Sermons

The Spirit Gifts Us

I Corinthians 12 -14

Let’s turn to I Corinthians 14.  If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand so the ushers can bring a Bible to you.  I Corinthians 14 is on page 960 in the Bibles we are passing out.

This morning we are going to talk about spiritual gifts.  And you might be wondering, why talk about spiritual gifts?  Aren’t they controversial?  Haven’t they caused division?  Can’t they be abused?  Yes, they are controversial; yes, they have caused division; and, yes, they can be abused.

So why talk about them?  In I Corinthians 14 Paul gives us two reasons.  Start with v.1:

Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.

So one reason is because through Paul Jesus commands us to earnestly desire the spiritual gifts.  Not just to know about them, not just to know what they are, but to earnestly desire them.  Feel the weight of this: through Paul Jesus is commanding us to earnestly desire spiritual gifts.

Another reason is found in v. 12 –

So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

The Holy Spirit gives gifts to help us build up the church.  Imagine that you were told to build a house, and your boss had given you a bunch of tools – saws, hammers, drills – lots of tools.  How important would it be to use those tools?  Very important.  How much building would happen if you decided not to use those tools?  Not much.  That’s why we are going to talk about spiritual gifts, because spiritual gifts build up the church.

Here’s one way I have been on the receiving end of that.  Jan and I were in southern California, on staff at a church, and we were seriously considering moving here to San Jose to plant a church.  And one of the main reasons we were considering this was because God had given us a number of very specific dreams in answer to specific prayer – a dream that we must not plant a church in my hometown of Pasadena (which is what I thought we were supposed to do), a dream about a highway sign that said “San Jose 5 miles,” a dream about starting with high school students, a dream about me working to support us while the church got started – there were maybe a dozen of them.

But I remember on a Friday night we had some friends over for dinner.  And these friends loved Jesus, but they were a little skeptical about whether God speaks through dreams.  Their skepticism hammered me.  So I went to sleep thinking – “What am I doing?  I’ve got a great job here, I’ve got a wife and two kids depending on me, why would I move to San Jose?  Maybe this has all just been from me – my own ideas?”  And I went to sleep asking Jesus to show me if I was just being foolish.

Well the next morning I was teaching a class on the Old Testament at a nearby church.  And during a break in the class, one of the students walked up to me.  He told me that on the way to the class he had been praying, and that as He prayed he felt like God gave him a message for me.  He said it made no sense to him.  But God had said: “Tell Steve Fuller: It’s all been from me.”

I had gone to sleep praying – “Are all these dreams just from me?”  And the next morning God tells someone else to tell me – “It’s all been from me” – from God.  And that powerfully build me up in my faith.

Spiritual gifts are one way God builds up the church.  Maybe a temptation is tearing down your brother; a spiritual gift can builds up his faith.  Maybe a discouragement is destroying your sister; a spiritual gift can build up her faith.  If we don’t pursue spiritual gifts the church will not be built up as much as God wants.  That’s why spiritual gifts are so important.

So this morning I want to raise a couple of questions about spiritual gifts, and answer them from what Paul writes here in I Corinthians 12-14. 

So first -- does the Holy Spirit still work through supernatural spiritual gifts like healings, prophecy, tongues, miracles?  Some godly, Spirit-filled people, believe these gifts stopped when the Bible was fully formed and the apostles died – maybe around 100 AD.  And one of the main reasons they believe that is because of what Paul writes in I Corinthians 13:8-12.  Look at what Paul says –

8              Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

Paul says there will come a time when God causes the gifts of prophecy and tongues to cease.  When is that?  Keep reading with that question in mind:

9              For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

10            but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

So spiritual gifts will cease when the perfect comes.  So what is “the perfect”?  Is it the completion of the Bible?  Or is it Jesus at the Second Coming?  Keep reading:

11            When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

12            For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

V.12 is key.  Underline that phrase “face to face.”  That’s a phrase used in the Bible to describe having a direct, personal, face-to-face encounter with God Himself.  So when will you have a direct, personal, face-to-face encounter with God Himself?  Not when the Bible was completed – but when Jesus Christ returns to earth.  And underline that phrase “know fully, even as I have been fully known.”  You are fully known by God.  And the time will come when you will fully know God – when Jesus Christ returns to earth.

Now you will need to study this on your own.  But the conclusion of the elders here at Mercy Hill, is that spiritual gifts will cease – not at the end of the 1^st century when Scripture is completed, but at the Second Coming when Jesus returns.  Which means that during this time before the Second Coming, God is still working through supernatural spiritual gifts like prophecy, tongues, miracles, healing.  Which is why we must desire them and seek them and pursue them.

Let me give you one more piece of evidence to support this.  Irenaeus was a church leader in France at around 180 AD.  And listen to what he says about spiritual gifts:

Christ’s true disciples have received grace and use it for the benefit of others.  For some drive out demons, so that often those who have been cleansed from evil spirits believe and are in the church; others have foreknowledge of things to come, and visions and prophetic speech; others cure the sick and make them whole, and the dead have been raised and remained with us for many years.  It is not possible to tell the number of the gifts which the church has received from God in the name of Jesus, and uses each day for the benefit of the lost. (paraphrased from Kydd, Charismatic Gifts in the Early Church, p.44)

Supernatural spiritual gifts have been operation throughout church history.

