The Body of Christ: Gifted – Sermon for January 16, 2022

With the annual congregational meeting coming up in three weeks, I’ve decided to take advantage of the lectionary’s three weeks in 1 Corinthians, and do a sermon mini-series on being the body of Christ together. This is week one, and the texts for this second Sunday after the Epiphany are 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 and John 2:1-11.

I found helpful this article for some historical background on the Corinthian context, this commentary on Working Preacher, and this commentary at Journey with Jesus. Here’s the sermon for January 16, 2022.

For the next three weeks, we’re going to be reading from Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth. Corinth was a large, busy port city known for moral wickedness and depravity, everything that goes with lots of sailors on shore leave all the time. There was a Jewish synagogue, but most of the population are idol-worshipers. Not the easiest place to follow Jesus!

Around the year 50, Paul starts a church in Corinth, then after a year or two, he moves on to Ephesus to start the church there. But while he was in Ephesus, Paul kept in touch with the Corinthians, and in our Bible, we have at least two of the letters he wrote to this church, this group of Christians, mostly focusing on what it means for them to live a Christian life and how to be a community of believers together.

Paul’s theme for this whole letter is 1 Corinthians 1 verse 10: “Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.” Then he goes on in the letter to address different issues that have come up.

Looking forward both to our annual meeting coming up on January 30th and to our 150th anniversary celebrations, I think these next three weeks’ readings are perfect for us right now, because we’re facing similar questions as church today, right?

How do we be a community together following Jesus in 2022, and for the next 150 years? How will this community of faith, this church of St. Peter, continue long after all of us are gone? How do we stay faithful in a changing world, after a time of trial in the form of a pandemic, with the culture changing around us?

So, welcome to a sort of three week mini-sermon-series on being the Body of Christ. Today, we’re looking at this great passage about spiritual gifts.

One of the big problems in the Corinthian church seems to be factions and disagreements. Paul doesn’t always say what they’re disagreeing about, but it’s not to hard to imagine, right? What do we disagree about? People in Corinth had different backgrounds, and different priorities, and different ways they thought the world should work, kind of like we do. They had rich people and poor people, and those groups didn’t always get along.

There’s a whole section in the chapter right before this about how when they share the Lord’s Supper together, they do it as a whole meal, which is great, except some people don’t get food, while other people have lots, and some people even get drunk. As far as I know we don’t have people getting drunk in church, which is good, but there are people in our congregation who have a lot more money and resources than others do. These are not foreign problems.

In today’s reading, it seems the church has been dealing with some problems of spiritual hierarchy. Some people are really gifted and can do things like speak in tongues, pray really powerfully, and sing better than anyone else, that sort of thing. And maybe those people are tempted to use their gifts for their own benefit. Maybe they kind of like feeling extra-important, a little bit up on a pedestal.

And it’s so easy for the community to treat them as more important than the people who are maybe gifted in some less-visible ways, like the people who sweep the floor before service, or call people with reminders about church directories, or who don’t say anything in public, but write cards of encouragement and pray at home.

Some gifts are obvious and easy to honor, but part of Paul’s point is that even those who seem to be the least have something important to offer. I don’t know if it counts as a spiritual gift, but as an illustration, did you hear about the rat that died in Cambodia?

That’s not a metaphor – there was a eight year old African giant pouched rat rat named Magawa who died this week after a five year career as the most successful landmine sniffing rat in the world. Apparently he had a remarkable sense of smell and found over “100 land mines and other explosives.” (source) If God can equip a rat with the gifts needed to save potentially hundreds of lives, you can trust God has equipped you too, even if your particular gift isn’t as obvious or visible as someone else’s.

So Paul writes, and this is just as important for us to hear today, “Concerning spiritual gifts…I do not want you to be uninformed…There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.”

Paul makes it clear: God gives each of us gifts. Every Christian. Every follower of Jesus. Every member of this church is gifted. And all of those gifts are important and necessary.

If we can recognize the truth that God is the source of all gifts, then there’s no point in being jealous of other’s gifts, or in boasting about your own. We can’t earn more spiritual gifts; we can just put them into practice.

And all these gifts are intended for “the common good.” Being community means worshiping and giving and serving together. More about that next week, but if you’re only using your gifts for yourself, you’re missing the point.

Another promise for us in this passage is that God provides everything that’s needed. There are spiritual gifts I wish I had, like singing on key, more wisdom, being better at remembering names and faces. But there are other people in our church who have those gifts. The beauty of the church is that the Holy Spirit gathers us together and calls us to join our gifts together, for the common good.

Paul calls the people in Corinth to look not at what they’re lacking, but at the gifts they have, the gifts God has given them. It might be easier to be a Christian in Jerusalem, or in Cana, or maybe even in Rome, than to be surrounded by the wild chaos of Corinth.

It might be nice to have a choir, or big donors with oil money, or more people in worship. But God provides everything we need to be church. God equips us with everything needed for the mission we are given.

Today’s Gospel story from John is another example. Jesus and his mother and his disciples are at a wedding, and remember, weddings are a really big deal. This is a multi-day affair, a major social event in the small town of Cana. Maybe it’s a family member, maybe it’s just someone in town getting married, but it’s a great occasion. And if anything goes wrong, people will talk about it for years.

Christin and I got married almost 10 years ago, and my family and friends still remember what went wrong at our wedding. It was a little minor thing, but we had these little glass fishbowls with fabric flowers and floating tea light candles on each table as centerpieces. We tested everything ahead of time: We made sure the color in the fabric flowers wouldn’t run, we made sure the candles could float, we lit a test one to make sure the wick wouldn’t get wet.

But we didn’t test what happens if you leave the candles lit and they float to the edge of the bowl and the flame touches the glass. Turns out the glass fishbowls can shatter. It only happened at two tables, and it really wasn’t a big deal. Not like if we’d run out of food or drink. That’d be embarrassing, right?

That’s what happened here. There wasn’t enough wine. I haven’t been to any first century Palestinian weddings, but I imagine running out of wine would put a damper on the party. Huge embarrassment for the family!

Fortunately, Jesus is present at the party. And Jesus provides what’s needed. In fact, he provides an abundance: Huge jugs of wine, and not just wine, but good wine. Jesus provides more than anyone thinks is possible.

God provides for God’s people. Sometimes recognizing God’s provision requires changing our view of what’s needed, but God always comes through.

The key is following the instructions Jesus’ mother gives: “Do whatever he tells you.” Do whatever God tells you to do with whatever it is you have, whatever resources, whatever gifts you have, and in Jesus’ hands, it will be enough.

So I wonder, what gifts has God given you?

They don’t have to be on Paul’s list—I don’t think that’s intended to be an exhaustive list of every possible spiritual gift—but God has given you gifts. You have something to contribute to our congregation’s work together for the common good.

Maybe it’s something to use in the institution of the church congregation, or maybe your gift is more for living faith outside these walls. But you have gifts for our life together. You have gifts to offer, and they are enough for Jesus to use.

How is the Holy Spirit calling you to use your gifts to do God’s work?

Let’s pray.

Lord God, you have called, gathered, and equipped your church to do your work, to be your hands and feet in the world. Open our eyes to see you at work in and among us. Inspire us to see the abundance you’ve trusted to us, rather than what’s lacking. Thank you for each and every person in this room and in this congregation` and the gifts you have given us.
Amen

Part two of this series on Being the Body of Christ is here.