This week we continue in our reading of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. Last week we learned about love in particular we learned about agape love that is about a love that is a self-less concern for another person, a love so great that one would lay down their life for another person. And what we learned about this type of love is that it is a God-like love, and truly a love that only God can have for us. Agape love is that love with which only the God-man Jesus can love. Paul reminded us that there is no greater love than this agape love our Lord has for us, so much that He gave His life for ours on the cross. This week Paul reminds us that it is this love that the Lord has for us which we dimly and imperfectly reflect to others. In our reflecting the Lord’s love to one another, we build up the body of Christ, which is the church. Paul continues telling us about spiritual gifts, in particular those gifts which God gives to us at our Baptism or conversion. Those gifts which we are to use for the edification, the building up of the church, our brothers and sisters in Christ. Those gifts which are to be used for extending God’s kingdom, sharing His Word with others, especially those in our own neighborhood, and thus, those gifts which we use to give glory to our Lord.
I want to begin this morning by answering the question, “what are spiritual gifts?” True spiritual gifts come with two criteria; they are those gifts that are given by the Holy Spirit and those gifts that are given only to Christians. In several of his letters Paul lists some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I say some, because Paul never intends to give a complete listing of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Paul never intends to give a complete list of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, because you cannot give a complete list of the gifts of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives gifts even some for which we are unable to name. He gives all the gifts that He has to give and He gives a whole lot more. That is just the way it is with God and the gifts He has to give. Remember, God does not do fractions. He does not gives us some of His gifts now and tell us He will give us some of His gifts later. God always gives us the whole lot of His gifts now and a whole lot more later. Thus, in his letters to the Romans, Corinthians, and Ephesians Paul outlines some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Certainly, you have heard some of these mentioned and the fact that each list does not list the exact same gifts of any of the other lists is another reminder that Paul is not trying to make an exhaustive list of such gifts. Some of the gifts Paul mentions are: the gifts of prophecy, pastoring, teaching, wisdom, knowledge, exhortation, discernment, giving, helping, mercy, missionary, evangelism, hospitality, faith, leadership, administration, miracles, healing, speaking in tongues, interpretation, apostleship, celibacy, intercession, martyrdom, and serving, just to name a few.
The Holy Spirit gives Spiritual gifts only to Christians. These gifts are not to be confused with talents that people have, although they may be similar. People, Christians and non-Christians alike have many talents, such as arts and crafts, music and acting, sports and recreation, and the like. I guess we could put it in simplistic terms and say that the difference between talents and spiritual gifts is that spiritual gifts have more of a spiritual nature to them. Or better said, spiritual gifts are those gifts the Lord gives for the sake of His people, that is so that we might be strengthened in our faith and so that the Lord’s kingdom may be extended, that is so that we might share the good news of salvation with others so they too might be a part of God’s kingdom, so that He may be given praise and glory.
Spiritual gifts are given by the Holy Spirit at our Baptism or conversion and are given for the purpose of edifying the Church, that is, the Body of Christ. If what a person is doing is not edifying the church then they are either not using their spiritual gift, or they are misusing their spiritual gift. Evidently this was at least a part of the problem in the church at Corinth, people were misusing their spiritual gifts. They were using their spiritual gifts as a way of “one-up-man-ship” with others. “I am better than you because I have this spiritual gift.” Much like people continue to do in the Christian church still today. “If you do not have a certain spiritual gift, or show that you have a spiritual gift, then you are not saved,” is what we are told. Paul would tell us that this is not how we build up the body of Christ and so instead of using our gift to edify the church we would be using our gift to tear down.
We are given spiritual gifts so that we might use them to bringing glory to the Lord. If we are using our spiritual gifts for any other reason, such as for self glory, then we are not using them to the glory of the Lord and instead we are misusing them. And we are sinning. If we are not using our spiritual gift in service to the Lord in this place then we are sinning sins of omission.
Getting to the practical part of spiritual gifts, how do we know what is our spiritual gift and how do we know how to use it? Your spiritual gift is something you like to do and is something you find “easy” to do. It is something that you do for the building up of the body of Christ, the church. It is something you do to the glory of the Lord. There are a “ton” of books available about spiritual gifts. I would not recommend any. Instead I would recommend reading through Paul’s letters to the Romans, the Corinthians and the Ephesians. Read through the lists of Spiritual gifts that Paul gives and then experiment. Try doing some of the things that are mentioned. Your spiritual gift or gifts are those things that “come easy,” are enjoyable, and are done for the edification of the body of Christ and to the glory of the Lord. But remember, as I have spoken about before, you may never know what your individual spiritual gifts is and that is okay. The important thing is not that you can identify by name your own personal spiritual gifts, but rather that you use your gifts for the purpose of encouraging and building up the body of Christ, to extend His kingdom, and to give praise and glory to His Holy Name.
