Now, I want to ask you a question about diversity.
Diversity.
Does anyone know what diversity means?
What is diversity?
Difference, yes.
It seems like the average age over this side is a lot lower than the average age over this side.
What's the gravity of the kids over here?
But anyway, yes, difference.
Diversity is difference.
Kids, anything to add?
Diversity, what does it mean?
Nobody knows.
A group?
It is a group.
It's a dance group, isn't it?
Is that right, yeah?
Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking of, Jane, as well.
Diversity, the idea that we're all different, yeah?
We're all different.
There is difference between us.
Now, with the person next to you, ask this question.
Who invented diversity?
Cameron said it so loud that we all heard him.
Who invented diversity, Cameron?
God invented diversity.
Okay, that was an easy question.
Ask this one to the person next to you.
It might make you think a bit more.
God invented diversity for what reason?
For what reason did God invent diversity?
Talk to the person next to you about that for a second.
Okay, sorry to interrupt your conversations.
But turn in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 7, verses 9 and 10, and we will answer the question,
why did God invent diversity?
God invented diversity for what reason?
Let's have a look.
Revelation chapter 7, verses 9 and 10.
Let me read it to you.
After this...
Hi, guys.
Welcome.
No, don't worry.
It's fine.
Oh, they're going to run out of chairs.
You're going to have to sit on this side.
There you go.
Don't worry.
So we've just been chatting and thinking about the answer to this question.
God invented diversity for what reason?
Revelation chapter 7, verses 9 and 10 says this.
After this, I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count,
from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb,
which is the Lord Jesus on the throne.
They were wearing white robes, and they were holding palm branches in their hands,
and they cried out in a loud voice,
Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.
Why did God invent diversity?
He invented diversity for his glory.
Because God is glorified by people of all languages and nations and tribes gathering together
and worshipping and praising him.
If we were all the same, God would not be as glorious,
because we wouldn't see the glory that God has made in the diversity of different people
and different gifts and different cultures and different backgrounds.
Now, one last question.
I wonder this morning how many different languages there are in the room
that we could say, praise the Lord, in a different language.
You want to have a guess at how many languages you think you've got in the room?
How many different languages?
Have a guess.
What do you reckon?
Kerry-J, have you got a number in your head?
What do you think?
Alice thinks five.
Okay.
You think just four different languages.
Okay.
Well, let's start.
We can say, praise the Lord in English.
Yeah?
Anyone?
Praise the Lord.
Okay.
Any other languages in the room that want to say praise the Lord?
Can we do it in French?
Alice, can you give us praise the Lord in French?
You can say it.
Can you do it in two?
Lordi.
Dieu.
My French is not very good.
But thank you, Dan.
That's brilliant.
Alice, let's give you another.
Go on, say it in your language.
Soma Yorba.
We're up to three now.
Dan, have you got another one?
Yeah.
Go on.
Kumisun Zambi.
That's four.
We're up to four languages.
Okay.
So, any other languages?
Mortessa, you've got another language for us.
Just wait.
It's hard to say.
It's hard to say, so I will not repeat it.
I'm not going to say that.
Would you?
Mortessa's got no confidence in me.
Go on.
Okay.
So, we've got a fifth language.
Well done, Mortessa.
Just wait a second.
Vicky.
There we go.
We're up to six now, yeah?
I'm going to stop saying these because of fear of offending people with my...
Yes, where were we up to?
Do we have another one?
Oh, yes.
In Chinese.
That's great.
We're up to seven.
Yeah, Google Translate doesn't count, right?
Nick?
Doxa?
Doceo.
There we go.
So, we're up to eight.
Eight.
So, curry...
Is that right?
Yeah.
Well done.
So, we're up to nine.
Come on.
Have you got another one?
I think Nigeria is like...
Okay.
So, we've got some Nigerian down the front as well.
So, we're up to...
We're too shy to say it too loud.
So, we're up to ten.
We're up to ten.
Get off your phone, Cameron.
That's not...
Mike?
Okay.
