Sermon Tone Analysis

Our Scripture text this morning comes from 1 Corinthians 12:4-11:

May God bless this, the reading of His holy and infallible Word.

George Müller was a German missionary to Great Britain, famous for his great faith and powerful prayers.

He ran an orphanage in the city of Bristol.

Müller had a strong conviction that God called him to depend upon the promises of God, rather than solicitation to support his mission.

Consequently, he devoted himself to prayer, claiming the promises found in God’s Word.

On numerous occasions, as both funds and supplies ran out, God would answer his prayers just in time.

Reports of God’s miraculous answers to his prayers spread through the British church and from there across the world.

Then his beloved wife Mary fell ill.

Unsurprisingly, he once again turned to God in prayer, yet after a long battle, Mary passed away.

As you can well imagine, people were puzzled, “Why did God seemingly not answer George Müller’s prayers for his wife Mary, when He so powerfully answered his prayers for the orphans under his care?”

In response, He wrote this:

Think not, dear reader, that I have the gift of faith, that is, that gift of which we read in 1 Corinthians 12:9.

It is true that the faith, which I am enabled to exercise, is altogether God’s own gift; it is true that He alone supports it, and that He alone can increase it.

He then goes on to distinguish between the gift of ordinary faith, (which God gives every believer), and extraordinary faith, (the gift of faith found in 1 Cor 12:9).

Müller called the gift of ordinary faith, the “grace of faith”.

This is what he writes:

The difference between the gift and the grace of faith seems to me this: The gift of faith would be needed, to believe that a sick person should be restored again though there is no human probability: for there is no promise to that effect.

The grace of faith is needed to believe that the Lord will give me the necessities of life, if I first seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness: for there is a promise to that effect.

(Matthew 6:33)

I believe this distinction is very helpful in understanding what the gift of faith is in 1 Corinthians 12:9.

It is impossible to understand extraordinary faith until we understand ordinary faith.

Therefore, that is where we will begin:

The Gift of Ordinary Faith

The key text for understanding the gift of ordinary faith is Ephesians 2:8-9:

The grammar and sentence structure of the original Greek makes it plan that “grace”, “salvation” and “faith” are all gifts from God!

This may come as a surprise to you.

Most people incorrectly assume that faith is something they contribute, not something that God provides.

However, 1 Corinthians 2:14 makes it crystal clear that the “natural person” is unable to exercise true faith.

Let us look at that verse:

It could not be any clearer than this: The “natural person” is not able to accept or understand the things of the Spirit of God! Apart from the grace of God, no one can believe in the things the Holy Spirit has revealed to us through the Word of God.

So, how does the Holy Spirit give us this grace?

Scripture reveals to us that it is in three primary ways: The Word of God, the Sacraments and Prayer.

In the Reformed tradition, we call these the ordinary means of grace.

In Romans 10, Paul discusses the importance of preaching and says, “faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ”.

George Müller had great faith, because he had a great commitment to God’s Word.

Faith by its very nature must have an object; you cannot have faith in nothing!

Too many people have faith in their faith, rather than having faith in God’s Word.

When Paul stressed the importance of God’s Word, he was not giving a new revelation, he was simply following in the footsteps of Moses.

In Deuteronomy 6, we read:

This passage reveals to us that the Israelites at the time of Moses were a literate people.

Not only the highborn, but also the lowborn who were commanded to write down God’s Word so they could read it.

The Word of God was to be upon their hearts and minds as they went about their daily business.

Not only that, God commanded the Word of God should be the object of their conversations with family and friends, especially their children.

Past generations of Christian parents understood that the reason they gave their child an education was primarily so he or she could read their Bibles, not so that their child could get a good job when they grew up.

Sadly, Christian education is at the bottom of most parent’s priority lists.

It is no mystery why the past three generations that have come of age in our nation have rejected the faith; it is because “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ!

The second means of grace is the sacraments.

The sacraments, along with the Word of God preached are the back bone of Christian worship.

Once again, past generations put us to shame.

They understood that Lord’s Day worship was the highlight of their week, it was not viewed as an inconvenient intrusion upon their busy week.

The Heidelberg Catechism calls it the “festive day of celebration”!

In light of the coming Day of the Lord, when the all people will have to stand before God’s judgement set, listen to the urgency of in the writing of the book of Hebrews:

The final ordinary means of grace is prayer.

It has been said, “Seven days without prayer, makes one weak.”

Once again, past generations put us to shame.

Perhaps we neglect prayer, because we do not understand its purpose.

Too many Christians pray like pagans!

Pagan believe that the gods must be informed of our needs and that they have to be nagged until they give us what we want.

In contrast, Scripture teaches us that God has known everything we need before the foundation of the world.

Moreover, those who are united to Christ by faith are His beloved children.

No good thing will He withhold from us.

So why do we pray?

We pray to increase our faith.

In Mark 9, we have a father whose son was controlled by an evil spirit.

This father cries out to Jesus, “I believe, help my unbelief!”

Those five words capture the heart of prayer.

We pray that our faith might increase.

It was George Müller’s use of the ordinary means of grace that gave his ordinary prayers had such extraordinary power.

James reminds us that “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six month it did not rain” (James 5:17).

Ordinary faith, strengthened by ordinary means, can do extraordinary things!

Now, that we understand ordinary faith, we are prepared to look at...

The Gift of Extraordinary Faith

What makes the “gift of faith” extraordinary, is not the things that are accomplished by it, but the means by which the Holy Spirit “gifts” it to us.

As we just learned, ordinary faith is given to us through the ordinary means of grace.

Extraordinary faith is gifted to us through extraordinary means.

In other words, it is not based upon a promise found in God’s Word.

George Müller could point to numerous passages of Scripture where God promises to give to his people (especially orphans) the necessities of life.

In contrast to this, there are noverses in Scripture that promises divine physical healing for his wife Mary.

When the Holy Spirit gives someone the spiritual gift of faith, He is giving that person the assurance that God will do something beyond what is promised in God’s Word.

In other words, a miracle.

Miracles by definition are rare.

If they are common, they become an act of God’s providence.

God’s acts of providence are often as powerful as miracles.

The birth of a baby illustrates that it is not power; but rather rarity, that makes for a miracle.

We often hear people say babies are “miracles”.

By this they mean that it is a might work of God, which it is!

However, there are thousands of babies born each day.

Clearly, the birth of a baby is not a miracle, but rather an act of God’s providence.

So, am I saying that God does not promise us miracles?

No, I am not!

Actually, God promises miracles in 1 Corinthians 12:7:

As I have been stressing throughout this mini-series on Spiritual Gifts, the Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to meet needs and when He sees a need, He gives the gift.

It there is a need for miraculous faith in our congregation, the Holy Spirit will give the gift of faith, and that is a promise we can stand on!

Standing on the Promises

“Standing on the Promises” is the title of our closing hymn this morning.

A hymn that calls us to live boldly.

Peter says that God has, “granted to us his precious and very great promises, in order that through them we may become partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

George Müller was a great man of faith not because he possessed any greatness in and of himself; he was a great man because he understood how great God’s promises are.

God gave us his promises not to give us a comfortable life, but a great life—to make us like Christ, sharing in the divine nature!