The best of the best?

Well, we are going to continue our / / Everybody Loves a Gift! series on the Gifts of the Spirit. We covered a lot of them last week, and we’re going to do the same today, although not quite as many.

Today I want to ask the question, / / Are these gifts, the one’s we’re looking at today the best of the best?

Now, that might not be a fair question, or maybe a little misleading, because Paul himself, who wrote all of the scripture we’ve been looking at about these gifts, says in 1 Corinthians 14:1, / / Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives - especially the gift to prophesy.

And in vs 3 says, / / …one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them…one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church.

And the best teachings I’ve ever heard on prophecy, which is simply the ability to hear God’s voice and understand his heart with the purpose of relaying that information to someone else, or you could say prophecy is knowing and seeing things that are not known or visible, the best teachings I’ve heard on that are centered on that particular verse. Prophecy is about strengthening people, encouraging people and comforting people.

When we talked about prophecy in the beginning of this series we looked at the fact that the prophets of the bible were some pretty powerful people. And that they heard and said some pretty amazing things. We’ve read a few times recently about Isaiah who prophesied about Jesus life and death, how he would die, the things he would go through, hundreds of years before it even happened. All by the Spirit of God, by the influence of God.

But I want to touch on something before we really dig in today. / / Gifts require responsibility.

How many know the now famous line from Spiderman, Uncle Ben says to a young Peter Parker, / / “With great power comes great responsibility.”

This is not a new concept, and it’s certainly not Stan Lee who thought it up. It actually sounds a whole lot like Jesus’ words in Luke 12:48, in his encouragement about being a faithful servant. He says, / / When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.

The same is true of the gifts of the Spirit. And I think Paul understood this, which is why he spent so much time writing about them, and also encouraging people in them. In Romans 12, he writes about the gifts a bit differently, really encouraging the USE of the gift, not just that we receive them. / / So if God has given you the ability to proPhesy, SPEAK OUT WITH AS MUCH FAITH AS GOD HAS GIVEN YOU. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have the gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

There’s almost a sense of, / / “Listen, this is so much more than just you getting a gift and you using a gift. This is about you understanding WHERE the gift comes from so that when you DO use it, you are using it with the heart and the intention that the giver of the gift has.”

Again, this points to his continued encouragement to learn to love, to ask God for and develop a love for people.

So, before we dig into gifts this morning I want to encourage you with this thought, / / Whatever gifts you have, take them seriously, use them responsibly, and learn God’s heart for those gifts.

Because I’ve seen people given a gift, and learn how to use the gift, but not the heart behind the gift, and it becomes a mess. This is why 1 Corinthians 14:3 is so important, because prophecy can be one of those gifts that can be used poorly, but all of them can. You could be really gifted at producing great wealth because you’re meant to be a giver, but with a heart that isn’t focused on God and his desire for the gift, it can easily become greed and desire to just create wealth for your own personal gain.

And with prophecy, imagine knowing something about someone, because God tells you, or, because you have been given the gift of prophecy, and I mentioned it being the ability to see and know things that are not visible or known, and not having a good heart. Not having the desire to help someone. What if you suddenly knew that someone was having an affair, that information could ruin lives.

What if you knew someone was taking advantage of someone else…that information could really hurt someone if the information is not used correctly.

Remember when talking about prophecy I mentioned a friend of ours that actually knew someone’s social security number… that information could be used to confirm that God hears them and knows them and sees them, and it could also be used to steal someone’s identity…

With great power comes great responsibility.

Regardless of the gift, we are to learn what God’s heart and intention for the gift are.

So, asking the question, / / Are these gifts the best of the best? Paul thinks it’s Prophecy, or at least encourages us to pursue that the most, but if we look at WHY he says that, it actually points to some other gifts as well. Because prophecy is about encouraging, strengthening and comforting people.

Which is why today we’re going to look at the gifts of / / Encouragement, Wisdom, Knowledge and Discernment.

/ / 1. Discernment // Do we go left or right?

