What animal has three hearts, eight arms, and nine brains? Yes, it's one of my son's favorite animals, the octopus. I know it's not the cutest or the cuddliest of creatures, but after one documentary during vacation, my son loves the octopus. Honestly, as I was watching the educational film with my son, I found myself impressed by this marvel of God's creation. You might call this creature a blue blood in the underwater society, and that would literally be true. It has blue blood. Now, what I want to focus on is this whole thing about eight arms and nine brains. These are the unique features that make this creature so adaptable, clever, resourceful, cunning, and even friendly with some humans. That's because in one organism, in this one organism are different parts working together. The octopus is, in a sense, a mascot for unity and diversity. I'm not suggesting, though, that we call ourselves Faith, Bible, Church, Octopus. That would not make for a pretty uniform or banner. But I am saying a church should have many parts that work together effectively, not only for survival, but to thrive in this world. We should stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. And today's sermon passage will help us get on our way. So let's turn to 1 Corinthians 12, 1 to 11. 1 Corinthians 12, 1 to 11. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. Therefore, I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. There are diversities of gifts. but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues, but one and the same spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as he wills. In this passage, I identify three locations and commonalities. Verses one to three take us back in time to the pre-conversion days. It's as if Paul's saying, before we tour the storehouses of spiritual gifts, Let's remember how all of us walked through that same door of the gospel. Before entering, the Corinthians were dead in trespasses and sins, but then they turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. I entitled this section, The Common Profession of Jesus' Authority. Verses 4-6 take us upward to the source of our blessings, our gifts come from one God in three persons. God himself is the perfect example of unity and diversity. Here in this section you see some key word repetitions that promote this idea. These words hold these verses together just as a bunch stem holds together a cluster of grapes. First, there's this key noun, you might know it even as I say it in Greek, the irises, from where we get the word the irises. In the original, it simply means division. It's plural in each of the three verses, four, five, and six. It's translated as diversities in verse four, but then for whatever reason, KJV and NKJV translate the same word as differences in verse five. My guess is that the translators were going for stylistic variation, but it's best to say in verse five, there are diversities of ministries for consistency sake. So altogether, that's diversities of gifts, diversities of ministries, and diversities of activities. Secondly, there's another key repeated word, the adjective same. With this work, the NKJV is consistent in translation. You see a modifying spirit at the end of verse four, Lord at the end of five, God at the end of six. So then all the diversity comes from one spirit, one Lord Jesus Christ, and one God and Father of all. I entitled this section, verses four to six, The Common Source of Church Diversity. Verses seven to 12 form the third unit of thought. I'm sorry, verse seven to 11. They take us around to the place of spiritual activities, the local church. At this ground level, the spirit manifests himself as he wills the good of all through each of us. The emphasis on diversity continues down here. Notice how the uniqueness of each gifted individual is stressed. There's a phrase to each one in verses seven and 11. Throughout, you'll find again and again, to another, to another, to another. We go from our triune God, the fount of every blessing, to the church where we count every blessing, in thanks to these spiritual gifts. I picture this, the gifts come down from the Father of Lights, where Christ ascended on high and led captivity captive. The spirit distributes these gifts as he wills, like the abundance of rain flowing to the ocean of the universal church, flowing to the lakes and ponds of the local church. So then I entitled this section, the common interest of Christ's body. Altogether, we have a common profession, a common source and a common interest. These are essentials to become an amazing church organism, not just an organization, I believe, that brings glory to God. Let me restate these ideas as action items. One, ascertain how the Spirit leads to the common profession of Jesus' authority. Ascertain how the Spirit leads to the common profession of Jesus' authority. That's verses 1 to 3. Two, acknowledge our triune God as the common source of church diversity. Acknowledge our triune God as the common source of church diversity. That's verses 4 to 6. 