MPC 16th October 2005.1 Corinthians 12-13 - "Gifted by the Spirit"
Phil Campbell MPC 16th October 2005.
Are you as smart as Australia's smartest kid? It's the question they're asking on Channel 10 at the moment, and I'm not sure I want to know the answer.
Because to compare yourself in something like that is only to invite failure.
But that's the danger however we compare ourselves, isn't it? Compare yourself. And you'll either end up with a swelled head. Or else feeling insignificant. You'll end up feeling proud. Or feeling like you're a nobody.
This morning in part 3 of our series on the Holy Spirit, we're going to visit the church in Corinth. Which may well be the church of your worst nightmares. Because here's the church where they want to measure your spiritual IQ.
And the way they want to do it is by how much you speak in tongues. It's a strange thing; last week we saw in Acts chapter 2 the apostles suddenly speaking in other tongues when the Spirit came. And because of that, everyone could understand what they were saying. A crowd of pilgrims from right around the Mediterranean, somehow, miraculously, could all hear what was being said in their own language. Like a giant United Nations meeting... without the translators and the head sets.
In Acts 2, it's called speaking in tongues. And it's given in one sense as a very public sign that the words of Joel were being fulfilled... that the day had come when all sorts of people would prophecy. Because the Holy Spirit had finally... after so many generations of waiting... the Holy Spirit had finally been poured out by the risen Jesus. And so it was time for the scattered people of God to come home.
Between Acts chapter 2 and 1 Corinthians chapter 12, something has gone badly wrong. Years have gone by. And the problem is this.
Between Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 12, the Corinthians have somehow decided that every Christian... was meant to have every gift... of the Holy Spirit. That every Christian should speak in other languages like the apostles did. That every Christian should somehow be a prophet in their own narrow definition of the term. And that if you didn't have the gift... then you didn't rate.
And above all, it seems... above everything else... this gift of tongues was somehow the crowning measure. The crowning gift of the Holy Spirit that marked out the truly spiritual... from the rest.
Now for you, tongues may or may not be an issue. But in Corinth it is. To the point where three chapters of the letter are more or less devoted to the question of whether speaking in tongues is the right way to measure spirituality. And the answer is no.
I've got to say at the start that I know for some people these chapters are contentious. It may be at school. That you meet other Christians saying that. It may be a friend. It maybe even someone you've met here at church. Who has that sort of quiet conversation with you that says, you're missing something.
And if you don't speak in tongues then you're not a true Christian at all.
Which is exactly the issue in Corinth... that Paul's addressing here. So is speaking in tongues the way you measure if you're spiritual or not? Is speaking in tongues sort of like going to the top of the class in Australia's brainiest kid?
And the answer - if you want it at the start - is... no it isn't. It's just one gift of many. Just one body part of many. Of which none can boast over the others. There are lots of gifts. All different. Not designed to create a pecking order. Although in the end, there actually is a greater gift to aspire to. That stands out over all the others.
I don't want to keep you in suspense. Just sneak a quick look ahead. Pick up at the end of chapter 12 and keep reading. Because you're not actually meant to stop there. Verse 30.
Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?
No, they don't.
But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.
Here it is. 1 Corinthians 13 verse 1.
The Corinthians desperately wanted to speak in tongues and prophecy.
But Paul says, here's the greater gift. He says,
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
We're going to see this morning, the gifts of the spirit, they're not about establishing a spiritual pecking order among Christians. They're about loving one another from a changed heart.
It's interesting isn't it? All the fuss seems to be about speaking gifts. Whether you prophecy. Or can suddenly speak in tongues. Paul starts out with a simple test. And if you do want to use a measuring stick on your Spirituality, if you want to check the words coming out of your mouth and see if you're spiritual, this is the only test he offers.
Verse 1. "Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I don't want you to be ignorant." Except as we saw in the study this week, in the original Greek, the word gifts isn't actually used until verse 4. It's a bit more general than that. It's more literally now about the spirituals; by which he might equally mean, the spiritual ones among you. Or those who say they are. Turn over to chapter 14 verse 37 for a second. Because the same term is there. And again, the word gift has been stuck in. But it's more literally, "If anyone thinks he's a prophet, or a spiritual... let him acknowledge what I'm writing is the Lord's command."
This is a church of people who might think they're spiritual. But need to listen to a few home truths. Who need especially to start paying attention to the words of their apostle. As we do.
