1 Corinthians chapter 12. And let's read from verse 14. Verse 14, and let us hear God's Word. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body, and the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more, those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary, and those members of the body which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour, and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness, for our comely parts have no need. But God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God hath sent some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show I unto you a more excellent way." And the Lord will add His blessing to the reading of His own divine truth. Now, verse 18 is our text today, really a springboard, you might say, to look again at this entire passage, but it is the key verse that we will consider. For now hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body, as it hath pleased him. Now, one of the ways in which the Holy Spirit uses the word church in the New Testament is with regard to the entire company of redeemed people, both those on earth and those who are already in heaven. In that sense, the word church includes all who have believed in Christ and all who will yet believe on Him. Moreover, with regard to that use of the word church, There are certain other New Testament terms or expressions that can only be descriptive of the redeemed alone. And one of them is this term, the body, of which we read again here in this 18th verse as well as in other verses. Sixteen times altogether actually, all of those references being in Paul's epistles, we find that the New Testament employs this particular description of the church of Jesus Christ. And when we look at the end of Ephesians chapter 1, we find that Paul employs the term there in a most important way, namely to show that the church, which is Christ's body, is the fullness of Jesus Christ. And the word fullness really signifies that which is the complement, that which completes, And therefore the Holy Spirit is teaching that in a certain way the church is the complement of Jesus Christ. And the meaning of that language is understood in terms of the head and the body, just as the head in the human sense would be incomplete without the body and therefore needs the body. So, it is with regard to that relationship between Christ and His church signified by the body that we understand those words that the church is the fullness of Christ. Christ is the head of His people. He is spoken of that way. He is stated to be that many, many times in the New Testament. And as the mediatorial head, He must therefore, by the very understanding of the term head, He must have a body. He must have a company of people who are peculiarly His because of redemption through whom He works. and whom He uses in this world, in this earth, to carry out His will, to achieve the great goals that He has set before Himself and before His entire company of people. This is why the church is referred to as the Body of Christ. This is why the church is the fullness of Jesus Christ. Now, because of all this, it's important that we give careful attention to the revelation of God's Word on this topic in order to see how the church is to act as the fullness of Christ in her relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And here in 1 Corinthians 12, the apostle gives a lot of attention to this matter of the human body. being a representation of Christ and His church. We focus on this passage last week. We considered what we entitled the features of the body, the unity and the diversity of the body. I spoke to you and I emphasized to you that in this passage the analogy used is the human body. You see it all down the verses. And in the human body there is unity and there is diversity. But the same is true with regard to the Saviour, the head and His body. In that body there is both unity and diversity. And Paul's application of this point to the church is clear, therefore, in that on the spiritual level these two features are found. In the body of Christ there is a blessed unity, but there is also a real diversity. Now, with regard to those two features, I spoke to you about the production of them. Verse 13, where it says that by one Spirit we are baptized into one body. And right there you have the production of these two features of unity and diversity by the one Spirit, the Holy Ghost, There is this spiritual baptizing of sinners into the one body of Christ, but it's comprised of a plurality. As you see here, Paul says, we are all baptized. You have unity, you have diversity produced by the Holy Spirit. This is also what I've called, or what I did call last week, a prerequisite. In other words, unity and diversity are necessary. They are a prerequisite. in order to the very life and existence of the human body on that level, but also for the spiritual body. Within the unity of the body of Christ, all the members, all the saved actually have their existence. You cannot have a church unless there is this spiritual unity, this spiritual bond. that exists, and thank God it does exist. There's a framework within which all the members of the church exist. I'm talking about the true body of Christ. And then you see, by the same token, that diversity of members and their gifts enable the body, the one body, to live and to function as it should to the honor of Christ, to the glory of Christ and therefore as the fullness of Jesus Christ. Now I'm coming back today to these verses. We're going to look at another