If you'll turn with me over to 1 Corinthians 12, 1 Corinthians 12, we'll be looking at verses 1 through 7 together. 1 Corinthians 12, verses 1 through 7. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the mute idols, however you were led. Therefore, I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, Jesus is accursed. And no one can say, Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God, who works all things in all persons. but to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your glorious word and the opportunity we have this morning to attend to it. I pray we would. I pray that in a passage such as this, which perhaps the rudimentary elements of it are somewhat well known to our congregation, I pray that you would challenge us afresh by these words. And Lord, that you would strengthen the resolve of your people to serve you with joy and gladness. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. You can be seated. Well, as we come to chapter 12 in 1 Corinthians this morning, we enter a new but related topic in this letter. Paul has just finished addressing the importance of order within the church, and that theme continues on through chapter 14 of this letter. He's already addressed in chapter 11 the matters of head coverings and the Lord's Supper. Now, for the next three chapters, Paul is going to address the operation of spiritual gifts within the congregation. Now, it's not until we get to chapter 14 that we're going to encounter the correction that Paul has for the church regarding how they were handling speaking in tongues. We're going to get to that in chapter 14. But before he can address that issue specifically in chapter 14, it's as if Paul here sets the groundwork for recognizing spiritual gifts in general in chapters 12 and 13. He provides answers to questions such as, what characterizes a spiritual gift? Where does a spiritual gift come from? Why have they been given? How ought we to employ them, and how are we to recognize and respond to them? So in a sermon entitled Spiritual Gifts, we're going to note three descriptions that identify authentic spiritual gifting. Authentic spiritual gifting. First point that I want us to note together is that spiritual gifts are declarations of the Lordship of Jesus. Spiritual gifts are declarations of the Lordship of Jesus. There's something about spiritual gifts that, by their very nature, cry out to Jesus as Lord To understand this, Paul begins us in verse 1 with a warning against counterfeit spirituality. We must beware of counterfeit spirituality. Verse 1, Paul begins the section with this formula that we've seen before already, now concerning. It's a marker here yet again that he's probably referring to something, another Corinthian question that either had been written to him in a letter or come to him by word of mouth, by a verbal report. There is some amount of divide regarding spiritual things, which Paul is more than happy to address and provide some clarity regarding. The Greek word here is an adjective meaning spiritual. And if you see, for example, in the NAS, it says, now concerning spiritual gifts, and the word gifts there is italicized. The reason why is because that noun, that substantive is being provided. The way that it reads literally is just now concerning spiritual. Now concerning spiritual. Which often when we get a case like that in Greek, usually English translation will provide a word like things. Concerning spiritual things. But nearly every translation of this verse supplies the word gifts here rather than the generic things. And I think there's a good reason for that. They're taking into account the context of the overall passage. Now, it's possible that word could be translated now concerning spiritual men or spiritual people, but the word also could be translated more in the neuter sense of spiritual things or spiritual gifts. And that's the way that most Bibles translate this phrase. Paul does not want the church to be ignorant regarding these spiritual things. Certainly the church needs to be wise and understanding when it comes to matters involving the spirit. We who wholeheartedly believe there's not only an earthly or natural realm, a material world, but also a spiritual realm which transcends earthly and mortal life, we need to know what we believe regarding spiritual things. It's not enough just for us to believe that there is such a thing as spiritual reality. We must know what that spiritual reality is and be able to identify it from false realities. Remember, the Bible provides us with a worldview that recognizes both material, earthly things as real, as well as spiritual and heavenly things as real. But we must be able to discern that which is from God and that which is from Satan, or from the enemy. I wonder if Paul's words are here a little bit of, at least a slight bit of, a purposeful stab at the Corinthians' know-it-all attitude. Remember, he's already addressed this several times within his letter, where they're boasting in their knowledge, and perhaps even here, boasting in their spirituality. And yet Paul says here he's concerned that they not be ignorant. Look at verse 12, not concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I don't want you to be unaware. The word there be translated ignorant. These are individuals who are probably priding themselves in knowing all there is to know about things of this nature. And Paul goes, I just want to make sure you guys aren't ignorant regarding these things. The situation