1 Corinthians 12

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0:00 We finished last week's second Peter looking at the three chapters of second Peter. And so this week we're starting in on a series with our two sister churches, Holy Cross and Lake Mary and Resurrection and Sanford. Really thinking about church, what it means to be church, and what it means that we are church and how might we be church with those two other congregations in Lake Mary and Sanford.

0:31 And this is a little bit of a, we haven't really done one like this before. In a couple weeks the Russ from Lake Mary will come and preach here and I'll go preach in Lake Mary. And then the week after that Blake from Sanford will come and preach here and I'll go preach in Sanford. So you guys will get to meet Russ and Blake, which will kind of be fun. And so it's going to be fun as we think about how we're church together and the place I wanted to start in thinking about this with you was I,

1:03 I don't know why I hadn't thought of this before, but sometimes you had thought of something and then it hits you differently, you know. And at the beginning of the year I was like kind of frustrated with the church broadly speaking. And I was just like lamenting things about the church in the world. And then it hit me that I'm like 45, I've been in church my whole life,

1:39 and I felt a degree of like responsibility, like I don't get to keep pointing my finger and going that church over there isn't what it ought to be in the world. It's not helpful anymore actually. And I just will share with you like a little bit that's how I, that's how my like life in Orlando started was with that kind of thought. It was like, man I have seen the church do things wrong a lot. So this is like 2009, 2010.

2:11 I'm going to do church the right way, you know. Everybody else has been doing it wrong, I'm going to do it right. And the church will be about something that we are together, not a place that we go or something that we do. And so I made very intentional choices about how I would talk about the church, even to the church, but also to the community. Made very intentional choices about how we set up the space we were in, at the first building we were in in College Park, how we would set that up.

2:42 And as that became non-tenable to be there, the next warehouse, how would we set that place up and why would we be there and what would we put on the front. Made very conscious about what I was asking people that were a part of the church, what I was asking them to do and not asking them to do. Because I realized that I, so often church, this is like really negative, so sorry, but church can become like a multi-level marketing thing. Where like our responsibility is to bring more people in.

3:19 And I had had enough conversations with leaders of churches where they had realized they had gotten really good at building a system that built brand identification but didn't often disciple people. And so I wanted to, like, I wanted, was very conscious about building a place that was safe. That was intended to not ask a lot of people, but challenge them with the gospel and create room where they might fall into relationship.

3:53 One of the key points for me was like I had been at churches where my job was to take a bunch of people that had showed up for something on Sunday and try and create the next thing they could go to where they could actually get into friendship. I thought why do they have to come to more things in order to do the main thing of the church? How could we have Sunday morning be a spot where if you're just around, you fall into relationship with one another? And so not starting on time was a part of that. Moving around the center of the room is a part of that.

4:25 Not letting you always sit next to each other is a part of that. Really, there's a lot of intentional choices, but a lot of that was driven by, I'm going to get it right because everybody else has gotten it wrong. And this year I realized, it's no longer helpful for me to be some renegade on the outside. I need to embrace the fact that this you all we are church. And so what I want to look at, we're going to look at over this next several weeks,

4:55 is if we are church, what kind of church might we be? What kind of church might Central Florida need, might Orlando need? And to get started on that, we're looking at 1 Corinthians chapter 12, kind of famous church chapter. But actually before we look at that, well you can see here, if you look at 1 Corinthians chapter 12, we can start there.

5:28 1 Corinthians chapter 12, looking at verse 12. Paul is writing to the church in Corinth, and the main reason for this letter, there's a lot of things that come out of his first letter to the Corinthian church, but the main thing that he's writing to the church in Corinth is he's trying to get them to hold together. They're like fracturing on different things, you know? They're like at the beginning, there's some of them that are saying, well I follow this dude to Paul us, and some of them are saying,

6:00 well I follow this guy Paul, and others are saying, well I follow this guy, Sifas, and so they're trying to say one way is better than the other, and so Paul's trying to hold them together that way. And then they celebrate meals, they have lots of fun, very festive meals together. But what's happening is the wealthy folks are bringing their own food and keeping it to themselves, and then the poor folks are left kind of watching the wealthy folks eat, and they're fracturing along socioeconomic lines, and Paul's trying to pull them together.

