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225.
We were just on the back of your mind and it's all thank you forever community. I am right.
So I'm gonna get rid of them to make sure I'm living in a muscle when it's like very difficult. I have it together and it's been so long, it's gone.
Well, the interim left now.
It's not like we say oh, OK, but.
Let's crank that blood and eggs.
Little green from my sweater. Extravagant. So do you think it's not? Umm, I don't like the birthday in the dark. I have time to make my own.
400,000 renewal. I think I'll give you a lot about your grand uh, I just gave him the rest of the question.
I'm glad that's still very strong. Still doing. And how's the lighting from?
I'm trying to see.
Uh-huh.
308101399.
All right. You're going to be good, period. What's going on? You're going to take it.
With all my revenge from neither, from God to the moon, it'll be a little my friend.
If you're not going to go out and.
I have a prayer request for, uh, our brother Nathan Thompson in Atlanta. He's been taken to the hospital like Austin, chest pains and pain down his arm, so he lifts him up in prayer. That's Nathan Thompson in Atlanta.
Gracious Father, we do lift up our dear brother Nathan.
To Thy arms of love at this particular time of need, and ask for grace and Thy supply for him, for his wife and his family. We pray for special help for them and for us too. Lord, here we are opening again Thy precious word, and we confess.
How needy we are, and we do pray that thy spirit may have liberty.
As we speak about it according to the need, as though to see it in us, Lord, we pray, give thanks for these moments together. In the name of our Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.
But now I've gone 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 honorable. Upon these we bestow more abundant honor, and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness, for our comely parts have no need. But God has tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked.
00:05:09
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 honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular. And God has set some in the church. First apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers. After that miracles and 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.
To all interpret, but covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show I unto you a more excellent way.
I'd like to just make a very practical comment on this verse that we opened with. I know we have made some comments about it, but this little expression that he's placed the members in the body, not as it has pleased us, but as as it has pleased him. Now I want to bring this right down to that which we're going to face when we go home from these meetings, and that is we're going to go back to the little assemblies from which we came. You know, it's wonderful to be here at meetings like this and as members of the body of Christ.
As believers, we've interacted with one another and we've had a wonderful time. But you know, most of you in this room don't know me as well as my local brethren, and I don't know you as well as your local brethren know you. And so we're each going to go home to the assemblies from which we came, and we're going to interact with those that the Lord has not only been pleased to save and bring into the body of Christ, but those that He has been pleased to gather to His name at His table.
And as we go home and look around the meeting room or wherever we meet, let's remember that He has placed the members in the body, not as it has pleased us, but as it has pleased him. He's gathered to his name and brought us into fellowship.
With a company of people that perhaps we wouldn't have otherwise chosen. I often think of Gideon in this regard. You know, Gideon had a vast army. But the Lord said to Gideon, whom I say shall go with thee, shall go with thee.
And whom I say shall not go with thee, shall not go with thee. And the 300 men that eventually went to fight with Gideon were not necessarily the men that Gideon would have chosen. He had nothing to do with the choice.
Had the Lord allowed Gideon to go through the army and hand pick the 300 men that he was going to go out and fight with, it might have been a very different company. And you say, well, I go home and you know, there's this brother and that sister and that brother just kind of rubs me the wrong way. And that sister, she just, I just don't see eye to eye with that sister. And we just don't always get along. Remember that the Lord chooses our company for us.
You always find that in Scripture, whether it's the Old Testament or the New Testament.
And I believe the blessing comes when we reconcile this in our own souls. And so we're going to go home to a company that we might not have not normally chosen, naturally chosen to be with. But if we realize that it's the Lord's choice, brethren, it's going to help us in our interactions one with another. And remember too, that in breaking bread at the Lord's table and expressing as we did this morning, the truth of the one body.
With one loaf on the table, it brings us into relationship with one another.
To a closeness of relationship that is closer than anything on earth outside the family tie. You know you can go to another fellowship of believers and you can sit there from week to week, and sometimes you hardly know the person two rows behind you. Never, never mind those who are in the same sort of fellowship in another city or another state or another country or another continent. But in breaking bread at the Lord's table and expressing the truth of the one body, it brings us into this closeness of relationship.
And that's why if grace and love aren't exercised, the machinery is gonna grade up. If I can put it that way, I'll just go back to what I think Bob pointed out at the beginning of these readings. And if I can put it just a little in a Li, the same thought but in a little different language. In the 12Th chapter of where we're reading, we have the machinery, we have the body of Christ, we have the machinery. In the 14th chapter, we have the machinery in operation. But what do we have in between?
00:10:00
We have the oil that makes the machinery run smoothly. We have the love chapter, and if love and grace aren't exercised in the local assembly, the machinery is gonna grade up. We are going to get on one another's nerves. There are gonna be problems, there are gonna be difficulties. There's gonna be divisions if we're not careful. And so I just say that he's placed the members in the body as it pleased him, and he's gathered to his name in the local assembly as it pleased him.
And if each of us would practically in our souls esteem other better than ourselves, as we are exhorted to, I think in Philippians, if we would esteem other better than ourselves, we would be very careful what we said and did towards that person. If I look at you, brother or sister, and I really believe, I really in my soul believe that you're better than me, that I esteem you better than me, I'm gonna be very careful what I say about you to somebody else. I'm gonna be very careful what I do against you behind your back or to your face.
And so it's just a practical comment, but remember, He's placed the members in the body as it has pleased him. Most of you, I wouldn't know in this room if the Lord hadn't saved me and hadn't saved you, and if the Lord hadn't gathered you to his name and by his grace gathered me.
We have somewhat of the same thought in Ephesians 4, where we have the body presented too, and at the beginning of the chapter, uh, we have some exhortation that relates to our walking in the truth of the one body.
Says verse one of chapter 4 of Ephesians. I therefore the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vacation wherewith you are called. We are called in one body.
But it says with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love.
All holiness and meekness. Anybody cares to say that they have all loneliness and meekness?