may have been like that at the Laodicean church where we see in the letter to the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3 that that church is criticized because it thought itself rich, it thought itself in need of nothing, and meanwhile it didn't know its own wretchedness, its own misery, its own poverty, its own blindness, its own nakedness. It could be that these Corinthians, who were priding themselves in their spirituality, were in fact in need of a course in Spiritual Gifts 101. And it seems as if what Paul is doing here in these three chapters. In verse 2, Paul reminds the Corinthians that it was not long ago that they were completely held captive to false gods, to idols. He says here, when you were pagans, this is an interesting phrase, pagans. Translated pagans by, again, most Bibles, but again, the word there in Greek is ethne, just means usually translated nations, often is used in contrast to the Jewish nation. So a lot of times, ethnic is translated Gentiles rather than pagans. Now, the reason why it's being translated here as pagans is you're trying to say, like, back before you were a Christian. But I think what's interesting about the word here, nations or Gentiles, because obviously it would still be Gentiles, right? If they were Christians, they're still Gentiles as they were before. They didn't become Jews, did they? Well, not in the national sense of the word. But I wonder if Paul even utilizes this word here to point out a reality that happens when somebody becomes a Christian. Note that when someone becomes a Christian, you become grafted in to true Israel. Paul's meaning could be here, you were once outside the people of God as a Gentile. When you were, you were at that time dominated by false gods, dominated by idolatry. You were led astray, he says, by dumb idols, however you were led. By dumb he means here the word like mute or speechless. They were lifeless, speechless, false gods who were controlling your life at one time, Paul says. Not only this, but the idols also couldn't hear. The idols couldn't move. The idols couldn't act. Reminds us of several passages in the Old Testament which point out the ridiculousity, if that's a word, of idolatry, right? Psalm 115, not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, because of your loving kindness, because of your truth. Why should the nation say, why, where now is their God? But our God is in the heavens, and he does whatever he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold. The work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak. They have eyes, but they cannot see. They have ears, but they cannot hear. They have noses, but they cannot smell. They have hands, but they cannot feel. They have feet, but they cannot walk. They can't make a sound with their throats. Those who make them will become like them, everyone who trusts in them. Paul says, at one time before becoming a Christian, you were led about by false gods. Prior to conversion, the vast majority of Gentiles, note this, still believed in a spiritual world. They believed that there was a reality beyond just the physical. Most people in those days believed that. It's just their belief about the spiritual realm was wrong. It was false. Paul's pointing this out to them to help them recognize there are people who speak about spiritual things. Spiritual things themselves are true, but they might speak about them falsely, or speak about false things that are not actually there. In our context today, part of the ignorance that we encounter is in an increasingly secular world that we live in. There's just the outright denial of anything spiritual. The atheistic, secular worldview that is holding much sway today is yet, though, just another form of the devil's lie. Whether getting people to chase after false spirituality lands them in damnation and hell, so the devil might just trick people by saying that the spiritual realm doesn't exist at all. That all there is is material and physical things. Getting people to live out their lives in pursuit of material goods. And think about it this way, which way is better? Living your whole life for an idol that you've crafted with your hands that you bow down to and worship as if it's God? Or living all of your life with all of your energy and resources, accumulating stuff that you won't be able to take with you? Which way is a better life? You see, either way, in this case, any lie will do for the devil. If he gets people to follow after false spirituality, he's great with that. But another false spirituality could be just the denial that spiritual exists at all. that's more often what we have to deal with in our culture today. Notice that no one is free, though, apart from Jesus. The argument that those who reject Christ do so to pursue freedom is just untrue. In fact, all those who have not bowed their knee to Jesus are enslaved to sin and the prince of the power of the air. See Ephesians 2, 1 through 3. You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of the world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them, we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." There in Ephesians 2, he's setting the stage saying, this is where we used to be. He's talking to Christians in that context, saying that, but you once were also there, which means those who are not Christians are still there. are still enslaved to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Notice that Paul says here in verse 2 of chapter 12, 1 Corinthians, you know that you were, when you were Gentiles or pagans outside of the coven community, you were led astray, however you were led. You were led astray, however you were led. One sinner may be led this way, another may be led that way, but whatever the particular direction, it will be a straight. This reminds us that there are many divergent paths. There is one true and right path. There are many divergent and wrong paths. Jesus speaks of this in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7. Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. In contrast to all of that, true freedom is found in Christ alone. Jesus said in John 8, 34 and following, truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever, the son does abide forever. So if the son makes you free, you will be free indeed. The one who commits sin is a slave to sin and the only solution for enslaved sinners is Jesus, the son who can set you free. The implication for the Corinthians is this. You once were outside the family of God. You were once dominated by the control of false gods and dumb idols. But, that is no longer the case. You were once The Gentiles in the flesh. I'm thinking about Ephesians 2 verse 11 and following. You formerly were Gentiles in the flesh called uncircumcision by the circumcision which is performed in flesh by human hands. Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who were formerly far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. He himself, Jesus, is our peace, who made both groups into one, having broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in his flesh the enmity, which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in himself he might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and reconcile them in one body to God through the cross. You were once Gentiles, but you now have been grafted into true Israel. This is why Paul can refer to the Old Testament saints in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 1. Notice what he calls them. Therefore I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and passed through the sea. They're all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Look at verse 1. Our fathers. He's talking here primarily to Gentiles. And he says that the patriarchs of the Old Testament are our fathers. How can he say that? Because Father Abraham had many sons. And many sons had Father Abraham. And I am one of them, and so are you. So let's all praise the Lord, right? He recognizes, that song recognizes, the rightful truth of the Scriptures. That those who have now become Christians are grafted in and are part of true Israel. But again, the whole point is we have to exercise discernment. Just because someone claims to be a spiritual guru, or claims some particular spiritual gifting or power, or claims that they've had certain spiritual experiences, doesn't necessarily mean they do have any of those things. We have to take proper care to listen to the content and the purpose of their ministry. And the test that we're told to apply comes to us in verse 3. Authentic spiritual gifts are dominated by Christ-centered speech. Let me say that again. An authentic spiritual gift is dominated by Christ-centered speech. Said another way, godly spirituality heralds Jesus is Lord. It proclaims that Jesus is Lord. Paul here provides us with both a negative test and a positive test. The test negatively looks like this. No one speaking by God's spirit would anathematize Jesus. No one speaking by God's spirit would anathematize, would curse Jesus. Said positively, those who speak Jesus is Lord is a Holy Spirit empowered thing. Let's first of all consider for a moment this negative test. No one speaking by God's Spirit would condemn or anathematize Jesus. Now, I have to admit, when you read that little phrase, isn't a part of you just go like, well, no duh? I mean, who would ever fall for somebody who says, here, I'm here to talk about the Lord's things, and the first thing I want to tell you is that Jesus is to be damned. Who would follow such an individual? Who would ever be tricked by such a thing? This makes this a little bit of a tricky thing to understand. Why would Paul even bring this up? How could a church stomach a statement like that, much less believe it? Well, one of the most probable solutions that's been put forward is the idea that there might have been some pre-Gnostic teachers that were influencing the church. Now, full-blown Gnosticism was a movement that had a lot of tenets that were revolving around secret knowledge. Individuals had secret knowledge, and this secret knowledge that not everybody had, and so there was a big process of this secret knowledge thing. But a part of the tenets of this secret knowledge was the idea that spiritual things are good, and earthly material things are bad. that they're evil intensely. And so, since the flesh is evil, your main job in this life is to try to, as much as you possibly can, divorce yourself from the material world so you might ascend into the spiritual world. Now this, in turn, if that belief was held by someone who claimed to be a Christian, you see how this would become a problem for them when they start to think about Jesus. Because God the Son, who has eternally existed, as one member of the Trinity, one person within the Godhead, who's eternally existed spiritually, takes on flesh and dwells among us. Now for a Gnostic, the thought that God takes on flesh would be itself just an evil thought, for nothing