For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.—1 Corinthians 12:12–20

Many of you know that back in October the elders went to a conference on spiritual gifts. Pastor Jason summarized his desire by looking at 1 Corinthians 14:12, “Since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.” Our desire is to see manifestations of the Spirit to build up the church, guided by love (1 Corinthians 13). Nothing will happen overnight, and everything will require extensive teaching and careful shepherding.

My hope is to help lay part of the foundation so that we would be a church that excels in building one another up. If we were to put aside the controversial gifts, the spectacular gifts, or what would call the “supernatural” gifts for a moment, are we a church that uses all the “natural” gifts we’ve been given to build one another up? I do not plan to wade into the controversy of tongues, prophecy, or healing, but rather to raise our collective longing to be a church that excels in building up one another.

I think one of the best ways we can “strengthen the core” (as part of our Fill These Cities vision), is to be a church that is eager to excel in building up the church in love. So my aim this morning is to answer the question, what is God’s design for the church and what is your role in that design?

Introduction

A few months ago there was a college basketball game between No. 25 ranked Alabama (Crimson Tide) versus No. 14 ranked Minnesota. With 13 minutes left in the game, there was a scuffle where all the players on the bench came onto the court. If you’re a basketball fan you know what that means. If you leave the bench and go onto the floor for a fight, you’re ejected. The bench is empty, there are five players, but then one fouls out, and another sprains his ankle. The final 10 minutes were played with only three players on Alabama’s team, and they even almost won. Playing shorthanded hurts the team. If members of your team are injured, inactive, or absent, the team as whole suffers.

So it is in the church as well. When there are members in the church who are not engaged in the mission of the church, not utilizing their gifts in service to one another, not in community, remaining anonymous, or sitting on the sidelines, the church as a whole suffers. 

In our passage, the Apostle Paul makes the case that all believers have been given gifts by the Spirit to serve the body of Christ. My aim is for us to understand God’s design for the church, to live out this design with joy and gladness for the flourishing of the church. You have not been ejected from the game, you have not been disqualified, you are not injured beyond repair, and I’m calling us to get off the sidelines and to participate in the life of the body.

The plan then is to look at the two main ways Paul breaks down this passage. First, the unity of the body (vv. 12–13) and second, the diversity of the body (vv. 14–20). Next week we’ll look at vv. 21–26 as Part 2 of this message.

1. Unity in Spirit-Empowered Spiritual Gifts (vv. 12–13)

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

Paul has been addressing specific topics that the Corinthians have written him about starting in chapter 7. In chapter 12 he begins to address spiritual gifts, reminding them in 1 Corinthians 12:7 of their purpose To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” Spiritual gifts are not to be self-serving but for the corporate benefit.

1a. The Church Is a Living Organism (v. 12)

Now in verses 12–13 Paul begins to draw an analogy between the church and a physical body. A physical body is a cohesive, living organism. It’s not a conglomeration of parts, but interdependent pieces (“one but many members”). It’s not amorphous blob of mass, but has distinct members: a head, neck, abdomen, arms, hands, legs, and feet. Yet within these parts of the body are organs such as a heart, lungs, and liver. Yet within the body are also systems, such as your circulatory system (blood), digestive system (intake food), immune system (helps fight off the flu), and on and on we could go. Paul didn’t necessarily have these parts in mind, but is making the point that the church, just like a physical body, is a cohesive organic whole. Different parts, different functions, but unified.

He makes this explicit at the end of v. 12, saying, “so it is with Christ.” The use of “Christ” here is shorthand for “the body of Christ.” The body of Jesus is the church, which is an interdependent, inseparable, organic whole. No one, if you’re part of the church, is a standalone member.

1b. Unity Is Christ-Bought & Spirit-Empowered (v. 13)

For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

In verse 13 he shows us how we have been unified into this inseparable, organic whole: through the work of the Spirit. In verse 13 we see two interesting descriptions: “In one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” and “all were made to drink of one Spirit.” What is Paul talking about? We get a clue if we look back to 1 Corinthians 10:2–4 where Paul, in the same book, uses very similar language: “And all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink.” In the same way that Israel identifies with Moses to be God’s covenant people, so the church is God’s chosen people through the Spirit. What is mainly in view is not water baptism, or a particular drink, but rather the Spirit. This Spirit-baptism is not a separate experience from conversion, but rather the common reception of the Spirit for every believer at conversion.

The picture that is being painted here is like a waterfall that is being poured out. In Ezekiel 39:29 God tells of a day where he will pour out his Spirit, “And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel.” That prophecy was fulfilled at Pentecost. God unifies his church through the shared experience and indwelling of the same Spirit to become part of the one body.