I said it earlier, but I do need to say it again, God gives us spiritual gifts to use. If we do not us the gifts that God gives to us, then we are sinning, we are sinning by refusing the gift that He has given to us. Likewise, if we misuse our spiritual gifts, using them to tear down, rather than build up the body of Christ, or using them for self glory, rather than using them to the glory of the Lord, we are also sinning.
We will want to exercise caution when exploring our spiritual gifts. I know I have talked about this issue before, but it has been some time ago. There are those who would encourage us to identify what gifts we have so that we can use them for service in God’s Kingdom, unfortunately this identification may also lead us to think that if we have not identified ourselves with any one particular spiritual gift then we have an excuse to not serve the Lord in other ways. In other words, if we were to identify our own personal spiritual gift, we might end up thinking, “well, I would like to help on this particular board or committee, but my spiritual gift lies in another area, so I cannot serve.” And that would not be using the gifts God has to give, but would indeed be refusing the gifts. And also remember, not using God’s gifts is gift refusal and is sin.
As I was looking at this text and working on this sermon I got to this point and I had to ask the question that I hope you are asking, “where is the cross?” My first answer is rather simplistic, but it works. It is the cross on which Christ died that He earned our greatest spiritual gift, forgiveness of sins. Without the cross there would be no forgiveness, there would be no life, there would be no eternal life, and there would certainly be no spiritual gifts. None would be needed.
As I have done so at times in the past, so I continue to remind you that the main work of the Holy Spirit is to point us to the cross and to point us to Jesus. He points us to the cross through the means of grace, the Word, the Bible, Holy Absolution, and the Sacraments, Holy Baptism and His Holy Supper. If we absent ourselves from these means, we no longer see the cross. Without the cross there is no forgiveness and where there is no forgiveness there is no salvation. The Holy Spirit points us to Jesus and the cross through the means of grace, and as He works faith and strengthening of faith in our hearts, as He fills us with spiritual gifts. He gives us the gifts which we need to point still others to Jesus and the cross.
That brings us back to the point I mentioned earlier, if we do not use our gifts, then we are sinning, because to not use our gifts is to refuse the gift. And gift refusal means no gift.
We would do well to heed Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians. In order to heed Paul’s exhortation we will first, be mindful of the fact that God promises and does give us spiritual gifts and we are to use our spiritual gifts. Again, I would suggest making use of your Bible rather than some other book on Spiritual Gifts. Read through, especially, Paul’s letters to the Romans, Corinthians, and Ephesians. Try out some of the things mentioned. Your gift is that thing in which you find joy, peace, comfort in doing, and rewarding.
Second, we will use our gift for edifying the Church. If we are using our gifts to make ourselves look like someone we are not, if we are using our spiritual gift to put down someone in order to raise up ourselves, then we are not using it to edify the Church. We are using our spiritual gift properly when we are using it for the building up of the body of Christ.
Third, we will use our gift to the glory of the Lord. Similarly to what I just said, if we are using our gift for self-glorification instead of for giving glory to the Lord, then we are misusing our gift and we are sinning. Using our spiritual gifts to the glory of the Lord means that we use our gifts as we are motivated by the Lord, as He moves us to use our gifts and then as we use them to His glory.
This morning we are reminded that God gives. God gives us life at our conception, new life at our Baptism, forgiveness of sins and eternal life. God also gives us spiritual gifts to be His people in this place. That does not mean that we are perfect, by no means, because we still carry around our sinful nature. It is a struggle for us in life to use our gifts for the edification of the Church and to the glory of the Lord. My prayer for you is that as you continue to be in the Word, that you will continue to remember your Baptism, hear those most precious words of Absolution, that is that your sins are forgiven, and partake of the Lord’s body and blood in His Holy Supper, the places where our Lord comes to us to give us the gifts He has to give. And my prayer is that He will continue to work in you to use your gifts, the gifts He gives to you, for the building up of the body of Christ and to the praise and glory of the Lord. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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