Why Desire Spiritual Gifts? Part Two
I Corinthians 12-14
A few months ago, while leading worship, Dave Clark received a spiritual gift. You could call it a prophecy, or a revelation. The label’s not important. But while he was leading worship the thought came into his mind that he should ask Michelle Ramazzina if she had ever sung, and if she had any interest in being part of the worship team. Dave had no idea if either of these were true, but he felt like the Holy Spirit was nudging him to ask her. So at the end of the service he did.
Now Michelle does sing. And Michelle had loved being on the worship team at her home church in Illinois. But when she moved here with Brandon, she felt that Jesus wanted her to lay down her love of singing on a worship team. She felt that Jesus wanted her to completely surrender that to Him, and not pursue it on her own, but leave it to him to have the worship leader bring it up with her. She kept laying it at Jesus’ feet, surrendering it to him, week after week, month after month. But week after week, month after month, nothing happened.
So can you imagine how Michelle felt when one Sunday after church the worship leader walks up and ask if she sings, and asks if she has any interest in being part of the worship team? She was blown away and started crying. Through that spiritual gift she knew in a fresh way that God loved her, that God was honoring her surrender to Him, and that God Himself was opening the door for her to be on the worship team.
That’s why we should earnestly desire spiritual gifts – because they encourage God’s people, they build up God’s people, they magnify Jesus to God’s people. And that’s why we are taking two weeks to talk about spiritual gifts – so we can get questions and doubts and misunderstandings out of the way – so we can earnestly, passionately, desire spiritual gifts.
Let’s turn to I Corinthians 14:1. If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand, and we’ll bring a Bible to you. I Corinthians 14 is on page 960 in the Bibles we are passing out. Remember from last week that Paul wrote this letter of I Corinthians because he had heard that some problems had arisen. One of the problems was how they practiced spiritual gifts.
And Paul corrects this problem in I Corinthians 12 through 14. Look again at what he says in I Corinthians 14:1 –
Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.
As we saw last week, here Paul calls them, and us, to pursue love. Followers of Jesus trust Jesus, and when we trust His promises He fills us with His love. And when we are filled with His love we deeply care about everyone around us. And so we will seek to bless everyone around us.
And Paul says that one way to bless everyone around you is by earnestly desiring spiritual gifts. The word “earnestly desire” is an intense Greek word showing passion, fervency, feeling. So for the sake of loving others, Paul commands us to earnestly, passionately, and fervently desire spiritual gifts.
But we all have obstacles that keep us from this. So what I started last week, and will finish up this week, is to list all the obstacles I could think of – to list them and use God’s Word to overcome them – so that we here at Mercy Hill Church will earnestly desire spiritual gifts.
So this morning let’s start with the obstacle of not being sure which gifts Paul had in mind. Which gifts are we to earnestly desire? Paul gives a list back in chapter 12 verses 8 through 10. Let’s turn there – and look at what gifts Paul wants us to earnestly desire. Start with v.8 --
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,
This wisdom and knowledge is either wisdom and knowledge of the Gospel, which the Holy Spirit opens our minds to as we study God’s Word, or it’s supernaturally given wisdom and knowledge about circumstances and situations like what Dave Clark received for Michelle. We don’t have enough biblical data to decide; but it’s not that important, because other passages make it clear that God does both – and that we should desire both.
Keep reading –
9 to another faith by the same Spirit,
This is not saving faith, because we are all called to have saving faith all the time. But this is special times when the Holy Spirit will give you an unexplainable confidence of something He is going to do. It’s not that you are trying to think positively. It’s a gift given by the Spirit – where you suddenly are certain of something that God is going to do.
Like Wednesday night at home group we were asking Jesus for spiritual gifts, and I thought that He gave me one, but I was not sure. And he doesn’t always do this, but this time He suddenly gave me faith that it was from him and I should speak it out. So I did. That’s the gift of faith.
Keep going –
9b to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
This is where as you pray for someone the Holy Spirit supernaturally heals them. God loves to heal people of sickness. It’s not always his will to heal right now, or even in this life. But sometimes it is his will to heal right now. And he calls us to pray for healing. And often when we do that, he will impart gifts of healing, and healing will occur.
Then v.10 -
10 to another the working of miracles,
This is where the Holy Spirit gives you faith to pray for God to do something out of the ordinary – and it occurs, like when my grandfather was preaching at Soldier Stadium in Chicago and it started to rain. And then he stopped, and prayed, and the rain stopped.
Keep going --
10b to another prophecy,
The best definition of prophecy is found in ch.14 vv.29-30 –
29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.
30 If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent.
In v.29 Paul mentions “prophets” who have prophecy, and in v.30 Paul explains what happens when someone receives a prophecy: they receive a revelation from the Holy Spirit. A “revelation” means that something comes to them spontaneously. It’s not something they’ve thought up, as helpful as that can be. It’s something the Holy Spirit gives spontaneously. And as they share it with others, they are built up in their faith.
Keep going --
10c to another the ability to distinguish between spirits,
This is where the Holy Spirit gives you the ability to tell whether something is or is not demonic – whether someone is demonized, for example. Remember in the book of Acts when Paul was being followed by a woman who said – “these men are from God!” But Paul knew she was demonized, and he cast out her demon.
Keep going --
10d to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
Tongues is a controversial gift. Some people teach that tongues is the ultimate experience of the Holy Spirit – but the Bible never says that. Others teach that tongues is the mark of those who are truly Spirit-filled – but the Bible never says that. Others teach that everyone can or should speak in tongues, but that doesn’t fit what Paul says in I Cor 12:29-30. Look at what Paul says –
29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
The Greek makes it clear that the answer to all these questions is “no.” So all do not speak in tongues.
So what is tongues? Tongues is not the ultimate spiritual experience. It’s not the sign of being Spirit-filled. It’s just one gift which God gives to some.
