Why did you come to gather with the church this morning? Maybe that is a question you have never stopped to ask yourself. Maybe your answer is that it is Palm Sunday, the day on which Christ took his triumphal entry into Jerusalem as he faced his final week before the cross, and so this is a special (i.e. not normal) activity for you. Or for some other reason, you have come this morning, but it is not your normal practice to gather with the church. That is indeed fine, you will in no way be asked to leave, in fact it is by God’s grace that you are here, and it is my prayer that as you hear the gospel this morning you will be faced with the reality of your need for Christ, will repent and believe, and will follow him as your Lord.

But for the others – for those of you who come week after week, and are even members here, why did you gather with the church this morning? Is it simply because this has been your practice from the time you were small? Is it simply because others expect it of you? Is it because you simply want to obey the command of Scripture that we assemble together but cannot say much beyond that? All of these things are not bad things. They are in fact good. It is a blessing to have developed a pattern of gathering with God’s people since you were small. It is good to have others who will expect good things from you and hold you accountable to those things. And it is always good to obey the commands of Scripture.

However, as I have looked at 1 Corinthians 12-14 this week, it hit me that one of their foundational problems was that they would have answered this question all wrong. They neglected the entire reason the church was gathering together. And as I’ve read these chapters, I’ve been reminded again and again why it is so important to assemble with the body of Christ and what needs to be my focus as we gather together. And this text is a good for us as we look at why we gather because Paul is continuing to instruct them in what should be their aim and what is appropriate in the public gatherings of the church. Therefore, looking into the logic of his argument, we can see from this text why the church is so important and why gathering with her is so important. Thus, I want to outline the argument Paul gives us in 1 Corinthians 12-14, highlighting his main points, and hopefully within this you will begin to see why the church is crucial to our lives and what needs to be our focus as we gather.

Before getting into these chapters, however, let me point out the setting out of which Paul writes. Remember, Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is a response to a letter (or letters) that he has received from them. Therefore, as the letter appears at times just to be one topic after another with no natural progression, it is because Paul is responding to their questions and comments on different subjects. Thus, he begins chapter 7 writing, “Now concerning the matters about which you wrote.” And he goes on from there to speak of singleness, marriage, and God’s calling in difficult situations. In chapter 8 he talks about eating food sacrificed to idols. In chapter 11 he talks about wearing head coverings and partaking of the Lord’s Supper. Then, in chapter 12 he begins a section which he titles with the line, “Now concerning spirituals [lit.], brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.”

And from the following chapters, we get the idea that the Corinthians had written to him out of a situation in which certain people were claiming to be better than others because of their giftings from the Spirit while others were saying that such giftings should not even be practiced. So, they were curious about spiritual gifts and spiritual persons. Thus, Paul begins saying that he is now addressing the “spirituals,” probably meaning spiritual persons, spiritual things, etc. And the question he is probably answering is something like this: “Is it really true that spiritual manifestations constitute unfailing evidence of spiritual people?” ¹

So it is to answering this question (and issues of this sort) that Paul now turns. So, let us learn from Paul’s instructions to these Corinthians key lessons we need to be reminded of this morning.

The church is one unified body

In this church with so much division, which was now having division over spiritual things, gifts, and persons, Paul begins with a note of unity. He writes to them, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus is accursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except in the Holy Spirit” (12:1-3).

Now there have been all kinds of things said about this text, speculating that he’s trying to decipher whether one speaking in tongues is doing so by the power of the Spirit or demons, or the like. But I don’t think that’s what Paul is doing here. In essence, he’s simply answering their questions on how the Spirit shows himself, manifests himself, in people’s lives. And his answer is that if someone confesses (and follows) Jesus Christ as the Lord, then they can only do so by the Spirit. So, do you see? He’s simply showing contrasting what those with the Spirit say about Jesus as compared to those without the Spirit. ²

Therefore, to the Corinthian believers who were looking to this particular gifting or that as the criterion that one had the Spirit or was spiritual, Paul makes confessing Christ as Lord the one criterion. And with that one point, he has put them back on the same page. He has provided a foundation for unity. For they may have thought differently over the gifts, but they should all have wanted to follow Christ as Lord.

