Transformed Community

Today, we are concluding our series called Transformed: How Jesus Changes Everything. While I can’t speak for you, I’ve been challenged by this series, as we’ve seen some of the different ways that Jesus changes us. Today we are going to look at how Jesus transforms our church community by giving us purpose, inter-dependancy and harmony.

1 Corinthians 12:7–26 NLT

A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have. The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit. Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything? But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.” In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.

Pray.

When I look at this passage, I see three ways that Jesus transforms our community. Instead of just being a gathering of people, Jesus transforms us into being a community with purpose, inter-dependance and harmony.

The first thing Jesus does is to give our community purpose.

Jesus gives our community purpose

When I was in high school, I had a pretty fantastic friend group where we did both mundane and incredibly stupid things. At one of the other schools, the parking lot had two levels, an upper level and a lower level that was separated by a two or three foot drop. So, we drove down the hill beside the school really fast, turned into the parking lot and tried to jump from one level to the other and get air in my friends 1971 Pontiac Parisenne. Spoiler alert: we did not.

Another time, we jumped in the car around 11:00pm and started driving. And although none of us had a dollar to our name left, we kept driving and watched as the gas gauge dropped lower and lower. Finally, at about 3pm, we coasted the car on fumes to my house which was 15 minutes of highway driving from town. I ran to the shed, grabbed the jerry can of gas for the lawn mower, and put some gas in the car, so my friends could get home. This was a Tuesday night/Wednesday morning during the school year of course. And that’s when I finally got a curfew.

But a lot of our time was simply hanging out in my friends basements, playing cards and watching movies. It was great. But if you were to ask me what the purpose of the group was, I wouldn’t be able to answer. We simply existed. We were a community who accepted each other, enjoyed each other and, to the extent that we could as teenagers, we cared for each other.

But the difference between a good friend group, and a community that has been transformed by Jesus is that Jesus gives us purpose. We don’t simply exist; we gather with purpose, we care with purpose, we serve together with purpose.

In the first verse of our passage today it says,

1 Corinthians 12:7 NLT

A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.

A Jesus-centred community is empowered by the Holy Spirit to help each other. One of the reasons that we exist and we meet as a church is so that we can work together to help each other become more like Jesus. We gather with purpose. We don’t just exist because we like each other, but we gather to use our gifts help each other become more like Jesus. Brad has a gift for leading worship and when he uses that gift, Jesus transforms our hearts, realigning them with his. Adrian has a gift for sound ministry, and when he uses that gift, he empowers those of us in the room and those online to participate in God’s transforming work during our weekend services. Lorilee has a gift for children’s ministry and when she uses that gift, our kids begin to form faith in Jesus. Fred and Karen have a gift for making people feel welcome and when they use that gift on a Sunday, they make it easier for all of us to feel connected and like we belong.

God has given you gifts to use so that you can help other people meet and be transformed by Jesus. We aren’t just a friend group that hangs out. We are a community of people who meet with purpose - to glorify God and to help each other become more like Jesus.

The second way Jesus transforms our community is by giving us inter-dependance.

Jesus gives our community inter-dependance

Have you ever seen someone in a co-dependent relationship? Let me define the term: A codependent relationship is an unequal partnership that puts one person above the other. It’s where one person is completely dependant on another for their emotional needs. In a co-dependant relationship, someone might say things like ““I need you. I can’t live without you. You complete me.” While it may sound romantic, statements like these are actually a sign of emotional un-health. It places one person on a pedestal and therefore diminishes the other. And the danger is that a person on a pedestal can never fulfill the other person’s expectations of them and so it can lead to bitter disappointment, unfulfilled emotional needs, and conflict.

But the community of God is different. Jesus has, and continues to transform us by making us fully dependant on Him, who is the only one can meet our emotional needs and by making us interdependent on each other.

Interdependency means each person operates autonomously and can therefore give the best of themselves to the relationship. They make statements like, “I want you (instead of I need you). We make a great team. I’m glad you’re my partner.” And they see each other as two co-equals working together.

In our passage, the apostle Paul writes,

1 Corinthians 12:12–13 NLT

The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.

We are different but connected to each other. Just as you have one marriage with two different people, we are one body made up of different people. We are inter-dependant.

Let’s be honest, if you were to leave the church, we would hurt, but we will be fine. We don’t need you to survive. But we want you here because we are better with you than we are without you. You bring a unique set of gifts and skills to our community that can help us become more like Jesus.

