Love and The Body – 1 Corinthians 12 and 13

Something hit me while I was preparing for small group a while back. It’s actually something I feel like God has been showing me for a long time, through various channels – but something about it became more clear and obvious to me just now. I had to write about it.

A while back, I remember pastor J.D. commenting on how 1 Corinthians 13 – yes, the infamous passage so often quoted at weddings – is often misunderstood. It was never meant to be a lovey-dovey greeting card stuck in the midst of other unrelated teachings. Its scope is so much bigger than just husband and wife – it’s about the entire body of Christ. It’s about the Church.

As you read through 1 Corinthians 12 (remember, context!) you see Paul explaining the idea of spiritual gifts and the Church as a body. In short, Paul says that though there are a variety of spiritual gifts, but only one source. That source is the Holy Spirit, who is in fact one with Jesus Christ and God the Father. Though some of these gifts seem more honorable or praiseworthy to us, God honors those “unpresentable parts” all the more, as they are indispensable. Why such a variety of gifts? Why some so much more desirable to us than others? Verse 24 says it was to create a unity in the body, not division. It’s not a bad thing to desire those “higher gifts” (v31), but there is something much more important… more on that in a second. But as members of one body, we rise and fall together. Together, we experience times of sorrow and times of joy.

For our small group, this is an encouragement. Even though I’m the one who leads the group, every member of our group has gifts that they can and should use in order to make our group successful in loving God, loving each other, and loving our world. Paul shows us in chapter 13 that this kind of love is so much more important that whatever gift we may have. I encourage you, if you haven’t already done so, read chapters 12 and 13 together now.

In chapter 13, Paul stresses the importance of love. He says that even if you’re the most gifted teacher, or the most faithful and self-sacrificing servant, that if you don’t have love, you have nothing at all. Remember, this is immediately following his not-so-subtle segue at the end of chapter 12. The love he describes in the following verses then should be taken as a high and lofty calling for the Church as a whole – not just husband and wife. I’m not saying that I shouldn’t strive to love my wife according to 1 Corinthians 13. On the contrary, my relationship with my wife should model this love to those around us – it should encourage our small group to love each other in this way. If our small group loves in this way, it will encourage our Church to do it.

But how is this possible? How can we love each other like this? It’s obviously not natural for me to treat everybody with this kind of love, and quite frankly I’m not convinced a lot of people have earned it. But this kind of love doesn’t come from us – it comes from God. In our deep, honest relationship with Christ, we learn that he first loved us in this way. He proved that love for us at the cross, bearing our sin and enduring our suffering. Because of that love, and because of the Spirit dwelling within us, we can in turn love in this way. And a Church that loves like this will win a city the world for God!

I think it is only now that I’ve realized the (probably intentional) sequential nature of our Church’s mission statement: Love God, Love Each Other, Love the World. First and foremost, we love God. In loving God, we are enabled to love each other. In loving each other – in acting as the body of Christ, working together – we can love the world.

Is the Bible awesome or what?

update coming…

I know it’s been a while, but I haven’t forgotten to blog. I’ve just forgotten to make time to blog :]

I’ve got a post on 1 Corinthians 12 and 13, community, and small groups coming up. It should be good.

Small Group Dilemmas

Since our SummitLife group kicks off tomorrow, I thought I ought to go ahead and write a post about the last topic from the training: Small Group Dilemmas. 

Small Group Dilemmas

I think the word “Dilemma” was chosen because it was taught in the same session as Dynamics, and we Baptists love alliteration. What I think we’re really looking at are situations than can arise which are common to small groups and might be problematic if not handled well. There are a few important things to keep in mind with all of these.

1. Use the scripture. Remember 2 Timothy 3:16-17. There is always a word from God for every situation, whether it’s specifically about the problem you’re facing or generally about a heart condition. God’s word speaks truth, and it’s very, very useful. 
2. Prayer works. Small groups are a critical point for people to see not only a belief in the fact that prayer does work, but that prayers are answered. See Colossians 4:2, 1st Thessalonians 5:17, and Psalm 65:2. And Phillipians 4:6-7. And 2 Chronicles 7:14-15. And… you get the idea. 
3. Speak with grace. When problems come up, chose your words carefully. Be careful to encourage, and be humble and compassionate. See 1 John 1:5-10. 

Keep in mind with all of this that most people don’t know what kind of dilemma they might be causing. They probably didn’t come in with the intention of causing trouble.

Common Scenarios

These are a few of the most common situations a small group would face. It’s not an exhaustive list, but it covers some pretty regular occurrences and how you might deal with them.

• The Story Teller always has a personal experience that relates to everything that comes up. Not that these stories are always bad, but if it gets out of hand, try roping the discussion by asking how it relates to what you’re studying. It might be helpful to give an outline in the beginning of the study time, to set up some structure to the time. If it becomes a repeated problem, you might have to pull the person aside sometime outside of the discussion time and talk to them (remembering to speak with grace). This person might be a potential facilitator of discussion time.
• The Discussion Dominator tends to try to control the discussion and monopolize group interactions. First of all, don’t play this role as the leader. Allow everybody in your group the chance to contribute. If you have a person in your group that does this a lot, research shows that you can sit beside that person and they’ll do it less. It’s got something to do with eye contact. Also, you can try talking to them outside of the study time about giving others the opportunity to speak up. If your group has been together for a while, you might try calling on people to respond to a particular question – but be careful not to put people on the spot. 
• The Dead Silence just happens sometimes. Maybe it’s a tough question, or a difficult passage to interpret, but once in a while you’ll hear the crickets chirp. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad leader. Don’t freak out – give people time to think and respond. Try asking broad questions that are a little easier to answer to jump-start the discussion.
• The emotional breakdown is one that scares me a little. I’ve just not been around a situation like this often, but when you’re digging into the word of God or having a heavy discussion, it can get emotional. If somebody in your group has a breakdown moment, the important thing is to be sensitive. Hear them out. Pray for them, even right then. It could be that the Spirit is at work in them, so be encouraging. If you’ve got a situation where this comes up often, reach out to elders and counselors in the church. We have people called area leaders at The Summit who are here for situations like this. 

And most importantly, in all things, pray, both as a group and for your group.

 

Well, that’s it! That’s the end of the SummitLife Leader Training material. It’s been a lot of help for me in preparing for leading a small group, and I’m looking forward to putting it into practice. Stay tuned to this blog for something a little different in the near future.