October 6, 2002 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
¡§How do you define ¡¥healthy¡¦?¡¨
INTRODUCTION
How do you define ¡§healthy¡¨? Usually when I want to define something, I go to Webster¡¦s dictionary. I consider Webster to be the expert. Webster defines ¡§healthy¡¨ as ¡§having good health¡¨. That doesn¡¦t tell me a whole lot. So when the expert lets you down, you go to the next best experts ¡V your friends and ask them the same question. Friends, come on up here so you can give us your definitions of healthy. [bring up the 3 people that you have posed this question to ahead of time and ask them to give their short definitions] Most people when you ask them to explain ¡§healthy¡¨ to you, they will say something along the lines of ¡§free from sickness and disease¡¨. They might also include in that looking good. For example, a piece of fruit that looks good might be described as a healthy looking piece of fruit. Mixed in with all that, we might include a little bit of feeling good as a part of our definition. We go to the doctor, and he asks how we¡¦re doing. We answer, ¡§I think I¡¦m pretty healthy doc. I mean, I feel pretty good most of the time.¡¨
But there are problems with each one of those possible definitions of health. Just because I am free from sickness and disease does not mean that I am healthy. A person who has been shot is free from sickness and disease, but I doubt that we would classify them as healthy. A person that looks good is not necessarily healthy either. A healthy appearance is defined by the society that you live in. Our society seems to worship a thin frame, so a woman who has starved herself to wear size ¡§0¡¨ clothing is described as healthy. At the same time, many cultures value a woman who is of robust size and think that a thin woman is sickly. We know that neither extreme is healthy. And just because you feel good does not mean that you do not have a serious disease. How many times have we heard of someone going to her doctor for a routine check-up and discovering that her body was riddled with the deadly disease of cancer?
So how do you define healthy? Let me give you this as a working definition of health ¡V health is when all the parts of any given organism function together just as the designer intended with the result that they accomplish exactly what the designer planned. You can apply that definition to a car, a computer, an airplane, a family or a body. You can even apply that definition to a church. A healthy church is one where all the parts [that¡¦s us] of that church function together just as the Designer [who¡¦s our Designer ¡V God] intended with the result that they accomplish exactly what the Designer planned.
Paul, in his first letter to the church at Corinth, further defined what goes on in a church that is healthy. We¡¦re going to deal with three of those characteristics over the next several months. They¡¦re in your note sheet. A healthy church is one where¡K
1. ¡Kevery saved person uses his/her gifts under the direction of the Holy Spirit to minister to one another and to point people to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 12)
2. ¡Kevery saved person uses his/her gifts with the sole motivation of love and judges the quality of their work by the amount of love that is manifested through it. (1 Cor. 13)
3. ¡Kevery saved person uses his/her gifts in an orderly and fitting way to build up the church and glorify God rather than building up and glorifying themselves. (1 Cor. 14)
A church like that is experiencing spiritual health and is therefore, effectively accomplishing everything that God intended for that church to do.
The church at Corinth was not a healthy church. There were all kinds of sin going on in the church, and for a church, sin is disease. There were divisions in the church. Everyone was doing his own thing for his own personal benefit rather than working for the benefit of the church. Divorce was rampant. A guy in the church was having a known sexual relationship with his stepmother and no one was questioning it or doing anything about it. When the church celebrated the Lord¡¦s Supper, people were getting drunk and exhibiting gluttony. And Christians were suing each other right and left whenever they felt that their rights had been violated. It was a mess! Paul wrote the letter of 1 Corinthians to the church so that he could be a spiritual doctor and get them back into good health.
Our task here though is not to point the finger at the 1st Baptist Church of Corinth. (actually, there were no Baptists back then) Our task is to use the same diagnostic tools that doctor Paul used to determine whether or not New Life Baptist Church is a healthy church. And if we determine that it is not, we want to discover how we can get it healthy again.
We will begin this process this morning by looking at what Paul has to say in 1 Cor. 12:1-11 concerning spiritual gifts. [read the passage] The subject of spiritual gifts often creates great controversy within the different church denominations. The reason for this is that spiritual gifts are often misunderstood and can easily be abused. In this passage, Paul gives us three results that will occur when spiritual gifts are being used properly so that we can recognize what is truly from God and what is just man made. Let¡¦s look at those three results.
