Series

Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. …[4] There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. [5] There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. [6] There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. [7] Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. … [11] All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

[12] The 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…

[14] Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. [15] If 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… [17] If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? … [18] But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. …

[20] As it is, there are many parts, but one body. [21] The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" …

[26] If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

This morning, we begin our study of spiritual gifts. This is a subject that lots of people are interested in, because everybody wants to know what their gift is, and because some of the gifts have caused quite a bit of controversy. A spiritual gift is a special, God-given ability to do something that builds up, or equips, or helps Christians, the Body of Christ. Today, we’ll just get the overview, in 1 Corinthians 12.

1 Cor 12:1, “Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant… [4] There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. [5] There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. [6] There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.” There have been many different attempts to categorize the gifts on the basis of these three verses, because Paul refers to gifts in v.4, service in v.5, and working in v.6, but that misses the point. He’s not trying to analyze and categorize the gifts; he is emphasizing that while there are many different manifestations of the Spirit, whatever you call them, they all come from the same source, the one true God.

Notice, though, that he refers to God by the three names, Spirit, Lord (meaning Jesus Christ), and God (meaning the Father). So even in the godhead, we have an illustration of the point that he is going to make all through this passage, that there is unity in the midst of diversity. There are three persons in the trinity, but all of them together are one God.

In the left column, we have the diversity; in the right column, there is the unity, because all these different gifts are given by the same Holy Spirit. No matter what gift or gifts you have, they are all given by the same Spirit of God.

It’s also important to remember that the Holy Spirit is sovereign in determining who gets which gifts.

1 Cor 12:11. “…and he gives them to each one, just as he determines…[18] …God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.” As we will see later, in v.31, we should desire the spiritual gifts, maybe even ones we do not currently have. But we must be content with whichever gifts the Spirit gives us. Since they are gifts, and God the Holy Spirit alone determines who gets which ones, we have no basis for comparing ourselves with others, or concluding that we are either better than or not as good as other people. We also need to respect the Spirit’s sovereign choice of gifts for our friends, and not insist they have the same gift/s we do.

No matter what gifts we have, they are all given for the good of the whole Body.

1 Cor 12:7, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” This tells us two important things about spiritual gifts: First, every Christian has one. “To each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given…” You may have more than one; many people do. But everybody has at least one. There is no such thing as a Christian who does not have a spiritual gift. Nobody can say they got left out of the distribution.

The second thing this verse tells us is that each of those gifts is given for the common good. They are not given to you so you can get all puffed up and proud; they are not given so you can lord it over others who don’t have your gift. They are given so that the whole Body of Christ can be built up.

Occasionally, a new person will come to our church, very conscious of the gifts they have to offer us, and make it clear that they would like to do that. My advice to them is, Wait. Just wait a while, get to know people, let them get to know you, volunteer to serve in menial ways, and eventually, your gifts will rise to the surface, and people will begin to ask you to use them in our body.

We had a couple here a few years ago, whose sole desire was to teach a certain course. That course had been a tremendous help to them personally, and they wanted to pass it on to others. But they didn’t want to serve in just any old way; all they wanted to do was to teach their course. They were probably gifted teachers, but they didn’t realize that there is a difference between gifts and roles. We all have different gifts, but we are all called to the same role of servant. As Paul will say in chapter 13, love trumps gifts. If you have the greatest gifts in the world, but don’t use them in love, your gifting is worthless in God’s sight, because their purpose is to build up the people around us. So let’s suppose you have the gift of prophecy. But when you come to the congregational meeting this noon, there was a spill in the kitchen. Do you stop and help clean it up, or do you think to yourself, “That’s beneath me; I’m a prophet”? We all have the role of servant. Start serving the people around you, meeting their needs as best you can, and eventually, there will be a place for you to use your gifts as well.

Starting in v.12, Paul begins to develop the theme of unity and diversity using the metaphor of the body. He says that the Church, the world-wide group of believers in Jesus Christ, is like a human body in a number of ways. Certainly each of us has just one body, but it is composed of several trillion cells, grouped into major systems of organs like the digestive tract, and the circulatory system, and the skeletal system, and muscular system , and nervous system, etc. And each of those systems is composed of many different individual organs, such as the heart, and the arteries, and the veins, and the capillaries in the circulatory system. So the human body is a perfect metaphor for the Church, the Body of Christ. Jesus is the head of the body, and He now lives in that spiritual realm called “heaven”. Each of us are members, or parts, of His body here on earth.

