During the last number of weeks we have examined our vision.  And some may be asking how is all of this going to be accomplished?  How are we going to achieve this?

Well, we believe that we are a body of believers.  This is a Scriptural metaphor for the church - you know it well enough.  We believe that as every part of the body functions, as everyone does the part that they are designed, equipped and called by God to do the body is built up and able to do what God calls the body to do.

It is a biblical image and we have learned in the past that if one part of the body doesn't do what it is able to do, then the life of the body is hindered, the mission of the body is weakened.

Now the Lord has provided for the operation of the body.  He has given spiritual gifts - gifts of the Holy Spirit.  And during the next few weeks we want to study God's word and understand as best we can what His word says about these gifts and proper use of them.  They are mentioned several times in Scripture, In Romans 12, Ephesians 4, 1 Peter 4 and again in 1 Corinthians 12.

For a foundational understanding of the Spiritual gifts we turn first to 1 Corinthians 12.

Now you remember that the Corinthian church was one messed up church - it was a loved church - by God and its pastor, Paul, but it was a messed up church.  They were arguing with one another, there were divisions, they were taking one another to court, they were allowing flagrant sexual sin to go unchecked and for the first 11 chapters Paul has to deal with these difficulties in the church.

They also had problems with the Holy Spirit.  They didn't understand Him, they were abusing the gifts that He had given them.  And for the next four chapters Paul has to deal with these issues.  Ray Stedman divides the book in three - in the first 11 chapters Paul deals with carnalities, in the chapters 12-15 he deals with spiritualities, and in the last chapter he deals with practicalities.

So Paul begins this chapter 12 with the words:

"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you be to uninformed." Now our translations insert that word "gifts" because Paul speaks of the gifts for these four chapters.  But that word isn't there in the Greek.  What Paul says there, is "now concerning spiritualities, or spiritual matters I do not want you to be uninformed." And this fits with the context of this passage - he is talking here about the character and work of the Holy Spirit - before we talk about Spiritual gifts we need to know the Holy Spirit.

We need to remember that the it is the Holy Spirit who enables our mission, He guides our steps, He corrects our ways, He leads us into all truth, the Holy Spirit is the one who gives us the power to do that which God has called us to do.  You know the verse, Zechariah 4:6 - "Not by might, not by power but my Spirit says the Lord Almighty." He empowers the work we do, He gives life to the worship, and without Him we accomplish nothing.

The passage continues here and we learn first, of the mission of the Holy Spirit and Paul says in verse 2, "You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak."

Paul says, "Remember that time?"

And the Corinthian Christians would say, "O yes, we remember that, when we worshiped those powerless idols.  We remember when we were under their control." Indeed that's what Paul's words point to he speaks of the Corinthians being influenced and led astray by mute idols.  The picture is of control.

And Paul says, Now you are under the control of another and I'll tell you how to tell the difference.  He continues in verse 3.  "Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says, "let Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit."

You see the Holy Spirit's mission is to glorify Christ.  It is not to glorify self, it is not to glorify an object, it is not to glorify a special gift or talent, The Holy Spirit's mission is to glorify Christ, to show His Lordship in the world.

Jesus tells us that "when the Spirit comes He will glorify Him." (John 16:14).

For you see something happens when the Spirit fills a man or woman.  There is a new vitality, there is a new focus, there is a new center, there is a new control.  That's the difference, before the Corinthians were controlled by a dumb idol, they were "enticed and lead astray" but now they are filled with the Holy Spirit who seeks to glorify Jesus as Lord.  And they bend their knee and their heart to Jesus Christ who is their Lord.

And that is the way it is for everyone of us.  We have been released from our old way of doing things, our old way of thinking.  We now have a new Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ himself who brings us under a new Lordship.  So instead of a spirit of revenge we have a spirit of forgiveness, instead of a spirit of greed we have a spirit of generosity, instead of a spirit hungering for the material, we have a spirit who longs for the eternal.  Instead of a spirit of self-adulation we have a spirit that seeks to make Jesus Lord.

If your actions do not bring glory to Jesus Christ, if your actions do not magnify the Lordship of Jesus Christ in your life then it is not of the Holy Spirit.

You see, you can't just take any behaviour, you can't just act in any manner and claim that the Holy Spirit is leading you to do so.  If it is contrary to the character of Jesus it is contrary to the mission of the Holy Spirit.

It was in the 1960s that one Sunday morning a young man walked into Ebenezer Baptist Church and when the organist came out to play the opening prelude the young man pulled out a revolver and shot Mrs. Martin Luther King Senior dead.  They immediately subdued him and he was arrested.  And the next day the headlines of the Atlanta journal screamed in three inch block letters quotes from the man, "the Spirit of God told me to do it."

And we say "No".  Not the Holy Spirit.  For the mission of the Holy Spirit is to come and to shape us in the image of Jesus, that he may be glorified as his Lordship is demonstrated in our lives.

And Paul is not simply talking about making a verbal confession here.  For logically, we know that someone can say "Jesus is Lord" and not mean it, their lives show no fruit, there is no demonstration of it.  No, Paul is talking about a life whose actions demonstrate the reality of his or her confession.

Let no one be afraid to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  For the mission of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ so that we bend our knees, and our wills and with our lips speak what we know to be true in our hearts, "Jesus is Lord."