IF GIFTS ARE BEING USED PROPERLY, ¡K
1. ¡KJesus is lifted up. (vs. 1-3)
The book of 1st Corinthians was written as a response to a letter that the Corinthian Christians had sent to Paul. In that letter, they had asked him all kinds of questions about daily living and church life. So when you see in 7:1, ¡§Now for the matters you wrote about¡¨, Paul begins to address those questions beginning with the subject of marriage and divorce. Then in 8:1, ¡§Now about food sacrificed to idols¡¨ and in 16:1, ¡§Now about the collection for God¡¦s people¡¨ and here in 11:1, ¡§Now concerning spiritual gifts¡¨. They had lots of questions about spiritual gifts and what they were supposed to accomplish in the church. You probably have a lot of questions too. The first one being: what is a spiritual gift? A spiritual gift is a tool given to you by God that equips you to serve in a specific ministry in the church.
The Corinthian¡¦s question went further than wanting to know what a spiritual gift was. They wanted to know how to use it properly, and further, they wanted to know what would be the evidence that they could look for that would let them know that it had been used properly. There were many at the church at Corinth who were attempting to exercise their spiritual gifts ¡V their tools, but the wrong result was happening because they were using them improperly. Like any other tool, when used in a way that the Designer never intended, they can create great suffering. David [or Roy], you¡¦re the tool guy in this church. What happens when you use a tool improperly? [damage to yourself, others or the project that you¡¦re working on]
Many of the Corinthian Christians had their own ideas about how these tools were to be used. These ideas came out of the culture that they had grown up in. ¡§To live like a Corinthian was a nickname for anyone who lived in total moral laxity. It was a place where people had just given way to anything that feels good, sexually, spiritually, relationally ¡V [it was a place where] self was the total focus.¡¨ ¡V sermon by Rick Thiessen, ¡§Playing on God¡¦s Team¡¨ Even the false religion that they had practiced before coming to Christ had been all about meeting their own personal needs and fulfilling their own desires.
But self-fulfillment and focusing on self was the exact opposite of what Jesus told us Christianity is all about. They are also not what our spiritual gifts are to be used for.
Paul gives us the test that we can apply that will tell us when spiritual gifts are being used properly. Look at vs. 3. [read it] It sounds too simplistic, doesn¡¦t it? The way that I can tell whether someone is using their gifts under the direction of the Holy Spirit is by whether they use their mouths to proclaim Jesus as Lord or not. But it¡¦s not so hard to understand when you know that, ¡§The Spirit of God, the third person of the Trinity is committed to this one thing: proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord. The burning desire of the Holy Spirit is to lift up Jesus. Whatever the Holy Spirit inspires us to be or do, that¡¦s the end result. Jesus himself predicted this in John 16:14: He (the Spirit) will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.¡¨ ¡V sermon by Rick Thiessen, ¡§Playing on God¡¦s Team¡¨
¡§Friends, this sets the fundamentals for [using your spiritual gifts]. It answers some basic questions:
- Is [using my spiritual gift] about my personal spiritual experiences? NO.
- Is [using my spiritual gift] about my personal spiritual self-fulfillment? NO.
- Is [using my spiritual gift] about some ecstatic feeling or ability that sets me apart as special? NO.
- Is [using my spiritual gift] about my stats, my records, my image? NO.¡¨ ¡V sermon by Rick Thiessen, ¡§Playing on God¡¦s Team¡¨ Using my gifts is all about Jesus and lifting Him up.
¡§Some Christ followers carry a worldly doctrine of personal spirituality into the church with them. It¡¦s about me and my experiences and my personal fulfillment and my consumerism. As important as your needs are, Paul says, lesson # 1 of true spirituality: EVERYTHING about playing on God¡¦s team comes back ¡V not to you ¡V but to Jesus Christ as Lord.¡¨ ¡V sermon by Rick Thiessen, ¡§Playing on God¡¦s Team¡¨
The Corinthian Christians were having a lot of problems with the issue of Jesus¡¦ lordship over their lives. They were dealing with division in the church and were attaching themselves to humans (i.e. Paul, Apollos, Peter) as their leaders and therefore, their lord. Paul is countering that here by reminding them that there is one Lord who has rule over their physical lives ¡V what they eat, what they do with their bodies, how they treat one another ¡V and who rules their spiritual lives ¡V how they worship and how they use their spiritual gifts.
