Out of Many Comes One
Borg Christians
Scripture: First Corinthians 12:4-30
In my message last week I shared with you that Jesus’ birth was a gift of love from God. He came so that we could have a Father-child relationship with God that was broken when Adam sinned. With that gift the door was opened for all of us to have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Last week we looked at First Corinthians chapter thirteen and this morning we will return to First Corinthians. This morning we will focus on the chapter preceding chapter thirteen – that many have described as the love chapter – and focus on chapter twelve. If you have not spent much time in chapter twelve it is a chapter focused on the body of Christ working together in unity and harmony. It is interesting that this chapter precedes chapter thirteen. What we will see this morning is Paul encouraging the people to work as one and not being envious of the gifts of others. He made it plain that all gifts were needed in the body, even if some people saw some gifts as being “greater” than others. In the last verse of chapter twelve he tells the Church that there is a more excellent way to live. In chapter thirteen, as we read last week, he explains that the more excellent way is living a life that emanates out of God’s love. New Light, unless we have love one for another and do things because of that love, nothing else matters. So if you are complaining about your role in the Church; the role that Jesus has you fulfilling in His ministry, then you are probably not walking in love. If you are not walking in love, then whatever it is you would like to be doing is fruitless because the love is missing. The title of my message this morning to close out 2020 is “Out of Many Comes One.” I want you to keep in mind that while we are unique, we are also the same.
For those of you who are Star Trek fans, you know about the Borg. The Borg are an alien group that co-opt the technology and knowledge of other alien species to the Collective through the process of “assimilation.” They forcibly transform other life forms into "drones" by injecting nanoprobes into their bodies and surgically augmenting them with cybernetic components. The Borg’s ultimate goal is “achieving perfection”. Borg civilization is based on a hive or group mind think known as the Collective. The mental energy of the group’s consciousness can help an injured or damaged drone heal or regenerate damaged body parts or technology. The collective consciousness gives them the ability not only to "share the same thoughts", but also to adapt quickly to new tactics. When they are attacking a new species they say, “We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.” The Borg was made up of many species and cultures, but once the new species was assimilated they lost all individuality and became part of the “Collective.” In other words, their sole purpose was to serve the whole versus themselves. Their individuality was lost when they were assimilated. Now of course this is not a positive outcome for the species being assimilated, but I want you to think about this in another way. What if when someone accepted Christ as their personal Savior their whole focus shifted from self to Christ. What would happen if all of my gifts were used in service for Him and I was never jealous of someone else getting more attention than I was receiving? What if the small job I was doing for Christ satisfied me and I did it with everything within me because I knew that what I was doing for the kingdom of God or “the Collective” was just as important as the person receiving all the attention? Can you imagine what Church would be like? Can you imagine how free we would become when we were not obsessed with what another group was doing? This is the focus of my message this morning. There are many parts in the body of Christ, but we are still one body and we should be operating as one. This is my desire as we enter into 2021 – that we would become “in theory” Borg Christians.
This is the last Sunday of 2020 and next Sunday we will be in 2021 if God allows us to see it. We will have the opportunity to continuously adapt and do things differently than we did in 2020. To do this will take each of us making a decision to start letting the love of God flow through us as we fulfill our role in His ministry. One of the ways in which we do that is by getting involved in His work and doing whatever we can, on a daily basis, to ensure that His work goes forward. In 2021 I pray that all of us, for whatever area we are serving in, will truly say “I will serve….” and then begin to do that. Everyone who is willing to serve is needed. As you will hear in this message, there is something that you can give that will be unique to you which will be a blessing in this ministry (or whatever ministry you are a part of.) For those of you listening and are members of other Churches, I pray that you too will choose to get involved in the ministries of your home Church.
Paul wrote the following to the Christians in Corinth in chapter twelve of First Corinthians. “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5And there are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of workings, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man for profit. 8For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit. 9To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit. 10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another various kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues. 11But in all these works that one and same Spirit, dividing to every man individually as He will. For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.” (1 Corinthians 12:4-12) Paul wrote that there were different gifts operating in the body of Christ, but all the gifts came from the same Spirit with one goal – that the Church would profit. Each of the different gifts made up one body. I want to use a food analogy to help you visualize what I am going to share with you. The food I want you to think about is chili.
