Body & SoulSample

To Each Our Own

We are drawn by the idea of unity in the body of believers (the church) for good reason: it is the very design of God which means it is a perfect design, without flaw or error.

The breakdown we experience today is not due to design; it is in our execution. If the body worked as it was intended, we would not have problems. In fact, 1 Corinthians 12 tells us exactly what we would have.

In this chapter, Paul is addressing some concerns the Corinthian church had regarding spiritual gifts. The Corinthians had a background of pagan worship, which Paul addresses in the first few verses of the chapter.

The only way we can be consecrated to God, to say “Jesus is Lord” (and mean it), is through the working of the Holy Spirit. This means that all believers are reliant on the Holy Spirit for our continued sanctification. Paul makes sure to address that before moving on to discussing spiritual gifts and the body of Christ.

1. Operating well together in each of our spiritual gifts. Verse 1 introduces the topic of spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts are the “ministries or abilities that the Holy Spirit gives to Christians for the edification of the church.” Essentially, if we were operating as God intends, we would be a perfectly in-sync symphony of gifted bodies, mobilized to make disciples and build up the kingdom of God to much greater effectiveness.
2. Have the due respect for the diversity and giftedness of each other. 1 Corinthians 12 is such a rich passage, culminating in verse 25: “so that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other” (CSB). This reminds us how the breakdown of gifts due to jealousy, dismissal, or hierarchy ultimately manifests in division. Were we to fulfill God’s plan for us in each operating well in our gifts, we would be lifting up the gifts in others rather than breaking them down or competing against them, as we often do—fracturing our collective body, thwarting our strength and usefulness.

Too many times we are insecure in our own gifts and wistful about the gifts we see and admire in others, and it causes us to “fracture” the body.

The Lord is calling us not only to revival in our individual bodies but to revival in the way we function as a corporate body of Christ. In fact, I believe that for some of us, one reason we have not yet gotten healthy in our bodies as individuals is because we have been settling for a broken relationship with the corporate body of Christ—either a person or persons—possibly even an entire body of believers.

Maybe the church hurt you or you’re dealing with large wounding in your past from a spiritual leader. These things are real, and many of us carry heavy baggage from a brother or sister in the faith who sinned against us. (Many of us, too, have sinned against our brothers or sisters at times.) We may believe that is a separate part of our lives from the struggle we have in our individual bodies, but it’s not true. We must acknowledge the things that have hurt us by our own faith siblings and pray and seek healing.

Know this: God loves His church, and He is able to heal us in every way.

We, as the body of Christ, are individuals whom God has breathed life into to serve Him and do good works, and we function as His army in the kingdom of God. We wouldn’t exist without our beating hearts, and we cannot survive without our hearts beating together.

We must see ourselves as Christ sees us, working together, using our individual gifts, and living boldly for Him.

Read 1 Corinthians 12, and praise God for His good design of the body of Christ and how serving one another through using our gifts glorifies Him and encourages us.