could touch flesh and not be entangled by fleshly things and therefore commit evil. This in turn would impact Gnostic's Christology, causing them to denounce Christ's incarnation. They would say things like, well he might have looked like a human, but he wasn't actually a man. Because the thought of God the Son becoming a man was unpalatable to them. Now if that is the case, if that's the case, the phrase anathema Jesus might have been a way of denying the incarnation of Christ. Not denying God the Son, but denying his incarnation. A similar situation, by the way, and this is why we had 1 John read for us a little bit ago, might be in view in 1 John, where we see that the very beginning of 1 John, if you read the very first chapter, the very first words from 1 John, in this letter John introduces everything he's about to say by saying, we heard Jesus, we saw Jesus, we touched Jesus. Why does he go to such length to talk about that? Well, it becomes evident as you go a little bit further in 1 John, up to chapter 4, there's a warning that John gives regarding God's people not believing every spirit. Don't believe every spiritual guru that comes your way. But instead, test to see whether or not they're from God. And then if you note what is there in chapter 4, the identifying factor that he lists there as being able to identify if a person is speaking from God is that they will make the claim that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. If they deny that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, they are not someone to be listened to. their counsels be discarded. In other words, if the incarnation is denied by that spiritual teacher, they are not preaching the gospel accurately and must be rejected. Now this, I think, is the most probable explanation for trying to get ourselves around these words. The only problem with that is that it kind of forces the idea of Gnosticism being in full fledge at the time of the writing of this letter, and historically it wasn't yet. There might have been some introductory ideas to it which might have given rise to this sort of thing, so it's possible that that's what's going on here. In other words, the ideas of Gnosticism were present in their kernel form even in those days, but full-fledged Gnosticism hadn't really developed yet in church history. So another explanation is just to say this, that Paul is providing an exceedingly obvious example on purpose. The point is that, is this, just because someone claims to be speaking by the power of the Holy Spirit doesn't mean they necessarily are. And what he tells them to do is check the content of what they're saying. And he gives the most obvious example he could give. If someone condemns Jesus, obviously they're not speaking for God, no matter how much they claim to be doing so. Because this flatly contradicts everything that God has revealed about himself, both in the incarnate word as well as in the word of God given to us, Revelation in the Bible. In other words, Paul is using an obvious case of heresy to encourage God's people to do their due diligence when attending to the ministry of those who are claiming to be operating from God's gifting. You don't have to go very far to find people who are claiming to be acting for God, who are absolutely not. If the spiritual thing promotes content that is antithetical to the gospel, if it denies any central claim of Christ, if it denies any central claim of who God is, it is to be exposed as false no matter how good it otherwise appears. For example, examples are many and diverse, but I'll just give a couple quick ones. Consider Mormonism. And many Mormons will uphold their family values and other things they stand for. Some of those things we would even agree with. But they get Jesus all wrong. They're not talking about the biblical Jesus. Jehovah's Witnesses fall into the same camp. So do things like health and wealth prosperity gospel preachers fall into the same sort of thing. John Phillips says it well, should the speaker in any way detract from the person, the work, the name, the glory of the Lord Jesus, that speaker is not speaking by the Holy Spirit, no matter how true or brilliant or encouraging or inspiring the rest of the message appears to be. Now consider the positive test. So the negative test is obviously if they say something that's heretical, something that's against what the Bible plainly teaches, then they should be discarded as not actually an enactment of a spiritual gift. But let's not consider the positive test. It says, and no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who empowers us to testify of the Lordship of Jesus. Now, it is a dramatic worldview shift. to recognize Jesus as Lord, with all that that word comes with. That Jesus is king, that he is sovereign, that he is ruler over all, and then to announce that fact publicly, Jesus is king, Jesus is Lord. Now, can false teachers, here's my question, can false teachers give that statement lip service? Absolutely. I remember my brother once was doing missionary work in Spain and Morocco, and he had just been there very early on. He didn't know a shred of any other language but English. He had an imam come up to him and say some words in Arabic, and he then did this to my brother, and my brother was like, okay, and so he said it, and then he said it again, and so my brother repeated it again, and then he did it a third time, and my brother said it a third time, and the guy, was happy and went off. And my