For the next three weeks we'll be looking at what Paul has to say about the gifts that the Spirit equips Jesus' Church with. If you have any questions /queries about the sermons or the related topic, post your questions on this blog or email me - steve.freddo@gmail.com
Are some gifts not given to the Church any more?
Basically the answer is no... with one possible exception. There are some who suggest that the Spirit no longer gives some of the miraculous gifts, like tongues or healings. They suggest that these gifts ended after the early years of the Church. However, I don't see any suggestion in the New Testament that this was expected by the apostles. I don't see why the Spirit couldn't give any gift to a church that he determined they needed. It is certainly possible that some gifts were more common in the early Church to "kick-it-off" so to speak. But this doesn't mean the Spirit won't give this gift now-a-days. My personal view is that there is only one gift that we don't still have today: Apostleship. It seems that Paul understood apostles to be those who had seen the resurrected Jesus - not just in a vision, but face to face. However we still do have the testimony of the apostles in the New Testament scriptures.
Why doesn't our church have some gifts like tongues?
A great question with two answers. 1) Our church probably does have brothers and sisters with the gift of speaking in tongues. 2) I'm guessing you were interested in knowing why we don't SEE "tongues" being used in our church services. There could be several reasons for this... a) It could be possible that no-one has the gift. The Spirit gives gifts to Churches as they have need - maybe He has determined we don't need it at the moment b) The gift of tongues has often been misused and abused. Some churches are so nervous about these misuses that they discourage the gift by ignoring it. I hope we don't do this at St Barnabas c) We may have people who have the gift of tongues but no one with the gift of interpreting them (tongues are often prayers made in angelic languages). Paul commands that tongues not be spoken publicly unless there is someone to translate them - so that everyone can understand the prayer and say "Amen"! Stay tuned for the talk on 1 Cor 14 in which we'll focus on the gifts of tongues and prophesy.
What were the descriptions of the "service-gifts" that you gave in the talk?
Well, From vs8 in ch12, Paul lists a whole range of ways in which God’s Spirit equips us to be each other’s "spiritual butlers". Its not like these are all the forms of “service-gifts”. No two lists in the bible are the same: there is simply no limit to what “service-gifts” God gives his people.
12:8 “to one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit”
The “service-gift” of knowledge and wisdom. Here Paul doesn’t outline exactly what this gift looks like. Yet all through the letter he defines Wisdom and Knowledge as a right understanding of how the Gospel affects the reality of life's situations... How the truth of Jesus will affect Christian behavior in a society that doesn’t know Jesus. For the Corinthians one example was how the truth of Jesus will affect behavior in a society that worships idols (eg Ch8 & 10). For us, a brother or sister’s gift of knowledge or wisdom might give the church guidance on how the gospel will shape the Christian life... in a world that is sexually permissive… …or in a world that is religiously pluralistic… …or in a world that wants to approve of gay marriage.
Do you know someone with this gift… praise God for them. Are we as a church lacking this… pray that God would provide for us!
12:9 “to another Faith by the same spirit…”
The gift of faith, or service of faith is not simply trusting Jesus for salvation, which the Spirit gives all believers. The gift of faith, or service of faith, is a deep trust in God, that is given for the strengthening of others. It’s a trust in God that encourages others: a trust in God that enables others to see possibilities, where they could see none before: it’s a trust in God that helps others to persevere… to stand firm during persecution... to extinguish the doubts & accusations of satan... to continue praying when things seem helpless. I wonder if you have ever had someone say to you… “I wish I had your faith…” If you have then share it with them… God does not give you faith to make yourself more secure. Whatever faith you have is for the strengthening of others. Wherever you see another wavering, stand beside them ministering your gift, for their benefit.
2nd ½ of 12:9 “to another gifts of healing by that same Spirit, to another miraculous powers”
Healings and miracles are gifts that Paul often specifically associates with apostles. They are rarely described, but its not to difficult to imagine how healing specifically would be a service to others. Later in the chapter Paul mentions healing right along side of helping and administration. If you have these gifts… are you as excited to use them in the service of others as you would be if your gift was healing. I can just hear you thinking… "helping?” “administration?” that’s not a gift… that’s just what I do! BUT NO…. that’s what the Spirit graciously does through you. Don’t rob the Spirit of his honor by neglecting that gift.
The next bit of 12:10 “to another Prophesy, to another distinguishing between gifts…”
I praise God that this is one of the gifts God regularly blesses us with in this church. I pray this would continue to be the case. In two weeks time, we’ll spend the whole sermon looking at this “service-gift” as Paul dedicates a whole chapter to it. Interestingly though, I think most people who call themselves prophets actually are not. Prophesy is the application (not just teaching) of God’s word to the concrete, changing, particular circumstances of another particular person's life. Preaching does not simply = prophesy, though I think the two often can overlap. In Ch14, Paul describes the purpose of Prophesy as encouraging, strengthening, comforting Christians, and the convicting unbelievers of sin. The “how”, “what” and “why” of prophesy, we’ll tackle further in a few weeks. To distinguish between Spirits is probably the “service-gift” of being able to tell / discern when a prophesy accords with God’s word. Its the ability to perceive whether someone’s encouraging or convicting words are actually from God’s Spirit or not. Again more on this in two weeks. ***Note: I think some of the confusion with understanding prophesy may be a failure to distinguish how it is distinct from, though not always unrelated to visions, dreams and revelations.
end of 12:10 “to another speaking in different kind’s of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues…”
Once again we’ll come back to tongues in two weeks time along with prophesy. But As I’ve already mentioned, tongues was basically the ability to speak spiritual / angelic languages… in praise to God.
stay tuned for more on tongues and prophesy when we cover Chapter 14.
