Big Idea: Which is better, unity or uniformity?

1 Corinthians 12:12-26

For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink. Indeed, the body is not one part but many. If the foot should say, “Because I’m not a hand, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I’m not an eye, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God has arranged each one of the parts in the body just as he wanted. And if they were all the same part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that are weaker are indispensable. And those parts of the body that we consider less honorable, we clothe these with greater honor, and our unrespectable parts are treated with greater respect, which our respectable parts do not need. Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable, so that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other. So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

I. Are spiritual gifts permanent?  

II. Should we pray for (specific) spiritual gifts?

III. If all gifts are important, why are some called “miracles”?

Next Steps: 

• Believe: I need Jesus to give me the gift of new life today.
• Become: I will honor someone else’s gifts this week. 
• Be Sent: I will use my gift to help someone who is suffering this week.

Discussion Questions: 

1. What do you consider the most important spiritual need in the church right now?  Why?
2. Have you taken a spiritual gift test more than once?  If so, did it change?
3. How does seeing another person honored make you feel?
4. How can you grow personally when others are being honored instead of you?
5. How does it make you feel to give someone else praise for their efforts?
6. How can the church grow stronger when individuals better understand their personal gifts?
7. Pray for the Holy Spirit to help you use your spiritual gift this week.