Finding One's Place Part 2

quick review this morning for those of
you who may not have been able to join
us over the Thanksgiving weekend we've
been seeing together that one of Paul's
favorite analogies in the New Testament
of the church or God's people is the
term body more specifically the body of
Christ here's how he puts it yet 1
Corinthians 12 27 he says you are the
body of Christ and each one of you is a
part of it two things really he is
saying there the first is that the
church is truly an extension of Christ
they had Christ is in heaven we his
people are on earth we are joined by the
Holy Spirit and as blondes people are
together we manifest the presence of
Christ and we become his hands and his
feet as we speak his word as we do acts
of mercy and kindness in reliance upon
the Holy Spirit then Christ is moving
through us that's one aspect of what it
is to be the body of Christ the second
aspect is that we truly are a body
together that is to say we manifest the
presence of Christ we do his work as a
single unit and one of the reasons Paul
uses the analogy of the body so
extensively in the New Testament
particularly in 1 Corinthians 12 and 13
and 14 is because as we saw last week it
so exemplifies the idea of unity in the
context of diversity or to put it the
other way around diversity in the
context of unity listen again to how he
puts it earlier in this chapter verse 12
and 13 just as a body though one has
many parts but all of its many parts
form when Bonnie
so it is with Christ for we were all
baptized by one spirit so as to form one
body whether jews or gentiles slave
slave or free and we were all given the
one spirit to drink and so what paul is
saying here is this as you and i by
faith individually or join to Jesus we
are also by faith join 21 and other and
we become one body working together
towards the purposes of God and that of
course is where the challenge lies and
we talked about that a little bit last
week because there are many many factors
that keep people apart and that keeps
the church fragmented around the world
as well as locally first of all we're
individuals we have our own ideas we
have our own minds we have our own
backgrounds we have our own experiences
we're separated by personality we're
separated by culture were separated
often by language and we're often
separated by the degree of brokenness
that we have in our lives and so the
question that we have been considering
is how can this biblical picture of body
become increasingly a reality in our
experience and so far we have looked at
two steps that Paul talks about in this
chapter that we need to embrace the
first is that in Christ are the
resources that we need to be this kind
of community verse 13 again we were all
baptized by one spirit so as to form one
body whether jews or gentiles slave or
free we were all given the one spirit to
drink now think about that verse for a
moment because it is hard for us to
imagine today a cultural gap
bigger than the gap between Greek and
Jew or slave and free as I was thinking
about how to put that in modern-day
terms it would be something the shock
factor here would be similar to having
your local neighborhood pedophile come
into your house and babysit your
children I'm not saying that's a good
thing that's a whole other story I'm
talking about shock effect this was the
shock effect that Paul was talking about
Greeks and Jews coming together slaves
and free you might as well have somebody
in Skid Row come into the you know to
the leading house in the community and
live there that's what he's talking
about how do you bridge these kinds of
social divisions well you bridge them
says Paul because in Christ we have been
baptized into one spirit and that holy
spirit of Jesus imparts to us his DNA
and as we yield to his DNA as we yield
to the life of his spirit then we not
only grow in our relationships of the
loo heart but we also grow in our
relationships with each other so that
the body of Christ comes together that's
the first thing that we looked at last
week the second thing that we looked at
flows out of that and that is the fact
that God sovereignly chooses our place
in the body God sovereignly chooses
whether we're a hand or a foot or an i
or an ear or a little toe verse 18 in
fact God has arranged the parts in the
body every one of them just as he wanted
them to be our job is preferably to try
to discern where God is place
seeing us and then to apply ourselves to
that place in the body knowing that if
I'm doing my little part and you're
doing your little part and somebody else
is doing their little part the whole
machinery begins to turn as one unit the
body grows up and begins to function and
that brings us this morning then to
still a third principle that I think we
need to understand not only but really
put into practice and that is this we
need to trust God to establish us we
need to trust God to establish as David
Psalm 16 five and six he says Lord you
have assigned to me my portion and my
cop you have made my Lots secure the
boundary lines have fallen for me in
Pleasant places surely I have a
delightful inheritance notice the
emphasis there you have assigned me my
portion that's what we just talked about
God determines my place but he not only
determines my place you have made my lot
secure you in you I have a delightful
