We are continuing in our series on the Church.  The Church is the Temple of God, and we are living stones in the temple.  Last week we talked about the Church as the Body of Christ and how each member, though different makes one body.   Today we are looking more closely at the same passage and imagery of the church but looking more specifically at the spiritual gifts that are given to members of the body.  This is a tremendous passage that gives us great insight into the operation of the church and how each of us are gifted to serve in the church and fulfill the greater mission of Christ for the world.

I only read a portion of the scripture.  But I will be referring to different parts of the chapter in the sermon today.   So now we come to the “How to” sermon on how we become greater connected in the body Christ as we look at these spiritual gifts.  Most of us are familiar with  spiritual gifts at least superficially.  We have heard of them.  Some of us might even have gone through a spiritual gifts discovery and may know your spiritual gifts.   But if you are like me, I was raised in church and did not really understand the operation of spiritual gifts until I was in college and studying for ministry.  So let’s start out by asking:

I.What are spiritual gifts?   

Paul starts out by saying that he does not want us to be ignorant or uninformed about gifts.  Then look at verse 4 which reads:

v4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.

The Holy Spirit imparts these gifts to every believer.  They are not natural talents but supernatural gifts.  We might say that we are born with natural talents of music, artistic abilities, athleticism, carpentry, mechanical ability, etc.  But we are born again with spiritual gifts which are especially designed to help us build up the body of Christ to fulfill the mission of Christ in the world.

We have seen natural talents and abilities on display today.  Rita with her talent playing piano, the choir with talents of music and singing voices.  Some of you have talents or skills for cooking.  Others have mechanical ability and can help repair cars.  Others of you have carpentry skills and can build or repair homes.  Natural talents and abilities are very important and greatly used by God.  But these are “spiritual gifts” that are given to us by the Holy Spirit fr the particular purpose of building up the church and causing the body to function at full capacity!

The Greek word for gifts is charismata… The word “Charis” is the word for grace.  So, these are grace gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit, not something we attain or achieve by ourselves.

One of my seminary professors, Ken Kinghorn (now deceased) talked about common struggles with spiritual gifts and two more extreme positions.  One he called charisphobia and the other he called charismania.

Charisphobia is when people are either ignorant or afraid of spiritual gifts.  They recognize them but they don’t want them because they think they might lose control or be taken in a direction undesired or unwanted.   Remember in verse one, Paul mentions that he did not want them to be uninformed about spiritual gifts. This is charisphobia where we are either uninformed or skeptical about gifts.  So we tend to avoid them and never use them.

The other side are those who overemphasize the spiritual gifts and use them without staying in connection with the Giver of the gifts.   In this situation, people place more value on the gifts than the Giver.  The danger is to place greater importance on certain gifts than other gifts.  Paul was actually writing this instruction to correct those struggling with charisphobia and charismania.   

Paul gives a listing of spiritual gifts in this chapter:

8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to 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.  11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

There are a couple other places in the New Testament that identify spiritual gifts also.  I will only reference them:  Romans 12, I Peter 4, Ephesians 4.

So, this is not an exhaustive list of gifts. But it identifies key gifts that the Holy Spirit distributes to each person to help the church and carry out the mission of Jesus. The design of this is that your gifts are intended to match the area of service in the church.  Now I could preach a whole series on the gifts of the Spirit, but the purpose of this sermon is simply to identify the gifts to help you see how God can use your gifts and how you might find greater connection in the body of Christ.

