Everything Grows Together

I’ve recently been pursuing physical therapy for ongoing knee pain I’ve had the last couple of years. During my first evaluation, Aaron simply observed me while I walked back and forth in his studio. He quickly pointed out that I’ve been overcompensating to my left leg for so long that my right leg and hip are basically unengaged while I walk. So the first thing we had to work on was learning to get my right leg engaged again. We tried to start with some simple one leg bending exercises. He told me to bend my right knee, and my first response was to just bend my back while keeping my knee locked. It took me two weeks just to learn to bend my right knee while standing.

We progressed to a point after several weeks where Aaron has been able to observe me while I run. It turns out my stride is all messed up. The problems in my stride with my legs have little to do with my legs themselves but a lot to do with how I use my arms while I’m running. His exact words were that while I have full movement with my right arm, my left shoulder his hunched to the point that I have a T-rex thing going on over here. When we went to stretch out my arms and shoulders to try to loosen up, my arms started tingling. Apparently I hunch my shoulders so much that I’m cutting off circulation to my arms and hands.

You see, while I thought problems in my knee meant that I only needed to worry about fixing my knee, I’ve come to see how my whole body is connected. Pain and dysfunction in one part of my body is connected to how well my whole body is functioning.

This is the metaphor that the Apostle Paul is using to describe how the church ought to see herself and how she ought to function: we are one body, with many members, each part essential to the whole. As we study this text in more detail, there are three things I want us to focus our attention on: First, the purpose of spiritual gifts in the body of Christ. Second, finding our place in the body. And Third, growing the body together.

The Purpose of Spiritual Gifts in the Body

Last week we started chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians, which begins a section of this book on the topic of Spiritual Gifts and Worship that runs through the end of chapter 14.

The emphasis of our passage this morning is not on the kinds of gifts, but on how gifts are to function in the body of Christ. To make proper sense of this passage, it’s going to be helpful for us to backup for a moment to see the purpose of the spiritual gifts that God has given to his people. This will serve us in our application of these verses as well as in our understanding of the problem that was present in Corinth. So, I want to give you a quick list of 3 purposes for the Spiritual Gifts in the church. I’m look at verses 12-14 of our passage, and I’ll also be referencing two other passages which speak to the purpose of Spiritual gifts.

To promote unity in the body (12-14). You see how Paul draws this connection between individual members being a part of the whole. Just as our body parts are connected as one body, so too are Christians made one in Christ. The work of the Holy Spirit in our lives connects us and binds us to one another across the common divisions of ethnicity, gender or vocation.

This is an outworking of a doctrine that we call Union with Christ. When we trust Christ for the forgiveness of our sins by faith, we are at that same moment baptized in the Holy Spirit, which means He unites us to Christ and to one another. This is now an objective reality for those who are in Christ. We have been made to drink of the One Spirit together. We now belong to one another through Jesus Christ. When the gifts are used rightly, the oneness of the body of Christ is strengthened.

2. Spiritual gifts are given for the glory of God. (1 Peter 4:8-11)

Peter says that we ought to use our gifts in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

When members of the church serve each other in humble reliance on the strength of the Lord, God is praised and honored for the work he is doing through his people. The focus of our work and service is taken off of us and placed in God alone, who is to be praised and worshiped.

3. Spiritual gifts are given for us to grow in maturity (Ephesians 4:11-16). We need each other. When Christians are equipped to use their spiritual gifts in service to one another, every part of the body grows together. This is the most practical application of the spiritual gifts which we find in our readings from Romans, 1 Peter, Ephesians, and here in 1 Corinthians. Gifts are given to equip others for the work of ministry. When each member works properly, the body grows together so that it buids itself up in love.

The sermon title this morning comes from a classic Mister Rogers song titled, “Everything grows together.” In the song, the repeated refrain is, “Everything grows together, because you’re all one piece!” And so the teaching of Scripture, looking especially at Ephesians 4:16, is that when we are using our gifts as God intended, we all grow together as we build each other up in love.

These are just three of many reasons the spiritual gifts are given to the Church. With this as our foundation, we’re now able to better understand and apply the rest of the verses before us.

