Indispensable and...

I Corinthians 12:12-31

We’re finishing our series titled Broken and Indispensable today.  We’re going to take a pause at this point in the book of I Corinthians, and we will come back to the last four chapters as a separate series starting in January.

Our passage for today is the second part of chapter 12.  Last week, Tim shared on that first portion regarding spiritual gifts.  The closing thought from last week’s passage was that different spiritual gifts are given to different individuals as determined by the Holy Spirit.  And so, we are each uniquely equipped for works of service.  Verse 7 said these gifts are “given for the common good.”  In other words, we should not use our gifts for our own benefit, but rather to benefit others. 

Today, we’re going to see that idea reinforced and talk about how God intends the body of Christ to fit together like a physical body.  These themes will also lead us to speak of the unity within the Body of Christ.

Before we do that, let’s take a moment and pray.

Lord God, You are the master builder, the master designer.  Help us to have eyes to see what You are building in and through us.  I thank You for this passage of Scripture and how You use Your creation to instruct us by example.  Help us to see and apply those things which we need in our lives right now.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Paul is going to start out this passage with an example from the physical bodies that we have.  He’s going to then use that in helping us to have right thinking about the body of Christ that we’re in as a group of believers.  Let’s start with the first couple of verses which gives a good introduction into this idea of the body of Christ.

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.—I Corinthians 12:12-13

Paul starts with an example we can all certainly relate to.  Is there anyone here who doesn’t have a body?  No?  I didn’t think so.  Is there anyone who can’t remember what the parts of your body are?  We learn songs about the body so that we can know all its parts, right.  Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes.  Has anyone taken an anatomy class?  You probably had no idea how many different parts there were to the body prior to taking the class. 

We know that our bodies are singular.  We have a body.  We also know that our bodies are made up of different parts.  The different parts are many and various.  They have different functions.  Some are visible on the outside.  Other critical parts are not visible, but more on that later.

The point here is just that as our bodies are complex units of many parts, so is the body of Christ.

The phrase “the body of Christ” throughout Scripture almost always refers to all believers.  There are multiple references throughout the New Testament which talk of all believers as the body of Christ:  Gentiles together with Israel (or the Jewish believers) in Ephesians 3:6; Ephesians 4:4 One body, one Spirit; God desires that we would all be equipped for works of service in order to build up the body of Christ in Ephesians 4:12; in verse 15 of Ephesians 4 it speaks of how we are to grow up into the Head which is Christ;  we are to live in peace according to Colossians 3:15 because we are part of one body.  And, as the parts of our body need to live at peace with one another, so must the body of Christ.

We are spiritually baptized and regenerated by the Holy Spirit.  John chapter 3 talks about being born again by the Spirit.  (John 3:3,5)

In the body of Christ, there is no racial distinction, no cultural distinction, no social distinction.  God intends that there is complete unity and life together in the Spirit.

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. –I Corinthians 12:14-18

I believe Paul is trying to make this explanation as simple as possible.  He uses repetition to emphasize again that the body is not made up of one part but of many.  And he concludes his analysis by stating that this is how it’s supposed to be.

It also seems like Paul is addressing those in the body who feel that their gifts are inferior or unimportant.  His hypothetical hand or ear, who said, “I am not a part of the body,” are likely representative of some people in the church.  Some are saying that they are not part of the body because they are not like someone else. 

Have you ever felt like that?  Have you ever disqualified yourself because you weren’t like other people?  I think this kind of thing happens more often than we realize.  I think we do it but rationalize it to ourselves.  We say, “I’m not gifted at that.”  No one is good at everything, so that’s often a true statement.  We shouldn’t try to be something we’re not.  At the same time, we don’t do things we could be doing because we know we’re not going to do them well.  It’s like a pendulum swinging … on the one hand, I can only do what I’m gifted at … on the other, if I don’t have a “greater gift,” then I’m not part of the body … both extremes mean that the body is not at peace.

