February 4, 2001

I Corinthians 12: 4-31  (p. 999)

Intro to the passage:  This is from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. The Corinthian church was a marvelously talented church, with unlimited potential. They did have their problems however.  - jealousies, divisions, & fighting, to name a few And so Paul writes this letter to address these problems.
Please read the passage.
 

 Imagine that you had been given the Apostle Paul’s assignment. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to take the Good News of Jesus Christ and share it with the entire Gentile world. That was Paul’s mission.   - he was the Apostle to the Gentiles.
 Well, how would you do it? How would you go about this project?   - carefully & prayerfully, I’m sure. But you’d need a strategy. Well, through God’s leading, Paul came up with the perfect strategy. He would travel the world as he knew it and in every town he came to, he’d try to establish a church. - town by town.   - church by church. These churches would have to be well grounded if they were going to make it and if Paul’s strategy was going to succeed. So Paul taught them a lot of theology.  He taught them about - Jesus, grace, prayer, Holy Spirit, communion, 2nd coming, etc.
 But he also knew they’d need more than theology. They’d need to learn to be a fellowship, a family, a team -- united in God, united in a common discipleship.
 I’ve mentioned that Teamwork is going to be one of our themes this year. And it’s not because we’re a divided congregation. It’s not because we’re being torn apart by inner strife and conflict. In fact, this is a very healthy & dynamic time in our congregation! We’re coming together in amazing ways! We’re enjoying opportunities to fellowship & experience spiritual growth. (60 women came out the other night to hear a talk about prayer journaling) 73 people came out to our "All Committee Night." We raised over $215,000 for the organ in 12 months. We’re expanding our outreach all the time, and we’re continuing to grow -- in faith and in numbers.
 So, it’s a very healthy time here at First Parish. That’s why it’s a great time to talk about teamwork! I’ve found that it’s difficult to talk about teamwork when groups are in a crisis. The stress and anxiety of a crisis or conflict make us all less teachable. So, if we think about it now, and build it into the structure & climate of our church now, we’ll be in much better shape the next time we’re faced with a crisis (or a "situation’).
 I’ll bet that was in Paul’s mind when he wrote I Corinthians, ch. 12. These little churches that he was establishing would need to learn teamwork to make it through the struggles & challenges that lie ahead of them. And so he inspires them and us by reminding us of several things.
 First, he speaks of the incredible Oneness that we share in Christ. Vs 4: "There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; there are varieties of service, but the same Lord, there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one."
 What word is repeated?  - "same"    The Same Spirit. The Same Lord. The Same God. The same God is in us all.  The same God has called us all. The same God unites us all!
 In vs. 12 Paul repeats another word time & time again.  "one" "For just as the body is one, and all the members of the body though many, are one; so it is with Christ. For by the one Spirit we were all baptized into the one body . . . we were all made to drink of the one Spirit."
  Oneness.   We share a Oneness with each other in Christ. In God. In the Holy Spirit. What unites us is far greater than the things that sometimes come between us. We Christians have a bad habit of forgetting that.
 Ex. In fact, there’s a story about these two Christians that met, and they discovered that they had a lot in common.
 And they struck up a conversation that went something like this: The one guy said, "You know, I’m a Christian." To which the other guy replied, "Oh, that’s great, I’m a Christian, too." "Are you Protestant or Catholic?" said the man. "I’m Protestant." "Me, too." "What denomination?"      "I’m a Baptist." "Oh, that’s great.  I’m a Baptist, too."
"Southern or Northern?"    The other guy replied, "Northern." To which the first guy, said, "Wow. I’m a Northern Baptist, too!" They went back & forth 'til finally the one of them said, "Are you a Northern conservative fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region, Council of 1879, or Northern conservative fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region, Council of 1912." The other guy replied, "Northern conservative fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region, Council of 1912." To which the first guy replied, "Die, heretic!"
 What unites us is far greater than the petty little things that sometimes divide us. Our faith, our values, our vision, our Savior, our God, our love of worship, prayer,  faith-filled music, outreach, the Bible, the Gospel . . . all these things and more unite us all! The same God & the same Gospel unites us all! So, Paul reminds the Corinthians and us of our incredible spiritual oneness.
