Malcolm Rogers on 1 Corinthians 12:1-13, 20 February 2005

The church is the body of Christ here on earth. That is, it continues his ministry, his service, on earth. It could equally be said that the church continues his mission. So for instance, in Acts 1:1, "In my former book .. I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen". In other words, the church continues the ministry of Jesus.

In 1 Corinthian 12, which is the passage that we are going to be looking at this evening, we are told, "For we were all baptised by one Spirit into one body - whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free - and we were all given the one Spirit to drink" (v13). And later on Paul writes, "Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it".

So the ministry of Jesus, the service of Jesus, is carried on by the church, the body of Christ here on earth. In other words, the ministry of Jesus, the service of Jesus, becomes our ministry, our service:

• So Jesus is God's apostle: the church is called to be apostolic
• Jesus is God's prophet: the church is called to be prophetic
• Jesus is God's teacher: the church is called to teach
• Jesus is God's priest: the church is called to be God's priest. We believe in the priesthood of all believers. But note that does not mean that every believer is an individual priest. Together we are God's priest, called to bring reconciliation between creation and God.
• Jesus is God's healer: the church is called to bring reconciliation
• Jesus is God's shepherd, pastor: the church is called to pastor
• Jesus is God's servant: called to suffer on behalf of God's people. In one major sense we do not need to suffer in order for people to receive forgiveness and reconciliation with God - Jesus has done that 'once and for all' on the cross. But the church is called to suffer, to give itself at cost to itself, in order that others may find life.

However, and this is very important, the ministry of the Church as a whole is not the same as the ministry of the individuals who make up the Church. We are not all called to be apostles or prophets or teachers or overseers (bishops) or healers or pastors. We have different gifts and we have different callings:

1 Corinthians 12:4ff: "There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service (that could have been translated 'ministry'), but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all people."

In other words we are being shown the diversity and the unity in the church.

There are different gifts:

In verses 7 - 11 some of the gifts are mentioned: gifts of wisdom and knowledge, of special faith, of healing, of miraculous powers, of prophecy, of discernment (being able to tell whether something is of God or not), of tongues and of the interpretation of tongues. And that list is not exhaustive. Other gifts mentioned include administration, hospitality, generousity, encouraging (remember Barnabas), showing mercy and speaking. And if we include some of the gifts that we find in the Old Testament we would include artistic and musical gifts.

The thing that holds all these different gifts together is:

1. They are gifted to us by the Spirit. V11: "All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines". So there is no place for boasting. The fact that you might have a God given warmth, openness and be good at hospitality is not because you are a better person than someone who struggles to become more warm or open. It is simply that the Spirit has given you a particular gift. Or just because you happen to be someone who thinks in a very clear and analytical way, it does not mean that you are better than someone who is fluffy. You have a different gift.
2. Our gifts are given not to build us up as individuals, but for the common good. In other words they have to be used for others.

There are also different 'kinds of service', or 'kinds of ministry':

In verses 27-30, Paul outlines some of the different kinds of service.

There are apostles, prophets, teachers, workers of miracles, those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration and those who speak in different kinds of tongues. Again this is just one list. In Ephesians 4, Paul mentions apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. And we usually get hung up about the relation of the different 'kinds of service' to the different 'gifts', and we try to identify what these gifts and ministries are. And we miss the most important point.

These different kinds of ministry, of service, put together make up Jesus.
I repeat: He is God's apostle, God's teacher, God's shepherd or pastor, God's evangelist (proclaiming the good news). He is God's healer, miracle worker. He is God's administrator: in him all things hold together. And he is the reversal of the tower of Babel when human languages were blown apart and people didn't understand each other - with the result that they were blown apart.

1 Corinthians 12 was written to Christians who were getting hung up about who had which gift when, where and why. It was written to people who were trying to prove that they were better than the next person, because they had a particular gift. It was written to them and to us, to remind us that all the different kinds of service, all the different ministries, belong to the one Lord. V5: "There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord".

We are the body of Christ. That means that on our own, our gifts lead to our destruction: they lead us either to pride or to a sense of crushing inadequacy. But together, we do what Jesus did on his own.

