A Sermon Written by Rev. Dr. Cary L. Beckwith

Rev. Beckwith is a native of St. Louis, Mo, currently serving as the pastor of both the Wood River First and Wanda United Methodist Churches in the Illinois Great Rivers Conference.

One For All! 

Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 12: 4-13 (NIV)

4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. 12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body-whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 

Today across Christendom, we observe Pentecost Sunday. Historically, it is celebrated as the culmination of the 50th day after the Resurrection of Christ “pente’” means 50, The Festival or Feast of Weeks, the Shavaut in Old Testament Jewish tradition. It’s the day where the Holy Spirit descends upon its people as a mighty rushing wind resulting in tongues of fire that rests upon those in attendance. The power of God moving in the upper room with 120 in attendance. This coming of the Holy Spirit is the divinely inspired inauguration and indoctrination that gives birth to what we know today as the church. This entity designed by God with the help of the Holy Spirit to spread the good news of the gospel to all the ends of the earth, through all the languages of the earth, with the goal of making of disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. The church, the “rock” in which the gates of hell shall not prevail. The church, never meant to be confined or constrained within the confines of a building, the church, never designed to be stuck, staid, and stagnant, but always meant to be in motion, the church, the ecclesia, the priesthood of believers purposed with purpose and on purpose to declare the works of the Lord, while at the same time, inviting all to become a valued and vital part of the family. 

This is a high holy day in the life of the church, a day of celebration and joy, camaraderie and community, yet once again, just like Resurrection Sunday and every other Sunday for almost 3 months, we’ve had to alter and temper our congregational gatherings due to the coronavirus pandemic, our commemorations and celebrations are limited to technology, or even the drive in, stay safely in your car service, and once again, we find our country in upheaval and pandemonium, peaceful protests on one side, yet looting and rioting have also re-emerged as the response across the country in response to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. This is unlike any Pentecostal Sunday we’ve ever experienced! 

Yet, I would submit to us today that the Holy Spirit which is the star of the Pentecost story, while it is personal, inspirational, and individual, there is also an inclusive, communal, and universal aspect of the Holy Spirit that we must not miss.  It doesn’t just make ME better, more anointed, or talented, the holy spiritual is designed to move ME, use ME, anoint ME, enhance ME, as a conduit, to make US better, help US grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, help US fulfill our divine potential and purpose as WE make an even greater impact for the sake of the kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit wasn’t given to me individually just to help me, the Holy Spirit was given to ME to enhance WE. That’s what I want us to understand this morning, when God graces us with God’s Holy Spirit, God attaches with it an individual, AND communal responsibility to it. 

Nowhere is this more apparent I believe in the distribution of the different and various spiritual gifts that God through the Holy Spirit gives to God’s people and God’s church. This is what our text is about this morning. Paul writes this authentic letter to the church at Corinth because the church has a major problem on its hands. They trend on many issues towards divisiveness, not the least of which of what they perceive as the real workings of the Holy Spirit as it relates to spiritual gifts. You see beloved, the Corinthian church was good for finding any reason to branch off and separate. Schisms were par for the course for the church based upon what a specific group thought was the “proper” belief system. Instead of celebrating diversity of thought and belief, where there was no consensus, it would always lead to schisms, they fell out food, they argued over circumcision, how to settle disputes, and as a consequence, the church became fractured. 

Paul is disturbed by what he has heard and he decides that he has to write them a letter to help them gain a greater understanding, not only on the movement and the workings of the Holy Spirit, he also wants to gain a greater understanding of the purpose of spiritual gifts. Paul says that he doesn’t want them to be “uninformed” or “uneducated” regarding the gifts of the spirit, and he reminds them that when they were pagans they were led astray by false idols. He also says to them that if they are speaking by the spirit of God, they could never say, “Jesus is cursed, but the true confession of their faith is exhibited for those who was led by the prompting of the Holy Spirit to declare, “Jesus is Lord!” 

Paul tells the church that there is a “One For All” element they must understand in order to move forward in unity and collegiality as the church has been designed, Paul tells them, “there are different kinds of gifts, one spirit distributes them, different kinds of service, one Lord, different kinds of workings, but yet, in the midst of all that diversity, it’s still the same God that’s at work. Paul has to explain to the church that there is a greater purpose for all of its spirit inspired diversity, that there’s no reason to separate into schisms, but where there’s honor and acknowledgment in the midst of differences and diversity, success and unity can be achieved. I believe that’s why there is so much tension, pain, and suffering in our world now, too many folk have failed to acknowledge and honor diversity and differences and instead have decided that differences have become a reason to demean and denounce. Instead of having dignity while dealing with difference of opinion, some folks choose to resort to name calling, insults and slurs. 

