The Body of Christ Pt.4

I want to review just a moment the ten commandments of the body gifts. Number one, it is essential to the health of the body that every believer understands and functions his gift. The expression that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians, I would not have you to be ignorant concerning the gifts, he uses only three other times in the New Testament. And all of these are the cardinal doctrines of salvation. He is using the expression, I don't want you to be ignorant, you dare not be uninformed. This you must understand to say that this is one of the cardinal teachings of the Word of God. In fact, the understanding of the diversities of gifts and their harmony together is the life and death issue of the health of the body. Commandment number two, the Holy Spirit alone is the sovereign source of those gifts gifts. They are not sought, they cannot be earned, they are given by the Holy Spirit at salvation. Why then, in 1 Corinthians 12, 31, does the apostle say, seek ye the best gifts? He is referring, as he always does, to the collective expression of gifts in the body assembled and its function. In other words, he is not saying individually seek for a particular gift. That is not biblical. The Spirit of God, sovereignly at salvation, gives what gifts he will, once and for all, to each individual member. He is saying in the collective assembly of the congregation at worship, seek the expression of the best gifts. He is saying in love, seek prophecy, which simply means to preach the forth telling of the Word of God. They were all trying to use the same gift. And it was creating some kind of menagerie. All of them were emphasizing one gift. And Paul said, if you all do that, where is the body? No, he is saying seek the expression of the best gifts, plural. He is telling the church how to minister to each other in its collective worship. He is not saying that individuals. It is a plural expression, not a singular one, that individuals are to try to find another gift. Every believer has his gift and or gifts given at salvation. Number three, a gift is not a natural ability. It is a spirit -endowed tendency of the personality to be able to do something that is unexplainable in its intensity by mere physical means. It is not a human ability. He may choose to equip to use you by giving you the adaptability to use some innate ability in a supernatural way. But it is not a natural ability to make a pie, to play the trumpet or to be an architect or something. The fourth thing, there is no hierarchy in the gifts. One gift is not greater than another gift. Now that is to say that one is not a greater person because they have it. Paul makes it very obvious that the gift of foretelling was to be done at every assembled body of the congregation. And he was saying that the exaltation did not make the person better, but that the gifts that were necessary for the entire body edification were to be emphasized. But we are not to lord it over each other because one hierarchy or the hierarchy of gifts does not make one person better than another. Number five, the possession of a gift is no sign of spirituality. We do not become more spiritual the more gifts we get and the more spiritual we become receive more gifts. The believer has given his gifts at salvation. He may choose to use them or not to use them. He may choose to use them spiritually or he may use to be a devastating force in the church either by not using his gifts or by not using them in the energy of the spirit. There is confusion and division where gifts are misunderstood and where they are ministered in the flesh and not in comprehension and not in consistency with the spirit of God or with accurate Bible teaching and understanding. Every believer has gifts. Carinal believers have gifts. They may use them wrongly. They may not use them at all. But the number of gifts you have or having a gift is no sign of spirituality. Number seven, number six, rightly used, there is the promise of power. Wrongly used, there is the guarantee of division and confusion in the church. When Owen Cooper was president of the Southern Baptist Convention, he said that fully one -third to one -half of all Southern Baptist churches were split and confused over the issue of tongues. Somebody is misusing, is misunderstanding the issue of at least one of the gifts. Rightly used, there is the promise of power. Wrongly used, there is the guarantee of division and confusion, 1 Corinthians 14, 33. Number seven, rightly used, the gifts, of course, edify each other. I have two or three areas in my life where I am gifted. I have the gift of faith. It is easy for me to believe. You have areas in which you are particularly gifted. As I build you up by exercising my gift of faith, you and your weaker area of faith become stronger overall, so that it is possible for you to exercise your strong gifts because you are overall stronger in the areas that I am weak and we mutually edify each other. Number eight, the gifts of the Spirit are distinct from the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5, 22 says the fruit of the Spirit is love, singular, with its many personality characteristic manifestations of love, patience, joy, long -suffering, etc. The fruit of the Spirit is love. Every spirit -walk believer possesses the fruit of the Spirit. But the gifts of the Spirit are different with different people. That is why you must join this church if you believe God would have you to. And you must not