I Corinthans 12:1-11 "Many Gifts"

In high school I went to a concert by a Christian singer named Carman. I discovered later that he is what people in music refer to as a poser. He would jump from style to style and do music that “the kids these days” were into, be it rock, hip hop, rap, so that he could present the gospel. Basically, for him, music wasn’t about the art but rather it was about the opportunity for evangelism. This is something that I have grown away from as I grew older but at the time I’ve got to say that I was totally and completely into his music.

The concert was also pretty great. It was powerful music, the message he gave in the middle was an important one… I thought I was going to a concert and instead we got church. It was good stuff. Then, a couple months later, I went with my youth group to a camp and we were talking with another youth group at the camp. The other youth group had gone to see Carman also. I started gushing about how awesome the concert was. And they said that it was good, but they had people sitting in front of them who started arguing with them about whether they were saved or not. The people in front of them told them that because they didn’t speak in tongues, they weren’t actually saved. Since that time, I have heard this argument given multiple times by various people. And since that time I have turned to today’s scripture to answer that claim. “Now to each on 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.”

I. Scorn

Sometimes we like to look down at other Christians who don’t do things the same as us. We like to look at them with pity or scorn and think about the fact that we are doing a better job of following Christ than they are. This can be dangerous. Now I have to admit, I remember being on the receiving end of this more often than on the giving end. But it is easy to notice when you are being scorned, it’s a bit harder to notice when you are looking down on those around you. In truth, though, this dangerous approach to the world, this approach of thinking that everybody should relate to God in the same way that you are, doesn’t usually show itself in such an obvious way. Rather people find themselves looking at other Christians who practice their faiths in different ways and thinking that if they knew better, they’d do Christianity more like you. I had a friend in high school who spoke in tongues. We talked about the speaking-in-tongues issue quite a bit. She bought into what scripture had to say in 1 Corinthians 12 about the different spiritual gifts. She believed that there were different spiritual gifts for different people, but when in came to speaking in tongues, she believed that anyone could, and should, have this gift. This was a gift, in her mind, that was available to anyone who asked for it, and not something that only some received. Therefore, in her mind, if someone didn’t speak in tongues, they weren’t living up to their full potential as a Christian.

This is an easy trap to fall into. I don’t agree with her about speaking in tongues, but I do about faith. There’s a certain threshold of faith that I believe someone should have. If they ask too many questions about the Gospel, if they are too cynical, then I sort of write them off as not being the Christian they should be. I sometimes find myself feeling the same way about biblical knowledge. I hear somebody say something that they think is biblical and truth from God that I know isn’t actually as clear in the Bible as they think it is and I tend to look down on them as lacking in their faith. And yet, here we have scripture that tells us that the Holy Spirit gives different gifts to different people and we cannot expect everybody to be exactly the same in the way that they worship God and the gifts that they exhibit as we are.

II. Envy

Sometimes we have the opposite happen, though. We look at others with different, “better” gifts than us, and we wonder why we cannot be like them. When I hear a musician really make glorious music, there is a part of me that finds myself jealous of them. When I see a beautiful work of art by an artist, I find myself wishing that I had the skills I see in them. It’s bad enough with hobbies that I have. It becomes even worse when we deal with my chosen field of ministry. I have mentioned before that I tend to listen to pastors and speakers with a critical ear. This comes, I believe, from my time in Seminary, where we picked apart each other’s sermons to offer constructive criticism. When I am listening to someone giving a sermon, I tend to be cataloguing what I think they’re doing right and what I think they’re doing wrong in their message. I also tend to be very critical of what they are saying and find myself looking closely at their message to see if it is in line with what the scripture says. Being my snooty self, I often find pastors on television to be wanting, not as much in their presentation but in their message.

But every now and then someone starts sharing a message that moves past my criticism and I find myself blown away by the truth that I am hearing and God enters my life through the message and begins to work his work to change me. It is an awesome thing when this happens and I truly wish it happened more often. But, at the same time, I find myself filled with envy when I do see it happen.

I must say that I don’t enjoy seeing the envy show itself in my life, but it happens. I feel that there might be something wrong with me because I am not showing the same giftedness that others show. I feel that maybe there is something lacking in my spiritual life because I am not able to communicate the Gospel in the same way that these people communicate the Gospel. I fear that I’m not the Christian I should be because I’m not up to a certain level in my spiritual gifts. I’m sharing this, not because I want people to come up to me and tell me I’m wrong but because I believe this is a common thought among people. We read of missionaries or prayer warriors who live up to a Christian life that we can hardly comprehend; we look at our pastors and our own spiritual leaders and wonder why it is that we cannot be more like them, and we feel that we must be missing something. Perhaps if we prayed more and asked with more conviction God would give us the same spiritual gifts that these people have.

Again, today’s scripture speaks against this inferiority complex that we each have in different ways. We are each given different gifts by God and therefore we should not expect to be as good as or the best at something. The Holy Spirit gives different gifts to different people as they are needed. And if you look at these different gifts, you’ll discover that God gives us different gifts so that we will learn to rely on each other and, thus, rely on him in our spiritual walks.

III. Same Spirit

So, today’s scripture tells us that we shouldn’t be filled with scorn for those who experience God differently than we do. It tells us that we shouldn’t be envious of those who experience God differently either. Instead it tells us that God, the Holy Spirit, interacts with each of us differently and gifts each of us differently. We are told that it is the same Spirit of God that teaches us that Jesus is Lord and that gives the gifts of the Spirit to us in unique and different ways. We are told not to stand around comparing our spiritual lives and our spiritual gifts with others. We’re not racing against each other, we’re not going to be judged against each other. God doesn’t have a percentage of people that are going to make it, he’s not grading on a curve. Rather God sends the Holy Spirit to meet the needs that we have individually and he sends the Spirit to help us work on our lives and grow in him at the rate and pace that he has planned for us. God isn’t comparing us to those around us, he’s comparing us to ourselves, calling for each of us to continue to grow in him and learn from him and follow him. And when our spiritual gifts do take into account those around us, it’s not to compare ourselves to them to see who’s better, rather it is to see how gifts can work together to help each other.

I believe that today’s scripture truly catches a center of what the Covenant Church is about. Let me explain. We, as a denomination, don’t want to claim that our reading of scripture is the only reading of scripture. We, as a denomination, are open to God’s leading different people in different ways as long as they are faithful to the essentials, that Jesus died for our sins and wants relationship with us. We, as a denomination, “covenant” together (that’s how we came up with our name) to allow our different spiritual gifts to work together to further God’s kingdom.

Not everybody is called to be a missionary. But some are able to support mission work in different ways than others. Not everybody is called to be a preacher, but some have other ways they can share the faith. What spiritual gifts has the Spirit given you? How are you using them? Don’t think that because you aren’t doing what someone else is doing that you don’t matter. We all matter to God, and God calls for each of us to use the gifts he has given us to the best of our ability. This is what it is to be a part of the Covenant. This is what it is to be a part of the church. This year let us as a church take the gifts of the Holy Spirit seriously and see what God can do through us. Amen.