A More Excellent Way

And we're going to talk about what maybe what could be described as the beautiful interplay amongst God's people. We want the Bible to reveal to us God's intention and direction as to how we should come together as God's people and move forward to the kingdom in harmony and unity. These are some of the topics that we're going to touch on today in the sermon. The title is A More Excellent Way. A more excellent way. And this is what's going to be revealed to us. As we think about the church and God's people, well, we find those words in 1 Corinthians 12. So I invite you to open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 12, and we're going to read in a moment verses 12 through 31. 1 Corinthians 12 verses 12 through 31. Of course, we're coming off of the feast day of Pentecost. Pentecost, of course, marking the beginning of the New Testament church when instructed by Jesus Christ after his ascension, he instructed his people to go to Jerusalem and wait there. And you will receive the gift. And that gift was the Holy Spirit. It was poured out upon them on those called-out ones on that day. And that was the beginning, the assembly, of God's New Testament church. And here in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul is going to speak about that gathering. And he's going to reveal to us knowledge about the coming together of God's people. And he's going to do so in a very effective way by using imagery, by using pictures.

I don't know how long it's been since you've been in school, but some of the early English classes would always instruct the students to try to employ that wherever you can. Use pictures, use imagery, use metaphors, to try to paint a picture for the readers or the listeners of the topic or the truth you're trying to get across.

It allows readers to fully visualize what is being put forward. And so it's not surprising then that, you know, when you read Scripture, you find that all of Scripture is, and particularly the New Testament, is littered with just that. Words used to paint a picture. Often God uses the physical to help us understand the spiritual, to help us understand that which is contained in spiritual knowledge.

And here in 1 Corinthians 12, we come to arguably one of the best known biblical pictures or metaphors in all the Bible, as Paul is going to now describe the church and the makeup of the church as he gives it to us in the picture of our physical body.

So let's read this together. This will set the foundation for us. 1 Corinthians 12. Let's begin in verse 12. Paul begins this teaching. He says, For as the body is one, our physical body, and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also, he says, is Christ. For by one spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether they be Jews, Greeks, slaves, or free, and all have been made to drink of one spirit.

For in fact, the body is not one member, but many. So, verse 15, if the foot should say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? Or, and if the ear should say, because I am not the eye, am I not of the body?

Is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were the eye, well, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set members, each one of them, in the body, just as he pleased.

And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now, indeed, are many members yet one body? You know, so, verse 21, the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker, well, they are necessary.

And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor, and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.

And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. And if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now, verse 27, you are the body of Christ and members individually. And God has appointed these in the church. The apostles, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, gifts of healing, helps, administrations, variety of tongues, meaning languages. Are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, are all workers of miracles?

Do all have the gifts of healing? Do all speak with different tongues and languages? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet, I show you a more excellent way. Let's stop there. Quite a passage. And you know, Paul was so good at just using reason and, again, being able to take that which was physical and to point to that which is spiritual to give the listeners a better understanding here. And the illustration here is straightforward. He's comparing the body, our physical bodies, to the church.

God's people. God's called out ones. So we're going to take a look at this passage and allow it to help us understand the body, us, better. We're going to take a look and really break it up into two parts. First, we want to look at the explanation of this illustration. We want to help look at Paul's words and help to understand the explanation of this. And then, perhaps most importantly, we're going to take a look at the application of Paul's teaching here. So explanation, then application.

So first, the explanation. Very straightforward, we could say. I think perhaps even a grade school child could understand this. It's there in verse 12. He says, verse 12, "'For as the body," that's the physical body, "'as it has, it's one, where one body but has many members, but yet all the members of that one body, being many, are still one body,' he says.

"'So also is Christ.'" So, the explanation.

It takes many parts, many members, to make up one body. Yet, many members does not negate the fact that it is still one body, he says. Inevitably, of course, the parts, the members, differ from one another, he says. But that fact does not diminish the body's unity there.