I don't think any of us could say that. Brethren, we are all learning about how important these things are. If we're going to walk in the truth that there is one body. Loneliness does not offend others and meekness does not take offense, and those are important things. As we walk together, we take offense. We give offense so often because we're occupied with ourselves and we are not to be occupied with ourselves. We will be occupied with others, with Christ.
But then it says forbearing one another in love. I should say there is another word here, long-suffering.
I think you all remember how **** Gorgas used to pronounce that, he said. We don't pronounce it right. It should be long-suffering and we take it for a little bit and then we sometimes blow up. Sometimes we want somebody to learn in 10 minutes what took us 10 years to learn. Brethren, we need long-suffering and forbearance. That's self-discipline. Sometimes we like to talk about discipline of others.
But this is self-discipline. Forbearance is something Brother Jim you don't like and me. But instead of saying something you just bear with it.
Thank you, brother. But that's what forbearance is, and it's necessary in our walking together as members of the body of Christ. But notice then it says forbearing one another in love. And that's love, the agape love, the love that loves when there's nothing lovable, brethren, and that's the love that's to be in evidence. Oh, may the Lord help us. You know, I often think of these two characteristics, loneliness and meekness.
The Lord Jesus said take my yoke upon you.
And learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. You shall find rest unto your souls.
Where are you gonna learn that with him? And oh, and I think, uh, the creator of the universe, the one who spoke the whole universe into existence. There he stands before Pilate and they accuse him, violently accuse him. Is there any response of himself to defend himself? Oh, how different I am. How we need to bear his yoke and we need to learn of him.
Those Jewish high priests came up and spit in his face. Think of the insult of that. And yet there was no reaction against them.
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Loneliness and meekness. The Lord help us brethren, this is what we need. I remember there is a brother, I lived in Bolivia that and I didn't seem to get along the best. And one day I had an opportunity to talk to him and said, brother, you know what? I didn't choose you to be a member of the body of Christ and you didn't choose me. Somebody else chose us both and they put us in the same body. We gotta figure it out.
Now we're going to go on together because we're in one body and that's the truth of the matter, brother. In our chapter going back, uh, somebody mentioned yesterday that inverse is, uh.
15 through 20 we have what is called sometimes the inferiority complex.
And from verse 21.
Uh, forward, we have a superiority complex. Both complexes come because of occupation of one with another. And that's not wise, brethren.
How can you compare the work of the foot with the work of the hand? Both are such important members in the body and in its function. Oh, how important it is to realize I need you, brother. Even though I might think I don't need you, I do need you. We need each other. Each one is necessary, even the ones.
That seemed to be more feeble or necessary.
So it takes grace sometimes, brethren, to go on together, but that's the truth of the body of Christ. So often I hear this, I don't seem to be able to get along with these. Brother, I am out of here.
Is, is that what we're seeing in view of the truth of the one body? You mean you think you can be out of the body of Christ? You can sever the ties? That's not the truth of God. You and I have to figure out how we're going to get along together, how we're going to, uh, continue to go forward and bring glory to the Lord Jesus. May the Lord help us, brethren, in these endeavors.
Brother Jim, you said that if we really considered others better than ourselves.
It would go a long ways to do that. I had a young person, young brother want to say to me, but they're not better.
What do I do about that? I don't think I can't fool myself. I mean, I think maybe that guy is better and maybe she's better, but I don't think he's better. How do I get around that? What do I do with that? You know, I can't just make myself think that way, but we have instruction from scripture and faith comes into it. But you know, you think about that and you chuckle a little bit and, and, uh.
I thought about it a while and I said, you know what? Make up a list of what's wrong with that person, the things that bother you. Then make a list of your own about what you know about yourself. I'll bet you your list about yourself longer.
You know what? You're right. And that there still may be things that bother us about other people.
And sometimes this idea of taking an offense.
You know, people because sometimes do things to try and just push your buttons. You know, people are funny like that. Families do that and they try to get a rise out of you. Well, what if you decide one day you won't take a pair? I'm just not gonna bother be bothered by this. Sometimes that person, then it happens at school and the playground and all of that. You learn some of those things and you just say, well, I'm gonna try it this time. And and then you find out it actually works and you learn, uh, in practical way that that, well, I didn't take offense.
Uh, it changed the dynamic of the situation. And then maybe you'll learn the next step. But some of these things, uh, you start with, while the Lord says so and I respond by faith because he says so. And then you need to think it through and then seek a way to, you know, try it out, work it out.
I think the book is Philippians enough to digress too far, really gives construction as to how to go along in the assembly. It's not taking up truth as such. But I always have seen the book of Philippians corresponding to Joseph's instructions to his brethren. He said two things. One was regard, not your stuff we find at the end of flipping. The other one was see that you fall not out by the way. And so in Philippians 2, we have this expectation that we've been talking about.
00:20:04
You have to be there for any consolation in Christ, any comfort of love, of any fellowship of the Spirit, of any vows of mercy. Fulfill you my joy that ye be like minded having the same love, saving 1 accord of one mind. Let nothing be done through striker Vainglory, but in lowliness of mind. Let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own thing, but every man also on the things of others, that this might be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.
You know, when it says to be at the to be of one mind, it doesn't mean that we all have to be lockstep and thinking exactly the same thing. I would suggest that contradicts what we've been enjoying in Corinthians, where we have unity and diversity.
But the one mind that's broken of is the mind that we have in verse five. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. That's the one mind that we need to have. And then just one other comment. You know, we love to make me. We love meekness and loneliness in our presence.
But it's much hotter in ourselves.
You know, when problems come up, you always hear someone say, well brother, you need to be me and I, I'm not saying I don't need to be meek, but next time we're.
Say those words, perhaps we should think about ourselves and where the problem lies. You know, we let this mind be in us. It was also in Christ Jesus. Then there'd be a far few problems, far fewer problems than we experienced. In fact, there were no problems. We really carried him out. You think? Uh, brother, following up with what you just said about being in one mind, uh, I was noticing earlier and against chapter 4 and verse 2 where Paul is beseeching Eunice.
