How to Build a Beautiful Body-Part B

Have you noticed when we carry pictures of ourselves or our family?

We never carry x-rays. You never say, hey, hey, let me show you my guts, or my skeletal structure. Or check out my sella turcica, where my pituitary is.

Pretty cool, huh? But that is like the center of it all. That's the center of your endocrine system. But we don't think about it. It's so vital, unseen, but so important.

And let me just say, when it comes to the church, it's exactly the same way. Welcome to Skip Weekend Edition, as we continue our series, Church Who Needs It? Skip Heitzig draws a correlation between healthiness and effectiveness. You know, your physical health affects just about everything in your life, from your performance at your job or school to your relationship with your family and friends. Good physical health can make those things better, while poor health will only make them worse. Now, on today's broadcast, Skip examines the connection between the health of the church and our effectiveness in sharing the gospel. And he has some useful tips on how we can stay fit as the church.

But before we get started today, we want to tell you about a brand new book from Levi Lusko as our Connect with Skip resource offer this month. Listen to this daring promise from the young American president, John Kennedy. But why some say the moon? We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. NASA engaged 400,000 people to accomplish this challenge, but this was not the most audacious claim or accomplishment in history. That honor is reserved for one man, Jesus Christ, who promised to die for the sins of the world and resurrect to overcome death. Listen to Levi Lusko speaking about his new book, The Last Supper on the Moon.

I wanted to show a connection between the battle for outer space and the quest to conquer inner space and how the cross, like the Saturn V launch vehicle, is the only thing that can bridge that gap. And as our secular society is realizing, there are downsides to turning from God, turning away from church. You know, you see people leaving the church in droves in and out.

What do you have in tandem with it? Higher anxiety, higher suicide rates. You have even a lowering of emotional intelligence. We're not in church. We're not in the Bible, but we are on screens.

And what is it doing to the insides of us? Well, there you go. The Last Supper on the Moon is an epic new hardcover book by Levi Lusko, and it's our resource offer this month. Receive your copy when you give a gift of $35 or more to support this program. Just go to connectwithskipp.com or call 800-922-1888.

That's connectwithskipp.com or call 800-922-1888. So grab your Bible and turn to the book of First Corinthians today. And as you do so, we'll join Skip Heitzig for the start of our study. The gift that God has given to you and the gift God has given to me isn't for individual gratification. Hey, I got a cool gift.

You like it? It's for mutual edification for the profit of all. Now for that to happen, there must be communication.

If members don't communicate to each other and there isn't that coordinated effort, it's going to be very jerky in movement and very spastic and not smooth and not coordinated. It'll be very destructive. When my son was a toddler, he put his hand on the stove. I got the phone call. I was out of town and my wife said, You wouldn't believe what your son did. Electric stove, red hot, tea kettle about to go on.

He is curious and he puts his little hand on top and pushes it on the electric stove top. And for a long time, he bore that spiral mark on his hand. Well, luckily, he had a gift from God. It's called pain. Pain is a gift because as soon as he felt that and that little pain message hit his brain, he shouted to wake up the neighborhood, pulled his hand off. And I am so glad because imagine if something inhibited the message getting from the hand to the brain that this is really hot and destructive.

That's what leprosy was all about. The person couldn't feel any longer. He couldn't feel the pain. He couldn't feel what was happening to his limbs. The message system was not working.

There was no communication. And so there was eventual death. I had a friend when I was growing up, good friend, who got MS, multiple sclerosis. And I watched him deteriorate. And I talked to some doctors about his condition and the way they explained it to me is that there are hardened patches that form on the cortex of the brain and the cortex of the spinal cord and so that the messages, the impulses aren't making contact.

And that's why his movements were so jerky and eventually he was completely paralyzed. Well, unfortunately, that's what the world so often sees when it looks at the church. It doesn't see this beautiful, wonderful, in-shape body with smooth, coordinated efforts. So often it sees striving and fighting and a weakened church and that's one of Satan's greatest desires. That plays right into his desires. One of his biggest traps is that he would get us to fight each other because now we're so distracted fighting each other that we're forgetting who the real enemy is. We don't worry about the devil and the flesh and we fight each other.

And now the heat's off of him. So as we recognize variety but emphasize unity, things smooth out. Things smooth out. Third, we are to maximize equality. Maximize equality. It's not just one gift or one member that's more important. There is inequality. Now look at verse 14. For, in fact, the body is not one member, but many. If the foot should say, because I'm not a hand, I'm not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, because I'm not an eye, I'm not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing?

If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as he pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be?

But now indeed there are many members yet one body. Now it seems, judging from the general overall context, that the church at Corinth was emphasizing one gift over all the others, in particular the gift of tongues. They thought tongues was it. That was the thing to have. That was the thing to exercise. And what that was doing is causing other people who didn't have that prominent exaggerated gift to feel discontent, unequal, deprived, and they stopped participating. They don't need me.

I won't even get involved. And so Paul, again, shows that the church is like a human body. Every part is necessary.