Then in verses 4-11 he reiterates again and again that it is one God, one Lord, one Spirit who gifts and empowers any and every one of them. We read, “ … but the same Spirit … but the same Lord … but it is the same God … according to the same spirit … by the same Spirit … by the one Spirit … empowered by one and the same Spirit.” Clearly he wants them to know that it is the one triune God who is gifting each of them.

Finally, in verses 12-13 he writes, “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— Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” Here we should note that our unity is because we are Christ’s body and that we are unified, being baptized in one Spirit into one body.

Therefore, we are one unified body. This is step one in Paul’s logic that will aid us in our worship.

The church is made up of people with a diversity of gifts

Paul quickly makes clear, however, that our unity does not rid us of distinctions. He writes that “there are varieties of gifts, … varieties of service … varieties of activities” and “to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” So, though we’re one body, we’re all gifted differently. Paul lists some of these gifts in verses 8-10.

Therefore, the picture of the church is not one of an organ but one of an entire body. That is to say it is not that we are one giant eye so that we can see really well. Rather, we are several organs, etc. making up an entire body so that we can not only see but also hear and smell and touch. It is the picture of a symphony orchestra, one unit with several different pieces coming together to make a beautiful sound.

Therefore, this sets us up for another step in the argument. We are one unified body, but we all have been gifted differently. So, what’s the next conclusion?

Those who make up the church need each other to minister according to his or her gifting

The next conclusion is an obvious one – we need each other. In fact, each of us has received gifts from the Spirit not just for ourselves but, according to verse 7, “For the common good.” Now one of the beautiful things about the church is that just as “there are no one-member churches, nor are there any every member gifts.” ³So, we need each other.

Paul tells us this in verses 14-30. He reminds us that the body consists of many members, and every member is indispensable. Now he is using the physical body as a point of comparison here, so think of this. Does my heart get much attention? No. Not as much attention as my fingers get. However, if I were to assign a level of priority for each member of my body, my heart would be closer to the top of that list than my fingers, though I might go my whole life honoring my fingers and never speaking of my heart.

But, if I were to press the analogy a bit, my heart affects the whole body if it fails to work, and possibly only then gets attention. In the same way, it might be that we do not hear of nor honor those individuals who labor in prayer for this church, some hours on end. It may be that they are never publicly applauded. However, if they were to stop laboring, this church would be drastically affected. Even the other night in the elders’ meeting as we were discussing God’s grace to us as a church, I began to think of the fact that God was answering our prayers. And yet these people are often not seen nor applauded.

So, therefore, Paul is saying to them, “Look, you need the gifts that the Spirit has given his church, you don’t have all of them yourself (12:29-30), and therefore, you need these very people that you are dividing yourself against.” Just imagine a physical body where each of your legs decided they didn’t need your brain and were laboring against it and one another so that they wanted to go in opposite directions. The entire body would be affected.

Therefore, I can say to you this morning, we recognize that (according to Scripture) everyone God brings here is not some pleasant addition to his work here. Rather, they are indispensable members of his body at Cornerstone. That’s what each of you is, and we need you to minister even as you need others to minister. Who knows how this body is adversely affected as we fail to minister to our brothers and sisters?

And so, this is an exciting reality isn’t it? We are one body, we all have gifts, and we need to minister according to our gifts. However, it is also a dangerous reality, for realizing our gifts might lead us down some road in which we focus on our great abilities and want others simply to marvel at us. Paul, however, realizing this, leads us to another truth.

Love cannot be dismissed in regard to the gifts, but it must be a way of life infiltrating everything in the church

Paul introduces chapter 13 writing, “And I will show you a still more excellent way.” Then he writes chapter 13, a text that is often dismissed from its context, to show them that there can be no positive view of the exercise of any of the gifts if they are practiced without love. Thus, in verses 1-3 he shows them that no matter how great and miraculous the gift, without love, it is empty and in fact detrimental to the body. As Carson notes, “In this divine mathematics, five minus one equals zero.” ⁴ Making this point, he writes, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

Then in verses 4-7 he describes characteristics of love. And just listen to these. He writes, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

That is to say, it doesn’t seek to pay back when it is hurt (enduring without retaliation), it does not envy or boast, it is prepared to give up for the sake of others what it is entitled to, it keeps no record of wrongs, and it enjoys rejoicing over truth rather than absorbing itself in pointing out what is wrong. Does that describe you?