That is the meaning of that teasing verse in John 14:12, where Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father". Jesus will, by the power of his Spirit, continue to work through his church, and he will do greater things than he did on earth. Why? Because when he was here on earth he was restricted to one place at one time. Now, through his Spirit and through his people, his body on earth, he can be in many different places at many different times.

Jesus is the one who holds all the different types of service, of ministry, together. Whether we are a bishop (literal word is 'overseer') or a 'diakonos' or a teacher or pastor or a widow (there seems to be a special order of widow) or a saint or an elder or an evangelist, we can only exercise the ministry, the service, of Jesus if we work together. And that is what verses 12-20 are all about. They are saying that we need each other: we need each others gifts; we need each others 'kinds of service'. And so, going back to Acts 6, where there was this dispute between Christian Jewish widows and Christian Greek widows, the apostles could not both devote themselves to the teaching of the word and to the administration of the church. So others are appointed to administer the church. And one had a 'ministry' to tables, and the other had a 'ministry' of the word. And it is interesting that 1 Peter picks up that division of labour in 1 Peter 4:10ff, "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others (to minister to others), faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength that God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ".

This is not saying to the one's who speak, 'you do not need to do the acts of service'. Nor is it saying to the one's who do the acts of service, 'you do not need to speak'. What it does do is recognise that God gives different gifts and abilities to different people.

1 Corinthians 12:4 talks about different kinds of working.

I take this to mean that people do things in different ways, and that is because when we come to an issue, we come with different background, culture, education, sexuality, age. And perhaps the way that one person does something winds us up, but it is needed. Just as they need us.

And the thing that should hold the body together is love. A body at war with itself is no good. I remember seeing Wolves play Arsenal a couple of seasons ago. Wolves were not playing very well. And one of their players gave the v sign to one of his own players. And you could tell that they were not a happy team. And they lost.

Paul writes, V25: "There should be no division in the body .. its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it." That is why Paul extols love in the next chapter: and notice how he writes: "If I speak .. and have not love; if I have gift of prophecy, or wisdom or knowledge or a faith that can move mountains .. but do not have love - you might think you are something, but you are nothing; if I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing"

The ministry of the church is something that is done by the whole church. Yes, people have particular 'ministries'. But THE MINISTRY is done by all of us together.

Sometimes when people know that I am a vicar they will ask, "When did you go into the ministry?" The answer is, "When I was baptised", "When I became part of the body of Christ". We have gone so wrong because we have lost this vision. In certain circles, it really is thought that the work of the ministry is the work of the clergy or church staff team.

The bible could not be clearer. The work of ministry is done by every Christian.

Ephesians 4:11ff, "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service" (or, for the work of Ministry).

This is vital. Who are the ministers in this church? Lucy, Jonathan, June, Francois, myself? No. You are the ministers. You do the work of ministry every day of the week. We work in the church. The work that we do, if I'm going to take Ephesians 4 at its word, is not the work of ministry, but to prepare you to do the work of ministry in the world. You are the ministers, the ones sent by God, in the school, in the community, in your work place, in your family. You are the hands of Jesus and the feet of Jesus and the voice of Jesus. You do the work of ministry. We're the back up team. We're right behind you: 100 yards running in the opposite direction.

What we want to do is to tame God, and to make the language that the Bible uses safe.

• So when the bible talks about church as being all the people of God, we reinterpret it and make church refer to a building.
• When the Bible talks about worship as being the offering of the whole of our life, 24/7, we turn worship into something that we do for 20 minutes on a Sunday morning. The service leader says, "The musicians will now lead us in a time of worship".
• When the Bible talks about the 'service' of all Christians in the world, we choose to introduce a completely new word, 'ministry' and to restrict it to what a few people do in the buildings that we call church.
• And then, to add injury to insult, we change the meaning of 'service' from kneeling down and washing another person's feet into something that we have on a Sunday morning or evening.

The ministry of the church is the ministry of Jesus. It is all of us. And that ought to be reflected in our activities, in our prayers and in our structures.

