United but Diverse (1 Cor. 12:12-31)

Introduction

My Favorite Illustrations (One but Different)

Some neighbors were discussing the different outlooks people have. Finally, one old man said, “Well, I am glad all people don’t see alike. Because if they did, they would all want my Marthy.” These neighbors were one in community but recognized their differences. So it is to be in the body of Christ.

This is what we see in these last twenty verses of chapter twelve.

There are many members but ONE BODY. We are all in community with each other and we are one.

I must reiterate what I said last week, If you hold to a certain view of the gifts different than me, that is okay. I understand that we will believe differently but do not just react from emotion but let Scripture guide you.

Like I said about those who say that God told them so and so, I agree that the Lord will illumine Scripture through the Holy Spirit and you will get a Word from Him in that. But if any word ever is against Scripture, then it is not of God. One can have Scripture illumined for them and they believe deeply that God has spoken to them about giving to someone in need, starting a charity, serving the community, or that everything is going to be okay.

None of that is against Scripture. It is fulfilling our role as believers actually. But when someone says God told them they needed to buy a $25 million dollar G6 Jet, that is mighty suspicious. It gets real suspicious when they say that we are to give him the money for this jet.

That is not Scriptural at all.

So, differences can be had within the body over what we believe the gifts are and how they work or if they even work still today. But these are not essential doctrines for the growth of the body or salvation. So, lets not allow them to make us divide.

Let us remember this old saying attributed to Philip Melanchthon In Essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity.

We must believe this way because we are one body in Christ. Which brings us to the first point in this text:

I. Unity (12-14)

Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations & Quotes (Unity)

Few doctrines are more important than this one. Because the church is under constant attack, we need to be good students of the subject. Because we are fellow members of the body, we need to apply ourselves to mutual harmony. And because disease can diminish the effectiveness of the body, we must maintain habits of health and a consistent program of exercise in harmony with God’s body-building program.

Yes, body building is of the utmost importance for the body of Christ. We are one together.

Throughout this last section Paul uses the word “body” eighteen times in the ESV.

That is an important word for Paul in this section. It is because he is focusing on the unity of the members of the body of Christ.

He not only uses “body” that many times but he uses the word “one” or a variation of it (single) ten times.

These emphasis and re-emphasis of these words demonstrates the desire of unity from Paul, but the spiritual unity that is the one body of believers.

Unity is that important. It is crucial for proper function. Without unity there is no proper function. Even if we have differences, we need to be in unity with the main goal, people believing in Christ and then going and serving Him to the fullest.

Now, to look at the first three verses more closely.

The body analogy comes fully in view.

Paul says the body has many members but is still one. Our natural body is many members but it is still one body. This is what it is to be in Christ.

In verse 13 he says that it is the “One Spirit” that places us in the body. All people of all ethnicities and backgrounds.

There are none higher or lower in this. All become part of the body by the baptism of the Spirit. This baptism is what happens when we believe in Christ for our salvation. Commentator Mark Taylor wrote, “Paul’s emphasis on baptism into one body in one Spirit strongly emphasizes the unity of the body” (1 Corinthians, vol. 28, The New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2014), 297.)

We see Paul speak of this baptism in Rom. 6:3 “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” and in Gal. 3:27 “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

Also the baptism that Christ spoke of in Matt. 3:11 ““I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” and Mark 1:8 “I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” and Luke 3:16 “John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” and Acts 1:5 “for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” and several more Scriptures.

Alan F. Johnson, a theologian, agrees that this baptism is at the moment we believe. He states, “I would argue that baptism of the Spirit is the common experience of all Christians at the time that they receive Christ as Savior” (1 Corinthians, vol. 7, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Westmont, IL: IVP Academic, 2004) 231).

Indeed, when we believe we are baptized with the Spirit and become part of the body regardless of who we are or what we are. We all become one with many members with many different functions.

Which leads to the next point which is the:

II. Diversity of Gifts (15-20)

How weird would it be to have a foot for a hand and an eye for an ear.

We would be walking Halloween costumes if this were the case.

Paul makes it clear that it would be silly for the foot to say it is not part of the body because it is not a hand and an ear if it were not an eye.

Each part has a role.

We need eyes to see, ears to hear, feet to walk and have stability, and hands to grasp things. These parts are where they are for good reasons. If they are not, then a body has difficulties.

What Paul is alluding to with his statements of each part saying it does not belong because it is not another part is that each part has its own unique function.

Paul makes this clear when he wrote in 1 Cor. 12:17 “If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?”

He makes even stronger emphasis of this in 1 Cor. 12:18 “But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.”

God has arranged each part of the body as it is for a specific reason. There is not a part of the body that does not have a function and that function is exactly what it is supposed to do.

This is part of the sovereign design of our physical bodies and I believe the same is said for the body of Christ.

We see “The emphasis on “each one” and the placement of the members in the body according to God’s pleasure builds up the main point of 1 Cor. 12:4–11 that describes the manifestation of the Spirit “to each one” (12:7), the distribution of gifts “to one” and “to another” (12:8–10), and the allotment of gifts of the Spirit “just as he determines” (12:11).” (Taylor, 298).

