The Beauty of the Body - 1 Corinthians 12:1-31

Well, we all know that moment at the dentist's office where the dentist has that little circular mirror and that sharp pokey thingy, right? And they put both of them into your mouth, and they start pushing around and tapping on things and scraping on things, and then they find that one particular spot that you're like, mm, I don't like that. And they start tapping on it again and again and again. And you're out, like, wide open, right? And you're just like thinking, yeah, could you like stop? Like, this is, this is not enjoyable, right? This hurts. But they found something. If they're a good dentist. They found a particular unhealthy spot that if it's left unaddressed, It's only gonna get worse. And let me tell you, this morning, the Bible is going to press on a sensitive spot. We've been in one Corinthians. A letter from the apostle Paul addressed addresses one problem after another in the church at Corinth. He's dealt with divisions, he's dealt with lawsuits, he's dealt with sexual immorality, we dealt with idols a few weeks ago. Last week, he dealt with issues in the Lord's supper, with communion, and now he turns to another area, where pride and where selfishness is like taken root. So what's the problem? What is it this time? Well, this time, the problem is spiritual gifts. And now, to be clear, the problem itself is not, the spiritual gifts themselves aren't the problem. The problem is that the Corinthians are misunderstanding it. They're abusing it. There's arrogance that's grown just around this issue. And so some members of the Corinthian church, they wanted to like flaunt their gifts, because their gifts in their eyes were better than other people's gifts, and they look down on those that didn't share their same gifts, they're kind of like this elite status. And so just like all the other problems, this has created a division. They're not unified. They've created this pseudo-like JV team and this varsity team at church. Where those with certain gifts are elevated, and those without those gifts, but with other gifts are just kind of looked down upon. Like you're not as important. as the rest of us. And those people have felt the ones that didn't feel like they had the most important or prominent gift. They felt like, man, I'm just unnecessary. I'm unwanted. I'm ungifted. And so in chapter 12, Paul just dismantles this way of thinking. So I want us to pray, and then we're going to jump into chapter 12 together. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. It's a long chapter, 31 verses together. So we're going to read through it. move through it quickly this morning, so buck a lot. We've got a lot to cover. But let's pray, let's go to the Lord, and we'll ask him to speak to us. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you've gathered us to this time and this place. to worship you, to set our eyes on you. To learn from you. And not to learn just to get more facts. But to learn so that our hearts would be changed. that we would grow in knowledge of you, and that knowledge would lead us to repentance. Your kindness would lead us to repentance. And that repentance would grow into love. Love for you, and love for one another. And if you would, where you're sitting, just take a moment and pray that the Lord would speak to you this morning, and that would be helpful to you. The next, if you would, pray for someone around you. Maybe it's a spouse or a friend or a roommate, someone maybe you don't even know, a stranger. Pray for them that God would speak to them. And then lastly, pray for me, that God would speak through me. It would be accurate, clear and bold. Father, we love you, and we trust you. We ask that you would use this time for your glory and for our good. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Well, Paul opens this chapter with a gentle but a firm confirmation. So read in verse one. He says, now concerning spiritual gift brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. So he's saying, hey guys, you've gotten this wrong. Uh, and I need to set the record straight for you. And before he dives into all the details that we're going to see, Paul reminds them where they came from. So look at verse two. You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to mute idols. That was chapter 8, chapter 10 as well, before Christ, they were bowing down to idols, they were bowing down to statues, and these statues couldn't speak, they couldn't act, they couldn't really accomplish anything. They couldn't change anything in their life. But now, by the power of the Holy Spirit, these Corinthians, they're proclaiming the most life giving conviction that anyone could ever proclaim. Jesus is Lord. Verse three. No one can say, Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit. Now, he's not just saying like, you can say the words, Jesus is Lord. He's saying by the conviction of the Holy Spirit. No one can deeply understand and believe this unless it's by the prompting of the Spirit. Jesus is my Lord. So that's our 1st point this morning. That conviction will have it on the screen. That conviction that not any particular spiritual gift or ability, that's the mark of a Christian. Not