The Holy Spirit – The Gifts
Sunday
Morning Bible Study
September
22, 2013
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted?
Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision Is the church loved?
Ustream update. Our elder
board has graciously given us permission to upgrade our Ustream
Webcast account. The quality of the
webcast is now better, we have more storage space so
we can archive all the services, and best yet … no more commercials.
We’ve talked about who the Holy Spirit is, the
baptism of the Holy Spirit, and what He does.
Today we begin to look at the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
What is a “spiritual gift”?
In the passages we will be looking at, there are two
different Greek words that are used to describe spiritual gifts.
charisma
– a gift one receives without any merit of his own
(Ro 12:6 NKJV) Having then gifts differing according to the
grace that is given to us…
It is based on the word for “grace”, charis
Spiritual gifts are not things you earn like merit badges when you have
done a certain amount of good things, they are literally a “work of grace” (charis + ma)
We get the word “charismatic” from this word.
Be careful of thinking that people with certain gifts have somehow done
something to earn or deserve them. They aren’t earned, they’re gifts.
It also helps to understand why some greatly gifted people fail. They never earned the gift in the first place.
pneumatikos
– belonging to the Spirit
(1 Co 12:1 NKJV) Now concerning spiritual gifts,
brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant:
Gifts are a “Spirit-thing”. They are
essentially “supernatural” in nature.
Even though some of these things look like things that anyone can do, the
true spiritual gift is something that is done with the
help of the Holy Spirit.
These are not abilities or talents that you were born
with. They come with the enabling
of the Holy Spirit, with the work of the Holy Spirit after salvation.
Natural talents are also gifts from God, but are not tied
to a person’s relationship with God as the spiritual gifts are.
Dave does not have the “spiritual gift of guitar playing”. He definitely has a lot of natural talent,
but it is not a spiritual gift.
Just because these abilities are
“supernatural” doesn’t mean that a person loses
control over their actions.
Even though some people may indeed
respond with their emotions when the Holy Spirit is working in them, don’t confuse their emotional response with the Holy
Spirit.
Don’t forget that one of the fruits the Holy
Spirit produces in us is “self-control” (Gal. 5:22).
The raising of the voice and the
quivering of the hands do not mean that the Spirit is at work. Sometimes the Holy Spirit can work in such a
“natural” way that others who are not in tune with the Lord may not immediately
recognize that God is at work.
Definition: An unearned ability given to you by the Holy
Spirit.
Paul gave two lists of spiritual
gifts in Romans 12:6-8 and 1Cor. 12:8-10.
Note: The gifts of God are good.
(Jas 1:17 NKJV) Every good gift and every perfect gift is from
above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no
variation or shadow of turning.
I don’t know what your experience with spiritual
gifts are. There is much abuse in the
church when it comes to spiritual gifts.
Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water.
The gifts are good. They are for our
good.
Romans 12
:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is
your reasonable service.
:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and
acceptable and perfect will of God.
As we’ve talked about the filling of the Holy
Spirit, we’ve been talking about learning to “surrender” to God, learning to
“yield” to God.
Here Paul talks about learning to present ourselves as a living sacrifice,
letting God work out His perfect will in our lives.
:3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you,
not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think
soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
:3
more highly than he ought to think
Lesson
Self-deception
From time to time we will have folks want to be in
the worship band, and when they sing… it’s not a pleasant thing to listen to. If Dave received this audition tape, what do
you think he should do?
If you sing like this fellow, you may enjoy music, but I wouldn’t
say you are “gifted”.
The same idea works with spiritual gifts.
I’ve seen it many times over the years where a
person gets it in their mind that they’re going to be the next Chuck Smith or Greg
Laurie.
And yet when they get up to speak, it’s almost
painful to sit through their message.
Be yourself. Be comfortable in our
own skin.
It’s okay if you don’t have a gift of evangelism
like Greg Laurie or teaching like Chuck.
You will have others gifts in other areas.
We get into trouble when we try to be something we are not.
The body has two hands, but one is
a right hand, the other is a left.
There are differences between each
of us, and we each need to find out what our part is.
Paul wrote,
(1 Co 12:4–6 NKJV) —4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There
are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6
And there are diversities of activities,
but it is the same God who works all in all.
There are
different gifts and different combinations of gifts.
Each gift can be used in different ways in different ministries.
When you have the
same gift in the same ministry, you may have different “activities”, or different
results.
You aren’t
going to be like other people, be careful about comparing yourself to others.
You might be
bummed because you think you’re the “big toe” of the
church. I got new
for you – the body couldn’t stand straight and keep
its balance without a big toe. We are
all necessary, even stinky toes.
:4 For as we have many members in one body, but
all the members do not have the same function,
:5 so we, being many, are one body in
Christ, and individually members of one another.
