One Team, One Purpose (Part 1) (1 Corinthians 12:1-7 )                                       2009.05.31     Pastor Edward Cheng

        Over the holiday weekend Cindy and I had a chance to attend a church retreat in Southern California where I was the speaker for the youth.  We have several college students from our church who attend this church in San Diego.  This is now the second time I’ve spoken at their retreats and each time we leave really sensing the idea of “family” that is fostered in their congregation.  Not to say that we don’t encourage unity in our congregation, but they seem to make a special effort to harness relationships amongst its members.

        Since returning, I’ve been thinking especially about this concept of the “Family of God.”  What does it mean that we’re family?  How did we get here, and where did we come?  The Bible tells us plainly that prior to being in the Family of God we were actually in the family of Satan (Ephesians 2:1-3).  Paul tells us that we were destined for destruction and were following him in our ways.  However, in this state of decay and rot, God rescued us and adopted us into His family so that we might enjoy the eternal benefits bestowed to His children.  We did not come to receive this blessing because we earned it somehow, but it was purely out of His grace and love (Ephesians 2:4-6).

        And now that we’re a family, what is our purpose and goal in this family?  Like a team has a goal of playing the best it can and doing what it can to win, our Family of God also have a goal and purpose.  Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:1-7 that although we are many different kinds of members in this family – he refers to the “body” which is really the same thing – we are all bound together by the Triune God (vv. 4-6).  It is the fact that we share in the same Spirit, are saved by the same Savior, and operate under the authority of the same God that we are a family.  And in this family our purpose is clear: the common good. 

        When we think about the common good what stands out immediately is that our purpose in the family is NOT our own good.  It is the good of others in the body.  Our purpose in this body therefore is to do what we can so that others may benefit and be edified, not ourselves.  This is a difficult thing to do because we are naturally self-centered and self-absorbed people.  We tend to weigh what the benefits might be for us and our families before doing anything for the good of others.  You can almost say that this is human-nature.  However, we are encouraged to go against our natural impulses and serve the common good, the other members of the Family.  I think of our children’s workers when I think of serving the common good.  We have such faithful and dedicated workers to the children who do not serve this group because their own children are there.  It would reasonable to understand why one would want to serve the children if their own children are in the children’s ministry.  You have a child there – you see a need – you fill the need.  However, there are some who serve the children and identified the need even without their own children in the ministry.  This perhaps is the ultimate demonstration of serving the common good.  They are not out looking for their own good or the good of their family, but rather they look to serve other families and others’ children.

        As we continue to read Paul’s encourage to the Family of God (vv. 8-20), we learn that there are differing roles in the Family.  And in this regard, it is not appropriate for some to look down or judge others in the Family.  Paul speaks of body parts as an analogy and tells us that hands cannot look down on feet and mouths cannot look down on elbows.  All the parts are equally important and necessary – the more visible parts (or roles) as well as the less prominent parts.  Again, there is a tendency to compare one role with another since there are certainly a few roles that are very prominent and held in high honor.  However, each of us has a place in this body and a role to fulfill, and we are not fulfilling it, the entire body suffers because of it.  In reality, there is no such thing as a “less prominent” role as if to say that role is not important.

        Finally in the closing verses Paul repeats again that there is no role that is “indispensible” (v. 22).  If every part of our body is not operating according to its function and purpose, the whole body is affected and experiences the lack of that person.  We need everyone to be doing what the Lord has called and gifted that person to do, whether it is prominent or not.

        There is not a single ministry in our church that we can say we have no lack of people serving.  There are needs everywhere in our church – some of the obvious and visible while others are subtle and hidden.  But the fact that there our needs indicates that there are some of us who are sitting on the sidelines not yet fulfilling their function in the Family.  Is the Lord perhaps prompting your heart to do your function?