Division Through Condescension

Reading:  1 Corinthians 12:21-31
    
    Division in the Corinthian church runs two ways, as illustrated by Paul’s picture of body parts talking to one another.  Some may feel so unimportant that they don’t belong, but others can feel so important that they have no use for others.  “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’”(1 Cor 12:21).  When others are quieter—or their gifts appear less valuable—or they contribute less to the group, it is easy to disdain them.  Paul insists that all members are “indispensable”(v. 22) and deserving of “greater honor”(v. 23, 24), like the private parts of our body that are covered and treated with great care.

    Crucially, we must remember the vision of the designer of the body.  “But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another”(1 Cor 12:24-25).  In God’s kingdom, we value the weak and unglamorous.  No one is overlooked.  God wants us to be united not only in mind and judgment (1 Cor 1:10), but in the “same care for one another.”  Our prideful attitudes precipitate division.  “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together”(1 Cor 12:26).  A properly functioning local church (like a human body) suffers and rejoices as one.  Despite the differences in our gifts (v. 28-30), we are united by love.

     Condescension leads to division.  We view others as less important, less valuable, and less worthy of our time and attention.  Our thinking inevitably comes across in how we deal with them.  We care more for others than for them and they can tell.  It is essential that we remember that we are not that great and that all people matter equally before God.  The unity and health of the body depends on it.

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One Thing to Think About:  How am I encouraging my brothers and sisters?

One Thing to Pray For:  All Christians to have the same care for one another
 

Division Through Insecurity

Reading:  1 Corinthians 12:12-20
    
    In a body, many separate members work together as one unit.  This is also Paul’s vision of the local church.  “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”(1 Cor 12:13).  Thinking of the group as a singular unit helps us downplay the differences between us and focus our attention on the unique way we can contribute.  We learn to stay in our lane.  Just as the various parts of the body work together, contributing unique functions for the good of the whole body, so we each exercise our own gifts and blend them together as one.  The danger is that as we look at the gifts and work of others, we begin to question our own value.

    Paul illustrates this with the comical image of body parts talking to one another.  “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”(1 Cor 12:15).  Some of the Corinthians observe other, seemingly more impressive Christians—the “hands” and “eyes”—and then feel insecure in their own gifts.  They begin to feel that they “do not belong to the body.”  Yet Paul protests, “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?  But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose”(1 Cor 12:17-18).  Each part matters and adds something vital.  My gifts are from God and he made me “as he chose.”

    Insecurity can lead to division.  Feelings of inadequacy can extend to the spiritual realm.  We feel unappreciated and grow jealous and bitter.  It is important that we hear God’s affirmation of our usefulness and uniqueness so that we remain unified and the body functions as he intends.

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One Thing to Think About:  Why do I feel the need to compare myself to others?

One Thing to Pray For:  A strong sense of my value to God and his work
 

God Loves Variety

Reading:  1 Corinthians 12:1-11
    
    In the next three chapters, Paul will address the problem in Corinth with “spiritual gifts”(1 Cor 12:1), special abilities granted to Christians in this time by the Spirit.  Some of the Corinthians disdained others who had “lesser” gifts, reinforcing the already present divisions there.  Knowing that many of the Corinthians have a Gentile background (1 Cor 12:2), Paul wants to teach them what following God’s true Spirit is like.  “Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says ‘Jesus is accursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit”(1 Cor 12:3).  What is notable here is that we discern messages by evaluating the content of the message rather than the emotional power of the delivery; only messages that reflect submission to Jesus should be accepted.

    One striking feature of the spiritual gifts is their diversity.  “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone”(1 Cor 12:4-6).  The actions look different, but the source is the same; they all come from a variety-loving God.  Paul gives a list of the types of gifts he is describing (v. 8-10), stressing that each is a gift (rather than something innate in the person) given by the Spirit.  “All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills”(1 Cor 12:11).  It all comes from God, so there is no room for boasting or condescension.

