The Gift Giving God (1 Cor 12: 1-11)
It’s common human longing to see miracles or have something supernatural happen to you. We often believe that if that were to happen, then our faith would be unshakable. But friends, though God does sometimes work that way, his design is that our faith and godliness would be built up through people like you and me surrendered to God offering ministry to one another in love.
In my Christian life, at the top of my list of important encounters with God that have kept me pressing forward and growing in my faith involved ordinary people, opening the Word to me, teaching me, praying for me in faith, exhorting me, or sharing prophetic words with me.
What about those simple things made them so powerful for me? It was that the living God was speaking to me, rebuking me, comforting me, healing me through these ordinary people by his Spirit. We were made to encounter God through others. Even more, you were made to be conduits through whom God’s Spirit can flow to others.
Church, do you want power for your life and ministry? Today, we get back to 1 Corinthians, to the topic of spiritual gifts. We’ll see the incredible gift we have all been given without exception to help others know God and grow up into maturity in Jesus.
God’s Revelation
Context:
Having become their spiritual father through the preaching of the Gospel to the Corinthians, Paul is zealous for the Corinthian church to be found blameless before the Lord in the way they think and live. In his opening words of this letter Paul affirms that in relationship with Christ they were “enriched in him in all speech and knowledge...so that [they] are not lacking in any gift” as they wait for the return of Jesus. But even being confident in this, Paul knows there is work to be done in instructing his growing spiritual children about all that is theirs in Christ, similar to how I am training my boys to wield their strength and voice in helpful ways. So Paul turns to the topic of spiritual gifts, which is largely the topic of the next two chapters.
12 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.
I know that some of you have a lot of baggage around spiritual gifts and get a little nervous with this topic. But with Paul, I don’t want you to be uninformed or scared of the spiritual gifts. There are real ditches to fall into with the spiritual gifts. Nevertheless, my prayer is that you would
come away from this teaching marveling at God for all that is yours in Christ and praying with eagerness, even hungry, for God to work through you in powerful ways to build up the body of Christ.
So, what are spiritual gifts?
Paul lays the foundation in this text. Because if you don’t get the basics right, then you miss the point all together.
I think verse 7 captures a good definition for us. So, I want to start there and work our way through the text as we unpack this.
7 To each [Christian] is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
Restated: Spiritual gifts are manifestations of the Spirit given to every Christian for the common
good.
1) Spiritual gifts are given to each Christian.
Notice the word “each”. This can also be translated “every”. Spiritual gifts are given to every Christian without exception. That’s because every born again Christian is indwelt with the Spirit of God from the start. This is in fulfillment of prophecies like Joel 2:28–29
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh [not just the prophets, priests, and kings]; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
On the day of Pentecost after the Spirit was poured out on the church, the Apostle Peter applied this text to that moment showing that the Spirit was being given to everyone who calls on the name of Jesus. I hope this encourages you like it does me. Spiritual gifts are not just for the special and holy Christians but for everyone of you, young and old, male and female.
2) Spiritual gifts are given to each Christian.
Why is it important to mention that spiritual gifts are given to Christians and not to all? How do we know “each” for Paul isn’t referring to all people?
The Corinthian culture was full of spiritual activity, but Paul wants the church to be discerning in it all.
Look back at verses 2-3 to see this.
2 You know that when you were pagans [that is non-Christian worshipers of false gods] you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led.
Paul says, before they put their faith in Christ, they all worshiped idols. But though they were unhearing, unspeaking, dead idols, nothing more than wood or stone, there were real spiritual forces behind the worship of them. Look at those words, “you were led astray” to idols. By whom?
Back in 10:20, Paul ties idolatry to demonic spirits. He says, “...what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God.”
In his letter to the Ephesians, he makes this even more explicit:
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 2:1-2
Prior to relationship with Christ, every human is dead to God and his ways but followers of the world and the chief spirit behind the godless world, the devil, who led us away from God to dead idols. Not just physical ones, but things like money, sex, and power.
But that was before Christ and the merciful influence of the Spirit of God. Look at verse 3 in our text:
3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.
Church, there is One greater than that ancient serpent. The Spirit of God.
The Spirit of God, that is the third person of the triune God, who is one with the Father and the Son, doesn’t lead astray but leads people to their Savior, to proclaim “Jesus is Lord”. Do you see the stark difference in the leadership of the Spirit of God and the Spirit of the world.