Back to chapter 12. So now about the Spirituals... Verse 1. "I don't want you to be ignorant. You know you've been led astray before," verse 2. When you were pagans. So we don't want it to happen again. So here's the test. It's simple. If you want to know what it looks like to speak by the Spirit, here's the test. "Therefore I tell you," verse 3, "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."
Now here's the point. Speaking in tongues, it's not unique to Christianity. Speaking in a trance-like ecstasy where your words don't make sense, it's a feature of all kinds of religions. Speaking in tongues, it doesn't prove anything about your spirituality. And it never did. Because back then you could go into an idol temple, there were people who'd happily curse Jesus... and then go into some sort of trance and babble in front of their idol.
Paul says you've been misled before. So here's the measuring stick. Not the speaking in tongues itself. But the big thing. The thing the Spirit makes you say is Jesus is Lord.
And if that's the only thing the Spirit's made you say, let me tell you you're on safe ground. Because that's the test. Simple as A-B-C. If you've come to the point of saying, Jesus is my master and my King, there's only one reason why. And that's the work of the Holy Spirit.
And to say you've got to have one gift or you've got to have another, is missing the point.
So take a look at verses 4 and 5. Gifts are different. There are all kinds of gifts that God gives through the Spirit. Some look spectacular. And some don't. But whatever you do, don't go judging one another that way. Or judging yourself.
There are different kinds of gift, but the same Spirit. Different. Same. Different. Same. He'll say it over and over again to make the point. Different kinds of service. That's what a spiritual gift is. A way of serving. But the same Lord. Different kinds of working. Same God working all of them in all of us.
And to each of them, Paul says, the manifestation of the Spirit, the gift the Spirit give you, the part you're given in the script... it's given, in verse 7, not for your own personal status. Not as a means of elevation. Not as the way you'll stand out in the crowd as Miss Super Christian; Mr Hero-of-the-Faith. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
And so there's a list. Verse 8 to 10. Ending with speaking in tongues. A list of things that one person might have. And another might not. All for the common good. Some of them spectacular, others not.
Some of them glamorised in the last few years in certain books you'll find at Koorong. That goes way beyond what Paul actually says. To one there is given through the Spirit literally, words of wisdom. To another, knowledgeable words. Know anyone who contributes real wisdom for the common good of the church family? Take notice of that. Because it's a gift from God. To another, faith, by that same Spirit. Another, gifts of healing. Another, miraculous powers. Like Paul had. In remarkable ways, that marked him out as an Apostle of Jesus. One has one thing... another has another. And so you might have the gift of prophecy or of speaking in different kinds of tongues, or the interpreting what's said... the point is, whatever gift you've got, it's all for the common good, it's all from the same Spirit... and in verse 11, it's the Spirit's choice... who gets what. And not a mark of how hard you've prayed or how faithful you've been or how full of the Spirit you happen to be... in contrast to somebody else.
Now the problem is, if you're into comparisons like that, one of two things is going to happen. Either you'll think you're useless. Or you'll think you're indispensable. And everyone else is worthless. You'll be looking at everyone else and their spectacular gifts and you'll say, I'm nothing. No part to play. Or you'll get that sort of self satisfied smugness that looks down on anyone not quite as spiritually spectacular as yourself. You mightn't actually say it that way. But you'll show it in countless little ways. That hurt.
And Paul tackles both those issues in his classic little picture of a body with different bits that talk to each other. It might sound a bit like multiple-personality disorder if you stop and analyse it too much. But the point is, it's meant to be almost comical. It's a picture like that little guy from Monsters Inc. Mike. All eye ball.
It starts with verse 12. The body is a unit, though it's made up of many parts; and though all it's parts are many, they form one body. And so it is with Christ, he says. That because we're all baptised by the one Spirit, we're welded together as a body. Whether we were Jews or Greeks or slaves or free. United. And the body, he says, isn't made up of just one part. But of many.
So listen in. Especially if you think you don't measure up. Because he says, nobody is a nobody. What if the foot was to say, verse 15, because I'm not a hand I don't belong to the body. I mean, hands are clever. They've got opposable thumbs. And all I've got is big toes. I don't belong. Paul says it's ridiculous. It wouldn't stop being part of the body just because it's not a hand.
Or if the ear says, I'm not an eye. So I'm a nobody. I don't belong. It wouldn't for that reason stop being part of the body. I mean, who wants a body that's just an eye, but can't hear? That's just an ear, but can't smell? The strength lies in the difference. And the point is, in verse 18, God's arranged it. In the church. Just like in a body. God's arranged it. Just the way he wants it. Many parts. All different. One body.
