SESSION 02: UNIQUENESS
PASSAGE TO EXPLORE
1 Cor 12:12–31
WHAT MAKES YOU UNIQUE?
In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul says the same thing in a few different ways:
“...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...” (v. 12)
“...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...” (v. 15)
“...If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body...” (vv. 19–20)
“...Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?” (Vv. 29–30)
The point Paul makes over and over again is that we’re not all the same. By comparing a church family to a body, Paul insists that our differences are essential. He insists that a church culture that pulls us toward uniformity is undesirable, dysfunctional, and contrary to God’s design.
Recall from our last session that we each have gifts of the Spirit and that these gifts do not flow from our own strategy, desires, or pursuits. The gifts all come from the Holy Spirit, “who apportions to each one individually as he wills” (v. 11). So if the Spirit is intentionally and strategically empowering each of us in unique ways, and if we are all trying to be the exact same kind of person within our church family, then our efforts are actually at odds with what the Holy Spirit is working toward!
That’s a big statement, but it accurately describes the trajectory of much of what we do in modern churches. We seem to default to a one-size-fits all approach, where we all learn and worship and serve in similar ways. We also tend to run everything through a bottleneck where church leaders create strategies and lists of needs and opportunities that church members then sign up to fill. None of this is bad, of course. It’s important to identify needs, and pastors can often help us find needs and opportunities we may be unaware of. However, it’s important that we differentiate between the typical ministry approach of modern churches and the vision Paul is casting here.
Paul is saying there would be no “body,” no church family, if every person fit the same mold. “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” (vv. 4–6).
Our spiritual gifts are different than our personalities, interests, and natural talents. But the concepts are related.
God made you with unique talents and personality traits. Much of that has been shaped by your environment and social circles, but much of it comes from the unique way in which God shaped you. Despite that, many of us spend a lot of time and energy trying to be someone other than who we really are. We dislike things about ourselves and we want to meet the expectations of other people who want us to be different than we are. When we fall into this mode, it’s a huge loss to ourselves and to the people God has placed around us.
The 19th Century philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard saw this process as a way to “lose oneself.” He said that every person is “angular.” We all have these unique quirks and interests and talents. Perhaps these angularities ought to be polished here and there, he says, but he warns that we should not be “ground down,” which he defines as “giving up being oneself out of fear of people.”
He also warns against a type of despair wherein a person’s self “permits itself to be fooled out of its self by ‘the others.’ By looking at the mass of people with which one is surrounded, by busying oneself with all sorts of worldly matters, by learning how things go in the world, such a person then forgets himself, forgets what his name (divinely understood) is, does not dare believe in himself, finds it too risky to be himself and much easier and safer to be like the others, to become an imitation, to become a number, a part of the crowd.” When this happens, a person is “as worn down and polished as a pebble on the beach, accepted as readily as a coin in circulation.”*
We feel pressure to be like everyone else, to become just like every other coin in circulation. Kierkegaard warns us to avoid that. He actually says we should be terrified of failing to be the self God made us to be.
The connection between owning our own personality (our own “self”) and owning our spiritual gifting is not a stretch. If God made us to be unique, do we believe we’re honoring God by trying to squash our uniqueness and fit in, trying to be a coin indistinguishable from any other coin in circulation? In the same way, if the Spirit of God has given us one or more unique empowerments for specific tasks he’s calling us to do, do we imagine we’re honoring the Spirit when we try to be just like everyone else?
In 1 Corinthians 12:12–31, Paul illustrates a couple of ways we could devalue the supernatural empowerment of the Spirit. The first is self-deprecation:
“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. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body” (vv. 15–16).
How many of us put ourselves on the sidelines because we think our gifting is only valid if it looks like the gifting someone else has? It’s obviously sad to see someone devalue themselves and what they have to offer. It’s even worse to devalue what the Spirit himself has chosen to do in and through us. To look at our supernatural, divinely-given empowerment and say, “Gross, I wish I had a different supernatural, divinely-given empowerment” does nothing to glorify God or value his work in our lives. Sometimes we’re pursuing validation or self-esteem and believe it will only come through a specific gifting or calling. Other times it might be a lack of imagination—perhaps we’ve never cast a compelling vision for the value of each person being the unique self God is creating in each one of us. Either way, these gifts come from the Spirit. He values them. So should we.
