Friends, I just can’t let go of Christmas! The reason for this is because of our New Testament reading today from I Corinthians.
In his letter to the Christians in Corinth, the Apostle Paul wants them to know that there are gifts that they have yet to open. Just three weeks since we celebrated Christmas, it’s like these gifts are still under the tree waiting to be unwrapped. In the first verse of our reading, he writes, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.”
One of the joys of the Christian faith is that God always has more gifts for us to open. The psalmist for today in Psalm 36 says about God, “For with you is the fountain of life.” Fountains are a continuous flow of life-giving water. I love this image that reminds us that God’s blessings and gifts do not end on Christmas Day, but continue to be offered to us again and again.
And so, what are these gifts that the Corinthian Christians have yet to open. Paul refers to these as spiritual gifts. He doesn’t give us the entire list here. It’s more of giving us a few examples.
For whatever reason, Paul offers these particular gifts in his list: The gift of the utterance of wisdom, the gift of the utterance of knowledge, the gift of faith, the gift of healing, the gift of the working of miracles, the gift of prophecy, and the gifts of speaking of tongues and the interpretation of tongues.
There are several references to spiritual gifts in the Bible. If you would combine all of those different lists, there are approximately twenty or so spiritual gifts in total. So here’s the combined lists of spiritual gifts in alphabetical order:
Administration which is the wonderful ability to organize and care for the details that help people to flourish and grow in their ministries.
And the next two spiritual gifts are under the title of Craftmanship and these include Craftmanship as it relates to being an artist and then Craftmanship as it relates to being able to repair and fix things.
Another spiritual gift is evangelism where you are inclined to share the good news of Jesus with others. There’s the gift of exhortation and this is the ability to encourage people in their relationship with Christ.
Faith is another gift which Paul mentions in his short list. Faith is the ability to trust God especially when facing challenges and obstacles.
Giving is a spiritual gift where you are always looking for ways to generously share your resources to help build the kingdom of God here on earth.
The gift of helps is a gift that enables people to get things done behind the scenes.
Hospitality is a spiritual gift where people feel at ease and comfortable in your presence.
Knowledge is a gift that Paul mentions in his short list. This is a gift in which you enjoy taking in information about the faith.
Leadership is a gift where you are good at helping people to move together toward a common purpose and vision.
The gift of mercy is where you have a great deal of empathy for the pain and struggles of others.
The gift of music is broken down into two gifts. There is the gift of vocal music where your voice blesses others and the other music gift is the gift of playing an instrument that also blesses others in a pleasing and inspiring way.
Prayer is a spiritual gift where people are inclined to pray for the needs of others. They are known to be in constant prayer throughout the week lifting up joys and concerns as well as offering prayers of confession and prayers of praise and thanksgiving.
Serving is a gift in not only seeing a need but being able to meet that need.
Shepherding is a gift where you have the ability to help people be drawn closer to God and with one another in caring and authentic ways.
Teaching relates to being able to help others to know more about their Christian faith and encouraging people to know that there’s always more to know about being a follower of Jesus.
The gift of speaking in tongues and the gift of interpreting the speaking of tongues are two gifts that Paul mentions in the I Corinthians scripture reading. Sometimes the Holy Spirit speaks to us in words that are beyond our own language and there are some who are able to hear what God is saying through them when they speak in tongues.
Wisdom is a gift that Paul includes in his abbreviated list and this involves the ability in knowing how to approach various situations from a faith perspective.
And last but not least is the gift of writing. This is a spiritual gift in which you are able to express yourself through the writing down of thoughts and ideas about your faith in a way that is creative and inspiring.
So if we add up all these gifts that we find in various lists throughout the Bible including the list that Paul gives us in our I Corinthians reading that gives us approximately twenty spiritual gifts.
Paul doesn’t want the Corinthian Christians to be uninformed that each one of us has been given at least one or more of these spiritual gifts that we are to use as he writes in verse seven, “for the common good.”
Paul’s deepest desire as an apostle was to help the church to go forth and spread into all the world. He wanted others to come to know and experience the depth of God’s love in Jesus.
And he knew that if everyone opens up their particular gift or gifts and uses these gifts for the benefit of others and the building up of the church, that more and more people would be able to be drawn into a relationship with Jesus and grow in their faith through the love, encouragement and support of the church.
Notice that the Apostle Paul also emphasizes that the Spirit has given us these gifts. These gifts are a result of our new life in Christ. I also love how Paul uses the word “activate” twice in our passage of scripture.
He says in verse 6, “It is the same God who activates all of the in everyone.” And then in verse 11, Paul says, “All these gifts are activated by one and the same Spirit.”
