The Spirit's Gracious Gifts for the Church

Transcript

We will continue our series in the letter of the first Corinthians, and before we start, please will you rise for the reading of God’s word as we read chapter 12, 1 to 11.

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you are pagans, you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking the Spirit of God ever says Jesus is accursed, and no one can say Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of service but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities but it’s the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good, for to one is

— 1 Corinthians 12

(ESV)

given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, and to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by the one and the same Spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

— 1 Corinthians 12

(ESV)

You may be seated. Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for your word, and I pray, Lord, that you will give me clarity of speech. May we see clearly the love and provision that you have given to your church. Open our eyes and our hearts, and may we see clearly the beauty of the gospel in your word. I pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.

Well, we moved to the Northwest in 2000 when our kids were still young, and David, my oldest, joined a band in elementary school. He played the trumpet. Before the band would play, all of the participants would warm up, and when you heard it, you know, it sounded noisy and discordant with each warming up in their own way. It was a cacophony of sound that was often hard to listen to. But of course, that was not yet the performance. But when the band director would raise his conductor’s baton, the band players knew that they were about to begin, and they all got quiet. Now if the band director had directed each one of the band players to play their piece individually, it wouldn’t have sounded so great because these pieces were meant to be played together with other instruments in the band. Also, they were young players, and they weren’t as confident in playing.

But when they played together, it sounded pretty good. Each contributed something to the overall symphony that they were playing, and you could say that the whole canceled out the imperfections of the individual players. I think if the composer of these different pieces that they played would have been in the audience, I think he would have enjoyed the performance just as much as I did. On some level, that is what the spirit of gifts accomplish in the life of the church. By all of us exercising the gifts that God has given us, we create a beautiful symphony that is pleasant and that honors the composer of the church, namely the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is how it’s supposed to be. I’m going to unpack what Paul is saying in our text, and Paul is giving us three characteristics of the gift of the spirit. The first is the gifts of the spirit are ultimately given to bring glory to Christ,

Gifts Bring Glory to Christ

and we see that in verses one to three. Secondly, all these gifts are bestowed upon us by God so that no one boasts, and we see that in verses four to six. And third, all these gifts are given for the common good as the spirit sees fit. So let’s start with the first characteristic, the gifts of the spirit are given ultimately to bring glory to Christ. Now let’s read again the first three verses there. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you’re pagans, you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. 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. As we’ve heard in previous sermons in our series, a lot of this letter is a response

to questions formulated in a letter by the Corinthians that was sent to Paul. We don’t have that letter, but Paul hints at this letter several times, and also in our passage, when he introduces this new section with ‘now concerning’, this phrase indicates that Paul is answering inquiries sent to him by the Corinthians. This section begins the treatment of spiritual gifts. Gruden gives this definition, a spiritual gift is any ability that is empowered by the Holy Spirit and is used in any ministry of the church. Paul addresses them as brothers, which tells us that he’s talking to believers at Corinth who are united with Paul through the common faith. Paul ends verse one with the statement that he does not want them to be uninformed about the spiritual gifts, and Paul uses that phrase several times, I don’t want you to be uninformed, when he’s ready to address a very important topic as he does here.

In verse two, he contrasts his desire for them to be informed with their former ways of ignorance while they were still pagans. At that time, they were ignorant of God’s salvation plan. Here Paul contrasts idols with the spirit of God. Idols are mute, unable to speak without sound. It implies that they are lifeless, and that is why they don’t speak. The worship of idols was not a harmless activity, as Paul says to the Corinthians that they had been led astray when they were still pagans. The idea is that they were led away by force, and the verb is often expressing to be led away, to be executed. Their worship of idols was not innocent event, because they were being misled. In contrast, the spirit leads them, speaks to them, and allows them to speak, which brings us to verse three, which I believe is the main idea in this first section of our passage.