“No one speaking in the Spirit of God” can curse Jesus, or say that “He was just a good spiritual teacher like the rest”. No, the Spirit of God leads people to surrender to Jesus as Lord and God.
In fact, Paul says, that’s impossible without the Spirit of God! No one is able to declare faith in Christ unless the Spirit of God has led you there, even enabled you to do so.
Jesus taught that this is the Holy Spirit’s job. John 16:13-14: When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth...He will glorify me...”
So, Paul is first concerned to show that the “spiritual” gifts he is teaching come from the Spirit of God. We aren’t talking in the world’s terms, which likes to use the term spiritual as a neutral catch-all term, attempting to eliminate every binary line that God has drawn from creation: male and female, good and evil, light and darkness.
The world boasts of their open-mindedness to all things spiritual. But friends, this is a Satanic lie. There are demonic spirits behind these ideas, leading people to reject Christ and embrace any and all paths to God, which is really just idolatry. It is not kind to celebrate people being led to mute idols and away from the only Savior.
Every Christian was once there, but in his kindness God sent his Spirit to lead us to Jesus for our healing and salvation. That is the first and greatest gift God gives us and the prerequisite to any spiritual gifts being given.
But friends do not be deceived. If there are demonic spirits behind the world, do not be surprised when non-Christians are strikingly charming or powerful in word and deed. Do not be surprised if you see non-Christians perform miraculous signs. We know from Scripture that some being led by demonic performed miraculous signs, like the Egyptian sorcerers did in opposition to Moses.
The difference is in the source and purpose of the power.
Let’s look again at verse 7 to understand that more. “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”
3) Spiritual gifts are manifestations of the Spirit.
That’s a big word. Manifestation. But it’s one of my favorite words when it relates to God’s present work in us.
This word “manifestation” is defined by the Greek English Lexicon as a “a clear indication of the existence or presence or nature of some person or thing.”
So a spiritual gift is a clear expression of the Spirit through a person. We don’t see God’s Spirit, but one of the ways he is made manifest to us is through spiritual gifts.
Pastor Sam Storms says that “[spiritual] gifts are God going public among His people.”1
Isn’t that incredible? Just as we don’t see the wind, but know when it’s there because we feel it, the Spirit’s presence, power, and purposes are made manifest through you to others. We become like conduits of God’s presence to others. We are distinct from God and do not have the power on our own. But the Spirit graciously works through us by the gifts.
When you get this foundation right, spiritual gifts are nothing to be scared of. The same Spirit who led you to the Savior is eager to lead others to a deeper knowledge and connection with Jesus through you.
This leads to the last phrase of our definition. Spiritual gifts are manifestations of the Spirit given to every Christian for the common good.
4) Spiritual gifts are for the common good
Spiritual gifts are for the good of everyone, but especially benefit the church.
This is captured clearly in the latter part of this chapter and into chapters 13 and 14, but perhaps
most explicitly by Paul in Ephesians 4:
7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men... [What for?] vs. 13 “for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”
The gifts were given to us for the building up of other Christians into the image of Jesus. Jesus purchased redemption for the church, and when he ascended poured out his Spirit so that we might help one another grow up into Christ’s fullness.
There is no greater good than that every man, woman, and child becomes more like Jesus so that every neighbor in every neighborhood in the world would encounter Jesus through the church.
So, summarizing, spiritual gifts are manifestations of the Spirit, given by God for the common good, first to the church and then to the world.
Thankfully, Paul doesn’t leave it there but gives us details about spiritual gifts. Not a lot of details, but some. But with the details comes some confusion that needs to be cleared up.
5) What do the spiritual gifts look like? Look at verses 4-6.
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.
First, there are a variety of gifts. Different types of service and activity. So don’t be surprised. It is the same Triune God united to empower them all. Notice how Paul emphasizes the Father in verse 6, the Son in verse 5, and the Spirit in verse 4.
Now Paul lists some of the gifts. Verse 8:
8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
Do you think Paul wants you to know that these are all empowered by the same Spirit? He is so repetitive because he doesn’t want us to be scared of these things or reject them.
Now, you need to know that this is not an exhaustive list but still a dense one. There are many more listed in other texts.
As you can imagine, I can’t give an exhaustive explanation even of these gifts listed here. But know that I will provide a list of resources for you to explore in our upcoming bulletin if you are interested in diving deeper, which I hope you are.
Pastor Matt Chandler and The Village Church did a series on the Spiritual Gifts a few years back and crafted some summary statements on these gifts that I find extremely helpful and that I believe our church would align closely with. So, I want to share some of those with you as I explain these gifts.
