There was a lot of vitality in Corinth. People exercised a variety of gifts. One gift, in particular, was causing trouble — the gift of tongues. Some people, then as now, made the speaking of unknown or spiritual languages the criterion for a faithful Christian. They wanted limit the church to tongues-speakers. They wanted conformity.
Paul says that we have a variety of gifts. Some are good at some things while others are good at doing something else. There is one Spirit, Paul says, but when the Spirit dispenses gifts to us they come out varied and different. But when we put all these gifts together, we form community.
Some regarded their spiritual gifts as superior to those of others and it went on. Paul spoke firmly to those Christians saying, "For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all given to drink into one Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12.13).
When you come up here today to join in this Eucharistic meal, know that you are receiving; just as Jesus' friends did 2,000 years ago--know that you are receiving the body and blood of Jesus, the covenant between God and you that your sins—all of them—are forgiven.
Paul told the church at Corinth to "remember." They had apparently forgotten what it meant to be a church. There were divisions among them, not because they were different, but because each was doing his/her own thing. It wasn't the supper of the Lord they sought, it was to feed their own stomachs.
The lesson we must learn my friends, is at all costs to avoid the worship of false gods.
The problem comes when our very person begins to be shaped by the fads and fancies of the time, by the pressures and prejudices of the crowd, when our most fundamental attitudes are dictated by the press and our values by the polls. “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its mold.”
Only as we place ourselves at the disposal of a higher will do we enjoy freedom from the pressures of culture and crowd--do we truly become our own person. Life by the will of God is not surrender of our own mind and will. It is in fact liberation of both. Says the old hymn “Make me a captive, Lord, and then I shall be free.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "The bearers of Jesus’ word … are now Christ’s fellow workers. … They are to meet those to whom they are sent as if they were Christ himself. They are bearers of his presence. They bring with them the most precious gift in the world, the gift of Jesus Christ." (Cost of Discipleship).
If everyone is tempted, what is the difference between temptation and sin? Martin Luther once said that temptation is like a bird flying over our head. No one can prevent that from happening. But sin is when we let the bird build a nest in our hair!