Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church, located in Kernersville, North Carolina. Corinthians chapter 12 and brother Jacob read the passage.
Some years ago, there was a young man who had a dream. And his dream was to play football. But more specifically His dream was to play football for Notre Dame. And there was a problem. He didn't look like a football player.
He was too small, he was too slow. He wasn't highly recruited. He wasn't highly rated. In fact, He was not offered a scholarship at Notre Dame. or anywhere.
But he loved the game, so instead of quitting, Instead of complaining, instead of criticizing the system. He found another way to get near the team. And so he went to Notre Dame, took college, and he became what they call a practice player. And that means that you show up during the week for the real team. to play against you so that they can get better and go out in front of the crowd and get the praise and the cheers and the crowd never sees you.
And day after day, he showed up to practice knowing he wasn't going to play on Saturday or the next Saturday or any other Saturday for that matter. And he did this not for a year, not for two years. Not for three years. Not for four years. But he did this for five years.
years. Day after day he got hit. He ran drills. His job was to help prepare the starters. He wore a uniform in practice, but he never got to wear the uniform under the lights.
No spotlight, no applause, no headlines, just faithfully showed up. Every day. for practice.
Now, a lot of people told him, you know, why bother with this? And a lot of people. said that you ought to just this is kind of a waste of your time And a lot of people would have demanded more than he demanded. He was just glad. to be part of the team.
And something began to happen. Year after year, the players began to notice. They noticed that he always showed up. And for five years, listen to this, as a practice player, he never... Missed.
A practice. Never slept in. Never was sick. He never missed a practice. They noticed the way he showed up.
They noticed the way he never complained. They noticed the way that he encouraged them. Even though they were going to get to play in the big game and he wasn't, but he encouraged them and they noticed the way he gave everything he had, every practice, even though nobody was watching or clapping or anything.
Now, you have seen the movie, most of you, and that man's name was Rudy. Rüdiger.
Now for years he was nothing more Then a practice player. Getting hit. Running a practice team, never playing on Saturdays, but he never quit. And something interesting happened, which was enough, I guess, to make a movie about. The final game of his senior year.
His teammates went to the coach and they said, can we ask you a favor? Would you let Rudy dress? and be on the bench with us. and be a member of the main team this coming Saturday for his senior year. The coach, although reluctant, realized all that Rudy had done all these years, and so he agreed.
Rudy not only got to dress that day, he actually got in the game. And something else interesting happened when he walked off the field. The entire stadium stood Cheered and applauded. He wasn't the star, he wasn't the quarterback. He wasn't even a starter.
He was just glad. to be on the team. They didn't ask the coach to put him in the game because he was the most talented. They asked because he was the most faithful. That day, he ran onto the field wearing a game jersey.
The crowd didn't cheer because he was the star. They cheered because he stayed. for five years. When the final whistle blew, His teammates did something that Had not happened for anybody that year, and he was the only person that that happened for that year. They threw him up on top of their shoulders and they carried Rudy off the field.
Nobody else on that team Had been carried off the field. Nobody else on that particular team had a movie made about their life. And in fact, the average person could never recall even a name of another member of that team, even the starters or even the stars at that time, but just about. Everybody has heard of Rudy. He didn't become famous because he was the best.
He became unforgettable because he was faithful. He didn't demand a spotlight. He just desired a spot. And sometimes that's all it takes. You know, the kingdom of God is not built on celebrities.
It's built on servants. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 We're finding here that the body of Christ is not made up of stars. It's made up of members. You know, some people want to be the star, and some people want the spotlight, some people want the applause, and some people demand the starting position. God is not building a highlight reel.
He's building a body.
Some of the most important people on God's team. Never score the points, make the touchdowns, or get their jerseys retired. Not everybody on God's team. gets their hand prints out in front of Meyer's auditorium. Not everybody on God's team gets a plaque.
somewhere in the church. Not everybody on God's team gets a portrait of them in the foyer. Thank God we didn't bring those over from Myers. I love the thought and I appreciate it, but You come into a church, you see a picture of the pastor and his wife. I know that's just honoring.
the position but Let's be honest. 90% of the people wouldn't be here if it wasn't for all the rest of the people in this church. That's right.
So Paul gives us a little bit of instruction here this morning. And I want you to pay real close attention.
Now, I didn't continue with my series. I'll continue with that, Lord willing, next Sunday, unless I fight with God about something else during the week. But I want to give you some principles this morning and I want to let you go. As Brother Jacob read this passage, I hope you were paying attention, and I want you to notice: number one, the comparisons we must avoid. Look at verse 14.
For the body is not one member, but many. You know what that means? This whole thing is not about any one member. It's about the body as a whole. And if you and I do not understand that, we're going to get real bent out of shape at church.