what you can do, what you can accomplish, but that you say in your heart, Jesus is my Lord. Whether you lead a Bible study, or you make coffee or you pass out the bulletins or you change diapers or you vacuum floors, the great distinguishing mark of the Christian life is that the spirit has opened your eyes to see the beauty and the majesty of Jesus. That's what Paul says before we get into all these giftings. And so with that foundation laid, Paul is now going to move into his main argument. Look at verse four. Now there are a variety of gifts, but the same spirit. There are a varieties of service, but the same Lord. There are varieties of activities, but it's the same God who empowers them all in everyone. Do you notice the repetition there? Different gifts, same spirit. Different service, same Lord. Different activities, same God. Paul is like hammering this home. He says, hey, our gifts are all different, but our source, That's the same. So there's no reason for any of us to boast, to feel awesome about ourselves. There's no reason to look down on anyone else. Anyone in the church. Then he says something that I think is just so helpful for us. Look at verse seven. He says, to each is given, the manifestation of the spirit, for the common good. Okay, so 2 things should stand out to us. The 1st that in God's family, every believer is gifted. Every believer is gifted. Not just pastors. Not just deacons, not just life group leaders, not directors of ministry, every single believer. And the 2nd thing that should stand out to us is that the purpose of that gift is not so you can show off and say, hey, look what I can do. I've got these talents, these abilities, these things to sway people. He says, it's for the common good of the church. Now, common good in this context, sometimes we can think common good like everything. No, Paul is addressing the church, the context of the entire chapter is the body of Christ that we're going to get to. It's the common good of us. It's the common good of the believers. God's design is that every member of the body would discover, develop, and deploy their gifts. For ourselves, no. For each other. to build up the church. When I was in middle school, I remember being a part of this program called the GT program. I asked about this in the 1st service and I got some nods and some confusion. So it's the gifted and talented program, right? Because when you're in 6th grade, you need to feel that elite status, right? And so I was part of this group. I get pulled out of certain classes and certain days of the week. I'm like, oh, I guess I'm one of the talented ones, right? One of the gifted ones. And it's great for that crew, but man, if you weren't in it, you felt it. Like all your friends get taken, you kind of get raptured in the moment. You like, where did all my friends go? You felt un overlooked. It's like, you don't make the cut because there's this elite group of students that are getting pulled out of the room. Guys, let me tell you the beautiful thing. The family of God has no GT program. There's no gifted and talented program here. Every single believer that's called by the spirit, that's saved by the sun, is gifted. Every single one of us. And listen, you may never stand on a stage, But the spirit of the living God has placed a gift into your soul. That the church, we desperately need. Paul then, he lists 9 spiritual gifts in verses 8 through 10. We got wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues, and interpretation of tongues. But it's interesting that he doesn't define any of them. And so I think a lot of times we kind of get hung up, like, wait, is this the gift that I have? Oh, wait, what's that mean? Oh, what does that look like, you know? So it's very difficult for scholars to know exactly what these gifts look like? It would be awesome. If we knew exactly what these were. And Paul doesn't, his point is not to give us an exhaustive list of gifts. And all the nuts and bolts about how they work in the life of the church. Because we get another list of gifts in Romans 12, and some of the gifts here aren't there. We get another list in 1st Peter 4. Some of the gifts there aren't here. There's no exhaustive lift, and there's no definitions of all of these gifts. So don't get hung up. And we're like, what does this one look like? What does that one mean? How does this play itself out? What does that look like? That's not Paul's point. Paul's point is to illustrate the amazing variety. of the ways that the spirit of God has gifted the people of God. That's his point. And then he closes a section with a statement that should just destroy any sense of pride that we or the Corinthians have left over. Verse 11. All these are empowered by one and the same spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. So he says, it's the Holy Spirit that distributes the gifts, as he wants to. So you didn't earn your gift? We didn't do anything to deserve a gift. It's the spirit of God who's chosen. It's the spirit of God who's given. And so you might be wondering, hey, this is the 1st time I've heard about spiritual gifts. What are we talking about? Like, what is a spiritual gift? Well, put real simply, we'll have it on the