who are barely familiar with Christian things.
Then it says, after they had sinned and realized they were naked, they took fig leaves, sewed them together, and made aprons so they could hide themselves. Most of you know that part of the story.
Then it says that God was walking in the cool of the day. They heard Him walking in the garden, in the cool of the day, and this was the Lord’s word:
Where art thou?
Even after they failed, He was calling them. Is that not precious? To me, that is mercy.
You would think He would have put lock and key on the garden and said, “You are out of here.” But after they failed, and they were so ashamed that they hid who they were, He came calling and looking for a response.
Not only that—this is individual—but if you look beyond that, if you go to the end of the Old Testament, to Malachi, I will read these verses. Malachi 3—depending on your Bible, it is the next-to-last page in the Old Testament. Okay, that will help you find it.
Listen to this. This is beautiful. This is the end of the Old Testament, and this is the corporate call to the children of Israel, who failed again and again. Right through to the end, God never gave up. He was always looking for a response.
It says in Malachi 3:6:
For I, the Lord, change not;
therefore ye, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
Is that not beautiful? Thank God He changes not, and thank God we are not consumed. That is good news.
But listen to this:
Since the days of your fathers ye have departed from Mine ordinances, and have not kept them.
Return unto Me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord.
He records the failure, and then He simply says, “Return unto Me, and I will return unto you.” Brothers and sisters, even at the end of the Old Testament, after all the failure, God is calling and looking for a response.
It is the same in the New Testament. I will give you a few examples. You remember when the Lord Jesus came, He was looking for a response. We will get into that later. He was actually looking for more than just a response. He was looking for a bride.
But it says in Matthew 11:28:
Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
This is what the Lord said. He was calling individuals to Himself.
Then, I think in the end, when it comes to Revelation, there is also that corporate call. When you read the letters to the seven churches, you have to come away with a sense of failure in one degree.
I do not want to depress all of you. We are going to get out of that; you will be cheered up later. But there seems to me to be a sense of the failure of the church, yet the Lord in His mercy never stops calling to every church.
For example, Revelation 3:22, to the church in Laodicea. There is a repeated phrase that goes on and on, and it is actually to every one of the seven churches:
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
To every church—Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea—every church, no matter its condition, He was calling and looking for a response.
Let me share with you an illustration. I may have shared it before. My wife reminds me when I share things I have shared before, so she will remind me at least.
Recently—not that long ago, in one of my midlife crises—I decided I would get a degree. So, getting my master’s degree in civil engineering, I decided there was way too much calculus and way too much stuff like that.
You know, this stuff is really quite boring when you think about it. It was way too much math and way too much analysis.
I will never forget, brother, I am going to pick on you a minute—you rocket scientist. I took some courses from a rocket scientist at NASA, and I did not know what on earth he was talking about.
I still do not know, forgive me, how it applies to what I am supposed to be doing every day as a civil engineer. Nevertheless, he taught these iterations of math that I still do not get—these time-stepping solutions and iterations that seemed so arcane.
So, in the height of my frustration, I decided to take an elective, as we are wont to do. I took a course called History and Aesthetics of Jazz.
You may think it is not a good engineering course, but they let me take it. I had more fun in that course than all the other courses combined.
I will never forget the professor. I do not know if you see things like this, but when I am in those situations, the Lord can speak to me.
That professor was talking one time as he played this keyboard. He said, “Let me tell you an essential principle of early jazz that affected all of jazz.” It was this issue of call and response.
He said it came out of Africa. When they would begin—I know you have heard these; all of you people who grew up, at least in my era, grew up on Tarzan—you would hear the drums in the distant land: boom.
That is not good drums, forgive me. No musical talent. But when you would hear the drums in the distant land, off in a faraway place there was a response to that call from those drums, and it would be echoed—just what was said.
Then you would hear again in a distant land this drumbeat, or this playing of music, a call to a distant land, and then there was a response.
Now, to me, that is what God is after. In all of His working, He is calling, and He is waiting for a response.
Well, that gets us through the introduction.
There are three things on my heart. I am not sure I will share about the last, but I will share about the first two in some weeks ahead. Today, we will share about the body of Christ: our corporate response to God.
