Solving the Puzzle of the Church

1 Corinthians 12

INTRODUCTION: What makes you a Christian?  (V1-3)

One of the statements of Jesus that has been almost completely missed, except when it has been misappropriated, is in Matthew 16:18.  If you remember the story, Jesus had asked his disciples “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”.  After hearing their recounting of what had been said by the people, Jesus asked them a more pointed question: “But who do you say that I am?” Under the inspiration of God (as Jesus points out right away) Peter gives his declaration that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of the Living God.”  Jesus then makes the statement recorded in verse 18:

Matthew 16:18 ESV  And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

The Roman Catholic church uses this verse to claim that the church was built upon Peter, but this does not fit the language, grammar, or context of this passage.  Jesus is only making a play on words, using Peter’s nickname (his given name was Simon) of Petros (a little rock) to compare with the truth (Petra, a huge, gigantic rock – also feminine gendered word) of Jesus’ divinity and messianic mission.  Upon the truth that God had revealed to Peter (who would be channeling Satan just a few verses later) Jesus says “I will build my church”.  This is a HUGE truth, and one that we need to keep in our minds more often.

Why is this so important?  When we think about setting up a church, we think about buying property, setting up bylaws, hiring a pastor, sitting in a pew, inviting friends, and advertizing.  But this truth tells us, first and foremost, that it is not “our” church!

• We did not make ourselves Christians, and we do not define what it means to be one.  He does.
• We are part of something started at Pentecost thousands of years ago, but which is still going on today.
• All growth comes from Him. (Acts 2:47b “And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” 5:14 “And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women”, and Act 11:24 “And a great many people were added to the Lord.”)  He will BUILD his church.
• We should study diligently what HE declares should be the form of his church (remember Nadab and Abihu!)
• And especially, we were literally saved to be part of something.

Jesus after his resurrection ascended to heaven, but the third member of the trinity was sent to accomplish this work.  The arrival of the Holy Spirit is recorded in Acts chapter 2, when new thing happened – the Holy Spirit of God came to permanently indwell his people and make them into a new collective whole.  Everyone who names Christ as Lord is now part of a new and unique thing in history – the universal church, or as it is also referred to in scripture, the Body of Christ.  This takes us to our passage:

I Corinthians 12:1-3 ESV   ¹ Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. ² You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. ³ Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus is accursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except in the Holy Spirit.

To understand the context here, remember that Paul is dealing with a fractious, carnal, worldly and divisive church.  The Corinthian church’s problems were many, but Paul had saved one of the worst for last.  They had taken the powerful, unifying truth of the presence of the Holy Spirit and his empowering of believers, and they had used it to divide and hurt the church rather than for unifying it.  Paul in chapters 12-14 therefore teaches them the doctrine of who they are in the church that Jesus is building, and what the meaning was of the gifts given by the Spirit.  He starts with these verses.  Note three truths in v1-3:

1. They evidently thought of themselves as a healthy church because of flashy individual “spirit superstars”.  Paul says that they were “misinformed”, which means that their doctrine about spiritual gifts was wrong and causing problems.
2. Their ideas about spiritual gifts actually came from pagan sources and not from God.
3. It is the working of the Holy Spirit alone that makes a person a member of the body of Christ. “Jesus is Lord” is the statement only of believers – “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” Rom 10:9-10)  The opposite is also true: “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (Rom 8:9)

So it is the Holy Spirit who makes us Christians. But what does that mean?