I love chili, especially “my” chili. Some people make their extremely spicy, but I like mine with mild spices so I can taste and enjoy the flavors versus burning my taste buds off. The ground turkey and beef; the beans and onions; tomatoes; the sauce and the seasoning make a delicious meal. Sometimes I also add in Mexican chocolate which enhances the seasoning. Now if you want a quick meal you can always buy the chili in a can, but it doesn’t come close to what you can make yourself. In order to enjoy such a meal, you have to prepare the ingredients, put it all together, let it cook for a while and then simmer and then once it is ready, you can eat it. Now although the dish contains several ingredients, it is known as chili. Chili is a meal that is prepared by browning the meat and onions and then adding in everything else and letting it simmer. The point I want you to understand is that the chili is not known by the individual ingredients with the exception of the type of chili (i.e. beef, chicken, vegetarian, etc.) My point is this, you could not take the ground beef, brown it, and call it chili without adding anything else. Chili, as one dish, is the sum of all of the combined ingredients. Out of the many comes one.
There are several ingredients that you can use in chili such as beef, chicken, turkey, salt, pepper, onions, beans, tomatoes, tomato paste/sauce, etc. Now each ingredient serves a different purpose and must be used in the right amount in order to get it just right. When making the chili, the first thing you should do is prepare the meat by browning it with the onions. If you do not do this, the meat will not be ready when you need to add the other ingredients. Now once the meat is brown, you add the chili seasonings and the rest of the ingredients. You bring this to a boil and then reduce the heat to allow it to simmer for 1-2 hours. This is how I make my chili and if you want to make “my” chili you have to follow “my” directions. Now if you do not follow this process, this recipe will not work exactly the same for you.
With this picture in mind, consider what would happen if you were to make chili without the meat and beans? It would not be chili in the sense that even vegetarian chili has beans in it. You could leave out one or two of the other ingredients, and still make it work, but some of the ingredients must be available. But to make it right, the best that it could be, you must have everything that the recipe calls for. Before the chili is made, most of the ingredients could have been a meal by themselves. But if you want good chili, you will need all of the ingredients. Each ingredient serves it purpose and does not compete with any of the other ingredients – they work together. I am sure the salt knows that he chili needs less of it and more of the meat or the beans. But if the salt began to compare how much of it was used compared to the other ingredients and requested that it should receive equal treatment, the chili would not taste very good. So, to make a good chili, you need the right ingredients in the right amount. Everything must be in balance. So it is with a Church. You need the right people with the right gifts/skillset in the right positions with the right motivation. All of this is simmered in the love of God. It is important to note that within the Church, just because a person may have a gift/skillset it does not mean that they are right for a particular position. I want us to make some serious chili in 2021 but it is going to require each of us simmering in the love of God.
Remember my example of the Borg? They were individuals until they were assimilated by the Borg and then they became part of the Collective. As a part of the Collective they ceased to operate individually and operated as one. I stated earlier that we are the same yet unique, so let me explain this because it does not seem possible. First, when you become a member of the Body of Christ, you are identified with Christ and with the Church that you chose to unite with. Whatever happens within that Church (or Body of Christ), good or bad, it is not the individual member that receives the praise or criticism, it’s is the whole Church. If someone visits New Light and we make them feel extra special, the whole Church gets credit, not just the greeters or the individual person that spoke to them. We are New Light Christian Fellowship, each and every one of us. We are one, yet within the “we” are unique individuals making up the one. To accomplish what we need to accomplish in 2021 we will need to take our uniqueness, combine it with everyone else and make a chili (simmering in God’s love until perfection is achieved).
Remember what we read earlier from First Corinthian’s chapter twelve? Paul wrote that the members of the Church have unique gifts that have been given to them for the overall function of the ministry. Paul explains that the Church operates through the gifts that are given by the Spirit. These gifts are given to ensure that what the Church needs to have in order to fulfill its ministry is available. He starts off by explaining that there are different gifts but they are all given by the same Spirit. In order words, although your gift may be different from mine, we received them from the same Spirit with the expressed purpose of fulfilling a key role within the ministry. He goes on to say that all of the ministries are still serving one Lord although the ministries within themselves are different. His purpose in this message is to ensure that everyone understands that although gifts are different, they are given from above and are to be used for the common good of everyone.
Back to the chili. Remember when I mentioned that the salt might want to be equal to every other ingredient as far as how much was measured and used. In the chili, not every ingredient is needed in the same amount. So it is with the Church ministries. The Music Ministry does not focus on the issues of preaching and teaching because they have their own focus. The Music ministry performs a very vital role in the health of the Church for all of the members and yet it’s not responsible for teaching or preaching the Word. There are many ministries that do not ever get in the spotlight, but they are very important to the health of the Church. We tend to judge ministries by how big they are or how many members are receiving something from them and that is a mistake. If the ministry is meeting the needs of just one person, it is playing a vital role in the Church.