Look at your neighbor for a moment. You are unified with them by shared experience and indwelling of the Spirit. That thought changes how we see difficult people. It changes how we see different people. That truth should attack our autonomous, individualistic thinking. You exist to be a part of a body. Earlier in 1 Corinthians 6:10, Paul says, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

It is a paradigm shift to believe that every member is needed and necessary. There are no throw-away people in the body of Christ. Each one of you has been given spiritual gifts by God to use as part of the living organism of the church. 

1c. Unity by the Spirit Tears Down Divisions

The other aspect I want to draw out is in the little phrase nestled in verse 13, “Jews or Greeks, slaves or free.” In the church there are no second-class citizens, no junior varsity team.

Paul had addressed this earlier in 1 Corinthians 11:17 in talking about the Lord’s Supper where wealthy believers were humiliating believers who were at a lower social and economic level. The unity of the church was at stake, and the honor of Christ was at stake. If we dishonor fellow believers, we dishonor Christ. Similarly, Spirit-enabled unity ought to tear down any social, economic, racial, ethnic, or regional barriers and divisions that may exist. This harkens back to our emphasis on ethnic harmony. When we see believers who are different from us—social, economic or ethnic differences—our first instinct ought to be, “we’re unified by the Spirit—I want to get to know them.” Unity is more than politeness, but intentionality to breakdown any perceived barriers that exist because we’re part of one body.

The church is a living organism, Spirit-empowered, that has no place for division. That leads us to our second point about the diversity of the body in verses 14–20. 

2. Diversity in God-Ordained Spiritual Gifts (vv. 14–20)

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.—1 Corinthians 12:14–16

2a. Diversity in Function Reveals Beauty, Not Uniformity (vv. 14–17)

The point that Paul makes now is that unity doesn’t mean uniformity, but unity in diversity in function. The body is one organic whole, but made up of many parts. There are different functions within the body. Just because one member isn’t like another member, doesn’t make it any less a part of the body. One isn’t better than the other. If I gave you a choice to keep your hand or your foot, and the other I would cut off, which would you choose? Answer: I want both! Cut off neither. Different functions, same value. That’s Paul’s point. We are an orchestra, with every member playing a different part, a different instrument, to make beautiful music together.

Just because one body part doesn’t function like another body part does not mean that it is not just as important and functional, though different. Paul’s illustration is near absurd, yet, how often do some of us think like this? I’m not nearly as talented as ________. I’m not as good, helpful, prominent, useful, important, talented, outgoing, thoughtful, intelligent, sociable, welcoming, generous, interesting, or articulate as someone else. Therefore I’m unnecessary; I’m less valuable, or I’m less needed as part of the body. This is a lie. Within the body there are different functions.

It is not the Spirit that is operative when we compare ourselves to others. Comparison is a deadly habit, which is all too easy in a social media ruled world, where I can see real-time updates of someone’s lavish vacation at any time on Facebook or Instagram. And we do this within the church with spiritual gifts as well. We compare ourselves with others. We become discontent with how God has wired, gifted, and made us. We might notice other’s giftedness but instead of rejoicing we become despondent. Paul is combatting this train of thought. It is prideful to think we are better than someone else. But it is equally prideful to think we aren’t gifted because we compare ourselves with others—when God has given you gifts to use in the church. Grace enables us to be who we are and to rejoice in the gifts of others.

Dan Holst has served joyfully as the Lead Pastor of the North Campus since the beginning. He’s mister positivity. Always sees the silver lining and hopes for the best. I’m not like that, but boy do I need Dan Holst in my life. He encourages me and sees the grace of God at work in the things where I can sometimes only analyze the deficiencies. We meet weekly, and I leave encouraged because he’s not me, and I don’t have to be like him. God has gifted each and every one of us differently.

Derek Dearth, one of our Global Partners that served in Zambia, shared with me how he worked with some of the poorest of the poor in AIDS/HIV education. Some of these people were illiterate and some of the most impoverished people in the country, yet they, too, had God-given, Spirit-empowered gifts to use for the building up of the church and for the common good.

2b. Diversity Is Ordained & Designed by God (vv. 18–20)

But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

The diversity in function is ordained and designed by God. God made it this way.

