One Body, Many Gifts

So recently I picked up a new hobby.

A couple years ago, I was invited to go duck hunting,

having never been duck hunting before.

And I got hooked and I got hooked bad.

And so when I got invited, I went down into my basement and

I, you know, looked at all the guns that I've been, you know,

received from grandparents over the years because I've never,

you know, purchased one. And all of my guns were

right-handed, and I shoot left-handed.

And what that means is that when you're trying to, and this is

important when you're duck hunting aim, when you're trying

to do that, the shells are going across your face.

And so that's been, you know, a bit of a challenge.

And then one of the blinds that we go to is in about 16 inches

of water. And I have some muck boots that

are about 17 inches tall. The problem is my the pounds per

square inch can sometimes, depending on what's underneath

me, can move the ground beneath me by more than it, which it's

just this is where my boots went.

And this is where the water. Do we get that?

That's what we had. I was walking by faith.

OK well this year something special happened.

I was walking out of church one day and the guy said hey can you

meet me over at game Masters? And I said sure.

Walked over and there sitting on the counter waiting for me was a

left-handed shotgun. And I can't tell you how awesome

that makes me. It doesn't make me saved, but it

does make me awesome. Then I was telling somebody

about how now I've got my own gun, I'm not shooting somebody

else's. Well, that group of people saw

my challenges in the waiter game because I couldn't find any

waiters that would allow me to go waiting.

Well, they found them and so next thing I know I have Clayton

size waiters and I have a Clayton specific gun.

Like I said, it doesn't make me saved, but you are looking at an

awesome person, a very, very awesome person now.

And because of these two gifts, I am now able to go where I

couldn't go before and do what I could not do before.

And every single one of you, you need to realize you are looking

at the same dude you've always looked at.

But because of these gifts that I have been given, I am

different. I'm able to go places I could

not go before and do what I could not do before.

And to those of you who have come into an intimate personal

relationship with Jesus Christ, you have been given gifts that

allow you to go places you could not go before and do things you

could not do before. I want to welcome all of our

different locations, those of you watching online and inside,

and a special welcome to those of you who are here for the

first time or the first time in a long time.

I hope that you will swing by the new here booth in all of our

lobbies before the service is over.

Turn to your neighbor or type in the chat and say you're looking

at a gifted person. Turn to your second favorite

neighbor and say really, really gifted.

First Corinthians chapter 12 verses one through 31.

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

It's a long pole. Let's get into it now about the

gifts of the Spirit. Brothers and sisters, I do not

want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were

pagans, pagans, or anybody who doesn't believe in Jesus,

somehow or other you were influenced and LED astray to

mute idols. Therefore I want you to know

that no one who was speaking by the Spirit of God says Jesus be

cursed, and no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy

Spirit. There are different kinds of

gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.

There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.

There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and

in everyone it is the same God at work.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is

given for the common good. To one there is given through

the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of

knowledge by means of the same spirit, to another faith by the

same spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one spirit, to

another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another

distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different

kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of

tongues. All of these are the work of 1

and the same Spirit. And He distributes to each one

just as he determines. Just as a body, though one has

many parts, but all its many parts form 1 body, so it is with

Christ. For we were all baptized by 1

Spirit so as to form 1 body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slave

or free, and we were all given 1 Spirit to drink.

Even so, the body is not made-up of one part, but of many.

Now if the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I do

not belong to the body, it would not for that reason stop being

part of the body. And if the ear should say,

because I'm not an eye, I do not belong to the body, it would not

for that reason stop being part of the body.

If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing

be? If the whole body were an ear,

where would the sense of smell be?

But in fact, God has placed the parts in the body, every one of

them, just as He wanted them to be.

If they were all one part, where would the body be?

As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand I don't need you, and the head

cannot say to the feet I don't need you.

On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker

are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable

we treat with special honor, and the parts that are unpresentable

we treat with special modesty, while our presentable parts need

no special treatment. But God has put the body

together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it.

So there should be no division in the body, but that it's part

should have equal concern for each other.

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.

If one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is part of

it. And God is placed in the

churches, first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers,

then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of

guidance, and of different kinds of tongues.

Are all apostles Are all prophets?

Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?

Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues?

Do all interpret now eagerly desire the greater gifts?

Paul writes this section of scripture trying to help the

church in Corinth as they navigate 2 major issues.

The very first challenge that they are facing is that they are

a divided church. They don't get along.

