Body Pains

Feelings of Self-Sufficiency
December 13, 1992

1Co_12:21-27
21
And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; or again the
head to the feet, "I have no need of you." 22 On the contrary, it is much truer
that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; 23 and
those members of the body, which we deem less honorable, on these we
bestow more abundant honor, and our unseemly members come to have
more abundant seemliness, 24 whereas our seemly members have no need of
it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that
member which lacked, 25 that there should be no division in the body, but that
the members should have the same care for one another. 26 And if one
member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all
the members rejoice with it. 27 Now you are Christ's body, and individually
members of it.

One of the evidences that God has a loving Father's heart toward us as a church after
the all church strategy meeting last Wednesday is that he appointed this text for this
morning, and he did it last September. He knew the way the discussion would go,
and he knew what would be needed. This was not my choice. It was his. And it makes
me feel cared for by our Father in heaven. I hope you have the same response.

For those of you who weren't here on Wednesday, it was a meeting in which we
discussed and voted on buying a pipe organ. Of the 217 people who voted, 71% said
yes, 29% said no. For about 50 minutes people on both sides lined up at three
microphones and explained why we should or shouldn't get a pipe organ. The
discussion was full of strong emotion. And differences ran pretty deep.

One of the questions this raises for us as we come to this text is this: are the
differences between organ people and non-organ people in the category of
differences that Paul has in mind in this passage? We know he wasn't talking about
organs. But he was talking about differences between people.

In 1Co_12:21 there are people who are compared to eyes and people who are
compared to hands. There are people compared to heads and people compared to
feet. In 1Co_12:22 there are people who "seem to be weaker." And in 1Co_12:23
there are people who have a less honorable appearance, (not referring to sinful
dishonor), but having less prominence, or distinction, or we might say, being less
flashy or outstanding.

So it would seem that the category of differences would embrace non-sinful

distinctions that can easily be perceived as weaknesses or strengths, or as somehow
more or less fit for public ministry. They might include spiritual gifts that are
spectacular or more ordinary. They might include different emphases and different
perspectives and different focuses.
The point is not that there is no sin in the attitudes and opinions on both sides. There
is sin enough to keep us all in a spirit of penitence before the cross. The point is that
the positions on either side of this issue do not, I think, have to involve sin, and to
the extent that they don't, the differences are the sort of thing Paul is talking about
here.

And so it is tremendously relevant for us to hear Paul admonish us in this text to

beware of a temptation coming out of last Wednesday's meeting and to embrace a
virtue instead of that temptation. Let me take those one at a time. One is a negative--
don't do something, don't give into a very strong temptation coming out of that
meeting. The other is a positive, do something. Do not be overcome by evil, but
overcome evil with good.

First, the warning: don't come away from that meeting saying of the people on the
other side: I wish they weren't here and I don't need them. Verse 21 (1Co_12:21):
"The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you'; or again the head to the
feet, 'I have no need of you.' "

This means that it would be personally, historically, Biblically immature for anyone
on either side to say, "I don't need that kind of person and I don't need that kind of
thinking." That would be a great mistake. It would be the easy road. It would not be
the high road.

My guess is that if you took a survey, both sides of this issue would regard the other
side as the weak side. That's why they are on the side they're on. For example, the
non-organ people might regard the other side as being weak in their grasp of the
economic, social, global, urban, mission realities that ought to shape our ministry in
the next decades. And the organ people might regard the other side as weak in their
grasp of the dynamics of worship and the historic place of the arts in the life of the
spirit.

Now Paul says in 1Co_12:22, "On the contrary (that is, over against saying, 'I have
no need of you'), it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be
weaker are necessary." That's a careful way of talking. Paul says they "seem" to be
weaker. He leaves open whether they are or not. They may not be. But they seem to
be to one side or the other. And he says that if they seem to you to be weaker, they
are nevertheless, necessary. Not optional but necessary. Not merely helpful, but
necessary. Not maybe a needful part of the body, but NECESSARILY a needful part
of the body.

