Ron Dunn Podcast - Building Up The Body (Part 3)

Episode Date: September 1, 2021

Ron Dunn continues "Building Up The Body" with part three

Open your Bibles to the book of 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and I'm going to read the first 13 verses. The whole chapter really is the text of the message, and we'll be referring to different verses throughout the passage, but for our initial reading, we'll read the first 13 verses of 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth

Jesus a curse, and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these wortheth that one and the selfsame Spirit,

dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. Now when a person is saved, he receives the gift of the Spirit.

In Acts 2.38, Peter said, Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus, for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. And when a person is saved at the moment of salvation, he receives the gift of the Holy Ghost. And the gift of the Spirit is the Spirit himself. And the miracle that happens at salvation is simply that Jesus Christ, through his Holy Spirit, comes to indwell us.

And so that in each one of us, there is tonight resident the Holy Spirit of God. Now there'd be times you'll read in the scripture where it says that Christ is in us. And in John, it speaks about the Father being in us. And in other times, it speaks about the Spirit indwelling us. The Holy Spirit is the one who indwells us. And through that Spirit, the Godhead indwells us. Jesus says, the Father and myself will be in you. And they dwell within us through the person of the Holy Spirit And so Paul writing to the Corinthian church in chapter 3 and in chapter 6 trying to cure their carnality Said one of your problems is that you do not know Experientially that your body is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit

And so Paul was saying that one of the most important things a Christian must know and not simply to know intellectually But to know experientially is that his body is the sanctum of the Spirit of God and that he has become that Holy of Holies where God himself indwells us through the Holy Spirit now that immediately lifts salvation out of the mechanical and out of the intellectual and lifts it into the realm of the supernatural. And everything about the salvation that God gives us is supernatural. And it is the Spirit of God that does the work of regeneration in our heart. And when he comes to indwell us, the Bible says in that 13th verse that in that spirit, by that spirit, we are immersed,

incorporated in to the body of Christ. And we become a part of the body of Christ. Now, when Jesus was on earth, he had a physical body. And through this physical body, he lived and he worked. And by the way, he did not do the miracles of himself, but he plainly says in John chapter 14 that what I am doing, the miracles that I am doing, it's not really me that's doing them, but it is my Father who is working these miracles through me. And so at the very beginning, Jesus established that principle that the Christian lives and works by the power of an indwelling presence, not in his own strength and not by his own power. This was the way Jesus did it. He never exercised his own inherent power as the Son of God, but he operated through the Holy Spirit, and it was the

Father who was doing the works. And so he intends now that the work of the church and the life of the christian to be energized by that same spirit of god and the same holy spirit that raised up jesus from the dead indwells us and he will quicken our mortal bodies and will energize us to be everything that god wants us to be so at the moment of salvation, there occurs this baptism by the Spirit in which we are immersed or incorporated into that body. Now that Jesus has ascended, he still has a body on this earth through which he ministers, and that body is his church. And that body is made up of every born-again believer. And every person at the moment of salvation receives the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now, you may have lived as a Christian for years without knowing you had the Holy Spirit in you.

But Paul makes it clear in Romans 8 and 9 that if you do not have the Holy Spirit, then you are not of Christ and you do not belong to him in Acts chapter 19 when Paul went to Ephesus he met some people there that seemed to be Christians and he asked them a question now the King James is says that Paul asked them since you believed have you received the Holy Spirit and that question seems to indicate that you received the Holy Spirit after you're saved but it is a mistranslation and The newer translations translate it according to the Greek tenses of those verbs and what Paul was asking was not have you received the Holy

Spirit since you believe but he said when you believe did you receive the Holy Spirit a man receives the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation. And they say, we haven't even heard anything about the Holy Spirit. And right away, Paul knew that they were not genuine Christians. He investigated further and found that they had only had the baptism of John. They were simply disciples of John, and they had not been truly saved. And at the point of their salvation, they received the gift of the Holy Spirit. And so there is significance there that according to the New Testament, the test of whether or not a man is saved is not his denominational label nor even his profession, but his possession of the Holy Spirit. Because it is

the possession of the Holy Spirit that constitutes a person as being a part of the body of Christ. And so Paul knew that if they had the Holy Spirit, they were saved. If they did not have the Holy Spirit, they were not saved. Now, he says in this seventh verse of 1 Corinthians 12, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit everybody. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man. Now you have tonight, if you're saved, indwelling you the Holy Spirit. Now that Holy Spirit manifests himself in every Christian. He manifests himself in every Christian.

