The Complete Picture
1 Corinthians Series
CCCAG 11-23-25
Scripture:1 Corinthians 12:1–11
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INTRODUCTION – WHEN A BODY FIGHTS ITSELF
Everyone here has heard about diabetes. Everyone here knows someone too sweet for their own good, or you are one of those sugary sweet people.
But here’s something most people don’t realize: people with Type 1 diabetes — the kind where you need insulin from childhood — aren’t suffering from an endocrine problem as much as an autoimmune one.
Autoimmune disorders are where the body’s own defense system mistakenly attacks the very organs it was designed to protect. The symptoms can be subtle at first, but over time the damage becomes life-altering. Strength fades. Coordination falters. What was meant to give life begins to steal it away.
Paul sees something similar happening in Corinth.
Not physically—but spiritually.
The church at Corinth was a church filled with passion, spiritual hunger, supernatural experiences, and incredible potential… was also filled with jealousy, pride, confusion, division, immaturity, and competition.
They had all of the gifts—but none of the glue.
They had manifestations—but not maturity.
They had spiritual horsepower—but were steering in twelve different directions.
So Paul does something very typical of his teaching style- before he gets into the description of the particular’s, he lays down a framework for them to work in concert with God’s design.
We see it here-
So, before he talks about gifts,
before he teaches about the body,
before he approaches controversies about tongues and prophecy and manifestations—he takes them somewhere deeper.
He pulls them behind the curtain and shows them the foundation that holds everything together.
He shows them God Himself.
He teaches them that the very unity they need is seen in the God who saved them.
Here is the truth-
The unity of the church is displayed in the unity of God.
And the diversity of the church is rooted in the diversity within God.
It is not random.
It is not chaotic.
It is not a spiritual free-for-all.
There is a Trinitarian pattern behind everything.
1 Cor 12 is the biblical truth of that.
The Spirit gives the gifts.
The Son directs the ministries.
The Father produces the results.
The Church is unified because the Trinity is unified.
Let’s read through this text and see what the Spirit is saying.
1 Corinthians 12:1–11
Now concerning spiritual gifts: brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be unaware. 2 You know that when you were pagans, you used to be enticed and led astray by mute idols. 3 Therefore I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
4 Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are different ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are different activities, but the same God works all of them in each person. 7 A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good: 8 to one is given a message of wisdom through the Spirit, to another, a message of knowledge by the same Spirit, 9 to another, faith by the same Spirit, to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another, the performing of miracles, to another, prophecy, to another, distinguishing between spirits, to another, different kinds of tongues, to another, interpretation of tongues. 11 One and the same Spirit is active in all these, distributing to each person as he wills.
Prayer
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We have a bit to unpack this morning so let’s start with the first few verses.
The first thing we want to do, is establish the foundation needed to understand the rest of this chapter, and the following 2 chapters in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.
I. CLARITY BEFORE POWER (vv. 1–2)
“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.”
“You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to mute idols.”
Paul sets the foundation-
In Corinth, spirituality was loud. Flashy. Emotional. Frenzied.
They incorporated many of the worship practices that they had in the pagan temples they came from- highly emotional where your personal performance in the rituals showed your passion and devotion to that idol.
It had to be loud and it had to attract attention if you were to get that pagan gods attention so he or she would do what you wanted them to do.
Think about Mt Carmal and Elijah with the prophets of Ba’al. They danced, they screamed, they spoke in demonic tongues and even cut themselves to try and get Ba’al’s attention- so much so that Elijah mocked their behavior when their actions yielded no results, suggesting maybe Ba’al was in the bathroom or asleep and needed to be woken up.
Prior to becoming Christians, this is how the church people at Corinth worshipped.
The louder the voice, the more spiritual they thought it was. The stranger the manifestation, the more powerful it appeared.
This carried the over in the church when the Holy Spirit got ahold of them and spiritual manifestations happened. A combination of theological error, human pride, spiritual immaturity, and probably some demonic deception was leading to chaos in the worship service.
Paul says in essence:
“All of your excitement means nothing if you misunderstand the source of true spiritual power.”
He reminds them of their past—how they were “led astray,” which literally means “dragged around by impulses.” They were spiritually reactive instead of spiritually grounded.
Spiritual confusion always leads to spiritual division.
This is why-
Before there can be power, there must be clarity.
Before there can be unity, there must be truth.
In other words:
Right experience flows from right understanding.