So Paul begins with this foundation - brothers and sisters I want you to be aware of the mission of the Spirit - to glorify Christ.

This is important for us as we begin to look at Spiritual gifts.  We must understand that the Spirit's gifts to you and to me are going to do this - they are as they are practiced going to point to Jesus Christ as Lord.  The Spiritual gifts are not about my or your personal image, or self-fulfillment, or anything that sets me apart as special.  The Spiritual gifts are an avenue through which Jesus Christ is glorified, and his Lordship is demonstrated.  The Corinthians were glorifying the gifts.  Saying, look at the gift I have, But Scripture corrects that and says - no the gifts given by the Spirit are to glorify Christ.

The mission of the Holy Spirit - to glorify Christ.  Now there is a singleness of purpose here.  This is what he says in verses 4-6:   "Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone."

Paul is stressing the unity of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  The Spiritual gifts were never given by the Holy Spirit to divide the church but to unite the church so that like a body we can all act together to glorify Christ.  Notice the Holy Spirit gives the gift, the Lord Jesus Christ opens the door of opportunity to use the gift and God the Father gives the power to use the gift.  God is one and calls us to act as one.  It is a danger we must beware of.  The devil always seeks to divide, and will often use the very gifts we have been given to divide the body.

Now in verse 7 Paul speaks of the manifestation of the Spirit.  That is how does the Holy Spirit show Himself?  How does He demonstrate His presence?  He does this through giving Spiritual gifts to each one.  "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."

There isn't anyone who has confessed Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord who has not received a Spiritual Gift.  Some believers have more than one, but everyone has at least one Spiritual gift.

This has nothing to do with who is more spiritually mature - it has nothing to do with "super Christians".  Every one of us has been given at least one gift.

And they are gifts, the root word for gift in this passage is grace.  It is an unmerited favour given to us by the Holy Spirit.

Every Christmas I get a gift from my aunt.  I can tell you that every time I receive it I feel that she shouldn't have.  Because I don't do anything in particular to earn it.  We aren't particularly close, I don't go out of my way to see her, I'm not overly nice to her.  I really don't deserve it - but by virtue of the fact that I am her nephew she gives me a Christmas present every year.

It is this way with the children of God.  By virtue of the fact that we are His children, made new through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, forgiven of our sin because of Him, His Holy Spirit gives us a gift.  We do nothing to deserve it but the Holy Spirit gives it to us anyway.

And Scripture speaks of these gifts in both the old and New Testaments.  They are not material gifts, but are described as special abilities that God gives to each of His children through the Holy Spirit.

We'll be looking at these in more detail in the weeks to come.  They are usually grouped under three headings.  There are support gifts, which include evangelism, pastor, and teacher.  There are sign gifts such as miracles, healing, speaking in tongues and interpreting tongues and service gifts faith, giving, serving, and showing mercy.

Paul says that they are given for the common good in verse 7.  These gifts are for the building up of the church.

“But Pastor, I thought you said the mission of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ?”  That's right - and what is one way that Christ is glorified?  Through the building up of his body, the church.

Perhaps this is the place to say a word about talents.  There are those who say that spiritual gifts are simply talents.  And I would say yes and I would say no.  I would say yes, a Spiritual gift can grow out of a talent, but then no, a Spiritual gift is not a talent in that it is something more.  This something more - it is an ability to build the body of Christ, it always brings glory to Christ, and has the empowering of God on it when used for Him.  A person may have a talent for teaching, for example.  He or she can organize material well and explain it well so the student benefits from the instruction.  But when a person exercises the Spiritual gift of teaching, you receive more than just facts for the mind to store.  Your heart is stirred and moved to follow Christ.

The greatest difference is in the results that Spiritual gifts produce.  A good teacher produces good students.  But the proper use of Spiritual gifts often produces results far beyond anything human ability can account for.

Also, I believe that gifts include talents but are more than talents because church is a spiritual institution, involved in a spiritual battle and we need special tools to help fight the battle.  We need spiritual tools.  And we receive these spiritual tools from the Holy Spirit.

So you will notice that these gifts are given by the Spirit.  Paul hints at this in verse 4 and in 7 and makes it plain in verse 11.  First he gives a sample list of some of the gifts in verses 8, 9 and 10 and then he says, "All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses."

We do not need to pray to receive a Spiritual gift, we do not need to plead or wait for our gift.  It is through no self effort of ours that we gain this gift.  It is a gracious gift given to us by the Holy Spirit.

Let me tell you where I hope we will arrive together at the end of this series.  It is that we would be open to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in our church.  It's that simple really, but so very important.  I've told you that I don't have a mechanical bone in my body.  If you ever see me alongside the road and I've got my van stopped on the side of the road, and the hood up and I'm bending over it like that - stop.

I am not fixing it.. I'm just praying over it.

But if I was to raise the hood of my automobile and the engine is gone I would know right off that I am in big trouble.

Now for you to try to live the Christian life, for us to try to be the Body of Christ, to try to be the church without the Holy Spirit is like you trying to get somewhere in your car without an engine.  They call it burnout.  It simply means trying to operate without an engine.

The Holy Spirit is that engine, and thanks be to God he equips us with a variety of gifts for the common good, for the building up of the body.  It is my prayer that we at the end and during this series we will be willing to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us, that we be open to how He wants us to serve in His Church and that through it all and in it all that Christ would be glorified.

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - October 2002

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