screen for us? A spiritual gift is a spirit given ability to serve the body of Christ with ease, effectiveness, and excitement. So it's not the same thing as a talent. A talent is something you're born with. Like you were able to sing, you got the vocal cords to sing, yeah, maybe you took some classes, you worked on a little bit. You had some coaches along the way, but you're born with that ability. I don't have that ability. You don't want to hear me sing right now, right? Thanks, resting. A spiritual gift is something the Holy Spirit gives you when you come to faith in Christ. So talents come at birth. Spiritual gifts come at new birth. That's the way God's designed it. It's also not the same as a fruit of the spirit. Some of us sometimes maybe get that confused. Galatians 5. The fruit of the spirit are more like godly character qualities. Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. The spiritual gifts describe abilities. teaching, serving, leading, showing mercy, administrating, encouraging. So every Christian should bear the fruit of the spirit. We should seek to walk by the Spirit so that we bear his fruit. We don't do it by our own, uh, Ability? We do it because of him. But the spiritual gifts. These come from the spirit. Not every Christian will have the same gifts of the spirit. We're all different. And if God has truly gifted you in a particular way. You're going to find out that it comes with relative ease. That others benefit from it. It has relative effectiveness and that you engage with it in a genuine, with genuine excitement. I think those 3 markers are just really, they're a really helpful compass for discovering what God has given us. And as you came in today, you were given a little block, right? Everyone take out your block, your little wooden block. Take a look at it. Now every block is a little different, right? Different shapes, different colors, rectangles, squares, circles, triangles. Look around at the people around you. What block did you get? Oh, you got a green one. Oh, you got this one. Some are orange, some red, some blue. Now would be awesome if, like, every single one of us could join me on stage, and we could, like, build this awesome castle together, but logistically, that would just be a mess and take forever to do. So I've done it for us. Actually, Brad Tolner has done it for us. Thank you, Brad Tolner, our resident engineer. What a beautiful castle he's built. But look at all the pieces. All of them fitted together, the base is stable, it's building up. It's interdependent. And you're not, you shouldn't focus on any one piece, right? Man, there's squares in here, there's arches. There's rectangles, there's triangles, there's cylinders, and all the colors. Man, this is fun. This is dynamic. This is beautiful. And this is the church. The beautiful body of Christ. This is what we're supposed to be. And when you look at that, you see all of the pieces coming together and they're all different. And here's what I want you to see. If all the blocks were the same, all plane rectangles, all the same color, this thing would be so boring. But because there are circles and triangles and every color, It's beautiful. We're all gifted by God, but we're all gifted differently. And the variety is what makes the body beautiful. And by the way, you guys can take that block home with you. You don't have to turn it back in as you leave here today, put it on your car dashboard. Put it on your nightstand, put it on a shelf in your office that you could just be reminded, even better, write on it, a gift from God. And from Northland Church, but that's okay. Now, so Paul is going to shift from theology to one of the most helpful illustrations in all of scripture. Verse 12. For just as the body is one and has many members and all the members of the body, though many, they're one body. And so it is with Christ. Paul says, hey, hey, think about the human body. The hands, the feet, the eyes, the mouth, the lungs, the heart. Man, they're so different. But they're all joined together to make one body. Then in verse 13, he explains the basis of this unity that were brought together. For in one spirit, we're all baptized into one body, Jews or Greeks. Slaves are free, and all were made to drink of one spirit. You can't get more diverse than Jews and Greeks in the ancient world. They didn't like each other. They didn't trust each other. And yet the spirit takes all of them and immerses them into the body, into the church. That's what baptism means. It means to immerse. So when you are baptized, you are hopefully dunked into the water. You are immersed into the church. So Paul says, hey, the Spirit has brought you into the church at the moment of salvation. You weren't just forgiven. You're incorporated into something bigger than yourselves. And then Paul gets personal. Look at verse 14. For the body does not consist of one member, but of many. If the foot should say, because I'm not a hand. I don't belong to the body. That would not make it any less part of the body. The ear should say, because I'm not an eye. I don't belong to the body. That would not make it any less import less a part of the body. So I was thinking this week about what this might look