We Are One in the Spirit

By Rev. Heidi L. Barham |  January 16, 2022

Click here to listen to the service [We apologize for the poor quaility of  parts of the recording]

Read 1 Corinthians 12:1 – 11
 
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians was written to highlight problems that were occurring within the church and to offer solutions to those problems.  Paul also wanted to help teach believers how to live for Christ, even as they were living in the midst of a corrupt society.  And it would seem that this letter, although written nearly two thousand years ago, continues to have relevance for us in the 21^st century. 
 
In our text for the morning, Paul starts out by explaining how God’s Spirit works in the lives of believers… and how vastly different God’s Spirit is from any of the false gods that they may have previously worshipped.  He also explained that God’s Spirit would never prompt someone to say, “Jesus is cursed.”   And conversely, no one could ever say “Jesus is Lord,” without God’s Holy Spirit.
 
Paul then explained that while people had been given different gifts, they all came from the same Spirit.  And there were different kinds of serving or ministry, but it is the same Lord.   And while there are different kinds of working, it is the same God at work. 
 
Central to Paul’s message to the Corinthians, and by extension to us, is the understanding that WE ARE ONE IN THE SPIRIT.
 
And yet, I think it is fair to say that we are in living in a day and age when we more divided than ever.  The words civility and common courtesy have all but faded from our vocabulary.  The sense of community and comradery that was once something to be treasured has become all but a distant memory.
 
Instead of celebrating the gifts of diversity that each of us can bring to the table for the benefit of the whole… the attributes and qualities that make us uniquely gifted and talented individuals are selectively used to turn us into outsiders and outcasts.
 
Rather than engaging in the practice of INclusion that Jesus taught, people are spending far more time finding ways to perfect the art of Exclusion… looking for ways to widen the divide between us and them… whoever “them” may be.
 
But as we reflect on Paul’s letter to the Corinthians this morning… we are reminded that this is NOT what God has called us to do.  This is NOT how God has called us to live.  And most assuredly, this is NOT who God has called us to be as His children.
 
Listen to verses 4 -7 from our text as they appear in the Message Paraphrase: 

 
“All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people!”
 
Perhaps that is where the disconnect is… because so many people find it hard to believe that God freely gives out all kinds of things… all kinds of gifts… to ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE. 
 
Some folks would have us believe that there are select groups of people who are uniquely blessed to be the recipients of God’s blessings to the exclusion of others.
 
But God has more than enough gifts and blessings to give to each and every one of His children. 
 
And we have been given those gifts and blessings so that we can reach out to others in a spirit of love and inclusion… not for the purposes of division and exclusion.
 
In looking at the commentary in the Life Application Study Bible for today’s New Testament lesson, I was struck by the notes regarding the different gifts that God gives to each of us. 
 
The first note stated, “Properly used, spiritual gifts are not self-serving but serve the whole body of Christ” (LASB, 2005, p. 1932).
 
Properly used… spiritual gifts are not self-serving but serve the whole body of Christ.  In other words, when we are using the gifts that God has given to us, the end result ought to be that someone else has been blessed. 
 
As we read in verse 7 of the text, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”  This does not mean that we might not gain some benefit from the gift, but the ultimate goal and objective ought to be the blessing of someone else.  So, it is really not about serving self but about serving the body of Christ. 
 
But sadly, if we look at the world around us, this seems to have become the exception to the rule rather than the norm.  We see far too many people who are unwilling to put anyone else ahead of self. 
 
All we have to do is look at our elected officials, on both sides of the aisle, to see examples of how this has been playing out in real time.  Politicians are so focused on what they need to do to get re-elected that they have lost sight of the needs of the people they have been elected to serve… and at the risk of offending anyone, I will just leave that right there.
 
Now, the second note in the commentary stated, “Each gift becomes practically useless when used without love” (LASB, 2005, p. 1932).  And that makes sense, particularly as we think about the ultimate objective of serving the body of Christ. 
 
One of the Elders at Bethany is known for saying, “You can give without loving but you cannot love without giving.”  And I would propose that the same could be said for serving.
 
You can serve without loving but you cannot love without serving.  And the spiritual gifts that God has given to us really are for the benefit of loving and serving God and the people of God.
 
Simply put, we are called to use our spiritual gifts properly… to serve with love because WE ARE ONE IN THE SPIRIT.
 
But as we exercise our spiritual gifts in loving and serving God and the people of God, there are two pitfalls we need to avoid.  The first is becoming too proud of our abilities… and the second is the complete opposite… believing we have nothing of value to offer the body of believers.
 
Both of these come as the result of comparing ourselves to someone else… either thinking we are better than the other person(s), or thinking we cannot and do not measure up to some other person(s).
 
Opposite ends of the spectrum… but each with the potential to create challenges and difficulties.
 
Paul wrote the following to the church at Rome and it is still applicable today, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you” (Romans 12:3).
 
While Peter (1 Peter 5:5) and James (4:6) both referenced Proverbs 3:34 saying, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
 
And in His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus cautioned, “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:1).
 
So, we must beware that we do not become overly proud of ourselves and what we are doing. 
 
Now on the flip side of the coin, there may be someone who feels inadequate, unworthy, unqualified or unable to be a blessing to anyone else.  But in response to that, the prophet Isaiah reminds us of how the Lord sees each of us, “Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life.  Fear not, for I am with you” (Isaiah 43:4 – 5a).
 
We are precious in God’s sight… and as the Psalmist David wrote, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14a).
 
We should not fall into the trap of thinking that we do not have gifts and abilities with any value to share with the body of believers.  As Paul wrote in Ephesians 2(10), “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
 
God has a purpose and a plan for all of His children.  God gifted us individually and collectively so that we would become His church… not in the sense of four walls, stained glass windows and comfortably padded pews… but His church… the body of believers. 
 
God’s church that recognizes that WE ARE ONE IN THE SPIRIT… because there is, “one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:5 – 6). 
 
God’s church which started back in the book of Acts where everyone had everything in common… where they met daily and broke bread and ate together… and where they praised God together (see Acts 2).
 
God’s church where the believers’ faith was lived out intentionally.  
 
God’s church where our faith ought to be lived out intentionally as well with the understanding that WE ARE ONE IN THE SPIRIT.
 
Although I will not attempt to sing it this morning, especially since we have the choir here with us, the lyrics to the song, “They’ll Know We Are Christians” say:
   
The lyrics have their foundation in Jesus’ words found in John 13:34 – 35, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
 
Loving one another brings with it the acknowledgement that we are all inextricably bound to one another as Paul wrote to the Corinthians in the verses which follow our text for this morning (1 Corinthians 12:12ff). 
 
Or as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it in his 1967 Christmas Eve sermon entitled, A Christmas Sermon on Peace.  Dr. King stated:
   
And we have seen this play out in real time throughout this Coronavirus pandemic as we have witnessed how one person’s actions, or their inactions, have the ability to impact the lives of other people, regardless of their intention.  And that is simply because when all is said and done, we really are all in this thing called life together.
 
Now, during various activities that take place as part of the annual MLK celebration, it is not all that uncommon to hear the question asked, “What would Dr. King say if he were still alive today?”   
 
One can only wonder what his response might be in the wake of this pandemic… not to mention the political unrest, attempted voter suppression and the systemic racism that we still see happening in the world around us…
 
Well, if I could use my imagination for just a minute, I can almost hear Dr. King saying the same thing to us today that he said at the close of his Christmas Sermon on Peace nearly 55 years ago:
   
Amen, Dr. King.  Amen.
 

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