Beliefs Week 7: Spiritual Gifts

Good Morning and welcome to another week of Church here at the Bridge. We have been working through all of these beliefs and what we believe. It is amazing to me to see how we can grow and engage in the Word of God and to hopefully gain a better understanding of our Doctrines and beliefs that shape and form us as Chriistians.

Spiritual Fruits and Gifts

I was reminded the other day by a facebook memory from 11 years ago. Angie and I were driving somewhere while we were living in Kansas City and we saw a bumper sticker that said God wants Spiritual fruits not Religous Nuts. It was something that i thoguht about for a moment and I looked at Angie and said maybe God wants Both, and he wants to make some trail mix.

It Got me thinking about the church and what the church looks like as Christians make up the many parts of the church. The reality is that we often look at the church and we see the problems that we have had in the past and we want to reject those “religous nuts” yet the grace of God is such that we must remember that we are all imperfect and that we all need to come closer to God and to rely on him.

The reality is that we have two basic understanding of who we are as Christians and the affects of invitiing the great helper, The Holy Spirit, into our lives to infulence and impact us that we see two major outcomes from the spirit.

The Fruits of The Spirit

The first impact of living a life in the Spirit is the fruits of the Spirit. These are the very nature and outpouring of the Spirit in our lives and how we live. This is not something that is exclusive to any one individual Christian. This are something that we shold all have or see or work on within our lives.

Galatians 5:22–25 NIV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Fruits of The Spirit

Now one of the things i struggled for a long time with this list. I remember looking at this list and thinking oh man i am struggling with this. Why am I not living this out? Why am i not showing this as well as i could? I think that this sturggle is something that many people do struggle with.

As a parent the one i probably sturggle the most with Forebearance, or paitence or Restraint. I mean many parents experience this on a regular basis. We lose patients with the tiny humans that we are raising. It is difficult at times to maintain that control and that level of patience that we need. Yet, if we are honest with outselves we recognize that there is a significatn difference between someone who is trying to be patient and the person who blantently ignores the issue.

I believe the work of the Spirit allows us to be in this state of continually growing in these areas. As long as our desire is to live these out on a regular basis. These are things that we are workign on and growing in. They still are a part of us at some level and are evident in our lives. Some may be more prominent than others but they are still there.

The Fruits are an essential part of who we are as Christians.

The Gifts of the Spirit

The fruits are distincly different than the gifts of the Spirit. The Gifts of the Spirit can be pulled from multiple passages fromt he New testament. This are some of the General Agreed upon Gifts of the Spirit.

Prophecy

Ministry

Teaching

Apostles

Exhortation

Giving

Leading

Showing Mercy

Evangeliests

Pastors

Tounges

Interpretation of Tongues

Healing

Faith

The Gifts of the Spirit

It is important to note that this is not an exhaustive list by any means. I don’t think that we can stick to this singular list that changes depending on the passage of scripture you read. The reason for this is that many of our Gifts of the Spirit overlap with some of our natural or developed talents as idividuals.

These Gifts that are identified though are unique and essential parts of the church and the development and growth of the church as a whole. Every person who confesses to be a Follower of Christ will have some measure of one of these gifts. Some may have multiple manifestations of these Gifts. This is decided by God who in his divine wisdom gives these gifts to the right person at the right time to help the church be what the church needs to be. It is in his divine will that we find the source of these gifts and the reason for these gifts and the power of these gifts.

Why?

It is always such a simple question that we have to ask ourselves. Why? Why do we have these gifts and the fruits of the spirit in our lives. What is their purpse? Why are they so important? That is the question that we must ask if we are to really move forward into why these things exist and why we believe in them.

In Service to the Church

The answer is quite plain and simple. These fruits and gifts exist and manifest themselves so that we can serve the church of Christ. Now as we have discussed in pervious sermons thatwe need to have a proper understanding of what we mean when we say the church. The Church is not a specific denomination or gathering of believers but it is the Body of Christ. This is made up though of the gathering of believers and is designed that we are in support of each other as we work together to grow together under the headship of Jesus. It is in the Body that we find our unity and that we find our connection and that we must work togther to make the body stronger. It is why we have passages like this...

1 Peter 4:10–11 NIV

10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

or

Romans 12:4–8 NIV

4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

Build the Body

We are called to build the body of Christ. We are ccalled as Christians to build the church to reach out in our lives in service to others to honor God. It is in this unity that we find the gifts and the fruits fo the Spirit lived out in our lives have purpose and meaning. They play a massive influence and impact on our lives. It is in our love of God that we see these play out and we find that who we are as Christians is bound up in our relationship with the Spirit.

God’s Glory Not ours!

I go back to

1 Peter 4:11 NIV

11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.