1 Corinthians 12:12

For as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body... For the body is not one member, but many... But now has God set the members, every one of them, in the body as it has pleased Him... Now you are the body of Christ, and members in particular. (1 Corinthians 12:12–27)

God makes the church one body with diverse members—but the harmony of that body is left in our hands.

The Continuing Work of Christ Through His Body

For nearly two months now we have been digging deeply in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, dealing with the topic of spiritual gifts. We have considered how all believers, at conversion, are baptized by Jesus with the Holy Spirit, by which we are all brought into the body of Christ. We are made one in Christ, placed by the sovereign direction of God the Father, and gifted by the will of His Holy Spirit to effectively fulfill the work Jesus Christ is doing in this world.

The work of Christ did not finish when He said, "It is finished." The work for our atonement was finished—our propitiation was complete; there remains no sacrifice needed for sin. But the work of Christ continues in this world. When Jesus was here on earth, He worked with a body made of flesh and blood. Today, working from heaven, He is still working in this world with a body of flesh and blood—you and I, members in particular of His body.

We have been placed within the body and gifted for three purposes: the glorification of God, the edification of His body, and the evangelization of the world. This is why I don't generally give evangelistic messages on a Sunday morning. I assume, for good or for bad, that when we gather we are mostly believers, gathered to glorify Him in worship, to be edified by His Word and Spirit, and then to be sent out. The reality is that most unbelievers are not in this room, and many never will be—but you will interact with them daily at work, at school, where you play and buy your groceries. So we need to be ready at all times.

Unity, Diversity, and Sovereignty

As with a human body, the body of Christ has unity. Three times in verse 12 Paul says we are one; in verse 13 we are baptized into one body; in verse 20 we are many members but one body. This unity is created by God. We didn't band together and decide to make ourselves a community—He has made us a community.

But there is also diversity—one body, many different members. Even the youngest can grasp this. My daughter Addison is very young, yet ask her where her nose is and she touches it; where's her head, she pats it; where's her belly button, she lifts her shirt and finds it. She recognizes one body, many members. Paul is taking deep spiritual truths and giving them to us in an easy-to-understand way.

And all of this is directed by God's sovereignty. Verse 18 says, "God has set the members, every one of them, in the body, as it has pleased Him." There is one body with many members, placed as God has directed.

The Harmony That Fails

Within the body there is clear unity and a diversity sovereignly brought together by God. Yet the thing that fails most often is the harmony. This is not God's fault. When the church doesn't work harmoniously, we cannot point at Him. He created the unity, He brought together the diversity, and when the harmony breaks down, the blame is ours.

I once read of a man crossing a bridge who saw someone about to jump. "Don't jump!" he cried. "Why not? Nobody loves me." "God loves you—are you a Christian or Jewish?" "Christian." "Me too! Protestant or Catholic?" And so it went—Baptist, Independent Baptist, Conservative, Calvinistic, Premillennial, Dispensational, against women in ministry, unashamed fundamentalist—on and on they agreed, until finally: "King James only or modern versions?" "Modern versions." "Oh, you heretic—go ahead and jump."

We have so many divisions, sometimes ones we don't even have words for. But when I speak of harmony, I am not mainly talking about denominational divisions, nor a blind ecumenical surrender of everything that distinguishes us. I'm talking about within the local body of Christ. Paul wrote to a local church and said, "You are the body of Christ." So we can say, Calvary Chapel of Escondido, we are the body of Christ—not the whole of it, but members in particular. He has created our unity and brought together our diversity, and there ought to be harmony within this local body.

Endeavoring to Keep the Unity

That is why Paul tells the Ephesians, "Endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." The only way to maintain this harmony, especially at the local level, is with humility and with love. In Ephesians 4:1 Paul says, "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called"—with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love. Why? Because there is one body and one Spirit.

We want, as a church, to be Spirit-filled and Spirit-empowered, and so do all the churches in our area that honor God's Word—Calvary Chapel Hidden Valley, Mission Hills, Emmanuel Faith, Bethel Baptist, Valley Baptist, Horizon. We all share that desire. But sadly, because of our flesh, even a group of Spirit-gifted Christians can quickly experience disunity if we are not working to maintain harmony.

Did you know that every year in the United States 3,000 churches close their doors? The amazing thing is that 4,000 are planted—but often it's because when those churches break up, four or five people go off to plant a new one. Why? Because we won't work to keep the harmony God created, so we say, "I'm going to make one in my own image." That's dangerous. Scripture so often describes us as one body, the bride of Christ, the branches of His vine, His flock—we are an organism, not an organization. He has united us.