We are better when we are connected to each other because each of you bring something unique to the whole by your very presence and when you exercise your gifts. We are partners together, working out the purpose of our community, which is to glorify God and help each other become more like Jesus.

But this comes with an emotional risk. Earlier, I contrasted co-dependancy and inter-dependancy. But there is another contrast: independancy and inter-dependancy. Independancy says, I don’t need anyone for anything. And too many people approach church like that.

Their definition of “going to church” means that they attend a worship service and then leave. But God never calls us to do that. We are called to be in a community where we are inter-dependant. But that means we open ourselves up for more emotional risk.

1 Corinthians 12:26 NLT

If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.

To truly be inter-dependant, when people in our Jesus community are hurting, we hurt for them and we have to walk into the messiness of their hurt to bring God’s grace, love and healing.

But the flip side of that is when one of us wins, we all win. We had some young people be baptized recently. I went up to their families afterwards and congratulated them too because most young people become baptized because of the spiritual influence of their parents, built over years. When a kid who grows up in church, chooses to be baptized, the whole family wins. And when anyone is baptized, the who church wins as our hearts are filled with joy hearing their stories. Yes, we suffer with each other, but we also rejoice with each other over the wins.

Inter-dependancy takes work beyond attending a worship service once a week but it is through that inter-dependancy that Jesus transforms us.

To transform community, Jesus gives us purpose and he gives us interdependence. The third thing that Jesus gives us is harmony.

Jesus gives our community harmony

Musical harmony, when you hear it, is amazing. In fact, let’s try it. Brad, can you come up here. Let’s sing the doxology and you hold the melody and I’ll do the harmony.

Did I do it? How about someone else? Is there someone else here who can sing the harmony to the doxology with Brad?

Didn’t that sound amazing? Why does it sound so good? Because it’s two voices at two different frequencies that are working together to accomplish the same thing.

My frequency was not working together with Brad’s - it was clashing with it and that’s why Brad and I didn’t sound good together.

You all can see where I’m going with this, right? When we, as the body of Christ, each use our different skills and gifts in a way that works together, that accomplishes the same vision, we are working in harmony.

1 Corinthians 12:24–25 NLT

while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other.

We are called to be a united people - a people who are in harmony with each other. And I think that harmony in the church has three aspects to it.

First, we are to have relational harmony. This is the harmony where we accept that we are all different from each other. Each one has a unique history, theology, and gifting and instead of comparing ourselves to each other, we are to accept and appreciate the differences.

You aren’t supposed to be like anyone else other than you. You are important and God has given you everything you need to start helping others in relational harmony.

The second type of harmony is conflict harmony - this doesn’t derive from our passage in 1 Corinthians 12, but throughout the New Testament, we are called, over and over again, to forgive others. The theme of forgiveness is one of the greatest themes in the whole Bible and it is imperative that we practice that forgiveness. As God has forgiven you, you are to forgive others. In our second sermon in this series, Transformed Relationships, we talked about how the people of God should be the best at handling conflict. Unfortunately, often, we aren’t. But God desires for us to be generous with our forgiveness so that the Body of Christ can continue in unity and harmony.

The third type of harmony is gifting harmony. Now, I may not be able to harmonize musically with Brad, but I am in harmony with him today. Brad used his gifts to lead us in worship today, something I can not do as well, obviously. But I have the privilege of using my gift of speaking to bring the word of God to you today. So we are harmonizing the church service by doing two different things with the same vision, which is to help us encounter Jesus and be transformed by him.

1 Corinthians 12:14–18 NLT

Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything? But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it.

God wants us to walk in relational harmony, without comparing ourselves to others, in conflict harmony, where we practice radical forgiveness of each other, and gifting harmony, where we use the skills and gifts we have to build each other up in our most holy faith.

Conclusion

In this series, we have seen how Jesus transforms everything. He transforms our minds and our hearts. He transforms our relationships. He transforms our views of wealth. He transforms our worship. He transforms our leadership and how we view power and position. And he transforms our community, giving us purpose, inter-dependance, and harmony.

I want to conclude this series with a question: How is God transforming you? What is he doing to help you become more like Jesus and what is he using to accomplish that? In our lives, we are either working with God in his work of transformation, or we are resisting him. My prayer for you, is that you draw near to Jesus and allow him to transform you into the person he wants you to be.

Pray.