Obviously, there is more going on here than just a verbal statement that Jesus is Lord. Jesus said to those who wanted to come after him ¡§Not everyone who says to me, ¡¥Lord, Lord,¡¦ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but He who does the will of my Father who is in heaven¡§ (Matt. 7:21) ¡§Confessing Jesus as Lord means nothing unless it involves affirming who He really is and obeying what He commands. One whom we do not really know and obey cannot truly be our Lord.¡¨ (Lk. 6:46) ¡V p. 286, New Testament Commentary by John MacArthur
So the first result of the proper use of spiritual gifts is that Jesus will be exalted. He will be recognized as Lord not just with our mouths but with our actions. People will be brought into obedience to Him. If this is not happening, then either the gifts are not being used, or they are being used improperly.
2. ¡Kpeople are unified. (vs. 4-6)
Our differences have the potential of tearing us apart because they cause us to look at the same situation and respond to it in totally different ways. But God¡¦s intention in giving us different gifts through the Spirit is that we would recognize how much we need each other and that we would understand how much we can benefit from cooperating together rather than standing alone. Once we understand that, than rather than tearing us apart, our differences can mold us into a unified people whose purpose is to lift up Jesus and increase the rule of God¡¦s kingdom.
„X different gifts ¡V same source ¡§Spirit¡¨
Not everyone gets the same gift. In vs. 8-10, Paul tells us some of the different gifts that the Spirit gives. There are other lists of spiritual gifts throughout the Bible. (Romans 12:6-8; Eph. 4:11) These lists may not be intended to be a complete catalog of all the gifts that the Spirit gives.
The same Spirit gives different gifts to different people because there are different ministries within the church that need people with those different gifts. When Christmas time comes, grandma doesn¡¦t give the same gift to Billy as she does to Susie. They are different, and they have different roles to fill in life, so they receive different gifts. Even if grandma gives cash to all her grandchildren, she gives a different amount to 15 year old John than she does to 5 year old Robert.
This verse also tells us that it is a gift. It¡¦s not something you can earn; it¡¦s not something you can learn.
Because it is a gift, it should be humbling. When God uses us to accomplish something for His kingdom, the credit goes not to us but to God as He works through the gifts that He gave to us. We can take no personal credit because it was a team effort coordinate and empowered by God alone. Consider this: ¡§Who flew the kite? ¡§I did,¡¨ said the sticks. ¡§I did,¡¨ said the paper. ¡§I did,¡¨ said the boy. ¡§No, I did,¡¨ said the wind. But they all flew the kite together. If the sticks had broken, the tail caught in a tree, the paper torn or the wind had lulled; the kite would have come down. Each had a part to play.¡¨ ¡V sermon by Gene Barron
„X different service ¡V same authority ¡§Lord¡¨
All gifts are given for service.
But the different types of gifts prepare you for different kinds of service.
Each of our gifts must be used under the authority of Jesus.
We will have to give an account to Him one day on what we did with our gifts. ¡§As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.¡¨ (1 Peter 4:10)
„X different work ¡V same empowerment ¡§God¡¨
Just because you have a gift in a particular area does not mean that doing the service that gift enables will be easy for you. It will be easier for you than for someone else, and you will probably see greater results from the use of your gift than someone else doing the same job without that gift, but it still does not mean that it will be easy.
I believe that I have the gift of teaching. But that does not mean that it is easy for me to prepare and deliver sermons. I put a lot of work and thought into every message that I bring to you.
It also does not mean that you can get lazy and do a half-hearted job.
It does mean that you will have the power to do with your gift whatever it is that gift enables you for.
And it does mean that when you use your gift in the power of God that you will be effective in the work that God has called you to.
You know, I look around this room, and I see people who are very different from me. I see people of different ages, different experiences, different skills and different spiritual backgrounds and beliefs. That doesn¡¦t even include our subject of discussion today ¡V the differences that we have because of our spiritual gifts. Some would say that there is no way that all these differences can be molded into a coherent, effective whole. But in these verses, there is already an example of how differences can be molded into a unified whole with a common purpose. The example of it is the Trinity - God Himself. Verse 4 talks about God the Holy Spirit, verse 5 God the Son, and verse 6 God the Father. Each is different. Each has a different role. But they, together form one God.
Just as there is diversity in God but still unity, so there can be unity among His followers though they are different so long as they are yielded to the control of God over their lives.
You deal with situations every day where different people work together in different ways to achieve a common goal. This is true in your workplace, in your marriage and in the football teams that you will watch this afternoon. Everyone serving in a different way but unified around a common goal because they are under the authority of a common master.