And teaching that they be of the same mind and the Lord is that, is that the same thought? He's, he's not putting them together. He's in, you know, he's signaling them out individually. And uh, I hope that there would be a prayer that they would be of one mind. Is that, is that the same thought? Are they, uh, there was some kind of attention there obviously. And Paul was trying to be a peacemaker. I think that's the way I'm reading it. I would agree with you. I'd say that one mind is the same again that we have. We'll let you know. We touched on this yesterday about being envious and jealous of others were since.
Others may have, and in James we have the conclusion of that.
Said that umm in James 316 so we're ending in stripes. There is confusion in every evil wood and I believe that would strike really has the sense of striving. We're striving with our brethren because something that we think that we should be doing or that they have a better gift or that their gift is more preeminent, then there's going to be confusion and every evil work. And so in the case of odious and Kentucky umm.
Which perhaps we could say with Odious and Snacky, but you know, they needed to get their eyes off each other and to have that one mind that we have back in the second chapter.
Your brother was mentioning humanism.
And one of the great ironies of, of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment period is, is they finally discovered that the earth was not the center of the universe, but then they placed themselves at it, center of it, what we call an anthropocentric view of things. They, and one of the things that I love about, umm, a certain definition of humanism is a simple phrase called that man is the measure of all things.
Also, Segway and put our brother has spoken about forbearing because one of the my favorite verses in the New Testament is from Hebrews where it says and those we Speaking of the sacrifice. I'm not going to build a quote. I'm going to paraphrase, umm, talking about the sacrifices and how they were effectual through the forbearance of God. Now I know and having well, I know enough of Greeks and realize I probably need to look a little closer to smash to see if they're the two words are the same. But I like this thought and that is.
When we make ourselves the measure of all things.
We can judge very, very quickly because our standards and, and often unfortunately, it's, it's associated with a bit of self hatred, as you mentioned, because if we're the measure of all things and we, we also have ideals that we can't really aspire to. So it's kind of a divide itself, I guess, in that, in that, in that respect. But I love that idea of bearing with one another, umm, thinking of the Lord's Prayer as forgiving as we have been forgiven to, for bear with one another to have mercy.
And that Ephesians umm 4 I think it was again that her brother mentioned.
I think it's at the end of that chapter.
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It's almost, uh, I mean, it begins so wonderfully. Not to not to get off track, of course.
As you mentioned, we're bearing with one another long-suffering from the end of chapter 4. I love this too.
Grieve not the Holy Spirit verse 30 of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be a kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. You know, if we place the measure of all things back in the person of Christ, and when we go to judge someone else, and this is I mean, I almost want to cry because of just how many times I've transgressed this.
Umm, I can. You can hear his words saying that which I have called clean, called out, not unclean, you know.
That which I have called lovely called thou, not unlovely.
And when we put him as the measure of all things, again, this loneliness, this meekness we talk about, we often view the, the Christian faith as putting up fences, right? OK, don't do that, don't do that. It's a bunch of negatives. And we, we neglect the fact that Christ came and, and I don't know if this will translate into Spanish. I'm sorry, umm, something that we call in English a positive thing. It's an affirmative thing. It's a, it's a, it's a forward moving thing. But loneliness, that meekness, things like chastity and modesty, all these things are positive things, not things that we are restricting, but instead.
Things that move us forward. And if we place, umm, this the same love and affection and, and beauty that Christ who obviously laid everything out for his beloved, his beloved, umm, it won't be something that we're gonna try and say, Oh, I've gotta be lowly. I've gotta be meek. I've gotta be humble. Instead, it's gonna be, how can I raise this one up instead of putting myself down and cutting myself down to where a lot of guilt and shame can come from as well, which the Spirit is not leading us into because you'll only convict us, umm, and draw us back to Christ. Instead we lift them up.
And trying to build them up towards Christ from that standard and we'll find ourselves perhaps beneath them and perhaps more lowly, but we won't have turned once again. Humility can also be making myself the measure of all things again. I'm more humble than this one. And I'm aware, you know, the false sense of humility. So to to turn those things. Often Christianity is a we can change. And I think that's a lot of American culture negative. We gotta draw back instead, you know, we gotta push somewhere else. We don't separate from we separate to, you know, turn it positive.
Change that paradigm and place Christ's valuation upon others that you have never melt. I'm sorry, never melt. You've never met an ordinary person. You're gonna see in those around you, no matter how weird they look to you or whatever. Something that the God of the universe both created in his image and will perfect.
And perhaps in our flesh, if we were to see them in their glorified state, perhaps our first inclination would be to worship or to venerate, at least in our flesh, but will one day be conformed to the image of Christ. Now we see through hysterically, but then face to face.
I think it's helpful if we.
In considering the different members of the, especially in our local assembly and those that we rub shoulders with and those that we have care, care of and, and, uh, those that help to make the local assembly function healthily. I think it's nice if we take a little time to consider each one and what party part of the body of Christ, they, they, uh.
They occupy what, what, uh, what gift or strength do they bring? And if we consider one another and realize.
If that person is not present, if that person isn't functioning within the local assembly, if something happens and we lose them, who is going to take up the role that God gave them to perform? I when I was young, I used to like to walk on my hands and I never really did get very far. I remember one time it was just a freak happening and I got up on my hands and I walked.
I don't know, it seemed like a really long distance down this down this dirt path and out into a dock and I jumped into a lake on my hands. But that was very, very unusual. In fact, the people around me were, they were really amazed that that would happen. Umm, locking is for the feet. There's God made the feet to walk, not not the hands and.
Each one of us have a specific function within the body of Christ, and it really isn't any fun to try to perform someone else's function if you haven't been given the the ability to do it. Now you know when the body of Christ gets severed and divided and, and when there's schisms and all kinds of things, we, we find ourselves in a a situation where.
00:30:28
We're trying to perform.
The, the tasks and the abilities that really weren't given to us, we're trying to just carry on and it's really not very pleasant. And so as we consider one another, and you know, this really speaks to me as, umm, I consider how maybe there's been mistakes in the past and I haven't encouraged those that needed to be encouraged. And all of a sudden they're no longer, uh, actively participating.