You can see the way he develops this theme of unity in diversity by putting verses 12 and 13 into a table, like we did before. Here, the unity aspect is on the left, and the diversity is on the right.

UNITY	DIVERSITY
the body is a unit	many parts
one body	parts are many
all baptized by one Spirit into one body	Jews, Greeks, slaves, free
all given one Spirit to drink

Then he begins to elaborate on each of these two equally important points, starting with the fact that the body has many parts.

1 Cor 12:14, “Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. [15] If 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. [16] And 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.”

First of all, we need to notice that the way Paul develops this theme, the thing that makes us different parts of the Body of Christ is our different spiritual gifts. We are all different in lots of ways, but he’s not thinking about personalities, or gender, or race, or intelligence, or our physical makeup. None of those things really matter. As he said in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” The thing that distinguishes us from each other in the Body of Christ is the fact that we have different spiritual gifts.

In this section, Paul is speaking to the person who thinks that for whatever reason, they are not very important in the greater scheme of things. Maybe you have the gift of helping others, or the ability to do the behind the scenes work of administration, and you wish you had one of the other gifts, such as leadership, or teaching, or prophecy. Paul is saying that the fact that the body has many different parts means that you are still an important part of the whole. You cannot say, “I don’t belong to the body. I’m not important. I’m not needed.” You are needed! So turn to your neighbor right there in the pew, look them in the eye, and say, “I am needed. You need me.” That’s the Word of God.

He goes on, 1 Cor 12:17, “If 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? … [19] If they were all one part, where would the body be?” It’s a hilarious image—a caricature. Picture this giant eye, six feet in diameter, rolling down the street. Every time the front of the eye rolls down, it can’t see a thing. Since it can’t hear anything, it gets run over by a trash truck! Or a giant ear, sort of springing down the sidewalk on its earlobe, like Larry the Cucumber on Veggie Tales. It can’t smell anything, so it doesn’t know it has just bounced into a load of manure. The ridiculous image is meant to emphasize that every single gift is needed, and that means that every person is needed in the Body of Christ, no matter which part you are.

I think that the NIV editors have put the paragraph break in the wrong place, after v.20. It should come at the beginning of v.20, which introduces the other half of this carefully balanced position: 1 Cor 12:20, “As it is, there are many parts, but one body. [21] The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don't need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don't need you!’ [22] On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, [23] and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, [24] while 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, [25] so that there should be no division in the body…”

Now he’s speaking to the person who thinks that because they have one of the “up front” gifts, they are more special, more important, than the person who has one of the behind-the-scenes gifts. That’s really not true. You may not think much about your pituitary gland, but it is absolutely essential to your health. You may not give much attention to your little toe, but if it were cut off, you’d see how much you rely on it for balance. Because there is only one Body of Christ, you need all the other parts, including those people you may think are less important. So now turn to the person next to you, look them in the eye, and say, “I need you. I need your gifting to make me complete.”

This mutual dependence means that we should be very sensitive to each other. 1 Cor 12:25, “…its parts should have equal concern for each other. [26] If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” That’s certainly true in our physical bodies, isn’t it? If you stub your toe, or hit your finger with a hammer, your whole body reacts in pain. You rub it, or suck on it, or soak it in warm water, or whatever you can think of to make that one part feel better. Or if your back is getting a back rub, or you are warming your cold hands around a mug of hot chocolate, or your tongue is enjoying a delicious dessert, your whole body rejoices. All our parts are interconnected, and they all take note of what is happening to any individual part.

That’s the way it ought to be in the church. When we feel what others feel, that’s called empathy. We have a number of our people who are hurting right now, some with serious physical problems, others with serious financial problems. Some of our marriages are in trouble. We dare not be callous and unconcerned about that. We need to come alongside these people like white blood cells rush to the point of an infection. We need to feel their pain, and do whatever we can to alleviate that, or help them through it. I was thrilled this past December by the number of people who gave us money to give to families in our church in need. Kim Wagner has mentioned how supported she feels by members of this church during this difficult time in their lives. By the same token, some of our young couples have just rejoiced in the birth of babies; couples have gotten married; someone has a new job with a promotion. We should rejoice with them, helping them celebrate God’s goodness to them.