It says there, ‘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. Paul presents here two extremes. In the one extreme, a person is saying Jesus is accursed, which is contrasted with the person who says Jesus is Lord. The first statement can never be made by someone speaking by God’s spirit, and the second statement can only be made through the Holy Spirit. And this brings us to the main idea of this section, namely that the working of the spirit, either in gifts, service, or powers, must lead to the affirmation of Christ, of whom Christ is. He is Lord. The gifts of the spirit are given to make much of Christ, not much of ourselves, to advance his kingdom, not ours, to declare his greatness, and not ours.

No one ever says anything negative about Christ by the spirit of God, let alone something as outrageous as Jesus is accursed. And no one has ever affirmed the person of Christ as to his true nature, but by the Holy Spirit. That’s what happened in Matthew 16 when Christ asked his apostles, but who do you say I am? Peter replied, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. Peter could not have said it except through the spirit of God. But when a moment later, Peter rebukes Jesus for telling the disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, die on the cross, and be raised on the third day, Jesus then turned again to Peter and says, get behind me, Satan.

You are a hindrance to me. You are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. We do not speak by God’s spirit if we act against God’s salvation plan, against the gospel. When the spirit works in us, we will affirm the person and work of Christ. That is what John says in his epistle, 1 John 4, 2. By this you know the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. The gifts are given to make much of Jesus. The acclamation of Jesus as Lord is not just a mindless babbling of words. It talks about a proclamation that is rooted in deep faith with full meaning and understanding that can only come through the prompting of the spirit.

Thomas Reiner states, the truth of Jesus’ Lordship is foundational and pivotal for the entire discussion of spiritual gifts. For those who exult in their own gifts are maybe thinking that they are sovereign. The title Lord designates Jesus as a divine Lord. Paul and the early Christians applied this title to Jesus to indicate their utter rejection of any pagan gods. Jesus’ Lordship is foundational in our receiving of the spirit gifts because God gives these gifts to make much of Jesus. After all, it is Jesus who went to the cross and not us. It is Jesus who lived a perfect life and not us. It is Jesus who rose from the dead and not us. It is Jesus who sits at the right hand of the Father and not us. What we need to understand about the spiritual gifts is that they are given for the furtherance

of God’s kingdom and for the glorification of the Son. Confessing Jesus as Lord is meant to point to the expression, motivation, and allegiance of one’s heart as Paul writes in Romans 10, because if you confess him with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. One scholar wrote for Paul, it is only through Christ, in Christ, and by learning and responding to Christ that anyone is ever edified. So spiritual gifts must be defined in terms of Christ as actualized powers of expressing, celebrating, displaying, and thus communicating Christ in one way or another, either by word or deed. Our gifts are given for the praise of the one who has set us free from the bondage to sin and has brought us into his kingdom. And this brings us to our second point.

God Bestows All Gifts

All these gifts are bestowed upon us by God, so let no one boast, and we read that in verses 4 to 6. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities, but it’s the same God who empowers them all in every one. Paul emphasizes here both the variety and the source of these gifts, and we have seen a number of references in the past sermons to the divisions in the church and court. Some were divided according to the leader they wanted to follow, some were divided because of some immorality or food sacrificed to idols, Paul brought out two other topics, proper conduct in worship, and the Lord’s Supper, and all these things were issues that sometimes divided the church. Now in our text it seemed that spiritual gifts were also dividing the Corinthians.

Their gift had become a source of pride. That set one believer up against another, and Paul is trying to dismantle this pride by affirming that all these come from God. These are not gifts they somehow muster up by themselves. He states that the variety is purposeful, and then he lists three different items, gifts, services, and activities. I would suggest that these three ways, these three things describe the basic nature of the gifts. First he mentions there’s a variety of gifts, and the word for gift is charisma, from which we get our word charismatics. Now the word charisma has the word for grace at its core. We receive it not because of anything within us that we are owed to, but it’s a pure gift. It points to different ways the spirit works among different Christians. These variety of gifts come from the same spirit. The value of the gift is not in the nature of the gift, but in the person of the giver,