6:32 And then they're like fracturing along lines of sin, like who's a sinner, and who's not, and separating those out, so he's trying to convince them to pull them back in, and he's like, the teaching pulls us in together as one, the baptism pulls us in together as one, the communion pulls us in together as one, the Lord's Supper, he's using all these things in 1 Corinthians, and then in 1 Corinthians 12, he gives them this analogy in 1 Corinthians 12 starting at verse 12, because they have been fighting over who has the cooler spiritual gifts,

7:03 who's like more important, you know, and he's bothered by that, and so he gives them a metaphor to try and explain the ways in which the church is together. So look at verse 12, for just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body,

7:37 Jews or Greeks slave or free, and all were made to drink of one spirit, for the body does not consist of one member, but of many. If the foot, I can't talk, if the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less part of the body, and if the ear should say, because I'm not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less part of the body.

8:07 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing, if the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell, but as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose, if all were a single member, where would the body be, as it is, there are many parts, yet one body. So this is like the main analogy he's giving here, to try and pull together this idea that we're all one, and he starts off by saying,

8:40 just as the body is one, and has many members, all members of the body, though many, are one body, and he gives those two examples, so he's like, there's like a bunch of different parts of the body, but they're all into one body, so the hands are part of the one unit. And then he gives an example, he says, just in the same way, Greeks and Jews, when they're part of the people of God are one.

9:11 And so this is like a, probably he's not talking about a distinction in faith here, there would be Freeman who would be part of the, but he's talking about how culturally, the distinct cultures are one together in the body of Christ. So he's saying that the being part of the church pulls together these distinct cultures, and then he says, slave or free, remember that they had slavery in ancient Greece and Rome.

9:42 And so he's saying, whether you are free or you are indentured and owned by someone, when you come into the body of Christ, you are all the same. He's not trying to throw off the distinctions, but he's saying that you are all one, you have the same thing, you are all part of one body. So though I have a hand and an arm and my hand might have something in common with Brian's hand, my hand's not a part of Brian's body, my hand's a part of this body. And so he's saying that there might be Greeks who have similarities with other Greeks,

10:16 but when you come apart of the body, you actually have a unity with Jews, even more than you have with those Greeks over there. So he's saying that all are together as one. But then he goes and he flips the metaphor in the next paragraph. So he's saying there are many that are one, but then verse 14, for the body does not consist of one member, but of many members. If the foot should say, because I'm not a hand, I do not belong to the body. So he's saying, look, you Jews and Greeks in the church are part of one body,

10:48 but you're not the same, you're distinct and different. So he's not saying that everyone needs to assimilate and become uniform. He's saying that there is unity despite the lack of uniformity, actually, in celebration or because of the differences. So the body he's saying works because each part is unique and different.

11:19 He says in like way the church works because it has all different sorts of people in it. And so you don't need to be like or look like or even all the time think like the people that you are church with. Of course, this is why sometimes people in addition to the body analogy will use

11:50 the family analogy. Sometimes it's easier to get like I don't agree with my siblings on everything, but I love them deeply and we are family. And in the same way we are tied together as the church, the body. Different, but grounded in the same. So this is kind of important because Paul's writing first to the local church.

12:20 So this idea he's giving to the church in Corinth. So he's telling the church that gathers in homes and catacombs in Corinth. Hey, you guys together church in Corinth, you have all that you need. God has appointed all the parts of the body so that the body can do what it needs to do. But all are distinct and different. So you need them all to come forward.

12:50 If the eye starts saying I'm not as important as the hand and withdraws itself, you're not going to be able to see for a while. You need all parts to show up. I remember one time I had a pastor who was asking me to do something and I was very reluctant. I did not want to. I mean, I have my own reasons. It's like it's fine, but like the way I think about this church is like God's given,

13:21 everybody has one little piece of the pie to bring. And if you hold your piece back, we can't be everything we're supposed to be. For one another and for the city in which we operate. You got to bring your piece, man. He's telling me. You got to slide it in. We need it. Right? This is the most beautiful thing for me about 1 Corinthians chapter 12, the church analogy, is when he's like calling the church the body.

