I’m so thankful for the diversity of gifts God has blessed the church with! Many people doing many different things as one in service to God. That’s how God intended it to be. But in Corinth as in many churches, people were likely elevating certain gifts above others, granting more worth to the speaking of tongues than say mercy ministries for example. There had to be some kind of discord going on due to a misunderstanding of the gifts or why else would Paul divulge such a large segment toward the topic. Discord. How does he address this? He appeals to truth. He appeals to unity. He appeals to our uselessness without the Spirit. He appeals to God, the Gift-Giver.
Having the same vision and the same goal is vital to the well-being of our church but more than that we need to cherish the process of getting there together. God wants us to depend on Him as we depend on each other. Need Him as we need each other. Serve Him as we serve each other. One hurts, we all hurt.
As a member of Jesus’ body, God wants me to understand that church is about something much bigger than who gets to do what. My gifts are not for me. All gifts are equal in the sense that they bring the church TOGETHER to serve the SAME God as ONE body. How we do church must be a reflection of this truth.