dare come here if you believe God would not have you to. Your gift may be needed in another church. Your gift may be needed in this church. You must minister to the whole as you feel the leadership of God in ministering your gift to that portion of the body where you belong. So we must know we're in the will of God because we need what you have or someone else may need what you have and only you and the Spirit of God can determine that. Number nine, it is possible, of course, and this is no profound theological statement, it is possible to have a gift and not use it. Paul wrote Timothy and said, stir up the gift that is in you. If you have a gift, we need it. All of us need you to minister it to us. Number ten, the gifts of the Spirit come in clusters. They come normally in combinations. The Lord would have us to know that most are given more than one gift. You remember, look in the life of Paul, and I think, to tell you the truth, I can't think of a gift that Paul didn't possess. Can you? I can't think of a gift he didn't possess. He was an extremely gifted man. And remember, every gift was a personality characteristic, a tendency of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Paul was so much like Jesus in that he had, as far as I can tell, all of the gifts. Of course, there are less. In 2 Timothy 4, we find Paul writing to Timothy. Among other things, he says, give full attention to your preaching. So he had the gift of prophecy, which means to forth tell. He said, and to exhortation. So he had the gift of exhorting. He said, teach strong doctrine. So he had the gift of teaching. And he said, do the work of an evangelist. So he had the gift of evangelism. And so we see that Timothy had, that we know about, at least four gifts. Now, whatever gift you have, you need to use them all. Paul says in the fifth verse of 2 Timothy 4, make full proof of your ministry. Don't leave any of those gifts out. Now, I want us to understand for just a moment some of the distinctions between the offices and the gifts of the Spirit. Now, here and next Sunday and the following, and I wish I could just take about four hours and preach all of this as a unit. I want you to really get your brains in gear. Don't worry, I won't do that. I just said I wish that I could. And listen very closely with the ear of the heart. Did you ever wonder why the Bible says to rightly divide the Word of God? To rightly divide the Word of God? That means to separate. That means to know what goes here and who it is for and when it was for them. You see, you know, somebody said to me, well, I just believe it all because it's just all listed right there. Well, it just doesn't work that way. Two preachers I knew about were, one of them was discussing with this friend who just came out of seminary. And he was looking at Israel and he was looking at the bride and looking at the church and looking at the end time. And he was so confused about what belonged to what time and to what group and to what era. He was all confused. He said, I just decided that I'm going to apply everything to everybody. Well, the brother preacher friend said, that's fine. What time are you going to have your sacrifices today? You see, you just can't do it that way. You must distinguish and divide rightly the word of truth. Now, I want us to begin by looking over in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 28. And I want to point out to you that there were five New Testament office gifts to the church. Now, these are not gifts particularly. They are gifted men. In verse 28, God hath set some in the church. Set. Hath set some. Etheta. Placed. Established. First, apostles. Secondarily, prophets. Thirdly, teachers. Now, hang on right there for a moment and turn over to Romans, if you will, please. Chapter 12, and let's look at verse number 11. I'm sorry, Ephesians. The other way. Other way. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11. And he gave some apostles. It's part of what he gave to the church. Some men who were apostles. He does not say he gives an apostolic gift. He says he gives some men who are apostles and some prophets and some more men evangelists, some more men, pastors, and some more men, teachers. Now, come back, if you will, please. Here are five gifts that he gave then to the New Testament church. And back in 1 Corinthians 12, 28, God hath set some, ethetah, established in the church. First, the apostles. Secondarily, the prophets. Thirdly, teachers. After that. Now, this word, this expression, after that, is a clause which sets it apart. He has talked about five gifted kinds of men he has sent in the church. Now, he says, after that. Now, we're talking about some gifts that he has given the church. Then miracles, gifts of healings, helps, et cetera. And we'll look at all of those. Now, there is a difference in the gift of prophet and the gift of apostle and the gift of teacher and the man who is a gifted man who does these things. I want you to look for just a moment back in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 20, if you will. Go back now to Ephesians chapter 2, verse 20. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians. This is right back a little bit just to the right of 1st and 2nd Corinthians, where we've been. