Diversity in God's Assembly

The cross changes a lot of things. There's two things in this world that actually change this world and that is sin, the sin of Adam, and the cross of Christ. The cross of Christ, as he said, will cure a lot of things.

When you look at the epistles that he spoke of, the foundation or the settings in all of those epistles, when you look at the cross of what the apostle was saying, solved a lot of things. But that's not what I want to talk about. First Corinthians in chapter 12.

First Corinthians in chapter 12, verse number one. Now concerning spiritual gifts or which is supplied, so spiritual brethren, I would not have you ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles carried away unto dumb idols even as you were led.

But skip down verse number four. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit and there are difference 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 with all for to one is given by the spirit. Word of wisdom and to another, the word of knowledge by the same spirit and to another by the same spirit, to another faith by the same spirit and to another the gifts of healing by the same spirit and to another workings of miracles and to another prophecy, to another discerning of the spirit and to another different time, different diverse kinds of tongues and to another interpretation of the tongue. But all these worketh that one and the self same spirit divided to every man severally as he will.

There is that word another that our brother William was talking about. Verse number 12, for is the body is one and hath many members and all the members of that body being many or one body and so all is Christ. For by one spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Greek or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free and having been all made to drink into one spirit.

For the body is not one member but many. If the foot, which is a section I want now, 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 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? And I want you to pay particularly attention to this verse. But now hath God set the members, every one of them in the body, as it had pleased him.

And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Skip down, well nay, much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble or necessary.

And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more honor. Skip down verse number 25, but there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another. Understand this verse and whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it.

Or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. And that's all you will read at this time. God will bless his reading of his word.

Now I read this chapter to you for the simple reason of this. We live in a world where the world preaches individualism. We live in a world where the world preaches humanism.

We live in a world and the world teaches selfishness. You see this is all what we are faced with in society today. And while they tell you to be the best that you can be, while they tell you that you can be anything that you can be, while they tell you to promote to just promote self, all of this is anti-scriptural.

You see in assembly it's totally opposite. It is totally opposite of what God says. And what I am thinking about simply ties in totality with what we've been hearing.

You see if I listen to my brother's message about the cross, that will change my whole idea and vision of the kingdom. If I listen to what my brother has said about the cross, that will change the idea of our carnality and spirituality. If I listen to what my brother has said about the cross, that will affect my heart.

You see having loved us, he loved us until the end. You see if I listen to what my brother has been saying concerning the cross, that will affect my love one toward another. See all of this will change when you listen to what God says.

But what I've read when you come to the Corinthian epistle is just this. You see Corinthian is filled with everything that if you want to know problems, you go to the Corinthian epistle. If you want to know solutions, go to the Corinthian epistle.

You see everything that the Corinthian epistle has in it, you'll find in it. And if you are looking for perfection when you come to God's assembly, you wouldn't go to the Corinthian epistle. But then if you got in the Corinthian epistle, then you find out the way you're not perfect either.

There's three things in life I begin to appreciate as I get older. My brother was talking about getting older. You see that's one of the reasons I retired.

I got tired of getting up in the morning. And then I got tired of going in and the younger guys would look at me. They say, well, Toomes, what do you want to do? They were in my crew.

Or, oh, man, what do you want us to do now? Or, pops, what do you want us to do? Enough of that. I walked in. I said, I'm leaving.

Time for me to retire. Well, they say, Toomes, what's the matter? It's just time to go. Those who I was teaching and getting them to learn stuff, their father had taught me.

So now, as my brother was saying, I guess I was the old man. But in reality, what I want you to understand about the Corinthian epistle is all the faults that you would find, but it's all the solutions you could find. When I come to the Corinthian epistle, you see, we find a lot of things in the Corinthian epistle.

But I want you to understand when you come to chapters 1 through 6, you find the things that are absolutely wrong. Division is wrong. Going to the law is wrong.

