Sermon Discussion Questions:
1. Read 1 Cor 12:12-31 together. What questions do you have? What is most encouraging, or convicting to you?
2. The Corinthians are struggling with divisions in the church (see 1 Cor 1:10-17). What does Paul appeal to in this section to bring unity? What creates community?
3. What may lead someone to say: "I don't belong"? What may lead others to tell them: "You don't belong"? What are some of Paul's responses to those thoughts?
4. What does it look like in your life to apply this vision of the body? Is there anything you need to change? Look specifically at 1 Cor 12:26--what would that look like to actually happen in our church?
Two Pictures of Community:
- “Where everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance and everyone lives the deadly serious passion of envy, self importance, and resentment.” (Screwtape)
- “In a circle of true Friends each man is simply what he is: stands for nothing but himself. No one cares … about [what family he came from], profession, class, income, race, or previous history…That is the kingliness of Friendship. We meet like sovereign princes of independent states, abroad, on neutral ground, freed from our contexts.” (The Four Loves)
- Which one do you want? Which one is more typical?
This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel…To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. (Eph 3:6, 8-10)
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. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 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.
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.
27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the higher gifts.
And I will show you a still more excellent way.
- 1 Cor 12:12-31
What Creates Community?
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. (1 Cor 12:12)
- Paul’s favorite metaphor for the church: the body. An excellent picture of diversity in unity.
- Recap of vs. 1-11: Paul has thus far been talking about the varied gifts that the Holy Spirit gives to the church.
- And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? (1 Cor 12:28-30)
- So, as Paul is thinking of the variety of ways the Spirit gives gifts, but all for the same purpose, Paul thinks: That is a lot like the body! Elbows, stomach, hair, nose—all are very different, yet all are an integral whole: a body.
- So it is with Christ
- We assume that when Paul writes vs. 12, “…all members of the body, though many, are one body…” he would end it with “so it is with the church.” But instead he writes, “so it is with Christ.” The church is not just like a body in the sense that a human body is a good metaphor for the diversity and unity of the church. The church is like a body because it is the body of Christ.
- Christians are in Christ, so that where they go, Christ goes. When Paul persecuted the church, he was persecuting Christ (Acts 9:4).
- Christians are in Christ, so that where they go, Christ goes. When Paul persecuted the church, he was persecuting Christ (Acts 9:4).
- This is what creates community—to believe in Christ is to be put in Christ. But to be in Christ means to be united to others who are also in Christ, as Paul states more explicitly later, “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it,” (1 Cor 12:27).
- 2nd person plural pronoun: Now you *all* are the body…
- 2nd person plural pronoun: Now you *all* are the body…
- What does it mean to be “in Christ”?
- What is the truest thing about you?
- Your wins? Your losses?
- What was the truest thing about Paul?
- Paul’s resume in Phil 3:4-6
- Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith…Not that I have already obtained [the resurrection] or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. (Phil 3:8-9, 12)
- What is the truest thing about you?
- We assume that when Paul writes vs. 12, “…all members of the body, though many, are one body…” he would end it with “so it is with the church.” But instead he writes, “so it is with Christ.” The church is not just like a body in the sense that a human body is a good metaphor for the diversity and unity of the church. The church is like a body because it is the body of Christ.
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. (1 Cor 12:13)
- For…
- What is the connection between vs 12 and vs 13?
- What is the connection between vs 12 and vs 13?
- 13 is explaining how we are brought into Christ, into His body: The Spirit.
- In one Spirit
- There are not different Holy Spirits—only one
- There are not different Holy Spirits—only one
- We were all baptized
- Probably a reference to John the Baptist’s prediction that Jesus would baptize His followers with the Holy Spirit (Matt 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; Acts 1:5; 11:16).
- The word “baptized” literally means to plunge under water. Jesus compares the Holy Spirit to water (John 7:37-39).
- Sometimes, Christians will argue that baptism in the Spirit is an experience that takes place after conversion, only for those Christians who pursue it earnestly. In the Pentecostal tradition, baptism in the Spirit is usually manifested in speaking of tongues. But this is incorrect—Paul doesn’t say some of us were baptized, but all were baptized.
- Into one body
- Jesus baptizes us with the Spirit with the result that we are now a part of the body of Christ.
- This takes place at conversion, when someone becomes a Christian—to be a Christian is to be in the body of Christ. There is no conception in the New Testament of a Christian not connected to the body.
