1 Corinthians
Different, but the Same
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
May 18, 2003
Intro:
A. [Fair Exchanges]
The husband’s idea of a gift exchange:
His gift is a new set of golf clubs.
Her gift is a new pair of dishwashing gloves.
The wife’s idea of a gift exchange:
His gift is a new snow shovel.
Her gift is a new coat.
The child’s idea of a gift exchange:
The child gets a new baseball bat and some new games.
Dad gets a new video game.
Mom gets a new racecar set.
B. [illustration]
On Christmas morning, the children in a family do not usually all receive the same gifts.
One gets a football, one a puzzle, another receives a doll house, and another a table game.
Yet, although each child does not receive the same gifts as the others, the parents intend the gifts to be enjoyed by all the children as they use them together.
The same is true of the gifts God gives His children.
We do not all have the same gift, but we are all to use our gift for the good of all in God’s family.
C. They are different, but the same.
1. Our text is 1 Corinthians 12:1-11.
2. We will read our entire text at this time.
3. (Read entire text.)
4. Now this morning I want to focus in on three verses: verses 4, 5, & 6; first...
I. Different gifts, same Spirit
1 Corinthians 12:4 (NIV), There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.
A. Now in chapter 12, Paul turns to the area of Spiritual gifts.
1. And actually, Paul will deal with this topic in chapters 12, 13, and 14.
2. I will tell you today and will remind you in the coming weeks that all three of these chapters are on the subject of spiritual gifts.
3. While those of you who know what chapter 13 is may question that I say it has to do with spiritual gifts, you will understand after I’ve explained it to you.
B. First we need to define what spiritual gifts are.
1. Spiritual gifts are what we would call talents and abilities.
2. The Greek word is “charisma.”
3. Charisma is a word that we often use to describe some people.
4. We say that he or she is a person with a lot of charisma.
5. When we are saying that, we are usually saying that there is something special about them.
6. The definition of the Greek word “charisma” is: a divine gift.
7. We all have a built in desire to serve God in order to say thanks for what He has done for us.
8. And God has given us the talents and abilities to serve Him with.
9. Those talents and abilities are called “gifts.”
10. They are gifts from God that we are to use to serve Him.
C. That’s what verse four is referring to when it says there are different gifts, but the same Spirit and verse 11 says the same thing.
1. It is the HS that gives the gifts.
2. The gifts are given by the HS.
3. There are many different gifts, but they all come from the HS.
D. Spiritual gifts are therefore different from natural talents and abilities.
1. The difference is in the power of the HS.
2. A talent or ability that is given by the HS has the power of the HS behind them.
3. [Illustration]
a. It is apparent that I have the gift of teaching.
b. I can tell you that I’ve always had a natural ability to communicate.
c. But it wasn’t until I released control over that ability to the HS and began depending on His power that I was ever able to preach effectively.
d. What ability that I have to teach, is not my own natural ability, its from the HS.
e. The truth is that I really didn’t take any preaching classes in college to speak of.
f. I went to and graduated from Bible College, but I went there and majored in Christian Education, specifically in Youth Ministry.
g. Now I know that I’m not the best preacher that has ever lived, but I do know that the HS has control of my preaching and is using it effectively.
h. Because I really don’t have much education, talent, or experience at preaching—it has to be a God-given gift!
E. You see that’s how spiritual gifts are.
1. Everyone who is saved has been given at least one spiritual gift.
2. Verse 7 says “Now to each one the manifestation of the spirit is given...”
3. And verse 11 says “…he gives them to each one…”
3. And Ephesians 4:7 says, “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”
4. When we are saved, the HS endows each of us with different gifts—supernatural gifts.
6. And lest you think that you don’t have any, I remind that the Bible repeatedly says “each one.”
7. If you are saved, you have at least one HS-given spiritual gift.
F. Now the Bible has at least 4 different lists of gifts.
1. There are four different lists of gifts in the NT.
2. One is here in verses 8-10.
3. A second one is in verse 28 of this chapter.
4. Another is in Romans 12:6-8.
5. And a fourth one is in Ephesians 4:11.
6. And there are a few other individual gifts scattered throughout the NT.
G. I have provided a list of gifts and suggested definitions in your bulletin.
1. C. Peter Wagner compiled this list.
2. It will give you an overview of the gifts and some Scriptural references for each.
H. Our responsibility is to discover which of the gifts God has given us.
1. Studying this list and the Scripture references will help.
2. Prayer is certainly a must in discovering Spiritual gifts.
3. And I also have a Spiritual Gift assessment that will help you to discover yours as well.
4. I can give you that and help you to determine the gifts that God has given to you.
5. But probably the best way to find your spiritual gifts is to just start doing a variety of different types of service and see what your good at and what you enjoy.