All the members of that one body, being many, are one body, he says. That's the truth. That's the thesis, if you will. "'With our physical bodies, while many members still one body.'" That's the illustration here. But we know that Paul is not merely giving a lesson on human anatomy, right? So, we have the explanation. Here it is. He gives it to us at the end of verse 12, where he says these four words, "'So also is Christ.'" So there's the illustration. The explanation is, "'So also is Christ,' he says. That which I just said concerning the nature of the physical body, with its distinguishing parts, yet its oneness, and the unity amongst diversity, likewise, so also is Christ," he says. So, very clear. Now, I say very clear, but as a side note, I will say, you know, if I were to show you this verse, and you were coming to it afresh, and I said, I want you to complete this verse, I think to a person we would say, we would complete this verse as, "'So also is the church.'" Right? Probably so. I think many of us would complete it that way. "'So also is the church.'" Because so clearly he's speaking of the church, but Paul uses his creative license, if you will, to use the word Christ rather than the word church. Why? I think it could be of various reasons, but I think most importantly is to impress upon his readers then, and his readers today, that it's impossible to speak about the church apart from Christ. You see, we the church, we are the body of Christ. So, by using and evoking the word Christ, it really gives more depth to what we're speaking of here. We could say that Christ had a physical body, a physical flesh and blood body, when he was on the earth, and he used it to move around and to preach the gospel of the coming kingdom of God. But he returned to the Father, he's at the right hand of the Father today, and we could say that Christ still has a body, a flesh and blood body, that moves around here on the earth, helping proclaim the gospel of the kingdom of God. But his body here on earth is, in fact, you and I. You see. So, you and I, men and women, called men and women of God, are his body today. You see. And this occurred when we were brought to repentance, faith in Christ, baptized with his spirit, and at that moment we were not only brought to Christ, but we were also brought into Christ and made members of his body, the church, you see. So, his body is the church today. And that's what verse 13 gave us. Verse 13 again, by one spirit we were baptized into one body. Whether Jews, Greeks, slaves, free, we have been made to drink of that one spirit, you see.

So, further explanation of this that he's given to us here, we were brought into Christ. And it is irrespective of any kind of distinctions. Irrespective of nationality, irrespective of racial distinctions, irrespective of social distinctions, the power of the one spirit. We were all made to drink of that one spirit, God's spirit. Whether Jews, Greeks, slaves, free. That's the meaning behind that. So, the Holy Spirit was the great unifier and made us one body, you see, one with each other, united with Christ, therefore united with each other. And so, you are here. You're part of the body. Again, irrespective of any skin color, heritage, lineage, first generation, second generation, all those distinguishing factors are subservient to the fact that we were all made to drink of one spirit and brought, unified into God's body. And that's what occurred on that great Pentecost event of the New Testament there in Acts 2. That's what occurred. So, this is the explanation. One body, many members, yet still one, because we were made to drink of one spirit. It's an amazing truth. Okay. That's the explanation. We got it. We can easily understand that up here.

But what of the application? The application. Yes, I understand. We drank of one spirit. Here we are, brought all together, many members, yet one body. While I know that, I also know there are... it's not as easy as it sounds, right? There's incredible challenges that come from this inherent truth. And that's what Paul now dedicates himself from verse 15 and following, where he now moves on from the explanation to the application. Paul's a very good teacher, very sequential, and very helpful in that way.

And he begins to write... and he begins to explain. Let me apply this. And there's no doubt any kind of disunity that we experience today here is not new to us. It was occurring since the beginning, and it no doubt was occurring in Paul's time. And that's why he has to address this topic of unity amongst the diversity here. And I think the way Paul decides to put forth this truth, he really breaks it up into two particular challenges, two particular aspects, in finding unity amongst the diversity. And so challenge number one in making application of this, he begins, challenge number one is when the challenge in finding unity amongst the diversity, challenge number one, is the feeling of inferiority. Okay? That's challenge number one. When you come together, when God brings us together by his spirit, one of the main challenges of two is this risk of feeling, or this notion of feeling inferior within the body. So that's the number one challenge here that he begins with, where he writes verse 15 and 16. Okay, let's apply this. He says, verse 15, if the foot should say then, and again we're talking spiritually right, ultimately, because I'm not the hand, I am not of the body. Well, Paul asks, let's ask, is it therefore not of the body? That's true. The foot's not the hand. And what if the ear should say, because I'm not the eye, I am not part of the body? Well, let's discuss, is it therefore not of the body? he asks. So you have this inferiority statement here. Still relevant today.

I feel unneeded in this body. That's the sentiment, right? Have you heard people say that with different expressions? What are some of the expressions we've heard?

You know, if I didn't show up to church, I don't think anyone would notice, right? That's one of the sentiments.