- Jews or Greeks, slave or free
- Paul pivots from only talking about spiritual gifts to talking about differences in ethnicities and class.
- For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Gal 3:27-28)
- Your baptismal identity “in Christ” now trumps all others.
- And all were made to drink of one Spirit
- We are not only immersed in the Spirit, we are indwelt by the Spirit.
- The Spirit has been poured into our hearts (Rom 5:5; Acts 2:17-18, 33; Titus 3:5-6)
- What does the Spirit do?
- And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. (Gal 4:6-7)
- The Father’s embrace of the Prodigal—felt reality
- And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. (Gal 4:6-7)
- In one Spirit
- In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Eph 2:22)
What creates community? The Triune God’s salvation. The Father is reconciling His Church to Himself by the work of Christ applied to us by the Spirit.
Sidebar: Baptism. The baptism of the Spirit takes place at conversion. But do you know what else takes place at someone’s conversion in the Bible? They are baptized with water! Water baptism is a sign of the baptism of the Spirit that has taken place in that person’s soul.
Baptism does not make you a Christian, but it is what a Christian does out of obedience to Christ. Matt 28:18-20.
Baptism creates the church because it is the ordinance that Jesus gave us as the front door into the Christian life, and because the Christian life is church-shaped, we are baptized into one body, then baptism is the means by which one is added into a church, just like we see at Pentecost where we are told, “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls,” (Acts 2:41).
What Breaks Community?
“I don’t belong”
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 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. (1 Cor 12:14-16)
The scenario: one member looks around at the others and says to themselves, “I am not as gifted as they are, I am not like them…I don’t belong.”
Paul’s first response: No, your own self-evaluation is not enough to excise you from the body. Your own thoughts are not enough to disqualify you from belonging here.
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? (1 Cor 12:17)
Paul’s second response: What you think disqualifies you—your difference—is what is most needed. The variety of the body is its strength, not its weakness.
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. (1 Cor 12:18-20)
Paul’s third response: God, not you, was the one who brought you here; He arranged each member as he chose. Somehow, mysteriously, God has arranged the members of each body. So when we look around and ask ourselves: Man, I don’t fit in here, do we not indirectly say, God you made a mistake. Remember earlier, Paul said: “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good,” (1 Cor 12:7). Each one of you has been given a gift by the Holy Spirit for the good of this body.
If this describes you, if you feel like, Because I am not gifted like that…because I don’t look like them…because my family is like this…I don’t belong, then please listen to Paul. If you are in Christ, you have been immersed and indwelt by the Spirit, you are in the body of Christ!
Dear crumpled spirit that constantly compares itself to others and feels dejected, listen to Christ, heed His Spirit. You are a child, not a slave, you are a part of God’s family, not His enemy—don’t waste your life being consumed with what you aren’t and what God hasn’t given you; don’t keep staring in the mirror and wondering why you aren’t more gifted, more talented, more wealthy, more influential. Look to Christ and let Him command you, let His love constrain you, and then turn your eyes to those He has called you to serve.
And our church needs you. Which brings us to the next point:
“You don’t belong”
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.” (1 Cor 12:21)
If in the first scenario, an individual was telling themselves “I don’t belong,” in this scenario, someone else is telling that individual, “Yea, you don’t belong.”
Paul’s first response: You cannot say that. If the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” that means that the eye—though they do not realize it—needs the hand. This is critiquing those in the church pushing other members out because they don’t feel a need for them. But this also applies to the Christian who looks at other Christians, or maybe the church entirely, and says, “I don’t need that, I can do my faith on my own.” No, Paul says, you cannot.
On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, (1 Cor 12:22)
Here we see why some members are telling others they don’t need them: they are weak. Or, in Paul’s words, they seem to be weak. We can’t read this without recalling Paul’s defense of the “weak” back in chapter eight. Weak doesn’t only mean, having a less impressive spiritual gift, being from an ethnic minority (Jews or Greeks), or being from a less than ideal social class (slave). It should also include those who have misguided interpretations on debatable matters, like eating meat offered to idols. Which makes Paul’s conclusion just mind blowing: the weak are indispensable.
As in, the body does not function without them.
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, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. (1 Cor 12:23-25)
We outdo one another with honor, going out of our way to show special honor to those who are most likely to be dishonored out in the dog-eat-dog world.
If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. (1 Cor 12:26)
What we want out church to be: a shelter from the storm.