brother was like, I have no idea what just happened. And he told one of the other missionaries a little bit later, he said, oh, you just became Muslim. He's like, I did. He said, yeah, you did. He said, Allah is God, Muhammad is his prophet. And you said it three times in Arabic, you're good, you're Muslim. He was excited, he converted you that day. Obviously people can say things with their lips and it have no connotation, it mean nothing to their hearts or their minds. People can even say the word, Jesus is Lord, and hate Jesus. So what is meant by this phrase? I mean, even Jesus himself pointed out in the final judgment that there'll be those who claim to have even done wondrous deeds in Jesus' name, prophesying, casting out demons, performing miracles, and yet Jesus will say to them, depart from me, I never knew you, you who practice lawlessness. Let's see Matthew 7. So Paul is not saying that these words merely being spoken proves the individual to be godly. The phrase is meant to convey not only the declaration, but the follow through of one's life. that the words aren't just empty, but they're full of meaning because they're accompanied with a life that declares the same reality. Now, perhaps in part, that declaration itself carried even more weight in Paul's day than it does in ours. Although, I think that that cultural shift is happening in our own country as well, but let me just say it this way. In a day in which Caesar was Lord, for someone to say, Jesus is Lord, would immediately put you into a camp that could be persecuted immediately. In other words, he's saying here, here is a line that if somebody wants to just fly under the radar of government authorities and everything else, but still try to have some influence within the church, here's a line they wouldn't say. Here's something they wouldn't say. It is interesting in our own day, you can say things about God in general, can't you? But if you start talking about Jesus, there's a problem. We talk about spiritual things in general, but the moment you get specific, the moment you talk about Jesus Christ, the moment you talk about the Son of God taking on flesh, the Incarnation, living a perfect life, dying on the cross, rising again from the grave, ascending to heaven, the moment you start talking about that Jesus, you'll also encounter problems in our day as well. Living in the United States, we've enjoyed a relative freedom from overt persecution in general, although it appears with every passing day that our religious liberties are going to come increasingly under attack. Perhaps we're not far away from even me on a Sunday morning saying something like, Jesus is Lord, that that might be persecuted as a hate crime. Especially if we carry out the implications of what it means for Jesus to be Lord. Like, if Jesus is Lord, that means what Jesus says about everything is also our marching orders. It's truth. Like, babies in the womb must not be murdered through abortion. Or, marriage is the union of one man and one woman until death parts them. And nothing else. But again, it's not merely the words, but the lifestyle and behavior behind the words that should be examined. Only under the influence of the Holy Spirit can those words have any real significant meaning. The only way you're going to live in light of that reality is because the Holy Spirit has transformed your heart. Not such that only you say, Jesus is Lord, but Jesus is Lord through my words and through my life. The spiritual one is the one whose life and doctrine line up with scripture. So spiritual gifts are declarations of the lordship of Jesus. Secondly, spiritual gifts are distributions given by God. They're distributions given by God. We see this in verses four through six. First of all, note that there's diversities of gifts, ministries, and effects. In verses four through six, we see the threefold repetition of the word varieties or diversities. There are diversities of gifts, diversities of ministries, diversities of effects. And then in verse eight and following, we'll see that Paul will provide a listing of some gifts, which God distributes. But for our purposes today, just notice the emphasis here is upon the word variety or diversity. In other words, the church is not meant to be uniform. We are not homogenous. Rather, our unity is seen in diversity. We are not all interchangeable cogs. We're different by God's design. I recently made that point when we were talking about God's design for gender. Male and female are different by design. We're given different responsibilities, different roles before God, within the family, within the church, within society. But not only is there diversity between men and women, there is diversity among men, and there is diversity among women. in a day in which the word racism is dominating the airwaves and media, I hope that we as a church will steadfastly stand for the following truths. Number one, and this is just so fitting because I talked with the kids in Sunday school about this this morning, there are not many races, there is one race, the human race. And kiddos in my class, are we all one family? Because we all descend from who? Who are, there you go, that's right, Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve are great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great vampires, right? However many we need there. Don't check me on the number there. But notice we're all descendants from Adam. We're all related. Every human being is made in God's image, therefore