Perhaps the best example might be an orchestra ¡§composed of stringed instruments, brass instruments, percussion instruments, and woodwinds. All joining together, the harp and the oboe, the violin and timpani, the trumpet and the triangle, to produce strains of music that are capable of lifting the soul to ecstatic heights, or plunging it into depths of melancholy & despair. None of those various instruments is capable--alone¡Xof [producing the beautiful music of a symphony]. But [when they are under the direction of a master conductor who brings them all] together¡Xtogether¡X when you combine the crisp tones of a trumpet with the thunder of a tuba and the cascading notes of a harp, together the instruments of that orchestra wield an amazing power, a power FAR BEYOND the capabilities of any one instrument or any one musician. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a picture of the church¡¨. - sermon by Bob Hostetler
Being united under the lordship of Christ does not mean or require that we all have the same gifts, serve the same way and function in the same capacity. Uniformity is not necessary for unity. What is necessary is that we bring all of our differences and place them under the lordship of Jesus. Though we are different from each other, we have different gifts and are called to serve in different capacities, we are led by the same Spirit, responsible to the same Lord, and empowered by the same God.
During VBS one year, a pastor¡¦s wife had an experience with her primary class that can teach us all a great lesson. About an hour before dismissal one evening, a new student was brought into the room. The little boy had one arm missing, and since the class was almost over, the teacher had no opportunity to learn the details of his situation, but she was nervous that one of the other children would say something insensitive to him, so she proceeded cautiously with the lesson.
As the class time came to a close, she asked the children to join her in their usual closing ceremony. ¡§Let¡¦s make our churches,¡¨ she said, putting her hands together to form the ¡§church¡¨. ¡§Here¡¦s the church and here¡¦s the steeple, and open the doors ¡K¡¨ Suddenly the awful truth struck her. The very thing she had feared that the children would do, she had done.
As she stood there speechless, the little girl sitting next to the boy reached over with her left hand and placed it up to his right hand and said, ¡§Josh, let¡¦s make the church together.¡¨ ¡V Nelson¡¦s Complete book of Illustrations, p. 123
Our gifts, used properly under the direction of the Holy Spirit, focused on the Lordship of Jesus Christ will bring us into unity with one another. That is the second result of the proper use of spiritual gifts.
3. ¡Kneeds are met. (vs. 7-11)
Let¡¦s take verse 7 and break it down a little bit.
¡§each one¡¨ (NIV); ¡§every man¡¨ (KJV) ¡V every Christian has at least one gift. Some have one more than one, but all have at least one. That says several things to me. That says that each person is important, and necessary in order for the whole church to function as God intended it to function. You are important. Don¡¦t get down on yourself or give in to the temptation to drop out thinking that you are insignificant in the overall purpose of the church. We¡¦ll talk more about that next week.
It also says to me that each one of us has a job to do in this church. With every gift comes a responsibility ¡V a job to perform. The thought that receiving a gift means you have to DO something in the church might make some of you balk at receiving a gift. You might hold up your hand and say, ¡§No thank you. I would rather just sit here and soak. I don¡¦t want to get involved.¡¨ I¡¦m sorry. That is not an option. You have been given a gift. You have a responsibility of using it. If you don¡¦t use it, then you are not following Jesus as your Lord.
¡§manifestation¡¨ ¡V manifestation is a big word that means to show ¡V to make something visible that was invisible. What am I supposed to show by using my gift? I know. I¡¦m supposed to show me. When I use my gift of teaching to preach a good message, or when you use your gift of giving to put a large offering in the offering plate, or when you use your gift of administration to organize a great evangelistic effort for the church, it¡¦s supposed to show us so that everybody becomes more aware of us and tells us what a great job we are doing. Right? WRONG! It¡¦s not supposed to make me visible. When I use my gift properly, it¡¦s supposed to make the presence of the Spirit visible.
¡§of the Spirit¡¨ ¡V Me using my gift properly will point people to the presence of God in the working of the church. When no one is using their gifts, there is no evidence of the Spirit¡¦s presence. And where the Spirit¡¦s presence is not evident, there is no life.
A minister requested the following words on his monument: Go tell the Church that I am dead, But they need shed no tears; For though I’m dead I’m no more dead Than they have been for years! Many churches are dead, not because the Spirit isn¡¦t there, but because no one is manifesting His presence by using their spiritual gifts. You not only evidence that the Spirit is alive and well in the church by the exercise of your gifts, but your participation in the Body of Christ in a fruitful way is the evidence that the Spirit is alive in you.
