1 Corinthians 12:4-6 “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.”

We are all unique. God never intended Christians to be clones of each other. He doesn’t shove us off an assembly line where every part is interchangeable, and good quality control means that each product looks exactly the same.

No, each of us is more like a luxury product that is hand-crafted and custom-made. “There are different kinds of gifts.” Of course, we already know this. We have always seen it in our natural lives. Musical, athletic, handy, artistic, quick-witted, strong, scholarly, empathetic, organized, inspiring, eloquent, steady–you probably see some of your own traits in the list, but not all of them.

Now Paul wants us to understand that sometimes there are supernatural gifts. The Spirit gives them. They all come from the same Spirit, but the gifts aren’t all the same. You are still unique, hand-crafted, and custom-made by the Spirit’s own design.

Why should he even have to say this? You might think it is self-evident. But even supernatural gifts given by God’s Spirit can be twisted by people into an opportunity for temptation and sin. Paul is just touching on the issue here, laying the groundwork for the discussion. Later in this chapter he exposes the terrible things the Christians in Corinth did with the particular gifts they had been given.

Sometimes we use them in a prideful and self-righteous way. The Spirit gives us a gift, an ability, that another person lacks. The idea occurs to us, “Everyone should be more like me. Why don’t other people have the Biblical insight I do? Why can’t they administrate work in the church like I can? Why can’t they teach or preach or help or give the same? What is wrong with them? Thank God this is right with me!”

Sometimes we may be guilty of envy. Some of the gifts the Spirit gives put a person on center stage, like preaching or teaching. Some are more in the background, like helping others and church administration. All are mentioned as gifts the Spirit gives, but we might wonder, “Why did I get such a humble gift?” We sulk a little like the little kid who opens his present on Christmas and says, “Oh. Socks. I wanted the game console.”

Remember, these are gifts. They are expressions of God’s grace. They are another way in which he is showing us that he has loved and forgiven us. His good things come to us not because we are entitled to them or worked hard. He doesn’t owe us. He is kind and generous.

I am reminded of the story I once read–a true story, I believe– of a woman who wrote letters to her several children shortly before she died. In each letter she told that child, “You were always my favorite.” Then she went on to list some of the special gifts and talents she appreciated about that child.

You can quibble, I suppose, about the way she used the word “favorite.” It usually suggests a comparison to others. But what she was trying to say is, “I loved you like no one else and you were special to me in your own unique way.”

God has given you his Spirit. And maybe the gifts he gives you seem humble. Maybe you are even struggling to see what they are. But I assure you they are there. They fit you perfectly. And with your particular gifts he is saying, “I have loved you like no one else. You are always special to me in your own unique way.”

1 Corinthians 12:3 “Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus be cursed,’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.”

The man who wrote these words, the Apostle Paul, knew a thing or two about saying, “Jesus be cursed.” It was the theme of his young adult life. He hated what Jesus stood for: the end of do-it-yourself religion, and in its place God’s love and forgiveness available to all. He hated what Jesus had done to the traditional Jewish faith. He hated Jesus. So he cursed Jesus by teaching the opposite. He cursed Jesus by dragging his followers off to prison. He cursed Jesus by seeking the death of his disciples.

We may think that it is rare to hear people actually curse Jesus today. I don’t generally hear anyone raining down “f-bombs” on our Savior. Commentators on ESPN radio ridiculed NFL quarterback Russell Wilson and his girlfriend Ciara for abstaining from sex before marriage. Aren’t those Christians backwards!

Although she is a Christian now, this is how Rosaria Butterfield, a former lesbian feminist college professor, says she felt about Christians before she converted: “Those who professed the name (Jesus) commanded my pity and wrath…Stupid. Pointless. Menacing. That’s what I thought of Christians and their god Jesus” (Christianity Today, Jan./Feb. 2013). Perhaps it shouldn’t have to be said, but you can’t be Jesus’ enemy and be a friend of God’s Holy Spirit.

At the same time, the proof of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our hearts and lives is as simple as this: “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” Anyone can mouth those words, but Paul is talking about a sincere expression of personal faith. You can’t say, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe it unless the Holy Spirit has changed you, and now lives in you.

Let’s talk a little about what that means. “Jesus is Lord” is more than a way to recognize his power and significance. Throughout history many nations have added the title “the Great” to the name of their most powerful and influential rulers. We have Alexander the Great in Greece, Peter the Great in Russia, and Charlemagne, or “Charles the Great,” in France. We may refer to kings and emperors this way, too, but that doesn’t mean we are fans or think that they were good people. We may even believe the world would have been better off without them.

