Sunday, April 25
Better together
Scripture: Judges 15-16, Psalm 49, 1 Corinthians 12
1 Corinthians 12:12–14 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
Observation
Paul corrects the Corinthians over-emphasis on one gift above others. He teaches them that the church is like a human body made up of many parts all working together. Each part contributes to the well-being of the others and the whole. Each part is important. No part can say, “I don’t belong.” No part can say to another, “I don’t need you.” We all belong to one another, and we all need one another. No part can do everything by itself. We are better together.
Paul not only applies this to spiritual gifts, but in v. 13 he adds race (Jew or Gentile) and social standing (slave or free). We were all baptized by the Spirit into one body; we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Many yet one. Different yet the same. We need each other. We are better together.
The Corinthian church tended to divide into tribes around leaders, gifts, race and socio-economic standing. This whole letter was written to correct these divisions and remind them that they are one in Christ and better together.
Application
20 centuries later, the church of Jesus still faces division along the same fault lines: leaders, gifts, race and socio-economic standing. We tend to associate with those like us, and avoid those who are different. And we are poorer for it. We are, in the words of Paul, like a body made up of only one part—like an eye that cannot hear, or an ear that cannot smell. Our division into groups of sameness cripples us.
We must recognize that we are better together and move toward the other, move toward those who are different from us, and begin to live together in harmony. It’s more than tolerance—it’s celebrating and learning from our differences—just like the whole body enjoys and benefits from the senses of sight, smell and hearing. We are better together.
Today, I will move toward the other (those who are different from me) in order to celebrate them, learn from them, and benefit one another.
Prayer: Thank you Lord for the beautiful picture of mutuality that Paul paints. Help me to live into that. Help Your people—all of us—live into that so that Your church becomes a taste of heaven on earth, a place where all of us live in harmony and are better together.