Sermon Tone Analysis

ARE YOU A CRART-MATIC?I Corinthians 12:1-11Dr.

Jerry vinesThe charismatic movement is a relatively new development in thehistory of the American church.

It has its roots in the old linepentecostalism, but it finds its manifestation today in all of the mainline denominations in our land.

The charismatic movement is a movementthat has burst upon the scene in America and has been a source of agreat deal of discussion and a great deal of disagreement among thepeople of God.

There are charismatic Christians as they are called.Charismatic Christians who say they have the gift of tongues, the giftof healing, a variety of spiritual gifts.

There are many sincere,genuine Christians who call themselves charismatic Christians.

I haveno purpose in this series of Bible studies to in anyway disparage anyof the children of God.

I have no intention to say anything that wouldbe discourteous or unkind to any of God's children.

My purpose is tostudy the Bible and see what the Bible says about the whole area ofspiritual gifts.There is a great deal of confusion in this particular area -- alot of misinformation about the whole area of spiritual gifts, speakingin tongues, healing and these matters.

For God's children, the finalauthority is always the Word of God.

For a Christian, the questionalways is - what does the Bible say.

We do not build our doctrine onthe basis of our experience, but rather on the basis of the Bible.

Wedo not bring the Bible to our experience, but rather we bring ourexperience to the Bible.

What the Bible says, we must say.

What theBible we must teach.

What the Bible admonishes we must be willing to2follow.The whole area of spiritual gifts in the charismatic movementcan best be understood if we understand it in the context of ICorinthians 12, 13 and 14.

You will notice this section beginssimilarly to what has previously been said.

He begins in verse 1 bysaying - "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren..." That is a littlephrase that is used in previous chapters.

Early on back in chapterseven we had that similar statement - "Now concerning the thingswhereof you wrote unto me."

Evidently the Corinthian believers hadwritten Paul and were asking Paul to answer a series of questions thatwere sources of controversy and confusion in the church at Corinth.So, he has been ringing off these answers.

He has been dealing withthe variety of questions that they have asked.

There is also adivision point that comes right now in the book of I Corinthians.

Inone sense of the word you could say that the first eleven chapters Paulis dealing with carnal matters in the church.

Now, beginning inchapter 12 he is dealing with spiritual matters.

G. Campbell Morgan,the great Bible teacher says that the first part of the book has to dowith the carnalities, the remaining part of the book has to do with thespirituality.

I think he is exactly correct.Notice in verse 1 where the word gifts used there and it is initalics if you have a King James Bible.

That means that was added bythe translators to make the sentence smoother.

I really believe inthis instance though it obscures, really, the intention.

You would bebetter to read verse 1 this way.

"Now concerning the spiritualities,brethren, I would not have you ignorant."

Spiritual gifts is just onepart of the whole area of what the Bible teaches about being a3spiritual believer.

Listen to me very carefully.

It is possible for abeliever to have one or many spiritual gifts and yet not be a spiritualChristian.

Spiritual gifts and spirituality are not necessarilysynonymous.

For instance, we find this in the Corinthian church.

Infirst chapter, seventh verse, Paul has already said to them, you comebehind in no spiritual gift.

In the Corinthian congregation, all ofthe gifts of the spirit were operating.

There were individualbelievers in that church who had these spiritual gifts.

Yet, when Paulwrote to the church in the third chapter he said, "Brethren, I couldnot speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal.!' Havingspiritual gifts does not nfcessarily mean that you are a spiritualChristian.

He is just dealing with spiritual gifts as they relate tothe overall subject of spirituality.

All of God's children ought todesire to be spiritual believers.

I believer the Bible teachers thereare two kinds of believers.

There are carnal believers and there arealso spiritual believers.

The fact of the matter is in any given dayyou and I can move from being carnal at certain times of the day andspiritual at others.

Could I illustrate?

You begin the day with aquiet time.

It is such a sweet time.

You have yielded your life tothe Lord.

You are studying the Bible and on your knees in prayer andthe touch of heaven is upon your soul.

You walk out of that quiet timeand you are spiritual -- close to God.

You get in your car and headtoward work.

You get on the Matthews Bridge and somebody in aVolkswagen pulls in front of you and all of a sudden you have movedfrom spiritual to carnal.