We have the silly picture of the body as being one giant eye or maybe if all the parts of the body were eyes.  That would be really disgusting.  That body would be totally useless.  The purpose for seeing is sensory.  It allows your body to take other actions.  Without arms or legs or a brain, seeing doesn’t do you much good does it?  The “exciting” parts of the body presuppose the other parts.  The senses are useful when we have the ability to make decisions and act.

Our bodies have diverse parts and this diversity is needed in order that they can work effectively as a whole.  In the same way, the body of Christ is made up of different parts with different gifts which when used together bring about Christ’s unified purpose.  Each one must properly exercise their gifts for the good of the whole.

I was preparing for this message, and an ancient memory came to my mind.  It was a memory from the early ages of Sesame Street.  It was a one shot sketch.  I don’t think the characters ever were used again.  I looked it up, and the first time it was on TV was when I was two years old.  I’d show it to you, but it’s just weird.   Telling you about it is less awkward than watching it.

I only remembered the sketch and not the name of the characters or any other detail, but I could still find it on YouTube and then on Muppet Wikia by description alone.  Anyway, it is the story of two aliens which I now know are called the Geefle and the Gonk.  The Geefle and the Gonk lived on the planet Snew.  And the only food on the planet Snew was nectarines from the nectarine tree.  Now, the Geefle was tall, tall enough to reach the nectarines.  But, the Geefle did not have articulating elbows.  His arms were just straight.  He couldn’t put the nectarines in his mouth.  Now, the poor Gonk, he was too short to reach the nectarines.

Because of their inability to either get food or feed themselves, they both were quite hungry.  So after staring at each other awkwardly for a while, they crafted an idea.  The Gonk suggested that the Geefle pick the nectarines and throw them down or give them to the Gonk.  Then, the Gonk could eat them as well as feed the Geefle.  And so they did.  After this worked, they decided to call this strategy of working together, “cooperation.”

I have no idea why that particular sketch got stuck in my head 40 years ago.  I’d guess I’ve seen well more than a hundred Sesame Street sketches over the course of my childhood.  The plot is so simple and obvious it doesn’t seem to have much attraction.

So why do I tell you the silly story of the Geefle and the Gonk?

Well, according to I Corinthians 12:18 there, God has a sovereign plan in diversifying the body.  In fact, God’s desire is that by employing diversity in an exclusive way.  I say exclusive because some can do certain things while others cannot.  God’s desire is that through exclusive diversity unity can be achieved.  God has planned interdependence into how the Spirit has gifted and equipped us.

If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.  The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” –I Corinthians 12:19-21

You can’t call it a body anymore if diversity has been removed (or never existed).  It is through that diversity that a group of parts can become a body.  Think about building a house.  What if all you had were nails?  Would you be able to build a house?

There’s another problem Paul is addressing.  Apparently, there were those who felt their gifts were superior and more important than others.  And perhaps, some gifts had been promoted above others.  Then, folks with some high visibility gifts were looking down on others who didn’t have the same gifts saying in effect, “I don’t need you!”

Paul is saying that kind of thinking is incorrect.  It won’t work.  Christians in the body of Christ are mutually dependent as we exercise our distinctive gifts.  This is another reason not to forsake meeting together with other believers.  We need to be together because we need one another.  There are no “lone ranger” Christians.

On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. –I Corinthians 12:22-24

The ones who appear to have less important functions are actually indispensable.  The example in my study Bible was the stomach.  Our stomachs certainly are much to look at.  They’re gross and slimy, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t feed them.  And if we decided not to feed our stomach because stomachs aren’t “cool,” then we’d end up starving ourselves.

And so, we should honor and support each believer in their giftedness even if they seem somehow “ordinary” to us.  And the crazy thing is that different things are “ordinary” at different times to different people.  We’re kind of a “techno” church.  A lot of people in our church have technical jobs or technical backgrounds.  I think 50 or 100 years ago, technical jobs and backgrounds were regarded as a profession in a way like doctors and lawyers.  But today, that doesn’t seem to be the case.  Instead, the culture thinks of technical minded people in terms of Dilbert and rather as social outcasts almost.  Of course, lawyers are suffering a similar but different fate in the court of public opinion.  What once was regarded as a noble endeavor is now looked at as something less than noble.

