Sermon Cloud

Following is the original manuscript, not a transcript of the live recording, so there will be some differences.

_______________________

Intro - Thank you to Jonathan and Austin City Life for the invitation today to share what God has laid on heart for Austin City Life, for Soma and for Austin. This morning we are looking at a passage of the bible that is primarily directed at the church, primarily to those who are professing Christians. But if your here today and you are not a Christian, then it is a great day for you to be here also, because this morning you get to hear of God's heart for you, his heart for his followers and how we as Christians are called to live, rather than what you might have experienced or seen in the past.

1 Corinthians 12

We are going to be reading out of 1 Corinthians 12 this morning, so if you brought a bible, let's turn there. I will likely reference some other passages, but this is where we will live this morning, right in 1 Corinthians 12. Most messages you hear on this passage will focus on the gifts themselves, but while the passage does have some great things to say about the spiritual gifts, it is missing what I think is Paul's primary point here, that the spiritual gifts should not be our primary focus. Today we will discuss the proper place of the spiritual gifts within a unified, but diverse community of faith and I will add the implication that this is a foretaste of heaven and a community apologetic for the truth of the gospels transforming power.

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

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.

Now let's pause here for a moment and notice a couple of things before we get back to the text. In verse 1 Paul says "now concerning spiritual gifts..." and "now concerning" is not just an introductory clause, but rather a response to the circumstances in Corinth and specific questions that we believe those in the Corinthian church had asked about. From the overall tone of the letter and Paul's writings we believe it was largely because they were wrongly elevating certain gifts above others. Paul also points out here that they have a history of being easily led astray. Ok, back to the passage, and we are going to be reading through the end of the chapter so stay with me.

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the higher gifts.

And I will show you a still more excellent way.

OK, so we discussed earlier that this letter is not ahistorical, that it is not some theoretical possibility that Paul is addressing. This is a real situation that Paul is responding to, and because of that he is able to respond directly to their issues. What were the issues?

We know from other passages in this letter that Corinth was far from the perfect church, we know some people were getting drunk, for crying out loud, at the communion table, and that some were engaged in sexual immorality, even so far as one man who is sleeping with his father's wife. In others there is good old fashioned jealousy and strife. And it is jealousy and strife that I think is at the heart of this passage and at the heart of the their problems in the community. And good old fashioned jealousy and strife is present today, in forms that are obvious and not so obvious. We see the obvious jealousy and strife in the Corinthian church in one man sleeping with his father's wife. The not so obvious is found in the midst of this entire passage, and its source is often the comparison and elevation of one another over the other, the claiming of the fruits of these gifts, and the grumbling and complaining that likely came with it.

If you don't believe me, have you ever said, "But I work hard for my money, I should be able to have that." Do you see the sense of entitlement that exist there? Do you see how it is all about your talents, abilities, education, job and hard work all coming together to serve.... you.

Our individual and collective lives scream this! When it comes to money, stuff, fame, safety, we have this strong lean toward saying, "mine"! Even comically at times, do you see how desperately some of our celebrities hang on to their celebrity status, as it slips through their fingers. The lengths that they will go to hold onto it. And then we watch it! Like a train wreck coming, we watch it. I only have to point to Flavor Flav and Brigette Neilson for my proof. Do you know who Flavor Flav and Bridette Neilson are? From the Surreal Life to VH1s Strange Love, we watched them cling to fame and celebrity, and make fools of themselves along the way. To fame they say "mine"!

We do the same thing, with the things around us, our money, our home, our time, our talents, our physical health, we have this strong bent toward saying 'mine'. And the entertainment industry that we pump billions into and that shapes our thinking, leads us astray as we claim these things for ourselves.

And when it comes to responsibility for things, we so often end up saying, well you can have that, that is 'yours'.

My Story

And I watched this myself from outside the church until I was 28. I watched the church compare themselves to other churches and denominations, not in the spirit of love, but in what seemed like jealousy and strife. I grew up outside the church watching it claim that it was better than me, that they didn't smoke, didn't drink, didn't dance, and that they didn't go to Disneyland. And I watched some of those at the pinnacle of the evangelical movement fall into deep immorality. I watched members of churches claim superiority and then act just like me, having also been led astray. A lot of Christians out there wish we could return to the 'purity' of the first century church, and I tell you friends, that we never left it. The Corinthian church had the same problems as today. In the Corinthian church, they said 'mine' when it came to the wine on the communion table, and they said 'yours' when it came to the immorality of the son who was sleeping with his fathers wife. In the passage where that takes place, Paul rebukes the whole church for standing by idly as he continued in sin. Collectively, they were led astray and left it up to someone else to speak up.

A couple of years ago God gave me this vision of a body. Now imagine this with me, a body that is covered with pocks and marks all over it. Now imagine that in place of these pocks are huge, gaping mouths, grotesquely shaped with their tongues wagging, their teeth showing and just gaping mouths always gnashing and always speaking. That is the image that I had of the church growing up, and that is what parts of the professing church looked like to others.

