WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.120 1 Corinthians 12, page 959 in the Black Church Bibles, if you need to go back there. 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:15.919 ! And we're picking things up as we go through. And the issue before us this morning really in the church 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:23.839 ! is an issue to do with a one level rivalry, rivalry in the life of the church. Cultivating rivalry, 00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:28.800 a spirit of competitiveness with other people, that can actually be a really fruitful thing in life. 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:36.320 It drives success in business. It's absolutely vital in sport. There is really no sport without 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:42.560 rivalry. And it is that spirit that enables lots of people to accomplish really remarkable feats 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:54.640 in life. I want to say, especially in men, thinking about beating someone is itself a great motivator 00:00:54.640 --> 00:01:01.280 for all kinds of productivity and innovation and success. Rivalry can be a really positive thing. 00:01:02.160 --> 00:01:10.960 But in the wrong context, like say, a marriage, or between parents and children, or in a friendship, 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:18.240 rivalry can be toxic. When everything is turned into a contest in those relationships, 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:27.039 it becomes exhausting and really pretty destructive. I'm not saying don't have games, don't in family 00:01:27.039 --> 00:01:30.959 life create contests, that kind of thing. I certainly hope that if you've got little boys, 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:35.919 that you don't just let them win in contests against you. You've got to wait until they can 00:01:35.919 --> 00:01:40.079 actually beat you, because then they know they've succeeded, and they know it's their turn to pay the 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:45.759 bills and be in charge and that kind of thing. So, what I'm talking about is that spirit that says, 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:49.359 everything's got to be a contest. I've always got to win. I've always got to be better than 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:54.719 everybody else, and I've always got to be superior. We all know people like that, and they're a pain in 00:01:54.719 --> 00:02:01.200 the neck to be around. But where this spirit of rivalry is most out of place, the Apostle Paul tells 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:09.439 us this morning, is in the church. The community of God's people, and the Corinthians are bedeviled by it. 00:02:10.640 --> 00:02:13.680 We've seen it from the start of the letter. If you've been here on this big long journey, 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:18.000 we've been on through the letter of 1 Corinthians. Remember right back in chapter 1 verse 10? Of 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:24.320 course you remember chapter 1 verse 10. Paul appeals to the church to fix up their divisions. There are 00:02:24.320 --> 00:02:30.480 divisions among them. They're fighting. They've turned their relationships into contests and rivalry. 00:02:30.480 --> 00:02:37.040 We have real wisdom from God. You don't. We believe the right message. You don't. We follow the right 00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:41.759 leader. I follow Paul. I follow Apollos. I follow Cephas. I follow Christ. All that kind of stuff. 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:49.199 You don't. You don't have the right guy. We know what freedom in the Lord really means. You don't. 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:56.479 You're enslaved. And this attitude comes to the fore again here in chapter 12 in the area of spiritual 00:02:56.479 --> 00:03:01.679 gifts. Chapter 12 verse 1, now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:09.599 uninformed. The word gifts here isn't in the original. It's been supplied. The original simply says, 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:17.040 now concerning the spiritual or concerning spiritual ones. Paul doesn't want them to be uninformed about 00:03:17.040 --> 00:03:25.280 what it actually means to be a spiritual person. And what they have done is clearly got confused on 00:03:25.280 --> 00:03:31.120 that point. They are… What they're doing, it seems, is that they're making the presence or lack of 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:38.000 certain spiritual gifts a sign that one was better than the other, a sign that some were superior to 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:42.479 others, and they could look down on those that didn't have the gifts that they had. And it seems that 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:49.120 in this section, chapter 12 to 14, this particularly concerns the idea of speaking in tongues, the gift of 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:56.560 being able to speak the gospel in another language. And I'm sorry to say that this remains today. Some 00:03:56.560 --> 00:04:01.360 Christians think, basically, that there are some that have a particularly special set of gifts, and 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:07.120 there are those that don't, and those that don't are deficient in some way. In some circles, it's fair to 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:13.680 say that we have what C.S. Lewis