 The next thing he says to promote teamwork within the church, is that he reminds them that diversity is a strength, not a weakness. Again, he repeats a word:  Vs. 4 - "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, there are varieties of services, but the same Lord, there are varieties of working, but it is the sam
e God who inspires them all in every one." Did you notice where the variety comes from?  "the same God inspires them all"
 Vs. 11: "All these are inspired by the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills." Vs. 18: "God has arranged the body, as he chose." The variety comes from God! The variety is part of God’s plan -- not some accident or unfortunate slip-up. God planned for Christ’s church to be wonderfully diverse-- made up of a variety of people with many varied gifts, passions, abilities, and priorities.
 Ex. Spencer Stonemetz told a great story at our All Committee Night. When Spencer went on the Maine Conference mission trip to Honduras this past fall he was amazed at the quality of the team he was on. It was the perfect team he said. Everyone had a role to play. Everyone was needed. And their skills were extremely varied. One guy was great at masonry work. Another was a natural with height
s and so he did all the climbing work. Another team member knew plumbing. And another knew electrical. It couldn’t have been a better team, said Spencer, for the jobs they had to do in Honduras. On the way home, Spence wanted to compliment the team leaders for putting together such a perfect team, but first he asked, "How many people applied for this trip?"  "Just you guys," the leader said.  "Just you guys." Spencer said, "God knew. God knew just what we needed on this team. And God put it together."
 I believe that for our church. God has called us to be a team. And we have everything we need to be a great team. And our diversity is an asset, not a liability -- young & old, conservative, moderate, & liberal, new members & long time members, children & teenagers, marrieds & singles, and so on . . . our diversity gives us strength and completeness.
 But diversity can divide people. And so Paul’s next ingredient for teamwork is connectedness, using our varied gifts together. For though we are many and varied, we must act as one. Paul uses the human body as an example. Vs. 21: "The eye can not say to the hand, I do not need you. The head can not say to the feet, I have no need of you." We need each other, and we need to stay connected to each other. This means that "autonomy" is a dirty word to Christians. We are not autonomous -- totally independent from one another! We belong to each other! We’re a part of the same body and we need each other to be the body of Christ. We need each other.
 The other thing I want to mention here about connectedness has to do with how we disagree with one another. If we belong to each other, if we need to stay connected to each other, than that has to inform and shape how we relate to one another, and how we disagree with each other. When we disagree with one another, we should not sound like Teddy Kennedy at a Senate Confirmation Hearing!  We know we’re not supposed to directly attack one another in the church, but that’s not always enough.
 For instance, if you say during a meeting, "That’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard." Now you can say, "I didn’t call the person dumb, just their idea." But let’s be honest, if does insult the person. If you say, "You’ve got to be kidding me. That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard." You might as well say, "Please leave. We don’t want ideas like yours around here." So Paul says, "Can the eye say to the hand, I don’t need you?"  "I don’t want you." We need each other. We’re stuck with each other!   And the funny thing is, it’s all part of God’s plan!  It’s how God designs churches . . . so that we can learn to love.
 There’s just one more thing I’d like to close with that Paul mentions that truly unites us. He says that collectively we are Christ’s Body upon this earth. This isn’t just an analogy for Paul, it’s a spiritual reality. Vs. 27: "Now you are the body of Christ." That’s a pretty amazing statement. Together we represent Jesus Christ to the world. Collectively we are to be his physical presence upon the earth today. That’s a high calling if there ever was one! And it requires a unity of purpose, and a rock solid commitment to Christ and to connectedness. We are about a holy, sacred task -- to be Christ’s body today.
 I don’t know who wrote this but I’ll leave you with this little poem.
 "He has no hands but our hands to do his work today.
 He has no feet but our feet to lead people in his way.
 He has no voice but our voice to tell others why he died.
 He has no help but our help to lead them to his side."
You see, Paul’s mission, to take the Gospel to the world, is ours as well.

Let’s pray:
 O God, our God, make us one. We are one in the Spirit. We are one in the Lord. Help us to live out this oneness, not for our sakes alone, but for yours. That we might fulfill your plan, to be your people in this time and place. We pray this in the strong and precious name of the captain of the team, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Rich Knight