BELIEVERS ARE GOD’S GIFTED PEOPLE
1 CORINTHIANS 12:1-11 JANUARY 19, 2003
1 CORINTHIANS 12:1-11
1Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. 2You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 3Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.
4There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
7Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
Today we look at Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. We’re going to be studying it for the next few weeks. Paul talks about ‘gifts’ that God gives to every believer because they have faith and they now have God’s grace rather than standing outside of God’s grace. Now the disciples, at one time, were concerned. They came to Jesus saying, ‘There is someone doing miracles and driving out demons.’ They were upset and worried because they didn’t know this man. He wasn’t one of the twelve. Jesus reminded them that he had been given God’s gifts to do such things. Jesus was not going to stop him. He said, ‘If he is for us, he cannot be against us.’ He was trying to remind them that God’s gifts, whatever they might be, are good and perfect. They are meant for all His believers.
We read in James: "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows"(JAMES 1:17). We need to remind ourselves of that. As believers, we are God’s gifted people and that the gifts that God gives to us are perfect gifts, good gifts. We’re going to look at what the Apostle Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, speaks to us about this morning—that you and I are, as believers, God’s gifted people.
BELIEVERS ARE GOD’S GIFTED PEOPLE
I. There is only one Lord
II. There are many gifts
I. There is only one Lord
Paul wrote to the people in Corinth. Corinth was a metropolitan area. It sat in the middle of a trade route. It was a bustling city. It had a great number of pagan temples. One of those temples was for the temple worship of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. As part of the temple worship, those who served in the temple were known as the shrine prostitutes. There were a thousand of these prostitutes who served there. That’s why we heard already in Chapter six in today’s second lesson of 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, how Paul warned against uniting with a prostitute. It was a common practice of the day. These Corinthians were new Christians. In a sense, they had just found Christ. In reality, Christ had found them. Paul wanted to remind them that their God, whom they could not see and had never seen and of whom there weren’t images of and for whom there wasn’t a temple for in Corinth yet, was the true God. He says, ‘you know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.’ Mute idols refer to those who could not speak, the statues that adorned the temples. The false gods could not give anything back, even though the people had given them much and worshipped them. Paul was telling these believers to hold fast to the true God, who is not only your ‘giving’ God, but He is your forgiving God and He is your living God. He did not want them to backslide into the false worship they once had.
Then Paul goes on to tell them that this Lord is only one God. He is the one true God. He is the one who gives them gifts. Paul writes: 1Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. They weren’t used to this—having gifts; first of all, having faith and the gift of God’s grace. Their false gods had never given them anything before. This God was different from all of those false gods. This God was the triune God.
Paul refers to that in our text. You have to listen closely, but it’s there. 4There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. He talks about gifts, service and working. He talks about the Spirit, he talks about the Lord Jesus, and he talks about God the Father, reminding them very subtly, that yes, there was service and works and all kinds of things that believers would do once they became believers; but there was only one Lord, three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, = one Lord. The same Lord gave them all of these abilities—this service, these gifts and these workings. It all began with faith.
3Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. Again, we have reference to the Trinity don’t we? Jesus is Lord, God, the Holy Spirit—all are mentioned here in this one verse. These believers’ lives had changed. They realized now that the triune God was the true God of all creation. No longer could they say Jesus be cursed because that would stick in their throat as believers. On the other hand, they could say that Jesus is Lord and they could say Jesus is blessed because of the grace of God, which now had worked faith in their hearts. They realized as they lived in a hustling, bustling city with all sorts of temples to all sorts of gods, (and one that had thousands of prostitutes working for the name of the ‘church’ for their false god), that there was only one Lord. There was only one God—the triune God.
What does that have to do with us today? We don’t live where there are temples made to false gods. We don’t live where there are any human sacrifices made. We might say we all know ask about the one true God. That’s true, but we also live in a society where man says he is god himself. There is a part of God in each one of us, so, reasonably, as man would say, we can become God ourselves. The danger there is that we set up the rules and regulations according to our whims and fancies. When there are so many gods, there are lots of different judgements concerning morality and what is right and what is wrong. That is the society that you and I live in.