like, like in today's culture, the Corinthians are maybe saying things like this, but what would this look like in the modern church? Like, how would we approach this? And it sounds like someone maybe walking in on Sunday morning and they're looking around for the 1st time and they're like, man, this is great. Man, a new lobby. Coffee bar. The greeters have a smile. They're so excited to see me. Maybe they remembered my name. I came in, I got to hear the worship band. Man, that's a talented group. The music sounds great. The preaching is okay. I can just slide in, take it in, and slide out. And the church is never gonna feel it. If I never invest myself, man, the church won't be any better, it's not going to be any worse, It'll be okay. Let me tell you, friends, that mentality is unbiblical. Paul says that we belong to the body, whether we feel like it or not. Whether you've got animosity with someone in your small group or not, whether you've got con resolved conflict with someone or not, whether there's someone in this room, that every time you interact with them, you're just like so frustrated with them, you got to hold it in, right? The body needs you, whether you believe it or not. And he drives this point even further. Look at what he says in verse 17. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? So picture this for a moment. Like, I'm, imagine I'm standing here on the stage as nothing but just like a big mouth. Right? And I'm like, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, right? You'd be like, that's not a beautiful thing. That's a monster, right? Like, that's a monstrosity. That's not beautiful. And we might tend to think that what the preacher is doing is like the most important thing, like as long as someone is speaking on the stage, the church can do something, the church can meet, but Paul says, no, that's not how this thing works. If everyone only had the gift of teaching, the church would collapse. It would fall apart. Who would counsel the hurting? Who would hold the babies? Who would care for the newborns? Who would welcome the stranger? Who would serve behind the scenes? We just have a big mouth up here, right? And we'd miss out on seeing the beauty of the Lord's body. Read with me in verse 18. But as it is, God arranged the members of the body. Each one of them as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. So God, in his infinite wisdom, he has placed you exactly where you are, February 15th, at Northland Church. And he's given a particular gift into your soul. for this church to function as a whole. As he intends. It's not an accident. It's not random. He's called you to this time in this place. The same God, Paul says, that arranged the organs in your body in just the right place, arranged you in the body of Christ. In the church. But Paul doesn't just say that the body needs you. He turns the coin, and he says, you need the body. Verse 21. The eye cannot say to the hand, hey, I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. See, I think this is one of the many problems that we kind of all sometimes struggle with. Maybe we're struggling with it this morning. We say things like, well, I don't need the church. I just like need Jesus and that's all that I need. I've got Jesus, and he's everything. And that may sound spiritual. But it's very unbiblical. And we're each part of the body. It's unbiblical because Christ is the head of the body, and we're all part of it. So if I'm disconnected from the body, I'm just wandering around on my own, how can I experience the peace of Christ, the purpose of Christ? What he's called us to? The his presence? It's like watching, I was thinking about this week. It's like watching one of those crime shows or murder mysteries, and they're like, going through the woods at night. They've got a flashlight and they come across a hand. They're like, oh, right? There's a hand, there's a foot. Where'd that come from? Right? And everyone's like disturbed. Like, do we pick it up? Do we like take a picture of it? What do we do? Because it's disturbing. Some of us are that foot. With that hand. Out in the woods. That's what it's like when a Christian tries to live their life without engaging in the life of the church. See, when the Lord saves us, he doesn't just give us eternal life, he gives us an eternal family. And we're each meant to be connected to it, not wandering out in the woods on our own. So Paul makes an unusual statement. And verse 22. He says, on the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. And that word weaker here, it doesn't mean the way that sometimes we think it means just lacking in power. In context, here, refers to the parts that are actually less prominent. Not to the parts that are less important. So he says nothing in the body is dispensable. Internal organs, liver, pancreas, kidneys. those aren't prominent parts of the body, right? They're hidden. But they're absolutely essential, y'all. It's funny, I heard this story about body parts debating who is the most important? The eye says, hey, without me, you guys can't see. And the ears like, yeah, but with me, you guys can't hear. And every body part just kind of starts staking claim to their own abilities until Mr. Backend, he speaks up. And he says, well, I'm the most important. And everyone laughs, hi, you, you're smelly. You're hidden. Nobody wants to look at you. You're gross, and Mr. Backend is so hurt. He's so sad. He starts to cry. And then he says, well, fine, I'm just going to shut down. And see what happens to the rest of you guys. All right, let's get back to the Bible. 