Paul tells the church that some of the things you’re falling out about aren’t even worth all the time and effort you’ve spent arguing about it, there is an individual as well as communal aspect to the Holy Spirit and it’s workings, and it’s incumbent upon us to never limit the scope and movement of the spirit, nor should we ever become competitive in the workings of the spirit. The Holy Spirit is not limited in what it can do, so we should never attempt to limit what it can do! The Holy Spirit is “One For All!” 

There are some things in text that I want to show us about the Holy Spirit, it’s movement and its workings, that I think will highlight its nature as being “One For All.” 

#1 The Holy Spirit is for, “Everyone’s Benefit!” (vs. 7) 

Paul says that everyone receives a manifestation, an indwelling, the Amplified bible calls it, “spiritual illumination and enabling of the Holy Spirit,” for the “common good.” This is why beloved child of God, we must not get this thing twisted, we must not get this thing confused, we must realize that the Holy Spirit ain’t just for us, it isn’t designed just to make us better, it’s not just an individual illumination and enabling, NO, we receive the Holy Spirit so that you and I, we, us, can work together for the common good, everyone’s benefit and betterment for the creation of the beloved community. The Holy Spirit was never given  to us as a tool for us to act selfishly or for someone to have the audacity to say that they are somehow more “spiritual” or “better”  than someone else. Each one of us through salvation and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ has received the Holy Spirit as a means to uplift, empower, and encourage everyone for the common good of all. Your Holy Spirit ain’t my Holy Spirit ain’t his Holy Spirit or her Holy Spirit, yet in the midst of the differences and distinctions we have, black white, young, old, Methodist, baptist, Pentecostal, even non-denominational, this same spirit should rise up in all of us for the common good. Instead of competing with one another on who got more Holy Ghost in them, we’ve got to come together and compliment one another so that the common good is achieved. 

I would submit to us today that far too many disciples have been derelict in their responsibilities, selling out for titles and prestige, platforms, and power and as a consequence, have forgotten that this spiritual illuminating and enabling that manifests itself through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit wasn’t given to us just for our personal benefit, we receive the Holy Spirit as a means for the common good, everyone’s benefit and betterment. The common good for all, not just a select few, the common good, solidarity over selfishness, not just individual success, but communal success for everyone’s benefit and no one’s deficit!

The Holy Spirit manifests itself for everyone’s benefit, the (common good) but also:

#2 The Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to us  for “Everyone’s Employment!” (vs. 8-11). 

Paul highlights 9 different gifts that are given by the same spirit for the common good and the uplifting and empowerment of the church. 

  1. Wisdom-spiritual insight regarding the practical aspect of Christian principles.
  2. Knowledge- an intelligent grasp of Christian principles.
  3. Faith- mountain moving faith that defies the impossible.
  4. Healings-Yes, I know some of you all might not believe this, but God has given some folks the gift of miraculous healing. They can lay hands on the sick and the sick will be healed. That’s a gift from the Holy Spirit.
  5. Miracles- God graces some with the gift to be used by God to perform miraculous acts of power.
  6. Prophecy-this ain’t the jump up and down three times prophecy, but it’s a declaration of the word and the works of the Lord.
  7. Discernment-this is the spiritual gift that can distinguish what is of God, and what is of the devil. 
  8. Speaking in tongues-glossolalia, spirit inspired utterance that is “talking with God.” that builds up the individual 
  9. Interpretation of tongues-a gift that is used to advance the spreading of the gospel by transcending language barriers. 

We know that these aren’t all the spiritual gifts that are available, but what we must recognize that the Holy Spirit gives us these gifts not just for our enjoyment, these are gifts more importantly, for our EMPLOYMENT!! Beloved, we’ve got work to do! We’ve got to allow the Holy Spirit to empower us with the passion and boldness to speak truth to power, to prophetically call a spade a spade, to stand in the public square and denounce inhumane treatment of people, even  if it means we don’t get the best seat or the prime speaking engagement, even if we lose folk in the process, even if our popularity plummets, even if it offends and yet, exposes at the same time! 

