Gifts and Church Membership

Introduction

Under the providence of God, we are going to look at a passage that I love to preach from, especially in the context of the local church.

We have quite a bit of ground to cover as we will be looking at verses 12 through 31, to the end of chapter 12 of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.

As is my customary practice, I am going to start with a word of prayer, but I thought it important today that I prepare you for that prayer. We’ve been studying about the gifts of the Holy Spirit for over 8 weeks now, and this sermon will be part-9 (I believe) in our series. So, I want to pray, as I begin the sermon today, that God would give you the Gifts of the Holy Spirit for the common good of the church. To that end, I invite you to pray with me in your hearts, that if it be his will, that in this very hour he might manifest his power in your lives by giving you the various charisma (grace-gifts).

[Pray]

Having laid out the nature and purpose of the spiritual gifts, namely that there are not one but a variety of spiritual gifts (whether normative, special, or even ecstatic), and that the Trinity is expressly involved in the distribution and effectuation (or fruition) of these gifts. Though there are a wide variety of these gifts, as Paul details, it is one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each and empowers their function.

From here, Paul moves to an anology that you’ve probably heard preached many times, that of the body and members of Christ. Now, I am going to divide this passage under three headings and look at each of them, one at a time.

We are one

1 Corinthians 12:12–13 ESV

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

In a few simple words, Paul united us all under one name - Jesus Christ, and by doing so, he establishes unequivocally that we belong to one another.

When Paul commands the husband and wife in 1 Corinthians 7:4, that their bodies belong, not to themselves, but to one another, he is talking about the intimate union between a man and his woman. In a similar sense, there is a union here mentioned by Paul, a spiritual bond (a bond of peace and fellowship) that exists between the elect of God.

Therefore, it is safe to say that we do not belong to ourselves but to one another. There is a joy here that some of us are less aware of than others, and I urge you all to consider what manner of life and culture would permeate in this church if we believed such simple truths to pursue them diligently.

We are one body, not many bodies. Too often, we think of our independent selves rather than our corporate body. We are just as self absorbed as the unbelieving tramp locked outside the pearly gates.

Again, Paul maintains the use of the phrase ‘one Spirit’, continuing the theme that all that he is talking about in variety are effects of one and the same Spirit. Therefore, though we see and list many, we must seen them all as one. This he applies not only to the gifts, but now also to all who were baptized into Christ.

The example he uses are Jews or Greeks, and slaves or free. That should give you the kind of category Paul has in mind when referring to the varieties of people who are united in Christ.

Here again, I am prompted to show you that the unity that destroy racism, or casteism, and the likes of such, is the product of this reality - that we are all one in Christ. Galatians 3:28

Galatians 3:28 ESV

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

We must understand the apportioning of the gifts in light of this unity. This is crucial, and many churches suffer divide and conflict because of a failure to understand this fundamental identity of the church.

When in Christ there is no Jew nor Greek, we’re past ethnic divisions. When there is no slave nor free, we’re past social divisions. When there’s no male and female, we’re past biological and character divisions.

Now, if I may add a word here - when Paul casts aside any such division when talking about our unity in Christ, he doesn’t throw out any and all use of such categories as though they didn’t exist.

For example, we know that salvation comes from the Jews (John 4:22), or Romans 11:15

Romans 11:15 ESV

15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?

God’s redemptive work had a specific plan with the Jews, and with the Gentiles. Ethnic distinctives or differences are not sin. But ethnic divisions are. Therefore, Paul’s not throwing out all categories, he’s recognising them and then uniting them.

We can all be part of different tribes, whether we’re Indian, English, Chinese, African, and so on, with distinctive cultures, languages and such, and yet while recognising these distinctives welcome each other as one in Christ.

However, racial categories where we divide people based on the colour of people’s skin, is not a biblical category.

Similarly, Paul says in Ephesians 6:5

Ephesians 6:5 ESV

5 Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ,

and in 1 Timothy Paul separates out the functional duties of men and women in the church, or in Ephesians 5 where he differentiates the leadership of the husband and the submission of the wife.

There is a oneness, a unifying reality, that is achieved, not by breaking all categories or distinctives, but rather by recognising the One Spirit who unites us to the One Christ. We weren’t baptized into different bodies, we were baptized into one body. We were not made to drink different portions but to drink of the one and the same Spirit.

