The Spirit Freely Gives

This past week, I was pondering
one of the interesting features of Christmas. Prompted by our study of this
particular passage, I was pondering gift-giving. And this passage
talks much about spiritual gifts, 1 Corinthians 12. And gift-giving, you know, especially
at Christmas, is out of control, as we know. But the funny thing
is that those gifts that we give don’t always hit the mark, do
they? It’s kind of a black market of re-gifts. Sometimes those clunky gifts
are just not the right size, or not the right color, or not
the right style, or not the right whatever. And I looked it up. Get this, last year Americans
returned 10% of their gifts. 10% of, bear with me, $420 billion
worth of gifts. If you haven’t done your holiday
shopping, you might keep that in mind. We’re a fickle people. I know, but the crazy thing is,
the Corinthians were essentially trying to return, trade in, take
back their spiritual gifts because they didn’t care for the ones
that they had. Here in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul
has begun to address the subject of spiritual gifts, and he’s
done so at the request of the Corinthian church. Responding
to the questions that they had presented to him, the current
climate in their church surrounding this subject had become an acrimonious
circus. The believers either proudly
flaunting or jealously seeking the Spirit’s gifts. These people
were not completely ignorant and inexperienced in spiritual
matters. After all, they had a lengthy
history of idolatry, as we saw. But that man-made and fruitless
activity was a glaring contrast to the spirit of the living God
now dwelling within them. And Paul reminded them that they
owed their very conversion their acknowledgement of the Lord Jesus
Christ to the Spirit. Regarding these spiritual gifts
over which the Corinthians were confused and misguided and troubled,
Paul reminds them that those gifts had a common source. just like the abounding ministries
among them in and around the church, just like the immeasurable
results that flowed from those gifts and ministries, those things
all had the same divine source. And so in all of them, there
was both variety, as we’ve seen, diversity, and there was sameness,
that is unity. And Paul sets forth a powerful
and marvelous truth in verse 7, one to which he will return
again and again and again, that every Christian is blessed to
participate in God’s ministry of redemption by means of the
manifestation of the Spirit which is given to each one. Every believer
who places their faith in Christ for salvation not only receives
the indwelling Spirit of God, but is gifted by the Spirit to
reveal, to show forth the Spirit in the exercise of those gifts.
Just an amazing thought. And as there was one source of
those gifts and ministries and effects, it stands to reason
that the same God who provides all these things is the same
one who established their purpose. In a complete contrast to what
was going on in Corinth, Paul declares that these gifts of
the Spirit are given for the common good. They’re given for
the church. They’re for the glory of God.
They’re for the building up of Christ’s church. They’re not
for personal encouragement or ego or notoriety. They are for the betterment of
the entire church. And Paul implies that this is
true regardless of the gift. No matter how seemingly obscure
or how popular and powerful the gift, it’s for the church. In his short outline of some
of the spiritual gifts, verses eight through 10, Paul repeatedly
reminds them of the theme of this entire section, variety
and sameness. Great diversity in the nature
of the gifts but one common source, the Holy Spirit. One of the more inappropriate
things going on in Corinth in this regard was the admiring,
the coveting, the angling for certain spiritual gifts. The
prevailing attitude was that nobody wanted some dull, boring,
run-of-the-mill gift. What they all seemed to clamor
for was one of the more fantastic, sensational gifts. Say, the gift
of prophecy, or the gift of healing, or the gift of speaking in tongues. This is how they thought. Give
me something spectacular. I’d like to trade in my gift
of Sunday school teaching for the four-year-olds. I don’t much
care for this gift of administration either. Nobody even knows what
I do. I’d rather have something a little
more flashy than the gift of helps. No one ever even acknowledges
all that I do. Well, and that was just a problem
in Corinth, right? I mean, we don’t struggle with
these things in our day, do we? Of course we do. We are human
and so were the Corinthians, quite obviously. They wanted
the limelight. They wanted fame. They wanted
popularity. They wanted the lead role. They
wanted power and position and title. They wanted what they
saw as glitz and glamour associated with the sign gifts. Their only
question was, where can I go to trade this boring old gift
that I have? And that’s the question that
Paul moves to address in verses 11 through 17. In order to maintain
the context and the flow, if you would, let’s just take it
from verse 1 through 17 this morning, a shorter portion of
the reading. Chapter 12, verse 1, Now concerning
spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. You
know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to mute idols. However, you were led. Therefore,
I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God
says, Jesus is accursed, and no one can say, Jesus is Lord,
except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts,
but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries,
but the same Lord. And there are varieties of effects,
but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to