6. Because you do have some – the Bible says you do.
7. If you are saved you have at least one and you need to discover what it is.
8. Because verse 5 tells us that there is also…
II. Different service, same Lord
1 Corinthians 12:5 (NIV), There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.
A. Now Paul says there are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.
1. Not only are there different gifts, there are also different ways of using them.
2. Two people may have the same Spiritual gift, but they may use them in two different ways.
3. For example, lets consider the gift of wisdom—that’s an easy one.
a. Let’s say that two different people have the gift of wisdom.
b. One of them decides that he is going to use that gift in teaching a Sunday school class.
1) That might be a good use of a HS-given gift of wisdom.
2) That is one type of service for the gift of wisdom.
c. But let’s say the other person decides to use his HS-given gift of wisdom to write a book explaining something about the Bible.
1) That too would clearly be a good use of the spiritual gift of wisdom.
2) That is yet another type of service using the same gift.
3) And there are clearly many other ways to use the gift of wisdom.
4. There are indeed many different types of service for all the gifts.
B. But the key here is that that even though there are many different types of service, they are all to serve the same Lord.
1. These different gifts (given by the HS) are used in different types of service for the same Lord.
2. There are different types of gifts that are given by the same Spirit.
3. And there are different types of service to serve the same Lord.
4. Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)
5. And all Christians are intended to serve just like Jesus did.
6. There was only one person who ever lived that deserved to be served.
7. And that person said that even though He deserved to be served, He chose not to.
8. He chose to live His life of servant hood as an example to us.
9. And all Christians should serve Him!
10. When we use our HS-given gifts in service to others, we serve our Lord.
11. We each have different gifts that we may use in different ways, but we all serve the same Lord.
C. We serve in order to build up the body of Christ.
1. 1 Corinthians 12:7 (NIV), Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
2. We serve out of obedience to Christ.
3. We serve out of gratitude for what He has done for us.
4. We serve because Christ serves us.
5. We serve to minister to the needs of others.
6. If I teach you, I serve you.
7. If you show mercy to me, you serve me.
8. We serve to build up the body of Christ, the church.
9. We use our gifts of service for the common good.
10. Do you see that Church is not just worship on Sunday morning?
11. Church is a community of believers working together with the power of the HS to improve the lives of others.
D. Now I want to briefly mention here that this second part is the only part that is our responsibility.
1. The first part (the distribution of the gifts) is totally the responsibility of the HS.
a. We don’t have any choice in what gifts we receive.
b. We only have the responsibility to discover what they are.
c. We will enjoy the gifts that we have, but we do not choose them.
2. But this second part, the service, is our responsibility.
a. Using our gifts is totally our responsibility.
b. And I must say that it is a major responsibility of Christians.
c. A major responsibility of Christians is to use our spiritual gifts to build up the body of Christ!
d. So the question begs to be asked of Christians who think their spiritual responsibility is simply to show up for worship when it is convenient is: Why do you think you can be this disobedient?
e. You see going to church is a good thing that we are commanded to do; there are some very good things about church, and all Christians should go to church.
f. But going to church is not the sum total of our Spiritual responsibility—it is only part of it.
g. Christians are to be using their spiritual gifts in works of service to others and to Christ.
III. Different working, same God
1 Corinthians 12:6 (NIV), There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
A. Now verse six takes it one step further.
1. “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.”
2. “There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.”
3. And “there are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.”
a. There are different kinds of results.
b. There are different ways that they work out.
c. The Greek word here is “energema;” which is where we get the word energy.
d. When there is work there is energy produced.
e. When there is service, there are results.
f. When there is service, there are different kinds of working
B. Now in our example I used the gift of wisdom.
1. I said different people could use the gift of wisdom in different types of service.
a. One person could use it to teach a Sunday school class.
b. While another person could use it to write a book.
2. Now lets focus on the person that uses the gift of wisdom to write a book; but let’s say there are two different people who use their gift of wisdom to write a book.
a. Each of those two people will probably have different results.
b. Maybe one of them uses the gift of wisdom to write a book that definitively explains the fallacies of the theory of evolution and the truthfulness of the Genesis creation account.