Because we're going to allow ourselves at some point to think things center around us. how many times I get to sing. How many times I get to do this? How many times I'm thanked? How many times I'm asked to And you're going to get real bent out of shape, and you're going to get your attitude, and it's going to get all a little bit rough if you allow it.
If we begin to think that this is about the member Instead of about the body as a whole.
Now look at the verse. It's not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I'm not the hand, I'm not of the body. Is it therefore not of the body? In other words, if the foot as part of the body decides, well, I don't really want to be the foot.
In fact, because I'm the foot, I want to be the hand, and because I'm not the hand, which I think is a better position, I don't even think I'm needed in this body. Look at verse 16. And if the ear shall say, because I'm not the eye, I am not of the body. Is it therefore not of the body? You see, the Bible gives instruction here and gives warning here about the tendency we have to look around.
To begin to compare where we are and what we are with others. And so you and I need to pay some real close attention here today. I want you to notice the first principle he gives is this: comparison can steal contentment. Look at verse 15. Let's just break it down word by word.
Notice this. If the foot shall say, because I am... Not. Look at verse 16. If the ears shall say, Because I am not.
Well, what we have here are members of the body that have already decided that they don't like where they have been placed. They don't necessarily like their role. And especially when they look around and they look at other members of the body and other roles and other positions, now they have come to the point not just that I want to be something different, but now I don't want to be where I'm at. You know, sometimes we compare people.
Sometimes we compare positions. We compare who gets the praise, who gets a certain position, who gets patted on the back, who gets promoted. And if you and I are not careful, comparison can end up stealing your contentment in the body.
Now, whether you're enjoying this or not so far, if you agree that the Word of God is teaching that, say amen. Comparison can steal. Contentment.
Now what we have in this passage. Is the foot wanted to be the hand, and the ear wanted to be the eye? And what I would like to say this morning is: who can blame them?
Now, I don't know if you've read this passage before, and if you've ever actually done a little bit of thought about it. But it makes a whole lot of sense. I mean, the hand gets to wear watches. The hand gets to wear rings. The hand gets to touch and to feel.
The hand gets to lift and feel food. The hand, listen, when's the last time you went to Krispy Kreme and the person behind the counter handed you a donut wrapped around their big toe? That would be the first and the last time. You don't want food somebody's foot's been on. You don't go to Thanksgiving and your mom's like, hey, here's some turkey.
I mean the hand gets to hug people. And by the way, people will be willing to touch a hand. We shake hands all the time, but nobody wants to touch your feet. Yeah. Aren't you glad that tradition handed down isn't we greet each other with a heavenly foot shake?
You know, welcome to Coron Baptist Church this morning. Glad to see you. We wouldn't need many greeters for that, that's for sure. The hand gets to the full football. The hand gets to shoot a basketball, the hand gets to swing a golf club, the hand gets to throw out a fishing rod, the hand gets to carry a purse, the Hand gets to try on clothes and The poor old foot.
Poor old foot's always covered up. Foot gets an old stinky sock on it all the time. How'd you like to have an old stinky sock put over you all the time? The foot has to do all the work, walking everywhere. Climbing everywhere in reality, the foot carries the hand around.
Have you ever thought about that? I mean Just think about this. You couldn't do everything, and the hand couldn't do everything it does if the foot didn't do its job. The hand couldn't play basketball real well. He couldn't play baseball real well.
The hand couldn't do a lot of sports real well if the foot didn't. Do his job. Toes get stubbed. Poor pinky toes get broke all the time. I told you years ago, but We used to have a Beagle dog out in the kennel.
And I don't know if you've ever had a beagle or been around a beagle, but they rarely bark. They rarely bark at all. And ours had a tendency to want to bark at 2.30 in the morning. And you'd have to come all the way across the yard, get all the way out to that kennel. And I found that if you threw something at his cage and it hit the cage, he'd stop barking for about an hour.
So I'd get up in the middle of the night and I had a pile of shoes and a... I'd get on that porch and I'd throw that shoe, bam, hit that cage. The dog would stop for an hour and I'd go back and sleep, and I'd come back out.
So one night I got up. You say, what happened to that dog? You don't really want to know. We have two shihhtsus now. That's all I can say.
Yeah. throw a shoe at that kennel. And I broke my right pinky toe. On a chair. The end of a couch, going out there, going that direction, hit that, broke that little right pinky toe.
Now I'm really mad at this dog, you know. I'll throw a bunch of stuff at his cage, finally. Shut up. And I turn back again to go back inside, and I broke that pinky toe on the same chair. Yeah.
