Worth Green, Th.M., D.Min.
1 Corinthians 12:1-13; Romans 12:6-8; Ephesians 4:8-12
Last week we talked about the Holy Spirit as “the gift that goes on giving.” (See Acts 2:38 for the Holy Spirit as a gift.) We talked about the two-fold work of the Holy Spirit as regards faith.
First, we saw that it is the Holy Spirit that enables us to come to Christ in faith. In 1 Corinthians 12:3 St. Paul says that, “No one can say that ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.”
Second, we also spoke about the witness of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. In Romans 8, St. Paul writes:
When we cry “Abba, Father!” is the (Holy) Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children then heirs, heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Jesus Christ. (Romans 8:15-16)
The Moravian Liturgy sums up this two-fold work of the Holy Spirit when it declares:
By our own reason and strength, we cannot believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord or come to him, but thou dost call us and enlighten us by thy grace.
The witness of the Holy Spirit takes several forms. The early Moravians taught that it was an inward impression on the heart, mind, soul, if you will; a feeling that we are forgiven our sins, accepted, and loved by God as one of God’s children.
The Moravians influenced Soren Kierkegaard the great 19th Century Danish existentialist philosopher. S.K. made so much of experience that he proposed a theology based primarily on religious feeling. He said that ultimately we believe in God because it feels right.
Perhaps you have heard the story of the man who told his preacher that he did not believe in God. He said, “I cannot see God, hear God, smell God, touch God, or taste God, therefore there is no God.” The preacher responded, “Do you believe in pain?” The man said, “Yes.” The preacher responded, “Why? Can you see a pain, hear pain, smell pain, taste pain, touch pain?” The man said, “No.” “Why then do you believe in pain?” The man said, “Because I can feel it.” The preacher said, “I rest my case.”
Religious feeling certainly plays a part in religious faith, but Karl Barth the great 20th century theologian cautions against putting too much emphasis on feeling. He points out that some people possess feelings in abundance while others lack it altogether. He called feeling “a patch work by-product of faith.”
Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ took a similar approach. He compared our experience of Jesus Christ to a train. We are in a passenger car. Faith is the engine that pulls the train, and feeling is the caboose that brings up the rear. It is not the caboose, feeling, that pulls the train but the engine., faith. Faith is the important thing, not feelings.
The early Moravians would have agreed that faith was the important thing, as would John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, who was so much influenced by the Moravians. Wesley taught that the Holy Spirit was an inward testimony, an impression that we are forgiven, accepted, and loved by God. Yet in common with the early Moravians he taught that this inward testimony could be counterfeited. He said that it was meaningless unless it was accompanied by a outward sign, a genuine change in our character. He said that the witness of the Spirit ought always to be accompanied by the fruit of the Spirit. In Galatians 5:22, St. Paul says that the fruit of the spirit is “love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.”
Perhaps you have heard the story told me by the late Dr. Tom Carruth about the woman who was converted at a Billy Graham crusade. Before that she was known as the town gossip, and never had a kind word for anyone. After her conversion she was completely different. Finally one of her neighbors grew brave enough to address this. She said, “You know, you have not been the same person since you became a Christian.” The woman responded, “I don’t know about that, but no one else in this town has been the same!”
I think that Wesley was perfectly right. We can’t just feel Christian. We must also act Christian. The late Dr. Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision International, took even this to a new level when he prayed, “O Lord, break my heart for the things that break your heart.” He thought it was impossible for a Christian to live in the world without sharing the compassion of Christ.
Today we take up another way that the Holy Spirit is the gift that goes on giving. The Holy Spirit gives every member of the the church, the body of Christ, gifts for the good of the body.
In 1st Corinthians 12, these gifts are described as manifestations of the Spirit:
- To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom
- to another the utterance of knowledge:
- to another faith (Not just faith to believe but “faith so as to remove mountains.”)
- to another gifts of healing
- to another the working of miracles,
- to another prophecy,
- to another the ability to distinguish between spirits,
- to another various kinds of tongues,
- to another the interpretation of tongues.
In the third message in this series, I am going to talk about these exceptional gifts in more detail; but first we need to set them in a larger context. Several points need to be made:
First, every manifestation or gift of the Spirit is given “for the common good.” (1 Cor. 12:7)
God gives gifts to us so that we can serve each other and serve the church to which we belong. People who covet the gifts for their own selfish purposes are starting off on the wrong foot. I told the second service that I have not been touched by the liberal assaults on the faith, such as that put up by the Jesus Seminar. I said if ever I am shocked in my faith it will be by those prominent Christian television personalities that are an embarrassment to me. Some of these television preachers use the gifts of the Holy Spirit to support a lavish lifestyle. Many receive salaries that amount to many millions of dollars a year. By contrast, Billy Graham always insisted that his salary in any given year be set based on a sampling of what pastors serving a large local congregation, like Calvary Baptist or 1st Presbyterian, were receiving. Billy Graham is a relatively wealthy man, but his wealth did not come at the expense of those who gave money to support his crusades. Billy has also distanced himself from the prosperity gospel pushed by so many prominent television preachers, and he is effective because his reputation is unsullied.
