The Work of One Through the Many | The Second Sunday after the Epiphany | 1 Corinthians 12:1–11
January 16, 2022 | 10:45 a.m.
The Second Sunday after the Epiphany
READINGS
Isaiah 62:1–5
Psalm 128:1-6
1 Corinthians 12:1–11
John 2:1–11
message presented by Rev. Frank C. Ruffatto
+Points to ponder
- What do you make of the idea that Paul is addressing the work of the Spirit in the ‘every day’ life of the Christian?
- In what ‘spiritual things’ (or gifts) has the Spirit impacted or guided your life in faith?
- What do you think of the idea that all that we do (in the power of the Spirit) is a proclamation that “Jesus is Lord”?
+Sermon Transcript
**Grace, mercy, and peace be unto each of you from God our Father and our Lord and King, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Let us pray:** Almighty and eternal Father, ruler of all, in Your steadfast love send us Your Spirit that we would serve our neighbor and worship You aright – in the name of our Lord, Jesus. Amen.
On December 12, 1980, a small startup company called Apple first became a public corporation and began offering its very first shares of stock. In the business world, this is referred to as an “initial public offering” and requires a lot of documentation to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to protect the interests of those investing in the new company.
One such document required is a full disclosure of any foreseeable weaknesses or problems as the new corporation’s goods or services go to market. Here is what Steve Jobs, one of the founders of Apple, disclosed as a “foreseeable weakness” for the company. (Keep in mind this was over forty years ago.) “The expansion of the personal computer market will require a continued orientation effort directed at informing individuals of the means by which the computer may be utilized to enhance personal efficiency and productivity. Towards this end, the Company is committed to an extensive advertising and promotional effort.”
More simply put: At that time, the founders of Apple Computer, now one of the largest and most successful corporations in the world, were concerned that no one would have any use for their product! In those early days, personal computers were considered a novelty, and it would take many years before the world would fully realize their potential, making them an integral component of our human existence. It is strange to consider that there was a time when our society had to be informed as to the usefulness of something most of us would feel helpless without today.
Our Epistle this morning, begins with the sentence “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.” It occurs to me that though we frequently hear about the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, we may wonder, “What does He really do? What does He help us achieve?” Here we find one of the many texts in which St. Paul explains
HOW EMPOWERED THE CHURCH IS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT! – WITHOUT WHOM WE TRULY ARE HELPLESS.
To begin with, the verse does not literally speak of spiritual “gifts,” but simply states that Paul is informing us of ton pneumatikon, “spiritual things,” that is, the work of the Spirit in everyday Christian life. St. Paul is informing the Christians in Corinth about the amazing value of what they have been given, through their Baptism, in the divine person of the Holy Spirit.
Paul reminds us: “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.”
And so, we find the work of the Holy Spirit rather broadly described as gifts, services, and activities. Beyond sharing the same origin, what these all have in common is that all are the work of the Divine but are miraculously accomplished through fragile human hands and miraculously proclaimed through imperfect human speech. This is how the child of faith thrives from day to day, loving and serving the neighbor. Whether utterances of wisdom or knowledge, or the healing of body or mind, or the translation of foreign language, whether astonishing or mundane in form or appearance, this is the work of the Holy Spirit in the daily life of the Christian believer.
This is how we love our neighbor. This is the Christian vocation which Dr. Luther summarizes in his commentary on Genesis: “We all have one and the same God, and we are one in the unified worship of God, even if our works and vocations are different. But each one should do his duty in his station, even as Jacob is a saintly and spiritual man meditating on God’s Law, praying, administering, and governing the church. In the meantime, however, he does not overlook lowly domestic duties connected with the fields and the flocks, and this is set before us as an example that we may know that all our actions in domestic life are pleasing to God and that they are necessary for this life in which it becomes each one to serve the one God and Lord of all according to one’s ability and vocation.”
Vocations are the everyday services, activities, and words of us Christians expressed through our daily interactions with our neighbors and given as gifts from God. Peter in his first letter writes, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies – in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”
Sometimes our vocations seem very “spiritual” in nature from a human viewpoint, such as evangelism, church work, or caring for the poor, but other vocations may not appear to have any spiritual connection whatsoever. Some vocational tasks are hard to see as spiritual, such as the person repairing our car, the police officer writing you a traffic ticket, the parents getting completely exasperated with their teenager for not ending video games when it’s 10 p.m. on a school night.