First, we start with the speaking gifts: Words of Wisdom / Words of Knowledge / and I would add to this category Prophecy because they are all spoken and come a spiritual insight or revelation.
Listen to this helpful summary from the Village Church. Because it is one of the most emphasized categories of gifts in Scripture, I’ll read a somewhat lengthy summary.
“Succinctly, prophecy is receiving a revelatory message from the Lord and communicating it. This may be a wise insight that is shared to help one with a wisdom decision. It may be a beneficial supernatural insight into someone’s life that leads to increased faith and sometimes inner or outward healing. It may also be a revelation of a future event or a present priority of God for a person or group of people. Based on Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 14:1, next to serving
gifts, prophetic insights and words seem to be the most widely distributed gift in the church body.
Paul commands believers to earnestly and especially desire this gift. It is given to build up the body. It is something verbal, often an insight, picture, word, or Scripture. This is not an Old Testament prophecy (“thus saith the Lord”) but rather a gift given to build up and encourage the church by imparting to a person a word of courage that the Lord has laid on the heart of a fellow believer. It is to be practiced with great humility. It never stands in contrast to the Scriptures but is a personal touch from the Lord to a person’s heart in a given situation where the Lord reveals that He knows, He sees, and He hears them (1 Corinthians 12:8, 10, 28–29; 14:26; Romans 12:6; Ephesians 4:11).”2
I’m sure this opens up a lot of questions, but sadly I can’t linger here.
Next, we see the gift of faith. Again, the Village Church writes:
Those with the gift of faith labor in prayer for something that is not promised in Scripture and receive it. To put it another way, the gift of faith is supernatural empowerment to believe God when everything looks bleak and dark, to trust God that He will bring about what He has promised even though it seems unlikely by human standards. The gift of faith is supernatural confidence in God. It looks to the present circumstances and sees God’s action.
Now Healing and Miracles, they summarize them together:
“Gifts of healings refer to the restoration of physical injury or disease, such as sight, the lame, hearing—divine interventions which are inexplicable if left to natural causes...It is a gift always referred to in the plural (1 Cor. 12:9, 28, 30). It seems that some in the Church are gifted to heal specific physical maladies or emotional traumas....The Bible often classifies driving out demons as healing or miraculous (Matt. 15:21–28; Mark 8:38–39; Acts 8:7).
Gifts of miracles are indeed often related to gifts of healings, and miracles too are used in the plural sense as God gives grace to do certain miracles to certain believers. It may also be that some believers have faith for specific miracles. There is an important relationship between gifts of healings and miracles and the gift of faith. Miracles are a clear display of God’s power but must be discerned, like all the gifts, by their effectiveness, validity, and the spiritual fruit they produce.”
Distinguishing or Discerning of Spirits
“Those with the gift of discerning spirits have the ability to sense the deceptive work of the Enemy and his followers. This is a spiritual world. Every situation includes a conglomeration of spiritual power; the gift of discernment is supernatural insight to distinguish where the Spirit of God is working, where an evil spirit may be involved, and how the human spirit participates in the activity. It involves listening to God, listening to Scripture, listening to community, and listening to those entrusted to your care at that moment or over time. This is also a gift given in order to help evaluate prophecies. Jesus promises to give “the Spirit of truth” to the disciples in John 14:17. When God’s Spirit is involved, there is clarity of faith, hope, and love that testifies to Jesus’ lordship (John 15:26; 16:13–14).”
Tongues
Tongues Speech
“Tongues speech is for praise, prayer to God, or communication via an interpreter—either in languages never studied by the speaker in order to declare the gospel (Acts 2:11) or in coded messages that speak to God or reveal mysteries by the Spirit (1 Cor. 14:2). Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 12:10 that there are “different kinds of tongues.” In any gathering, there must be an interpreter (1 Corinthians 12:10, 28, 30; 14:2, 4–6, 13–14; Acts 2:4; 8:17–18; 10:46; 19:6).”
Interpretation of Tongues Speech
“Interpreters in the gathering are enabled by the Spirit to decode the message given through a tongue or tongues speech. These believers are empowered to understand what is being spoken in a tongue, be it in a human language never studied by them or in a coded heavenly language no one could understand apart from interpretation.”`
At All Peoples Church, we do not believe there is any biblical reason to believe that any of these gifts has ceased in the church, but believe that God continues to empower all of these gifts “as he wills” as verse 11 teaches:
11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually
as he wills.
