A sermon about 1 Corinthians 12:1-11: Using Your Spiritual Gifts
From Cacophony to Beauty
From sixth-grade band concerts to a philharmonic at Disney Concert Hall, every concert starts the same way: with chaos. Musicians tune their instruments and play their own thing to warm up. Over here, a tuba blast; over there, a delicate scale on a piccolo. It’s a cacophony—noisy and disconnected. Yet, you know that somehow, the cacophony will become beauty unless you are at a sixth-grade band concert where you hope for the best.
After the introductions, there is that magical moment. The conductor raises the baton. Silence falls. In that crystallized second, anything is possible. That’s where we find ourselves today, church—in that pregnant pause before God’s symphony begins.
Getting the Band Together
Our scripture lesson from 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 is part of a letter from the Apostle Paul, where he’s trying to get a congregation to act more harmoniously instead of a disconnected cacophony of complainers. Instead of valuing each other’s talents as contributing to the whole, they were sniping at each other and creating hierarchies. Who’s the most important? Who is the most spiritual? Who should get special privileges? Instead of making a joyful sound unto the Lord, they created nails on chalkboard screeches.
Paul tries to get this band of believers to shift their focus so they would appreciate everybody’s contribution. It’s not an all-bassoon ensemble where everyone plays the same instrument and the same notes at the same volume. Everyone has different talents and abilities necessary for the masterpiece God wants them to play. They are all essential, like all the parts of a body. A head needs a heart, and a heart needs a kidney. It’s all essential; no one is more important than everyone else.
As Fredrick Buechner wrote, “God was making a body for Christ. Christ didn’t have a regular body anymore, so God was making one out of anybody he could find who looked as if they might just possibly do… He was using other people’s hands to be Christ’s hands and other people’s feet to be Christ’s feet.” It’s how God makes people who feel like nobody feel like they are somebody important.
His concept of a system without hierarchy was as revolutionary as today. It’s challenging but essential for the powerful to imagine others as equally important as they are. But Paul insists the church is where all hierarchies of the outside world are rendered meaningless.
Why Music Metaphors?
Although Paul used the body metaphor, I think the music metaphor lies beneath the surface. In the next chapter, Paul continues his train of thought by saying that if we do our own thing without love, we are nothing but “noisy gongs or clanging cymbals.” Also, when Paul tells the congregation that God gives us all gifts to be used for “the good of all,” the Greek word he uses is sympheon, the root of our word symphony. A symphony isn’t about one instrument dominating the others; it’s about many voices coming together, each playing their part in concert with others.
In high school, I played the clarinet in the band. I was mediocre at best. When I practiced at home, our dog howled–not a confidence booster. I wasn’t a first chair or even second chair but as second-chair, second-seat clarinet—a role so minor it felt invisible, like I didn’t matter. I could screw around, not play my part, and focus my thoughts on the flutist, Mindy, in her cheerleading outfit. But one day, before a state contest, our conductor stopped the rehearsal–something wasn’t right. He worked his way through each section until he reached the clarinets, then looked directly at me and said, “The harmony’s falling apart right here. We need your B-flat to complete the chord. Without you, the music isn’t complete.”
Sometimes, if we aren’t in a “major role,” we might discount our worth to the whole. Without you, the music isn’t complete.
Ben Zander, the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic, wrote a bestseller book on leadership, The Art of Possibility. He discusses the dangers of “second fiddle-itis.” Orchestra members not playing featured roles are likelier to skip practices, be tardy, and not give it their all. He says this is true in life, not just in orchestras. But, he often says that the second violin section is where things hold together. He says we can lead from any section we find ourselves in, any situation we find ourselves in, by listening, paying attention to others, and bringing out their best.
Sometimes, the part we are to play is to encourage someone else to play their part.
For the Good of All
The bottom line is that whatever gifts or talents God has blessed us with aren’t just for our personal success but for the good of all. Paul says we all have been given spiritual gifts. What’s a spiritual gift? I tend to take a simple view. Spiritual gifts are our talents, skills, and abilities. What makes them spiritual is how God uses them when we use them for something beyond our own benefit.
I am so impressed with the vast array of gifts on display at our church. From people who are good at hospitality to those who are artistic to those who know which end of a hammer to use to those who know about social media or finances, it takes all of us. I guarantee that if there is something you love doing, there is a way to use it for the good of all at Bay Shore Church. God invites you to play a part in this symphony. If you can’t figure out how this might work for you, please talk to Pastor Susie or me, and we’ll find a way to help you figure out how to make it happen. And it isn’t just about serving on a committee. Much of what makes this place special has nothing to do with committees. Without you, the music isn’t complete.
You Never Know
I once served a church where a recovering addict asked if he could have some time in a service to thank the congregation for all they had done to help his recovery. No one knew about his addiction. He turned his life over to God and came to church more regularly. He talked about the sermons and music, the warm greetings from the ushers, and the coffee servers’ kindness. What surprised me was how he went out of his way to thank a woman who sat in the same pew where he usually sat. He said there were times he almost didn’t come, but he thought about her and her faithfulness and knew that whatever else was wrong in his life and the world, she would pass the attendance register and offer kindness. She had no idea she was saving someone’s life; she was going to church. He said that’s the point. You never know who you are helping, influencing, saving.
God constantly challenges us to escape from the prison of thinking about ourselves and thinking about the good of all. With everything happening in our country and world, we need people to rise up and think about the good of all instead of just themselves. We need people working for the upbuilding of all more than ever.
Play the song!
So, play your part in God’s grand symphony. The creator wrote the score, the spirit has given you a part, and Jesus is the maestro leading us in the tempo of love. It’s the music that can soothe the savage world and make it better.
I know sometimes you feel too tired or scared. What if I make a mistake? But you are the only one who can play your part. You are connected to others in ways that nobody else is.
We are in that crystalized moment. The baton is raised. When it hits that downbeat, are you ready to play your part with everything you’ve got?
Release the music! Here is the secret of life.
You are stronger than you think. You can do more than you think you can, devote more of your time than you think you can, and be more loving, forgiving, and faithful than you think you can.
All you need to do is tell yourself you will do it and trust God’s power to help you. In one sense, you are right. You are limited as long as you only rely on your own power. But when you rely on the grace of God, then all things are possible through the strength that dwells in you. You have to trust and decide to join in. And your gifts become spiritual music for the transformation of the world.
Without you, the music isn’t complete. Amen.