Do You Have A Spiritual Gift

HOLY TOGETHER IN THE GOSPEL – Do You Have a Spiritual Gift? (1 Corinthians 12)

Temple Baptist Church

June 23, 2024

The year was 1951. March of 1951 to be exact. A boy of age 9 had been seeking a gift from God for four years. At age five, he had made his commitment to Christ and then he was taught that he should seek the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which would be accompanied by the evidence of speaking in other tongues as described in Acts 2:4. He knew his sins were forgiven, but was taught he needed the baptism of the Holy Ghost to make him part of the church and ready for the rapture of Christ. Lacking it, he thought he might miss the rapture, have to go through the Great Tribulation, refuse the mark of the Beast, be beheaded and then finally get to go to heaven. It was not a chance he wanted to take so he started seeking the baptism of the Holy Ghost. In addition, he was taught that Spirit baptism would give him power to overcome sin in his daily life. But for 4 years the experience eluded him. Every Sunday night he would respond to the altar call and go down to the prayer room to seek the baptism of the Spirit. He watched others receive the experience and speak in tongues, but for some reason, he was unable to ‘let go.’ He sought the help of others. Older saints gathered around him, laid hands on him, prayed for him and encouraged him to ‘let go,’ (surrender), but to no avail. But then in March 1951, the experience the young man had been seeking happened. He was at a Men’s Prayer Meeting on Saturday night. His father was often away and some of the men from the church would pick him up and take him home. He did nothing but pray for at least a couple of hours. That particular night he was praying for the baptism of the Spirit as usual. That night would be different. He began to pray more fervently. After a while he fell over on his back and was ‘slain in the Spirit’ as his church called it. Reflecting later on, he was not sure if this action was learned or impromptu. He had seen it happen to others who received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, so he wondered if he allowed it to happen as the thing to do. For certain, what happened was not learned behaviour. The men gathered around him and prayed for the Lord to fill him. As he lay there praying, even though he felt completely in control of his faculties, he gradually found his English becoming blurred and he began speaking in another language. It is hard to describe the feeling. It was certainly not one of ecstasy. It was more one of peace and relief that finally he had received it.”

What are we to make of this? Is this the gift that we are all to seek?  Is this the experience we should all be pursuing? I do not want you to be uninformed about spiritual life and spiritual gifts. Let’s pick-up where we left off last week from 1 Corinthians 13, which sandwiches between teaching on spiritual gifts. The big idea is actually summarized in 1 Corinthians 14:1, “Pursue love.” I stated it this way: Pursue God’s love through the Holy Spirit. Now we are going back to 1 Corinthians 12 to find out about the gifts of the Spirit. Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 12. If you don’t have a Bible, please raise your hand as we would love to give one to you. We are continuing our series in 1 Corinthians as we endeavour to be together in the gospel. We are going to read the whole passage in 1 Corinthians 12 to learn that God wants to give you spiritual gifts and if you are already a believer God has given you spiritual gifts. We are going to attempt to see things from a 50,000 foot view of spiritual gifts over the next two weeks from 1 Corinthians 12 & 14, then this September, Lord willing, we are going to do a deeper dive on spiritual gifts by defining all the gifts. We are hoping for you to discover and utilize these gifts for God’s glory and the building up of the church. This echoes 1 Corinthians 12:1, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.” Let’s get informed, equipped and empowered to use our spiritual gifts for God’s glory and the building up of the church. Read 1 Corinthians 12! 

Here is the 50,000 foot view in regard to spiritual gifts: God has given you the gifts of His Son, His Spirit, His Church and His Ministry! Let me say this again because if people ever ask you what God has given you. You can tell them succinctly: God has given me His Son, His Spirit, His Church and His ministry! What has God given you? His Son, His Spirit, His Church and His ministry. But that is only IF you are a believer in Christ! 

Usually when we are taught about spiritual gifts, we focus on the gifts and not the Giver. However, it is critical we understand that the Giver comes before the gift. The Giver is God and He gives Himself to us. God has given you Himself. Therefore, if you don’t want God, you will not have the gifts of Himself and His most precious people and power. In fact, I have to tell those of you who are not following Christ something that may be hard to hear, but it may be the most liberating truth in your life. Look at 1 Corinthians 12:2, “You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led.” Bible Scholar Charles Hodge explains, “The Corinthians were controlled by an influence they could not understand or resist.” They were pagans. They were led astray by mute idols. This was more than misguidance, this was mis-allegiance. We know from 1 Corinthians 10:20 that “what pagans sacrifice, they offer to demons and not to God.” Such demons are often mute whether in the form of physical statues or whether they indwell a human who is demonized and therefore, they speak through that human voice. I am not saying that everyone who does not follow Jesus is demonized, but listen to how the Apostle Paul describes those who do not follow Christ in another letter, Ephesians 2:1-2, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.” We are either following Christ or the devil. Who are you following? If you are not following God, then who are you following? The devil! But the Good News is that you do not have to live in captivity to the Devil anymore. God sent His Son Jesus to set the captives free (Luke 4:18). 

