Tenth Sunday after Trinity (2025)

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we have in our Epistle lesson today a wonderful passage that reminds the Church and all Christians that we are not alone in the body of Christ, and builds off the Gospel Lesson from last week. At this point in the Epistle to the Corinthians, there have been a variety of issues, and in this section in particular there have been people elevating their gifts above each other. As you can imagine this lead to chaos.

Concerning Spiritual Gifts

He reminds them of where they had come from initially, before being Christians they

They worshiped idols.

You may have noticed in the text that the Scriptures refer to these Idols as being mute. They are bits of stone, that are fashioned in the shape of men, and animals, but they make no noise, they have no ears to hear, they literally worship the work of their hands. They fashion a deity out of their own desires that they can manipulate, and demons while they appear as spirits, guides, to lead them further into their destruction. This is why we don’t engage with pagan religions. Rather we are reminded that

The Spirit creates faith.

Belief isn’t the work of man or something that you and I can accomplish or make happen, it is the work of God. Who gives to us the Spirit that we might be called the Children of GOd, that we might be able to confess with joyful hearts that Jesus Christ died not only for the world, but thata Jesus died for me. That’s what it means that Jesus is my Lord, that He has redeemed me and has made me his own through adn purchased me with his holy and precious blood. So how does God create this?

He accomplishes all this through the Word.

God does not want to deal with apart from His Word. This vexes many people, and its why idols are tempting. Because what if you have a God who doesn’t speak, who doesn’t tell you what’s right or wrong? Well then you get to speak for that idol, and you can control him, and make him manageable and make sure that he doesn’t interfere with your life, your desires, and what you think should be right or wrong. But we don’t have an idol, we have the true and living God who speaks.

The True God Speaks

God’s Word establishes religion.

God tells us wheree we come from, how He created the universe, what is right and wrong, and calls us all to repent from our sins, and to rely upon His gifts for our salvation. God’s word is a two-edged sword for

God’s Word does kill.

That is the Law, that says no matter who you are, no matter how much good you have done in this life, you haven’t done enough, this is spoken to stop every mouth on earth for no one is righteous, no not one. This means every man, woman, and child on earth is in trouble, sin inside of us says that’s not fair, it doesn’t matter if you or I think its fair. He is our Creator, but these words are spoken that we might learn to not rely on our works, our imagination, or on who we are. Becasue

His Word also saves.

This is why evangelism is so important, and why we have supported missionaries and will continue to do so, and why we want to make sure that there remains in our town, and in our community a place where God’s Word is spoken, and that salvation might be proclaimed. For while it is good that you are here, how many are without the Word, how many who have heard it have fallen away, and without the Word of God they cannot be saved. That’s why we want to make sure the Word goes out into the world, not only that we might here might be saved, but that everyone might know what Jesus has done for them to accomplish that, the Spirit gives different gifts.

These Gracious Gifts

The word χάρισμα means gift.

The root of the word charis is the word for grace. These are gracious gifts given by the Spirit to the Church. There are a variety of them, this isn’t the only list, there are several in the NT and they vary cause as the Bible points out, there are varieties of gifts, service, and activities, but they all do come from the same Lord who empowers all these gifts, services, and activities, but notice what he says, they

They are given for the common good.

Not for my good, not for my benefit, but for the benefit of those who are around me. This is a very different position from the world, which asks the question how can I use what I have to get ahead, and prioritizes myself, and would rather have us look to the needs of others and help them. Life is only about you, and your wants, and your needs, and you live for yourself, that’s sin. We should avoid this foolishness, and that’s why

Then the Scriptures compare this with a body.

We have many different parts, and each of the parts has a wonderful purpose that God designed and created to be there. Just because we don’t understand why the different parts are there now, doesn’t mean they are not needed. It helps us understand why God gives us each part. Because

What Can Go Wrong in the Body?

One thing is pride.

Imagine if there is a part of the body that assumes that because it does a certain function that means the other parts are as good or useful. You see this happen in companies and business, in families, and even in churches. Where one person assumes that they are the best. When we should acknowledge that the best person in the Christian church isn’t you or me, it’s s Jesus. He’s the best who joined us in our humanity to save us. He is the one who will build and sustain the Church, so let not pride replace Christ.

Another danger is apathy.

This is when a part of the body just quits due to indifference. Now this can happen for a number of reasons. A loss of interest or desire, and this can be due to laziness, which happens when we say I don’t need to do this someone else will take care of it. Or if someone who is excited isn’t allowed to participate or try, because there way of doing it wasn’t the same as someone who had been doing it for years. The fastest way to get rid of helpers or volunteers is to have folks sign up, and then have all the work done before they arrive.

There’s ignoring pain.

When one part of the body hurts, it doesn’t just affect that one part it has an effect on the rest of the body. If it is ignored it turns into other problems that cause significant issue. The world is full of places where people find no love, no compassion, no kindness, but we should seek the good of all people here. That doesn’t mean we set aside the Law, but for the Law can helpfully diagnoses why a part is in pain, and the forgiveness is used to restore and heal it.

Divided for a Purpose

Variety of Gifts, same Spirit.

We all have all received the same Holy Spirit, but He has given to each of us different manifestations of the spirit for the benefit of those around us. Just as the Spirit gives gifts, He will also take different gifts away, and then give those to others, that all might be built up. As we learn to use gifts, service, and activities to help out everyone at church.

We are united in Christ.

There are responsibilities that each of us share in, each of us have a responsibility to attend to the hearing of the Word, and for that to happen, we have appointed Elders who will make sure the Pastor isn’t late or slack in making sure Church starts on time, and that Bible Studies run smoothly that the people might receive word and Sacrament, but what if you are not an elder?

Well we will are responsible to bring offerings to the Lord, and to make sure that we aren’t just giving God the left overs but rather making sure we give first fruits that the Word may continue in our community and be shared with our neighbors. If the money is set aside for the Lord, we don’t get to keep it if miss church, we give it the next time we are there.

We are also responsible to use what God has given us for the upkeep of the church. I want you to consider in the past year, how many cleaning tasks have you done? Now you might not be medically able to do it, but that’s not everyone. For

We are part of God’s family.

Who we are here is different than who we are in the world. God’s family includes people from all manners of life and throughout the globe. That we might all stand before God in equally as His children. We each have different functions within the body of Christ, but we all equally belong to God’s family.

So my Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Look at this building as the home for God’s people. What do you do if your home is dirty? What if bills need to be paid? What if it needs to be repaired? You might say, why won’t God just take care of it, I don’t see why I should? What has our heavenly Father given up for you? His only begotten Son, and what Jesus Christ done for you, that you might be welcomed into God’s house not as a slave, but as a son? If this is the earthly home of our Heavenly Father, are you taking care of it? Let us not just be children who run quickly in to partake of the meal and leave, let us remember that this is God’s house, we are God’s family, and that He has equipped each of us to help our brothers and sisters. In Jesus name. Amen.