January 17, 2010Pastor David King

Part 25 | PUBLIC WORSHIP:

The Purpose of Spiritual Gifts | 1 Corinthians 12

First Corinthians…Sinners Yet Saints

“For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.”

1 Corinthians 12:12

What is a spiritual gift? The word most commonly used to describe spiritual gifts is the greek word charismatos. This word is form of the word grace. Simply put, a spiritual gift is a grace gift from God. This word is not used exclusively of the spiritual gifts we will be studying the next few weeks, but it is also used in a general way of a gracious gift given including our salvation (Romans 1:11, 5:15, 6:23, 1 Timothy 4:14, 2 Timothy 1:6).

The good, working definition for the term spiritual gifts in this passage is: “a Spirit-given, divine enablement for ministry in the body of Christ.” This passage affirms that each believer in Jesus Christ is given at least one spiritual gift by the Spirit for use in the body of Christ. Today I would like to highlight three important themes found in this chapter.

Theme #1—The Holy Spirit Is Vital To Every Believer

  • The Holy Spirit Empowerment in Salvation (verse 3)
  • The Holy Spirit Distributes Spiritual Gifts (verses 4-11)
  • The Holy Spirit Baptize Each Believer into one Body (verse 13)

Theme #2—The Body Of Christ Is Unified through Diversity

  • Various gifts, services and activities yet one God (verses 3-11)
  • Various Body Parts yet one Body (verses 12-27)
  • Various Gifted People Yet One Church (verses 28-31)

Theme #3—The Body of Christ Is Completed By The Incomplete

  • Each member is fitted for the whole (verses 3-14)
  • Each member is incomplete by itself (verses 15-31)
  • Each member is interdependent upon the other members (verses 15-31)

Let’s face it, we need each other! God has gifted you uniquely and placed you specifically in this body so that you can bring completion to this body of believers. We need you to use and develop your giftedness for the edification of the whole!

Small Group Discussion

The outline highlights three broad themes that weave their way through this passage. The first theme centers on the work of the Holy Spirit in the church. He is the one who brings to salvation the sinner, He is the one who distributes the gifts in the church and He is the one that actually places each and every believer into the body of Christ (the Universal Church) at the moment of salvation. The Holy Spirit is not a force or a power, but He is indeed a Person just like the Father and the Son. He is a member of the Godhead, the trinity.

Often times in non-charismatic (those that believe the sign gifts like tongues, miracles, healings have ceased) churches people give mere lip service to the Holy Spirit, and seem to overlook Him as if He were non-existent.

Discovery: As a group, search the Bible to find the different works of the Holy Spirit as declared in the Bible (Give Specific Scripture References).

Discuss: Why do you believe individuals and churches often seem to put the Holy Spirit in the backseat?

Discuss: How can each of us individually acknowledge the Holy Spirit in our daily lives? How can we do this corporately?

Discuss: What does 1 Corinthians 12:25b-26 tell us to do? What does that look like in our church?