Deo Gloria
Sermon for January 20, 2019
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Theme: Appreciate the Gifts God Has Given You!
- The gift of faith
- The gift of spiritual gifts
Did you get any good gifts for Christmas this year? An iPhone perhaps? A CD of your favorite singer or group? A teddy bear? A diamond ring? I know did. I received some very nice gifts for Christmas: a nice, warm sweatshirt; a ping pong table; a ticket to a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert.
In the verses we have before us this morning the apostle Paul talks about gifts God has given us. His goal, however, is to do more than simply teach us about these special gifts. He wants to lead us to appreciate them for what they really are: precious gifts from God. Appreciate the gifts God has given you: the gift of faith, as well as the gift of spiritual gifts.
You and I are Christians. We are people who believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. How did that happen? How did we get to be believers? Was it something we did? Did we just happen to wake up one morning and say, “Hey, I’m going to believe in Jesus Christ today”? There are, of course, people who think that way, that they are responsible for their faith, that they are believers because of something they did, because of a decision they made. Paul makes it very clear in these verses, however, that faith is not something we do. Rather, it is a gift from God. He says: “Therefore 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”(v. 3).
You see, the fact is I can’t bring myself to faith. I can’t generate faith in my own heart because I am spiritually dead. Remember what Paul told the Christians in Ephesus? “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins”(2:1). When the battery in your cell phone is dead, does your phone still work? Can you still make calls? Can you still text your friends? Of course not! Your phone is dead because the battery is dead. That’s what you and I are like by nature. Physically we are alive; but spiritually we are dead, completely helpless, unable to do anything. We can’t believe in Jesus on our own. We can’t even call out to him for help, because we are spiritually dead.
And it gets worse. Left to ourselves we would end up like the people in Corinth, deceived by lies and false teachings, led astray to worship dumb idols. Left to ourselves we wouldn’t understand what Christmas is all about. Like so many others, we’d think it was all about Santa Claus and presents. Left to ourselves we would dismiss Jesus’ birth of the virgin Mary as nonsense. We would dismiss the story of his miracles, like the one we heard about in our Gospel lesson, as nonsense. We would dismiss the story of his death as a senseless tragedy and his resurrection as a fanciful fairytale. On our own we would reject Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the way so many others do.
How thankful we are, then, for the gift that God has given us, the precious gift of faith! What we could not do, God did for us. Through the power of his Word and the working of his Spirit, God created faith in our hearts. He opened the eyes of our hearts and led us to see who that baby born in Bethlehem really is: the Son of God and Savior of the world. Through the power of his Word and the working of his Spirit, he led us to see how lost we really were, how foolish we were, how deceived we were. But then he also led us out of the darkness of sin. He led us to know and believe and confess Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the one and only one who can save us from sin and death. And through faith in Jesus, he has given us forgiveness for our sins, peace for souls and the sure hope of eternal life in heaven. As Paul says in 2 Thessalonians ch. 2, “From the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ”(vv. 13+14). And that’s why we confess what we do in the explanation of the 3rd Article: “I believe that I cannot by my own thinking or choosing believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel….” How thankful you and I can be for the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives, that he has led us to confess Jesus as our Lord! How thankful we can be that God has given us the gift of faith! Whatever you do, don’t take such a precious gift for granted! Appreciate that gift and thank God for it!
In the second part of our text Paul tells us about other gifts that God has given us through the working of his Spirit, gifts that we can use in helping and serving others. Take another look at what he says, beginning at v. 4:
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.
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 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. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.(vv. 4-11)
We like to receive gifts that are useful, things that we can use and enjoy for months and years to come. The spiritual gifts that God gives us are more than simply gifts we can use. They’re gifts intended to make us useful, so we can be involved in service and ministry.
Think of it this way. Imagine you tried out for the basketball team at school and you made the team. You show up for practice every day. You work hard in practice like everybody else, but you never get to play. You have talents and abilities too, abilities you’d like to use to help the team; but the coach never uses you. He never puts you in the game. He just leaves you sitting on the end of the bench. That would be very frustrating, wouldn’t it?
