With yesterday being Pentecost, it only seems appropriate that the lectionary would point us to Paul’s letter to the Corinthians about “Spiritual Gifts”. In our passage today we pick up at verse four, but when Paul addresses the Church in the first three verses of chapter twelve, it is clear that he wants the Church to not misunderstand the special abilities made possible to every believer by the Holy Spirit. Paul makes it clear that every follower of Christ contains the Holy Spirit, and no person, or the gift(s) that the Spirit gives to them, are greater than another.
Friends, through our faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit has graciously given us spiritual gifts. Paul lists those gifts for us in our passage, and the purpose is for us to come together, as Christ’s Church, and allow our gifts to work in divine unity to further grow His Family (the Church) for His Eternal Kingdom. So, no believer should ever feel that the Holy Spirit is not working within them, just as no believer should ever feel that the Holy Spirit is stronger within them, because as a Family, under the authority of Christ Jesus, we are all gifted and we all need one another’s gifts.
Paul goes on within chapter twelve to use the example of how a physical body needs each part to work properly and to be whole, and this is true for the Body of Christ (for all believers). We all need one another, and we especially need one another when we feel like we don’t need each other, because that feeling is from Satan, and we seek as the Church of Christ to stand firmly against Satan and his divisive work. You and I stand together, as brothers and sisters of Christ, in divine harmony and we honor Jesus, and we honor the Holy Spirit within one another, and we value and treasure our own and one another’s gifts that were given by the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11 (NLT)
4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. 6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.
7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. 9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.
Prayer: Jesus, thank You for the Holy Spirit. Please forgive us when we are not allowing the Spirit the proper room to move and have His way within our lives. Holy Spirit, thank You for our gifts. Help us to allow You to utilize the gift(s) that You have placed within us. Connect us, through You, to one another so our gifts can be used in divine harmony to further grow God’s Kingdom. We ask all of this in Jesus’s Name. Amen.