So, we're up to eleven.
So, we're...
There was a bit of Hebrew, I think, over there.
Eleven languages.
Isn't that amazing?
That in this room...
Are we...
Have we got any more?
That's great.
That's twelve.
That's great.
Any...
Any more?
You must have...
Yes.
Great.
We're up to twelve.
More...
Come on.
You can say it in Turkish as well.
So, where are we up to now?
Thirteen.
So, that's Turkish as well.
Lucia?
Who's...
Lucia?
Neva's going to say it for you.
Don't worry.
How do you say praise the Lord?
Come on, Lucia.
Don't be shy.
It's the same as the French.
She doesn't know.
Don't worry.
Great.
Listen.
Okay.
I'll try.
I'll try to get it all back together.
That's great, isn't it?
The Lord, even in this room, has given lots of different languages so that in our difference,
we can say the same thing, which is praise the Lord, because God in his greatness has made
us all different.
And we're going to be thinking some more about that together in our sermon.
But let me pray for us.
I'm going to pray for us as we read God's word and then listen to it taught.
Kids, I'm going to pray for you and for your Sunday school teachers this morning as you go
out to Sunday school.
So, let me pray for you before you go.
Let me pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you that you made us all different for your glory, that you are such a
great God that you couldn't just make one kind of person in one way, but you made all sorts of
different people and different languages and cultures.
And we thank you especially that as a church here, we get a taste of that with so many different
languages in the room.
And we want to say together, praise your name.
Praise the Lord in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Kids, go out to Sunday school.
Sunday school teachers, go well.
Right, we're going to read God's word together.
So, if you have a Bible, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 12, 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verses
12 to 31, and Liz is going to come and read God's word for us.
Liz.
The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts.
And though all its parts are many, they form one body.
So it is with Christ.
For we are all baptized by one spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free.
And we were all given the one spirit to drink.
Now the body is not made up of one part, but of many.
If the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, it would not,
it would not for that reason, cease to be part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?
If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
But in fact, God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
If there were all one part, where would the body be?
As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, I don't need you.
And the head cannot say to the feet, I don't need you.
On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.
And the parts that we think are less honorable, we treat with special honor.
And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty.
While our presentable parts need no special treatment,
but God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it,
so that there should be no division in the body,
but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.
If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.
If one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
Now you are the body of Christ.
And each one of you is a part of it.
And in the church, God has appointed, first of all, apostles,
second, prophets, third, teachers, then workers of miracles.
Also those having gifts of healing, those able to help with others,
those with gifts of administration,
and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.
Are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers,
do all work miracles, do all have gifts of healing,
do all speak in tongues, do all interpret,
but eagerly desire the greater gifts.
And now I will show you the most excellent way.
Great, thank you, Liz, that's great.
Well, keep the passage open,
because we're going to be looking at it together for the next few moments.
And I want to start, if I can, by telling you what my goal is for the next,
I don't know, 20 minutes or so, 25 minutes maybe.
Here's my goal.
You can tell me then, after lunch, whether we hit the goal or not.
Here it is.
I want, if I can, through this passage,
the word of God and by the help of the Spirit of God,
I want us to be excited together as a church,
that here at West Kilburn Baptist Church,
we are the local expression of the body of Christ.
So much so that when we gather as a church,
when you walk in those doors at the back,
when you come together and sit with one another,
that you and I get to glimpse the Lord Jesus.
Not just each other.
And we get to glimpse him in a way that just wouldn't be possible
if we stayed at home and didn't come.
Now, I want to suggest that we see that, we see the body of Christ,
not because we're all the same, but because we're all different.
And as we gather together, we see, don't we,
that God hasn't in church created, I don't know whether this works,
but like a sausage machine,
where basically he just churns out the same kind of person each time,
and everyone's exactly the same.
But rather the body of Christ, rather than a sausage machine,
is more like a mosaic,
as God knits together different people
from different cultural backgrounds with different gifts,
to make something in the combination of it,
which is wonderful and glorious and beautiful,
and so wonderful that it carries the label,
the body of Christ.