1) If the HS really uses this person’s gift in this book, you could expect many people to come to a fuller understanding of how God created the heavens and the earth.
2) If the HS really uses this book, you could expect some people to begin to believe in God and then come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
3) So one of the results--one of the workings--of this gift of wisdom through the service of a book would be that people would be saved.
4) One result or working could be salvation.
c. But let’s say that the other person uses their gift of wisdom to write a book about why God allows suffering in the world.
1) You could expect that one of the results of a book like that would be comfort and reassurance for folks experiencing suffering.
2) So the result or working of his book would be comfort for suffering people.
d. Two different people with the same gift from the same Spirit using their gifts in the same service (through a book) but with two different results: salvation & comfort.
C. But the results are both from the same God.
1. Now, as I began to explain earlier, the only part of these 3 verses that we have any responsibility in is the second one.
2. Verse 11 makes it clear that the HS decides who gets what gifts, so we don’t have any choices about which gifts we get.
3. But we do have choices in how we use those gifts.
4. We get to decide which types of service we will be involved in to use our gifts.
5. But that is the extent of our responsibility.
6. The only responsibility that we have is to see to it that we use our gifts in some type of service for our Lord.
7. Because the gifts are chosen by the HS and the results are up to God.
8. We are not responsible for the results.
9. God is responsible for the results.
10. One of the things that often cause arguments and divisions in a church is debating over results.
a. It wasn’t any different in the Corinthian church.
b. They argued over the results of different preachers and in chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians, Paul scolded them for it.
c. The Corinthians were arguing over the results of the labor of different preachers.
d. They were arguing over who was a better preacher.
e. They were comparing different preachers based on the results of their work.
f. Paul compared the work of these different preachers in farming terms.
g. The seeds that Paul refers to are the gospel.
h. Paul says, “1 Corinthians 3:6-8 (NIV), I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.”
i. Paul says one person planted the gospel seeds, while another person came along and watered the gospel seeds.
j. But neither one of them had anything to do with whether or not those seeds grew.
k. God is responsible for the growth of the seeds.
l. Paul told these arguing Corinthians, that as long as the preacher was working in the fields he was OK; they would each be rewarded according to their own labor.
m. Because neither of them were responsible for the results.
n. “Only God...makes things grow.”
D. And all of us need to hear that!
1. Because this is where the nervousness comes in for most people.
2. We are scared to do anything because we don’t think the results will be very good.
3. We think that someone else could do a much better job of it than we could.
4. We think that someone else could get better results.
5. But we all need to hear that “Only God...makes things grow.”
6. We are not responsible for the results—God is!
7. All we are responsible for is using our gifts, not the results.
8. When you think about the whole thing, it only makes sense that fear of the results is a work of the Devil.
a. We must remember that it was the HS that gave us our gifts.
b. And we must remember that God is responsible for the results.
c. And there is therefore only one excuse to not serve in some way, that is a lack of faith in God; a lack of trust in God.
d. Do you trust the HS’s decision in what gifts He gave you?
e. Do you trust God for the results?
f. Or are you simply trying to serve with only your own abilities?
g. You see Satan tricks us into thinking that God isn’t going to help us when we serve.
h. It’s true that if God doesn’t help us, we may fall flat on our faces.
i. But if we use our HS-given gifts in service, trusting God for the results—it is impossible to fail!
j. You see the only way to fail, is to not use your gifts.
k. The only way to fail is to just go to church, but never use your gifts to serve others.
l. And Satan wins.
m. Every time Satan tricks someone into not using their gifts, he wins!
Conclusion:
A. “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.”
B. [illustration]
Imagine how a parent would feel if on Christmas day when the gifts for their children were handed out, the children just took them, said “Thank you,” and laid them aside with no attempt to open the gifts not even to find out what they were!
Imagine how the Lord must feel when he has given gifts to us that He intends for us to use, and yet we never take the trouble to find out what they are, never put them to work, and then excuse ourselves from serving the church by saying that we can’t do anything!
C. Pray
D. If you are a Christian today, you have gifts. Are you using them?
1. Perhaps today, you need to come and pray about getting up out of your pew and getting busy in serving God with your gifts.
2. Perhaps today you know that you haven’t been serving God the way you should and you need to come and pray about it today.
E. If you are not a Christian today, why not today?
F. Hymn of commitment: #668 “I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go”