But notice what has to be true for that kind of mutual caring to take place. The parts of the body have to be intimately related to the other parts. All too often, people in the church do not get intimately connected to others, and then when something happens in their lives, they wonder why nobody notices or seems to care. When marriages are in trouble, very often the couple will continue to act as though nothing is wrong, just putting on a happy face in public, when they are dying inside. How can anyone help a situation like that, when the hurting member acts like they don’t want anyone to know that they are hurting? We have to be open, and honest, and authentic with one another if we are going to act like the Body of Christ that we are. And that pretty much means we have to be in a small group. The worship service is not the time to share your heart at this level, so you have to find, or create on your own, a small group of people, who will be like the parts of the body for one another.

Paul then draws out another implication of this “body” metaphor: 1 Cor 12:29, “Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? [30] Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?”

There are lots of different gifts, and the Holy Spirit gives different ones to whoever He wants. But He does not give any one gift to everyone. Not everyone is an apostle—that’s obvious. Not everyone is a prophet or a teacher—that’s obvious. Not everyone performs miracles or healings—that’s also obvious. But when it come to speaking in tongues, for some odd reason, some people want to say that everyone does do that. These are all rhetorical questions, and the answer to the question “Do all speak in tongues?” is the same as the answer to all the rest: No. I think that’s the end of the discussion. I just don’t see how you can interpret it any other way.

In vv.28ff, Paul lists spiritual gifts in a certain order. 1 Cor. 12:28-31, “And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles… [31] But eagerly desire the greater gifts.” Then in 1 Cor. 14:1, he says, “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.” This seem like an odd thing to say, since he has just spent the bulk of chapter 12 insisting that all the gifts are needed, that all of them are equally important, etc. So how is it that some of them are greater than others?

It’s important to keep in mind that in this passage, Paul is trying to correct the Corinthian believers, because they thought that the gift of tongues was the most important one. The greater gifts, Paul says, are those which will build up the whole body, not just the individual. All through 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, Paul is stressing that since the gifts are given for the common good (1 Cor 12:7), the intelligible gifts are more valuable than the gift of tongues which is unintelligible unless it is interpreted. In fact, almost every gift is more valuable to the body as a whole than speaking in spiritual languages, and many of those gifts are not very “supernatural”. He has mentioned things like teaching, encouraging, contributing, mercy, administration, and hospitality, all of which we tend to think of as “ordinary.”

So yes, in one sense, there are greater and lesser gifts, but that distinction is on the basis of how useful they are to the whole body rather than on how spectacular they are. And we ought to desire most the gifts that are useful to the whole. There is nothing about spiritual gifts that is self-centered; they are all for the common good.

In this list of gifts at the end of the chapter, Paul adds a few gifts that he did not mention earlier: apostles, teachers, helps, and administration. That’s a clue that the list he gave in the first part of the chapter is not complete—there are other gifts besides those. In fact, there are five lists of spiritual gifts in Scripture. In addition to the two lists in 1 Cor 12, we also have lists in Romans, Ephesians, and 1 Peter. I’ve shown the gifts mentioned in these last three books, with the gifts not mentioned in other lists in a different color.

C Romans 12:6-8. prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, contributing to the needs of others, leadership, showing mercy

C 1 Peter 4:9,11. hospitality, speaking (which might refer to any of the other speaking gifts), serving

The conclusion we draw from this is that there are many different gifts, and the lists in Scripture are merely illustrative, not exhaustive. You may well have a gift that is not mentioned in any of these lists. EX: Joyce Johnson has a remarkable ability to minister to people with the piano. I did a funeral this last year in which Joyce played the prelude as the family was seated. It was a familiar hymn, but the way she played it just reached out and comforted those people’s hearts. This is not just a natural talent, but the ability to use that talent for the common good, to minister to others in a spiritual way, to build up the Body of Christ. There are many very talented musicians, but not all of them combine that talent with a spiritual gift.

The point is that you may have a gift that is not mentioned in any of these lists, but you do have at least one spiritual gift that God wants you to use for the benefit of other believers.

What’s your gift? If you don’t know, here’s an easy, informal way to begin to discover your gift. As you look around in the church, or at the church world-wide, what are the needs that you see? Some people will see the need for more teaching; some will notice the need for better organization; some will be drawn to the need for Spirit-inspired worship; others will see individuals who are hurting; others see financial needs. The chances are that the needs you see correspond to the gifts you have to meet those particular needs. You see them because you have a God-given ability to do something about them. A spiritual gift is something you can do to serve others, which you are good at, and which you enjoy doing. What’s your gift? Look around.