Found in 1 Corinthians 12:10, Paul writes, / / He [the Spirit of God] gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit.

First of all, we need to recognize that the Spirit of God isn’t the only spirit in this world trying to get our attention. So, we need to be aware of that AND be learning to recognize his voice so we know it’s Him and we can actively push away any voice that isn’t!

OK, so / / What is discernment?

Discernment by definition is simply: / / the ability to judge well.

In Christian contexts it is the perception in the absence of judgement with a view to obtaining spiritual guidance and understanding. Meaning, if there isn’t an obvious or physical answer, we are asking God which way to go!

The greek word that Paul used is / / diakrisis, a judicial estimation, to be discerning, to discern.

Other translations say it this way, / / the ability to distinguish between spirits. The word spirit is pneuma, which we use for the Spirit of God, the breath of God, but here it is talking of any spirit that may be working to influence.

So, / / Discernment is the ability to distinguish, or recognize where something comes from, to be perceptive and to identify the purpose of something, to read between the lines, and to see the intent of something or someone.

I have said this many times before and I believe this to be true, I personally believe that the gift of discernment, and I mean that both in the definition of the Gift of the Spirit we are talking about today, but also just the simple gift from God to all of us to be able to discern, is the most necessary and needed gift in the church today.

To be able to see right from wrong.

To be able to distinguish good vs evil.

To understand what God is saying vs what Man is saying.

To know when to listen and when to turn away.

To discern this is of God, this is not.

I believe it is more needed today than ever before because the questions continue to arise and I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the church is not immune to the issues that are dividing our society at the moment. The same things that put people against other people put christians against christians or those who are in the church against those who are not. The same reasons people fight outside the church are some of the same reasons people fight inside the church.

Why? Because / / we are not immune to lacking understanding.

We’ve seen in society as a whole in the last few years that there is a big push to define YOUR truth. And although it is incredibly healthy to understand what you believe, simply knowing what you believe does not make it truth. Although it may seem true to you, because you don’t know anything different or you have been convinced by some means that it is the truth, if it is contrary to God’s truth, it is a lie.

I believe God is the definer of truth. I believe what God says to be true. Does that mean I understand it all today? No. Does that mean I am able to define that truth for you. Only to my limited human ability to understand what I have learned, read and believe God has shared with me from His heart.

This is why I believe discernment is such an important, and unfortunately lacking, ability in todays world.

/ / And discernment is based on truth, and truth comes from God. Jesus actually says in John 16:13, / / When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.

I’ve shared this before. When I was younger I struggled with such severe insecurity and shame that I was 100% convinced I was completely unloveable. I was absolutely sure that no one would ever love me. I would never get married. I was so steeped in my own hurt and shame, and my experiences had defined my belief. It wasn’t until I was willing to embrace the work and healing of the Holy Spirit in my life, the Spirit of Truth, because of what Jesus did on the cross that I was even able to begin to see those things change.

Was what I believed the truth? Absolutely not. But it sure seemed true to me. I was convinced. It was the love of God that broke down those walls and rescued me from the lies I believed so that I could begin to believe HIS truth.

There’s a whole world out there of people that don’t believe they are loved. You’ll find them in every house, in every store, on every street… but is that true? Regardless of what they believe about themselves, what their TRUTH is, why they believe what they believe - Romans 5:8 says, / / But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to dies for us while we were still sinners. John 3:16, For God so loved the WORLD....

/ / Your truth may be defining your life simply because you have not yet heard His truth!

See, like many of the gifts we’ve already looked at, yes, there is a Gift of Discernment - God gives this gift in greater measure to some, but it is something we all need and something we should all be asking for.

I have been absolutely loving reading through the book of Proverbs every month this year. There is such wisdom in it, and actually the entire book of Proverbs exists because King Solomon asked for discernment.

In 1 Kings 3:5-9 it says, / / That night the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”

Now, this almost sounds like a genie in a bottle moment here. Ask any wish, and I will grant it!

