>> Jen: Hey, good morning, friends and faithful listeners. Today we're going to talk about spiritual gifts. Why we shouldn't despise the spiritual gift that we have, why we shouldn't despise other people, and why cliques in the church are just flat out wrong. That's all coming up in a moment. So, guys, I don't often ask for prayer, but I am asking for prayer once again because, uh, some of you know that I've been going through this, like, health journey thing, and I've been pretty sick recently.
Since the beginning of this year, honestly, I've been quite sick in my stomach, and I was making some progress, which is why I haven't been talking about it as much. But then this week, it's like all of my progress just got totally erased and I'm back to square one is what it feels like. So if you guys could pray for me with that, and pray that I find a solution to what is going on in my gut, that would be absolutely wonderful.
And I appreciate all of those prayers. And if you, of course, have a prayer request, don't hesitate to reach out to me. You're going to find my email listed in the description of this episode. When you share your prayer requests with me, I will write you down in my prayer journal and pray for you for the week. But today we're going to finish talking about the spiritual gifts in first uh, 1 Corinthians 12.
Um, but we're not done talking about spiritual gifts yet. Actually, Paul is going to go into spiritual gifts more in the next coming chapters. But mostly today, Scripture is going to be talking about why spiritual gifts are so necessary and why we shouldn't be angry if somebody has a better, quote, unquote, better spiritual gift than one of us has and why we should be happy with the role god has placed us in. So let's read first
uh, 1 Corinthians 12:14 through 31. As I always do, I'll be reading from the web. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot would say, because I'm not the hand, I'm not part of the body. It is not, therefore not part of the body. If the ear would say, because I'm not the eye, I'm not part of the body. It's not, therefore not part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing,
where would the smelling be? But now god has set the members, each one of them in the body, uh, just as he desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be. But now they are many members. But one body. The eye can't tell the hand, I have no need for you. Or again, the head to the feet, I have no need for you. No. Much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary those parts of the body which we think to be less honorable. On those we
bestow more abundant honor. And our unpresentable parts have more abundant propriety, whereas our presentable parts have no such need. But God composed the body together, giving more abundant honor to the inferior part. That there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. When one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. When one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ
and members individually. But God has set some in the assembly. First apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, and various kinds of languages. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all miracle workers? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak with various languages? Do all interpret, but earnestly desire the best gifts? Moreover, I show a most excellent way to you.
So on Tuesday, I talked about what a spiritual gift is. A lot of people think that a spiritual gift is kind of like a talent, but that's not really what a spiritual gift is. A talent is something that you're just good at doing. You were kind of born with that, or you developed it over time. But a spiritual gift is something you were never good
at until you became a Christian. And we talked about how spiritual gifts are very different from, uh, talents, and how all of the spiritual gifts can only really happen once you become a Christian. You don't have access to those gifts before you become a Christian. So we talked about all of that on Tuesday. And if you want a breakdown of some of those spiritual gifts, I would recommend listening to that episode or reading through
scripture. But we will talk a little bit more about the individual spiritual gifts today. Um, but let's start. In verse 14, it says, for the body is not one member, but many. Now, of course, Paul is talking here about the body of Christ. That is what the church is. Each individual member of the church is considered to be almost like a body, part of Christ's body, which makes up the full church. So Paul illustrates this a little bit better.
He says, if the foot would say, because I'm not the hand, I'm not part of the body, it is not therefore not part of the body. If the ear would Say, because I'm not the eye, I'm not part of the body. It's not, therefore not part of the body. So apparently there was some problems in the Corinthian Church where certain members of the church were jealous of other people's spiritual gifts because some of those spiritual gifts were
more, I don't know, showy, I guess. For example, miracles is one of the spiritual gifts, or speaking in tongues is another one, or prophecy. All of these spiritual gifts are more showy. You know, oh, that person over there, he just healed somebody or performed a miracle or was able to speak in an unknown language, like, how cool is that? Whereas I only have the gift of administration. And people were apparently
jealous of some of these gifts. And Paul is really trying to show here that every single spiritual gift is deeply important because everybody makes up the body of Christ. So somebody with the spiritual gift of helping should not be looking at the, uh, miracle worker and being like, oh, because I only have the gift of helping, I'm really not needed in the church. I'm, um, not a crucial part of the church. Paul says, no, every
single member of the church is important. You know, the feet of the body are just as important as the hands of a body. The eye of the body is just as important as the ears of a body. So nobody should be downing themselves because they haven't been given a spiritual gift that they think is as cool as somebody else's spiritual gift. God has set the members, each one of them, in the body, just as he desired.
