What is the best gift you’ve ever received? For me, I’ll never forget Christmas when I was in 4th grade. When I went out to the living room – leaning on it’s kickstand was a beautiful silver univega ten-speed bicycle. I’d been dreaming of it and finally I had it! I can still remember going for a bike ride on that crisp December afternoon with my Dad on my new bike. I rode that bike until I was through college! It was a great bike!
Now, what is the best gift you’ve ever received from God? Most of us would probably say “salvation” – and indeed that’s true – our salvation in Christ is the greatest gift we could ever be given. But did you know that God gives more than just salvation to His disciples? He actually gives gifts to each Christian for a specific purpose in His Kingdom. These are known as “spiritual gifts”.
In chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians, Paul informs the Corinthian church about these spiritual gifts, and gives them instruction on what some of them are, and why God gives them to us.
In our ongoing study of “Real Life Christianity” in 1 Corinthians, we’re going to spend the next 4 weeks taking a look at Spiritual Gifts. My hope is that each person in our church will discover the ways that God has gifted them for ministry, and will then know the joy of using those gifts for the benefit of the Kingdom of God.
Let’s turn to 1 Corinthians 12 now…
1 Corinthians 12
1Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant….
4There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
7Now to each one the manifestation (appearing, revealing, expression) of the Spirit is given for the common good.
8To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10to 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. 11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
1. Spiritual gifts are given uniquely to each Christian. (v. 1-11)
“given to each one” (v. 7)
this means each person has one or more gifts. There are no “benchwarmers” in the body of Christ. Everyone has been given something to do.
“given for the common good” (v. 7)
This shows the purpose of the gifts. They are not for your personal benefit. They are for the common good. You were meant to use your spiritual gifts to make a difference in this world!
1Pet. 4:10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.
“he gives them to each one, just as he determines” (v. 11)
As Paul has listed he obviously makes the point that not everyone has the same gifts, and no one person has all the gifts. In his infinite wisdom, God knows which spiritual gifts should be given to which individuals, and he gives them accordingly.
ILLUS: Sometimes I feel as a father than I need to be totally fair with my own children. If I give a certain thing to one I feel like I need to give the other child the same thing. But that’s not always possible – and it’s not always good. It’s really far better for my kids if I give them gifts that they will really enjoy because of their unique personality. For instance Ryan loves animals and nothing is better for him than a book full of pictures and info about animals. Bethany loves to do things with her hands and the best thing for her is a craft to do.
God does the same with us. He knows us infinitely better than we even know ourselves, and he gives spiritual gifts to each of us, not in fairness or equality, but according to who we are and what he sees we would enjoy and be fruitful in.
TRANS:This idea that not everyone gets the same gifts can sometimes bring feelings of jealousy or envy – but what we’ve got to learn is that we’re all a part of the same team –and that’s what Paul instructs the Corinthians in the next few paragraphs, starting with verse 12.
1 Corinthians 12:12-27
12The 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. 13For 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.
14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If 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. 16And 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. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don’t need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don’t need you!" 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
2. To function properly, the Church needs every person to fulfill his/her role (v. 12-26).
-everyone plays an important part
Paul uses the familiar example of our own human bodies to make the point that the church is a BODY, too. Just as there are certain parts of our body which are more visible and seem to be more important, there are parts of the BODY of Christ which are more visible and may seem to be more important. But as Paul points out – both types of bodies cannot function without the other, less noticeable parts doing their jobs.
ILLUS: We keep on trying to get through our children’s minds that God has given them a great brain – but if they don’t give their stomach the right food, and then their brain cannot work properly.
The brain needs the stomach – not to mention the entire digestive tract, in order to get the energy it needs to function. And without the brain functioning properly, the stomach and the entire digestive system would stop functioning as well.
So it is in the church. There are some who are given spiritual gifts which allow them to do public, up front ministries. There are others who are given spiritual gifts that allow them to excel in behind the scenes areas. Some are gifted in ways that are supernatural – and bring supernatural results. Others are gifted in ways that are absolutely essential to the functioning of the church, but that will never attract the attention of many people.
The important thing for us all to remember is that as a part of the Body we have a purpose, and the rest of the Body needs us to do what we’ve been called to do. If we don’t, then the Body suffers.
