Will you please turn to 1 Corinthians 12? First Corinthians 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 Christ.
And then verse 27:
Now ye are Christ’s body, and severally members thereof.
And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, divers kinds of tongues.
Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles?
Have all gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
But desire earnestly the greater gifts. And moreover a most excellent way show I unto you.
Maybe we have a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, our hearts are full of gratitude when we partake of Thy table. How we praise and thank Thee for loving people such as we are, that Thou art willing to give Thyself to us so totally. Thou hast bought us with Thyself. Lord, we are no longer ours; we are Yours.
And we gladly put ourselves in Thy hands and say, “Lord, mould and fashion us according to Thy will.” May Thy name be highly exalted, even in us, in people like we are. We commit this time into Thy hands. Lord, speak to us. We are listening. We ask in Thy name. Amen.
As we all know, we are on basic lessons. My burden is to speak on divine life, divine order, and spiritual authority.
Last day, we began with divine life. We thank God because, as we believe in the Lord Jesus, He gave us His own life. And with this divine life, we are not only able to communicate with God, but we are able to live by the life that He has given to us.
And this morning, we are going into divine order. God is the God of order. He is the One who set the order in the universe.
We find 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 Christ.
I wonder, when you read this verse, what is your reaction? Because it says, “The body is one, and has many members. But all the members of the body, being many, are one body.” And then He says, “So also is the Christ.”
Now, probably we would say, “It should be, ‘So also is the church,’” because the church is the one body of Christ. It has many members, and even though there are many members, there is one body. So also is the church.
But the Holy Spirit cannot be wrong. He puts it, “So also is the Christ.” And what does it mean? I think it tells us very clearly that even though we are many, and yet we are one, so also is the Christ.
We would say, “So also is the church,” because that is what the church should be: one body, many members; many members, yet one body. So also is the church. But the Holy Spirit cannot be wrong. He puts it, “So also is the Christ.”
So what is the church? The church is the Christ.
We also think the church means people such as we are—we who believe in the Lord Jesus, we who have His life in us, we who live for Him. Now, that is the church. But the Holy Spirit cannot be wrong. He says, “So also is the Christ.”
So what does it mean? It means that, though we are many and we are one—one body in Christ—we are more than that. We are the Christ.
What does it mean? It means that in the church, you do not see many people. You do not see different ones. You see Christ—Christ in you, Christ in me, Christ in every one of us—and that makes up the Christ.
A number of years ago, we had a Waggoner conference near Washington, D.C. The speakers were Brother Sparks, Brother Frank, and myself.
Once, I was going to explain what the church is. I was thinking of using a formula, but I knew Brother Sparks was deadly against formulas, because he felt you cannot reduce spiritual things into formulas.
But for the sake of clarity, helping the brothers and sisters, I felt I had to use a formula. So I asked his permission to allow me to use a formula for that special occasion.
And I said, “What is the church? The church is composed of Christians. Suppose there were only three Christians in the world, and these three Christians were the best Christians we ever knew. I would say it was Peter, John, and Paul.”
Now suppose, in the world, there were only these three Christians. Now what is the church? Is the church the Christ in John, the Christ in Peter, and the Christ in Paul? You call that the church. Now, is that so?
I think most of you would shake your heads. Now, what is the church? The church is Christ in Peter, plus the Christ in John, plus the Christ in Paul, equal to the church. Yes or no?
Nobody seems to dare to say yes or no. Are you sure this is the church? If you are not sure, now what is it?
Well, that is right. The church is Christ in Peter plus Peter, plus the Christ in John plus John, plus the Christ in Paul plus Paul, equal to the church. Now I can see shaking of heads. We know that it is not so.
So what is the church? The church is Christ in Peter minus Peter, plus the Christ in John minus John, plus the Christ in Paul minus Paul, equal to the church. Now, is that right? I saw no hands.
So, brothers and sisters, what is the church? We often think we are the church—we who believe in the Lord Jesus. Of course, we are the church. Who else can be the brothers and sisters?
But if you think more carefully, you will say that is the trouble the church has today. Even though we have Christ, unfortunately we have you and me, and that is the problem.
So what is the church? The church is Christ in Peter minus Peter, plus the Christ in John minus John, plus the Christ in Paul minus Paul, equal to the church.
