For the common good
The More Excellent Way, Part 18 — 1 Corinthians 12:1-7
Stonebrook Sunday AM,All-in Service, 5/31/26, Matt Heerema
Please turn with me to 1 Corinthians, chapter 12.
This morning we’re going to look at the first seven verses of chapter 12, and we’re going to focus on one primary point:
God has given every individual Christian different resources, abilities, and roles, to be used in the local church, for the common good of that local church family. And we’re going to ask the question, if you are a Christian, what has God given you?
In our passage for today, we’re going to see Paul call attention to 1) The Corinthian’s error in thinking about spiritual gifts (verses 1-3) — 2) The gracious giver of the gifts the Corinthians had, and we have (verses 4-6) — and 3) The purpose of the gifts (verse 7).
If you’ve been following along in the series, you’ll notice we’re skipping ahead. Because this is one of our “all-in” Sundays, and we typically try to have a shorter sermon during these times, we’re going to skip ahead in the series one chapter, so that we can give the second half of chapter 11 sufficient time next week.
Let’s dive right in.
The Corinthian Error
1 Corinthians 12:1–3 (CSB)
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts: brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be unaware. 2 You know that when you were pagans, you used to be enticed and led astray by mute idols. 3 Therefore I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
Concerning “the spiritual”
Throughout 1 Corinthians, we find Paul responding to questions or concerns about a number of topics that the Corinthian Church is in error about. We find in verse 1 Paul turning to the subject of “spiritual gifts”. Almost every major English translation says “spiritual gifts” here, but you will probably see a footnote in most of your Bibles that it can also mean “spiritual people” or “spiritual things” - our English translations are doing some interpretive work for us. The original language simply says, “Now concerning the spiritual…” (the word “gifts” isn’t in there in the original.)
It seems that the Corinthians were very interested in spiritual stuff. In chapters 11-14, they were off in a number of ways related to worship in the local church. Here, it seems that they were especially interested in spiritual power, and who had what spiritual abilities, and they were using that as a way to judge who was better than who. Who is the most spiritual. Paul corrects this way of thinking by reminding them that they have a history with bad theology. Their former pagan religious practices that they were familiar with were distorting the way God wants them to be thinking about things.
He says that previously they were “led astray by mute idols.” They were were used to religion being about giving and receiving messages “from the gods”, even when the Bible clearly teaches that those gods are nothing: wood, metal, and stone… unable to speak. The Corinthians are prone to deception in this way. I think we can related. “What is God speaking to me?” “Do you have a word from the Lord?” We’re very interested in prophesy and direct revelation. Causing us to be led astray from God’s clear revelation in His Word, the Scriptures.
Then he makes a cryptic statement in verse 3: “No one can say…”, and I’m not going to go into depth here, but the major point is that we don’t need to overthink this statement. Paul is simply stating that if someone curses the name of Jesus, or even in the name of Jesus, they are not speaking in the Spirit. If you say “Jesus is cursed”, or use His name as a swear word, you are speaking from your flesh.
Similarly, the true confession that Jesus Christ is Lord is a gift from Spirit of God. It’s not just about speaking those words out loud, but actually meaning them. If you submit to Jesus as your savior, Lord, and Master, and you truly believe that in your heart, and follow him in your life, that’s a work of the Spirit in you.
All of that is a brief introduction and correction to the Corinthians. A warning that they are prone to distortion when it comes to spirituality. Because of all the nonsense spiritual guidance in our world today, we are prone to that same danger. And so Paul hastens from that correction and warning to point us toward the right way to think about spiritual things, and he starts by pointing us to:
The Gracious Giver
1 Corinthians 12:4–6 (CSB)
4 Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are different ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are different activities, but the same God works all of them in each person.
Part of Paul’s correction starting in verse 4 is that he takes their interest in “the spiritual” from verse 1, and says you need to be focusing on “the Spirit”, the giver of the gifts. Here in verse 4 he does use the word for gift. “You’re interested in the spiritual? There are different gifts, but the same spirit.”Their focus was on the different spiritual abilities, their focus should be on the One Spirit of God. There are different gifts yes, but the emphasis of all of chapter 12 is on the One God. Do you want to understand the spiritual gifts? Paul says, focus on the giver, not the gift.
Notice The Trinity in his explanation: “same Spirit”, “same Lord (Jesus)”, “same God (father)”. The gifts? Those are things that the Triune God works by His Spirit in each person.
Another important aspect of the Spiritual Gifts we need to understand: Paul’s focus is not on the specific gift. He uses three words to describe what it is that God gives us: gifts, ministries (or, ways to serve, this is the same word where we get “deacon” from), and “activities” (which is a focus on the result of the work, the effect of the work.)
You all have different gifts from the Lord, different roles to play, and different effects. Think for a moment about what that might be for you. What interests and abilities has God provided you with?
Not what you wish you could do or wish you had, but the ones you actually have? What needs do you see? What opportunities are you being offered? What do people typically ask you to do to help in the church?
What resources do you have available to you to pool together with the rest of the body in the church to get the work that needs doing, done?
Because Paul teaches us here, that the purpose of the gifts is not, as the Corinthians were doing, to judge who was more powerful or spiritual or holy or important than who. It was not to be proud about your great spiritual achievements. It’s not about your great Christian maturity, or the prominence of your gifts in the group. It’s not about despairing that your gifts are small and insignificant.
It’s about the giver of the gifts, placing you in exactly the right place, at exactly the right time, with exactly the resources He wants you to have, for the common good.
The Purpose of the Gifts
1 Corinthians 12:7 (CSB)
A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good.
This is amazing. God gives each individual Christian, everyone who has the Spirit of God inside them, gifts, for the common good.
God has a mission for His Church. God has a mission for each and every local church. And he has given the members of those churches gifts to be pooled together, to use for that purpose.
God has a mission for Stonebrook, part of His larger mission to bring Glory to Himself through the proclamation of His love, and goodness, and mercy, and holiness, and justice, through the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
God has a mission for Stonebrook, and He has provided every single piece of equipment we need for that mission, through you.
And Paul says, as you use those God-given gifts and resources and ministries and energies for the common good — together with the rest of this local body — something amazing happens. The Spirit of God is manifested. Demonstrated. Shown to the world.
Spiritual gifts are like windows. They do not produce light to see, they allow light to be shown into the room. For people trapped inside the dark room of unbelief, they are shown a glimpse of the light of Christ. For the church, we get to see out to the bigger realities of the spiritual work of God in the world.
When your spiritual gifts are put to work in the church for the world, you are not shown off… God is! His graciousness. His mercy. His humility in service. His love proclaimed. Paul goes on in 12, God’s wisdom, God’s message, God’s faithfulness, God’s healing, God’s miracles.
This a climax of the entire storyline of scripture. In the book of Numbers, chapter 11, Moses longed for God to place His Spirit on all His people. In the prophet Joel, chapter 2 God promises that this will happen. In Acts chapter 2, we see it finally begin, and here Paul is saying, this is the purpose of the gifts! The Spirit is finally in every believer, and the Gospel message of salvation and freedom from slavery to sin through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ is proclaimed!
As we lend the gifts God graciously gave us, no matter how flashy and big, or how humble, small, and invisible, He shows up. He shows off.
So as you think about why it is God brought you here, placed you in His family, here in Stonebrook in Ames, Iowa, in the summer of 2026. Think about what He has given you, and how you can use that for the common good of the local church, so that God’s love is proclaimed.
Let’s pray.
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