Dr. Jack L. Arnold

 

 

THE HOLY SPIRIT

 

SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND THE NEED FOR ONE ANOTHER IN THE BODY OF CHRIST

1 Corinthians 12:14-26

 

Lesson 12

 

The Corinthian church did not understand the local church was to function like a human body.  The Apostle Paul told them the church is a spiritual body of Christ.  ÒThe body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body.  So it is with Christ (I Cor. 12:12).Ó  He also told them they got into this body by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which united them to and identified them with the person of Christ, forming the spiritual body of Christ.  ÒFor we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink (I Cor. 12:13).Ó  Now Christians not only share life with Christ but they also share ChristÕs life with all other Christians.  Paul explained to these Corinthians that every true Christian has at least one spiritual gift and these gifts are to be used for the common good of the church.

 

ISSUE IN BODY LIFE 12:14

 

ÒNow the body is not made up of one part but of many.Ó  -- The church is a living organism as is the human body.  There are many members but each one is necessary to the life and well being of all.  The loss of any one member would be a mutilation of the body.  God designed it so there would be diversity in the church.  No one member is to be equated with the body, and it takes many members to make up one body.  Diversity in the body is not accidental but planned.  Members are persons who are gifted by God to do the work of the ministry.  God does not expect everyone to have the gift of evangelism, but He does expect all to evangelize.  Not all have the special gift of faith, but all are to exercise faith.  There are some that have the special gift of helps but all are to help.  God has gifted people in the church to stir the whole church to deeper commitment to Christ.

 

INSIGNIFICANT MEMBERS OF THE BODY EXHORTED 12:15-20

 

If the foot should say, ÒBecause I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,Ó it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.  And if the ear should say, ÒBecause I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,Ó it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.  -- Paul addresses this section to the lesser members in the body.  Behind these words, we can feel the grumbling on the part of the lesser members.  By lesser members, I mean those who have lesser gifts.  The Corinthian Christians had a particular problem because they were exalting the spectacular gifts like tongues and healing above all other spiritual gifts.  Those who displayed the spectacular gifts were thought of as more spiritual.  Those who thought themselves more spiritual had an independent spirit and a superiority attitude brought on by pride which caused atrophy and paralysis in that local church.  Some of the less gifted members in the church wondered whether they had a right to exist or could make a real contribution to the church, seeing there were so many with wonderful and spectacular gifts.  They felt themselves very inadequate, very insufficient and very inferior.  This led to envy and discontent.  Perhaps some were not happy because of the nature of their gift; that is, they moaned because they had the gift of helps and not evangelism, or the gift of giving rather than the gift of teacher, or the gift of mercy rather than prophet.  Perhaps others complained over the quality of their gift.  They had the gift of teaching but not to the degree of another brother or sister, so they became discontented.  Perhaps there were some that were unhappy about their position in the church - they were deacons and not elders, or Sunday school teachers and not deacons.


PaulÕs point is that there are no insignificant members of the body.  What he is teaching is that if we think of ourselves as a member of the church, the body of Christ, and we say to ourselves, ÒBecause I canÕt stand up and preach or teach or lead, there is really nothing I can do in the body of Christ,Ó we are deceiving ourselves.  Every one of us is part of the body, each has at least one spiritual gift, and all of us are important to the total functioning of the church.

 

ÒAnd if the ear should say, ÒBecause I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,Ó it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.Ó  -- What a ridiculous body if everybody did the same thing.  In the church, God has gifted each person to get the work of the ministry done.  There are many jobs to be done in the church and God has gifted the people to do these jobs.  No member of the body can perform the function of another member.  Each person is uniquely gifted and absolutely necessary to the normal functioning of the body.  If everyone were an evangelist, who would do the helping?  If everyone were pastor-teachers, who would show mercy?  If everyone were on the front line as missionaries, who would do the praying and giving behind the lines?

                        Scripturally the church is to model heterogeneous groupings that cause the world to marvel at our unity within diversity.  A church should be a place where people gather together and get along with each other who have no human reason to do so.  The Bible does not teach homogeneous groupings of people (upper, middle and lower classes, Spanish, Jewish and African-American, Chinese, Greek and Japanese churches) but heterogeneous groupings of people.

 

ÒBut in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.Ó  -- The ChristianÕs placement in the body of Christ, the church, is by divine appointment.  God has given each one of us our particular gifts and no one else in the whole world can do what we can for God.  The eye does not decide for itself that it is going to see; it is given the ability by God to see.  The ear does not develop its own ability to hear but was given that ability by God.  So it is that God gives the ability and position to each member in the body.  Every member is in the body by the sovereign appointment and design of God.

The implications of this verse are clear.  For a Christian to be envious of the ability or position of another Christian is to resist the will of God for his life.  To be discontented with our gift or to be envious of another gift is to stand against the will of God.  Submission to the will of God is recognizing our position in the body of Christ and knowing what God has spiritually equipped us to do, and then doing it, yielding to the Lordship of Christ.  We are what we are in spiritual gifts and we should not try to be something God never intended us to be.

