Interdependent by Design

A guy goes to to his doctor one day, struggling to get healthy, and asks his doctor for some advice on diet and exercise so he can lose weight. The doctor gives him some pointers and some resources to formulate a meal plan and exercise routine. The man goes home and over the next several weeks begins to implement some of the things he learned. One month later, he returns to get some blood work done and they record his weight and blood pressure and he finds out they have improved! His doctor tells him to keep doing what he’s doing and come see him in six months.

Time goes by and the man continues making progress, but after a few months, he stalls. He hasn’t been losing any weight, so he goes back to the doctor and he says, “Well, I guess we’ll have to amputate the leg.”

Now, that would be absurd. No doctor in his right mind would amputate a leg to help someone lose weight. No person in their right mind would have a healthy limb amputated. We are given all the parts of our body for a reason, and we should not desire that any one of them be removed.

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul compares the church to a body and talks about the importance of each part to the function of the whole. We are going to continue in this chapter to understand what it means for church membership and the function of the church.

1 Corinthians 12:12–26 NASB95

For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

The church is the body of Christ. This is true on a global scale, but also at the local level. Christ is the head of the church, and his desire is that his church function as a diverse, but unified body. The human body is extremely complex. Adult humans have 206 bones, 320 pairs of muscles, approximately 78 organs, and over 100 trillion cells that make up their body. All of them are different in function. Which would you like to live without?

Like the human body is complex, so is the church. We are not all the same. Though we are diverse, every member belongs to the one body of Christ and therefore has indispensable value and function.

The church is unified as one body.

As I have said before, no one person is a church. The church by definition is an assembly, a gathering of people who are called by God. The church is the children of God gathered. So we can be connected in a sense to the global body, but we lack proximity. We gather locally because we are physical beings who are limited to being in a single place at a time. There is this idea that ties a local church together of submitting to one another for the purpose of discipleship. While I love my brothers and sisters in Houston, I don’t walk through life with them. Therefore, there is a level of accountability that I have here that doesn’t exist over there.

So we must understand that because God has given us the ability to gather locally, he intends that we involve ourselves in each other’s lives locally. As such, I believe that at the local level, each church has members who are also part of a body locally. It would be logical to conclude that God gives each church everything they need to operate in the moment. What verses 12-13 are saying is that each member of the church operates like a part of the human body.

I like jigsaw puzzles (I just don’t have time to put them together). But the thing about jigsaw puzzles is that if there is a piece missing, you don’t have a complete image. Unity exists when each piece is placed in its proper place to show the image it was meant to express. Unity is experienced when each piece is where it belongs and functions the way it was meant to.

I want to ask you a question. Are we living like we belong to one another? I’m not talking about the fact that we are allowed to show up and worship together, but are we living like we belong to one another? Is there someone you’ve been keeping at a distance? Are you harboring a grudge or gossiping instead of seeking peace? Do you prioritize the health of the church family over personal preference?

We don’t have to agree on everything, but we are called to love each other through everything. Unity doesn’t mean uniformity—it means choosing to walk together, even when it’s hard. It means that in even the hardest moments, when our brother or sister disappoints us, they let us down, they make us mad, we still say to ourselves and to them, “I’m not giving up on you.” That might mean asking forgiveness, offering grace, or simply showing up more consistently in someone’s life. That’s unity.

The church as a body is naturally diverse.

No two people are alike in the church. Just as every human being is unique, God has designed His church with a variety of gifts, experiences, and personalities. The diversity that God has created in us is experienced in his church. Paul uses this analogy and an almost comical hypothetical scenario to illustrate this point. If a foot could talk and claim that it was not part of the body because it wasn’t a hand, we might say the foot is ridiculous. We might say the same thing to the ear who thinks it is not part of the body because it is not an eye. When someone in the church goes unnoticed, they are like a foot or an ear that think they are not important.

What would it be like one day for one of your ears to fall off the side of your head because it didn’t think it was important? What would your reaction be? I’m going to say you would be as freaked out as I would be! Sometimes we don’t realize just how much we need a part of our body until it stops working properly. Then we begin to realize just how important it is that everything works the way its supposed to.

I went to grab something off the table in my house this week and my thumb nail caught a tiny gap between the two leaves of the table and created a small tear where my thumbnail meets the skin under my nail. It hurt like crazy. I but a bandage over it during the day to protect it, but I found myself getting frustrated because I couldn’t text with two thumbs! I had to text with one finger for days! Do you know how long it takes to type with one finger? A while! I was reminded how important my left thumb is!

So here’s the question: Are you bringing your gift to the table? Are you serving anywhere right now? Maybe you don’t know where to serve. Have you taken the spiritual gifts survey to discover how God has wired you to serve? If you have yet to take the spiritual gift survey, I strongly encourage you to do so. It will help you know how God wants you to serve. If you have, come see me after the service is over. Let’s set up time to talk about how God has gifted you. Remember also to celebrate those who are serving. When you see someone doing a good job, tell them!

Don’t sit on the sidelines. Ask God, “Where do you want me to serve? Who needs what I have to offer?” Someone else in this church is waiting on the encouragement, wisdom, or service you were uniquely gifted to give. Don’t keep it to yourself, and don’t think that you are unimportant.

The church needs all its members.

In this analogy, every member is a part of the body. Someone might be a hand, or a foot, an eye, an ear, the nose, etc. Just be glad that the spiritual gift survey isn’t going to tell you that you are the armpit! The point of this passage is to help us realize that there can never be a time where we look at one another and say we don’t need you. Which church member would you like to excommunicate? The answer should be none.

Which body part would you like to cut off? Unless that part is sick, the answer should be none. Just as God created you a complete human being, God created the church to function as a whole. Sure, there are things we can’t do because we don’t have people to do them, but we have everything God wants us to do today because he has given us each other. The mission he wants us to accomplish can already be accomplished because we already have the people. When we do better with what he have, God will give us what we need to do more.

What happens is we start to look at people or positions and begin to think they are not as important or not as essential as others. That’s like asking, which is more important? Your skin or your internal organs? They’re all important! Just because it’s not visible, doesn’t mean it’s not important. If you lose your stomach, I promise you’ll miss it very fast! In the same way, if Shawn, who plays a very non-visible role every Sunday is told his job is unimportant, you won’t hear me that well, the screens won’t show anything, and we would not be live on Sundays. If Robin quits as treasurer, things will unravel very fast if that job goes undone. Yet it is an unseen job. Sometimes we give greater honor to those who serve in in more public facing roles (pastor, music leader, teacher), but God reminds us that they are all necessary.

1 Corinthians 12:22–26 NASB95

On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

We might think some are more important than others, but God does not. We should be asking, “Are we valuing the people God has placed in this church? Do we treat others as necessary to the life and mission of the church, or just as extras? Do I celebrate the contributions of those who serve in unseen or less “public” roles?

Am I tempted to think I’m not needed—or that someone else is more important?

We don’t get to decide who’s valuable in the body of Christ. God already did. And He says: You belong. You’re needed. And so is your brother or sister sitting next to you.

So encourage someone who serves faithfully behind the scenes. Make space for someone who feels overlooked. And remember—honoring others doesn’t take anything away from you. It multiplies the strength of the body.

We must appreciate the unity of the body of Christ. God has already made us fit together. We must also appreciate the diversity within the body. I’m glad we are not all alike. And we need to remember that we need all of us. There is not a single person here who is more important than another.

Being part of the body is not automatic. You have to respond to Jesus.

Being part of a local church body is not automatic. You have to choose to join it and know your place in it.

Do you know your gift? Take the survey.