Introduction:

            When I was 12-years-old, in addition to all the other trials that 12-year-old kids have to deal with, my genes had determined that I would also have huge feet. In 7th grade, I already needed size 13 shoes. I was this rather tall, skinny kid, with long narrow feet. I thought my profile looked like an upper case letter “L.” If there was a part of my body that I would have gladly exchanged, it would have been my big feet.  My feet are no longer an embarrassment to me.  In fact, I have learned that my feet are important to me.  I have learned that are useful anchors when trying to wedge your feet in a rubber raft while white-water rafting.  Moreover, my big feet have the added advantage of being able to measure things because my foot is about 12 inches long. I can just pace an area off rather using a tape measure. The things that were a problem or source of embarrassment to me are really very important and useful.

            We continue our study of 1 Corinthians 12 this morning by looking at verses 14-31. Some of the Corinthians felt that the spiritual gift they had was not very important and felt inferior. Some of the Corinthians felt that the gifts they had were so important that others weren’t needed and felt superior. Paul says both are wrong for when it comes to spiritual gifts, it doesn’t matter what gift you have, they are all needed and necessary for the proper functioning of the body of Christ.  Let’s read 1 Corinthians 12:12-31.

I. In verses 14-20, Paul addresses those who felt that they had inferior gifts.

            Paul here builds on the analogy of the body that he used in verse 12.  In verse 14, he first restates the principle: “Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.”  The body needs to have all the parts to make the body work.  In verse 15, Paul uses the example of hands and feet.  It would seem that hands are far more useful and important for you can do far more exciting and intricate things with your hands than you can with your feet, like playing an instrument.  Since feet can’t do such things, it doesn’t mean that they do not belong.  Our hands are great, but you can’t walk for miles on your hands.  While not glamorous, our feet are important to our bodies.  The same is true for eyes and ears as we see in verse 16.  Just because the ears can’t see doesn’t mean that they don’t belong.  Paul says in verse 17 if the whole body were an eye or an ear, what a mess that would be.  All the parts are important and are needed; even those we think are weaker.

            The point for the Corinthians is that those who felt that they didn’t have important gifts do belong in the body and are very important within the body.  Just as bodies need feet and ears as well as hands and eyes, the church needs gifts of serving, hospitality and encouragement as much as teaching and preaching.  No matter what their gift is, they belong to the body.  In fact, verses 18-20 makes it clear that this is the way God arranged them.  God, in His wisdom, knew that the church would need a wide range of gifts and abilities in order for it to fulfill its mission.

            That is something that we should not lose sight of here in Faith Church as well.  Perhaps you may feel that you have very little to contribute to the work of Faith Church.  You might think, “If we were to view the church of God as a great army, I am nothing by a menial private in that army.”  I once read a book which contained the memoirs of a Civil War soldier from Tennessee.  He spoke of all the important generals and captains in that great army of Tennessee.  They were very important and he was only a private in this big military machine.  But when there was a battle, this private said that he tried to shoot not the captains or generals, but the other army’s privates.  The generals weren’t trying to shoot him, but the privates were.

            We may view ourselves as having insignificant gifts, but when it comes to the daily work of God’s kingdom, gifts like serving, encouraging, showing hospitality, organizing, showing mercy and giving are the gifts through which a church’s work is carried out.  Your gift, whatever it may be, is very important and needed in the body for the common good.

II. In verses 21-26, Paul addresses those who felt that they had superior gifts.

            Again Paul uses the analogy of the body to do this as well.  However, in verse 21, Paul states it more emphatically using the term “need.”  “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’”  It is simply wrong to view others as being less important because they don’t have your gift.  In Corinth those with the gifts of tongues thought that their gift was the most important gift of all.  Such people were saying, “Anyone can teach or serve, but only some can speak in tongues.  We have what really matters in the church.”

            Notice that Paul, in correcting their wrong thinking, does not say that they must graciously make room in the church for those with the gifts that seem less important.  That would be like a big brother allowing a little sister to play with him because he has to.  Rather it is those people with those less important gifts that they should give extra care and honor because those with those seemingly lesser gifts deserve such honor.