Immorality in chapter 5, absolutely wrong. But when I come to chapter 7 through 12, I find the things that are neither right nor wrong in themselves. Because you see, where there's the idea of the chapters from 7 through 12, there's the idea of liberty.

But understand, brothers and sisters, if my liberty affects people in the assembly, I might ought to consider something different. If my liberty causes me to come control under things that will take me away from Christ, I probably should think about something different. Paul says, all things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient.

All things are lawful for me, but I will not come under the power of any. And so you come to chapter 7 through 12, and you find things that are neither right nor wrong in themselves. I want to marry, I can marry.

I can still serve the Lord. If I don't want to be married, I don't have to be, but I can still serve the Lord. When I come to the last chapters, I see right things that can be misused.

So you've got things that are absolutely wrong, chapters 1 through 6. You've got 7 through 12. Things are right nor wrong within themselves. And then I come to the last part of the chapter, and I see right things that can be misused.

You look at the gifts. My brother was talking about gifts. My gifts are not any better than anybody else.

If I want to promote myself, that's what you have in chapter 14. Everybody wanted to show something. But if you are looking at the last chapter, you are looking at just this, or should I say the chapter we've come to, this is the machinery.

But when you come to chapter 14, you've got the machinery in motion. But when you come to chapter 13, you've got the all for the machinery. You take the all out, the machinery won't work.

But then let me come to my chapter. Where I am looking at, brothers and sisters, is just the idea of the local assembly. You see, it is a great thing when you look at things you appreciate.

As I said, as I get older, I come to appreciate three things greatly. I appreciate my lord for all that he's done. My appreciation just grows.

I appreciate my wife. She's put up with me for 50 years. I appreciate her.

And she gives me good balance. But I appreciate God's assembly. And see, what I know, this is what I know, the things in life that we appreciate, we have a tendency to give them greater attention.

We live in a society today and everyone, when it comes to appreciation, there is no appreciation in society today. We live in a microwave society. And what the idea is just this, what have you done for me lately? And people are not grateful.

Oh, they'll tell you, well, I love you for this, I'm thankful for this, and tomorrow they're ready to choke you. You see, that's the type of society we live in. But then I want to get back to this chapter.

Oh, I'll be all over the place. You see, when I've come to, when I come to God's assembly, it's just this. You ever wonder why God put you in God's assembly? Oh, you just said, well, I'm safe on my way to heaven.

I'm good to go. No, no, I want to tell you, that's not it. And the fact that you're in God's assembly, which is no, people would say mishap, you know, by mistake.

But I want you to understand this verse and get a hold of it. But now God had set the members, every one of them in the body, understand this verse as it has pleased him. My dear brother or sister, one of the first things you want to understand when you are in God's assembly, one of the first things you should lose is your will.

You lose your will and everything else will kind of fall in place. You see, I was not born into a Christian family. I was born into a religious family.

There's a difference. Religious family, your mother got you all dressed up. You went to church, went to a building rather.

She gave you money for Sunday school and you put money in the plate. And if nobody was looking, you took a little out so you could go to the store later. But in the reality of it all, see, I was not born into a saved family.

Religious family, let me tell you, especially you who are born in a family where your parents are saved, value it. Value it. You see, it'll save you a lot of heartaches, it'll save you a lot of problems.

But even if you're not and God saved you, you thank God and you value it. But you see, as I was saying, as God had set the many members in the body as it had pleased him, when you look in God's assembly, you will find all diversity. You see, that's the idea.

Everybody's not the same. Never try to be like brother so-and-so. Never try to be like sister so-and-so.

You know, if everybody looked the same, it'd be a little weird, wouldn't it? I want to tell you, it'd be a little different. But when you come, and I'll not give you so much the doctrinal side of chapter 12, but the idea is just this. Everyone, God has placed them in the assembly.

God didn't place everyone in the assembly to do the same thing, brothers and sisters. There is no, should I say, top person in God's assembly. You know, we like to look at hierarchy.

