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This Sunday, September 6th, our sermon topic will be “Many Parts, One Body”, based on 1 Corinthians 12:12-31. In these verses in 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul uses the human body as a metaphor to teach that the church is one unified community made up of diverse members with different but equally essential gifts.

Paul explains that just as a human body has many organs and limbs yet functions as a single unit, "so it is with Christ" and the church. Believers should not look down on others who have different spiritual gifts, nor should anyone feel useless because their role is quiet or unseen. God designs every part on purpose. We are indeed, one body with many diverse members.

Pastor John English said, “The world cannot understand this. The world divides people along all manner of categories, like gender, race, how much money we make, what school we went to, what political party we like, or what job we have. But not so in the church. The church is glorious in its diversity, because what unites us is nothing accidental like the color of our skin or the size of our bank accounts. What unites us is a shared bond with our head, Jesus Christ.

Into a single spirit, we were all baptized. The Jews and the Greeks, the slaves or the free, the rich or the poor, the black and the white, all baptized into the ONE body. There’s no hierarchy of merit that anyone can claim. There’s no preferential treatment, nor a secret handshake that gets us in the door. It’s only baptism into the Spirit by faith in Christ.”

Paul wrote this letter for a reason: there were divisions in Corinth, divisions over how to value the various spiritual gifts. Paul warned the Corinthians about two different pitfalls, two dangers within this division. The first danger was a sense of inferiority, of people feeling “less than” because of their gifts. People were feeling their gifts were not as important as other gifts or were envious of other gifts. The other danger is what we might call spiritual gift elitism, of people feeling “more than” because of their gifts. People felt their gifts were greater or better than other gifts and they were arrogant in their assessment.

There is a temptation to think that some gifts or some people are less prominent and therefore less relevant; less useful, and therefore, dispensable. But Paul reminds the Corinthians and us that often the most vital roles are the ones that receive the least amount of honor. So this all begs the question: how do I even know what my spiritual gifts are and why do they matter?

As we think about spiritual gifts, we must keep in mind that what makes them spiritual is that they come from the Holy Spirit. What makes them a gift is that the Holy Spirit freely gives them to us so we can use them in serving the body of Christ. Spiritual gifts are not meant to be stored or kept hidden; they are meant to be used or engaged for the service of the body!

When you don’t know your spiritual gift or you are not using your spiritual gift, the body of Christ suffers and so do you! Gifts are given for the "common good," to strengthen, encourage, and edify our community of believers. We are a blessing when our gifts are used, but also blessed when we contribute to the greater good of the body of Christ.

Want to explore your giftings? Here is a link to a spiritual gifts online test. This is a helpful way to consider your gifts: https://giftstest.com

Once you know your gifts, let’s consider together how you might serve others. If we cannot find a way, then maybe God is asking us to create something new for you! All options are on the table!

To conclude, Pastor John English, who said, “God has gifted each member, as He saw fit. That means He hasn’t made a mistake. You may FEEL inferior, but that’s not true. You’ve been given exactly the gifts that YOU need and that the BODY needs. Don’t grow envious of the usefulness hands, or the prominence of the eyes. And don’t lament the fact that you were born a foot. Trust that God knows what He is doing. He’s knitted you together in your mother’s womb, and designed you according to infinite wisdom, and He’s spent no less care knitting together the body of Christ.”

Amen and amen!

Praying for you, always!

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