inheritance in other words God not only
decides what my place is but he brings
me into my place and he keeps me there
because throughout scripture there are
two kinds of wisdom that are operating
James talks about that in the book of
James wisdom from below and wisdom from
above wisdom from below is rooted in the
lie that there either is no God or if he
exists he is not particularly interested
in you and me he cannot be trusted I
need to take matters into my own hands
and my success in life depend
then on my native skill my native
ability my native determination and
perhaps whatever luck factors come into
the picture it always leads to friction
and confusion because on my way to the
top there are always people trying to
pull me down there are always people
competed with me for the same place for
the same spot for the same resources it
becomes a survival of the fittest and
whoever climbs to the top typically gets
there because he is stepping on
everybody else it leads to great
confusion and it leads to a lot of
antagonism all you have to do is listen
to politicians as the campaigning for
office and you get some idea of what
that looks like but then there's wisdom
from above and wisdom from above as I'm
sure you know rests on the truth that
confident in himself that he never goes
out of his way trying to persuade you or
me that he exists you may have noticed
that God just is he not only is but in
Christ he's my Creator in Christ he is
my Redeemer he loves me with an infinite
degree of life his purpose is to
establish me in Christ in a new creation
eventually we're all his riches can be
shared with me you see that in the
original creation story Adam and Eve
were given by God everything that you
and I tend to have to fight for and the
Bible messages that as we joined to
Christ we put our trust in him God is
our Father he redeems us he decides
where we fit in life both in the world
the secular world if you will and in the
church world he is the one who
sovereignly decides my gifting and my
place as I embrace that he will bring me
into that place he establishes
my portion he becomes my inheritance
that's the message of scripture from one
end to the other while the rest of the
world runs crazy trying to climb all
over each other to hold on to what
they've got the Bible says seek first
the kingdom of God and His righteousness
make it your business to walk with God
make it your business to try to obey Him
through faith in Christ and all these
other things for which the Gentile
stripes as the Scriptures I will give to
you many examples of that in Scripture
how this really works I'll give you
three just very quickly story of Joseph
we all know it well I trust sold into
slavery by his brothers at the age of 17
sentenced to jail on false accusations
by Potiphar his master languished in the
dungeon and yet in due time God
sovereignly comes along plucks him out
of the dungeon establishes him as prime
minister of Egypt next Sunday night lord
willing and the sunday night thereafter
we're going to show you a two-part
documentary about the story of the
exodus the historical evidences of it
and the historical evidences of the life
of Joseph it is fascinating it will
strengthen your faith write it in your
timetable try to join us for those two
services it is incredible what's
actually there contrary to what many
scholars are trying to say today that's
Joseph there's David we're in the midst
of studying his life this is a little
detour from that little detour david
anointed king over israel at what may be
the age of 15 came into his kingdom not
until 15 years later seven half years
beyond that before he became king
over all Israel and during that time he
had plenty of opportunity to do King
Saul in who was determined to destroy
him but every time he resisted the
temptation and the urging of his
compatriots because he said I'm not
going to touch the Lord's anointed he
knew how to wait for his time and
eventually Saul died by his own hand and
the kingdom that was given to David and
of course the ultimate example of
trusting gone to establish ear was the
Lord Jesus the Lord Jesus today is king
of kings he's Lord of lords his name is
higher than anybody else he is over all
the nations of the world indeed the
whole universe falls at his foot at his
feet how did he get there he didn't
mount any campaigns didn't raise an army
he didn't campaign for office he didn't
fight to be number one no he made it his
business to do I to love the father and
to be obedient even unto death and
philippians chapter 2 gives us what is
probably one of the earliest great hymns
of the church you know these worlds
words well but this is what it says
concerning the Lord Jesus after we are
told to have the same mind in us that we
have in Christ Jesus who being in the
very nature of God did not equality did
not consider equality with God something
to be grasped and the word there is to
take by force Jesus was the son of God
he had the right to demand his place he
had the right to demand obedience he had
the right to demand submission he
refused to grab hold of it instead what
did he do he made himself nothing taking
the very nature of a servant being made
in human likeness let me pause there for
a moment and to emphasize this is called
theologically the cano TSA's the self
empty
of the Lord Jesus the whole universe was