It ought to be reflected in our activities. I have struggled (with myself) to keep us looking outwards. It is very easy for a vicar to be inward looking, to put on activities that are geared to making the churches work better: how do we improve the music, the provision for children, how do we improve the services, how do we improve the buildings, how do we improve and build on our projects: and all the time I am looking in. In one sense that is my job, that is my calling. But I need to ask myself, 'Why do I wish to improve the music, the provision for children, the services and buildings and projects?" And that is often a question that I do not ask myself. And perhaps the answer that I might give to that question is, "So that more people come to church, so that more people hear the message, so that the influence of the church (or, perhaps more honestly, my influence) becomes greater." And none of that is necessarily wrong. But the overriding aim of the clergy and church institution should be very simple: "To equip the people of God for works of service".

Having said that, there is a ministry for those ordained as church leaders: to focus on the Word of God and prayer, and to be a focus of unity. But it is a ministry, a service, that releases other people for service.

So every area of our churches life should be geared to ministry - not to my ministry as vicar - but to your ministry, as ministers of God. Every area of our churches life should be geared 'to equipping the saints for the work of ministry'. That is the reason that we worship and learn together and encourage one another.

The role of vicar is not to do the work of ministry. The role of vicar or church leader is to bless others so that they can do the work of ministry.

The teaching should be not to turn people into biblical scholars (although we need biblical scholars), but to allow people to apply the word of God to their daily situation.
The illustrations we use should not be from the church, but from the home and the workplace.
The intercessions should not simply be times when we pray about the church and the things of the church institution. We should be praying for people in their different areas of ministry: for the work places (and not just hospitals and schools), for the local institutions, for our neighbourhood and world. We should be praying that you might have the strength and courage to be a faithful servant of God in the place where he has put you. And in our home groups and prayer groups we should seek to build up each other in our service.
 
And the question that lay people should be asking when they come to church is also very simple: "How am I going to grow as a Christian, how am I going to grow in faith and love and ministry, 24/7/52, as a result of meeting together and worshipping together with my brothers and sisters?"

So where is the church?
Well, of course it is in heaven, and it is here on earth where there are associations of Christians who recognise and submit to others (both in time and space) and who work together; it is at St Mary Magdalene's, St David's, St Giles and at St Mary's and with New Wine in the Ringcross community centre.

But it is also in the school, or in the office, or at the Sobell, or in the factory, or in the court or the home or wherever it is that you happen to be. I remember visiting one church which had a notice on the back door as people were leaving. It read, "You are now entering the mission field". 

The story is told of one man who came to speak to John Wimber, an American pastor, after the Sunday service. He said, "Someone who I knew who was homeless turned up on my doorstep on Friday. I tried to phone the church office, but it was closed. I tried to phone you, but there was no answer. In the end I had to put him up myself. Don't you think the church should do something for homeless people in this sort of situation?" Wimber looked at him and replied, "It seems to me that the church did do something". 

One lady has been coming to the Alpha course and has come to a very real faith. But in fact the work was not done on Alpha. The real work of ministry was done by one lady who works with her. She is the one who has been talking to her about faith and encouraging her to go along to the Alpha course. She is the one who has now set up a group for Christians at that place of work. There is not a vicar in sight. That is the ministry of the church.

Things like the Paradise Project or Asylum Centre or Islington churches bereavement project or homelessness project are not the only ministry of the church: it is great for us to have our own direct projects, and we can direct people towards them, but the ministry of the church extends far beyond them. Wherever there is a person, in fellowship with other Christians, serving in the name of Christ, there is the ministry of the church.

Of course the church is a place where people should be able to feel safe and secure and cared for, but I have to say that that is not our reason for existence. Jesus was sent from heaven by his Father to serve. We have been sent to serve.

To summarise: the ministry of the church is no more and no less than the continuing ministry of Jesus. And the ministry of the church is not the work of the clergy, or of a few select people, or of church projects. The ministry of the church can be found wherever God has placed you and you and you and me.  Together we are God's ministers, God's servants.  We need each other if we are to be faithful to God's call.