I do believe the Lord wants me to share the second part some other time, and that is the building of God, the corporate response to God. I think that is vital.
Then I am wondering lately, as I have been praying—and I did not share this up north—whether I ought to share about the bride of the Lamb, that corporate response to God.
Because that is what He is after. Now, you have to forgive me. Maybe it is just me. I have sort of had weddings on the brain lately.
But I do believe, in the end, what the Lord is after is a bride for Himself. When we fully respond, it is as a bride to her husband. So you pray. If that seems appropriate, I will consider that.
So today, we will just begin with today and see where we go. I would like to share on this issue: the body of Christ, the corporate response to God.
There are three things on my heart:
I do not think we can go far in understanding this issue of the body of Christ unless we understand this ultimate privilege we have been called into.
When you think of privilege, what do you think is the highest privilege that man could have? I do not know where you go with this. Different ones of us have different ideas.
I suspect some of you would say, “If I could only meet the president.” Maybe not; maybe I am thinking just of myself. But maybe some of you say, “If I could just in person meet the president and shake his hand”—and do not tell him what you would do—but if I could just do that, that would be enough. That would be a privilege.
I have heard people say, ever since I was saved some thirty-plus years ago, that if only I had walked when the Lord Jesus walked upon the earth, that would be the greatest privilege.
“Just think if I had seen the Lord Jesus heal those ones. Or if I had heard the Lord Jesus give the Sermon on the Mount—just think, in living color. What a privilege.”
But brothers and sisters, let me tell you: the ultimate privilege is that we are the body of Christ.
There is nothing closer to you than your body. You may not like your body. I have more flaws than I could stand up here and recite to you in this feeble human body. But your body happens to be the absolute closest thing to you there is.
Think of what Ephesians 5:30 says:
We are members of His body,
of His flesh,
and of His bones.
Can you think of a more intimate relationship? Can you think of a more wonderful privilege than that? That is amazing to me.
This is not just figurative speech. It literally says, “Ye are the body of Christ, of His flesh and of His bones.” There is no higher privilege.
I remember the story of Simeon in the New Testament. Some of you know, when I speak of Simeon in the New Testament, who I am speaking of—the aged saint, when the Lord Jesus as an infant was brought into the temple.
Do you remember? It says of Simeon that he was pious and just and was waiting for the consolation of Israel. The Holy Spirit revealed to him that he would not depart until he saw the consolation of Israel.
When they brought him the Lord Jesus, think of that scene for just a moment. He said:
Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace.
He had seen the consolation of Israel. Now, that is privilege.
But this privilege, seeing the Lord Jesus as a baby, cannot compare to this privilege that we have as being His body. You have been blessed with the ultimate privilege.
We settle for so much less, and God has given us so much. I believe this is astounding.
You know, I think of the prodigal son, the story in Luke 15. Everybody here probably knows the story of the prodigal son—when he went away and wasted his life, and he was eating the corn husks and he was in the pigpen.
This is an amazing story to me. He thought, “Man, my father’s slaves have it better than this.” He wanted to go back just to be a servant.
But the father said, “This is my son. Bring the robe. Bring the ring. Kill the fatted calf. Let us rejoice, for he that was dead is found.” That is privilege.
We settle for so much less. We think this is a figure of speech, and God the Father says to us, “You are the body of Christ.” That is amazing.
Let me read to you another verse. Turn to Ephesians. Maybe this will drive it home.
Ephesians 1:22-23:
And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all things to the assembly, which is His body,
the fullness of Him Who filleth all in all.
Now, if I were writing the Scripture—and you are thankful I did not—I might have said, “A portion.” Do you get that? I might have said, “A portion of Christ.”
But here the Holy Spirit says, “The fullness of Him Who filleth all in all.” To me, that is amazing. What a privilege.
The Lord Jesus has not settled that we, His body, we, His church, would just have a portion of Christ. It may be a big portion. We always like the big portions.
Yesterday, Linda and I went up and had some food, and they brought us a huge piece of pie. It was so big we shared this piece of pie. We had a big portion.
Some of us think Christianity is just a big portion. You understand? It is not a big portion. It is the fullness of Him that fills all in all. This is what the body is. What a privilege.
