Gifts Of The Spirit 3: The Body Of Christ Series

Gifts of the Spirit 2: the body of Christ. 1 Cor 12:12-27 WBC 12/9/4am

THE HAND

Illustr: On Alice¡¦s (& Charlie¡¦s) birth Pam and I both spent time just gazing at them- and at their hands and feet!

- hand (PPT): perfectly formed, in every way. Just smaller

- ready & perfectly formed for action and usefulness later in life

o chubby palm, little fingers, fat thumb

o muscles, tendons- in all its complexity

= just part of a wonderfully formed and planned body

- each bit custom designed

The Alpha course is so great. Towards the end it asks the question ¡¥what is the church?¡¦

- as people mainly think it¡¦s a building!

3 images in the Bible (all with B):

building, yes- but building of living stones, people, priests

- 1PE 2:4 As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him-- 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

o You are God¡¦s priests! Ministers. Made for ministry & saved to serve

o Relevant because this passage shows some of the WAYS

Bride: Rev 19:7 (preached 7th Dec am last year)

Body:

THE BODY OF CHRIST

Here (v12) Paul describes a body

- and then says ¡¥so it is with Christ¡¦

We immediately say:¡¨ yeah, the church, that¡¦s right¡¨

- but we miss something fundamental in going straight to that correct conclusion

- Paul hasn¡¦t mentioned the Church, yet. Saves that for v 27, 28: ¡§Now you are the body of Christ¡K and in the CHURCH¡¨

Before then he wants them to see the full significance of ¡¥body¡¦ and so spends 13 verses only using that term

So- what would/should this mean to a first-time reader?

- = ¡§well, you know a physical body? It¡¦s like that with Jesus¡¨

- ¡§Jesus had a physical body on earth, right?

o > He still has¡¨. ¡§You are it¡¨

„« ¡§YOU (pl) are the body of Christ. Physically here on earth¡¨

Jesus still exists, as a distinct individual person

- (has always done so. Eternal. Pre-existent)

But with regards to His workings here on physical earth

- YOU (pl) are it

Do you see why this is placed in the context of gifts of the Spirit, movings and manifestations of the Spirit? Spiritual dynamics

- Jesus does them, now, THROUGH YOU

In fact: the Spirit mentioned here (v7, 13) is the Spirit of Jesus.

- (Another word for the HS who does Jesus & the Father¡¦s stuff). Acts 16:7, Phil 1:19

Get this: while on earth Jesus healed, helped, brought God¡¦s word, gave words of knowledge, understood the source of spiritual phenomena, worked miracles

- all the list of v 7-11, 28-31, chapter 14, Roms 12, Eph 4, 1 Cor 7: 7 singleness, Phil 1:29: suffering

- ALL in Himself. All the gifts

Now- those gifts are STILL operative- but through YOU (pl)

And each of you has been hand crafted and prepared ¡¥just right¡¦ to ensure that the whole body¡Kgiftedness¡K of Jesus is here and functioning

- just like that little hand. Prepared in advance to do good works. Prepared to show God¡¦s holy arm

¡§Why doesn¡¦t Jesus show Himself?!¡¨

- he¡¦s busting to. Through you. Me

Do you see how important you are to all this? How needed you are? How planned and strategised by God your involvement has been?

- He brought you to Himself¡K and He brought you HERE for a specific purpose. Into the body.

o We¡¦ve got to release you into your gifts or Jesus won¡¦t be shown fully¡K body built up

¡§BUT I DON¡¦T FIT!¡¨ (v15)

Or maybe you think you don¡¦t have any gifts of the spirit

- then you¡¦re like that hand. It doesn¡¦t know what it was engineered for, yet

o has to discover it. Grow in it. Into it

Now- let me take a detour but within the scope of these verses and an essential question within the topic of ¡¥gifts¡¦

- >= when are these gifts given?

- This is a big question, and one that we should ask if we are ¡¥spiritually inclined¡¦

- It¡¦s one that has exercised me for 15 years, and 17,000 words (thesis for BU)

- = is this talking about gifts given at ¡¥regeneration¡¦ or birth or what?

A traditional viewpoint is ¡¥it¡¦s only talking about gifts given at spiritual re-birth¡¦. Nothing before that counts

- justify it with v12,13 ¡¥it¡¦s in the context of spiritual birth¡¦

But what does 12 & 13 say- ¡§that you were birthed in the same way into one body¡¨

- it¡¦s making the point about one body and unity. Not when gifts are given

- in fact: nowhere does it say anything about WHEN gifts are given