Paul wants the Corinthians to know that this reality of love must be the driving force behind the exercising of all of their gifts. For all spiritual gifts can be duplicated by pagans, but genuine love cannot. And just to drive the glory of love home once more, he shows the permanency of love versus the gifts. He writes in verses 8-13, “Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

Paul is saying here that just as you can extinguish your candle when you walk outside on a sunny day, so will the gifts cease in the reality that will accompany Christ’s return. However, love will not cease even then. So, if you want to demonstrate the greatest sign that you have indeed been influenced by God’s grace and want to demonstrate to the church and the world a taste of heaven, it is best done in showing your genuine love for them.

So how do our unity, giftings, and need for one another to minister according to these gifts flesh itself out in a way of love? Paul answers in chapter 14 as the next step in his argument.

We should pursue and exercise gifts in the public assembly that build up the entire body

The solution for everything is simple isn’t it? We should look to exercise gifts in such a way that best builds up the entire body. The glory and beauty and permanency of love doesn’t mean we should therefore set aside the gifts because they pale in comparison but that we should minister according to our gifts in a manner that shows our love for the body of Christ.

Therefore, Paul writes in verses 1-19 that they should focus on the gift of prophecy instead of tongues (which was apparently getting all the attention in the Corinthian church). But why? The answer is simply that the goal of the gifts is to build up others, intelligibility is needed if the church is to be built up, therefore, because prophecy is intelligible, it is to be preferred in the public gathering. Thus, Paul ends the section writing, “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue” (14:18-19).

And we should think in the same categories. We should not come thinking, “How can get on display here?” or feel cheated should we not get to fulfill some role. Rather, we should come thinking, “How can I best aid in the church being built up?”

And by Paul jumping to immaturity in the next verse, I think he makes it quite clear that a mark (and possibly the chief mark) of spiritual maturity is in having a desire to see the church built up even at the expense of oneself. That’s what the church at Corinth didn’t demonstrate, and it was the heart of their problems, as it no doubt is the heart of our problems as the evangelical church in the West.

And we should practice order and restraint so as to ensure the body is effectively built up and that we are demonstrating submission to the Scripture

Finally, Paul notes that these realities all together mean that we will have to practice order and restraint. He shows orderly worship in 26-35, noting that prophecies should be judged (though not by women, for then they would not show an attitude of submission – especially wives toward husbands (this is quite probably the meaning of verses 33-34, not that women should not speak at all but that they should not be involved in judging prophecies)).

Thus, we might restrain ourselves from teaching or preaching so that another might do that, and should not demand that we do something in the church because it is our desire and we feel quite blessed in that area. Rather, we should long to minister, first and foremost by putting our love for Christ’s church as our primary focus.

Therefore, in closing let us ask ourselves a few questions in a time of examination:

1) Is there divisiveness in our hearts toward another? If so, our heart is reflecting a misunderstanding about the nature of the body of Christ.

2) Do we realize that we have been gifted by God and are ourselves gifts from Christ to his church? Each of you, this morning, is a necessary member to this body. This body needs you and your ministry in order to function properly.

3) Are we using our gifts to build up this body? We have opportunities even on Sunday nights to do this. So is it your mindset to labor to build up the body of Christ? In the mindset that Paul gives the Corinthians we must ask ourselves if we are laboring to build up the body.

4) Can our lives be described as lives that are characterized by love? Does your life reflect the description of 13:4-7? Maybe we need to look over that list again in silence as we close.

5) Are we eager, not to have our rights and desires met, but to see the church excel, even if it means I play the role of the heart in the body (i.e. faithful yet unseen)?

6) Are we making sure to honor those whose ministry is not seen because we know how necessary they are and are thankful for them?

Now, these are just a few questions, but they may help us with some application. In closing, my life has been dramatically changed by only a few people who labored to the end of building me up, that I might be a pleasing vessel to God. You, no doubt, can say the same. So can you imagine a church in which all of us are willing to labor to the end of building each other up, that we all might be pleasing vessels to God? That is indeed supposed to be what the church is like.

I long and pray and yearn and labor toward this reality. May we pray for such by God’s grace as we close. Amen.

¹ D. A. Carson, Showing the Spirit (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1987), 22.

²Ibid., 31.

³ Jack MacGorman, quoted in Carson’s Showing the Spirit, 47.

⁴Showing the Spirit, 60.

THE SPIRIT, LOVE, AND WORSHIP IN THE CHURCH