It Takes a Lot of Different Parts
The human body is a complicated and interesting thing. It is amazing how all the different parts of the body work together, allowing us to do what we do. But when something happens to one part, the whole body is affected.
In 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, Paul tells us that just like the physical body is made up of many different parts, so it is with Christ.
“We were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
“Now if the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
The past couple of weeks, we’ve discussed spiritual gifts and how we all have gifts. But they are of no value if we don’t use them. If we don’t know what our gifts are, we need to figure that out.
These gifts come in clusters that are connected. Last week’s gifts were related to communication, which includes exhortation (encouragement), teaching, prophecy, and evangelism.
This week, Pastor Lisa shared about some gifts that are common in the Bible but not so much today. These are speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, healing, and miracles.
The question is, why aren’t they?
I have a couple of thoughts about this.
First and foremost, we have the Bible to read and learn from, but they didn’t. They needed a way to learn about God. This came through speaking and interpretation of tongues, as well as healing and miracles.
This is not to say that these things don’t still happen or aren’t possible. With God, anything is possible. (Luke 1:37)
Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 14:9, “This is how it is when you speak unknown languages. If no one can understand what you are talking about, you will only be talking to the wind.”
He goes on in verse 19 to say, “Words that make sense can help the church. This is why in church I would rather speak five words that make sense than to speak 10,000 words in a language that others don’t know.”
As believers, we are all part of one body.
For me, the focus is that we all have gifts, and we need to use them to glorify God and build His kingdom.