Introduction:
A. Many of you know how much I love the Peanuts comic strip.
1. In one of the strips, Snoopy, the lovable beagle, was pictured with his left leg broken.
2. Snoopy philosophized about his plight one day while perched on top of his doghouse.
3. He thought, “My body blames my foot for not being able to go places. My foot says it was my head’s fault, and my head blamed my eyes…My eyes say my feet are clumsy, and my right foot says not to blame him for what my left foot did…”
4. Snoopy then looked out at the audience and confessed, “I don’t say anything because I don’t want to get involved.”
5. Snoopy’s body sounds a lot like the church body, at times.
B. As we turn to 1 Corinthians 12 today, we turn to familiar territory.
1. It is one of my favorite chapters in the New Testament, because it talks about the church functioning as a physical body.
2. Certainly that is a metaphor that we all can easily understand, since we all have bodies.
3. So let’s take a look at this wonderful chapter and see what applications God would have us address in our lives.
I. Now About Spiritual Gifts…
A. In the first 11 verses of the chapter, Paul explains the way the Holy Spirit works in the church through individual spiritual gifts given to the different members.
1. We need to remember that the Christian era was ushered in when the Holy Spirit came on the apostles in Acts 2 in fulfillment of Jesus’ promise.
2. The Spirit then aided the Twelve and certain other specially chosen evangelists as they preached, wrote and confirmed the Gospel.
3. Look at Hebrews 2, starting about halfway through the 3rd verse, “This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.” (3b-4)
B. Here in 1 Corinthians, Paul has already had several important things to say about the Holy Spirit.
1. Paul has already declared that the church is the place of the Spirit’s abode (3:16). We, collectively, as the church are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
2. Then in chapter 6, Paul argued for sexual purity on the basis of the fact that the bodies of individual believers are temples of the Holy Spirit (6:18-20).
C. Now here in chapter 12, Paul addresses the subject of spiritual gifts among the Christians at Corinth.
1. The Holy Spirit had granted certain miraculous powers to different Christians in that church.
2. The purpose of those gifts was to strengthen the body of Christ.
3. Unfortunately, they had served an opposite end – they were leading to division, jealousy, and other unspiritual attitudes in the church at Corinth.
4. Many there at Corinth were using their spiritual gifts to glorify themselves rather than serve the body.
5. The immature Christians there at Corinth had taken the presence of the spiritual gifts as proof of their justification and perfection in Christ.
6. Paul will insist, in this chapter, that the gifts were given for the building up of the body, and that without the proper exercise of love, the gifts become a liability rather than an asset.
D. Paul points out that the Corinthians once served “dumb idols” and were thereby implicated in demonic evil.
1. Now, however, they had been brought to the light through the revelation of Jesus through God’s Spirit.
2. The Spirit’s most important ministry is pointing people to Jesus.
3. The Spirit exalts Jesus in His redemptive role and helps believers live lives consistent with their calling.
4. To see only the Spirit’s supernatural gifts, to covet and abuse them, or to confuse and disrupt the life of the church over them, is to miss the point of His ministry.
E. Notice how in verses 4 – 6, Paul points out that the One God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit, have distributed the gifts at Corinth.
1. Verse 7 reads, “Now to each man the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”
2. The fundamental unity of the church should have been served by those gifts, but the opposite was occurring.
F. Paul listed a total of nine spiritual gifts in verses 8-11.
1. Each of those gifts was apparently present among the Corinthians.
2. When we look at some of Paul’s other writings where he mentions spiritual gifts, we notice that a few gifts are missing from this list. (For instance leadership, evangelism, and giving are missing)
3. We can conclude from what Paul wrote to the Corinthians, that not everyone had all the gifts, and that no gift was possessed by everyone as evidence of salvation. (like the gift of tongues)
4. Paul’s primary point here is not to give a comprehensive list of the gifts nor to explain them, rather his point is to stress their unity and to encourage the use of their gifts for the common good.
5. We believe that the H.S. is still living in believers today, and is active in gifting us, but we believe that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit were for a time that is past.
II. The Body is a Unit…
A. In verses 12 -31, Paul endeavors to show that the church is supposed to function like a body.
1. There are at least four main points that Paul makes as the chapter continues.
2. The first point is – There are many parts, but they are one unit.
a. Both the human body and the body of Christ have many parts, but there is only one body.
3. The second point is – There are many parts, but each part is indispensible.
a. All the parts are different, but each one is essential.
4. The third point is – There are many parts, but each part is interdependent.
a. All the parts are different, but each one relies on every other part.