We’ve got work to do because as long as there is injustice, oppression, poverty, depravity, brokenness, as long as lies become the truth, and truth becomes a myth, we must use the gifts that God has given us to work for the common good. 

You can’t see them fall from my eyes, so I gotta make the sermon cry! Gotta cry out for the spirit to use us all as instruments of justice and equality. Gotta cry out for the Holy Spirit to use us all to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, find rest for the weary, and shelter for the displaced, honor our elderly and take care of our children. You can’t see them fall from my eyes, so I gotta make the sermon cry, we’ve got work to do because we need justice to flow like a river instead of continuous clotting in certain places, we need the spirit to employ us to use our gifts in order to see each other as human and someone that’s worthy of dignity! I’ve gotta make the sermon cry because Mr. Cooper can’t watch birds in peace, because Karen’s are still crying wolf, Ms. Breonna can’t sleep in her own bed in peace, Mr. Arbrey can’t jog in peace, and Mr. Floyd can’t breathe! But let me remind us, this ain’t the first time a knee has been on a neck, just the latest time! We’ve ALL got work to do, after the shouting, after the worshipping, after the fellowshipping, we’ve received these spiritual gifts as a means of divine employment to do the work God has assigned our hands because there are too many Rachel’s that are “ weeping for their children, refusing to be comforted because their children are no more.”  

The spirit ain’t just for our enjoyment, the gifts the spirit gives us are for our EMPLOYMENT!! And the text tells us that the spirit makes the determination on who gets what gift, so quit comparing or critiquing someone’s gift, quit criticizing or being envious because you wanted their gift, use the gift God has given you to the best of your ability for the uplifting of God’s kingdom! 

The third thing we find in the text is this, after we understand that we received the Holy Spirit for everyone’s benefit (common good), the spiritual gifts we received are for everyone’s employment (build up the church and the kingdom of God), the day of Pentecost in which the Holy Spirit gave birth to the church was divinely designed for…..

#3 Everyone’s Inclusion! (vs. 12-14) 

Paul says that just as the body is singular in scope, it’s yet made up of many different and distinct parts. So it is with the body of Christ, the one spirit, baptized all into the body, didn’t matter if they were Jew, Greek, slave or free, black or white, Latin or Asian, here it is, straight or gay, that same spirit, the Holy Spirit regenerates us all and fills us all, making us all part of the body of Christ. I hate to be the bearer of bad news today, I even hate to burst someone’s bubble, but I stopped on by today on this Pentecost Sunday to let some evangelicals and other folks know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is about INCLUSION and not about exclusion, that it is open for all who want to hear and receive it by faith. 

 I feel I need to let some folks know today that it time for the people of God to stop excluding who God desires us to include. You do know that the Bible says that “The earth is the Lord and the fullness thereof, the world and THEY that dwell therein.” don’t you? You do know that how WE might feel about someone is of no consequence to God right? We can’t stand them, God still loves them, we don’t like who they are or what they do, God still calls them God’s child. Jews have a right to be a part of the body, Gentiles have a right to be a part of the body. Rich people can be a part of the body, poor people have that same right, you may not condone it, but it still doesn’t give you divine authority to condemn it, all judgment is reserved for God and not us, and we serve a God that’s about inclusion, WE ARE ALL A PART OF GOD’s BODY!! Even with our differences and diversities! 

Pentecost is a time of celebration, but it’s also a time of contemplation, it’s cool to worship ecstatically, go ahead and shout, go ahead and run around the church if you desire, but we must also allow the spirit to move in us so that we begin to think critically about how God can use us and the spiritual gifts God has given us for the common good, for the uplifting and empowerment of the collective. We’ve got the gifts, we’ve got to use them so that revival can go forth in our churches, communities, our country, yet even our world. If we ever needed Pentecost, if we ever needed some shaking and shifting, if we ever needed some upsetting that leads to some adjustments, if we ever needed some righteous indignation, if we ever needed some real radical realignment, if we ever needed some healing, hell if we ever needed some hope, if we ever needed a movement of the Holy Spirit to negate all these blatantly hellish spirits that permeate our world today, we sure do need it now! 

Breathe on me, breath of God, fill me with life anew

That I may love what thou dost love, and do what thou wouldst do!