Now, I want to show you from 1 Corinthians 12
that we see that in at least four different ways.
So let's get on with it and see how we see the glory of the Lord Jesus.
So here's the first one.
We see Jesus in how we join the church.
Now, this is super important,
and in a way it's assumed by the rest of the passage.
So we need to get this clear in our minds as we start.
We join the body of Christ
by what Paul calls baptism by one spirit,
or later on, being given the one spirit to drink.
So look down at verse 13.
I'll read it to you again.
For we were all baptized by one spirit
so as to form one body,
whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free,
and we were all given the one spirit to drink.
Now, I grant you that Paul's language is not immediately clear here.
1 Corinthians is actually the reply to a letter
that the Corinthian church wrote to Paul.
So as you read 1 Corinthians,
it's like you're listening to just one half of a telephone call.
And so sometimes it's a little bit obscure what's going on.
But actually we do know bits,
and you can put it together as you read both Acts
and 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians.
And it seems as though the church have a particular problem
that they are rating one another's spirituality
on the basis of what people are able or not able to do.
It seems that they're especially excited
by people who can speak in tongues.
And they assume that if you could speak in tongues,
that's because you were a mega Christian.
You had a mega dose of the spirit.
And Paul is saying here,
no, that's not right.
That's not right.
Why?
Well, because every member of the church,
every part of the body
has been baptized into the spirit
and has drunk of the spirit.
All of us.
Because here's the important thing.
That's what conversion is about, says Paul.
In other words, Paul's point is that
regardless of who you are,
we join Christ,
we join the one body in the same way.
It doesn't matter who you are
or where you're from
or what language you speak
or what clothes you like
or what food you eat
or even how esteemed you are
by others in the church.
You all join church
in exactly the same way.
And what is that way?
Well, it's by recognizing
that before a holy God who made us,
we need to be washed clean
from the things that we've done wrong.
Or to use his language here,
we need to be baptized,
washed, dipped, dumped in one spirit.
And we need to admit, don't we,
that we need his help
to live for the Lord Jesus
because we cannot do that
in our own strength.
We need to drink of one spirit.
Now, stand back from this for a moment
and you can see why church gives us
a unique glimpse of the Lord Jesus.
You are getting to see something this morning
by being here with one another
that you would not be able to see
on your own at home
because the truth is that
every individual here,
regardless of who they are,
they're a Christian this morning,
they belong to the churches
because they've had the same
transforming experience of the Spirit
where we realize that living life for ourselves,
going our own way,
pursuing our own goals,
is not taking us to glory
but is dragging us to hell
because we're not the gods we thought we were.
And so instead we come to Christ,
we turn from our sin,
as the Bible calls it,
and we turn to him.
And by faith in him,
we reach out and receive the forgiveness
and mercy of the cross.
He exchanges our sin for his rightness,
doesn't he?
So Paul says we've all been baptized
into the one Spirit,
drunk of the one Spirit.
Now let me tell you,
I think that has two very big practical implications
for church life.
If we see Jesus by all joining church the same way,
it has two really big implications.
The first one is this.
It doesn't matter how many
West Kilburn Baptist Church services
that you have been to
or how long your association with the church.
It doesn't matter if you've been on the cleaning road
to the welcome team,
the Sunday school team.
It doesn't matter even if you've preached here before.
If you have not trusted Christ for yourself,
if you have not experienced this new life
by the Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ,
then in a profound sense,
you are not a member of the church.
At least not in the way that Paul is thinking about here.
You're not part of the body.
Now I say that not because I'm trying to exclude you.
I'm not trying to slam the door in your face.
Quite the opposite.
I say that because I want to invite you
not only to attend here,
but to belong here,
to join here.
Not by asking you to join a rota
or give money
or even let alone dressing the same
as everybody else who comes through the door.
I'd be like trying to join a school
by starting to do the homework.
You need actually to join the register,
don't you, first?
