Gifted to Build the Body

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Good morning, and welcome. As well as our greetings to all those who might be tuning in virtually. We’re glad you’re here.

Before we get to our study in 1 Corinthians, Church Matters: A Gospel-Centered Church, I just wanted to say thanks to all who had a hand in our community pool event yesterday evening. Thank you! Here at CBF, we are intentional about our vision to love Jesus, build relationships, serve the community, and impact the world. And how that happens is not in earth-shattering events or campaigns, but in the little things we do each and every day. What a great way to serve our community and build relationships.

This next week, we’ll be celebrating the 4th of July and our country’s 250th birthday. That is a huge milestone. While there have been and still are problems facing our country and its society and culture, we also have much to be thankful for. Namely, the religious freedom we enjoy to worship Jesus Christ according to our convictions. The United States was founded on the freedom from government or foreign interference with our individual and collective right to assemble, worship, and express ourselves according to our conscience. So far and for the most part, that has kept us free from the state or other powers telling us exactly what we must believe and how we must or must not worship. And that is something to be very grateful to God for.

Many of the original colonies of our nation were founded by those escaping persecution at the hands of the church and the state in Europe. One such colony was Rhode Island, founded by early Baptists, who sought a society where there was protection of the local churches from the power of the government (or a state-mandated religion). That’s why they named their capital city, “Providence,” reflecting the providence of God.

Having said that, we at CBF reflect that same spirit of gratitude for God’s great gifts and blessings, including this land and country where freedoms have been possible. Yet, because of our convictions and reflecting on God’s Word, we 1) know that hasn’t always been nor is it the situation believers (God’s church) has enjoyed or found themselves in; 2) nor will it likely always be the case in the future Jesus told us about, including this country; and 3) notwithstanding these reasons, Christ is whom we worship and hold central. It is His Word, His Gospel, His Church, and His Kingdom that we hold as preeminent over all other world or cultural concerns — and in whom identify citizenship in first and foremost.

Christ, and our identity in Him, both transcends all else, and unifies us with brothers and sisters across time, space, location, culture, experience, and perspectives. While we can give thanks to Him for His grace and favor in our current situation, and we should, we must seek as saved saints in God’s church to lock arms with fellow saints, regardless of where we live or how we vote. If you haven’t already done so, you can listen to our latest CBF Podcast Show episode on “Conscience and Politics,” as that might explain our conviction and stance as a church regarding political interests. That said, let’s give God thanks for His great blessings, and ask Him to bless us as we open His Word.

Father, we love you, and we praise you. You are amazing! All-powerful, all-knowing, yet also completely good. Full of compassion and mercy. Slow to anger. Filled with unfailing love and faithfulness, lavishing it on thousands upon thousands of generations. You forgive our iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But you do not excuse the guilty. Yet in your great love, you sent your Son, Jesus Christ, to bear our sins — that we who believe in Him, though we are guilty, might be excused — and restored, adopted as your children. Thank you, Father. And thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you for showing us the Father. And thank you Holy Spirit for showing us Jesus and revealing Him as our Lord and Savior. Thank you for all of your great and rich blessings. Including this nation, which has been blessed with freedoms to worship you in spirit and in truth according to our conscience for 2.5 centuries. We know that all good gifts come from our Father in heaven, so we thank you, Lord. Bless our leaders and give them wisdom. Bless our servicemen and women, and protect them. And bless our land with your light and your truth and your peace. Guide us as we open your Word. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Now to 1 Corinthians (Church Matters). Our text is 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. If you want to turn there in your own Bible or on your phones to follow along, or grab one of the Bibles in the back on that cart, and you can follow along as I read it for us. 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. It will be on the screen behind me also. 1 Corinthians 12:1–11:

“1 Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this. 2 You know that when you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols. 3 So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. 4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. 6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. 7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. 9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.”

1 Corinthians was a letter Paul wrote to the church he had planted a few years earlier in the Greek city of Corinth — the capital of the Roman province of Achaia. He wrote the letter to address questions and issues that member of the church, themselves, had written to him about. It’s clear that there are issues that are direct answers to their questions. Whereas there are other instances where Paul finds himself addressing issues they didn’t ask about, but that he had gotten wind of. This appears to be a question they asked — about spiritual gifts.

Paul addresses the issue and the question — because they had a problem! We can be assured that regarding the church matters Paul addressed in 1 Corinthians, he was writing to them not to pat them on the back for how they were handling them, but because there were problems. We may not see this in our translation, but he opened the passage in the original Greek by saying, “Concerning those who are ‘spiritual.’” Meaning, those people or things that are “spiritual.” The idea being that they referred to some among them as being “spiritual” or possessing certain spiritual abilities not present in others.

