The Book Of 1st Corinthians With Jennie Allen: A Video Bible StudySample

Serve Like Jesus

“Look at me, Mom!” says the three-year-old standing on the coffee table wearing a princess dress and holding a spatula to her mouth. She loves performing, but without an appropriately attentive audience, it’s just not as fulfilling.

“Look at me!” We don’t really outgrow our desire to be noticed and appreciated, though we try to be more sophisticated about it. We glamorize anyone with talent or accomplishment (or notoriety). In the church, we idolize our singers, authors, and pastors, entrusting them with authority in our lives. If such-and-such author said it, it must be true. That pastor teaches so dynamically—he must be super-spiritual.

Such idolization leads us two ways: we may feel inadequate compared to others since our gifting hasn’t resulted in similar celebrity status. Or we move from admiration to envy, wanting the gifts they have in order to receive the attention they receive.

Those self-centered tendencies are not new. In our passage today, we see that the Corinthian Christians also suffered from a “look at me” syndrome. It appears they wanted the more visible, more authoritative gifts. Those with less attention-getting gifts were being ignored, considered less-than. The Corinthians had fallen prey to the age-old temptation of considering bigger to be better, public to be preferable.

Egos are always an issue.

Paul writes to encourage a different perspective: unity. He reminds them that their gifts, while greatly varied, all came from the same Lord. The same Spirit gave many gifts so that all could render service to the same Lord. And the same God would work through all of them (12:4–6).

Serving God in the church might look different from one person to another, but our talents and skills came from God all for the same purpose: “for the common good” (12:7). Likening the church to a human body, he applies a universal illustration to the situation: no one part of our bodies can flourish if another part is hurting. (Have you ever poked your eye or broken a bone? Think about how the rest of the body reacts when one part is traumatized.) As the parts of our bodies are interconnected and interdependent, so is the church.

Paul reminded the Corinthians that the mark of the new church was love. And love, as we learn in chapter 13, puts others before self. We are supposed to use the gifts we receive from the Spirit of God for others—for their flourishing, their aid, their encouragement. Remembering that our spiritual gifts were meant for the betterment of others should help us avoid the seductive glow of the limelight.

Jesus said of himself, “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). To mimic our Savior means we serve with humility on behalf of others. If our gifts thrust us on stage, we acknowledge the God who enables us. If they send us backstage, we praise him for empowering us to participate fully in his purposes. By keeping our eyes off ourselves and on others, his love flows through us and the Body of Christ flourishes.

Instead of “Look at me!” we say, “Look at Jesus!”