created through him and by him and now
he limits himself to the form of a
mortal human being couldn't be more
helpless than the baby whose birth we
will soon be celebrating at
Christmastime represents more than that
he humbled himself to becoming a servant
going on to the next verse and being
found in appearance as a man he humbled
himself and became obedient to death
even death on a cross and you got to
remember the death on a cross was the
ultimate humiliation it was reserved for
the worst of the worst of the worst and
you hung suspended between heaven and
earth as a symbol of the curse of God on
your life this is your savior this is
the one who created the universe this is
the one who put all the stars in motion
remember these songs we sang earlier How
Great Thou art this is how great he was
and this is how he humbled himself even
unto death death on a cross but it
doesn't stop there does it therefore God
exalted him to the highest place gave
him the name that is above every name
that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow in heaven and on earth and
under the earth and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father that's your Jesus and
if you're a Christian this morning
you're a follower of Jesus guess what
that means means you take up your cross
and you follow you it means that in the
course of everyday leaving you're not
going to climb to the top by virtue of
the wisdom from below but you humble
yourself what are the mighty hand of God
and you trust him to make your way plane
because you know that as you make him
your priority he will give you every
thing that you need so that you can
serve him for the purposes of God and
that's true for life and the church and
is true for life in the community God
Himself will make the way the psalmist
put it this way in Psalm 125 those who
trust in the Lord are like mines Mount
Zion which cannot be shaken but indoors
forever that's God's covenant commitment
to his people now please understand with
me this does not mean life on easy
street in fact if you look at the three
examples that I've just named Joseph
David and Jesus and we could pick many
others in Scripture you will discover
that they all went through a pretty
significant dieppe before they ascended
to the position that God established for
them we've talked about Joseph in jail
for what 10 years and false accusations
those were not happy years I can promise
you David chased around the wilderness
by King Saul at least seven years times
I got so perilous that he had to pretend
madness among the Philistines because he
was afraid for his life you know how the
story ends you miss the depth of the
agony in getting there in Jesus how did
he get the name that was above every day
by walking through the valley of the
shadow of death my God my God why have
you forsaken me still able to trust in
God the Father just because God promises
to establish us whether that's in
marriage whether that's in business
whether that's in ministry whether
that's in some you know significant area
of my life doesn't mean that it's always
going to be an easy straight
and without spending a lot of time on
that I'd give you two reasons for that
number one is the devil really hates it
when you come to life he really hates it
when you come into your inheritance he
really hates it when you start believing
the Word of God he really hates it when
God starts blessing you and he will do
everything he can to remind you that it
is not true that you're a failure you're
not going to make it his intention is to
keep us under his power because he knows
that when we escape his power not only
has his kingdom lost but God's kingdom
has gained because now we become his
enemy and I don't recall that I've ever
seen anybody really step out in faith in
new areas of life without being
seriously challenged or tested on that
journey and the purpose for that testing
because this is often where we get stock
why does God allow this but i can tell
you i got allows this because if God is
going to entrust us with authority in
his kingdom influence in this world and
in the world to come he wants to make
sure that he is burned out of us all the
wisdom from below and replaced it with
wisdom from above you want to find out
what really lives in your heart you want
to find out of your faith is real you're
all wondering what I'm going to do that
I know you want to find out you want to
find out what are we really seeing you
forget the good days everybody can be
super spiritual into good days what
happens when the road is rough when the
sky is black the heavens are like brass
and God's promises seem empty isn't it
true that that's when like Abraham we
tend to take matters back into our own
hands
shenzhen and we beget children by hagar
rather than trusting for god to
accomplish it with a woman of promise
and what makes this a very complex is
that in the life of the kingdom it's
always this odd combination of the
sovereignty of God and human
responsibility where does the one begin
where does the other end but I'll tell
you if God is going to entrust us with
authority in his kingdom establish our
place there will be times of testing and
the purpose of testing will be to deepen
our faith in God to believe his word to
believe his promises so that we can
actually be established and entrusted
