1 CORINTHIANS: Unity & Diversity in the Body
Pastor Steven Osborne
Transcribed by PulpitAI (with edits)
We are working through the book of 1 Corinthians, so if you have your Bible with you, you can turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and we will read through the whole chapter. I want to encourage you to grab a Bible. If you don’t have a Bible here, there’s a Bible right in front of you—in the chair there in front of you—so just grab that, or your phone. I think it will be more meaningful for you if you tag along.
Now…
If you have a pen here and you like to highlight, you can highlight that. That’s a good way to start the Bible, right there in the beginning with “Now.” Okay, let’s go home. That was good.
Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable…
Can I hear an amen?
… and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
Can I hear another amen?
And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.
And yet I will show you the most excellent way.
May God continue to bless his Word this morning.
Background and Context
Now, just again, as a reminder, if you’re visiting maybe for the first time as we study this book, Paul was writing this to a church that he started in Corinth. And he was with them for about a year and a half, and then he received (after a period of time) received a letter that there was some issues and challenges that was going on in this congregation. And obviously, Paul, being concerned for this congregation, now responds to them through this letter, and he’s guiding them. And a big theme through it all is unity, and he’s gonna address their unity, and he’s gonna try and teach them again how do all of these spiritual things work, because they’re such a diverse group. You know, we’re looking at Roman culture; we’re looking at Greek culture; we’re looking at Jewish culture; and now you have some Christian culture in there as well, and they are trying to do church. And you can imagine that that was probably a little bit messy in all of it, right? They didn’t have all of the church history and culture that you and I have. Or maybe even if you’re sitting here today and you go like, “Oh, this is still all new to me,” so then you can relate to some of the things that they’re experiencing. And so you had some of these cultural pieces that play into it. But then you also had rich people, poor people. You had slaves in there, right? And so all coming together to say, “How do we worship God? What does this church thing look like? How do we do that well?” And guess what? When we read this letter, we start to realize that they struggled. They didn’t do it well. Amen?
It is still true today. Churches still struggle today. We don’t always do it well, but we can read this letter, and hopefully today we can be a little bit better after reading this book, and that the Holy Spirit will encourage us and will unite us. That is the heart of this.
And again, after reading this, I hope that you realize how important you are. There’s kind of a bit of a balance, right? The balance piece is this, that you are important. We celebrate each one of you as we worship together because all of you have a gift; all of you have a place in the body of Christ, right? But you’re not like a superstar. Life isn’t all about you, but you are important. Can I hear an amen? So you’re special, but not that special. Do with that whatever you want to do. Everyone gets a trophy.
Spiritual Gifts
Now again, I said the Corinthian church, they were experiencing division, and part of that was because of pride. They were—at least when you go and read chapter 1, we see that they were actually using their spiritual gifts, which is exciting that they’re trying to figure this out on how to use their spiritual gifts. But somehow, because of pride, they messed up. Now, again, we don’t have a lot of details. We don’t have all of the details, and I didn’t do a lot of research to see how they got it wrong, but I can just kind of assume, when we look at the modern church in our day and age, when it comes to spiritual gifts—I don’t know if you’ll agree—but sometimes it can get a little messy. And at least when we look at verse 1 there, it is interesting. It says:
Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.
Right? And so I think that the Church (universal Church) has been uninformed over the years. Unfortunately, when it comes to spiritual gifts, we’ve got kind of these two camps. Well, there’s probably more than two camps, but sometimes we’ll see the traditional camp, and then we’ll talk about the Charismatic church. And a lot of times we’ll say, “Oh, those spiritual gifts are only for the Charismatic church.” I wish we can remove that language, because at least when we look at this chapter in Corinthians (and we’ll look at several other passages as well), I believe, right, when I look at this passage and at Scripture, that the spiritual gifts are still for the Church today.
Now, I know—thank you for the amen, the one. There’s two of us that’s gonna have a great church today.
I know that there is people that don’t believe that the spiritual gifts are for today. Now, I just don’t see it. I think that there’s a lot of scripture that points to the gifts. And again, if it’s just from an intellectual perspective, if we just kind of read this and we just have normal conversation and I have not experienced spiritual gifts, I could have agreed. But once you have experienced the blessing of spiritual gifts, when people have ministered to you through spiritual gifts, then you start to realize, and you go like, “Oh, this is amazing. This is wonderful.” And you go, “Thank you, Jesus, for using that person.” Because a lot of times, if you’re maybe in a low point or whatever it might be in your life, and the Lord might send somebody with a word for you in that moment that is bringing encouragement or healing to you, right? It’s like, that is so amazing. I cannot tell you how many times in my life where I have been blessed by people because of their spiritual gifts. So I’m just standing here saying I have experienced it. Just because it’s maybe not as evident sometimes in the Covenant Church or in the western Church, I can assure you when you travel a little bit outside of our country, it is very prevalent, and it is powerful, when you start to look at what’s happening in the Asian churches, when you look at what’s happening in the African churches. These spiritual gifts were all around us in South Africa in the churches. And it is powerful. It is amazing when God gets the glory and when we use this in a biblical way.