3. Aspire to fulfill the Spirit's plan for the common interest of Christ's body. I'll repeat these points as I go along, but first, ascertain how the Spirit leads to the common profession of Jesus' authority. So we look at verse one, just as he did in chapter, last chapter in verses chapter 11, two to three, Paul warmly warms up his audience for a new lesson. He introduces a topic of these three chapters, spiritual gifts. He affectionately addresses them as brethren, but he does not want them to be ignorant, he says. So here comes something new. But to prepare them for something new, Paul's reminding them of something old. I understand verse two may not resonate with you. Many of you grew up in Christian homes. You were taught from a very young age that there's one God in three persons. But not so the Gentiles of Corinth. They grew up thinking there were many gods. These idols may have mouths, but they make no sound. We read about that in Psalm 115. Elder Carey read that for us. And these idols, they make no utterance like our God who spoke the universe into existence. But then the Corinthians left behind their old lives and old masters. The Spirit enabled them to call on the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, to be sanctified in Him. The Spirit enabled them to confess with their mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in their heart that God has raised them from the dead. That's how they were saved. See, our salvation is not merely a transaction between us and the Father through the Son. The Holy Spirit's intimately involved in our conversion. He regenerates sinners to be born-again believers. Then the indwelling Spirit continually reinforces the reality of that conversion, giving proof of His genuine nature. That's evident in the way the saints continually speak of Christ. They say Jesus is Lord. Their lives agree with that profession as they submit to him as master and ruler. Jesus is Lord. You see this truth in their behavior. You read this truth in their testimonies. You hear this truth in their singing and prayer. The Holy Spirit will not lead a true believer to say Jesus is accursed. This implies that one of the most basic questions we can ask each other is this, who is Jesus? Start there, not just with Jehovah Witnesses or Mormons, ask anyone you encounter, who is Jesus? Lean in and listen how one articulates the answer in a conversation, an interview, or testimony, their own lives even. Our flesh is tempted to skip over this question, maybe the fear of man, especially if we like someone and we don't want to offend them maybe, or we hear that they're good speakers and, you know, they're very admirable speakers and they're like good salesmen. Sadly, we much like the Corinthians get swept up by the excellence of speech or wisdom, persuasive words of those wise in this age. Some are so dynamic and charismatic that we don't care what they say, just like the way they say it. It's just fun and entertaining to listen to them. But Paul's helping them, and he's helping us look through all that fog by suggesting a simple question. I derive this question, who is Jesus? If the ones answering are led by the Spirit, if the Spirit resides in them, if the Spirit enables true believers to cry out, Abba, Father, surely they can also say, Jesus is Lord. The Spirit of our sonship is also the Spirit of Christ's Lordship. So ascertain that the Spirit leads you and fellow saints to the common profession of Jesus' authority. Now let me briefly address those who may not be Christians, maybe hearing this recording later. Know this truth, Jesus is Lord. This is not some shibboleth or magic formula. This is a matter of heaven and hell at the center of the gospel. See, apart from God's grace, we go by the motto, I am the Lord. But look at where that gets us. Sin and misery. We make a mess of our lives. We break God's laws, coveting, stealing, committing murder and adultery in our hearts, blaspheming the Lord's name. The scriptures state the consequence of our faults. The wages of sin is death. Death is eternal separation from God in hell. But God didn't leave us as we are. The Father sent his Son to rescue us. Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of David's seed according to the flesh. He's human, but he's also the eternally blessed God. He's Lord of lords and King of kings. Jesus deserves all the praise, but he was rejected. The rulers of this age crucified Christ, the Lord of glory, but their evil plans did not ruin God's good plan. Actually, it turned out, no one took Jesus' life from him, he laid it down himself. He gave himself voluntarily. Through the eternal spirit, he offered himself without spot to God. He became our perfect sacrifice, our substitute to pay the penalty of evil we should pay. Having paid it in full, he finished his work. He died, he was buried, but then he rose again from the grave. On the third day, he was declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. After proving he's truly alive for many days, he ascended to sit at the father's right hand. From there, he sent the helper, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of truth to testify of him until he returns. And when he returns at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the father. So you may not believe now that Jesus is Lord, but you will in the end. What's our response to all this? Surrender now before it's too late. Don't live as if you are the Lord. Repent, turn from sin. Also, don't