One For All and All For One

“That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.” (1Co 12:25-26 AV)

 

The context here is the gifts of the Spirit and the placing of everyone in the body of Christ for mutual care.  The Corinthian church was carnal and valued more visible gifts as more valuable.  The more public a gift was, the more important you were.  But that is not how God designed it.  This is not God’s value system.  It is the more comely parts, or the more unobtrusive parts, which are the more necessary.  It is not the mouth but the lungs that give it the air in which to produce the words.  However, what I wish to express this morning is a more basic understanding of these verses.  That is the end goal of all the gifts.  The abilities and gifts are given not that the church might segregate.  Rather, they are given that there might be unity.  And through that unity, there might be mutual care one toward another.  That the church might grow together and be one church that does not differentiate between ability or experiences.  There should be no cliques in the body and there should be no us and them.  We should love all equally.

I come from a rather large family.  Eight boys and three girls.  There was the obvious division of male and female.  This would only be natural.  This division did not become excessive.  We played together.  We lived together.  We may have had our fair share of skirmishes, but the one thing my Mom would not tolerate is a lasting feud between siblings.  As far as the guys went, mission accomplished.  We may have wrestled from time to time.  Before long, however, we were at the park knocking around a baseball.  Because of age differences, we were not exactly one another’s best friend, but we were not enemies, either.  When there was a large chore to do, my father would involve the entire family.  No exceptions.  Whether it was shoveling out of a snowstorm or falling trees for a campsite, all were involved.  This kept us close.  When it came to paper routes, we were responsible for our own route, but if the weather was contrary, we pitched in and helped our sibling complete their route.  When we earned our driver’s license, we became chauffeurs to our younger siblings.  We watched out for one another.  When a fight broke out we all stood together.  There were no large schisms in the family.  There may have been a minor one from time to time, but no major arguments where one party was permanently estranged from another.  This was how our parents raised us.

Every pastor wants the same for his church family.  When one rejoices, we all rejoice.  When one hurts, we all hurt.  This generation lives too private.  We do not involve ourselves in the lives of others nor do we allow others to get too close.  This breaks the heart of the pastor.  When he sees his church family in disagreement and fighting among themselves, nothing will age him faster.  The constant bickering and fighting wear the pastor down.  It did my mother.  When her children were fighting, it wore her down.  She would not even rise to solve the problem.  She lost all joy and enthusiasm for her family.  In short, she ceased to care.  The same can be true of the preacher.  When there are arguments and unforgiveness, he is worn down.  When he has to hear how one party is angry at another, he gets beaten down.  If it persists, he gets to the point that he ceases to care about his church family.  There is nothing he can do about it short of praying for them.  It is up to the kids to make up.  He cannot make them.  His desire for them is they dwell in peace and love toward one another regardless of their differences and they care about one another more than they care about themselves.