Possibly in the local assembly or maybe they're, they're not even there. And this is, I find it almost very difficult to speak about because I'm aware of my own failures in this. But anytime a member of the body of Christ in some way gets severed from the function of the the body as it's, as it's working within the assembly, it's a huge, huge.
Loss and so if if we would consider our brethren and say you know that brother or that sister has a unique.
Special ability that.
Is it and it is a real help and and we would be more careful.
How we, we conduct ourselves and what we say and what we do. High Christianity is a messy thing and trying to carry it out is messy. We wanna tidy it all up. We don't wanna see some of those things. We wanna make it. And sometimes then we, we may take too much and say, well, then it's upon me to fix all of this here. And then, then that goes too far. You can't fix everything that's going on in the local assembly. Prayer is a powerful thing. You know, when assemblies are in difficulties and there, there's never been one that's never had a difficulty and, and, and probably.
Most of the time there's some different ebb and flow of difficulties that are going on with families, with each other and so on. And trying to find that way. As our brother mentioned, the, the love chapter is so important in how that comes in to, to, to affect things. But still it's messy and, and maybe we don't wanna look at it. Maybe we wanna sweep it under the rug. And maybe then these things that our brother was talking about that can be a schismatic. You start grouping a little bit with those that are a little bit more like you and the others over here, a little bit more like them and those kinds of things.
That the Lord maybe sees 1St and then over time can end up literally being schismatic in an assembly, but prayer and trying to do what you can with those that you can, especially the, the problems that maybe, uh, you have with somebody or I have with somebody dealing with that and really going before the Lord about it and even owning that we don't know what to do. You know, scripture talks about, I can't think of the reference off the top of my head, but uh, and I'll paraphrase it.
We have no might against this company that cometh against us. Neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. And there's times like that where you just don't know. But we've got a source. We've got to go back to that. We've got to go to that source. And you know, we've been trying to come up with a plan of action. But when you see it start working in the South, NASCAR is a huge thing. And if you're everywhere near where sometimes they hold an event where they have these contests of the teams that change the tires and refuel the cars, stop by at a fair or whatever and just watch that.
The team effort that is goes on and the few seconds it takes for them to change the tires and fuel the car and do what they do. And watching this group of people who trained and worked so smoothly together and they over time it's gotten that way. It's unbelievable. It's amazing. Well, that that would be the desire we would have in our local assemblies that they would work like that. But they don't. And things happen and then someone else will come in and they're a new believer maybe, or they come from some of their background and there's new problems and it comes again. But the assembly should be.
The local assembly should be a place that, you know, yes, there's trouble, yes, it's messy, but there's a triage going on there. There's, it's a place where people are repaired there, there are things that get fixed and over time, not that, you know, if it just gets swept, swept under the rug, that's not good either because that can come up then as a future health problem that bursts out and causes more problems. But going to the Lord and just saying, we don't know what to do, but we're gonna cry out to you. And sometimes the most important part of it, and then doing what you can not one person can fix everything, not just one woman, one husband, one family.
00:35:15
It takes us really crying out to the Lord. And then little things start happening and changing. Your eyes get open. You see somebody in a different light. Because as soon as you see somebody and you understand why maybe they are the way they are, and you get enlightened, you change how you think about them. You know my own father.
But we butted heads as I was growing up. But there was a time in my 20s when I looked at a picture of my dad walking behind a horse and a hero in a field and I remembered that he took over farming at 8 years old when his dad died. And my heart broke and I changed how I felt towards my dad. Never again did I think towards him in in the way I had is through my teenage years. If you have a moment like that where you get a picture of somebody.
And you see some difficulty and you get a moment like that. Never again will you think of them the same way. And the Lord will do that if we cry out to him and ask us, open our eyes, help us to see. There's a way that we can be a help to this person or that person. And, and prayer is the most important of all of that. I don't know of any other thing that you can add to that except that the Lord will open our eyes to it. Then in verse 22, we have the members that seem to be.
More feeble.
Sometimes that seems like that to us, brother. In verse 23 we have those that are less honorable.
And upon them we Bo bestow more abundant on it, that at the end of verse 23 we have our uncommon parts.
Have more abundant comeliness. I'm not sure how to put all those things together, but that is the case in our, uh, relationships together as members of the body. I think it was in this area that your question was back. Can you repeat your question? Umm, I forget what it was. Umm, it, it, it, umm, finds itself in that verse with that interesting word tempered.
For our commonly parts of no need, but God has tempered the body together.
Having given more abundant honor to that part which lacks, that there be no schism, the reason for why God tempers the body with what seems to be feeble, with what seems to be uncommon, with what seems to be, umm, less honorable, as a way of preventing division.
And I think we have to look to the Lord and like Sam said, pray about it, But I say rather, and it's not what seems to us so often, like you say, we make ourselves the reference point in judging matters and of times we make mistakes in doing that. I have to confess, brother and I formed opinions and judgments about certain brethren, uh, were totally wrong really. And so let's not form those judgments. The Lord has tempered the bed, the body together, as it see.
As it pleases him often think of the shoulder in our human bodies. There's a lot of stress in the workings of the body and the shoulder. Why is there so much stress? It's because the arm is doing something and that what it does has to be, has to go along with the rest of the body. And so there's a joint that is very important. And so I might say, why is there always so much stress here?
That's the way the body functions.
And so let's just seek to go on together in the measure we can and not form judgments that sometimes this brother seems to be more feeble or.
Lescomley or not so honorable, there's many members of our body we have never seen.
Never seen my heart. Pretty important member of the body and there are those who are not out in public, but they are very important members of the body. We tend to look at those that are out in public and perhaps take a part in teaching and ministry.
But that's not the full workings of the body.
And so men measuring themselves by themselves are not wise. And the tendency is to measure one another or to measure others by the standard of the day or how society would measure them, whether it's, as you say, a public park, whether it's even how we how a person looks, what is considered good looking or what is considered not how a person dresses. James takes that up in his epistle. All these things are outward, outward things.