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 20. He's talking about the church, how it was built, how its foundation was formed, how we have been built upon that, as Peter says. And now here it says, Ephesians 2, 20, we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. There were two gifted positions that God gave to the early church. One of them was the gift of the position, the gifted man who was an apostle. Then there was the gifted man who was the prophet, the New Testament prophet, the preacher. Now, these are complemented by three others. You will notice the apostle, the prophet, the New Testament preacher, the New Testament office of prophet, then the teacher, the evangelist, and the pastor. Now, these two foundational offices of the gifted apostle and the gift of the man who is a gifted apostle and the gift of the man who is a gift of the church, who is a gifted prophet, a foreteller. These were foundational ministries of the church. I like what Ironside says when he says, please, brethren, don't put the foundation on the 20th story. Today, I believe there are three gifted offices in the church. There is pastor, there is evangelist, there is teacher. These are the continuing ministries of gifted men. God gives to the church. But the gift of the New Testament office of apostle and the New Testament office of prophet were foundational ministries, as we shall see next Sunday and in the Sunday thereafter. Now, I want us to understand the first gift then to the church is the of God gives to the body, and these are the permanent gifts to the church. Now hang on just for a moment. I'm going to say that there are 11 permanent edifying gifts to the church. Permanent edifying gifts to build up the body, to build up fellow believers, and that there are four temporary sign gifts. Now that is not to say, you're going to have to listen closely, that the gifts that were temporary sign gifts may not be used today in the church. It is not to say that God does not what he chooses to in his sovereignty administer a gift for a purpose that he does not do it. But as far as a continuing ministry, the apostles had four gifts which were intended to be confirming sign gifts. Tongues, for example, the apostle Paul makes it very clear, wherefore tongues is a sign not for the unbeliever, but for them which believe not. Now that is not to say that in the sovereignty of God he may not choose this day to give a man the ability to praise him in the privacy of his own closet with the gift of tongues. It is not to say that on the foreign mission field, when there is a necessity to interpret in another, to speak in another language as a sign to the unbeliever, that he may not give, that he may not administer that gift. But we are talking about permanent edifying gifts to the church. He is saying to us that the gift of healing, for example, it is not to say that God does not heal. God still heals. But the gift of healing was one of the gifts given to the apostles in the foundation of the church as a confirming, one of the four we shall see confirming sign gifts. That is to say, men do not have the power to go around indiscriminately healing whomsoever they will. Because Kuhlman is the first to say she does not have the gift of healing. And she is right. She has the gift of faith, which is an ongoing, permanent, edifying gift. And in her presence, people are healed. That is to say that he does not have the ongoing ministry of miracles, that God still works miracles. My conversion is a miracle. You are all living miracles. God still does miraculous things today. But for the purpose of a sign to the world, he does not give a permanent gift of men being able to be eternally gifted of going around working miracles to confirm the gospel because the Bible is a finished revelation in a closed system. And so the Word of God becomes the validating sign of the authenticity of God's message. And he is not confirming today what he does with miracles and with healings and with tongues. That is not to say that there is no such thing. I'm not saying that at all. Obviously, there are such things. He does work miracles. He does heal. But I am saying that he does not give men these days the ability to go around indiscriminately healing and working miracles as a sign to validate the veracity of the gospel message. Because the Bible has now come and it is now complete. And the test of God's truth is the test of God's Word, not of one's ability to perform a miracle. And so we shall look at these temporary sign gifts, which were given not as a permanent gift, though God still may do them on occasion, but not that one man has the power to continue to do something as an ongoing gift to validate the ministry. We must separate the confirming sign gifts, which were given to temporarily confirm the gospel in the early foundation of the church and those which are permanent edifying gifts to the church. So you can see this is going to get a little bit tricky. And I don't believe there would be nearly as much confusion and dissension in the body if we fully understood the nature of these gifts. Why, when, to whom, and so forth. And so we see that there are five offices that were gifted men that God gave. The first office then was the office of prophet, the office of New Testament prophet, the office of apostle, which he says in Ephesians were foundational gifts and which I do not believe are operative today. Then there is the gift of teacher, pastor, and evangelist. These are the five divisions of gifted men given to the church. Now there is a difference in the gifted man, the man himself who is a gift to the church and the gifts. I want us to notice over in chapter 37, if you will, please. Verse 37 of 1 Corinthians 14. 