This is by God’s design. God has arranged the members and parts of the body—the church—to function this way. Each one of our spiritual gifts has been arranged and chosen by God. This ought to give you great relief. God did not make a mistake when he placed you here to be a part of this local church body. And he did not withhold any gifts from you, but rather he has called for you to exercise those gifts—whatever they may be—for the corporate benefit of the whole church. This is God’s glorious design for the church. We are to exist in interdependence.

Some might be asking what counts as a spiritual gift? Is it supernatural or natural gifts? Talents? Is a talented instrumentalist, who has practiced piano for decades, using a spiritual gift or a natural gift when leading worship?

There are five different lists of spiritual gifts in the New Testament (two in 1 Corinthians, one in Romans, Ephesians, and 1 Peter), they cover a wide range of gifts. From the more spectacular spiritual gifts we commonly think of (prophecy, healings, working of miracles), to more “normal” gifts (teaching, administration, giving, leadership, showing mercy, and service). Paul doesn’t make a distinction between “supernatural” and “natural” gifts. It is the same God, Lord, and Spirit who works all things in people.

So I would argue that any ability that we have can be used for ministry, and what makes it spiritual is whether the Holy Spirit empowers us to use it for spiritual purposes. Cooking a meal to comfort a fellow saint who has lost a spouse—absolutely spiritual. Hospitality to engage and welcome someone who doesn’t know Jesus—spiritual gift. 

Not often do we think of administration as a spiritual gift, and yet it’s right there in 1 Corinthians 12:28 listed alongside helping, healing, and speaking in tongues. We must not minimize the gifts. As I was studying, I was then struck by Exodus 31 as Moses describes the building of the tabernacle.

The LORD said to Moses, “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft.”—Exodus 31:1–5

God fills Bezalel with his Spirit to be able to exhibit craftsmanship in working with gold, silver and bronze, and cutting stones and carving wood. These trade skills are empowered by the Holy Spirit. I want plumbers, electricians, concrete pourers, biologists, nurses, chemists, lawyers, architects, designers, musicians, teachers, cooks, database programmers, salesmen and women, counselors, and a multitude of others to see that their gifts are God-given for the good of the body. Every Wednesday there is a small band of servants who cook, serve, collect money, and wipe tables so that Wednesday Connection can happen. How many of you would be asleep right now if it weren’t for those lovely folks outside who have made coffee available for so many of you (Bea Anderson and Becky Reyes).

I want to get really practical here. I don’t want to leave these as conceptual good ideas that don’t call you to action. Every individual in the church has been designed to exercise his or her gifts for the common good.

There are spiritual gift inventories, but the Bible doesn’t talk much about how to know what your gifts are. Why? I think the Bible assumes that all Christians will serve Christ in and outside the church, and through that, we’ll begin to discover our gifts as we serve and do ministry. And others will tell you.

One of the ways we want to strengthen the core is to recruit more people to serve those in need through meals, temporary housing, or practical help. This would be especially true of widows and widowers, single moms, and families engaged in foster care and adoption. On the back of your worship folder, there is a place for you to indicate your willingness to serve alongside some of our deacons to provide help to the body. And frankly, you don’t have to cook to serve on the meals ministry. You just have to be willing, perhaps once a month, to either cook a meal, or go out and buy a rotisserie chicken and a bag of salad and deliver it to a person in need.

In November we talked about evangelism as one of the primary ways we strengthen the core. And if you’ll remember, I asked everyone to pray. I know not everyone is gifted to share the gospel—though we should all practice and continue growing in it. But every single one of you should pray. God may use someone else, who is also praying, to share the gospel with them or to do a one-on-one Bible study. I remember when a neighbor of mine came to faith, I sat down with him and counted the number of people that had been praying for him to come to know Jesus. It was more than 40 people (two small groups, a neighborhood prayer group, and other friends and neighbors). We are members of an organic whole. 

As a North pastors team, we’ve been talking about the need to cultivate greater discipleship. We’ve been working through a book together called The Vine Project. The premise of the book is exceedingly simple: Every believer is a Christ-learner who is to be engaged in helping others learn Christ. Essentially, every believer is to be a disciple-making disciple, which involves evangelism, discipleship, mentorship, equipping others to lead.

This includes every facet of church life. Not just programs that pastors oversee but organic outgrowth of spiritual gifts in every facet of church life.

