The Gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12.1-11)

Introduction

We’re continuing on in our series of talks on the Holy Spirit this morning and I want to start by sharing with you two of the best things I have ever heard people say about the Holy Spirit.

The first is from the comedian Milton Jones who says, “The Holy Spirit is a real person you can invite in to your home. But watch out - he will go over to the fridge, pull it from the wall and say, 'What's all this mess under here?' But at least he helps clear up.”

That’s brilliant theology! Yes, the Holy Spirit shows us our sin - he convicts us of it - and it’s not pretty for any of us. But he also leads us to Jesus where we can get it all sorted out and cleaned up.

The second is from pioneer missionary Simon Guillebaud who says this; “The biblical images to describe the work of the Holy Spirit; fire, mighty rushing wind, flood... are exactly the sorts of things we pay good money to insure ourselves against.”

That’s so true. The Holy Spirit is a bit wild. Jesus said that he’s like the wind; impetuous, unpredictable, suddenly changing direction, increasing and decreasing strength. Things can sometimes get a bit untidy when he’s around – and that’s all right; that’s what wind does.

But what we’re specifically looking at today is the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

If you’ve heard of the five love languages, you know that different people tend to want to express and receive love in five basic ways.

• Some crave quality time with the person they love.
• For others, physical touch is the key.
• Other people show love or feel loved through practical errands.
•  For others it’s words of affirmation that press all the right buttons.
• And finally some show love or feel loved by giving and receiving surprise gifts.

Well, that’s the Holy Spirit’s main love language. He really enjoys giving presents, and the sort of things he likes to give we call gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Everyone here has natural gifts and we had them before we were Christians; so we might be good at music or with artistic creativity. We might be strong on organisation or with finances. These talents come from God too but when we become followers of Jesus we can consecrate them for God and they can take on another dimension. That’s not really what I mean by gifts of the Holy Spirit though.

Those are natural abilities but there are spiritual gifts too. And the Holy Spirit gives different spiritual gifts to different people just as he gives a variety of natural talents. The difference is that not everyone is willing to receive spiritual gifts, even some Christians.

Have you ever offered a gift to someone and then discovered it was never used; like a book that was never read or a vase that never held flowers? Or have you ever learned that a present you gave to someone found its way to a charity shop or eBay?

I once gave my dad some filter coffee and chocolate when he was looking after our children for a weekend because he liked ground coffee and fine chocolates. But when I picked the kids up he returned the gifts because it wasn’t the sort of coffee or chocolate he liked. How wold you feel about that if it happened to you? My dad would never pretend, and I love it that I always knew where I stood with him, but I have to say that having those gifts returned to me was a bit hurtful.

I think that’s how God feels when we show no interest in the gifts he wants to shower upon us. I’ll come back to receiving gifts at the end. But first, I want to talk about the three main problems I encounter in people’s attitudes to gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Indifference

The first is indifference. Sometimes people say to me (or they imply it by their general disinterest in spiritual gifts), “Oh, I’m not really charismatic, I don’t really understand it and, to be honest, I don’t think this sort of thing is for me. I don’t know, I’m Church of England.” You may be thinking that yourself this morning.

But the thing is, in 1 Corinthians 12.1 it says, “Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.”

The Bible, God’s word, says “don’t settle for general ignorance about spiritual gifts.” They are important. This is not some kind of obscure, niche interest for the particularly keen. Don’t let this just go over your head.

God is not OK with us being in the dark about spiritual gifts. He wants us to learn about them and to know all about them and be familiar with their use. He wants us to understand what they are, and how we receive them and what they are designed to do. It’s a sign of spiritual health to discover our gifts and learn about how to use them properly. So, first of all, learn all you can about spiritual gifts. If you are a follower of Christ, this is part of the package.

What would you say to me if I did some work on the engine of my car using a rolling pin and pitchfork as tools? Or what would you think if I tried to cook you a meal using a screwdriver and a lawnmower as kitchen utensils? A Christian who knows nothing of spiritual gifts is like a car mechanic or kitchen chef with no proper tools or utensils. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are the right implements for the spiritual realities we contend with.