“Jesus is Lord” means more than, “I am forced to do what Jesus says. He is the boss. He makes the rules.” It is true that those who believe Jesus is Lord will live a changed life. They will work to conform their lives to the things Jesus tells us. But that is not the primary emphasis of this claim.

“Jesus is Lord” is about a relationship of love and respect. Jesus rules in my life because he made himself my protector and deliverer. That is what a real Lord and Master does. He laid down his life to save me. When I was his enemy he opened his arms to me and forgave me. With his love and sacrifice Jesus has won my heart. I know I can trust him. Sometimes it is a struggle, but I want to follow him, I want him to direct my life. I know that Jesus’ way is better than my way, as much as my own way may still appeal to the selfish side of me.

This is not something we would have come up with on our own. The Holy Spirit changed our minds and hearts. Your faith that “Jesus is my Lord” is the whole proof that God has given you his Spirit.

1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.”

You already know this, so let’s say it plainly: Worry is a sin. It wastes God’s gifts of time and ability. It accomplishes nothing. In the movie Bridge of Spies, lawyer James Donovan defends Russian spy Rudolf Abel during the Cold War. In the movie Donovan is awed by Abel’s complete sense of calm about his fate. “You could get the death penalty for being a spy,” he tells Abel. “Aren’t you worried?” “Would it help?” Abel replies several times as the story unfolds.

“Would it help?” Of course, the answer is, “No, it never helps.” It robs us of sleep. It makes us sick. It wastes our time. Worry never helps. “Who of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to his life?” Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount. “Worry,” Jesus says, “is what the pagans, who don’t know they have a loving Father in heaven, do.”

Worse, worry is an obstacle to faith. It is a way of saying to God, “I don’t think your promises are any good. I don’t think you are as powerful as you say you are. And I don’t think you love me like you say you do. I think you may be a liar.” We might not have the gall to say those words to God out loud, but we don’t have to. Our worry says it for us. Worry is not something to hold on to.

Why not worry? “He cares for you.” If there is one thing our Lord has finally and definitely proved, it is the fact that he cares for you. What more could he do than to leave heaven; permanently dress himself in a human body; live among a people who not only didn’t like him, they were trying to kill him from the time he was two years old; surrender himself to the bullies who plotted his death; keep his mouth shut at his trial to ensure his conviction; let himself be executed by the most painful method available at the time on a cross; die with the responsibility for our sins on his back and set us free from their guilt and punishment at no cost to us? The cross is screaming at us, “He cares for you! He cares for you!” every time we see it. He was not afraid to humble himself to save us. What have we got to lose?

Isn’t this the story of the entire Bible? It describes every involvement God ever made in our world from beginning to end. “God cares for you” is a feature of every Bible account, and he is still caring for you as he unfolds the story of your life. It gives us the confidence to let worry go while we wait for this chapter of the story to close. In the one that follows, peace and glory never end.

1 Peter 5:6 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand that he may lift you up in due time.”

For a moment picture the young man in his late teens or early twenties. He is strong. He may not be the kind of physical specimen who could walk on to the football team at a major university without getting killed. But he is approaching the peak of his strength. He may be stronger than his father. Almost certainly he’s stronger than his grandfather.

It’s also likely that he has a competitive streak. He wants to win. He wants to be better than the next guy, whether it’s something athletic, or matching wits with someone over a game of chess, or proving his skill in the classroom, or in making things. If he is not naturally shy, then he may be a bit of a show-off. Sometimes he does things without thinking about how he is endangering his own safety. That is why we make these guys our soldiers, and we also charge them a lot more for car insurance.

Our young friend is also itching to be independent. He wants to lead. He doesn’t want other people telling him what to do. Because he has some insecurities, and he doesn’t yet know how much he doesn’t know, he may compensate by acting a too aggressive. He may come off as a little cocky. This is the age of rebellion.

I have painted a cartoon picture of sorts. These characteristics can apply to any one of us in varying degrees. Like Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun, women also want to claim, “Anything you can do, I can do better.” So in our feminist age, women may not be so different, either. Thus the Apostle Peter has something to say to us all.