calls an inner ring, who are separate from the rest of us. There's the 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:18.560 special group that have this particular spiritual gift, speaking in tongues, that kind of thing, 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:23.839 and then those that don't have it. Well, sad to say, you're not really as good. You're not really 00:04:23.839 --> 00:04:29.920 as spiritual. And that approach to the Christian life is precisely what Paul writes to challenge here 00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:37.040 in the Church of Corinth. And he starts by making it clear. Point number one, every Christian has the 00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:42.399 Spirit. That's our first point. Four points this morning. Point number one, every Christian has the 00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:48.319 Spirit, verses 2 and 3. There is a dividing line, he says. But the dividing line, 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:55.120 isn't inside the church. It's between the church and the world. Verse 2, you know that when you were 00:04:55.120 --> 00:05:00.800 pagans, you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore, I want you to understand 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:07.360 that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says Jesus is accursed. And no one can say Jesus is Lord, 00:05:07.519 --> 00:05:13.680 except in the Holy Spirit. There is the dividing line. Do you see it? There are pagans who blaspheme the 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:19.920 Lord Jesus, and there are those who call Him Lord, and it's one or the other. That's the dividing line 00:05:19.920 --> 00:05:25.680 between those who are spiritual and those who are unspiritual, according to the apostle. And Paul says 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:32.240 that anyone who declares that Jesus is Lord, and obviously by that he means declares that Jesus 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:39.360 is Lord and actually means it, they've been given the gift of the Holy Spirit. Because no one can do 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:47.759 that apart from the Spirit's work in their heart. None of us by nature look at Jesus, hear His teaching, 00:05:48.319 --> 00:05:55.360 and say, I love you, and I want to submit my life to you. Whatever you say, I'm going to do. 00:05:56.240 --> 00:06:01.680 Wherever you lead, I'm going to follow. None of us can say that by nature, because we're rebels 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:07.519 against Christ in His world. None of us hear Christ by nature. None of us hear Christ say to us, 00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:13.439 you need to turn from your sins and put your faith in me if you want to have life that is truly life, 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:19.199 if you want to have eternal life in relationship with God. None of us hear that and by nature say, 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:25.600 yes, that's what I want to do. So let me ask you, we had the creed a moment ago. 00:06:25.600 --> 00:06:32.720 Did you mean what you said when you confessed in the Apostles' Creed? I believe in Jesus Christ, 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:39.040 His only Son, our Lord. Did you mean it? If you meant it, and it wasn't just vain repetition, 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:43.840 it is of course possible just to say it and go along with everyone else, but if you meant it, 00:06:44.080 --> 00:06:50.640 it's only because a miracle has happened in your heart. It is only because God has taken your heart 00:06:50.639 --> 00:06:58.959 of stone and He has given you His Holy Spirit and His Holy Spirit has transformed you. He has given you 00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:04.879 the faith that you need to respond, to be able to say His only Son, our Lord. Yes, He's my Lord and I'm 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:12.240 with Him. That is the doctrine of regeneration. God, outside of us, by His grace and mercy alone, 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:18.159 transforms us so that we see Jesus as more than a Galilean carpenter, more than a significant figure in 00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:24.000 history, more than anything else. And we say, yes, He is God in flesh and I am submitting my life to Him 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:28.480 because that is what He requires and that is what is good for me. That is the only way that I can be 00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:35.680 reconciled to the living God. You don't need particular gifts or experiences to be filled with 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:43.600 the Holy Spirit. He fills every believer. He gifts and He animates the life of anyone who puts their faith in 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:50.879 Him. First point that Paul makes this morning, every Christian has the Spirit. Second point is this, 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:59.040 every gift has the same source. Verses 4 to 11, verse 4, now there are varieties of gifts but the same 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:05.920 Spirit. There are varieties of service but the same Lord. And there are varieties of activities but it is 00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:13.120 the same God who empowers them all in everyone. The way that Paul describes this is interesting. Do you see 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:18.879 this? There are many gifts and they are given by the same Spirit, verse 4. Their service is governed by 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:26.879 the same Lord, verse 5. And the same God is at work in their use, verse 6. The source of every gift that we 00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:34.720 have is God the Holy Trinity. And each of the persons are at work in the various gifts that the Spirit gives. 