Solomon could have asked for anything. God just said whatever it is he would give it. He could have asked to be the most powerful king in all of history. He could have asked to be the richest, the handsomest, the smartest, the strongest, to conquer all other nations.... but listen to what he says.

/ / Solomon replied, “You showed great and faithful love to your servant my father, David, because he was honest and true and faithful to you. And you have continued to show this great and faithful love to him today by giving him a son to sit on his throne. Now, O Lord my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around. And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted! Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?”

Out of that request, that prayer comes all the wisdom found in the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, and not only does God give him this, he becomes the wisest of all kings, but God also gives him long life and riches and fame like no other king before or after him.

God gives the gift of discernment to some to really enable them to clearly recognize and distinguish between the influence of God, and the influence of our enemy, satan, or the world, or the flesh in any given situation. And we need this gift because in times of great question we need great direction.

And to further emphasize the need to take these gifts seriously, Hebrews 5:14 which has been talking about being spiritually aware, says this, / / [those who are spiritually aware] through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.

Through training we develop the skills with the gifts we’ve been given.

/ / Gift of Discernment - The ability to understand the truth from God’s perspective and to discern what is of God and what is not.

/ / 2. Knowledge

The gift of Knowledge is a really good one. And it’s got a bit of a double meaning. It’s in 1 Corinthians 12:8, / / ...to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge.

Some other translations say “a word of knowledge”. I like how the CEV says it, because the gift of Knowledge is close but very different from the gift of wisdom, and it says, / / Some of us can speak with wisdom, while others can speak with knowledge… clearly defining there is a difference here.

Word of knowledge, utterance of knowledge, a message of special knowledge.

The word for knowledge is / / gnosis and it simply means knowledge & understanding. This word is also used for understanding the general knowledge of Christian religion, and even the deeper and enlarged knowledge of it, like those who are advanced scholars. It is the understanding of things lawful and unlawful for Christians, and an understanding of moral wisdom, the ability to direct in right living.

Again, even in the way that Paul writes this, there’s a directive to this gift. It’s not someone who studies and studies for themselves, gaining and growing in knowledge for their own brain, but he clearly says, this is a word of, or utterance, or a message.

/ / The Gift of Knowledge is not for retaining information for personal use, but to share God’s knowledge with others.

There are some people who have this gift to study, to really understand, to pick apart the word of God and explain it to those of us who maybe just don’t have that real ability to pull things apart like that.

And let’s just stop there for a second - You know that’s ok, right? I have been saying this a lot this year, The Bible is Good for You! Plain and Simple, all of us should be reading the bible, but if you find it difficult to really study and dig deep into the word of God, you can give yourself a break. Although I do believe we are all meant to seek understanding about what the Bible says and means, of course, it’s not just a book to read, I do very much believe that some are given a gift of understanding that enables them to share with others what the scripture is saying. And that means that there are people who have done some of that heavy lifting for you already. Invest in yourself and get a good study bible. If you’re not sure what to get, come talk to me.

Here’s a GREAT area where we should be asking for both Knowledge AND Discernment. Because not everyone who says, “This is what the bible means” is telling the truth. And not everyone who says, “The bible says...” is right.

Take for instance an incredibly popular saying. God helps those who help themselves. I’ve heard lots of people say, “Well, you know the bible says…God helps those who help themselves..” except, it doesn’t...

The bible actually says in Romans 3 that the law, or trying to do what was right ourselves, is unable to save us, that’s WHY God sent Jesus Christ to be a sacrifice for us, because we were never going to be able to help ourselves.

But you have people, even christians, that believe this notion that God will only help you if you’re already winning yourself. That’s the entire point of salvation by grace through faith and NOT by works!

See why discernment is so important? Just because someone says something, don’t make it true! And we need people in the body of Christ who TRULY have the gift of Knowledge to share with us the deep things of God in a way we can understand and digest them!

Now, I mentioned that the gift of knowledge can have a two fold meaning.

First, the ability to understand, to have knowledge, even the desire to seek it out, to read, to study, to grow in our understand. I believe the primary function of / / the gift of knowledge is to understand and deliver the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ with clarity, giving people the best opportunity to believe and to understand what they have been called to as a Christian and a follower of Jesus.