From an inferior feeling. I don't know if it would matter. I don't know if anybody would care. I don't know if anybody would even think of me or notice, right? Surely some in the Corinthian context felt that way. Now, those who are in this space, or maybe kind of ebb and flow in and out of these feelings, I want to challenge you a little bit today. Those who maybe feel inferior from time to time in the body, I want to challenge you to focus on those feelings and go to God to ask him to help you come out of those feelings. Because with those feelings, you may be unintentionally expressing that you're unhappy with the place in which God has put you in the body. So, those kind of feelings go into the realm of not being satisfied with God and where he's placed you in the body. Perhaps unsatisfied with the particular skills or gifts or lack of skills in your perception or lack of gifts that God's given you. So, when you have inferior feelings, unintentionally it may come across as not being happy with God, ultimately. And I know that's not the desire of our heart, but it really gets into that realm. Ultimately, inferior feelings belong in the category of selfishness. Anything that shines a light on the self automatically goes in that category. Have you ever been to a dual birthday party? You will see this on full display. Now, some parents, maybe some in here, perhaps you're putting together a little special party for your son or daughter. And in the interest of just trying to make things easy or less of a hassle, you may have decided over the years to bring those parties together and to have celebration of the kids on the same day at the same time. Opening the gifts at the same time? Big mistake, right? Because inevitably, what happens? Well, as they're opening their gifts, little Timmy looks over at little Joni and likes her gift better than his gift. You know, and immediately feels unsatisfied with the gift that he's been given. But don't ever do that. Big mistake, right? Never turns out well. And it's written all over his face.

Likewise—perhaps that's kind of not a great example—but in a sense, likewise, when you and I have opened the gifts that we've been given, God-given gifts, we may consciously or unconsciously be unhappy with what we've been given. And you look around at other people's gifts, right? And you feel envious of what someone else may have. So when we bring this fully to the spiritual realm, inferiority, spiritually speaking, is very dangerous spiritual territory. Why? Again, it can be an expression of the self. It can be an expression of pride. It may sound humble to say, I'm insignificant in God's family, in his body. That might sound humble. You know, I don't mean much. I don't do much. I'm insignificant. But in actuality, it might not be humble at all. It might be an ultra-self-focus, and therefore an expression of pride. And again, you might be intentionally or unintentionally calling into question God's wisdom and where he's placed you in the body and what he's given you there. Because where do we get our placement in the body? Where do we get our spiritual gifts? We get those from God, right? We don't take them on ourselves. And so if I say, my gifts are irrelevant or unimportant, or if I say I have nothing to offer, it may sound humble, but be careful. It might be actually an expression of pride where you want more for yourself.

Paul evokes kind of a humorous, another illustration. We won't turn there, but it's in Romans 9, verse 20. Romans 9, verse 20, where you have this picture of the clay looking up at the potter, and saying, why are you making me this way? Kind of a humorous imagery to put forth the point that he was making to question. And of course it's ridiculous. And there can be a lot of eyes. Why am I this way? You see? So you see about the little bit of spiritual danger area that you might be getting into. And so until we accept who we are and what we are for his purpose, until we accept that, and perhaps until we accept who we're not and what we're not for his purpose, we may spend an enormous amount of time not fulfilling God's divine purpose for us in the body, because we're always looking elsewhere.

So the best response, if you feel inferior, is to go to God and ask him to reveal to you, make it obvious your gifts and where he wants those enacted and employed in his body. And pray, give me the opportunity to use those gifts. Reveal them to me. And let me give them to you in your glory for the body. And then once he reveals to those to you, take those gifts, come forward into the part of the body that you are, move within the body, and fulfill your unique and critical part that God wants you to fulfill. So important, asking God to reveal that to you. And I'll just have you know, just know, your part may not look like anyone else's. It may look totally different. And God has ordained it that way. Your gift helps fill in my gaps. My gifts fill in your gaps. And we have this beautiful harmony and unity amongst the body. And it is so that, super important, God designed it this way so that no individual member would ever be able to be the totality of the body.

God ordained it this way so that no individual member would ever be able to be the totality of the body. You see. And He speaks of that very thing, you know, this inferiority feeling. Don't ever feel that way. Don't ever feel... No part of the body is inferior. Look at verse 15, you know. If the foot should say, because I'm not the hand, I am not part of the body. Well, is it not part of the body? It's really a silly thought here. You know, because I'm the foot, I am not part of the body. I'm not the hand, so I'm not part of the body. I don't think being the foot is as important as the hand, you know. Well, if you are a, you know, the foot... Yes, the foot cannot exercise the complicated actions that a hand can. That's right. That's true. Try to get... Let's take a moment here. Try to get your keys out of your pocket with your foot. Go ahead. Let's see what we can do here. Oh, there's a few in the back that are trying right now. So, actually, some of you might be able to pull this off. I don't know. Okay, true. Most of us can't do it, right? So, is the foot useless? Well, okay, you hands, you know, you can actually get the loose coins or get your key to your car out of your pocket. True. Now, try to go out to your car without your feet and start the car and drive down to the coffee shop, you know. Very difficult. It would be very difficult without your feet, right? So, are the feet worthless just because they can't enact the complicated actions of the hand? No.