¡§given for the common good¡¨ ¡V Most gifts that you and I might give are given for the sole benefit of the person who receives that gift. That is unless it is a gift certificate to a restaurant so the whole family can enjoy the benefits of the gift. But the spiritual gifts that God gives are not to be used selfishly. They are to be used to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the people that are around us, particularly those that are a part of the church. The reason that needs go unmet is not because God hasn¡¦t provided. It is because people within the church are not using their gifts or because Christians have chosen to cut themselves off from the body of Christ and no longer participate in a local church where there gifts can be utilized to honor Christ.
I was in the supermarket one day, and a lady came down the aisle whom I could barely see over the top of her groceries. I got somewhat frightened because she seemed to be heading straight for me. She screeched to a halt within a few feet of me, peered over her load, wagged her finger, and said, "I left your church. I left your church".
Then she said, "Don’t you want to know why I left?"
I said, "No, not particularly, but I think I’m going to find out". And I was right.
She said, "You weren’t meeting my needs".
I answered, "I don’t ever recollect seeing you before, let alone talking to you, let alone knowing your needs. Did you ever tell anyone specifically what your needs were?"
She couldn’t recall that she had, so I 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, she demanded, "Then you tell me who will."
Relieved, I 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." -- Servant, January/February, 1989
There is one more thing that I want us to see in these verses about spiritual gifts. Look at verse 11. [read it] The Spirit is in control of who gets what gift. Each gift has a nametag on it, and you can¡¦t switch the tags. You and I don¡¦t get to pick and choose which gifts we get. That means that we don¡¦t get to choose what role we fill in the church, and it means that we don¡¦t get to choose whose need we are best suited to meet. God¡¦s Spirit has already equipped us with the gift of His choosing so that we can be equipped to serve in the place that ministers the most to people¡¦s needs and brings the most fulfillment to us. If you complain about what gift you have, then you are not submitted to the lordship of Jesus Christ.
Our response to God for His gifts is a simple thank you followed by active participation in the area of service that gift equips us for.
And whenever you are tempted to complain about the gift that you received or get jealous because of the gift that you didn¡¦t receive, think about who it is that gave it to you and how well He knows you. God knows you better than anyone, and He knows the gift that is perfectly suited for you.
I remember a Christmas gift that I got from my mother two years ago. It was these boots that I have on right now. Ma always gets me the right gift, because second only to Tammy, Ma knows me best. When I opened that box and looked inside, I busted out in laughter. Tammy will confirm it, because these boots inside were way too crazy and bold for me to have ever picked out on my own. They were going to stick out like a sore thumb. I was going to get noticed more than I wanted to. I thought about not wearing them. But what was I going to say to my mother? So I wore them. The first time was a Sunday morning. That was a mistake. They didn¡¦t fit at first, and I was in pain that whole morning as I spoke. They didn¡¦t fit my personality, and they didn¡¦t fit my feet. Both were good reasons to never wear them again. But wear them again I did. And eventually, those boots became my favorite boots.
Even when you get a gift that you don¡¦t want, isn¡¦t the right color or doesn¡¦t fit just right, you wear it at least once even if it is only just to try it on. Why? Because you know that someday, you¡¦re going to see the person that gave you that gift, and they¡¦ll ask you how you liked it and if you ever wore it. You¡¦re going to have to give an account.
One day, you will have to stand before God. He¡¦s going to ask, ¡§You know that gift that I gave you? What did you do with it?¡¨ And some of us are going to have to admit that we never even tried it on to see how well it fit. The moment that we took it out of the box, we decided that it was not our style, or it didn¡¦t fit our personality or that it was too big for us to handle. And in making that decision, we will have missed out on the beauty and fulfillment that God had planned for our lives.
CONCLUSION
When I was little we used to play church. We’d get the chairs into rows, fight over who’d be preacher, vigorously lead the hymn singing, and generally have a great carnal time.
The aggressive kids naturally wanted to be up front, directing or preaching. The quieter ones were content to sit and be entertained by the up-fronters.
Occasionally we’d get mesmerized by a true sensationalistic crowd- swayer -- like the girl who said, "Boo! I’m the Holy Ghost!" But in general, if the up-fronters were pretty good they could hold their audience quite a while. If they weren’t so good, eventually the kids would drift off to play something else -- like jump rope or jacks.
Now that generation has grown up, but most of them haven’t changed too much. Every Sunday they still play church. They line up in rows for the entertainment. If it’s pretty good, their church may grow. If it’s not too hot, eventually they’ll drift off to play something else -- like yachting or wife swapping. ¡V Anne Ortlund
