The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. ¹⁵ If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body. ²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”… If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. ²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Dear Christian friends, when I was in high school I was on the basketball team. During the course of one of our practices, I twisted my ankle coming down with a rebound. It hurt pretty badly so I went and saw the trainer. His advice to me was to ice it and not put any weight on it for a few days, that way it can heal. How foolish would I have been to walk on it like it was fine. It never would have gotten any better. So I put more weight on my right leg until my left one felt better. And that is how it is with our bodies isn’t it? If we hurt our right hand, then our left hand takes over more responsibilities till the right hand gets better. The different parts of our bodies work together for the good of the whole.

In our text for today God speaks to us through Paul and says that all believers come together and form the Body of Christ. This body of Christ that we form is much like our own bodies in the fact that it has many different members but all are important and serve a purpose.

To each member of the body of Christ God has given different gifts for the common good. To the early New Testament believers God gave some very special gifts so that all would know that they truly did have God’s Word. Paul gives a list of these gifts just before our section for today. He lists gifts such as: knowledge directly coming from the Holy Spirit, miraculous powers, gifts of healing by the Spirit, prophecy, speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues, and others. Then Paul reminds the Corinthian believers that though gifts had been given to different people in varying degrees, all the gifts were given by the same Spirit for the good of the whole body, not solely for the good of the individual.

Most of these gifts mentioned are no longer given today. But God has given each of the members of Christ body different gifts and combined as a church he has given us all the abilities we need to effectively spread his word.

Paul presents us with a brief list of some of the gifts in Romans 12. Some of the gifts he mentions are: service, teaching, encouraging contributing, leading and showing mercy. God wants us to know that all these gifts come from him and should be used in his service.

He tells us that if you have been given the gift of the time and means to serve, then you should serve. Whether it is with your time or your abilities. It can be done in any number of ways from canvassing and handing out flyers to making some snacks and pulling out tables for the Bible class

Paul then mentions teaching. God’s Word carries the greatest gift anyone could receive. When we teach God’s Word we bring that gift into a person’s life. The ability to teach God’s Word is a gift that he has given his church, whether it is witnessing one on one or speaking to a bible class. God’s gift of the ability to teach is a wonderful blessing.

He continues with the gifts of encouraging and contributing, leading and showing mercy. His advice to anyone who has these gifts, is to use them. If God has given you the ability to speak kind words to another soul when that person is having a hard time, then it is important you use that gift. And remember that when you are helping out a brother or sister in Christ, Jesus says are actually helping him.

If God’s given you the gift of finance, then contribute it to the spreading of God’s Word. Knowing that there is nothing more important in this world than all people hear God’s message.

If you are able to lead then you should “govern diligently”. If God has placed you in a position of authority, do not misuse it or shirk your duties. Instead know that when you use your gifts properly, you are honoring God and benefiting his church.

If you have the ability to show mercy and compassion to someone then God wants you do that. For when our Lord saw a weak believer, the bruised reed, he did not break it, and the smoldering wick…he did not snuff it out. Jesus wants us to follow his example and show mercy and compassion for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

No matter what your gifts may be, whether they were listed here or not and to whatever degree you may have them…God says you are important. God tells us that every single person in the body of Christ is necessary…from the President of our Synod down to the tiniest baby over in our mission in Russia, in his eyes no one member is more valuable then another. In Christ we are all equal.

God’s message here is meant for our comfort, but often the sinful nature ignores what God says and tries to assign value by comparing the different gifts we have. This was one of the problems in the Corinthian congregation. They would look at the gifts of another member and long to do what he or she was able to do. Or they would see someone who they deemed to have a lesser gift then they and would in turn feel superior.

This constant rivalry which the sinful nature creates is a problem even today. It is so easy for us to look at someone else and always see some ability or gift that we would like to have. This can happen when God has blessed another person with more ability in a certain area then we may have. It really doesn’t matter what that gift is, does it? Whether the person has a great deal of time that they can use or they possess the ability to take control of a situation or God has blessed them with enough money that they can freely share. Our sinful nature longs to have the same amount of ability as all the people around us, if not more. And when we don’t get what we want our sinful nature starts making value judgments and it tells us that we aren’t as important or that we aren’t worth as much as that other members, because we aren’t as gifted.

And just as easily as we do this, we can also go in the other direction. If your gift is service and God has blessed you with the time and ability to always voluntary to help. It can be easy to look down on others who aren’t always there to help and as a result we can think we are more important than they are because we are more prominent.

Whenever we make these judgments about our worth or the worth of others, we are making judgments upon God and insulting him. When we think we are not worth as much because we see someone else with more ability, we tell God that what he has given us isn’t good enough. He has made a mistake and we could have done better. When we look at our fellow Christians as being less talented than we are and therefore less valuable, then we are calling God a liar, because he has told us that all the members of the body of Christ are valuable and equally important.

These are by no means small insults and we deserve God’s wrath. But here God doesn’t do that, instead for a moment in our text Paul tells us what it would be like if we got exactly what we wanted. He uses that picture of the body to bring his point home. He tells us that if everyone was an eye, then who would be the ears. Or if everyone was an ear then how would we every be able to smell anything.

In the same way, if we all had the same abilities, the body of Christ as a whole would miss out on the other things we are now able to do now because God has given us such a diverse amount of gifts.

God assures us that we do not have to worry about our differences because everything that is important we have in common. And that is no more true than in the fact that Christ died for all. You are a soul and therefore you are precious to God. No matter who you are or what gifts you have, Christ came down from heaven and died on the cross for you to take away all your sins!

It is through the Holy Spirit that all believers come to faith in Christ. Through the faith provided by the Spirit we all gain access to heaven. And it is also through that one Spirit that we receive gifts while we are still here on earth. The gifts that God has given you are precisely the ones that he wants you to have in the exact amounts you will need so that you can fulfill your special role in the body of Christ.

Because each of our abilities and roles are different we all have to learn to depend on one another. Knowing this we can never say to another Christian and saying, “I have no need of you.” Because God tells us we do and that all the members are necessary. And just as it is with a human body, when one part of it suffers all are affected in some way, so also it is with Christ’s body. When one member is suffering, then all members are saddened and look to help.

Also when one part of the body is honored, then all rejoice. If there are member in our congregation who have been blessed with many gifts or a special honor, we are not jealous of them, but instead we rejoice with them and give praise and thanks to God that he has so richly blessed his people.

Brothers and sisters in Christ. Having been brought into the body of Christ we now care for our fellow Christian as members of the same body. Their sufferings become our own and their triumphs we share. God has given you the gifts that he wants you to have and has placed you where he desires you to be. Therefore rejoice for you are a necessary part of the Church, which has many members but one body.