Several years ago, Maria and I visited the Jesus People commune in the inner city of Chicago, while Maria was trying to make some decisions about the future direction of her life. This intentional, common purse Christian community has been together since the early 70’s, doing ministry of all sorts among the poor and inner city street culture. Just last week at the Cornerstone Festival, we had the privilege of attending a seminar led by Neil Taylor, a North Park Theological Seminary graduate and one of several pastors helping to lead the Jesus People fellowship. Having lived in community with the Jesus people over 34 years, Pastor Taylor spoke very transparently about the challenges and difficulties of Christian community. As a matter of fact, he was so honest that one of the first questions he received from the audience was, “If this living in community thing is so very hard, why do you do it? What do you get out of it?”Taylor seemed a little stunned and saddened by the question. And as he was pausing to fully consider his answer, I wanted to jump up and shout answers on his behalf. Why do we do it? Why do we bother trying to join ourselves together as closely as we do, knowing full well the difficulties and challenges of doing so? Why risk the inevitable interpersonal challenges, financial oddities, vision conflicts and countless other diversity and leadership impossibilities we constantly embrace as attempt to gather together? Why do we do it? And why in the world would anyone ever go as far as the Jesus People and others have with this thing? That’s just crazy! Why in the world would anyone ever give up everything and move in with each other?
Community.
You and I were created to exist in community. Community is a gorgeous pearl of great price; a treasure worth buying the entire farm to possess. We need each other. Although our culture has raised independence and self-sufficiency to idolatrous levels, the Bible says it is not good for us to be alone. If even our LORD exists in mysterious, triune community, how much more should all of us need community? We were created to need each other.
This month we have been exploring what the Bible says about certain things. Today we’re going to explore what the Bible says about community, looking at 1 Corinthians 12:13-31. The Apostle Paul is trying very hard to explain to the messy Corinthian church how things are supposed to be among us. In verse 13, he shares a very famous metaphor…
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. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 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. 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. 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? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
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!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But eagerly desire the greater gifts.
This famous passage has been explored extensively over the years, so I’m not going to belabor things we already know. But I do believe God wants us to meditate quietly this week on three simple realities of Christian community the Apostle Paul emphasizes in this passage.
Divinely Formed
The first reality I’m convinced we don’t completely understand relates to God’s hand in the formation of all Christian community. The body of Christ, this community we share, is divinely formed. Look at how many times this passage refers to the activity of God. Verse 13 says we were all baptized by one Spirit – God has given us one Spirit to drink. Verse 18 tells us God has arranged the parts of the body, just as He wanted them to be. Verse 24 says God has combined the members of the body. God has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it. And verse 28 says God appoints us to talented roles within the community. This body of Christ, this community we’re a part of is something God did and does – it isn’t our decision.
Pondering these things this week leaves me with a question: I truly wonder how much squabbling and discord exists in the community of Christ because somebody, somehow just isn’t satisfied with the way Almighty God has pulled things together? Somebody doesn’t like the way God has arranged things. Somebody doesn’t like the role God has given them. The more I think on these things, the more I find myself back in the old controversial struggle between the sovereign will of God and my free will as one of His kids. I’ll confess I don’t know how or why God makes his decisions on these things, but I suspect a lot of folks causing evil division and discord in the community of Christ are not rebelling against human beings, but against God.
We have a great deal of influence and control over the part we play in the community of Christ, but God alone has ultimate authority. What is the role God has given you in the body of Christ? Do you even know? And if you do, are you accepting how He has formed you, are you doing your part, are you playing your role or are you fighting God over these things? Are you a finger, elbow, eye brow or eye lash refusing to accept the form and function God has given you in the community of Christ? Pray about all this. The community of Christ is divinely formed.
Mutually Needy
The second gorgeous biblical reality the Apostle Paul makes clear in this passage is that the true community of Christ is mutually needy. We need each other. This community needs each and every body part we’ve been given – from the top of our messy heads to the tips of our smelly toes. It is our utterly mutual neediness that should make God’s decisions about our roles in the community palatable to us. Roles don’t matter much when all roles matter so much! There are no unimportant roles. This isn’t just idealistic talk. We truly need each other.
Please notice both of the angles from which the Apostle considers this needy issue. In verses 15-20, Paul addresses himself to those people who aren’t satisfied with the role they’ve been given to play in the community of Christ. Paul makes it clear that we are not allowed to remove ourselves from the team just because we didn’t get to be the starting pitcher. No team will ever win that way. And nor will we win if the starting pitchers disparage or devalue the rest of the team. That is what Paul addresses clearly in verse 21. The eye is not allowed to say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” That would be ludicrous! I don’t know much about baseball, but it is inconceivable that even the very best pitcher could ever win a game without good fielders.
