Epiphany 4C, 2004

1 Corinthians 12

Making Sense of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit

 

Introduction

 

Today following the service we will be holding our annual meeting when we will hear brief reports of how God has blessed the ministry of our church and when we will also elect officers for positions of leadership. That is why I find it appropriate that one of our readings on this day is from the 12th chapter of 1 Corinthians, addressing spiritual gifts. For the Holy Spirit gives special gifts to God’s people to build up the body of Christ, His church. Now, I want to point out right from the start that the gifting of the Holy Spirit is not limited to positions of church leadership, the ones we will be dealing with this afternoon. They form only one aspect of God’s gifting.

 

Perhaps the most important reason the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth was that the church there was being torn apart by divisions. The divisions were partly the result of some leaders in the church at Corinth teaching a great deal of "nonsense" on the subject of spiritual gifts. But their teaching contained just enough "sense" to make it appear authoritative. And because of this, many Christians there were led to believe these cleverly disguised false teachings and were applying them to their lives.

 

These false teachers were saying that true gifts of the spirit were always sensational or miraculous. They also taught that when a Christian was under the influence of the Holy Spirit he or she was out of control. They were spreading the nonsense that spiritual gifts were only bestowed on the favored few, the "mature" Christians who were closest to God. They taught that spiritual gifts carry with them authority and a guarantee of spiritual maturity.

 

Because of all this nonsense the local body of Christ in Corinth was in turmoil, it was sick. The Apostle Paul had founded this little church on his 2nd missionary journey and he cared very deeply for its people. So, when he heard of their troubles he wrote to the Christians there. He gave them true spiritual wisdom to help distinguish sense from nonsense when it comes to spiritual gifts.

 

Paul says knowledge of spiritual gifts is a requirement to BUILD THE BODY OF CHRIST. Each of us must understand what part we play in the functioning of this body if it is to be healthy, strong and productive. So I think it is vital for us to look at the basic truth statements Paul has placed in this letter.

 

We must first understand that there is a difference between the "GIFT" of the Holy Spirit and the "GIFTS" of the Holy Spirit. The GIFT (singular!) is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit whereby He comes to take up residence in the believer's heart the moment that person receives Christ as Savior. Once you become a Christian, you never need MORE of the Holy Spirit.

 

Now, all Christians struggle to give Christ control over more areas of their lives, to truly make Him LORD of all our thoughts, deeds, and actions. But it would be nonsense to say that any Christian needs a "2nd blessing" sometimes called "receiving the Holy Spirit" because all who have been baptized into Christ already have the GIFT of the Holy Spirit.

 

In Acts 2:38 Peter addresses people who want to become Christians and he says, "Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." So, THE GIFT of the Holy Spirit's indwelling an individual is something all Christians have the moment they repent of their sin and are baptized.

 

But the GIFTS  (plural!) of the Holy Spirit are something else. The "GIFTS" of the Holy Spirit are special abilities imparted to all Christians by the Holy Spirit for service in the church. So this morning I want us to examine four basic truths found here in 1 Corinthians 12 that will help us to make sense of the subject of spiritual "GIFTS".

 

1 - First of all we must understand that they are literally "Gifts".

Paul calls these gifts of the Spirit "the charismata" which means "grace gifts." And that is exactly what they are. They are GIFTS bestowed on us as Christians by the free, unmerited favor of God. Dr. Jack MacGorman says: "Charismatic gifts (and all spiritual gifts are charismatic) are handed down by the Spirit of God...they are not worked up by men..." Since these are GIFTS...that means...we don't select them. Paul says that God's Spirit distributes these gifts "to every man AS HE WILLS." (12:11) It is God who bestows spiritual gifts upon His children "AS HE WILLS," as HE CHOOSES....

 

That is why envy, boasting, feelings of superiority, etc. are so out of place in the church. We have nothing to boast about. Churches that have a distorted view of spiritual gifts often experience the kind of divisions the church in Corinth has. To overcome that problem Paul encourages them all to excel in the greatest of all gifts, in the way of love (12:31, 13:1 ff.). Love, together with faith and hope, provides the context within which the gifts of the Holy Spirit can be properly expressed so that the body of Christ is built up rather than torn apart by divisions.

 

We all need to understand that what we have is GIVEN us by our gracious Lord. We didn't receive our spiritual gifts as REWARDS for our deeds. They are not MERIT badges. They are not indications of spiritual excellence or superiority. They are given out to us "AS THE SPIRIT WILLS." So there is no room for pride in the body of Christ, for when we see people using their gifts effectively then what we are really seeing is God at work through us and rather than envy or pride we should be led to praise Him.

 

2 - A second thing Paul said...these Gifts are varied...there are many kinds

In our text for today a number of spiritual gifts are listed. There are three other lists of spiritual gifts found in the Bible, and other individual gifts are mentioned in various texts scattered throughout the New Testament, such as the gift of celibacy ( 1 Corinthians 7:7). The gifts include: faith, wisdom, knowledge, ministry, miracles, healing, tongues, administration, exhortation, and much more. Since there are several lists, and they are all different, they are obviously intended to be only illustrative. If they were intended to be an exhaustive list, then they would all contain the same gifts. These lists seem to be only representative.

 

Any spiritual gift God bestows could probably fit into one of those mentioned in the Bible, but the point Paul makes is that God bestows whatever "gift" is needed in each unique situation so that the body can fulfill its unique ministry. God gifts the body of Christ according to whatever is needed to minister to its’ unique mission field.

 

3 - A third thing Paul says about Spiritual Gifts is this: every Christian has at least one... 

No Christian has all the spiritual gifts on these lists but every Christian has at least one. Paul said that spiritual gifts are given... to each one! (12:7) So no Christians can say, "I can't serve God; I don't have any capacity or ability to serve Him." You may not have discovered your spiritual gift but it is there, waiting to be used.

 

As authentic followers of Christ we have all been gifted with a "grace" gift of the Holy Spirit. And each and every one of these gifts is important, because....

 

4 - Each of these various gifts is to be used as a vital part of the local body of Christ.

In 1 Peter 4:10 we read, "Whatever gift each of you may have received, use it in service to one another, like good stewards dispensing the grace of God." Part of the purpose of these gifts is to remind us that we are one part of a larger body. Paul tells us that the church is like a real physical body, "...if one member suffers, all the members suffer....if one member is honored, all the members rejoice..." (1 Corinthians 12:26)

 

Our Spiritual gifts should remind us that we are part of a body. So you and I are not given our gifts for our own sake. They are meant for the building of the body of Christ. This has very important implications for our church here in Toronto and how we conduct our ministry.

 

Invitation

Since God has given us gifts so that we might function as an essential part of this local body of Christ, it means that if even one person fails to function, the body of Christ is deprived of a ministry it needs to function well.

 

And the reverse is also true: If every member were walking in the Spirit, using their particular spiritual gifts, there would be no weaknesses in this local body of believers. As we all exercise the gifts God has given us in the context of love, we will see God’s love shine forth brightly in this place as a beacon in our community. To a large extent we already experience the blessings of God’s “gifts” being wisely used in our midst. However, it is our goal to encourage and help everyone to identify their particular gifts and to be able to use them so that the body of Christ might be built up. Amen.

 

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