And the way that he manifests himself, as Paul is discussing in this passage, is by the bestowing upon that person spiritual gifts. You see, in verse 7, he makes a general statement, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all. There's the general statement, the introduction. Then in verse 8, as an illustration of this manifestation, he details a number of the spiritual gifts. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit. And so the way the Holy Spirit manifests himself in the life of a believer is by giving to him what Paul describes as a gift of the Spirit, as a spiritual gift. And the Spirit of God has manifested himself that way in every believer, in every believer. Now, you may tire of hearing me say this, and I get a little bit tired of

hearing me say it too, but repetition is the essence of learning and teaching. And I want to keep repeating it. Every believer has a spiritual gift. Every believer has a spiritual gift. No one is left out. No one is left out. The spiritual gifts are not reserved for a few. They are not just set aside for some that reach a certain peak of spirituality,

but they are given to every Christian regardless of his spiritual condition. And the gifts of the Spirit are no indication of spirituality. You can be just as carnal as any Christian in the world and still have and exercise a spiritual gift. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1.4 that these Corinthians came behind to no gift. They didn't like it. This is one church that ever gifted in the book. And yet over and over again, Paul says, you're carnal, you're carnal, you're carnal. And sometimes we've gotten the idea that simply because I am not a certain spiritual person, I have not reached a certain plateau in spirituality, then I have no spiritual gift. And the opposite is just, it's just, it's true. That every believer, from the youngest Christian to the eldest Christian,

to the most active, to the most inactive Christian, has a spiritual gift. Every Christian has. And I'll keep repeating that until you believe it. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man. And this is what the 12th chapter is about. The manifestation of the Spirit in gifts. But as you read this chapter, if you read it carefully

and over and over and over and over and just let it soak in, you begin to realize something. You begin to realize that what Paul is emphasizing in this 12th chapter is not the specific and particular gifts themselves. As a matter of fact, out of those 31 verses in chapter 12, only four verses are given over to naming the gifts. And they are named as an illustration of

the fact that the Holy Spirit manifests himself to everyone. And Paul does not give a complete list here. His purpose was not to give here a complete list and description and evaluation of all the gifts. The naming of the gifts was an illustration of the fact that we do have a gift. The dominant theme in this passage is not the particular gifts themselves. Paul is not magnifying or exalting one gift above another. He is not being enamored with these spiritual gifts. We have them, but that's not the dominant theme. There is a beautiful pattern that courses through this chapter. It's like a colored thread

that runs through a piece of material. All the way through this, Paul is not so much emphasizing the naming of the gifts, but he is emphasizing the nature of the gifts. And there is a dominant twofold theme that runs all the way through this passage and Paul never gets away from it.

He continually comes back to it. And that twofold theme is this, the diversity and the unity of the gifts. And the 12th chapter of Corinthians is really a passage describing and enunciating the diversity and the unity of the gifts, rather than simply giving a list of the gifts and evaluating them. The naming of the gifts are not the primary importance,

but the nature of the gifts are the primary importance. Now, I was going to put all of this in one message, but I just can't preach longer than an hour and a half. And so tonight, we're going to discuss the nature of the gifts, and then next Sunday night we're going to name the gifts and take the spiritual gifts one by one and see what God has to say about them. But what Paul is primarily concerned about in this passage is this twofold diversity and unity. He never gets away from it. For instance, in verse 4, now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations,

but it's the same God. Now notice in verse 8, for till one is given by the Spirit, the word of wisdom, to another by the word of knowledge by the same Spirit. And all the way through, he is emphasizing the fact that there is diversity and variety, but there is also unity, also unity. And this was the one problem that the Corinthians were having. They were failing to see the diversity, they were exalting some above others, and they were failing to see the unity of these gifts. And it's a marvelous picture and a beautiful pattern that Paul continues to weave in this passage, the diversity and the unity of these gifts. Now, in verses 4, 5, and 6, Paul makes the basic statement concerning the nature of spiritual gifts.

The basic statement concerning those spiritual gifts. And he says there are three things about them. Verses 4, verse 5, and verse 6. Number one, Paul says concerning the spiritual gifts that there are diversities of endowments, but there is a unity of spirit. What is a spiritual gift? A spiritual gift is a supernatural endowment, a capacity for service. It does not refer to a natural gift or a natural ability or something that you acquire or learn through practice or study,

but it is something that God miraculously and supernaturally bestows upon you. And there is a diversity of these supernatural endowments. He is a gifted person. And everyone in this building who's saved is a gifted person. And Paul says, remember, there is a diversity. And that word diversity has the idea of different distribution and the picture is that the Holy Spirit takes the gifts of the ascended Christ and he distributes those to different