try to earn eternal life with good works. Turn from self-righteousness, works-righteousness. Place your hope of heaven in Jesus only. Heaven is a gift, cannot be merited. God saves you by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Now because Jesus is Lord and Savior, we can be born again by the Spirit and walk by the Spirit, destined for heaven. Paul says in Romans 8, 14, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. The role of the Holy Spirit is indispensable for our identity and our sanctity, our walk and our talk, He works with the Father and the Son for our good. That leads us to verses 4-6, where we learn to acknowledge our triune God as the common source of church diversity. Verses 4-6 move in this order, Holy Spirit, the Son, and the Father. First look at verse 4. The spirit is the focus here and really in the wider context of this passage, Paul will return to him in verse seven, he's responsible for the diversity of gifts. But before we get to those gifts, we must see the spirit himself as the gift, right? Jesus taught us in Luke 11, 13, if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? Of course, that prayer was answered on the day of Pentecost, as Peter confirmed from prophecy. It is answered over and over again in every instance of saving faith, as we're sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance. Secondly, let's look at verse 5 and the word ministries. If I say it in the original language, you'll recognize it. It's diakonia. from where we get the word deacon, aside from his official meaning at the most basic level, diakonia is waiting on tables, attending to the needs of others. And here, whom we serve is more important than how we serve. We serve God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. To Christ, our master, we devote ourselves, give account, we stand and we fall. Before I go on, I want to make a key connection between verses 4 and 5. Some people today, like the Corinthians of yesterday, isolate the gifts of the Spirit from this overall Trinitarian connection. What I mean is that they just look at verse 4 and that's it. They ignore the greater purpose of the gifts. They're in effect saying, Great, we all got different gifts. I've got mine, you got yours. Now let's go to our corners, let's go to our favorite ministries, use the gifts for our selfish gain, and feed our own egos. No, the Spirit gave us these gifts to serve Christ, first of all, and then secondarily, to serve the Christ body. Clearly, once we commit ourselves and our gifts to serve Christ, we have activities that God empowers, God the Father. Look at verse 6. The pattern and rhythm here continue as in verses 4 and 5, but the variable here is activities. Somewhat lost in the NKJV translation is the link between activities, and God who works, the noun and the verb share the word root, the word root energei, from where we get the word energy, right? The Holman Christian Standard Bible brings out this connection, and there are different activities, this is H-C-S-B, right, the Holman Christian Standard, and there are different activities, but the same God activates each gift in each person. But the broad point is the same. We see our Father empowering us to use spiritual gifts to serve Christ. This is the same God who works in you, both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Work all things according to the counsel of His will. Work together all things for good to those who love Him. Our source of strength is the Father who works all in all. Our part is to get involved, in Spirit-gifted, Christ-exalting activities. So let's line up verses four to six in a row. Here's the progression. Let's receive these gifts from the Spirit, dedicate them in ministries for the Son, use them in activities asking the Father to energize us. This is how we acknowledge our triune God as the common source of church diversity. Moving on from the source as we praise God from whom all blessings flow, right? We move on down to where things get done. The local church is the shop floor. It's the production area. There we aspire to fulfill the Spirit's plan for common interest of Christ's body. Look at verse 7. Now, we might seek attention when we're talking about the manifestation of the Spirit. We might seek selfish gain when we look at how He's given gifts to each of us. Paul makes it clear at the end of the verse, we're given gifts for the profit, not of one, but of many. What is manifest must be for others' best. Our common interest should be others' well-being. and the edification of the church, not self-edification. We'll talk a little bit about that later. In verses eight to 10, there's a long list of gifts. Before we dive in, let me just make two notes in general. First, there are many gifts, many more gifts than the ones listed here. In fact, there's more later in this very same chapter. Paul has different lists in Romans 12 and Ephesians 4. The apostle is by no means being comprehensive. He's simply surveying the great diversity in our giftings. Secondly, one might group the gifts listed here into three clusters. If you simply count the commas, you'll end up with nine total. That's simple enough. But behind the phrase to another, there's a slight stylistic variation in the