There is no doubt as to who the listening audience is for these broadcasts. The programs are meant to encourage the body of Christ and to inspire us all to put our thinking caps on and think. Use your God given ability to pray, consider, and think. If any of us believe God doesn’t speak to mankind anymore, to me that’s just confusing. i can’t imagine why my Father would not speak to me; i can’t imagine why my blood brother Jesus Christ would not speak to me; and i can’t imagine why the Holy Spirit would not allow me the words of God in the now. In light of that, considering there was a series on the nine fruits of the Spirit, it’s time to talk about the gifts of the Spirit.
A year and some months ago i decided to not do any programs on the gifts of the Spirit for the sole reason that i realized i didn’t know enough about them to do much more than just mention them. i didn’t hardly understand what they were nor how they work. Oh, don’t get me wrong, i actually thought i knew, but the more i read scripture, the more i knew that i was wrong. Since then i’ve been praying and asking the Lord to make me to understand a little better, taking notes, writing down little resonant heard at the most unusual times, and trying to gradually give some definition to a greatly misunderstood topic, the gifts of the Spirit.
“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” 1 Corinthians 12:7-11.
We all have gifts God has given us. i believe each person is born with gifts and capacities to employ, or not, to use or abuse, but more importantly to use for the betterment of the rest of humanity. Yes, the rest of humanity. 1Corinthians 12:7, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” What do you think Paul means by “common good”? Do you think it’s ONLY where you’re comfortable, in church, or does “common good” mean for the wellbeing of the, in general, world we live in?
God’s gifts aren’t just to be used in church, the safe place that is not likely to criticize us nearly as much as when under the scrutiny of the world. We, the church, must take our fruits and giftings beyond the safe place and practice them for the benefit of a lost and dying world, learning to do that in such a way so as to not immediately put people off while still reflecting God’s values and standards, still pointing to Jesus. You know, it’s tough to give away what you’ve got if you’re not there to give it away.
To have gifts of the Spirit is truly operating in the miraculous, yet most of us, in one way or another, share the most common ailment of all men, the strange disinclination to believe in a miracle even though it’s right in front of us. We possess the gifts of God right in the middle of our hearts, and these days in which we live, those gifts are increasingly becoming more important to understand, employ, and deploy.
Come go with me concerning the Gifts Of the Spirit. Let’s dig in our Father’s pockets to see what good things He’s got hidden in there, that is if we’re willing to study a little and chase after His wisdom.
Not to be negative, but right off i think it needs to be reiterated that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not to boost or promote ourselves personally in any way. Paul repetitively points this out in 1Corinthians 12, that the gifts are for the building up of the church, not for the exaltation of ourselves. Surely many of us have met those who have employed their God given spiritual gifts to advance their personality or, by showing outwardly their amazing gifting, it may even be evident there was a secret hope of being promoted to some elevated position.
In Acts 8 we meet a guy named Simon. We shouldn’t take this lightly. Evidently, God considered it important enough to put in the Bible, so let’s take it seriously. Acts 8:9, “But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great.” It would seem that if you wanted to know if Simon was an amazing person, just ask him and he’d tell you exactly that. Yea. he was just “that” kind of guy. In vs. 10 the people called him “great”, saying “With him is the power of God”, and i think it’s of special note that the Greek word for “power” there is our English word “dynamite”, they were literally calling him “the dynamite of God”. Wow! Quite a title for himself, huh? The people paid attention to him, it cost them something and they were willing to pay for it, they “paid attention”. i’d bet he was a very charismatic and influential fellow, and maybe even had some real gifts. Scripture doesn’t exactly say, but just by the description given, we could conclude he desired to be an outstanding personality, to attain the lofty places of privilege and to popularize himself by staggering the community with his demonstrations of power and foretelling. i would guess he was cloaked with seeming devout zeal, casting himself as someone who was advancing God’s work. (Circus music playing in the background)
To this day, there are many out there selling themselves to the public for the same reasons as Simon, but, this was never, ever the true purpose for Spiritual gifts, and we should not put off God’s gifts due to some bad actors in the mix, and i say that emphatically.