1st 23. Verse 23. On those parts of the body, that we think less honorable, we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts did not require, do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it. So God gave these less prominent parts important functions. You never hear someone say, oh, what a beautiful liver you have. Unless you're like a surgeon, right? Maybe you've said that before. Can you imagine if God put the liver, like right here? You're just like walking around with your liver. You like, how am I gonna get a date, right, in this place? I don't know. This is really distracting to everyone else. No, but God in his kindness, he puts beautiful eyes. A nose, a smile on your face. And then he puts all the vital organs inside. The beautiful parts get the visibility, the hidden parts, still important. I remember when I learned this for the 1st time, or maybe when I started to land on me when I was in college, I was part of a church, I wanted to be part of the body of Christ. And so I was sitting at this gathering. It wasn't a Sunday morning, but I was sitting at a table with a bunch of different people and I made a point, man, I just want to get some wisdom around me. So I sat up at a table with people with a lot of white hair. Or maybe no hair, Rustin? Okay. And so I'm sitting next to this lady who's probably in her 70s. And she's talking about stuff. We're all sharing together and she said, oh yeah, I was praying for this lady all night. And I was like, hold on, wait, wait, wait. Um, when you say all night, do you mean like, like you prayed until you went to bed and then you kind of like woke up early? And she's real humble. She's like, not trying to show it. She's like, no, I stayed up and I prayed all night for you for this lady. And I was like, I've never stayed up all night for anything, much less to pray. I mean, when I pray, I pray for like 5 minutes, and then I'm like, nailed it, got it, right? Like, moving on. I did so good, right? And I'm sitting next to her and I'm like, I don't have any friends that can pray like that. No one in my 20 year old college network could pray like that. And then we moved on and the conversation, and a few minutes went by, and we were talking about this Bible verse, and she said something that just wasn't right. And if I was like a referee, I would like, pull the flag like, you can't do that. It's like exegetically, you're putting ice of Jesus instead of exegesis, you're being hermeneutically irresponsible. You're terrifying me right now, right? And it's like, she needs me. And I needed her. Because no one in my friend group could pray like that. She had experienced God in some ways that I had no idea about. She had walked through some things in life. I didn't have it in my, on my radar that people could go through. I needed her. And she needed me to gently come aside alongside her and explain the text to her. We need each other. Verse 23. I'm sorry, uh, verse 25 Paul says, that there may be no division. in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together. So we all know what that's like to, like, wake up in the morning with, like, a stiff neck, you slept on it wrong, or a toothache, you're like, where did that come from? Or a headache and you're like, oh, it just affects everything. You start losing your balance, your coordination is off. You try to get out of bed and you're like, oh, that thing hurts, right? Because it throws everything off. One small part suffers and the whole body feels it. And that's how intimately God has designed the local church. We're not meant to just, like, merely coexist to be just around each other. We're meant to care for one another so deeply that when one person hurts, man, I hurt. When one person is celebrated, man, I rejoice. Like, yes. Verse 27, Paul says, now you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it. Paul's like, this isn't just a biology or anatomy lesson. This is a spiritual reality. We collectively are the body of Christ. And individually we're all members of it. So what does that mean? Oh, I'll have it on the screen. 