00:40:21
And we tend to measure ourselves by ourselves. And that's why we mentioned yesterday the Levites and their service. They might have looked at one another and began to measure themselves by the service they were doing. It might have been one who had a lowly hidden service looking at one who had a great service. But it might have been just the opposite too. It might have been the ones who were responsible for folding up the curtains and making sure the boards were, uh, arranged properly for the journey and those bigger things by man's standards. They might have looked at the ones who went around and gathered up the pins and look what I'm doing. I've got a far greater.
God's given me a far greater position and responsibility than they. But again, it wasn't the greatness of the service outwardly or by what men would measure. And so we need to be very careful to measure ourselves by ourselves. And so how are we to measure ourselves, brethren? We're to measure ourselves by Christ. And when we measure ourselves in that way, that makes all the difference, doesn't it? To get into the presence of the Lord, to have Christ, as the reference point has been said.
That's going to make all the difference, and it's not going to be how society measures us, but how He measures us. And then there's going to be not the meekness and loneliness of Christ, because we've tried to generate that within ourselves, or humility because we've tried to be humble. But there is going to be an unconscious meekness and loneliness and unconscious humility and an unconscious reflection of Christ.
Because Christ is our center and our reference point.
Said to put on Christ.
Christ, our righteousness. I love that in the Psalms he calls the Lord the lifter of his head. And I think too often the breastplate of righteousness is something we're supposed to put on, but too often we allow the world to wound us and we are consistently looking at ourselves and not seeing the road ahead. So the Lord lifts our head by saying put on Christ, put on me. And in the same sense here Darby would translate, umm, that word, umm.
To be clothe these in more abundant honor. I think the word is to clothe. Yeah. It says umm verse 23 for TWE Yeah, 23. And those parts of the body which we seem to be the more void of honor or without honor, these we clothe with more abundant honor. I wonder, is there a similar sense there with the two things that you were just talking about, Jim?
You know, the fact that we close ourselves in the Lords we put on Christ, it's not we can't do it ourselves, but we also close one another. And do you see a connection there? And to see others in Christ is what's going to make the difference. If I look at you in a natural sense or you look at me in a natural sense, maybe I'll illustrate it that way. You may see lots of faults. You may see lots of little idiosyncrasies. You may see some personality traits that you're not happy with and that rub you the wrong way. But if you see me in Christ.
And I see you in Christ. That's what's going to make the difference. And that's what's again going to give us that unconscious trai characteristic of meekness and loneliness and the humility of Christ and this mind being you, which was also in Christ Christ Jesus. It's really to see you as a member of the body of Christ, to see that he's placed you there and that he's placed me there. And the IT took the same grace to place me in the body.
As it took to place you and the body, I would like to make another practical comment in connection with what has been said in the last few moments because there's another tendency of our hearts, brethren, when we go home to our local assembly. And that is to look at other members of the body of Christ and say, you know, they're not doing what they should be doing. Well, I'm doing what I should be doing. I'm fulfilling what the Lord has given me, but they're not doing what they should be doing. Now, no doubt, as we said the other day, there are assemblies who suffer a lack because.
There are the artifices who aren't taking heed to the ministry that the Lord has given them. But you know, rather than criticize or throw up our hands and say we can't go on because they're not functioning properly, you know, sometimes we do have to fill in. Sometimes we have to take up. Maybe we, maybe you say, you know, there's no evangelist in our assembly, but you know, you can still carry on a gospel work. You can still have some outreach. You say there's no real teacher in our assembly. But as Brother Bob others brought before us the other day.
00:45:13
We can still have meetings for ministry. As feeble as it may be. The Word of God hasn't changed. The Spirit of God is able. The Lord is there. You say there isn't really even a shepherd or a pastor in the assembly, but we can all shepherd one another.
It says in our chapter that the members should have the same care one for another brother. There are those, I believe, that are always gonna have to be carried. They may never take up what God has given them to do. They may never function. Maybe we have members of our body. You know, there are some people who are born with a withered hand. They're born without a finger. Do they give up and say I can't go on? They lose something, a limb in an accident. Do they give up and say we can't function?
No, another member takes over and they get through life not as well as with with if they had that member, but they still get through life. And brethren, I believe we can go on. Rather than criticize or just hang crap, as they say, or throw up our hands, we can go on. I'll tell you a little story that has illustrated it to me. When we were children, there were four of us. My mother was a wonderful cook and housekeeper. My father was of the generation that didn't really get involved in domestic things too much.
But I remember my mother got very sick, and in those days when you had gallbladder surgery and those kinds of things, they didn't do it like they did do today, in and out the same day or the next day. I remember my mother was in the hospital for about two weeks.
And my dad, who was not a cook and a housekeeper, he donned an apron and he entered the kitchen and he took care of his four children.
I'm going to exaggerate, but it seems like we ate charred grilled cheese three times a day for two weeks. I know that's an exaggeration, but you know, I look back and I appreciate a dad who took up something that wasn't according to his natural ability and bent, But he had a care for his family. And in the absence of my mother, he took care of us. Now, when mother got better, he was very glad to take that apron off and go back to work and let her go on. And we were very happy.
Do. And so I think you get the point. When all the members function in their proper gifts and capacity, everything functions happily and healthy. And when my mother was in the kitchen and my dad was at work, the paycheck was there and there were good meals on the table and we were well cared for. But in the absence of that, there was one who had a care for his family and made sure that we were fed and clothed and housed every day. And I believe, brethren, when it says the members should have the care, what same care one for another?
Maybe sometimes we have to go the extra mile. There's there's some in the assembly. They're never going to learn to walk on their own. Do we know how to carry them? It says of the Lord as the shepherd, he shall, he shall feed his flock like a shepherd.
He shall gather the lambs in his arms and carry them in his bosom, and gently leave those that are with young. He discerns that there are those who have young. Some of us have to be carried, some need to be LED. And do we have that same discernment for the members of the body of Christ? I agree with what Phil said. When people, when every member takes up their own function, things are healthy and happy. If we go beyond our gift and ability, we can get into trouble.
But sometimes we do have to stretch ourselves for the good and blessing of the other members of the body of Christ. So that says instead of do I have a gift for this? It says is there a need? And that's what we have to be exercised about. Remember a brother in connection with this and being tempered together that we need each other, a member, a brother in Bolivia illustrating the different members of the body. And he says.
