You're commanded to eagerly desire greater gifts to serve Christ's Church!
1 Corinthians 12:27-31 (NIV)
CONTEXT: Paul just introduced the body as an analogy for the Church. Just as a body has multiple parts, and each part has a unique purpose, so the Church has different roles, all of which are important. Since God has created you to be what you are, you should eagerly play that role.
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. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.
Listen to passage & devotional:
Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 31: The Officers of the Church
We believe that
ministers of the Word of God, elders, and deacons
ought to be chosen to their offices
by a legitimate election of the church,
with prayer in the name of the Lord,
and in good order,
as the Word of God teaches.
So everyone must be careful
not to push one’s self forward improperly,
but all must wait until called by God,
so that they may be assured of their calling
and be certain and sure that it is
from the Lord.
As for the ministers of the Word,
they all have the same power and authority,
no matter where they may be,
since they are all servants of Jesus Christ,
the only universal bishop,
and the only head of the church.
Moreover,
to keep God’s holy order
from being violated or despised,
we say that everyone ought,
as much as possible,
to hold the ministers of the Word and elders of the church
in special esteem,
because of the work they do,
and be at peace with them,
without grumbling, quarreling, or fighting
Summary
One of the first things that must be understood about the Church is that it always has been and always will be spoken of in corporate terms. In fact, the word corporate means 'body,' which is what Paul is comparing the Church to. Too often people want to think of the Church as multiple single cell organisms in which they can live and act independently, but the Bible never presents it that way.
On one hand, all Christians are a part of the body of Christ, and all share in the equal dignity that being part of this body entails. We both literally and figuratively rise and fall together, as one. But on the other hand, bodies have an ordered hierarchy to their parts. Both your pinky toe and the frontal lobes of your brain are important parts of your body, but you're not going to make major decisions based only on your pinky toe's opinion of the matter.
In the same way, there is an ordered hierarchy in the Church. God has placed first of all the apostles... These twelve men, who had spent years with Jesus and witnessed His death and resurrection, had the primary authority in the early Church. Then second came prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. All of these gifts were unique and useful in their own way, but it's good to know important decisions were not made based only on a utterance of 'tongues' that may or may not have been understood or interpreted correctly!
If that list of Church 'body parts' seems odd to you, it's because in a very real sense, the Church has 'evolved' and no longer needs apostles, prophets, miracles, healing or tongues. As the book of Acts unfolds, it tells the story of how church leadership transitioned from supernatural giftings to the offices of pastor, elder and deacon that still lead Christ's body on earth today.
Dig Deeper
You're likely reading this in the midst of another election season, both politically and in many churches who often elect new elders and deacons near the end of the year. Political candidates can often be described by one word: ambition. Millions of dollars are spent and countless yard signs advocating particular candidates and other ads clog the landscape and airwaves. It's no wonder the American Founding Fathers deplored ambitious politicians who just wanted power.
Compare the massively over ambitious political candidates with the 'candidates' who get nominated for office in your church. You go from one unhealthy end of the ambition scale way to the other end! It's almost unheard of for an elder or deacon to campaign for their election! In fact, if there's any campaigning being done, it's done by those who've been nominated trying to get their name off the ballot!
Now certainly we don't want to learn lessons from our political counterparts about how to run for church office. We don't want to be met with 'Vote Bob for Elder' signs in the church parking lot or have the after service cookies sponsored by Rick's deacon campaign. But certainly there's room between no ambition and over ambition!
After spending several paragraphs instructing individual Christians to be content with their particular gifts and location in the body, Paul counters this message with the very last verse: Now eagerly desire the greater gifts ('desire' literally means to seek for and strive after). In other words, show some ambition to serve the church in increasingly important roles, and then be grateful for however God chooses to use you in His service.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who places in the Church people He's gifted in a myriad of valuable ways;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you would eagerly desire greater gifts and that you'll have the ambition to do the hard work required to attain those gifts;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: John 2
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