Live Your Purpose

The church is the body of Christ. This is the metaphor being used in 1 Corinthians to help us understand how the church is structured. While you and I are not literally body parts, we are designed to function as a body functions. The arm does things a leg can’t do. A foot does things an ear can never do. This is the way God has designed us. He has designed us as unique individuals. There is no one like you on the face of the planet. There never has been and never will be another you. When we apply that to the church, we realize that our uniqueness is like that of parts of the body. We are made to work together in unity to achieve a common purpose.

You all know by now that I am a lover of electronics. I’ve been obsessed with them since I was a kid. Today it is incredible to see what we can fit into such small packages. The power we carry in our pockets is unreal. But I used to love taking things apart that had a bunch of moving parts in them. Today things have less moving parts. It is part of living in a digital age. But how many of you still have a VCR in your home? The VCR had a lot of moving parts. When you put a tape in the VCR a lot of things had to happen correctly for an image to appear on your television screen. One time I took the cover off a VCR so I could watch all those parts go to work so a movie would play. That’s what it’s like when all the parts of the church work together the way they were designed to.

We have been talking about spiritual gifts for the past couple weeks and your spiritual gift is the way God wired you to operate in the church. You were made to play a distinct role. Today, we will finish up our series of sermons on spiritual gifts and why it matters to the greater conversation on church membership. Paul wraps up this section of 1 Corinthians 12 on spiritual gifts by saying:

1 Corinthians 12:27–31 NASB95

Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And I show you a still more excellent way.

As we end this series of sermons on spiritual gifts today, I want to provide you with some encouragement and a challenge.

Own your place in the body of Christ.

In verse 27 Paul says you are the body of Christ. You are the church. The church is not an institution or a business. It is a ministry, but not a ministry unto itself. If there are no people, the ministry dies. The church is us. If we are not here and active, there is no ministry. So, we must remember that we do not exist as a church unto ourselves. We have a purpose that is both ministry to the body, but also the body ministers to the community.

Because we are connected to one another, we minister to one another through the use of our spiritual gifts. The gifts are given to the church to build one another up. In the process of building one another up, we pursue the mission of reaching people together. So there is an internal use of spiritual giftedness that lends to the external touching of other people’s lives.

If you are here, and you are members of this church, meaning you have chosen to align yourself with the church’s beliefs, core values, doctrinal statements, and mission, you are here for a purpose. You are not here by accident. My prayer is that none of you are here only because this was the church you grew up in. I hope that you continue to be here because you believe in the work we are accomplishing and believe you still play a part in that. You are part of the body of Christ. You can’t not be. There is no Christian who is not part of the body of Christ because all Christians are part of the church. If a Christian is not in a local church, they are not active, but they are still part of the church Christ is building.

If Jesus is your Lord and Savior, you are a member of the church. You are a part of the body. Don’t underestimate your value in the body. Because Christ desires you to be active in his body locally, then you should commit yourself to a church locally.

Ask yourself: Am I living as an active part of Christ’s body or passively sitting on the sidelines? Am I here to fulfill an obligation or bring my gift to the table? How are you currently adding value to the body of Christ? Where are you presently serving? Where might God be calling you to serve?

Embrace the role God has given you.

In verse 28, Paul lists the types of gifts or roles that God has given to the church: apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles, gifts of healing, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. This reinforces the fact that God, through the Holy Spirit, is the giver of your spiritual gift. The words first, second, and third seem to indicate that some gifts, namely apostles, prophets, and teachers are of greater priority than the rest. But that would seem to contradict what he just said about all gifts being valuable and one member not being any more important than another. However, there do seem to be some gifts that are indispensible.

What part of the body is most important? Is is your brain? Your heart? Your lungs? You need all three to live, so all of them are important, but is there one that is most important? Apostles, prophets, and teachers are listed in this order and it would seem Paul does this intentionally. While the gifts that follow are also important and necessary for the health of the body, there is prominence given to these three. Why? Well, it turns out that your heart and lungs are just as important to you staying alive, your central nervous system (your brain and spinal cord) is of critical importance. Your central nervous system tells the rest of your body what to do and how to do it. If we look at the three gifts here listed in order, we see that the common denominator among all three is proclamation. All three roles have something to do with declaring what the Lord says. Instruction comes from the Lord through the apostles, down to prophets and teachers, to everyone else.