This thumb is always opposing these other fingers, but if it wasn't that way, I couldn't pick up a piece of paper. So it it's necessary, brother. And sometimes we look at a brother. Why does he always give me the counter? The Lord has put them there and we're tempered together. We're united. And sometimes we don't understand. But let's go on with our eyes on the Lord and do what love would would ask us to do.
Towards each other and another thought in regards to your question.
Putting aside modesty is the issue. Different cultures at different times, what is displayed. We have the body here, what you're going to put out there, the face, the arms, legs, whatever.
00:50:11
What's covered or what's put on of somebody as gnarly, ugly feet, they probably won't go barefoot. They're gonna have a nice pair of shoes over that. The importance of that, what's underneath has nothing to do with the nice pair of shoes. That's on top of it. I was thinking of that. If, if you go to the beaches here in Florida where some Europeans come that, uh, are overweight, you're going, boy, cover that. You know, it's like there are things in culture and time where you, you covered up.
And, uh, you know, there's something nice, nice on top and it's over, but it still has nothing to do with how important it is that what's underneath. So it seems the idea is seeming that way. And when, uh, you talk about the tempering side of things now that's where we're getting over into the idea of a team. Teams work well, that practice being a team together, that practice working together. Fear a basketball team. If you're a football team or a soccer team and you never practice passing the ball to that person, how you gonna catch it? How you gonna have a, you know, when you, when you watch these well oiled things going on there is because there's been work done.
There were nobody else ever saw it. Nobody can see it. I'd use the illustration once before because I find it fascinating. I'd read an article about the special forces teams that, that go to, uh, whether it's Iraq or in Afghanistan or whatever, how that they train these teams. And then every single person on the team learns everyone else's job. But one guy is the expert on each job that they do, but they learn the other person's job so that when they're out, if one of them gets injured, as Jim was talking about.
Yeah, for some reason or another, they can't fully accomplish it. Or maybe they can only partially do it. The others can step up. So there's one guy who's a medic, but all of them have been trained as medic. But there's one guy who's really good at it and that's his main job. But what if he gets injured? Then the others step up and help and do with that. There's a guy that's a sharpshooter. There's a guy who's a munition expert. They've learned that so that they can work as a team. And even when somebody gets injured, they carry them and they they have way, they learn how to do that. They learn how to carry a wounded member. They learn how to evacuate and and they plan for those contingencies.
There's a whole lot of work that went on beforehand and the same with team sports or any of those kinds of things. There's a whole lot of work unseen that took place, that involved discipline, effort that, that made for the smoothness going on. And we can't treat the relationships we have in the body of Christ, uh, as though they don't need work. And there is an effort and there is a discipline. Now there's a hard way to do things and there's always an easier way or a better way, and it's always the way the Lord would have us to do it. But when those things begin to be practiced and work through.
And E, if, if there's at least one in, in, in a situation starts doing it, there's an improvement, it can be seen and that oil can flow over to the next joint as well. And there can be an effort like that. But I, I thought about it in that way, umm, that what seems to be, doesn't have anything to do with the importance underneath. We should take what the Bible says about how important each member is. And if, uh, I use the illustration of a NASCAR team, if the guy that's tightening the lug nuts is mad at the driver and decides not to tighten them, guess how well the driver's gonna do.
You know, he's the one that gets Hall of Fame and all the glory and everything, but the guy who does the lug nuts, he's very important or that car is not going around all those kinds of things can give us a little insight on how important the guy that's unseen that tightens the lug nuts, how important he is or nothing will get done right. This expression that the members should have the same care one for another. I'm afraid, and I can only point the finger at myself. We sometimes don't take this up in its practical aspects until.
Someone, another member of the body of Christ, has some difficulty, be it physical or spiritual, that manifests itself. But if we would take this expression to heart and use it as a preventative measure, I believe it would spare us from many things. Why do we wait until someone is discouraged or someone, as I say, has a physical or emotional problem that manifests itself? I believe it's in Galatians that it tells us that we're to bear one another's burdens.
But do we wait till our brother or sister falls under their burden to bear their burden? If we would help bear their burden with them when they're standing up and walking so to speak, they would never have that fall. If we would have the same care one for another as there are members of the body of Christ that are going on well and functioning in their capacity, perhaps it would prevent them from not functioning down the road in their in their proper capacity.
00:55:09
So let's really each one take this exhortation to heart to have the same care one for another.
But now I wanna notice two things that we have in the next verse or two here, because I think it's very important and our time is gone. We don't wanna miss it. But in verse 26, he says, and whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. I'll stop there for a moment. You know, that's relatively easy for me to go and sit by the bed of someone who's sick, or for me to go and take someone out to dinner who's going through a real trial and just sit and weep with them.
Is relatively easy and we're told to weep with those that weep.
But there's something that's a lot more difficult than that. And that's what you have in the rest of the verse. Or one member be honored. All the members rejoice with it. Let me go back to the verse I quoted earlier. Meet with those that weep. But there's something that's more difficult. Rejoice with those that rejoice. Why is that more difficult? Why is it more difficult to to, if, if one member be honored, rejoice with it? Because it usually means they get something or, or or a position or a place that I didn't get.
Maybe it's something I wanted. Maybe I thought I deserved the pat on the back or the praise for that. Maybe I thought I deserved getting getting that. How often have we said, well, I deserve it? And so it's easy. It's in a it's relatively easy to weep and suffer with those that weep and suffer. It's a lot more difficult to rejoice and to give honor to those who are honored and, and rejoice. But how can we do it, brethren? Again, it has to be in the spirit of Christ. I have to take the reference off myself.
Whether I got something or didn't get something, that is not the point. What? What has God been pleased to give this person? What took place? Has God been pleased the Lord been pleased to give this person? What function has he been pleased to use this member of the body of Christ, and what gift and ability has he been pleased to honor them with? Am I willing to rejoice that that person has been given that from the Lord for the blessing and edification of all the people of God?
Mm-hmm.
I have a question.
What is the bottom line?
