G.W. North emphasizes that the Corinthians misused their spiritual gifts, believing they could operate independently of Christ's authority. He explains that spiritual gifts should function under divine guidance, just as the body operates under the control of the brain. North warns against the misconception that having received the Holy Spirit grants unrestricted use of these gifts, stressing the need for cooperation with God in their application. He illustrates the natural and synchronized functioning of a healthy body, highlighting that all actions are ultimately under divine command. The sermon calls for believers to recognize their dependence on Christ as the Head of the Body for effective ministry.

Instead of Christ, the Corinthians had reigned. They ought to have sought to do the King's will and to obtain His permission. Instead they had presumed that since they had the gifts, they were at liberty to use them as and when they liked, whatever their state of life was at the time. Now the fact of the matter is that, although upon the surface it may appear that the gifts function in this manner, God does not give them upon such humanistic conditions; He did not do so in those days and neither does He do so now. On the contrary, to this day they will only work properly upon the same principle as they did during the days when the King was in His physical body on the earth, namely by direct bestowal from the Lord (Luke 9:1 and 2) and in close co-operation with Him, both as to timing and objective, as has already been instanced in verses 54 and 55. To be sure the relationship which exists between Master and disciples is of a quite different nature from that of Head and Body/member, but the principle of function by divine authority remains the same. It is illogical to reason and therefore to believe that because a gift is spiritual in origin and was bestowed during or following upon Baptism in the Spirit, it is infallibly Spiritual in use. It is also false for persons to assume that because they have been baptised in the Spirit, they are therefore and thereby henceforth always in the Spirit and may use their gifts as and when they please, or whenever they attend meetings, and that being so used the gift will be Spiritual in operation and effect. On the other hand, although this must not be assumed, it is to be expected that the body of gifts should function as naturally and smoothly as a body ought. A healthy body ordinarily functions so naturally and the particular action of each member is so beautifully controlled and synchronised each with each for the common good, that all can quite easily move as one. But although we know that much which happens in a body is of a reflex nature, we also know that nothing is either autonomous or automatic. No member decides to do something itself as though it has a mind of its own. Every detail of action is under the command of the common brain, even though often that action is too spontaneous in movement for conscious thought to control. This is because some actions must be taken in faster time than conscious thought can be stimulated or decisions taken and the necessary action or procession of actions voluntarily initiated under control of the conscious mind. This is as possible as it is necessary by reason of a vast and complex nervous system originally devised by God, and fully developed within the babe before birth. This highly sensitive inner network was created by an all-wise, benevolent Creator for the proper function and protection of His creatures. The blinking of an eyelid, for instance, can be done voluntarily and deliberately by any person, but usually it happens quite involuntarily, often without the person being at all aware of it. In fact the most important functions of the human body are almost all, if not entirely without exception, executed apart from the prior conscious consent of the person. All of which leads to the realisation that behind the conscious mind of the race lies a great predestinating mind that originally fixed basic human bodily reactions according to the good pleasure of His will.