Brothers and sisters, I just pray it would dawn on us what we have experienced. I think if the Holy Spirit could, whatever He does in His mercy, turn the switch on and enlighten us, we would begin to see, as it says in 1 Corinthians 12:27, that we are His body.
It would overcome us, because He has chosen us to be the place of His full expression. To me, that is privilege. May the Lord help us. It is the greatest privilege there is, and it is not just a figurative thing. It is reality.
His fullness is to be expressed through His body. Now, I do not know about you, but I would think God could have chosen a better vessel than the church.
It is amazing to me when we read Hebrews 2, near the end of the chapter. It says that He has not chosen angels, but He has chosen the seed of Abraham. Is that not amazing?
Think about that for a moment. Angels fell. A third of the angels fell. Why did God not go after the third of the angels and say, “Well, I will do it through the angels. They will be My full expression, not only in this time but in all of the universe, in all ages”?
But no, He did not choose angels. As a matter of fact, He overlooked those angels. I think that is amazing. But it says He has chosen the seed of Abraham.
To me, that is very good news. Praise God for His grace and His choice. We have been given the ultimate privilege.
Now listen to this verse. Turn to Hebrews 10. I think this is another verse. It is a verse I used to think of differently until recently.
Hebrews 10:5, which comes from Psalm 40:6-8:
Wherefore, coming into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not,
but a body hast Thou prepared for Me.
Now, how have you read that in the past? I used to read that only thinking of the Lord Jesus in His natural body.
But lately, as I have meditated on this Word, I think this is double entendre here. I think this has dual meaning:
Thou hast prepared for Me a body.
Is that not good news? Once the Lord Jesus came to the earth, He had a physical body. He was born in a manger, and He walked in that body. He manifested Himself in His body, did great wonders through that body, and through that body He did all the will of God.
Now that is concluded when the Lord comes to the cross. Then, when we come into the book of Acts, we discover there is a whole new body.
Through that body, the Lord will continue to walk, continue to teach, and continue to manifest Himself. Ultimately, this is the body He has chosen to express Himself through.
I think when some of us read Acts 2, all we see are the sights and the sounds. I think we like the Fourth of July because we like fireworks. I do not think it has much to do with independence. Forgive me if that offends your patriotism, but I think we like the fireworks.
We like the bangs and the booms and the lights. Everybody I talk to says, “Where are you going for the fireworks display?”
When we look at Acts 2, we look at the sight and the sound, and that is what we think is the center of attraction. But 1 Corinthians 12 gives an explanation of what happened at Pentecost.
1 Corinthians 12:13:
For also in the power of one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; we have all been given to drink of one Spirit.
That is what happened at Pentecost. It was the birth of the body of Christ.
Now, some of you have heard this, but do not go to sleep on me, because I think we need to refresh ourselves. What happened at Pentecost was not just the sight and the sound. If you think that is all it is, you will miss it.
What really happened at Pentecost, when the apostle began to explain it, was that we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jew or Greek, bond or free. We have all been made to drink of one Spirit. That is what happened at Pentecost.
This, to me, is the privilege. Now the second point: let us talk for a moment about the principles of the body.
There are certain things that you must understand about the body of Christ or we will never get it straight. If you do not begin to see, after you understand this privilege, some of the principles, you will never understand and have an adequate corporate response.
The first thing is, when you are born again, you begin to have a body consciousness. If you do not, something is wrong.
I will never forget—and you can tell me if it is true for you—when I became a Christian thirty-plus years ago, I immediately began to be aware of my brothers and sisters.
Oh, it was the most beautiful thing. I began to say, “Brother, sister.” It is very convenient, by the way, because I often forget names, but I never forget “brother” or “sister.” It works in every jam.
But if you have not developed a body consciousness—now, let me back up, that has a whole different meaning today. I am not speaking of liposuction. I hope everybody is with me.
This is not the body consciousness I mean. It is not our body. It is the body of Christ: that spiritual institution, that organic vessel that was created, that all of Christ would be filled into that body and expressed for all the universe. That is the body.
When you were born again, if you did not have a consciousness of brothers and sisters, something went wrong.
