Spiritual Gifts Explored (1 Corinthians 12: 12-26) Pastor Josh VanLeeuwen

When we call the church the body of Christ and us its members, what exactly do we mean? How do we differentiate the church from any other organization or collective? C.S. Lewis writes in his address, “Membership,” that “the very word ‘membership’ is of Christian origin, but it has been taken over by the world and emptied of all meaning. . . . By ‘members’ [Paul] meant what we should call ‘organs,’ things essentially different from, and complementary to, one another, things differing not only in structure and function but also in dignity.” Paul’s body metaphor is a strong one because it not only compares individual members of the church to parts of the human body, it also notes how vital each part is to the whole. Lewis compares the church to a family: each member is an important part of the family, not interchangeable with the others, and whatever affects any individual affects the entire family.

Individually we are saved. Individually we are followers of Jesus. Each of us is gifted by our Creator with certain manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Our western culture values individualism. Social media encourage us to point out our superiority over others using their various platforms. But like our triune God, who lives in eternal community, we also are created to live in community, to find our place in the fellowship of believers. Although some of the spiritual disciplines are best practiced in solitude, there are no solitary Christians. Lewis says, “The Christian is called not to individualism but to membership in the mystical body.” We are all members of the body of Christ, the church, and we all have an important God-given role to play in this very special family.

Paul reminds us that each member of the body is important, and each has its own work to do. But the members don’t and can’t function independently. Can you imagine if your feet wanted to go in one direction, but the rest of you wanted to go in the opposite direction? Or if what the eyes saw and the ears heard were two completely different things? When all the members of the body act in unison, the body can work effectively. But if some members of the body try to act independently of or even in opposition to the others, the entire body is affected. At best, there is confusion; at worst, the body itself can be damaged or even destroyed. And what if the members disagree about what is more important? Is a hand better than a foot? Is the heart more important than a lung? Is prophecy more important than hospitality? Is teaching better than showing mercy? Paul says. “God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.”

If we are the members of the body, who is the head? That would be Jesus himself. Even though we Christians are diverse, we can choose to live in unity under the lordship of Jesus Christ. Far from dividing us, our diversity can make us stronger: what one member lacks, another has in abundance. We are not to envy the spiritual gifts of others, nor are we to disparage our own. Likewise, we are not to think our own gifts are superior to those of other members. We are designed to complement, not to compete against, each other. The body of Christ is the means through which the message of salvation is spread. A unified church is a powerful witness of God’s love, mercy, and justice to the entire world.

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