Sermon for September 6, 2020
1 Corinthians 12:27
Dear friends in Christ, this weekend Americans pause to celebrate Labor Day. As you may know, Labor Day is a federal holiday with a rich tradition. It all goes back to the late 1800s. That was the height of the American industrial revolution. History tells us that at that time the average American put in twelve-hour days, seven days a week.
In many factories, conditions were poor. Proper ventilation was an afterthought. Fumes from whatever was being produced filled the air causing headaches, nausea and more serious long-term health issues. Inadequate lighting, poor sanitation, dangerous machinery, along with non-existent breaks made for horrible working conditions.
The American workers pushed back. Strikes, protests, unpaid work absences moved management to begin making improvements. One such improvement was to designate one day each year as a paid holiday. Such holidays started locally, but quickly spread statewide. And then in 1894 President Grover Cleveland signed a bill designating the first Monday in September as a holiday in honor of the American worker.
This is what we celebrate on Monday. Labor Day, a paid holiday, if a person has a job. That is a big if, isn’t it! Right now, approximately 10% of those who want a job do not have one. Such people are praying for something meaningful to do rather than a day off. Are you one of them? Would you gladly give up a Labor Day celebration for meaningful labor? If so, our scripture text for today provides some insight. Oh, it does not talk about paid labor. It rather talks about meaningful labor in God’s kingdom. Let’s look at this beautiful section of the word. It lays before us a spiritual wonder. The wonder is this: God uses me!
I
Although we have chosen a single verse as our text, I will refer to various parts of the complete chapter. In chapter twelve of 1 Corinthians Paul explains the concept of God using us. Paul does so through the illustration of a body. I’d like to quickly jump from point to point following Paul’s human body illustration.
In verse twelve Paul states an obvious fact: the body is a unit. A person functions as a whole. You do not have a portion of the body going off in one direction, and another portion of the body going in a different direction. No, it does not work that way. The body is whole or a unit.
To underscore the unity concept Paul adds, “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.” For example, if your foot, or knee hurts, you might walk around with a limp. You might favor that hurting part. The whole body is impacted when one part suffers. It’s not too hard to see the truth of Paul’s point: the body is a unit.
After establishing that, Paul adds another obvious fact: the body is made up of many parts. Any child who has sung the song “Head, shoulders, knees and toes” understands this fact. The human body has lots of parts. All of these parts together make up the whole, and each one is important.
That is the next step in Paul’s discussion: each part is important. In the human body of course, there is no arguing about which part is most important. There is no jealousy among the various parts. The finger does not say, “Oh I wish I were an eye.” And the ears do not dismiss the feet as unimportant. Of course not. There is no such jealousy. All parts are important. Each one does its job.
That may be true in the human body. However, since jealousy often plagues the Christian body Paul expands on the point. He explores it from two perspectives. On the one hand, a part of the body cannot sadly look at itself and say, “I’m not necessary” (v.15). And on the other hand, a part of the body cannot arrogantly look at another part and say, “You are not necessary” (v.21). Each part plays an important role.
In chapter twelve Paul lays out this beautiful illustration showing the unity, diversity and cooperation in the human body. However, Paul is not giving us a lesson on human anatomy. He is not merely talking about the human body. His point has to do with the members of the Christian church. We are the body of Christ.
There is only one body of Christ. But there are many different parts, and each one is important. Each one has its task or role. What the various roles might be we will get to in just a moment. But first we simply want to underscore the fact that God the Spirit assigned a role to each one. Each member of the church has some meaningful ministry to carry out.
Application
Oh, what an amazing truth that is! Think of it, dear friends. Since you and I are part of the Christian church, we are part of the body. Since that is true, we each have important work to do. We each have a meaningful role to carry out in his kingdom. That is amazing.
That God would choose to use someone like me for any purpose in his kingdom – that is beyond wonderful. Would you not say that about yourself? We look at our lives. We see all our failures and shortcomings. Like King David we might say, “My sin is ever before me.” Yet God decided to use us. He did not just select a few of us. He did not limit labor to the holy angels. He assigned each one an important role in his kingdom. That is amazing. That is the spiritual wonder before us today.
I hope when you think about this truth, you do step back in awe. It is absolutely amazing. It is even more amazing when we consider the fact that he did it out of his love. God did not give us meaningful ministry to do because we were so diligent. It was not because we are so creative. It is not because he looked at us, and saw that for sure we would do a good job. No, it is simply due to his love.
That truth has been emphasized in every one of our messages on spiritual wonders. God blesses us in these marvelous ways simply because he loves us. What a humbling truth! What an encouraging truth! How shall we respond?