            In verses 22-24, Paul makes it clear that we give special care to the less important gifts.  Verse 22 says that the parts of our bodies that are considered to be weaker must be considered as indispensable.  If some view their gifts as unimportant, we must view them instead as being crucial.  Verse 23 says that some parts are less honorable but they need special care and attention.  What is more glamorous: a heart or a thumb?  A heart is vital for life, but if one has no thumbs, life can be very difficult and so both hearts and thumbs must be protected.  A gift such as hospitality or helping in physical ways may not seem very glamorous, but if it isn’t done, the church will not run effectively as it should.

            Verses 23 and 24 say that there are some parts of our bodies that are unpresentable and are treated with special modesty.  These are gifts that we don’t want to talk about or are private.  For example, some of you may have the gift of giving but it is a gift that is used privately.  It is not visible but it is very important and the church must treat it as such.  Paul’s point is that we must not hold one gift over the others and say that the less important gifts are not needed or important at all.  We often have things backwards anyway when it comes to determining what is valuable.

            In one of Aesop’s fables, a deer, a handsome buck, came to a spring to drink.  He caught a glimpse of his reflection in the water, and admired his strong and beautifully shaped antlers. He was not as impressed with the appearance of his legs. They looked so thin and weak.  While he was engrossed in admiring himself in the spring, a lion appeared and charged toward him. The buck fled and easily outdistanced the lion, for his true strength was in his legs.  In the open fields he had no problem staying in front of the lion.  Unfortunately, he soon ran into wooded country, where his antlers became entangled in the branches of a tree. The lion caught him. The buck thought to himself, “Alas! My legs which I thought were too frail were my salvation and the antlers which I thought to be my strength were in fact my destruction.

            What we may think is not very important can be vital and vice versa.  But that is not strange; it is in fact the way that God arranged things.  God arranged the parts of the body for the reasons described in verses 24-26.  Verse 25 says that God gave gifts so that there would be unity, not divisions.  If the body turns against itself, the results are tragic.  The church is to be the place where all Christians of all kinds serve the Lord together using their gifts to build His church and further His kingdom.

            Verse 25 says that God gave gifts so all “parts should have equal concern for each other.”  The purpose of these gifts is that each person cares for each other.  So much so, in fact, that verse 26 says that “if one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.  If you hit your finger with a hammer, it is not just our finger’s problem; the whole body is in pain, complete with tears in your eyes and your feet jumping around!  If someone gives you a back-rub, you as a person are pleased, not just your back that enjoys it; your eyes close, you may sigh or hum.

             Good and bad things that happen to the church are shared together.  When someone gets hurt in an accident, we all feel the pain that they endure and we share with that person the pain and frustration in this.  More than that, the body should leap into action whenever someone is hurting just as your own body springs into action when you hurt your own finger.  When someone gets a job or celebrates something it is cause for the whole body to celebrate. 

            Verse 27 reminds us again that we are the body of Christ here on earth.  If the world today wants to know who Jesus is and what Jesus is like, they should see Him in us, the church, even though we are far from a perfect picture of Christ.  The church together is a representation of Christ to the world.  And in this body, this representation of Christ, every member is important.

III. Finally, Paul gives a sampling of gifts in the list found in verses 28-31.

            Let’s briefly look at the list of gifts that Paul gives here.  Verse 28 makes it clear that Apostles, prophets and teachers are the most important ministries.  These important gifts may well be the higher gifts that Paul speaks of verse 31.  Apostles were those exceptionally gifted men who had seen the risen Christ and who were called by Christ to be the foundation of His church.  They are the one gift that is not given any longer within the church.  Prophets declared the word of God in the power of the Spirit to the church to address the present situation the church was in.  This gift of proclaiming the word of God is still given today.  Teachers instructed their fellow members in the Christian faith and practice.  The content was based on the teaching of Jesus himself.  They are the ones whose gift enables them to keep the content alive by passing it down through the generations.

            Workers of miracles and healers appeared in the earlier list.  These were people who could do miraculous things to help identify and establish the kingdom of God in the world.  Such gifts are still evident often times on the mission fields where the presence of the kingdom needs to be established.  Helpers were those who attended to the other members’ physical needs.  They place themselves at the disposal of whomever needs help.  Such a person sees a task and is eager to do it with joy and gladness when others would view it as a drudgery.

            Administrators were the “helmsmen” of the church who directed its life.  The word comes from one who could pilot a ship into the harbor.  Given an overall task, one who is gifted in administration can coordinate and organize people and things toward achieving a goal.  Tongues and interpreters are listed, not coincidentally, last in order to underscore the fact that he believed that they were not the most important gifts.