Some say Jesus was independent—but no. For thirty years He lived in the family at Nazareth; for three and a half years He was always with the twelve, sending them out two by two. Paul, too, was never independent—follow Acts and he is always with Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, Titus, or Gaius, and when he wasn't, he wrote asking someone be sent. We are a community of believers, and God made it so.

Gifts Are Nothing Without the Fruit of the Spirit

We are incredibly good at disrupting harmony. Husbands, have you noticed how good you are at it in your own marriage? Within the body of Christ, the same is true. The church at Corinth loved the gifts of the Spirit—that's why Paul devotes so much of this letter to them. But note this: the gifts of the Spirit are completely useless and wasted without the fruit of the Spirit. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (Galatians 5:22).

We rightly enjoy discussing spiritual gifts, but in our carnality we wrongly view them as metrics for spirituality—"that person has this gift, therefore they are spiritual." It doesn't work. The Corinthians came behind in no spiritual gift, yet they were carnal and worldly. As we'll see in chapter 13, the dynamic gifts of prophecy, faith, tongues, sacrificial giving, and miracles are nothing without a patient, humble, selfless, truth-loving love. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I am become as sounding brass... though I have all faith... and have not love, I am nothing."

The unity and diversity of the body depend solely upon the sovereignty of God. But the harmony, while reliant upon the Spirit's empowering, is greatly affected by our willingness or unwillingness to walk in humility and love. He started us out in harmony as one. Our job is to endeavor to keep it—because we are very good harmony breakers.

Naturally Proud, Naturally Selfish

If we are honest, we recognize that each of us is naturally and sinfully proud. We default to selfishness and self-focused pride. You can test this: what is your attitude when you're tired? It's easy to put on a show, but when you've had a long day, what do you default to? That reveals your nature.

The first person you think about in the morning is you. The first person you look for in a picture is you—and the whole picture is "bad" if you don't look good in it. We wash ourselves, clothe ourselves, feed ourselves; we love ourselves. There is a false teaching that says you must first learn to love yourself before you can love others. That is far off. We have no problem loving ourselves—the problem is we love ourselves too much. It is contrary to our nature to be others-centered, and we carry that into our Christianity. When we are saved, we don't come in clean and perfected; we come in dirty and needing transformation.

The world outside of Christ is filled with competition—racing to the shower, racing on the freeway, competing for the bid, the promotion, the grade. Two girls show up to a party in the same dress, and it's competition. But in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, bond nor free, male nor female. God has torn down all that worldly stuff that divides. We are all equal at the foot of the cross.

Gifted by Grace, Not for Competition

Yet to accomplish His work, God gifts us each differently. He doesn't want us all to be an eye or a hand—the Spirit gifts us as He wills. "Who makes you to differ one from another?" (1 Corinthians 4:7) God does. But because of our carnal nature, we want to compete over it—"I don't have that gift, I want that gift; I don't have that placement, I want that placement." Since we cannot boast in our salvation, which is by grace, we try to boast in our gifts: "my gift is better than your gift, because I have it and you don't." We fail to recognize that the gifting, too, is of His grace—we did nothing to deserve it. And in so doing, we disrupt harmony and make ourselves ineffective.

What God made in the Spirit, we try to perfect in the flesh—and it will die. It happens every day, and it's sad to see. In our pride we look at others and say, "I don't need you, you're unnecessary," asserting that we ourselves are essential. But Paul says in verse 22 that "those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary." The implication is that some members appear unnecessary—but things are not always as they appear. It is not possible for one member to say to another, "I don't need you." On the contrary, those parts that seem weaker are actually indispensable.

The Hidden Members Are Vital

Often the most visible members are not the most vital. With the human body, you can live—though it's hard—without a hand or a leg; many soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are doing exactly that. But lose your liver or your heart, and you're done. You never see those organs; they're hidden, and you don't think about them until suddenly the heart isn't beating right.

On a Sunday morning I stand up to teach, or the worship team leads—those things are visible. But there are dozens of people and tasks behind the scenes that you may never see, and without them none of this would happen. They serve faithfully, pray, and exercise their gifts continually and effectively. This is not, nor will it ever be, a one-man show. Wherever there seems to be one anointed person exalted as indispensable, that's an imbalance. God is the one without whom we're in trouble.