    God loves variety.  No two people have precisely the same personality or appearance.  God did not make just one kind of animal or plant.  There are multitudes of food flavors and musical varieties.  When we want everyone to be the same—especially because we are jealous of what others have—we are going against the grain of God’s love of variety.  A better path is to celebrate the multitude of expressions of God’s gift alive in such wildly different people.

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One Thing to Think About:  How does variety show God’s goodness and power?

One Thing to Pray For:  Eyes to see the beauty of God’s gifts to others—and myself
 

Self-Examination

Reading:  1 Corinthians 11:27-34
    
    Paul is concerned about how the Corinthians have turned the Lord’s Supper into a regular meal, robbing it of its powerful spiritual and communal meaning.  These are not casual matters.  “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord”(1 Cor 11:27).  Because Jesus has invested these symbols with meaning (v. 24, 25), we cannot take them lightly or else we bring the guilt of Jesus’ death upon ourselves.  “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.  For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself”(1 Cor 11:28-29).  Even though the Lord’s Supper is a communal act, we each have an individual role (“let a person examine himself”).  Only I can examine my own motives as I partake.  Paul urges us to “(discern) the body,” which I take to be a reference to the local church which is united in remembrance.  We cannot remember Jesus’ death and simultaneously ignore the divisions we are causing in the body.  

    But when we fail to examine ourselves, disaster ensues.  He states that this “is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (probably referring to spiritual weakness and death) and that “if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged”(1 Cor 11:30, 31).  The Lord’s Supper is a time in which we check ourselves and look out for one another.  Without this regular examination, our spiritual state can go south quickly.  We get stale, sin accumulates and hardens, and distance grows between us and our brothers.  

    “Let a person examine himself.”  God wants us to look within.  Do I really remember Jesus?  Am I really thinking about my brothers?  Are we partaking as one unified, faithful group?  How am I doing spiritually?  Do spiritual acts make me feel like a hypocrite?  This process is essential to ongoing Christian growth.

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One Thing to Think About:  How regularly do I examine myself?  Why is this process unpleasant?

One Thing to Pray For:  The ability to “discern the body” as I partake of this special meal
 

When Worship Does Damage

Reading:  1 Corinthians 11:17-26
    
    Paul has some strong words for the Corinthians:  “But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse”(1 Cor 11:17).  They are gathering for worship and leaving worse than when they came.  “For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you”(1 Cor 11:18).  The fractures within the group that we have already noticed (see 1:10-13 and 3:1-4) also show up in their observance of the Lord’s Supper.  Each group eats the Supper with its own little clique (1 Cor 11:21).  This practice excludes those who are not in the “in group,” shames the poor, and reinforces divisions and resentments.  “What!  Do you not have houses to eat and drink in?  Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing?”(1 Cor 11:22).   If all we are doing is enjoying a meal with friends, we can do that anywhere.  The Lord’s Supper is about something different.

    Paul asserts that the Lord’s Supper is communal (eaten by the entire group together) and commemorative (bringing to mind the body and blood offered for us).  He recounts the story of Jesus giving thanks for the Passover emblems and relabeling them as his own body and blood.  “Do this in remembrance of me”(1 Cor 11:24, 25).  The connection to Jesus’ death makes this meal holy and unique—not goofing around with our friends.  “For as often as you eat this bead and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes”(1 Cor 11:26).  Together, with one voice, we remind each other and the watching world that we still believe in Jesus and await his return.

    Worship has both vertical and horizontal dimensions.  When we forget or neglect God’s will for worship—when we fail to esteem his will properly—it makes us worse.  Meanwhile, when we overlook or directly harm our brother—reinforcing division and exclusion—it makes us (and them) worse.  But when we honor God together, we build one another up and glorify him.

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One Thing to Think About:  Has worship ever made me worse?  Have I ever made others worse?

One Thing to Pray For:  Awareness of how I contribute to unity or division