First of all, you have a consciousness of the Lord. But secondly, it happens without fail: you begin to realize that you are connected to some other people. That is a good thing. You are not alone in this walk.
It was the greatest thing. I remember we were down in VCU, on Gray Street, and we were brothers and sisters. It was the greatest thing.
We would go to the coffeehouse, drink coffee, and read the Word to each other. Then we would go out on the street to the bars that we formerly frequented for other reasons, and we would tell people about the love of Jesus.
It was the greatest thing: brother, sister. People said, “There is something strange about those folks. They really are family. They really do know each other.”
A principle that we need to understand is body consciousness. If you can live a solitary life without the brothers and sisters, you have not had a corporate response to God.
I know people like this. They are spiritual giants. They scoff at Hebrews 10. They say, “Due to the condition of the church, I have no need. Well, if the Lord brings me to a brother or sister, then all is well.”
But there will be no adequate corporate response unless you are connected to your brothers and sisters. It has to come.
I am going to be even more absolute here. You can forgive me if you like, but I will be more absolute—definitive.
You have to be connected to your brothers and sisters, or you have not really seen the body of Christ. You may be able to talk about it. You may be able to explain how there are different members and different giftings and all these things. But until you are livingly connected to that living organism, you have not seen the body of Christ.
If you can say, “I can live without my brothers and sisters,” you have not seen the body of Christ.
If you can live in a solitary way—without me, notice where I put the emphasis—you have not seen the body of Christ.
I know you have heard this before, but I am going to say it again, because when our brother Stephen said it, it touched the core of my being.
He talked about that brother in England, that dear old brother who wrote the tract Safety, Security, and Comfort. You remember that story?
That dear old brother was dying. On his deathbed, he would wake up every once in a while, and all he would say in enraptured worship was, “I cannot live without my Lord.”
Can you live without the Lord? There is no individual response.
“I cannot live without my Lord.”
Brother Nee was so gripped by that. He went back to China, and in China the Lord showed him something else. He said, “I cannot live without my Lord, but I cannot live without my brothers and sisters.”
Can you live without me? Sometimes Linda thinks she can live without me.
Can you live without me? I cannot live without you. This is the corporate response. This is a body consciousness.
Another thing is: He is Head of the body. Oh, I tell you, this is a big deal in the Scripture.
I could read you a number of Scriptures. Ephesians 1:22 says, “And gave Him to be Head over all things to the church.” Ephesians 4:15-16 says that we grow up into Him, “Who is the Head, the Christ.” Colossians 1:18 says, “He is the Head of the body, the assembly.”
I think this is a vital principle, because many of us want to be head. We would never admit it in Christian circles, but we like being the boss. You know what I mean? We like being the boss. We like being head.
One of my weaknesses is football. Now women always go, “Oh, gee, wish you would not talk about football.” But there was a funny commercial during football season about Brady, the Patriots quarterback.
I thought it was a hilarious commercial. I cannot get away from thinking about it. It was about the layers of Visa protection, I think—I forget some of it.
You had these big five linemen around Brady, the quarterback, and the director standing there. This big old guy was told he was something like risk management. Then the director told the other guy he was something like loss management.
The big guy said, “Why can’t I be loss management?” The explanation was, “Because I am the director.” Then he said, “Why can’t I be the director?”
I thought, “Lord, how true that is of us as Christians. Lord, why can’t I be the head?”
Unless we see the headship of Jesus—more than that, unless we have come under the headship of Jesus—we do not have an adequate corporate response.
I think this is a vital principle: the headship of Christ.
You remember the story of the apostle Paul in Acts 9. This was the first principle he discovered. He was touching the body of Christ, but when he came to touching the body of Christ, the first thing he discovered was the Lordship of Jesus.
It says when he was on the road to Damascus, the light came as the noonday sun, and the Lord spoke. He said:
Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute Me?
Paul’s response—Saul’s response—was, “Lord.” That is a good beginning.
Some of us have never come under the headship of Jesus. May the Lord help us to see that.
Then we read in the Word that we are to hold fast the Head. You know, sometimes if we took more energy as the church of God in holding fast the Head, the body would really increase with the increase of God.
This is a principle we cannot get past.