They can't. The hands can't do what the feet do. You see.

You know, I guess the hands could drag yourself to the car. I don't know. But it's a ridiculous notion here. So, don't ever feel inferior. And the same way with the ear and the eye. Verse 16. Should the ear say, verse 16, because I'm not the eye, I'm not part of the body. You know. You're right. The ear is not the eye. You got it. That's right. But the fact is, each one is able to do these complicated, useful, critical aspects within the body. And we need both.

And what's really interesting here—there's lots of psychology here. When you think about the hand and the foot, and you think about the ear and the eyes, the two illustrations Paul puts forth, I think that might be purposeful. Listen to what one commentator said in thinking about this in spiritual terms. One commentator said, quote, in thinking about the hand and the foot, or the ear and the eye, okay, quote, we're prone to envy those who are in similar placement or similar action within the body, rather than those who are in a patently different class, unquote. So we're prone to envy those who are in similar vicinity or similar activity within the body. Then we are prone to envy those who are at the part of the body that are in a total different area, right? So, hands typically have conflict with feet or ears with eyes, you know, depending on what part of the spiritual body you are. You might be in the same vicinity, fulfilling some of the same activities of the body. That's where the schisms can lie and exist, you know. So you think about being careful, you know, in those areas. But we shouldn't have any issues within the body. Why? Because God ordained the diversity. He ordained the process by each member where they're placed. Each one's supposed to do their part for the body.

What if, okay, Paul says, well, what if there was no diversity? That's verse 17. Okay, what if the whole body, verse 17, were an eye? Well, how would we hear?

And if the whole were ears, well, how would we smell anything? You know, it's ridiculous. I don't know if Paul's being facetious or not. I think he might be, just to make a point here, you know. If we were all eyeballs out there, though, do you think that would, do you think we would find unity if we were all the same? Well, knowing humanity and the humanness of us, probably not, we'd be looking over and desire a different color of eye, I'm sure, you know. Why did God make me brown when I could be green? You know, we would find something to find a schism with, you know. But in this, Paul's showing us a more excellent way. He's showing us a more excellent way in how to think about it, these things. It's obvious, but so ridiculous to ever feel inferior because, verse 18 to 19, verse 18, God has set the members. God has done that. Each one of them in the body, just as he pleased. He says there, and if it was all one member, where would the body be? He says. So we need these reminders. There.

Paul's a great teacher. So if inferiority is one issue, one big issue within the body of Christ, then we could logically say, what's the other big issue? Well, altogether, superiority, right? And so let's move on to this second issue. If it's not inferiority, it's superiority. Inferiority and superiority. These are the two great schism-producing aspects of the body of Jesus Christ. One is expressed, they don't need me. The other is expressed, I don't need them. You see?

So the challenge of feeling superior. So Paul turns it around here. Verse 21, verse 21, he says, the eye cannot say to the hand. Okay, if you're an eye, you're prominent, you're performing a pretty visible, no pun intended, part of the body function. You cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you. Nor can the head say to the feet, I have no need of you. So this is the superior notion, feeling that Paul is addressing here. I don't need you. And again, proximity is key here, where the closer in proximity you are, there's the risk of comparing yourself and then feeling inferior. Well, it also works with superiority. The further you are away in proximity in the body, the more likely you'll feel superior. So the head may feel superior to the feet, because the proximity is further away. So if you struggle with superiority feelings, then be careful that you don't look down upon parts of the body that are not, that are further away than you and your function in the body. You see? There's a very good teaching here, kind of a psychological teaching for the church here, because if you're an eye, go ahead and try to get the keys out of your pocket. Okay? Not going to happen. If you're a head, you know, you can't say to the feet, I don't need you there. I mean, I guess you'd be able to roll out to the car. I don't know, you know? It's a pretty ridiculous picture here. All to drive home the point that the distinctions in the body of Christ, the distinctions, are distinctions of function and never value. Okay? The distinctions in the body of Christ are distinctions in function, never value. Very important there. Never value. And Paul wants to just drive it home with this superior feeling, the superiority feeling here. And he says, he's about to say in verse 22 and 23, not only can you not feel superior, but on the contrary, he says. It's just the opposite. Verse 22, no, verse 22, much rather those members of the body which seem to be weaker, they are necessary, he says. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor. And on those unpresentable parts, those parts which don't present themselves as outwardly, they have greater modesty. Verse 22, but much rather those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. This is it, again. And on these, which we think to be less honorable, we bestow greater honor upon them. And that's so true. That is so true. And this is the pitfall of the different members in the body of Christ. Because think of your physical body. This morning when you were getting ready to come to church, did you spend more time, care, and attention on the exterior parts or on the interior parts?

