A Call to Unity
1
Corinthians 12 is one of my favorite chapters of the whole book. We start with a call to unity. Then we move into an understanding of how
unity does not at all imply uniformity in a setting where people are
spiritually mature. All around, it is a great
chapter for the maturing Christian to read.
I’m going
to start with the first three verses.
Paul begins with a mention of idols.
I love this fact. How many of us
did not begin with idols? How many of us
cannot say that we have made an idol out of ourselves or out of something we
own, possess, or wish we possessed? We
are a people that universally have idolatry near and dear to our heart. So when Paul talks about the time when the
Corinthians were led astray to mute idols, we can all understand a time in our
life when that was true for us as well.
Then Paul
moves on to a great point. He gives us
two quotes: “Jesus is accursed” and “Jesus is Lord.” {I have
to add here that the Greek word we translate as “accursed” is literally the
word “anathema” in Greek. I love it!} Paul tells us that nobody who has the Holy
Spirit within them can speak against Jesus.
For the record, I think this also extends to speaking about the work
that Jesus is doing. This verse should
draw us back to the way Paul closed out 1 Corinthians 10. Do all things for the glory of God. If we are focused on doing things for God’s
glory, then we will have the Spirit within us.
If the Spirit is within us, then we will never speak against Jesus and
His work within His church.
Furthermore,
Paul talks about those people who say, “Jesus is Lord.” There is so much more
going on here that a simple confession that just about anybody seems to be able
to pronounce. We’re not talking about 3
words that are easily said.
In the
Roman Empire, the title that was given to Caesar in the Greek language is “Kyrie”
– which is a word that means “Lord.” {Yes, this is where the word “kyrie” comes
from. In our worship, the Kyrie is the
song in which we ask Jesus as Lord to have mercy upon us.} It was common to confess allegiance to Caesar
by saying, “Caesar is Lord.” In fact, by
the time Paul gets to writing the letter to the Corinthians there are places in
the Roman Empire that are demanding Christians to say “Caesar is Lord” instead
of “Jesus is Lord.” Anyone who would say
“Jesus is Lord” would be persecuted, arrested, or even killed. After all, you can only have one Lord, right? If a person declares lordship to someone
besides Caesar, then Caesar is not Lord in their life.
Thus, Paul
is not just giving us a confession. He
is giving us a battle cry! Nobody can
call Jesus the Lord of their life (and genuinely mean it) without the Holy
Spirit. Nobody can live as thought their
highest allegiance is to God without the presence of the Holy Spirit. Nobody can declare that they have no greater
authority in their life above Jesus without also having the Holy Spirit within
them. In declaring Jesus as Lord a person is
inherently declaring that nobody else or nothing else is Lord.
For the
Christians in the Roman Empire, making this profession could easily be a death
sentence. That’s why Paul tells us that
you cannot say “Jesus is Lord” and mean it unless you have the Holy Spirit
within you. This is no simple
confession. It should be a declaration
of war to anything else in our life that would desire to be Lord.
Unity, not Uniformity
Wow, I
have spent a long time on those three verses.
But that is alright. The rest of
the chapter flows around a few simple ideas.
The first idea is that although we are united under Christ, we all have
different roles to play in His church according to His calling for each of
us. Since we all have different
callings, we have all been given a unique set of gifts to accomplish His
calling. Much like fingerprints, we are
all unique to Christ and His church.
However,
this does not mean that we cannot experience unity. In fact, if it is Christ who equips us and
calls us, then we should experience unity through that fact. We are all under Christ; we should have unity
among us! Our differences imply that we
may go about our faith from different perspectives, but we are united in that
we are serving the same Christ.
There is a
litmus test that the Christian should ask before questioning or attacking
something in the church: “Is what I am about to attack/question serving
Christ?” If every Christian remembered
to ask that question before speaking, we would have far fewer fights in the
church!
Of course,
that doesn’t imply that we cannot question some legitimate ministry or even a
legitimate Christian. When questions are
asked out of the right motivation, questions are vital for growth! Questions asked for the right motive help
improve an activity. Questions asked for
the right motive might help some ministry better target the intended
audience. Questions asked of a true
believer out of a healthy motive will inspire growth. Constructive questions – questions that come
from a position of understanding Christ within a valid ministry or person – are
very beneficial indeed. I’m not saying
we should stop asking questions at all! I
am saying that we need to remind ourselves to we ask questions from the right
frame of reference. We should ask
questions from a perspective of unity and understanding rather than doubt and
opposition.
All Are Affected
Then Paul
makes a very interesting statement: “If one suffers, all suffer together. If one is honored, all rejoice
together.” I’m curious. Take a second and ask yourself if this is
true in your Christian community. If one
person in your community suffers, does the whole community suffer? In order to have this be true do you not only
have to have genuine unity but also a genuine connection to the other people in
your community? Or take the flipside
argument. If one person is honored in
your community, does the whole community rejoice? Or, more likely, do we experience jealousy
and gossip as soon as someone is lifted up and honored?
In a
genuine Christian community, I think that Paul’s words are spot-on
correct. If we are genuinely brothers
and sisters in Christ we will know when our brothers and sisters suffer and we
will suffer with them. Thus, if there
are those who don’t recognize that someone suffering or those who rejoice in
another’s suffering or those who tear someone down as they are being genuinely
honored, then it is evidence that we have work to do in the community towards
true unity in Jesus.
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