So perhaps you've been coming here for years,
but still I want to invite you
to join West Kilburn Baptist Church by what?
Putting your faith in Jesus Christ
and experiencing new life by the Spirit
because the door is wide open
and there's no other door to membership.
There's no other door.
The other implication,
which I think is just as serious,
is that you can't become a Christian
without joining the body.
Not because joining a local church
makes you a Christian, does it?
Joining a local church
doesn't make you a Christian
in the sense of like coming along
or signing up for membership
doesn't make you a Christian.
Just like if you walk down the middle of the road,
it wouldn't make you a car, would it?
It would like to get you run over.
Rather, the point is that actually
as the Spirit makes us Christians,
we want to join a local church.
Just like a car when it has been made
drives down the road.
So a Christian, when they have been made,
join a local church.
So let me say to you this morning,
if COVID or maybe historic difficulties
at church or relational struggles
have made you cold on attending church,
made you withdraw a bit,
let me say to you,
I understand that,
but can I encourage you to come?
Not because all of those things
will immediately disappear,
but because if you're a Christian,
you need to be in church.
Cars that don't drive on the road
cause a mess.
So too that Christians
who try to live their lives
outside of any local church
also end in disaster, don't they?
So here's point one,
you see Jesus in the body of Christ here
because of the way that we get here.
We all join in the same way.
Secondly, you see Jesus in my difference
from others.
You see Jesus in my difference from others,
not just me,
my as in everybody's difference from others.
In the context of the passage,
Paul is talking about gifts.
If you glance down at chapter 12,
you'll notice in verses 7 to 11
and again in verses 27 to 31,
he is talking about gifts.
So part of the differences between us
in viewing the passage
is this idea that we've all been given gifts
by God to use for the good of one another
and for the growth of his kingdom.
We are all good at different things.
God has made us and gifted us that way
for the good of others.
One body, many parts, as he puts it.
Now that's certainly what's going on here,
but I want to start somewhere else
because I think Paul has something else in view
as well as our gifts.
Look at verse 13 and notice the differences there.
Notice in verse 13, he says,
Jews and Gentiles,
or Jews and Greeks,
slaves and free.
Here they are made into one body
through the work of the Spirit in conversion.
And the differences here
are not to do with what we are good at,
but rather to do with where I'm from,
my cultural background.
Now some of the church are Jews by birth,
says Paul.
They've been raised in the synagogue.
They've been taught the law of God,
but probably not taught the gospel.
Some of them are literally Greeks,
synonym there for Gentiles,
but with an emphasis on the Greek cultural background,
taught to think and reason in a slightly different way,
eating different foods,
considering all days the same.
And those people,
Jews, Gentiles, slaves, free,
are, verse 14,
many parts of the one body.
Now I warn you this morning,
I'm going to labor this
because I think this is super,
super important for us.
You can't miss this
all the way through the scriptures,
that God's people are made up
of all kinds of people.
Revelation chapter 7
that we were looking at
with the kids earlier,
this great final gathering
of God's people
is people from every tribe,
language, and nation.
And it's not that those cultural
and historic differences
are obliterated
by membership
of the local church,
but rather they are
an important aspect
of membership
of the local church,
where languages
and people groups
are visible
within the body of Christ
so that we can praise God
because in a way
that only he can,
he has brought together
a diverse group of people
without obliterating
their difference,
but by sanctifying
their difference.
The Greeks aren't pagans
in glory,
they're worshipping Jesus,
not the pantheon of gods
that they used to worship.
The Jews are no longer trusting
in their own righteousness
and glory either,
they're trusting in Christ alone,
but still in a refined
and glorified
and sanctified ways,
those differences
remain visible,
but united in Christ.
Why?
Well, because part of the way
the church represents Christ
as his body
is by its diversity
and not its uniformity.
Let me try and put it
like this if I can.
The goal of Islam
is to make all of its worshippers
look the same.
Yeah?
To pray in row upon row
of uniformed men
bowing down
at the same time.