each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common
good. For to one is given the word
of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge
according to the same Spirit. to another faith by the same
spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one spirit,
and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy,
and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various
kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
But one in the same spirit works all these things, distributing
to each one individually, just as he wills. For even as the
body is one and yet has many members, and all the members
of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is
Christ. For by one Spirit we were all
baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves
or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the
body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, because I’m
not a hand, I’m not a part of the body. It’s not for this reason,
any the less, a part of the body. And if the ear says, because
I’m not an eye, I’m not part of the body. It is not for this
reason, any the less, a part of the body. If the whole body
were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were
hearing, where would the sense of smell be? Well, Paul has already informed
the Corinthians of the subject at hand and the common source
of the great range of gifts that are given. In this particular
section, 11 through 17, Paul employs a very effective metaphor
to speak of the church. He refers to it five times in
this section as the body, 17 times in this chapter. This is
not an isolated thought expressed here only to the Corinthians. Paul makes frequent use of the
reference to the church as being Christ’s body. He makes this,
listen to this astounding statement that he makes in Colossians 1
24. Now I rejoice in my sufferings
for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of his
body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in
Christ’s afflictions. I’m going to read it again. Listen carefully. There are a
number of amazing things in this statement. I rejoice in my suffering
for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of his
body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in
Christ’s afflictions. One of the amazing things that
Paul says there is that Christ’s afflictions are not yet complete. That almost is astounding to
us, isn’t it? Secondly, that Paul and those
who serve They serve Christ. They participate in completing
those sufferings. We should count it a privilege
to do so. But the amazing truth that Paul will develop here in
1 Corinthians 12 is that his body, that is Christ’s body,
is the church. Closer still to the subject of
this particular chapter is Paul’s statement in Ephesians 4, 12,
similar. It tells us that in short, God’s gifts to individuals
in the church are for the building up of the body of Christ. It’s for the church. These gifts are for the spiritual
development of the church. Not surprisingly then, near the
end of this chapter, chapter 12, Paul says, he declares this
truth openly. when he says you are Christ’s
body. And Paul will go on to illustrate
his point over and over again by referring to the various parts
of the body. But let’s start at the beginning
of the section. Verse 11, as Paul begins his discussion on
the truth that the Spirit freely grants these gifts to Christ’s
body, the church. The Spirit freely grants gifts
for Christ’s body, the church. And the first thing that Paul
tells us in this section is that individual believers are gifted
by the Spirit. That shouldn’t come as a big
surprise to us at this juncture. But Paul reiterates the point
in verse 11. But one in the same Spirit works
all these things, distributing to each one individually as he
wills. Paul opens here, as I said, not
with a new point, but with a reiteration of a point that he’s already
made. He basically said it in verse three, that by the Spirit
of God, we declare Jesus as Lord. He makes the same point again
in verse four, varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. Verse seven,
the manifestation of the Spirit. Four more times in verses eight
and nine, through the Spirit, the same Spirit, the same Spirit,
one Spirit. And so here in verse 11, it’s
not a new thought, but one that echoes his great theme of this
section, that these gifts are from the one Holy Spirit of God. And as Paul says, the one in
the same spirit, the same one who first led you to proclaim
Christ, is the same one who provides any and all believers with gifts. He works all these things, Paul
says. And Paul makes a special point
in emphasizing all here. There is nothing in this regard
that the Holy Spirit does not do or provide. He works all these
things. And it’s interesting and noteworthy
here that Paul uses the exact same word here that he used of
God the Father in verse six. Glance at that passage if you
would. There it was translated as effects, the results. the workings or the outworkings
of these gifts. Here though, he translates it
as works. It’s an unmistakable point. There
is no competition between the members of the Trinity, but rather there is complete
oneness. The Father works as the Spirit
works. What Paul attributes there in
verse six to the Father, he attributes here to the Spirit, and there
is no contradiction. But the key point of this verse,
verse 11, is found in the second portion of that verse, the participial
phrase. This tells us how the Spirit
works. And he does so by distributing,
passing out if you will, distributing to each one individually as he
wills. Let’s first acknowledge here
that when the Spirit works, when he gives these gifts, he gives
them to the individual believers, not to the church generally.