Remember, that contextually Paul’s approach is to show the unity of the variety. He is not trying to say that we’re all identical, but that we’re all identified equally in Christ. Wives, you’re just as valued in the church as your husbands because you are baptized into Christ just as he is.

Paul does not say here that we are merely united with Christ, but that we are baptized into Christ.

Do you remember the words of John the baptist in Matthew 3:11

Matthew 3:11 ESV

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.

This then, is that baptism by fire - in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - Christ.

Romans 6:3–5 ESV

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

That means that this unity that is seen in the church cannot be achieved through worldly notions of inclusivity, but only through the transformation of the heart that the Spirit works in the life of the elect, the Christian. This unity is not the result of philosophical theories, but of the unity we have in Christ’s death and resurrection.

It is only those who have died to their sins in Christ, and have been raised to the newness of life in Christ, who have any grounding for expressing the unity of their brothers and sisters in Christ.

We are many

1 Corinthians 12:14–20 ESV

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 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? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

As I mentioned before, the fact that we are one does not negate the fact that we are many. We’ve got to have good categories to see this difference. God does not unite us in such a way that we are all identical in every way, but he unites us in that we are all identified equally in Christ. But certain distinctives still have a vital role to play in the life of the church.

One body does not mean one member - v14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many.

Now, it is true that distinctives often bring conflict, and it probably did in the Corinthian church. And these conflicts usually have one of these two perspectives that Paul addresses here.

In the first section, we see the sin of self pity and envy, rising from a poor theology - 1 Corinthians 12:15-16

1 Corinthians 12:15–16 ESV

15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.

In other words, our distinctives should not be allowed to define the identity of the Christian. In the example here, a foot or the ear, feels like they don’t belong because they’re not like the hand or the eye.

Now, I don’t want to be quick to judge the foot or the ear for thinking that way, because it is very possible that the church that they are part of emphatically teaches that they should be like the hand or the eye. Or maybe they exalt the hand and eye disproportionately to the other members of the body. And maybe they do it so much that some feel as though they don’t belong.

Whether that, or the sin of envy on part of these members, the idea that we are one only if we are identical is not biblical. That’s not a trait of the church, but the trait of a cult.

Therefore, the first faulty perspective here is of the “weaker” member who idolises the “stronger” member. And Paul’s response is this, 1 Corinthians 12:17-20

1 Corinthians 12:17–20 ESV

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? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

God has placed the members, each one of them. The distinctives we see within the church, are appointed not by man but by God.

If we are all one member, there would be no body. But now there are many members, but one body.

Paul, then addresses the second flawed perspective, 1 Corinthians 12:21

1 Corinthians 12:21 ESV

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

This is the faulty thought of the “stronger” members to think that the “weaker” members don’t matter. It is sinful to bring such divisions in the church.

So, how do we deal with such problems, and not let our distinctives divide us?

1 Corinthians 12:22–26 ESV

22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

The seemingly weaker members are indispensable. Paul does not here say that these distinctives make one stronger and the other weaker. But it may outwardly project a sense of strength or weakness - hence he says “seems to be weaker”.

And in such cases, the default understanding of the Christian must be that they are indispensable. There is a value and worth conferred upon them by God who arranged the members. Who are we to think them disposable?

Therefore, on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor. We bestow honor when we think otherwise.

Our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. If there be an unpresentable distinctive, then we do not discard of that member, we cover them, just like we would the unpresentable members of our body.

Paul is not here saying that some members must never be revealed in the light of the public, not at all. He’s rather using the analogy of modesty to show us how our response must be to those members we consider “weak”.

But 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.

The way we avoid divisions in the church is by granting honor where it is lacking, and ensuring that the same care is provided for all the members.

If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

At this point, I want to pose the question, what exactly are these distinctives that separate the hand from the feet, and the ears from the eyes? Are they ethnic distincitves that makes one feel stronger or weaker? No, we know that’s not biblical. Are they social distinctives? Maybe. Are they biological distinctives? That can also be there.

But in light of the context of Paul’s discussion in 1 Corinthians 12 is that these distinctives are the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

We are Christ’s

1 Corinthians 12:27 ESV

27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

Christ is the body. The function and intent of every member of that body is the glory of the body.