line of thought that we didn't have time to develop last week at all and that is the functioning of the body. A human body under the control of its head is designed and is meant to function. It is therefore true of the church, the body of Jesus Christ, that there's to be what I have called today, I'm going to deal with today, this functioning of the body of the Saviour. Now, as I already explained to you, within the eternal purposes of God, Christ the head needs this body of people in the execution of His work and His will on this earth. And therefore it should be the desire of every member, every truly born again individual to function within the body of Christ properly, rightfully, in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord, and thereby, as He directs and as He leads and as He enables us and as we function in that particular way that He has given us to do, this all contributes to His glory. And therefore, we are bringing honor to Him. We are His fullness, therefore, as we function in the way that He has designed us to function in that spiritual sense. Now verse 18, as I say, is the key verse in this passage with regard to the functioning of the body. It says, Now hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body, as it hath pleased him. The analogy is still before us, the human body. And with regard to the human body, isn't it true that according to God's divine and sovereign purpose and selection and distribution, there are all these members and all these particular capabilities within the human body? That's all arranged by God. It's God who has set the members there. It's God who has arranged and disposed the various parts of the human body so that the human body, together with all its members, it constitutes one living entity. Therefore, the body could not function unless God had arranged everything and put every member with its own capability in its right place. If you look back to verse 17, it says there, if the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now have God set the members. In other words, everything is arranged in the human body perfectly. David said, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. And because of that, the human body functions as it should. But you see the same is true with regard to the spiritual body. Go right down to verse 27, ye are the body of Christ, members in particular. Then it says in verse 28, look at it, and God hath set. Just take those words, because they are almost identical to the words in verse 18. Now hath God set the members, verse 28, and God hath set some in the church. He starts then to mention various offices. and various gifts that were known in the early church, and some of them are still, of course, known to this very day. So, when you come to verse 28, you'll find that it is revealed there again that God sovereignly selects and disposes the offices and the gifts that the members of His church are privileged to have, and as a result of that divine, sovereign selection and distribution of gifts and members within the body of Christ, then there is the functioning of the body. Look at verse 11 again. I want you just to see that verse once more. But all these work of that one and the self-same Spirit, listen, dividing to every man severally as he will. There's the same thing. Here's the Holy Spirit mentioned. And you see, it's God by the Spirit who builds the church, who brings the various people into it, who are the members of the body. And He gives to those members all their gifts and capabilities. The Holy Ghost does this as the sovereign agent of the eternal Godhead. And notice the emphasis there, dividing to every man severally as he wills. It is the sovereign disposal of God by His Spirit that there is the distribution of the gifts and the different members of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we come today, therefore, to look at this subject, at this truth that must be recognized. in order for the body of Christ to function as she should. And that truth is simply this. God sovereignly has selected and disposed all the members of the spiritual body and has given them all the gifts that they need. And as that is recognized by God's people and as we seek in our own lives for that to be the case, the outworking of what the Lord has made us to be, then we are truly the fullness of Jesus Christ. The first thing I want us to see from this today is there must be submission to this arrangement in order for the body to function. That is, there must be submission among God's people to God's arrangement in order for the body to function. You and others, in the verses that I read with you again today, that Paul suggests different scenarios, as we might rightly call them, in which he personifies different parts of the body. When I say personifies, I simply mean that he refers to these parts of the body as if they were persons acting or speaking. Now you'll notice, for example, in verse 15, that he refers to the foot speaking. In verse 16 he refers to the ears speaking. He refers in verse 21 to the eye and the head speaking. And of course the picture here that he builds up is most striking. Here you have all these parts of the human body and as Paul refers to them, he describes a situation where they are personified and you have this one speaking and the other one speaking and the point is that as they speak they are all in rebellion. against the God-ordained selection and distribution and arrangement of the human body. They are actually speaking out against what the Lord has intended and