He gives them to individual believers, to each one as Paul says, briefly
noted this last week. This is a point that Paul mentions
again and again in this passage. Look again at verse 7 if you
would. To each one, that is to individual believers. This is
what he echoes here in verse 11, repeats the same thought.
Likewise in verse 18, each one. The Holy Spirit gives gifts for
the service of Christ’s body the church, but he distributes
them, each one of them, to individual Christians. It’s an amazing thought. Outside of this epistle, Paul
emphasizes the same thing. In his letter to the Romans,
just, I’m literally going to read a half a sentence. Romans
12, 4 and 5, he says it this way. We have many members in
one body. And all the members do not have
the same function. That’s an echo of what he says
right here. The many members do not have
the same function because as Paul points out here in first
Corinthians, the Holy Spirit has uniquely gifted each believer. Amazing thought. The Holy Spirit
gives gifts to each individual Christian. That is a truth that
can never grow old for the believer. In Christ, every believer has
some unique way given by God by which they can serve Christ. Not only did the Spirit come
to indwell the person, leading them to faith and a proclamation
of it, but He came equipping them with grace, grace gifts
for the service of Christ in His body. And if that isn’t amazing
enough, look at the last phrase. that the Spirit did so, He imparted
or distributed these gifts, get this, just as He wills. And that should send shivers
down our spine. Because it wasn’t a longing for
a particular gift. It wasn’t that someone deserved
some particular gift. He took each individual believer
into consideration and for God’s own purposes, according to His
own independent sovereign will, He gave. And for anyone still
hedging on or on whether to embrace the doctrine of the Trinity,
here it is. The Holy Spirit is seen as distinct
but equal member of the Godhead. This was no automated administration. This was no lifeless oversight
of these things. Neither was there any biased
favoritism by the Spirit. Rather, it is the Holy Spirit
distributing His very gifts according to His own will. And that these
Corinthians had to see. They had to see that this crushes
all arrogant boasting of the gifts that they had received.
You see, all criticism or covening of gifts that others have received,
all longing or clamoring for gifts that we do not possess,
disregards the work of the Spirit. And the Corinthians had to come
face to face with that truth. Someone may possess this or that
gift, but they did nothing to earn it or deserve it, nor can
they. We have, each one of us, what
the Holy Spirit has graciously given to us. And it’s enough. It is the Spirit who decides
these things, not the recipients. And Paul explains this in verse
12. Not only do individual, are individual believers gifted by
the Spirit, but verse 12 tells us that individual believers
comprise Christ’s body. This is a just a fantastic thought. Look at verse 12. For even as
the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members
of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is
Christ. Not only are the individual believers
gifted by the Holy Spirit, they are so gifted according to the
Spirit, the Spirit’s sovereign will, as we saw. And Paul’s explanation
here in this verse presents this piece by piece. We know that
it’s an explanation or an elucidation of verse 11 by that little word
at the beginning, for. And it’s here that he introduces
this idea of a body. And that word body will remain
key, as I said, throughout this entire chapter. And it must be
an important concept to Paul, because he uses the word 17 times,
as I said, in this chapter. He doesn’t take us immediately,
though, to the idea of Christ’s body, but he’ll get there. He
will. But for a moment, it’s the idea
of a physical body that Paul wants to entertain, a human body,
if you will, that he presents. And his initial point is straightforward. The body is one. It’s not a bunch
of detachable pieces. It has many members. It has many
things that make up that body, but it’s one body. The human
body is a dynamic, complex organism. Every individual element is deeply
dependent on the other elements of the body, as we will see.
And that diversity is no contradiction, but it really is an argument
for unity. The body is one, but it is operative
because all of its various parts are operative. A human body is
made up of a vast and diverse number of parts or members. But just as with the human body,
so also with Christ’s body. This is a unique image that Paul
uses again and again in his epistles. Romans 12, 4, as we just read.
Just as we have many members in one body. Ephesians 4.16,
from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that
which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each
individual part. The human body is comprised of
many individual parts, or as Paul refers to them here, members. We have a head, a torso, limbs,
digits. We have eyes and ears and noses.