            Paul then concludes in verses 29-30 by asking a series of questions.  “Are all apostles? Are ALL prophets? Are ALL teachers? Do ALL work miracles? Do ALL have gifts of healing? Do ALL speak in tongues? Do ALL interpret?”  Again he is emphasizing that not all have the same gift.  We need the diversity in gifts for the body to function well.  There are, however, important gifts and so in verse 31 Paul closes by urging his readers to seek after or desire those gifts that are important.  Gifts such as prophecy, preaching, teaching and evangelism are vital to the life and expansion of the kingdom of God.  If you sense that you may have such a gift, I urge you to explore it and use it.

            God gives the gifts, but it is up to us to discover them and use them.  We are a body of Christ, but if we don’t know what place we have in the body, it will be very difficult for us to function as we should.  We will likely be doing things that we should not be doing and not doing what we should.  A noted brain surgeon, Dr. Bronson Ray, was taking a walk when he saw a boy on a scooter smash head-first into a tree.  The boy was seriously injured and so the doctor told a bystander to call an ambulance.  

As he proceeded to administer first aid, a boy not much older than the injured one nudged through the crowd that had gathered and said to Dr. Ray, “I’d better take over now, sir. I’m a Boy Scout and I know first aid.”  A church trying to do ministry without knowing and using the gifts God has given them is working in a way that is equally dangerous and misguided.

            You have been given a gift to do the work of ministry within the church of Jesus Christ and within Faith Church;it is important that you know what your gifts are.  You have a vital place within this church, no matter what gift or gifts you have.  Will you develop it?  Will you encourage others to develop their gifts so that we can be the healthy body God desires us to be?

1 Corinthians 12:7-11 “The Purpose of Spiritual Gifts”

Introduction:

            It’s been kind of hot in the sanctuary the last several Sundays and for a while we thought the air conditioner was broken.  It turns out that someone had been playing around with the thermostat and it was set for Monday instead of Sunday.  Now I know that some of you – and I’ll not mention any names here – think it’s always too cold in here.  And I also know that some of you – and again I’ll not mention any names – think it is always too hot.  Now imagine that every Sunday, we were to have thermostat wars.  Some might get here really early and crank it down so that it’s really cold, which suits them just fine.  Of course the cold blooded ones figure this out and so they start coming earlier still to make it warmer.  What is happening?  Everyone is out for themselves and there is no sense of what is best for the common good.  If all that matters is our own comfort and needs without giving any thought to others we would not have a sense of the common good.

            This morning we continue to look at the teaching about spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 and specifically what the purposes of gifts are in the church. The purpose of gifts, according to these verses, is the common good. What does that mean? God gives gifts to His people so that together, as the church of Jesus Christ, we may build each other up and so build His church so that we all as a community may be blessed. Let’s read 1 Corinthians 12:1-11.

I. First of all, verses 7 and 11 make it clear who receives these gifts.

            If you believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have a gift from the Holy Spirit.  Gifts are not just for the outstanding people within the church; they are given to each one.  Verse 7: “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given.”  Verse 11: “All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.”  Everyone has a gift, and in fact, every person will likely have more than one.  For example, the Apostle Paul had a wide range of spiritual gifts.  He was an exceptional Apostle, but this shows it is possible to have more than just one gift.  You may not be aware of what they are, but each of you most likely has more than one gift.

            Notice that Paul describes spiritual gifts as “manifestations of the Spirit.”  A manifestation is when something becomes evident or obvious.  For example, if I were to go to the piano and try to play something our pianists play, it would become manifest that I can’t play the piano.  When you listen to our pianists play the piano, it becomes obvious or evident or manifest that they know how to play the piano and play it very well!  Paul says that each believer has received the manifestation of the Spirit.  In other words, as each person seeks to serve the Lord, it will become evident that they have received gifts from the Holy Spirit.  But more than that, it will become evident to those who observe that the Spirit of God is working in each person.