I think the little kid
there in the middle
didn't get the memo,
did he?
Why?
Well, because Allah,
the God of Islam,
cannot handle
cultural difference.
So he obliterates it,
bans it even.
But instead,
as we gather as a church
on a Sunday,
what we long for
is not row upon row
upon row of people
who look exactly the same
and are doing
exactly the same thing.
We're looking for
row upon row upon row
of people who look
different to one another.
Men and women,
boys and girls,
some in suits,
some in shorts,
some with tattoos
at their arms,
others with knots,
faces from all over the world.
And when they sing,
you know,
some people stand and sing
and they're hardly moving.
Wonder whether they died
standing up.
That's me.
Others are dancing around
with their arms in the air.
Why?
Well, because our God,
the true God,
is the God who made
the whole world
and all of its languages
and cultures
and all of its difference.
You see,
our God,
the God of the Bible,
the God who is really there,
the God who made us,
is the God who put rhythm
in reggae music.
Yeah?
He put spice in chicken.
Incredible.
He's the God
who put the twang
in the Scouse accent
that you'll notice
some of my children have.
He's the one who put the rhyming
in Cockney rhyming slang.
Our God is the God
who made some people
to dance
and other people like me
who can't dance.
He's glorified
in the excitement
of a child
because he made
that excitement.
He's glorified
in the steadiness
of a grandparent
because he made that too.
And the point is
that coming to God
in Christ
doesn't obliterate
those differences.
It sanctifies them.
It rives them
of lust
and pride
and self-obsession.
But the spice
is still there.
The rhythm
is still there
because God,
the true God,
is worshipped
by all languages,
tribes,
peoples,
and nations.
I used to have
this vague hope
when I was at school
because I was so bad
at French.
I thought maybe
we'll all speak
the same language
in heaven
and maybe there won't
be French in heaven
anymore.
I won't have to learn it.
But that's not right,
is it?
In eternity,
God is glorified
by a plethora
of languages
and we have
thousands of years
to learn them.
What a great,
diverse bunch
of people
worshipping God
for his praise
and his glory.
Now,
if you come back
to the passage,
you can see that
Paul's point
with this body image
in verse 15 to 20
is firstly
to help us
understand ourselves.
Look down at verse 15.
Let me just read it
to you again.
Now,
if the foot should say,
because I'm not a hand,
I don't belong to the body,
it wouldn't for that reason
stop being part
of the body.
And if the ear
should say,
oh,
because I'm not an eye,
I don't belong to the body,
it wouldn't for that reason
stop being part of the body.
If the whole body
were an eye,
where would the sense
of hearing be?
If the whole body
were an ear,
where would the sense
of smell be?
But in fact,
God has placed the parts
in the body,
every one of them,
just as he wanted them to be.
If they were all one part,
where would the body be?
As it is,
there are many parts
but one body.
Notice this.
This is so important.
In this first part
of the passage,
the voice,
the person speaking
is not the hand
speaking to the foot
to exclude it
or the eye
talking to the ear
to exclude the ear.
Rather,
this is the foot
saying to itself,
I'm not a hand
so I don't belong.
The ear saying to itself
that it's not an eye
so it doesn't belong.
In other words,
the first thing
the passage is addressing
is personal insecurity.
How do I understand
my own difference
to everybody else
in the room?
Why?
Well, I think because
Paul thinks
the first person
who has to come to terms
with their difference
from everybody else
at church
is not everybody else
but you, me.
I have to come to terms
with the fact
that I'm different
to everybody else
in the room.
I have to come to terms
with the fact
that by belonging
to church
is by definition
belonging to a group
of people
who are not like me.
In other words,
I don't walk into church
and go,
brilliant,
that's a church
for old people
and I'm an old person
or brilliant,
that's a church
for rich people
and I'm a rich person
or even the opposite
or that's a church
for rich people
and I'm a poor person
and I don't belong
or that's a church
for Caribbean people
and I'm from Nigeria
so I don't belong
or that's a church
for suit wearers
and I don't have a suit
so I don't belong.
