Bursting Wineskins is a short (75 page) book by Mack Cunningham describing his search for a more Biblical Church life. The excerpt below reflects on the question of whether you are needed or not.
There is a final important passage of Scripture that has much to say about how God wants Christ’s church to function on this earth. It is found in 1 Corinthians 12:12-26. Here is the text.
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”
Verses 12 and 13 emphasize that there is only one body because we have all been baptized into Christ by the same Holy Spirit. It has already been noted how far we have strayed from this heavenly reality.
But in spite of this oneness, there are different parts to this body. Verses 14 to 19 declare this important truth. This diversity was intended by God to create an important aspect of interdependence on each other in the body of Christ because the body of Christ needs different parts in order to effectively carry out multiple tasks. As vs. 17 states, ‘If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of smelling?’ Thus vs. 19 concludes, ‘If all were a single member, where would the body be?’ Obviously, it would not be able to function as it should. Vs. 22 goes even further when it states that ‘the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are necessary’.
But let us be frank about modern church life. Do we feel indispensable to what goes on in our local assembly, or could the whole organization get along fine without us? Who would run the sound system and coordinate the overheads? Who would staff the Sunday school classes? Who would organize and show up for a church building workday? Do these activities seem indispensable to you? There is only one very important contribution that each believer makes in most local churches and that is their tithe. Without regular tithing, a full-time staff and maintenance of a building could not be supported. This would put an end to that local church’s existence.
Congregations are becoming increasingly unstable as families choose where to attend depending on personal need fulfillment. This transience is partly due to the modern church’s structure that communicates they want you to keep showing up but really don’t have any dire need of you, just your tithe. Any need for each other is usually generated by friendships that are formed and social life that is shared among members. To actually value and rely on another believer’s spiritual qualities and gifts is rare. Unity in the body of Christ has been seriously undermined by one part of the body communicating to another part, in effect, ‘I have no need of you’ (vs. 21).
There must be something more that each believer is to contribute to the body that makes each one very necessary. Verses 21 through 26 point out that there is a problem with human perception when it comes to how important each part of the body is. Those we see as ‘weaker’ are indispensable. They are more important than we naturally think. Therefore, those we deem less honorable are to be honored more than those we would naturally give more honor to. This is not a psychological ploy to make everybody feel better about themselves. Nor is it sociological manipulation to maintain equanimity. It is wise counsel given to congregations to combat our natural ways of evaluating people and tune into the spiritual value that each believer possesses. Unfortunately, modern church life has ignored this counsel and heaps praise on those who already are ‘more honored’-typically these are pastors and worship leaders. I suppose one could try to give more honor to the ‘laity, but it would seem trite to heap praise on someone for their faithfulness in passing out bulletins.
The last two verses (25 & 26) emphasize how connected each part of the body of Christ is to all the other parts. We are to show the same care for one another. When one suffers, we all suffer. When one is honored, we all rejoice together. Frankly, my own sense of connection to other believers varies, depending on how involved I am with them. It could be that this is another time when the phrase ‘on earth as it is in heaven’ applies. There is a spiritual connectivity that exists in Christ’s universal church that we are dimly aware of in our earthly church life.
Our natural tendencies as to how we evaluate people and engage with them are to be changed in light of who we now are in Christ. It is very challenging to see our local fellowship as actual members of the body of Christ and not just a social gathering. We gravitate to, and spend time with, those we like or admire with little thought of others. And we don’t see the hidden giftedness in most of our fellow believers because we are functioning in a church structure that inhibits our spiritual growth and expression.
Our appreciation of, and how we value, other believers would certainly increase as we saw their spiritual giftedness in action. We would look afresh at others if we saw the Holy Spirit impact the church through them. Up to this point I have focused on how we meet together. One can hopefully see how important a ‘testimony time’ is when we gather. We can share how the Holy Spirit has been working through us and impacting us personally during the week. This kind of sharing certainly is important in gaining insight into other believers and increasing our appreciation of them. But this kind of sharing rarely takes place in mid-week meetings, let alone any Sunday service.
But some giftedness is manifest outside the local gatherings in the communal activities we have and the secular activities we are involved in. It is there that the Holy Spirit does most of His work through us. But if we don’t get involved with other believers outside our gathering together, we will never see their spiritual side in action. That is why our Kingdom life together has to be more than a series of meetings. Time must be invested in order to foster intimate relationships. But the individualistic and self-centered lifestyles of the modern church do not foster development of intimate relationships.
Let me sum up the line of reasoning I have put forth in this chapter. Each believer in Christ has value and has an indispensable function in the church. But most believers don’t recognize this value in themselves, let alone others. There are three main reasons this is the case. First, there is very little opportunity for giftedness to be demonstrated in the modern church system. Second, no time is allowed for saints to give testimonies of what the Holy Spirit has been doing in their lives or share any edifying verses from scripture. And third, our individual lifestyles minimize the time we need to get together outside the normal meetings in order to get to know one another. Hopefully, it is becoming clearer to my reader that this is not something that can be corrected by trying harder or being more aware. There needs to be a structural change in how we fundamentally ‘do church’ and prioritize our personal lives in order to address these kinds of problems.
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