3 points for us. We'll have it on the screen for a minute so we can all write it down. It means that church diversity is not deficiency. It's by design. Unity is not optional. It's essential. You imagine if like tomorrow morning you start going into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee and your foot's like, nope, and it disconnects from the body, you're like, what are you doing? Right? That doesn't make sense. Interdependence is not weakness. It's God's wisdom. And we can keep these on the screen. I'm going to move on to verse 28 so that we can all write them down. Paul moves on to a list of the roles in the church. He said, God has appointed in the church. First apostles, 2nd prophets, 3rd teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping administrating various kinds of tongues. Now, we tend to stumble over this ranking language. Like first, second, third. Is that like contradict everything that Paul's been saying? Like that sounds like you're saying there's more important things, Paul. But remember, Paul's not ranking importance. He's ranking prominence. The eye is more prominent than the ear. When someone looks at you, they don't look at your ear, right? Like COVID, where all of our masks are on, right? What are we looking at? We're trying to figure out who is this person? We're looking at their eyes. You're only looking at the ears if you're weird, right? But your eyes, they're more prominent. It doesn't mean they're more important than the ears. It means they're more prominent. After the list, we get this string of rhetorical questions. Are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers. The obvious answer is no. Not everyone's going to share the same level of prominence. And that's exactly his point. If everyone were a teacher, What would we do with hospitality? Who would show hospitality? If everyone's a leader, no one's a follower. The body requires diversity to function, requires variety. Does that make sense? Good, because the next verse is really confusing, okay? Verse 31. But earnestly desire the higher gifts. You're like, What? Paul, what? Didn't you just spend like the entire chapter telling us not to elevate one gift over another? And we sometimes we read that and we're like, Paul does not make sense. He is a self-defeating guy moving on to chapter 13 because it's all about love, right? Well, Paul's not saying to desire certain gifts individually. He's not saying like, well, you got this gift, but you really want that one. That would undo his entire argument. Paul saying to desire certain gifts corporately. That the church as a whole should desire the more prominent gifts. I think Paul, what Paul is saying here, is that he wants the more prominent gifts in the church, so the church is led, so that people are learning the scriptures. So that people feel love, that they're kept on the straight and narrow path, you need leaders to preach God's word. You need people to make sure that we're moving in the right direction, that we're biblically based, that we're making disciples. That's what Paul's saying. He's saying, don't desire them for yourself. Desire the prominent gifts for the body. It's about wanting godly leaders. For the church. But Paul ends this whole chapter with a teaser. He says, and I will show you still a more excellent way. Something even better than spiritual gifts is coming. It's the way of love. And Paul's going to unpack that in chapter 13, that love isn't proud. Love isn't jealous. It doesn't boast. It doesn't look down on the other people. Love serves. Love sacrifices. And love stays. So the more excellent way is not about having this godly gift. It's about having a godly heart. That's what Paul's gonna say. So as we come to a close. Like a good dentist. Uh, let me just push. on an unhealthy spot. For a little bit. And let me just start by affirming that this chapter is for all of us. Um, all scripture is profitable. It's helpful to us. So, I also want to be honest that it should be deeply convicting for those of us who are sitting on the sidelines. If you're a member here, and you're serving in some capacity, be thankful. Be thankful that the Lord is using your gifts in the church. Don't be proud like the Corinthians, be humble. That you're living this out. that the Lord has given you the ability to discover, to develop, to deploy your gifts, for the good of one another. And the church is better for it. But for those of us who have been coming for months, or even years, and haven't engaged in a way beyond what we're doing right now, sitting in a seat. This should be deeply concerning to us. And let me tell you the church loves you. We don't want to shame you. I don't want to shame you. No one on staff wants to shame you. We want to serve you. But we want you to serve us too. Because we need you. We need you. If the Bible is true. If you are truly a member of the body of Christ, if you've been saved, then sitting on the sidelines is not an option. It's a tragedy. And see here, the main point. That we'll have on the screen is God did not gift you to be a spectator. God gifted you to be a servant. Because that's what Christ was. That's who he is. He came to serve. Not to be served. So I need you. The pastors at Northland need you. Not like we'd like you to be more involved. Like, I, Tyler Rosas needs you. We need one another. You need me. And that's not like a sentimental cliche, that's a theological reality, rooted in the way that God has designed his church to function. So look at this castle. It's stable. It's beautiful. Every piece contributes to the whole. But watch what happens if like, uh, Willie Hunter's like, oh, I'm not going to serve. Oh, what about the person's not going to show up today because work has been really busy. Um, oh, my gift isn't as good as that other guy's gift. Man, I would really like to, but it's just not the right season right now. Um, all kinds of excuses. And honestly, some of them are good excuses. Health reasons. Maybe