The most excellent way: United camp part 1

1 Cor 12v12:

 ¹² The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body..

 ¹⁴ Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. ¹⁵ If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything? 

 ¹⁸ But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. ¹⁹ How strange a body would be if it had only one part! ²⁰ Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. ²¹ The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.” 

 ²⁷ All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. ³¹ So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. 

But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.

1. Introduction: Brief overview of the church as a body

I believe that you have all grasped to some degree the whole issue of spiritual gifts, along with personality styles, and passions. This really gives answers to questions such as: “What should I do with my life, God?” “Where do I fit in?”

You would have also grasped the concept of the church being like a body, where everyone has their place, and everyone’s place is unique and special, and worthy of celebration, just as much as you would look at any part of the human body and say, “wow- look at the eye! Check how amazing it is” or, “look at the hand, see how cool that is!" Each part is absolutely different, and yet completely interdependent- for a silly eg, how could you scratch an itchy eye without a hand?

Romans 12:3-5 (NLT):

“Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, ⁵ so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.”

Some time ago I wrote a short essay on the church- the title was “Church: organization or organism?” I heard a preacher once say that the church is an organization and that got me thinking. So I decided to look into it. This is what I found in terms of definition:

Organization - Social arrangement which pursues collective goals, controls its own performance, and has a boundary separating it from its environment.

Organism- An individual form of life composed of mutually interdependent parts that maintain various vital processes. A system regarded as analogous in its structure or functions to a living body:

It’s quite clear to me that the bible teaches that the church is a body- an organism that is by definition a collection of parts that all work together and are interdependent on each other- a living thing: alive and kicking through the work of the Spirit. 

So I trust that you have begun to grasp this concept of the body of Christ- realizing where you belong in the body – finding your “sweet spot”, and understanding that your contribution is vital for the life of the whole body. I also hope that you are eager to pursue more in God and allow God to work more in and through us to see these beautiful gifts grow even further.

1. The purpose of the gifts: Build up the church

• 1 cor 14: "Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church."
• Eph 4V11-16: "Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church..to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.... As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

Its important to realize the purpose of the gifts. We can think this thing is great- God gives us  gift, and we persue that gift to “fan it into flame and make it grow”, and although that is all good, its not enough. 

This isn’t an excersize in growing your “career” in the church. No, there is a great purpose for the gifts, and we have seen it in the above verses. The main reason why you have a gift is that the body that you are a part of will be built up to the fullness of Christ. We don’t have spiritual gifts primarily for ourselves, but rather for the edification of the body.

..And yet, there is something still greater to persue

3.   Gifts are cool-  But there is something better!!!!

I love 1 Corinthians 11-13. It’s a great portion of scripture. Chapter 12 speaks about the various gifts, and you would have worked through these already. Chapter 14 speaks about worship inspired by the Holy Spirit, But the most amazing thing- the real pearl of great prize does not lie in 1 Cor 12 or 14- its in between- Ch 13! It’s a portion of scripture that I call the “love sandwich”. When you eat a sandwich, it’s the filling that makes all the difference. And that’s my message to you today- the filling of love is the defining ingredient that goes into the perfume of our lives that rises before the throne of God. 

Paul does something interesting in his writing here- Im not sure if you picked up on it. He spoke about all these amazing gifts – things as impressive as miracles, healings, prophecy, and also things as vital as administration, helps and leadership. It’s a very exiting picture of the church, and no one would blame us at this point for saying “Yea, I wanna go for it in my church, I wanna be used by God in the church- to play my part in building it up to maturity.

But he doesn’t stop there. He shows us something greater. 

Could there really be something greater than being an apostle, walking in a powerful healing gift that causes people to climb out of wheelchairs? Could it be possible that there could be something greater than the gift of Faith that can cause a mountain to be moved, and cause everyone to believe in God? He opens up Spiritual gifts to us, commands us to desire them, to run after and persue them, excel in them. And then he chucks in the bombshell saying: let me show you the MOST excellent way.

Just as we are about to get all proud in our gifts he brings us back down to earth by opening the lense on the what gives all these amazing gifts true meaning.. LOVE.

4.   Love vs the gifts:

If for some reason (if there ever was a reason) you put love and gifts in a boxing ring, I wonder who would win the battle? Well obviously Paul is saying to us that Love is better, but why exactly is it better? 1 Cor 13 cuts right into the truth of this. 

A) The gifts:

Spiritual gifts are exactly that- gifts. You don’t earn them, you don’t deserve them. You just get given them. They make you look good, (prov: the gift makes room for the giver and ushers him into the presence of the great). Your gift is irrevocable (cannot be taken from you). Your gift will always be ready to operate when you choose to use it.

B) Love:

Love is not a gift, it is a fruit of The Spirit. So even though it still comes from God is only comes into your life to the degree that you are connected to God. Jesus commands us to remain in His love. The reason for this is that He knows that we cannot produce love as a fruit unless we are tapped into his love. We love when we are loved. Faith connects us to God, therefore love is also the expression of our faith (we will look more into this in the last session) whereas gifts are not received by faith, the Holy Spirit gives them freely.

Now that we have defined love and gifts, lets say why love is the greatest.

Love is the greatest, because love is eternal. Love is the only permanent thing that we will take with us into heaven- once this church has reached its perfection, everything else will fade away. There won’t be any need for miracles, or teaching or leadership, or administration, or prophecy. But in heaven there is only one reason why there will be no crying or pain or shame or sin or anything evil- we will all be living in perfect love.

Lets start practicing!