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REDEFINING THE BODY OF CHRIST #3

OUTFITTED BY THE ARMY QUARTERMASTER

Did you notice the other day something that made quite a splash in the papers? It was a Rosie O'Donnell look-alike gathering — and quite a substantial number of ladies who all look like the new talk-show queen were together in one room. Some were dead ringers for Miss O'Donnell; others you could probably spot as imposters from quite a ways off. But it's kind of intriguing, in a Twilight Zone way, to be in a place where every single person looks alike.

Maybe you remember the popular Federal Express commercials from 15 or so years ago, where twenty or thirty very fast-talking men, all of them with rather similar hairlines, would sit around a conference table yakking away at about 500 words a minute. Or where a whole herd of dowdy businessmen, all identically dressed, go shuffling down the hall to have the same lunch again. "Same place?" whines the receptionist? "Same place," they reply. "Same place and same thing." And the same kind of people too — a crowd of clones, all of them alike. Which reminds us of The Boys From Brazil, that chilling story where a hundred or so little Adolf Hitlers have indeed been cloned, and there's a silent army of black-haired, blue-eyed petulant males dotting the global landscape, quietly growing into would-be dictators for the year 2000.

Well, did you know that the Bible talks about this very issue of cloned Christianity? Specifically about the concept of sameness within the Body of Christ? So often the Church is portrayed as a place where every single member, every participant, will look the same, act the same, and even be equipped with the same spiritual gifts. One billion vanilla ice cream cones all wearing blue suits and holding King James Bibles.

Chapter 12 in our continuing journey through First Corinthians is a passage that really does thrill me — because it addressed the issue of God equipping us for service. You know, every time I attend a pastors' conference or check in at a hotel for any kind of continuing ed seminar, the organizers give everyone a packet or seminar syllabus. And that's always a special moment, when this attractive package is handed to you. "Here you are, Pastor Melashenko. This is for you. This is designed to help you get more out of this program." It's sometimes a pleasantly bulky package, filled with helpful things, gadgets I can use, software to try out — and it always comes included. You go to the seminar, you get the packet.

And here in this extremely important passage of Scripture, we're taught that members in the Christian faith have a similar experience. We're handed a packet, so to speak. Every single participant — male, female, old, young, teenagers, kids, white, black, brown, yellow, etc., etc. — not a single person joins this thing called the Body of Christ without being given a packet. A portfolio, if you will.

And what is that packet? Friend, that packet is a spiritual gift, maybe even a combination of several spiritual gifts, that God has chosen to give to you. He gives spiritual gifts to every member — both to enhance their experience as Christians and also to enable them to serve this Body they've just joined. In the Adventist Commentary for this chapter in the Bible, it says this:

"[Spiritual gifts] are endowments of divine power upon individuals in the church for the accomplishment of God's purpose in bringing about the perfection of His church."

There's one thing we should notice immediately as we begin to think about this topic. Right in verse one, Paul says this:

"Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant."

That's quite interesting, isn't it? Can ignorance about spiritual gifts be a bad thing? Paul obviously thinks so.

Let's ask ourselves this: what could be the downside of not understanding this biblical principle?

Well, first of all, we might ignore our own spiritual gifts — or just plain not use them. We might not comprehend the clear teachings of Paul that we even have a gift. I've met many Christians, faithful believers, who honestly believed they had been given no spiritual gifts. So of course they weren't using them, just like you don't drive a car you don't think you've got.

Here's another problem caused by ignorance on this topic. We might expect everyone in the church to have the exact same gifts we do; we might look for and even demand uniformity.

Maybe most serious of all, we might be led to misunderstand the breadth of the Body of Christ. We've spent the past two days discussing that — but even now, we might have a very limited, narrow, spiritually myopic picture of who is included. Which could mean that we are trying to carry on the work of the Lord without arms, legs, fingers, toes . . . without large, vital parts of the Body.

No wonder Paul starts out with this exhortation: "Folks, you need to fully understand this principle!"

Back to the motif of gift packets at the seminar for a moment, let's notice how the Bible describes the spiritual experience that happens in the foyer of the hotel, so to speak. Here's what takes place at the registration desk:

"It's true that there are different gifts, but it's the same Holy Spirit who gives them all to us. There are different ways of serving the Lord, but all the gifts are given to honor Him. So you'll find that people in your church have different abilities, but they all come from the same God. The presence of the Holy Spirit is revealed in different ways, but always for the good of the world church."

So point one is this: God gives us these gifts. They're bestowed by Him, and they're for the purpose of serving Him and honoring Him and also helping His world church.

And the second point is equally vital. We're given different gifts. Unlike the seminars we attend, where they have a table piled high with a thousand identical kits, in the Lord's plan every person receives a distinct, unique gift that's perfect for him or her. It's the very opposite of "one-size-fits-all."

More about that in a moment, but let's also notice here in First Corinthians chapter 12 that the Body of Christ is made up of very different kinds of people. Using the human body as an illustration, Paul says that the Church has feet, hands, ears, eyes, noses. There are big parts and little parts, stronger parts, weaker parts. Parts meant to be seen and sometimes parts that are more private, more behind the scenes. And all these parts together, all of these people, make up the complete Body of Christ.

So here in this vibrant passage is a great mosaic — on two levels. Many different people and many different gifts. Of course, the fact that the people are different is one of the main reasons why the gifts should be different as well.

I try to imagine a convention or a pastors' workshop where the organizers might try to do that. What if my registration packet was tailor-made for me, with my name and social security number hand-written on the outside? The handouts would be on the very topics where I'm most interested; the computer software would enhance the exact issues we're planning to present on the Voice of Prophecy in coming weeks; the free books would boost the specific subject areas where maybe I need a bit more continuing ed; even the restaurant list they enclose features all my favorite kinds of menus.

And you know, friend, this is precisely what God does. He gives you the gifts that are perfect for you — and also perfect for Him and for His church. This is a key teaching of God's Word: not everyone receives the same gift!

"There are different kinds of gifts," it says in verse four. And then toward the close, Paul asks: "Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing?"

And the answer is no. There are some who can preach, and there are others who can't. But thank God those who can't preach can encourage, or provide administrative skills, or host social events, or cook for the potlucks.

Friend, on a very personal level, I'd like to encourage you right now. Stop for a moment today and thank God that you're you! He really and truly does want you to be you! He wants you to be the person you are — and also have the gifts that He's given you. He chose that gift, or that portfolio of several gifts. They're the very ones He wanted you to have. More about that tomorrow, but let's prepare mentally and spiritually to accept those gifts and to praise Him for those gifts and to immediately begin to use those gifts.

As we close today, maybe we can even up the ante a bit. A seminar packet isn't really that inspiring, perhaps. You might do better to think of yourself as a person joining the Army — in this case, God's army. And even the freshest-faced recruit, that skinny haircutted 17-year-old kid is immediately given the tools of the trade. In most armies, that would mean a gun. Ammunition. A backpack, food supplies, military equipment. He or she would get a bunk to sleep in, food to eat, expert training to make them into soldiers.

And why? For service! It's always for service! And if you think Uncle Sam takes care of his own, how much more our heavenly Father! Here's another great paragraph from the same commentary we mentioned a moment ago. Notice:

"All who surrender to Christ and become members of His church on earth, no matter what their nationality or social or economic status or intellectual attainments, have the assurance that the Holy Spirit will equip them with ability to perform their Christian duties with a high degree of effectiveness."

That's good, isn't it? "The best equipped soldiers in the world," it always says on the recruiting brochures. Friend, the army of God can make the same claim.