This is his point, just as it has been since verse 4. Variety
and sameness. In this case, the individual
parts, the members, are the varied or the diverse elements. The body represents the unified
whole, the sameness. This is Paul’s illustration. One body, many members. And he reiterates this simple
point. Look at the middle of verse 12. And all the members
of the body, though they are many, are one body. Take any of those elements literally
take them and remove it from the greater body. And you do
not now have two bodies. You have a body missing a part
and a part that is essentially dead. Now, if you’re a starfish, not
to worry. Because if you cut off a starfish’s
leg, evidently, it will grow into an entirely new starfish. Two starfish. But we’re not starfish. We’re humans, and if you remove
a part, a portion of our body, you do not get two bodies. You
get one body with a missing piece. an isolated portion that no longer
is able to function at all. Jesus presents the same idea
in John chapter 15, doesn’t he? I am the vine, you are the branches. We are nothing if we are detached
from the life-sustaining vine. And this is Paul’s point in presenting
this illustration. And he makes that clear in the
final clause of verse 12. As the body is made up of many
members, so also is Christ. And now the illustration has
come full circle, hasn’t it? The Holy Spirit has gifted individuals
in the church, the many members, but together they form one body. They cannot function apart from
one another. A functioning body is made up
of so many functioning parts. Unity without diversity is a
lifeless heap. Diversity absence of unity spells
chaos. A collection of individual parts,
say a foot, If it were gathered up into a pile of feet does not
comprise a body. It would be no more than a pile
of bones and tissue. Likewise, a collection of exactly
gifted saints could never really be considered a church. Diversity and oneness. This is all the Spirit’s doing.
in diversely gifting the individual members of Christ’s body. And
should anyone still need it, Paul moves to provide proof for
this too, which he does in verse 13. Individual believers are
gifted by the Spirit. Individual believers comprise
Christ’s body. And individual believers are
overwhelmed and filled with the Holy Spirit. Look at verse 13. For by one Spirit we were all
baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves
or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. This
is the support for the previous argument. The Spirit has gifted
individual members of Christ’s body according to his own will
and purpose. That is the what and the why. But we still might ask, how?
How did this happen? And when? When did this happen? And Paul explains that here.
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. We’re a unified diversity because
the Spirit made it so. And as soon as we hear that word
baptized, We immediately think of the great ordinance of baptism,
don’t we? That’s when the Holy Spirit bestowed
His gifts, was at our baptism. Not so fast. When Paul uses this
word baptism, he’s doing it knowing that it’s a loaded word. Indeed,
baptism had a significant place in God’s unfolding plan of redemption,
beginning with John the Baptist’s practice. But is that what Paul
is referring to here, water baptism? I don’t believe so. What we have
here is a word that is not so much translated, giving us the
meaning of the word, but a word that has been transliterated,
giving us the sound of the original Greek word, baptizo. And it leaves
the reader to determine the significance. The word, as you may recall,
literally means to immerse. And I’ve told you before, that’s
partly why I believe in believer’s baptism. because one wouldn’t
think of plunging an infant below the surface of a pool of water.
What Paul declares here is that we, as believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ, at the moment of our regeneration from death to
life, we were baptized, that is immersed into, get this, not
water, We were immersed into the mystical body of Christ,
the church. We’ve looked at Romans 6 before.
I think the same exact thing is going on there. The word baptism
is used in the exact same way there. Paul says in Romans 6, we were
baptized, that is immersed into Christ. Here he says that the
believer is baptized, immersed into the Holy Spirit. It’s the
same thing. To be immersed into Christ is
to be immersed in the Spirit. You don’t need to complete an
application. You don’t need to sign anything.
In fact, I would suggest you don’t even have to get baptized
yet. This is the great spiritual truth
that Christian baptism, that is water baptism, represents
a work of God in the believer’s life. The wonderful supernatural
work of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life. He baptizes
us into himself. John the Baptist himself differentiated
water baptism, which is what he practiced, from spirit baptism. Matthew 3, I baptize you with
water, but he who is coming, that is Jesus himself, will baptize
you with the Holy Spirit. And this is precisely what Jesus
promised to his anxious disciples prior to his ascension. Acts
1-5, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days
from now. As we saw, that came to fruition,
didn’t it? Acts 2, baptism. in the Holy Spirit is not the
same as baptism in the water. They are two entirely different
things. We are saved by being baptized,
not into water. We’re saved by being baptized
into the Holy Spirit. That is a work of God. We testified
to this, that this has already happened. When we receive water
baptism, when we participate in that great ordinance, we are
testifying to the fact that baptism in the Spirit has already taken
place. We’ve already been immersed into Christ. Now while we’re
here, we might as well acknowledge something very important. Every person who ever comes to
Christ is baptized into the Spirit, is baptized into Christ. It’s
absolutely indispensable. One cannot be saved without that
work of God. Every believer is first baptized,
that is immersed in the Spirit. And then water baptism should
follow. Water baptism is intended to
symbolize the real work of God. And here’s my point. Not every
person who ever receives baptism in water has truly been first
baptized by the Holy Spirit. God has not yet converted them.