My hands were fine. Poor foot, toes get shoved into a shoe. Have you seen some women's shoes? Them toes are Poked into those little triangle fronts, you know, you see what I'm saying.
Okay, I could tell that went over really good. When was the last time after walking three miles that you said, man, my eyes are really tired? It's your footer your feet are really sore. And have you looked lately at a foot? They're not attractive.
You say, Well, I don't know. I haven't really looked at him.
Well, go to Walmart about 12:30 in the morning. You're gonna see some feet you've never seen before. You're gonna see a fungus you've never even read about before. And they're going to be out for display. No wonder the foot said.
Man, I'd rather be the hand. You know, in this passage, the ear wanted to be the eye, and I really can't blame him. When's the last time you heard a man say, Let me tell you about the first time I saw my wife? I fell in love with her when I looked into her wax-filled ears. I looked into her beautiful eyes.
I mean the ear has to hold up the glasses so the eye can see. The eye gets to see a sunset, see the mountains, see the beach. Most everything in our world is constructed to please the eye, not necessarily the ear. Every time you get sick, you don't usually get an eye infection, do you? You get an ear infection.
And if you've ever gotten a wet willie. Listen, they don't put them in your mouth and they don't jab it in your eye, do they? Goes in the poor old ear. That old nasty wet finger gets stuck right in your ear. And then they laugh about it.
Poor ear. Let's be honest, when a man gets older, you don't have a bunch of hair growing out of your eye all of a sudden. But man, you become woofman jack in the ear, and I don't know where that's coming from. I mean, we can all come up with reasons. We want to be what we're not.
Why we want a different position than we've been given. I mean, you know, preacher, let's just be honest. I don't want to sound bad, but man, it'd be nice every once in a while to have some kind of role in the body that maybe I'd be in the limelight just every once in a while. I'd be in the spotlight some, maybe be a little bit better known, maybe I'd be thanked a little bit more, maybe I would be noticed a little bit more, maybe I could be praised a little bit more. Just like the foot said I'm I'm not the hand, and the ear said, I'm not the eye.
Maybe Today, you think because you're not the preacher, you're not the singer, you're not the manager at work. You're not the successful businessman. You're the one stuck in a monotonous job. You're not the one that got to sing the special, and you're not the leader, and you're not the head teacher, and you're not the team leader, and you're not the star. I'm not the one that got the solo and the Christmas program, and I'm not the pretty one, and I'm not the talented one.
And may I say, comparison can steal joy, comparison can steal your peace, comparison can steal your purpose, comparison can steal your confidence, and yes, comparison can steal your contentment. Already the the foot And the ear. are not content. What you notice secondly, discontentment can corrupt your service. Here's what happens.
Comparison can steal your contentment. And then now that discontentment can now Corrupt. Your service to God. Say what do you mean? Look at verse 15.
If the foot shall say, Because I'm not the hand, I am not of the body. That means this, I'm not the role I want to be, and this role I have I don't think is very important, it's not useful, and I don't like it. And that now has convinced the foot, I'm not even part of the body. That's not even important what I do. And I've watched people get there at church.
Yeah, but before long they're just not they don't show up like they used to and They don't show up for the choir practice anymore and So-and-so gets all the solos. And they quit showing up for practice. Then they quit showing up teaching Sunday school, they quit showing up this, quit showing up that. You know, the disciples argued over greatness. Verse 16 says, And if the ear shall say, Because I'm not the eye, I am not of the body.
Now, I don't know, I can't prove this, but it almost sounds like how the foot felt began to influence how. The ear felt. All of a sudden, the foot starts saying, Well, I don't think I'm very important. Look what the hand gets to do, and all this stuff. I'm just the old foot, I gotta do all the work.
And all of a sudden, that ear over there is listening. Oh, I heard something.
Now the year doesn't like where he's at. You know, Jesus redefined what greatness really is. Greatness in the kingdom of God is not spotlight, it's servanthood. And here, because one part of the body wanted to be the other part of the body, it felt that it wasn't even part of the body or even an important part of the body at all. And let's be honest: when you want a different or better place than where you are, you begin to become discontent with where you are, and then you lose motivation to serve where you are.
And before long, you serve for the wrong reasons, and then before long, you just don't serve at all. Matthew chapter 20. Verse 26 says, Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister, and whosoever will be chief among you, Let him be your servant. The disciples argued over greatness. Jesus redefined greatness.
Listen to me. The problem isn't wanting to matter. We all should want to matter. The problem isn't wanting to matter. The problem is wanting to matter more than others.