Second, I would mention that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not limited to those that Paul names in 1st Corinthians 12.
In Ephesians 4 the gifts of the Spirit are no longer manifestations of the Spirit but individuals. The apostle writes, “When Christ ascended he gave gifts to men, that some should be apostles, some prophets, some pastor-teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry.” How often have we experienced some individual as God’s gift to us. Time and time again, at critical times in my life, I have received experienced a person as the gift of God.
Gifts of the Spirit are also mentioned in Romans chapter 12.6-8. Therein St. Paul adds the very practical gifts of:
- serving
- teaching
- exhortation
- and stewardship.
He says that Gifts of stewardship particularly include:
- contributing with liberality
- giving aid with zeal
- and doing acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
These gifts may not be as dramatic as “gifts of healing,” or “prophecy,” but they are absolutely essential for the ongoing life of the church.
Where would New Philadelphia be had not Dot _____________taught in our children’s department for more than 50 years.
Where would we be if Carol ______________ did not continue, year in and year out, to “give aid with zeal,” and “do acts of mercy with cheerfulness.”
I mention Dot and Carol but I could have chosen many more examples.
I will tell you one gift that is in shorter and shorter supply: the Gift of stewardship. In times past one could count on a high portion of our membership to “contribute with liberality.” That portion is shrinking as we members who belong to the aptly named “greatest generation” are promoted into the higher service of the Lord. For a number of reasons, some good, and some bad, those of us who are younger have never taken up the slack in giving caused by their absence from the church militant. I really don’t understand this. I do not preach a prosperity gospel; but I am utterly convinced that it is impossible to outgive God. In Malachi God speaks through his prophet saying, “Bring the full tithes into the storehouse…and put me to the test…and see if I do not open the windows of heaven and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.” (Malachi 3:10) Here God’s prophet speaks of prospering the whole people of God, but all boats rise on the same flood. In 2nd Corinthians Paul makes it more personal. He says, “those who sow sparingly will also reap sparingly, but those who sow bountifully will reap bountifully. “ (2 Cor. 9:6)
Before moving on let me say plainly that the New Testament does not pretend to list all the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
In Exodus 35:35 we read that God gave gifts to people in Israel so that they were cunning designers and craftsmen. Any talents and abilities that we possess are ultimately from the God who made us, and then redeemed from sin and death that we might be God’s own, and live under God, and serve God.
Let me give several examples. The first concerns the late Riddick _________, grandfather of Riddick Weber, the Fairview pastor who recently accepted a call to teach in our seminary. When I first went to Fries in 1979, Riddick came to me and said:
Worth, I can’t teach, I don’t want to serve on the boards, and it will be a mistake to call upon me to pray in public. But if there is anything I can do with these hands to serve my God, then I will do it.
When he told me that his hands were visibly shaking due to some kind of palsy. I wondered what he could possibly do. Over the years I found out. In the 1980’s Riddick joined forces with the late Vernon Thrift of the Chapel Organ Company, and working with five other volunteers of more limited ability, the seven of them created a 27 rank pipe organ valued conservatively upon completion at a quarter million dollars.
I mention Riddick because he was such a surprise. God has gifted some of us in some amazing ways. There are many people around here who have not surprised me. Some have gifts of organization, carpentry, and cooking, and singing, and music, and writing, or photography. They work at Laurel Ridge with Henry __________. They go to the Gulf. The do some amazing things.
I would also mention Mary _________our organist. She has extraordinary ability. One Sunday she was coming to church with her husband Joe. Joe complained that she was always playing the same kind of prelude. She asked what he would like to hear. Joe responded that he would like to hear, “Prop Me Up Against the Juke Box When I Die.” That morning Mary improvised on Joe’s suggestion, and made it sound churchy. No one was the wiser. She told me years after. It takes talent, a gift. Some would criticize it. I am reminded that Charles Wesley was criticized for setting some of his best hymns to the tunes from the barrooms. He responded, “Why should the devil have all the good music?”
I would mention just one more person. He was just a young boy when I came to New Philadelphia, a pre-teen, but very bright. I used to ask him if he were going to be a nuclear physicist when he grew up. He never answered, but that is exactly what he became. He is now a professor at UCLA, and a devout Christian. We baptized his children right here.
God gifts his church in many ways. I have a homework assignment for you. Read 1st Corinthians 12 (and 1st Corinthians 13); read Romans 12; read Ephesians chapter 4. Then answer two questions: What gift of the Spirit do you now possess for the good of Christ’s body, the church? And what gift of the Spirit would you like to possess.
I would mention too that God is not so much interested in our ability as in our availability. He can do great things if we simply make ourselves available.