Right ministry flows from right theology.
Why?
Because the gifts of God must be rooted in the nature of God.
This is why we spend so much time in bible study, not pushing for an experience so when the experience comes, we can rightly judge it.
That’s why Paul begins with telling us the Holy Spirit’s primary job-
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II. THE SPIRIT REVEALS THE TRUTH ABOUT JESUS (v. 3)
“No one speaking by the Spirit of God says ‘Jesus is accursed,’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord!’ except by the Holy Spirit.”
This is a theological anchor.
Paul cuts through all the noise and says:
“You want to know if something is from the Spirit?
Look at what it does with Jesus.”
If whatever is going on in the church:
• magnifies Jesus
• glorifies Jesus
• reveals Jesus
• honors Jesus
• points the church toward Jesus
• forms the confession, “Jesus is Lord.”
THAT is the HOLY SPIRIT
However, if the experience seems spiritual but does not exalt Christ—
it is not the Holy Spirit.
Repeat
This matters deeply for unity because:
The Spirit unifies the people of God around the Son of God.
The church cannot be united if Christ is not central.
The Spirit’s job is to be the great Christ-centerer of the church.
Not emotions.
Not personalities.
Not preferences.
Not gifted people.
Not new trends.
Not spiritual phenomena.
The Spirit puts Jesus at the center so the church can stand together.
This leads Paul into the next point of the text—the Trinitarian structure.
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III. A TRINITARIAN BLUEPRINT FOR UNITY (vv. 4–6)
“There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.”
“There are varieties of service, but the same Lord.”
“There are varieties of workings, but the same God who works all things in all.”
Now Paul unfolds something breathtakingly beautiful.
This is not poetic coincidence.
This is an intentional theology.
Paul aligns:
• the Spirit with gifts,
• the Son with ministries,
• the Father with results.
What he is saying is stunning:
The diversity within the church reflects the diversity within God Himself.
And the unity within the church should always reflect the unity within God Himself.
Let’s examine each line deeply.
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IV. THE SPIRIT GIVES THE GIFTS (v. 4)
“Varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.”
The Greek word is charismata—grace-gifts, supernatural endowments.
A. Gifts are expressions of the Spirit’s creativity
Every gift you have came from the Spirit’s decision to place it in you.
This means:
• No believer is giftless.
• No believer is useless.
• No believer is spiritually empty.
• No believer is a spectator in the Kingdom of God.
Every Christian is Spirit-gifted—by design.
B. Diversity of gifts binds the church together, not divide it
The Spirit delights in variety:
• teaching gifts
• prophetic gifts
• serving gifts
• mercy gifts
• leadership gifts
• healing gifts
• tongues and interpretation
• discernment
• faith
• exhortation
This diversity doesn’t fracture the church—it enriches it.
Refer to sermon slide of a puzzle where everyone has a spot to show the complete image
A church with only one gift would be spiritually deformed and the image of Jesus marred.
Variety is not a problem—
variety is the plan.
Let’s look at the Son’s role.
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V. THE SON ASSIGNS THE MINISTRIES (v. 5)
“There are different ministries, but the same Lord.”
The word is diakonia—ministries, assignments, roles.
The gifts come from the Spirit’s power.
The ministry assignments come from the Son’s authority.
Jesus is the Head of the Church.
He determines where each gift is placed.
A. This is why two people may have the same gift, but different ministries
Someone may have:
• the gift of teaching but be called to youth
• the gift of mercy but be called to hospital chaplaincy
• the gift of prophecy but be assigned to intercession
• the gift of leadership but be placed in children’s ministry
The gift is what you do.
The ministry is where and to whom you do it.
And Jesus decides the assignment.
That’s an important point-
B. Ministry is not self-chosen
You can’t simply “volunteer” your way into the wrong calling.
You can’t market your way into a ministry Jesus didn’t give you.
You can’t promote yourself into a place the Son hasn’t placed you.
Assignments belong to Him. Attempting to step into something that the Spirit has not empowered nor the Son assigned is pride and will always produce death.
Another important point about assignments is
C. Comparison kills calling
You can sabotage your ministry or service to Jesus in two ways:
1. Wanting someone else’s.
Many people start with an honest desire to serve God and that is honorable. But that is the start- to serve, not to stand on the stage right away. In fact, your ministry might never be noticed or recognized by most people.
