Seven Rhythms: Serving (1 Corinthians 12:12-26)
We are jumping back into our series on the seven rhythms of the Christian life. These are the seven habits we need to incorporate into our everyday lives to grow our relationship with God. Over the next three weeks, we will cover the rhythm of service. These seven rhythms are so important that we have made them an essential part of our ten-year vision. Two years ago, when I became your lead pastor, we began asking God to show us what the next ten years of Sonrise Church should look like. We spent several months reading Scripture, praying, talking, and listening to your voices through the spiritual health survey hundreds of you participated in. This process led us to focus on two things: spiritual formation and leadership multiplication.
Once these two ideas emerged, we asked ourselves how they related to each other. We concluded that there was a causal connection between these two ideas. Spiritual formation would lead to leadership multiplication. As a staff, we began to use the phrase, “Divine intimacy leads to missional intensity.” This phrase then morphed into two descriptive phrases: “encouraging faith and inspiring purpose.” Our mission here at Sonrise Church is to encourage faith and inspire purpose.
The clarity of this two-part mission statement led us to develop the strategies and goals of our ten-year vision. We asked ourselves, “If we focused heavily on encouraging faith and inspiring purpose, what would we accomplish in ten years?” The answers we came up with were:
We would see 1,000 people walk through a ten-week discipleship journey that introduced them to the seven rhythms of the Christian life.
We would plant five churches. We are one year and seven months into our ten-year vision, and we have seen 270 people take the ten-week journey, and we have been able to plant two churches.
The seven rhythms play a crucial part in your spiritual life and the health of our church. The rhythm of service is one of the interpersonal habits that is difficult to jump into. One of the main hurdles to increasing the amount of people who serve in a church is doubt. This doubt can be directed at ourselves or others. This doubt can be either rooted in feelings of inferiority or superiority. We can say to ourselves that we are not good enough to serve in the church, so we decide to remain on the sidelines. Or, we can discourage others from serving because we present ourselves as superior to them, which leads us to under-appreciate their contribution and discourages them from volunteering. Doubting ourselves and others destroys the serving culture of a church. Paul addressed how doubt in the Corinthian church was hurting how its members participated in serving. Studying how Paul addressed this issue will help us see how we can increase the engagement of all our members in serving.
Big Idea: The Spirit drowns doubt. Doubt destroys a serving culture, and the Spirit destroys that doubt. Paul dispelled self-doubt and the doubting of others by highlighting the work of God. He referred to the filling of the Spirit in each individual and the divine arrangement of the members of a church to dispel the doubts in the Corinthian church. We can divide our passage today into two sections: 1. Doubting ourselves (verses 12-20) and 2. Doubting others (21-26). The work of God removes these doubts and promotes cooperation and appreciation of each member of the Church. I hope you will see your value in this church today and step into serving.
1 Corinthians 12:12-20, “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.”
In the first three verses, Paul wrote about the work of God that has united all the Corinthians into one body. Our experience with the Holy Spirit has brought us together. Paul used two words to describe this experience: “baptism” and “drinking.” Baptism means to immerse, and the word “drink” was also used in chapter 3 to describe irrigation or watering. 1 Corinthians 3:6, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” I believe Paul used these two liquid analogies to emphasize how the believer has been “saturated” or “fully drenched” in the Spirit. There is no portion or part of the individual that has been left untouched by the work of the Spirit. We haven’t experienced a “splash” of the Spirit or taken a “sip” of the Spirit. He has done such significant work in us that our race and social status have ceased to be our defining characteristics. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, we are brought into the body of Christ. Paul goes on to show how the work of the Spirit drowns our self-doubts.
Paul used a creative word picture to express the self-doubt that many of his readers experienced. He illustrated different body parts talking to themselves. In verses 15 and 16, he described both a foot and ear, saying to themselves, “I do not belong to the body.” The foot compared itself to the hand, and the ear compared itself to the eye. Paul may have used these body parts to communicate feelings of inferiority. The foot is similar to the hand but can’t perform the complex functions a hand can. Also, the ear is a similar sensory organ to the eye but is not appreciated for its beauty like the eye. Both the foot and the ear feel they don’t belong because they are not like another, maybe more envious, part. The backdrop of this illustration is the Corinthians’ obsession with spiritual uniformity. They wanted everyone to possess and practice the same spiritual gifts. This emphasis on uniformity meant that some felt they didn’t belong because they didn’t look like everyone else.