This reminds me of computer language where we are often prompted to type in an activation code to open an online account. The Spirit of God is the one who prompts us to activate or to open the gifts that God has given to us.
A lot of unopened gifts will be left under the tree if we don’t allow the Holy Spirit to activate them so that we can use them for the common good and for the building up of the church in living out our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of our community and world.
When the Bishop was at our church this past September to preach at a district event that we were hosting that day, he told me that he was just at a recent event where he met a church member from one of my previous churches. The event was the 4th anniversary of a new church start in Dayton, Ohio and this person who was a member of my church along with her family had decided to help this new church get started while still being members of the other church where they continue to hold their membership.
And the Bishop was telling me about meeting this family and he said, “that church member is really passionate about her faith. She has the gift of evangelism. That’s the kind of person that will help that new church to grow.”
I nodded in total agreement because she helped our church to grow when I was her pastor several years ago. She loves Jesus and has the gift of sharing her faith and inviting others to church.
It was great to hear from the Bishop that she was still opening the spiritual gift of evangelism that the Holy Spirit had activated in her life to use for the common good.
Pastor Chris Jones shares a story where someone with the spiritual gift of prayer wanted him to know that prayers were being lifted for him and a time that he needed them the most. And from all people, his mail carrier.
Chris had just moved to a new area to become pastor of a church. He had only been in his new home and neighborhood for a couple of weeks when he received the news that his mother was diagnosed with a terminal disease.
Chris says after he got home from church one day, he went to his mailbox to check for the mail and the mail carrier happened to be pulling up to his mail box. And she asked, “Are you Pastor Chris?”
He nodded and then she asked, “Is everything OK? You’ve been getting a lot of cards lately and in my mind, I was hoping they were birthday cards, but I had a feeling they weren’t. Chris told her that he had been receiving a lot of condolence cards because his mother recently passed away from cancer.
The mail carrier offered her sympathy and she said, “I just want you to know how much I’ve been praying for you because of all these cards. As a mail carrier, I can’t help but to notice what might be a sympathy card, a medical bill, overdue credit card statements and so on. You have been in my prayers each day this past week.”
Chris says how God used an unlikely person to offer their gift of prayer on his behalf and he will always remember that incredible act of kindness by his mail carrier.
Even though it’s been several weeks now since Christmas, we still have gifts to open. And as we open these gifts, may the Holy Spirit activate them in such a way that would lead us to be a blessing to others.
More Christmas Gifts to Open!
Administration - The wonderful ability to organize and care for the details that help people to flourish and grow in their ministries.
Craftmanship - There are two kinds of craftmanship. One kind relates to being an artist and the other to being able to repair and fix things.
Evanglism - Being inclined to share the good news of Jesus with others.
Exhortation - The ability to encourage people in their relationship with Christ.
Faith - The ability to trust God especially when facing challenges and obstacles.
Giving - A desire to generously share your resources to help build the kingdom of God here on earth.
Helps - Helping to enhance the ministries of the church by getting important work done that often goes unnoticed.
Hospitality - The ability help people feel at ease and comfortable in your presence and in the presence of others.
Knowledge - The passion and desire to take in information about the faith.
Leadership - Helping people to move together toward a common purpose and vision.
Mercy - Having a great deal of empathy for the pain and struggles of others.
Music - There are two kinds of gifts of music. The gift of vocal music and the gift of instrumental music that is shared in a way that blesses and inspires others.
Prayer - Being inclined to pray for the needs of others and lift up joys and concerns.
Serving - This includes not only seeing a need but finding ways to meet that need.
Shepherding - The ability to help people be drawn closer to God and with one another in caring and authentic ways.
Teaching - Helping others to know more about their Christian faith and encouraging people to know that there’s always more to know about being a follower of Jesus.
Speaking in Tongues - Allowing the Holy Spirit to speak through us that is beyond our common language.
Interpretation of Tongues - Helping others to understand the message of those who are speaking in tongues.
Wisdom - The ability in knowing how to approach various situations from a faith perspective by using wise discernment.
Writing - Being able to express yourself through the writing down of thoughts and ideas about your faith in a way that is creative and inspiring.
When hope runs dry, lift us out of despair, O God, and fill us with the waters of renewal. Transform our lives as you once transformed water into wine that we may flow with abundant love. Open our hearts to receive the gifts of your Spirit that you have uniquely chosen for us. Forgive us for not recognizing and using the gifts you have given us for the common good. Thank you for the many ways that others share their gifts to bless us. Amen.
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