But God sees it, and the bible promises that “He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek HIM”
But you have to be careful that you don’t let your desire for recognition cause you to buck against his timeline.
Most people in pastoral ministry have our “hero’s”. Usually people very gifted in speaking and motivating people from the pulpit who have built huge organizations around that gifting.
But we have to be careful, because that’s usually the exception, not the rule. Focusing and coveting someone else’s gift or ministry will cause you to resent your calling if you are focused on fame and recognition.
Lets talk about that for a moment
2. Danger of Resenting your calling.
When it comes to your calling and ministry, you need to have these principles firmly locked into your spirit-
But if Christ placed you there—
then Christ intends to use you there.
It may not be fancy
It may never be recognized this side of eternity.
But your faithfulness is judged according to how well you completed your assignment according to HIS plan, not yours.
This is hard for us to accept, but
There will be megachurch pastors who lose a reward because they did something God didn’t call them too.
Also, there will be rural pastors that through fear, doubt, and unbelief didn’t step out in faith and increase what God gave them.
I refer to 1 Cor 3:10-15 if you want to reference that later, but it is biblical truth.
To summarize here-
The Spirit gives you ability.
Jesus gives you responsibility.
And now Paul goes deeper still.
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VI. THE FATHER DETERMINES THE RESULTS (v. 6)
6 And there are different activities, but the same God works all of them in each person
The word for activies is Energemata — outcomes, effectiveness, results.
This is the Father’s domain.
A. If We are faithful; God is fruitful
Here is a truth-
You can preach faithfully.
Teach faithfully.
Serve faithfully.
Pray faithfully.
Give faithfully.
Love faithfully.
Labor faithfully.
But only God produces the increase.
The Father alone determines:
• the outcome of your ministry
• the fruit of your service
• the impact of your obedience
• the reach of your calling
This is incredibly freeing to us-
B. The Father removes pressure and restores freedom
It is not your job to produce fruit.
It is your job to obey.
(Pause)
It is not your job to make growth happen.
It is your job to remain faithful.
(Pause- the repeat)
Do you know something- the longest of the prophetic books is Jeremiah.
He preached, and preached, and preached for decades, usually under the threat of torture and death, but
He never had a single convert.
Let that sink in for a moment
If you try to take over the Father’s role in evaluating your service to HIS Kingdom, you will:
• burn out
• become frustrated
• become disappointed
• feel like a failure
• and most tragically of all- resent others’ success
You are responsible for obedience.
The Father is responsible for results.
C. God works “all things in all”
Even when:
• you think your effort is small
• your teaching seems unnoticed
• your service feels unseen
• your ministry feels stagnant
God is still working “all things in all.”
Please hear me this morning-
My fellow servants of Jesus-
Your labor in the Lord is never in vain.
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VII. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: THE TRINITY IS THE BLUEPRINT for our Service to God
Paul is painting a picture:
One Spirit ? Many Gifts
One Son ? Many Ministries
One Father ? Many Outcomes
Different functions.
Different works.
Different expressions.
One God.
This is unity.
Not uniformity.
Not sameness.
Not flattening everyone into one role.
This is harmony.
Order.
Structure.
Beauty.
A divine symphony.
Think of it like this:
• The Spirit is the musician handing out instruments.
• The Son is the conductor assigning parts.
• The Father is the composer producing the final sound.
And the church?
We are the orchestra.
Unity is found when the church mirrors the God who made it.
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Unity looks like the Trinity in motion.
Do you know, the Triune God never argues with HIMself or rebels against HIMSELF.
One of the verse in the bible that shows in the incredible unity in the trinity comes from an unexpected verse that most people only attribute to the timing of the rapture, but really Jesus is referring to the nature of the trinity.
Matthew 24:36 (Jesus Speaking) “Now concerning that day and hour no one knows—neither the angels of heaven nor the Son—except the Father alone.
Jesus isn’t saying so much that He has no idea. He is saying that within the trinity, it’s not his place to tell us God’s overall plan for that.
It’s the respect the different members of the trinity have for each other that serves as our example of true unity.
CONCLUSION — MIRRORING THE UNITY OF GOD (all rise)
Paul brings a church drowning in spiritual arguments back to one truth:
The church is to be a reflection of the Trinity.
• The Spirit equips.
• The Son assigns.
• The Father works.
One God.
Many works.
One Body.
Many members.
One Spirit.
One Lord.
One Father.
Altar/call and prayer.
Amen.