Wariness

The second attitude I come across is wariness. I hear people say that spiritual gifts can be counterfeited by the devil. And it’s true that they can. People worry that you can get carried away with ecstatic, esoteric experiences. You certainly can get transported by emotions and led astray by these things so it’s understandable that some people are cautious.

1 Corinthians 12 address this issue too in v2-3. “You got carried away by all kinds of weird stuff before you were Christians didn’t you?” That’s basically what it says in v2. “When you were pagans you were led astray.” Pagan worship was otherworldly. It was weird. It led people to do odd things.

And even today people look for spiritual and emotional highs through mind-altering drugs, new age charms and techniques, la-di-da religious rituals, esoteric body mind and spirit fairs and all the rest of it. Some spiritual experiences lead you astray. But it says here in v3 that there is a test you can apply to judge the authenticity of any spiritual experience.

There are two extremes of embracing a spiritual experience without thinking, or just dismissing it without thinking (and I’ve seen a lot of both). But between those poles, the wisdom from God throughout the New Testament is to carefully test and weigh what’s before you before you accept or reject it. And it says here in v3 that you can always test the genuineness of a spiritual gift by what people are led to say and think about Jesus.

• Does this spiritual experience distract people from Jesus?
• Does it tend to divert people away from the gospel?
• Does it add things you’ve got to do in order to be a real Christian?
• Does it just confuse you and mess you up?

If it does any of these things, it’s not of God.

• Alternatively, does it point you to Jesus?
• Does it lead people to spontaneously call him Lord?
• Does it exalt him as king?
• Does it lead people to think more highly of him?

If it does it’s of God, and you can count on that.

Obsession

The third attitude I come across is obsession. Some people I know seem to think about little else than spiritual manifestations, and in particular, an unhealthy emphasis on one gift.

In the 1970s all the Christians I knew seemed to be fixated with the gift of tongues. In the 1980s everyone was talking about discernment of spirits and driving out demons. In the early 1990s there was a huge emphasis on prophecy. Then another revival broke out in the 2000’s where healing was given particular prominence so that became the thing. And people chase after the latest big thing.

But in 1 Corinthians 12 it’s completely different. Look at v4-6… Count the times it says, “different kinds.” It comes three times. Different kinds of gifts. Different kinds of service. Different kinds of working. We may focus to obsession on one gift or another but God is only interested in variety. That’s the sort of God he is!

Look at your fingerprints. No one else of the 7.4 billion people on earth has exactly the same as yours. Furthermore, no one else who has ever lived before had fingerprints or eyes exactly the same as yours. Every snowflake, every leaf of every tree, every blade of grass, every planet, every star is subtly different from all others. But the one God made them all.

It is the same with spiritual gifts. What a variety there is! There are over 20 different gifts listed for us in four different places in the New Testament but there is always just the one source.

Look again at vv4-11 and count the times the word “same” appears... Six times; “the same Spirit”, “the same Lord”, “the same God.” The same Holy Spirit gives all the different gifts.

That’s why a beautiful spiritual unity fills the church like a pleasing fragrance when the full variety of gifts is used, because they all have the hallmark of the one giver.

Manifestations for Each One

In v7 you see the word “manifestation.” I’m told that that word comes from the Latin from two root words meaning “hand” and “dance.” And it is said that the early church would talk about the hand of God dancing over the congregation as gifts of the Holy Spirit were poured out. I love that image. That’s what we want isn’t it? The hand of God dancing over us as we worship, with gifts being given to everyone…  In a healthy church, gifts of the Holy Spirit will happen all the time and be part of the normal life of the fellowship.

1 Corinthians 12 talks about the manifestation of the Spirit to each one for the common good. Romans 12 talks about different gifts for each of you. Ephesians 4 talks about grace being apportioned to each of us. 1 Peter 4 talks about gifts of God’s grace in various forms received by each of you. They all say a similar thing; that every one of us is intended to be a recipient of gifts of the Holy Spirit.

You are not an exception. Verse 7 and v11 both say quite specifically that gifts are given “to each one.” Even when you’re not walking with the Lord particularly well, it’s to each one. It’s grace. Even when you’re full of doubts, it’s to each one. Even when you can’t think of anything you’re good at, it’s to each one.

