Somebody Else Is You Series

1 Corinthians 12:12-27

Somebody Else is You

October 21, 2007

In the days before motor-driven or electric organs, a talented organist gave a magnificent concert in which the big pipes sent forth magnificent, thunderous tones. After people finished congratulating him, the boy who had worked the bellows, with all his might, said to the organist, “We did pretty well, don’t you think?”

The organist scoffed at his question and said, “And what did you do?” He gave the boy no credit at all. A month later, during another concert, the organist came to a passage that required all the wind that the bellows were capable of. Suddenly the organ began to fade away, the organist signaled for more wind. Instead, the boy pulled aside the curtain and said, “Is it I or is it we?”

This story illustrates the way it should be with the body of Christ. It isn’t the ministers, deacons, deaconesses, trustees, or anyone else you care to name who is supposed to do the work of the church. We are all to do the work.

That is the beauty of what Paul was driving at in this morning’s scripture. Paul took a look at our bodies and began to imagine one of those what if thoughts. We do it as well, we wonder what if my hands looked like feet. And what if I really did have eyes in the back of my head but my mouth was left right where it’s at. How would that work? Would I eat with my feet or with my hands . . . ugh, imagine how confusing that would be and I’m only considering a couple of our body parts.

God has intricately put our bodies together, and we are to use our bodies for God’s glory. At our spiritual gifts class the other week we learned that our pinky is vitally important because the outside of your hands are the strongest parts of your hand. I’ll bet you didn’t know that one. And it shows the need for your pinky, whether you are using it or not.

We cannot look at our bodies and think, some part is less important than another part, that is not healthy. Instead, Paul leads us to discover that every part of our bodies serve a God given purpose. Every part is vitally important. Whenever one part of our physical body breaks down, we learn very quickly how important it was.

But Paul wasn’t just referring to the physical body. He was really talking about the body of Christ - - - that is the church, but not the building - - - Paul’s talking about the people who make up the church, we are the body of believers and we celebrate that. If one of us is not here worshiping, or if one person decides they don’t have anything to offer the church, then we lose out. The church is less complete when someone is not here. But it’s not only when you aren’t here to worship, it occurs when you’re not here to serve in some capacity.

We’ve been talking about spiritual gifts and we need to understand God has given every believer in Jesus spiritual gifts, not just talents, but gifts that come from God which are to be used for the glory of God. Our spiritual gifts are not for our own glory, they are always to benefit others, to edify and build up and encourage others; and at the same time to bring glory to God.

That’s a great benchmark in our lives. Ask yourself this question with anything you do and say . . . ‘am I building up another person and bringing glory to God?’ If the answer is NO, then you know what you need to do. Stop doing it!! If the answer is YES, then go for it.

Because I am now a Hoosier, and because Indianapolis is playing much better than Chicago, I have decided to become a Colts fan. With that in mind, I want to give you a test on the Colts - - -

Without shouting out the answer, raise your hands if you know the name of the starting quarterback for the Colts?

Now, what’s his name? Peyton Manning.

Okay, same thing with the next guy. If you know the name of the head coach, raise your hand.

What’s his name? Tony Dungy.

Now, it gets a little harder. If you know the name of the left tackle, raise your hand?

Can anyone tell me his name? Tony Ugoh.

Why is he important, because he is the main blocker to protect Peyton Manning’s back. If Ugoh misses his blocks, Manning is going to get sacked, throw interceptions and get hurt. You may not know this but in the NFL the left tackle is the 3rd highest paid player on the team, that’s how important they are, but we don’t even know who they are.