If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.If the foot would say, “Because I’m not the hand, I’m not part of the body,” it is not therefore not part of the body.If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; it is not therefore not of the body.
3 sermons cite this verse
… something you attend. It's a family you belong to and you need other people. You need connections in your life. First Corinthians chapter 12, verse 15. If the foot says, I'm not a part of the body because I'm not a hand, that doesn't make it any less part of the body. And if an ear says, I'm not part of the body because I'm only an ear and not an eye, would that make it any less part of the body? Too often, the church is just a big mouth. And we've amputated the arms and the feet. And we're known for what we say. We know for what we're against. I'm tired of that. I want our church to be known for what we're for, not what we're against. okay I want us to be known for what we're for not what we're against again what good is an eyeball detached from a body it can't see anything I want you to write this on your outline I can't fulfill my purpose by myself that's one of the fundamental lessons you have to learn in life I cannot fulfill my purpose by myself. …
is, to put it mildly, remarkable. It's a picture of community where each one of us is empowered by the Spirit or gifted with extraordinary gifts, and nobody is excluded. The church, our life of faith, what it means to follow Jesus involves everybody pulling together despite our differences. It takes all of us coming together. We are all considered to be a vital part of the team, and that's what I see every time it is that I lead in worship. You know, I have this perspective or this vantage point of looking out over the entire congregation every time you stand on this chancel. And when I look out, what I get to see is the full diversity of the gifts of this body of faith, of this living body of Christ. And I look out over the crowd and what I get to see are all these different people. And I get to look and I get to see the compassionate and the caring kinds of people. I get to see people who are way smarter than me, who are gifted with, you know, wisdom and reasoning and logic and memory and all those different kinds of things. I look out and I see that we have welders and I see that we have salespeople and consultants. I see that we have doctors and lawyers and CEOs and CPAs and students and kids. I see all of these different people, each with their own gifts, coming together to create something entirely different and absolutely …
challenges of chapter 12 and the unfolding challenges of chapter 14. I suppose if we're going to do a series, then make sure that we keep 13 where it is, right in the middle, so as to prevent us from all kinds of lopsidedness. Father, we pray that what we don't know, you will teach us, that what we don't have, you will give us, that what we are not, that you will make us. And we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Incidentally, in coming to these three studies in Nehemiah, I've chosen them somewhat arbitrarily, but not actually so. I've decided not to do, you know, if you like, the big passage in chapter 8, bring out the book and the Word of God, and to reinforce the place of expository preaching—not because that would not be our emphasis, but just because it's so familiar to us. And I thought I would rather take a stab at the rather naughty 13th chapter, which is before us later in the day, unless we can find a way to escape before that. But in the same way, you know, here, dealing with chapter 3 and chapter 4, we all believe together, don't we, that all Scripture is inspired by God, the perspicuity of Scripture, we believe, down to the verbs, and the adverbs, and so on. So, we believe that all Scripture is inspired, but if we're honest, we recognize that all Scripture is not equally inspiring. So, for example, you know, Chronicles ends with …