For those who follow Christ, God is pouring out gifts to them. Let’s unpack this further! God has given us the gift of His: 1) Son as Lord! (v. 3; cf. John 3:16) Look at verse 3, “Therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says ‘Jesus is accursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.” Again, notice the binary declarations – Jesus is accursed or Lord. He was either a liar, lunatic or Lord to quote C.S. Lewis. This is the crucial first step in our spiritual life and spiritual gifts – to recognize Jesus as Lord. God has given us the gift of His Son as Lord and we cannot use the Lord’s gifts if we don’t love the Lord. Think of this from the aspect of your work life. When you begin at a company, they require you to sign an agreement of loyalty to the company before you are given access to their secure files or the tools. More importantly, you won’t use the files and tools for the intended purpose of the company if you do not have loyalty to the company and the leader. In the spiritual life, we don’t get the gifts unless we get the Giver and His ultimate Gift of His Son Jesus as Lord. Otherwise, we won’t use the gifts for their intended purpose of glorifying God and building up His Church. We will think that the gifts are for our own benefit. We need the Lord to direct us how to use the other gifts. What is the first gift God gives believers? His Son Jesus as Lord. The loving Director of our lives! God has given us the gift of His Son as Lord. However, God has given us a second gift.

God has given us the gift of His 2) Spirit manifested for the common good (v. 7). The Holy Spirit is given to us and actually is manifested in us. Look at verse 7, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” What does that mean? Let’s go back to the context in verses 4-6 to find the answer, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord: and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.” Notice two important and truthful action points: a) “Everything, absolutely everything – gifts, persons, church – owes its origin to the one God who works all things in all of His people; ” and b) We should appreciate all the gifts, ministries and workings in the Body of Christ. There are some gifts and ministries that we appreciate more than others and some gifts and ministries we may actually not appreciate. How many appreciate a clean church facility? Linda, Heather, Scott and Duane make up our custodial team. They are behind the scenes and we don’t thank them enough. But in the broader church, maybe we don’t appreciate enough those who have the gift of discernment helping us know whether somebody is demonized or not, or the gift of prophecy when they tell us the hard truth. Maybe we try to avoid the evangelist because they want to take us out witnessing? Maybe we shun those with the gift of tongues? Later on in verse 28, we learn that there are rankings of gifts. We are also told in verse 31 to desire the greater gifts. However, we are to still appreciate them. Why? Because they all come from God, and particularly from the Holy Spirit. Since the Holy Spirit is a spirit, we can’t see Him. However, when we use the gifts He has given us, we do tangibly see His work. To be manifest is to be seen. We literally become “manus (Latin for “the hand”) and festus (Latin for caught)” of the Spirit.  In using the gifts, do we catch one another by the hand as we work together or do we catch outsiders by the hand? What if it is both? Whether people are in the church or waiting to get in (not physically, but into the family), God has given us His Spirit and we manifest His Spirit.

Before we leave the topic of the Holy Spirit, let’s go to verses 11 & 13 as well as learn about the Baptism of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit that I mentioned at the beginning of the message. Look at verses 11 & 13, “All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each individually as He wills.” Back in verse 4, there was an emphasis on the oneness of God. Verse 11 speaks of the Holy Spirit having the authority of the Lord. This is because the Spirit is the Lord Jesus’ Spirit (Acts 16:7; Philippians 1:19). It is the Spirit who empowers our spiritual gifts. 