1 Corinthians chapter 14, and let us look at verse number 37. 1 Corinthians 14, verse number 37. If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. And so Paul is saying here that the test of the validity of a man as a prophet is that it squares with the word of God. Well, what it has to say. Now, the word prophet has come to mean, of course, to most of us, the ability to foretell the future, the ability to predict future events before they happen. The New Testament gift of prophecy is not foretelling. It is simply foretelling. It is to tell for what the word of God is. It is what you and I call the gift of preaching. Now, it may be that, and I want to tell you that there's an 11th commandment here in essence, and that is that while God gives all of us different gifts, still it is true that all of the gifts, to some lesser degree, are to be operative in the life of every believer. Let me say that again. It's kind of an 11th commandment of the gifts. While all of the gifts are given to different ones, still every degree, while each of us have two or three gifts, to some degree, every believer has some degree the use of all of the gifts. Now, you may have the ability to communicate the gospel of Christ and share your faith with a measure of the Spirit's blessings, to two or three, or to two or three thousand. But while God may call a man to preach, he may have the office of New Testament prophet, not predictor, foreteller of the Word of God, still all of us, to some degree or other, are to be sharers of the good news of Jesus Christ. Now, the second gift that he gives is also a gifted man. It is the gift of teacher. Look again, if you will, please, right where we were in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 28. After that, thirdly, teachers. Now, also we found this in Ephesians, that there are men who are gifted teachers. They are Bible teachers. They are seminary professors. They are traveling men who conduct Bible conferences. They are gifts to the church. But still, though some people are not gifted as a teacher who is a gift to the church, still they have the gift of teaching. And there is a difference. Likewise, it is true that all of us, to some degree or other, are supposed to be able to share our faith and to teach others. In 2 Timothy 2, 2, he says, The things that thou hast heard among me, commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. The gift of teaching, then, is threefold. First of all, all of us are to have the propensity to be able to share our faith and to explain the doctrines of the Word of God to our fellows. But secondly, some have the gift of teaching. There are to 300 people in this church who use the gift of teaching. But the gift of teachers, the one who is a particularly gifted teacher who travels, who is a scholar in that area, is a different thing from the average person who may have the gift of teaching. He says, some are teachers, set epitha. And after that, there is teaching, there is helps, there is the diversities of the gifts. So Paul is careful to distinguish the gift of the prophet, the preacher, and the gift of the teacher from the ability simply to communicate and one who teaches on a general kind of level, shall we say. Now, what is the difference in preaching and in teaching? Well, if preaching is motivation, then teaching is declaration. If preaching is information, teaching is explanation. It is the ability to come alongside of a person and explain to them the simple fundamentals of the truth of the Word of God. And all of us should be, every man of God, every believer should be apt to teach. Every person who has the gift of teaching should find people and help explain the Word of God to them. But there are some who rise above the average gift of teaching who are a teacher and who possess the office of New Testament teacher, who are especially gifted men, a gift of the man to the church. The after that separates the man from the gift. Now the third gift that God gives to the church, that many people have, is the gift of faith. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse number 9, to another the working of miracles, to another the discerning of spirits, and to another, I'm sorry, that was 10. Verse 9, to another faith by the same Spirit. Simply stated, I think that the gift of faith could well be called the gift of prayer. The gift of prayer. The tendency to be able to get hold of God and believe God. Some of you know the story about old Packer Reveal, the old mission man, who was such a dynamic man of prayer. He had the capacity to pray and just really get hold of God. And one time he was praying for a station wagon for his mission. He just had to have a station wagon, and within the space of two weeks, he prayed so hard and believed so strongly, he got three or four of them over just a matter of a few days. Now that's the gift of faith. Some of you have the gift of faith. It's just easy for you to believe. Oh, how we need for you to exercise the gift of faith. Believe me, the rest of us desperately need it. Well, number four, there's the gift of wisdom. Verse 8, For the one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom. Now, wisdom is separate from a simple understanding of the facts. The gift of wisdom is the ability to take information, to take the facts, and apply them to real life situations. It is the gift of practicality. Remember Jake Self, who was David Self's father, I think he has the greatest gift of wisdom I've ever known. It is to comprehend the truth. It