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:40.879 Paul makes the point again in verses 8 to 11 as he lists some of the gifts. These all come from the 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:45.840 same source, the Spirit of God working inseparably with the Father and the Son. 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:53.600 The Corinthians were fixating on certain gifts, holding some to be more necessary or better or 00:08:53.600 --> 00:08:59.120 superior than others, and this was what caused the division. But if all of our gifts come from God, 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:09.279 all of them, and they are given according to His sovereign will, verse 11, their differences are not 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:21.360 something that we should worry about. The fact that He got these gifts and abilities and she got those 00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:28.000 gifts and abilities and I got these gifts and abilities is just simply an expression of the 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:34.399 generosity and the creativity of our God. One theologian says this, 00:09:34.399 --> 00:09:39.600 We must not disparage the manifestation of this gift here and a completely different gift over there, 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:44.960 any more than we would slight the fact that the same God created the sea lion and the little yellow 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:54.480 canary. That is how our God is. Don't wish that you had someone else's life. Don't look around and feel 00:09:54.480 --> 00:10:01.600 better or worse because God in His infinite wisdom gave that person over there, whoever they are, 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:07.040 different gifts than you. The point from a couple of weeks ago that I made in connection with how God has 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:13.919 designed and given different roles to men and women is just as relevant here. Difference is not a value 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:25.039 statement. One gift is not better or worse because our God has given them, and He's good, and He is wise, 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:31.279 and He has decided how He wants to do that. He's good, He's wise, He's also free. He can do what He likes. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:39.919 Every gift has the same source. Point number three, every gift has the same purpose. 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:47.919 Every gift has the same purpose. Look at verse 7. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit 00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:56.159 for the common good. To each, again, that's our first point, everyone has been given gifts, not just some, 00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:03.839 but we're given those gifts for the common good in the life of the church. The gifts that we are given 00:11:03.839 --> 00:11:11.759 are for the good of everyone. So that means that we are given gifts. The gifts are given to us for others. 00:11:12.639 --> 00:11:19.439 To us for others. They aren't given so that we can rank ourselves beside others. 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:25.040 They're up here. I'm in here. That's good because they're down there kind of thing. 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:33.520 It's not that we go and order things. We love doing that in life. Our culture loves to do that. Where 00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:38.720 do I fit? Where, you know, at least, maybe I'm not as good as them, but at least I'm better than them. 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:44.799 That kind of thing. Our gifts are not for us. They're not about us. They are certainly not to 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:48.159 make us look good. We are given them for the sake of others. 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:54.399 Someone, think about this. If someone was given an exquisite musical gift, 00:11:55.360 --> 00:12:00.000 just a wonderful musical gift, what would we think if they only ever went 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.559 into a private room and locked the door and played there on their own? Whatever the music, 00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:09.919 whatever the musical instrument was, whatever it was that they did. But they only did it for their 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:17.039 own ends. We think that was a great shame. There's a song that I have on a playlist somewhere. I can't 00:12:17.039 --> 00:12:20.960 remember who sings it. I don't know what the title of the song is. So in some ways, that's, 00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:28.240 you don't need to, that's beside the point to be fair. But song is about somebody singing about how 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:34.159 they were ready to give up singing. But in the course of the song, I mean, it's been, 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:37.360 it was quite a revelation. I don't know, two and a half minutes, something like that. In the course of 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:43.120 two and a half minutes, they realized that actually, if they did that, they would be selling other 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:48.720 people short. Their voices was a gift, and they'd been given it for the good of others. And the chorus 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:55.200 says this, it ain't yours to throw away. That was the realization they came to. Because gifts are given 00:12:55.200 --> 00:13:01.280 for the common good, for the sake of others, for the blessing and the upbuilding of others. 