Paul goes on to say that the Spirit gives to each person as He wills. This is a key point because what the Spirit has placed within us was not done because we were so deserving of the gift, but simply because He willed to do so. The Spirit has given each of us what we need in order to complete the assignment God has given to us. Again, everything we receive from the Spirit is for the good of the entire body, not for our own edification. Finally Paul uses the analogy relating to the natural body. He states that the body is one, but yet it has many members who perform specific tasks. If you read the rest of the chapter, he makes it very clear that we are to perform our own assignment to ensure that the overall ministry is complete. Paul says that by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Being a part of this one body, I have a very specific role to play, one that was assigned to me. It is not my job to try and do something assigned to someone else, but to do my job as best as I can.
In verses fifteen through eighteen, Paul says the following; “If the foot shall say, ‘Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body’; is it therefore not of the body? 16And if the ear shall say, ‘Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body’; is it therefore not of the body? 17If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18But now has God set the members every one of them in the body, as it has pleased Him.” (1 Corinthians 12:15-18) Imagine if your body parts had the ability to change at will without your permission. One morning you would wake up and couldn’t see because the eyes decided to be ears that day. Or you would not be able to walk because the legs decided to be ears that day. Are you getting the picture? In the Church, when we should be making chili, we are making something that cannot be eaten because all of the ingredients are trying to get equal time and attention. The Church has the right ingredients but not the right measurements to make it work. Some people could be in positions where they should not be. We might have some people not doing anything causing a vacancy within the ministry that could be flowing and helping someone. Paul said that God placed the members within the body. If God placed the members and the Spirit gave the gifts, I must believe that everything that God has called us to do we have or will be equipped to do it; and if it is not being done then it is because of our disobedience. Remember, anytime God has given you something to do and you choose, for whatever reason, not to do it, it is disobedience. It is sin.
Here is our challenge for 2021. In 2020, there were things that could have been done better – we can always stretch ourselves and do better even during the pandemic. Our challenge for 2021 is knowing and understanding what the Spirit has equipped us individually to do and then start doing it. If you are sitting back wondering why a specific ministry is not in place, maybe it is not in place because you have not said yes to God. If there are needs going unmet within the ministry and this frustrates you, maybe you are the one who is supposed to be meeting the need. My desire for us in 2021 is to make chili. In order to do this we must have the right ingredients. God has supplied the ingredients, you, me and everyone else that chooses to unite with this Church. We also must have the right amount. The Spirit has supplies the right amount when He equipped each of us for service. We must be combined together to make the chili. Finally, we simmer in God’s love as we fulfill our role in the chili. To accomplish this each of us must understand what we are supposed to be doing and start doing it. It is not that difficult to start working. Maybe you will start off in an area and work your way into what you were sent here to do, the goal is to start somewhere. Are you ready to make chili in 2021? Are you ready to be a Borg Christian?
I want to close with one final fact about the Borg in the Start Trek series. One of the things that make them unique is that they are part of the Collective and therefore they speak in terms of “We” not “I”. As Children of God, if we started speaking in terms of “We” and not “I” then the body of Christ would be stronger. New Light, we would be stronger. If you listen to people complaining about the Church they do not use the term “We” as often as they use the term “I” or “they.” Think about it, if something is going wrong in their eyes they make statements like, “They are not doing such and such..” or “I do not agreed with that; if it were me I would be doing…” It is easy to separate and distance yourself from being a part of something when you stop saying “we.” When a person uses the term “we” they are saying they are part of the issue and have a stake in resolving it. Whenever someone make statements separating themselves from the issue, they can no longer say “we” but shifts to “they” or “them.” If we look at the fictitious Borg, we can learn the word “we.” We can learn that when we accepted Christ we cease to exist individually in order to live for Christ. Can you imagine a world where you walk up to a person that is not saved and say, “We are the Christians. Lower your shields and surrender your homes. We will add your spiritual life and distinctiveness to our own. You will adapt to serve Christ. It will be the best decision you will make in this life.” Can you imagine how powerful we would be if we walked in a Borg mentality when we talked about Christ with an unbeliever?
New Light, God bless you. I look forward to what God will do through each and every one of you in 2021. Happy New Year!
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
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