Paul refuted this idea of uniformity and encouraged those who felt inferior by highlighting God's purposeful work in bringing each member of the church together. In verse 17, Paul shows how silly the pursuit of uniformity is by taking this idea to its logical conclusion. He used a series of questions to show that a collection of the same body parts would create a monster, not a body. Only having eyes would make us deaf. The body's functionality is based on diverse parts with different abilities. If everyone were the same, we wouldn’t get anything done. This is why God has “arranged” us to complement each other. Notice how Paul spoke of God’s work in a corporate sense here. We often focus on how God has changed our lives as individuals and downplay the work that He has done in bringing us into community. You are not in this local church by accident. God has brought you here because there is a need you were designed to meet. You have a gift and are a gift to us. Don’t doubt your giftedness. Doing so insults the work of the Holy Spirit in you and this body.
We need you. God's mission is too big for a few of us to accomplish. The Scriptures make it very clear that every believer in this building is designed to serve in some way. The only person who wins with you on the sidelines is Satan. He would love to see you sit in the stands and watch others do ministry. Don’t let doubt hold you back from serving. Self-doubt is a scheme of the devil to keep you from fulfilling your purpose. Let the Holy Spirit drown your self-doubt. Don’t let feelings of inferiority keep you from fulfilling God's divine calling on your life. Next, we will see how feelings of superiority can hinder cooperation within the church.
1 Corinthians 12:21-26, “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.”
Paul returned to his illustration of talking body parts. This time, the eye and head speak to the hand and the feet. The “eye” and “head” could refer to leadership roles, whereas the “hands” and “feet” could represent the working class. The eye and head communicate a posture of superiority when they say they “have no need of” the hands or the feet. They doubt the value and contribution these parts give to the health of the body. In the first section, the talking body parts had a low view of themselves, which kept them from participating. In this section, the talking body parts have an elevated view of themselves, which makes others feel unwanted and undervalued. Paul stated that we treat our weaker, less honorable, and unpresentable parts differently than our strong, more honorable, and more presentable parts. The key point in this illustration is that these parts “seem,” verse 22, to be weaker. Paul was pinpointing a problem of perception. God did not share the same perspective of the “weaker” parts as the supposed “stronger” parts had.
In verse 24, Paul used a strong Greek contrastive conjunction to communicate how differently God viewed parts that were labeled as “weaker.” God honors these parts and sees them as “indispensable.” Paul could refer to our internal organs when he speaks about “weaker” parts in verse 22. Our liver may not be an attractive part of our body, but it does play a vital role in our overall health. God has “composed” the body to be made up of different parts that work for the overall health of the whole. To discount a divinely placed part is to insult the intelligence and care of God. Respecting God’s design will lead us to respect each other.
Verses 25-26 speak to how our understanding of God’s design of the body of Christ should lead us to care deeply for each other. Recognizing God’s work in bringing us all together into one body will prevent “division,” verse 25, and create empathy, verse 26. The Corinthian church was marked by divisions, a problem that Paul introduced in the first chapter, which handicapped its ability to fulfill God's mission. It is hard to team up with someone who you feel looks down on you. Disrespect is a great way to foster division and sabotage success. We need to see and value the work of God that has happened in those around us. Our doubt of others should drown in the work of the Holy Spirit. The same God that called and qualified us for ministry is the same God who calls and qualifies others for ministry.
You all have a spiritual gift, and we will treat you like a gift. We need you, and we will value you. We see God’s handiwork in our church's membership. He has carefully and thoughtfully placed every one of you here so you can help us reach this community.
The Spirit drowns doubt. He drowns out the doubts you have about yourself and the doubts you have about others. He combats your feelings of inferiority and superiority. He helps you see the unique way He has gifted you to serve His church and opens your eyes to the value that others bring to the church's health. Don’t sideline yourself or others because you can’t see God's work in you and others.
Imagine if every follower of Christ here let the Spirit drown their self-doubt. Imagine if the work of the Spirit eclipsed all the excuses we make. The Scriptures are filled with people who made excuses. Moses claimed he couldn’t talk, and Jeremiah said he was too young, yet God was with them and did amazing things through them. This week, I want to encourage you to pray about how God can use you to serve in this local church. We are having a ministry fair next week where our different needs and opportunities will be showcased. I hope you will prepare your heart this week to step into some form of service. You are not here by accident, and you are not here to watch a performance. God has brought you here to be a gift to the health of this church. Pray and ask God to show you what that is this week.
Life-Level Application
Head: Read 1 Corinthians 2:6-16. How does someone respond to God apart from the work of the Spirit? How does the Spirit’s work change how we receive the “wisdom” of God?
Heart: Read Romans 8:14-17. What emotions do you feel when you reflect on how Paul describes the freedom from sin the Spirit gives us? When you reflect on the intimacy that the Spirit creates between God and the believer, what do you feel?
Hand: Read 1 Corinthians 11:17-22. How did pride and feelings of superiority create division in the Corinthian church? How does humility in a church lead to greater health?
Habit: In what ways have you served in the church? How would you describe those experiences? Do you feel like God is opening your heart to serve in a new way?