A Counterintuitive Way

But the passage calls us to something different, something counterintuitive, something that pushes back against this idea of my abilities and stuff being 'mine' and it pushes back on the idea that the responsibility belongs to someone else. The passage doesn't let us off that easy, but it proposes a different way of seeing and using our gifts, abilities and roles, a different way of seeing how they are to be used and a different way of how we are one body, one interdependent community.

1. This passage is not just about the gifts, but also the roles and activities (12:4)
   Paul expands on their question and says it is more than just your gifts, it is about your abilities, the role you play and the way you do it The first part of the chapter is about gifts, and the next part is about roles. In both sections he argues that is God who has put things that way and who empowers us.

2. The gifts are from God for the common good. (12:7)
   Paul states clearly that the gifts are for the common good, to be used to bless others.

3. The gifts, roles and activities are interdependent, one body, one community (12:12-31)
   Paul clearly makes the case that no part of the community is more important than the other, that every part is necessary for the betterment of the whole.

We have each seen glimpses of these truths at work in us and in the world. We have seen people at their best, combining their talent, their roles and their activity to work for the common good, and we have seen them at the very best when no one stands at the top and takes all the credit for it.

It is a beautiful thing to see and we all long for it. Even though there is this part of you that leans toward claiming things for yourself and blaming others for your problems, you really want this passage to be true for your life and those around you. We deeply long for a community that joins together with our abilities to truly benefit one another. A community where everyone is clothed, and fed well and lives in peace with one another, a community where if one is in need the others come to their aid.

And the city of Austin longs for this as well. The city longs for a people that humbles itself, that gives its talents and resources to it, to be a blessing to the city. The city needs the true church, because the true church will not exalt itself and claim for itself some superiority of its own. The true church will integrate humbly with the city, it will contribute to the good of the city and will be a partner with the city. And it will be a foretaste of heaven, a believable apologetic of the truth of the gospel.

And we need the city also. There is so much of God's common grace throughout the city that we can learn from them and participate with them. There are people who profess no Christianity at all that work diligently on behalf of others.

But this passage is so hard to do. Part of the problem is that we don't trust one another, we often feel that when it comes down to it we can only trust ourselves. And we also have this internal need to compare ourselves to one another because we feel badly, we can always feel better about ourselves by finding someone that we are better than. We hold too tightly to our money because we trust in ourselves to provide. And when hardship comes, we often find someone else to blame.

This is a hard teaching to hear... but Paul doesn't leave us hanging. He gives us the solution to the problem way back up in verse 4 when he says that by the Spirit of God, we say 'Jesus is Lord.' Before Paul can teach them how to live, he reminds them of the gospel and then how to live in light of the gospel. Notice, he doesn't just exhort them to do what they are good at and to be nice to one another. Paul isn't just telling us to take a personality test and to play to our strengths. He is grounding the whole thing first in the truth that Jesus is Lord. The truth that Christ laid down his rights to self, entered our story on earth and took on the responsibility of our sin. Instead of taking and blaming, he took the responsibility and gave up His life and this changes everything for us. This act turns everything on its head. And it provides both the way toward reconciliation and the power to reconcile with one another. Paul includes the enabling power of the Spirit of God in our exaltation that Christ is Lord.

It is through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit of God that we believe the gospel of Jesus is true and how we live as if we believe that the gospel is true. It is not just in seeing the life and example of Christ, but in the work of the Spirit towards greater faith in the truth of the gospel. To be successful at growth in this area, we need the work of the Spirit, we need prayer, we need to know God through the scriptures. And we need the community of faith operating in their varied gifts, roles and activities. We need others trusting Christ for His gospel, and sharing our lives and resources with one another. This is for the exaltation of Christ, for our joy and it brings forth a foretaste of heaven for all to see as a believable apologetic.

But notice that it is a foretaste of heaven. I don't want to mislead you. It is just a taste and not the full deal yet. And this means that some of you will fail clumsily at times. Sometimes horribly. We will hurt ourselves and hurt others at times. Sometimes we won't believe the gospel, and someone will have to remind us. Sometimes we will fail horribly, and publicly and those outside the church may mock us, not seeing the tears of repentance. Extend grace to one another. Graciously extend forgiveness to one another. When you stumble, which you will, they will hopefully be there to graciously extend forgiveness as well.

After Paul's exhortation of how the community works together under Christ, he wraps it up for them. He drills down to the real answer to their question:

12:31, 'And I will show you a still more excellent way. 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

At the core of this is Paul's final exhortation on this issue. Don't serve one another because it is the 'right thing to do'. Don't serve one another because you are good at it. Don't give money to someone while you look down their nose. And then he hits at the highest form of selflessness that may exists, even if you give up your life, and are burned at the stake for another, if it is done out of something other than love, then it is nothing.

Love for one another, empowered by the Holy Spirit and trusting in the gospel, is at the core of Christian community and the foretaste of heaven for others to see. May we beg God to cultivate it in our hearts and in our communities.