That's not true.
Why?
Look at verse 18.
What's the true story
of diversity
in the local church?
It's that God
is placing people
exactly where
they're supposed to be.
This is fantastic,
isn't it?
Through the door
of faith in Christ,
through God's sovereignty
over where you live,
who you know,
the twists and turns
of your life,
God has brought
you to this fellowship
with your cultural difference
and background
and your particular gifts,
your particular wounds
and needs,
your insights
and perspectives
because this
is exactly
where he wants you
and without you
and without your difference
to everyone here,
well, we'd all be worse off
like a body
with no sense of smell
or no feet
or no eyes for seeing
and just because
you think you don't fit
doesn't mean
you don't belong
because actually
the fact that you don't fit
means you do belong.
See, this is it.
When you and I
walk into church,
we say,
brilliant,
this is where I belong.
Not because everybody
looks like me,
not because everybody
sounds like me,
not because everyone
dresses like me.
That's a terrible church.
If you find yourself
in that church,
run away.
Instead,
you walk into church
and you see,
what do you see?
You see the Lord Jesus.
How do you see
the Lord Jesus?
Because you see
that everybody
is different to you
but that you belong
to them through
the Lord Jesus Christ.
That you are part
of this mosaic
that Jesus is putting
together to his glory.
Jesus and the power
of his cross
is the only one
who can bring together
all of these
cultural differences
and hold them
for his glory.
Thirdly,
see Jesus
seeing others
difference from me.
This then,
I think,
is the focus
in the next part
of chapter 12
and verses 21
down to verse 26.
The temptation here,
I think,
is slightly different.
And I don't think
the temptation
is so much
to say to others,
oh, you don't belong here.
I think perhaps
we all know that's wrong.
Rather,
the temptation is,
I think,
to say that other people
aren't so valuable here.
Do you notice that?
The temptation
is that we look
at others
who are different
in the church
and we don't say,
oh, you don't belong
because we know
that's too rude.
Rather,
we say,
oh, no,
you're not as honourable
or as important
as everybody else
to use the language
of the passage.
Let me give you
a concrete example
so that we can
work out
what we're talking about.
Turn back,
just if you will,
to chapter 11
of 1 Corinthians.
You see a practical
outworking of this
in verse 17.
The Corinthian church,
you should,
if you've never read
1 Corinthians,
read 1 Corinthians
because it will
fill you full of joy
because the Corinthian church
was such a mess
and yet Paul still thinks
they're full of saints
and they're worshipping
for the glory of God.
If you thought,
if you think our church
is messy,
you should read 1 Corinthians.
It's really,
really,
really great.
They come together
to celebrate the Lord's Supper.
This is how chaotic
their church life is.
They come together
to celebrate the Lord's Supper.
They're gathering
on a Sunday,
and so some people
are having to work
on a Sunday
and they celebrate
the Lord's Supper
but they don't wait
for one another
until the slaves
in the church
come late to church
because they've been
working all day.
They've been working late
and they don't get there
as quickly as everybody
else is able to get there.
By the time they arrive
in church,
all of the Lord's Supper
has been eaten
and people are even
drunk in church
because they've drunk
so much of the wine.
The slaves don't get
to have any
of the Lord's Supper.
It was totally,
totally chaotic.
He says that
there's nothing
to commend
the way they do
the Lord's Supper.
In fact,
it's doing more harm
than good.
He's saying to them,
listen,
your church gathering
is so bad.
Close the doors
and don't do it
because it would be better
if you didn't do it
than the way you are doing it.
Crazy, isn't it?
But what does he say
in verse 20
about what that means
for everybody
in the church?
Listen to how he puts it.
Verse 20,
so then when you come together
it's not the Lord's Supper
you eat.
For when you are eating,
some of you go ahead
with your own private suppers.
As a result,
one person remains hungry,
that's a person coming late,
and another gets drunk.
Don't you have homes
to eat and drink in
or do you despise
the church of God
by humiliating
those who have nothing?