with authority why did Jesus receive the
name that is above every day why has God
entrusted to the man Jesus understand
this with me please please do why did go
on and trust the Lord Jesus with all
authority in heaven and on earth that is
to say Jesus the ship is yours to run I
trust you completely you know why
because he was faithful and obedient
even unto death God has never had to
worry about Jesus ruining his kingdom
for his own selfish purposes now look at
your life in my life do some
self-examination and you see why
sometimes we have to go through a little
refining process so that the river of
life that flows forth from us is as pure
as pure can be less others be polluted
by our does that make sense Peter puts
it this way and this is in the context
of intense and severe persecution in the
church 1 Peter 5 10 and after you have
suffered a little while the god of all
grace was called you to his eternal
glory in christ and i love these words
will himself do what read them with me
restore establish and strengthen here
restore us
abla sh and strengthen ear God's not
interested in frying us in the fire he's
very much interested in burning off the
dross so that the gold will last forever
because God is building an eternal
Kingdom so what am I saying God will
establish you God will establish Union
marriage God will establish you in your
relationships with the world around you
God will establish his you in
friendships God will establish you in
ministry god will establish you in the
chick God willed himself do it not just
automatically and magically he will give
you what it would you need to do would
you need to do and the people around you
what they need to do and it will just
happen because that is the whole point
of redemption it's God who redeems so we
need to trust it in Christ are all the
resources we need to do life in
community we need to trust that God has
a place for me not only but that he will
establish me in that place and then
here's the fourth thing we need to
embrace biblical diversity and I use the
adjective biblical diversity
deliberately because as you know we live
in a world where the dividing line
between right and wrong black and white
good and evil is constantly being
blurred and God today is being pictured
by people as a God who is a benevolent
grandfather who somehow or another will
accept and tolerate anything that goes
and people don't understand that the
reverse side of love is God's wrath and
holiness and so when the Bible talks
about diversity it doesn't talk about
everybody being include
did in everything that God does it's a
diversity that is limited to those who
are in Christ Jesus and who submit to
his authority the book of Revelation
puts it this way verse 14 and 15 of
chapter 22 blessed are those who wash
the robes that they may have the right
to the Tree of Life and may go through
the gates into the city you know an
evangelism years ago people used to ask
the question if you stood before God and
he said why should I let you into my
heaven what would your answer be and the
only answer is I have washed my robes so
to speak in the blood of the Lamb I only
enter the holy city because I have
repented of sin I have submitted to the
lordship of Jesus I am baptized in the
Holy Spirit I'm one of the children of
gone but then the passage goes on in the
next verse outside terrible word outside
are the dogs talk about negative term
those who practice magic arts the
sexually immoral the murderers the
idolaters at everyone who loves and
practices falsehood biblical diversity
does not mean that there isn't a line
that God draws in the sand that says
inside that line you're in outside that
line you are out that line is determined
by what we do with the person of Jesus
but that said that said when you are on
the inside there is still a huge
diversity there is a huge difference one
from an other that's the whole point of
this particular chapter and if you just
want to take out for a moment the
bulletin insert with the scripture we're
going to read together the verses 14 to
20 it won't be on the screen but I want
us to read that together so that
we can really capture the heart of what
Paul is talking about here verse 14 says
even so 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 for that same
reason cease to be part of the body if
the year should say because I'm not an
eye I do not belong to the body it would
not for that reason cease to be a 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 of the body
every one of them just as he wanted them
to be if they were all one part where
would be where would the body be as it
is there are many parts but one body
brings us back full circle to what we
were talking about last week how does
the human body function it is made up of
many parts it is made up of cells it is
made up of tissue it is made up of
organs it is made up of systems those
together make up your body and then how
does your body function you've got all
the body parts you've got a hand you've
got a foot you've got a thumb as I said
before when the body is working properly
you're not even aware of the body you
just take it all for granted you say oh
I want to sit down on the chair you
going sit down on the chair you want to
walk out the door and out the door you
don't even think about it as I've said
before it's not until you're sick or