And it isn’t, “Don’t let anyone push you around.” It isn’t “Look out for number one.” It’s “Humble yourselves.” Humble yourselves. Don’t wait for someone else to come along and cut you off at the knees. Don’t wait for your flaws to expose you. Don’t wait for God himself to take you down a few notches. “Set aside the self-promotion,” he is saying to us. “Stop pretending to be someone you’re not. Let go of the need to be just a little bit smarter, a little bit more righteous, than everyone else. Stop the comparing and the competition, and accept what you are–warts, weaknesses, weirdness and all.

While Peter’s case for humility suggests that generally we need to take a lower view of ourselves, the Lord isn’t asking us to deny genuine gifts with which he has blessed us. But what do we have that is not a gift? I did not create my talents. God gave them to me. I didn’t choose my looks. It’s the way God made me. Even my faith and my Christian life, feeble and faulty as they are, aren’t something I invented. “It is God who works in you both to will and to act according to is good pleasure” (Philippians 2).

The encouragement to humble ourselves “under God’s mighty hand” also has something very positive to say. One of the reasons we resist humility is the fear that it makes us vulnerable. Others will walk all over us. We think we have to look tough and smart to survive.

Not if God’s mighty hand is hovering over us, ready to pick us up. The real case for humility lies in this promise: “he may lift you up in due time.” God has every intention of lifting us up. When we repent of our sins and confess them to him, he doesn’t stand over us with his hands raised in victory, like the prize fighter dancing over the guy he just knocked out cold. He lifts us up. He forgives our sins. He welcomes us into his arms. He restores us as his children.

When we embrace the reality that we did not make ourselves, and any strengths are gifts, then God doesn’t leave us trapped in a prison of shame and self-hate. No, that’s when he sets us free. Why concern myself with what I don’t have? My Father made me the way he wanted, for his purpose. This has a glory all its own. It far exceeds anything I had planned for myself.

And he has set me among his other children with different gifts and talents. Just because we fill in the holes and gaps for each other, there is a real opportunity to love and be loved in his family. At the proper time God will lift you and me up to fulfill our purpose, and to know his grace and love in his family of faith. That makes a powerful case for humility.

1 Peter 5:5 “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’”

Does the name “Stuart Smalley” sound familiar to you? He is a character that comedian Al Franken invented for a Saturday Night Live skit about 30 years ago. Stuart Smalley was the host of a mock self-help show called “Daily Affirmation with Stuart Smalley.” The purpose was to help people develop better self-esteem. Stuart would look into the mirror and say, “I’m good enough. I’m smart enough. And doggone it, people like me.” It was all poking fun at the self-esteem movement.

Perhaps we laugh at Stewart a little nervously. Deep down inside we don’t feel so confident. We aren’t so certain of our worth. We would like to feel better about ourselves.

Here’s a radical approach to our self-esteem. What if, instead of trying to convince ourselves of our value, we just gave up on it? We let it go? We ignored it?

What if we embraced our weaknesses, our oddities, our quirks? What if we accepted that, in some things, we are less gifted, even, dare we say, inferior? What if we befriended our reality like that?

I’m not saying that we should deny the gifts and abilities we do have. They are God’s good creation, after all. But what if we stopped caring about how we compare?

The Apostle Peter is leading the people to whom he is writing in this letter in that direction in these words. “Be submissive,” he writes. “Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another.” He wasn’t encouraging them, or us to feel bad about themselves. He wants to promote the good, old-fashioned virtue of humility. Not everything in life has to be a competition. Nothing requires that we promote ourselves above others. Honesty requires that we admit we are merely average on some measures, even below average. Like everyone else, our natural spiritual condition is an utter mess.

Owning up to our humble circumstances only makes sense when you consider the consequences God promises. He opposes the proud. Life is hard enough as it is. We already have too many battles to fight. We suffer from unsteady, uncertain health. We struggle to make a living. We have neighbors, coworkers, even family members who make it their business to make interacting with them difficult. Who needs God’s opposition on top of all that? No proudly independent sinner has ever come out on top of a confrontation with him.

He gives grace to the humble. Grace is what we need, not a self-image based on make-believe strengths and virtues. Grace brings God’s very real forgiveness and power. Grace builds our lives on his divine help and mercy. Grace makes us people who are loved and valued even through our failures. Grace means that God treats us as good even though we aren’t good enough. He offers his wisdom to compensate for our foolishness. He likes us, he loves us, though we have given him no reason to do so.

Humility before a gracious God offers us genuine security in place of pride’s counterfeit “self-esteem.” “Clothe yourselves with humility.” You will find that it makes us more attractive to other people, too.

John 14: 18-19 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.”