And because every part is necessary, all parts have a certain equality that they share. There are no vestigial organs in the body of Christ. You know what a vestigial organ is? It's something that is thought to one time be useful, but now it's no longer useful. Did you know it was thought that your appendix was a vestigial organ, a vestige of your evolutionary past? It's unnecessary now. But as time went on, the most recent idea is that your appendix is indeed not a vestigial organ, but a very, very important part of your immune system. That it serves as the gatekeeper between your ilium, which is the sterile part of your alimentary canal, and your colon, which is the very bacteria-laden, unsterile part of your alimentary canal.

It's the gatekeeper situated there as a part of that system. Well, I should get off that subject. That's very unpleasant. The point is, in the church, there's no such thing as a vestigial organ, an unnecessary part. One of the reasons churches malfunction is they put certain people or gifts on a pedestal, leaving the rest of the people saying, well, I don't have that gift.

I'm not that important. And the result is gift envy, gift envy. You've got feet saying, I want to be hands.

You've got ears saying, boy, I wish I was an eyeball. And I've seen people get motivated in the ministry because they watch the church elevate one particular gift. They think, that's what I want to do.

That's what I want to be. And so they go get trained to be that, but God never called them nor equipped them to do that. And that is the point that Paul is making. Now, what he does here is he compares a couple different parts of the human body, two parts that are seen and visible, and thus we think are important, eyes and hands. And two that aren't seen as much, we don't give them much attention, ears and feet. Your hands are visible. We see your hands. You wave with your hand. You shake hands.

You embrace with your hands. If you're Italian, you talk with your hands. We see them a lot. We don't see your feet as much.

We keep them covered up generally. We don't give as much attention to them as your hands. Same with the eyes versus the ears. One of the first things you notice about people are their eyes when you meet them, because that's how we communicate through our eyes. That's why it's always bad form when you meet somebody to not look in their eye, but to look down or look around. Look at them.

You're communicating something about yourself. And we notice them. When I first met my sweet Lenya, I noticed her eyes, and I made a mental note. Those are beautiful, beautiful eyes. I don't remember noticing her ears. I never walked away going, That chick has great lobes. Those are some cool ears.

But I do remember her eyes. However, ears, as gnarly and ugly as they are, serve a purpose. They direct sound. That's why they're shaped that way. And feet have a purpose.

They transport us. So you can't walk on your hands. You walk on your feet. You don't shake feet.

You shake hands, but you need your feet to walk. The point is that all these parts are important. Now look at verse 17. I don't know if you've ever noticed the humor in Scripture before, but I want you to picture this as I read it.

You're allowed to laugh because Paul is indeed ludicrous in this. If the whole body were an eye. Are you picturing a six-foot eyeball?

Where would be the hearing? What good would a six-foot eyeball be? If you can imagine that, especially if it needed a contact lens. You couldn't talk to it because it can't hear. It can't go anywhere.

It has to be carried. It's absolutely useless. That's the point he is making.

It's absolutely ludicrous. And here's the greater point. We do that. We make six-foot eyeballs when we put people on pedestals and say, now you are so important, in fact, of greater importance in the body of Christ than everybody else. When we do that, when we elevate one gift over another gift, what essentially we are doing is setting up people to fall. And the higher you put the pedestal, the further they will fall, and they will fall.

And number two, it creates inferiority among the people who don't have that gift or that calling. They go, well, I'm not that gifted. I can't do that.

I'm not that important, so I won't get involved. Some of you will remember back in 1981 when President Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jr. Do you remember that? You know what happened to Reagan? Not only did he survive, but he was put in a hospital for a few weeks. He was out of his Oval Office for a few weeks.

He was in a hospital. For weeks, the chief executive officer of the United States of America wasn't there running the country. Did the country shut down?

No, we seemed to go on quite well. But what would happen if all of the garbage collectors, the trash collectors of America, went on strike? I'll tell you exactly what would happen.

I read a report on this, because it happened in one city back in the east, I think it was Philadelphia. They said within three weeks, the whole nation would reach crisis point and could potentially shut down. Which begs the question, so who's more important? The President of the United States of America, or all the trash collectors in America? Answer, all of them are important. All of them are important.

Every one of those people from top down are vital to the operation of a country. And one of the points that Paul is making is that point. Just because you don't see someone, or they're talked about a lot, or they're not as visible, doesn't mean they're unimportant.

Unnoticed does not mean unimportant. Verse 23, and those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor. And our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God has composed the body having given greater honor to that part which lacks it.

That there should be no schism or division in the body, but that the members should have the same care or equal care for one another. You can lose your eye and still live. You can lose your hand and still live. But if you lose your liver, you won't live.

You lose your heart, you won't live. But how many times do you really think about your liver? Hey bro, how's your liver doing? You know, your spleen has been on my mind a lot this week. Have you noticed when we carry pictures of ourselves or our family, we never carry x-rays. You never say, hey, hey, let me show you my guts or my skeletal structure. Or check out my sella turcica where my pituitary is.

Pretty cool, huh? But that is like the center of it all. That's the center of your endocrine system, but we don't think about it. But it's so vital, unseen, but so important. And let me just say, when it comes to the church, it's exactly the same way.