There's all kinds of quarrelling and fighting, and a divided

church will never make the impact that a United Church can

make for the Kingdom of God. And what a divided world needs

to see and what a divided world needs to feel is the power of a

United Church. And the second issue that

they're navigating is that they're trying to make a Kingdom

impact in a wildly Pagan culture.

And so Paul, in this part of Scripture that we call First

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 12, reminds them now about the gifts of the

Spirit. Brothers and sisters, I do not

want you to be say that next word uninformed.

He is addressing an ignorance in their midst about the gifts of

the Spirit. These are gifts that are given

to people when they receive the Holy Spirit that enable them to

bring glory to God, advance the mission of God, and bring people

into an intimate personal relationship with God through

the person and the work of Jesus Christ.

And he is also at the same time, while he's informing them

because he doesn't want them to be uninformed, He's going to 0

in on their unity and the need of it.

So he begins by talking about gifts, and one of the things

that Paul brings up about the gifts is their origin.

He talks to them about gift origin.

Look what it says in verses 4:00 and 5:00.

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit

distributes them. There are different kinds of

service, but the same Lord. In other words, the gifts that

you and I have, they did not come from you.

They did not come from me. These are gifts that we

received. They did not originate with us.

The gifts that you and I have originated with Him.

I'll show you in just a second why that matters.

The second gift or second thing he talks about gift is gift

placement. Look what it says in verse 11.

All these are the work of 1 and same and the same Spirit.

He distributes them to each one just as he determined.

That means that not only does the gift that you have, did it

not come from you, but you did not pick your gift.

You were given your gift. What this means for you ladies

is that you did not go to the gift mall and go, oh, I like

that one. It means that if you wanted a

particular gift but you didn't get it, it was because you

couldn't afford it. And so you had to buy the knock

off fake version of the real thing that you actually wanted.

So you look to other people like you could afford the thing that

you don't actually have. It's like that's not how it

happened either. It means that when you showed

up, they didn't have to worry about whether or not they had

this gift in your size or not, whether it was on sale or not.

No, the gift that you have, you didn't pick out.

It was given specifically for you.

That means that these gifts that originated with God, there are

no knock offs, there are no value brands.

He picked it out and He placed it in you.

So far you have had this much to do with your gifting.

He made it, not you. He placed it.

You didn't pick it out. And then he talks about gift

design. These gifts that you and I have

been given, they are powered by God for the good of others, to

be used alongside others. What it says in First

1 Corinthians 12:6

Corinthians chapter 12, verse 6 is this.

There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and

in everyone, it is the same God at work.

In other words, a spirit given gift is to be is designed to be

used by spiritual people to do spiritual things through the

power of the Holy Spirit. Every single one of you.

When you guys buy a car, your car either runs on diesel, gas,

or grid. It's one of those three things

that your vehicle runs on. The gifts that you have received

require God to be the one doing the work.

Your gifts are not powered by you, they are powered by Him.

And so trying to do spiritual things without the Spirit's

power is a disaster. And wanting to do spiritual

things without spiritual power is dangerous.

The Spirit's power shows up in our lives most times outside of

your comfort zone. Sometimes you've heard me talk

about this. Sometimes people go I don't feel

God or I don't see him working anymore.

That's because you don't need the spirits power to be

spiritually lazy. You don't need the spirits power

to operate in your comfort zone. If you read through the book of

Acts, you'll hear them say we are praying for boldness.

Boldness requires you to be outside of your comfort zone.

And when these people would step out of their comfort zone, the

Holy Spirit would show up in a mighty and powerful way.

You don't need the Spirit's power to live a life of sin.

You don't need the Spirit's power to be a bad example of

Christ in your home. But you do need the power of the

Holy Spirit to be the person that God has called you to be in

your workplace and in your home. So if you are not sensing or

feeling the power of the Holy Spirit in your life, there is a

high probability that you are not doing anything that requires

His presence. And if you don't need His

presence, you certainly don't need His power.

You want to feel the power of God flowing through you and

through your gifting. All you have to do is start

doing something for the Kingdom of God.

The gift that you have is designed to run on the power of

God, and it is designed for the good of others.

Verse 7 says. Now to each one the

manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

In other words, your gift is not for you, but for those around

you. Remember that Jesus said that

the greatest among you will be your servant.

Our gifts are not for our own glory, but for the Kingdom good.