I One Giver, One Body (V4-11)

Paul continues now with the doctrine of what the Holy Spirit does in the area of spiritual gifts in verses 4-11.  Most people read this passage with a view to making a list, and even in this church we have spent a lot of time cataloging and categorizing and consigning these gifts.  Taking a “spiritual gift survey” is a popular thing to do in churches, but this is complicated by the fact that there are several lists in scripture of spiritual gifts, and they are all different.  In this chapter there are some listed that are not in any list.  But the real theme of verses 4-11 is not to delineate a comprehensive list, but to emphasize the truth that THERE IS ONLY ONE GIVER AND ONE PURPOSE FOR ALL GIFTS GIVEN TO THE CHURCH.  Just reading through these eight  verses shows us a repeating theme.  (read the passage here)

I Corinthians 12:4-7 ESV  ⁴ Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; ⁵ and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; ⁶ and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. ⁷ To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

One Giver: First we see that though there are many types of gifts and ways to serve, they are all from the same Spirit, the same Lord, and the same God.  The one and only true God builds the church and all members of the Godhead are involved intimately in the work.  This has many corollaries:

• There may be many denominations, but there is only one “church” as far as God is concerned.  That universal church consists only of true believers through the ages.
• All purpose and power for the church come from God and God alone.
• The church is not a human invention.  As such it has a mandate and a destiny in history.
• Our part in this eternal organization is hand-picked by God.
• The purpose of the church is primarily for the glory of God – it exists by and for his purpose and pleasure.
• We have a purpose and a mission given to us by God, and is cannot be separated from the church.
• All success of the church is due to his empowerment.

Note that in the second four verses we see unity in diversity.  There are many gifts, but in the end, Paul once again emphasizes the single focus of all of the gifts.

I Corinthians 12:8-11 ESV  ⁸ For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

In this context, therefore, we see that the church is diverse in two ways:

1. God chooses different and unique people to be in the body of Christ.
2. God gives different and unique giftings to all members of the body of Christ.

The real question that comes up at this point is clear.  Why?  Why would the infinite and omnipotent God not give the whole package to each person that He saves?  Don’t we all have the Holy Spirit?  Does one person have more of the Spirit than another? Are some people super-important and some people just worker drones – replacable and unremarkable and ultimately replacable? This is the problem in Corinth that Paul is addressing.  They had elevated some people in the church over others based on worldly standards of measure.  Their Communion services had become a fight between the “haves” and the “have-nots”. Even the idea of spiritual gifts had become something that divided the church between the “haves” and “have-nots” as their meetings developed a carnival atmosphere where everyone was “one upping” each other with flashy so-called displays of spiritual power, even while the church was manifesting sin, worldliness, division and carnality.  People were sinning, fighting, and showing off.

One Body: To all of these problems, Paul brought a simple message:  “hey guys, there is only One source to all of this, and this is ALL for the purpose of building up the church that Jesus (not you) is building.  You are the building, not the builder.  You need to look at your place in this building not by looking at yourself, but by looking to the Lord.  You need to work for the body and not for yourself.  You need to give glory to God, not to yourself.

If we miss this, we are missing the boat.

To illustrate these points, Paul uses two arguments that deal with two big misconceptions people have about the church:

Both of Paul’s arguments use the same illustration.  Since he has been discussing the universal church as the body of Christ throughout this book us uses the picture of a human body.  Just like a body, the church has many “members”.  The word can apply to any body part including limbs, internal organs, even eyes and ears.  A body has many different parts, and we now know that each of these parts is made of billions of specialized cells, which each contain myriads of different internal organs of their own.  The success of a body depends on two things: specialized organs that do different things, and a full set of organs so that every function is covered.  With this image in mind, we see that Paul is going to combat two errors about the church:

1. “The church doesn’t need me”, and
2. “I don’t need the church”.

II No Lone Rangers, No Orphans (V12-20)

The first argument is given in verses 12-10.  First, Paul gives the overall picture that he is going to use to illustrate his points

I Corinthians 12:12-14 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. ¹⁴ For the body does not consist of one member but of many.

So again we see the repetition of the idea from previously.  There may be many members in this body, but it is only ONE body and behind it is ONE spirit.  You cannot leave the universal church – the body of Christ – and run to another one.  There is only one church.  You are either a member of it (through the leading and power of the Holy Spirit) or you are not.  Verse eleven is the premier verse in all of scripture about how the body is made.  Note that the ingredients can include any member of the entire human race, including any race or station (Jews or Greeks, slaves or free) – there is total diversity in the members.  On the other hand, being made a Christian is a momentous spiritual act done by the one true God through his Spirit.  Paul refers to it as being baptized by and drinking of that one Spirit.  That some people use this verse to describe something that they say happens after salvation to only some special Christians is a complete travesty and detrimental to the entire doctrine of the church as clearly taught here by Paul.  It completely rips this important verse out of its context and makes it say the complete opposite (!)

