A couple of weeks ago, I used the image of a jigsaw puzzle to illustrate that the gift of God takes some assembling before it starts to take shape in our lives. That is why you were given a piece of a jigsaw puzzle on the way in to the sanctuary this morning. The gift of God’s spirit comes in pieces. It also comes with the world’s best owner’s manual, but we’ll get to that later.
The first thing to notice about these puzzle pieces is that they are all different. And the second is that each one is necessary. If even one piece were missing, then the picture wouldn’t be complete. Each one of you is vital to the church. Unless, of course, you think you’re here (a) by accident or (b) by your design instead of by God’s. Lots of people do think that - it’s part of the consumer mentality that permeates American Christianity these days... people church-shop until they find a place that fits their specifications and stay as long as their needs are being met.
Of course we all have free will, to stay or to go, to visit or to commit, but take it a little farther. Remember what we learned in the opening of John’s gospel two weeks ago: “all who received him, who believed in his name ... were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.” [Jn 1:12-13] God must have something in mind to have brought us all together like this. Wouldn’t it be exciting to find out what it is?
There’s a story that kept cropping up as I researched sermons on this passage. One day, a pastor went to visit a member of his church, someone who had not been to worship in several weeks. The man welcomed the pastor, and served him coffee, which they drank in front of a blazing fire. The pastor said that the man had been missed, and asked if everything was okay. The man said he was fine, and that he was meeting his spiritual needs by studying the bible and praying. “Why,” he asked, “do I need to go to a church building to be close to God? I can do that just as well here.!” As he was talking, an ember fell from the fire, rolling off to the side. As the man spoke, the glowing coal faded to a dull grey. The pastor said nothing. He just got up, used the tongs to pick up the cooling ember and placed in back in the middle of the fire. It instantly began to burn as brightly as before. The man looked up at the pastor and said, “I can see your point. “
There are an awful lot of people who think they can keep their faith alight on their own. But it doesn’t work that way. Because the body of Christ is all of us together.
I would like every one to look at their puzzle piece. Remember the first two points? we’re all different, and we’re all necessary. The third lesson is that none of the pieces have the whole picture. The puzzle is not completed by any one person, or piece. It takes many to complete this picture.
Now try to connect your piece of the puzzle to the person sitting next to you! I’ll bet it doesn’t fit. Don’t force it, just see if it does. Does that mean that you don’t belong? Or that your neighbor doesn’t? Of course not. It just means that your pieces go in different parts of the big picture. Of course, if they do fit, it’s pretty cool - but most of us have to try different things, different mixes, before we find out the right place. Your puzzle piece may fit with someone on the other side of the sanctuary - or with someone who stayed home today - or who hasn’t even showed up yet!
But do you think we could complete this picture without all of you?
We have all worked on jigsaw puzzles. Some of us enjoy it, some of us don’t. That’s because, believe it or not, we’re all different in what we’re good at, what gives us satisfaction. So the analogy falls down a little bit because the Holy Spirit nudges us into place, rather than picking us up by the ears and plunking us down in our designated duty station. It is possible to frustrate the Holy Spirit by exercising our free will in pursuit of other activities. Paul writes to the church in Thessalonike, “Do not quench the Spirit,” [1 Th 5:19] And to the Ephesians, “do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. “ [Eph 4:30]
Now, it takes a lot of patience to put together a puzzle. It shouldn’t surprise any of us that it also takes a lot of patience to build up the church. It takes a lot of organization as well, even to complete a puzzle. When you open the box, you first try to organize the pieces by identifying colors, marks and designs on the pieces, right? When we try to organize the church, it’s a little harder. Because although we know - more or less - what the whole church is going to look like at the end of time, we don’t have a picture for what each particular church is going look like today. So, we try to figure out what God is up to by seeing who he has brought together. We do that by looking at and listening to each person. We try to find out what people are good at, what they love to do, where their hearts are, all the things that make each one of us unique individuals. By trial and error, we slowly begin to assemble parts of the picture. Sometimes we have to take it apart and start over again. But the wonderful thing is, that even if the finished piece is going to have 1000 pieces - or let’s be realistic, Leadville isn’t all that big - let’s think 250 - the pieces that we have so far are enough to make a picture that makes sense. Because God knows what he’s doing. And if each one of us picks up his or her own piece and starts trying things on for size, it’s amazing what will begin to appear in our midst.
Over the next few weeks we’ll be looking in a little more detail about how the Holy Spirit has gifted and called each one of us. If we’re not in the habit of listening to the spirit, It may not come together for us at first, or quickly. But don’t give up! “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.” [1 Cor 2:12] The first thing to remember is that every baptized Christian has been given gifts which are important to God and to the church and to us - because true happiness comes when we find out what God has made us for.
Now, just because we are different in gifts and call doesn’t mean we are different in purpose or identity. Each one of us is part of an amazing organism called the body of Christ. And the thing to remember about a body is that the feet and the ears and the liver all get their marching orders from the same place. Jesus Christ calls us to different functions, but to the same goal.