worthy of dignity and honor every single life. Matters from the womb until the grave. Therefore, it makes sense that whenever anyone is treated unjustly, we ought to be concerned and correct injustice as much as depends on us. We should especially care for the weakest among us, those who have no one to defend them. The Old Testament continually gives that call. The orphan and the widow in particular are ones that we should be showing kindness and care for and making sure that justice is had on their account. But we also recognize that while we're all made in God's image, God has woven into the very fabric of humanity incredible diversity on purpose. Think about it. He could have created us all where we all look identical. We could have all been identical twins. What a boring world that would be, right? Think about all of the diversity that he has put into humanity. We talked in class this morning about the differences of the amounts of melanin in our skin, making us all notice none of us are white or black. We're all shades of brown. Some of us are light brown. Some of us are darker brown. But we're all brown. I'm not white. And no one is black. We're all shades of brown. And we need to re-terrain that song, right? Red and yellow, black and white, uh uh uh. Shades of brown from dark to light. They are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world. We're all one race, the human race. We ought to care for each individual, knowing that each person made in God's image. But we're also given all this variation. We might have different amounts of melanin in our skin, we might have different colors to our eyes and hair, grown up in different countries and cultures, having different strengths, aptitudes, and talents, but these differences ought to be celebrated and cherished, not bemoaned. No one should ever feel bad for being dark-skinned or light-skinned. We've been made exactly as God intended us to be made, And each of us are part of the one race, the human race. The goal is not for us to become blind to our differences or to brush them away, but to make our own contribution and receive the contributions of others to the benefit of everyone. And dear friends, the only way that happens, really, in any sincere and long-lasting way, is in Jesus. There are realities. These realities are also part of the fabric of the local church. We've been given distinct and different gifts. There is variety among us on purpose. MacArthur does a good job, I think, giving us a distinction when we're thinking about spiritual gifts and distinguishing it from just a talent. Spiritual gifts are not talents. Natural talents, skills, abilities are granted by God just as everything good is given by God. But those things are natural abilities that could be shared by a believer and an unbeliever alike. An unbeliever can be skilled as an artist or a musician. An atheist or agnostic can be a great scientist, a carpenter, an athlete, a cook. If a Christian excels in any of such those abilities, it has nothing to do with his or her salvation. Though he may use those natural talents quite differently after being saved, he possessed them even before he was a Christian. So when we talk about spiritual gifts, we're not talking about natural talents. Those are also gifts from God, but it's a different thing. Spiritual gifts come as a result of salvation. Spiritual gifts are not natural but supernaturally given by the Holy Spirit only and always to believers in Jesus Christ without exception. Spiritual gifts are special capacities bestowed to believers to equip them to minister supernaturally to others, especially to each other. I've always appreciated the way that Peter describes and talks about spiritual gifts in 1 Peter 4, which we also had read this morning. 1 Peter 4 verse 10 says, as each one has received a, and it's italicized here, special gift, you could just also read, receive a gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. I think what Peter's getting at here is this. Each individual Christian is granted a gift, specially by God, to be utilized within the body of Christ. Each person is given a different distribution. In other words, your spiritual gifting is as unique to you as two snowflakes are to one another, or your fingerprints are to anyone else. You have a distinct fingerprint. You also have a distinct spiritual gift, given uniquely to you by God. This is not to say, and as a result of that, this is really a helpful thing to understand. That means only you can do what you have been given with the gift you've been given. Now, it's like, well, can nobody else stand up? I mean, if I'm like, you know, I really don't want to teach in Sunday school. Somebody else will do it. Yeah, somebody else will stand up, but your gift won't be employed then. That's somebody else's gift. Yeah, they might have also within the gift that God's given them some ability to teach. Absolutely. But if you have an ability to teach within the gift that God's given you, are you using it? Are you employing it? Your gift cannot be employed by anyone else. Only you can employ the gift you've been given because only you have been given the gift that you have. Think about that one a little bit. Notice that there are not only diversities of gifts, he notes here, but diversities of ministries. In other words, not all gifts get employed in the same places. There are a variety of forums to then employ the gift that God has given to each one of us. For example, someone might have a