It's how we do the first and second greatest commandment.

First greatest commandments, love God with all your heart,

mind, soul, and strength. Second greatest commandments,

love your neighbor as yourself. In order to do those things,

love God well and love others well, you're going to need the

power of the Holy Spirit. And there's a gifting that He

has placed in you to help you accomplish it.

The next thing He says is that your gift is designed to be used

alongside others. Every time I pick one of these

up, you can tell by the way that it is that it is designed to go

with something else, to work with something else.

Verse 12 says just as a body, though one has many parts, but

all its many parts form 1 body, so it is with Christ.

Your gift by itself is not enough, no matter how much you

may want it to be and no matter how much all the other gifts may

frustrate you. The gift that God has given you

is not enough unless it is surrounded and alongside other

gifts. This is part of the reason why

you cannot live the Christian life in isolation.

That's why over and over again, the Bible tells us and commands

us to do certain things for and with our brothers and sisters in

Christ. The problem is any time you get

a group of people together with different kinds of giftings,

there is a risk for disunity. You want to know why sometimes

there's problems in your home, problems in your workplace,

because a bunch of different people with different kinds of

gifts have a hard time operating in unity.

And Paul lays out three major problems when it comes to the

unity of our gifting envy, projection and rejection.

Gift envy, gift projection and gift rejection.

Check out gift envy. Gift envy looks at their own

gift and then they go, I don't like my gift.

I wish I had somebody else's gift.

I mean, of all of the different gifts we've put up here so far,

this one's just so much tinier than everybody else's.

It's not as cool as everybody else's.

I wish I didn't have the gift that God gave me.

I wish I had somebody else's gift.

Verse 15 and 16. Now if the foot should say

because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, it would

not for that reason stop being part of the body.

And if the ears should say because I'm not an eye, I do not

belong to the body, it would not for that reason stop being part

of the body. Your attitude devalues your gift

and it will diminish your participation and it will cut

off your ministry impact. If your gift is missing, all the

parts of the body suffers. Imagine here you are being the

ear and you're going, why did God make me an ear?

Everybody loves the eyes. Nobody has ever been on a date.

And then later on telling the story about what was the date

like? No guy has ever said, well, I

got to be honest with you. We're sitting there eating a

nice meal, having a great conversation.

I was kind of on the fence, but then she went like this and I

saw those lobes and I said to myself, I want to look into

those lobes for the rest of my life.

Nobody's ever said when you're like, doing a quiz about your

wife, what's their lobe shape? But if I were to ask you what

color her eyes are, you know it. Everybody remembers the colors

of the eyes. Now, flip side, here's the ear

going hey, nobody. Nobody's paying attention to me.

I don't get the same kind of feedback that the eyes do.

I don't want to be a part of the body no more.

However, if you want to say sweet things to her, eyes aren't

all that helpful. You're going to want to make

sure that she has ears to hear it.

Ladies, let me, for those of you who are young, let me just give

you some help real quick at all of our locations, if you have

thought about your back this week, raise your hand.

OK, there, there's some of you being honest.

Those of you who didn't raise your hand don't know what I'm

about to talk about. But those of us who did raise

their hand, we know that back problems are a real thing.

And if I were to go back in time and God were to make me not a

dude, and God were to make me a girl, and I was going to try and

figure somebody to marry, the number one thing I'd look for

is, are there back problems in their family tree?

That's the number one. Because a guy with back problems

is going to end up spending the rest of his life on a lazy boy

recliner sleeping there because he can't get up.

Early in Jennifer Knight's marriage, my back went out.

Like early in our marriage. And I had made it to the

bathroom and I had sat down and it was at that moment that I

realized that was as far as I was going to be able to take

this journey so young. And now I am 6 foot 6 and a lot,

and my wife is 5/3 and 1/3 of a lot.

And so I am early in my marriage, You know, think about

how romantic this is. Hey, babe.

So my wife has to come in and help lift me off of a toilet.

Oh, yeah. Oh, see, something to look

forward to now. You're going to.

Yeah. I think I am going to look for

back problems. In fact, when I meet her dad,

I'm just going to punch him in the back and see how he

responds. Smart.

Very, very smart because you don't realize how important your

back is until you decide to do something with a bad back.

You can't tie your shoes with a bad back.

You use your back for everything.

You can't brush your teeth if you have a bad back.

You can't open a car door. You can't turn around and flush

if you have a bad back. You can't wipe if you have a.