Now look at verse 13 for what else the Spirit does, “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” What does it mean to be baptized in the Holy Spirit? (v. 13) The baptism of the Holy Spirit is actually a neglected and understudied doctrine by Baptists as we talk about what it isn’t (not a secondary work of the Holy Spirit) after salvation. We usually teach the Spirit baptism happens at the moment of salvation. I want to be known for what we are for, more than what we are against. The Baptist theologian Millard Erickson teaches, “Baptism by the Spirit appears to be, if not equivalent to conversion and new birth, or at least simultaneous with them. Even the disciples of Jesus, who were certainly already regenerate, were not filled with the Spirit until Pentecost.”  According to leading theologian Wayne Grudem, to be baptized in the Holy Spirit “refers to all that the Holy Spirit does at the beginning of our Christian life.” This includes our regeneration (rebirth), the Spirit’s outpouring of power, indwelling, sealing and adoption into God’s family. “The baptism in the Holy Spirit is a phrase that the New Testament authors use to speak of coming into the new Covenant power of the Holy Spirit. It happened at Pentecost for the disciples, but it happened at conversion for the Corinthians and for us.” The term “baptism of the Holy Spirit” occurs 7 times in the New Testament. One example would Luke 3:16 where John the Baptist said, “John answered them all, saying, ‘I baptize you with water, but He who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” That was fulfilled in Acts 2 at Pentecost. Renowned Canadian Bible Scholar, D.A. Carson puts it this way, “In 6 of these instances, related to the prophecy of John the Baptist, Christ as the agent does the baptizing and the Holy Spirit is the medium or sphere in which we are baptized. Moreover, whenever the word ‘baptize’ is used in the NT, it is the medium of the baptism … all Christians have been baptized in one Spirit; all Christians have been baptized into one body.” In other words, all 6 instances refer to the Holy Spirit being poured out upon a person after they believe in Christ. This is what we read in the Gospels and Book of Acts. The other instance is here in 1 Corinthians 12:13. A general rule of thumb in interpreting the Bible when defining a term is to see how the same author in the same book of the Bible uses it. So when the Apostle uses the term “baptism” in 1 Corinthians, what does he mean? Is he referring to physical water baptism like he did in 1 Corinthians 1:17, “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel.” Or is Paul talking about spiritual baptism like he did in 1 Corinthians 10:2 describing being “baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea”? Wayne Grudem links the baptism of the Spirit with the baptism of Moses. The baptism of Moses was about being immersed in God externally and the baptism of the Spirit is about being fully immersed in God internally. But only if we believe in Christ!

In summary so far, A spiritual gift is a manifestation of the Spirit; the Body of believers is a manifestation of Christ! Isn’t God awesome and generous? God has given us His best. The gifts of His Son and Spirit if we believe in Christ. But God didn’t stop there. God has given us the gift of His 3) Church as we belong to the Body of Christ (v. 12-27). Look at verse 12, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” Let’s start with what is most important, the Church is “Christ’s own body, which is made His own by His indwelling.” Paul goes on to say we read earlier that each part is important and necessary. “There are no one-member churches, nor are there any every-member gifts.” “No one member is the complete body, each is only a part.” We value each part, especially the unseen and immodest parts like those that quietly multiply disciples. “Every member cannot have the same function and therefore, there must be higher and lower gifts.” We are needed, but some more than others. We can survive without a hand, an eye or a foot, but not a liver or heart. However, to be fully functioning, all are needed. And to say, I love Jesus and not church would be to only love a head. That doesn’t work. Imagine saying to your girlfriend or boyfriend or spouse and say I love your face and head, but not so much your body. How would that go over? It doesn’t with Christ either. “Look at the human body. What do we see? Oneness in multiplicity.” It’s amazing and beautiful. It is a picture for a greater reality. This is because “The diversity within the unity of the Trinity should be reflected in the diversity of the gifts within the unity of the Body of Christ in Corinth.” If you look at verses 24-25 notice at this God-given diversity fights division, “But God has so composed the body, giving greater honour to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body.” More will be said in September, but for now, please embrace this to the bottom of your hearts. God has given us the gift of His Church as we belong to Christ’s body. Do belong to the Body of Christ?

God has given us the gift of His Son, His Spirit and His Church, but also 4) His ministry to build up the Body of Christ (v. 8-10, 28-30). Here where the various gifts of the Spirit are demonstrated. A spiritual gift is a God-given ability for service! What is the difference between a talent and a gift? A talent is an ability given by God at birth and a spiritual gift is an ability given by God at rebirth! The list here in 1 Corinthians 12 is not exhaustive and needs to be added to from other places like Romans 12. This September we will walk through each gift giving definition and explaining how they are to be used and some of the shadow sides of each if not used in love. For now, we need to understand that we each have a ministry given to us and are empowered by God’s Spirit. Are you serving? It is a requirement to be a part of the Body of Christ. Church is not a spectator sport. We would encourage you to talk to one of the pastors or elders afterwards. 

That boy that I described who pursued the baptism of the Holy Spirit was actually my father who went onto become a Baptist preacher from 1970 until going home to see Jesus as one of your pastors here at Temple in 2019 nearly 50 years later. He would go on to learn that God has given us something greater than tongues. What has God given us? His Son, His Spirit, His Church and His Ministry. What are you doing with these gifts?

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