There is another principle, I think, that is clear in the Word. You read it over and over. I think you may have noticed it in all these verses I read in 1 Corinthians 12. It simply says there is one body.
Now, I have heard believers say, “The body that meets here, and the body that meets there, and the body that meets over there.” That is inaccurate. There is only one body. We are part of that body, but it is bigger than us.
You must understand this principle. The universal church is one body, and those who meet together in a certain place are, at most and at best, an expression of that body.
Do you understand this point? There is one body. The Word of God, the Holy Spirit, says it over and over.
Romans 12:4-5 says:
For as in one body we have many members, but all the members have not the same office; thus, we being many, are one body in Christ, and each members one of another.
This is a vital principle. You can read it in 1 Corinthians 10:17: because we, being many, are of one loaf, we are one body. You can read it in 1 Corinthians 12:12:
For even as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ.
Now, brothers and sisters, we need to lay hold of this principle, because if we do not, we will be dividing the body of Christ.
We need to stand, take no other name than the name of the Lord Jesus, stand on no other ground than that we are part of His body, and declare that we have no other Head than the Lord Jesus. He is the sole authority.
We are one body. This is one of the most vital principles in regard to the body of Christ. May the Lord help us.
Another principle I think is equally vital: we are one body, but many members.
Every believer is a member of that body of Christ. Now, I am doing some elementary work here for the sake of many who have come in in these later years, who were not with us in the beginning.
You cannot join membership. You cannot. You cannot fill out—you may want to, but we do not have a card to give you. You cannot fill out a card saying, “Today I have decided that I want to be a member of this body.”
You cannot do it. The only way you can become a member of the body of Christ is to be born from above.
If you are born from above, you are now a member of the body of Christ, and we are now members one of another. But without that, there is no membership. You cannot join it.
You cannot give money and say, “If I give you enough money, can I join it?” You cannot. You have to be born into it.
This is what it means in this principle to be a member of the body of Christ. There are many members.
Every member of the body of Christ we receive. We do not exclude any. But every person that is not a member of the body of Christ, we do not receive.
Does that mean we will not talk with them, we will not share the Lord with them, we will not love them? Of course not. But you cannot change this principle. If you do, you will go into error.
There is a wrong way to oneness. I read about it in the paper. Do you ever read the religious section in Sunday’s paper? I do not know why I still do.
Saturday and Sunday, I am sick of it. If you would please hit me over the head so I would quit reading that. But it seems to me they have been pushing homosexuality on the church for years. Every article, every week almost, is some article about that.
I do not know why I put myself through that. But what they were saying is that these thirty-four groups had an idea. These thirty-four groups laid down everything they disagreed with on doctrine to come together in oneness.
That is not oneness. We are one in the Lord Jesus—every member.
We do not water down the gospel. We do not take away from the headship of Christ. It is not an ecumenical movement. It does matter if you do not believe in the virgin birth. Do you understand?
There are people who think, “You can call yourself this, and you can call yourself this, and you can call yourself this. We are all one big happy family.”
But if we really see the body of Christ, we will see that we receive everyone who is the Lord’s, and we do not receive those who are not the Lord’s. May the Lord help us. That is a vital principle.
There is one last thing on that. Let me just share this: the placement in the body is very important.
When you read 1 Corinthians 12:18, it says:
But now God hath set the members, each one of them in the body, as it pleased Him.
Did you notice that? I think many of us do not like where we have been placed.
But notice: the Word of God is very explicit. God has set the members in the body where it pleased Him.
If you read—and I think I failed our brother Alan Alloway’s Greek class. Alan, did you give out grades? I think I failed your Greek class, the only failure so far of hundreds.
But I think if you read this clearly, this middle voice talks about He has set for Himself. It takes on a whole different meaning, does it not?
He has set for Himself in the body. He has placed you where He wants you.
When we read 1 Corinthians 12, it looks like a circus. One person wants to be an eye, one person wants to be an ear, one person wants to be a leg, one person wants to be a foot. Because they are a leg, they are not part of the body, and because they are—and where is the smelling? You read about Corinthians and get a headache.
I think the whole problem in Corinthians was they did not like where they were placed. We think it is restrictive.
We would say, “I have got a far greater gift than that.” That is what we would say.