That happened in the life of the apostlePeter.

Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God."He climbed the heights of spirituality.

Then in the next moment when4Jesus talked about the cross, he took Jesus aside and said, "Be thatfar from you." Jesus said, "Get thee behind me, Satan."

One moment hewas spiritual, the next minute he was carnal.

Don't ever think we everarrive in the Christian life or ever get to a level of spiritualityfrom which we cannot descend.

But it ought to be the desire of everybeliever to be a spiritual Christian--to be close to the Lord JesusChrist--to be filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit every day of ourlife.

In that connection (it's very important that you get thismessage because we will build on it in all of the other messages as wemove into the Charismatic movement, tongues and these kinds of matters)there are three aspects of spiritual gifts as they relate to spiritualChristianity that are found in these verses.

For instance, in verses2-3 we have given for us the foundation of spiritual gifts.

He showsus what is the foundation of the whole area of the spiritual life of abeliever.

He approaches the subject negatively in verse 2 andpositively in verse 3.Negatively he says in verse 2 that there was a time when theywere carried away by the demonic.

You must always understand thebackground of the Corinthian believers.

They were living in a timewhere mystery religions and a variety of cults were current.

When youstudy what literature says about these mystery religions and thesecults you will find out that they were experience oriented.

They werewild, frenzied sort of affairs.

They were characterized by ecstaticutterances and babblings.

They would fall in the services and therewas all kinds of wild frenzied activity.

They were carried away bydemonic forces.

They completely lost control.

They were under theinfluence of demonic powers that they neither understood nor could they5resist.

But, they had come to the saving gospel of Jesus Christ.

Theyhad received Jesus as their Savior and they were no longer to becarried away by these dumb idols as Paul calls them.As you look as these Corinthian believers you will find thatthere are some suspicious similarities between the worship as they wereconducting it now that they were believers and what they hadexperienced in their previous religious life in those mis-religions andfalse cults.

There is always a tendency for people to bring from theworld into the religious experience that which has been characteristicof the world.

There are amazing parallels to the 20th Century.

Youand I are living in an experience oriented society.

We are living inthe rock and roll culture.

That is an experience oriented music.

Thatmusic gets in you.

It becomes a part of you.

We are also living,unfortunately, in a drug culture.

Everything is based one experience.Because of that atmosphere there is a danger that people will want tomake their worship of the Lord similar to what they have come out of intheir unconverted state.

People talk in terms of getting high onJesus and these kinds of terminologies.

That's dangerous language.

Itis very, very close to the experience centered religion out of whichpeople have come.

So, negatively, he says you were carried away by thedemonic, but now that they have come to Christ, positively, he says inverse 3 that they now confess that Jesus is Lord.In those days there were evidently some who, under theinfluence of demonic experiences, were blaspheming the name of Jesus.That's why he says in verse 3 that nobody by the spirit of God can callJesus Christ accursed.

That is the word, anathama, which means devotedto destruction.

There evidently were those in the Corinthian6congregation under the influence of demonic power who were professingto have experiences with God which indeed were not divine in nature,but they were demonic in nature.

Under the control of those demonicspirits they were blaspheming the very name of Jesus Christ.

But, whenyou come to know the Lord the most deeply spiritual activity in whichyou as a believer can engage is from your heart to acknowledge andyield to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

It's one thing to say it, it'sanother thing to sing it, but it's another thing for it to be true.Jesus said one time - "not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord,will enter into the kingdom of heaven."

It's not just talking aboutsomething you say and there is no meaning in your heart.

He's nottalking about just a song that you sing--Jesus is my Lord.

But he issimply saying from the depths of your being, as a Bible-instructed,Spirit-directed believer, you acknowledge the lordship of Christ inyour life.

Jesus is lord whether you acknowledge his lordship or not.When I was a teenage boy, the lordship of Christ was one of thethings that God used to really speak to my heart and bring totalcommitment to my life.

They used to use this kind of terminology toyoung people - "Make Jesus Lord."

You can't make Jesus Lord.

Jesus isLord whether you make Him Lord or not.

The Bible says in the book ofActs "God hath made Him both Lord and Christ."

All you and I can do isto bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ - acknowledge His totallordship.