You may say, "I feel feeble, I feel unnecessary." You're not. The fact may be that you simply aren't doing what you're supposed to be doing—either because you don't recognize your gift, or because you know it and are disobedient, wanting to do something else instead of what God ordained for you. That's out of step, and it costs the body its harmony.

God Tempers the Body So We Need Each Other

Humility is therefore essential. Our culture says, "You are the man, and everybody has to know it." No—none of us is essential individually, but within the body each of us plays a very important part. Paul tells the Philippians, "Fulfill my joy, being likeminded, having the same love... Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem the other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." Aren't you thankful that in Gethsemane Jesus didn't have a momentary thought of "I've got to look out for number one"?

Verse 24 says God has tempered the body together. He has formed our local body so that I need you and you need me. Some people are so gifted we assume they could do it all alone—but that's far from the truth. God uniquely crafts our strengths and weaknesses so that we need each other, and He often places us to serve in an area where we are weak, because it glorifies Him more greatly.

When I was about to graduate from high school, my friend Dr. Nick Ifantidis told me I should go to medical school and become a doctor. I laughed out loud. I didn't even want to go to college—I was done with school. From about fourth or fifth grade I struggled, and I was diagnosed with dyslexia. I never used it as an excuse, but reading and studying were extremely difficult for me. So what does God do? He puts me in a place where I study and read all week long, because He is most glorified in my weakness as He gifts me to do it. Ask any pastor in a teaching role, and many will confess the same. God has tempered the body so that I need you and you need me, as we rely on His gifting by His Spirit.

No Schism—The Same Care for One Another

Verse 25 says "there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another." Since we are connected as one, there should be no division—but sadly there are tears and schisms. There shouldn't be, especially if we are doing what we ought: caring for one another.

Our society inflames our self-centeredness, constantly telling us to care primarily about ourselves. We bring that self-care mentality into the body and say, "You need to minister to me, pray for me, find me a seat, take care of me." Then we're confronted with Philippians 2:4: "Look not every man on his own things, but every man on the things of others." Our logic says, "If I do that and don't look out for myself, no one will take care of me."

But imagine—Calvary Chapel of Escondido has about 600 adults. If every one of those 600 said, "I will not look out for myself; I will look out for others," no one would be without care. No one would slip through the cracks. No one would ever stand up and say, "Nobody is ministering to me," because we'd all be ministering to one another, and as a byproduct each of us would be taken care of. This is the practical outworking of biblical Christian love. The world's love says, "If you love me, you'll take care of me," but God's love is a major paradigm shift. We love 1 Corinthians 13—until we put our own name in the blanks: "Scott suffers long and is kind; Jared does not boast himself; Steve thinks no evil." It doesn't fit. Jesus fits every one of them, and as we seek to be like Him, He transforms us.

Suffering and Rejoicing Together

Verse 26: "Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it." This love is marked by humility—humble love that stoops to the lowly and the suffering, and humble love that rejoices when someone else is honored and you are not. "Rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that weep" (Romans 12:15).

We understand this in our bodies. A couple of years ago I was sparring and caught a guy's elbow on the top of my foot, hurting the fourth metatarsal—a bone the size of your pinky I'd never heard of. Every step sent pain through my whole foot. A year and a half later I finally went to the doctor; the chiropractor put it back in place and it felt great. One part suffers, the whole body suffers. A hangnail can turn a 200-pound man into a baby. A speck in your eye, and your entire body says, "My eye!" That's how it should be in the body when it cares for itself.

The harder one is to rejoice when someone else is honored and you are not. For all of you in a corporate structure, you know this perfectly—someone else gets the promotion you've worked so hard for. Can you rejoice with them? That is so contrary to the world. That's Christ. As God works this into us, the world cannot help but take notice, because it is so opposite to our nature. And that's exactly what God wants—to exalt His nature in us. So we must ask: when people meet Miles, when they meet Todd or Eddie, do they meet Jesus and His nature? That is what the gifts are actually for. It changes our whole focus.

Closing Prayer

Father, we so need You to work this in us. There's no way we can take a class at Palomar on this, or manufacture it, or buy some medication for $29.95 on cable TV that will make it happen. It is only You who can transform us in this way, by Your Word and by the work of Your Spirit. Lord, help me to yield to that work. When my flesh wants to do its own thing—to be noticed, lifted up, magnified—teach me what it is to lay down my life as You did. Transform us, God. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.