Because they were steeped in their former religions and philosophies, they had been swept up in the pagan gods and goddesses of the Roman and Greek pantheons. For example, there was the Dionysian Cult, worshipping Dionysus, where worshippers were reported to have been “possessed” by the god, himself, resulting in prophetic messages, frenzied dancing, and the ability to handle snakes or endure pain without injury. Next, there was the cult of Cybele and Attis, where priestesses would enter ecstatic states, granting them prophetic insight or the power to mediate between the divine and human (like modern day mediums). Or the Isis and Serapis cults, where acolytes would receive revelatory dreams or healing powers.

Clearly, these special abilities and powers weren’t endowed by real divine powers, but rather by the demonic. But because these seemed superhuman or extraordinary, such instances and people stood out. Their culture elevated the “mystical” and “mysterious.” It’s not all that different today, where we seem to have so much literature and media about super heroes, mutants, or just extraordinary people who have abilities that transcend the ordinary. Why else would there be so many Marvel and DC Comic movies?

In the church, this has also been true, just as it was with them. Where if someone spoke a powerful message, or enlightened the masses. But especially if someone healed someone or started speaking in other languages. They were enamored with that in Corinth because they elevated the mystical and the mysterious. It felt a lot like what was happening in what we now know are demonic cults, only this was the alleged power of God through Jesus!

Some of you know this, but for those of you who don’t, I actually grew up in a very large Assembly of God church. That is, Pentecostal. In telling you about this, I want to be both respectful and charitable. And the church I grew up in was not as rambunctious as some have played it out to be. As they say, the commonality between Baptists and Pentecostals is chandeliers. Baptists often like to have them in their churches, and Pentecostals like swinging from them.

In all seriousness, the distinctive doctrine among Pentecostals is that while we can be saved by placing our trust and faith in Jesus Christ, we are not verified to be filled with or baptized in the Holy Spirit until evidence by one of the “sign” gifts — like the power to heal, or more commonly, speaking in tongues. Pentecostals refer to this as the “Second Blessing.”

That you can be saved, but not endowed with spiritual power or gifting — unless it’s proven by speaking in tongues. It was common to hear someone testify that they had been “saved, baptized, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost.” With all respect to them, as well as those who consider themselves to be “charismatic,” the New Testament is clear that when we are saved by placing our trust in Christ, we are simultaneously baptized by the Holy Spirit — saved and sealed.

Paul will write later in this very chapter in verse 13: “Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.” Likewise in Ephesians 1:13–14 “13 And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.”

And also endowed with “everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3). Paul writes here in verse 7: “A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.” That’s obviously different from the concept of a Second Blessing, where there we can be saved but not filled with the Holy Spirit, and thus given a spiritual gift by the Holy Spirit.

Again, while I know from experience that my family and others were sincere in their love for Jesus, this is not the best understanding of spiritual gifts. At best, it’s as if they were reading this same passage (and others) very differently. Like the original recipients, captivated by the mystical and the mysterious. And platforming and spotlighting speaking in tongues, as it is so visible and audible. Like that’s something we don’t see every day! And also it is mystical and mysterious, as it’s other worldly and confusing.

Only, the primary ministry of the Holy Spirit is to reveal and make clear the primacy and preeminence of Jesus Christ. To make Him known. To lift the clouds, so to speak, or drop the scales from our eyes so that we, like Peter, proclaim Jesus is the Christ — the Messiah. The Son of God. The One promised through the prophets throughout the Old Testament to reconcile sinners and vanquish death. This passage lists several gifts that the Holy Spirit bestows among us to do just that — to make Jesus known in the church and throughout the world. And this list isn’t even all-inclusive.

Yet, among all the spiritual gifts listed throughout the New Testament, the abilities to mystify, to confuse, or to shroud in a fog of mystery aren’t among them. Paul will spend the next three chapters more or less covering this topic, and in chapter 14, he expresses his desire that the Corinthian church be more interested in love and prophecy than in speaking in tongues. Such that the clarion all would be to Christ and His saving Gospel, not on the gifts that seem to make some stand out from the crowd.

In this way, he’s addressing the Corinthian problem of seeking “status” through spiritual gifts. Attaining status or standing out was something they unfortunately sought in their culture. Sadly, it’s what is sought all to often still today. Whether in certain denominations or tribes, or even in any church. Because we are sinners, we can struggle to shed our pride and our arrogance. Our egos. We are self-seeking, wanting to have a platform or ability that makes us not only indispensible, but also worshipped.

Such that we compare and measure something as sacred as spiritual gifts, rank ordering them in terms of a cool or wow factor, or in terms of popularity. Rather than in terms of Gospel breakthrough and kingdom impact (even if it’s one soul at a time). They were very human, in that they made it about themselves, rather than about one another — let alone Christ, Himself. We, too, can fall prey to the same problem, where we begin to seek the gift, itself, rather than the giver.