and all of them come from the same source, God’s spirit, and the same spirit indwells each and every believer. The second item is listed in verse five is service. He states, and there are a variety of service, but the same Lord. And again he expresses the variety, and again God intended to have that variety. Now the object of that word variety is the word service, which is the word diakonia in Greek, and that’s where we get our word deacon or deaconess from. In another list of gifts in Romans 12, Paul states that these gifts are gifts of grace, prophecy, service, teaching, and so on. But again, one of them is service, and that is the gift demonstrated when we serve. Martha in the gospel is one that was marked by service. The ministry of the apostle was often marked by this word as they ministered, as they serviced

the word of God. Whatever the task is, it is from the same source, the Lord. In verse six he states there are varieties of activities, but the same God. And the word for activities is from the same root that we get our word energy from. These three words that are being used in verses four, five, and six are different descriptions from the same thing. The gift of the Spirit mentioned in verse one. We also see here a Trinitarian framework. The Spirit is mentioned in verse four, the Lord Jesus is mentioned in verse five, and then the Father is mentioned with the word God in verse six. As one commentator writes, since there is only one God, it’s the same God who provides all the gifts that are needed. It all points that what Christians do when we are active in the work of the gospel, ministering

to the work, to the needs of the church through hospitality, giving, teaching, worship, counseling, encouraging, administration, and so on. And it all brings glory to Christ. Verse six ends with an important statement, who empowers them all in everyone. All of these gifts are empowered by God and he empowers them in everyone. Two things to note here, God is the one who empowers, he is sovereign in his empowerment. And he stressed again in verse 11 of our passage where it says, all these are empowered by the one and same Spirit who apportioned to each one individually as he wills. There is no basis for pride here. It is God who empowers. Thomas Schreiner says this, if the gifts are given according to the sovereignty of the Spirit, human beings have no basis for boasting in the gifts they exercise. The second thing to note, he empowers them all in everyone.

He’s at work in every gift and he’s at work in every person as he exercises his gift or gifts. And because it is God who gives the power to perform this gift, this gift will accomplish what it intends to do, namely to glorify him. As we’re endowed by the Lord with this gift, it will cause us to build up one another and that will bring glory to Christ. This brings me to the last section of our passage where we’re told that all these gifts are given for the common good as the Spirit sees fit. And we read in verses 7 to 11, to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom and to another utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another

Gifts for Common Good

gifts of healing by one Spirit, 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. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit who portion to each individually as he wills. I’m going to give three observations before we look at the different gifts. The first observation is that every Christian has at least one gift. No one is left out. It is given to each believer that they are given. Secondly, what is given here are called the manifestation of the Spirit. These gifts reveal the Spirit as he works in the lives of believers. Each manifestation makes him known. When somebody has the gift of hospitality, it reveals the Spirit at work and brings glory to Christ. If somebody has the gift of teaching, it reveals the Spirit, the working of the Spirit and

brings glory to Christ. Third observation, Paul stresses the outcome of the giving of the manifestation of the Spirit. It is for the common good. And the last phrase is really a verb and could be translated, that which brings a benefit. The gifts are granted to us so that it will be beneficial for the whole community. They are given for the edification of the church. I’m going to skip straight to verse 11, we’ll come back to 8 to 10. And in 11, we read it before, all these are empowered by the same, by the one and same Spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills. This summarizes what we have seen so far. Every gift is empowered by the Spirit of God, but it goes further and emphasizes the sovereignty of the Spirit in the distribution of these gifts. He decides what gift to give.

He decides to whom to give it and when to give it. He’s absolutely sovereign in his dispensing of these gifts. And he gives to each one individually and all these gifts are necessary for the church. Now let’s go back to verses 8 to 10. Comparing it with other lists that we find in Romans 12 or Ephesians 4 or the list later on in this chapter, it is clear that the gifts listed in 8 to 10 are not meant to be comprehensive. There are a lot more. But let’s look at the ones that we do have here. In verse 8, Paul explains that some have received the utterance of wisdom and to another the utterance of knowledge. But what is the difference? Is there a difference between these two gifts? And scholars have struggled with this. While knowledge and wisdom are often grouped together in the Old Testament, I don’t think

the way Paul used it here is synonymous. So what is a word of wisdom? Well I normally like to look at how does Paul refers to wisdom? That might be a good hint. And so when we look at Paul in chapter 1, he writes this when he calls Christ both the power of God and the wisdom of God. In chapter 1, verse 23 to 24, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. It was God’s wisdom to save mankind through Christ who gave us righteousness, sanctification and redemption. So I suggest that the word of wisdom refers to the ability to clearly explain God’s salvation plan. Now what is the word of knowledge? And again, I’m going to look at Paul, how did he use it in this letter?

