MOH Edification of the Body of Christ

I went out to a fancy Christmas meal years ago as a teenager with my youthgroup. I ordered friend shrimp. I ate one and it was good. So I cleaned my plate like my mother taught me. Moments after I finished my friend sitting next to me asked me where all the Shrimp went and I told him that I ate it. He asked well what about the tails and I told him that they were crunchy. He told me I wasn’t supposed to eat the tails. All of a sudden, I didn’t feel so good.

That was one of my lesser uninformed mistakes in life. Being uninformed can be dangerous. Paul wanted to inform his friends about the unique ways that the Holy Spirit wires and equips us to glorify God. God doesn’t want us to be uninformed either. We must remember that different gifts and different personalities come from God. We are one body in Christ, but we are, by divine, different parts.

1 Corinthians 12:1–11 (CSB)

Now concerning spiritual gifts: brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be unaware.

You know that when you were pagans, you used to be enticed and led astray by mute idols.

Therefore I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit.

There are different ministries, but the same Lord.

And there are different activities, but the same God works all of them in each person.

A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good:

to one is given a message of wisdom through the Spirit, to another, a message of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another, faith by the same Spirit,

to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit,

to another, the performing of miracles, to another, prophecy, to another, distinguishing between spirits, to another, different kinds of tongues, to another, interpretation of tongues.

One and the same Spirit is active in all these, distributing to each person as he wills.

If you continue to read in this chapter Paul continues to clarify that we are all different with different gifts and responsibilities but man oh man do we all need eachother.

1 Corinthians 12:12–30 CSB

For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink. Indeed, the body is not one part but many. If the foot should say, “Because I’m not a hand, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I’m not an eye, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God has arranged each one of the parts in the body just as he wanted. And if they were all the same 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!” Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that are weaker are indispensable. And those parts of the body that we consider less honorable, we clothe these with greater honor, and our unrespectable parts are treated with greater respect, which our respectable parts do not need. Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable, so that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other. So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and individual members of it. And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, next miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, leading, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all do miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?