00:13:01.280 --> 00:13:05.600 And particularly in the life of the church, it's for the blessing and the upbuilding of their faith. 00:13:07.040 --> 00:13:11.680 They're not ours to give away. We give them to others. We use them for others. But we can't 00:13:11.680 --> 00:13:14.080 either keep them for ourselves or not use them. 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:21.840 And just to say, if the common good is the goal of how we think we use, think about how we use our 00:13:21.840 --> 00:13:27.759 gifts, this should also think, frame how we think about gifts that we might not get to use in the life 00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:35.120 of the church. Just because you have certain gifts, or perhaps think you have certain gifts, if those 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:41.440 don't serve the common good, we shouldn't demand that we can use them. Common good is the goal. If we 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:46.240 insist that we have this thing that we want to use our way, well, we're putting ourselves at the 00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:51.920 center again, just in the way that this rivalry works as well, making it all about us. 00:13:53.680 --> 00:13:57.600 I think it's important at this point to ask what it is that Paul is talking about here when he means 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:04.000 a gift of the Spirit. So look at the list. Verse 11, look at what he lists out. Verse 8, 00:14:04.640 --> 00:14:10.080 for to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:14.639 knowledge according to that same Spirit. To another, faith by the same Spirit. To another, 00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:19.759 gifts of healing by the one Spirit. To another, the working of miracles. To another, prophecy. To 00:14:19.759 --> 00:14:24.800 another, the ability to distinguish between spirits. To another, various kinds of tongues. To another, 00:14:24.800 --> 00:14:33.440 the interpretation of tongues. There are three other lists of gifts in the New Testament, Romans 12, 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:40.000 Ephesians 4, 1 Peter chapter 4. And they differ from each other a bit. So, there are 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:47.919 ten gifts that are mentioned here, and there are ten others in those other places. But there's no 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:56.000 reason for us to think that God has only given twenty gifts to His church. These lists aren't exhaustive, 00:14:56.639 --> 00:15:02.559 the lists that were given in the New Testament. And the reason that Paul includes the gifts that he 00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:08.000 includes here is because they were the ones that the Corinthians were dividing over. These were the ones 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:15.759 that they were making a reason for thinking better than others looking down on others. And as we come 00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:21.039 to this passage, we have to remember that we're not in the first century anymore. There was a kind of 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:26.159 gifting that was given to particular people prior to us having the Bible as God's authority of revelation. 00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:34.159 The kind of gifting required to attest to the truth of the gospel as it broke into new lands in those 00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:41.759 missionary journeys of the apostle Paul. The kind of gifting needed to be an apostle. The kind of gifting 00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:48.319 that preceded the Bible being able to be written. And from our perspective, we don't need that now 00:15:48.319 --> 00:15:53.120 because we have the Bible. Paul says in chapter 13 of this letter—we'll get there in a couple of weeks—he 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:58.799 says in chapter 12 of 2 Corinthians, the next one in the New Testament, prophecy in this sense, 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:09.279 and apostolic signs were for that time. Now, that doesn't mean that the Spirit has stopped working, 00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:15.599 obviously, or that God doesn't answer our prayers, obviously, or that He doesn't do miraculous things 00:16:15.599 --> 00:16:23.199 anymore or move in remarkable and mysterious ways. Of course He does. We live in a magical story. Our world 00:16:23.199 --> 00:16:28.639 is a magical story that the author is bringing to its conclusion, far above what we could grasp or 00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:36.000 understand. Our whole world is a theater of miracle in that sense. One author has said this, 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:42.159 I believe the gift of miracle working has ceased, not that miracles have ceased. I believe that the 00:16:42.159 --> 00:16:49.600 gift of healing has ceased, not that healing has ceased, and so on. Most simply, we believe that the 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:56.480 gifts that belong to the pre-Bible apostolic era have ceased. We live in a different time. We have our Bibles. 