1 Corinthians 12:12-21, 26, 27 * November 25, 2007 * Christ the King *

Vicar Thomas Engelbrecht

The toe bone’s connected to the foot bone. The foot bone’s connected to the ankle bone. The ankle bone’s connected to the leg bone. Oh hear the Word of the Lord! I’m sure most of you have heard that song. That song is a great way to learn how our bones fit together and also learn a little bit about Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones. But what if the ankle bone decided that being connected to the leg bone wasn’t good enough? What if the ankle wanted to be connected to the neck bone? Well that just wouldn’t make sense. Or what if the finger bone wanted to be connected to the head bone? (Then you’d have a knuckle head.) If our bones weren’t connected to each other in a certain way, then we would have problems. This morning the Apostle Paul talks about the problems that arise in the body of Christ, when we, the members of Christ’s body, have a problem with ourselves and with those around us. Paul wants us to remember that God is the body builder. He builds up the body of Christ and he designs us to fit perfectly into that body.

God is the builder of Christ’s body, but he also built our bodies. If you go back to Genesis and read the account of creation, you’ll see the care that God took in creating our bodies. He formed man out of the ground, and displayed the same care is creating the woman by using one of man’s ribs. He designed each part of the body to function and work for the all around good of the body. Everything in the body is just where God wanted it to be. The body really is an amazing thing. The more you study about it, the more complex everything about it gets.

God’s care for the creation of the body didn’t stop with its formation. He also breathed life into the body. When God breathed the breath of life into that body he created it to be in his own image. Human beings were created sinless and holy. This life that he breathed into them was designed to last forever.

But sin plagues our bodies. Ever since Adam and Eve doubted God’s plan for them, sin has corrupted God’s perfect creation of the body. We see this corruption when we look at our own bodies. Diseases and viruses eat away at our health. The aches and pains of aging remind us that this life isn’t going to last forever. We see sin happening to our bodies and realize that its biggest corruption is on its way. That corruption is death.

If only the corruption of sin ended with our bodies. Unfortunately sin has also corrupted the image in which God created us. The perfect and holy image that once belonged to those first people has been smeared with the stain of our sins. We are no longer sinless and holy. We even use the body that God gave to us to satisfy our wants and desires that go against God’s will. We have turned away from God, and the result is death for our bodies and death for our souls.

Graciously, because he loves us, our creator wanted to rescue his creation from the sin it turned to, so he designed a plan. This plan focused on a body. God needed a perfect body, one that was not stained by sin and therefore didn’t deserve to be punished. This holy body had to be sacrificed on behalf of all of the other bodies that were stained with sin. God provided the body. It was his holy, perfect Son. Our stainless Savior allowed his body to take the punishment that belonged to us. He suffered death physically for us. He suffered hell for us. Our Sacrificial Lamb took the punishment that was ours. God accepted Jesus’ sacrifice for us, and raised his body from the dead as proof that Jesus conquered death and hell.

Through Jesus’ sacrifice of his body, God the Holy Spirit builds up a new body, the body of Christ. This is the body that Paul describes to the Corinthians. In many ways the Corinthian church was similar to many other churches. It was a group of lost souls brought together by the Holy Spirit to form one body, the body of Christ. Paul tells us in verse 13 that through baptism we were made members of this one body. As we bowed our heads or are parents held us close to the font, the Holy Spirit drowned our corrupted sinfulness. As our heads were raised the Holy Spirit made us members of the body of Christ, washed clean of our sins.

Now in a physical body, God designed the members of the body to work together for the good of the body. Each part of the body has a task. That task is vital for the body to function. If the liver fails to function properly, the skin changes color and toxins begin to poison the body.. Even if an ear or an eye fails to function properly, the body needs to compensate for lack of hearing or lack of depth perception.

In the same way, God designed you and me, the members of the body of Christ, to work together for the good of the whole body, his Church. Each member of the body of Christ has specific gifts, roles, and tasks. Every one of these roles is vital for the whole body of Christ to function.

But sin still finds a way to plague the body of Christ. Each member of that body is still plagued with sin, and it has its effects on the whole body. The members of the Corinthian congregation were blessed with many spiritual gifts, much like our congregation is also. However, the people were constantly comparing their gifts and their roles in the body of Christ with those of others.

