Sunday, September 15,
2019
I know a Christian couple that has
spent much of their life together hosting people in their home. Sometimes their guests stay overnight. Sometimes they come for dinner. This couple has a pool in their
backyard. They have had numerous groups
from the church and from the neighborhood over for pool parties. Sometimes their guests are very close friends
or family. Sometimes, they host people
they do not know well. Once, most of the
cast of a play that was running in their town came to their home for
Thanksgiving dinner. They did not know
these actors but they gladly opened their home on that special day that is
often for family time.
This couple loves music. With a piano instead of a TV in their living
room, often they will host times of singing with their guests, be it show tunes
or worship music. Having all these
people into their space is a lot of work, but it is a labor of love. They keep photos of all the guests who have
stayed with them on the guest room wall.
After almost 4 decades in that house, they’ve run out of space. In this work of hosting and singing and
playing, they serve God by serving and loving others. In doing so they exercise two spiritual gifts
God has given – music and hospitality.
Would you enjoy hosting people the
way this Christian couple does? Maybe,
maybe not; but, like them, you too have spiritual gifts. As a part of your unique make-up and your
relationship with Jesus, you have special gifting God has given in order to
build up the church and help others grow in their relationship with Him. God wants to work through you.
The key word in the phrase
“spiritual gifts” is spiritual. The gift is a manifestation of the work
of the Holy Spirit in your life. What do
we mean by the idea of spiritual or spirituality? If a worship service is full of loud, lively,
excellent music; if it is spontaneous; if it includes speaking in tongues; it is
“spirit-filled.” Some people think that
only if it is loud, spontaneous, and charismatic can it be called Spirit-filled. Does the Holy Spirit only work in Sunday
morning spontaneity?
First Corinthians 12:1 reads, “Now
concerning spiritual gifts.” But the word
‘gifts’ is not in the Greek text. The
Greek word in verse 1 is ‘pneumatikwn,’ a
plural adjective that could mean ‘spiritual things,’ ‘spiritual matters,’ ‘spiritual
persons,’ or based on context it could mean ‘spiritual gifts.’
One mistake people make is focusing on
the gift instead of the giver. The most important
idea in 1 Corinthians 12 is that in Christ we have a relationship with the Holy
Spirit. As that relationship grows
strong through prayer, worship, and the practice of spiritual discipline, we
come to learn our gifts.
The Christian couple from the opening
story expresses the gifts of hospitality and music. Neither gift is found in any of the classic
spiritual gift lists in the New Testament.
These passages are 1st Corinthians 12:7-11 and 27-30; Romans
12:3-8; Ephesians 4:11-12; and 1st Peter 4:9-12. Some readers insist that these are exclusive
lists. I met a retreat leader years ago
who had done a PhD on Romans 12. He
believes every Christian must possess one of those gifts cited in that passage. I think those are ‘for instance’ lists and
the Holy Spirit can use supernaturally empower countless other personality
traits or abilities as gifts.
I also don’t think gifts are
fixed. If, 15 years ago, you took an
assessment that said your gift is ‘working miracles,’ 1 Corinthians 12:10, does
that mean you’ll be a miracle workers all your life? Maybe.
But maybe in this season of life, the Holy Spirit works through you in a
different way. The Holy Spirit of God is
dynamic. We live in deep relationship with
the Spirit, and our lives are dynamic too.
That means we see new things all the time, including new discoveries
inside ourselves. We more and more
become who God is calling us to be.
Newness is the story whether you follow Jesus at 15 years old or 85 years
old.
We, as a church will take a spiritual
gifts inventory in order to guide us, but I want to offer this. Take the inventory and do so with hope and
enthusiasm. Just don’t be handcuffed by
the results. Maybe in your pursuit of
the Holy Spirit, it will be revealed to you that you are gifted by God as a
scientist or as political leader or in some way not specifically mentioned in
scripture. Maybe your gift is courage
and you work in a profession that puts you in danger. Scientist and courage are not things that
will turn up when you take the gifts inventory and that’s ok. The inventory is
simply a tool we’ll use to help people serve God in ways that bring joy and
enable them to excel. You are gifted;
everyone is. What you do with your gift
and the results of your use of it, the fruit of it, will reveal whether or not
the Holy Spirit is in it.
We will not let spiritual gifts be
divisive in our church. Some Christians
who exercise the gift of speaking in Heavenly tongues insist that only those who
speak in tongues are full of the Spirit.