original language. Some like A.T. Robertson theorized that based on this variation, we can divide the nine gifts into three groups. First, there's a pair of gifts in verse eight related to intellect. Secondly, from verse nine to the middle of verse 10, there are five gifts connected to faith. Thirdly, the last two relate to tongues or languages. Let's start with the first two gifts related to intellect in verse eight, word of wisdom and word of knowledge. How do we distinguish between the two? It feels like we're splitting atoms here. But I tend to think that wisdom's placed first because it ranks higher than knowledge. Knowledge is the building block. Wisdom is the building. Knowledge is the raw material. Wisdom is the finished product. I believe wisdom makes good use of knowledge for the profit of all. I'm convinced of this because we saw back in chapter 8, verse 1, that knowledge by itself pops up. Or consider 2 Timothy 3.15, how from childhood Timothy knew the Holy Scripture, which is great. That's what we try to do here. With that foundational knowledge in place, he would over time become wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. That's the first two gifts related to intellect. The next five may be directly connected to faith. Now here, faith itself is presented as a gift, but this is not primarily speaking of that faith which we all share, that is one faith and our common salvation. Besides this common faith that justifies and unites us, there are those whom God has granted an unusual measure of trust. Theirs is the faith the size of the mustard seed, right? Theirs is the faith that uproots trees and moves mountains. Theirs is the faith that has seismic effects. I really want this gift for myself and all of us should try to get that gift, right? Not just have the minimal saving faith, but to really have this great measure of faith to do great things. So Lord, increase our faith. Make that our prayer. As was the case with wisdom ranking higher than knowledge, I believe faith ranks higher than the gifts that follow there. That's because while the gift of faith continues in the church age, The three or four gifts listed after it have stopped or at best are sporadic and rarely needed. I am generally speaking what they call on this topic of spiritual gifts, a cessationist, not a continualist. My belief, and this is my belief that certain category of spiritual gifts serve their purpose and then fulfill their purpose in the early church era. they came to an end. Not all gifts were meant to continue in abundance, but perpetuity. Certain gifts ceased as all the apostles deceased. In 2 Corinthians 12.12, Paul speaks of the signs of an apostle, signs and wonders and mighty deeds. The apostles were a special group of disciples. They were granted power over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. To that list of miracles we can add picking up snakes and even immunity to poison. I believe Paul has these in mind in verses 9 and 10 as he speaks a gift of healings specifically and working of miracles generally. Now let me be clear, though apostles and apostolic healings and miracles have ceased, I believe prayer warriors still exist today and through their great faith, great miracles still happen. As Jesus taught in Matthew 17, 14 to 21, there are miracles that are beyond even apostolic authority. There are miracles that can only be achieved through faith, prayer, and fasting. Now as for prophecy, it's more black and white to me. I wrote my master's thesis on prophecy in seminary and modified it for publishing. It's not the most exciting reading. If you need help falling asleep at night, I can give you a copy. But hopefully it's informative. I'll just summarize a few of my findings. Prophecy is not at all fallible words of men. Not at all fallible words of men. It is completely infallible as words of God. Prophets must foretell, that is, predict the future accurately, not merely exhort or preach in the present. People sort of stretch that word prophecy as if to say, it's not just foretelling, it's foretelling. And I'm like, well, prophecy by nature is predicting the future. The prophetic office, like the apostolic office, was foundational to the church beginnings, but it was meant to exist on earth, it was not meant to exist on earth throughout the church age. Paul gives us the vision in Ephesians 2.20, see how we as the church stand on apostles and prophets, with Christ as the chief cornerstone. We rely on the words and teachings of Christ as apostles and prophets continually, but that doesn't mean they themselves are still with us. here today. The last one in this group of five is the discerning of spirits. This is an important gift for the defense of the church. Another apostle, John, speaks of why we need it. He warns in 1 John 4.1, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. There's some parallel with Paul's teaching earlier in Chapter 12, verses 1 to 3, today's passage. John says, evaluate these spirits based on the accuracy of their doctrine of Christ. Just as deceivers deny that Jesus is Lord, they also deny that Jesus has come in the flesh. But besides administering this general gift of doctrine, doctrinal test, There are those who are specifically gifted to expose