You Can! Use the Gift God Has Given You 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 Rev. John Hill Traditional April 20, 2008 I am sure that you can tell just by looking at me that I am working out. I am a part of a group of guys from the church who wok out three days a week with a trainer. And a couple of weeks ago, our trainer decided that our Friday workouts would be our heavy day when we do weight lifting. After our first heavy day, I went home to take a shower and I could barely move my arms. It was impossible for me to reach up and wash my hair, so I had to tilt my head down to my hands. That Friday happened to be Good Friday and during the service I had to stand and hold my Bible to read it, but my arms were so fatigued I thought I was going to drop by Bible. And that is just the heavy days. On other days, when I try to walk, my knees don t what to bend and my muscles ache with each step. But my problems aren t just because of how tough the workouts are I am also getting older. My body can no longer do some of the things my brain tells it to do. so. My brain may say, Bend over and pick that up. But my back says, I don t think My body is no longer what it use to be some parts are wearing out other parts are giving out and some parts like my hair are falling out. So I can really resonate with the Apostle Paul, when he says in 2 Corinthians 4:16, Do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away Now with all of this said even though our bodies our outer natures are wasting away the Apostle Paul s favorite image for the church is the human body. In 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 he says: 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 the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-- and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 1
This church this gathering of Christian believers we call Suntree United Methodist Church is the body of Christ. Like the human body we have many members many parts but we are one body. This means that we in the church are interconnected to one another. We are connected to each other just like we hear in this old song (show YouTube video of Delta Rhythm Boys singing Dem Bones.) As a part of the body of Christ we are interconnected to one another. That also means that we need each other that we are to care for one another. As Paul says inverse 26 of Chapter 12: If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. Each part of the church, each part of the body of Christ is interconnected. Each part of the body of Christ is indispensable. Listen to Paul again, starting with verse 14. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot would 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 would 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 the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 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 members, 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 members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; 24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, 25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. Each part of the body of Christ is indispensable because we need each part in order to function and to function well. 2
In the body of Christ we cannot reject any other part in the body as unnecessary or unimportant. I use to think that this metaphor fell apart because of the appendix, because I have always heard that the appendix is a useless and unnecessary part of the body. But recently, I read that they have discovered the role of the appendix. The appendix stores up bacteria that it releases if our body needs it. We weed bacteria in order to digest food and sometimes after a serious illness we don t have enough of that bacteria, so the appendix will send out replacements. So the appendix had a huge purpose when people lived out in the country and were isolated from other people. But now, because we are so close to other people, we get our bacteria from one another. But for an individual human body the appendix is necessary. We need all parts of the body to function and to function well. And each part of the body is indispensable because it has a unique function. The lung has a different function from the liver. The eye has a different function from the ear. And the kidney has a different function than the knee. And we in the church have different functions different things we are to do. Last week, we talked about the priesthood of all believers and how each one of us are priests each one of us are to serve God in and through the church. So this past week, some of you have asked me about the purpose of ordination. If we are all priests than why do we ordain ministers? Why do we have a rule that only ordained ministers can baptize or consecrate the elements for communion? And the answer to that has to do with role or function, not importance or privilege. As ordained ministers in the United Methodist Church, Terri and I have a role we are to do a function we are to perform in the church. And our function is word, sacrament and order. This means that we are responsible for preaching, administering the sacraments and ordering or leading the day to day ministry of the church. This is an important role one that I am very honored to have but that does not mean that I am any more indispensable than you are. We all need each other in the body of Christ and each one of us is important because we each have God-given gifts that we are to use. 3
Listen again to what Paul said. (1 Corinthians 12:27-31) 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 deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, 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 in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. All of us have spiritual gifts that we are to use in the church. And even though our gifts may differ, they are all important. For me, my top three spiritual gifts are wisdom, teaching and discernment. This means that for me, the place where I best serve in the body is by teaching and sharing the wisdom of God. Many of you have gifts of leadership. Which means you serve best by leading. Many of you have gifts of helps, which means you serve best by doing the behind the scenes sorts of things that help enable us to do what God has called us to do. There are all sorts of gifts that God gives us to that we can do what he wants us to do. But like the human body, if one part refuses to do what it was created to do, then the body doesn t function life it should. It is handicapped or disabled. The church is handicapped when people refuse to serve God and use the gifts God has given to each of us. This past Christmas I was given a book called, 201 Great Questions. One question is: One day God is sitting around in heaven with the angels and he begins to speak about you in his proud, fatherly way. What would he say that would show that he is please with you? When I read that question, I knew my answer. If I want to hear God say, Good job, then I need to be the person God created me to be. I don t have to be the next Billy Graham or the next Mother Teresa. I just have to be the person God created me to be. And that means I need to use the gifts God has given me as one in this body of Christ. I hope that is your answer as well. We all need to use the gifts God has given us. 4
5