The manifestation of the Spirit for the common good

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

The Use of Spiritual Gifts

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 Paul 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 Spirit mainfests the varying gifts for the common good. Often in the church today, because we no longer operate in the form of the early church, where while there were leaders, the entire body ministered, we see that many of the gifts of the Spirit are not active. Even when we look at the ministry gifts listed in Ephesians 4:11-13 where it 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; we often see that the primary gifts active in many churches are pastors and teachers.   Prophets, because there is often little or no place for them in our worship structure, will tend to gather in churches that are led by other prophets. Likewise many with evangelistic gifts will go to churches that value outreach and missions; and so on. The result is that few churches have the benefit of all of the gifts of the Spirit operating for the common good.

Paul 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 partof 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;  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, 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, so that there may be no division in the body. Yet, as we saw previously, because many churches focus or operate in only some of the Spirit’s gifts, church bodies are divided. Even the varying denominations in the church today are divided by and around which gifts they value and operate in.  We recognize then, by Paul’s analogy, that throughout the church today there are many disfigured and incomplete bodies. In Ephesians, Paul said that the necessity of all the gifts is so that: 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. He said the purpose of the gifts is: for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.  Is it any wonder then, since we do not fully operate in all of the gifts of the Spirit, that we are not a church that is being built up and becoming mature. Instead, much of the church has become a consumer church. Most members want to be fed and taught; even entertained by the gifts of others. For the church to become what it is supposed to be, rather than what it has become, ministers to the body, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, need to return to their purpose of equipping the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ. Individual members need to stop wanting to be served, fed and entertained and begin to be activated in their gifts. While our church services may need to change somewhat to accommodate this new dynamic, it is our families, our neighborhoods, our work places, our communities, regions and nations which will change the most when we truly: 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. (Ephesians 4:13-16)   

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit thank You that just as amazingly as You have created our bodies to function, You have also planned, designed and empowered by the Holy Spirit for the church to function. May there truly be no divisions in the church. May we all together value every member and the varieties of the gifts of the Spirit. May we be built up, may we grow up and become mature. May we 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.  Amen.