We are mutually needy. When you check out of community either because you’re too good or too useless for the rest of us, you hurt this community. Our fellowship is weakened when the entire team doesn’t show up to play. We might be able to stretch ourselves to cover a gap or two temporarily, but we will be substandard as a community in doing so.
We need each other desperately. There are no disposable people in this community. The body of Christ is not in the business of target marketing. We need everyone. We need elderly people among us to help all the young pups keep things in perspective. We need the energy and idealism of the younger folks to pull us in the new directions we legitimately should go. We need wealthier folks to be particular stewards of what God has given them so we can pay for all the things we believe God is calling us to do. And we need each and every one of our poorer folks so we never forget our important calling to serve even the least of these God’s children. We need all perspectives. We need intellectuals and artists. We need simple people and servants. We need great plumbers every bit as much as we need great preachers.
We are mutually needy. Roles don’t matter much because all roles matter so much.
Last Monday morning I got an email from my North Carolina friend Larus Maxwell telling me he was going to be passing through Minneapolis tomorrow and could we get together for lunch. Since I am buried this week in my doctoral work at Bethel, I was unable to accept his invitation. And turning him down hurt me because I need him in my life. He isn’t just a good friend I enjoy – he is a brother in Christ I need. He isn’t a pastor or great Bible scholar. He’s never done many of the things I’ve done. He’s unlike me in many ways. We don’t even agree theologically on some things – he’s sort of a Calvinist for goodness sake! But I need him in my life.
The community of Christ feels that way about people. This community needs people.
Divinely Diverse
And we aren’t ashamed to admit our neediness because of Paul’s third point here…
We understand this community is divinely formed. We understand we are mutually needy people. And we embrace our neediness because Almighty God has slowly but surely begun to help us understand we are divinely diverse. The thorny racial, cultural, economic, intellectual, sexual, political, chronological and talent diversity all around us has Almighty God’s fingerprints all over it. And so, unlike the world around us which sees diversity issues as awful problems to be managed, the community of Christ is supposed to be the joyous group of folks standing before the world shouting, “We love your weirdness! We love every strange and different thing about you! We see the lovely and sacred image of God in you! You are precious to God and you are precious to us! Come show us how God has decided to make us need you!”
Last week at the Cornerstone Festival, I met a man named Richard Twiss. He is Native American, a formerly white pastor, leader of a ministry named Wiconi and now a doctoral student at Asbury. He was a very tall, proud looking man in wrap around sunglasses and dry laughter. He said one of his missions in life is to “rescue theology from the cowboys.” He was a funny and very fascinating seminar speaker Maria and I enjoyed very much. One of the most provocative comments he made still has me thinking. At one point in his second lecture, he said many Christians give the world the mistaken impression “God loves all people enough to send His own Son to die a horribly gruesome death on a Roman cross, but He really doesn’t like us that much.” He’ll save your soul, but isn’t really that interested in who you really are. He loves us as spiritual creatures with souls to be eternally rescued, but He really doesn’t care much for the unique characteristics and cultural qualities making us who we are. According to Twiss, we are welcome to come to Christ, join the church and become fully devoted followers of Christ, just don’t try to be an Indian Christian. We’ll love and value you as a brother only if you cut off your hair, put away your drums and stop thinking and behaving like an Indian. Twiss did exactly that for 13 years as a pastor until he finally figured out the Bible doesn’t teach that.
The Bible doesn’t endorse that thinking. Jesus was famous for his completely unsavory, unwashed and wildly diverse circle of friends. When Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well, he didn’t try to fix her icky Samaritan stuff as a precondition to a relationship. He just loved her and told her everything she ever did. Think about it! The Bible is thrilled with the fact that heaven will one day be stuffed full of people from every tribe and nation! Come next Sunday morning to the final session of our Revelation study series and you’ll get to see exactly what God thinks of the diversity of His creation! And let’s face it, just one cursory look around creation ought to be enough to convince us that we are in love with a God who enjoys diversity.
Isn’t it obvious? The community of Christ is a place that craves and adores all kinds of diversity because we understand our creative, laughing God is somehow behind every bit of it.Years ago, I asked a well known bear researcher and wilderness photographer friend of ours up in Ely, Lynn Rogers, to donate several of his pictures to the church. He was very happy to do so and gave us some very beautiful and expensive framed prints. They look wonderful in the church – I miss them terribly. But do you know what my friend Lynn said to me on the day they delivered the prints and we were hanging them up around the church? He said, “Pastor, do you know this is the first time in my life I ever felt I had something the church needed?”
May we never feel that way!
This community is divinely formed. It is mutually needy. And it is wonderfully and divinely diverse.
May God help us fully experience and enjoy biblical community as we were designed to do!
Amen.