5. The fourth point is – There are many parts, but each part is interconnected.
a. All the parts are different, but what happens to one part affects every other part.
B. Let’s have some fun for a minute with Paul’s analogy of the body.
1. Let your imagination run for a minute.
2. What would happen if the parts of the body really refused to cooperate, or refused to offer their unique contribution to the body?
3. What if the HEART said, “You know, I’m just stuck in a rut. For the last 45 years all I do is beat and beat. ‘Lub, dub... lub, dub... lub, dub...’ I’m tired of it. It’s time for someone else to step up and do this job. Okay, feet, it’s up to you. You pump the blood.”
4. What if the LUNGS said, “We are so under-appreciated around here. I don’t think the other organs realize that they couldn’t do their jobs without us. If we quit doing our job for a few minutes, everyone will finally see how valuable we are to this place. The brain thinks he’s big stuff. Let him do without some oxygen for a while and we’ll see how important he is!”
5. What if the LIVER said, “Why do I get all the dirty work? You think it’s fun making bile? I’ve been in this body for 45 years now and do you think anyone has ever asked me to make any decisions, pump any blood, or perform any functions that are noticeable outside the body? Sometimes I wonder why I bother.”
6. I think you get the idea. The point is that the individual parts that make up our bodies were created specifically for certain tasks within the body as a whole.
7. The body works as a finely tuned machine when all the parts do what they were uniquely gifted to do.
8. And there are no unimportant parts. The parts that seem insignificant are really very significant.
9. How important do you think that your toes are? They are just little calloused, smelly appendages right? Wrong.
10. Dizzy Dean was one of the greatest pitchers of the 1930s, and is honored in the Hall of Fame.
a. But in the 1937 All-Star Game, Earl Averill lined a pitch off Dizzy Dean’s toe.
b. The injury seemed minor at the time, but the star hurler rushed back too soon, favored his foot, and hurt his valuable right arm.
c. That injury to his toe made him ineffective as a pitcher, Dean won less than 20 games the remainder of his career.
d. See, all the parts, even the toes, have an important part to play.
C. Think also for a minute about the envy the parts might have for each other and the desire to all be the same part.
1. What if the foot said, “I hate being a foot, I want to be a hand”?
a. What if the whole body was just a hand or just made up of hands? That would be a strange body.
3. Hearing is certainly a cool function or ability.
a. What if the whole body was just an ear.
b. Take a look right now at the ear of the person sitting in front of you. Strange looking, isn’t it?
c. I’m glad the whole body isn’t just an ear.
4. As beautiful and functional as most eyes are, what would you think if the whole body were an eye? Kind of creepy!
5. Everybody needs a nose, but who wants a 6 foot tall nose, or a body covered with noses?
6. I think you get the point – we don’t need a church made up of people with all the same gift.
7. We need a variety of gifts and abilities so that all kinds of ministry can take place.
8. But also consider the fact that the arms aren’t going to be able to accomplish much without the brain giving instructions, the eyes seeing where to direct the hands, the nerves sending the impulses, and the muscles having adequate oxygen and energy for strength and movement.
D. So, each member is indispensable and is interdependent.
1. I read a powerful story that illustrates the kind of interdependence we have in the body of Christ.
2. Several years ago, two students graduated from a law school in Chicago.
3. The highest ranking student in the class was a blind man named Overton.
4. When he accepted his honor as the top ranking student, he insisted that half of the credit should go to a fellow-student and friend, named Kaspryzak.
5. They had met one day at school, when the armless Kaspryzak guided the blind Overton down a flight of stairs.
6. That encounter ripened into a wonderful friendship and an educational interdependence.
7. The blind man carried and held the books while the armless man read aloud in their common study time.
8. Their individual deficiency was compensated for by the other’s abilities.
9. After their graduation, they planned on practicing law together.
10. That is certainly a great example of the way that the church is supposed to function as the body of Christ. We really do need each other that much.
11. Your strengths complete my weaknesses and visa versa.
E. Another aspect of the analogy that I want us to think about is the interconnectedness of the body.
1. A tooth is a very small part of the body, and we don’t think about them too much.
a. Certainly we brush them and take them to the dentist from time to time, but otherwise, we don’t think about our teeth that much.
b. But what happens when we get a toothache? The pain of that little tooth throbs through the entire body and makes us completely ineffective and unproductive until we get it fixed.
2. We joke sometimes about getting a simple hangnail.
a. What could be more insignificant than a hangnail, right? Wrong! Those little guys hurt.