What shall I say to you?
Shall I praise you?
Certainly not
in this matter.
Now notice what he says.
Because of the way
they are doing it,
this ceases
to be the Lord's Supper
even for the rich people
who get to eat it all
and drink it all.
Do you notice that?
Because the rich
aren't valuing the poor
in the sharing
of the Lord's Supper,
then not even the rich
are celebrating
the Lord's Supper.
You know,
they're eating and drinking
but it's not the Lord's Supper
they're celebrating.
In other words,
the lack of honoring
of the weak
in the church
means that church
is no longer church
for the rich.
Now bring that back
to chapter 12
and it seems
that this tendency
of the church
to overlook
or not value
certain people
from certain backgrounds
or not to esteem
their gifts
as much as other people's
particularly if people
can't speak in tongues
it seems.
They treat those people
as second class citizens
and Paul says
using the body metaphor
listen,
that's the opposite
of what church
should be like.
When it comes to a body
the parts
that we are most
embarrassed about
work out which parts
those are yourself
we don't want to
show them in public
those are the parts
over which we take
the most care
verse 23
whereas the parts
that we don't
worry about
that we think
are great and attractive
well we don't need
to worry about them
at all do we
verse 24
and so it should be
in the gathering
of the local church
that the weak
the vulnerable
those whose contribution
might be small
those are the people
we should take
extra care over
those we should
make sure we are
honoring in the
gatherings of the church
again let me say to you
this is unique
in the church
of Jesus Christ
now if we said
before that the
God of Islam
obliterates cultural
difference
then notice that
the God of
Western materialism
runs over all
the weak and the
vulnerable
you've noticed
that haven't you
yeah at work
who is it that
gets esteemed
at work
is it the person
whose health
means that they've
had to drop
to part time
because they can't
any longer work
full time
no it's not
is it
everyone's
sort of scowling
about them
or talking about
them behind their
back
is it the
cleaner who
nobody notices
who empties the
bin down the
row of desks
and no one even
stops to say
thank you
of course they
don't honor that
who's the person
who's honored at
work
it's the person
who makes the
most money
isn't it
the person who
produces the
most
it's the person
whose name is
at the top
of the headed
paper
whenever we used
to have that
of course that's
how the world
works
not in the
church
in the body
of christ
it's different
because listen
your value
here is not a
function of your
productivity
your value
here is not
about the
glamour of
your gifting
your value
here is in
what
you're attached
to christ
jesus the
head
and the
weaker and the
more vulnerable
you are the
greater discretion
and care we
should treat
you with
see this is
it when you
walk into
church
you see
jesus
how
well you
see jesus
because that's
how everybody
joined the
church
you see
jesus because
you see
that you are
belonging to
a mosaic of
people that
he is gathering
in his name
and you see
jesus because
you see weak
and vulnerable
people being
cared for and
loved in a
way that cannot
be explained
other than
the work of
christ
jesus loves
the weak
and the
broken
gathers them
into his
church a
bruised reed
he doesn't
break and a
smouldering
wick he
won't put
out
finally then
we see
jesus in
our shared
priority
our shared
priority
i want you
to notice
as we
finish that
the passage
comes on
to say
one more
important thing
in these
closing verses
see if
church displays
jesus by
being one
body in
many parts
then it
also shows
jesus in
what it
does together
let me
reread these
closing verses
to you
verse 27
now you
are the
body of
christ and
each one of
you is a
part of it
and god has
placed in
the church
first of
all apostles
second
prophets
third teachers
then miracles
then gifts
of healing
of helping
of guidance
and of
different kinds
of tongues
are all
apostles
are all
prophets
are all
teachers
do all
work
miracles
do all
have gifts
of healing
do all
speak in
tongues
do all
interpret
now
eagerly
desire the
greater gifts
and yet i
will show you
the most
excellent way
now as you
first read
that it
sounds like a
contradiction of
everything else
we've just
been saying
surely the
whole point
that we've been
noticing is that
there's not
supposed to be a
hierarchy in
church but now
it seems as if
paul is giving
one but look
carefully with me
at the verses
and let's see the
point together
there's a theme
running through
these chapters
which we notice