All of a sudden people are going.

I really need to start looking in this back stuff.

Listen, back stuff doesn't kill you.

Hard stuff will. If you're going, I want out of

this, find the guy with the high cholesterol, but the decent

back, because the guy with the decent back is going to live

forever. He's just going to drink

Mountain Dew and sit on the couch.

Like, I can't get rid of this guy.

Look for the back stuff. If the back leaves now, nobody,

nobody in the summer is taking Instagram summer vacation photos

with the back. Oh, no, they're not.

Seriously, take a picture, take a picture in my back.

All the girls all they care about is the six pack in the

front. You need to be worried about the

backpack in the back because 6 packs 100% disappear backs.

They last forever until they don't.

And the back might be going. Nobody cares about me.

Nobody gives me the kind of praise that everything else

gets. But did you know that the back

is holding absolutely everything together?

You might look at your gift and go, Nobody cares about my gift

like they care about every other gift.

But if you were to pull your gift out of the equation, the

body of Christ would not be what it is supposed to be.

Nobody realizes how important their big toe is until you break

it and you're like one toe. And now I can't walk.

Second issue, Gift projection. Gift projection.

This is where, Oh my goodness, if you want to know which one I

struggle with, this is it. Gift projection.

For those of you who have ever said why can't more people be

like me? You struggle with gift

projection. Why can't more people in my

family think like me? How come more people don't vote

like me? How come you, no matter where

you are in the world, there are moments in time situations where

you're going. Why is this so hard for you?

I'll tell you why. Because you are operating in

your gifting and when you are operating in your gifting,

things make complete sense. But somebody else does not have

the same gifting that you have, and so there's going to be

frustration. Look what it says in verse 17

through 20. If the whole body were an eye,

where would the sense of hearing be?

If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell

be? But in fact, God has placed the

parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to

be. If they were all one part, where

would the body be? As it is, there are many parts

but one body. If everybody had the same gift

as you watch this, your gift would be diminished and the body

of Christ would become useless. This is the challenge that you

have in your marriage. You and your wife are having to

go through a particular season, a particular circumstance with a

particular kid, and both of you are approaching the issue from

your gifting. And the argument that you are

having is about which gift wins. And because there's not unity,

watch this, your kid is robbed of both gifts.

This happens at work real quick. How many of you at all of our

different locations, you work on the factory floor and sometimes

you get frustrated with the people in management or in

corporate. Raise your hands.

Nobody's being honest because their boss started to come to

church. I get it.

OK. OK.

How many of you who work in the C-Suite or work for corporate or

in the management office sometimes get frustrated with

the people on the floor? Those people are more honest,

more job security, I'm guessing. OK, the reason why is is the

people on the floor see things differently and the people in

the management office see things differently.

They don't see them wrong, they see them in their gifting.

So what happens is if your factory was all welders, lots

would get made, no one would get paid because there's nobody

upstairs in the air conditioned office.

If the entire office was accountants and the payroll

department, nothing would get made and nobody would get paid

because nothing got made. So what you actually need is you

need everybody showing up with their giftings and working hard

to work in Unity. Gift rejection is the next one

that Paul brings up. Gift rejection says I don't need

other gifts. First Corinthians chapter 12

1 Corinthians 12:21

verse 21 the I cannot say to the hand I don't need you, and the

head cannot say to the feet, I don't need you.

But God has put the body together so that there should be

no division in the body, but that it's parts should have

equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part

suffers with it. If one part is honored, every

part rejoices with it. What a prideful position to

think that you are enough, that your gift is enough, that you

and your gifting can be the full expression of the power of God

to accomplish His mission. You see, we need every gift on

full display if we are going to make this region the hardest

place on planet earth to get the hell from.

Why does this matter? Because if you don't acknowledge

your gift, use your gift. Make sure that your gift is

powered by the Holy Spirit. The body of Christ will never be

what it's supposed to be because it will be missing you.

Paul says in first Corinthians chapter 12 verse 27.

1 Corinthians 12:27

He says now each one of you are the body of Christ.

Each one of you is a part of it. When you and I, every single one

of us, bring our gifts together and do the hard work of

operating in unity with all of our gifts on full display

through the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the mission

of the Holy Spirit, we present the most accurate expression of

Jesus in our region. And without you, our expression

of Jesus in this region is incomplete.