In God's assembly, there is no hierarchy, but only should be unity. Understand, there's diversity, but there's also unity, should be unity. You see, if everything is functioning the way God wants it to function, there'd be no problems.

But here's the problem, brothers and sisters, when it comes to God's assembly. You see, one of the first things, not so much I'd cater, one of the first things I found when it comes to God's assembly, and one that comes to God's assembly, he starts up, going to change this. I got some plans.

You ought to hear my plans, what I got for God's assembly. Let me tell you, my friend, my brother and sister in this meeting, your plans don't necessarily line up with God's plans. I hate to break it to you, but likely, you will find that God's plans are always different from your plans, for the most part.

But then I get back and I find that there's diversity, it says, there's unity, but you see, it's all working the same. If you were looking at this chapter, you'll find that there's a spirit that is working in this chapter. When I come to the book of Ephesians, in chapter four, I believe it's the idea where the Lord is working.

He's putting things together, as far as the church is concerned. When I come to chapters one through three, I find that if I understand that I am blessed with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ Jesus, if I understand the spiritual part of that, the latter part of Ephesians, where I see the Lord that he's putting everything in the church for the ministry, I find that it is God that's working. You see, you open that chapter and he says, I beseech you, therefore, by the workings of God, that you present your body a living sacrifice, and why should I? Because when you come to chapters one through eight, it starts from nothing, that God takes the sinner and he takes him all the way through.

And when you get to chapter 12, now my appreciation is everything that God has done, and so I'm not to be conformed to this world. And so you look at those three chapters of gifts, and you find that God is working, the Spirit is working, the Lord is working, and even here you've got the same idea, where the Spirit is working, but they're different administrations, and then you have the operations. But in reality of the truth, I want you to understand and not go back down to the actual nuts and bolts when you come to this chapter.

You see, if God has placed you in the assembly, and he has, then your responsibility is first to God. Responsibility is first to the Lord and God's assembly. There is a book that was written a few years ago called Purposes of Life.

Some of you might have read it, and the idea was just this, trying to figure out as a human being on this planet, what is my purpose in life? You want to know your purpose in the assembly, you read God's Word. You want to find out what the Lord would have you to do, read God's Word. But then you come to God's assembly, you might be the eye, you might be the ear, you might be the hand.

See, those are all figurative things of the human body. But I want you to understand, my dear brother and sister, if they are not functioning on a proper level, there's problems. We live in a life that anything out of balance doesn't function well.

And if you've got something that's got three eyes, it looks strange. If you've got something that's got three ears, you'll begin to look at it. And my whole thought is just this, brothers and sisters, if you're ever wondering why God's assembly is not functioning in a way that it should function, it's probably because one of the parts are out of balance.

One of the parts are not functioning the way it should function. You see, if I'm the hand and I'm wanting to be the eye, I think that there's a problem. You see, that's the problem when it comes to society.

Everybody wants to be something that they're really not. And if you understand, my dear brother and sister, this afternoon, if you understand the fact that God had placed you in assembly, and you should, if you understand your function in the assembly, and you should, everything will work out just well. But you see, when there's all type of schisms and isms in God's assembly, you have to look at the parts.

You see, when you come to chapter one of the Assembly, and Paul begins to address that, somebody, I said, I want to be Paul. I want to be Cephas. Everybody wanted to be somebody that they're not.

And Paul says, who is Paul? Who is Cephas? And he says, one, as far as watereth, as one planet, the other watereth. But the idea is just this, that they're put together for the use. You see, if so much, if you're not worried about who gets the credit, and we live in a society, and unfortunately, brothers and sisters, everyone's always worried about who gets credit for what.

In God's assembly, the only person that gets the credit should be the Lord. I'm not worried about brother so-and-so, brother, sister so-and-so. We're all working together for the good.

You see, that's what I see when I come to the Roman Epistle. One of the things, when you come to chapter eight, and the apostle speaks about from the beginning, now there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. And you see all the things that we are not obligated to be under, the flesh, and all of the things where there's no obligation.