1. How do we receive these gifts?

I mentioned earlier that these are spiritual or grace gifts, not talents or natural abilities.  Look at verse 7:

7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

Gifts are given to EVERYONE, not just a select few.  I was doing a teaching on this is in a prior appointment.  We had a weekend on discovering our spiritual gifts. This is something I hope we will plan to do here in the future.  A long-time member of the church shared with me, “Brother Bill I don’t believe I have a spiritual gift!”  Now I was amazed at what she said because she had been in the church her entire life. Now she was sharing with me that she did not believe she had a spiritual gift.  I relayed to her the instruction given here that each person has been given at least one gift by the Holy Spirit. You may not have realized it or discovered it yet…but each person has at least one gift, normally 2-3 gifts are given to each person. The scripture here indicates that “each one” meaning everyone has been given a gift.  Interestingly, Professor Kinghorn believed the apostles had all the gifts.  Certainly, all the gifts are available but not everyone has all the gifts.

I was raised in the church and read about the gifts in bible studies and even from sermons.  But I never really understood the practical application of the gifts.  It was not until I was in college before I started the process of discovering my spiritual gifts.  I completed a spiritual gifts inventory. There are many available on- line.  Some are free and others have a small fee.  These are great tools to help identify or help us begin to discover our spiritual gifts.  Why is this so valuable or important?   Because in many ways this helps answer the question about how each of us fit into the church and find our greater purpose and service in the church.

Over time, I have taken several different spiritual gifts inventories. I went online and did another inventory on Thursday.  And everyone brought about similar results.  These inventories usually give you results regarding what your top spiritual gifts might be.  Each one I have taken have identified the number one gift for me as a pastor-teacher.  Now I find here a great sense of affirmation and a clearer understanding of how I personally fit into the mission of the church.  I am engaging the gift that God has given me as a pastor-teacher more prominently.  But I want to emphasize that these gifts are for everybody, not just church leaders, pastors or ordained clergy.

Each of us has probably been involved in positions of service that made you feel very uncomfortable or like going to the dentist’s office.  You felt frustrated because there was no real sense of fulfilment in what you were doing.  It was the proverbial trying to put a square peg into a round hole kind of experience.  Tony Campolo talked about knowing that pastoral counseling was not his gift.  His best word to people in distress or troubling situations was, “Just get over it!”  He is more of an evangelist than a pastoral counselor. Trying to be in that position was frustrating for him and for those around him.   But when we find our gifts then we find our matching place of service that helps us find true fulfillment in what we are doing. And it is also fruitful to those we are serving.  It becomes a double blessing!

If you have not begun the process of discovering your spiritual gifts, I challenge you to complete a spiritual gift inventory and begin the process to prayerfully discover your spiritual gifts and find a place of service that matches your gift.   I am happy to assist you in this process also if you need it. We will look to have further instruction on this through the church later also.

Look at another part of Paul’s teaching about how we receive these gifts in v 11…

11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. 

Important note here is that we do not choose our spiritual gifts. We may want to go down this list and choose what gift we desire.  This is like going down a grocery store aisle and thinking well I will take the gift of mercy, but I think I will leave prophecy to someone else.  Notice here that it is the Holy Spirit that distributes these gifts as the Spirit determines. We often say that God knows us better than we know ourselves.  And I think this is true for the church also.  The Holy Spirit imparts gifts to the church as the Spirit determines because the Spirit knows what the church needs more than anyone of us here.  This also emphasizes that these gifts are given to us, not something we create or develop within ourselves.

III. How do the spiritual gifts operate in the Body?

Paul was addressing problems in the Church as people were either not using or misusing their gifts.

First problem: people were undervaluing their gift which causes Deficiency. Notice what Paul says in v15…

15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.   If the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.

Our feet look very different than our hands and our ears look very different than our eyes.  But think about how deficient our body would be if we lose one of these important members of our body.  It is quite easy to think… I wish I could teach like… Or I wish I could lead and organize like…  Or I wish I could preach like…  But God has uniquely gifted each of us for the service God wants us to perform.  Greeters and Ushers are as important as teachers and administrators.  Setting up chairs and organizing space is as needed as organizing lives. Every part is needed, and every gift used to help the body function at its full capacity.