13:51 It does two things at once. It says you have a place where you belong. You don't need to conform to some other system. We don't have to assimilate and become all one marching together, looking like the same, thinking the same, doing the same. We can be different and distinct and also belong. You have a place where you belong, but it's a mutual belonging.

14:22 Meaning you not only belong to the church, you are needed. You not only have a place where people will serve you, you have a place where it is incumbent upon you to serve. It goes both ways. The body celebrates what the fingers can receive through the nerves. Right? But also the fingers celebrate the blood that it gets from the heart that pumps out. It goes both ways.

14:54 And so it is with each of us. We have a place where we belong and a place where we can serve. That's the most beautiful analogy, one of the most compelling things about the body analogy in 1 Corinthians, that it does that double thing. I wrote in my, the church is a cohesive unit with reciprocal need among the members. Not only do you belong, you are needed. And so I'll say it out loud.

15:25 Like you guys, each of you in the room are needed by one another and here. If the cross Orlando is going to be what the church is called to be, it needs each of us. So I got to that point and then I was like, wow, I feel like we talk about the church is something to be. I say that a lot, you know. Maybe it's just in my own head. I hear myself talk a lot.

15:56 But I was like, it feels like, what's the big deal about engaging or being the church? Like, in a lot of ways, it would be easier to just advocate from being church.

16:30 I mean, just what? I had a good friend tell me one time, good friend, that, you know, Sabbath really is a hot bath. That's what Sabbath is. Not worship with God's people. And I think Sabbath includes the hot bath, but not at the expense of worship with God's people. I'm at the, I've been out of seminary long enough that I have as many friends

17:05 that I went through seminary with who have left the church as are still in the church easily. Maybe you could say the same. Maybe you have as many friends who have been part of the church and are part no longer. Maybe you have other places where you could belong on Sunday morning. I don't know what it would be.

17:35 A run club or a yard work or golf. Yeah. The football team, something. I don't know. So I started thinking about why so much ink and energy on the church. Like, actually, the story of the church is like a large part of this whole thing, actually.

18:05 This is the Bible. It's a whole part of the whole Christian scriptures. It's like a major component of the story. Actually, if you think about God makes the world out of his own imagination and its own drive without any antecedent. Meaning there's nothing that caused him to do it. He didn't have to do it. He just wanted to. And then the capstone of all creation, he imagines humanity. Image bears of himself and puts him in the garden.

18:35 And then the whole story is how will he get them into the life that he intended from the very beginning? How will they be able to celebrate, enjoy, and live into the creation as God intended? And the whole story is driven on, will humanity ever get there? And at the critical moment, at just the right time, God himself flips the whole story and recreates, kills humanity, and recreates it in one act on the cross and the resurrection.

19:05 And so that what he's trying to do through the whole story of scripture is make it possible for you and I to live with him. And then what he says as Jesus, like I just made notes, he starts talking about it at the High Priestly Prayer. You remember when he prays out loud and it's in John 17 after the upper room when he's washed their feet? And he says, Lord, I know that you always hear me, but I pray out loud that they might hear me. And he says, I'm about to leave the world, but I'm leaving them in the world. These ones that are yours, I'm about to go, but they're going to stay.

19:37 Would you tie them together? Would you make them one even as you and I are one? And he begins to ask specifically that the people of his that are left in the world would be able to be unified. It's called the High Priestly Prayer. It's in John 17. And then in Matthew's Gospel, after the resurrection, before the ascension, he takes the disciples back to the mountain where he did so much. They walk up onto the hill of Galilee, right? Right? Looking at the sea of Galilee where he walked on the water and he gives them that great command.