gift that includes mercy. And from that, they spend their days overseas as part of a mission work to an impoverished, unreached people group. While another one, who also has some amount of mercy within the gift they've been given, is serving as a chaplain in a hospital. While another is visiting nursing homes. While another is involved in prison ministry. While another is helping in the church nursery. There are a wide variety of forums to put our gift to work. What I can guarantee you is that the excuse to the Lord at the end of your days, well, I just couldn't find somewhere to put it into use, will not work. There's not only a great diversity of gifts, there's a great diversity of ministries, place to employ the gift that you have been given by God. Thinking about our own church, it's certainly possible that our church is lacking ministries precisely because someone with the gift to make it happen has not stepped up. Is it possible that someone in this room, I want you to think about this for yourself, not for everyone else in the room, think about this for yourself, am I utilizing the special gift that God has given me to serve him? Am I employing that in ministry? Is there a ministry that's presently going that needs my help, that I can help with? Or is there a ministry that needs to be begun because it's not here yet, and I'm the guy to start it? Maybe there's a few entrepreneurial spiritual gifts here in this room. And some things need to get started. And notice also that there are also diversities of effects, we're told. Gifting meets ministry to bring to pass a result. Gifting meets ministry to bring about an effect. And just as there are varieties of gifts and varieties of ministry, so there are varieties of results, varieties of effects. But this too is part of God's design. Also, dear friends, it might be at certain times of life that you're involved in different ministries at different times. That's also a fine thing. Just don't be found doing nothing. Be found utilizing the gifts that God has given you. Which brings me to comment on the other threefold repetition found in verses four through six. You see diversities, diversities, diversities. You also see same, same, same. The word same also happens three times in these three verses. The same spirit, the same Lord, the same God at work in all of these things. There is diversity to be sure, but there is a fundamental unity in this because it is the same God working in all to bring to pass all these effects. Notice that Paul's words here are Trinitarian. The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit are invested in this. Just as it was a Trinitarian work to create everything, as it was a Trinitarian work to redeem everything, so it is a Trinitarian work to work in everything. to work towards the building up of the congregation, God's people. The gifts are distributed in accordance with God's plan, put to work in ministries, which God has arranged for, and carried to completion in accordance with God's sovereign will. Gifting ministry opportunity affects results. As each individual gift is employed in each ministry, the Lord receives glory as everything comes together in accordance with his plan and purpose. He is the ultimate coach, right? You always wonder why do people coach things? Well, maybe it's because they can't do it themselves. No, I don't know. But why do they coach things? Well, at least part of it has to be when the team wins, you win. You weren't the one out on the court. But you were the mastermind behind the things that were going on. And notice that as God distributes gifts and gives areas for those things to take place, and then brings to pass the results that he has intended, it all rebounds to his glory. Notice that God loves both variety and order. This is beautifully displayed in creation in a general sense, so it should be no surprise to us that that same variety and order, that same beauty and unity would be put on display within the church in a very special way. So spiritual gifts declare the lordship of Christ. They're distributed in accordance with God's desire with the purpose of rebounding to his glory and our good. Point three, spiritual gifts are donations for the corporate good. We see this in verse seven. Each gift is a disclosure of the Spirit. Verse 7 says, explains that the gift given to each one is a manifestation of the Spirit, a disclosure, a revelation, a display of the Holy Spirit. So get this, the spiritual gifting that we are provided with is an empowerment and an ability to accomplish acts of ministry, and we're told that that is itself a display of the Holy Spirit. The invisible spirit is being made known and revealed through the gifting he is providing to the church as the church acts out through that empowerment and enablement. Our community working together, our employment of our various gifts are a display of the Holy Spirit's wisdom and power. For this reason, we cannot boast in our gifting except to boast in the Lord himself who gave us the abilities and opportunities to employ them. Reminds us of Paul's words back earlier in this very letter in chapter 4, verse 7, where he says, who regards you as superior, what you had that you did not receive. And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? All these gifts come from the Lord and are to be employed in service to him, rebounding to his glory as a display of the Holy Spirit. So, each gift is a disclosure of the Spirit, and the gift is for the common good. Our