what the Lord has planned the body to be. The eye or the foot, the ear, the eye, the head, all are portrayed as persons actually speaking in an insubordinate way. and one saying, I don't want to be what I am. I would rather be something else. Remember something, brethren and sisters, that never happens in the human body. Of course it doesn't. Paul is simply using this kind of language for emphasis sake. As you read in verse 15, the foot saying, I'm not of the hand. In verse 16, the ear saying, I'm not the ear, and so on. You will never find that, of course, as I put it, in the human body. But the sad thing is, you do find it in the spiritual body. That's what Paul is doing here. He's making it absolutely clear by this kind of very striking language. that in the spiritual body among God's people there are those who talk this way, who act this way, who behave this way, and they indicate in doing so that they are not in submission to the arrangement that the Lord has made with regard to the church or the body of Christ. And the result, of course, can only be that the church will receive hurt and damage. The body of Christ is going to be distorted. It is going to be disturbed. It is going to be injured. It is going to be damaged with regard to its functioning. And beyond that, again, the most serious outcome is this. It does not behave itself as it should with regard to being the fullness of Christ. And therefore there is damage done to the name of Christ. And there is dishonor brought to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can see here Paul's marvelous way in which he brings home to our hearts Now, we need to recognize this great truth. God has sovereignly set these members in the body. He has sovereignly given them their gifts, and we are to recognize that, and we are to be in submission to that. And therefore, we will live and function as we should within the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. But, my dear friends, that submission is not there. then, as I say, there are going to be great problems. Now look with me here today, and you'll notice as I develop this thought, that Paul actually, in a very interesting way, singles out some of the difficulties and the sins and the discrepancies that arise when believers do not submit to the Lord's arrangement. and therefore behave in a way that is a rejection of His sovereign control over the body of Christ. You'll notice some of the things that happen. For example, there will be discouragement. Now look at verse 15 and verse 16. And look at those particular words that I just pick out of the verses, both verses. Do you notice the words there? I am not of the body. What is that essentially saying as far as the spiritual body of Christ is concerned? It's someone saying, I must not be saved. It's someone saying, I must not be part of the body of believers. That's what is being illustrated in this remarkable way. The foot saying, because I'm not of the hand, I'm not of the body. Here's a Christian saying, because I'm not like another Christian, or because I don't have some gift that another believer has, then it may mean I'm not saved. And you see, my friend, that alright is because people will not submit to what the Lord wants them to be and has designed them to be. The picture here is of the believer who does not have the spiritual gifts or the particular possession that another believer has. And he focuses so much on what the other Christian has, and therefore what's absent in his own case, that he then concludes, well, I must not be of the body, I must not belong to Christ at all. And my dear friend, that conclusion is drawn by many Christians. This is actually the reason why numbers of God's people have no assurance of salvation, for example. They look at another individual, another believer, and they look at the gifts and the talents that are there, that God has put there. And they say to themselves, well, I don't have that. I don't have that gift. I don't have that position. And that must mean perhaps, maybe I'm not saved at all. There are many believers who think that way. And do you know what they're doing? They are making gifts and abilities and positions the ground or the basis of knowing or having assurance that one is saved. But let me tell you something. Assurance of salvation must never be found or must never be looked for in the gifts or the abilities that God gives to any man. Because the Bible teaches us that there are actually some who, in God's sovereignty, have been given gifts, who are part of the professing church, but who are not even saved at all. The Bible's full of that. Turn, for example, to Matthew 7. My friend, this is faulty thinking. This person saying, I'm not of the body because I'm not the hand, or I'm not of the body because I'm not the eye. That's the individual saying, I mustn't be saved, I mustn't be part of the body of the Lord because I haven't this gift or the other gift. And I want you to see today that having gifts is no guarantee of being saved, actually. Matthew 7, look at verse 21. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? That means preach. And in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Notice what the Lord is teaching here. He is teaching, as I have said, a distinction between spiritual gifts and doing the will of God. Because in that first verse I read, verse 21, the Lord makes it clear that the man who is an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven is a man who does the will of God. Not necessarily the man who has the gifts that are singled out right there, preaching, casting out devils even, as it was on the Lord's day doing many wonderful works. Now I know that's very striking language, but it serves to bring home the point to our hearts that we must never rest our assurance of salvation on any gift or talent the Lord has given to us. Because my dear friend, within the body of Christ, gifts and talents are very imperfect. Imperfect in a variety of ways. and therefore they are no guarantee of being right with God. The man who's right with God is the man who first and foremost has in his heart a desire to do God's will. That's as overwhelming Desire, outlook, burden in his soul. He may say to himself, I don't have what other people have, but I thank God that I have a desire to do the will of God. I have a desire to follow the Lord. I want the Lord. I can't do without the Lord. That's the evidence of grace. But my friend, gifts are no evidence of grace. Always remember that. Because here are some who have gifts but no grace. and on the day of judgment they are going to perish. But the point, it illustrates the point I'm making as you go back to 1 Corinthians 12, please. The point is that there are many who get discouraged because they look at other believers, other members of the body of Christ, just like the foot saying, because I'm not the hand, well therefore I'm not of the body. Same with the next verse. There are many Christians like that. And that's what Paul is describing here. They just get things all wrong. They get all confused in their thinking. They look at the outward. They look at the visible. They focus there. And they make these conclusions. And therefore they become deeply discouraged. My dear friend, don't measure yourself. by the gifts and the abilities that God has sovereignly given to other people in the body of Christ. Don't measure yourself by that, because you will become discouraged. Rather, let your assurance of salvation always be First and foremost, on the sufficiency of the work of Christ. And if your heart relates to that, and that is your joy and your confidence, and you're resting right there, then my dear friend, that's where assurance will arise. And then if God takes you and uses you, as He does with all the people of God, and gives you certain gifts and abilities and so on and so forth, that's according to His sovereign disposal. But that's not either the reason or the basis for our salvation. And if you focus there, you will be saying to yourself, maybe I'm not of the body at all. Then there's discontentment. Again, look at verses 15 and 16. And notice the thought of discontentment ringing out in what Paul says there. He speaks of the foot saying that it's not the hand, and the ear saying that it's not the eye. And here's the believer now, looking at him from another perspective, who doesn't merely see gifts in other people, and can't see them in himself and therefore includes he might not be saved. But here is another way in which we see these words in these two verses. Paul here is speaking of the individual believer who wishes that he had the gifts that somebody else has. In other words, he covets what God has given to another. And once you start to covet, or wish, or long, however you want to describe it, that you have the talents or the abilities of another brother or sister in the Lord, immediately, my friend, you have become discontent with the Lord's sovereign arrangement for you, and indeed, therefore, for the whole body of Christ. If you think for a moment here of the foot and the hand, as you have it in verse 15, it is true. that while there are similarities between the foot and the hand, yet the hand has superior abilities and qualities. Your hand is able to do things that your foot obviously can't do. The same is true with regard to the ear and the eye. The ear is a wonderful organ. But the eye is even more specialized with regard to the range of capabilities that it has. All that your ear can do is hear. And while the eye is given to you to see, the dimension of it or the range of its abilities with regard to sight is tremendous. And from that sense, therefore, the eye is a much more specialized thing than your ear. And you see, this is true in the work of God. The foot and the hand, just put it that way. There's Mr. Foot and Mr. Hand. And Mr. Foot is jealous, really, and discontent as he looks at the hand because he says to himself, I'm not able to perform or do what my brother is able to do and perform. And therefore, I don't like that. I wish I had his. capabilities. There's discontentment. There, my friend, is jealousy. If you take again the ear and the eye, And the ear says, it says in verse 16, I am not the eye, and so on. The ear says that. What has really been brought before us there is this jealousy over being not able to see or understand what another Christian has come to see and understand. Isn't that what it's all about? Because when you look at the Bible with regard to seeing, it's always in the context of seeing things in the sense of understanding them and grasping them. And here's the ear, and the ear says, well, I can only hear, but there's another brother. And man, he seems to have so much knowledge and so much understanding. Look at him. Look at how he can talk. And that's the way it goes. And because one doesn't have that ability, then there is discontentment with what the Lord has given, and that always gives rise to jealousy. My dear friend, let me say this to you. Instead of being jealous or discontent with regard to these matters, you should be