So these three roles in a way function like the central nervous system of the body of Christ. If there is no one proclaiming the truths of God in the church, the church is dead. It cannot function. While we can argue about apostles and prophets and whether those titles exist today, I don’t want you to miss the greater point that the proclamation of the word of God is central to a healthy church. We must have people who are gifted for this purpose.

Then you have the rest of the rest of the gifts, which are not exhaustive. There is another list in Romans 12:6-8, there is the list in verses 4-11 of this chapter, and there is the list that appears here in verse 28. This is yet another reminder that God has equipped you with giftedness that no one else has. Just like we talked about last week, you can’t think you are unimportant just because you are a part of the body you deem insignificant. All parts of the body are needed and necessary for the health of the body.

Embrace your role. First, discover what your role is through taking the spiritual gift survey. Then embrace the role God has given you. Recognize the difference between prominence and importance. Prominence refers to those positions like apostles, prophets, and teachers that are more visible. Importance includes the parts of the body we can’t see. Which would I want to live without? My lips, my tongue, or my vocal chords? The answer is neither! Just because some remain unseen doesn’t mean that they aren’t essential to my ability to speak.

Ask yourself if you are willing to serve in whatever way God has gifted you, even if it’s behind-the-scenes? Are you committed to serving the Lord even if it isn’t visible? So many people, especially young people desire a platform that is public. But if your role was unseen, would you still do it with all your might? Remember to honor those who serve in unseen or “less celebrated” roles as well.

Nobody has every gift.

Paul asks a series of rhetorical questions in verses 29-30. Does everybody have the same gift? No. Nobody has every gift. Not all Christians share in one gift. Therefore, we should embrace what God has given us and seek to operate within that giftedness. It becomes dangerous when we see someone else use their gift and see the results of that and wish we had that gift. Do I still believe miracles can happen? Yes. Do I believe God can use someone to perform a miraculous healing in someone’s life? Sure, but not everybody has that gift. God has not given me that gift, therefore I don’t operate in that lane.

You don’t have every gift. Nobody does. Bethel Church in Redding, California, led by Bill Johnson, is well known for their contemporary Christian music. They also fall under harsh criticism for the doctrine in their music. They opened a school of supernatural ministry, where for $13,000 over three years, they will teach you how to operate in all the supernatural gifts. Yet this passage shows that no one has them all. That’s a red flag to me.

No one has all the gifts. Instead, be confident in the gift God has given you. Are you tempted to envy others’ gifts or to think less of your own? Remember the church needs what you bring to the table, because nobody can do what you do. The church needs your gift to function as it should.

Let love guide everything you do.

In the final verse, Paul wants the church to earnestly desire the greater gifts. That is not to say that the church should desire them for themselves. That would undo everything we just talked about. But as a church, we should desire that God would raise up strong leaders who are capable of proclaiming what the Lord has said. The proclamation of the word of God in its many facets are the central nervous system of the church.

He then says he will show the church a more excellent way. What is that way? It is the next chapter. Chapter 13 is known as the love chapter and it is popular for reading at weddings, but the context is not about married couples. It is about giftedness in the church. If we are given spiritual gifts and attempt to operate in them without love for the body of Christ, we will turn inward.

Do you love the church? Do you love the people sitting in this room? That love should be the driving force behind why and how you serve those around you. You should first be asking how you might contribute to the body. What potluck dish can you bring to the table? Are you thinking about how the people are going to enjoy that dish or have you slipped in to filling an obligation?

Church membership is about meaningful service. Don’t just seek usefulness—seek to be loving in your service.

There may be someone here who is not a part of the body. Showing up to church does not make you a part of the church. Christ does. He died and rose again to bring you in. If you confess him as Lord, asking forgiveness of your sins, you not only receive eternal life but a place in the family of God. Will you come to Him today?

For those of you who are already part of the body, you have a place in the body—and a purpose. Are you serving in the way God has gifted you? If not, take the survey, bring it to me, and let’s discuss how you can engage in meaningful service.

Is love shaping how you serve others? Have you lost the joy of ministry? Has ministry become drudgery? I’ve been there. Let’s talk about it and work through that asking the Lord to restore the joy of ministering to others.