Unfortunately, it appears many people are blindly swayed, mesmerized with awe and wonder that they nearly place a halo on the head of anyone who frequently exercises their spiritual gifts. When Peter stood on Solomon’s porch after the Lord made a lame man walk, he had something to say about people being mesmerized Acts 3:12, ““Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?”
The church in Corinth was encouraged to “come behind in no gift” in 1 Corinthians 1:7, but yet it was a pretty unspiritual place. God’s purpose behind His generous endowment, or manifestation, was not, by any means, meant to confirm or broadcast the spiritual superiority of the operator. i find it odd that we as people though, tend to put on a pedestal and sensationalize those who do actively and accurately operate their gifts, and it doesn’t appear some of those who have been somewhat pedestalized were in any real hurry to get off the stage either.
In general, we do tend to lift up those who we admire, i think that’s unavoidable to a degree, of course, after all, we’re just people and most of us can think of someone we admire. Now, you’ve got to really hear this part: of those who are called to exercise their gifts from an elevated dignity or platform, it is their responsibility to not allow themselves to be enthroned. People love to have their senses tickled, we enjoy being entertained. i know i certainly do. Honestly, if watching someone exercise their gifting was not sensational, i sort of doubt too many would desire such a gift. Like watching someone do foot care as a kindness at a retirement home, or visiting the elderly and incapacitated. Those two are pretty non-sensational, not glamorous nor glorious appearing. As a result there doesn’t seem to be too many lining up for the gift of hospitality and mercy, but yet, hospitality and mercy are very much considered of very high value in God’s economy.
True, according to Romans 11:29 the gifts are without repentance, but friends, the gifts can remain even when the spiritual standard of Christ and our relationship with Him have deteriorated. i think we can all be in agreement that the gifts of the Spirit should temper by the fruit of the Spirit.
Ok, so, having spoken of these beautiful gifts while casting a note of caution, let’s press on to see the positive aspect and see what the real purpose is as the Lord reveals in His word. As a reminder, i’m not saying watch out, be careful, and don’t, i AM saying think, think, think, but also be audacious, and go for it.
It seems to me that the value of the gifts of the Spirit and the appreciation of their benefits are governed largely by the position they are allowed to occupy, which their value to believers as is largely determined by their worth to the church, which means if a body values service above all things, then the other gifts are likely to be left to go fallow. That doesn’t mean they aren’t available from the Lord, it simply means we typically believe what suits us or what we’re comfortable with instead of embracing all the Lord has for us. In some congregations, the gift of tongues is far more important to them than prophecy, it’s highly likely that it is safer to them, so the value of the other gifts is considered lower than the others. Let us remember, just because someone doesn’t recognize God’s gifts of the Spirit, doesn’t mean they aren’t there, it just means they don’t recognize God’s gifts.
Here’s a sticky statement: If the gifts are allowed to rise to a place of dominion, appropriating the platform where the Lord should stand, their value will become nil. Similarly, if they are caused to not be exercised at all, many times being trampled, or are wrongly decided that God doesn’t do these things anymore, which is foolish, then again, the value of God’s gifts will become nil. In our efforts to employ God’s gifts, sometimes we go overboard in the sensational. But i must say, and if you hear anything here, hear this: when everything becomes sensational, eventually, nothing is sensational. Let me encourage us all to allow God to be all He is. Let Him do what He does best and that is being God. If your Father wants to give you extraordinary endowments, let Him. All of the gifts of the Holy Spirit working together are needed to produce the full potential of the church.