I also believe that there is an element with the / / Gift of Knowledge that you know something you wouldn’t know without God’s help. Some could say this is simply the gift of prophecy, and that may very well be, but look at how the NLT translates it, A message of special knowledge.

Have you ever just known something you shouldn’t know, or don’t know where it came from? Ever had a “deja vu” moment?

Have you ever suddenly felt, I need to call this person and check in on them, ask how they are doing, make sure they’re ok… You suddenly know something you didn’t know before. Again, is it prophetic, is it the gift of knowledge? Yes… and I think the point is that we pursue hearing God, truly listening and following, both in Written Word, the bible and Spoken Word, God speaking to us in the moment.

I’ve also been in meetings where people ask God, “Are there people here you want to meet, or heal, or speak to.” And they may feel, sense or hear something about some condition or pain, and they ask in the room, is there someone here with pain in their knee, someone says, “yes, me..” ok, maybe, just maybe, God is giving knowledge of something He wants to do something about! I have seen time and time again, when those moments happen, the person receives a healing in their body. And many would call that a Word of Knowledge, but I personally believe that’s simply a part of this gift, the gift is to have knowledge and understanding, and to speak that out for others to gain that knowledge and understanding.

/ / Gift of Knowledge - the ability to understand and articulate the things of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who need to hear it.

/ / 3. Wisdom

Found in the same verse as Knowledge, Paul writes, To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice...

We all could use some wise advice, couldn’t we?

And again, you may get tired of hearing me say this, but this, like all the gifts is not exclusive to those who HAVE the Gift of the Spirit of Wisdom, BUT, that we can ALL ask for wisdom, and we should all seek wisdom.

Let’s just grab the very beginning of the book of Proverbs for a second. Proverbs 1:1-4, / / These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel. Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise. Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what is right, just and fair. These proverbs will give insight to the simple, knowledge and discernment to the young.

A whole book dedicated to bringing wisdom.

And James 1:5 says this, / / If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you.

The ESV says, / / If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

So, wisdom is available for all, and yet, as we see with these gifts, by God’s grace, some have received a greater measure of the gift.

Like the gift of knowledge the gift of wisdom is also referred to as the word of wisdom or utterance of wisdom. The greek word is / / sophia and literally means wisdom, broad and full of intelligence.

I’ve always thought of it this way.

/ / Knowledge is knowing WHAT to do. Wisdom is knowing HOW, WHERE & WHEN to do it.

Because just knowing how to do something doesn’t mean we should, and doesn’t mean it’s the right time or place. We all know someone, or maybe even had this happen to ourselves, we do or say the right thing, but at the wrong time. This is where wisdom is needed. Wisdom goes beyond just the knowledge of something.

Wisdom is not only seeing what happened in a situation, which is knowledge, but seeing what God is saying through it, or how we can learn from it.

Wisdom is seeing what a decision will result in rather than just knowing it’s a good decision. Is it the right decision at the right time?

Wisdom sees through confusion and distraction to give insight and clarity, to give direction and ultimately points people to God.

You ever met a person that just seems to know the right thing to say at the right time. Or people have been giving you advice, but it isn’t sitting right, and then someone comes along and just seems to see all angles of it and can lead you through it.

That person who doesn’t just know the truth of God, but knows when and how to apply God’s truth to your specific situation.

Where I think wisdom and knowledge connect is that wisdom often times builds upon knowledge, and so either a person with the gift of knowledge and a person with the gift of wisdom will work together to bring the best solution, throw in the person with the gift of discernment and you’ve got a real winner for decision making. But that also says to me, if you believe you have the gift of wisdom, ask God for knowledge, ask God for discernment, read and study, learn as much as you can, get as close to God as you can.

Proverbs 9:10 says, / / Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgement.

Other translations say / / the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

The fear of the Lord… that’s not being afraid of God, but to be in awe of Him. Wisdom starts with saying, “God, you are God, you are awesome, you are all knowing...” That’s the foundation, the beginning, the source of all wisdom.