So at times, we also misplace our focus. We think God is a God of blessing and money when He is a God of love and mercy. Sometimes, we make our self-righteousness into our own god, rather than the righteousness of Christ, which saves us from all of our sins. The list goes on and on, doesn’t it? Sometimes our family becomes more important than God; sometimes the things of this world are more important than the things of God. In a sense, there are all kinds of gods that you and I follow after or are distracted by. The Lord reminds us of that very clearly when He talked about the parable of the seed and the sower. He explained the parable of the seed and the sower. Today if you have time read this whole account written in Matthew 13. Then He talks about you and I as believers in explaining that parable. He says: "The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful"(MATTHEW 13:22). Doesn’t that describe us from time to time? The very worries and cares of this life choke out God’s word. The deceitfulness of wealth, power, honor and glory, choke out God’s word so that sometimes we worry too much; so that we sometimes don’t put our trust in God enough AND that makes the word of God unfruitful…thankfully, not all the time. Thankfully, it doesn’t choke it out completely so that you and I come back to our senses and look to God and His word and realize that He is in control of all things.
There is only one Lord God. Our Lord God is indeed, different than any other god in this world because He is a living, giving, forgiving God. He is the triune God—something that the children of the Old Testament learned from very early on when they said: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. (We, too, as believers by God’s grace also realize that this Lord God, who is our Lord God, is the only true God.) Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength"(DEUTERONOMY 6:4,5). When we look at all the Lord our God has done for us, we realize how anxious we are then, to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and strength. It’s not easy. It reminds us of the First Commandment to fear, love and trust in God above all things. It sounds easy, but we know we always struggle with our sinful flesh. We always struggle with the old man that is in us; we constantly battle to put God first.
In this season of Epiphany, we look at the glory of God through His Son Jesus, as He reveals Himself to us as the light of the world. He reminds us that it wasn’t just for the light of the world, but it was for us that Christ revealed Himself, so that you and I would have strength in this world. Christ, the Savior of mankind, and Christ, our personal Savior, helps us to face the world head-on. We face the world head-on not with our own strength but with the strength that God gives to us because He is our Lord God. Paul writes in Galatians: "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world"(GALATIANS 6:14). Paul reminds us as believers, as God’s gifted people, that when we look at the cross of Christ, we realize that the world is dead to us and we are dead to the world. We live for Christ instead.
Believers are God’s gifted people; gifted first of all with the gift of faith to see, believe, understand and know that there is only one Lord. As we see, believe, understand and know that there is only one Lord, we also see, as Paul continues
II. There are many gifts
Even though there are many gifts, there is still only one Lord. There is only one purpose for all these gifts that the believers have. You have to picture for yourself that these believers in Corinth came from all different walks of life. There were all different kinds of people and they worshipped all different kinds of gods; some worshipped a Greek god, some worshipped Roman gods, and some worshipped other very pagan gods that demanded human sacrifices. You can imagine that as they came together in a congregation of believers, the kinds of discussions they could have had—speaking of the ways of life that they used to live. Paul writes about that. He says, ‘Now you are given these gifts for only one purpose—not for your own purpose, but for the purpose of God.’ 7Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. Manifestation, meaning revelation of the Spirit or gift of the Spirit—is given to each believer for the common good (the common good of the church). No longer were they to serve themselves as they had before, no longer were they to act like they were worshipping another false god, but they were worshipping the true God and He was giving them gifts to build up the kingdom of God.
Now we have this list and a reminder to ourselves that this certainly isn’t a complete list. We’ve looked at Galatians, Romans, and Ephesians—we find many other lists that go on to talk about many other gifts given to the church. 8To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, (here we have wisdom and knowledge of salvation—it talks about the same Spirit again) 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10to another miraculous powers, God through Paul talks about faith and healing and powers that they had. We realize the apostles had the powers even to raise the dead. They had those special gifts back then because the church was just starting out. There were many unbelievers who denied that Christ was raised from the dead, so the early church had many gifts in order to prove that indeed, there is one Lord who has power over all things.
Paul goes on: to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, (again, to distinguish whether they are spirits of God or false spirits or spirits of the world, or even the spirit of Satan himself.) All sorts of temptation assail us. We are told Satan would even disguise himself as an angel. Remember the church was just starting out. Satan was certainly thinking, ‘This is the best time for me to destroy the church of God.’ The church was just an infant. He did not succeed of course.