Gifts of the Spirit should work together, complementing each other in tandem with Fruits of the Spirit. Friends, there is, truly, a need for them to be active in the church. In 1 Corinthians 12:1 Paul encouraged believers to not allow themselves to be ignorant of what they were, and in 1 Corinthians 14:1, he encouraged everyone to also zealously pursue them. Paul makes the point that as much as all believers may desire the manifestations of the gifts, and yes, i think it would be safe to say everyone loves to be wow’d, we are encouraged to not get caught up in our shorts over the sensational but more that the goal is to build up the church. Let this next sticky statement, linger in your thinking: Just because you have a different gift, doesn’t mean you have a lesser gift. All are valuable and God employs each as is necessary to prosper the Kingdom.
i feel like we’ve caught three forward gears so far, but let’s catch 4th gear and get up to highway speeds.
After the discussion of what the gifts are, and there are truly many, many variations in those spoken of in 1 Corinthians 12:7-10, the most important part of it all comes in 1 Corinthians 14 when Paul writes of the necessity of love which is the overarching bottom line of all that God does. If the gifts of the Spirit are practiced without love, there comes upon the body a type of diminishing and maybe even dishonor. When love, the first fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22 is allowed to govern the beautiful gifts, it’s like fine oil in a machine. Just like character must exceed ministry, so love needs to exceed our gifting. It just makes it all work well together. Love reduces friction, tends to clean up sludge, and reduces wear on moving parts, just like quality engine oil.
How much do you value your ability to do your part in the Kingdom of God? Just like the life of the engine in your car largely depends, in no small way, on the quality of the oil you put in it, so does your effectiveness in employing your spiritual gifting depend on the quality of your fruits of the Spirit, love being like the oil, and the more the love of God has gripped our heart, the more effective we’re going to be. Do you want to be sensational, standing high and glorious on a platform of your own making, or do you want to bear fruit, lasting fruit in the name of Jesus?
How often do we call our “comfort zone” our spiritual discernment? Please take a moment and consider that. Judith Bardwick calls a comfort zone an “anxiety-neutral position”, sort of sounds more like a political statement, huh? All jesting aside, it means … as long as we operate within our comfortable, familiar doctrines of faith, as long as we feel at ease, in control, and we’re experiencing low anxiety and stress, we tell ourselves it must be righteous discernment. Your comfort zone is a place where your uncertainty, suspicion, and vulnerability are minimized. Think about it. How often are we uncomfortable talking about spiritual gifts, and we turn it into a spiritual thing by claiming “discernment”, but really it’s just us stepping beyond the edges of our comfort zone. i think so many avoid the topic because they have an underlying attitude that says, “I’m uncomfortable, therefore this conversation must not be God!” Hmmmm.
My comfort zone actually has nothing to do with the idea of Godly discernment.
i’d bet most people who are uncomfortable with discussing the gifts of the Spirit, call themselves discerning, but i think it’s highly likely what they call discernment is actually their comfort zone. Discernment is the redeemed version of suspicion because when discernment conceives it brings forth building up and edifying which is quite the opposite of suspicion. Let’s recap the idea of sound doctrine again:
– Sound doctrine is made from cover to cover of the Bible;
– sound doctrine is born of 2 or more scriptures;
– sound doctrine applies to the entire body of Christ, not just for the rich, and not just for the poor with a “special excuse” why the well-to-do’s don’t have to adhere to the same rules.
Considering that sound doctrine is from cover-to-cover of the Bible, then we must take the time to understand God’s intent, not avoiding the conversation any longer. Friends, there are things we, in the body of Christ, must begin to talk about. We can’t avoid the discussion of gifts any longer, we can’t avoid the discussion of whether God speaks to us or not, etc, etc. We’ve got to look to the Lord to help us better conclude many topics we have avoided in our modern culture which seems to think that soon as we are uncomfortable, then running away is a good option. No, not at all. Just because we may have come out of a church body with poor and abusive leadership, in no way means we don’t need leadership. Similarly, because we came from a church body which abused the gifts of the Spirit, does not invalidate the gifts of the Spirit.
