John Piper’s latest Taste and See article is a meditation on 1 Corinthians 12, and it really moved me.  I will share an excerpt of the article below, then some further observations.  You can read the whole article here.

Here is an excerpt:

God may intend to give us the blessing… through the spiritual gifting of another believer. And the reason we don’t receive the blessing is that we don’t avail ourselves of the power God intends to channel through the gifts of his people.

For example, the gifts Paul mentions include wisdom and healings and miracles. This implies that God intends that sometimes wisdom and healing and other sorts of miracles come into our lives through other believers ministering to us. If this were not true, there would be no point in spiritual gifts. They are one way God brings about the “common good” of the church.

If we pray and pray for some change we want to see, but we never consider seeking the ministry of a fellow believer, we are like the eye that says to the hand, “I have no need of you” (1 Corinthians 12:21). So in your small groups (which is the most natural place for such ministry to happen), seek the fullness of God’s “good” (1 Corinthians 12:7), and minister to each other—and seek to be ministered to—in this way.

This is astonishing biblical truth.  Verse 22, tells us that even the parts which appear to be weaker are “indispensable”.  Indispensable really?  Maybe indispensable in the sense that God loves them and we should too.  Nope.  The context of 1 Corinthians 12 shows us that every part of the body is indispensable in the sense that we have need of them.

You mean I have need of that Christian man in my church who always smells terrible, constantly asks for prayer, and doesn’t know how to form complete sentences?  You mean I have need of that dispensationalist lady who is always talking about the end times and doesn’t follow common social mores?  You mean I need that guy who is barely 4 weeks clean (again) and thinks he is a pastor of some kind, always preaching to me like I’ve never read the bible before?

I know these people need me, but I need them?  Yes.  I need them.  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…  God’s ways are not my ways.  What blessings of God have I been missing out on from effectively saying to the feet “I have no need of you”?  What deliverance from sin might I have if I sought out more prayer from the brothers and sisters in my sphere, or leaned on them for help?  What grace is there available that I have not laid hold of?

God has told us in his word that there is something that is indispensable for fruitful walking in the grace of Christ.  He has told us of a special key to unlock helpful resources of grace untold – indispensable riches!  May we lay hold of these indispensable means’ of grace before us.  Lay hold my dear brothers and sisters and walk fruitful in Christ Jesus as never before.  Eagerly and humbly seek ministry from God through the church.