glad that there are those in the body of Christ who are able to do things that God has not given you to do, but has given somebody else the right to do them and the place to do them, and therefore they are done for the good of the whole body. All things with equal. And you should be glad that there are Christians who are able to maybe discern and see things and unfold things and make them known to you. Though you're only the ear and you don't have that seeing ability and that sense of terms, yet you benefit from what that other brother or sister is able to see and bring forth. Turn to John chapter... let me just illustrate this. Turn to John 13 a moment. John chapter 13, look at verse 23, and here you have the story of the Lord in the upper room the night before He died, and He's dinning with the disciples, and you'll know the story of how He had spoken of one who was going to betray them all, betray Him, and of course betray all of the believers. The Lord has spoken of this, and they're very troubled. And you come to verse 22, "...then the disciples looked, one another doubting of whom he spake. Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon therefore beckoned unto him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then, lying on Jesus' breast, saith unto him, Lord, who is it?" Now, brethren and sisters, what do you have on those verses? I know you have a scene in the upper room, as I've briefly described, where the Lord's talking about the betrayer, and those don't know who he's speaking of. And then Peter says to John, who was lying on the Lord's bosom, you ask the Lord and you find out. Now, what is that? Do you see it, my friend? There is prayer. John is essentially praying. He's close to the Lord. He is able to ask the Lord therefore, Lord, who is it? That's a prayer. That's a request. And to that man who was so well known for his closeness to the Lord, the Lord gave the answer. And then He told the others. And there's an illustration. John's the eye, Peter's the ear. John's able to find out and discover what's going on. He's able to see it. He's able to discern it as he talks to the Lord. He's in communion with the Savior. And the Savior communes to him and makes it all clear. And then he passes it on to the others. This is a wonderful illustration of the way to keep yourself from being discontent. Because, my friend, discontentment with who you are and what you are in the body of Christ is always going to lead to division. Always. James 3 verse 16. There it's summed up. It says, for where envying, that's jealousy, that's discontentment, where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. It is a fact, brethren and sisters, that with regard to the body of Christ being hurt, being damaged, sometimes almost irreparably damaged, Because it may take years upon years for that congregation or that body of believers to get over the damage. Very, very often, in fact most of the times, it's caused because some are not content. The foot saying to the hand, I wish I had what he has. Discontentment. than jealousy. And the Holy Spirit tells us that's always the forerunner of strife. Recognize God's sovereign disposition, and my friend, you will be kept from discouragement. You'll be kept from discontentment. But there's another thing here. Look at verse 17 of 1 Corinthians 12. Here's what we might call, and call it rightly, dysfunction. Because verse 17 says, If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? And the meaning of that verse is very, very obvious. Paul's reasoning here reveals, with regard to the issue of the body not functioning properly at all, that if it were comprised only of an ear or some other part or some other capability, then it would not function properly. There would be dysfunction. Do you know what the dysfunction really is that's in view there? It is imbalance. Read the verse again, verse 17. if the whole body were an eye. Now, as I said last week, I believe, in referring to that verse or a similar verse, what you really would have there is a monster. A human body, and it's totally and completely an eye, or some other part, that would be a monster. That would be complete imbalance. You see, God has arranged all things in a balanced way in our human bodies. There is wonderful balance and symmetry right through the whole human body, one part complementing the other, offsetting or whatever the case might be. That's how God has made us. That's how you're made physically. And again, that's how things are spiritually. It is through the multiplication or multiplicity of both members and gifts that the Lord has given the spiritual body that ability to avoid this dysfunction. You see, when things are not right in the body of Christ, when there's an imbalance, and therefore things are not in their right place, then there will come the point where the body just grinds to a halt. It's not functioning anymore. It's not praying. It's not laboring. It's full of people who are mere spectators, who are simply watching on while a little core group do everything. That's dysfunction. That's not the will of God. Now, turn to Ephesians 4, and let's see how the Apostle Paul deals with that matter of having this balance, as I have called it, or avoiding the imbalance to avoid the dysfunction. Look at Ephesians 4. And look with me at verse, we could look at many of these verses, but quickly look at verse 8. And it says, Wherefore he saith when he led captivity, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Then go right down to verse 11. Here's the connection