/ / Gift of Wisdom - Acknowledging God is God, He knows best and desires to share his direction with us!

/ / 4. Encouragement / Exhortation

If you’ve noticed the question I asked at the beginning, Are these gifts the best of the best? kind of makes sense.

Discernment, knowing if it’s God or someone else...

Knowledge, knowing what to do.

Wisdom, knowing when and how to do it.

And this one, Encouragement or Exhortation, might just top them all!

1 Corinthians tells us that Prophecy is to strengthen, encourage and comfort, and this is the very heart of the Gift of Encouragement.

Prophecy is encouraging because by it’s very nature it’s God sharing his heart, but you can be encouraging to someone without hearing God. Encouragement SHOULD be a basic human instinct.

We are introduced to this gift in Romans 12:8, / / If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging!

The Contemporary English Version says it beautifully, / / If we can encourage others, we should encourage them.

What am I about to say? Yes, you got it, we all are meant to be encouraging!

The greek word is / / parakaleo, and it means to call near, to invite, invoke, call for, comfort, exhort and pray for to encourage, to strengthen.

The greatest encouragement we can give is to point people and remind people of the amazing things God has done for them. To remind people of the power of what Jesus Christ did on the cross. / / To encourage them in their faith.

Because usually, when we need encouragement, it’s because we’re listening to a lie, or somehow missing God’s truth at the moment.

Remember how we talked last week about Paul leaving Titus on the island of Crete because he was able to find the right person for the job, the gift of Administration. And in talking about this, Paul encourages what to look for in these leaders, and although he gives a good list of things he says in Titus 1:7-9, / / A church leader is a manager of God’s household…he will be able to encourage others with wholesome teaching and show those who oppose it where they are wrong.

A leader with the gift of encouragement can point people to the gospel and the word of God to bring them out of what they’re going through, and put them back on the path leading to life.

Paul also encourages Timothy in a similar way in 2 Timothy 4:2, / / Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.

Where the Gift of Mercy will sit with you and take time with you, Encouragers will give you some direction to get out of it. The heart is the same, but there is a recognition of what is needed in the moment.

See, there is a fine line between letting someone sit in their stuff, and being too pushy with them to get out of it.

I like the saying, “If you’re going through hell, don’t sit down, just keep moving!”

Sometimes we go through things that take time to reconcile with, and that’s ok. Sometimes we have hurts, or issues that just need a minute to sit, but sometimes we need to be encouraged to not sit in our stuff, and to move forward! To be reminded of who God is and what God has said in His word.

Speaking the truth in love brings strength and comfort. But the key there is IN LOVE. See, when love directs us we won’t be too pushy, we won’t try and force our way on someone, we will be sensitive to their needs, understanding of the process, and patient in the healing. And when we do that it encourages people to say, “You know what, you’re right...”

An encourager is constantly building the church up, regardless of whether they are going through a difficult time or not. They just want people to be happy, comforted, excited about what God is doing. They want to share the truth and see people benefit from it. Encouragers are the ones you might get a bit upset with because they’re always so happy, or trying to make you happy!

I was actually accused once of wanting a church where everyone was always happy. I though, Ya, that’s the goal. I know it’s not the reality, but it’s the goal. If you’re sad, I’m ok with that, except I’m not ok with that. You know what I mean. I know you may need time, space, healing, comfort etc… but the goal is always, always, always the joy, strength, comfort, and redemption of Jesus Christ in our lives!

All things in balance, right? Sometimes we need mercy, sometimes we need encouragement, sometimes we need prophecy, or the knowledge of what to do, the wisdom for our situation… But all these gifts continue to work together for the benefit of the body, with ONE MAIN GOAL - Pointing us to Jesus Christ.

All of these gifts point to God. All of these Gifts are meant to bring Glory to God.

/ / Gift of Encouragement - Pointing to God and His truth! Whether you are going through a struggle or not, continually encouraging you in the Lord!