Diversity of Spiritual Gifts in the church – 1 Corinthians 12:8-11

Good morning church! A warm welcome to all of you in the name of Lord Jesus Christ. Hope you all are well. But even if some of us don’t feel too well either physically or spiritually, I just want you to know that God intends to personally meet with you & encourage you through the Word today. 

I want you to know that He is the Good and Great Shepherd who is looking out for you & wants to care for you through His Word. I hope that all of us are eagerly and expectantly waiting to receive God’s encouragement and care today. 

If you’ve been tracking with us at the Gathering, you would’ve noticed that we’ve been going through a series titled The Church: God’s Dwelling Place from 1st Corinthians. And the recurring theme that we’ve seen week after week is this: that God’s chosen residence isn’t in a building but in His People – those whom He has redeemed through Jesus Christ. 

But here’s the thing, this church – this Dwelling Place isn’t perfect right now. Why? Because the church consists of people who are imperfect. We still struggle with sin & & are being continuously worked on by the grace of God. The church is a work in progress, not a finished product. 

The letter of 1st Corinthians is proof to this fact. Every kind of sin & division is witnessed in this church (some of us would probably think twice before going to that church) and yet God joyfully calls it His Dwelling Place. And that’s what I believe God has been trying to tell us through this series that though we’re a mess in so many ways now, He still delights to call us His Dwelling Place. And He’s not finished with us yet! 

Today we move forward in chapter 12 where the focus seems to be on Diversity of Spiritual Gifts in the church. 

And it’s a tricky topic because even among us – we can have very different responses to a passage like this based on our previous church experiences. Some of us are probably relieved saying “Finally, it’s high time the church spoke about spiritual gifts”. Some others are probably evasive “I wish that the church avoids this topic” fearful that a topic like this would end up opening the floodgates of a misuse of spiritual gifts in the church. 

I want to acknowledge that this is a tough topic but here’s what I want to ask each of us to do today and over the next few weeks as we tackle the subject of spiritual gifts. I ask all of us to approach this with an open mind ready to submit to whatever the Bible tells us, not our past church experiences. Our church experiences shouldn’t be used to interpret the Bible. We need the Bible to help us interpret our church experiences. 

That’s why we really need God’s help this morning to help us keep our biases and church baggage aside so that we can freely submit to God’s Word. Would you join me in prayer asking God for help? 

Pray

Why is there a diversity of spiritual gifts in the church? 

1. To teach us about interdependence (v8-10) 

[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. 

In these verses, one thing that stands out clearly is the fact that different gifts are distributed among different members in the church. What we don’t see is a situation where all members have the same spiritual gift. Neither do we see some members who have all the spiritual gifts. 

Different members have different gifts – and there seems to be a purpose attached to it – and the purpose is to teach us about interdependence – depending on one another. 

Let’s unpack each of these nine spiritual gifts listed here. Before we look into these, let me add a disclaimer that this list isn’t exhaustive. There are other spiritual gifts which aren’t mentioned in this list but are mentioned in other passages. 

For example if you jump to v28 at the end of chapter 12, it mentions the gifts of apostles, teachers, helping and administration. So as we’re reading this list of 9, let’s bear that in mind that this isn’t an exhaustive list but some examples of spiritual gifts that Paul uses here. Now let’s get to unpacking each of these 9 gifts. 

• Utterance of wisdom & utterance of knowledge: These obviously refer to some kind of speaking gift where God has given certain people the gift & ability to read specific situations in other people’s lives and give timely & appropriate wise and knowledgeable counsel for those situations. 

• Faith: God has given these people the gift and ability to believe God for impossible things, whether be it physical healing, provision, breakthrough in mission. 

• Healing: God has given these people the ability to heal others from physical ailments supernaturally. 

• Miracles: This could be connected with healing but could also be more visible ways to validate the Gospel message or demonstrate God’s judgment on people. We saw this during our study of Acts that when the apostles went from city to city, these miracles served as a way to validate that they were sent by the Lord Jesus. But also as was in the case of Ananias and Sapphira – the miracle sometimes serves to also display God’s judgment. 

• Prophecy: God has given the gift and ability to certain people to describe things that they couldn’t have known outside of God’s spontaneous revelation. But this gift of prophecy is different from the OT understanding of prophecy which basically said “thus says the Lord” – it was God’s authoritative word. But in the NT church, as we will also see in chapters 14 – prophecies need to evaluated by others in the church – which means that it’s not infallible and inerrant. It is subject to evaluation. 

• Ability to distinguish between spirits: God has given this gift and ability to certain people to be able to tell if another person is representing God or a false and demonic spirit. 

• Speaking in tongues: God has given the gift and ability to certain people to be able to say praises and prayers in a language that was not known to them earlier. This language could actually be a real language like the day of Pentecost. Or it could be a spiritual language which no one understands (Acts 14). But there is control in place for its use : Acts 14 tells us that it’s only to be used in a public gathering as long as there is an interpreter. 

• Interpretation of tongues: God has given the gift and ability to interpret someone else who is speaking in tongues. And again this interpreter doesn’t know the language of the tongues. He’s hearing it for the first time but God has given him or her the ability to translate it so that others in the gathering can also be edified. 

You can already see here how each of these gifts are unique in their own way and they are given to different members in church so that we could be interdependent on each other. If I had all the spiritual gifts, then I wouldn’t know what it means to be dependent on my brother or sister in Christ. 