You come to the end of the chapter, there's no separation. But understand that when you come to the end of chapter eight, you understand what the apostle was saying, and he sums it all up. He says, all things are working together.

Why? For the good of them that love God. What's the primary purpose? To be conformed into the image of his son. You see, my dear brother and sister, when I come to God's assembly, and when it comes to God's assembly, never be critical about God's assembly.

You see, it's easy to be critical, and you're wondering, this is the question you might should be asking yourself. Whatever part you are in God's assembly, am I functioning the best way the Lord would have me to be functioning? Am I doing the possible best to help God's assembly grow? Am I part of the problem, or am I part of the solution? You see, you're one of the two. I want to tell you when it comes to God's assembly, we're looking at God's assembly, they're just not functioning the way we might like them to function.

But if you want to grow God's assembly, be a part of the solution. Says diversity. That just simply tells me from every background, every person is not the same.

I'm not doing the same as brother so-and-so or sister so-and-so. God didn't have me to do that, but what I am doing, brothers and sisters, is for the operation and the unity of the assembly. Understand that.

You see, if the ear is not functioning, yeah, my wife says I'm hard of hearing sometimes. My hearing's getting a little dull. I like to call it selective hearing.

I don't always get away with that. But in the reality of just this, understand that as I look down this chapter and I see how the spirit is working, the body is not one member, but many. Let me tell you what is needed are the things that can be appreciated in God's assembly.

There can be no jealousy in God's assembly. When I come to the wise men of the Proverbs, and I find envy and jealousy, those two things can destroy. There can be no jealousy in God's assembly, but there should be a manifestation of a loving atmosphere.

You see, if there is envy and jealousy in God's assembly, things will be torn apart. It won't be long. So we find there can be no envy and jealousy in God's assembly.

When it comes to God's assembly, there is no monopoly. Nobody has a patent on anything. Let me tell you, you have one person that maybe wants to do everything, not in God's assembly.

You see, there's something for every one of us to do. Understand that. People are always worried about, well, what do you want me to do? And if you give them a job, they say, well, I don't want to do that job.

You got another one? But understand there is no monopoly in God's assembly, but there's something for everyone to do. Why? God had set in place as it had pleased him. And if there is no monopoly in God's assembly, I want to tell you, there is no independency in God's assembly.

You see, we all work as a unified body. Unfortunately, we live in a world today, and everyone is trying to establish a spirit of independency. Unfortunately, that can bleed over into God's assembly.

You see, we get living in times, brothers and sisters, we go to meeting and we see each other, we're shaking everyone's hand, and then we're gone just like that. There should be a real spirit of fellowship in God's assembly. I remember those wondrous days of fellowship, even as a young believer.

You see, we go from house to house, literally. We go from house to house. And when one wife put us out, we go to the other house.

And then after one wife got tired of it, she put us out, we go to another brother's house. And then by the time we went to the last brother's house, the wives had already called ahead and we don't even get in. But you see, that was that idea of spirit of fellowship.

Fellowship is needed in God's assembly. You want an assembly to be prosperous and close and unified. You want to see them more than just on Lord's Day.

You come to the meeting on Lord's Day and you have some people say, I didn't know what happened. What happened? Well, now there was a gospel meeting, you didn't come to. There was a prayer meeting you didn't come to.

And you got to know those that can make it happen. And then you have those that just never know what's happening. But in reality of it all, there's no monopoly in God's assembly.

There's no jealousy in God's assembly. There's no independency in God's assembly. But there should be consideration and love in God's assembly.

You see, we're all not the same. What this chapter brings out. We're all different.

We're all from different backgrounds. But you understand, even though there is a diversity, understand the fact how the Lord has set in the body as it had pleased him. Why? For the workings of his glory.