Paul is telling the Corinthians then and us now, that whatever it is you have been gifted with as a member of the body that is exactly what God has for you to do.

Do not be jealous or compare yourself to what another is doing or able to do. Do what you are positioned to do and do it to the absolute best of your ability. Do not forsake what you can do because you think being a foot is not being part of the body.

Carry the weight of that job. Do not forsake what you are to do because you are not a hand. Carry the load given you.

Many parts have hard jobs and other parts have what may be considered less than honorable, but all parts have a specific role and function and each part must be working in proper order for the whole to work correctly.

This now leads us to the final point:

III. Divine Purpose: Mutual Up-building (21–31)

There was a show that was very popular for a while. It was called “Dirty Jobs” with Mike Rowe. He would go to places and do jobs that were considered dirty or less than honorable.

One main point from the show was that each of these jobs had a role and function for society. They needed to be done. If they were not done then the whole would suffer because these nasty less than honorable jobs were not being performed.

Just imagine if people did not tend to sewers, your trash disposal, cleaning bird droppings off of bridge cables and underpasses, and many other less than honorable jobs.

We would have tremendous disgusting and nastiness building up all around us. This is what we see Paul getting at here in this final section of this chapter.

In this section “the main consideration is the need that members of the body have for one another with an emphasis on the weaker, less honorable, and unpresentable members of the body. “ (Taylor, 298).

Verse 21 we see that each member needs one another. We see here the illustration of the eye and the head, Paul may be alluding to the idea that some have that certain roles are of greater value than others (Taylor, 298).

Another commentator, Anthony Thiselton says of this, “It is hardly mere speculation to imagine that those who perceived themselves as possessing the “high-status” gifts of knowledge and wisdom, or of the power to heal or to speak in tongues, could be tempted to think of themselves as the inner circle on whom the identity and function of the church really depended. In modern times, the tendency to select either one or more of the “gifts” in 12:8–10, or to interpret the baptism by or in the Spirit in 12:13 as the sign of “advanced” status, comes perilously near to the Corinthian heresy which Paul explicitly attacks.” (The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 1005).

Each gift that one receives is of the same ranking as the others because they are all for one reason. They are all for the whole body to thrive and be right.

Just like I started this point with the necessity of the dirty jobs, the so-called weaker members are indispensible to the body. Just think about the parts of your body you do not expose but of the extreme importance of those parts.

Every part is important or it would not be there just like each person who is in Christ is just as valuable as the other parts.

With each part being joined together all parts have received greater honor now. Each part works with other parts so each part has great honor in their role. This is the unity that is being spoken of here. Every part must work together because 1 Cor. 12:24-25 “God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.”

This means there is to be no division but a mutual concern for one another. We see here that Paul is emphasizing the unity of the church. This is one of the primary themes of this letter.

Paul is not saying that this gift is to be desired over this gift or that gift over this gift. No, he is saying that some have received this or that. When we all utilize what we have and do it for the church, the body, then the body will be full and capable of so much more.

These divisions and arguments over this or that gift is wearisome to be honest. People get all riled up over these gifts and what is around now and what is not. I do not care to be honest. If the sign gifts are still working great, if not, great, let us not get so focused on these that we miss the main point.

This is what Paul is ending this chapter with. Not all do each of these listed but we all need to desire the higher gifts. This desire is not contradictory of what Paul had just written about each part has a role.

No, Paul is saying to desire that which will be most beneficial to the church, to the body.

Just like working out. I do it for the benefit of my body and for you all. If I am unhealthy I cannot perform the duties I must perform. I work out to stay healthy and capable. I have no desire or jealousy of those guys who look like they were chiseled out of marble.

I seek the higher health benefits that working out brings so I can better perform my tasks in the church. I do not do it to be better than others or out of jealousy but the mutual up-building of the body.

This is what Paul is saying at the end here. And the better way is that of the next chapter. That of love for all because if we have everything but have not love, we are nothing.

Conclusion

When we seek this we seek the benefit of the whole rather than for ourselves alone.

Much like the wagon trains of the past.

My Favorite Illustrations (All for One, One for All)

The wagon trains of the Old West for the most part were made up of strangers bent upon one goal—to seize the opportunities offered by the broad expanses of the West. As people traveled together they became acquaintances and then friends. Normally, the train of wagons stretched out one behind the other; in a sense each was on its own. But if attacked by enemies, the wagons formed a cohesive circle to give greater strength and safety. It was all for one and one for all.

Due to the dangers which assail us, Christians should be united in the circle of divine love. If they are, then no combination of evil forces can destroy them.

Many of us in the body are strangers really. But even though we are, we are one together in the Body of Christ. Remember Paul does not compare us to a body only he says 1 Cor 12:27 “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”

We are the Body of Christ and we need to live that out every day. We need to so we can advance the body and grow it every day.