Even though the church includes you and me, yet at the same time it excludes all of us. What remains is Christ Himself. So that is what the church is. Some have called it “the Christ.”
You do not come to the church to meet Paul, or Peter, or John. You come to the church to meet Christ. He is the church in a corporate sense.
Thank God we have Christ in us. But unfortunately, we are also there. Our old man is still there, and that is all the problem we have in the church. The old man has to be dealt with, so what remains will be Christ and Christ alone. And that is what the church really is.
How the Holy Spirit has to work all the time in order to bring us to this reality! There is so much of ourselves there, even the good self. But as long as we remain there, you find the church suffers because of us.
So, dear brothers and sisters, when we think of the church, we have to remember: it is Christ and Christ alone. If you want to make this a reality, you have to expect the Holy Spirit to deal drastically with you. Everything that is of you must be dealt with, so what is left is Christ.
Now this may sound theoretical, but brothers and sisters, this is the truth you find in your Bible. The church is the Christ. Anything that is not of Christ does not belong to the church.
That is the reason why we have to learn to let the Holy Spirit deal deeply in each and every one of our lives, in order that the church according to God may be manifested.
Now, in the church, you have many members. And because of this, you find there is a divine order. God is the God of order, so in the church there is a divine order.
When you come to the church, what are you looking for? Are you looking for someone to be under you, that you may exercise authority over them? Or do you come to the church to find who is above you, that you may give obedience?
I think this is a tremendous question. When you come to the church, what are you looking for? Are you looking for someone to be under you? You want to be the authority, to rule over others. Or do you come to the church to find who is above you, that you may give yourself to obedience?
I think we need to have the right attitude. The problem with the church today is that, when people come to the church, they are looking for people to be under them—to listen to them, obey them, and follow them—instead of looking for people who are above them, who rule over them, that they may learn how to follow.
Brothers and sisters, to be very frank, when you come here, what are you looking for? Are you looking for people who will be under you, who will listen to you and do what you ask them to do? Or do you come with a deep humility, looking for people to whom you should give obedience?
What is your attitude when you come to the church? We say God is the God of order, so in the church you find this divine order is to be manifested. And it can only come when we all have the spirit of humility.
We come to the church to look for people who are above us. Then we will give them our due obedience. We learn obedience in this way.
So to me, I feel the attitude of God’s people in going to the church needs to be adjusted. Do you know who are below you already? Do you know who are above you?
You think you are more than equal to many brothers and sisters, and they should listen to you, instead of you seeing that you should learn to obey and to follow. I think this is a very practical question.
When you come to the church, do not look for people to be under you. But when you come to the church, look to whom you should give your obedience.
So Brother Nee used to say, “When you come to the church, you are looking for people to whom you should give your obedience.” And that is the way that we should begin with.
Now, of course, God is the God of order. And because He is the God of order, in the church He has His divine order. Before you come to anything technical, I think spiritually the first thing you should learn is to find out, “Who are those to whom I will listen?” That gives you the right spirit, and it will start you on the right way.
I think the problem with the church is everybody wants to be at the top. Nobody wants to be at the bottom.
Just like when our Lord was on earth, you find the disciples—none of them came from nobility, none of them were very learned. They were simple people: fishermen, tax collectors, and so forth. And yet you find among them there was always that discussion going on: “Who is the greatest?”
There is always that tendency of being at the top instead of the bottom. They were arguing all the time. They knew it was not too good, so when the Lord said, “What are you talking about?” they did not want to say it, because they knew that it was not the right thing to do.
Because the Lord among them was the lowest of all.
You remember, during the Last Supper, our Lord Jesus used a family He knew well—their living room—for the Last Supper. Everything was ready.
So when the disciples came, there were six pots of water. Now the Jewish people at that time did not wear shoes like we wear; they wore sandals. And the roads at that time were not paved. They were dirt roads.
So when you came from outside, your feet were dirty. And you all know, when your feet were dirty, you could not appreciate the food as well. So the custom was that a maid would be there to wash your feet when you came in.
And here you find, in that family that provided that house for our Lord Jesus, surely they would provide a maid, because the water was there—six pots of water, quite a lot. But there was no maid. I think it was the Lord’s arrangement.
He let the disciples come in. He wanted to see how they reacted. I think everyone came in, saw there was no maid to wash their feet, and everybody felt dirty. But nobody ever thought of being the maid to wash the feet of the other disciples.