is to have insight into being able to assimilate facts and then apply them to practice. It is a perceptivity of the whole. Yet, like all of the other gifts, are we not all to be able to witness? Are we not all to be able to teach? Are we not all to a degree to have faith? And are we not all to be able to have wisdom? In Colossians 1 .9, Paul prayed that every believer would increase in wisdom. In James 1 .5, the Bible says, If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God. Now, there's a separate gift. Also in verse 8, number 5, the gift of knowledge. That's the gift of understanding, assimilating, and understanding the facts. It's knowledge. Nothing more and nothing less. It's knowing. It's not applying. You know, the church owes its life to men who have the gift of knowledge. Men who have given their lives and study of archaeology and theology and Hebrew and Greek. We build on the work of these men. They labor over manuscripts. They spend years digging out the meanings of words. And they study in archaeology and labor over the manuscripts. And they, you know, this Bible of ours didn't just drop out of heaven like this. It is the product of men who have the gift of knowledge. But there's a difference in knowing the facts and in being able in wisdom to apply the facts to reality. You know, kind of the absent -minded professor kind. He's got all the knowledge. He knows everything, but he loses his paper and he runs into the wall and he doesn't know what day it is. He has the gift of knowledge, you see. But the gift of wisdom is to practically apply to real -life situations with a comprehensive insight, the application of the knowledge to reality. That's the gift of knowledge that's separated from the gift of wisdom. Now, number six, the gift of discerning spirits. The gift of discerning spirits. This is in the 10th verse. He says to another, let's see, diverse kinds of tongues and interpretations of tongues. Just before that, to another discerning spirits. In the New Testament church, you must understand that there was a den of voices and confusion. Particularly in Korah, this Greek Gentile congregation that was subject to more kinds of problems and confusion than any church in the New Testament. All the trouble that Paul had with them, that's way the time that he spent trying to straighten them out. You see, when people would come in, they would teach this doctrine and that doctrine, and somebody had to have the ability, the insight to say, now wait a minute that doesn't ring true that's not right there were demonic spirits there were spirits of light there were all kinds of heresies and erroneous theology and they had no written record as yet and so someone nothing to square it against so someone had to be able to have the ability to protect the church by saying this is wrong and this is right the gift of discerning spirits that's a very interesting thing that simon peter had this you remember on uh when when ananias and sapphira lied to the holy spirit and they asked him a question before the church ananias got up and said well this is the way it is boys and peter said you've lied to the holy ghost i wonder how he knew that i bet ananias wondered how he knew that you see he had the gift of discerning spirits you said there's not a true ring about this thing isn't that interesting because it wasn't but two or three days before the cross when peter was so full of the devil himself that the lord jesus turned to him and said thou art a devil get behind me satan you see god took the very thing where he had blown it himself and made him sensitive to knowing what was of the devil and what wasn't of the devil peter was a long way from god you see peter was only a disciple at that time the word disciple means learner the disciples didn't become converts to the cross to the resurrection at the cross the resurrection only then did they really believe only john was at the cross and then on pentecost they became angelos messengers they became apostolos sent ones the learners had become converts the converts had been sent out oh they had a long way to go and peter was a long way from the lord at this point in his ministry and he who was so full of the devil himself became a discerner of devils god it's a merciful god isn't it the ability to discern spirits the bible says try not try the spirits believe not every spirit read first john chapter four very carefully at that point number seven i like to call these the love gifts oh i sure do need to quit i don't know whether to quit or go on if you have to leave go ahead i'm going to finish the last two or three here go ahead on love gifts romans 12 8 the gift of showing mercy he says in romans 12 8 that some are given the gift of showing mercy now this is literally some uh uh the the tendency to do acts of loving kindness the tendency to do acts of loving kindness i said last week that uh making pie is not a gift of the spirit the desire to make pie and do and through that pie give it to people who are poor give it to people who are hungry give it to people who need fellowship and love the tendency to do that that's the gift of the holy spirit we have some men who are going to go to mexico this summer they're going to dig ditches they're going to lay pipe they're going to to do a lot of things uh build houses which will be a witness to people and win people to jesus christ digging the ditch and building the house and being a plumber is not a gift of the spirit but the tendency to do an act of loving