Earlier in this letter, in 1 Corinthians 8, 4, Paul says that we know that an idol has no real existence and that there is no God but one. And then he continues in verses 5 to 7, he states, for although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. However, not all possess this knowledge. And I could list many, many other Old Testament texts where time and time it tells us that knowledge has to do with the understanding of the things of God. When Paul talks here about a word of knowledge, I think it refers to a deep understanding of the things of God and close related to that would be the ability to systematically

and constructively explain the things of the Bible and God. And again, this would be a God-given ability to explain things clearly that pertain to how theology is working in the world. In verse 9, we read that some were given the gift of faith given by the same Spirit and another person gifts of healings by the same Spirit. The gift of faith does not refer to faith that is needed to trust Jesus for salvation because that faith is given to every believer. It refers to a deeper faith, a greater faith. The faith that Jesus refers to that can move mountains. When he says in Matthew 17, for truly I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you. Or maybe to what James refers to as a prayer offered in faith that will make a sick person

well. The second gift mentioned in verse 9 is the gifts of healing. I think this was demonstrated by Peter and John when they’re walking to the temple in Acts 3 and they encounter a lame man who asks them for some money. And Peter responds, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. I think the gift of healing is that gift of discernment that recognize that God is willing to work to change the conditions of a person who is afflicted with a disease or a disability and steps in to allow God to enact the change, pointing at the same time to the source of the change, namely Jesus Christ. And the result is that Jesus is exalted. Many more examples could be given on that too. Paul goes on in verse 10 to list five more gifts.

The first one is miracles. Now of course, healing is a miracle, but I think here he might be referring more to these extraordinary acts of God that don’t involve the healing of a person, like some supernatural activity like feeding a multitude, turning water into wine, stilling a storm, calling maybe judgment on Ananias and Sapphira and so on. Again, all of these miracles would have the effect, if you look at each one of them, in that Christ is glorified and that the gospel can proceed unhindered. The next gift that he mentioned is prophecy. When we hear prophecy, we automatically think of predicting the future. The Old Testament prophets were first and foremost covenant enforcement mediators. God used the prophets to call the people back to the covenant of God. If the people repented, then the prophet would proclaim the covenant blessings that were written down in Deuteronomy.

And if they refused, then the prophet proclaimed the curses also delineated in Deuteronomy. The prophets did not invent the blessing and the curse that they announced. Most of the time, the prophets proclaimed existing covenant promises. They presented, as they were called by God, the covenant’s warnings and promises. Of course, there is an element of foretelling in the prophets’ ministry, but when you look at the overall writing of the prophets, that is a smaller part in the prophets’ ministry than foretelling. We see also foretelling existing in the New Testament. In Acts, we see the prophet Agabus predicting that there would be a great famine all over the world, and it came to pass under the emperor Claudius. And later on, Agabus predicted that Paul would be taken prisoner if he would go up to Jerusalem, and it happened. But what we see far more by the apostles is that they called people to repentance, and

which is that element of foretelling, not foretelling, that is so prominent in the prophets of the Old Testament. In Acts 2.38, Peter said to them, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ. Or in Acts 3.19, when Peter again calls out to the people, repent therefore, and turn back that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of God, that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Many more examples could be given in Acts and in other places where the apostles called people to repent and where Jesus was exalted. I think whenever we call people to repent, whenever we proclaim the gospel, we are acting

