When You Gather… Use Your Spiritual Gifts
March 16, 2025
Preached by Ron Smith
Scripture Reading
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. 3 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.
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 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. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
What is your spiritual gift? If you have been a Christian for a while, that is probably a question you have been asked on more than one occasion. Or maybe you have haven’t. Maybe you don’t fully understand what a spiritual gift is, where it comes from, how you get it, why you should even have one in the first place. Fortunately for us, Paul has addressed these questions here in chapter 12.
As we have seen all through this series, the Corinthian church was a fractured church. One of the issues that was causing division in the church revolved around spiritual gifts. It seems that there were those who we could call charismatics and those who were non-charismatics. Sound familiar? Or to put it another way there were those who over emphasized spiritual gifts (and perhaps particularly the more spectacular gifts), and there were those who undervalued the gifts.
There was confusion concerning spiritual gifts. They didn’t fully understand them. And you know what happens when there is confusion about any subject – we tend to fill in the gaps with our own way of thinking, with our ways of resolving tension, and we don’t stop to think about how God clears the confusion up.
What we find here in chapter 12 verses 1 to 11 is a foundation, a theological foundation of spiritual gifts that helps to clear up the confusion. This morning, I want to answer three questions that will help us see the theological underpinnings of spiritual gifts: how do we get spiritual gifts? What does it mean to have a spiritual gift? Why do we have spiritual gifts?
How do we get spiritual gifts?
Let’s read again verses 1-3.
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. 3 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.
In these opening verses Paul starts off by calling attention to the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer (every believer). In their former life, pre-conversion to Jesus, the Corinthians were pagans. Paul says they were led astray to mute idols. The idea is that they were led away from truth to something that had no power, no ability to deliver what was promised to them. The idols were weak, powerless, and although they had mouths, the do not speak. But now they were believers. The Holy Spirit dwelled within them. They were transformed. Where once they would have cursed Jesus, they now declare he is Lord. There is a fundamental shift that has happened to those in the church at Corinth. They were all filled with the Spirit. They all professed the lordship of Christ. From this point on Paul is going to elaborate on spiritual gifts.
But don’t miss the implication: all believers have a spiritual gift. This is made clear in verse 7. Paul says, to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit. Not a select few. Not those who are more spiritual. Not those who are special in some way. To each one. To each person who can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ because they have been filled with the Spirit.
Now, perhaps getting more to the heart of the answer to our question, “how do we get spiritual gifts,” we see that the gifts are given by the Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We typically think of the Spirit’s role in the giving and using of the gifts. And as we will see, the Holy Spirit does take the lead in this passage. But verses 4-6 underlines the role of the Trinity:
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;
6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.
It is the same Spirit, the same Lord, and the same God, who give us spiritual gifts. The gifts come from outside of ourselves. There is no way for us to say we have manufactured the gifts ourselves, or that we are special because we have a certain gift. And to hammer this point home Paul continues in verses 8 and 9 by showing that the gifts are given through the Spirit, according to the same Spirit, by the same Spirit, and by the one Spirit.
All of this is punctuated with a great big explanation point in verse 11.
All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
It is the Spirit who activates the gifts, who works the gifts in us, who takes the gifts and divides them among each individual believer.
As you can see Paul wants us to know that the gifts come from the Holy Spirit. It is according to his will. Of course, this just begs the question, how do we know which gift the Spirit has given us? To help answer this question, there have been several spiritual gift tests produced. The idea is that there is a list of all the different spiritual gifts listed in the Bible and then there are 50 to 100 questions that claim to reveal which of those gifts you have. If you have never taken one of these tests, the questions are almost like the ones you find in a personality test. There is a statement you rank on a scale of 1 to 5. “Working with my hands is fun for me.” Or “I can tell when someone is insincere.”
I suppose if you have never been exposed to the idea of having a spiritual gift, these types of test could have some limited benefit. But if you have taken one in the past, doing another one will probably not do you much good – you will know how to answer the questions in order to get the results you want.
I really think it is much simpler. In fact, you are probably already using your spiritual gift. Or at least, if you have been at Community for any length of time, you have probably already found ways to use your gifts. When the Spirit puts something in you, it is hard to not let it out. If you have gifts of service, you really enjoy serving others, when the call goes out for people to prepare meals, rake yards, help someone move, fix something in the church building, and on and on, you find yourself volunteering without thinking twice. My point is, we naturally gravitate towards the areas of ministry where we can use our spiritual gifts.