You see one of the problems in the Corinthian church was that there was a gross abuse of spiritual gifts. Those who thought they were most gifted were treating others as though they were less than. Far from promoting unity, they were creating division. Rather than giving God the glory, certain individuals in the community were getting all of the attention for reportedly miraculous displays of the Spirit. Instead of serving one another and growing together in love, many people were being made to feel that they did not have a place in the body.

Finding Our Place In the Body

Each of us has experienced the pain of being left out or feeling as if we don’t have something to contribute to a team. Many of us are so afraid of experience that feeling that we actually have an acronym for it: FOMO. When this feeling begins to set in on members of the church, we start to pull away - and just like the muscles in my right leg, our gifts and service begin to atrophy.

These are the kinds of feelings many people were having in Corinth. One group was being so assertive about their gifts, that they were lording their abilities and position in the community over others. Their actions were causing this other group of people to feel as if they didn’t belong to the church. There was this besetting feeling of uselessness that Paul captures in verses 15 and 16, “I guess if I’m not like them, I’m not a part of the body.” Since they didn’t feel like they belong, it was causing them to pull back from the life of the church.

Maybe you feel that way this morning. I want you to see two ways that Paul encouraged these people in Corinth. These encouragements are for each of you who are in Christ. Take them to heart.

How you feel about yourself isn’t the truth about yourself. Look again at the end of verse 16. Just because you’re not like someone else, who you perceive is more gifted than you, or who has it altogether, that doesn’t make you useless. Just because you’re not a hand or an eye, that does not make you any less a part of the body. Whether you like it or not, you belong to Christ, which means you belong to his body.

When we argue ourselves into believing that we are useless and have nothing to contribute to the church, our arguments are always invalid. If that is how you feel about yourself, I’m not here to invalidate your feelings, but I am here to tell you that your conclusion about yourself is wrong. Every single person in the body has been given a manifestation of the spirit for the common good. And the Holy Spirit gives us these gifts according to how God wants the body to be built. Which means far from being useless, every person has an imporant part to play in the growth of the body.

2. Diversity in the body is essential for the body

Look at what comes next in verses 17 through 20. The body of Christ cannot function the way God intends it to without a vast diversity of people and gifts who contribute to the whole. How can a body exist if every part is an ear? What is a clump of ears wriggling around on the ground but an ugly monstrosity?

Remember our passage from last week, earlier in Chapter 12. Beginning in verse 4, Paul said that there are varieties of gifts, service and activities. Which means that the gifts each person have are varied, the needs in our context which require our service are varied, and the operation of the Spirit in you is varied. So each one of us is going to be incredibly unique, and that is exactly how God designed things to be in the body.

Here’s how Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor who resisted the Nazi party during WWII, put it:

Strong and weak, wise and foolish, gifted or ungifted, pious or impious, the diverse individuals in the community, are cause for rejoicing in one another and serving one another. Each member of the community is given his or her particular place, but this is no longer the place in which he can most successfully assert himself, but the place where he can best perform his service.

We will find great joy in taking advantage of the freedom to generously celebrate in others what we lack in ourselves. As the diversity of gifts in a body are grown and used, God is celebrated for his good design in the body.

Let’s think about how we apply these encouragements to ourselves for a moment. It is of utmost important that each of us takes our spiritual gifts and our place in the body seriously. This is the repeated thrust of all these passages we’ve looked at this morning. But this raises the basic question: how do we find our gifts? Isn’t that what we all want to know? How do we discover our spiritual gifts?

There are a couple really important verses about spiritual gifts that are easy for us to pass over if we’re not careful. In Romans chapter 1, Paul says that he long to see the church there so that he can impart a spiritual gift to them, so that they both may be mutually encouraged by each other. When gifts are used rightly, the giver and receiver of the spiritual gift benefit from each other. So, two very simple tests for Spiritual gifts: 1) Am I growing in faith and love through some particular service or ministry? and 2) Are others growing from my service and ministry?

This means that while classes and worksheets on spiritual gifts can be helpful, they’re probably not going to be the primary way you discover how God has gifted you. It’s going to happen while serving to meet needs. Often when we have unmet needs in the body its because there are unused gifts. God has promised to supply his church for their every need. We discover our gifts, then, not when we serve where we are comfortable but where there are unmet needs. We’ll discover our gifts when its our first time serving in the children’s ministry and the guest preacher is going long in service again, and God gifts us with the patience and teaching to minister to the kids. You’ll discover your gift of hospitality when you take the first step to invite someone in your home or take a coworker out to coffee. You’ll discover a gift of helps or mercy when you embrace the awkwardness of pursuing someone you don’t know very well.