00:16:56.480 --> 00:17:04.000 And what that means is, well, one thing that I think, therefore, is important to see is that the scope of 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:12.640 God's gifting goes beyond what we might describe as the supernatural. Think about it. God's gift to us 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:22.319 includes everything that we have. Remember back in chapter 8 verse 6, all things come from God. Everything you 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:29.039 have from the breath that you breathe that you don't know you're breathing while you're asleep to everything else 00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:37.279 comes from God. Chapter 4 verse 7, 1 Corinthians 4 verse 7, what do you have that you did not receive? It's the same point. 00:17:37.519 --> 00:17:46.319 Everything that we have is a gift that is given to us from the hand of God. Your physical or intellectual or social 00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:54.799 abilities are gifts from God. Those compassionate instincts that encourage others who are struggling. 00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:02.960 That joyful disposition that lifts the people around you. Your courage that stands up for truth and leans 00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:08.799 in to protect the vulnerable. Your willingness to see a need and because you're able to meet it, to go and 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:17.440 meet it. All of these gifts are given by God's Spirit. And He didn't give them to you for you to lock them 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:26.399 away, but so you could deploy them for the common good. Paul crystallizes this point using a metaphor of 00:18:26.399 --> 00:18:34.240 the body. Verse 12, look at verse 12, For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:40.720 of the body, though many are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized 00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:46.960 into one body, Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:53.519 does not consist of one member, but many. What he's saying, we're united in Christ. Our gifts come from 00:18:53.519 --> 00:19:00.960 the same source. They're for the same purpose, and we belong to the same body. Therefore, point number four, 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:10.559 every Christian has a role in church life. Every Christian has a role in church life. Every Christian 00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:17.279 has the Spirit. Every gift has the same source. Every gift has the same purpose. Every Christian 00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:24.079 has a role in church life. It's one body with many members. That is what Christ's body is like. 00:19:25.360 --> 00:19:29.920 And the way Paul deploys this metaphor highlights two important truths about what it means to be the 00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:35.680 church, what it means for us. Here's the first thing, we all belong. That's verses 12 to 16. If the foot 00:19:35.680 --> 00:19:40.720 should say, because I am not a hand, I don't belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:48.880 the body. If the foot wished that it was another part of the body, and because it wasn't, it didn't feel 00:19:48.880 --> 00:19:56.800 like it belonged, it can't change reality. It belongs as part of the one body. And so it is with Christ's 00:19:56.799 --> 00:20:03.599 church. Just because you might think someone else's gifts are better, or you would like them more than 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:09.599 the ones you've been given, you still belong to the body of Christ. And your gifts were given by 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:16.879 the same sovereign Spirit. So do you have the Spirit? That is, are you trusting Christ as your 00:20:16.879 --> 00:20:22.879 Lord? The answer to that is yes. Then you can't avoid the fact that you belong, and you have an important 00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:28.880 role to play for the good of Christ's body. And can I say, if you're someone that comes regularly, 00:20:28.880 --> 00:20:33.600 you consider IPC Ealing to be your church, but you're not yet a member, I want to encourage you, 00:20:33.600 --> 00:20:41.360 come along to Membership Matters, first two Sundays in September, and get involved. Become a member of the 00:20:41.360 --> 00:20:49.200 church that you're a part of, and get involved in serving, because we all belong. The second implication, 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:54.799 in verses 17 to 20, what Paul then goes on to say is that we need each other. We need each other. If the 00:20:54.799 --> 00:21:00.480 whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:07.440 be the sense of smell? Elbows can't see. Whatever you do to your elbow, you can't see out of it. 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:13.519 Your eyes can't filter your blood. A body that functions well requires different parts to do 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:21.039 different things. It's obvious. The one body has many members, verse 12. Many parts, verse 20, 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:30.799 for precisely this reason. I don't know if you can still get those gobstoppers that look like eyes. 