Some think God only works up front. But every gift—teaching, mercy, encouragement—is priesthood, given for the good of the whole body.

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Empowered for Good

1 Corinthians 12:12–31

Well, if you can’t tell, things are a little different this morning. Last week was Courtney’s last week serving as the church pianist, so Gail has stepped forward this morning to offer some background music, and we’ll hear from her in a moment. Amanda has kindly stepped forward with her family as well — let’s give them another round of applause. All that to say, I am thankful for you folks who have stepped forward as we figure things out. Thank you all very much. As we have been doing for the past several weeks, we’re going to continue a conversation. We started off talking about the idea of sainthood — that was about six weeks ago now. If you don’t remember, that’s fine, but let me catch you back up. We said that to be a saint is not a special category reserved for really, really good Christians. Instead, it is a status bestowed by God upon us — it means we have been claimed by God for God’s purposes. It’s a status, and it’s also a calling we live into. From there we moved to the personal aspects of sainthood, and then to the corporate aspects — this idea that we are saints together. That brought us to the priesthood. Scripture tells us that we are a holy priesthood who inhabit God’s house and who offer spiritual sacrifices to God (cf. 1 Pet 2:5). We noted that this priesthood can face two directions. Last week we looked at the priesthood facing God, in the offerings we bring in worship, and we saw from the apostle Paul that we are not only the priests who offer the offerings in God’s house — we become the offerings ourselves. What does it mean to offer spiritual sacrifices to God? It means we offer all that we are to God as we are transformed into the kind of people who can pursue God’s will. Today I want to focus on the other side of that priesthood piece. It can face God, but it can also face one another — not because we need anyone but Jesus to stand between us and God, but because God sometimes chooses to work through people. How many of you have ever had someone say the word you needed to hear at just the right time, so that it was as if God was the one speaking through that person? Sometimes God chooses to use us as priests to one another. That’s where I want to camp out this morning. To do that, I want to take you to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Today we’re going to do things a little differently — I’d like to invite you to open your Bibles with me. It’s toward the end of your Bible. I’m going to read the entire passage; it’s a little long today, but then we’ll jump back into it and see what the apostle Paul is saying. First Corinthians chapter 12, beginning in verse 12: Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 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. Even so, the body is not made up of one part, but of many. Now if the foot should say, “Because I’m not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I’m not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 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? But in fact, God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 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.” On the contrary, 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. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 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. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. (1 Cor 12:12–31, NIV) The word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. One thing the New Testament teaches you pretty quickly is that there is no such thing as a perfect church. Sometimes we like to idealize the past — if I could just get back to those New Testament times, that’s when people really understood it. But once you start reading the New Testament, you realize that quite a bit of our scripture is actually addressed to churches dealing with difficulties. Sometimes a church has a conundrum: what do we do in this situation? Sometimes churches are at each other’s throats. Sometimes there are just sick dynamics at play, and you get a letter to that congregation because that thing needed to be addressed. There is no such thing as a perfect church, and Paul is writing into one of these situations when he writes to the Corinthians. The Corinthians are a church where some of those sick dynamics have begun to take hold. From what we can tell by reading this passage, it seems some people think they are the best thing since sliced bread — which doesn’t quite work, since there wasn’t sliced bread back then, but you understand what I’m saying. These are people very confident in their spirituality, very confident in their standing in the community. They are proud, and they posture against everyone else. On the other side, you have another group who have bought into that posturing and have begun to shrink. So you have some people with an elevated view of themselves, and some with a deflated view of themselves. When you have that kind of thing happening within the body that is the church, you have some sick dynamics at play. So how does Paul speak into this situation — some posturing and proud, some shrinking and thinking too little of themselves? He draws on imagery very native to his time and place, but one that also speaks well to ours: he compares the church to a body. Paul takes this body imagery and uses it both to name the problem this church is facing and to point to the solution. It’s an imaginative exercise — in naming the problem, Paul anthropomorphizes different parts of the body. They begin to speak to themselves, and they begin to speak to one another. Let me show you how this works. The foot says, “Because I’m not a hand, I’m not a part of the body.” The ear says, “Because I’m not an eye, I do not belong to the body” (v. 15–16). Now, I’ve told you there are some people in this congregation who are posturing and proud, and some who are shrinking and think too little of themselves — which one is this? This is the shrinking crew. They’re the ones who say, “Well, yeah, I’m a foot, but really the hand is where God works — God really uses that kind of person. Maybe I’m not quite a part of the community, or maybe I’m a lesser part of it.” There’s a self-talk going on that says, I am less than the people God really, really uses. Then there are the other parts of the body — the eye and the head. They don’t have self-talk; they talk to others. The eye says to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head says to the feet, “I don’t need you” (v. 21). So we’ve got posturing, proud people, and we’ve got shrinking people who think too little of themselves — which ones are these? These are the proud people, the ones who say, “You know what? I’m pretty great, and because I’m pretty great, I don’t really need the rest of you.” What Paul says is: let’s talk about the church not as just a bunch of individuals — let’s talk about the church as a body. When you do that, you can name these dynamics, one where people are shrinking, the other where people are overly proud. And when you talk about the church as a body, you see how absurd that is. Because the foot saying “I’m not a part of the body” doesn’t mean it isn’t a part of the body. Because the eye saying “I don’t need you” to the hand doesn’t mean the hand is any less important. All the parts of the body are necessary. If you want the body to be functioning, you need all the parts taking their place, fulfilling their function, and working in harmony. The eye can’t say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The foot can’t say, “Because I’m not this other part of the body, I am not needed.” Everyone is needed. Every part is necessary, and we need to function together — which is how Paul started all this off. In verses 12 through 14 he says: “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ… 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; even so the body is not made up of one part, but of many” (1 Cor 12:12–14, NIV). That is the point of this body imagery. It’s not okay for some people to assume they don’t need others. It’s also not okay for some people to think they are less-than and not needed. The body needs everyone to take heart. But in this imaginative exercise, Paul also points us to a realit...