They go through the ordinance. They go through the motions.
They receive water baptism. They are made wet, but that baptism
does not save them. It’s possible to have been baptized
in water, but not yet to have been immersed into the Holy Spirit. That’s a side point. Let’s get
back. Paul reminds the Corinthians that this great truth was and
is for all believers, regardless of ethnicity or social standing,
Jews or Greeks, slave or free. This is the beautiful feature
of the church. It obliterates all imaginary
lines that separate unregenerate men and unites them as brothers
in the church. In Galatians, an epistle that
very likely preceded 1st Corinthians, Paul emphasizes this same exact
thought. Galatians 3.28, there’s neither
Jew nor Greek, there’s neither slave nor free, there’s neither
male nor female, for you are all one in Christ. Again, great
diversity, indivisible oneness. But suddenly, Paul introduces
here a second metaphor for this incredible spiritual work done
by the Spirit. Not only are we all baptized
into one body, but at the end of verse 13 he says, we were
all made to drink of one Spirit, that is of the one Holy Spirit.
Not to worry, this is not a radically different thought than the first
one. The first metaphor indicates that we are overwhelmed with
the Spirit. We are literally immersed into
the Spirit, baptized. The second illustration here
points to the fact that we are indwelled. We are filled with
the Spirit like a cool drink of water. We were all made to
drink of the same blessed Spirit. No matter how diverse, no matter
how varied the gifts, there is one body, one spirit. And Paul
employs the same thought as a transition to verse 14 to illustrate this
truth. We come to point four. Individual
believers are gifted by the spirit. Individual believers comprise
Christ’s body. Individual believers are overwhelmed
and filled with the Holy Spirit. point four, individual believers
are like portions of the human body. It’s a good illustration,
is what Paul says. This illustration that he has
seized on, or rather that the Holy Spirit provided him, is
a great illustration. Look at verse 14. For the body
is not one member but many. Well yeah, As believers, we were
all individually and collectively baptized in one body, and all
individually and collectively were made to drink of the same
spirit. And that, Paul explains here in verse 14, is because
the body is not one member, but many. In other words, as Paul
insisted twice in verse 12, the body is one, yet has many members. And then he says it the opposite
way. Many members, one body. Verse 14 just functions as a
summary statement of the previous three, the 11 through 13. The
body, even the spiritual body of Christ, the church, is comprised
of many individual members. The point that Paul makes here
is that the diversity of which he’s already spoken, varied gifts,
varied ethnicity, varied genders, varied ages. The diversity is absolutely necessary
to constitute a body. The human body is not made up
of only one type or part. Each part has a vital role of
its own. There is a marvelous diversity
in the human body, but the individual parts all end up functioning
together as one, and that is the way it’s supposed to be in
Christ’s church. So Paul says that individual
believers are like the parts of a human body, and he wants
to anchor this instruction into the hearts of his hearers. And
he does so by a series of short illustrations, four short illustrations. Each of them, they are almost
playful, if not humorous. And each of them drives home
his point. We find those illustrations in
verses 15 through 17. They’ll go very quickly. Look
first at verse 15. Illustration number one, if the
foot says, because I’m not a hand, I’m not part of the body, I’m
out. It’s not for any reason less
a part of the body. The first illustration here presents
the foot, the stinky, unsightly, wiggly, and may I add snobbish
foot, who suddenly has developed an attitude. Somehow the foot
has developed this attitude and wants to strike out on his own.
Look at verse 15. If the foot says, now already
you have a problem. Because how is it that the foot
is speaking? I told you these were humorous
illustrations. Now perhaps by means of some
rudimentary sign language, involving the big toe pointing. It can’t
be verbally, but therein Paul’s point is already making itself.
The foot needs the mouth in order to communicate this concern.
