1 Corinthians 12:1-7 * January 17, 2010 *
Epiphany 2 * Pastor Leyrer
Dear Friends in Christ,
I’m sure we all have within our circle of acquaintances people we describe as “gifted.” These are usually individuals who have a high degree of talent in a certain area and can do things with apparent ease that we personally may struggle with, even if we’ve had the same amount of schooling or instruction. For such people there is really no other way to explain it than to say “that person has a gift.”
Our text for today is the first of consecutive readings taken from the later chapters of First Corinthians that we’ll be hearing for the next four weeks. All of these readings are connected in thought. They address the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the individual Christian, as well as the individual Christian’s responsibility to the body of believers that he or she is a part of.
A moment ago we spoke of “gifted” individuals. In today’s lesson the Apostle Paul applies this term to an entire group of people. The people he’s referring to are believers in Jesus Christ. And we, by God’s grace, are among them.
GOD’S GIFTED PEOPLE SERVE THE LORD
pretty well summarizes the message of our text. A closer look at this Word of God sees the Apostle Paul addressing these three areas in particular:
Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do
not want you to be ignorant. 2 You
know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led
astray to mute idols. 3 Therefore
I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be
cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
To understand these words we need to know that the Corinthian church that Paul had established was a young, vibrant, growing congregation. In the past they had been, as described by Paul, “pagans” who in their unbelief had worshiped “mute idols.” But God in His grace had changed all that by bringing them to faith in Jesus Christ. Now in many ways they were, as we will see, a “gifted” church.
Nevertheless, if there was one glaring weakness found in this congregation it was in the area of pride. Some within the congregation had evidently assumed a highly inflated opinion about themselves. As a result, divisions were forming within the church. And at the core of these divisions was the matter of spiritual gifts.
Apparently
the Corinthian church asked Paul for some clarification on this topic. So our text begins by Paul saying, “Now about spiritual gifts…”
First order of business: what exactly are spiritual gifts? And why were they presenting a problem? Let’s define the term.
A
spiritual gift is a special gift or talent given to a believer by the Holy Spirit. Some spiritual gifts are based on natural
talents and abilities and become special,
or spiritual, when they are used for the glory of God; whereas other spiritual
gifts, especially as seen in the early church, were clearly supernatural or
miraculous. From the list given in the
last verses of this Scripture lesson we see that spiritual gifts of both the
natural and the supernatural variety could be found in
However, instead of uniting the congregation as they were intended to, their “giftedness” was dividing them. So Paul reminds the Corinthians (and the church today) that in this wrangling over who has more or who can do this or that within the church, they were overlooking the most important gift which the Holy Spirit had given to all believers…
And
that is the gift of faith. “No man can say that Jesus is Lord except
by the Holy Spirit.” Paul speaks in a similar way to the Ephesian
congregation when he wrote: “For it is by grace you have been saved by
faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by
works, so that no one can boast.”
Primary
lesson: The greatest spiritual gift which the Holy Spirit gives is faith and
the ability to confess with conviction that Jesus Christ is Lord. The point, which cannot be overemphasized,
is that this is indeed a gift.
That’s why Paul asks the Corinthians to compare their former life of idol worship with their present life of Christianity. He wants them to know that they in no way came to this faith on their own. To believe as they did – to believe as we do: that though we are sinners God has forgiven us and saved us eternally through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ – is the supreme gift that God the Holy Spirit has given us and worked in our hearts.
And since it is a gift, we will respond to it as we would any other gift – with thankfulness and appreciation.
A second thing we can learn from these initial verses is that ALL Christians share in this most important gift of faith. In other words, all Christians possess the greatest of the spiritual gifts – faith in Christ – to which every other gift or talent is secondary. Contrary to what some in the Corinthian congregation arrogantly believed, there is no status system within Christianity, and there is no such thing as a second class Christian.
As we move to the second part of our text Paul addresses the scope of our spiritual gifts.