Now, I want to say again, it is sometimes a little messy. But church can be messy, right? And so it is easy for us to say, “Well, because it is messy, I’m just not gonna touch it. We’re not gonna talk about it. We’re just gonna say, ‘Oh, it doesn’t exist.’” And I think we miss out when we do that. And I think the church then needs to talk about it. We do need to get biblical teaching. And again, we need to then pay attention to Paul’s words that say, “Do not be ignorant.” I want to encourage you to go and study spiritual gifts. And even if you’re sitting here today like, “I have no idea what he’s talking about,” go and do your research.
It is interesting, from Enduring Word (a website)—I have not seen this, so I’ve kind of missed this. Let me just see—Enduring Word, it says Paul mentioned three things that we should not be ignorant about:
Don’t be ignorant of God’s plan for Israel. (That’s Romans 11:25.)
Don’t be ignorant of spiritual gifts. (You just read that, 1 Corinthians chapter 12.)
And don’t be ignorant about the Second Coming of Jesus and the Eternal State. (That’s 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.)
So, kind of pretty amazing things that Paul is saying, “Hey, pay attention. Do not be ignorant.”
Now, kind of some research from Barna Research Group—I don’t know how old this is—on spiritual gifts. They say 29% of all adults and 40% of baby buster adults have never heard of spiritual gifts. Sixty-nine percent have heard of spiritual gifts but do not know what their spiritual gifts is. One percent of adults and 9% of senior pastors claim they have the gift of evangelism. One percent of adults and 6% of senior pastors claim they have the gift of leadership. The most common gift claimed by churchgoers is the gift of teaching (5%), and the most common items mentioned as spiritual gifts which are not biblical gifts are love, kindness, relationship, singing, and listening. Seven percent say they have spoken in tongues; 13% have heard of the gifts of tongues, but say it is not operative today. So, a wide variety on views.
And I have listened over the years after sermon after sermon on kind of the argument on, is gifts for today? Are they not for today? You know? And again, until you have experienced that, and until the Lord has used you in some of those things, then it will be easy to argue and say, “Oh, it doesn’t exist.” And so I’m just again saying, when I look at Scripture, I believe in the gifts, and I pray that today that the Holy Spirit will at least plant the question in your life about spiritual gifts. Because when we read this passage, we start to see that every believer—if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have some spiritual gifts. Amen? And so it is on you to then try and discover some of that and to be on a place where God can use you.
Unity
Now again, so there was some division, some fighting, and Paul is writing to them. This is nothing new. I like this thing by Mark Twain:
Mark Twain used to say he put a dog and a cat in a cage together as an experiment to see if they could get along. They did. So he put in a bird, a pig, and a goat. They too got along fine after a few adjustments. Then he put in a Baptist, a Presbyterian, and a Catholic. Soon there was not a living thing left.
Right? We have a way of messing things up and fighting over some interesting things.
But this whole passage, the heart of this passage, what Paul is writing is to say, “Man, I want the church to be united.” I want the church to be united, because we become such a powerful army for the Lord and for the kingdom of God when we are united and when we’re in a place where the Holy Spirit can actually work through us. When we think about the work of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit wants to work in us so that he can work through us to impact the kingdom of God. God has a desire to work through you. The Holy Spirit wants to work through you, so there needs to be a little bit of an open door in your life to say, “Lord, I don’t have this all figured out, but I’m willing. I’m willing to step out in faith, and I’m gonna let loose on the reins of my life. Will you please use me? I want to be obedient. I want to step out in faith.” And that can be messy. That can be scary. But it’s worth it. Amen? And that’s when the church becomes powerful and when we can make a profound difference in this world.
Gifts of Grace
So, all right, verse one:
Now about the gifts…
I told you to highlight that word “now” because Paul is now reminding them he’s changing topics. So in a sense, chapter 12, chapter 13, and chapter 14 is going together. So we can read those three chapters together, and that’s all kind of in a sense talking about spiritual gifts.
