Sermon for January 17th

According to today’s Second Reading, the Corinthian church had been arguing about spiritual gifts. Paul writes that because we have only one God and his Holy Spirit gives all spiritual gifts, therefore, no one gift is any better than any other. In many religions, especially pagan religions, there are many gods. And each god gives different things. For instance, a rain god would give fertility, so if you wanted to get pregnant you would pray to that god for gifts. Another god would be a god of public speaking, I guess, so if you wanted to give a great motivational speech, you would pray to that god. However, for Christians, Paul maintains that every gift, no matter how little or big, comes from the same Spirit, the same Lord and the same God. There is no pantheon of gods to ask for various gifts from. There is only one God who gives all good gifts.

Today’s Christian churches have their own problems understanding spiritual gifts even though they usually are not exactly the same problems as the Corinthian church had. While we are aware that there is only one God who gives gifts, we don’t realize that God blesses every person with gifts, not just a few religious leaders. Notice some of the words Paul uses when talking about spiritual gifts: everyone, to each, to another, to another, to another, to each one individually. My point is that in many churches, including this one, we often act like some spiritual gifts are better than others or, worse, that only some in the church have been blessed with the proper spiritual gifts. In some churches, people get so confused that they start looking to their pastors or priests as the giver of gifts, rather than to God alone.

For example, I, as your pastor, am not the only one blessed with gifts. I have them, this is true, but only because God promises to bless all who believe in him with these gifts. I didn’t receive them at seminary, I didn’t receive them at my ordination, I received my spiritual gifts at my baptism. What does this mean? That each and every one of you have them as well. And you don’t have to go to seminary to find them. And you certainly don’t have to be ordained to receive them. You received them at your baptism. Do you believe it?

Well, if you believe it, then what are your spiritual gifts and what are you doing to use them? Suffice it to say, while we may SAY that we have spiritual gifts, for all intents and purposes many Christians, just like many of you, ACT like they don’t have them. But before we go any further, let me make sure that you understand the difference between a natural gift and a spiritual gift. They both come from God, but they are different.

I went to college to become a double bassist in a symphony. I was a good musician and believe that, in many ways, I still am. When I was asked whether or not I had thought about going to seminary, to become a pastor, I didn’t think that I had a call (even though God was using these people to call me there). Furthermore, I didn’t think that I would be very good at it, especially if I’d have to visit people who were sick. I didn’t want to do that.

While being a musician is certainly a gift, I wasn’t using my music to serve others, only to serve myself mostly. Music can be a spiritual gift, but I wasn’t using it as such by practicing 6-8 hours a day just in order to get a job that I wanted. When God finally got through to me and called me to seminary to start training to become a pastor, I began working on my spiritual gifts and discovered that they were much different than what I thought they would be. Remember that I said that I didn’t think I would be a good pastor because I didn’t want to sit with sick people; however, when I started visiting the sick as a chaplain in a hospital during seminary, I actually found that I loved doing it and even started realizing that it was a gift. It didn’t come naturally maybe, but it was a spiritual gift. When I was focused on serving others, on listening to their needs, on caring for their suffering, it became one of my favorite things to do—we might call this a gift of counseling.

Of the short list of spiritual gifts mentioned in the passage today, the one that I’ve noticed the most in my life is the gift of healing. Now, I don’t believe that I have ever seen a dramatic physical healing in anyone I have prayed for . . . yet . . . but I believe every time I pray that it could happen. However, people have sometimes told me that when I pray for them, they experience a healing of their spirit, knowing that God really does forgive them or that they experience inner healing. You see, as Paul says, “there are a variety of gifts” they don’t all have to look the same. Just because you have the gift of healing, doesn’t mean that it will look the way you think it should look, or how it looks on the movies. You may have it to a lesser or greater degree than someone else. Not everyone will become a famous televangelist, but you may still have the gift of evangelism. If you never try to use your spiritual gifts, how will you ever know? The gift of healing seems like a great spiritual gift to have, but it is by no means the greatest or the worst.

I believe that for many of you there are two obstacles to using your spiritual gifts. The first is that you don’t know what a spiritual gift is, or you don’t know what gifts you might have. This obstacle is mostly about a lack of familiarity with scripture or the failure of spiritual leaders, like myself, to do a good job teaching you about them. The second obstacle is one of faith. This means that even if you know what your spiritual gifts are, that knowledge stays up in your head and never moves to your heart.

Christian Schwarz, the director of Natural Church Development, has written a book about spiritual gifts. In this book, I believe that he has compiled a good list of possible gifts that Christians might have. You each received this list in your bulletins this morning. This list is taken from scripture, but there is no doubt that you could argue about the titles he gives some of them. The point of this exercise is to simply give you some ideas about what possible spiritual gifts you might have. Remember that the gift of healing isn’t always going to mean that people with cancer are suddenly cured . . . though it might. And the gift of counseling doesn’t mean that you are a great psychologist, but that perhaps people feel refreshed and joyful after talking to you. There are a variety of gifts and a variety of how those gifts are manifested. I encourage you to read this list when you are at home this week and pray about how God might use you at Saint Peters and everywhere you go.

These gifts came through your baptism, not through some secondary education. But what about that second obstacle: your faith.

Why is it, do you think, that you have not used your spiritual gifts? I’m sure that some of you have realized, before today, that you have had at least some ability in some of these areas. I know that you have served others. But in the life of this church, many of you either leave your gift under the Christmas tree unopened or leave your gifts at home and never use them. Why?

When Martin Luther talked about how faith is given through the Holy Spirit, he wrote, “I believe that I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel.” I believe that these words are an excellent witness to the words of scripture. It is not our work to find God, but God’s work to find us. In fact, we tend to run from God—we are bound and determined to make it as hard on Him to find us, to love us, to empower us and to save us as possible.

Thankfully, being the creator of heaven and earth, he knows what he needs to do to get through to us, and it is not by motivating us to great acts of spiritual power. Scripture says he kills us in order to make us truly alive. He brings us down to raise us up. He condemns us and then he forgives us. So that we might know who exactly gets the glory. He says that we have sinned because we have not used our spiritual gifts. This is simply the truth. People have suffered, churches have suffered, even we ourselves have suffered because of this. We have left the work of the ministry in the hands of others. We have not served others with our gifts but have used them only to increase our own selfish interests. God has given us gifts—the most amazing spiritual gifts!—and we have squandered them. We are not acting like the people God created us to be, the people God saved us to be, the people God empowers us to be.

So, since you and I are unwilling to use our spiritual gifts, God does something new. He forgives. He forgives you. He gives you and I a clean slate today. Those months and years of not being involved in the life of the church, God has set them aside and now looks at you as a new creation. No longer shall you be termed Potential, but now you shall be called Useful. No longer shall you be called Uninformed, but you are called God’s delight. For God has placed in your hands the most wondrous gifts in all creation—gifts to serve others for the sake of the kingdom of God. Your forgiveness is free. The gifts are yours. What might happen when take them out for a spin? Amen.