Second Problem: Others were overemphasizing their gifts which causes Disunity.  Paul says in v 17…

17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

When members are divided against each other the body is infirmed or weakened so that it cannot function at maximum capacity.  My father had severe rheumatoid arthritis…his body basically attacked itself.  His bones and joints were stiff and unable to function properly.  My wife has MS which is basically an auto-immune disease wherein the body basically attacks itself and damages nerves which can then cause disruption and even paralysis.  Paul is addressing those who are creating division through their creating an elitism by placing favoritism on their gift and therefore minimizing other gifts. This created a lot of tension and factions in the body.

Remember last week when I asked the question about which member is most important in the church? The one who gives the most money?  The person who comes the most Sundays?  The person who serves the most hours?  These are all needed and good things. But it fails to recognize how the body works.  In a healthy body members are all working in synchronization to help the whole body be as one.  Every member is important.

This is like a football offensive team where each player has a function, very different body sizes and abilities from offensive line to the wide receiver to the quarterback.  But each one has a particular function to help execute the movement for the whole team.   

Or like choir singing today that has bass, baritone, tenor, alto and soprano voices.  All these very different voices and sounds are joined together.  Think about how different a bass voice is from a tenor or soprano sound. As Johnny Cash sang years ago…Daddy sings bass, Mamma sings tenor.  But is it not amazing how these different voices all blend together to form a harmonious and inspiring anthem or musical piece?  Each part and each voice contribute to creating beautiful harmony.  Or we could say the same for an orchestra…all the different musical instruments, stings and winds instruments and percussion yet together that create an incredible and moving musical arrangement.

One last note here, especially for those who might think their contribution or gift is not significant.

v24 God has abundant honor to those members that seem weaker…

Almost all of us have been in situations where people were picking teams for kickball or baseball or some other game.  And when we pick, we want the most skilled people, the fastest and most skilled person who excels with ability.  Think about it.  If you are choosing sides for a team you would choose the most skilled or gifted people who we think are going to make us successful and win… On a professional level, this is like a player selection for the draft or for scholarships in college.  It is tough when you get picked last or don’t make all stars.   But here is the amazing thing…Jesus unlike the movie was not a super-star. Remember the text last week talking about the church as the temple? Who is the cornerstone?  Jesus.  But Jesus is a stone the builders rejected.  He came into His own and they did not receive him.  Yet this stone the builders rejected is now the chief cornerstone.  He is the One God has placed his seal of approval on… my son in whom I am well pleased.

God is choosing the weak things… the things we overlook… the things we think unacceptable or undesirable, God is exalting those things.  Notice what Paul writes back in the first chapter of Corinthians speaking against those elevating some gifts and people above others.

I Corinthians 1:26-29

 26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.

It is not Ceaser that we claim as Lord today…centuries later it is the Crucified and Risen Jesus who is Lord… Let’s look at it another way in our own personal lives…

We purchase things or desire things that will directly benefit us.  Our cars, our TV’s our computers, nearly all our possessions directly benefit us…it comes back to our pleasure our enhancement and our perceived needs.  But the gifts placed by God and orchestrated by God are not for us directly.  These gifts given by God are for others… your gift of encouragement, your gift of wisdom, your gift of discernment, is for others.  Think about teaching.  Many of you have the gift of teaching, some have it and do not know it yet.  But that gift is given to transfer vital information to others.  It is the student who gets the direct benefit of your gift as the teacher.  Now as a byproduct but only indirectly does this gift bring a great sense of fulfillment and joy to you as the giver. As St Francis prayer states:  It is in giving that we receive.  Very similar to Jesus words.  It is more blessed to give than to receive.

It is kind of like Christmas all the time.  You know when you give a gift, and you see the smile on the face of a child or friend when you present them with a gift.  Their joy brings you joy.  And the joy you have just in giving and extending what you have been gifted to do.

Once again it is God’s action that orchestrates the body and its members…gifting them… positioning them… honoring them as He chooses…As one song puts it… How beautiful the Body of Christ.