But let’s get more specific.  What are some of these gifts?  Paul gives us a list in 12:7-11 –

7              To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

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,

That’s when the Holy Spirit gives us wisdom and knowledge so we can speak it to others and bring them to trust Jesus, or strengthen them in trusting Jesus.  Keep reading in v.9:

… to another faith by the same Spirit…

This is not the kind of faith that we are always commanded to have – where we trust all that God has promised us in Jesus Christ.  Nor is this some kind of positive thinking where we stir ourselves up to be optimistic.  This is where the Holy Spirit gives us faith that He is going to do something unusual so we can pray and act and watch God do it.  Keep going in v.9 –

… to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,

That’s when you pray for someone to be healed, and God heals them.  Then v.10 –

… to another the working of miracles,

That’s when God leads you to say or pray something that results in a miracle – something out of the ordinary, that brings people to salvation of helps people or builds faith.  Keep going --

… to another prophecy,

What is prophecy?  The best definition is in 14:29-30 –

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.

Notice that prophecy happens when God gives you a revelation.  That means He gives you something that you do not think up on your own.  Now God powerfully works through us when we prayerfully think things up on our own.  But that’s not prophecy.  Prophecy is when God spontaneously brings something to your mind to speak to others – to lead them to Jesus, or to build their faith. 

Now back to 12:10 --

… to another the ability to distinguish between spirits,

That’s where the Holy Spirit enables you to tell when something is demonic.  Keep going in v.10 --

to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

What is the gift of tongues?.  I would encourage you to read all of I Corinthians 14 on your own.  But for now, here’s my conclusions: tongues is a wonderful spiritual gift that God does give today.  But it’s not the ultimate spiritual experience.  The ultimate spiritual experience is having the Holy Spirit enable you to feel the truth of who Jesus is – because that completely satisfies your heart.  So tongues is not the ultimate spiritual experience, but it’s a wonderful gift – like they all are.

Who will speak in tongues?  Not everyone.  Notice what Paul says in 12:29-30 –

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?

Paul is clear that not all speak in tongues.  So this is not a gift God gives to everyone.  If you have this gift, you are not more Spirit-filled or closer to Jesus than those who do not.  If you do not have this gift, you are not a second-class Christian until you have this gift.

So what is it?  Here in I Corinthians it seems to involve the Holy Spirit giving you words to speak whose meaning you don’t understand.  You are totally in control, and can choose to speak or not.  You can see that in 14:28 –

But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.

And it involves the Holy Spirit giving you these words to pray that you don’t understand.  Then you can use this gift in two different ways.  One is to pray in tongues privately between you and God.  We just saw that in 14:28 – when you speak to yourself and to God.

The other way is when God wants you to speak the word in tongues publicly so others can hear, and then He will give someone the gift of interpretation.  You can see that in v.27 –

If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret.

I remember a Sunday morning when during worship I felt the Holy Spirit giving me the gift of tongues.  He gave me a series of words running through my mind which I did not understand, with the sense that the Holy Spirit wanted them spoken publicly.  So I spoke them, and then Colin Snow had the interpretation, and it was very encouraging to many.  That’s how tongues works.

So there’s Paul’s list.  This is not an exhaustive list, but it’s a representative list of spiritual gifts.

So how do we know what gift we have?  Lots of us have heard that when we are saved the Holy Spirit will give us one or two gifts, and then we’re supposed to focus on those gifts the rest of our lives, and not worry about the others.  But that’s not how Paul talks in I Corinthians.

Notice in 14:1 he says that we should earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.  So there’s no sense that since you have received one or two you should ignore the rest.  No.  Paul says “desire them all, especially prophecy.”

And part of desiring is praying.  You can see that in 14:13 –

Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret.

So how do you know if you have the gift of interpretation?  By praying and asking Jesus for it, and seeing if He gives it to you.

John Wimber used to say it’s not like when you are saved you are given a hammer or a saw, and so you always just use a hammer or saw.  It’s that when you are saved you are given a toolbox.  And whenever you are in a ministry situation, you pray for spiritual gifts, and you reach into the toolbox and the Holy Spirit will give you whatever tool He wants you to have for that situation.  Maybe it will be a prophecy.  Maybe it will be faith.  Maybe it will be healing.  Our job is to pray and reach into the box; His job is to give us what He wants us to have.

So what should we do? Let me give you six suggestions.

First, seek your heart-satisfaction in Jesus, not in spiritual gifts.  The Holy Spirit does give us the ultimate spiritual experience, but it’s not by giving us gifts, it’s by revealing to us Jesus: by enabling us to feel the truth of Jesus as He is revealed in God’s Word.

Second, test everything by the Word of God.  God’s Word is our ultimate authority.  God’s Word tells us to pursue spiritual gifts.  God’s Word tells us how to pursue spiritual gifts.  And God’s Word tells us how to tell when gifts are from the Holy Spirit.  So if you get a vision of an angel telling you that Jesus is not fully God, you know that’s not from God, because that doesn’t fit the Bible.

Third, pursue love.  This is why we should pursue spiritual gifts.  Not so we can experience them, but so people who don’t know Jesus can be saved and so our brothers and sisters can be built up.  It’s not about you having the gifts.  It’s not about us experiencing the gifts.  It’s about people around us.  So pursue love.

Fourth, earnestly desire and pray for spiritual gifts.  Earnestly desire and pray for the gift of prophecy, tongues, interpretation, healing, faith.  What God gives us is ultimately up to Him.  But He works through our earnest desire and prayer.  So take time before your home group to ask for spiritual gifts that could be shared that night.  Take time Saturday night and prepare your heart for Sunday worship, and make part of that asking for spiritual gifts that you could share Sunday morning.  So earnestly desire and pray for spiritual gifts.

Fifth, humbly and boldly share what God gives you.  Remember, what’s at stake is the building up of the body of Christ – the salvation of the lost and the strengthening of the church.  This is not fun and games.  This is deadly serious.  We need you to ask for spiritual gifts, to earnestly desire spiritual gifts, and to share what spiritual gifts God gives you.  So when he gives you something, share it.

Questions?