            A church that is using its gifts will be a church where the powerful presence of the Spirit is evident.  People will be able to tell just from being around the people in the church, that the Spirit of God is active among these people.  One Christmas Eve the telephone rang in the office of the pastor of the Episcopal Church in Washington that President Franklin Roosevelt would occasionally attend.  “Tell me Reverend,” the voice inquired, “are you holding a Christmas Eve service tonight?” When told that there would certainly be a service that evening, the caller asked, “And do you expect President Roosevelt to attend your church tonight?”  “That,” explained the Pastor patiently, “I can’t promise. I’m not sure about the President’s plans for this evening. But I can say that we fully expect God to be in our church tonight, and we feel secure in the knowledge that His attendance will attract a reasonably large congregation.”

            A church that uses its gifts not only has the presence of God in worship, but also in the daily lives and actions of the people.  When the Spirit and His gifts are being made manifest, we will be able to see gifts in others.  One important way we can learn what gifts we have is by others seeing those gifts in us.  And we can encourage one another when we see evidence of gifts in each other.  We can tell them:  “I think you have the gift of encouragement or showing mercy.”  It may confirm something that the person already thought but wasn’t quite sure of.



II. Verse 7 also gives very important insight as to what the purpose of gifts is.

            Paul says that gifts are given for “the common good.”  The gifts are given not just so that one person can benefit.  They are for the common good or literally for the profit of all.  We as a church are a body, not just a collection of individual people.  We have something amazing in common: faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.  We believe that if we confess our sins to the Lord and if we believe that Jesus’ death on the cross was for me, Jesus saves us from the punishment of sin and death.  That faith unites us, binds us together, and makes us into a unit.  This is something that will be developed more in verses 14-27.  The emphasis is clearly on gifts working in the community so that the community as a whole may thrive and prosper.

            This has some important implications for today.  Our culture today is becoming increasingly more individualistic.  It seems that increasingly, it is not just “me first,” but “me alone.”  People don’t care if they abuse others or destroy others with drugs or sexual abuse.  People rob or kill others in our society because they believe in “me first and me alone.”  The common good in general is increasingly difficult to find in our culture.  The church can be swept along in this attitude as well.  Many believe, “The church exists to meet my needs, period!”

            One pastor tells of one instance of this. This pastor said that he was in the supermarket one day, and a lady came down the aisle, screeched to a halt within a few feet of him and said, “I left your church. I left your church.”  So the pastor said, “Well, if it’s my church, it was a very wise decision. If it’s my church, I think I’m going to leave too.”  Undaunted, the woman said, “Don’t you want to know why I left?”  The pastor said, “No, not particularly, but I think I’m going to find out.”  The woman said, “You weren’t meeting my needs.”  The pastor answered, “I don’t ever recollect seeing you before or talking to you, let alone knowing your needs. Did you ever tell anyone specifically what your needs were?”  The woman couldn’t recall that she had, so the pastor raised another question:  “Can you tell me, if we have 5,000 people sitting in that church, all with your attitude, how anyone’s needs are going to be met?  If you reserve the right to have that attitude, then you must give everybody the freedom to have that attitude. And if everybody has that attitude, who on earth is going to do all the need-meeting?”  Standing her ground, the woman demanded, “Then you tell me who will.”  Relieved, the pastor said, “I thought you’d never ask.  This is what will work: When people stop sitting in the pew saying, ‘They’re not meeting my needs’ and start saying, ‘Whose needs can I meet?’  Then needs will be met. When the servant spirit flourishes in a congregation, then they minister to each other as unto the Lord.”

            The common good means we look for needs that others have that may not be being met.  The spiritual gifts are given for the common good.  The question is do we want what is good for me or is it good for all of us in common?

III. Then in verses 8-10, we find a sampling of the gifts.

            Let’s look very briefly at the nine gifts that are mentioned here.  The first two are words of wisdom and knowledge.  Wisdom may reflect the Old Testament theme of practical insight.  A word of wisdom may be the calming or insightful comment made by one who through their Christian experience helps others to see things from the right perspective.  Knowledge may be more the content of the Christian faith.  It may be the gift of being able to say the right biblical teaching at the appropriate time to the benefit of others.  The gift, however, is the ability to say the wise or knowledgeable thing at the right time.

            The next gift mentioned is that of faith.  This is faith that goes beyond the gift of believing faith which God gives to all believers.  This is a gift that enables a person to look through or beyond the immediate situation and know God’s love and grace will always be there.  It is the spiritual ability to know that God will do good in spite of all evidence to the contrary.

