Last time I spoke, we looked at 1 Peter 4:10-11. We saw that God has empowered each one of us to engage, He gave us spiritual gifts, so that we can express love to others and exalt God. Now, let us open our Bibles in 1 Corinthians as we continue our series on spiritual gifts. Here we will see that by the Spirit’s sovereign choice, every believer is uniquely gifted to serve his or her place in the Body of Christ.
The Corinthian church was far from perfect. In fact, it was so immature. Yet, that church was full of potential. Look at how Paul described the church in 1 Corinthians 1:5-7. “For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge—because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.” Note the words “enriched in every way” and “you do not lack any spiritual gift”. It was such a gifted church. However, look at 1 Corinthians 12:1. “Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.” They were so gifted yet they were ignorant about it. The church was full of promise. But it remained just that… full of promise. That’s one of my fears in life. That I would miss out on God’s best for my life. That I would fail to live my life the way God intended it to be. One way of making the most of our lives is by discovering and developing our spiritual gifts. Thus, we are to ACKNOWLEDGE the SIGNIFICANCE of our gifts.
Note the words, “Now about…” One of the reasons Paul wrote to the Corinthians is in response to a letter the church sent to the apostle. In 1 Corinthians 7:1 we read: “Now for the matters you wrote about…” We don’t have a copy of that letter but we can guess its contents based on Paul’s reply. They asked him about marriage and remarriage, celibacy and divorce, food offered to idols, issues in worship, the resurrection, the offering for Jerusalem and spiritual gifts. In our passage, Paul specifically expressed his concern: “Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.” Think about it. Remember these are the words of God, not just the words of Paul. God does not want us to be ignorant about spiritual gifts. Three times in this letter Paul warned about the things that the Corinthian believers should not be ignorant about. We already saw it here in chapter 12 verse 1. In chapter 10 verse 1, he wrote that “For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact…” then he went on to recount the history of Israel. In verse 6, he wrote, “Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.” In chapter 15 verse 34, he warned against ignorance on the resurrection. “Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.” The Message version goes like this: “Ignorance of God is a luxury you can’t afford in times like these. Aren’t you embarrassed that you’ve let this kind of thing go on as long as you have?” Really, ignorance is a serious matter before God. It is a shameful thing. Now, why is it that God doesn’t want us to be ignorant about spiritual gifts?
First, we should be aware that COUNTERFEIT gifts abound. Let us read chapter 12 verses 2-3. “You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 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.” In other words, these counterfeit gifts are a curse rather than a blessing. There are also those who claim that they are modern-day apostles. They think they are representing God. But the devil actually deceived them. Time and again the Bible warned us against signs and wonders from the devil. There are so-called manifestations of the Spirit that are not Biblical such as the laughing revival and other weird stuffs. We need to know what the Bible actually teaches about the spiritual gifts so that we can only experience the real thing.
Second, we need to address CONFUSION about spiritual gifts. Some excuse themselves from serving because they say they are not gifted to do a certain ministry task. Of course, we will be more effective when we serve according to our gifting. But, we can also serve where we are needed. There are others who are clueless about their gifts that they just sit on the pews and wonder if that is all the Christian life has to offer. They then miss out on the blessing of serving on the basis of the strength God gave us. At times, we compare ourselves with others and end up feeling inferior. Look at 1 Corinthian 12:15-16. “If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.” Next week, I pray that we will learn to appreciate our place in the body of Christ, the church.
Third, we can avoid COERCION. Some people especially those with the more visible gifts or the more sensational ones feel superior. It goes up to their heads. They make you feel that if you don’t have this or that supernatural experience, you’re nothing but a second rate, trying hard, copycat. They try to divide believers between the “have’s” and the “have not’s”. Then they force us to pursue that experience. They make a particular gift a universal evidence of spirituality or salvation. They even claim that they have the formula so that you can have the gift also. That’s why Paul asked in chapter 12 verses 29-30, “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?” Knowing about gifts teaches us to appreciate others also. Paul warned us in verse 21, “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!’”
If we are not ignorant about spiritual gifts, we can avoid abuses. Some claim they have the prophetic gift. They try to dictate us by telling us that God says so, that God spoke to them and gave them a “word” about us. Some even go to the extreme of choosing for you your life partner or deciding which career path to take. Beware when people try to control or manipulate your life.
On the positive side, we should be informed and not ignorant about spiritual gifts because it acts as a CATALYST for growth. One of the ways to maximize our growth potential personally as believers and corporately as a church is to make use of our spiritual gifts. Open your bibles to Ephesians 4: 16. “From him [That is, Christ] the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” Note that we will grow “as each part does it work”, that is, as each one us engage ourselves in serving others through our gifts. Let us look at 1 Corinthians 12:7. “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” Not only that it will bless us personally but we will also become a channel of blessing to the rest of the church.
Some time ago, the Natural Church Development Institute conducted a study on church health in 1,000 churches from 32 countries spread throughout 5 continents. It was the most comprehensive research ever conducted on church growth. Basically, the study proved that healthy churches grow. So, we should focus not on how we can make the church grow but on how we can make it healthy so that it can grow.
Among the 8 qualities of a healthy church that the study identified, one of them is gift-based ministry. In short, members of the church have discovered and developed their gifts. In fact, according to the study, 68% of high quality, growing churches has matched their gifts with their ministry involvement. The study just confirmed for us what the Bible has been teaching all along.
This morning, we saw that we are to ACKNOWLEDGE the SIGNIFICANCE of our gifts. Next week we will look at the two remaining points in our outline.
Let me close with this quote: “This is my Church. It is composed of people just like me. It will be friendly if I am. It will do a great work if I work. It will make generous gifts to many causes if I am generous. It will bring others into its fellowship if I bring them. Its seats will be filled if I fill them. It will be a church of loyalty and love, of faith and service if I, who make it what it is, am filled with these. Therefore, with God’s help, I dedicate myself to the task of being all these things I want my Church to be.” Would we commit ourselves to become all that we want our church to be? We can do that by discovering and developing our spiritual gifts. Let us pray…