We should be on the lookout for the gifts of others and then celebrate them together.  And people who have more visible or recognizable gifts do not need to be given special honor.  It is certainly acceptable to compliment people with more visible gifts, but it is wrong to give them disproportionate honor.  It is the time of the Nobel prizes again.  The awards are given in different areas of accomplishment.  If you think about it, there are awards for just about every kind of pursuit … athletic, academic, artistic, and much, much more.  Perhaps there is a positive lesson to learn from this cultural activity:  celebrate the gifts of others!

But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.—I Corinthians 12:24-26

We’ve come again to a key theme in I Corinthians.  No division!  We should be equally concerned for each other.  If one of us suffers, then all suffers.  A hungry empty stomach cannot be ignored.  Neither can an upset stomach.  A hurting pinky toe can command our full attention.

Last week we played softball after the church picnic.  We had a really fun time playing together, but I did have a weird thing happen.  At my first at bat, when I hit the ball, I took off running.  I threw the bat down to my left.  And as best as anyone has been able to figure it out, I guess the barrel of the bat struck the ground, and the handle tomahawked into the back of my left heel as I started to run.  It hurt for sure, but I could still play, so I kept playing.  That evening it hurt worse than it did while we were playing.  The next morning, I could barely walk.  I went to work, but it felt like my desk was about 5 miles from the parking lot.  Needless to say, I didn’t leave my desk except for the utmost important things.

I kept thinking my heel would turn colors or there would be some swelling, some outward sign that my heel was seriously hurting.  But, it never did.  The entire week, my heel has looked as if nothing happened to it.  Let me tell you though, even if no one else could see it, I knew my heel was hurting.  In fact, it was about Wednesday, and my lower back started hurting.  I think that came about because I kept walking funny but faster and faster each day.  My awkward stride finally started to irritate my back.  About that time, the pain was gone to the point that I didn’t walk funny anymore, so I’m pretty much okay again.  I share the story simply because it happened the week of this message.

In the case of the body of Christ, if one Christian suffers, all Christians are affected.  I’m not sure we believe that all the time.  I’m almost certain we don’t think it is true when we ourselves are suffering.  If you feel bad, do you ever think about the impact it has on someone else?  Almost never, right?  You’re too busy thinking about yourself whether you’re mad or sad or some other emotion.  If we’re feeling down or even depressed, we think it doesn’t really matter.  In these situations, we sometimes can’t think straight.  But according to this passage, it really does matter.

Jesus told us to send the little children to him because the kingdom of God belonged to ones like them.  (Matthew 19:14)  Little kids are great at picking up on when others are hurting especially adults or older people.  I’m sure moms of little kids have been through this more than once.  If you’re sad, the child will want to know what’s wrong.  Then, before you know it, the little guy or gal is just bawling their eyes out.  They don’t even know why you’re sad.    They’re just sad because you’re sad.  We would do well to follow their example.

We should all mean so much to one another.  You all mean a lot to me.  You are precious saints.  I’m not particularly good at articulating these things.  But it breaks my heart to think of the hurts many of you have endured.  There are some amazing prayer warriors in this body.  I don’t think any of us knows how much we’ve been prayed for by our brothers and sisters here.  We can always do a better job of coming alongside one another, I’m sure.  I know I fall short of where I would like to be.  And yet, I do not want us to wrongly accuse or acquit ourselves.  Let us strive to love one another and recognize moments of suffering as well as moments of honor in each other’s lives.

Tim shared something rather surprising yesterday.  Do you know how in Genesis that it talks about how man should not dwell alone and that God sent a helper for Adam?  That was Eve, right.  And so we hear this word, helper or helpmate.  It sounds so sweet, and don’t get me wrong, men need plenty of help.  But, Tim pointed out that the word helper used there is used about 20 times in the Old Testament.  Like 15 times, the helper that it’s talking about is God.  God is our helper and shield, it says again and again in the Psalms.  This idea of helping is not some kind of standoff helping.  It is active and even protective.  I think we can see some of that thinking here.  We protect our bodies, right?