As with the other issues Paul gave pastoral instruction on, like last week with the seriousness and meaning of the Lord’s Supper, Paul begins by saying, “Dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this.” Other translations say “uninformed” or “unaware.” In the original Greek, “I don’t want you to be ignorant.” Where they might be just like they were before they knew Christ, wowed by every story they heard or even spectacle they observed among the cults. Thinking, this must be from God. Or this person must be extra spiritual — because of their special powers.

Elsewhere, in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, Paul warned the Thessalonian believers that there would yet be in theirs and even our future, when “there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness [the antichrist] is revealed — the one who brings destruction.” Then further, in verse 9, Paul writes: “This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles.” Meaning, don’t be fooled by signs and wonders or so-called miracles. Because demonic forces, who wield abilities and powers (as fallen angels) beyond our understanding, will attempt to mislead and deceive, drawing attention to the signs and gifts, and to the individuals themselves . . . rather than the source of those gifts.

Yet, Paul makes clear right away in verse 3: “So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.” This is the same thing that John said in 1 John 4:1: “Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world.”

“Test the spirits.” How we know it’s from God is that it testifies to the centrality of Christ and His Gospel. To the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Demons, and those under their power would never do that. The Living Bible phrases it explicitly as a test: “How can you know whether they are really inspired by God or whether they are fakes? Here is the test: no one speaking by the power of the Spirit of God can curse Jesus, and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” and really mean it, unless the Holy Spirit is helping him.”

Right up front, Paul emphasizes that true spiritual gifts that come from God are not special powers based on our abilities, talents, or merits, but wholly by His grace. As Paul wrote also in Romans 12:6: “In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.” Gracious gifts from the same Spirit, Lord, and God (in other words, the Trinity — the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). We see all at work explicitly and specifically in this chapter. The Father, who is the source, including in sending and sparing the Son, Jesus, to sacrifice for us that we might live. The Son, Jesus, who is and ever shall now consequently be Lord. Who as He told His disciples in John 14:9: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!”

And the Holy Spirit, enabling us to see and say that “Jesus is Lord,” and operative in distributing and empowering Christ’s church with spiritual gifts. Not for our agendas and our glory, but for God’s mission and for His glory. The Lord our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is One, just as Moses recorded in Deuteronomy 6:4. That’s thematic through all of chapter 12 as Paul addresses spiritual gifts. The One God. One Lord. One Spirit. The One and the same God who we serve and worship, and who unites us together through the spiritual gifts He bestows. We confess the same Lord (vv. 1-3). We depend on the same God (vv. 4-6). We minister to the same body (vv. 7-11).

It’s not about us. It’s about Him. Paul will write through the rest of the chapter that for us to spotlight, showcase, or elevate one spiritual gift over others, such as the Corinthians did with the gifts of speaking in other tongues, that would be like a part of our body deciding it could quit the band and go solo. A rogue foot, hand, eye, or ear. Saying, I’m a foot, or hand, or eye, or ear — I don’t need the rest of you! I’m better off on my own.

But that’s absurd! Because unlike the Marvel franchise, that stands to make more money by making a movie for each and every super hero (as well as many with all of them together), one part of our body can’t operate independently of the rest of the body. It needs the body, and the body needs it. Without the body, the individual part has no purpose and dies, and body suffers greatly without the individual part, doing what it was designed to do.

Likewise, every spiritual gift is distributed and enabled by the Holy Spirit for the life and health of the body. The purity and power of the local church — the community of believers. Loving God, and loving one another. In unity, not division. In harmony, not in quarrelling. In truth, not in self-seeking. Where the bottom line and big idea is: Jesus is central in focus and in truth.

Jesus is why we’re here. It is the cross of Christ — the Gospel — that saves us and frees us. It is by Him and through Him that we become saved saints, now being made holy. Therefore, He is our focus. He is what we are about. Whom we serve and worship. Why we gather, and what brings us together as a local community of believers (saved saints).

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. As the truth, He is our test and our proof. Anything that comes from God must confess that He is Lord. Anything less isn’t from God, and certainly anything that minimizes or curses Christ is of the enemy, not a divine source. As J. Vernon McGee said, “Jesus Christ is the ultimate of the Christian life.”

Like Eugene Peterson phrases it in the Message: “God wants us to use our intelligence, to seek to understand as well as we can. For instance, by using your heads, you know perfectly well that the Spirit of God would never prompt anyone to say “Jesus be damned!” Nor would anyone be inclined to say “Jesus is Master!” without the insight of the Holy Spirit.”

As to the question of whether one can be saved apart from the baptism and filling of the Holy Spirit, Paul makes it clear that the presence and operation of the Holy Spirit is the ONLY way by which we can truly know or follow Jesus and proclaim Him as Lord. Saved saints know, follow, and proclaim Christ. Therefore, anyone who knows and follows Christ and ministers in His name has the Holy Spirit.