Maybe you're feeling deep down discontent, a little disappointed, a little bit feeling that God's given opportunities to everybody else except you, that everyone else is being successful except you, that everyone else seems to be getting the breaks that you're not getting, everyone else seems to have the friends that you don't have, everyone else seems to be getting all the opportunities, and everybody else seems to be in the position that I want to be in. And I'm just telling you, this passage says that there are comparisons that we must. Avoid. Yeah, all right. I want you to see the calling that God has assigned.
Now you say, how many points is in this preacher? Just three. The calling that God has assigned. Look at verse 18. But Now Oh, I know that Ear wants to be the eye, and the foot wants to be the hand, and they begin to feel they don't even think they're part of the body at all.
But now Hath God set the members, every one of them in the body as it hath Pleased. Him. Amen. Notice God set. Yeah.
So I want to give you some principles this morning on how God determines to set his members.
So what kind of process does God go through to do this?
Well, I want you to notice just from this short passage, number one. Our role in the body is assigned. not achieved. What does it say? But now hath.
God set the members. Listen to me this morning. We don't position ourselves. We don't necessarily overperform or underperform to get placed where we are. God placed you.
It wasn't the fact that you were so talented. or so gifted. That God was so overwhelmed with admiration of you That he just thought, where am I going to put this MVP? Listen, do you think I'm an it? Don't answer that.
I was going to say, do you? It's rhetorical. You think I'm you think I don't know? There are probably some sitting here that could do this job better than me. You think you you think that I'm not aware?
that there's a thousand people that could pastor this church better than me. You think I'm not aware of that? I am well aware of that. Can I tell you something? I know I'm not pastor of this church because, for some reason, I was just that much more valuable, or I was just that much more gifted, or man, maybe God just saw something in me that He didn't see.
No, no, no, no, can I tell you something? I know better than that, and let me tell you why I know better than that because I know me. But just for some reason It pleased him. to put me where I'm at. to put you where you're at.
And it's not about me or you, it's about the body of Christ. I want you to know something. You're not going to achieve a better position. It's not that God loves you more, or loves another person more, or has more favor on them, or any of that nature. Our role in the body is assigned, it's not achieved.
God is omniscient. God is omnipresent. God is omnipotent. That means God knows everything. God sees everything.
God can do anything. God is the alpha and omega is the beginning and the end. That means he was here before it all started. It means he's going to be here after it's all gone. He created everything.
He knows everything. He runs everything. He maintains everything. And he has the right and he has the ability and he has the knowledge and he has the power to put us where he wants us. Our role is assigned, not achieved.
Number two, our position is appointed, not accidental. Notice what it says. He has placed them in the body as it hath pleased him. He's not just trying to finish a to-do list.
Well, I got 14 more people at Kerwin. I need to put them somewhere. I need to get done so I can go get the sunrise up, you know, kind of a thing. Been a long night. Yeah, I guess I'll just put Frank over here in charge of the youth.
I guess I'll put Nick there. I don't know. Listen to me, if you're on the bench. It's because it pleased him. If you're stuck working in the nursery.
It's because it pleased him. If you're behind the scenes, it's because it pleased him. It means if somebody else is getting more attention than you, it's because it pleased him. If somebody else gets to sing more than you, it's because it pleased him. If it appears that somebody else is getting or being more successful than you on paper, It's because it pleased him.
You are where you are because it pleased him. And they are where they are because it pleased him. And it is no accident that you have been appointed in the body of Christ. And it is no accident that you have been put where God has put you. And the greatest destination for us ought to be where God is pleased, not where we are pleased.
Listen to me, you might not be where you are pleased, but you need to be content with being where God is pleased. Do not think that preachers don't struggle. Sure. You might be surprised to know we might struggle more than you.
Social media has not helped that. Man, look, that guy's getting to preach here, get to preach there, get to preach there, get to preach there, and he's getting to go here on vacation and do this. And man, look, his church gave him this, and his church presented him with this, and his church does this for him, and blah, blah, blah. And I'm going to tell you something, before long, you can just begin to think, hmm. Yeah.
Right. I'm just the old Hand. I'm just the this, I'm just for that, and wouldn't it be nice to? It happens to all of us. You know, our contentment should not be to be what makes me happy.
My contentment ought to be I want to be where God is happy. Number three. Our value is absolute, not optional. Our value is absolute, not optional. Notice what he says in verse 22.
He says, nay, no. You think that this role is more important and that one's more important, or even that you got this role because you're more important. No, no, no, no. Listen to what God says. Nay, much more, those members of the body.
that you think are not as well known and not as important, blah, blah, blah. They are, he says, necessary. What is God saying? You are valuable. Your value is not dependent on your position.
Your value is not controlled by what member you are of the body. Thank you for listening today. We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast. The Kerwin Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina. You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192.
or via the web. at Kerwin Baptist Church.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin Broadcast today. God bless you.