Now that the days are shortening, I find I need to walk around in the dark in the morning.  I usually keep my arm outstretched so I don’t walk into a door or the wall or something.  Well, I went in to wake the girls one day.  My usual problem coming out of their room is I hit my hip on the corner of their dresser.  That particular day, I walked into the end of their door.  Now, I was walking really slow, but I walked right into the door with my nose.  Fortunately, it was a fairly gentle impact.  But still, it brought tears to my eyes.  Next time, you can believe I’ll let my arm protect my nose.

We can and should be protective and helpful to one another in love.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?—I Corinthians 12:27-30

You’re all a part of the body of Christ.  No one is excluded.

Paul’s given us a little bit different list here.  It’s got both roles and gifts.  There are three types of individuals out of the five described in Ephesians 4:11, and then there are five gifts from the list of nine gifts found in verses 8-10 (which are the ability to give wise advice; the gift of special knowledge, special faith, the power to heal the sick, the power to perform miracles, the ability to prophesy, the ability to know whether it is really the Spirit of God or another spirit that is speaking. the ability to speak in unknown languages, the ability to interpret what is being said).

You’ve got a first, second, third.  So these roles have a sort of separation because they’re followed by the word “then”.  This second group of gifts after “then” seems to be a representative collection of some gifts rather than an exhaustive list of all gifts.  It seems reasonable based on the verses we’ve already read that all gifts are important.

The roles of apostle, prophet, and teacher appear to be positions set out from the gifts themselves.  In Ephesians 2:20, it says that the household of God is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ himself as the chief cornerstone.  Those two roles of apostle and prophet are key roles for establishing and building the church.  The role of teaching is associated with pastoring as described in I Timothy 3:2. 

Verses 29 and 30 there explain that we have different gifts, and no on gift is to be expected to be held by everyone.  We should try to fan the flames of the gifts in each person in our body.  And we should also:

But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.—I Corinthians 12:31

What are the greater gifts?  Are they not the gifts which bring about the most for the common good?  I think it is easy to look at the greater gifts as ones which would bring us the most esteem or recognition.  Based on today’s passage and last week’s, I think we can be certain the desire for the greater gifts would be a desire for gifts which build up the body and encourage others.  This would lead directly to the excellent way which Paul wants to show us.

Do you know what comes next?  Chapter 13, the love chapter. 

Love is not a gift, it is a fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22)  We all have gifts, and we need to exercise them rightly, in love.

God gifts us all in many and various ways.  What do you know about George Washington Carver?  Peanuts?  Carver was a scientist.  He was also a believer in Jesus Christ.  “He testified on many occasions that his faith in Jesus was the only mechanism by which he could effectively pursue and perform the art of science.”  God gifted George Washington Carver with uncommon understanding.  This week I heard an amazing story of how God gifted a man named Jim Shaw to … raise worms.  It sounds crazy, but God led Jim Shaw to understand from Scripture that he would gift him in raising worms.  And that is what Jim Shaw does.  He supports his family and several other families through his worm farm which is one of the largest and most profitable in the country if not the world.

We might have a wide variety of gifts among us, but I’m pretty sure they’re not as unique as peanuts or worms.  At the end, does it really matter how God has gifted us?  We can have faith that God has gifted us because He has put His Spirit in us.  God desires to use these gifts for our common good.  He also desires that we would be interdependent and that unity would spring out of our needs for the gifts that we find within the body.

You are each indispensable and honored by God.

Let’s pray:

God, thank You for the gifts You have given this body.  Help us to celebrate the gifts among us and encourage one another to utilize our gifts in love and service.  Help us to see needs clearly and to come alongside one another to do good for one another.  Help us to be humble and accept the service of others.  I pray for each heart Father that they would know Your love and have confidence that they are each one indeed indispensable and honored by You.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.