I have the privilege of standing up here on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights and at other times, but I'm just a part, I'm a mouth. But there are so many people who are volunteers and prayer warriors. They form the heartbeat of the fellowship, unseen, but so, so vital.

The fourth and final way to beautify the body in this chapter is to minimize self-sufficiency. Let's look at that, verse 21 and 22. And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you. Nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

No, much rather those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. Now this is a whole different attitude, these verses from the previous ones. In the previous set of verses, it dealt with the attitude that said, well, they don't need me. I'm not as gifted as they are.

That gift is so important and I don't have it, they don't need me. This is a different attitude. This is the attitude that says, I don't need them. I am self-sufficient.

I've got all that it takes right here. Now that attitude stinks. It stinks in the secular world. It stinks in the workplace. You could have a secular environment.

You have one self-sufficient, uncooperative, prideful person and everything messes up. But it's far worse in the church. And sometimes people will say, church? I don't need the church.

I don't need anyone. That is a big fat lie. Of course you do. That's the whole point of this. But we're fighting something. We're actually fighting our culture. One of the hallmarks of American life has been this rugged individualism, this pioneer, don't need anybody, I'll go out there on my own, I'm the Lone Ranger.

Remember that show? Lone Ranger. You can't be a Lone Ranger Christian. You can't be a self-sufficient Christian. That goes completely against the intention of the church.

You see, the whole reason Jesus wanted to build this church is to have a new society. This is a new community. This is on display before the world. This is what I can do with a person and another person and a whole bunch of people who are redeemed. This is what they look like.

That's what they look like. And when the world sees a smooth, considerate, loving, vibrant body, it makes an impact. If they see a self-sufficient and biting and devouring group, it also makes an impact, but not for the gospel, but against it. Well, that's the message, and those are the four principles.

But there's something else. I was wondering, as I was looking at 1 Corinthians 12, about how the early church dealt with problems before Paul came along. We've been studying the book of Acts, and there comes a time when problems enter this beautiful church of Acts.

And I wondered, how did they fix the problem? And you know what I discovered? By applying these four principles. I want you to look real quickly at a few verses in Acts chapter 6, as we bring this to a close this morning. Acts chapter 6, verse 1.

Now in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, or the Greeks, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then the 12 summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, it's not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith in the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, and the rest. By the way, all of them have Greek names, because the Greeks were complaining. Verse 6, whom they set before the apostles, and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem. Now here's a church.

Here's a body that is losing its beauty and becoming ugly because of problems. What do they do? Well, first of all, they recognize variety.

Right? They recognize, look, not all of us are apostles. There are some of us who are apostles. We'll tend to this business.

There are some who are called to that business. And so they recognize variety. Number two, they emphasize unity. For they said, we shouldn't leave the word of God and serve tables, but you choose seven from among you.

From among you. There's the unity that they recognized and strove for in the body. Number three, they maximized equality. Seven were chosen by the congregation, but the 12 also came along and bore witness with them and appointed them. And four, they minimized self-sufficiency. It says, the saying pleased the whole multitude.

You don't read of anybody in that group saying, well, I don't like the decision. I'm leaving. It pleased the whole multitude. They minimized any idea of self-sufficiency. I don't need you.

You don't need me. And there was a beautiful unity. Now, there was a woman, a wife, who invited some friends over to dinner. They came over to dinner. The two families were at the dinner table, and this mother turned to her six-year-old daughter and said, sweetheart, I want you to say the prayer, the blessing. And so the six-year-old looked up and said, I wouldn't know what to say, Mom. Mom said, sweetheart, just say what you hear Mom say.

Yep. The six-year-old closed her eyes, bowed her head, and said, Dear Lord, why on earth did I invite these people to dinner? Amen. You know what the truth is?

Here's the truth. God has invited lots of people to his dinner. Lots of people to his dinner. And we wouldn't naturally come together or agree or have things in common were it not for the fact that Jesus invited us all to his dinner.

And now we have him in common, and that's what gels us together. We're invited to his supper, his dinner, and all of us have gifts. And if you've discovered your gift and you're employing that and using that, you're bettering all of us.

But if you haven't discovered it and you're not using it, then you are hurting us and hurting the impact we could have in this community. Now Jesus said, I stand at the door and knock, and if anyone will open the door, I will come in and sup with him, have dinner with him, and he with me. The first step to be a part of this wonderful, grand design of what Jesus called his church is to receive the Savior as your own, to let him into your heart, to confess him as Lord and Savior. Well, maybe you're listening to today's teaching and you'd like to do that. You'd like to make Jesus your Lord and Savior, but you aren't sure how. Well, in truth, it's actually quite simple.

We'd be happy to talk with you about that when you call us at 1-800-922-1888. And if you'd like a copy of today's teaching, just visit connectwithskip.com or call 1-800-922-1888 to order today's teaching on CD for just $4 plus shipping. You know, one of the unfortunate truths of our world is that people in the church don't get along sometimes. And in our next study, we'll learn how to prevent division in the church right here in Connect with Skip Weekend Edition, a presentation of Connection Communications. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast all burdens on his word. Make a connection, a connection, a connection. Connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.