Well, of course. We spend much more time, attention, care. We give honor to, if you want to put it that way, on the exterior parts. We shave our faces. You know, you put aftershave on. Ladies shave their legs. And you know, the hair. But how much time did we spend this morning on our lungs or our liver? Those hidden, less noticeable parts? You know, unless you have lung issues, of course you might give them some care and honor. But by and large, it's the exterior parts we spend most time on. Okay, but the fact is, you and I can actually live and function fairly well without our legs.

But you are not going to function and live very well without your lungs. Right? The point, the weaker parts, the quote weaker parts, are necessary. And they are the parts, the parts that we don't give honor to, typically. They are the ones that are indispensable. The internal members of the body inevitably do not get the exposure as the outward members of the body. You see, again, this is not a lesson in anatomy. It's a lesson in the body of Christ. Those parts, Paul, says that seem to be weaker. They actually are the most essential, if you want to get down to it. Pastors with a mic, and we come and go, you know. But the heart and what makes this body move, truly move, move. It is the body, the soul, you know, that truly are what's essential. And we know that. Pastors come and go. There are members here that have kept this thing going here. They're the ones that's kept this going. They're essential. Again, we could replace, you know, a hand, we might be able to get a prosthetic for that, right, and function fairly well. But once you get to the heart of the matter, you discover how indispensable those members of the body are. And they are the less noticeable ones. And often, they're at risk of being neglected because of that. Often, they're to be misappreciated, to be less cared for, you see. But Paul's going to put forward here, because of that, it's the exterior parts that have a responsibility to protect and take care of the internal parts. There's a special mandate on those to take care of those less notable. If you are a part of the body of Christ that's amplified by this thing here and elevated on a stage, the mandate to you and I is to care for, take care of, honor, bestow honor upon those less noticeable parts, you see, because they are indispensable. You know, we could go on, we could give example after example, but some of those less noticeable parts are the prayer warriors. Some of those indispensable parts are watching via webcast right now, unable to physically be here. But perhaps we could say those are the most indispensable in the body. Those who we don't even see. But God hears them and they're praying for us daily, faithfully tuning in to hear God's word with their doing the best with their limitations, you see.

So it's the responsibility of the external to take care of and protect the internal. That's verse 23, again. So we don't, those that we think to be less honorable, we bestow greater honor. So though anyone that has an opportunity to head up something, to be visible, your responsibility then is to always reach back and to bestow honor on those that helped you be there in that moment. That's why you see the best leaders, they deflect honor and redirect it to those that they know actually made this thing go. You see, that's just not something nice to do. It's what we have to do. It's the instruction, you see. We are to protect and honor those.

Every part of the body is important. One body fulfilling the whole body's objective, verse 25 and 26. So important to do these things so that there be no schism, verse 25, in the body.

But that each member should have the same care for one another. And therefore, if we are operating in this unity, when one member suffers, it doesn't matter how small, all suffer. If one member is honored, we're all rejoicing. You see, this is the beautiful teaching of Paul, of the body of Christ, each unique individual doing their part toward our purpose. And God appointed it this way. So, Paul, of course, as we read earlier, concludes with these rhetorical questions here. You know, from verse 27 through 31, you know, the body of Christ members individually, verse 27. And he goes through these questions. Is everyone appointed to this? Is everyone appointed to that? From positions to helps to administrations, you see.

Do we all do these things? No, we each have our part.

But we should earnestly desire the gift God has given us. And say, thank you, Father, for giving me this gift. Let me use it to your glory. This is the more excellent way here that Paul is putting forward.

We are all part of the body of Jesus Christ, and there is a work for him to do. And I'll tell you, just in case, as we begin to conclude here, there is a work for God the Father and Jesus Christ that none but you can do.

So do it. Do it with all your might. Do it for the honor of God. And you'll be unifying the body. And as you see other parts of the body fulfilling their part, let's honor them. Let's glory in their success. Let's look for those hidden parts, those parts that aren't always seen, and let's lift them up and say, thank you. But I know you do this, and I just wanted to say thank you for that. I notice it, you know, and I know God notices it. And the body is beautiful because of your part. So let's look forward now in the upcoming year to be the strongest body of Christ that we can, looking out for one another, encouraging one another. And may the power of the Holy Spirit baptize you and I into Christ. For by one Spirit we are many, yet one. This is the more excellent way.