Unity and Diversity in the Body of Christ

Here are the selected quotes from the sermon transcript:

1. "Paul writes this, we'll look at this in more detail a few weeks. He says, how is it then brethren whenever you come together that each of you has a psalm, a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation? He tells them, let all things be done for edification. At the end of that chapter, he says, let all things be done decently and in order. Friends, what we see in the Corinthian church is that the people, they were excited about spiritual gifts. We're going to see from this chapter, evidently they were pretty, they were ignorant about spiritual gifts, but everybody wanted the gifts that were well seen and that people would cause them to be well thought of or everybody to look at them. And so they wanted to do what their own heart desired, maybe even like what they came from in the pagan temples and some of what they saw there, rather than what, how God wanted it to be. And so Paul teaches them here some, some, just some basic things to help them and to kind of straighten them out, to set them straight in this." [00:03:22] (63 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "And he wanted to emphasize the togetherness and the unity of the church. And so Paul sets out to remind them of several bonds of unity, several things. Did you know that there are some basic things that unite us, that are the reason we're even here this morning? And without such, we would not have the unity and the oneness that we do. And so I want to talk to you about that this morning. Before next week and so forth, when Paul goes on to talk about the different parts of the body and the various giftedness of the body, Paul starts out by talking about the unity of the body and what holds us and brings us together." [00:06:09] (43 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "And so, as Paul writes this, he wants to make clear, no one speaking by the Spirit of God curses Christ. Amen? Absolutely. And then he turns around and gives us the other side of that, and he says, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. So, Paul wants to make clear that what was going on was not by the Spirit. It was not of the Spirit. But what we should be doing is proclaiming that Jesus is Lord, not cursing him. You know, I think we can say, I hope, and maybe, you're here and you're investigating Christianity and you're thinking about, I don't know if he is or isn't, I'm trying to decide that. We welcome you to that. But as a body of Christ, as a member of this church, one thing we stand around is the fact that we believe Jesus is Lord. He is the boss of our lives, and he is Lord over all. Amen?" [00:12:14] (67 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "So here in verse 1, the word pneumatika, pneumatika is used. Down in verse 4, we'll see here in a minute, where it's actually translated gifts. That's the word charismata. both are used to refer to spiritual gifts by the apostle Paul. But as he begins, he says, now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, or the spirituals, I do not want you to be ignorant. That's kind of a nice way of saying that Paul thought they were, right? I don't want you to be ignorant. Well, that's kind of saying you are. And Paul saw that and whatever, if he had what he'd heard from them or what they'd written to him, they needed some instruction on spiritual gifts. And so he, as he does, does a great job teaching them." [00:07:45] (49 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "So what Paul is saying here is the sense that, listen, you know that before you were Christian, when you were still pagans, you were enticed, you were led away by these mute, these idols that were really nothing, but you allowed them, to lead you away. So his emphasis was in that these, even though these idols were nothing, you let them lead you astray. And by what we read next in verse three, Paul seems to be indicating that some of them were maybe even still doing this. Look at verse 3. He says, therefore, I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed." [00:09:50] (40 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "So he says here, there are diversities of gifts. There's lots of different gifts, various kinds of gifts, but notice what his emphasis here is on, but what? The same spirit, the same spirit. So there's lots of different gifts, but the same spirit, as we're going to see as it continues on, who gives each and every one of them. So there's a unifying factor to the various gifts. Verse five, he continues on, says there are differences of ministries. Now, the word differences there is actually the same Greek word that is translated diversities in verse four. So again, it means various kinds. I guess just in English here, they just wanted to vary it up a little bit, but it's the same word. There are various kinds of ministries, ways and places in which those gifts can be used, right? So there's various gifts, but the same spirit. Verse five, he says there are various kinds of ministries, but the same Lord." [00:20:04] (56 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "And so God is the one who empowers us and bestows the gift upon us and provides, even provides the opportunity, for us to use them. He opens the doors for us to use our gifts for him. Amen. And the wonderful thing is we get a chance to do that and therefore be involved in eternal work. That's why he does all of this, friends, because he wants each and every one of us to have the privilege of the process. Do you know everything that God does through us, he could do on his own? He could. But he chooses us to do it because there is a greater good involved." [00:22:40] (49 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "And so that's why when we talk about baptism, when somebody gets physically baptized, it is a symbol, a representation of what happened spiritually when they got saved. But that physical baptism represents them becoming part of the body of Christ. Why? Because when they were saved, well, look at what it says here, for by one spirit, we were all baptized into one body. So when we were saved, that's the moment at which you got saved. This phrase equates the time of this baptism of the spirit with when a person gets saved. So being baptized by the spirit is the same as being baptized into the body of Christ. It's when you become a part of the body of Christ or a part of God's family, not later on, but that is at that moment." [00:41:25] (50 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "That is what unites us, friends. That is what makes us. And we become one family, a part of his family, a part of the same family, friends. And it is nothing we can brag about because I didn't do anything to deserve that. God did that in me by me just hearing the gospel and responding to that, friends. And so we all unite around that because when we are saved, we are all baptized by the spirit into the family of God. And we become one family, whether you like it or not. So let's work together. Amen? Amen. Let's work together. Let's use our gifts for the glory of God." [00:45:19] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "How many of you ever seen a flock of geese flying south for the winter? You ever seen that? Okay. Well, I guess technically you don't know that they're flying south for the winter. You know, I have, Hey guys, what you doing up there? You know, but you see them flying, right? And they're, you can tell they're headed long distances and stuff. And you've seen a flock of geese and, and, and when they are flying, they're not all flying haphazardly, are they? They're flying in all in line and it's usually in a V, right? And so there's one in the front. And it's interesting if you study that, that, you know, that front bird breaks through the wind and creates, you know, breaks through for the most resistance and they're flying the others. But as they go, as the front bird gets tired, they go to the back and they take turns. And so it's so beautiful how they do that. So that instead of flying individually, they are all flying individually. As one." [00:46:39] (56 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)