There is a gift, or maybe several gifts, for each and every one of us here, if we are followers of Jesus. God has determined things that way. You didn’t earn it, it is a gift. You didn’t study and have to pass an exam to qualify for receiving a spiritual gift. It’s free. You don’t have to get confirmed or become a member of the Electoral Roll to receive a spiritual gift; you only need to have faith in Jesus.

There’s a vicar in Oxford who used to be a chaplain at the University there and he says he used to pastor students who had gone to elite private schools and who were now at one of the finest Universities in the world. And he used to challenge them when they preened themselves, plum in the mouth, nose in the air, old school scarf prominently displayed, looking down on others… And he’d say to them, “What do you have that was not given to you? Your whole life and all its social benefits were bought by your parents or gifted into your DNA.”

In the same way, none of us can take pride in having great gifts from God – it’s all grace and none of it is by our own merit.

To each one – the manifestation of the Spirit – is given.

Nine gifts

Verses 8-11 go on to list nine of these gifts. It doesn’t actually describe in detail what each gift looks like. It answers two questions.  1) To whom the gifts are given? Answer: different people. And 2) who gives them? Answer: the Holy Spirit.

But I’m going to try and say using just one sentence for each gift what each gift is.

- The message (or word) of wisdom is when you are faced with a difficult problem and someone says something wise and often simple that makes everyone else think “Why didn’t we think of that before?” as when Solomon ruled the case of two women who claimed a baby was theirs.”

- The message (or word) of knowledge is a supernatural revelation of something that only God knows so that when it is spoken out people ask, “How did you know that?” as when Jesus knew about the affairs of a woman at the well.”

- The gift of faith is an unusual and additional surge of confidence in God to do something extraordinary and which stirs up expectancy in others as when Jesus cursed a fig tree and it withered.”

- Gifts of healing are the medical or miraculous recovery of physical or mental health, sometimes with anointing oil or prayer with the laying on of hands.”

- Miraculous powers are extraordinary signs and wonders in which God’s authority breaks into the natural world like the calming of a storm or changing water into wine or the multiplication of limited food supplies.

- Prophecy is when someone speaks out unprepared, inspired words from God for whoever is present in the place.

- The gift of distinguishing between of spirits (or discernment) is when you feel deep within you what the origin of a particular spiritual experience is; whether it comes from the Spirit, from self or from Satan.

- Speaking in different kinds of tongues is when you are given words to speak, from either human or angelic languages, which you have not learned and do not understand.

- The interpretation of tongues is when the sense or meaning of a message in tongues becomes clear to you, even if you don’t speak the language, and you are able to say what it is so everyone can understand.

Ending

Well, that’s my teaching on what this passage means. But, to end, what word do I have for you this morning?

I felt that I have a word for three kinds of people today.

The first are those who are indifferent. If you’re content to just come to church each week and go home again, without any interest whatsoever in receiving and using a spiritual gift, I need to say that “Christianity is not about being nice. It's about being new.” (Tim Keller)

Jesus did what he did anointed by the Holy Spirit and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Those who claim to be followers of Jesus yet who avoid spiritual gifts are, in effect, saying that they think they can live the Christian life better than Jesus did.

The second group of people are those I call neglectful. You’ve been more active in using your spiritual gifts before than you are now. You’ve cooled off a bit. That happens to most of us at some time. Paul had to tell Timothy to “fan into flame the gift you were given when we laid hands on you.” “Do not neglect your gift” he was told.

Are there people here who know they need to fan the use of their gift into flame again?

The third group of people are those I call ready. You want more of God. You want to see more of his power. You might be saying “Well, I don’t know what my gift is but I want to be in on the action.”

In the 1920s a guy called Ira Yates bought a ranch in West Texas. It was a disaster. The farm was making a loss and he didn’t even have enough money to pay the interest on his mortgage. In 1926, on a complete hunch, he asked the Transcontinental Oil Company to do some exploratory drilling. 1,000 feet down they struck oil. It was one of the most productive oil fields in the USA.

Is that you? You’ll never strike oil if you never pick up the phone and commission someone to send a drill down to look for it. And you’ll never receive spiritual gifts if you never ask for them. Jesus said “How much more will God give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.”

Let’s stand to pray…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 8 May 2016