The truth is that the Holy Spirit is at work through all human actions and words, however mundane or majestic they appear to our finite eyes. All these services, words, and activities, assuming they do not violate the Word of God, are part of the Holy Spirit’s work toward our neighbor proclaiming, “Jesus is Lord.”
Unfortunately, Satan likes to deceive the human heart whenever possible and will take advantage of every opportunity to focus our hearts and minds on the spirit of “me” rather than the Spirit of God. In our text, St. Paul reminds us of what true “spiritual things” look like as opposed to empty, and meagre human effort.
In several places within our reading, St. Paul reminds us that the work of the Spirit is always relational and is never reductive or individualistic. In recent church history, many have struggled with the concept of “spiritual gifts,” primarily because of an improper emphasis on individual identity and personal attention.
The temptation to be by our own power, ‘god-like,’ has been biting at our heels from the very beginning. According to our current text, and the rest of the New Testament, truly “spiritual” gifts are not reductive, that is, a singular focus on a particular individual’s ability, but they are instead relational, one part of a larger whole. “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”
We see this communicated through the relational comparisons of “varieties but one” or “to each but common” and “individually but one.” The mention of the Spirit, Lord, and God, while not literally using the terms Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, should at least remind us of the distinctly three, but fully one, relational nature of God in the Holy Trinity. We are also told that, from the beginning, the relational nature of God as Trinity was reflected in His creation. The first human being was incomplete while alone. We were created in and for relationship with God and one another, originally from the dust and, later, as new creations through Baptism, together becoming the Body of the Church. “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”
The day-to-day work of the Holy Spirit through our human hands is not an individual effort; it is each of us playing one part of a much greater whole. When we reduce the work of the Holy Spirit to the individual alone, we are destined for disappointment.
D. L. Moody [once] said, “I believe firmly that the moment our hearts are emptied of pride and selfishness and ambition and everything that is contrary to God’s law, the Holy Spirit will fill every corner of our hearts. But if we are full of pride and conceit and ambition and the world, there is no room for the Spirit of God. We must be emptied before we can be filled.”
And so, this morning’s Epistle makes it clear that you play the part, but the Spirit provides the power. Paul writes: “It is the same God who empowers them all in everyone [and] all these are empowered by one and the same Spirit.” While it is true that your services, your activities, and your words are “yours,” we must never forget that the power which accomplishes anything good through them is fully the Lord’s as verse three reminds us that even our ability to proclaim “Jesus is Lord” is the work of the Holy Spirit as the Word creates faith.
“Therefore, when we have been justified by faith and regenerated, we begin to fear and love God, to pray to Him, to expect aid from Him, to give thanks and praise Him, and to obey Him in times of suffering. We also begin to love our neighbors because our hearts have spiritual and holy movements.”
In contradistinction, verse two speaks of those who are being led to serve dead idols, hollow philosophies, and empty outcomes with the description “however you were led,” that is, by something other than the Holy Spirit. Whether it is desire, anger, envy, or some other emotional drive, human power only produces dead work. If it is spiritual work, it must be spiritually powered.
When I was an investigator in Maryland – specifically in the realm of child abuse cases – we had specific laws that required mothers and fathers to care for their children. While it is true that there are sad occasions in which these laws are invoked to protect children from parents who abandon them, is this why parents provide care for their children? Simply because it’s the law? I would hope not. Imagine the amount of psychological damage it would inflict if we knew that the only reason our parents took care of us was because they felt forced to do so under some law. Is that the reason you feed your family? Is that why you overspent your budget during Christmas on presents for kids or grandkids? Is that why you couldn’t sleep every time you worried about whether you made the right parenting decision? I doubt it.
The power of parenting and every other vocation under the call of Christ is empowered by something far beyond any earthly punishment or reward. It is empowered by the Holy Spirit and given to us through the faith created by the Word of God through our Baptism.
Most important, if our work is truly of the Holy Spirit, powered by Him and not ourselves, the ultimate outcome will reflect the source, that “Jesus is Lord.”
Beloved, do not be uninformed. The Holy Spirit is at work in all of us who believe; we are helpless without Him. But with Him, serving together as the Body of Christ, we can be help, hope, home in the body of Christ and we shall see the world made new in Christ. Amen.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
Background and Study notes from Concordia Pulpit Resources Vol 32 Pt 1 YrC. (Electronic version) Rev. Dr. Robb C. Ring, associate pastor, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Orange, California, adjunct professor, Concordia University Irvine, California