you've broken something or you suffered
you know a stroke or some illness lets
you say oh my goodness the jobs that I
used to take for granted I can't do
anymore the body is broken God puts
diversity within the body many different
parts to do the job together earlier he
puts it this way in the verses four five
and six there are
different kinds of gifts but the same
spirit there are different kinds of
service but same Lord there are
different kinds of working but the same
God who works them all in all men of
course you could add women and notice
the structure of that verse the parallel
between different insane different kinds
of gifts same spirit different kinds of
service but the same Lord different
kinds of working but the same God very
interesting Trinitarian verse and what
he is saying is that when God pours out
the Holy Spirit he's going to give
different gifts to different people
they're going to look very very
different some people have the gift of
administration some people have to give
to speaking some people have the gift of
serving some people have the gift of
just being quietly in the background
gift of prayer or you need that
different gifts different kinds of
servings the Lord Jesus decides your
place in the body calls you to a
different task and calls you with a
different passion my passion as you know
is to see men and women come alive in
Christ and to fully bear fruit for God
and to learn to live in community in a
way that glorifies God may not
particularly resonate with you maybe
you're much more concerned about poverty
issues or social justice issues or the
political scene different kinds of
serving because we're not all called to
the same thing then he talks about
different kinds of workings you know
what that means that means that when God
works in my life or when God works in
your life it's not necessarily going to
look the same at all because he can
you whatever it is that he wants to do
and he is a God of incredible diversity
now why is that so important I'll give
you a couple of reasons I only have two
in the PowerPoint but there's really a
third that I want to make and the first
is this our tendency is to judge others
by ourselves do you know that our
tendency is to judge others by ourselves
what I mean by this is this I experience
God in a certain way or maybe I don't
experience him in a certain way I expect
everybody else to be like me I pray in a
certain way I expect other people to
pray just like me I like certain kinds
of music I expect other people to like
my kind of music I am comfortable
worshiping God in this way I'm not
comfortable worshiping God in that way
and instead of making that a personal
preference or the personal work of the
holy spirit of my life I make that a
sacred standard that I expect other
people to find I judge other people on
the basis of how I have experienced God
or in how I serve God that's what was
happening the Corinthian church they
were incredibly gifted but they were
looking down their noses at each other
because they didn't understand that the
way God works is in great variety and
part of growing up in the body of Christ
is to recognize yes there's an inside
and there's an outside during the
kingdom of your outside of the kingdom
but in the kingdom there's going to be
an incredible variety based not just on
personality but based on giftings of the
Holy Spirit based on callings that
people place us on each other's lives
and how God commune
Kate's himself to his people and what
that means is that we can set each other
free to be what God calls us to be
knowing that in an orchestra not
everybody is going to play the same
instrument an orchestra makes harmony
symphony not because all the instruments
are the same now you have a wide variety
of instruments but they're all playing
off the same music and they're all
following the same director Jesus Christ
to try to direct his body so that all
these different parts can help each
other and that's really the second thing
why this is so important it makes us
inter dependent that is to say it makes
us need each other only Jesus had all
the giftings only Jesus was totally
self-sufficient in his dependence of the
Father but remember from the head the
anointing flows on you in me he calls us
the different places he works in our
lives in different ways and he gives us
different spiritual gifts and some of us
are a mouth and some of us are an eye
some of us are of what some of us are a
the point is this where would the body
be without a hand or the eye he puts it
this way in verse 21 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 we need whatever gifts gone for it
here's my theory and belief by the local
church because my passion is the local
Church and I believe that God is calling
the local church the function as a body
so in love with God so in love and so in
tune with God and with each other that
that they are a community together that
moves through their broader community
demonstrating the life and the power of
Jesus so that the Deaf hear you know the
poorer raised up and the blind see and
and all of that that's God's heart and
God's passion but in order to make that
happen there isn't a single one of us
who can make that all happen or who has
the necessary giftings to make that
happen it needs the whole community I
was thinking about that in the context
