Gifted

Scripture

1 Corinthians 12:1–7 GNB

Now, concerning what you wrote about the gifts from the Holy Spirit. I want you to know the truth about them, my brothers and sisters. You know that while you were still heathen, you were led astray in many ways to the worship of lifeless idols. I want you to know that no one who is led by God’s Spirit can say “A curse on Jesus!” and no one can confess “Jesus is Lord”, without being guided by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served. There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to all for their particular service. The Spirit’s presence is shown in some way in each person for the good of all.

Introduction

Here we are in the last quarter of the year, well next week anyway. Where has this year gone? At our leadership team meeting last Sunday we looked back over the year performance against goals and we discovered we had a pretty good year last year. We met our growth goals in both new members and professions of faith. One of the the things to close out the year, as in every year, is a focus on discipleship in Oct/Nov and this is what this series is all about. WE don’t do stewardship “campaigns” In fact we don;t use the word stewardship because it has become misused and synonymous with fund raising. We believe in generosity, in fact we believe in extravagant generosity which is one of the 5 marks of a disciple what are the 5 marks?

Extravagant generosity

Radical Hospitality

Intentional faith development

Risk Taking Mission and service

Passionate worship

So you’ll be gettin some information in the mail about our budget for next year, no change from this year and the usual information.

But what we are going to take a look at over the next 4 weeks is becoming a church that says yes! we already do a pretty good job of that. However, what we want to make sure of is that we are ready to go Hog Wild for Jesus. Through our capital campaign last year we said we need to be unleashed. Well now that we are unleashed its time for us to go Hog wild. So, let’s get started today with a look at saying Yes! to our spiritual gifts, or better saying Yes! to the Holy Spirit which apportions these gifts

Background

As is our custom for our Sunday discussions, let’s talk a little about the context of our scripture. Historical, cultural and in this case geographical too, because to understand the city of Corinth you need to know its location.

Ass you can see Corinth was and is located very strategically. it was the trade center of the ancient world. It was a very prosperous town with 2 seaports. And like many trade centers it was ethnically and religiously diverse. thee people was very affluent and the class division between rich and poor was very wide. The city was also know as a center of immorality as well.

The perfect place for Paul to plant a church! But the church reflected the community. There were deep divisions within the church along class lines. This resulted in problems in worship. Also there were those that though they were spiritually superior to other in the church, also causing problems in worship and fellowship. Probably the worst thing is that they were beginning to abandon the apostolic teaching of Paul especially concerning resurrection. Many had come to believe the resurrection was not a physical event but merely a spiritual event. This letter of Paul is written to answer questions the Corinthian shad about these things.

Exegesis

Not too long after we arrived here I started a Tuesday night Bible study. We had a visitor on several occasions that at one time attended here, but had gone to another church, but for some reason I don;t remember he started coming to Bible Study. He had everything figured out. In fact he kept referring to some kind of strange book I had never heard of, but he seemed to hold on an equal revelatory level as the Bible. I told him at one point, nicely, that he cold refer to that book all he wanted too, but it really had nothing to do with what we were studying. he said to me, “Well I guess you are not far enough along on your Spiritual journey to understand.” In other words, he was saying he was more spiritually mature than I was, and at some point I might wind up being as mature as he was to understand the references he was making to this book.

This is exactly the kind of spiritual arrogance Paul begins to deal with in this part of the letter. There was a group of people speaking in tongues who claimed spiritual superiority over those who didn’t. As an aside, ecstatic speech was common in the pagan world. the folks, gentile Christians, former “heathens” as he literally called them would have been exposed to similar kinds of ecstatic speech. Paul makes the point that those experiences were counterfeit and cannot be equated to ecstatic speech in the life of a follower of Jesus.This is what he is referring to in verses 2 and 3:

1 Corinthians 12:2–3 GNB

You know that while you were still heathen, you were led astray in many ways to the worship of lifeless idols. I want you to know that no one who is led by God’s Spirit can say “A curse on Jesus!” and no one can confess “Jesus is Lord”, without being guided by the Holy Spirit.

When we claim Spiritual superiority over another believer, we are actually saying no to the Spirit, because our gifts are given for the common good, not for one believer to laud it over another. When we claim superiority we are actually causing division rather than unity. We are fracturing rather than edifying. Paul is having to deal with this.

Paul says that the gifts are varied and are allocated by the Spirit

1 Corinthians 12:4–6 GNB

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served. There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to all for their particular service.

1 Cor 12:4-

You see the trinity here? Of course Paul would have no idea of Trinitarian Theology that would come some 400 years later, but that theology would be based on passages just as this.

Basically he is saying here that the gifts are allocated by God for us to use in ministry to others or service. In fact it is God that energizes these gifts in us. The english: “gives ability” is actually the Greek word we get our word energy from.