He says:
Now about the gifts…
The Greek word here for gifts is charis, and it means “grace.” And so what Paul is saying is that these are gifts of grace. Isn’t that beautiful? I love that word, charis, right? Gifts of grace. And he’s highlighting that to say, when we think about these gifts, it is truly a gift of grace from God. I don’t care how pretty you are, how gifted you are, how much money you have in the bank; nothing that you and I can do to impress God can make him give us these gifts. These gifts are a gift of grace that he gives to the church. Somehow God says, “Hey, I want to use my church. I want to use all of you. And to do so, part of that is I’m giving you the Holy Spirit. And that’s not all, but the Holy Spirit is gonna give you these gifts, and he’s gonna work in powerful ways through your life.”
And I have seen this over and over in my life. And it’s like, I’ve been in places and situations where I was so grateful for the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit working through me and in me, because otherwise it would have been a complete disaster. Even on a Sunday morning. Most Sunday mornings, it’s like, “Why are there people here?” Right? Because there’s absolutely nothing special about me, about my words, my looks. Right? It’s like, this is a small miracle that you’re sitting here today. Some of you could have been at Walmart right now or Target getting chips for the Super Bowl. But it is because of the Holy Spirit, and it’s because of God’s Word, and it’s because of his favor that we’re sitting here today, that you are drawn here today. It is not about man.
It says:
Now about the gifts [the charis, gifts of grace] of the Spirit…
If you want to write down that Greek word there for “spirit” is pneuma. You might be familiar with that word. That word means “spirit, breath, or wind.” And again, he’s using those words very intentionally because he wants to show them, when it comes to these gifts, it is from the Holy Spirit. These are not natural gifts and talents. these gifts are from the Holy Spirit working in the believer’s life. Amen? And so again, it is from the Spirit of God.
… I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray [by] mute idols. Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except [through] the Holy Spirit.
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service…
You can highlight that word “service.” It is the Greek word diakonis, and it means “servant.” And again, what he is trying to highlight here for us to say, these gifts is to do ministry, right? To minister to God’s people.
Two Illustrations of Unity
Now, two pictures as we think about this incredible chapter. Way easier chapter than last week’s chapter 11.
As a kid, I didn’t grow up in a house where my parents played classical music. There wasn’t any orchestra music. It was only in college where I bought my first CD on the Boston Pops, and they had this CD out on, like, love songs of the 80s. And then I would date a girl, and she would drop me, and then I would play that song, and I would just cry, right? Oh, Boston Pops, you know? But over the years, I’ve had some opportunity to—here in Duluth, we’ve gone to two performances by the Duluth Orchestra. Now again, I can’t do this every day, right? I can’t play that every day. But it’s something to sit there in the DECC and just the fullness of that sound. And again, to see however many people is part of that group, there’s not just one person that’s standing out. You have this group of people, each one of them bringing their amazing skill to the group. And together, they’re making beautiful music.
In the same way, when we think about the Super Bowl today—I’ll talk a little Super Bowl here. I don’t know, anybody excited about Super Bowl tonight? No? Okay. Okay, there’s two. Good for you, guys. Right? I’m sure if it was the Vikings, that would have been more exciting, but it’s like, Kansas City, Philly… whatever, right? And I’m definitely not gonna enjoy the music for the half-time show either, so maybe it will be on in the background.
But a lot of times when we think about football and when it comes to the Vikings, it is so easy for us to focus on the quarterback. Everyone wants to be the quarterback, right? But you need the whole team. Nobody really talks about the kicker. And yet we know how important that kicker is, especially in the past when we think about the Vikings. I’ve heard those stories. And nobody tonight—after that game is over, the quarterback will not be able to stand there and to say, “Oh, look at me, it was all about me.” He needs everyone. Tonight will be a team win, or it will not be a win. You’re gonna need a team to come together to be united and all of them to bring their best, to be able to stand there with their trophies and their rings that they’ll be getting.
Now, if that is true for an orchestra or for a team, how much more true is that not for the church? We are playing in the biggest game of our life when we think about the role of the church. And somehow we think we don’t need to be united. We need to be united. If we see these principles all around us, then this needs to be true for the church, to say this is not an individual position. We’re in this together. We are truly paddling together, and God wants to use all of you.
Gifts Mentioned in Scripture
And so as we look through this passage, we see that he mentions all these different gifts. I don’t have the time—I probably need about six weeks to go into details with this book. And so you will have to go and study it. But he mentions all of these different gifts that the church gets to experience. And I want to just—it’s in your sermon notes as well, but just look. He speaks to—because we get a handful, I think we get about nine of these gifts in (nine or twelve) in 1 Corinthians. Then turn to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12, verse 3–8.