now. And he gave some apostles, then prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. In other words, here's just a number of offices. That all existed in the days of the early church. Some of them are no more, of course. We're not getting into that today. But here are some offices, and of course with those offices there are gifts, there are abilities. And notice what it says, the Lord did this. The Lord gave these men. The Lord has given the pastor-teacher. The Lord has raised them up to be the one Who teaches the Word and preaches the Word. But what is the outcome of all that? It's for the edifying of the whole church. Verse 12, for the perfecting. And that word perfecting has to do with maturity, growth and grace. for the perfecting of the saints, the work of the ministry, the edifying of the body of Christ. Then verse 13, there is spiritual maturity, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a mature man is what it means. So there is edification, there is spiritual maturity. Then we will not read the next two verses for time's sake, but in verses 14 and 15 you have stability. no longer tossed to and fro, blown about. And in verse 16, you have this marvellous growth. The whole body joined together and growing together and making increase of the body and so on and so forth. Isn't it marvellous? And it all comes as a result of the Lord giving certain offices and men to occupy them and the gifts that they exercise, and the result is the body is edified, the body is stabilized, the body grows in spiritual maturity, and so on and so forth. Here is the balance, you see. Here is the body functioning as opposed to dysfunction, as we see Paul pointed out in where our text lies. You have this balance and the church functioning as she should, my friend, avoid all of this by recognizing who you are, recognizing your place, recognizing the gifts God has given you, exercising them for His glory. See all this, and you'll avoid discouragement and discontentment and dysfunction, but you'll avoid something else that I've already touched on. You'll avoid division. So go back to where our text lies. We are suddenly having the verses speak for themselves, verse 21. Here you come now, and we are not going to read all the verses of course, but from verse 21 to verse 26, Paul is dealing with division. Now in verse 21 he says, that I cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee, nor the head to the feet, I have no need of you. What you have there is one Christian being disdainful, showing contempt even for another believer who doesn't have the gifts or the abilities of the first individual. And the first individual just simply swells up with pride. And he says, because you're not like me. Because you're not so wonderful as I am. I don't really need you. You say, does that ever happen in the church of God? If it didn't happen, then it would be needless for Paul to write this, wouldn't it? It does happen. A very practical example is found in James 2. And when you look at it, James chapter 2, Verse 1, My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come into your assembly, or into your church, for that's what the word assembly is, it's church. If there come into your assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment, and you've respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place, and say to the other, Stand thou there, sit here under my foot still. Are ye not then partial?" Partial. See, here's the problem. Partiality. Here is a most dangerous situation. I haven't time today to go down to all those verses in 1 Corinthians 12. They all deal with division from 21 to 26. It all starts out by somebody saying, you don't belong to our wee group. You don't belong to our clique. They don't want you. And you give people that impression. And what are you doing? You're dividing the body of Christ. It may be as practical as what we saw in James 2. Believers looking with contempt on those who are, what you might call, from the very dregs of society. And they come into the house of God. And, brethren and sisters, this has often happened. I'm not saying here. I'm not aware of it having happened here in my ministry. I hope it hasn't, and I hope it never will, because I will not be happy. But I've heard of it in churches in general. or someone comes in off the street, you might say, ill-clad and uncared for, and so-called Christians looking down their noses. That is wrong. That is sin. That is against the mind of Christ. And therefore, We are to recognize that if this is the case, then there will be division. If you go right down, just go back to 1 Corinthians 12, go right down to verse 25, here he really sums it up that there should be no schism in the body. but that the members should have the same care one for another. Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. That's care, that's concern, that is this desire not to have division, not to have groups and cliques, but to have everybody recognized as on the same level. and accept each one and avoid this awful division. Now, it can happen, as I've said, for various reasons. I referred you to James 2, this schism. It can happen for that reason I showed you there. It can happen for other reasons that division comes. And we need to be on our guard against that. As I told you outside of this series, there are certain distinctives that the free church holds, and I am going to preach them by the grace of God. Our stand on certain issues, our policy in certain areas, like baptism, so on and so forth. And the policy of the church is this, that every member of the free church has the right to hold to his or her position on baptism so long as no one espouses baptismal regeneration. That's the policy of the free church. That's her position on baptism. And my dear friend, if you are a member of the church already, or are going to be a member of the church, you must uphold that policy and never do anything to cause division there. You see what I mean? Churches have distinctives and policies. We expect our members to uphold them as God gives grace. I must say one final thing here before I close today. You look here at this great fact that there has to be submission in order for the body to function, submission to God's order and God's control. But then notice this as we close. We must submit to God's arrangement for this reason, and the reason is this. The body belongs to Christ. You may say, well, that's not a great reason. My friend, that's all the reason. The body belongs to Christ. Go right down to verse 27. Well, he's really summing things up when he says, Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And that's exactly what he's saying. He's saying, I've discussed all this with you Corinthians, and therefore with us today, brethren and sisters, God has an arrangement, God has a plan, God has a scheme for His church, His body. And you and I are to submit to it, and we are to submit to it, because the body belongs to Christ. Ye are the body of Christ and members in particular. You know what the Lord is really saying there? For it is the Lord who is saying this. Christ's body is precious to Him, as we see. And since Christ's body is precious to Him, then all the members of it should see a preciousness in each other. How precious is the church to Christ, His body to Him? Ephesians 5, just turn there with me as we close today and look at it. Ephesians 5, 28-29. And Paul says this, "...so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hateth his own flesh," Ephesians 5, 29, "...but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church." For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. Here the apostle is teaching the matter of a husband loving his wife. And he shows that he is to do this because they are one flesh. A man shall look after his wife and love his wife because she is one with him. And then he illustrates this by talking about Christ and the church. And he shows that Christ and the church are one. They are united. And the Lord looks after the church the way a husband is supposed to look after his wife. And then in verse 30, he shows that the Lord cares for His church as the great bridegroom due to this union that there is between them. It's summed up in these marvellous words, for we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. And I tell you right now, that is a most remarkable statement. That is actually speaking of the Lord's physical body. We are members, all believers are members of the Lord's body in that sense. Now, how can that be? Well, I would suggest to you the answer is this. When the Lord Jesus came into the world, He took our humanity. He took it into union with Himself. He became the man, Christ Jesus. He elevated our humanity. He lifted it up. to a higher level than even Adam had when he was unfallen. And the glorious thing is, all His redeemed people are one day going to possess that redeemed, elevated humanity. So in that sense, there's this mystical, marvelous, wonderful union between Christ and His church. And my friend, don't those words ring with the great thought that the body of Christ, now taking all the people who are members of Christ, aren't they precious to Christ? Your wife, dear man, dear husband, should be the most precious person on the face of this earth. before your children, even. She's precious to you. The Lord Jesus Christ is saying, my church is precious to me. My people are in such union with me that they have a preciousness that can't be fully explained. Now, what's the application of that? Well, at this very point, we are to submit to God's arrangement within the church or the body of Christ because of the preciousness of the body to Christ. In other words, my friend, you treat your brothers and sisters in the Lord in the right way, for you keep in mind First and foremost, they belong to Christ. They are His. He died for them. He shed His blood for them. He has regenerated them. He has brought them into Christ. Therefore, I have no right to slander them. I have no right to criticize them. I have no right to talk about behind their backs. I have no right to undermine their character by tail-bearing and whispering. That's the way it works out. Because I say, these are Christ's people. And therefore, they're precious to Him. And my friend, you see that. And then you will say to yourself, O Lord, whatever you want me to be, Whatever you have for me to do, just help me to see it and be satisfied with it, and then do the same for all the rest. That's God's arrangement. Submit to it and rejoice in it. See who you are in Christ. See who the whole body is in Christ. Love one another. Pray for one another. My friend, if need be, though I do not say this with any knowledge of anything to make me say it, but I say it because I'm conscious that these things do happen. If need be, go and put things right with your brother, your sister, That is the will of Christ. Maybe in the past you hurt somebody, and you've never yet apologized. And you know, you know you're wrong. You need to put it right. May God apply the Word. Let's bow together in prayer.