ILLUS: I borrowed Ken Mann’s truck a couple days ago to take some stuff to the dump. After he told me I could use it, I joked with him that I have some other friends with trucks that I might have called – but their trucks are way too nice and they’d probably never let me use them to take junk to the dump.
Ken then replied, “You know – birds by nature are meant to fly. And trucks by nature are meant to haul things.”
Beneath the surface this is a “deep thought”. Birds and trucks are designed for certain purposes. So are you and I. We’re created by God and gifted by Him to fulfill a certain purpose in the Kingdom of God – and if we fail to fulfill that function we lose the point of why we’re even here.
-no one person can do everything the Church needs to do.
In some churches, the pastor is looked up to as the “Great Man of God” who does everything well. Or at least he is expected to be that man who does everything well.
I know some pastors who feel compelled to do everything well, and often beat themselves up and condemn themselves when they find areas of need in the church that they don’t feel effective in meeting. In fact, I am one of those pastors.
I’ve been encouraged this week as I’ve prepared to speak this message with the knowledge that I don’t have to be good at everything. I don’t have to feel bad that I don’t feel real confident and skilled in some areas of leading this church. Because that’s why God brought YOU here! I’m doing the best to fulfill God’s call upon my life and to use the gifts God has given me to their fullest potential. But if CTK Oak Harbor is going to really change the spiritual landscape of Oak Harbor, it will take each member of our local body discovering and utilizing their spiritual gifts for the sake of others.
ILLUS:
The University of California at Berkley took on an impossible assignment. It agreed to coordinate an international effort to locate extra-terrestrial life. That is a daunting project. We live in a large galaxy, and the multi-million dollar radio telescopes looking at it suck in a lot of data. In fact, so much data is collected and forwarded to Berkley that no computer on earth is powerful enough to process it all.
To accomplish this impossible task Berkley asked home computer users around the world to contact them over the Internet and download a program called "SETI @ Home." The SETI software makes a connection over the Internet to a computer in California and downloads a "work unit"-that is, a set of measurements from a particular part of the sky. The work unit is not large, but it takes the computer a while to crunch the numbers.
When the work is done, the computer makes another Internet call to Berkeley, uploads its results, and downloads a new work unit. What today’s largest supercomputer could never do alone, over a million ordinary home computers do easily. Sometimes the best way to accomplish the impossible is to harness the help of the ordinary.
That is how the church works. God didn’t intend any one person to do all the work. No one can do it alone, but if we all do what we can, the unattainable becomes attainable; the church can be all that God intended it to be.
CONCLUSION:
You are an important part of the story here at CTK Oak Harbor. God has brought you here, whether you’re a long time resident or only stationed here for a limited time, because he has work for you to do.
When we all willingly see ourselves as part of a body here, we will be able to accomplish extraordinary things. We will see supernatural things happen. We will see people discover faith in Jesus Christ. We will see lives changed, families changed, eternity changed.
We stand at a point of challenge as a congregation. I know that starting a 3rd service is a daunting challenge. But if each of us discovers the gifts God has given us, and begins using them as He has designed for the common good of our community – we will see a time of real growth – both in depth of relationships and in numbers. I can’t wait to see how God will bless us as we step out in faith this fall!
Let’s pray.
“God I want to be a part of this body. I will endeavor to discover my spiritual gifts and will seek ways to use my spiritual gifts for the common good of this body and our community.”
After prayer –
In the coming weeks we are going to spend some time discovering in more depth what the different spiritual gifts Paul mentions in this chapter are all about. You should know that although this chapter mentions about 12 different spiritual gifts, there is no “all inclusive” list of spiritual gifts in the scriptures. There are four places where certain gifts are listed, and other places where single gifts are mentioned. The point to remember is that God wants to use you in the unique way he has prepared you for ministry.
In order to help get your thinking started, I want to encourage all of you to take a spiritual gifts inventory this week. You can go to www.ctkonline.com/oakharbor and click on the link to the spiritual gifts inventory. This will lead you to a questionnaire that will help you see the areas in which you may be gifted, and will help you to begin thinking about where you might want to get involved in ministry.