3. Paul wants us to recognize the fact that when one part suffers, all parts suffer together.
4. And the opposite is also true, when one part is honored, all parts rejoice together.
5. In practical terms this means that we cannot be blind to what is happening in each other’s lives.
a. We must draw close enough together to know who is hurting, and join them in their suffering.
b. And we have to know who is rejoicing and join them in their happiness.
F. So what is Paul’s overall point? Nobody is a nobody in the body of Christ.
1. There is nothing or no one who is too insignificant to be an important part of the body of Christ.
2. And there is nothing or no one so big or so important that he or she is able to become independent from the body of Christ.
3. Can you see how the problems in the church at Corinth required Paul to write this chapter as a remedy.
G. One final aspect of the body analogy that I want us to think about is the need for the parts of the body to be under the direction of the head.
1. Try to imagine the body trying to function without the direction of the head.
2. Christ Jesus is the head of the body, and we are to follow His direction and leadership.
3. I want to switch analogies for a minute. The orchestra is another wonderful analogy for the church.
4. In the orchestra there needs to be diversity.
a. We wouldn’t want an orchestra with a hundred members all playing the same instrument.
b. Even though each of the instruments are wonderful – imagine an orchestra with just 100 violins, or 100 trombones, or 100 drums.
c. That’s why the finest orchestras have a brass section, a woodwind section, a string section and a percussion section.
5. But an orchestra needs not only a variety of instruments, it needs a leader who will determine what musical piece will be played and someone to keep everyone playing that piece in key and on beat.
6. Picture the best orchestra in the world with the best conductor in the world.
a. The conductor lifts the baton, and then each member of the orchestra begins playing his or her favorite composition.
b. Just imagine the cacophony of sounds that would emerge.
7. Churches can err in either of two extremes – They can be led by a firm handed dictator (who might be a minister or a member who is in charge), or they can at the other extreme allow everyone to be a leader and everybody does their own thing.
8. In the healthy church body, all the parts look to Jesus Christ as their head, and then to those parts gifted and employed by Jesus to function as the leaders.
9. Together all the parts of the body seek to carry out the will of God as each part values all the other parts, and as each part does its own work.
Conclusion:
A. Let me end by encouraging each of us to ask ourselves some personal questions.
1. Do you consider yourself a follower of Jesus and a member of the body of Christ?
2. If so, are you connected enough to the body of Christ, or are you trying to live a life independent of the body?
3. If you are trying to be connected, what are you doing to be connected?
a. Are you being faithful to gather for worship and educational opportunities?
b. Are you attempting to be connected to the body in fellowship, or do you just check in for worship and then check out?
c. How are you trying to get to know others and their hurts and joys and needs?
4. And finally, what are your gifts and how are you trying to employ them for the benefit of the body of Christ?
a. Remember – we all have a part to play, and no part is insignificant.
b. To refuse to play our part, or to neglect to play our part hurts the entire body.
c. We might not think we need the body, but we certainly do, and the body needs us.
B. One day a young girl came home from school in tears because she had been given only a small part in the class play, and one of her friends had gotten a leading role.
1. After her mother dried her tears, she wisely took off her watch and put it in the little girl’s hand.
2. She asked the girl what parts of the watch she could see. The little girl said she could see a gold case, a watchband, a face with numbers and two hands.
3. Her mother then opened the back of the watch and showed her all the tiny working parts.
4. Her mother said, “This watch would be useless without every part – even the ones you can hardly see.”
C. In 1 Corinthians 12:27, Paul concludes, saying, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
1. Then Paul lists some of the more prominent and visible roles and gifts.
2. Then he asks, “Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?” The rhetorical answer is – “NO!”
3. “But eagerly desire the greater gifts…And now I will show you the most excellent way.” (vs. 31)
4. The greatest gift and the most excellent way is LOVE.
5. Lord willing, we will take a look at that subject next week.
Resources:
The (Im)Perfect Church (Studies in 1 Corinthians), Rubel Shelly, 21st Century Christian, 1983.
First Corinthians (Interpretation – A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching), Richard Hays, John Knox Press, 1997.
1 Corinthians (The NIV Application Commentary), Craig L. Blomberg, Zondervan, 1994.
1 Corinthians (Bible Study Guide), Charles R. Swindoll, Insight For Living, 1977.
“Now Concerning Spiritual Gifts,” Sermon by John A. Huffman, Jr., July 23, 2006.
“One Body, Many Parts,” Sermon by John A Huffman, Jr., July 30, 2006.
“In Need You,” Sermon by Ritch Grimes (SermonCentral.com)
