The Body

Text: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Focus: Spiritual gifts

Function: ‘to help people feel connected to the Spirit’s power

¹²For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

¹⁴Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. ¹⁵If the foot would 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. ¹⁶And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. ¹⁹If all were a single member, where would the body be? ²⁰As it is, there are many members yet one body. ²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” ²²On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect, ²⁴whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, ²⁵that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. ²⁶If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

²⁷Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. ²⁸And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. ²⁹Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work powerful deeds? ³⁰Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? ³¹But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

Good morning beloved of God!

Today we are continuing our study on the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit.

Brother Paul segues into a teaching during the rest of the chapter about how the Spirit of God draws us into the unity of the Body of Christ.

Remember, in God’s e eyes it is a blessing to God for us to leave planet earth and join God in heaven. Psalms 116:15. So the reason we are still here is because God leaves us on planet earth to do God’s will by showing the world the love of Christ. We are on a mission from God.

So he starts out the passage with this truth: We belong to each other.

We bear responsibility for the wellness and wholeness of each other. “Each member is to have the same care for one another.” (Vs. 25b)

We are linked together integrally just as the members of a body are linked together.

And he’s not just talking about the church here. He mentions unity between the races of humanity when he speaks of Jews and Greeks.

This truth belongs to more than just the church here. Jesus came to transform the society into a place which cares for everyone of all races and there isn’t superior and inferior races.

He reminds us that as an human race that we live together in harmony with diversity that makes us different.

We aren’t the same, God made us different, but connects us together.

And he uses the metaphor of a single body and its different components and how their survival depends on the health and wellness of the other parts of the body even though they have different purposes, gifts, passions, calling and needs.

Our survival depends on the well being of others. We live in a community and we are called to care for that community in Christian love.

So, let us just reflect on that a moment. What does it mean to you that we are part of one physical body?

(pause)

Now, we have to remember that the Corinthian church was experiencing a problem with pride in individual members who thought they were more important than others.

And we are going to hear repeated in these passages in 1 Corinthians how pride gets in the way of love.

Brother Paul addresses it here again when he continues the metaphor and speaks how one member may not feel like it needs the other.

He points out how ridiculous that is.

And it is self-importance that puffs us up and keeps us from honoring and valuing the other members of the body.

Christ wants us to honor and value everyone regardless of their race, religion, gender identity, nationality, and economic status.

By loving them and showing them kindness we set the example for people to give up their selfish ways and live for the strength and health of the body, the community.

Since we are one body, we are called to live for the collective good, not the individual good.

It is worldly, unchristian, and selfish to proclaim that we are not responsible for the entire body of humanity. Everyone is our neighbor. If we want God to bless our nation then remember that according to Jesus, how we treat the stranger is the way we treat Jesus himself. And Jesus says it with the judgment of either heaven or hell as our outcome to the way we care for the stranger.

It isn’t okay to say, “well, we are mainly responsible for our own families and we don’t have to treat the rest as our neighbors.” It contradicts Jesus’ teaching and I feel I must speak up.

Jesus said we are to care for the least of these and in this passage, we see that it is especially important since they are members of our own body.

When a member is sick, we pay attention to it, nurture it and heal it. Sure, we cut it out if its malignant, but almost always at a high price. Remember, Jesus wants to restore, he came to restore us to God and to each other.

So, yes, deal humanely with the criminal element, but the rest are still called neighbor by Jesus and whatever we do, we must do under the command to treat them as well as we treat ourselves and our own.

If we want security for ourselves, then the golden rule dictates that we give it to everyone else regardless of race or their skin color or status.

To end today’s teaching on the gifts, the passage switches back to our problem with pride. He uses the body metaphor again to tell us not to lose heart if no one seems to recognize our contributions to the body.

He speaks of those whose spiritual gifts are not the showy ones that we talked about last week, but behind the scenes gifts. He explains it with the body metaphor by saying we cover up the important parts and the less important parts are seen.

It reminds me that the Spirit of God leads us to Christ, not a person or a personality, or a pastor but to a church, a community, a body. And every gift of service is important from cleaning, repairing, baking, visiting, sending cards, throwing parties, decorating, writing poetry, creating art or whatever we feel inspired to do by God to do.

I heard the story of a woman dedicated to prayer who went ahead of a famous evangelist to the next town and spent the week praying over the city for God’s Spirit to restore people to Christ.

She is a saint who remains nameless. I imagine it is because she came from a time before we were sensitive to Diversity, and Equality and a spirit that Includes everyone instead of the dominant culture or gender.

This passage is about diversity, equality and including those who don’t seem important, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion are commanded here as Christian values.

Let us be different here at Painter Creek and seek to include the entire body.