Growing the Body Together

When each member of the body finds its proper place, then the body is united and able to grow together.

The problem in verses 21-26 is self-evident. The strong and assertive members of the community are looking down on who they perceive to be lower members in the community.

Paul reaches this pointed conclusion: those whom you perceive to be weaker are actually indispensable. By weaker, Paul does not mean less-gifted or less-capable. Paul’s language is a rebuke to those who fancy themselves strong and are exalting themselves over those whom they regard as weak. Paul had previously associated weakness with the Cross of Christ several times in this letter. These strong and assertive members in the community were out of step with the gospel of grace.

This passage ought at the very least to call attention to our speech. Ungracious speech makes people feel unneeded, it dominates, disrupts, creates discord and dissension, belittles, and makes people feel like they have no place in the conversation. Gracious speech makes room for others, it makes them feel needed and wanted, listens before speaking, creates peace, encourages, and makes people feel like they belong. As Pastor Scott Sauls in nashville says, our speech ought to turn the volume down on shame and the volume up on grace.

It’s no secret that my wife Neva and I have been on a bit of a Mr. Rogers kick as of late. We have been so struck by his example of faith in action. Here you have this man - who was an ordained Presbyterian minister his whole life - who truly believed in the God-given value of each and every person. He recognized how special it is to feel valued as part of a family, because it is one of the most basic needs we have as human beings. Deep down, each of us are looking for a place to belong. I love what he said here, “There's something unique about being a member of a family that really needs you in order to function well.”

Author James K.A. Smith made a wonderful observation when he said, “When you're young, you think being hard & brash is courageous; when you're old you realize the strength it takes to be Mister Rogers.”

Sounds great, doesn’t it. Even inspirational. But why is this so hard to do? Why is it so difficult for us to really honor others over ourselves?

I recently finished this book by Alain de Botton, a British philosopher and author, titled Religion for Atheists. In one illustration, he uses the marriage relationship to identify why human societies are so flawed. He says that marriages start out great, when we are caught up in our emotion, surrounded by gifts and friends and family. But then we soon find that we are weak-willed creatures, our emotions and sincerity begin to fade, and we are surprised by how thoughtless and rude we can be toward each other. His point is that our good intentions or desires aren’t enough to make us actually act to become better people.

Botton’s solution is we just need better role models to inspire us. But the Bible tells us we must go much deeper than that.

It is as Dr. King said that we need something to touch our hearts and souls if we are going to truly come together. The Bible says that our great problem isn’t a lack of role models, but that we have hearts of stone, meaning we’re filled with greed, selfishness, envy, pride. We need a new heart that is filled with love, joy, and peace. And this is exactly what Jesus offers to us.

There’s this great story in the gospels about when the disciples were arguing amongst themselves about who was going to be regarded as the greatest. Jesus’ response to them is a powerful description of the difference between how most of the world operates, and how God’s people are to be different. He said to them, “The kings and rulers of this world lord themselves over others. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. Who is the greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.” (Luke 22:24-27)

There is a great danger in the Christian life when we begin to think that we are owed anything. As soon as we think we deserve recognition, respect, attention - like the disciples, a dispute will arise among us.

The great challenge then of what it means to follow Christ is to understand how much we have been served by him, and how much we need him to serve us even now. Jesus promises us a new heart, with bigger loves and bigger joys.

As we prepare to leave here this morning and go out into the world, lets remember who Jesus is: our Savior, who came into this world not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. If you’re here this morning and you count yourself as a follow of Christ, I want you to consider this week: how has Jesus made your heart bigger lately? Specifically, how has he made it bigger by using your gifts in service to others? Might there be something holding you back from following Jesus where he wants you to go?

And if you’re not a follower of Christ, I’m really glad you’re here at Neelsville this morning. I know there are plenty of people here who would love to talk to you about what it means to follow Jesus and to ask him for a new heart. I’ll be here after service if you have any questions for me. Let’s pray.