• Inviting a young couple into your home to allow them to watch you lead your family in a devotional time could be the single greatest practice that reforms our families.
• Hearing a dad sharing with other dads how he tries to prioritize his family over his work.
• Maybe its retirees recruiting other retirees and empty nesters to finish strong, and to mentor and to walk with hurting people.
• Dozens of volunteers help make communion happen week to week. Wednesday night Connection meals, parking lot volunteers, greeters, ESL tutors, one-to-one Bible reading with a newer believer, and the list goes on and on for ways you could plug in. You don’t have to be an elder or deacon to serve or to help others learn Christ.
• Generosity and giving—for those who don’t give at all, God has enabled you to give and begin tithing. For others, its greater generosity.
• There are hundreds of volunteers serving with Gil in the Children’s ministry, and with Jon and Ben in youth, and every year we need more. Our aim isn’t to find people who can parse the Greek and diagram every sentence—but just normal believers who are willing to love others.

Gospel Trajectory 

We live in a broken world where anger, division, and violence are all too common. The Florida shooting is another tragedy, and there are multiple voices calling for solutions that don’t ultimately work. But God is establishing a new body, where peace, love, and unity reign, and every member has gifts to use for the common good. We cannot do it in our own strength. We’re too selfish, we’re too self-conscious, we’re too fearful, we’re too preoccupied with ourselves, we’re too prone to compare, to be envious, to downplay our own gifts, and to desire someone else’s gifts.

But Jesus frees us from the bondage of comparison, selfishness, envy, and divisiveness born out of our despondency or pride over our gifts. Jesus—the most gifted person in all the world—put aside his gifts in order to die on the cross, sacrificing himself, in order to redeem sinners. “Though he was in the form of God, [he] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:6–7).

Jesus set the ultimate example of what it means to put aside self-seeking desires, in order to seek the common good as designed by his heavenly Father. The common good that Jesus sought was our salvation and forgiveness of sins, so that we can now embrace who we are and use our gifts in service of others, not for the praise of man or other’s recognition, but for the good of the body, the church of Jesus Christ. Only when you have been freed from seeking glory for yourself, or freed from the despondency of thinking I’m not particularly important or gifted, can we fully begin to unleash the diverse and Spirit-empowered gifts in the body for the mutual benefit of the church.

If you’re here this morning and you don’t have a relationship with Jesus, our desire is for you to know what it means to be free of self-consuming thinking to truly embrace being part of something bigger, something greater than yourself. Put aside self-promotion and self-loathing to be an integral part of the kingdom of God that will never fade, never fail. Become a part of a family, a body that is comprised of all believers in every place, over all time. Jesus says that if you would save your life, you’ll lose it, but if you lose your life for his sake and the gospel, you’ll save it (Mark 8:35). You want significance in this life; there is nothing greater than surrendering to Christ, becoming a servant, so that the God of the universe can exalt you at his given time. 

No one in this body is so gifted that they don’t need others. And no one in this body is gift-less. The church is a hospital for sinners, not a country club or even worse, a museum for saints. But by God’s glorious work, this hospital for sinners becomes the glorious, spotless bride of Christ when all members rise up to use their spiritual gifts, empowered and enabled by the Spirit and ordained by God, to serve one another.

Sermon Discussion Questions 

Main Point
Every single believer has been given gifts by God through the Spirit to be an integral part of the body of Christ and to utilize their unique and diverse gifts for the building up of the church body.

Sermon Outline

1. Unity in Spirit-empowered spiritual gifts (vv. 12–13)

1. Our unity in the church is Christ bought and Spirit empowered.
2. Our unity by the Spirit tears down all divisions and divisiveness.

2. Diversity in God-ordained spiritual gifts (vv. 14–20)

1. Our diversity in function reveals the beauty of unity, not uniformity.
2. Our diversity in the church is ordained and designed by God.

Discussion Questions

1. How does a vision of the church as an inseparable living organism impact how we view others in the local church?
2. What is the significance of Paul’s analogy of the church as an inseparable living organism? How does that push up against our individualistic preferences?
3. How can we remove divisions or divisiveness in light of our Spirit-empowered unity as the church?
4. How does our diversity in spiritual gifts, by God’s design, free us from comparison, envy, or despondency because we don’t appear to be as gifted as others?
5. How does our diversity in spiritual gifts—not uniformity—free us to commend, encourage, and affirm others who we see as gifted by God?

Application Questions

1. How can you utilize your gifts in the church body to serve others for the common good?
2. If every member of the church was seeking to use his/her gifts in small groups, evangelism, discipleship, and in all the other areas of the church, what would look different?
3. Are there spiritual gifts that you have neglected, under-utilized, or resisted using to serve others in the body? How can you begin using them?

Prayer Focus
Take time to confess and repent of comparing yourself with others or of being envious of other’s gifts, and ask God to help you to use your gifts to serve others for the building up of the body of Christ.