Paul’s discussion of the gifts is nothing new. Actually, they’ve been being spelled out since the O.T.. They are for yesterday, today, and tomorrow, never to be ignored simply because they challenge our “comfort zone”. We all should know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that each divine gift, or enablement/manifestation that God gives to ordinary people, just like you and me, is for the purpose of building up His body for the purpose that we can function the way the Lord wants us to function. God’s opinion is more important than our opinion and if exercising our gifts and fruits of the Spirit is the way He wants us to operate, then, gosh, why shouldn’t we live like that? The Lord is supernatural, and i don’t see why His children shouldn’t be like their parent?
Our opinions of the gifts of the Spirit will pass away, but His purposes are forever. As was previously said, just because we don’t believe something God said, doesn’t mean it isn’t true, it just means we don’t believe it.
Friends, we are called, called to not only realize and recognize our gifting but to develop them as well. The Lord has called us, in our ordinary lives doing our ordinary things to build up those around us, and mind you, that doesn’t mean walking around only saying sweet things. It means being honest, accountable, transparent, and emotionally availability with tact and diplomacy too.
Some would say we have to have a basic understanding of the gifts before we can employ those gifts, but honestly, i don’t think that is a true rule of thumb. There are people who naturally function in their gifting and don’t necessarily know they are doing it. They are just that way and it flows naturally. Haven’t you met people who are just charismatic and engaging and people just like talking to them? i would suggest that’s one of the attributes of an evangelist probably. Sure, maybe sometimes, some folks use their God given gifting for the wrong things, but none-the-less it is a gift, an endowment and expression of the Lord. Because we don’t categorize and labelize what our gifts are doesn’t make them any less than what they are. And, again, just because we have a different calling with different gifts doesn’t mean it is a lesser calling with lesser gifts.
If we’re going to develop the gifts the Lord has given us, it would seem good to actually have a basic understanding of the gift. It is difficult to develop something we know very little about. Now, i’ve gotta’, say, there are some gifts of the Spirit where the Lord gives us a good bit of information, and there are other gifts which aren’t so well defined nor is there much of a layout on how to do it.
But He does not leave us ignorant and He did give us some information. From 1 Corinthians 12:1, let’s recognize God’s idea of a spiritual gift, it’s a breath-of-God thing, from the Greek word pneuma, where we get our word pneumatic, they are a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. We don’t get them from the store, can’t get them by reading a how-to book, no one can loan them to you, nor can you buy them at church. Spiritual gifts are exclusively a result of the breath of God, so if you don’t believe God breathes on people anymore, then i hope you ask yourself the question: If God doesn’t breathe on us and speak to us, what are we left with?
Then in 1 Corinthians 12:4,5,& 6 Paul says there are different kinds of distributions, all from the breath of God. From vs 4, the distribution is the Greek “charisma”, in this case “gifts of grace”; from vs 5, different kinds of “service”, Greek “diakonia” (deeah-ko-nee’-ah), a root word for deacon, meaning servant gifts; from vs 6 there are different kinds of “working” gifts, Greek “energema” (en-air’-gay-mah) where we get our word for energy. It could be thought of as the power to accomplish God’s directives. The Lord gives gifts, but also gives the power, “energema”, to operate the gift.
Those three distributions, grace, service, and the impartable energy to operate the gifts are so closely associated with the quality and idea of His name, that the mention of His name calls the three distributions to mind, and thinking of the three fosters the vision of His name … Jesus.
i think it’s also good to note that 1 Corinthians 12 is not an all inclusive list of spiritual gifts. There is also a short list in Romans 12:3-8, and again in Ephesians 4. While we may want to categorize, aggrandize, rank, typecast, and specialize the spiritual gifts, like personal gifts, ministry gifts, public gifts, extraordinary gifts, or ordinary gifts, i hope we all never forget there are many, many spiritual gifts which are not exactly listed.
1 Corinthians 12:7 says we all have at least one gift which the Lord has given us, so no one can say, with any honesty, that God has passed them by when it came to gifts, which brings me back to the idea we must all keep in mind that just because we have a different calling and different gifting doesn’t mean, in any fashion, it is a lesser calling or lesser gifting.