you're taking care of an aged mother or father that just needs your care. There are good reasons. And I'm not saying Paul's not saying you have to serve in every ministry. He's not saying you have to be there 40, 30, 20, 10 hours a week. He's saying you're part of this. So engage. Be connected. No people, love people. Serve people. Know what's going on. Every missing block is a gift that was never discovered, developed, and deployed. And the whole church suffers. It's not what it could be. It's not reaching its full potential. So in 5 weeks, We're starting a new campus, Northland Riverside. And all the pastors, we want to be super clear. This is not just a few of us starting a campus. We are starting a campus. You all have some part to play. Whether it's praying or showing up every week. Because when our head, Jesus says, I'm going this way, the body comes. The body follows. The body says, I'm all in. Not just the mouth or the ear, but the whole body moves together. This is one body, and the work ahead of us in 5 weeks, and in the next year is going to require all of us, discovering, developing, and deploying our gifts. For ourselves? No. For the kingdom of God to flourish. For the family to expand. So real quick, as we close, how do we how do we discover our spiritual gifts? Let me give us a few pointers here. You discover it by stepping into the church. You try different areas. And as you do, you pay attention. What comes with relative ease? What comes with excitement? What comes with effectiveness where people are like, oh, I loved when you did that. I benefited, I grew. When ease, effectiveness, and excitement converge. where you might be standing exactly where God has gifted you. Let me give us just a few practical steps we put on the screen. Pray this week. Ask the Lord, Lord, will you reveal to me what my spiritual gifts are? Second, seek counsel, ask some people. Ask the people that know you best. Hey, what do you think I'm gifted at? And not just like a little talent, but what do you think I'm? How have you learned from me? How have I been able to serve? Where do you see God gifting me? If you're like, uh, if you want to ask your life group and you're like, I don't have a life group. Fill out a connect card. We'd love to find a life group for you. Third, start serving. Don't just wait for like the perfect ministry or the perfect opportunity. Like, I'm just waiting for that thing of prominence to come along that matches my every desire. Just jump in where there's a need. God often confirms our giftings in the act of serving. You'd be amazed at what he reveals when you just simply show up and you say, Lord, here I am, use me. I want to be used. You've given me something to bless others. I don't know what you want your life to be about. But if God is building his church, man, I want my story to be that Tyler was part of building that too. I want that for you. But above all, I want you to know that the greatest gift that God has ever given is not some spiritual ability. It's God himself. That Jesus came to live the perfect life that we couldn't, that he went to that cross. He bared the full weight of our sins and it crushed him. And he went into that grave, and 3 days later, he rose to life, beating sin, Satan, and death. And because of that, you've been forgiven of your sin, you've been brought into the family of God. You have eternal life. You have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, all because of him, and that same spirit who gave us gifts is the one who joins you to the body. It's the same spirit who 1st opened your eyes to believe that life giving conviction. Jesus is my Lord. So guys, we are a gifted people. You've been gifted by the Spirit to empower you. You've been gifted with a spiritual gift to equip you. And you've been gifted by the Son of God. who saved you. Let's pray together. Lord, thank you that you've brought us here. that your word speaks life to us. It encourages us, it challenges us, it convicts us, and Lord, it points us to the right path. It's a hard path for many of us, for all of us. But it leads to life, life abundantly. It's your kindness that leads us to repentance, not shame. And so, Lord, I just pray if anyone's feeling shame or embarrassment that you would take that away. That is not from you. It's your grace, your mercy, your love. Your kindness leads us to repentance. So, Lord, let us be a repenting people. And let us not stop with repentance, but let us turn it over to a more excellent way, the way of love. They would walk with you all the days of our lives, and not just with you, but with our body, with your body, with the church, with this community of faith, whether it be here at Northland or somewhere else, would we be all in? And certainly, Lord, there are seasons where it's not, where we're not able to give our fullest, or maybe we're not able to serve in the way that we'd like to. Maybe we can't be all that we want to be, but we can be something to someone. Because you've gifted us. Lord, be honored by our serving. We wouldn't boast, we wouldn't look down upon anyone, but that we would look up to you. And know you're the God that gives gifts. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.