            The next two gifts are gifts of healing and miraculous powers.  This healing gift is the kind that we read of in the gospels and the book of Acts which go beyond ordinary medical skills.  Miracles are demonstrations of God’s great power in doing things that are beyond the natural.

            Next is the gift of prophecy.  Typically when we think of prophecy we think of predicting the future.  However, the emphasis is more on proclaiming what God has said.  This is the ability to proclaim inspired words conveying the message of God to those who hear.

            Next is the gift of discernment or distinguishing between spirits.  This is the ability to determine whether or not a prophecy or an action is from God.  A person with this gift would be able to see whether something is from God or Satan or merely of human origin.

            Finally, there are the gifts of speaking in tongues and interpretation.  Speaking in tongues is the ability to speak in an unknown language, but the person doesn’t know what he is saying.  Interpretation of tongues is the ability for someone else to hear the words and interpret what was said to the others.  Later on, Paul makes it clear that these gifts, while extraordinary, are not in fact the most desirable and can be misused; there are many other more important gifts.

            Now this list is not exhaustive by any means.  There are other places in the New Testament where gifts are listed.  There is another list of gifts when we get to the end of the chapter.  Paul also lists spiritual gifts in Ephesians 4 and Romans 12 and we will be looking at those gifts as well.  The point is that if you don’t sense that you have one of these gifts, there will be others.  Moreover, your gift may not be an extraordinary one, but that doesn’t make it unimportant.

            Charlie Grimm managed the Chicago Cubs in the 1930's and 1940's. They were having yet another one of those bad years and were in a long losing streak. A scout phoned the manager and said:  “Charlie, I’ve just seen the greatest pitcher in the country! He pitched a perfect game: twenty-seven strikeouts. No one even hit a foul ball off of him until there were two out in the ninth. I’ve got him here now.  What should I do?”  Grimm said, “Sign the guy who got the foul. We need hitters!”

            Our first inclination is to want what seems to be the obvious, but the seemingly less obvious and less important are very important as well.  Paul’s point is that all the gifts are given for the good of the church and must be used for the mutual building of the church.

IV. Finally, just a word on who decides the gifts?

            In verse 11, we see the beauty of the unity and diversity of the gifts.  Paul says, “all these” which points to the vast variety of gifts, but all these come from one and the same Spirit.  Moreover, verse 11 makes it clear that the gifts are determined by the Spirit.  We don’t get to choose which gift we want to have.  The Holy Spirit looks at us and the church of which we are a part and gives us gifts that can be used in that place.  They are given by God and determined by God because God knows the needs in the church that the gifts will address.  While we may question the gifts we have or wonder at why we have what we have or others have what they have, we must remember that it is God who gives and arranges the gifts and does so beautifully.

Matthew Kaemigk from Fuller Seminary’s Seattle campus wrote an article in Perspectives Journal about the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks football team and their coach, Pete Carroll.  Dave Wyman is a reporter who once wrote that the Seattle Seahawks are “the weirdest looking team in NFL history.  They have 6'4" cornerback whose knees seem to bend in all four directions. A monstrosity of a man who looks out of place at defensive end.  A linebacker whose arms and legs are so long it seems he might never get himself under a blocker.   An offensive guard who was playing defensive tackle this time last year – in college.  Oh, and a quarterback who makes Doug Flutie look like an NBA center.”

            However, Pete Carroll says, “We have an approach to help each guy be the very best he can possibly be.  We’ll take a very precise look at each guy and find out his uniqueness and discover what he brings that’s special, then fit it into our football team.”

            Matthew Kaemigk says, “Pete Carroll understands something important about what it means to be human and what it means to be part of a flourishing community.  Strong communities require a diverse cast of characters, gifts and abilities; Carroll takes those unique talents and rare gifts and creatively appropriates those gifts towards the flourishing of the team.”

            That gives a hint of what God does in the church when he distributes spiritual gifts.  Only the goal is not a mere Super Bowl championship, but rather the mission of Jesus Christ.  And that is something that we must all work together on using each of our various gifts.  Even though we may wonder at our gift, God has given it to us and will show us how we can use it within the body of Christ.  We must seek to use what we have been given to build this church.  As you learn what your gift is, make sure that you seek to use it as part of this community.  How will you use your gift for the common good of this church?