“Just do it.” “Look out for number one.” “If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.” L’Oreal “Because I’m worth it.” Army “Be all you can be.” “Be yourself.” AT&T “It’s all within your reach.” “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” All of these are either advertising slogans or common sayings. Our entire lives, we seem to be hearing one constant message: “The world is yours to conquer. Do what you need to get ahead, and don’t worry because you are the only person that matters.” We are encouraged to act like the toddlers who are not yet aware that their actions affect others because they have barely figured out that their actions affect themselves.
The problem with this message is that we are not solitary creatures. Our actions affect both ourselves and those around us. Even if media and advertising tempt us sto forget that lesson as adults, we learned as children that the people around us matter. If you stand on a playground and one child hits another, the wounded child begins to cry. Actions affect others. If one teenager decides to date his friend’s girlfriend, his friendship is destroyed by the betrayal. Actions affect others. If one person at work doesn’t fulfill her responsibilities, the contract cannot be fulfilled and the whole company pays. Actions affect others.
We can tell what is important in our society by the way we spend our money and the way we pay our workers. We drive by billboards and flip open magazines all showing men and women with the “perfect” bodies urging us on to success. We pay our professional athletes and television or movie actors salaries into the millions of dollars every year. Then we drive a little further, or we close the magazine and walk into our front yards, and we see the teachers, substance abuse counselors, and police officers struggling to make ends meet. Human lives are broken down into the important and the unimportant, the famous and the normal. Actors, musicians, and politicians can receive special treatment. They sit in first class on airplanes, are members of exclusive country clubs, and are invited to private parties hosted by the rich and famous.
On the streets we walk or drive every day, we are normal. Most of us will never be noticed by the famous people who live and work only miles away from this church, yet the good news of the Kingdom of God is that the normal are noticed, and the last shall be first. Paul reminds us that we all serve the same God, and we have all been redeemed by the same Christ.
12:4 There are varieties of grace-gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of services but the same Lord, 6 sand there are varieties of actions but the same God is working in everything and everyone. 7 But to each he gives the manifestation of the Spirit for the common goods. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body – whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
15 Now 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. 16 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. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?
Once again Paul’s instructions teach us not to listen to many of the messages that we hear every day. Christians live in the
In today’s passage, Paul provides us with a partial list of spiritual gifts which are given to each Christian to support the whole church. Every Christian has at least one spiritual gift to share with the body, and no single person has all of the gifts. I encourage you to explore what spiritual gifts you have been given, so you can share them with the church. If you don’t know, there are tests online that you can take or you can meet with a pastor who will walk you through one.
Knowing what our gifts are is essential for us to be able to share them with the rest of the church, but Paul’s list of gifts is less important than his desire for each of the gifts to be recognized and honored in the church. You see, the church is the body of Christ, and like a human body, there are many members but only one body. Each individual part is necessary and important. We might survive if we are missing limbs or organs, but our bodies were not designed to have missing pieces. I had a friend who injured her shoulder. While it was healing, she was unable to drive, write, or lift any objects. No one would have said that she was less than a person, but she was obviously injured. The church is the same way. We may survive if only a few people run everything and no one else participates, but we cannot flourish without every member using the gifts which the Spirit has given to him or her. Every person and every gift is necessary in the body of Christ, and when some members don’t share their gifts, the body is visibly wounded.
It can be hard to hear that we are needed and important. We live our entire lives based on our status and power level. It is easy to believe the messages that only the famous and “important” people can make a difference or are really needed. We see news stories about the work that Al Gore or Bono in the fights against global warming and AIDS, and they are recognized around the world by their faces and names. We can be tricked into thinking “Surely I’m not important, and no one misses me. I’m not famous like those people.” The problem is that one of the organs in our bodies is no more important than the others. It doesn’t matter whether our liver, kidneys, heart, or arteries stop working, they can all kill us. If even the smallest blood vessels in our bodies become blocked, the cells around that blood vessel die. We truly need every part of our bodies to be working properly. The same is true of the Body of Christ. We need those people who are not known by the world if we are going to be able to reach out to our neighbors who are hurting right next door.
But the Body of Christ does not just need every single member, it also reverses the power structures of the world. Paul tells us, “Those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.” We know that God cares for the outcast and ignored people of the world. We saw that he provided instructs to
Too often, we determine the worth of those in the church based on the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given to people, without realizing that those gifts are necessary to the church. Too often, we pay more attention to the work of our teachers and preachers, to those with the flashy and visible gifts. We sound like the Corinthians who were much the same way. They were determining which gifts were most important and causing chaos in the church because everyone was trying to exercise the same gifts at the same time. The Corinthians all wanted the visible gifts; gifts like speaking in tongues, prophecy, and performing miracles. That is why Paul writes this long discussion on spiritual gifts and the body. The Corinthians don’t understand why the Spirit is giving them spiritual gifts. We need to hear this message from Paul when we base someone’s worth or importance on whether they have the visible and “flashy” gifts of the Spirit. And we need to remember that God has given more honor to the parts of the body that lacked it.
No one spiritual gift is more important that the others. When I think about the ways that we determine a person’s importance, it reminds me of the many concerts and speeches I have seen. Too often, the speaker or singer ignores or abuses the people running the sound or lighting boards. They have become consumed with their own importance and forget that without those people who work hard behind the scenes, no one would even know there was a person on stage. They would have no chairs to sit in, no lights to see the stage, and no microphones or speakers. It may seem like the person on stage is more important; he or she is the person who drew the crowd after all. But the person on stage doesn’t matter if no one can here what they are saying. Those gifts which seem less important, gifts like service, mercy, and helping, are necessary if the preachers and teachers are going to do their jobs.
So what are your gifts? We each have a place in God’s body, and we each have gifts to give to others. Since no one person can have all of the gifts, we need each other to be able to share our gifts. We can only have all of the gifts when we come together. This is why it doesn’t work to be a Christian who isolates himself from the church.
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