Romans 12:4, “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function … ” 1 Corinthians 12:7, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” A manifestation is a bestowment or an endowment, an ability or talent, in this case, given to them by God. We all want our Heavenly Father to give us stuff, mostly things we call valuable, but in this case, what God calls valuable is apparently different from what we often call valuable. Maybe we need to rework our ideas to match the Lord’s ideas and values, you think?.
This is an overview so the next part is given in hopes of drawing the gifts into a better context.
Speaking of the fruits and gifts of the Spirit isn’t something which suddenly appears in the N.T. for the first time. Be encouraged to do your own diligence and search these things out yourself, but, from way back to God’s description of the priests robes in Exodus 28, Moses was given a detailed description of fruits and gifts in the metaphor at the hem of the priests robe where there was to be embroidered blue and purple pomegranates, and between each embroidered fruit was to be a golden bell that made a little tinkling noise when the priest walked. Think about it, the tinkling of the golden bells were tempered by the embroidered fruit in-between the bells. Does that sound like a theme in the New Testament? Yep, indeed it does. 1 Corinthians 13:1 says that without love we are a clanging bell, without the fruits of the spirit to temper the gifts of the spirit, we are just out there clanging, and banging around. Think about it.
With little golden bells at the hem of the priests garment, just like the priest couldn’t make a move without everyone knowing where he was, i believe the Holy Spirit gifts operating in us is like that, everywhere we go, everyone knows who and where we are. Unless God hides us, wherever we go, we have a righteous chiming to us. And yes, i used “we” in the broad sense because in Revelation 5:9-10, scripture says we were a ransomed people for God from every tribe, language, people, and nation, and that we have been made a kingdom and priests to our God. The language of that verse includes all believers.
1Peter 2:9 says we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and like it or not, if you’re a believer in Christ Jesus, you wear a robe with bells and pomegranates at the hem, meaning, you are a living, breathing, walking, talking representative of the fruits and gifts of the Spirit. If we don’t want to believe God’s word, that doesn’t negate God’s word. Just because we don’t believe it, doesn’t make it not so.
By observation, many believers are looking to acquire the gifts of the Spirit without making the fruits of the Spirit a first priority. According to John 15:8, we are called to be fruitful. “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” i don’t find anything there saying we should be amazingly gifted, but more importantly, to be fruitful, like the Lord commanded us in Genesis 1:22.
The goal is not to influence people to “get it right” but to be able to ask themselves better questions leading them to a deeper relationship with the Lord. Be inquisitive as to who this amazing person is in our lives, what is God about, how does He think, and why does He say the things He says? We can have no obvious gifts, and no Bible to refer to, but if you have a relationship with Jesus, there, now you’ve got something worth living for.
Support for this programming was given by Living In His Name Ministries, Bill and Gary at Big Pine Fast Food and Mortuary, CaseOn Builders on Spartanburg Hwy, Sisters Coffee Company, His Heart Missions taking the gospel to all the world, and of course, the one and only, our good friends on main street, Trinity Bakers, that’s right, Trinity Bakers, where there’s always something good in the oven.
Stir up the gifts within you, let these words stir up your sincere mind, to stir up your strength and courage being honest about what is it that constrains you, going beyond your comfort zone, that “negative stress position” and see what God has for you. Be an adventurer to know God and let Him be who He is in you. Allow Him to renew your desire to be fruitful, renewing your appreciation of being active in God’s plan. Find your gifting and use it with all your heart for the Kingdom of Heaven. Did you hear those key words and phrases? “Stir up, be honest, go beyond, be an adventurer, allow Him, renew your, and find your,” those are action words if i ever heard any.
Drive carefully this week … pray for your neighbor and be nice to that person in the mirror who looks back at you, exercise your gift of grace for yourself and others … Be strong and courageous, and i’ll talk to you next time. Amen.