And when it comes to spiritual gifts, the Holy Spirit is sovereign and in control. We don’t get to decide which gifts we receive. Nor do the measure in which we receive them. They are distributed, enabled, and superintended by God through the Holy Spirit. That means it’s not based on how talented or naturally gifted we are. For example, one may possess musical, artistic, athletic, or intellectual talents. But none of these have anything to do with spiritual gifts.

One doesn’t have to be born as a natural academic whiz who goes on to earn a doctorate to possess the spiritual gift of wise counsel or clear understanding. Nor does the one who seems to be a born leader necessarily have the spiritual gift of great faith. Nurses or doctors in the making aren’t shoe-ins for the gift of healing, whether that healing is physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual. Nor the athletic specimens who work miracles. Not always the poets and statesmen who proclaim (prophesy) so clearly. It’s not always those of us who’ve lived longer and had more life experiences who have the ability to discern what is from God and what isn’t. Gifted vocalists who are chosen to speak in other tongues, nor language savants who can interpret them.

Often, it’s the opposite of what we might think is typical or expect. Because we don’t pick them. The Holy Spirit is the One behind it. Such that there is no misunderstanding — that we don’t get the glory that belongs solely to God. It is He who empowers and He who gives spiritual gifts.

As such, spiritual gifts are intended for God’s purposes. Rightly understood, spiritual gifts are “provisional.” Meaning, the Holy Spirit gives them for mission-specific, mission-oriented purposes. They shouldn’t be seen as the permanent, innate natural talents of we as individuals. It isn’t for our glory. Or so that we can feel special. It’s not the X-Men, the league of Superheroes, or the 4 Horsemen magicians. Spiritual gifts are all given to bring God glory, to testify to the lordship of Jesus Christ, and to build up His body, the church.

After all, spiritual gifts (χάρισμα, charisma) in the original Greek, means special, non-material gifts, bestowed through God’s grace. While they are distributed to each of us individually, they are NOT gifts to each us as individuals. They are “gifts” to the body — the local church. To provide Gospel service and ministry to God’s church. And these charismata, these spiritual gifts, are “things,” not people. Power enabled by the Spirit for the good of the body, not that any one of us is God’s gift to humanity, if you know what I mean.

That we might collectively hear from God, understand His Word, be spurred on to believe and trust in His eternal goodness, experience real healing (spiritual, but also physical, mental, and emotional, being set free from bondage to this world), witness and enact the Gospel move of God in us and through us, boldly proclaim Christ in and beyond our proverbial walls, protect one another by avoiding deception, and be built up by and through God’s power, cutting through to hearts and minds by His wonderful, beautiful words of life.

And contrary to what the Corinthians believed (and what many still today might believe), every believer receives at least one spiritual gift; but not all. Paul wrote in verse 7: “A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.” Everyone gets one — maybe more. But no one of us receives them all, nor do we all receive them in the same measure. The Holy Spirit does that on purpose — to unify us and bring us together. And to make it impossible for some of us to be considered spiritual, while others not. Nor some more spiritual and special than others. As if it were a contest.

Instead, the diversity of gifts the Holy Spirit bestows is intended to bring the unity of body. To the inclusion of each of us, not the exclusion. That God, in His wisdom, through the Spirit, gives each of us a piece of the puzzle. To reinforce His value of unity by forcing us to “need” one another. Such that we each pursue and exercise our Spirit-given gifts with humility, knowing that it’s not about or for us, but for the common good of Christ and His church. And that we love one another, as members of Christ’s body, through whom He has supplied everything we need for living a godly life.

If you have struggled or are right now unclear what spiritual gift or gifts the Holy Spirit has bestowed to you, then ask Him for wisdom. Ask Him for insight and clarity. Reach out to one of the pastors here, or to someone else you trust. Seek the counsel and insight of others. Let’s explore that together, as there are great resources out there to help us and guide us. So often, it’s the observation and reflection of others that informs us better than we can inform ourselves.

But don’t buy the lie that the Holy Spirit skipped you in distributing spiritual gifts. The only way that’s possible is if you haven’t yet placed your trust in Jesus Christ. If you believe in your heart and have proclaimed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, then you are saved — and the Holy Spirit has enlisted you for service by giving us His gracious gifts. The most important of all, is opening our eyes to Jesus in the first place. If you are still wrestling with that, don’t suffer in silence or in confusion — please let us pray for you. Don’t quench the Spirit — let Him guide you into the light and love of Christ Jesus.

We’re going to be exploring more of what God teaches through Paul’s letter on this in coming weeks. But for today, one more thing. Like the Corinthians, we must understand that so-called “spirituality” is not a contest. God is the source of all that is divine, including spiritual gifts necessary to build each other up as His church. Therefore, we should always seek and worship the Giver, not the gift.