It’s not easy to understand these gifts or to know how best to put them into practice. There has been much debate and sadly even division over them in church history. But I want you to keep a few things about them clear in your mind.
It is God who manifests himself through the gifts sovereignly “as he wills”. These gifts are not something we can make happen but something that God gives according to his will.
The goal of spiritual gifts is always the glory of Christ and the upbuilding of the body of Christ.
Because the Word of God is breathed out by God the Holy Spirit, every spiritual gift must confirm His Word given in the Scriptures.3
We believe that the newness of this era is marked by the unprecedented mission of the Spirit to glorify the crucified and risen Christ. This He does ... by manifesting Himself in spiritual gifts (being sovereignly free to dispense, as he wills, all the gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:8-10) for the upbuilding of the body of Christ and the confirmation of His Word.”
These all come from the Spirit and are given by God to the church according to his will not ours. But it should be our aim to be a willing vessel, eagerly desiring to be used by God for the building up of the body.
So, I want to close by talking about how you should interact with the spiritual gifts.
You
First, it starts with a heart posture. Church, having been served with inexpressible love by our Savior, it should be our great joy and desire, driven by love, to be a willing vessel or conduit through which God can be encountered. We should be eager to minister to others and to pray for the Spirit's power in that ministry. Would you make it your prayer that God would form you and prepare you so that he could give you more gifts of the Spirit for the sake of the body.
Second, you need to be informed about the gifts. I think one of the primary reasons Christians don’t operate in the gifts of the Spirit is because they are uninformed, sometimes because of fear and sometimes because of their church culture. I’ve heard it compared to people who live off the grid. It’s not that the power isn’t accessible, it’s that they just don’t connect to it. But a heart that is hungry to serve and be a conduit of blessing matched with an eagerness to understand the ways that God’s Spirit powerfully worked through Scripture and church history will position you to be used by God in these ways we’ve described. The times that I’ve experienced new gifts of the Spirit were most often accompanied by hunger and diligent search.
But this brings up a question: if it’s given according to the will of God, what is our role in it? Won’t it just happen? No, this is not a passive event. I love how Sam Storms puts it:
“Spiritual gifts are nothing less than God Himself in us, energizing our souls, imparting revelation to our minds, infusing power in our wills and working His sovereign and gracious purposes through us. Spiritual gifts must never be viewed deistically, as if a God “out there” has sent some “thing” to us “down here.” Spiritual gifts are God present in, with and through human thoughts, human deeds, human words, human love.”4
Storms shows that this is not passive in the way he highlights our wills, our words, our love. You need to move towards others, to open your mouth and get to work.
Lastly, how does one discover what their spiritual gifts are?
1) As you minister to others in the church, let the church confirm your gifts. This is not self-discovery. When you are in the body of Christ, made up of many parts, different gifts will clearly emerge. Your gifts will begin to become clear by their consistent or timely usefulness, confirmed by others. You will not discover your gifts unless you are actively ministering to others.
2) Sometimes God may give you one particular gift or he may give you multiple of these gifts at different times or even give you a gift for a relevant need.
3) Don’t be jealous of others’ gifts. Walk in the gifts God has given you.
We
Church, last week, someone in our body exhorted the elder team to take steps forward in exercising the gifts of the Spirit. Providentially, we are camping on this topic for several weeks. So, I want to encourage you to join us in digging in to learn and by praying and asking the Lord to manifest his presence through us in greater ways.
Imagine what this church family would be like and our missional lives would look like if we walked through life eagerly desiring to be used by God to manifest his presence to the world and the church for the common good.
We don’t have to be scared of spiritual gifts because they come from the same God who led us to our rescuer, Jesus, and they are meant by him to bring us closer to him. So, let’s get closer to Jesus! Amen?
If you haven’t confessed faith in Christ, today is the day of salvation. Repent of your sin, believe on the Lord Jesus, and be baptized. Come join us in following Jesus together.
1 Sam Storms, The Beginner’s Guide to Spiritual Gifts (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers: a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2014), 12–16.
2 https://www.thevillagechurch.net/content/externalsite/leadership/Spiritual_Gifts.pdf
3 All Peoples Church Elder Affirmation of Faith: “When Christ had made atonement for sin, and ascended to the right hand of the Father, He inaugurated a new era of the Spirit by pouring out the promise of the Father on His Church.
4 Sam Storms, The Beginner’s Guide to Spiritual Gifts (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers: a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2014), 12–16.