Scripture
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be ignorant. You know that when you were gentiles you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” 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 services but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 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 powerful deeds, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
Sermon
The first thing you need to know is that church in Corinth was a hot mess. This may come as a shock. The passage we’ll read in two weeks—the one about love—has become the most famous passage in this letter, and for good reason: it is both practical and lyrical, filled with beautiful language and good sense. Out of context, it has been used in countless weddings, because it’s about love! But the reason Paul wrote it—and everything else in this epistle—is that, the Corinthians were at one another’s throats.
For those of you unfamiliar with Paul, he started out as an enemy of those who followed the Way of Jesus. My guess is that Paul was a child when Jesus was engaged in his ministry of healing, feeding and teaching people. His family was probably very aware of the gruesome spectacle of the crucifixion and what they probably considered the nonsense of the resurrection. When Paul was a man, probably 20 years or so after the resurrection he was engaged in imprisoning and persecuting the early Christians. And then, Jesus came to him, and the experience knocked him to the ground and changed his heart and his life. Soon he was traveling what we know as the Middle East and Europe, preaching the good news of Jesus. The classic enemies to friends to lovers romcom.
Paul founded the church in Corinth on one of his journeys. He has a special relationship with these people. But since he last saw them, conflict has roiled the congregation, causing division and awful behavior. They are fighting over who had the superior baptisms. (News flash: unequal baptisms are not a thing. All baptisms are equal in God’s sight.) They are behaving badly when they share the Lord’s supper, with the more well-off people gobbling up all the food before the working people can get there. They are elevating certain spiritual gifts, causing everyone who doesn’t have those gifts feel like the proverbial red-headed stepchild. (For the record, I love gingers. And stepchildren.)
Paul begins with the Spirit, because this is all about the Spirit. No one, he says, can say “Jesus is Lord,” except by Spirit’s inspiration.
This alone has enormous implications for the church at Corinth, and for every church. For us! The Holy Spirit—the quiet, seemingly invisible member of the Trinity, is ever with us, and by the power of the Holy Spirit we do everything that has to do with our faith. Decide to open your Bible one evening? The Holy Spirit did that. Found a few minutes in your busy afternoon to pray? The Holy Spirit did that. Came to church on a Sunday morning? Thank the Spirit. Saw a terrible accident and offered up a prayer for the injured? That’s the Spirit, too. Everything we do with reference to living out our faith, including reaching out to help others, to bring good, and healing, and light to the world, we do because the Holy Spirit is with us.
Paul then moves on to discuss spiritual gifts, those things that are causing some people to feel less-than, othered. There are many different gifts, Paul tells his readers, but they all come from the Spirit. And these gifts are dispersed to us, not so that we can lord them over others, but for the common good, the good of all. Immediately, the notion that some gifts are superior to others seems like what it is: foolish, and wrong-headed. Are you wise? The Holy Spirit gave you your wisdom. Are you knowledgeable? Same Spirit. And on he goes, accounting for the gifts of faith, healing, powerful deeds, prophecy, and the discernment of spirits—which is to say, whether or not a gift comes from the Holy Spirit! Say you have a gift for sowing division through gossip lies. Does that sound like a gift from the Spirit? I didn’t think so either.
Last and, for Paul, least, he mentions speaking in tongues and the interpretation of tongues, because these are the culprits. For those who haven’t heard these terms before, this refers to speaking in an unknown language and interpreting that speech—usually gifts given to different individuals. These would certainly be the kind of gifts that would cause awe among witnesses. But the people who have these gifts have been letting others know that their gift is superior to other trivial things such as faith and healing. Of course, that’s absurd. In fact, one scholar thought that Paul saw tongues as dangerous exactly because of the status claimed by the speakers. Just as no baptism is superior to any other, no spiritual gift is superior to any other. The Spirit gives them to us, not so that we can elevate our status, but so that we can serve one another, enrich one another. These gifts are given to us for the good of all.
It's not always easy to discern what our spiritual gifts are. I’d like us to try a little experiment. I’d like you to turn to a person near you and tell them what you think your primary gifts are. Not spiritual gifts—other kinds of gifts. Maybe you’re a great soccer player. Maybe you can make an amazing souffle. Maybe you have a photographic memory. Maybe you can run, or sing, or calculate vast sums in your head in an instant. So, turn to a neighbor, and don’t worry about the spiritual part—just tell them what you think you’re good at, even great at.
That was quite a buzz! It sounded like that was fun for you. Did you learn things about your neighbors that you didn’t know before? I bet you did!
Now, turn to your neighbor, and tell them your spiritual gift. Go!
That was different. Much quieter. I don’t think it’s easy for most of us to know what our spiritual gifts are. So, here’s a hint for those of us still discerning. Presbyterian writer Frederick Buechner wrote, “Vocation is the place where our deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.” I think that’s true. I think spiritual gifts are much like that. Where do you find deep gladness, real joy? My hunch is that your spiritual gift is somewhere very close to where you find your greatest joy.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King had many spiritual gifts, but I believe his greatest gift was the gift of communication. Dr. King could speak in such a way that his listeners could feel his soul soaring, and invited them in so that their souls were soaring, too. In addressing racism and legal and social inequality for black people in our nation, King could convict his listeners deeply, enlisting them in the holy and necessary work of anti-racism and obtaining civil rights for all Americans.
Martin Luther King didn’t always want to pursue his spiritual gifts. He was the son, grandson, and great-grandson of Baptist ministers—on both sides of the family. One scholar writes, “He resisted religious emotionalism and as a teenager questioned some facets of Baptist doctrine, such as the bodily resurrection of Jesus.” But when he attended Morehouse College, two mentors—the college president and one of his professors—saw his promise and convinced him that, first, “behind the legends and myths of the Book were many profound truths which one could not escape;” and second, that Christianity could unleash a powerful tool for social change,[i]
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s embrace of his spiritual gifts changed this nation and moved the world.
It’s not always easy to discern our own spiritual gifts. But once we have an inkling, it’s almost impossible to follow that joy. And when we follow that joy, and embrace those gifts, we become a part of a beautiful, intricate web of humanity in which that gift we offer is needed, and what we need, we can find in return.
This morning, we affirm the spiritual gifts and calls of [five] [six] of our friends here at UPC. As a part of this service, they will reaffirm the promises they made at baptism, or which were made for them. You are invited to reaffirm your baptism at the same time. As each of us ponders what spiritual gifts we might have, I invite us all to remember our baptism. Remember that God that God has called each of us by name. Remember that God calls each of us beloved. And remember that the Spirits gifts are with us as we step out in faith.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
[i] Martin Luther King, “An Autobiography of Religious Development,” 12 September 1950–22 November 1950, in Papers 1:359-363, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/introduction.