in chapter 11
and it's carrying
on all the way
through into
chapter 14
it's all about
their gatherings
as a local
church what they
do when they
come together
and the point
is that a
diverse company
of people
the body of
christ
should have
a particular
focus when
they gather
together
and what is
that purpose
well it's the
purpose of
building one
another up in
the lord
he calls it
edifying one
another
if you glance
over to
chapter 14
and verse 12
you'll see paul
spell it out
there let me
read chapter 14
verse 12 to
you
so it is with
you since you
are eager for
gifts of the
spirit you
really want
these exciting
gifts of the
spirit if you're
eager for those
try to excel
in what those
that build up
the church
now those gifts
that edify the
church or build
up the church
are listed in an
order at the
end of chapter
12 and the
point is not
that this is a
complete list
it's not supposed
to be a complete
list instead the
point is that the
list is in the
opposite order to
which the
corinthian church
would have put
them right
because right at
the bottom of the
list the least
valuable thing to
do when you're
gathered together
is what
speaking tongues
he says it's
right at the
bottom and it
starts instead
with the apostles
and prophets and
then teaching and
then the signs that
in the first
century particularly
accompanied the
apostles ministry
miracles and
healing then
helping and
guidance or
administration and
last of all
tongues now at
the end of a
long sermon I am
not going to get
into a debate
about charismatic
gifts you can
ask me that after
lunch as we
gather again
rather the point
seems to be here
the big point is
that the church
is to have a
particular focus
when it gathers
together and the
focus is not
showing off your
gift not on
impressing others
but on building
one another up
and how is the
church built up
well it's done by
prioritizing the
teaching and
proclamation of the
apostles message
you notice that
that's why they're at
the top of the
list a message
testified to by
the miracles and
healings that
accompany their work
it means that the
gathering of the
local church is not
primarily about
self-expression
you might be good
at many things that
you don't get to
show off in the
gatherings of the
local church
that's okay because
the gatherings of the
local church are not
meant to be the
occasion for us to
show off all the
different things we're
good at
rather gatherings of
the local church are
to be about building
one another up
and we do that
don't we as the
message of the
apostles and
prophets is made
clear as the
gospel is made
clear we are
built up and
that doesn't make
the teacher a more
important person it
doesn't even make the
apostles and prophets
more important than
us you know they're
Christians just like we
are they're standing
before God is exactly
the same as ours they
have been baptized by
the same spirit and
they drink the same
spirit but it does
give their work an
important place in the
gatherings of the
church even as we all
use our gifts to make
those times useful
even as we guide and
encourage one another in
the body of Christ and
we do that verse 31 in
the most excellent way
what is the most
excellent way love
chapter 13 so here it
is let me finish now
when you walk into
West Kilburn Baptist
Church you see Jesus
because you are seeing
his body a body of
people you have been
uniquely joined to him
by faith where everyone
is different in a way
that reflects the
glorious diversity of
our triune God Father
Son and Spirit a place
where we value the weak
and the needy just like
the Lord Jesus did and a
place where you find his
message of salvation is
sung about is read is
prayed and is preached
that together we might
see the Lord Jesus in his
beauty and his glory let me
pray for us
heavenly father thank you
that you have made us all
different and that we
gather and come to church in
the same way by faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ thank you
that that means that nobody
here is a better Christian
than anybody else because we
have all been made right by
Jesus and not by our
actions thank you that
you've made us all
different to one another
and that that difference
doesn't mean that we don't
belong but that means we
have a unique opportunity to
bring you glory as we
gather together in Jesus
name and we pray that our
church and our gatherings
together would build one
another up in faith as we
make the gospel clear in the
words that we sing in our
conversations with one
another in the things that
are prayed in your word as
it's opened and taught bring
yourself glory we pray in
Jesus name amen amen