people he doesn't give everyone all the gifts he doesn't give everybody the same gift but he distributes those gifts that's the idea of the word variety difference and distribution In and teaching that not everybody has all the gifts and that God does not give the same gift to everyone But he distributes these gifts according to his will not according to our want but according to his will the Holy Spirit Sovereignly bestows these different gifts upon the people There are different gifts upon the people. There are different gifts, different gifts. To one is given the word of knowledge, to another is given the

word of wisdom, to one is given the gifts of healing, to another the working of miracles. He does not give the same gift to everyone. Paul says the same thing in Romans chapter 12 verses 4 and 5. He says, for as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we being many are one body in Christ, and everyone members of one another. Now you see, he's emphasizing again the diversity and the unity. We have different members, but we're all members of the one person, of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, etc., etc. Now he goes on and illustrates in this remainder of the passage of 1 Corinthians 12,

the picture of the body. And just as the body is many parts and has many functions, and each member of that body has a particular gift that it is to exercise for the good of the body, so God has bestowed differing gifts upon the believers. There is a diversity of gifts, but remember there is a unity of spirit who gives the gift. And the important thing is not the particular gift you have, but who gave you that gift. And what makes that gift valuable

is not what it is in and of itself, but the source of that gift. And this was the one thing the Corinthians had missed. And this is why Paul is emphasizing it. It is the Holy Spirit who gives that gift. And the Holy Spirit doesn't give anything that is not of value and that is not supernatural and that is not divine and good for the body. And so Paul is simply saying, don't get hung up about the particular gift.

The important thing is not what gift you have, but the important thing is where you got that gift. The fact that the Holy Spirit himself has supernaturally endowed you and given you a capacity to operate within the body of Christ for the glory of God. Now, an understanding of this will eliminate jealousy and envy and pride. This is obviously one of the problems these Corinthians had because as Paul goes on in that passage, he says in verse 15, if the foot shall say,

because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, because I am not of the hand, I am not of the body. Is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not of the eye, I am not of the body. Is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

Now hath God set the members, every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. It's so easy for us to be envious and jealous of somebody else's gift and to want that gift and to be dissatisfied with our own gift.

And it's so easy for us to become proud about the gift we have and that you ought to have what I have. There can be no pride in the gift that the Spirit of God has given you, and there can be no jealousy in you if you understand that the important thing

is not the particular gift you have received, but the fact that its source is the Spirit of God. There are diversities of gifts, but there's a unity of the Spirit. All right, secondly, in the next verse, verse 5, Paul says that there is a diversity of exercising those gifts, a diversity of exercise, but a unity of service. There is a diversity of exercising, but there is a unity of service. Now this is what he's saying in that fifth verse. And there are differences of administrations.

That word administration is the same word that is translated deacon or minister. It means practical service. There are different ways of serving the Lord, different ways of exercising that gift, but it is the same Lord who is served. Now, that's what Paul is saying. While there are different gifts, there are also different ways

of exercising that gift, but the important thing is not the way you exercise that gift or the particular ministry you have in that gift. The important thing is it is the same Lord who is served. Now, there are differences of administrations, different ways of exercising that gift. Now, this is so important, and I hope that you'll hear with your heart.

The way that you exercise your gift or your opportunities for service are just as sovereignly bestowed upon you as is the gift itself. Now I'm going to repeat that because I think I lost some of it. The gift itself, my capacity for service, is supernaturally bestowed upon me according to the will of God by the Holy Spirit. My capacity for service, my gift. Now, the opportunity of service, the manner or the ministry in which I exercise that gift is just as much sovereignly bestowed upon you as is the gift itself. What he's saying is that God gives to each one of us

different ways of serving and ministering and exercising that gift. There are diversities of administrations of exercises. Everybody has a gift, but not everybody is supposed to exercise that gift in the same way. I remember one church I pastored a number of years ago. We had a very zealous woman who worked faithfully with young people. And she gave of herself. She really worked hard. But she had the idea, and she would almost preach this any time she had the opportunity, but she had the idea that unless you were a youth worker, you just weren't spiritual.

And everybody in the church ought to be a youth worker. Now, I guess Ward would like that, but this was her attitude. This was her idea. It didn't make any difference how good a musician you were. It didn't make any difference how an excellent Sunday school teacher you were. If you did not serve and exercise your gift for the ministry of youth and working with the youth,

you just didn't have it. And you weren't all you were supposed to be as far as God is concerned. Well, it'd be like, let's say, Jameel thought that everybody ought to sing in the choir. And that if you didn't sing in the choir and were not a member of the choir, then you just weren't spiritual.