When God made you and when you came into relationship with him,

He put his Spirit inside of you and a gift inside of you.

And right now, if you were to ask me, what does our world and

what does our region need? It needs a more beautiful and

powerful picture and expression of Jesus and it will never

happen unless 1 you are part of it and two, we figure out how to

operate in unity with it. I hope you'll think about that.

We're moving to a time of decision.

To those of you that are in here or watching online that have

never started an intimate personal relationship with you,

everything I just talked about is about the gifting that you

received from the Holy Spirit. Now you receive the Holy Spirit

after you come into an intimate personal relationship with Jesus

Christ. So right now, so far in the

message, you haven't heard anything about a gift for you.

But I've got really good news. When Jesus shows up, He gives

gifts to everybody. And so can I tell you about the

gift that He wants to give you today because there is a gift

and it is a special gift, a life changing gift, and the gift is

the gift of salvation. Romans chapter 623 lays out a

beautiful picture. It says the wages of sin is

death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our

Lord. Hear me wages, sin, death.

The gift of Jesus Christ is eternal life with God.

There are two paths that He's put in front of us, and you get

to pick the path. 1 is where you get to keep doing whatever you

want to do, however you want to do it, and there's a price tag

over you doing whatever you want to do.

You're going to sin and the payment for those sins is that

somebody has to die. Or you could say I don't want to

live the way I've been wanting to live and do what I've been

doing. I don't want to have to pay the

price for the things that I've done, and I don't want to

experience and suffer death and separation from God.

So on behalf of us and because of His love for us, God offers

us a way out. And it's the exact opposite of

everything He just laid out. Instead of wages, something you

earned, He shows up with a gift, something you did not deserve.

And what is contained in this gift?

The opposite of sin, Jesus. And what do you get?

The opposite of death, you get eternal life.

Jesus shows up and he says, look man, you can choose, you can

choose wages, death and sin, or you can choose gift, Jesus and

eternal life. Which one do you want?

And for me, that was an easy answer.

That was like the Staples easy button where like the only thing

I wanted was all of them. That was easy.

I just wanted him. So hear me.

When you come into a relationship with Jesus Christ,

it is a gift that he gives to you.

The question is whether or not you will receive it.

You can earn it, but the only one thing that you will ever

earn is you will earn your way into hell or you can receive the

gift that we did not deserve, that we did not earn, that was

given to us in Jesus Christ on the cross.

Somebody has to die. And for the Christian, it's not

us, it was him. The wages of sin is death.

And the good news is, is that somebody did die.

He died on our behalf. He died in our place.

And so if you're here today and you've never started an intimate

personal relationship with Jesus Christ, do not put it off any

longer. Through the power of the Holy

Spirit today, say yes. Say I'm ready to live for him

right now. In just a few moments, the

people around you are going to stand and sing and people are

going to come to the steps and pray.

And I'm hoping that some of you, we'll either turn to the person

that brought you, the person that you're sitting next to, or

walk right over there underneath that screen, next to the Baptist

screen and say today's my day. I've been putting it off for way

too long. To the rest of you in this room,

to those of you who already have our relationship with Jesus

Christ, hear me. This region needs you.

The mission of God in this region is too big and too great

for it to miss out on your participation.

The people in this region need to know that there are people

who are serious about helping people find an intimate,

personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

And so maybe today you haven't been using your gift the way you

were supposed to use your gift because you've been too upset at

God for the gift that he gave you.

Maybe today you need to repent for being frustrated to how you

see God use other people instead of letting God use you.

Maybe you need to realize that you haven't been using your gift

at all and it's time for you to get in the game and go how can I

make a difference? Maybe some of you, your pride

has kept you from seeing the value of other people's gifts

and you need to spend some time repenting and saying, God help

me to just be thankful for what you've given me and work well

with the people that you've put in my life.

I am all the way sold out unapologetically that we are

going to make this region the hardest place on planet earth to

get the help from. I hope you'll join me.

Would you stand with me? God, I thank you so much for

this church, for this season of ministry.

And God, we need this moment right here.

We needed to re clarify our purpose.

We need a chance to recommit to the mission and God, we don't

need it for just us and for the people in this room, but for all

the people that aren't here and all the people that don't know

you. So God in faith, I'm coming to

you and I'm asking that you would make it abundantly clear

for every person in this room what it is that you want us to

do and God that you'd give us the courage to do.

In your name I pray. Amen.