Spiritual Gifts
Your Unique Gift Matters: Understanding Spiritual Gifts in the Body of Christ
Have you ever felt insignificant in your church? Perhaps you’ve looked at others with more visible roles and thought, “What I do doesn’t really matter.” Or maybe you’ve been on the other side, thinking some roles are simply more important than others. I’ve been reflecting on how these attitudes can create division in our churches—something I witnessed firsthand growing up.
By the time I was in eighth grade, I had attended eight different schools because my father, a pastor, moved from church to church. One of the main reasons? Division in churches. As Charles Spurgeon wisely noted, “All other sins destroy the church consequentially, but division and separation, they demolish it directly.”
The Source of Our Gifts
In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul addresses a church struggling with division partly because they misunderstood spiritual gifts. Some were elevating certain gifts while diminishing others. Paul reminds them—and us—that spiritual gifts all come from the same source.
“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” (1 Corinthians 12:4-6).
This is a pride-leveling truth. It’s not like some Christians have the “smartphone version” of the Holy Spirit while others have the “flip phone version.” No Christian has more or less of the Holy Spirit than another. As Paul emphasizes in verse 11, spiritual gifts are “empowered by one and the same Spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills.”
The Purpose of Our Gifts
Why do we have spiritual gifts? Paul makes it crystal clear: “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7).
Spiritual gifts are not for your own recognition, praise, money, pride, competition, manipulation, or even personal fulfillment. They are for others—specifically, your church family. Whatever gift you have, it exists to serve the people around you.
The Value of Every Member
Paul spends most of the chapter illustrating how all members of a church are valuable and equally important. He uses the human body as a metaphor: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12).
Christ is the head, and we are the body. We’re inseparable from Him and from one another. We work together to carry out Christ’s will.
Overcoming the “I Am Not Needed” Attitude
“If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body” (1 Corinthians 12:15).
Have you felt inferior by comparing yourself to others? This is as ridiculous in the body of Christ as it would be in the human body. As David Strain writes, “Comparisons are deadly in the Christian life. Our calling is simply to use what God has given us in humility for the glory of his name and the good of those around us.”
Overcoming the “You Are Not Needed” Attitude
“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you.’ Nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you'” (1 Corinthians 12:21).
We often look down on others who are weak where we’re strong. But Paul reminds us that “the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable” (1 Corinthians 12:22).
Putting It Into Practice
I think of Dan Reisselberg from my previous church. Every Monday morning, he would come to empty the trash cans. In those brief interactions—sometimes encouraging me, sometimes challenging my sermon—he provided something I couldn’t have done without. “I don’t know what that spiritual gift is,” I’ve reflected, “but man, was it important.”
Remember these truths as you serve in your church:
- Recognize your gift’s source: Whatever abilities you have are from God, not something to boast about.
- Use your gift for others: Ask yourself how your unique abilities can serve your church family.
- Value every member: Resist both feelings of inferiority and attitudes of superiority.
- Embrace your role: As Tish Warren beautifully puts it, have “the courage to face an ordinary day” and “the bravery it takes to believe that a small life is still a meaningful life.”
God has composed the body of Christ with intentionality, “that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another” (1 Corinthians 12:25). You are needed. Your gift matters. The church needs exactly who God has designed you to be.
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Prayers That Transform The Church
Empowered By The Holy Spirit
A Word Centered Church
We hope you enjoyed the sermon and would love to see you in person. Plan your visit to Community Baptist Church in Spring Hill, Tennessee today!