And everybody ought to sing in the choir. And I hear somebody say, well, yeah, but there's a difference there because, you see, we have no natural gift for singing. And that's true. And the same thing is true in the spiritual realm, that not all of us have a supernatural endowment, and not all of us have a supernatural bestowment upon us to minister and serve in the same way.

And for someone of us to say everybody has to serve the Lord in the same way is to deny the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit. Not all of us will minister in the same way. There are differences of opportunities, different ways of serving the Lord, and this is so vital and so important because this eliminates competition. For instance, let's suppose you have the gift of showing mercy.

That's a gift. Now, the gift of showing mercy, it differs from the gift of helps in that the gift of showing mercy has the idea of ministering to people who are in need, who need the mercy. Now, let's suppose your spiritual gift is showing mercy. Now you can exercise that gift of showing mercy through music. Let's suppose that every Sunday or once a week, however, you go over to a senior citizen's home, to a rest home,

and you sing for those people, to bless those people. Now you are exercising the gift of showing mercy through music all right let's suppose you have the gift of evangelism god has gifted you in evangelism now it would be wrong for us to say that every person who has the gift of evangelism ought to exercise that gift like Billy Graham or ought to exercise it from behind a pulpit or ought to even exercise it by going up and down the streets witnessing. I know some people that have the gift, a man that has the gift of evangelism, and he exercises that gift through writing, writing tracts and pamphlets. And God blesses what he writes because he has the gift of evangelism. Different ways of ministering that gift.

Let's don't expect everybody to serve in the same way. For instance, you may have the gift of faith and there are a number of ways to exercise that gift. One way to exercise the gift of faith is through prayer and through intercession. But another way would be to be chairman of a building committee. Or chairman of a finance committee. Boy, we need a man with a gift of faith there.

Different ways, you see, of exercising that gift. I was making these notes and thought about the nursery and I was wondering what gift would you need to work in the nursery and it came to me that probably the gift of miracles the one that you would exercise in the nursery but you see what Paul is saying Paul is saying now people just as there are different endowments But you see what Paul is saying? Paul is saying, now, people,

just as there are different endowments, different gifts, different capacities for service, there are different ways that you minister and different ways that you serve. And not everybody is going to find an outlet for their spiritual gift in the same way. But that is not important. The important thing is that it is the same Lord who is served.

That is the important thing. And the tragedy is that sometimes we are more concerned with who does the serving and how the serving is done than we are with the fact that the Lord is served. It really doesn't make any difference who does the serving. And it really doesn't make any difference who does the serving. And it really doesn't make any difference how that service is rendered. The important thing Paul says is that it's the same Lord who is served by everybody. That's why I say an understanding of this will eliminate competition.

And one of the most grievous sins among churches, and I'd have to say among pastors but it filters over into the fellowship is this sin of competition pastor said well we were down in Sunday school this morning but praise the Lord so was first Baptist competition and you understand

that many times we will evaluate the work that is done by who did it and how it was done. Paul says it doesn't make a particle of difference how the work is done and who does it. The important thing is

that it is the same Lord that is served that it is the same Lord that is served. It is the same Lord who is served. And we must be more concerned with the Lord being served than we are how it's done. All right? Number three, and finally, there is a diversity of effects,

but the same source of that effect. There is a diversity of effects, but the same source. In verse 6 he says, there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. Now this word operation, we get our word energizing from it. And the form of this word means the outward manifestation of energy. It is the outward or visible manifestation of energy. Now do you see the pattern? First of all, there are different gifts, different capacities for service. Now flowing from this, there are different ways of exercising those gifts.

And flowing from this, there are different effects and different results from exercising those gifts. And none of us would deny that. The word operation simply indicates the outward manifestation or the result of the gift being exercised. What effect does this exercising of this gift have? Well, Paul says there are diversities of gifts. Diversities of gifts. Now listen, when you exercise your gift, because that gift is different

and because you exercise it in a different manner, in a different opportunity, the effect is going to be different. Now, for instance, I do not have the gift of evangelism. That doesn't mean that I can't serve as an evangelist or that I can't do evangelism, but I do not have what we might call, what the Bible would call, a gift of evangelism. Now I know I have some very dear friends who have the gift of evangelism and I guess they could preach on the cooperative program and give an invitation and a lot of people would be saved I

Think I know some they're just announced that Brotherhood's going to meet and give an invitation and people would be saved They have a gift of evangelism and when they exercise that gift the outward manifestation Is different from when I would exercise that gift, the outward manifestation is different from when I would exercise my gift. Now, the effect is different, for instance. But the important thing is that it is the same effector. Paul is saying the important thing is not the effect your gift has. The important thing is that it's the same source of effect. It's the same God that works all in all. Now, for instance, let's suppose that I did have the gift of evangelism, and I stood up, and I preached, and gave an invitation, and a hundred people were saved. What an effect. What an effect. What an outward manifestation. Man, that'd be great. All right, let's say I have the gift of healing,

and I pray and exercise that gift of healing, and this person is miraculously healed. What an effect. What an effect. Man, that's great. But here's a fellow that has the gift of helps, and he exercises that gift of helps by ushering in the service and taking the offering.