those more slippery spirits, good at hiding themselves. I think Paul himself had this gift and used it at his mission in Philippi. There he detected a spirit of divination and then exercised it out of his host, a slave girl. You can find the account in Acts 16. And now we arrive at the last two gifts toward the end of verse 10. Both have to do with tongues or languages. We'll do a deep dive into the gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues later in 1 Corinthians. Just as a preview, we must understand that some spiritual gifts are designed for use outside of the church. An obvious example is evangelism. Evangelists should of course be members of a local church and be held accountable to fellow believers but they should be spending a lot of time outside of the church, right? It's the same with the gift of tongues or speaking in a foreign living language. Takes us back to the day of Pentecost. That's when Peter addressed devout Jews from every nation under heaven. A sound of heaven like a mighty rushing wind initially drew these people's attention, but then everyone in the crowd heard the disciples speak the wonderful works of God, not in the common language of Greek, but each in his own language from wherever they were born. That got Peter going in the presentation of the gospel. Obviously, the outpouring of this gift provided a great jumpstart for the church. There was no Duolingo back then, right? No advanced course on linguistics, foreign language training from military. The Spirit of God willed to gift many of the earliest Christians this particular gift, the ability to speak four languages. It gave up day one of the church age. It would help greatly in the earliest efforts to fulfill the Great Commission. For reasons I'll explain later, I don't believe this gift exists in great quantities today. So even if there are exceptions, I'm still what they call a cessationist, and that position does allow for, I suppose, exceptions. But even if this gift did exist, it must be used outside of the church, or if it is used within the church, must be paired with the gift of interpretation. That was a quick tour of just nine gifts, and it's easy to get caught up in the details. and really we could just go all afternoon. So keep the big picture in mind though. Remember why these gifts were given. Put verses seven and 11 together. The spirit reveals himself in the distribution of these gifts and his will is that we use them for the profit of all. So aspire to fulfill the spirit's plan for the common interest of Christ's body. Just as a review, we have a common profession of Jesus' authority, a common source of church diversity, and a common interest of Christ's body. All this is great to know and understand and study, but we need to go beyond mere learning of these truths. We must discover our spiritual gifts. Do you know what your spiritual gift? I believe every Christian has at least one spiritual gift. Many, I think, have more than one. Have you thought about what it is? Have you used it in a church ministry context? I don't think it's just like some kind of eureka moment, you figure out what your gift is. It's usually in the context of serving and, you know, almost like an apprenticeship, maybe you'll substitute or you'll volunteer to teach a few lessons or show up for work day or help out with some ministries and committees and teams here. That's how you discover the Spirit has gifted you with certain specific gifts. Discover them, discover these gifts and then commit to use them for the local church. And I really want to challenge those who have not joined us as members to consider doing so soon. You have gifts that can be used for our profit. We have gifts that can be used for your profit. Now, of course, I'm thankful for visitors who come and grateful for their attendance, but I think it's not unreasonable to want more. We want more than just friendship. We want you as coworkers. If you're interested in membership, speak with me. And one of the, or elders. But before making such a commitment, we should all dedicate ourselves to Lord Jesus, right? And let's make this final song our prayer. Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee. Take my moments and my days. Let them flow in endless praise. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you brought us together. Lord, but you desire that more than just the highs and rubbing our shoulders together. Lord, you desire for us to work together. You have a vision for this local church. And Lord, it just seems like the great tragedy among your people here on earth in this church age is that we really don't live up to our full potential as a congregation. And I'm sure every church has weaknesses as today, as it was yesterday, as it will be until your son returns, but help us to discover, first of all, our strengths, what we are gifted in as individuals, And Lord, may we remove obstacles that get in the way of us working together. Lord, help us not to just be doing our own thing in our echo chambers and in our separation from others, but to work together. And Lord, we desire to bring you glory in all this, not to bring ourselves glory or to feel good about ourselves because we do certain things here, but ultimately for your glory. Amen.