Gifts

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# Introduction

Good morning again. If you have a Bible with you, would you find I Corinthians chapter 12 and turn there? Today's message is taken from verses 1-11 where Paul deals with issues surrounding the Corinthian church and their understandings of the gifts of the Spirit or Spiritual gifts, as we call them many times today. Would you pray with me and then we will dive right in.

# Prayer

1 Corinthians 12:1–11 ESV

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. 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. Now 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. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

> 1 Corinthians 12:1–11 (ESV)

> 1 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.

> 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

> 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,

> 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,

> 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

> 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

As we have learned, the Corinthians

Beginning in these verses and over the course of the next couple of chapters, Paul sets up a sort of scaffolding for understanding spiritual gifts. It's like the frame to a building that helps us know more about the gifts and how they help the church and glorify God.

Weaving through chapter twelve in particular, we see a theme of unity in diversity.

Paul's writing on this reflects the nature and goodness of God, particularly, the triune God.

The ESV Gospel Transformation Study Bible notes that,

" An overemphasis on diversity might lead us to a sinful spirit of independence from other believers: and undue stress on unity might lead to an arrogant insistence that all other believers be exactly like us.

2 Dangers

- too much on diversity - gets us to try and be lone rangers

- too much undue stress on unity - could bleed over to desire of uniformity and cause us to resent those not like us

The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit

Explain what happens when someone is regenerated.

Gifts given to serve Christ and build up the church. (Common good)

The Work of the Spirit

The first three verses here give us a solid foundation for understanding the entire section as they tell us about the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a follower of Jesus Christ. (Elaborate on these)

The reason Paul has come to this topic at the beginning of this chapter is to answer a question that has been raised by the Corinthian Christians about spiritual gifts. We understand rightly that Paul seems to be addressing the abuse of the gift of tongues particularly and I find future passages to be in agreement with it. He addresses this and moves into the body of his content in this section, which we will see continued in the verses for next week.

The work of the Spirit:

1.Frees us from mute idols

- The Jews considered idols to be senseless objects. They were not gods at all and as such were mute. They did not speak. In contrast to that, the Spirt enables us to confess Jesus as Lord.

2. Enables us to confess Jesus as Lord

- They may have had some concerns about Spirit enabled speech during their gatherings. Paul explains that no one truly under the influence of the Spirit is able to speak blasphemy against God. The content when a person speaks by the Spirit, is edifying. It builds up. It's not blasphemous and affirms that Jesus is Lord.

- Warren Wiersbe recounts:

A citizen of the Roman Empire was required once a year to put a pinch of incense on the altar and say, "Caesar is Lord!" This was anathema to believers. No true Christian could call anyone but Christ "Lord", so this was a definite test of whether or not a person was saved. It is only by the Spirit that we can confess Christ as Lord."

- Jesus is Lord is the fundamental confession of the Christian faith.

Romans 10:9–10 ESV

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

> because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

3. Gives us gifts that move the church toward greater maturity (build up the church)

Paul's Theological Context

Paul situates this discussion of the gifts of the spirit squarely in the context of the three-in-one Godhead. The Trinity. The unity and diversity that we see in the church is a reflection of the unity amid diversity that we see in God's nature. This plays itself out when in verses 4-7 where he points to the reality of the varieties of gifts, service, and activities and says they come from the same Spirit, Lord, and God.

Spirit is a reference to the Holy Spirit of God that gives the gifts and enables the Christian to serve Christ.

Lord is a reference to Christ Jesus of whom the Spirit enables us to declare: JESUS IS LORD.

God is a reference to God, the Father, creator of all and sovereign. This same God empowers them all.

All of the gifts benefit the body of Christ, the church in some way. They reveal the activity of the Spirit within the faith community. It's where we see the Spirit working so to speak.

Paul Lists Some Gifts

I don't understand this list to be exhaustive. One of the reasons Paul may have listed so many of the gifts could be because they had been focusing too heavily on the spectacular ones.

Different than talents.

Let's take a brief look at those mentioned in this list.

I. Wisdom (v. 8)

A. This refers to the ability to apply the Gospel teaching.

B. Preachers and teachers need this gift in order to apply the Scriptural teaching to the needs of the congregation.

C. Seeing clearly the teaching in the Bible and discerning what to do as a result of observing the scriptures.

II. Knowledge (v. 8)

A. This gift may have been given to people before the New Testament was completed to help them understand facts they had not learned.

B. The gift may enable some to organize Gospel facts for great teaching.

III. Faith (v. 9)

A. We have to have faith to be a Christian.

B. This gift refers to some who have great vision and believe that God makes it a reality.

IV. Healings (v. 9)

A. This is a plural. I do not believe it refers to the ability to heal in all cases.

B. It may refer to different gifts required for different kinds of healing. There are other kinds of healing besides physical healing.

C. I admit that I have a problem understanding this gift.

V. Miraculous Powers (v. 10)

A. The signs of an apostle (2 Corinthians 12:12 and Hebrews 2:1–4).

B. Was this gift limited to the apostolic church? This is not to deny that miracles take place today. How can we limit God?

VI. Prophecy (v. 10)

A. “To speak forth” or “to proclaim” is the basic meaning.

B. This does not necessarily mean predictive prophecy.

VII. Distinguishing Between Spirits (v. 10)

A. The early church did not have the New Testament Scriptures. This gift enabled certain people to know whether preaching or teaching was from the guidance of the Holy Spirit, or some other spirit.

B. God may give some the ability to show false teaching for what it is.

VIII. Tongues and the Interpretation of Tongues (v. 10)

A. These gifts have been abused and confused.

B. The word “tongues” is a plural word. It speaks of different kinds of languages.

C. The word translated “tongues” was not used to refer to ecstatic speech.

Acts 2:1–13 ESV

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”

The Holy Spirit of God brings unity through he variety of the spiritual gifts in a church body. The spiritual gifts show us that God works through individual Christians.

# Conclusion

Are you a follower of Jesus?

- If not then let me invite you to respond to Jesus right now.

- Gospel - God, Man, Christ, Response

Are you a follower of Jesus?

- If yes, then you are gifted. You have been given a gift for the glory of God and the building up of the church. What is your gift? I would love to help you discover it.

- Try serving in areas that interest you and test them out.

- There are inventories you can take but I'm not as into that.

Give contact information.