American Individualism
I want you to take a moment, as we reflect on this verse, to think about the culture we find ourselves in today. At its heart, it is a very individualistic, self-centered and image obsessed culture. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love this country and the people in it. But we have always had a very individualistic streak, since this nation’s founding. We take pride in it. We celebrate our rebellion from the tyranny of English rule and the frontier spirit which drove our ancestors Westward. And in the Western parts of this country, the individualistic spirit drove the efforts of entrepreneurs and visionaries in silicon valley and shaped the technological advancements that have transformed almost every area of our life. It is this individual spirit which drives America’s love affair with capitalism, consumerism and all things shiny. And it is this individualistic spirit that drives many of our decisions and desires today, often without us even realizing it.
But there is a downside to individualism. As we move further into the 21st century, we find ourselves superficially connected to more human beings on a global scale, yet somehow we feel more alone than ever. For the first time in human history, more people live in cities than in rural areas, residing in towers that house hundreds of people and yet more people rent their living spaces alone than ever before. Cars are more accessible, and public transportation is more interconnected; so much so that we can literally drive across an entire continent in a few days, something unfathomable just a little over a century ago.
And if that weren’t enough, almost everyone here has a device [holds up cell phone] in their pocket that has access to almost every piece of information ever written and almost every human being on the planet. And yet somehow, we’ve found ourselves in a place where an infinite number of human connections are at our fingertips, and yet studies have shown that more and more people struggle with loneliness, doubts about their self worth, depression, and even suicide.
Image Obsession
Part of the problem is that despite our technology, our connections are more and more superficial. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram are all amazing social media tools which ostensibly allow us to connect with each other more, and yet each is filtered and censored by our desire to have people see us as we would like to be, rather than as we are. You see, real people have weaknesses and bad days. Sometimes they smell or have bad skin. They can be obnoxious and sweaty and have a tendency to make weird noises. Like me. As I get older, I’ve noticed I make old man noises whenever I sit down. Real people mourn. Real people struggle. Real people have doubts and are vulnerable. When you take the time to connect with someone and really spend time with them, you begin to see them for who they really are. And when you decide to love them anyway, that is when real relationship can begin to form.
But we are so image-obsessed that we filter what we put on social media to portray us in an artificially positive light. We put up pictures of ourselves having fun, in outfits that make us look good, surrounded by people that make us look popular. And when the only pictures we see of people are when they are having a great time, we tend to wonder why they are constantly surrounded by friends having the time of their life, while we are not.
Self-Worth Redefined
What we find out by reading this passage is that Paul was also faced with the challenge of speaking Christian holiness in community to a culture that in many ways was just as individualistic and image-obsessed as our own. First century Rome placed a high premium on individual virtues and public reputation. It was a highly stratified society where your public image, and indeed your sense of self-worth could be damaged if you were seen mingling with classes lower than your own. So people tried to cultivate their reputation and sense of superiority by boasting of their achievements. This is why Paul opens up this passage with the sentence, “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.”(1)
Paul is saying that a Christian’s status in the community isn’t defined by any good deed they have done to earn their position. Their position is defined solely by the measure of grace which God has provided each of them in their faith. To bring the point home, Paul is even saying at the beginning of the sentence that his own apostolic authority to make such a statement isn’t found in his inherent righteousness or good works, rather it is in the grace given by God.
What’s great about this statement is that it completely flips our ideas about self-worth on their head. Where we tend to measure our own worth against others by our achievements, or our popularity, or something that is intrinsic to our own character; Paul states that our self-worth comes completely from the grace of God alone. There is nothing we could do to earn a more favorable place in God’s eyes, and there is nothing we could do that could make him love us less. Christ sees us for all our quirks, weaknesses, and lets face it, embarrassing traits; and yet he is still so madly in love with us that he broke the laws of physics and conquered death for us, by dying and rising again himself.
Individualism Challenged
Paul then goes on to take this new understanding of self-worth even further. Because our self-worth comes completely from Christ’s own worth and is bestowed on us through His merits and not our own; our understanding of what it means to be an individual completely changes. This is why Paul writes, “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”(2)
In Christ we don’t lose ourselves completely, and our individual identity doesn’t become obliterated, but it does take on a new dimension. If my self-worth comes from who Christ is and what He is doing, and your self-worth comes from who Christ is and what he is doing, then our identities become linked in a very special way. The things that make each of us special are no longer in competition with each other and I no longer have to push your needs away in order to define my own. Rather, our individuality takes on a cooperative nature. I can celebrate in your strengths and the things which make you special. I can share in your vulnerability by trusting you with my own. When we live in Christ, we no longer exercise our strengths to puff up our own sense of accomplishment, rather we do it to build each other up as a single body.
Paul goes on to give examples of this by listing different gifts which find expression in the Church, “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”(3)
Discussion and Application
What are your gifts? How have you used them in the past? Do you tend to make decisions based on what will make you look good, or instead on what will build others up? What are your thoughts on community? How do you see God working in this community?
Footnotes
(1) Rom. 12:3, NIV.
(2) Rom. 12:4-5, NIV.
(3) Rom. 12:6-8, NIV.
Delivered June 25, 2017 – First Church of the Nazarene (Youth Group), La Junta, CO.