I Corinthians 12:15-20 ESV  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.

Probably the greatest misconception all through history is that the work of the church is only vocational.  For years the human idea of religion is that there is a specially gifted and chosen (but tiny) group of special people that do the “religious stuff” and that everyone else just “does life” until they need something from God.  Then the specially chosen people are given permission to talk to God for us or to tell us about God until get what we want and then lose interest until the next crisis.  When approached about doing some sort of ministry we say “that’s the pastor’s job” or we angrily ask “what are we paying him for, anyway?”  If the pastor, priest, reverend, preacher, bishop, elder, shaman, etc., tells us that we should do something that we do not want to do, we can accuse him of “talking down to us” or “going beyond his place”.

Another frequent error is the idea that while that person over there seems to like studying the Bible or that person “feels a need” to be part of, say, a prayer group, that is an elective thing to do “if you feel led” to do it.  Someone with this kind of thinking may attend church somewhat regularly but they will probably arrive one minute before the service starts and skedaddle out the door to their car within the amount of time it takes to get all the kids together from the various rooms that they have dropped them off at earlier.  They are the ones who will angrily complain to the pastor if the service ends five minutes later than they had planned.

Another frequent error is the “low spiritual self esteem” idea where someone will tell themselves that they are one of those people who are not spiritually gifted.  They will point to others that seem to have more obvious spiritual giftings (like preaching and teaching) and say to themselves that “the church does not need me – it seems to get along just fine without me”.

To all of these misconceptions Paul lays out his first argument.  In the human body, there are some obvious parts without which (like the brain or heart) we would die instantly.  There are others, like the lungs or digestive organs, that if they shut down we would die in minutes or days.  There are some, like our eyes and ears and hands, whose loss would affect our quality of life greatly.  There are others that we prefer to not think about or show in public, but without which we would be in a real fix or unable to continue the species.  But all members of the body are important.  They are different from each other, and some are more flashy and beautiful, but all are important.

How does this relate to the church?  Well here is the amazing thing.  Just because you do not think you are good bible teacher or public speaker, that does not mean that you are unimportant.  In fact, looking back at verse eleven, note that Paul said that the Spirit “who apportions to each one individually as he wills.”  This means that the church does not have drivers and passengers. All of us are part of the workings.  Imagine if (images of waking up with parts missing and how we would cope).  That image probably represents every church in the world right now.  Think about it.  How many people, after hearing the gospel and making a decision for Christ, are actively attending a local church?  Of those, how many are “Sunday morning and run” Christians?  How many people stay around long enough to find out about opportunities to comfort or encourage others in their lives? How does attendance at a church’s prayer meeting or bible studies compare with that of the main morning service?  So how many churches out there are like a body with no legs, one eye, no ears, one lung, no nose and probably missing procreative organs as well? 

But if we understand Paul’s teaching here, what do we see?  I am needed!  I am important to the body of Christ! 

III God Put You Here (V21-26)

So Paul has dealt pretty thoroughly with people who don’t think that they are important to the body of Christ – that their calling was just to fill in a form and come for the entertainment.  But there is another side to that coin.  Some people think that they are a church to themselves.  They say “I don’t need to go to church to be a Christian”.  As we have seen, this passage already puts the lie to that.  But “Christendom” does not just suffer from members with “low spiritual self-esteem”.  The opposite is also true.  Some suffer from too much “spiritual self-esteem”.  Like the lukewarm church of Laodicea in Revelation 3, they tell themselves “ am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing”.  But Jesus told that church “you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” and “I will vomit you from my mouth”.  Let’s read how Paul applied his human body analogy to that condition:

I Corinthians 12:21-26 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." 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.