And when I see the fact that how as far as tempering together. You see, this world can try to put things together and sometimes it works, sometimes it's a complete mess. When I think of this thought of tempering things together, it's the idea of something that's being made.

Everything is put in and the fact that it's put in at just the right temperature, just the right mate. Nothing's missing and everything is working. I'm no cook.

My wife would tell you I don't cook. I do eat though. I have not had no problem eating.

I used to tell the brother and sister, that's okay. You invite us by. I'll have no problem eating, cooking, but it's not a specialty of mine.

My wife would ask me, she says, well, you know, there are some of the brethren that cook. I said, I didn't get that gift. But in reality, when I look at this chapter and I see the fact that one, the eye, ear, but understand when I come to God's assembly, I've seen an ability that God has given me.

And that ability that God has given me, I am to use it for his glory. You see, we live in a world today and people use their abilities for a lot of things. My time's gone.

And I use your abilities for such that there's no glorification of God in it, none whatsoever. Let me speak to you, brother or sister, older or younger, we can never get too old where we can't glorify God. We are never too young to glorify God.

If you understand your appreciation to where you are in God's assembly and you get a grasp of and appreciate God's assembly, you will be able to do great in God's assembly. You will be of help. You see, if we go through these different gifts, there's one gift that we didn't read about, you know, he put parcels and so forth, but there in the over later in this chapter at the end of it, there's a gift called helps, H-E-L-P-S.

I often wondered about that word. And I come to this conclusion. You see, there can always be room for helps in God's assembly.

Always. And people are always worried as far as what I can do in God's assembly. You just see what God would have you to do.

I think of the talents when you come to the Gospels. And while there are those that are given multiple talents, we can acknowledge that in God's assembly. And while there are those that maybe just have one talent, one ability, but understand what each one of them did with their ability.

That's what I want you to grasp. The one that had a multiple talents, he went and invested. I know the Lord gave him more.

And same way with the one that had two talents. But understand that the one that had the one talent, he said, well, I'm not going to do anything. I'll just save it.

I'll just sit. I'm saved and on my way to heaven and that's good enough. You notice what the Lord said about him.

He said, I know Lord that thou art an awesome man. So here it is. Brother or sister, can you imagine what the assembly be like if you didn't take the ability that God gave you and use it? You see all the God given abilities that we have in God's assembly, God has given them.

And brother or sister, when you come to the conclusion and the appreciation that you really appreciate God's assembly, where God has set you and you understand the reality of it, just like our brother was saying, when you understand the truth of the cross and all that is associated with it, it gives you a different appreciation of the Lord. And let me tell you that when you understand the fact of the truth and the diversity of God's assembly, everyone's different. The many administrations, God the Lord is admonished of them all.

The different operations. You see, there's what you have. God, the Holy, the Lord, the Father and the Spirit working all together.

And when you realize brothers and sisters, whether you're the eye, the ear, the mouth, the hand, the foot, understand that when you come to know where you are in God's assembly and what your place is in God's assembly, you will appreciate God's assembly. Unfortunately, we know that there are those that have left God's assembly. And brothers and sisters, if you understand the truth of it, everyone that leaves does not mean they were supposed to.

But you see, the devil is busy. And if he can take out a functioning piece in God's assembly, believe you me, he will. It's not the devil's idea that God's assembly function well.

It's not the devil's idea that God's assembly functions together. But then you see what the writer to the Corinthian says, what Paul was trying to stress. Because Paul had to clean up things when you came to the Corinthian assembly.

You couldn't come to the 11th chapter and the Lord's Supper until everything else got cleaned up. And I'll just say this and my time is gone. Of a truth, brothers and sisters, if you are worried as far as God's assembly is concerned, if you are worried about the functions of God's assembly, if you are worried about the people of God's assembly, if you are worried about the place where the Lord has placed his name, get a hold of this chapter.

And then you let this permeate in your mind that everyone in God's assembly has been placed there by God. And the Lord has placed them as he had seen fit. God bless his word.