A brother in this room said to me many years ago.
Make lunch of Christ.
We can't have a part of Christ and a part of the world.
And sometimes some of us that aren't too bright.
Can decipher. We think we're going to change the world.
We think we're going to make the world a better place to live.
What is our goal?
To be like Jesus. How long? The songwriter said. All day long.
So much has been said. I thought over and over a Mary and Martha.
Mary sat at the feet of Jesus.
Martha was busy. She was cumbered about with much serving.
She couldn't stand it any longer because Mary was getting the blessing.
She says to the Lord, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Bitter therefore that she come and help me, O the Lord, said Martha, Martha.
Now we're careful about many things.
But one thing is neat.
And Mary had chosen that one thing. Have you chosen that one thing? Have I? I have to hang my head in shame because I'm at the end of the journey.
Oh, I would say to the young people, don't you let the devil rob you. You get into the word and let the word get into you, and I'll guarantee you you'll have much in heaven.
The last of the ages. I'm going to have so little that I'm almost says make that a little bit of change to go to heaven. Oh no it won't.
I'd rather be a king, a door keeper in the Kingdom of God.
01:00:04
In the 12Th attempt of the week.
And sometimes I even got involved in politics at one time in my life.
Tangled up in the affairs of the world.
We need to be tangled up with the Lord Jesus Christ and He'll lead us in the path of righteousness.
And you'll do it every time if we let him so many times I didn't give him an opportunity. I would like Martha busy doing other things. And I look back on those things and I'm honest before the Lord.
And they'll be burnt out, the wood, hay and stomach.
And beloved, if you don't remember a word I said, especially you young people, you people that still have.
All the members of the body. I still have all the members of the body, but it doesn't. They don't function.
Because I fell yesterday. That's the kind of fellowship we need, somebody that cares.
And if we care for one another, remember Jesus said a new commandment I give unto you.
That you love one another out as I have loved you. So I had my sin sheet. Am I willing to die? I mentioned about Christian being persecuted and I must have said it in a way that my dear beloved son-in-law.
The husband and my little girl here.
He lit on me like you can't imagine.
Any fence of church will not go through the tribulation period.
Christian being persecuted right now, you can go into the other parts of the world where they will not allow the Bible, where they will kill Christians.
I'm ready to go with or without all the works that I needed and should have had.
You can't help but look at someone that has dedicated their entire life to the Lord.
I read of a missionary that went to Africa.
65 years.
And he never left Africa.
And he had one of the biggest females ever.
His heart was where he wanted it to be, full of Christ.
His mind's heart full of Christ.
You can have as much of Christ as you want.
In your life will show.
Oh, with the government, that's a good that could come out of a meeting like this would stir up even the heart of an old man.
The author was that king. I got it laying right there in the floor.
And I'll hobble around.
Probably for the rest of the journey with another member of my body, but it is not really of my body. A.
My daughter bought me a hurry pain.
4/4.
Probably a dozen times in the last.
But anyhow, brethren.
I want you to know I love you and I appreciate your prayer.
01:05:02
The Lord Jesus has never failed in His love for us.
Now we have a little chin.
And if you really want your heart broken?
Glendale View Nursing Home.
I have a Bible class in the nursing home.
Then they say, indeed, good blossoming.
Just as good as anybody ever thought.
And that what we want to remember.
We could say what somebody wants to get in a flight with one of his friends or her friends get it.
Come to Christ and stay with them till He comes to you with one of these days.
Of getting price will rise 1St, and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds. And you young people have something that you do right now for His glory, and you'll never never.
In verse 27, brother, since now you have the body of Christ and members in particular, one of the ways that we can enjoy Christ is in our brethren, that practical side of enjoying the Lord Jesus Christ. He's displayed in those members right here. We can't see him at the right hand of the Father, not with our visible eyes. We can look there with the eyes of faith and we can look up and if we, like Steven should go a martyr's death, we may get a glimpse as we go and maybe there and there are Saints who have but the body of Christ that exists here on earth.
As Christ is displayed in that, we can enjoy and see that and appreciate that if we don't look for it, we won't find it sometimes.
Remember old brother Ron Reeves and his leaves of lettuce peeled back from the lettuce leaves? That was an illustration of that at a conference years ago. Peel back the outward leaves and look within the for the good. And when you see Christ there, you'll enjoy what you see because you recognize and you go, that's it, that's it, that's it. And it'll be demonstrated and we can enjoy him that way too. So we've spoken a lot in these meetings about guests and ability. We've spoken about the function of the members of the body of Christ.
But maybe there's somebody here sitting after these readings that are just about concluded and saying, well, I'm really not sure where I fit in. I'm not sure what I can do. What can I do when I go home to my local assembly? How can I be a help to other members of the body of Christ? And at the end of the chapter here in the 28th verse, we have some things listed. And it's really almost in a sense, an overwhelming list when we read it from our perspective. And we might read this list.
Let let me read, let me read the 28th verse and God has set some in the church verse, Apostles, secondarily, prophets, thirdly teachers. After that miracles, gifts of healing. You say I don't have any of these. Later on in the verse he says government's diversity's tongue. She said I don't have any of those. But there is one in the midst of this list that I don't think anyone of us can get out from under and that's the little word helps. And I just suggest that as we go home to our local assembly.
And as we operate and interact with other members of the body of Christ, let's remember that every one of us can be a help. Now I wanna read a verse in the 27th chapter of Acts in this connection.
In Acts chapter 27, this one, Paul was in the ships and others with him.
And I'll read verse 16 and running under a certain island, which is called Claudia, we had much work to come by the boat, which when they had taken up, they used helps undergirding the ship, and fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, strike sail, and so were driven. Now you'll notice this little word here again helps, and many years ago when I was in Nova Scotia.
I asked some of the elderly brethren who are now along with the Lord, but I asked some of the elderly brethren who followed the sea in the days of wooden sea going vessels. I said what were the helps? And this is how they described it to me. They said the helps were steel cables that were used in anticipation of a storm or some inclement weather and they would put those, take those cables, throw them over the bow and draw them back at various intervals.