Tongues is an example of one gift, and Paul devotes an entire chapter –
1st Corinthians 14 – to warnings about misuse of that gift. The people I know who speak in heavenly
tongues do so to grow close to God and they never use that gift to disrupt the
work of the church.
Pentecostals, Christians who exercise
the gift of tongues, and Christians in churches that do not express that gift must
work side-by-side to build up the kingdom of God on earth. In a church like ours, we must not be
uncomfortable with our brothers that speak in tongues; and, they can’t see us
spiritually inferior when we don’t.
All true disciples are charismatic
Christians. Charisma means gift of
grace. God gives that one be a teacher,
another have the gift of knowledge and use that gift in some type of research,
and another the gift of tongues, an so on.
Living the spirit-filled life ought to lead to unity among passionately
devoted followers of Jesus, not division.
Remember why we receive spiritual
gifts. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:7,
“to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” We are gifted to glorify God, advance His
kingdom, and build up his church, the Body of Christ. We know we are using the gifts properly when
they produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control. When what
we do produces the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), then it is likely we
have been exercising gifts of grace, Spiritual gifts.
Why do we put such an emphasis on the
relationship with the Holy Spirit? The
Holy Spirit was sent by God to be God’s presence with us. The purposes of the Spirit are (a) to show us
the truth, (b) help us recall all Jesus said and did, (c) help live by His
leadership, (d) help us know that all we’ve been taught about Jesus is
accurate, (e) function as the point of connection in our relationship with God,
and (f) glorify Jesus.
In Jesus’ conversation with the
disciples at the last supper, recorded in John 16-17, he emphasized the
importance of the Holy Spirit. We cannot
follow Him without the Spirit being active in our lives. Union
with Christ – that’s what the Spirit-filled life is; and, the church is the
body of Christ, so union with Him includes union with each other. In leading
people to Jesus, in establishing new ministry, in helping those in need, and in
sewing love, we see that the Holy Spirit at work and we are a part of it.
To live in the Spirit, we have to
open ourselves to God and trust God. God
is the initiator. We don’t attain the
Spirit, we receive the Sprit. A gifted
preacher does not convert people to Christ; the Spirit does. A gifted healer does not make the wounded
whole; the Spirit does. A gifted servant
does not bless the church by leading us all to humility; the Spirit does. The preacher, the healer, the servant, and
all others who use their gifts are God’s instruments. God gets it going and sustains everything. Through the Spirit, God empowers us. Living the Spirit-filled life is turning
inward, meeting the Spirit, and then facing the world in the Spirit’s power and
following the Spirit’s agenda.
I began by telling the story of a
couple I know who express their spiritual gifts of music and hospitality. Through their love, the Holy Spirit
ministers to people. How can you find
out your gifts, express them, and become a conduit through which God’s spirit
moves?
Our spiritual sensitivity is
heightened as we live an active faith life.
Volunteer in the church and in local mission opportunities. Be involved in several ministries, and
reflect on your own how you experience God as you serve in the church.
In addition to ministry, grow close
to God by studying the word. Make the
Bible a huge part of your life. Read it
daily so that the content is at the ready in your mind. Prayerfully meditate on passages that speak
to you. Be involved in Bible study with
other Christians. We learn from each
other. It sound basic to say we learn
about the Spirit by coming to worship, serving in the church and in the community,
and studying the Bible. Basic as it may
be, building life around these spiritual disciplines awakens us to God’s
voice. We grow in our sensitivity and
are thus able to hear the Spirit, receive what the Spirit gives, and respond
when the Spirit calls.
As a church, we will be taking a
spiritual gifts inventory. We’ll roll
this out through the small groups, and make sure it also available to folks not
currently in a small group. We’ll let
you know what gifts you might have. As you
participate in church life, we’ll try to help you find ways to maximize your
expression of your gifting. We want
everyone to feel that incredible joy that comes in serving God together with
the church family.
God invites us to live a
Spirit-filled life. We give control of
our lives over to God, and in doing so, we get to see who God is. The Christian couple I talked about to open
the message; they see God when they open their home, have people in, and sing
with them. You might see God when you
teach or serve or speak Spiritual knowledge of prophecy. The gifts come from the Spirit, and when we
live in our gifting, we are drawn closer to God. That is a really good place to be.
AMEN
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