Being the Body / Based on 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a / Delivered
on January 27, 2019 to CCH
Hymns: Here I Am Lord, The Church’s One Foundation, They’ll
Know We Are Christians
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
12:12 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.
12:13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one
body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and we were all made to drink of one
Spirit.
12:14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of
many.
12:15 If the foot would 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.
12:16 And if the ear would 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.
12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing
be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
12:18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body,
each one of them, as he chose.
12:19 If all were a single member, where would the body be?
12:20 As it is, there are many members, yet one body.
12:21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of
you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."
12:22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to
be weaker are indispensable,
12:23 and those members of the body that we think less
honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are
treated with greater respect;
12:24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this.
But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member,
12:25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but
the members may have the same care for one another.
12:26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if
one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.
12:27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members
of it.
12:28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles,
second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing,
forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues.
12:29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers?
Do all work miracles?
12:30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in
tongues? Do all interpret?
12:31 But strive for the greater gifts.
Good morning and happy Sunday to you. My name is Darci Strutt McQuiston and I’m one
of the Lay Servants of the United Methodist Church up on the hill from
here. It is my joy to be with you this
morning.
This is a wonderful illustration of how an organization
should operate. I’m going to explore our
role in the body of Christ in these three ways:
Being Unique
Being Valued
Being Interdependent
Being Unique
12:14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of
many.
12:15 If the foot would 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.
12:16 And if the ear would 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.
12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing
be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
12:18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body,
each one of them, as he chose.
I believe Paul is telling this early church to embrace their
differences. Don’t all try to be an “eye”.
I love the quote, “Be Yourself. Everyone else is already taken”, by Oscar
Wilde. Don’t wish you were someone
else. I can assure you the world doesn’t
need two of me. I’m betting you feel the
same way about yourself. The mix of
talents and experience you carry within you are your gift to the world. Nobody else can give that gift.
In Esther there is a moment when Mordecai responds to Esther’s
fear for her life in approaching the king to save the Jewish people from a plot
to kill them.
Esther 4:14
For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance
for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family
will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for
such a time as this?”
God’s will is not prevented by us not offering our gifts, but
it may be that we are where we are for a reason. Mordecai’s comment was a reminder of the
consequences of not acting when it is within your skills to do so.
You are important just by being you, but that doesn’t mean
you shouldn’t work to be the best “you” possible. As verse 31 says:
12:31 But strive for the greater gifts.
These verses are a reminder that your unique qualities are
what God wants to work with. Having role
models is fine but embracing who you are and what your own gifts are is what
this passage speaks to me. We are chosen
to be where we are, because the gift we have to offer is what is needed. So, develop and continue growing as a person
and at the same time embrace the person that is uniquely you.
Being Valued
12:21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of
you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."
12:22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to
be weaker are indispensable,
12:23 and those members of the body that we think less
honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are
treated with greater respect;
12:24a whereas our more respectable members do not need this.
The church needed diverse talents just as the human body
needs diverse body parts. Being a
cookie-cutter congregation meant you didn’t function as highly. Strength was in embracing your differences
and seeing them as assets.
These verses don’t go into more detail but I’m thinking of
sporting gear protecting the heads and more sensitive parts of the body in
rough activities. When it comes to our bodies,
we care about what happens to every little part. We need all parts of our body to function fully. We need all parts of our community to
function fully as the body of Christ too.
While I was working in the Corporate world in a large bank,
we often had working sessions where they attempted to pull in as diverse a
group as possible when doing problem solving.
There was strength in diversity.
Problem solving needed many unique points of view to see a problem fully
from every angle.
Diversity was also greatly valued when doing product
development. The customer was a diverse
population and to reach them we needed a diverse team working on design. Jesus told us to go into all the world. That means the people the church is trying to
reach is as diverse as it can be.
Following from my lessons in corporate life, that means the body of
Christ needs to be diverse to reach them.
Being Interdependent
12:24b But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater
honor to the inferior member,
12:25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but
the members may have the same care for one another.
12:26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if
one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.
12:27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members
of it.
While I was reading about the scripture for this Sunday one
writer mentioned that there was a controversy when our country was born. The controversy was whether to use the word “is”
or “are when referring to our country. Should
it be “the United States are…” which indicates the separate unique nature of
the states that make up our country. Or
should it be “the United States is...” which puts us as a single unified
country. It was determined the unity was
more important to highlight. We are a
group of diverse people and states, but this country “is” the United States of
America.
We, as a set of unique individuals, form the body of
Christ. Our hands “are” used, but the
body “is” God’s hands in our world. We
must work together and support each other for the body to remain healthy. We need to find the balance between being an
individual and being connected to each other.
Recognize that we are united as a single body. The failure of one part means the entire body
is weakened. Strength and healing of an
individual part means the entire body is stronger.
This service itself, brings the ideas within this passage
into action. Gayle helps schedule a
speaker and a pianist each week. The
scheduler, the speaker, and the pianist are important roles, yet you can have a
service if someone passes out your bulletins and song books so that role is important.
There’s also the person who sets up the microphones so you can hear the
speaker. We’ve sung without the piano
before. You’ve had a leader step up from
the chairs to the podium when the speaker couldn’t come. That says those two roles, while important,
aren’t showstoppers. Then there is the
role you play. The service couldn’t
continue without you attending. Your
attention and reaction to what the leader says gives them feedback and
encouragement to continue. We each bring
something to this time together. It has
lots of little parts that cause it to become worship. Many members bringing different skills
becomes one body of worship.
This scripture is a reminder to honor the gifts you bring to
any situation. Always work to be the
best “you” you can be. You have been gifted with different talents
and can develop them and then share them as your act of service. Nobody else
brings what you have to the table. I’m
in a group of songwriters and we say it this way. Other people may be more talented in aspects
of songwriting but nobody else can sing your song but you.
There is great value in diversity. Every gift is woven into the whole of the
body of Christ like a giant mosaic that becomes beautiful in its
complexity. It can be a challenge to
recognize that differences are a strength and not something that should be
expelled. Sometimes we struggle with the
unfamiliar.
Honor our differences. Learn to rejoice in the success of another and
care for the other that is suffering. We
are interdependent. You strengthen the
whole when you strengthen the individual parts so they can be their best. It takes all of us bringing our best unique
selves to this work to succeed in being the body of Christ.
Amen