But the way God has distributed gifts in the church is to force us to be interdependent on each other. It is to force us to lean on each other’s giftings for our spiritual maturity & journey of faith. How humbling it is for us to realize that we can’t grow in maturity & can’t move forward in our journey of faith apart from depending on my brother or sister’s help in the Lord? Let’s take a minute to just allow that truth to sink in. 

But not only does the diversity of spiritual gifts teach us about interdependence, it also

2. To teach us about unity (v11a)

All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, 

Although we all have different gifts, let’s remember that it’s the same Spirit which empowers (activates) us with these gifts. Look at the way the Spirit is described in v8-10: same Spirit, same Spirit, one Spirit. Different gifts but same source. Same person of origin. 

And if it’s the same person of origin, then that should tell us one thing: spiritual gifts are meant to unify, not divide. Spiritual gifts are meant to enable us as a cohesive unit and not elevate us on a pedestal. Spiritual gifts are meant to gather and not scatter. 

Unfortunately as was in the church in Corinth, and as it is in churches today, spiritual gifts aren’t being used to unify the church but a platform to celebrity status. So and so healing and deliverance ministry. Apostle so and so. Anointed man of God so and so. 

And this is not just a problem in the big mega churches but also in smaller churches. Why? Because that same DNA of selfishness and pride is in all of us. Our sinful hearts crave for prominence & unfortunately spiritual gifts are seen as tools to get us there! 

And in all of this we are missing the main point about spiritual gifts. Your spiritual gift is not meant for you, it’s meant for to bless and edify others in the church. That’s exactly what we read last week in v7: 

[7] To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 

It’s almost like we will have to train our minds to realize that our gifts do not belong to us at all. We’ve to train ourselves to realize that our spiritual gifts is actually the church’s property and we’re just simply being called to steward and utilize it to serve others.

Imagine your spiritual gift to be like one of the instruments or sound equipment in this hall. When we use it, we fully know that we don’t own it – it belongs to the church, we’re simply using it serve others in the church. 

Whatever your gift is irrespective if it’s right up there near the pulpit or not, whatever your gift is – it belongs to your church. That’s what God had in mind when He gave you that gift. It was meant to serve and unify the church. 

But not only does the diversity of spiritual gifts teach us about interdependence & unity, it also

3. To teach us about grace (v11b) 

[11] All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. 

I think this is one of the most beautiful, comforting verses in the Bible for two reasons:

• It tells us that every believer in Christ has a unique purpose in God’s grand scheme of things. This verse tells us that the Holy Spirit apportions or distributes the gifts individually. There’s a personal touch to it. The Spirit doesn’t just randomly fling gifts in the air but personally and individually gives them to us which means that there is some prior thought and purpose to it. 

The role that He wants us to fulfill, no one else can. That’s why no believer should say that their life is meaningless. Because God has a unique purpose for their lives symbolized by the individual gift given them. How encouraging it is to know that? 

• Secondly, it should free us from the burden of feeling bad for not having spiritual gifts that others have. The verse tells us “these gifts were distributed as He wills”. 

Not having certain spiritual gifts isn’t an indication of us being less loved by God. God is not a partial Father. He is a loving, just and wise Father and in His mind He knows precisely why He’s given you this gift so that you can be in the best place to glorify God and also love your church. 

Unfortunately there are churches today which try to equate the number of spiritual gifts with a person’s spiritual maturity. They’ll look at this list of 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit and they’ll say that this is the top-level of Christianity. This is the HNI in God’s family. 

If you pray harder, have more faith and be more obedient, and then God will reward you with more and more spiritual gifts as though these spiritual gifts were a badge of accomplishments that they’ve earned. 

And that’s simply not compatible with the Bible especially this passage which tells us that this is just grace – Spirit apportions it to us individually as He wills. Spiritual Gifts are exactly what they are: Simply gifts of grace that we receive! Just like salvation. 

As people who have turned away from God in our sin and rebellion, the only thing we deserve in return is His wrath and judgment. Rom 6:23 tells us that “the wages of sin is death”. That’s our salary, that’s what we’ve earned, that’s what we have to our credit. 

But God being rich in grace and mercy didn’t want to leave us there. Instead all along, before the foundation of the world was set, God planned to rescue us through His Son Jesus Christ. That rescue plan was put into effect when Jesus came down to the earth. He lived the life that we should have lived and then collected the punishment that we deserved. 

On the cross, our massive sin payment was being paid off. Jesus hung and died on the cross because of you and I not because of politics and some other bad religious people. We are the culprits. He was buried in the grave and then three days later rose from the dead to give us what we didn’t deserve – full forgiveness from sin & the right to be called children of God. 

John 1:12 ESV

[12] But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 

Wrath and judgment redirected, payment paid, new status and identity as children received! This is a gift of grace just like our spiritual gift is. 

One of the things that I really love and enjoy at the Gathering is the potluck where each person or family brings their own dish & sets it on the table to serve others. This was also true of the time when I was a bachelor, when all I could contribute was with chips or juices. 

It didn’t matter that it wasn’t as elaborate as a biryani or as tasty as a gravy. Because it was part of an ensemble cast which was serving the people that I love. And I too got the benefit of being served with what someone else prepared & brought to the table. I wondered if that was a good illustration for how we need to view the diversity of spiritual gift in our church. 

Every time we gather, it’s bringing our gifts and placing it on the table for others to enjoy and be served because our spiritual gifts 

1. Teach us about interdependence
2. Teach us about unity
3. Teach us about grace

Do you know what your spiritual gift is? If you don’t know, pray and ask God to help you identify the gift & then slowly start using that gift to encourage others. If it’s a gift, it will