An orphan is someone who has lost both parents to death. It is an irreversible situation. Obviously, the parents are never coming back. Jesus did not say he was not leaving the disciples. He said he wasn’t leaving them as orphans. It’s true he was going to die, but he wasn’t going to stay dead. “I will come to you.”

Orphans have always been a picture of the weakest, poorest, most vulnerable people in the world. They are mistreated, neglected, abused. Think of the orphans from literature and the movies: Cosette in Les Miserables, Oliver Twist, Little Orphan Annie and the other children who shared her orphanage, Hugo Cabret (from the movie Hugo), Cinderella, Harry Potter, Mowgli, Tarzan, even the young Bruce Wayne who becomes Batman. Little children deprived of their natural protectors and providers will struggle to survive.

Have you ever felt like that as a Christian, when you had to take the lonely stand for what is right; or when your faith has been mocked? All but one of these men in the room with Jesus were going to die for their faith, and tens of thousands of people a year still do around the world according to the organization Voice of the Martyrs. While we wait for Jesus to return, we can look alone and abandoned.

But we aren’t orphaned, because Jesus will come. More than that, “Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.” Note that Jesus doesn’t say, “Because I rise, you also will rise,” although that is true, and it is part of what he is promising here. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is a promise and guarantee of our resurrection from the dead.

But beyond the resurrection there is life, life worth living, life lived in the full experience of God’s love, life lived in the full realization of our potential, life lived in the full glory of what each of us was individually made to be. Even now, by faith we live under his love in the comfort of his grace and the hope of his return. He hasn’t left us as orphans. He has left us as heirs of glory and owners of life that never ends.

John 14:16-17 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever–the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”

The very fact that we believe in Jesus is evidence that he has kept this promise. “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit,” Paul later wrote to the Corinthians. We have the Spirit, and we believe in Jesus, but that is the one thing the world cannot do.

Jesus doesn’t want us to be surprised that the whole world doesn’t embrace our Savior and his teachings. It neither accepts, nor knows, nor sees the Spirit who would make that possible. Remember how the Pharaoh of Egypt reacted when Moses brought the miraculous plagues? When his own sorcerers were not able to imitate some of them, they told the Pharaoh, “This is the hand of God.” But he would not see the power of God working right in front of his nose.

Remember how the Pharisees reacted to Jesus during his ministry? They heard the same good teaching that everyone else heard. They saw his many miracles. They had to admit that some of them were no trick, and nothing a mere man could do, like healing a man born blind or raising Lazarus to life four days after he died. But they would not hear and they would not see what everyone else did. It was all so clear, so undeniable, that Jesus warned them that they were toying with sinning against the Holy Spirit, who was tugging at their hearts through Jesus’ ministry.

Sometimes I hear Christians today speak as though they are befuddled by the world in which we live. How is it possible for people to reject common decency in so many areas of life? Why do more and more people abandon Biblical beliefs accepted by nearly everyone for thousands of years? How do some people believe such outlandish things about Jesus, rejecting his virgin birth, or claiming he was sinful, or denying his body came back to life and left his tomb? Remember, they lack the Holy Spirit. “The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.”

But you do. “But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” The Holy Spirit lives with us. We are exposed to him constantly. He inhabits the room whenever we are gathered around God’s word and sacraments. He lives in our Bible studies, the Christian books and magazines we read, the Christian music we listen to. He has set up shop in our hearts. They may be dilapidated old fixer-uppers that should have been condemned by the building inspectors long ago, but the Holy Spirit has moved in anyway. He went right to work setting things straight in there. He opens the Scriptures to us, if not so that we can fully understand them, then at least so that we can accept that what they say is true and is God speaking to us. He maintains our faith.

The Spirit continues to do for us the kinds of things Jesus was doing for his disciples when he was with them, which is why it is good that we have him with us while Jesus is away.

John 14:15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”

Keeping Jesus’ commands reflects the very nature of our relationship with him. “If you love me, you will do this,” he says. He is not trying to manipulate or pressure us, like the young man who wants to have his way with a young woman, and calls her love into question if she doesn’t give in. “If you love me, you will let me do this with you.” Jesus is simply describing a fact of our relationship. Love changes the way we behave.

You see, we love him because we trust him. We trust him, because he so loved us. He gave up everything in order to save us. He suffered pain we cannot imagine, not because there was any advantage to himself, but because it served us. He took the rap for our sins and let us go scot-free.