4 There are different kinds of
gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There
are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working,
but the same God works all of them in all men.
What
we are told here is that in addition to the greatest gift of faith, each
Christian – without exception and as an individual – has a spiritual gift or
gifts to be used for the
Think of the comforting application these words had for the Corinthians. Some of them were undoubtedly feeling a bit low because they couldn’t measure up to some of the things the others were doing. They looked around and saw Joe or Jane Super-Christian speaking in tongues or displaying some other extraordinary talent, and they got down on themselves because they couldn’t do the same. They then began to feel about themselves in a way that God never did; that they were somehow less important, or just average.
Paul tells them to stop that. Sure our gifts and talents differ, and it is true that some may be more visible than others, but all are equally important and all are part of God’s plan. Rather than comparing ourselves to others who have different gifts or making value judgments on who or what is more important, Paul encourages us to faithfully use the gifts God has given each of us to the best of our ability.
A couple of hymn verses come to mind here. One is the second verse of the well known mission hymn, “Hark the voice of Jesus Crying.” Do you remember how it goes?
If you cannot speak like angels, if you cannot preach
like Paul
You can tell the love of Jesus; you can say He died
for all.
If you cannot rouse the wicked with the Judgment’s
dread alarms,
You can lead the little children to the Savior’s
waiting arms.
We can personalize this. Humanly speaking many of us are here today because of God-fearing mothers and fathers and teachers and Sunday school teachers who would have probably been scared to death at the thought of ever talking before a large assembly and who in the eyes of the world were viewed as nothing more than average people, but who through their words and actions and efforts imparted to us a love for Christ. And God says regardless of how they stack up on the talent scale, such people are spiritual giants.
Related to this is a story told of a pastor who made a visit to one of his members. At one time she was very active in the life of the congregation but now because of age and health was homebound. She missed being in church. She felt badly she couldn’t do more. In fact, she sometimes wondered why God still had her here; what her purpose was.
In the course of the conversation the pastor discovered that she spent the first hour of her morning praying for him as well as for the sick and troubled in her congregation. And he gently reminded her that perhaps she had answered her own questions.
Now recall verse three of that mission hymn:
If you cannot be a watchman standing high on
Pointing out the path to heaven, offering life and
peace to all,
With your prayers and with your offerings you can do
what God demands;
You can be like faithful Aaron, holding up the
prophet’s hands.
In the final verse of our text Paul addresses the purpose for which God gives spiritual gifts to His children: 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. Each person, with the talents given to him or her by God, has them and is obligated to use them for the common good; that is, for the benefit of others as well as for the benefit of the greater Kingdom of God. That’s why we have them, and that is what makes a Christian congregation a thing of beauty.
Where
one is weak, another is strong. Where
one is inexperienced, another is knowledgeable. Where one is unable, another is
equipped. All working together for the
promotion of the
Bottom
line: a Christian congregation, such as
The English poet and clergyman John Donne famously wrote that no man is an island, but that everyone was a piece of the continent. He implied we’re all interconnected and have a responsibility toward each other. In this teaching on spiritual gifts the Apostle Paul says the same about the church.
So what have we learned today?
First and foremost to be thankful for the greatest spiritual gift that has been bestowed upon us: faith in Jesus Christ. That means we have peace in our hearts now and the confidence of knowing where we’re going when we close our eyes in death.
We’ve
also learned that there are no little people in the
As to the question: How do I know what gift is mine? Perhaps the simplest way to find out is to stay close to the Word of God. Live life to His glory. Seek His guidance. And the gifts He has given you will emerge. Above all, Paul tells us that rather than focusing on what we haven’t been given, we are to faithfully use what we have.
Because when that happens God is glorified, we are blessed, the kingdom is strengthened and the body of believers is built up. God grant we understand the importance He places upon us and the glorious purpose for us as God’s gifted people serve the Lord. Amen.