Feet don’t speak, they can’t. Nevertheless, for the sake of
argument, let’s press on. There’s a classic bit of jealousy
woven in here for the Corinthians. If the foot says, because I’m
not a hand, this is a dramatic moment for the foot. Here’s the
foot, not content in being a foot. Why with the socks and bound
up in a dark, unbreathable shoe all day. He’d much rather be
a hand. Free to wave. By hands they can
wash each other, they can clap, they can shake hands, all kinds
of cool things. And the foot, if the foot can’t
have it his own way, he’s out. Or so he thinks. Because I’m
not a hand, I’m not part of the body, he declares. There are
times where it seems as if this has happened. If you sit, if
you tuck one foot under your leg and you sit on it long enough,
right, you will think that that foot has left your body, right? But it comes back around in time. The foot can’t just decide to
leave. That’s Paul’s point. It’s just
not so. Believe me, if the brain cells
tell the foot to dance, foot’s dancing. And if there’s a fire,
it’s running. The foot is not independent of
the body. That’s Paul’s point. Look at
the second illustration, similar to the mutinous foot. Here’s
the rebellious ear with a similar complaint, this time a jealousy
for the eye, which gets to see light and colors and the beauty
of the earth and the sunrises and flowers. Meanwhile, I’m stuck
here on the side of this guy’s head, listening to noise, honking
horns, people blabbing on and on. Opera? That’s it, I quit, says the ear. Impossible, Paul says. Just because
the ear declares this, that he’s no longer part of the body, doesn’t
make it so. There they are, right? Still
flapping in the breeze. Paul’s simple point with these
first two illustrations is that it’s utterly absurd to covet
what we are not. To long for a gift that someone
else possesses, when we have been uniquely gifted ourselves. So let me apply this. For an evangelist to complain
that he’s not an apostle, or for a prayer warrior to complain
that they’re not a worship leader, or for a Sunday school teacher
to complain that they’re not an evangelist, or as was quite
evidently the case in Corinth, for someone to complain that
they did not have the gift of tongues or prophecy, Any and
all such complaints are absurd and overlook the idea of a well-functioning
body. That’s the goal, nothing more.
Instead, what we are to do by God’s grace is to embrace that
which God has graciously bestowed on us by His Spirit, to remember
that we alone have been so gifted, and to utilize to the best of
our ability with joy the building up of Christ’s church. If at
once we remember that we are every individual believer a part
of the great body of Christ and that God will be glorified in
the end, all individualism should fade away quickly and be no more. Paul moves to a second set of
illustrations, shorter even than the first. Both of which are
found in verse 17, the third illustration. We see it in the
first half of verse 17. This time Paul takes us, hypothetically,
to the idea of the body part, or the body rather, being comprised
of one and only one particular part. It’s an amusing illustration. In the first case, an eye. Now
Paul doesn’t go into the whole medical explanation here, that
as soon as such a member would be separated from the body, it
would cease to function. The eye needs the brain in order
to function. And come to think of it, eyelids
and eyelashes have their own God-given purpose, right? But
again, for the sake of argument, Paul presents this thing, an
eye, an eyeball, resting alone on a table. And Paul asks one
question of the thousands that could be asked of such a scenario.
If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? Well,
yeah. And the fourth and final illustration
at the end of verse 17 is similar to the previous. If the whole
body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? Now someone
might argue, I know, As soon as the ear heard the foot coming,
he might remember that the smell was coming with the foot. But
without a nose, what would it matter? Paul’s point with these
last two illustrations is that one member, one isolated part
of the human body could not possibly function. There’s no such thing
as a one person church. isolated from the rest of the
body. If a person pulls out and leaves
and isolates himself from the body, he doesn’t become a church. A body is a composite, a multitude
of individual parts, all functioning according to their spirit given
giftedness. Just as the human body is comprised
of a myriad of individual parts, so it is with the church, each
functioning according to God’s design. These four illustrations
are all meant to be somewhat humorous, but Paul is making
a serious point here. We have a habit of thinking that
our gifts of being isolated elements, things that we can take with
us if we’re displeased, something that we maybe can add in if we
feel like it, not something that is vital to the church. We tend
to think this way. We sometimes treat our gifts
or others’ gifts as if they are optional in the church. not as
duties to be performed unto Christ. Paul makes this point so clear
in Ephesians 4, as I alluded to earlier. Listen to this. We
are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even
Christ, from whom the whole body being fitted and held together
by that which every joint supplies according to the proper working
of each individual part. It’s not just good or helpful
or nice. If and when God’s people choose
to exercise their gifts, it’s indispensable. It’s essential. It’s crucial in order for the
body of Christ to function. Would you ponder that truth as
we go before the Lord?