Concerning spiritual gifts, I do not want you to be unaware

1 Corinthians 12:1-26 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. ² You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the mute idols, however you were led. ³ Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed”; and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

⁴ Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵ And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. ⁶ There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. ⁷ But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. ⁸ For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, ¹⁰ and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.

¹² For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. ¹³ For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

¹⁴ For the body is not one member, but many. ¹⁵ If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. ¹⁹ If they were all one member, where would the body be? ²⁰ But now there are many members, but one body. ²¹ And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” ²² On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; ²³ and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, ²⁴ whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, ²⁵ so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. ²⁶ And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

In today’s text it says:   Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.    The “gifts” are given, distributed individually. They are not though for the benefit of the individual. The gifts are distributed individually for the benefit of the body.

Paul then illustrates how the gifts are meant to work together. He says:  The body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.      There are two things related to this text, which because they are not working properly in much of the church today, are the cause lack of full function or even dysfunction in the church, the body of Christ.

First it is absolutely essential for the proper function of the church for all of its members, the weaker and lesser and the stronger and greater, to know what gifts they have been given. Each person needs to know the particular gifts of the Holy Spirit they have been given. Then they also need to know; to learn and to practice how those gifts are used. When a baby is very young, he or she already has a voice, anyone who has heard the cries of a hungry baby knows that to be true. Until the babies tongue and vocal chords learn their full function, the baby cannot accurately communicate what he or she wants or needs. That same baby has two legs and two feet, but until the muscles, the tendons, the bones and joints are developed and working together, the baby cannot stand, walk or run. In the same way, much of the church today has an indistinguishable voice, it may make a lot of noise but the world cannot discern what it is trying to say, because not all the parts are developed and functioning. Much of the church today cannot stand, walk or run in the call and purposes of God, because the necessary parts are not present, developed and functioning.

In Ephesians 4:11-16 Paul says:   He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.     The second part of  lack of function or dysfunction in the body has to do with the tendency in the church for people of like gifting and callings to stay together. We see churches that are apostolic, and others that focus on prophets. We see some churches who stress evangelism, some who are focused on teaching and others who are primarily centered around pastoring or being pastored. The purpose of all of these gifts together is that the body would be built up and grow up. No one person will have all of the gifts, so for the body to function properly each body, each individual church needs to have some with each gift active. Imagine how dysfunctional our bodies would be if all of our bones remained separate from the other parts. What if our eyes on associated with other eyes? Instead it is necessary that we have all the parts present and working together. Additionally, our bodies also have a specific number of every part. We have two eyes, ears, arms, hands, legs and feet. We have one mouth and one nose. We have over 200 bones and over 600 muscles. Regardless of the size of the individual church, there should be a God determined, Holy Spirit distributed  proportion of the gifts within the body for it to function properly.

There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord.    Along with the proper use of the gifts within the individual church bodies, it is also vital that the church as a whole recognizes that we are all part of Christ’s body and that He, Jesus is the one Lord, the head of all. The many churches, the individual bodies should also be joined together under the one head. Even if the individual church has all of the gifts present, identified and functioning, there will be churches with particular strengths and focuses.  For Christ’s body to be fully functioning the individual bodies must work together with other bodies, each contributing their part; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit; as we look at and marvel at the complexity and the intricacy of our human bodies, may we understand all that it takes, working together, to do even the simplest things. May we understand also that In the same way, You have put the church together, so that working together we can do all the things You desire. Jesus said that we would do greater works than the works that He did. May we recognized that it is only possible as we remain under the head and all work together as the Holy Spirit distributes the gifts.     Amen.