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
Then I want you to turn your Bibles with me to Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11, and we’ll read to verse 16.
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
And then lastly, turn to 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 10 and 11.
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
Closing Thoughts
All right, closing thoughts. If you want to write down these on the bulletin there on the notes, I will appreciate it.
The Holy Spirit distributes gifts to believers as he wills, not based on human status or effort. It is the Holy Spirit that gives it. It is on you to discover that and allow the Holy Spirit to work through you.
No saint (And when I say “saint,” don’t think Catholic, and that it’s only a handful of people. When I say “saint,” it means you. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, then you are a saint.) is left out when it comes to the distributing of spiritual gifts. If you’re saved, then you have spiritual gifts. Can I hear an amen?
Spiritual gifts are to strengthen the body of Christ. Spiritual gifts are not given to say, “Oh, look at me, look at me.” It is to minister to God’s people, to be a blessing, to encourage them.
If it doesn’t point to Jesus, it’s not a gift.
Here’s a big one. Focusing on using your own gifts effectively, don’t compare your gifts to other people. We’re constantly comparing, right? I can stand here, and it’s like, “Man, I wish I was as cool as Josh. Just look at his way that he can sing, right?” It’s like, “Man, if I could only sing.” Right? It’s like, “Man, I just… why, Lord?” Right? There’s some of you that are great in the kitchen and the way that the Lord is using you. It is powerful and it is amazing. Each one of us have an amazing role to play.
I was thinking about just this church service this morning as I was driving here and this passage. There is so many pieces that has to come together on a Sunday morning to give you this experience. You know, from the moment you walk in to just think about the greeters. Some of our poor volunteers standing there this morning, smiling. As you opening up that door you just feel that cold wind and stuff coming in, and they’re standing there and looking good while doing it. Eh, Marge? Amen! Thank you! Thank you for showing hospitality. Will, appreciate it. And so thank you to Hospitality, that whole team. Just think about our sound tech and audio tech and media tech, worship team, Angie and them baking. They’re here early. Each one of us—I mean, there’s so many pieces that has to come together to make this a powerful experience. And so don’t compare, don’t be jealous. Use the gifts that the Lord has given you. No gift is more important than another. All serve one purpose, and that is to glorify God.
And lastly, spiritual gifts are not for personal glory, but for building up the body of Christ.
Now again, I know sometimes it can get messy, but I think it’s worth it. As long as we follow God’s Word and we stay in step with the Spirit of God, we’ll be okay. And I want to encourage you to really ask the question, like, “Lord, how do you want to use me?” And that’s, I think, part of the…
Worship Commission met this week, and we were talking about Communion and online. I think this is the challenge that we have with online service today. You know, you don’t need to be in the church, in this building, to be saved. We all know that. You don’t need the church. But the temptation then, it’s easy then to say, “Well, I’m just gonna stay at home and watch this online.” And there’s many reasons, because of health and weather and traveling, different things. It is a great tool and a great resource, and I’m so grateful that you were able to bless this church, and with Nick and have him on staff. So grateful. But we miss out on something when we’re not gathering together and when we’re not able to see your gifts in action. God wants to use you. So I don’t want you to think here today that God cannot use you if you’re a believer. There are spiritual gifts in you. You have a gift, and you can be a great blessing to the body of Christ.
If you are not a believer, if you have never given your life to Jesus Christ, it is not complex. It is easy. When we read Romans 10, part of that first step is to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Savior. Right? When we believe with our heart, when we confess with our tongue that he is the Savior, it says that he will be faithful, right, and he will not embarrass us. And so this morning, if you don’t know Jesus Christ, maybe that’s the first step this morning is to say, “Jesus, I invite you into my life. I acknowledge that I’m a sinner.” Romans chapter 1, chapter 2 tells us that before we give our life to Jesus Christ, that we’re actually an enemy of God. Without Christ, you and I were enemies of God. But then, praise the Lord, chapter 3, and then kind of moving on, we see when we give our life to Christ, we now become friends of Christ. We become family. And so you do not need to be an enemy of Christ this morning.
So I want to encourage you, think about your own relationship if you know Jesus Christ this morning. If not, please see some of our lovely ushers or see our staff. We would love to have that conversation with you.
I’m gonna invite the worship team up.
As we close with this final song, I want to encourage you to just kind of think about how is the Holy Spirit working in you? And even maybe, you know, just asking if you have paid attention on the work of the Holy Spirit inside of you. And so ponder your gifts this morning. If you don’t know what that means and what that looks like, take this moment to just even pray and ask Him to reveal it to you.