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:36.000 You know what I'm talking about? The big gobstopper has an eye on them. I remember a while back 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:43.680 seeing a half-sucked one of those sitting on the pavement outside my house. And I looked at it, 00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:50.000 and for a moment I imagined, what would it be like if that was a real eye? And I thought about how 00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:55.519 useless it would have been sitting there on the ground, disconnected from the body. I mean, 00:21:55.519 --> 00:21:58.799 let's say it was still able to see. It could only see in one direction. 00:21:58.799 --> 00:22:08.319 That was very limited and in many ways utterly useless. If the whole body of Christ only had one 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:15.200 gift, it simply couldn't function. The Spirit gives different gifts to different people in 00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:21.839 the diverse body of Christ in order to accomplish His work. I was thinking this week at the prayer 00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:28.240 meeting we were praying for the Holiday Bible Club coming up, and so much of what happens in the Holiday 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:36.160 Bible Club? Teaching, games, snacks, crafts, making sure that people are moved around the building 00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:41.759 safely, music, all that kind of thing. Think of the variety of gifts that are needed, but think as well 00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:46.880 about how they need each other. Holiday Bible Club doesn't work if you just have the teacher, 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:52.319 or you just have the games, or everybody comes and they just have a snack and go home. The whole thing 00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:57.279 only works if everybody brings their gifts. I was thinking the same a moment ago when we were praying for 00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:07.440 the giving thanks for IPC by the sea. All of those leaders, some of them needed to be gifted in 00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:15.039 teaching. All of them needed an astonishing amount of the gift of patience, and all the other things 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:20.480 that went along with that in the kitchen, on the beach, everything else. It was a wonderful time because 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:26.079 everybody brought their gifts. And without those gifts, it would not have worked, and it would have 00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:30.960 been a much more diminished experience. Both of those are a mini picture of church life. 00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:39.039 We need each other. And so, because of that, I want to close by speaking to two kinds of people who 00:23:39.039 --> 00:23:44.720 are in view here the apostle has in view. To those who feel unworthy because of a lack of certain gifts. 00:23:44.720 --> 00:23:52.079 If that's you, the apostle Paul says you're vital. God has given you gifts as He chose. He knew what 00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:57.200 He was doing when He gifted you. Do not think or let anyone tell you that your gifts aren't valuable. 00:23:57.200 --> 00:24:04.079 They are crucial to the body of Christ. And if you're someone who thinks, because I can't do X, 00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:08.400 or because I'm not able in that area, there's no place for me at this church, that's not the case. 00:24:08.400 --> 00:24:16.640 Your gifts are vital to the life of this place. Encouragement, service, administration, generosity. 00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:23.920 Lots of us, lots of you are gifted in those ways, and those are vital gifts to bring to church life. 00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:28.320 You don't need after this morning to go away and work out what your spiritual gift is. 00:24:28.880 --> 00:24:32.720 Lean into what's ever in front of you, and if you can meet that need, meet that need with your gifts. 00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:38.400 And can I just say as well, if you think that you have perhaps more humble gifts, maybe, 00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:42.400 I don't know the way you think about it all, but the gifts that you have, 00:24:44.160 --> 00:24:50.319 you use those in largely unseen ways, and you think, oh, no one would notice if I didn't use my 00:24:50.319 --> 00:24:57.360 gifts here. Not the case. The church runs on your service. Without you, we'd be stuck. So keep doing 00:24:57.359 --> 00:25:03.439 what you're doing for the common good. You're a blessing to everybody here. Paul doesn't just speak 00:25:03.439 --> 00:25:08.559 to those who feel unworthy. He speaks all to those who feel very worthy. Verse 21, look at them. 00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:16.319 The eye cannot say to the hand, I've no need of you, nor again the head to the feet. I've no need of you. 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:24.799 The proud Corinthians need to know that there's no poor me on the one hand, I don't belong here, 00:25:24.799 --> 00:25:28.879 but neither is there, oh, poor you. If only you were at my level. 