01:10:06
Along the ship they would bring them up and they would be tightened by a pulley on the deck of the ship and they were to hold the ship together in anticipation of a storm. And that's what they did in the 27th of Acts. They were anticipating a a storm. And we know from the rest of the chapter it was a violent storm and the ship eventually broke up and so on. But I've often thought of this, brethren, in connection with the helps that we have in our chapter.
We're not anticipating storms, and I'm not talking about physical storms. Most of us can look back over the last few years and we say there's been some storms amongst those gathered to the Lord's name. As members of the body of Christ, we face some storms, and if the Lord leaves us here, we're probably going to face some more storms rather. But what do we need to hold things together? We need the help and every one of us, I say, as feeble as we may feel.
As low on the rung of the ladder as we may feel, as much as we may feel our weakness, and it's not wrong to feel our weakness, but as much as we may feel it, we can all as we leave these meetings, we can all be a help. And if we are seeked by the grace of God to be a help, it will help to hold things together in the local assembly and amongst the the the body of Christ. And let me say this, it doesn't take much sometimes to be a help.
Just to take someone's hand and help them over a rough spot, just to go and sit with someone who's going through a real time of, of difficulty. You say, I don't know what to say to that person. You know, it's not always what we say. My, my uncle Harold, who many of you will remember used to tell the story about, he went to, uh, to uh, visit someone that he, he knew was going through a real time of discouragement and some difficulties in their life. And he said, I really didn't say anything, but he said when I left, he said that person thanked me for coming.
And being a help to them wasn't what he said. It just took time to give them an ear to sit in their drawing room and, and, and be with them and hear, hear them out. And brethren, it doesn't take much sometimes to be a help in a practical and a spiritual way.
Enjoy a little burst of Scripture. Take it with you and use it as God gives you opportunity. And so I just I've been struck by this little expression in the midst of all these things that we would consider great outward manifestations of the spirit in the midst of it all. There's this little word health. May we all go home exercise to be a help. You see that as well with Moses in Numbers 11. It's a beautiful passage. Numbers 11 where uh, Moses says to the Lord, where us thou wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant.
Wherefore have I not found favor on thy side, that thou layest the burden of this people upon me? We talked about, umm, why one may ministry doesn't work in many cases. And here it is the Lord presenting the 17. I love this because it relates to that helps the Speaking of 17 verse 17. And I will come down and talk with the there, and I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee, and we'll put it upon them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee that thou bear it not thyself alone. And what our uh brother was Speaking of.
At some length earlier was to be tangled up in Christ. Truly we have fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, and our fellowship is then one with another.
And we, you know, you spoke of steel cables. I mean, that's definitely where the word temper comes from, to temper a metal to make it strong so that it does not shatter, it's brittle. And you fold steel and you fold metal upon metal and you heat it and turn it into something that we call steel. And we, we might be able to pick that up nowadays because we'd say, of course of a sword back in the day, if you, if it L it can lose its temper. That's where we get that I that, that speech from. Of course, we also say you have quite a temper on you, which is a twisting of that word. So we kind of lose the sensitive there, but.
To temper it all together that it that would not break.
But it's balanced, which where we get the word temperance from as well. So to be tangled up with one another because we have that in Christ one another to be of health, to bear that burden, to share it so that all the pressure does not come on that one point in the blade and it shatters. We need to remember, brethren, we are speaking about the body of Christ. And when we gather together, uh, we gather in view of the fact that all believers are members of that body, but not all the members of the body gathered together to the name of the Lord Jesus.
And I believe we have a responsibility to all believers in the measure that we can, We don't have to compromise truth, but any major, you see one suffering speaks of those who suffer. And there's a lot of suffering in this world, brother, and we need to be sensitive as to it. Uh, the persecution that brother John was talking about in the world, brethren, are we exercised about at least praying for them? I believe there are things that we can do.
01:15:23
To help out those dear brethren over in the Muslim countries where they are suffering severe persecution. There's persecution in India too, and in Africa. Are, are we doing anything about it? Are we exercise to take a little time and prayer for those dear brethren? That's part of, of, uh, the truth of the one body in any measure that we can when we see suffering to suffer and to seek to be a help.
In meeting the need in any way it meant to mention in verse 25 it says, and I don't think we spoke about it says that there should be no schism in the body. That is the word division, the new translation.
There is no division in the body and that's why God has tempered things together that there being no division in the body. And as has been spoken of before, there is division in the outward testimony, but really there's no division in the body as God sees it in the outward testimony. And so it takes real wisdom how to go about being a help in any measure that we can when we see the and I found that off times in.
Home Bible readings When believers that live in the neighborhood are invited in, it can be a tremendous blessing to those who are not gathered to the Lord's name but have an interest in our hungry for the Word of God. May the Lord exercise us to reach out to those. They are fellow members of the body as well and it the fact that we don't meet together doesn't mean we are not in the body with them. We need to be exercised about it.
Verse 27 I want to mention something too brother, and I think is important. He says now you are the body of Christ and members in particular. So where I meet together with my own local brethren, we take that ground that we are members of the body of Christ and taking that ground we recognize that we are only members in part because the body of Christ is in the whole world.
But where are those who recognize that truth and meet together on that ground that there is one body? We act together with our brethren if there is a decision made in a certain assembly that is at a distance from us, since they meet on that ground, that there is one body, and that what effects one member of the body effects all.
We act. We act in unison. Together, we submit to what has been done.
In another area, maybe we don't understand it all, maybe we don't think we're in agreement with what was taking place, but we vowed to that. I think that's an important principle in seeking to carry out the truth that there is one body and that we are not independent assemblies. And there is those who, brethren, I don't want to speak evil of anybody, but there are those who maintain that in the body of Christ local assemblies are independent and autonomous.
That is not the truth of God. We are not independent of each other. We are not autonomous. I should say, in speaking that way, that the authority of the Lord Jesus, as was mentioned in Matthew chapter 18, is in the local assembly to exercise discipline, but it is not independent of others. We are interdependent because we are body of Christ.
Christ's body.
But we are members in part of the body of Christ in the whole world. I think that is a very important principle.