The Purpose of the Church (pt. 2)

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 1st Corinthians 12:27

This illustration is too on the nose, but you can thank C.S. Lewis for that. Imagine my surprise, upon viewing The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, when Lucy, Peter, Edmund, and Susan bump into Saint Nicholas on their journey to fight the White Witch. Santa Claus then proceeds to hand out weapons and healing implements to them, preparing them for a war. My 3rd-grade teacher read this book to our class back in the day, and I did not recall Santa Claus arriving on his sleigh to hand out weapons (I must not have been paying attention). It really made me wish I could have asked for different things for Christmas.

Apparently, C.S. Lewis, the greatest Christian allegorist in history, was well-versed in 1 Corinthians 12:27. Lucy, Edmund, Peter, and Susan represented the church, followers of Aslan. But it wasn’t enough to just sit by and attend Aslan Worship every Sunday. They had a role.

1st Corinthians is a fascinating book. Paul defines the roles that a follower of Jesus can uphold in a church. He divides it between healers, teachers, prophets, speakers, and mentors. Everyone has a skill that will promote God’s kingdom to the world. And because we are all different, we cannot judge anyone else’s gift or feel bad about our own. Just like in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, each gift was used to aid Aslan on his quest to defeat the White Witch.

In the world, you might think you are trash or a gift to mankind, but in the church, we all have the same value. There’s no rational reason to have low self-worth or arrogance when serving. Likewise, God never asks his global church to sit on the sidelines. If you are a Christian, it means you have a specific role in advancing Jesus’ movement.

Figure it Out:

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 1 Corinthians 12:21-28

  1. Circle all the words and phrases that stood out to you. Why are they significant?
  2. What happens when parts of the church start judging the other parts?
  3. How should we treat the lesser-known parts of the church? How does God view the lesser-known parts?
  4. What should be your attitude when you see different parts of the church working?

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