II
We could talk about a number of responses. We could highlight thanksgiving. We could cry out “praise the Lord.” Or on the negative side of things, we could, like the unfaithful servant in our gospel reading, go and bury the gift. Paul provides a better way to respond.
In verse seven Paul said that these skills or gifts have been given for the common good. What does that mean? The apostle Peter answered very clearly with these words, “Each one should use whatever gift he has been given to serve others” (1 Peter 4:10). The purpose for which God gave the gifts is that they be used.
If we go back to the gospel reading for today, we see this truth illustrated. One servant received five talents. He went and put that gift to work. The servant who received two talents did the same thing. The master was pleased with this. However, the third servant simply buried his talent. There it sat unused. The master was not pleased with this. He wanted the talent to be put to good use.
The Lord’s point with that parable is not difficult to understand. God looks for his people to use the gift they have been given. Paul adds some specific examples. In Romans twelve we read, “If a man’s gift is … serving, let him serve. If it is teaching, let him teach. If it is encouraging, let him encourage…” (Romans 12:6ff). Our joyous response to God’s wonderful gift is simply to use what he has given.
How have we been doing at that? Have we been joyously using our gifts? Or have we buried them in the ground? I think that if we are honest, we can all recognize times when we have failed to use our gifts. We have seen an opportunity to serve. We recognized that our gifts lined up with the task. We could have helped out. But for one reason or another we declined. We can all see ourselves in that unfaithful servant.
If that is the case, let’s confess the truth. Let’s cry out to our Lord for pardon. He will forgive us you know. He does say, “Your sin is forgiven. You may go in peace.” Oh, what wonderful words those are! How they pick us up! How they move us to want to serve.
God’s grace, and his amazing call to serve, move us to ask the question, how shall I serve? What can I do? The answer lies in what gift you have been given. God wants us to use our gifts. He does not ask us to serve with someone else’s gifts, but with our gifts. So, a natural question arises. “What gift have I been given?”
Have you discovered what your individual role is in God’s kingdom? Do you know what your gifts are? If the answer is yes, then your homework is to find ways to use that gift. If you are not sure of what your gift is, then I have some different homework for you.
The homework is to study three passages of scripture. You may want to jot down the three Bible references I am going to give you. The first one is 1 Peter 4:10-11. In this section of the word Peter breaks down spiritual gifts into two very broad categories. He highlights speaking gifts and serving gifts.
Speaking gifts would include things like teaching or preaching, sharing a word of comfort or a rebuke, singing or writing a thank you note – all of these use words. The second major group is serving. This would include things like ushering, organization and administration. Perhaps we would include hospitality, generous giving or creating beautiful art work.
Go home and ponder 1 Peter 4:10-11. Then turn to Romans 12:3-8. There, rather than providing two general categories, Paul lists some specific gifts. He lists teaching, encouraging, giving, leading and showing mercy. Romans 12: 3-8 will get you thinking about what specific gift you might have.
Finally, I will direct your attention to 1 Corinthians 12. The whole chapter is a discussion about spiritual gifts. Read the chapter. Go to God in prayer, asking him to reveal to you what gifts he has given.
After reading the various scriptures that talk about spiritual gifts, do some simple things. Ask yourself what you enjoy doing. Whatever it is that you enjoy doing in life will give you a clue as to how God has gifted you. In addition to asking yourself this question, ask others. Ask them what talents they see in you. Their feedback can be helpful.
Once you have studied the word, asked God for insight, and examined who you are, then pray for opportunities to serve. There is a beautiful song that we sing. It’s titled, “Lord of the living harvest.” One line in that hymn says, “Lord give us work to do.” That is a prayer that God would give us opportunities to use the skills he has bestowed upon us. That is a prayer request he will certainly grant. God will grant us meaningful ministry that we can carry out according to our skills.
Brothers and sisters, on Monday we celebrate the Labor Day holiday. This year our Labor Day celebrations will probably be a bit different than usual. Because of the pandemic many people are out of work. Instead of praying for a paid day off they are praying for some meaningful employment.
God knows we need something meaningful to do. Remember he is the one who put Adam and Eve in the Garden to work it and care for it. We will continue to ask God for satisfying employment. While we do so, let’s rejoice in the labor he has given us to do. We have the opportunity to make an eternal difference in his kingdom. Imagine that, “God uses us in his kingdom!” What an amazing truth! God use me! This is indeed a spiritual wonder. I pray that we all respond with a deep desire to carry out his will for our lives. Amen.