St Paul’s Lutheran Church.
Pentecost 2017
Today’s sermon is based on the Epistle reading 1 Cor 12:3b-13.
The theme of today’s sermon is actually the start of the reading; ‘No one can say “Jesus is
Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.’
Today’s reading starts at 3b because it focuses on Christian’s confession that ‘Jesus is Lord’,
and who it is that does the work to achieve this; - the Holy Spirit.
Verse 3a says; “therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God
ever says “Jesus is accursed!”. This is then the mark of a Christian. They cannot curse Christ by their
words or actions, but only confess that Jesus is Lord.
The early Christians, reading the same words we heard today, in the second half of the first
century and in the second century, were experiencing severe persecution. In A.D. 112 Pliny the
Younger, the Roman governor of Bithynia, wrote to the emperor Trajan with his plan of eradicating
Christians. If people were accused of being a Christian and bought before him, he asked them to
curse Christ and worship the emperor, present as an idol in front of them. Those that refused to curse
Christ and worship the emperor were executed. He tells that he ordered their execution for their
stubbornness in refusing to curse Christ and therefore deserved to be punished. The early Christian’s
faith became a literal matter of physical life and death and reminds all Christians, (including us today)
of just how weighty a matter it is, to confess Christ and to profess the Christian faith before others.
The second thing to keep in mind is the context of Paul’s writing to the Corinthians. Apparently
the subject of spiritual gifts was a cause for some confusion and trouble within the Corinthian church. It
appears that some in the church, were elevating spectacular gifts over those which involved “merely”
serving others. These members prided themselves in possessing what they considered to be special
spiritual endowments. “The Corinthians had apparently used the gifts as a means of creating division.
They regarded the possession of such gifts as a matter for pride, and set up one against another on
the basis of the possession or otherwise, of this or that gift. Paul insists that this is the wrong attitude.”
Is this a problem for us today?
It is! Any Christian that tells you; if you don’t speak in
tongues you are not a real Christian; should do a close bible study on this passage. I can also tell you
here and now, we need to be careful of this ourselves at St Paul’s. That we do not think we are
elevated over anyone else here because of our ‘gift’s’: But Note: these are not talents or attributes of
our own, but gracious gifts given for a reason; for the common good that all may say “Jesus is Lord”.
Before we have a look at the gifts and their usage, I just want to take you back to
Kindergarten. At kinder, the wonderful children would be asked to look at this picture, 
circle the picture that is the same and cross out
any pictures that are different.
In this example, we have, of course, a nice juicy red apple. So,
can you tell me what is the same on that line and how they are different? Obviously they are all ‘fruit’,
so are the ‘same’, but yet you’ve got different kinds of fruit.
More rows follow and the next is a space theme. But where is there a difference? Yes we have
got the astronauts and the rocket,
And lastly, what do we have? (These are flying things). And the differences are that some are
butterflies and one is a bat. So basically, they are the same, but different.
So it is with our text today. There are a variety 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. Paul is speaking to believers, those who are baptised. He is speaking also to you and I today.
Did you notice the themes of ‘different’ and ‘the same’ in that bit of the text? There are varieties of
gifts, but the same Spirit. There are varieties of service, but the same Lord. There are varieties of
activities but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. So we have the Spirit giving gifts,
we have service from the Lord and activities from God who empowers them all. It is God’s power at
work in us, in whatever gifts we have been given.
Important note! These gifts are not for your own benefit or reward. The fact that the Spirit is
shown through you in any way, is not for your own gratification, but for the common good - the
building up of Christ’s body.
Paul then lists a number of gifts but for each he says, “for to one has been given this gift of
wisdom or of spiritual knowledge - but many pull back to… from the same spirit. Another has a gift of
healing and so on and while each individual is given a gift, it is from the Spirit who apportions to each
one individually as He wills. Each of these gifts is given to be able to help another to grow, for the
building up of the group. It is a reminder that God’s power is providing for the building of his body, the
church. These gifts are not ours to possess but God who uses his gifts to the building up his body,
gives them for the purpose of his work. Whatever gifts you have been given by God are not for your
own benefit. God is calling you to use your gifts to build up, to support and further his mission the body
of Christ.
I can think of where some of these gifts are used here at St Paul’s. Church council has been
given people with wisdom and we will always have to keep our eye on building up each other in the
church with our gifts. Our lay leaders have a wonderful gift of Ministry to others for the building up of
their faith in our Lord. We have wonderful servers in many different aspects of our congregation do we
not? And I thank you for the efforts that you put in to build up your fellow Christians in any way, no
matter what gift you are using… so that your fellow Christians may say “Jesus is Lord”. Let us keep
that front of mind always when dealing with others, so that your fellow Christians may say “Jesus is
Lord”.
Our text finishes with the image of Christians being one body with many members under the
headship of Jesus. We can get our heads around this can’t we? The human body has many members
/ body parts and all of them together make up one body. If I’m hammering away at something and hit
my finger, it is extremely painful and I feel it throughout my body. The head just doesn’t say “Oh the
finger got hit. No, the pain is felt throughout the body. Signals are sent up the arm to the brain. The
mouth is engaged, the eyes might well up with tears and the hammer might be thrown. The body is not
at peace because one member has been injured. Alternatively, if you like a nice back massage,
receiving one will be rejoiced throughout the body. There are different body members but they function
together as one.
So it is with organisations and I think of the Scout movement. There are adult leaders and
young people gathering together for fun and learning activities. You have different chapters in different
areas, but when somebody says; “I’m in the Scouts”, you know they are a member of that overall
body.
So it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptised into one body – Jews or Greeks,
slaves or free – and all were made to drink of one Spirit. Where somebody might decide to join the
Scouts, you are here because God chose you. It is by the power of God that you are in his family and
it has nothing to do with your status or heritage. Instead of Jews or Greeks we might say “Whether you
are fifth-generation at St. Pauls, or this is your second time here, God loves you and bought you into
his family. Whether you’ve been successful in business or are struggling to get by, God loves you and
bought you into his family”. He did it through working his gifts through others; working with his power
through another so that you would hear the gospel of Jesus dying on the cross for you for the
forgiveness of your sins. He worked through others to bring you into his family through the waters of
baptism. That’s how you got into Christ body the church, through the work of the Holy Spirit. In the
waters of baptism you were given the Spirit; it is passive, you did nothing to earn it. In fact if we got
what we earned we would be far from God because of our sins. But your sins have been forgiven in
Christ and you are made one with his body. With whatever gift you have been given by the Spirit, he
calls you to use it for the building up of Christ’s body and the members within it, that all may say
“Jesus is Lord”
Amen.
Written & spoken by Pastor Colin Simpkin. St Paul’s Lutheran Church, Grovedale. 04 th June 2016