Have you ever been compared as child? Your parent said, “Why don’t you become like your older brother?” Or, have you ever been compared as an employee? Your boss said, “Why didn’t you close as much deals as this or that employee?” Did you like it when you were compared? Do you like being compared with others?
When it comes to spiritual gifts, we should not compare also. I think it was Rick Warren who said that we should avoid two extremes regarding spiritual gifts. The first is “gift-envy,” that is, we compare our gifts with others. Thus, we end up jealous of others or dissatisfied with the gift God gave us. The second extreme is “gift-projection,” that is, we expect other people to have our gift or do things as we do them. How do we avoid those two extremes? How do we deal with comparisons? Let us search for the answer as we continue our series on spiritual gifts, how God has empowered us to engage. Let us pray…
Last Sunday we saw that we are to ACKNOWLEDGE the significance of our gifts. First Corinthians 12:1 tell us, “Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.”[1] God does not want us to be ignorant about our gifts. Now, let us read 1 Corinthians 12:4-13. “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”
Note that in our passage including verse 3 that the “Spirit” is mentioned ten times. Look at verse 8: “To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit”. Underline the words “through the Spirit” and “by means of the same Spirit”. The Holy Spirit is the Source of spiritual gifts. Not only that, He is also the One Who decides who got what gift. Look at verse 11, “All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.” Underline the clause “just as he determines.” That’s why we should avoid comparing our gifts with others or criticizing those who do not have the same gift as ours. We are to ACCEPT the SOVEREIGN CHOICE of the Spirit in giving us gifts. By the Spirit’s sovereign choice, every believer is uniquely gifted to serve his or her place in the Body of Christ.
Let us read verse 4: “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.” The Spirit knows what He is doing when He gave us those gifts. He has the right to choose which gifts goes to whom. Plus, He loves variety. There are various gifts. But there is only one Source. There is no reason to compare because there is nothing to compare.
When did we receive those gifts? Verse 13 says, “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” Note first the clause: “and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” Let us open our Bibles to John 7:37-39. “On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” So, after Jesus died, rose again and went up to heaven, those who would believe in him would receive the Spirit. That’s what drinking the Spirit means. So what 1 Corinthians 12:13 is talking about happened at the moment we put our trust in our Lord.
Let us read the first portion of verse 13: “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body”. To be baptized means to be identified. It says here that the Spirit baptized us into one body. We are not talking of water baptism here. We are talking of spiritual baptism in this verse. What does it mean to be baptized into one body? That means we are spiritually joined together as a church. That we belong to one body of believers. Whether we are Filipino-Chinese or non-Chinese, whether we are rich or poor, we are now one in Christ.
That’s why I cannot accept the teaching that the baptism by the Spirit is subsequent or happens after we accepted Jesus as Savior. Let us say I accepted the Lord last January 1. Now they claim we don’t automatically receive the baptism in the Spirit at the moment we believed. Granting for the sake of discussion, let us say I received the spiritual baptism December 31, a year after I put my trust in the Lord. If I go by their argument, that would mean that within that one year, though I am a believer, I was not part of the body of Christ. So, the baptism in the Spirit is not subsequent but simultaneous with salvation. Also, Paul mentioned the word “all” twice here in verse 13. If we go by their argument, not all of us have received it. But, it is very clear that every believer has received the baptism in the Spirit.
Now that we saw that we are part of the body, what does it mean? Let’s read verses 12 and 18. “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ… But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.” Each part of the body has a function. Remember our definition? A spiritual gift is a supernatural ability that enables us to function effectively in the body of Christ. We will talk more about this body of Christ next week. Note that God Himself arranged us “just as he wanted [us] to be.” We need to accept His sovereign choice in giving us our gifts.
Again, that means there’s no comparison. Each one of us is uniquely gifted by God. Look at the person beside you. Imagine if that person looks just like you. Life would be boring! Someone wrote, “We are so different that we so many things to share.”
So, verse 4 tells us, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.” Let us now read verse 5: “There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.” The word “service” can also be translated “ministry.” A ministry is the sphere where you serve using your gifts. So, even in the operation of our gifts, there should be no comparison or competition. For example, two persons may have the same gift of evangelism. But one can use his gift on a massive scale like evangelist Franklin Graham and the other can use his gift on a one-on-one basis like those who serve in our visitor’s room. Which is more mightily used by God? Well, based on verse 5, both of them! It also doesn’t matter whether we exercise our gifts publicly or privately. You may not be here up-front, on the stage, in the spotlight. You may just be behind the scenes, away from the paparazzi. People may not even notice what you are doing. But, bloom where you are planted. If that is where God has placed you, you better be serving in that sphere.
Then, verse six tells us, “There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.” The NET Bible translated it this way: “And there are different results, but the same God who produces all of them in everyone.” So, for example, two persons may have the gift of encouragement. Both of them express it through the ministry of counseling. One person has touched thousands through his counseling ministry over the radio. But the other has touched only a few. Which is more effective? Both of them, as long as they faithfully fulfill their ministries! Why? Who gives the results? God!
That’s why I can only smile when I see people from different churches comparing their ABCs… attendance, building and cash. Look at Acts 2:47. “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” Who adds to our number? The Lord! Let’s read 1 Corinthians 3:6-7. “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” Who causes the growth? God! Growth is His responsibility. What is our responsibility? To plant and to water. We are in a partnership with God. If we plant but we don’t water, the seed will not grow. If we don’t plant, even if we keep on watering, nothing will grow. But if we fail to plant and to water, what would God cause to grow? So, let’s keep on planting, let’s keep on watering, and then let us leave the results to God.
However, please don’t make this as an excuse for us to remain this big as a congregation. We don’t know if it is God’s will for us to be as big as Greenhills Christian Fellowship or Christ Commission Fellowship or any other mega-churches. But, all I know is that we should work together on preparing our church for growth. All I know is that we are to make sure we reach our potential not only individually but collectively. And we will be able to do that when all of us discover and develop our gifts. Ephesians 4:16 tell us, “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” We will grow in quantity and build ourselves up in quality when each one of us does our work, function in our part of the body of Christ.
Yes, we have different gifts, different ministries and different results. But verse 7 makes it clear to us: “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” We are not to hoard our gifts. We should use our gifts. God has a reason why you have that gift and why you are here in MGC. And we should use our gifts not for ourselves but “for the common good.” The Contemporary English Version goes like this, “The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others.” Not just to be blessed but to be a blessing to others also. Throughout this year, whenever I would preach, I took the time to preach on the “one another” statements of the Bible. I believe that through our gifts we will be able to fulfill those “one another” commands.
So, brothers and sisters let us ACKNOWLEDGE the SIGNIFICANCE of our gifts and let us ACCEPT the SOVEREIGN CHOICE of the Spirit in giving us gifts. Next week we will look at the third point. Let us pray…
[1]All Bible verses are from the New International Version, unless otherwise noted.