Now if you are still struggling to figure out what your gifts are, ask yourself, what do the people around you say? What does your community group think your gifts are? Remember, we are not in isolation. The church will help identify and confirm your gifts. Don’t underestimate how the role of the church.
Let me summarize this first question: how do we get spiritual gifts? Every Christian has the Spirit and has been given a gift or gifts by the Spirit. We discover what our gifts are in the context of the church.
Let’s move on to the second question.
What does it mean to have a spiritual gift?
Paul uses several different terms in this passage to talk about spiritual gifts. In verse 1 we see “spiritual gifts;” in verse 4, “gifts;” in verse 5, “service;” in verse 6, “activities;” in verse 7, “manifestation.” Different words, but all talking about spiritual gifts.
Let’s not miss the point that these are spiritual gifts. We are not talking about talents or even just things we are good at. We are talking about spiritual things. These gifts in some way manifest the Spirit. He works them in us, that is he gives us these gifts, and in turn these gifts reveal the Spirit.
To be spiritual indicates that the gift will be used in such way to bring about spiritual fruit. It will be used in a way to build the kingdom of Jesus. It will be used in a way that brings others closer to Jesus, that builds them up spiritually. That’s what makes a difference between a talent and a spiritual gift.
But I would not want to make such a sharp distinction between the two. There can be overlap. A musical talent can be a spiritual gift. We have all in this room today experienced people using their musical gift to build up and edify the church. You might object to this and say “yeah, but there is no gift of music in the list.”
Well, first of all, I think the words used in verses 5 and 6 – varieties of service and varieties of activities – hint at the fact that spiritual giftedness is much broader than we might normally think. There are many different ways that we can see spiritual gifts being used. It is not just the spectacular, or the more visible gifts.
In addition to this we need to keep in mind that every list of spiritual gifts we find in the NT are all different. There are some overlaps, but none are exactly the same. Even in this one chapter, 1 Corinthians 12, we effectively find 3 lists of spiritual gifts. We read one of these this morning in verses 8-10. Then we find another one in verse 28. And still another one in verses 29-30. There are some gifts listed in all three lists, some that are listed in just one list. My point is this. There is a strong indication that these lists are not meant to be exhaustive. So, while music is not listed, that does not mean that it cannot be a spiritual gift.
One pastor helpfully says, “spiritual gifts are any ability the Spirit gives you to express your faith in order to strengthen another person.”[1] So that is what would distinguish a non-Christian who is a great college professor and a Christian who has the spiritual gift of teaching.
Having said that there are different lists and they are not exhaustive, Paul does give us one here that I don’t want to ignore. We find it in verses 8 to 10. Let’s start in verse 8
8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
Whatever nuance there is between these two gifts is lost on us today. We do know that Paul has addressed the misconceptions that the Corinthians had of both wisdom and knowledge. So, it is striking that he now places these two in this list of spiritual gifts. Of course, both wisdom and knowledge are something that each of us can have as Christians. In fact, James tells us that if we lack wisdom all we need to do is ask God and he will give it to us. I mention that only to highlight that when we consider all the gifts mentioned in the NT this true of a lot of them (hospitality, giving, evangelism.) At any rate, with Paul listing utterance of wisdom and utterance of knowledge, there is a recognition that for whatever reason, the Spirit gives some believers a particular ability of understanding wisdom and to others the ability to have utterance of knowledge that is unique. They have insights into what God is doing and know how to speak into situations in a way that will equip the church to walk in step with the Spirit.
9 to another faith by the same Spirit,
Saving faith is not in view here – again something we all have and share. Rather there seems to be that special ability to believe the promises of God despite massive obstacles that stand in the way. Caleb and Joshua.
to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
There is no reason to take this gift as meaning one with it can heal every and all sicknesses. It is the Spirit who heals through us. And sometimes there is no healing.
10 to another the working of miracles,
Again, like healing, there is no guarantee of a miracle every time it is prayed for. It refers to mighty acts that can only be attributed to God.
And then Paul finishes up, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. I am not going to comment on prophecy, tongues and interpretation of tongues. In three weeks we will address these three when we look at chapter 14. But distinguishing of spirits is an important gift for the church. Sometimes it is difficult to determine what is of God or not. People with this gift can cut through the fog and see things for what they are.