But God, in His wisdom, placed you right where He wanted you. Let me tell you, there is no limitation if you are faithful where He has placed you.
I think this is part of the issue. God will give you much more.
Stephen—not our Stephen, but Stephen in Acts 6—was tending tables in the house of God. He was so faithful, he became the first martyr.
Philip was tending tables in the house of God. He was so faithful, he became the evangelist. There is no limitation for God.
Well, I have taken your time. I am going to end with these few points on the practice. I think it all comes down to this.
There are those who have all the theory right. I will tell you a story.
Often I get into pension designs, and I have called on people who have been experts. Experts. They had all the titles.
I began to ask them how to get out of this problem, and by the time I was finished, I realized that expert must mean nothing but a forced drip under pressure.
That was a joke. They could not help me in the least. They had some theory, but they were not practicing engineering, and they could not get me out of my bind.
So, in a nice way—believe it or not, I was nice—I said, “Thank you very much for all your contribution,” and hung up, never to call them again.
Some of us have the theory. But here is the question about the corporate response:
Are you a functioning member in the body of Christ?
I want to ask everyone in this room: take that home. Pray about that. Meditate upon that.
Are you a spectator?
It says in Ephesians 4 that the church is built up by the working of each individual part.
Are you a working part? Are you a functioning member?
I believe there are many among us—I hope you do not think this is too hard; I do not mean it hard. I mean it for us to consider before the Lord—but I think there are many in our midst who may not be functioning as they should.
When it comes down to it, in the final expression in 1 Corinthians 14, the body is to function. The question the Holy Spirit would put before us is, “Are you a functioning member?”
I think this is a huge question. If there is going to be an adequate corporate response, you will have to answer this question.
I have said it before; I will say it again. I told them up in New York that I hear now NASCAR—I do not know a thing about NASCAR—is the largest spectator sport in the world.
“Is that right, Jack?” “Soccer probably still.” Okay, forget it. You take my thunder away. You go to the other room.
I do not think so. I think Christianity is the largest spectator sport in the world.
I think there are folks in this room who have never given that one talent in the church. There are others who give and give and give.
But one day, you will be in the presence of the Almighty, and He will say, “What did you do with the one talent?”
Now, do not feel bad that you are one talent. Almost all of us are one-talent. There are some five-talents. There are some two-talents. But most of us are one-talent.
It does not matter if you have five. Thank God for the five-talents. It does not matter that you have two. Thank God for the two-talents. Most of us are one.
The question the master asked the servant was, “What did you do with it?”
And the response was, “I buried it.”
Oh, God. In the house of our God, in the body of Christ, what are we doing with the gifts? Are you a functioning member?
You may not think you are very important, but the beauty of 1 Corinthians 12 is that it gives more honour to the weaker vessels. To those that lacked honour, He gave more honour.
Every member is vital. If there is going to be a corporate response, every member must function. I cannot stress that enough.
Have you seen the privilege of the body of Christ? Has it dawned on you?
Do you understand something of the principles of the body of Christ? If you do not, you will be building something that is off.
You will build anywhere. It will not matter where you build, with whom you build, how you build, or what you build, because you will be building by wrong principles.
Thirdly, do you really understand the practice of the body of Christ?
Brothers and sisters, if all of us—if all of us—would give and be a joint and a band, as it says in Colossians, there would be such an increase that you could not contain it.
I believe this is an issue in the church of God.
Lord, we lay before You this word. Our burden is that we would really see the body of Christ as You see it.
That You would begin to open our eyes to the privilege You have called us into: to be the place of the expression of Your fullness.
That we would see beyond that and begin to understand how You work in Your body, the principles upon which You work.
Lord, everyone in this room, we want to come under the headship of Jesus and hold fast the Head. We do not want to divide the body any longer, but that there be one body, and we meet and express that one body.
Lord, we want to be a functioning member. Lord, on that day when we are before that judgment seat and You say to us, “What did you do with it?” Lord, do not let us say, “We buried it.”
Would You, everyone in this room, every brother and sister, young and old, begin to impress us with this issue: that we need to be a functioning member in the house of our God, so that there would be an adequate corporate expression.
For we ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus.