Journey Through The Bible
  Old Testament Reading: Psalms 111-118
  New Testament Reading: 1 Corinthians 12

As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that are weaker are indispensable. And those parts of the body that we consider less honorable, we clothe these with greater honor, and our unrespectable parts are treated with greater respect, which our respectable parts do not need (1 Corinthians 12:20-24).

One of the major problems in the Corinthian church was pride and the issues they had with Spiritual Gifts were no different. Some people in the church arrogantly thought their gifts were most important. The gifts of other people were insignificant and probably not even needed.

Paul tries to defuse the problem using humor and a great imagination. Suppose that our eyes, hands, and feet could talk! And what if the eyes said to the hand, “we don’t need you”. Or the hand said to the foot, “because you are not a hand, you are not needed. Just leave us alone so we can do our job!”

Even though big ears and filthy feet are less appealing than clean hands and bright sparkling eyes, they are still vital to the body. In the same way, every member of the Body of Christ performs a significant ministry for the entire church. If you’re involved in one ministry, you can’t say that another ministry is not important. It’s part of the Body. It’s a unique part of the Body, but we need all the parts working together. 

Paul said that God has put the body together giving greater honor to the less honorable (v24).What we think is less honorable, less important, God gives greater honor to. Every single ministry in the church is important. There’s no such thing as an unimportant ministry.

In the church, some people teach Sunday School classes and Bible Studies, others get up on the platform and sing or preach or give the announcements. We look at those as being more important parts of the church. But most often it is the hidden ministries, the ones done behind the scenes that no one sees, that are the most important. 

For example, just think of a communion service. When we have a communion service, we have the pastor and the deacons that are very visible as they pass the communion trays. To have a communion service that is the most important part, right? If they’re not serving it, how can we have a communion service? 

Well, the truth of the matter is, anybody could pass the trays. We don’t need the deacons to do it. In fact, we could have a communion service having nobody pass the trays. The congregation could get up and walk past the communion table and take the elements. Do you know what the most important part of the communion service is? The most important ministry is the person who puts the juice and the bread in the trays. That is the most important because we couldn’t have a communion service if the trays were empty. 

Just like those parts of the body that we consider less honorable, we clothe these with greater honor (v23). The most important ministries are often the ones we don’t see, the ones we don’t even know who is doing the work. Don’t ever think, “Oh, I’m just the dirt underneath the toenail the Body of Christ, I don’t have an important job to do”. Every single job in the church is important. If we would only see the value of ministries as God sees them, then as Paul said, there would be no division in the body, but the members would have the same concern for each other (v25).