January 26, 2025 Text: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
Dear Friends in Christ,
You receive a gift…and there it is a Mr. Potato Head. You pull out the potato head with all the holes that you will fill with body parts. This is going to be fun. You continue pouring out the contents, but you have 10 eyebrows, no nose or mouth, one eye and no ears. What’s going on here! How will Mr. Potato Head hear and believe?
Did you ever have this joy or see it in your child or grandchild? A nose where an ear should be? A mouth on top of his head? It probably brought on some good laughter. But children at a young age realize something. We have and need different body parts, and they have their necessary place.
Today in our text Paul is comparing the Christian Church to the parts of the body. We all play a part. You are part of a living body, and whatever function the Lord has assigned to you as part of the body, you can know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
You get to see yourself as a body part this morning. The question . . .
“WHAT BODY PART ARE YOU?”
Paul addresses the Corinthian congregation because this is becoming a problem. They see themselves as separate – Jew, Greek, slave, free – Paul is pushing their commonality. They are one body. One Spirit. Why does this text matter to us?
It matters because we distort our place in the body of Christ. We can divide ourselves in one of two ways. 1. We labor with a misplaced sense of inferiority, or 2. We labor with a misplaced sense of superiority.
It is easy to go after those who have an elevated view of themselves. The Corinthian church had many such people. Paul has already taken many of these folks to task in the preceding chapters. But here in the text he starts with those living with feelings of inferiority.
“Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” or “because I am a not an eye, I do not belong to the body.” (v. 15-16) Brilliant Paul, just brilliant. He is forcing the superior feeling people to empathize with those who feel inferior. They don’t even know what happened. So gracious.
Both groups need the stinging word of God’s Law. If you do not feel you are part of the body, you are accusing God of bad design. You have just broken the 1st Commandment. You have also broken the same commandment if you grovel in your greatness instead of God’s.
God knew what He was doing when He designed the body. “God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.” (v. 18-20) Beautiful. Look at it this way, we don’t want all mouthy people in the body of Christ. We don’t want those just good at listening. We need a combination. Those who speak well, but those who listen well. It is even better if people communicate and hear.
To those on the high horse, Paul has these words, “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.’” (v. 21) Every member needs every other member. That is how bodies are made.
Paul says we were all “baptized into one body” (v. 13). We are incorporated into the Body of Christ. Think about that. Whatever you can do or can’t do, flashy or pedestrian, if you are in Christ by your Baptism, you are a treasured member of the most exalted Body in the entire cosmos.
We are to have no division, because we are one in Christ. Loved, forgiven, saved. Made for this time and place. Giving of self for the body. Sharing the heartaches and the joys.
Could we have a better verse for today? See how the Lord planned this celebration for our body today. Verse 26b: “If one member is honored, all rejoice together.” The baptism of Ezra Simon Kirchner. It has been a long time coming. Patience has been needed. Ups and downs. Mary Anne and family made it to this day. My family has been praying for this day. Many of you have been praying for this day. The Lord brought it all about in His time. Today the body rejoices, like we always do when we witness a soul being baptized into Christ. Ezra’s joy, is my joy, is your joy, is the joy of the worldwide Christian Church.
So, have you answered the question? What body part are you? In Christ, we mesh, we care about each other. Everyone belongs, no matter what part you see yourselves as, we are united in Christ.
Amen.