Saved for a Purpose

12 “Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.

John 14:15–17 CSB

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. 17 He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.

Acts 1:8 ESV

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

There is so much to say about the Spirit’s work in the life of a believer, but today I want to focus on the Spirit’s work in empowering us to serve, both God and others.

We are going to look at 1 Corinthians 12-14 over the next 3 weeks.

Seeing how God EMPOWERS us to live generously.

1 Corinthians 12:1–11 CSB

1 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.

Last week I pointed out the quotation marks in 1 Corinthians 10 as Paul is addressing something he has heard from the Corinthians, in chapter 12 he is doing the same thing.

Here he begins a discourse on Spiritual gifts intended to correct some of the misunderstandings and misapplications of Spiritual gifts in the church.

Hence the opening “now concerning spiritual gifts...”

It is interesting that for 2000 years there have been issues in the church over how we understand and live out the gifts of the Spirit.

Movements, schisms, church splits, and entirely new denominations have come out of disagreements over Spiritual gifts.

Couple of things for us to remember:

We will not all agree on everything when it comes to Spiritual Gifts.

But there are things we MUST agree on, and that is where I want to point today.

How we are EMPOWERED to serve.

1) The Spirit RESHAPES us to serve.

1 Corinthians 12:2–3 ESV

2 You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

The first issue Paul needs to deal with is how to tell if someone’s “gift” is from the Spirit or not.

Likely there were some among the Corinthians that were “speaking” (likely teaching/preaching) as if they were speaking on God’s behalf, as if from the Spirit.

Though he references speaking here, likely there were other gifts within Corinth that were coming from those outside the faith.

Paul goes back to their previous lives as he teaches them how to decipher genuine Spirit empowerment.

“When you were pagans you we led to false gods.” Considering the context, Paul is referring to how they had previously used their gifts.

“You guys remember how you were before Christ, you used your gifts, talents, and passions to serve fake gods (stone, wood, or metal).”

Their intention in serving those idols was to gain favor, to get good things, good luck out of the gods they were serving.

They followed the idols.

The difference now is inferred in verse 3, no longer do the serve false gods. No longer do they follow idols.

No the difference now is in the direction of their service, they now serve Jesus as Lord with the gifts He has given them.

Their motive/purpose for service has changed.

This is true of us as well.

Every one of us has an intrinsic giftedness.

Natural, born-in gifts, talents, interests, and abilities.

Some are athletic, others are good problem-solvers, while others are great managers, and others are natural people persons.

We have personality traits that make us more or less talkative, more or less adventurous, easy-going or detail-oriented.

In all the ways God has made us, before Christ, before we are saved, those gifts, talents, and all that make us who we are are used to serve the idols of our world and the self-interests that drive us.

I have always been a people person. Never afraid to talk to someone new or to engage a crowd of people.

I can remember my mom saying long ago that she thinks I should be a teacher or something like that.

There has always been this drive and desire in me to know about things, to read, watch shows, and get information about a multitude of topics.

Before I met Jesus in college, I saw all these traits, interests, and abilities as ways to be liked by others, to be successful in a career, and to live the American dream.

When I came to faith in Christ, God began charting a new course for me.

He didn’t completely rework my personality, natural gifts and talent, or even all of my interests (there were many He did change though).

Rather God took who He created me to be and began to reshape my intrinsic gifts and traits.

Don’t get the wrong impression. I am not a finished work, and nor will any of us be on this side of eternity.

But what changed is my overarching purpose and motivation.

1 Corinthians 12:3 (ESV)

no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit reshapes us to serve Jesus as Lord rather than ourselves as Lord.

He takes my comfort talking to others and empowers me to preach and teach His Word.

He takes my inquisitiveness and empowers me dive deep into study, to learn as much as I can about things so that He can use those things in some way that I don’t even know about

He made me a empathetic so that I cry in movies, but empowers my empathy for pastoring His people through hard season.

The Spirit takes our gifts and reshapes us to serve.

2) The Spirit UNIQUELY gifts us to serve COLLECTIVELY.

Paul now directs his attention to the nature of Spiritual Gifts.

You will find in any discussion of spiritual gifts throughout scripture a similar context to those verses that point to the posture and purpose of spiritual giftedness.

In each case the themes of unity in diversity and the importance of selfless service are clearly a huge focus of the discussion.

That is the case here, as well.

Before any specific gift is mentioned, Paul repeats a similar statement: different gift, different ministries, different activities…same Spirit, same Lord, same God.

and then the statement that is really the central statement of the whole passage...

1 Corinthians 12:7 ESV

7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

Though there are a variety of ways we are all gifted, ways we can serve, and things we can give ourselves to, the unifying power is the Spirit of God and the unifying purpose is the good of one another.

Each and every person who comes to know Jesus as Lord and Savior is empowered to serve, not their own needs but the needs of others.

We then get the first of two lists of gifts the Spirit empowers in us.

I think Paul’s first list is intentionally short and mentions a lot of the gifts that get the most airtime.

Preach/teaching, healing, miracles, and speaking and interpreting tongues.

2000 years later and things haven’t changed much.

These sames gifts are the ones that are most often exploited for the the good of the person using the gifts.

Preachers are often the center of attention.

Healers get TV shows and private jets.

Those speaking in tongues are often considered the closest to God.

It isn’t just these gifts that tend to ignore verse 7, but they are often the most susceptible.

Pride has a way to make something really good into something that hurts or even destroys.

When the gifts God empowers in us are used to serve ourselves we are misusing them.

God empowers us to generously serve others with the gifts He is working in us.

But we like the accolades, the attention, and the appreciation that comes from our how we serve.

I preached a couple of years ago on this passage and argued that God empowers us to serve in needs of the church even if it isn’t an area we feel all that gifted to serve in.

I believe that is what verses 4-7 are saying.

God brings people into His church with a variety of gifts, and He empowers in each of us the abilities we need to serve the body in ways it needs most.

If we see our area of service only as something we are “comfortable” with and not as an area we are needed in, then we are not serving for the “common good.”

God will use you how He designed you and will empower you where He most needs you to serve the His people and His Kingdom.

3) The Spirit MOBILIZES us to serve PROFOUNDLY.

The goal of the Spirit’s empowering is not to serve the needs of the church on Sundays and Wednesdays.

The Spirit empowers us as a people to be mobilized in all areas of our lives to serve the kingdom of God.

He empowers us to serve in our homes, in our jobs, on our kids baseball/softball teams, in our community, in our neighborhoods, and anywhere else we go.

He desires to use your gift for teaching to teach young people how to navigate a challenging world through the wisdom you have gained and the growth God is producing in you.

He desires to use your gifts for administration to help young married couples to organize their finances and figure out their priorities so their marriages can thrive.

He desires to use your gift of discernment to help you counsel your coworker who is struggling with life decisions as you are talking at lunch.

He desires to use your gift of generosity to help the single mom in your neighborhood who is trying to balance her kids, a job, and all the rest of life with little help.

He desires to use you gift of leadership to leverage people and resources for the betterment of our community that you can use your platform to honor Christ and lead other to Him.

I could keep going, but here is the point:

Jesus’s words in John 14 are important:

John 14:12 CSB

12 “Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.

God desires to make us into a community of people who are empowered to serve our community and the world in ways that lead lost people to Him.

The goal of discovering our Spiritual Gifts is not so we can find a place to serve on Sundays (though we do need that) it is to find how God has wired and empowered us to serve Him with our lives.