The text this morning is from Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians, the first chapter:
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 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. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
Ah, the spiritual gifts. One of the most used and abused categories of Scripture and so few know what they’re talking about when it comes right down to it. I grew up in church in the 90s, I did internships in the early 2000s, and spiritual gifts inventories were all the rage. It seems like everywhere I turned, I was given another test. Do you remember these? Let me remind you: you could take the test and it would “determine” whether you had the gifts or gifts of: exhortation, giving, leadership, mercy, prophecy, service, teaching, administration, the gifts of an apostle, discernment, faith, healing, help, knowledge, miracles, tongues, interpretation of tongues, wisdom, evangelism, the gifts of a pastor, the gift of celibacy, hospitality, martyrdom, missionary, poverty.
I can tell you, no one wanted the gifts of celibacy, or poverty, or martyrdom. The worst gift of all, though, was apparently giving. Everyone avoided that. And that’s the thing, right? Theses tests, everyone know what the gifts are and, when you know the outcomes of the test, you can always skew them in your favor. I want my church to think I’m wise, so I’ll answer that way. Or I want to be a leader, so I’ll answer strongly. These tests, quite honestly are a bunch of hokum.
You see, these so-called spiritual gifts are tantamount to the pagan gods, the mute idols Paul is talking about in the first part of the verse. It’s absolutely true that the Spirit of God has given gifts with these names to people, even today, but it is not true that you can beg these gifts, develop these gifts, or get something from having these gifts is the same as seeking idols. You see, we have always created gods in the image that we desire them. The Israelites were ticked off that they didn’t get to see God the way Moses did, and so they created an idol, a golden calf, to represent Him. The Babylonians were a vile and vicious people so they created a god, Marduk, who demanded child sacrifice for blessings in their battles.
A god to us is anything that fear, love, and trust. You either fear, love, and trust in the One True God, or something else. It’s that simple. It might be the idols of our hands like Baal and Marduk. Or it might be the idols of our hearts, like sex, or power, or comfort. These mute idols then lead us astray, by giving us false hope. People use even these spiritual gift inventories like the fear, love, and trust them, like they can give us some purpose for life, some hope, some direction. Even worse, they see what other people have in terms of their gifts and desire them, they covet them, breaking the ninth commandment, and that object of covetousness turns for them into a god. A false god brings no direction, even to people who want to interpret it as such.
And here, it isn’t an inventory that gives us direction, it is the Word of God as it comes to us by the preaching, the teaching, and the Sacraments. This guides us, this forms us, this brings to us the ability, the desire to say Jesus is Lord, not because we are able to do this, but because it is a gift of the Spirit, namely faith. That’s the whole point from Paul today, is that all of these gifts of the Holy Spirit, these spiritual gifts are to be in service to the very confession that Jesus Himself and none other is Lord, not Caesar, not Marduk, not service or hospitality, not wisdom and not evangelism. None of these is Lord, and by the gift of faith, the Christians recognizes that there is only one confession that matters: Jesus is Lord.
Yes, the Spirit gives gifts, and yes, He gives different varieties of them and different measures of them. However, He doesn’t give us the gift that we might trust in it; He gives us the gift that we might trust in the Lord. He gives us the gift that it is used in our confession of faith. And why? Paul tells us rightly that it is for the common good. He doesn’t give you a gift that you might serve yourself with it; He gives you His gifts that you might serve others. In fact, this is the only reason our Lord gives us anything. Whether it’s forgiveness, life, or salvation, it is always that we might then go, love, and serve others.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Yes, it is a comfort that our Lord gives us gifts. In fact, we should take great comfort in this. If our Lord is giving to us His gifts, then He is entrusting us to use them rightly. That means He has found us acceptable, and the only way this is possible is through the death of His Son. It is by the Son’s death and resurrection for you, that you are covered in His blood and welcomed into eternal life. The Lord counts you righteous for His sake. And because you are righteous in Him, He wants to and He does give you every good gift. It is because you are saved that He gives you gifts, which means that, if you have His gifts, then you have His salvation. And if you doubt His gifts, if you think of all the ways you could love and serve your neighbor but don’t, then take comfort our Lord still comes at you with His Word, with His absolution, with His Baptism, with His Supper, with the consolation of the brethren. These gifts alone, even if there were nothing else, are enough to tell you that God loves you, that He cares for you, that He has redeemed you.
Where we go wrong though is when we keep these gifts to ourselves. What’s better: a gift that is given, but remains unopened, unloved, or unutilized, or a gift that’s given, cherished, and broken quickly? I’m sure we’d all agree the latter. And it’s the same way with those gifts our Lord gave you. For instance, do you think someone who seems to be given the gift of wisdom might be called to evangelize? Of course they might. Does that excuse them from the wisdom they are supposed to give to others? Absolutely not. By the same token, is anyone allowed to prohibit themselves from serving by saying, sorry, God hasn’t gifted me that way?
If you see a person with their foot stuck under a railway track and the train is barreling down at them, do you look at them and say, “Sorry, God hasn’t given my physical strength. I wouldn’t be any good to you. Best of luck in your future endeavors.” If so, you probably deserve to be shot because you must be some kind of psychopath. In the same way, whatever need you see your neighbor having, you actually are being called by the Lord to serve them despite whatever other gift you have. I don’t know how to do little girls’ hair, but does that preclude me from feeling guilty every time I pass Ava off to Liz in the morning? Of course not. We are called to love and serve.
For some, it is through a variety of gifts and a variety of activities. For others, it may be even monotonous. But it is always for the common good. The gifts, by the way, that Paul describes in our text today are the gifts that accompanied the message of the Gospel to attest to the apostles’ authority. They’re not gifts, necessarily, that are given today, but to the apostles as they spread the Good News. The miracles, the healings, the prophecies, the ability to distinguish spirits, the ability to speak in another language and have some interpret it, these all accompanied the apostles and weren’t specifically for all believers, only those in their midst.
However, these gifts are all mentioned, along with many others through the Pauline letters, not that you might try to spend all your time figuring out what you have and what you can do with it, but that you might see that all of them, no matter what they are, no matter who does what, are empowered by the same Holy Spirit, they are all from Him. Who are we to turn the gifts of the Spirit into some kind of mute idol? For which of you did a miracle ever serve to provide for all your needs? For which of you did evangelism ever lift you into righteousness? For which of you did healing preserve you in the one true faith? Of course, the answer is none.
This is why we do not look to the gifts of the Spirit as if they are gods themselves, providing those things we need to live in this world and in this life. But, we do look to them as gifts to be utilized for the common good, for the good of our neighbor, not for ourselves, and, more specifically, gifts which should ever point us to the Word of God, the Good News of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the sake of sinners like you and like me. We look at the gifts and praise God for them, for there we are brought to penitent faith, we are given repenting hearts, that we receive from the Lord’s hand forgiveness, life, and salvation. These are brought to us outside the spiritual gifts, they are the benefit of faith, and these should be even more precious than anything else. The spiritual gifts we’re given serve others, but Jesus serves us by Word and Sacrament, and that is a wonderful wisdom from on high. Let us grasp it and confess by it that Jesus is indeed Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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