In all of this, let’s not lose sight that these are spiritual gifts. Things that can only be done through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. You have been equipped to do great things for the Lord. We can certainly say that we are inadequate, we are insufficient in and of ourselves, but we can also say that in Christ, the Holy Spirit makes us adequate, makes us sufficient to do whatever he calls us to do by giving us spiritual gifts.
And with that, let’s also not lose sight that we are talking about gifts – something that has been freely given to us. In fact, the Greek word used in verse four highlights the gracious nature of the giving. It is a grace gift – something that has been freely and graciously given. Our giftedness is a mark of God’s grace on our lives. This should lead us to thankfulness. We have been given something that comes from outside of ourselves. We are not the originator, we are not the producer, our gift does not depend on us. It comes from and is sustained by God. Let’s thank the Lord for how he has gifted us. When we are thankful, we look past the gift to see the giver. To recognize him. To exalt him. Exalting our gift only leads to pride. Being thankful keeps us humble.
What does it mean to have a spiritual gift? Well, it means they are in fact spiritual, they manifest and reveal the Holy Spirit, they are broader than we might realize, and they are given as a gracious gift.
Let’s consider the final question.
Why do we have spiritual gifts?
In verse 7, we find the answer.
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
The gifts have been given for the common good. Not just individual good. Certainly, there is good on an individual basis that the spiritual gifts bring. However, ultimately our gifts are to be used for the good of the church. The church is to profit from the use of your gifts (not $$). There is an advantage for the church when we use our gifts. The church is edified. The church is built up. The church grows in the faith.
One thing to note is that you don’t have to be perfect in using your gift before you start using it. That’s the wonderful thing about church. It is a place to grow in using our gifts. To develop them. (my pastor). Whatever state your spiritual gift is in, use it.
The church needs each of us to use our gifts for it to be built up and strengthened. We are brighter lights, we are sharper theologically, we are wiser, we are more whole, we are more mature – when each of us uses our gifts.
To put it another way, the church is impoverished when we don’t use our gifts.
What happens if those with gifts of service, gifts of mercy, don’t use their gifts? Well, I can tell you that there are weeds around the church that won’t be pulled, there are walls and doors around the building that won’t be repaired, there are meals that will not be provided to those in need.
The same could be said for all the gifts. We would be impoverished if those with the gift of faith did not use their gift, those with words of knowledge, words of wisdom, teaching, exhortation, giving, hospitality…you get the idea.
We all have different gifts and when we use them the church is built up and strengthened.
There’s one more thing we can add to why we have spiritual gifts. That is we see the beauty of God’s unity. God’s unity is seen in diversity. There are varieties of gifts, varieties of service, varieties of activities, but the same Spirit, the same Lord and the same God. Pastor Benjamin will go on to develop this idea next week as the rest of the chapter focuses on this aspect. But for now, let’s see the beauty of how the Lord uses diversity of gifts to bring his people together in unity. It reflects who he is.
Conclusion
The Holy Spirit graciously gives each of us different spiritual gifts for the good of the church that binds us together in unity. Each of us who are believers has a gift. How are you using your gift? How are you going to use your gift? Not are you going to use it, how? Don’t sit around thinking that you are not good enough. None other than the Holy Spirit himself has gifted you. He will equip you. He will help you develop your gift. Use it.
And remember all of this is rooted in the gift of salvation we have in Jesus. The greatest gift that anyone can receive is the gift God gave the world – his son. It is by grace we are saved through faith in Jesus. He takes all of that fracturedness caused by sin that we carry around and makes us whole. We can’t do it ourselves, we need his gracious gift of salvation. Just like he transformed the Corinthians, he will transform you. He is no mute idol. He is the God who speaks, the God who works mighty deeds, the God who manifests himself by giving his church gifts to display his glory.
Sermon Discussion Questions
Read over the other lists of spiritual gifts: Romans 12:6-9; 1Corinthians 12:28-30; Ephesians 4:11; 1 Peter 4:11. Which gifts do you have?
Why is it important to remember that these are spiritual gifts?
What does it say that every member of the Trinity is involved in the spiritual gifts?
How do you use your spiritual gifts? Or, how do you plan to use your spiritual gifts?
Go around and share with one another what you think each other’s gifts are.