kindness to help someone with it that's the gift of the spirit now you say oh preacher there's nothing i can do i'm just not any good at all all i i'm just a laboring man i may do this and that and i may make posters and sweep out the church listen to me the tendency that you have to pass out bulletins to clean the church to visit in the name of the lord to run a printing press to do these things of kindness to people that is a gift of the spirit and we all need you so desperately to exercise that gift folks some of the greatest witnessing in the world is done without a single word spoken you know there's some folks in this world you can be out in front of the church and and here's a little lady that got left a poor little child they got here some way to church they don't have a way to get home and there 20 people standing around and somebody will say let me take them home and it'll always be that same person that's their tendency that's their inclination that's the way they are they just like to do that that is a gift of the spirit the gift of showing mercy romans chapter 12 verse 8 literally it means acts doing acts of loving kindness yet aren't all of us supposed to have that gift to some degree or another he said if you give even so much as a cup of cold water in the name my name you shall receive a disciples reward numbers number eight the gift of exhortation this is also in romans chapter 12 verse 8. The literal word exhort here is the word paraklesis, or paraklesis, if you will. And it is the verb form, it is the act done by the paraklete. Now, I know that straightens that out, doesn't it? Remember Jesus said one day, I am going to send the Holy Spirit, and He will come as another comforter? The word comforter there is paraklete, and it literally means one called alongside to help. One called alongside to help. And the paraklesis, or the paraklesis, is the act, it is the word of exhortation that is done by the helper. So, if showing mercy is the act done, then the exhortation, the paraklesis, is the word that is done by the exhorter. It means to have the tendency to encourage people. It means to have the tendency to cheer them up. It means, as Paul said in 1 Thessalonians, remember he said, We came to you as a nurse cherishing her young. It means to have the tendency to take somebody that's down and exhort them, to lift them, to encourage them, to say that's all right, to emphasize with them. Now, how many of you have that gift? And you see people all about you who need to be cheered and encouraged. Paul said it like this, Knowing this, that we were gentle among you. Gentle among you. To exhort doesn't mean to pound the pulpit and yell. It means one by one to get alongside people that are discouraged and weak and cheer them up and lift them and help them to go on. Oh, what a beautiful ministry. What a beautiful gift that many of you have. Oh, thank you very much, brother. There's a gift of help right there in there. Okay. Number nine, the gift of giving. The gift of giving. I know some of you read this one and said, Oh, I hope I haven't got that one. Well, it is... Oh, that's awful close to home, Steve. Especially around here. It is what it appears to be a gift that is directly related to a materialistic ministry. It is the gift of the desire to give material assistance to the poor and to the needy and to the cause of Jesus Christ. And listen, it is not always experienced. Let me say it like this. I don't believe it is ever related to the amount of money that a person has or his ability to do so. It would have amazed you if I told you who, as far as I know, is the biggest giver in this church. It's a person who lives in Allen Parkway, government housing village. A person that's on an income of social security, welfare, welfare. And I couldn't tell you what a large percentage, much more than half, this person gives. Now, I've also found that the person who has the tendency to give... You say, Oh, well, I wish that I could give. Then if you wish that you could give, you have the tendency to give, then you have the gift. Ha ha! More of you got it than thought you did. I've always found that the person who has the gift, who wants to be able to give physical things, and gives what they can, will always have more to be able to give. Remember the Sermon on Prosperity. That's very, very true. The inclination is itself the gift, the gift of giving. Gift number 10, 1 Corinthians chapter 12, it's called the gift of governments. In Romans chapter 12, it's called the gift of ruling. It's the gift of administration, the gift of being in a place of leadership. Not to beat others down or to lord it over them, but to instruct them and lovingly care for them. In 1 Timothy 5, 17, Paul says, Let the elders who rule well be worthy of a double honor. Many men are the head of missionary organizations and executive positions in the church and denominational life. They have the gift of being able to administer and to help. But let me ask you this. Don't you think that a man that can run an oil company could run a Sunday school department? Don't you think a man that could sell insurance could sell Jesus? Don't you think a man who's the head of a corporation or the head of a division in a business or is in management, that man could manage one of the missionary organizations of the church? You have the tendency to be a leader. The Bible says that the gift of administration or the gift of ruling or governments, and you know it is a biblical gift and you know we can't