That's the warning. Beware of the temptation to feel and think that those kinds of
people are not needed here. Now I don't mean, of course, that every word on both
sides has to be endorsed. What I mean is that a lot of words on both sides are true
and anyone who refuses to listen and take seriously those words will be the truly
weaker for it. Therefore I think I can say from 1Co_12:22 that it is necessary for this
church to hear Joe Lehn and Philemon Yong, Jeff Swanson and Patti Larson, Kurt
Swanson and David Laurion, Kevin Mason and John Turner. None of those voices is
unnecessary and they do not cancel each other out.
It will be a test of our maturity and our faith to believe that each is necessary, and to
act on it.

And the way to act on it is described in the other point I mentioned above--the
positive response to differences. Not just the warning: Don't say, "I have no need of
you," but also now the exhortation: "Care for one another." Verses 24b-25
(1Co_12:24-25), "God has so composed the body (here it is again, just like last week
in verse 18 (1Co_12:18), and the week before that in verse 11 - 1Co_12:11)--God has
so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked,
that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the
same care for one another."

Notice in 1Co_12:25 what the opposite of division is. He could have said, "That there
be no division in the body, but rather unified ideas on things like organs." But he
didn't say that. He said, "That there be no division in the body, but (here's the
opposite of division) that the members should have the same care for each other."

So the positive command to us from the Lord concerning last Wednesday night is
this: whatever your difference from another person on the organ issue, care for that
person. Show concern for that person. Love that person.

If we are called to love our enemies outside the church (Mat_5:43-48) who have a
difference from us a thousand times more serious than this one, how much more
shall we then love another child of God.

Those, then, are God's two words for us this morning. First, let none of us say, I don't
need to listen to people on the other side. I don't need to relate to them. Resist that
thought. Put it out of your mind. Pray against it. Preach it down.

And second, even if we don't have the same the same heart for an organ let us have
the same heart for each other.

And the bottom line again is this: 1Co_12:24 --God composed the body. This does
not mean that we can't argue and persuade, as though it would offend God. It means
that if a person is a Christian and in this body, we will reckon with the stunning truth
that God is in that person and he is using them right now just as they are in some
imperfect but necessary way for the common good of this church.

To close I want to put the disagreement over an organ in perspective by telling you
the primary level one and level two foundations of worship at Bethlehem. These are
things that hold the leadership together and define the future of our corporate
experience. By "level one" I mean convictions that are non-negotiables for me, by
"level two" I mean convictions more negotiable.

Level one convictions:

(1) Glad God-centeredness. We put a high priority on the vertical focus of our
Sunday morning service. The ultimate aim is to so experience God that he is glorified
in our affections. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

(2) Expecting the powerful presence of God. We do not just direct ourselves
toward God. We earnestly seek his drawing near to us according to the promise of
James 4:8. We believe that in worship God draws near to us in power, and makes
himself known and felt for our good and for the salvation of unbelievers in the midst.

(3) Bible based and Bible saturated. The content of our singing and praying
and welcoming and preaching and poetry should always conform to the truth of
Scripture. The content of God's Word will be woven through all we do in worship and
will be our only infallible authority under God.

(4) Combining head and heart. Our worship will aim at kindling and carrying
deep, strong, real emotions toward God, but not at the expense of manipulating
people's emotions by failing to appeal to clear thinking about spiritual things based
on shareable evidences outside ourselves.

(5) Earnestness and intensity. We will seek to avoid a trite, flippant, superficial,
frivolous atmosphere, but instead set an example of reverence and passion and
wonder.

(6) Authentic communication. We utterly renounce all sham and deceit and
hypocrisy and pretense and affectation and posturing. We will strive against the
atmosphere of oratorical performance or mere artistic demonstration, and instead
pursue the atmosphere of a radically personal encounter with God and truth.

(7) The manifestation of the Spirit and the common good. We expect and
hope and pray (according to 1Co_2:7) that our focus on the manifesting of God is
good for people, and that therefore a spirit of love for each other is not incompatible
with, but necessary to authentic worship.

Level two convictions:

(1) Undistracting excellence. We will try to sing and play and pray and preach in
such a way that people's attention will not be perted from the substance by shoddy
ministry nor by excessive finesse. Natural, undistracting excellence will let the truth
and beauty of God shine through.

(2) The mingling of historic and contemporary music. Jesus said to them,
"Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a
householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old"
(Mat_13:52)

Summary:

• Let us not say, "I have no need of you."

 • Let us have the same care for one another.
• Let us seek our worship unity around these primary truths.
• And let us put our trust in God who composes the body as he wills.

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