like the prophets did. We are foretelling the message of God. We always ask that God’s spirit would guide our preachers and that his word would not return empty. It should bring glory to Christ and not to the preacher. About predicting the future, and I will say more about it a little bit later in my conclusion. The next gift mentioned is the ability to distinguish between spirits. We see this in Acts 16, where a slave girl guided by a spirit of divination, not from the Holy Spirit, is saying true things about Paul. But Paul did not allow that spirit of divination to continue because it was not from God. In all of this, again, Christ was magnified because the spirit was cast out in the name of Jesus. I refer to this text already in 1 John 4, 1-3, it says to test the spirit. The gift of discernment makes it possible to identify and discern if something is true

or false. If something is from God or not, is it biblical teaching or not? The next gift is tongues, which really means languages. And there are a lot of questions about this gift. I believe the gift mentioned here is seen in action in Acts 2. As the spirit gave them utterance, they spoke in languages. And because of the noise that had happened here with the spirit rushing in, it attracted a large crowd, and there were a lot of people in Jerusalem because of the Feast of Pentecost, and they were coming from all places in the Roman Empire, and they were speaking different languages normally. And it says in Acts that they were speaking about 14 different languages, if you count all the different groups where they came from. In Acts 11, the spirit fell on Cornelius and his friends, and Peter describes it, that’s exactly what happens in Acts 2.

And in 1 Corinthians 14 too, when a person is speaking the tongue to God, not to men, for no one understands him, I think it’s referring to the same kind of experience, namely the spirit guides this person to proclaim God’s salvation in a different language. But because of the small number of people in those house churches, and the more homogenous crowd in Corinth, there is no one in the congregation that understands his language. And therefore he utters mysteries in the spirit. But since there is no interpretation, the person is supposed to do it quietly. When one speaks a different language, it might be unintelligible to other people, even maybe to the speaker, but it is not nonsensical. The last gift is the interpretation of tongues. Somebody who has given the ability to translate what is said by this person who speaks in a different language.

Gifts for Today?

This gift is pretty straightforward. It is a supernatural gift where someone is able to interpret what a person says in a different language into the language of the people around them. Before I come to my conclusion and some application, I want to affirm the main points here. The gifts of the spirit are ultimately given to give glory to Christ, and the gifts are bestowed upon us by God so that nobody could boast, and the gifts are given for the common good as the spirit sees fit. The conclusion, the difficulty of this passage lies not so much in what this text is saying, but the question, are these gifts still for today? And there is a lot of controversy here. Everybody accepts that these gifts were active in the time of the apostle. Not everyone accepts that they’re still active. We will sometimes refer to those who think that these gifts are not active anymore as

cessationists, and the people that still believe that these gifts are active as continuationists. The cessationists believe that the practice of these gifts ended with the apostolic age, when the apostles died, while the continuationists believe it continues to the present age. Now cessationists still believe that God answers prayers for healing, that he still gives discernment of spirits. They still believe that God can do miracles, can give wisdom, knowledge, and faith. But it is different from having this as a supernatural gift of faith or knowledge and wisdom and so on. I’m somewhat in between. I’m open but cautious. My reason for being open is that I don’t see really anywhere in the scriptures that all the gifts would cease with the apostles. I’m cautious because what I often see happen in churches that deviates from what I see in scripture. We always need to come back to the word of God.

Calvin stated that when miracles are divorced from God’s word, they bring glory to the creatures and not to God. Now come back to my earlier point, the gifts of the spirit must bring glory to Christ. I do think that some of the gifts have ceased in some measure. In Ephesians 2, 19 to 21, Paul refers to the church and states, so then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but your fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. The church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus being the chief cornerstone. Martin Lord Jones commented on this text and stated, you don’t continue a foundation.

Once a foundation is laid, you build on top of that. And since the gift of the apostles and prophets were the foundation, the gift of apostleship with prophets should have ceased after the foundation was over, with which he means after the apostolic period was over. And I tend to agree with that. I think most churches would agree that what the apostles did and the prophets did, speaking words for God, words that should be added, that would add to the scriptures, I believe most people would agree, yes, we don’t add new words to the scriptures. Only some sects like the Mormons would still say that we can add to the scripture. But most Christian churches would say, no, the canon is closed. And that’s because I think there is not anymore that gift of prophecy and the gift of apostleship. As to the other gifts, I don’t see anywhere in scripture that warrants their cessation.