So that's another reason why we shouldn't despise our spiritual gift if we don't think it's super cool, because God gave you that gift. And so in a way, you're despising what God gave you. And God gave you that particular gift because he knew that you would be the best person for that particular spiritual gift, or you're in the best situation to utilize that spiritual gift more effectively than, say, somebody else. So we shouldn't be despising our spiritual gifts because they are from the Holy
Spirit. And when we despise our spiritual gifts, we are, in a way despising God as well. So that's the second reason we shouldn't despise our spiritual gift. But the third reason is that if we all had the same spiritual gift, the church wouldn't really be built up or m edified really at all. There has to be diversity within the church. Paul says, if the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? So he's kind of
Making a joke here. And he says, you know, the whole body doesn't just make up one giant eye, right? There's different parts of the body. We wouldn't be able to function if we were just a giant eyeball. We have to have all of these different parts in order to function as a body. If, uh, the whole body were hearing, where would the smelling be? So the members of Christ's body also need to be diverse as well in their
spiritual gifts. So that is the third reason why we do not despise our spiritual gifts because they're necessary and because the church wouldn't really be very interesting if everybody had the same spiritual gift. But not only should we not despise our own spiritual gifts, but we also shouldn't despise the spiritual gifts of other people. Paul elaborates. He says, if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now they are many members, but one body. The eye
can't tell the hand, I have no need for you. Or again, the head to the feet, I have no need for you. So in other words, we should never despise somebody because of a spiritual gift that they have been given, because an eyeball can't say to the hand, I have no need of you. Obviously, the eye doesn't tell my hand what to do. It's just one part. It serves its own function. It can't control my hand to do anything.
So likewise, we shouldn't be looking at other people and being like, we have no need of you in our church. We should not be doing that. And unfortunately, a lot of churches do do that. No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary those parts of the body which we think to be less honorable on those we bestow more abundant honor. And our un presentable parts have more abundant
propriety. So obviously, there are parts of our body that are a lot less honorable than other parts of our bodies. But what do we do with those less honorable parts of our bodies? We cover them up. I mean, we clothe our stomach and our chests and our private parts because they are less honorable to be shown. And so we're actually giving them more honor by covering them up, by protecting them as needed. But we don't do the same thing with our hands and with our feet or with our, um,
legs or arms or faces. We don't do that with those stronger parts of our bodies, those more honorable parts of our bodies. So in the same way, we should be showing honor to the members of our church who are a little Bit weaker than other people are, who their spiritual gifts maybe aren't as developed as other people's because they're a brand new Christian. We should never treat any member of our church as an outcast because nobody in Christ's family is supposed to be
an outcast. This is why cliques in the church are so dangerous and damaging. Because a clique just holds to their own people, never goes outside of their comfort zone, never introduces new people into their little group. Cliques are damaging to a church body. And then of course, other people feel left out and possibly hurt that they aren't accepted into these groups in these churches. Cliques are very dangerous and very damaging to a church body. And
also they're just childish. I'm just going to say that right out. They are so childish. That is something that teenagers do. It is not something that, uh, adult men and women should be doing. Especially men and women who claim to be following Christ. Cliques are terrible and I hate them. And, uh, you know, I am very passionate about that subject because I have never been anything other than an outcast pretty much my entire life. I
wouldn't say I'm an outcast now. I love my church and I love, um, everybody at my church, but for the majority of my life growing up, I was an outcast. And it's really funny because I just had coffee with a girl I used to go to church with back when I was in middle school and high school. And I haven't
seen her for a while. We just met up again and she was talking to me and she's like, man, Jen, you know, we got along so well in our church because we were the outcasts, you and I. And that's why you and I got along so well. And she, she even said she's like, I didn't even realize how much of outcasts we really were. Yeah, we were outcasts, but that is not okay. No member of a church should feel like they're an outcast because the entire point of the church is to
encourage people in the faith. And cliques might be encouraging for the people who are members of the cliques, but they are deeply discouraging to anybody else not accepted into that clique. So cliques should never be a part of any church at any point in time. And this is basically what Paul is saying here. He's saying, don't despise anybody in your church. Don't act as if people are dishonorable and you don't want anything to do with them. Because how Would you treat the dishonorable
parts of your body? You would clothe them and feed them and take care of them. And that is how you should be treating the members of your church as well. Everybody should be on equal footing, men and women, pastors and laymen. Everybody should be on equal footing. And you might be like, well, Jen, didn't you just talk the other day about how women should be submissive to the pastors and
