The Tenth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

In Christ Jesus, whom we confess as Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit, dear fellow redeemed:

If you had to decide between losing an arm or losing a leg, which would you choose? How about between your sight or your hearing? How about the ability to talk or the ability to walk? Those are difficult questions. We wouldn’t consider any of our body parts expendable, though we might give up an appendix or our tonsils if we had to (and maybe you have).

Just after today’s reading, St. Paul writes about how absurd and destructive it would be for the body to rebel against itself, so for example, for the eye to rebel against the hand or for the head to reject the feet (12:21). This would not help the body in any way. It would hurt the whole. Paul continues that “God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another” (vv. 24-25).

What he is talking about is the Church of all believers, which he calls “the body of Christ” (v. 27). Each believer is a member of the body of Christ. So it should be the concern of every one of us that we do not conduct ourselves in such a way that we do harm to the body. We are not just to look out for ourselves. We are not to elevate ourselves, as though we are more important members of the body of Christ while others are less important.

After all, we did not attach ourselves to Christ’s body by our own power or ability. We were joined to His body through Holy Baptism by the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul writes, “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body [the body of Christ]… and all were made to drink of one Spirit” (v. 13). “[B]y the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Ti. 3:5), we were brought into the body of Christ, and by the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit through the Word, we remain active members of the body of Christ.

In today’s reading, Paul speaks about the work that is done in the Church by the power of the Spirit. It is tempting to think of success in the church according to the abilities of the members. As in, “that church is doing so well because of the programs it offers,” or “that church is growing because the pastor is such a good preacher,” or “that church is successful because of the services it provides to the community.” Whatever good may be seen to happen in the church on earth, the glory must go to God alone.

Again and again, Paul connects spiritual gifts among Christians to the Holy Spirit. Whether it is the gift of wisdom or knowledge or healing or miracles or prophecy, it is “through the Spirit,” “according to the same Spirit,” “by the same Spirit,” and “by the one Spirit.” “All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit,” he writes, “who apportions to each one individually as He wills.”

As we think about the gifts of the Spirit, we need to recognize that there is no limit to what the Holy Spirit is able to do on earth if He wills it. If He wanted, He could make us a hundred times healthier or a thousand times smarter. If He wanted, He could give us the ability to jump over great distances or even to fly. He could make it so that we never feel pain or sorrow or fear and would go about our work with perfect courage and strength.

But while there is no limit to what He could do, the Holy Spirit limits His activity to what will build up the Church, what will strengthen the body of Christ. He does not act as a rogue Person of God. He operates within the Godhead in perfect conformity with God the Father and God the Son. Jesus said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (Joh. 16:13). Then He added, “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (v. 14).

The Holy Spirit employs His power to glorify Christ and the Father who sent Him, and to take the gifts obtained by Jesus and distribute them to us. Those gifts are not mentioned in today’s reading, but they are the forgiveness of sin through Jesus’ death on the cross, the bestowal of His righteousness through His perfect life, the victory over death and eternal life through His resurrection. These are the things Jesus had in mind when He looked upon the city of Jerusalem with tears in His eyes and said, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!” (Luk. 19:42).

You do know “the things that make for peace,” because the Holy Spirit has given you faith in Jesus’ saving work. You recognize that every good thing you have from God—most importantly your salvation—comes to you by grace. You deserve punishment and eternal damnation in hell, but you receive the opposite—forgiveness and eternal life in heaven. It didn’t cost you an arm or a leg, but it cost Jesus His life which He willingly gave up for you. You believe and confess that “Jesus is Lord,” because the Holy Spirit has planted this comforting truth in your sinful heart.

But the sin in your heart does not want to give up its place so easily. The old Adam in you, your sinful nature, wants you to follow after and cling to lies. It might be the lie that the church could not survive without you—the lie that if not for your talents, if not for your efforts and offerings and gifts, all would be lost—the lie that you are a more important member in the body of Christ than all the other members. Pastors are tempted in the same way too, with the thought that the good things that happen in the congregation are because of their hard work and their abilities.

“The god of what I do” or “the god of what you do” are some of those “mute idols” that formerly led the Corinthian Christians astray. The things we sinfully put our trust in will not speak for us before the throne of God on the last day. Our bank accounts will not speak for us, no matter how full they are. Our possessions will not speak for us. Our positions of power and influence will not speak for us. Our popularity in the world will not speak for us. If we gathered all these things around us to validate that we had lived a good life and accomplished good things, they would not and could not say a word on our behalf. Their mouths would stay shut no matter how much we begged for their support.

It is no good to appeal for salvation to anything we have done. If we have done any good, it is only because the Holy Spirit has worked it in us as a gift of His grace, as a fruit of faith. These are the gifts He gives for the building up of the Church. The gifts that each of us has, whatever they may be, are not meant for our own benefit or our own glory. They are for the good of the whole body, for the Christian brothers and sisters around us and even around the world.

The work of the Holy Spirit among us may not look the same as it did in the days of the apostles when the Church was first being established. “Gifts of healing,” “working of miracles,” and the speaking of “various kinds of tongues” are not common in the Church like they used to be. They seem to have faded when the New Testament books were written by the apostles and disseminated. As exciting as those spiritual gifts may be, we have all we need today for the building up of the Church. We have God’s Word and Sacraments, the holy means of grace, for our growth in wisdom, faith, and strength.

St. Paul wrote to the Church in Ephesus that God’s Word is the foundation we are built on as “members of the household of God” (Eph. 2:19). Christ Jesus is the cornerstone in whom the whole structure is joined together, a holy temple, “a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (vv. 20-22). The Holy Spirit is just as powerfully active today as He was in the early Church. He still comes among us and works through us “for the common good.”

This is just what we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer when we say, “Thy kingdom come.” As we learn in the Catechism, “The kingdom of God comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and live godly lives here in time and hereafter in eternity.” That is the purpose of the Spirit’s work among us, to increase our faith in Jesus and to help us live godly lives—lives of service and love toward God and neighbor.

This is how The Holy Spirit Builds Up the Church. This is how He blesses us here on earth, and how He prepares us for our heavenly home where we will perfectly receive, utilize, and praise Him for His holy gifts.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.

+  +  +

(picture from “The Outpouring of the Holy Ghost” by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)