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:35.680 All the gifts God gives are indispensable to the healthy working of the body of Christ. 00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:42.720 Have you ever heard of Roy Halley? Has anyone? Put your hand up if you've heard of Roy Halley. 00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:47.759 Okay. You're more likely to have heard of Art Garfunkel, 00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:54.319 one half of Simon and Garfunkel. But there were two important relationships in Paul Simon's music 00:25:54.319 --> 00:26:00.720 career. One was Art Garfunkel. The other was this man, Roy Halley, who has been Paul Simon's 00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:07.279 sound engineer for about 60 years. All the music that Paul Simon created was engineered by this guy. 00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:12.720 So without Roy Halley, there'd be no Paul Simon. And without Paul Simon, 00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:18.159 Roy Halley would be an unknown music engineer, as unknown as he is here this morning. 00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:27.519 The point is they needed each other's gifts in order to accomplish the beautiful music that was 00:26:27.519 --> 00:26:33.759 created. Both of them were necessary, neither was sufficient on their own. What if Roy Halley 00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:36.880 thought that he was worthless because he couldn't write or sing like Paul Simon? 00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:42.480 What if Paul Simon thought, I don't need you because I'm the talent here? I'll tell you what, 00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:49.039 we wouldn't have the boxer or bridge over troubled water or boy in the bubble or any of those brilliant 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:57.120 tunes. It is that way in the church. All are needed. No one is sufficient on their own. 00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:03.279 Some of us are the hands, others are the feet, some are the liver, but we depend on each other. 00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:11.440 We are a body. And Paul then pushes this further, 22 to 25 as he closes it out. It's an interdependence 00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:18.960 that has a particular bias towards those who are weaker and appear to be less honorable than others. 00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:24.480 Paul says that in the body of Christ, those people that the culture overlooks, that Corinth would have 00:27:24.480 --> 00:27:29.680 sniffed at and looked down on, are indispensable and should be honored most of all. Interdependence 00:27:29.680 --> 00:27:34.960 means that there are no little people in the life of the church. It means that if you are a member here, 00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:40.000 so you've acknowledged that Jesus is Lord and you're joined to this body and you feel weak and 00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.640 you think that you don't have anything to offer or not much to offer, maybe you have an illness that 00:27:44.640 --> 00:27:50.720 prevents you from doing much. Maybe you feel like you take more than you give, then we as a church 00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:57.200 have a special privilege in serving you, in honoring you and making sure that you're cared for. 00:27:57.200 --> 00:28:05.039 Like I say, our culture says, like Corinth, that your value comes from your abilities and your status, 00:28:05.039 --> 00:28:10.880 and it is not that way in Christ's church. The weak and the modest are valued most highly. 00:28:10.880 --> 00:28:18.080 We deploy our gifts together for the common good with a particular emphasis on the weak. That is a 00:28:18.080 --> 00:28:23.440 beautiful picture of how the community of the Spirit should work. You can't create such a thing along 00:28:23.440 --> 00:28:30.080 human lines. Rivalry, selfishness always gets in the way. I need to be recognized. I need to be 00:28:30.080 --> 00:28:36.080 served. I need to be treated as special. This kind of community can only come through the cross of Jesus. 00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:42.240 That's why it is wonderful that we're going to the table this morning, a sermon about spiritual 00:28:42.240 --> 00:28:47.759 gifts, what it means to be spiritual, and yet we're coming to the table because it is all about the cross 00:28:47.759 --> 00:28:55.440 of Jesus. As you hear and respond to the message of the cross, that the Lord of glory gave up his life 00:28:55.440 --> 00:29:01.599 for us, that is why Paul mentions these foundational gifts at the end the way he does. Apostles, prophets, 00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:07.920 teachers, they teach the message of the cross, the message that is the pattern of a life of the 00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:14.240 independent service that we are called to live as a church together. It is the message of the cross 00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:21.039 that if we receive it by faith, opens the way to the Spirit, flooding our lives, not a cause for 00:29:21.039 --> 00:29:28.640 rivalry or superiority, but a cause for unity because he equips us with the gifts that we need to play our 00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:32.079 part in church life. Let's pray together.