1 Corinthians 12:12-30, Called to Unity Through Diversity
Theological Proposition/Focus: God's model for the church involves various people with various gifts serving in various ways.
Homiletical Proposition/Application: Determine to serve as God has gifted you while also honoring the gifting of others.
Introduction: Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Image: Differences are what brings Emily and I together
I am not the sort of guy who sees every little detail. In fact, I often see exactly zero of the details. What I do see is the big picture and how seemingly disparate pieces of a puzzle can fit together. One of the reasons that Emily and I work so well together is that Emily sees every little detail. For our Monday night Bible studies what we often do is that I will sit down and come up with a big picture or summary and then Emily will do the work of writing up details and filling in the holes. We work together and we do so well because we complement each other well. It is not that my work is more important or that Emily's work can stand on its own, it is that we need each other. God designed us to work together by complementing each other and similarly, in the church God has designed and placed us within the church to complement each other and work together.
Setting the Stage:
We have talked a lot about the problems of factionalism in Corinth. The church had a problem they were forming teams and excluding others. They failed to recognize the value that each other brought to the church and this was hurting the church.
Need: As individuals who are part of a covenant community we need to look for opportunities to serve and to honor the gifted service of others.
Preview: Today we are going to look at the idea of unity through diversity by considering our own gifting, and showing honor to the gifting of others.
Text 1 Corinthians 12:12-30 read after each main point..
Two weeks ago we talked about serving and emphasized serving in the Spirit.
As we pursue gifted service we need to understand gifting. We should be using our gifts in the church but what does that actually look like?
Body
First notice that
The central theme is that of unity through diversity (12-14).
Paul draws a metaphor to emphasize the theme of unity through diversity. Let's look at that metaphor.
The metaphor of the body emphasizes unity through diversity (12).
The intention of the metaphor is to show that every individual is an important necessary component of a functioning church.
But more than just necessary, every individual is valuable.
This is where it gets hard. You see, it is relatively easy to say that every person in the room is necessary what is harder is to actually value each individual in the room. You know that person who says exactly what he thinks even when you don't want to hear it, they are valuable! You need to value them.
A body missing parts is incomplete.
The metaphor also sets the stage for Paul's overarching argument which we will get to in time. Every individual matters but not as individuals as part of the corporate body.
Baptism of the Spirit is the source of our unity (13).
Paul had emphasized the fact that the same Spirit was at work in each individual.
Now Paul argues that the one Spirit is the source of unity.
There are all sorts of words here that cause people confusion.
What does it mean to be baptized by the Spirit and to drink?
Remember that Paul is using metaphors. So we shouldn't be surprised at the metaphor he is using here.
At the moment we accept Jesus as Savior we are cleansed from sin, washed if you will.
Remember that Baptism means to immerse or dip and carries the idea of cleansing. With this in mind let me re-state the verse.
For we were all immersed in one Spirit so as to form one body - whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free - and we we were all given one Spirit to drink of. In other words, you were cleansed by the Spirit and now enjoy the blessing of that same Spirit!
There are a lot of people with a lot of theological debate who draw on verse 13 but the point is not the word baptism or the word drink! The point is the one Spirit
The point Paul is making is not to create this big theological treatise on water and spirit baptism. The point that Paul is making is that it was the one Spirit at work in us and is the one Spirit by whom we enjoy the abundant blessings of spiritual life.
Paul's emphasis is on our unity through diversity and
The body is a reminder of our diversity (14).
Image: You can choose your friends but you can't choose your family.
I can't tell you how many times I have heard something similar to the statement "you can choose your friends but you can't choose your family." The statement is a picture of the reality that we all know. We will put up with a lot from people who we share blood with. Paul's point here is that we share something very special with everyone in this room today. Not a genetic heritage, we share unity through one Spirit.
MTR: Ask yourself, do my attitudes reflect unity through diversity?
How? Find ways to embrace the diverse gifting of others in church.
Even though it is not all about me there are some things that I need to consider about my gifting (15-20).
Image: It's not all about you.
One of the phrases that my dad liked to use was "It's not all about you!" That phrase has stuck in my head and serves as an important reminder to me many times. I am kinda of a picky eater but guess what, it is not all about me so I eat it anyway. I am pretty particular on washing my hands frequently but it is not all about me. Honestly, I think we would all be a lot better off if we each reminded ourselves every day, it is not all about me. Nevertheless, there are times when you do need to consider something about yourself. My summary statement for verses 15-20 is that even though it is not all about you there are some things that you need to consider when it comes to gifting.
First,
It is important for me to embrace my personal gifting (15-16).