elders of their church? And yes, I did, but that does not mean that the women are below the pastors, because once again, Jesus submitted himself to God the Father. And we don't think of God the Father and Jesus as being, you know, lesser than one another. We believe that Jesus is God. We believe that God the Father is God. In fact, on Tuesday, what did Paul say at the beginning of first uh, 1 Corinthians 12? He called Jesus Yahweh. And Yahweh is typically the Old Testament
name for God the Father. Every Christian knows that Jesus and God the Father are equal. And yet Jesus put himself in a submissive role to god the Father. So that doesn't mean that Jesus is below God the Father. So every single member of the body of Christ is equal to one another. Just their roles are diverse and very different. And this is exactly what Paul says in verses 27 through 31. Now you are all the body of Christ and members
individually. So we're all equal, but each individual one of us are different and separate. God has set some in the assembly. First the apostles, second the prophets, third the teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, and various kinds of languages. So Paul goes out to list some of the spiritual gifts again. And some people say that because Paul mentions apostles first here, that apostles, the, uh, gift of apostleship is the best
possible gift you can have. And maybe it is actually because apostles, according to Scripture, were the ones who actually saw Christ. So there is some debate if apostleship is still a spiritual gift nowadays because, ah, you know, we don't have the ability of being able to see Christ face to face. Unless, of course, Christ wants to appear to us, which actually does happen across the world. Um, there's
definitely stories about that. But I would say the gift of apostleship isn't necessarily a dead gift. I think it's more for a different time period. All of these gifts, I would never say that any gift is a dead gift. That's what my church taught growing up, is that some of these gifts are just not around anymore. They sort of fizzled out with history. For example, healings are gone. The gift of apostleship is gone. The gift of
prophecy is gone. The gift of, uh, tongues and miracle workers, that's all gone. But the rest of the gifts are still around. The teachers and the pastors and, you know, those gifts are still here. But once again, I don't think any of these gifts are dead and gone. I just think that many of these gifts are for a different time and a different
place. And across the world people really are experiencing some of these spiritual gifts like miracles and speaking in tongues, uh, and healings that here in America we're not seeing on a day to day basis. But even that doesn't mean that they're not here in America as well. We're just not hearing about them as often here in America. But we do still hear about some of these particular spiritual gifts. So Paul goes into each gift and he says, do all speak with
various languages? Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all miracle workers? No, we're all different. We've all been given a different spiritual gift. Now I would say that Paul had more than one for sure. I would say that apostle was definitely his main spiritual gift. I have to, I kind of have to research apostleship a little bit more. So I'm sorry I'm not super well versed on the gift of apostleship, but I would say Paul's
main gift was apostleship. But he also definitely had a gift in speaking as well, like teaching other people so people can have more than one spiritual gift. Personally, for me, I think my spiritual gift is the gift of discernment. There are times when I just get the heebie jeebies when I hear something or when, uh, somebody is talking to me about something and something just feels a little bit off to me. And that is, I believe, the gift of discernment that I have personally been
given. That is my spiritual gift. So I'd love to hear what your spiritual gift is. So you need to contact me and tell me what is your spiritual gift? But to conclude here, Paul says earnestly, desire the best gifts. Moreover, I show a most excellent way to you. So we should desire the best gifts. We should desire apostleship. We should desire wanting to evangelize and teach people and heal people and help people. We should desire the gift that most edifies our church for that time
period. Not just a gift that makes us look cool, you know, like miracles for the sake of miracles. We should desire the best gift that our church specifically needs. And we should pray that somebody comes in to our church that has that spiritual gift that is able to edify and encourage our church in the way that our church most needs. So if that is the gift of healing, then we should be praying that somebody comes in with the gift of healing, if that is the
gift of helps. Because we don't have enough people willing to usher on Sundays or willing to help out for a specific event, we should be praying for people with the gift of helps or the gift of administration or the gift of pastoring whatever our church needs the most. That is a gift we should be praying for. But Paul says he's going to show us a most excellent way. So something even better than spiritual gifts. And that is in the next chapter.
So don't forget to contact me and tell me what your spiritual gift is. I'd definitely like to hear about that. You'll find my contact information listed in the description of this episode. And also, you don't have to contact me just for spiritual gifts. You can also contact me if you have a prayer request and I'll write you down in my little prayer journal and pray for you for the week. You can also contact me and introduce yourself, tell me how you found the podcast and where you live, what the
weather's like. I'd love to hear all of that, uh, from all of you guys. But faithful listeners, there is no episode tomorrow except for those of you who are members. Right now, the faithful members and I are going through the Book of Psalms, and I hope you become a member and join us over on the Bible Explained podcast on Fridays. But faithful listeners, have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your weekend. Happy listening and God bless.