Psalm 36:5-10 • Isaiah 62:1-5 • 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 • John 2:1-11

This week’s theme is the manifestation of the power of God. In our call to worship Psalm, we have a hymn that leads us to praise God for His steadfast love and righteousness and as the one who is the fountain of life. In the Old Testament selection from Isaiah, God’s grace is revealed by the vindication of Jerusalem. Our reading from 1 Corinthians calls attention to spiritual gifts as a manifestation of God. The Gospel text in John records Jesus’ first sign of turning water into wine at a wedding banquet which “manifested His glory.”

Now About the Gifts of the Spirit

1 Corinthians 12:1-11 NIV

This Epiphany season we are spending considerable time in the book of 1 Corinthians. This alone can help us think a little further about how an epiphany, or revelation, from God can come to us. Typically, we are accustomed to seeing great epiphanies in the stories of Jesus, like the companion lectionary passage this week in John which tells the story of Jesus turning water to wine. When we see Jesus at work in the Gospels, what He says and what He does, we know we are encountering an epiphany at some level because Jesus is, according to Hebrews 1:3, “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature.” When Jesus speaks and acts, we are seeing an epiphany of who God is and what His purposes are towards us. Jesus never does anything out of character to who God is on account of Jesus being God’s very own Son. The Christian conception of God as triune opens to us a revelation of God’s heart and character in the words and actions of a particular man, Jesus, the God-man. That’s why the Epiphany season is so often filled with stories about how Jesus reveals Himself.

However, like today’s reading, we also have some passages chosen from select letters, we call epistles, to aid our season of Epiphany. In fact, this year we will be setting aside the next six Sunday’s in Epiphany to visit passages in 1 Corinthians. In these passages, we are concerned to see how God continues to work in His church. Since God is still at work in the church for the sake of the world, we can gain epiphanies about who He is and what He is doing by revisiting some key passages of Scripture written to some of the early churches. This doesn’t mean that everything that takes place in a church can serve as an epiphany of who God is. But those events and lessons involving the early church that God chose to include in the canon of Scripture, can be relied on to provide a trustworthy witness of who God is as He is revealed in His works by the Spirit in the church.

So today, we will begin our journey in Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church that deals with a particular problem persistent among them. As we look at what Paul is addressing and how He addresses it, we are given another epiphany of who God is and what He is doing in our midst.

Since we will be spending considerable time in 1 Corinthians for the next six weeks, we should lay down a few background notes to get a basic understanding of the context the Corinthian church was living in. The city of Corinth was a cosmopolitan city located on a sliver of land between two bodies of water. This intersection of trade routes made the city a great spot for merchants to visit with their goods. This created a diverse group of residents with many different religious backgrounds and beliefs. For the locals, Christianity would be a small unknown way of life with a teaching that was counter cultural – especially considering the moral decadence that pervaded Corinth. Even the Romans considered the word “Corinthian” to be synonymous with excessive immorality. It was the Roman Empire’s known “city of sin.”

It was also a city with a lot of wealth. The trade route certainly was used to enrich many of the who lived there. However, there were also many poor people in the city which created two groups who avoided each other socially. This was the context the Corinthian church was born into. It’s no wonder that Paul had to deal with many problems the new converts had brought from their culture. As you look at many of the issues Paul was dealing with, it becomes clear that the main issue was the church’s continual attachment to the surrounding culture. The cultural norms and practices kept creeping into the life of the church. Some of these were quite alarming. However, an honest evaluation will lead us to admit that our churches today are not much different. We too face the same temptation to hold on to cultural expectations and compromise on our allegiance to the Lord.

So, as we begin our journey today by reading Paul’s message to this distant church in the past, may we be open and humble enough to receive what it is saying to us today.

Let’s begin our passage:

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. 1 Corinthians 12:1-3 NIV

This section begins, “Now about the gifts of the Spirit,” which tells us that Paul is addressing a question raised by the Corinthian church. Each time Paul moves in his letter to answer another question or concern of the Corinthian believers, he begins in this fashion. It is apparent that these believers had some special concern about the topic of spiritual gifts. Paul states that he doesn’t want them “to be uninformed,” which may have been difficult for some of these believers to hear as they were quite proud of their knowledge. Earlier Paul challenged their pride by showing that “This ‘knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:1 ESV). We too may find it hard to receive correction from another when we believe our “knowledge” is beyond questioning.

From here, Paul reminds them of something they should “know,” namely that they were once pagans who were “influenced and led astray to mute idols.” Paul finds a subtle way of pointing out that they may be doing the same now as Christians. His reference to “mute” idols is also pointed and intentional, seeing that some of these believers were exalting the gift of tongues over other gifts and attaching an elevated view of those who possessed such gifts. Like the culture around them, they viewed people as more important if they could speak persuasively with charming charisma. The content of one’s speech didn’t seem to matter as much as did the delivery. Does that not sound similar to our world today? When this slips into the church, this can become a huge barrier to speaking the gospel.

Notice where Paul goes next. Rather than affirming some charismatic gift of speech, he zooms in on the critical criteria of content that comes with the gifting of the Spirit — the witness of who Jesus is. If the Spirit is speaking through us, it will not amount to some diminishing or discounting of Jesus as Lord. Paul puts it bluntly by letting us know the Spirit will never lead anyone to say, “Jesus be cursed.” Surely, we would never utter the words “Jesus be cursed.” However, when we use our tongues in ways that push Jesus aside in favor of some other method, program, idea, person, technique, and so on, we are in effect denouncing Jesus as “cursed.” He’s not good enough for whatever we are speaking into. He either needs to be soft-peddled or provided with some additional content. We are in a sense following “mute idols” who have nothing to say of consequence.