There are two errors that can come from this that both manifested in Corinth.  First, this kind of spiritual self-sufficiency can cause those in ministry to look down on those in the church with the less flashy gifts as unimportant or even in the way.  Spiritual pride can tear the church apart, as it was in Corinth.  But this kind of attitude keeps people away from church ministries because “I don’t get anything out that” or “I don’t need that”.

To put it a different way, we often look at the ministries in the church like a menu in a restaurant.  “Ooooh, I like that!” we say of one item on the menu.  But we may only order appetizers and dessert, or just one course.  But the church is not a restaurant.  It is a body.  And you have been made an important organ in the body.  If someone stays away for no other reason than “I don’t get anything out of that”, they are ENTIRELY missing the point.  You were not given amazing and powerful and valuable spiritual gifts for your own edification. As we have read here: “God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.”  If we understand this, it will completely revolutionize our lives,  Think of the sense of destiny that gives you.  You are a unique part of this thing called the church that Jesus is building.  Wow! 

But what is the outcome of this if you sit on your gifts at home? Then you are taking precious and unique gifts that God has specifically chosen to give to you for the others in your church – and basically stealing from God and your fellow believers.  Your gifts don’t belong to you, just as my gifts don’t belong to me.  My gifts belong first to God and then to you.  They are not for my edification – they are for YOU.  If I don’t use them, it will not hurt me, it will hurt you, and that would literally be a crime against you and against God himself.  Jesus tells the parable of the Talents in Matt 25:14-30.  (It is no wonder that he follows it with the story of the separation of the sheep and the goats.)  So our spiritual gifts are unique, divinely specially chosen just for you to use but for others.  Yours are different from mine and without all of us serving where God has placed us, the church will limp along like a body with broken or missing parts. Isn’t it a total irony that those who hoard their gifts and only sporadically attend a church are usually the ones who stop coming because they perceive the church to be faltering?

III Conclusion

Probably the most quoted verse about attendance is Hebrews 10:25.  Most people remember that it says that we should “not neglect the assembling of ourselves together, like some people do”, and certainly many people have been guilted into going to their church’s weekly services by the use of this verse.  But that is not a full quote.  Look at the context, and there is a lot more that it has to say:

Hebrews 10:23-25 ESV  ²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

In context this verse is about holding fast our confession.  If we claim to be saved, we must not waver because God is faithful to us.  So in verse 24 we read that we need to actually give thought to how to stimulate (think “strongly provoking”) each other in the faith.  Have you actually given that thought this past week?  Who have you stirred up (family members at home do not count in this context – it is the body of believers that you have been placed in) this month to more love and good works?  And only then, at the end of these admonishments, does the writer of the book of Hebrews point out that it is impossible to do this if we are not getting together on a regular and predictable basis with other believers, where we can actually use our powerful and special spiritual gifts to build up the body of Christ.

As we come to the end, let me put forward one other thought to consider.  Paul ends this section repeating once again who we are in Christ. 

I Corinthians 12:27 ESV  ²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

The greatest danger of all is forgetting who we were created by God to be when we were baptized by his Spirit into one body.  There are multiple stages of deadness to the call to minister to the body.  At first when we are challenged to take part in a part of the church life that we may be neglecting, we will have to come up with a reason each time not to do it.  And there are always completely plausible and acceptable reasons to be found.  But this is tiring and each time we have to go through the motions.  At some point, however, we can make it part of our identity.  When we can say “oh, I don’t do the prayer meeting”, or “yeah, I don’t go to Sunday School” then the decision is moved beyond the point of conscience to our own self-identity.  Once you can say that, people will not be so likely to encourage you to reconsider – they would feel a cad to do so.

That’s the best reason to remember who we are in Christ and what we have been given by Him through the Holy Spirit.  If we remember that the rest will follow.

And the purpose and joy of being a part of the plans of the Almighty God will be full and free for us again!