When we look at ourselves, we see differences not only in gifts but in temperament and background, in positions and goals and priorities, and every other way we can imagine. There are political differences and theological differences, differences between old-timers and newcomers, you name it, we’ve got it. But remember: the church at Corinth, to which Paul was writing, were just as different - if not more so. Many had worshiped false gods; some of them even worshiped more than one god. Despite that, Paul compares them to a human body. He says, "Now the body is not made up of one part but of many." That congregation in Corinth certainly realized that they contained many very different parts. Then he goes on to say, ‘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.’ He went on to say the foot cannot cut itself off from the body simply because it doesn’t want to be there anymore. Then it wouldn't even be a foot, because its very identity depends on its relationship to the rest of the body. If it weren’t part of the body, it would have no purpose; it would not even survive. Paul goes on—another part. ‘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.’ In other words, the ear should not be jealous of the eye. They each have their own equally important function as different parts of the same body. And Paul expects that even with all their differences they should be able to function together with unity of purpose, with cooperation and mutual respect and support.
Now, the Corinthians had a bad track record. They were big on comparing themselves to each other, to see which one was more spiritual. And one of the way they measured each other was by looking at their gifts. They were really impressed by things like tongues and healing. A few people in the church were even claiming to exercise some sort of gift in the power of the Spirit, but the result of their ministry was actually to undermine the gospel.
So Paul starts his letter by slapping down that kind of spiritual pride pretty sharply. But questions about supernatural gifts are reasonable. It is just as foolish to ignore them as it is to argue over them, or boast about them. The question the Corinthians may have asked was, “How can we tell whether people are really exercising gifts of the Holy Spirit or whether people are just making out that’s what they are to persuade others?” But that’s the wrong question. Every Christian has a spiritual gift - maybe more than one - but they don’t all exercise them in a way that honors and reflects Jesus Christ. Just like some people use Scripture to beat up on other people, some use their gifts to exalt themselves instead of building up the body. So before we even try to identify what the gifts are, let's look at the right way to use them.
Earlier in the chapter, Paul has pointed his readers to two tests that will help them work out whether gifts are being used in accordance with the will of our head Jesus.
The first test is, what do they say about Jesus? “No one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.” [1Cor 12:3] In our day, few actually curse Jesus Christ, but many certainly do belittle him, minimize his authority or deny his deity or his power. In the Presbytery I came from, one pastor who denied the deity of Christ was received into membership because, as one of the speakers complained, "we shouldn’t waste time on theological minutia."
On the other hand, it is still as true as it ever was that no one can say “Jesus is Lord” unless the Holy Spirit has shown them that it is so. It’s the same test that John gave, in his first letter, to help the early Christians work out whether someone claiming to come as a prophet was genuine or not.
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.” [1 Jn 4:1_3]
Whatever gift we have, whether it’s speaking in tongues or teaching, it either draws people closer to Jesus Christ or it doesn’t.
The second test is, does this gift build up the Body of Christ? Remember that each one of these gifts is intended to be used “for the common good.” [1Cor 12:7] The gift may come through one particular individual, but it is intended for the good of all. Like all the gifts God gives, whether financial or physical or spiritual, we are only stewards. They aren’t meant to stop with us, or to enrich us at the expense of our neighbors.
Think about it. When a hand picks up a cookie, where does it go? To the mouth! The hand doesn’t say, “if you want to eat, get down there and grab it yourself!” Or if the foot stubs its toe, does the eye refuse to water in sympathy? When you have a stomach ache, who complains? The way we can tell if the gifts are being used for the common good is when we listen to each other, care for each other, respect one another.
All parts of the body are indispensable. Yes, we could function with only one eye or only one ear, even with only one kidney. But we wouldn’t function as well. There’s no sense in which this gift or that particular gift is more important than any other. All gifts are necessary - if the body is to work properly, to grow and be healthy. And the showier the gift is, the more public attention it gets, the more humility is required, because “the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.” [v. 24,25] In fact, we can get along much better without our ears or eyes than we can without a liver or colon. An Australian preacher named Stewart Briscoe once said, “When people compliment my daughter on her beautiful blue eyes, I respond, “yes, they are, but you should see her intestines!” We can’t all be edge or corner pieces. And a lot of plain blue pieces make that beautiful sky that covers us all.
So we’re collectively Christ’s body and individually members of it. But we’re not going to take any medals in the great race if we don’t recognize that we’re all in it together. Not only that, but we all have to find out who we are and where we belong. Yes, if we don’t have eyes the ears will step up and do more than they ever thought they could. Yes, if we lose our feet our arms will grow stronger to compensate. And if we lose our voices - as, to my infinite frustration, happened to me some years ago for an entire month - we can write notes. But is that really the way we ought to be functioning? God has called you to be part of this body for a reason. And whenever one member of the body is AWOL, another member suffers because of it.
Shortly after my conversion, I wrote a poem called
“To Christ, at Home in His Body”.
Investigating rumors of Your grace,
I came in fearful challenge for the proof
That would compel me. And, beneath this roof,
In voice, and touch, and look, I found Your face.
Then, stumbling forward on an unknown way,
I knew Your hand in each outstretched to mine,
A gift at once both human and divine,
Unfolding more of You to me each day.
And yet another step: another’s need
Is more of You, and giving back is still
Another gift of Yours, and how You fill
Our emptiness, and make us whole indeed.
Herein, Beloved, You on earth I see,
Who feed and clothe the hungry, naked me.
“People need the Lord,” says the Twyla Paris song. That means people need you to take your place in the body. Each one of us has a gift. Each one of us has a purpose. Each one of us has the Spirit to guide us into our purpose and the right use of our gifts. And each one of your neighbors - the one sitting next to you in the pew, the one staying at home, and the you haven’t met yet - is part of God’s purpose in your life. Can you see Christ’s design taking shape around you, just ready for you to take your place in the divine picture? There is a space in Christ’s body that only you can fill. Some part of his hand, his eye, or his heart is missing when you are not there