Then Paul goes on…to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. We think of Pentecost, the disciples, and those first apostles being given the ability to speak in all sorts of tongues. The people on that day were able to hear and understand the message of salvation. A great number was added to the church of God. It was not gibberish, not just babbling, but tongues that people understood. Again, it was for one purpose—the common good of the church. 11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. We’re told he gives all kinds of gifts to all kinds of people at all different times for all different purposes that God’s kingdom would be glorified.
As believers, you and I are given many gifts. We are given almost all of these same gifts. We may not think of them in the same way. We may not think we’re too gifted, but we, as believers, are God’s gifted people. We have to ask ourselves, which is the most important of these gifts (on this list anyway)? We have wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, and prophecy, to distinguish between spirits, speaking in tongues or to interpret tongues. Listening to this list—which one is most important? As I look at that, faith is the most important one. Without faith, you and I wouldn’t even be concerned about the other gifts. Without faith, you and I wouldn’t have any other gifts. Without faith, you and I wouldn’t be here today. Faith is the first gift that God gives to us by His grace. With that faith, you and I are equipped to face the world. If it were the only gift we had, we would be blessed beyond all comparison. With faith, then, come the other gifts of comfort, hope and peace. With faith comes eternal life. With faith, we understand everything else. With faith we can face the temptations of Satan. With faith we can overcome even death itself. "For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith"(1 JOHN 5:4). Those times when we’re caught up in this world, the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth might try to choke out our faith, we have faith to overcome that because it is the power of God alive in each one of us.
We have all the other gifts in one form or another. There is the gift of speaking in tongues. Who of us when growing up didn’t know another tongue at one time in our homes? Grandparents or maybe even parents spoke in German and we learned another tongue/language. Even today those who can translate Greek and Hebrew and know them and speak them prove a blessing to God’s church. The pastors in our synod are trained that way so they may wrest God’s message from the original so we may grasp the true meaning for our lives. Many others learn the tongue/language of their mission field where they labor.
The gifts of power—the power to comfort, the gifts of courage, to show mercy and kindness—these are all powerful gifts. The gifts of joy, love and happiness, are powerful gifts in a world that is just the opposite. The gifts of healing—you and I have that more than we may realize. From James we hear that ‘the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.’ This is only a part of that verse. The rest of that verse tells us why. He says: "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective"(JAMES 5:16). He talks about sinfulness and he talks about healing. He says you and I confess our sins to the Lord, and if we’re troubled by our sins we can confess them to each other. And then, we pray for each other…and healing comes for our sin-sick souls in the form of forgiveness. Yes, once in awhile in our prayers, along with God’s will works physical healing also. What is the Lord concerned with? What are you and I concerned with? We are concerned that our sins are forgiven. Then he says, ‘the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.’
Yes, as we look at that list, we might be surprised that the Lord has given each one of those gifts to us; to some in greater form than another. There are other lists too…of generosity, mercy, kindness, compassion and love…these too, are gifts of God. It might do you well today to make a list of three to five things that the Lord has truly blessed you with. Then, use those gifts for the good of God’s kingdom. I think we’ve grown up with these gifts for quite a while and sometimes don’t realize that they’re there until we sit down and write them down for ourselves. Sometimes we don’t use them very well because we are humble Christians. We don’t want to come into God’s kingdom with boastful attitudes by saying to everyone else, ‘Look what I can do!’ Sometimes then we place those gifts on the back burner when we have the ability to use those gifts but do not. The Lord reminds us in 2 Timothy: "For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. Then he tells why… For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline"(2 TIMOTHY 1:6,7). God’s Holy Spirit is a Spirit of power and that is in us by faith. So, we have the power to do great things because we are God’s gifted people and because God has given us faith.
As believers are we God’s gifted people and with that first gift of faith, the Spirit calls us to be able to see, hear, understand, know in our hearts and believe that there is only one Lord. As we look at that one Lord who has created us and all beings, we realize that He has given us more than faith…He has given us many gifts, talents and abilities meant for the common good of the church. As Paul wrote to the Colossians: "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him"(COLOSSIANS 3:17). Yes, as believers, you and I are God’s gifted people—gifted people to understand and believe in our hearts that our Lord is our personal Savior and the Savior of all mankind. He gives us these many gifts of the Spirit that we might show our thanks to our God, the Father, through Him. Amen.
Pastor Timm O. Meyer