of putting on worship services I've
never added up how many people are
involved in putting one of these
services together but by the time you
have the tech crew the musicians the
people in taking care of the kids the
front desk people that watch the doors I
bet it's three dozen or more most of you
if you're not serving those could you
won't even be aware of that you just
come here and you expect it all to go
off a hitch and not until something goes
wrong do you realize how much work it is
to make this happen you know that do you
know how much work people do behind the
scenes to put on a service how early
people get here to do music or to do the
tech stuff and how many times they have
to troubleshoot and you won't even know
that it's happening that's the body at
work and many of you are part of that in
your own way you contribute time talent
and treasure behind the scenes nobody
ever notices it perhaps but if you're
not doing it it's not going to happen
and the body falls apart God assigns
different giftings gives different
callings and works in different ways so
that every part can play a part in
making the
big picture happen and you know why
that's important it's important because
if you're a part of this community you
need to know that you matter and that
would you bring to the table matters and
here's a very important thing to
understand because the temptation is to
think that if I'm a lesser part of the
body therefore I'm not important every
community every community in the in the
kingdom of God every community in the
world has a diversity of people you have
the people who are up front you will
have the people who are obviously
talented you have the people who who get
the attention and then there's the rest
of us we we just sort of struggle along
we you know don't feel particularly
spiritual don't have a lot of biblical
insight ah ah and what do we do well we
just sort of shrink back and say well
I'm not really important because I don't
really contribute nobody won't even
notice me how many of you here way come
for the given Sunday morning and you say
well I'm not going to go to church today
because nobody really needs me anyway it
will even notice if I'm not here not
true don't say yes but it's okay right
the one talented person always minimizes
his talents because he's comparing his
talents to other people's talents and
secretly he's angry ago on feels
insecure and feels less than and so it's
really interesting that Paul as he goes
on in this message begins to address
that particular issue because he says
every part matters just because you
don't see your pancreas watch what
happens to your body when your pancreas
miss functions just because everybody
thinks you know
a given part of your body is irrelevant
watch what happens when it's missing and
so God goes out of his way I listen to
this goes out of his way to give greater
honor to the lesser part so that there
will be no divisions in the body of
Christ follow along with me as your
reading will bring this to a close very
shortly he says verse 22 those parts of
the body that seems 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 greater
modesty while our presentable parts need
no special treatment but God has
combined the members of the body and has
given greater on it to the parts that
lacked it so that there should be no
division in the body 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 you know what he's
saying there what are you saying there
is that if you feel like you're a
nothing or nobody if everybody in church
is rich in your poor and you want to
hide be guys you don't think you belong
or other people seem to have it all
together and you're struggling with
fragmentation and difficulties that
nobody can even possibly understand her
experience you know what God is saying
he will give special grace to the less
presentable parts so that you too will
have your place on the body of Christ
you know that do you know that some of
the most gifted people spiritually are
people who are sometimes the most broken
and do you know that they will have an
experience of God in places that you and
I can't even understand or believe
because God balances out the body so
that we can all honor each other respect
each other and belong to each other so
they're shot
all of this is this God is building a
people of power and he's making a people
of praise who will move through this
land by his Spirit to glorify his
precious name if you're in Christ and he
places you in a community like this then
you must give your life not only to
Jesus you must give your life to
community and when you discover you
don't have what it takes to do it then
you got to remember this in Christ are
all the riches of the Godhead and
whatever you need to find your place and
to leave it God will lead you into it
he's already decided what your place is
and he will move heaven and earth by the
power that made the whole universe in
the race Jesus Christ from that he will
move heaven and earth to bring you to
where you need to be and as you embrace
that and begin to function in that
little place you become part of
something that is much greater than you
are and together with other members in
the body of Christ you find purpose and
destiny you can accomplish things that
you could never accomplish on your own
and God will be glorified because the
you