Jesus, as God’s living Word, who is revealed in the written word, speaks to a needy world. The Lord declares that his word “will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it,” as Isaiah 55:11 powerfully proclaims. Paul also claims that the proclamation that “Jesus is Lord” can only come by the Holy Spirit. That is the pronouncement, the content of speech that we can be assured is fueled by the Holy Spirit. What’s important to note by Paul’s statement is that just claiming that our words are “from the Spirit” does not make it so, no matter how charismatically we can deliver them. It is the words themselves that must be weighed against the Christian confession of “Jesus is Lord.” Notably, that confession puts in check any cultural “lords” that we may be following. How easy it is to deceive ourselves in thinking that the current cultural fad is “of the Spirit.”

Now that Paul has established what comes from the Spirit and what does not, He will now talk about what’s most important concerning “different kinds of gifts.”

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. 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 NIV

Paul makes three distinct statements, all with a common ground. He makes a division between different kinds of gifts, service, and workings. But his main focus is on what they all have in common, namely their source in the triune God. Did you notice that Paul worked in the names of “Spirit,” “Lord,” and “God.” That’s another way of saying “Father, Son, Spirit.” Paul’s main focus is that the whole triune God is involved in His church. We do not evaluate each other based on our gifts, but on the fact that they are all given by the same triune God of grace. Paul began this letter back in chapter 1 by giving thanks for “the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in Him in all speech and all knowledge…so that you are not lacking in any gift…” (1 Corinthians 1:4, 7 ESV). It is God who gives the gifts by His own wisdom and choice. We can be thankful for whatever gift we have and for the gifts God saw fit to give another.

Now Paul wants to talk about the purpose of God giving these different gifts.

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. 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 NIV

In these verses, Paul makes much the same point as he did above. Only, he frames all the different gifts, service, and workings with “the manifestation of the Spirit.” Here is a real epiphany for us. The very gifts God gives the church serve as an epiphany that the triune God is active and working in His church and also reveals believers’ union with Christ, as partakers of the divine life poured out by the Spirit.

Unfortunately, this passage has often been treated in a way that runs counter to what Paul is trying to say. Perhaps you have seen this scripture as an invitation to figure out what gift you have. Sometimes we see a list of gifts that we then try to locate in ourselves and others. But that does not appear to be Paul’s concern at all. He is not trying to get us to focus on the gifts but on the source of the gifts. In these verses He refers to the Spirit six times. That’s His focus, not the gifts. In fact, He is trying to get the Corinthians not to focus on the gifts alone as they were doing. They were fixated on seeing one gift, namely the gift of speaking in tongues, as more important than all the others and that became a mark of who was truly “spiritual.” Perhaps Paul saves the gift of tongues as last on His long list to make this very point. The gifts are not a measure of our maturity or spirituality; they are gifts which are given to us without our earning, qualifying, or even consenting. God arranges and distributes all the gifts according to His will.

We also see that God distributes these gifts for a purpose —“the common good.” Unlike how some Corinthian believers were viewing the gifts as signs of being above another and lording over fellow believers, God gives the gifts in order to benefit all. If we are focused on the benefit of our brothers and sisters, we will use whatever gift we have to that end. But, if we are looking for self-promotion or opportunities to achieve our own selfish agendas, then even the gifts given to us can be distorted into instruments of division — one of the big issues Paul is dealing with in the Corinthian church. They have become divided even over the gifts given to them by the same Spirit for the purpose of unity. The diversity of gifts is meant to serve the unity of the believers.

Let’s conclude with a final question to ponder. What is the “common good?” Paul does not explicitly define what that is. It certainly could pertain to many “good” things that would come out of a community that shares with one another that which has been graciously given to each member. But if we pull back for a broader picture, it can also be fitting to see that the “common good” is in the sharing itself, not just the gifts shared, or the benefits that may arise from such sharing. When we consider that these gifts are a “manifestation of the Spirit” we can see a deeper provision than just random gifts that potentially serve some practical end. What we are receiving is a share in the life of the triune God. And part of what God shares is the thrill of sharing. Father, Son, and Spirit exist in a oneness of sharing all things with one another in such a way as there is no lacking in the being of the triune God.

In our union with Christ, we are brought into that communion of sharing in such a way that we also now have something to share. The body of Christ is a place marked by the sharing of members one with another as a witness to who the triune God is as revealed in Jesus by the Spirit. When the Spirit gives us gifts, He is essentially giving us more of God to share with one another. And this sharing creates unity. Everyone has something to contribute to the continuing epiphanies given to us by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the church.

In light of Paul’s admonition to the Corinthian church, may we each receive with thankfulness the gifts God has chosen in His wisdom to give us. In that thankfulness, we can find ways to share our gifts with one another as a way of sharing in the abounding life of the triune God. Our gifts do not define who we are. They define whose we are. We are children of our generous Father who loves to bestow every good gift upon us, all in a way that we are not left out of the chief joy of sharing with another.

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Small Group Discussion Questions