Are some gifts not given to the Church any more?
Basically the answer is no... with one possible exception. There are some who suggest that the Spirit no longer gives some of the miraculous gifts, like tongues or healings. They suggest that these gifts ended after the early years of the Church. However, I don't see any suggestion in the New Testament that this was expected by the apostles. I don't see why the Spirit couldn't give any gift to a church that he determined they needed. It is certainly possible that some gifts were more common in the early Church to "kick-it-off" so to speak. But this doesn't mean the Spirit won't give this gift now-a-days. My personal view is that there is only one gift that we don't still have today: Apostleship. It seems that Paul understood apostles to be those who had seen the resurrected Jesus - not just in a vision, but face to face. However we still do have the testimony of the apostles in the New Testament scriptures.
Why doesn't our church have some gifts like tongues?
A great question with two answers. 1) Our church probably does have brothers and sisters with the gift of speaking in tongues. 2) I'm guessing you were interested in knowing why we don't SEE "tongues" being used in our church services. There could be several reasons for this... a) It could be possible that no-one has the gift. The Spirit gives gifts to Churches as they have need - maybe He has determined we don't need it at the moment b) The gift of tongues has often been misused and abused. Some churches are so nervous about these misuses that they discourage the gift by ignoring it. I hope we don't do this at St Barnabas c) We may have people who have the gift of tongues but no one with the gift of interpreting them (tongues are often prayers made in angelic languages). Paul commands that tongues not be spoken publicly unless there is someone to translate them - so that everyone can understand the prayer and say "Amen"! Stay tuned for the talk on 1 Cor 14 in which we'll focus on the gifts of tongues and prophesy.
What were the descriptions of the "service-gifts" that you gave in the talk?
Well, From vs8 in ch12, Paul lists a whole range of ways in which God’s Spirit equips us to be each other’s "spiritual butlers". Its not like these are all the forms of “service-gifts”. No two lists in the bible are the same: there is simply no limit to what “service-gifts” God gives his people.
12:8 “to one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit”
The “service-gift” of knowledge and wisdom. Here Paul doesn’t outline exactly what this gift looks like. Yet all through the letter he defines Wisdom and Knowledge as a right understanding of how the Gospel affects the reality of life's situations... How the truth of Jesus will affect Christian behavior in a society that doesn’t know Jesus. For the Corinthians one example was how the truth of Jesus will affect behavior in a society that worships idols (eg Ch8 & 10). For us, a brother or sister’s gift of knowledge or wisdom might give the church guidance on how the gospel will shape the Christian life... in a world that is sexually permissive… …or in a world that is religiously pluralistic… …or in a world that wants to approve of gay marriage.
Do you know someone with this gift… praise God for them. Are we as a church lacking this… pray that God would provide for us!
12:9 “to another Faith by the same spirit…”
The gift of faith, or service of faith is not simply trusting Jesus for salvation, which the Spirit gives all believers. The gift of faith, or service of faith, is a deep trust in God, that is given for the strengthening of others. It’s a trust in God that encourages others: a trust in God that enables others to see possibilities, where they could see none before: it’s a trust in God that helps others to persevere… to stand firm during persecution... to extinguish the doubts & accusations of satan... to continue praying when things seem helpless. I wonder if you have ever had someone say to you… “I wish I had your faith…” If you have then share it with them… God does not give you faith to make yourself more secure. Whatever faith you have is for the strengthening of others. Wherever you see another wavering, stand beside them ministering your gift, for their benefit.
2nd ½ of 12:9 “to another gifts of healing by that same Spirit, to another miraculous powers”
Healings and miracles are gifts that Paul often specifically associates with apostles. They are rarely described, but its not to difficult to imagine how healing specifically would be a service to others. Later in the chapter Paul mentions healing right along side of helping and administration. If you have these gifts… are you as excited to use them in the service of others as you would be if your gift was healing. I can just hear you thinking… "helping?” “administration?” that’s not a gift… that’s just what I do! BUT NO…. that’s what the Spirit graciously does through you. Don’t rob the Spirit of his honor by neglecting that gift.
The next bit of 12:10 “to another Prophesy, to another distinguishing between gifts…”
I praise God that this is one of the gifts God regularly blesses us with in this church. I pray this would continue to be the case. In two weeks time, we’ll spend the whole sermon looking at this “service-gift” as Paul dedicates a whole chapter to it. Interestingly though, I think most people who call themselves prophets actually are not. Prophesy is the application (not just teaching) of God’s word to the concrete, changing, particular circumstances of another particular person's life. Preaching does not simply = prophesy, though I think the two often can overlap. In Ch14, Paul describes the purpose of Prophesy as encouraging, strengthening, comforting Christians, and the convicting unbelievers of sin. The “how”, “what” and “why” of prophesy, we’ll tackle further in a few weeks. To distinguish between Spirits is probably the “service-gift” of being able to tell / discern when a prophesy accords with God’s word. Its the ability to perceive whether someone’s encouraging or convicting words are actually from God’s Spirit or not. Again more on this in two weeks. ***Note: I think some of the confusion with understanding prophesy may be a failure to distinguish how it is distinct from, though not always unrelated to visions, dreams and revelations.
end of 12:10 “to another speaking in different kind’s of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues…”
Once again we’ll come back to tongues in two weeks time along with prophesy. But As I’ve already mentioned, tongues was basically the ability to speak spiritual / angelic languages… in praise to God.
stay tuned for more on tongues and prophesy when we cover Chapter 14.
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