If he loved us enough to do that, then we know that he has only our good in mind. We can trust whatever he says. More than that, we are genuinely grateful, and our hearts come to love him. Love never wants to be a secret thing hidden in the heart. It wants some way to show itself. What can I do, what can I give, to return the love that has been given to me?

For the believer, then, keeping Jesus’ commands is never a matter of obligation. These aren’t things we do because we feel pressured, or have been threatened. Nor are we just checking items off a list because they have to be done. They are expressions of love. If we do them, it is because we love him. If we do not do them, it is because we do not love him, or we love someone else even more.

It should go without saying that “obeying what I command” does not include “ignoring what I command,” or “altering what I command,” or “re-writing what I command.” It means doing these things, because we love him. That is in spite of the fact that sometimes we may find his commands hard to understand. Why should I give something up? Why should I control my desires? Why should I love those who don’t love me?

When I was five years old my parents bought our first pet, a dog. They told me, “Don’t try to play with the dog while it is eating.” But I was excited to have a new dog, and I wanted to play with it, and I didn’t see what the harm would be in giving it some love and attention while it was eating. So I did, and it bit me. My parents knew better.

When Jesus says, “Do this,” or “Don’t do this,” perhaps we can give the all-knowing, all-powerful Lord and God who made us credit for knowing a little more than we do. Perhaps we can trust that he loves us. Perhaps we can love him enough to do what he commands.

Sometimes that can even mean doing things that are unpleasant, or even painful. If we love him, we will obey his commands. Have you seen the movie Unbroken? It is the story of Louie Zamperini, an American soldier in World War II, and his harsh treatment in a Japanese prison camp. At one point the Japanese offer him the opportunity to leave the camp and live in a plush hotel if he will read propaganda statements for them over the radio. Refusing means going back to the camp and facing even harsher treatment. He chooses the camp and its tortures. Why? Love for his country, love for the family and people he was fighting for. It did nothing positive for him.

Because we love Jesus, we keep his commands, whether we think we are getting anything out of it or not. (The truth is, we are). That is what love does.

John 14:4-6 “You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know the where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

No one comes to the Father except through Jesus. Many people criticize Christians for saying that Jesus is the only way. But it’s not our idea. Isn’t that what Jesus’ words say? Christians who take Jesus’ words as they read are accused of being narrow-minded and better than thou. They are suspected of wanting certain people to be lost, of wishing that some people don’t make it to heaven. I know of a pastor who made his congregation cover up the words of this verse painted on the wall in the front of his church. “Would God really condemn a person just because he’s Buddhist?” he once asked them in a Bible class.

The problem is that people don’t understand the nature of our human problem. They misdiagnose the human condition. They look at the standards of right and wrong in Christianity and other world religions, they note that the morals are similar if not altogether the same, and they wonder how Christians think they are better.

But we don’t believe we are better. The issue isn’t getting the right set of rules and keeping them well enough to satisfy God. No one lives good enough for God, not even Christians. That’s the problem. All of us should be lost. No one should make it home. No one–not a Christian, a Jew, a Buddhist, a Hindu, a Muslim, an Atheist, a Rastafarian, the member of some flying saucer cult–none of them can pay for their sins themselves. None of them can live and love so perfectly that God would say, “Okay, good enough. You’re in.”

It’s not that we are better than everyone else. It’s that we know that everyone else is just as bad as us. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. No one is righteous, not even one. What we need is not someone to show us what to do. What we need is someone to rescue us himself. What we need is a Savior who will pick us up in his arms and carry us home.

So that is what Jesus does. He doesn’t tell Thomas here, “I will show you the way. Watch me and see how it’s done.” He says, “I AM the way.” Jesus is as much the car as he is the road. He isn’t a swim instructor giving lessons to drowning people. He is a lifeguard pulling them to safety. He is the way that gets us home, he is the truth of our rescue from sin and hell. He is our life in all that he has done to save our souls. No other prophet in any other faith even claims to do this. They are all guides, teachers, examples. Only Jesus is a Savior, a Rescuer, a Deliverer who does the work for us. That makes him the exclusive route for getting home.

Isn’t this what he was inviting the disciples to believe earlier? “I am going to prepare a place for you.” He isn’t telling them that he is in housekeeping at the hotel, making the beds and putting out clean towels. He isn’t telling them that he has a construction or decorating project to do.

Jesus is in accounting. This is the night before the cross. In the next 24 hours Jesus went and paid our bill in full. He died the death our sins deserved. He satisfied God’s every demand, settled every account. It all secures our place in our Father’s house and guarantees our reservation there.