LESSON: 1 Corinthians 12.12-31a

SERMON TITLE: The Gifted

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INTRODUCTION:

  1. Here is a riddle for you.
    1. Why did the children of Israel wander forty years in the wilderness.
    2. Because Moses refused to ask for directions.
    3. Oh, well, we know that he did.
    4. Asking for directions may lead to conflicting desires and goals.
    5. But asking for directions may be fraught with personal anxiety or difficulty.
    6. Asking for directions may demand an intimate assessment of one's location in time, space, and relationship with Jesus Christ.

MAIN BODY:

  1. There is something of this in the story told by Andy Fisher of Denville, IL:
    1. Flying in a hot-air balloon on a cloudy day, a man has trouble seeing and navigating.
    2. So he drops down beneath the clouds, and looks for signs of life to get directions.
    3. He sees a man on the ground.
      1. "Hello there!" he yells. 'Sir, can you tell me where I am?"
      2. "You're about 60 feet off the ground in a hot-air balloon," the man on the ground yells back.
      3. "You must be a theologian," the man in the balloon shouts.
      4. 'Yes indeed, I am a theologian," the man on the ground yells. "How did you know?"
      5. "Your information is correct, but it's of absolutely no use to me," the man in the balloon yells.
      6. "You must be a bishop," the man on the ground shouts.
      7. "I am a bishop," the balloonist yells. "How did you know?"
      8. The man on the ground yells back:
        1. "You don't know where you are.
        2. You don't know how you got here.
        3. You don't know where you're going.
        4. And you think it's all my fault!"

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    4. The balloonist really needs to know where he is.
      1. It would be great if he had a Global Position Device.
      2. He ought to have a map and a compass and a wind speed and direction indicator.
    5. The balloonist really needs to how he got to be where he is.
      1. Well, O foolish one, he is in a balloon.
      2. He is at the mercy of the whims of the breeze.4
      3. That's how he got where he is.
    6. The balloonist needs to know where he is going.
      1. He knew that when he started his trip.
      2. He also needs to know that the can only go where the breeze takes him.
    7. Whose fault is it, anyway.
      1. I suppose that you, if you so chose, could assign blame.
      2. What good would it do.
      3. No one's really to blame.
  2. Is there any way which this illustrations describes the church?
    1. Do we know where we are?
      1. We are here in time and space.
      2. Where are we spiritually?
      3. Where are we congregationally?

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    2. Do we know how we got here?
      1. What events led to this place?
      2. What is our long-term and sort-term history?
    3. Do we know where we are going?
      1. What is our objective, our purpose.
      2. Do we have a vision statement, personal and congregational
      3. Do we have a mission statement, personal and congregational
    4. And you think its whose fault?
      1. Well that's a topic for another time.
      2. We are all responsible.
    5. In all of this the one corrective is the biblical perspective.
      1. What is the biblical perspective?
      2. What are we being offered?
  3. If we are going to answer the questions you began to realize that:
    1. its not about personality but purpose
    2. its not about individuality, but community
    3. its not about belonging but involvement.
    4. its about how the Christian community identifies and uses spiritual gifts.
    5. All the gifts are necessary
      1. We are all members of one body.
      2. We are not all the same member of the body.
        1. Thank God for that.
        2. You cannot, or can you, begin to imagine a body of all feet or arms or trunks.

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    6. The gifts are identified in 1 Corinthians 12.12-31a.
      1. [28] And God has appointed in the church
        1. first apostles,
        2. second prophets,
        3. third teachers;
        4. then deeds of power,
        5. then gifts of healing,
        6. forms of assistance,
        7. forms of leadership,
        8. various kinds of tongues.
      2. In his discussion of the body he makes it very clear what each of us serves a specific. though not necessary similar function.
        1. [29] Are all apostles?
        2. Are all prophets?
        3. Are all teachers?
        4. Do all work miracles?
        5. [30] Do all possess gifts of healing?
        6. Do all speak in tongues?
        7. Do all interpret?

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    7. What is the purpose of the gifts.
      1. Here are some encouragements and exhortations.
        1. (James 5:16 NRSV) Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.
          1. To confess to one another.
          2. To pray with one another.
          3. To seek out those who have the gifts that make these necessary activities profitable.
        2. (Matthew 5:23-24 NRSV) So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, [24] leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.
          1. We need the gift of discernment.
          2. The gift of reconciliation.
        3. (Galatians 6:1-2 NRSV) My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. [2] Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
          1. Again the gift of discernment, but now for a different purpose
          2. The gift of gentleness expressed in love.
          3. The gift of sharing mutual burdens.

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    8. Gifts are utilized
      1. We all have gifts.
      2. How do we diagnose our personal gifts.
        1. Opportunity is the source.
        2. Exploration is the procedure.
        3. A sufficient and comprehensive trial provides the affirmation.
        4. Success is the confirmation.
      3. We become involved
      4. We share our gifts for a purpose.

      5. ILLUSTRATION
      6. Jim Wallis, The Call to Conversion (1) reports, "When I was a university student, I was unsuccessfully evangelized by almost every Christian group on campus.
      7. My basic response to their preaching was, 'How can I believe when I look at the way the church lives?'
      8. They answered, 'Don't look at the church; look at Jesus.'
      9. "I now believe that statement is one of the saddest in the history of the church.
        1. It puts Jesus on a pedestal apart from the people who name his name.
        2. Belief in him becomes an abstraction removed from any demonstration of its meaning in the world.
        3. Such thinking is a denial of what is most basic to the gospel: incarnation.
        4. People should be able to look at the way we live and begin to understand what the gospel is about.

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      10. Our lives must tell them who Jesus is and what he cares about."
      11. The purpose of the identification and utilization of our gifts is to reveal who Jesus and what he cares about.

      12. ILLUSTRATION
      13. The result is also to demonstrate the power of grace to change life in community.
        1. James A. Harnish, "You'd Better Watch Out," (2) writes:
          1. "There is a new German movie about the role of St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig (where people prayed for freedom for 40 years) in the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
          2. The prayer meeting at St. Nicholas Church crescendoed over the years until the night of October 8, 1989, when 70,000 people filled the streets with candles and prayers.
          3. In the movie, the security chief testifies about his desire to use force.
            1. He was unable to do anything other than stare out at the crowd in front of his headquarters in frozen amazement:
            2. 'We were prepared for everything--everything except for candles and prayers.'"
        2. In September Helga and I were in Leipzig at St Nicholas Church.
          1. It was awe-inspiring and almost overwhelming to imagine what had been accomplished.
          2. But it had.

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CONCLUSION:

  1. Each of us have gifts
    1. Its up to participate in a kind, loving and compassionate community where each of us is enables to identify our gifts
    2. To develop our gifts
    3. To evaluate our gifts
    4. To utilize our gifts
      1. So that they may be used for building up the body of Christ
      2. And for achieving the unity which the Apostle envisions for God's people.
      3. Committed in the midst of our diversity to the one purpose and task.
  2. 2nd verse of Onward Christian Soldiers, by Sabine Baring-Gould reads: (although this song is not as popular as it once was, it is still a poetic picture of the potential of the Church of Christ combating the forces of apathy, ignorance, and doubt.

            Like a mighty army
            moves the Church of God;
            Brothers (and Sisters) we are treading
            where the saints have trod;
            We are not divided,
            All one body we,
            One in hope and doctrine,
            one in charity.

Amen

1. Jim Wallis, The Call to Conversion (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1992), 108.

2. James A. Harnish, "You'd Better Watch Out," Tampa, Fla., December 1, 1996.

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