Paul's statement can be summarized in this way.
Just because you say you are not gifted and not needed does not make it true.
You can tell me you have no gifting or abilities until you are blue in the face but it is not true.
You can tell me that you don't fit in and have no place in the church as much as you want but that doesn't make it a true statement.
The truth is that you are gifted. You do belong.
Something that we each need to do is to embrace our gifting.
We need to accept that God has gifted each one of us.
Ephesians 4:7 is a powerful reminder that we have each been gifted by Christ.
It is important for me to recognize the value that my gifting brings (17).
Verse 17 is an incredibly important part of the argument. Not only does each person have a gifting but each of those gifting is important to the church.
We have a tendency in society to rank order skills and this can be dangerous because then people stop feeling valued.
You know, the pilot's skills are more important than the mechanic's skills, who are more important than the gate agent's skills and so on.
Guess what, if everyone is a pilot then a lot of airplanes start falling out of the skies!
In Paul's metaphor, if the whole body is an ear then where is the sense of smell?
In the church, if everyone hear is a preacher then who is going to be an encourager, or a person of faith, or someone who does administration? If we all have the same skill then we miss out.
We need to remind ourselves that
It is critical that I acknowledge God has gifted me exactly as He intends and that I submit to Him (18-20).
Here is the reality. God doesn't make mistakes. God has gifted you as He desires for the purpose of His will.
MTR: Give yourself an honest evaluation: "Do I properly embrace, value, and submit in my own gifting?"
How: Don't disparage your gifting but look for ways to use your gifting.
All glory goes to God but that doesn't mean I can ignore the command to show honor to others (21-26).
It is important for me to recognize that my gifting is not sufficient without the gifting of others (21).
I really like the text of verse 21. No single individual or even group of individuals is allowed to define the church. More, no one is allowed to decide that the church does not need another. We are each gifted for service in the church but we are all ontologically equal before Christ. Ultimately, Christ has the authority and our giftedness most be submitted to Christ. I want you to notice something else. Paul's words matter notice what the eye is not to say to the hand "I have no need of you."
I think at times in our individualism we get carried away. We might think something like "Sure the church needs you, but I have no need for you." This is not the case, I need you and the church needs you. I want us to begin to understand and appreciate what is happening here. We individually need each other individually.
We also corporately need each other. In fact, in verses 22-24 Paul takes it further.
It is important for me to recognize that some of the seemingly less honorable gifts deserve great honor (22-24a).
Have you ever heard someone say something and thought, um okay I didn't want that image. Well, unfortunately, that is what Paul does next. In verses 22-24a Paul draws attention to a reality.
There are certain parts of our body that we are careful to cover. It is dishonorable to show these parts of the body but these parts of the body are nevertheless essential.
Think about this for a moment. What percentage of an ancient budget was spent covering your unpresentable parts of the body and what percentage was spent covering the hands?
Paul is making a point.
We need to be careful not to push the analogy too far but rather to embrace the point of the analogy.
Just because a particular gift is not something that is on public display does not mean it does not deserve great honor.
It is important for me to intentionally show honor to all parts of the body (24b-26).
So what does this mean for us? I think we need to make a point of honoring others.
We need to recognize that there are some individuals who by the very nature of their position, title, or personality will receive honor.
I am in front of you every week and appreciate that so many come to me to thank me for the work I do but let me ask you a question, when was the last time you thanked Dawn for the work she does?
Or one of the members of our various prayer groups for the time spent in prayer?
There is all sorts of work being done that by its very nature is not visible. Let's make a point of showing those people honor too!
Image: Don't use God as an excuse to shirk your responsibility to honor others (Corban in Mark 7:11).
As I was thinking through the message a thought occurred to me. All the praise goes to God so isn't it enough to just praise God? I don't think so, I think that when we ignore showing honor to those within the body we actually are dishonoring God. Why? Because God has chosen to work through fallen creation and honoring God involves honoring God's methods.
Mark 7:11 came to mind "But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God) NIV"
Here, "Corban" is a term that means a gift dedicated to God. Jesus is pointing out a practice where people would declare their possessions as Corban, which supposedly meant these possessions were reserved for God and therefore could not be used to help their parents. By doing this, people were effectively neglecting their duty to care for their parents, violating the commandment to "Honor your father and mother."
Jesus criticizes this practice because it allows people to evade their responsibilities to their parents under the guise of religious dedication, thus nullifying the true intention of God's commandments with their traditions.
The Pharisees used their supposed righteousness as an excuse to bypass their responsibility. Let's not use the excuse of honoring God to allow us to bypass our need to show honor to others through whom God is working.