They all reluctantly went to their seats. And you must remember, they did not sit as we do. When we sit, our feet are not seen because they are below the table. But during the old days, when they reclined, their feet would all stretch out and could be seen by everybody.
But nobody thought of washing the feet of another one. So I think the Lord watched them. He saw nobody. Everybody was seated, even though nobody felt happy about it.
So the Lord rose, took off His robe, put on the towel, and He began to wash the disciples’ feet. The Lord wanted to teach them an object lesson.
Brothers and sisters, today as we read the story, we would say, “Now, these disciples had not learned. Everybody wanted to be the head. Nobody wanted to serve.”
But our Lord Jesus took off His coat and began to wash His disciples’ feet. None of them said anything except Peter. Peter said, “Lord, how could You do that?” He did not think, “Why should I not do it?”
But he had the good sense to ask, “How could the Lord wash the feet of the disciples?” There was no right in it. But the Lord said, “Let it be so, because if I do not wash your feet, you have no part with Me.”
So Peter said, “Not only my feet, but my hands, my head—everything, my whole body.” The Lord said, “You do not need that.”
So, brothers and sisters, we must remember that in the house of God there is a divine order. It is not arranged by man. No man can arrange it. It is arranged by God.
When you come to the meeting, whom do you look for? What are you looking for? Are you looking to have your feet washed, or are you looking to wash other feet?
If the Lord washed the feet of His disciples, do you think we should do likewise? We come here not to be served, but to serve.
Are we willing to do the lowest thing you can ever think of for your brothers and sisters—the work of a maid? Are you willing to do that? And I think this is the trouble in the church today.
So, the Bible shows us that in the church there is a divine order, and this divine order is to be practiced. When you come to the church, you do not look for people to be under you. Rather, you look to whom you shall obey and learn spiritual lessons.
Well, the Lord has this order in the church. We have here nine items. The Lord tells us the order in the church. He said:
First, apostles;
secondly, prophets;
thirdly, teachers;
then miracles;
then gifts of healings, helps, governments, divers kinds of tongues.
You know, to every believer God has given a gift. If you read the Bible carefully, read the parable, you will find none of it tells us that any servant of the Lord is without a gift.
If you do not have five talents, you will have two talents. If you do not have two talents, you have one talent. At least you have one talent. As a matter of fact, a church is full of one-talent people.
And if you only use the five talents and the two talents, and let all the one-talents go without being used, do you know what loss you suffer? Because there are more people with one talent than the fives and the twos.
But of course, people with one talent probably are the most difficult people, because they have only one talent, but their demands are tremendous. Those with greater talents usually learn how to give, but those with less talent are always thinking of what is going to be given to them.
So, brothers and sisters, when you come to the meeting, look to whom you shall obey, not to whom you should rule. That is the right attitude.
If you begin from the very end, in due time God will raise you up higher. If you try to begin at the top, you will discover that you will go downward.
So here you find the Apostle Paul tells us that in the church there is an order. But that order is not man-made. That order is the order of God, and it is the order of God we should learn to follow.
It is interesting to know that all these things are spiritual in nature. It is not a rigid order. God, by His Spirit, wants to teach every one of us to learn how to find the right order of God. And it is only with the spirit of humility that we are able to do that.
So, dear brothers and sisters, just remember: there is a divine order in the church, not man-made. And if we know how to follow the divine order, we will be blessed. If we try to be against the divine order, we will suffer.
And this is what the Apostle Paul is trying to teach the Corinthian believers. Do not think that we are better than the Corinthians. There are lessons that we need to learn.
So this morning, this is the only thing in my heart: learn to find out the divine order of God in the church. And as we do that, the Lord will say, “Come up higher.”
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for these basic lessons. Thou wantest us to learn from the very beginning how we should behave in Thy church.
Lord, give us the spirit of humility, that we are not looking to be great, but we are looking to be lower, smaller, serving instead of being served.
May the Spirit of God kindly lead each and every one of us. Lord, this is not something man-made; it is something of God. And may Thy Spirit guide and lead every one.
Give us the spirit of humility, that we may find in our brothers and sisters people to whom we will give our obedience, that Thy church may be built and Thou mayest be glorified. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.