Which brings us to the second issue. Not looking down on your own contribution so much as looking down on someone else. I mean, what a crazy idea, that an eye would say to a hand, I don't need you? Or the head, from its lofty position saying to the feet down at ground level, no, I'll be right thanks. Don't need you. Here's a church where if you read the rest of the letter, the rich have been leaving the poor out in the cold... while they got stuck into a banquet at the Lord's Supper. Where there's a pecking order of spiritual gifts. Where they've missed the point... that God's put them together to be a body. Where everyone plays a part.
Some parts seem weaker. They're vital. Look after them.
Some parts are less presentable. Treat them with honour.
God's put you all together says Paul, in way that means you should honour the ones you think are less honourable that you are. Instead of looking down on them. Where you should have equal concern for each other. No matter who you are. Where if one part suffers, we all suffer. And one part is honoured, all of us rejoice.
Which is hard, isn't it? Probably easier to feel for someone in a hard time... than rejoice at someone else being honoured. Rather than grit your teeth and go green with envy.
But that's the point. We're a body. Toothache, it's not just the tooth that suffers. It's the whole body. Swiss chocolate... it's not just the taste buds that rejoice; you feel good all over.
And so you, says Paul, you collectively, you're the body of Christ. Verse 27. And each one of you... is a part of it.
You're not an audience. You're not a club. You're not a loose bunch of people who just happened to turn up.
Funny, there are some people who think church is just something you go to on a Sunday. And you can sit there and daydream for a while and then head for home as fast as you can after the last song without even talking to anyone. Church is the body of Christ. Where everyone has a part to play.
In Corinth, they're thinking there are the haves and the have nots. The Spiritual Superstars... and the rest. But Paul says each of you... is a part of the body. With a part to play. Mightn't be up front. Mightn't look impressive. Might be spectacular. Might not be.
Verse 28, there's another list of gifts. Romans Chapter 12, there's another. The sort of gifts God gives his church; the sort of parts that make up the body. The sort of people God gives to the church for the good of the church. As he puts together the body.
Pick up in verse 28. And in the church, says Paul, God has appointed first of all apostles. Which the Corinthians are in danger of forgetting. Second, prophets. Who we'll come to again in chapter 14. Third, teachers. And after that, workers of miracles. Those with gifts of healing. Maybe you're saying none of those are me. What about those able to help others? Funny, isn't it? Anyone clamouring for that gift? Or the celebrity accountant... those with gifts of administration? Right up there in the list. I mean, there are countless ways of serving. It's not like he's listing all of them. But that right in amongst the things the Corinthians want to value, the things that measure a Superchristian, you've got the gift of being organised. Administration. Followed by those speaking in different kinds of tongues.
The point being, that we're all different. Verse 29. Are all prophets? No they're not. Are all teachers? No they're not. Do all work miracles? No we don't. Do all have gifts of healing? No they don't. Do all speak in tongues? Or interpret? And no matter what your Pentecostal friend wants to tell you, the answer is no, not everybody speaks in tongues. Some do, some don't. And it's no way to measure anything.
So rejoice in the differences. And look for ways you can do your bit... as part of the body. Whatever it is. Because this passage give a one hundred percent guarantee that there's a valuable role for you... as part of the body of Christ. Something that God by his Spirit has given you... for the good of the rest of us.
Which is of course the link to chapter 13. That the greater thing to be aiming for... is love. The thing God's Spirit is interested in producing in our church family is people who care about other people - rather than themselves. People who'll give of their giftedness freely. Instead of begrudgingly.
You'll notice our core commitment of the week on the notice sheet. It says, "We are committed to serving together, generously using the gifts, abilities and resources God has given, for His glory."
Generously. It might be spectacular. Or maybe not. Might be the gift of helping others that most people don't really want. But the point is, the reason you've got it isn't to see how you measure up. Or fail to. It's to see how you can build up... the rest of the body.
So how about this morning rejoicing in the gifts God has given us as a church? Give thanks for one another as you see so many people playing their part in the body. Start to notice the countless small ways that the things that just seem to happen actually happen. Like Leon and Laurence... the way the have the gift of noticing the leaves that need sweeping before you get to church; the gift of service that means they don't mind folding endless notice sheets before you've even walked in the door. The people with the gifts of administration who organize all the rosters. The people who pray so consistently for every person in our church directory.
And how about asking God to move your heart. To show you something you can do as a gift to your church family. So more and more we're working as a body. As each part does its work.