all be chiefs we too many chiefs not enough indians it's it's not to rule over everybody it is not it is not the lord that is to say over everybody but we must have people who are gifted in the area of administration and yet all of us like all the other gifts to some degree are supposed to be able to have the gift of ruling are we not to rule our own homes are we not to rule our own bodies are we not to rule our own spirits and then number 11 finally that's a beautiful word isn't it finally there is the gift of helps the gift of helps of helping those that are in places of leadership it may be coming early in sunday school to make coffee it may be loading up the truck for the fourth of july picnic it may be passing out bulletins at the door or may or addressing envelopes or running the printing press it may be making posters or a thousand things but oh i wish we knew how much went on behind the scenes of people who are just gifted by god to be helpers you say well i'm not the mouthpiece i don't stand up and get the acclaim before the congregation as i preach but you are as important to god in running that printing press and passing out those bulletins as anybody else in all the world is these gifts are equal there must be no no dichotomy of the body there must be no fragmentation no fractioning of the body all of us together are equally important for the mutual good of all to the glory of the lord but as is always the case are not all of us to have the tendency to help to a degree galatians 5 15 says by love serve ye one another these as i see them are the 11 permanent edifying gifts let me say too that the five the four temporary confirming sign gifts still are in existence today i don't say they don't do them i don't say that there's no such thing as miracle as miracles and tongues and interpretation and healings i am not saying that i am saying that in the structured sense we shall see that god gave them to an individual as a body ministry they're not operative that way as we shall see so just hang on and don't come to any foregone conclusions as we go through the next two weeks let me finish by saying that all of these gifts are they not are they not characteristic of jesus christ all of these permanent edifying gifts for the body two kinds of gifts to edify the body and to attract the unbeliever to confirm the gospel to the unbeliever and edify the man who is already a believer what about preaching could jesus preach they couldn't even get to him for the crowds could he teach they called him rabbi and said no man ever spoke as this man did he have the gift of wisdom listen to him as he ties the pharisees up again and again with his insights into love and life did he have the gift of faith hear him as he raises lazarus from the dead hear him as he preaches if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed he shall say to this mountain be removed and it should be done unto you did he have the gift of knowledge he said i am the way the truth and the life did he have a gift of discerning spirits what did he say to peter did he have the gift of exhortation listen as he cheers the woman at the well did he have the gift of showing mercy listen to jesus christ as he touches the blinded eyes and says go thy way brother thy sins be forgiven me and the man who cried i don't know whether he's god or not i only know one thing i was blind and now i see did he have the gift of helps did jesus have the inclination to help people was he humble look at him as he was on his knees washing the feet of his disciples did he have the gift of giving he laid down his life greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends did he have the gift of government yeah the bible says the government should be on his shoulders and he should be called the king of kings and the lord of lords you say that's too much to ask of one person look the life that i now live in the flesh i live by the faith of the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me jesus christ indwells you he is he can be in you if you'll give your life to him let his spirit control you and live in you you can be like jesus christ well my soul that's oh okay well i i know i i am worried though thank you for coming and staying we'll have a couple of verses of an invitation i i just must say this again these permanent gifts for the body are to be separated from the offices of the gifted man two of which i believe to be foundational three to be continuing today. That is to say that the apostle, the gift of apostle, and the gift of New Testament prophet were foundational gifts for the foundation of the church, and that today you and I as members of the body of Christ are in a church which has three ongoing gifts, preacher, a prophet, a pastor, teacher, and evangelist, and that these temporary gifts, God in his sovereignty does still do. I believe that. But that in the restrictive sense in which they were given for that purpose as a sign to unbelievers, that when the record of the gospel came complete, that that necessity ceased to exist, as we shall look at in future days. So please be open, and please be attentive, and please be here the next two Sundays. Shall we stand?

1 Corinthians 12:28 Ephesians 4:11 Ephesians 4:11 Ephesians 2:20 Ephesians 2:20 Ephesians 2:20 1 Corinthians 14 · chapter mention 1 Corinthians 12:28 1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention Romans 12:8 Romans 12:8 1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention Romans 12 · chapter mention