The other misstep Paul identifies is that we can value our own gifts but look down on the gifts of others:
“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’” (v. 21).
If we don’t believe that every part of the church body is valuable, then we don’t believe that we need the Holy Spirit. A person who values only his own gifts thinks the church only needs him. There is no need for the Spirit, what the Spirit offers, or what the Spirit wants to do in the church. This heresy is at least as bad as the heresy of claiming that your own gifts don’t matter.
Paul’s point is to value every gift that the Spirit gives to the church body. So don’t look down on the uniqueness, quirkiness, or giftedness of the people around you. We’re going to need those gifts if we’re going to be the church the Spirit is calling us to be.
But how do we discover our own gifting?
We discover our gifting as the Spirit reveals it to us. It’s a process of discernment. There is some debate among Bible scholars about whether or not our gifts are permanent. If the Spirit gives you the gift of teaching, for example, do you always carry that gift?
The idea that our gifts are permanent probably equates spiritual gifts too closely to God-given talents. The gifts are about God’s grace being poured into our lives so we can be effective in the ministry opportunities he has set before us:
“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).
It’s safer to say that God will empower you for whatever ministry he’s calling you to fulfill. Sometimes he calls us away from ministries, and perhaps then the gifts are no longer active in us in the same way. Whatever “variety of service” God calls us to, we’ll find him giving us everything we need.
So how do we know what God is calling us to? How do we know when we’re being empowered by the Spirit? Again, it’s a process of discernment. There are helpful “spiritual gifts tests” you can take online or in the form of books or pamphlets.** These can help you process how you’re wired and how God tends to work through you. This might be exactly the process of self-discovery you need at this point in your life. But don’t use a test to replace the reality of seeking the Spirit’s instruction. Ask God to reveal this to you. Pay attention to the way you’re wired. Ask how you’ve seen God move in your life in the past. Prayerfully contemplate the spiritual and “non-spiritual” activities that make you come alive. By processing your uniqueness, your quirks, and your “angularity” before the Lord, you might begin to get a sense for what God tends to do through you in ways that are both unique and supernatural.
Howard Thurman, who was a spiritual mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” In the next session, we’ll talk about the importance of assessing the world’s needs. But Thurman’s point is well-taken: start with what makes you come alive, or more specifically, with the ways the Spirit brings you to life and brings life to others through you. Assess that now, then we’ll explore the needs around you in the next session.
One more thought on this topic. If each of us in the church looked at our fellow members and tried to identify their gifts (“you are supernaturally good at ____”) and had the boldness to encourage and challenge each other in this area, we’d all identify our gifting earlier and perhaps more accurately than if we all introspectively tried to assess our own gifting. Is there anything people have pointed out that makes you wonder if you might be gifted in that area? Conversely, is there someone who displays the power of the Spirit that you could encourage by pointing to their giftedness?
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION
How have you seen God use you in the past?
What spiritual activities do you get most excited about? (Worship, Prayer, Scripture, Bible Study, Service, Mentoring, Teaching, etc.).
What apparently “non-spiritual” (everyday) activities do you get most excited about?
What do you long for? (Justice, making people feel at home, seeing the church accomplish more, biblical literacy, people knowing someone is there to help them bear their burdens, etc.)
In what ways do you believe God has made you to be unique? What do you like about that uniqueness? What do you dislike? What do you still not understand about the way God has made you?
Is there anything people have pointed out that makes you wonder if you might be gifted in that area?
Is there someone who displays the power of the Spirit that you could encourage by pointing to their giftedness?
Spend some time in prayer. Ask God about who he has made you to be. Prayerfully contemplate areas of interest, areas of uniqueness, areas of ministry and service in which you seem to come alive or be supernaturally effective. This should be an ongoing process of discernment and conversation with the Lord.
ENDNOTES
* Søren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death, trans. By Bruce H. Kirmmse, New York: Liveright Publishing Company, 2023, 44–45.
** https://spiritualgiftstest.com/ offers a free online test. C. Peter Wagner put together a booklet version of a gifts test called Finding Your Spiritual Gifts: The Easy-to-Use, Self-Guided Questionnaire. Shirley Giles Davis offers a more robust, workbook style exploration of spiritual gifts that includes an assessment as part of a six-week study called God. Gifts. You.: Your Unique Calling & Design.