Paul’s words reveal the problems they were having. He said in verse 15, “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?” People were unhappy with their gifts and roles, and it was causing disfunction in the body of Christ.

And how easy isn’t it to look around and see the gifts everyone else has and to become dissatisfied with the gifts we possess? This dissatisfaction leads very quickly to jealousy and doesn’t stop until it reaches critical. God didn’t assign a part of our physical bodies to criticize the rest of the body parts. In the same way, there is no room for someone who is critical in the body of Christ. And yet, don’t we all find ourselves being critical of others?

Does criticizing help the body of Christ? If I’m being critical of someone, what does that do to help that person who appears to be struggling? If my role in Christ’s body is to be an ear, and I’m spending my time criticizing the nose, who is doing the hearing? As I criticize that nose, I’m neglecting my own role in the body of Christ.

Without all of the members of the body of Christ supporting each other, there is dysfunction in the body. But this isn’t how God intended the body to function. God is the body builder. He built us up to be the body of Christ. He makes sure that we are designed to fit that body perfectly.

In order to counter our selfishness and arrogance about our position in the body of Christ, Paul reminds us in verse 27 that we are the body of Christ. When we remember the sin that stains us, we realize that we don’t deserve even to be the toenail on the body of Christ. Yet the Holy Spirit has made each of us a part of it. This is undeserved kindness.

God took great care in placing us where he wanted us in the body of Christ. In verse 18 Paul says, “But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.” Paul isn’t trying to give us a pep talk here. These aren’t empty manipulative words designed to boost our self esteem if we don’t feel so good about our roles in Christ’s body. When we remember what we deserve from God, and then see what he actually gives us, this statement is full of meaning and comfort for us and shows us how much we really are worth to God.

It is an incredible statement of the love that God had for us as he placed us in his body. This is a verse that is worth picking apart, piece by piece. First, Paul says that “God arranged the parts of the body.” God purposefully placed us exactly where he wanted us to be and gave us the gifts that he wanted to give us to help the body of Christ. Then Paul said “every one of them.” God didn’t fill in the important parts of the body and then just arbitrarily place the rest of the parts. Each member of the body of Christ was placed right where God intended them to be. “Just as he wanted them to be” are the last words of this packed verse. When we look at the gifts that we have to serve in the body Christ, we can be confident that God was pleased to give us these very gifts. He wanted to do this.

Just as a body does not function properly unless every part is working, so it is with the body of Christ. Paul says, “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!’” Every part of the body of Christ is indispensable.

This means that, as it says in verse 26, “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.” If you slam your finger in a door, the rest of your body does not say, “Oooo, that looks like it hurt.” More than likely your whole body suffers with that finger. Your body clenches up, you dance a little, tear up, your knees might buckle, and sometimes even the hair on your head seems to feel the pain.

If a member of the body of Christ is suffering, we all suffer with them. You might know someone who feels hurt and is suffering. That person might question whether or not they are a part of the body of Christ. Let that person know that the body, their church, misses them. Maybe the person was outgoing and good at welcoming visitors. Tell them the church is missing its thumb, and it’s awfully hard to shake hands with the visitors without our thumb. We were important enough to God so that he made us a member of the body of Christ. Let us support and encourage each other in this body.

On the other hand, if a member of the body is honored, we rejoice with them. We certainly all have reason to rejoice in the body of Christ, because we have Christ as our head. As our head and as our King Christ rules over everything for the good of his whole body. In his crucifixion he was victorious for us, and his resurrection assures us that we, too, will be with him in paradise. And by the grace of God, the Holy Spirit is constantly bringing new parts into the body of Christ. Rejoice with that person and help them to find their place in the body of Christ. If someone does a good job at something, we rejoice with that person, because the whole body benefits from their job well done.

God took great care in designing each of us and giving us gifts to carry out our roles in the body of Christ. We don’t deserve what God has given us. Therefore we aren’t arrogant about the gifts God has given us, nor are we ashamed of our gifts and envious of others’. Every part of the body of Christ is vital to the wellbeing of that body.

Just as if the ankle bone would want to be connected to the neck bone, when we are dissatisfied with our place in the body of Christ, the body doesn’t function properly. But God is the body builder. He builds us up into the body of Christ. He designs us to fit perfectly in that body. Amen.