Living Out Our Gifts

Yet it is often the misuse of those gifts in various churches that cause me to wonder if they have ceased. But scripturally, I don’t see a defense for this. Now application. If these gifts are ultimately given to bring glory to Christ, how are we doing with our gifts? Are we using our gifts to the glory of Christ, both the natural and the spiritual gifts? Are we using everything that God has given us for the glory of Christ? Do you recognize Jesus as your Lord? Is he the Lord of your life? If Jesus is not yet the Lord of your life, then I have good news and bad news. And the bad news is that you cannot earn your salvation. Isaiah says that even our righteous deed are like filthy rags. You and I are sinners because of our sin and Adam’s sin. Because of our sin, there is a great chasm between us and God that we cannot bridge.

In our fallen, sinful nature, we live under God’s wrath. On our own, our passion guides us, not God’s spirit. We can’t convert ourselves. We cannot change our hearts, just like a leopard can’t change its spots. Without God, we are spiritual dead, and that is the bad news. The good news is that at the right time, God sent his Son who died for the ungodly, that is you and me. The Father sent his Son to die on the cross to provide a way out, to grant us forgiveness and repentance that leads to life. He’s the one who reconciled us to himself through faith in Jesus Christ. So if you do not know Christ as your Lord, ask him to open your eyes so that you can understand and embrace the good news in Jesus Christ, namely that he paid the penalty for our sins, for your sins, so that you can have salvation by turning your life over to him.

So if you don’t know him, don’t walk out here without talking to somebody because we would love to share more what it means to follow Christ. If you are already a Christian, the Lordship of Christ should be the cornerstone of your Christian life because Jesus is Lord, our prayers, our groanings, our tears never go unnoticed. His Lordship extends through every part of our lives and in this world. Nothing happens in this world outside of his control. Secondly, in the early 2000s, the big buzz in the church was how to discern my spiritual gift. And I think there was too much trying to figure out what the spiritual gift was and not enough willingness to just get to work for the kingdom of God. And I would say don’t worry if you’re not sure what your gift is. Just be willing to look around and see what can be done to build up the body.

God will use your efforts and you will recognize your gift in due time. It is possible also that you lack an understanding of what your gifts are because maybe there is a lack of involvement in ministry. Since the gifts are given for the common good for the church, so be active in the church. God will use you and develop whatever gift he has given you so that the body will be built up. Third, serving the church means sacrificing time and energy. But God honors that sacrifice. Just look back in the book of Acts. When the apostles decided it was not a good use of their time to serve the tables so they could not minister the word as much, seven men stepped forward to serve the tables. We see later on that two of these men were used in a mighty way in the church and for

the kingdom and the church was built up well beyond serving the tables. Think of Stephen who later on seemed to have the gift of miracles as great signs and wonders were done through him. And he also seemed to have the gift of wisdom and knowledge as some of the people who were opposing him from the synagogue of the freedmen could not withstand the wisdom and spirit with which he was speaking. We know the results. Stephen was killed, but not before he made much of Christ. Or think of Philip who was reached later on to reach the Ethiopian eunuch. And then later on received the moniker Philip the Evangelist who was one of the seven. They saw a need in the church and stepped forward and filled that need and Christ was glorified and then God used them in ways wherein there was a clear demonstration of

their gifts of the Spirit. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 14, so with yourself, since you’re eager for manifestation of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. So let us strive to build up the church for in this way you will be able to exercise whatever gift God has given you and Christ will be glorified. Let’s pray. Father, we recognize that you are the one, the giver of good gifts. And Lord, you have given us good gifts. You have given us the church, you have given us one another. May we see, Lord, your goodness in all of this. But help us also see the need that is around us and help us, Lord, to make ourselves available to be used by you. Give us servant’s hearts, striving to excel to build up the church. May we make much of Jesus as you use us in using our gifts.

Build up your church, the bride of Christ, and may you be glorified. We pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.