church is benefited by having people with different gifts. If we all had the exact same gift, we wouldn't have the sort of beauty that exists within the diversity that's provided within the church. We're strengthened and enriched by the contribution of everyone giving what God has given to them, no matter how seemingly small. Each gift is important. Each gift is to be employed. No one else can employ your gift. You've been given a gift to be employed for the common good. This is also that phrase, for the common good, for the some benefit. This is also both an instruction and a warning, isn't it? God has distributed the gift He has given to you with the specific intent that you would use your gift to help others. To profit others. Notice that that would speak against you using your gift to profit yourself. It's a profit others. Remember the parable of the talents, too. The men are expected to put the talent to work and to show a return on the investment that the master has made. Both slaves, who doubled what they started with, are rewarded. But the slave who buries the talent in the ground, even that very little that he had, is taken away from him. So we are called to put our gift to use for the good of the whole church. If we selfishly hoard our gift to seek our own betterment from it, we have missed the whole point. Our gift is to be used to profit the whole congregation. I just finished watching a show with my wife that documented an adventure race. 66 teams from all over the world competed in a grueling competition through Fiji. They had a maximum of 11 days to travel 417 miles. via hiking, canoeing, rafting, biking, climbing, rappelling, swimming, and stand-up paddle boarding. The winning team completed that race. They had 11 days to do it. The winning team did it in five days. 141 hours, 23 minutes. They hardly slept over five days of the most excruciating, crazy physical exertion. They gave everything they had to win the race and get a prize of $100,000. I think about that kind of determination. I wonder, is that sort of determination found in us spiritually? Do we have that kind of tenacity? I wonder what sort of impact our church could make on this community if we approached our relationship with Jesus and the responsibility we've been given to serve one another and our community with gifts that we've been granted. With that sort of intensity, I wonder what kind of impact we would make. Perhaps it's a good question to even talk with family members and friends over lunch today about. What would that look like, to have that sort of intensity towards utilizing the gift that God has given me to serve others? Are you employing the special gift that God has given you? Are you being a wise and good steward of God's investment? Are you actively seeking the benefit of the body of Christ with what you've been given? If so, praise the Lord. And I just want to encourage you. My words to you then are to encourage you to press on. Keep doing what you're doing. Don't grow weary because there are going to be moments where you're going to feel like that. Don't grow weary. Keep pressing forward. But if you would have to admit that you have not been intentional and purposeful about employing the spiritual gift that God has given to you, will you admit that first of all? Will you repent? Will you ask the Lord for forgiveness? And then would you, starting today, seek to put to work the gift God has given you? Don't wait on this. Don't procrastinate regarding it. And I mean this with all sincerity. If it helps you at all, like reach out to me or Pastor Chris or Pastor Michael. Part of our job, right, is to help you equip the saints for the work of ministry. The job of ministry is not ours. Our job is to equip you to do ministry, which also involves ministry. But you know what I'm saying. Our job is to help you with that, and so if we can help you in any way, shape, or form to identify areas of service or things that are needed, please let us know. Because at the end of the day, what happens through this is the growth of the entire body, growing up into a mature man, built up in love, as Ephesians 4 describes it. This is what we want at the end of the day as Christians. That the body of Christ be built up in love, rebound to the glory of God, as his people are encouraged, and as the lost are then given a hearing and a seeing of the gospel being lived out with the hope that maybe the lost too would one day repent and believe in Christ and join his family. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, thank you for your holy word and the encouragement that we are provided. Help us to have a right mindset when we think about spiritual gifting. Help us recognize our own personal responsibility. Lord, I pray that we wouldn't fall victim to what might be like the mass email thing, where mass email sent out, everyone sees it, everyone assumes someone else is going to do it. Lord, may we be a people that are very intentional about employing the special gift that you have given us to serve you and the body of Christ. May that rebound to your glory and rebound to the common good of our church. Lord, we do thank you for your love for us. We thank you for what you've done to redeem us and then to equip us for ministry. Please remove any excuses that are preventing us from stepping up and doing the things that you've gifted us to do. And may all of this work rebound your glory and the advancement of your kingdom. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.