 

ÒIf they were all one part, where would the body be?  As it is, there are many parts, but one body.Ó -- No matter how important any one member may be, there can be no body formed from that one member alone.  It takes all the members to make up one body.  This ought to settle forever the issue of insignificance and inferiority.  No Christian can say there is no place for me in the church.  There most certainly is a place and God designed it that way.

Envy and discontent over spiritual gifts will lead to a critical spirit and an inferiority complex.  The only way to overcome these feelings is to understand that you alone can fill a place in the church that no one else can, and you are important to God and the smooth functioning of the church.

 

INDEPENDENT MEMBERS OF THE BODY EXHORTED 12:21-25

 

The eye cannot say to the hand, ÒI donÕt need you!Ó  And the head cannot say to the feet, ÒI donÕt need you!Ó  -- The Apostle Paul now addresses the greater gifted members in the body.  The eye is more important than the hand, and the head more important than the feet.  Yet the eye needs the hand and the head needs the feet.  Those in the Corinthian church who had greater gifts thought themselves superior to those who had the lesser gifts.  Those with the up-front and spectacular gifts looked down their noses at those with lesser gifts.  This attitude produced a very independent spirit, causing those with the greater gifts to get the idea they did not need the rest of the body; they could function on their own; they could do their own thing; they could get on in the ministry without others helping them.  God hates a spirit of pride and independence because this always produces an attitude of competitiveness and rivalry, which leads to division in the local church.

What Paul says is that those with the greater gifts are actually dependent upon the lesser members.  It is all the little gifts functioning properly which make the big gifts function effectively.

 

ÒOn the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor.  And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment.Ó  -- The church cannot function properly without the lesser gifts.  The tongue would be nothing without the lungs and larynx that are not seen or heard.  These lesser and sometimes unseen spiritual gifts are absolutely necessary for the proper functioning of the church as a body.  A little toe seems insignificant, but break it or stub it and the whole body is hurt.  The lesser members are indispensable to the effective functioning of the body.

We doll up the parts of our body, which are not too attractive by nature by wearing clothing, which draws special attention to these parts.  Those with the greater gifts are to honor those with the lesser gifts, drawing attention to their importance for the effective functioning of the church.  We are to honor those Christians with the gift of helps for instance - those with an ability to know what needs to be done.  Food needs to be served, chairs need to be set up, a house needs to be cleaned.  If we reason, ÒThose with the gift of helps are nice to have around but they are not nearly as necessary as those with the flashy gifts like teaching and evangelism,Ó we are not giving these folks the lesser gifts honor.  If we did not have the gift of helps in the local church, we soon would not be able to preach and teach effectively.

 

ÒBut God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it,Ó  -- In God eyes, the person with the gift of helps or mercy or administration is just as honorable as those who are healers, pastor-teachers or evangelists.

 

ÒSo that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.Ó -- God hates division in the church, and the way to avoid division is to get every member in the church to use his or her spiritual gift, giving honor to those who have the lesser spiritual gifts so they will feel wanted, needed and useful.  When the body is functioning properly, there is genuine care and concern in the church.  There will not be concern just for the wealthy and powerful or the elders and deacons, but for all in the church.  There will be concern for the new visitors as well as for the established members.

 

INTERDEPENDENCE OF MEMBERS WITHIN THE BODY 12:26

 

ÒIf one part suffers, every part suffers with it,Ó -- When any member of the body suffers because he is not using his spiritual gift in the body, the whole church suffers.  One troubled center of pain in the human body affects the entire body.  When one member suffers in any way, it is essential for the body to feel the pain together. When we fail to use our gifts, the whole church suffers.  When we gossip or have a critical spirit, the whole body is affected.  When we withhold our monies because we are not happy about something in the church, this hurts the whole body. Whatever we do or donÕt do affects the whole body.

You would think it hilarious if you saw someone walking down the street slapping himself in the face.  Yet, Christians are constantly slapping other Christians in the body by neglect, slander, criticism and antagonism or whatever.

 

ÒIf one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.Ó  -- If God is blessing someone in a big way in the use of his spiritual gift, this should cause the whole church to rejoice.  If God chooses in His sovereignty to bless some families more than others, we should all rejoice.  Someone has said, ÒIt is much easier to suffer with those who are suffering than to rejoice with those who are rejoicing.Ó

What is PaulÕs point?  We are not islands.  We are not Lone Ranger Christians.  The Bible speaks of individuality but not individualism.  We are all dependent and interdependent on one another.  God hates pride and an independent spirit.  When we are submitted to the Lordship of Christ and using our spiritual gifts for the common good, we are blessing the body, and when we are not, we are causing the body to suffer.  This is also true of our brothers and sisters in other denominations and parachurch groups.  They need us and we need them and this will become even more evident when persecution comes to Christians in our country.