First Corinthians 12:27 says, “Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.” Following this it says, “And God has placed some in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then works of power, then gifts of healing, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues” (v. 28). It is wonderful that Paul asks in the next verse, “Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all have works of power?” (v. 29). Are all apostles? God is asking here. Is it true that all are apostles? Because there are prophets who want to occupy God’s whole church, teachers who want to occupy God’s whole church, and workers of miracles who want to occupy God’s whole church, the Lord asks, “Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all have works of power?” Even if everyone in the whole church does works of power, that is still not the church. Even if everyone in the church is a prophet or a teacher, that is still not the church. Do all receive the gift of healing? Indeed, there are groups who specialize only in healing. But even if every one of us can heal, we are still not the church. Do all speak in tongues and interpret? Even if every one of us speaks in tongues and interprets, it is still not the church. “Are all...?” means in the Lord’s mind “not all,” for there should be apostles, teachers, those who help others, those who administrate, etc. When all these various types of functions are put together, then there is the church.

We are perplexed that there are many brothers who prefer only one kind of work. Some brothers simply think that the work they have is the most important. If every brother is a healing brother (and there are such so-called “churches” in America), then the apostles, prophets, and teachers are all useless. Therefore, the places that bear the responsibility of the church must let those who are prophets have the opportunity to prophesy, those who are teachers the opportunity to teach, those who have the gift of healing the opportunity to heal, those who speak in tongues the opportunity to speak in tongues, and those who administrate the opportunity to administrate. As far as the work is concerned, the church should not restrict any brother or sister. This is the church. Otherwise, it is a sect, not the church. If we do not give the brothers and sisters an opportunity to serve, they will seek another way.

If the young brothers have a mixture of the flesh, we can only exercise authority to deal with them. The Lord has absolutely no intention that those with one talent should bury their talent. In the Lord’s sight, the greatest gift is but five talents and the least is one talent. If the church would put all the one talents into use, it would make up for several of the five talents. If only a few of us are working, the church cannot be strong. This does not mean that the one-talented members who have just recently believed in the Lord will not have some fleshly acts. In many respects we must make them listen and obey; nevertheless, we still have to use them. In dealing with the flesh, we should never deal with the gift. All the brothers who are workers, those who are leaders in the churches, must let every brother have the opportunity to serve. The gifts recorded in Romans 12 are more complicated than those in 1 Corinthians. Prophesying, serving, teaching, exhorting, and giving are all included. When all those of one talent have the opportunity to manifest their gifts, sects cannot appear.

Ephesians 4 has similar words. Verses 11 and 12 say, “And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.” These verses also show us that the gifts are not the same. Verse 16 says, “Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.” God’s thought here is that the Body of Christ can be built up only when all the members function. If all the brothers and sisters are not serving, the Body of Christ cannot be built up. The leading brothers in every place must remember that if they are busy while the brothers and sisters are not, then they are failing greatly. We should never think that because we are doing so much that this is good enough. If we can lead other brothers and sisters to work, let me tell you, this will please the Lord. It will please the Lord more if we lead the other brothers and sisters to work more than us.

This is really a matter of how you view yourself. If you think that you can build up the Body of Christ by doing well on your own, then you will simply go on as before. But if you have the vision, you will see that the affairs of the church cannot be managed by yourself alone. At the most, you are but one member of the church. Every member in the Body of Christ has his own work. If you bring each one into the work, then you have touched what is called the Body of Christ. You must see that you cannot replace the brothers and sisters. You absolutely cannot work in their place. No matter how perfect you are, how good you are in your work, or how great are your gifts, you are still not the church if you cannot bring the brothers and sisters into the work. Are all hands? A thousand hands or a hundred hands are a monster, not the body.

I would also go one step further and ask, Is there only one hand? We cannot say that only we can do a certain type of work. We must see that the Body of Christ includes much more than us alone. Everyone can receive grace directly from the Head, not necessarily through us. The Lord’s grace always amazes me. How great is His grace! Since the Lord is gracious, He can cause others to receive grace apart from me; He can cause them to receive the blessing of God without passing through me. In the church the Lord can raise up all kinds of workers. We have to bring all the brothers and sisters into the work. We must not make them be the same as us. If only a few brothers are serving in a certain place and the rest of the brothers and sisters cannot work, this is just about the same as the one-man service of the denominations. As one-man service is abominable before God, so is the service of only a few people. The service of the whole Body is what pleases God. God says that everyone must serve. When we bring everyone into the work, we will see that this is the church. This is the content of the church.
Home | First | Prev | Next