20:08 Hey guys, wherever you go, make more disciples of mine. Invite more people under my authority because my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Remember? And I've taught you everything you need to know. You teach it to them and baptize them that they might live under this thing now. You know? And then I thought of in Acts chapter 1, right before he ascends, he gathers a group of them and says,

20:43 Hey guys, this is cool. I know that God's people have kind of been locked into this like temple. So you have to live in proximity to the temple in order to have access to God. But we're flipping that. I'm about to ascend. I'm going to send the Spirit, which means that you can be my witnesses across the whole earth. Wherever you go, actually, some of you, I'm going to encourage you to just get on ships and lace up your sandals and walk across the known world,

21:15 inviting people under my reign and authority. Jesus is trying to bring into fruition the great plan of God to get humanity to the life that they were called to. And he's doing it through his people, through the church. And then he has some specific interactions with the disciples to help drive this point home. Remember that when Peter is invited to go to the home of the Greek guy

21:48 and God has to give him a very specific step-by-step vision. Hey, you can go into Cornelius' house, forget the food laws, forget the distinction between God's people and others. Now this way of living will bring in all people, Jews and Greeks, slave and free, all under the reign of Jesus. And then the last one that I was thinking about is how he comes to Paul on the road to Damascus in order to get him.

22:19 And I'm like, this, he's putting a lot of work into the church, into the people. I've said it before, but it's worth reminding you, if it were me, I would just do it myself. You know? It took me a while to realize, and some of my friends will attest, that I kind of inherited growing up, I don't know if this is fair or not,

22:49 but somewhere I learned just work harder, not smarter. You know? Just put, don't wait for something, just put your shoulder down and get the job done. If I were in God's shoes, I would just do it myself. It's faster. But for some reason he doesn't. He spends a lot of time, energy, emotion, to gather together people and continue to send them out.

23:20 Though they start lying when they're little, he keeps reinforcing forgiveness and repentance. Start again. He continues to send them out. So, why? I found in that, let's see, I found in that high priestly prayer in John 17, this little text that I was thinking of, Matthew Mark Luke, John 17.

23:54 Verse 20. This is where he's praying about the ones he's leaving behind. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, that they all may also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

24:24 The glory that you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one. I am in them and you and me, that they may become perfectly free, so that the world may know that you have sent me and loved them as you have loved me. I was trying to think about, I'm starting to understand why God

24:59 puts so much effort and ink in the Scriptures, so much effort and ink into the Church throughout the whole story, because he has this creation and in mind that he's trying to get to, and I don't know why, so it must just be because he wants to, he's determined to collaborate with humanity to bring that creation about. And so he doesn't just overwhelm and do it himself throughout the story of Scripture, he continues to move towards humanity and invite them into something.

25:32 And the fullest expression of that, this side of the resurrection and ascension is the Church that he leaves behind, that Jesus prays specifically for, that the Church is the fullest expression, this side of the grave, of the creation God intended. And so for me, as I try to think about, why would I engage when it might be easier to abdicate from the Church?

26:02 I have found that I actually believe that, that the fullest expression of my life is found in the reciprocal need of the Church. That my, that the fullest expression of what it means to live is in the reciprocal need of the Church,

26:33 that the Church needs me and I need the Church, that I give what I have and receive what I need in conversation with the Church of God in the world. And so I take seriously the call of what it means to be the body of Christ in the world, not because it's easy or even always fun, but because I have a deep-seated conviction that it is the straightest line to the fulfilled life that begins now

27:03 and goes on into eternity forever. So I take up seriously the call of being in the Scriptures, it says that people will see the love of God in the way that the Church loves one another. The idea that I could be the means by which people get a glimpse of the divine reality undergirding and superseding all of creation, that it's glimpsed in me, the notion that my life begins now and endures forever,

27:35 that I am on an adventure of becoming the thing that God made me to be. Church is my greatest chance to live the life that God has called me to now. And Paul says it's about being the body of Christ with reciprocal need. And so as we go forward in this next series, we're going to start to unpack what it looks like for us to be the Church in Central Florida in a particular and unique way that we are,

28:06 with our own unique kind of legacy and opportunity and collaborative approach. So next week we're going to look at Isaiah 5 together and see what God has been doing throughout the story of Scripture to cultivate the Church. But today I want you to know that you belong here and are needed here and it's your greatest path towards fulfillment. Let's pray that we could take advantage of that together. Hey Lord, thank you for making us Church for not leaving us alone,

28:36 but tying us together as your people in Orlando and Central Florida. Teach us what it means to need one another and to respond to each other's needs with your Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.