It’s where the Holy Spirit brings to your mind words whose meanings you don’t know. As you pray them privately to yourself you are built up in your faith. And sometimes the Holy Spirit will stir you to speak these words out loud – publicly. When you do that you or someone else will be given the interpretation, so that everyone will understand and be strengthened in trusting Jesus.
So there’s Paul’s list of gifts. There’s other places where Paul lists gifts. So this list is not exhaustive. But it gives you a feel for which gifts we are to earnestly desire. So with that list in mind, read I Corinthians 14:1 again --
Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.
So one obstacle is not being sure which gifts Paul has in mind – I hope you can now see that Paul wants you to earnestly, passionately, fervently desire utterances of wisdom and knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues – and especially prophecy.
Another obstacle is not being sure that God still works through supernatural spiritual gifts. I mentioned this last week, but I wanted to say more about it today. There are godly Spirit-filled people who say that God does not work through supernatural spiritual gifts today. They believe he did work through these gifts during the time of the apostles; but not today.
There’s at least three reasons that I disagree. One is because of what Paul says in I Cor 13:8-12 – which I taught on back in January; you can read or listen to it online.
Another reason is what I shared last Sunday: in Acts 2 Peter says that God is pouring out His Spirit with supernatural spiritual gifts during the last days period. The Last Days period started with Jesus’ first coming and continues to His second coming. So we are now living in the Last Days, which means we are now living in the time that God is pouring out His Spirit with supernatural spiritual gifts.
The third reason is because of the purpose of supernatural spiritual gifts. In I Corinthians 12-14 we read that the purpose of supernatural spiritual gifts is to build up God’s people and to save lost people. But that’s exactly what we need today! The time for building up God’s people and saving lost people is not over. We need it today just as much as they did back in 50AD.
So if God’s purpose today is to build up His people and save the lost, and if the purpose of supernatural spiritual gifts is to build of God’s people and save the lost, it makes sense to think that God is still using supernatural spiritual gifts today.
Another obstacle is not being sure this should happen in church. If you have a history in a church which does not publicly pursue spiritual gifts, then you could feel uncomfortable with the fact that we take time to ask God to bring spiritual gifts. But I think it’s clear from I Corinthians 12-14 that supernatural spiritual gifts are for church gatherings.
For example, look at what Paul says in 14:26 –
What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.
Notice that Paul is talking about “when you come together.” This is a gathering of followers of Jesus – like our Sunday morning or our home groups.
And notice that when followers of Jesus gather, they each have a crucial part to play. Each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Paul is not giving a formal order, nor is he listing everything that takes place. His point is that when we gather – whether at home group or Sunday mornings -- God wants to work through each of us. And notice that a large part of this involves supernatural gifts like revelation, tongues, interpretation.
So it’s clear that supernatural spiritual gifts were a regular part of New Testament church gatherings.
Another obstacle is not being sure a gift is from God. What does it feel like to have God give you a supernatural spiritual gift? You might think you need to hear a booming voice or see a burning bush. But the Bible says it’s much less dramatic. Look again at what Paul wrote in I Cor 14:30 -
If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent.
The word “revelation” means that this is not something you’ve come up with on your own, or something you’ve been thinking about, or something you want to share. We have a sharing time in our service for that.
The spiritual gifts time is a time for us to wait on the Lord together, and ask Him to give us revelation. And what this means is that a verse or picture or idea will spontaneously pop into your mind. It’s something only you hear, since in v.30 the person receiving the revelation needs to speak it out if others are to hear it.
So one way you can tell a gift is from God is because you’ve prayed and waited and this is what came. Another way you can tell is because what popped up in your mind is in accord with God’s Word. And sometimes I can also tell because as the idea is popping into my mind I’m sensing the love of Jesus, the goodness of Jesus, the presence of Jesus.
So that’s how you can tell if a gift is from God.
Now one last obstacle which keep us from earnestly desiring spiritual gifts -- being afraid. Maybe we’re afraid to ask for a spiritual gifts, because then He might give us one, and then we’re going to have to stand up and share it. Or maybe we’ve prayed and received one – but we afraid of standing up and sharing it.
I think we can all relate to that. So how can we overcome the barrier of being afraid? By trusting Jesus. Jesus loves you. Jesus loves you with Cross-suffering love. So if he gives you a spiritual gift – he’s calling you to share it – and you can trust Him.
So here’s how we pursue spiritual gifts at Mercy Hill. I would encourage you to take time Saturday or early Sunday morning and pray for God to pour spiritual gifts upon us. And sometimes as you are praying for that, God might give you a spiritual gift then to share during our service. But set aside time to pray for God to pour out His Spirit – including His gifts – upon us.
And then when we take time to wait on the Lord for spiritual gifts, ask Him again to give you a spiritual gift. This is not a time to think of something you could share. The sharing time is later. This is a time for you to listen and see if God reveals something to you. Then – if something comes into your mind, and it’s consistent with God’s Word – go ahead and share it.
Same with home group. As you take time in your home group gathering to wait on the Lord for spiritual gifts – pray – and listen – and share what the Holy Spirit gives you.
And as you are driving, or in line at Mervyn’s, pray – and listen – and respond to what the Holy Spirit gives you.
There’s lots of means God uses to build up His people and saves the lost. Spiritual gifts is one of them – one crucial means. So earnestly desire spiritual gifts.
Questions?
Conclusion
So church, I want to call you to earnestly desire spiritual gifts. This is a command given to us by an apostle of Jesus Christ. It’s not optional. It’s a command. If we trust Jesus, we will obey it. And we must obey it – because the spread of the gospel, the strength of the church, the glory of Jesus are all at stake.
So earnestly desire spiritual gifts – especially that you may prophesy.