Everyone of us have gifts that God has given us to be used to build up the body of Christ. That means we all should be serving somewhere inside and outside the church. Where are you using yours? Are you using yours?

If you know what your gifts are and you are not putting them to use, you are saying no to God, grieving his Spirit and lacking the energy you need to empower your faith.

Let’s take a closer look at verse 7

1 Corinthians 12:7 GNB

The Spirit’s presence is shown in some way in each person for the good of all.

In other translations it says the Spirit is manifested . . . you know the song “they’ll know we are Christians by our love” this is what he’s saying. it is the use of your gifts where people see Jesus in you. if you are not using your gifts . . .

Application

Now, if you don’t know what your gifts are, how can you use them. Well that’s where the church can help and that’s why we are giving you these fairly lengthy surveys. if you don;t know what your gifts are you need to discover them and the church needs to get you involved in a ministry where you can use them. We have to help you say Yes!

You know in the verses following these, are the famous verses where Paul compares the church to a body. he does this to say no gift is more important than another, it take all the gifts working together to have a healthy body. In other words he is saying no one can declare their spiritual superiority over another based on gifts.

But, if you are not using your gifts then the body is not healthy. We have to help you use those gifts, and we are working on that. But will you say yes? if you are not using them you are certainly not saying Jesus is accursed, but are you really saying Jesus is Lord? how can you say Jesus is Lord if you are not using your gifts?

If Jesus is Lord he is Lord over everything! not just certain areas of your life, your whole life. Do you realize that if you are not using your gifts you are saying No to God’s grace?

The Greek word Paul uses here for Gifts is charisma , the root for Charisma is the same word in Greek for grace! The gifts of the Spirit are gifts of grace? Why would we want to say no to God’s unmerited favor?

The gifts are diverse, but if we use them we have unity in diversity! Paul is also making this case as well. Our gifts are for the community, not for us as individuals. WE might not have all the gifts present in our community, but we have the gifts present to accomplish our mission.

"All God's gifts are good, but they are not all the same. As I often say to people who tell me that they would like to serve the poor as I do, "What I can do, you cannot. What you can do, I cannot. But together we can do something beautiful for God."

Mother Theresa

However, if we are lacking in gifts, it is our fault for not practicing radical hospitality, for there are those in our greater community that God is calling to this congregation but if we don’t serve as his partner to reach these people, we will never have the gifts we need. The more the gifts the more the growth of the Kingdom.

When I was a youth minister, I asked a Father if he would like to work with the youth. His kids weren't even old enough to be in the program, but after all the excuses he could think of and his initial no; he called me back a few days later and had changed his mind. Now this person was introverted, and didn't care much for teenagers, he said. Now you are asking why on earth did I ask this guy to help? I was desperate. No not really, I think the reason I asked him was because God spoke to me. I think God whispered in my ear and said Tom needed to do this. Do you want to know what happened? He quit in the first week, cussed me out and beat up one of the kids. (Not what you expected right!) Just kidding.

When I was a youth minister, I asked a Father if he would like to work with the youth. His kids weren't even old enough to be in the program, but after all the excuses he could think of and his initial no; he called me back a few days later and had changed his mind. Now this person was introverted, and didn't care much for teenagers. Now you are asking why on earth did I ask this guy to help? I was desperate. No not really, I think the reason I asked him was because God spoke to me. I think God whispered in my ear and said Tom needed to do this. Do you want to know what happened? He quit in the first week, cussed me out and beat up one of the kids. (Not what you expected right!) Just kidding.

About a year later, Tom shared with the group the transformation he experienced. He said that this work of serving others of offering these kids a cool drink of water had changed his life. He was in tears when he said this. Then he thanked those he served. Brothers and Sisters that's power right there. That is true greatness. When your are humbled enough to kneel at the feet of those you serves and thank them for the opportunity to serve them. And thank them for the transformation that they have brought in your life. If you just sit in a pew on Sunday's, if you continue to say no, you will never have a chance to know this kind of power.

There’s the energy of God right there all because Tom said Yes.

God of grace and gifts, your love for us is staggering. In creation, you show us your extravagant generosity of air to breathe and bread to eat. In your son, you show us your unending capacity to heal and forgive and how you cover us with grace for eternity. In your spirit, you overwhelm us with your presence and power. Without your power, we could never utter the powerful words, “Yes, Lord Jesus, please be Lord and savior of my life.” This Yes changes everything. This Yes opens us a world of possibility to be forgiven, to serve, to learn, to truly love, and to praise you for all time. Cultivate in us a willingness to say Yes to all you have for us and for all the ways it will call us into the world. In your precious name we pray, AMEN

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