God doesn’t want us to be frustrated as Christians. He doesn’t want us to feel like we have nothing to contribute to the team. That’s why he gives us spiritual gifts. God doesn’t bring us to faith and make us members of his Church, his team, and then say, “OK, now just stay down there on the end of the bench and try not to get into too much trouble.” Not at all! God gives us gifts so we can contribute, so we can be involved in the work of his church, so we can be a part of the work he is doing in our world.
Paul mentions some of the gifts God gives to his people here in these verses: “To one is given…the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge…, to another faith…, to another gifts of healing…, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy,” and so on. Later on in this chapter Paul also mentions the gift of helping others and the gift of administration. In 2 Corinthians ch. 8 Paul mentions the grace of giving.(v. 7) In Romans ch. 12 he mentions gifts like teaching and encouraging and leadership. Obviously, there are many different gifts that God gives to his people, all kinds of different gifts, so everyone can contribute, so everyone can be involved.
Notice how Paul emphasizes that in these verses too, that God gives gifts to all his people. In v. 7 he says, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” And again in v. 11 he says, “All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.” No one is left out. No one can say, “Hey, what about me? I didn’t get any gifts.” God gives gifts to all his people. No, he doesn’t give them all the same gifts—that is true. He doesn’t give us all the gift of leadership. He doesn’t give us all the gift of teaching or prophecy or wisdom. He gives us different gifts so we can contribute in different ways. God doesn’t necessarily give us all the same number of gifts either. To some he may give more. To some he may give less. But the point is no one is left out. God gives gifts to all his people so they all can contribute, so they all can play a part.
Notice also the purpose for which God gives these gifts: “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” God doesn’t give us these gifts so we can use them selfishly, for our own benefit, to draw attention to ourselves or bring glory to ourselves. No, God gives us these gifts for the common good, so we can use them for the benefit of others, to help and serve others. Think of Jesus. He was the most gifted man who ever lived. He had every spiritual gift—gifts of healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, wisdom, knowledge, leadership. He had them all. And how did he use his gifts? He spent his life helping and serving others. That’s what God wants us to do with our gifts: to use them to help and serve others in love.
So what have you been doing with the gifts God has given you? Have you been busy using them? Have you been contributing to his team? Have you been involved in the work of your church, involved in ministry, using your God-given gifts to help and serve others? What would you think if you gave someone a sweater for Christmas and they never wore it? What would you think if you gave them a new cell phone and they never used it? Or what if you gave them a new CD and they never played it, never even took it out of the wrapping? You’d think they didn’t care very much for your present, that they didn’t appreciate it. So what do you suppose God thinks when we do that with the gifts he has given us, when we sit on those gifts, when we neglect those gifts, when we sit on the end of the bench and act like we have nothing to contribute? Or what do you suppose God thinks when we use his gifts selfishly, for our own benefit, for our own glory? It’s enough to make God upset, isn’t it, enough to make him angry, enough to make him wonder why he ever made us members of his team at all? May God forgive for such sins! May God have mercy on us and forgive us for the sake of Jesus our Savior!
Jesus always did it right, didn’t he? He did what you and I should, but so often don’t. He never took his gifts for granted or neglected those gifts. He always used them faithfully in loving service to others. And for the times we did neglect our gifts and failed to use them in a God-pleasing way, he suffered and died on the cross to take all of our sins away! Thank God for Jesus Christ our Savior!
For his sake let’s appreciate the gifts that God has given us and use them faithfully. No matter what our gifts are—whether it’s wisdom or knowledge or prophecy or teaching or leadership or giving—let’s recognize them for what they are: precious gifts from God. Let’s appreciate those gifts and use them the way God intended: in loving service to others.
Yes, Christmas is over; but the gifts are not, at least not the gifts that God has given you. Through the working of his Spirit, God has given you faith, faith to trust in Jesus as your Savior. In addition, he has given you spiritual gifts that you can use in service and contribute to his team. Appreciate those gifts, those precious gifts from God. And use them faithfully. Amen.