I don't hear anybody getting excited about the effect that has. See, what effect does that have? I mean, you never hear anybody saying, boy, did you see the way

Brother So-and-So took the offering this morning? Wasn't that tremendous? Wasn't that great? The effects are different. But that's not what is important. What is important is, now listen carefully,

it takes just as much supernatural power for that man to exercise the gift of health through taking the offering as it does for that man who has the gift of healing or evangelism

to exercise his gift. It is just as much a supernatural work of God for that man to take the offering as it is for a man to preach and a thousand souls be saved. And Paul is saying the important thing is not the effect that your gift has, but it is the source of that effect. And our preoccupation and our exaltation of the spectacular and the sensational is of the flesh and reveals a carnal nature and immature values and that doesn't have a thing to do with it and And one of the worst things

that is happening to our churches today is the fact of our having this appetite, this craving, this desiring to see something spectacular and sensational.

Now, there's nothing wrong with that. God does the spectacular. God does the sensational. But if you'll notice, as you read the Gospels, Jesus was never too much impressed with his own miracles. And does the sensational. But if you'll notice, as you read the Gospels, Jesus was never too much impressed with his own miracles. And by the way,

when it talks about the last days, the only miracles it really talks about in the last days before the Lord comes has to do with the miracles of Satan, not with the miracles of God. Now, God will be working miracles. He always has worked miracles. And I hope that you don't think

that I'm saying tonight that God never does the sensational, that God never does the spectacular, that God never does the miraculous. He does. He does. But what Paul is saying is that that is beside the point. And Jesus said that would be a sign of the last days, that people would crave to see the spectacular and the sensational.

You say, preacher, what are you after? I'll tell you what I'm after. I think it is grievous and sad and a tragedy that the majority of the body of Christ today has its spiritual heroes. And the common man in that pew sits back and looks at this man who has a spectacular gift and sees him exercising it and sees the effect it has on the people

and sees the power that is manifested through exercising that gift and he knows he doesn't have that gift and so he feels demeaned in his own eyes and the church as a whole underestimates that man's gift and fails to use it. And that is not of God. That is not of God. That is not of God.

And we'll be a long way down the road when we come to realize that that lady who gives herself exercising the gift of helps and exercising the gift of showing mercy, working over there in that Sunday school, in that nursery, taking care of those young children and those babies during those services

that she is exercising just as much of the power of God as the pastor is when he stands and preaches and is just as necessary and essential in the body of Christ and that eliminates pride and bragging and hero worship. They tell me that the star system is what killed Hollywood. And I tell you what can kill the church, it's that same star system. Paul says, all of us are members of the body. All of us are members of the body. And the important thing is not the size of the effect, but it's the source of the body. All of us are members of the body. And the important thing is not the size

of the effect, but it's the source of the effect. It's the same God that does it. It's the same God that does it. And that's what lends quality to any service. God does it. Now, your spiritual gift may not have much in effect openly there may not be much of an outward manifestation when you exercise your gift but i want you to know that that's not important it's the same god that works in you that works in all of us. Now listen, this is the conclusion. The unity of the church, the unity of the church does not depend upon all of us having the same gift, does not depend upon all of us serving in the same way, and does not depend upon all of us having the same power

and the same results. The unity of the church does not depend upon all of us having the same power and the same results. The unity of the Church does not depend upon that. The unity of the Church depends upon the Spirit of God who indwells us. Just as the body has many members, but it's one life that flows through it. And that makes it a unity. And there is one head that gives direction. And that gives it its unity. And the unity of the church doesn't depend upon the spiritual gifts. It depends upon the giver of those gifts.

That is the unity of the church. And in that unity, there is diversity. Diversity. Now, you have a gift. You have an endowment. You may not know what it is now, but we're trusting that God will show you what that is. And there is a way that God has already ordained that you can exercise that gift.

There is a ministry for you, an outlet. You may not know what that is, but God will show that to you. And when you exercise it, there will be an effect. There will be an effect. And that effect will be supernatural and miraculous because it is affected by God. Now let's pray together. The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent.

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