Sermon Tone Analysis

World Communion Sunday – SMDCOG – Oct 2, 2022

Intro

Before we look at the subject for today, I want to follow up on what I said a month ago.

What we talked about was probably new to those of you who were there and might have been a little unsettling.

There will be a second determination on the Day of Judgment based on our works.

The reason you probably haven’t heard this before is because at one point in history the Church twisted the works part of the equation with penance, absolution, and indulgences, and other things that promised a path to work your way into heaven.

The Reformation rejected those ideas and championed the “Grace alone, Faith alone, Christ alone” theology that we are familiar with.

But the Reformation also threw the baby out with the bathwater – it threw out the clear teaching in scripture of a Judgment Day accounting of our actions.

Scripture even teaches that we will give an account for every idle word we speak:

Matt 12:36-37 – “I tell you that on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every worthless word they speak.

For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

So, because we focused so much on “Grace alone, Faith alone, Christ alone” theology, we no longer hear about being judged based on our works; being judged by how we have stewarded the gifts God has given us even though we find this truth in scripture.

The Scriptures say we will give an account for our actions, and a determination based on what we have done will determine our reward after we die.

That reward has NOTHING to do with salvation, or eternal life, or riches, or wealth.

But it DOES impact our stewardship opportunities in the new creation – a new creation that contains both a new heaven AND a new earth.

I hope that makes sense.

Today we’re going to look at Spiritual Gifts.

What are they?

How are they different from talents?

Why does God give them to us? That’s what we are going to look at over the next 30 minutes or so.

But before we get there, we need to fix some story problems.

We all view the world through stories that live inside our mind.

These stories tell us how the world works, and we interpret everything we experience through these stories.

Frequently, these stories are faulty, and we need to realign our stories with reality.

Two people can encounter the same experience but have two radically different reactions, all because our stories are different.

How you react when a police officer pulls you over will depend greatly on the stories running through your mind.

If someone reacts differently than you to a situation, it’s because they are viewing the world through a different set of stories.

How we view spiritual gifts depends on the stories we view the world through.

So, before we look at Spiritual Gifts we need to align our stories about the world we live in, and who we were created to be, with what Scripture says.

Genesis 1:1-2 (ESV) – “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.

And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

In these two verses we see that when God created the universe, the earth was “without form” (In Hebrew it’s “tohu wa vohu”) – unformed and uninhabited – wild and waste – in one word, it was “Chaos.”

Creation was also “void” (empty, barren), and full of darkness.

And over the course of the first 36 verses of the Bible we see God, through the Holy Spirit, bringing order and form, bringing fruitfulness and fullness, and bringing light.

The first thing God does, through the Holy Spirit, is bring light where there is darkness.

Then during the first three days of creation, God brings form, order, boundaries, and structure.

In the next three days of creation, he goes back and fills those forms, structures, and boundaries with fruitfulness and fullness.

And finally, on the sixth day God created humanity, male and female, and commissioned them with what I call the Genesis Commission.

This is the beginning of our Foundational Identity.

FOUNDATIONAL IDENTITY

Genesis Commission – The First Block of Our Foundational Identity

Gen 1:26-28 (ESV)

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

And God blessed them.

And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Be Fruitful, Multiply, Fill the earth, Subdue it, and have Dominion over it.

– Humans, men and women, were designed to imitate what God has done in creation; we bear his image.

We were created and commissioned to bring form and structure where there is chaos, to bring fullness and fruitfulness where there is barrenness and emptiness, and to bring light where there is darkness.

God created men and women in his image to serve all of creation as co-regents and stewards of all God created.

And we see this commission repeated over and over in scripture.

Genesis 9:1, 7 (Noah and Children); Genesis 16:10 (Hagar); Genesis 17:6-7 (Abraham); Genesis 22:16-18 (Abraham); Genesis 26:23-24 (Isaac); Genesis 28:1-4 (Isaac to Jacob); Genesis 35:9-12 (God to Jacob); Genesis 41:50-52 (Joseph to Ephraim); Genesis 48:2-4 (Jacob to Joseph); Exodus 1:7 (Description of Israel in Egypt); Leviticus 26:9-13 (God to Israel); Deuteronomy 7:12-14 (Moses to Israel); Jeremiah 23:3-4 (God to Israel); John 15:7-8, 16 (Jesus to Disciples).

Kings and Priests – The Second Block of Our Foundational Identity

Exodus 19:5-6 - “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’

These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

The people of God are called to be kings and priests.

You and I are called to be kings and priests representing God to the world and interceding on their behalf.

This is no light and joyful task.

Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in London on June 2, 1953.

C. S. Lewis chose not to attend the festivities because the weather was poor, because he hated crowds, and because he was not in the mood to dress up.

Instead, he stayed at home.

Many watched the event on television (it was the first fully televised coronation, apparently at the behest of Philip).

About a month later Lewis reflected on the event in a letter to a friend (Letters, 3:343):

“You know, over here people did not get that fairy-tale feeling about the coronation.

What impressed most who saw it was the fact that the Queen herself appeared to be quite overwhelmed by the sacramental side of it.

Hence, in the spectators, a feeling of (one hardly knows how to describe it) — awe — pity — pathos — mystery.

The pressing of that huge, heavy crown on that small, young head becomes a sort of symbol of the situation of humanity itself: humanity called by God to be his vice-regent and high priest on earth, yet feeling so inadequate.

As if he said, “In my inexorable love I shall lay upon the dust that you are glories and dangers and responsibilities beyond your understanding.”

Do you see what I mean?

One has missed the whole point unless one feels that we have all been crowned and that coronation is somehow, if splendid, a tragic splendor.”

See Deuteronomy 7:6-8; Isaiah 61:5-7; 1 Peter 2:9-10; Revelation 1:4-6; Revelation 5:9-10

Tabernacles/Temples of God (Presence) – The Third Block of Our Foundational Identity

The Presence of God was located on top of Mount Sanai when the law was given (Exodus 19:16-20) in sound, fire and smoke.

It was located in and over the Tabernacle (Exodus 40:34-38) in fire and smoke.

The Presence of God was located in the Temple (1 Kings 8:10-11; Isaiah 6:1-5) in fire and smoke.

And on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) the Presence of God, the Holy Spirit (like tongues of fire and a mighty wind), came to rest on the people of God in order to dwell IN the people of God.

Now we are the temple, the portable tabernacle, of God (1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Ephesians 2:18-22).

See also Exodus 19:16-20; Exodus 40:34-38; 1 Kings 8:10-11, Isaiah 6:1-5; Acts 2; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Ephesians 2:18-22

So, we see that men and women are commissioned and designed – created to be God’s representatives, image-bearers of God, stewards of God, coregents with God, kings under the authority of God, priests representing God, and the portable location of the presence of God.

That is your foundational identity.

That is who you are as a disciple of Christ.

All that you do or say should flow through that identity.

And when we look at Spiritual Gifts, we need to view them through the lens of our foundational identity.

What Are Spiritual Gifts?

Primary Texts

There are four primary texts dealing with Spiritual gifts: Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; Ephesians 4:1-16; 1 Peter 4:1-11.

Romans 12:1-8 (Key verses 6-8) – I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

So, in Romans 12 we see that we are to present our bodies to God as living sacrifices (this is how Paul describes worship).

We are to be transformed by renewing our mind – in order that by testing and examination we may discern the will of God.

Why?

Because we have different gifts that need to be applied (through our bodies) to accomplish the will of God.

1 Corinthians 12:1–31 (Key verses 1-11, and 27-31) – Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.

2 You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!”

and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.