:5 individually members of one another
Lesson
Belonging
As believers in Jesus, we all are a part of the Body of Christ.
Paul teaches in both Romans 12 and 1Corinthians 12 that it’s
the gifts of the Holy Spirit that determine what “part” of the body we are.
Because we are each a “part” of the Body, we have a place where we belong,
connected to the Body.
We might laugh at “thing”, and we might think it belongs to the Addams
Family, but in reality a hand that’s not attached to your
body would be kind of creepy. And dead. And your body would be considered crippled.
We actually belong to each other and we need each other.
(1 Co 12:15–18 NKJV) —15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a
hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the
ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it
therefore not of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the
hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18 But now God has
set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.
Sometimes we think that we aren’t
as important as other people in church because we don’t have their particular
kinds of spiritual gifts.
The truth is, the body needs all of its parts to function.
You are important to the church. You may not yet know what part of the body
you are, but that doesn’t mean you don’t belong.
There really isn’t such a thing as “Lone Ranger”
Christians.
Illustration
As the Lone Ranger and Tonto were riding along towards the
north, they spotted a war party of about 50 Apaches coming at them. They turned
south, but another war party appeared. They turned east and met another war party
of braves. They turned west as their last remaining hope and saw another party
of warriors. The Lone Ranger turned to his friend and said, “Well, faithful
friend, this is the end, there’s not much we can do.” Tonto looked back at the
Lone Ranger. “What you mean WE, white man?”
The truth is, whether we like it or not, we all belong to
the same body of Christ. We all belong
to each other. There is no abandoning
each other. The focus of the gifts is on
the fact that we belong to a body.
:6 Having then gifts differing according to the
grace that is given to us, let us use them:
:6 Having then gifts
As we study the spiritual gifts, you may find yourself asking, “I sure
would like to have that gift! But how do I get it?”
Lesson
Just Ask
We’re going to see over the next couple of weeks
that there can be more than one way that God may give spiritual gifts. One of the simplest is by asking.
(Lk 11:11–13 NKJV) —11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a
stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give
him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he
asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how
to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
You can ask Him by yourself. You can
have others ask with you and lay hands on you.
On October 6 we will have the pastors and
elders up front to pray for you and lay hands on you.
Prophecy
:6 if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our
faith;
Definition: To speak for God.
Sometimes we think that prophecy somehow always involves talking about the
future. God does know the future, and sometimes
He whispers it into someone’s ears.
But prophecy is bigger than just making
predictions. It’s
about speaking things that God has asked you to speak.
Biblical Example:
(Ac 13:1–3 NKJV) —1 Now in the
church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas,
Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen
who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 As they
ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me
Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then,
having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they
sent them away.
How did the Holy Spirit speak? He
spoke through the prophets.
Using the gift:
1.
Helping others
(1 Co 14:3 NKJV) But he who
prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.
These are the kinds of things that happen when God
speaks.
People are built up (edification).
People are encouraged (exhortation).
People are comforted.
(1 Co 14:24–25 NKJV) —24 But if all
prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced
by all, he is convicted by all. 25 And thus the secrets of his heart are
revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and
report that God is truly among you.
People are convicted
2.
With Faith
(Ro 12:6 NKJV) …if prophecy, let us prophesy in
proportion to our faith;
It takes faith to speak for God.
It’s not just a matter of having faith to receive a
message from God, but to be brave enough to speak it out in front of others, to
risk being “wrong”. That takes faith.
Sometimes faith is required because all
you have received is an incomplete sentence, and the rest won’t
come flowing out until you’ve spoken what you’ve received. We need to take the
first step by faith.
3.
Surprising places
God doesn’t always work the way I think He
should. I think that when God is
working, it should be accompanied by some sort of electrical discharge but sometimes
when God works, it’s so natural and quiet that we can
miss it.
When it comes to God speaking, I would tend to think that it usually
happens in church, and hopefully it does happen here,
but sometimes He uses other times, people, and places.
God spoke to good King Josiah through a pagan Pharaoh when he warned him to not fight with him.
(2 Ch 35:22 NKJV) Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but
disguised himself so that he might fight with him, and did not heed the words
of Necho from the mouth of God. So
he came to fight in the Valley of Megiddo.
God spoke to Balaam the prophet through a donkey (Num. 22:28)
(Nu 22:28 NKJV) Then the Lord
opened the mouth of the donkey…
That’s kind of humbling if you
think you’re kind of special because God speaks to you. You may be just a donkey.
Prophetic Problems
1.
Power trip
Believe it or not, some people would like to get
you to do things their way. And you can get people to do what you want if you tell them
that God wants them to do it.
I am convinced that some people will abuse the concept of prophecy, even
unwittingly, for this reason.
A more subtle form
of this abuse is when we use God as our excuse. We want to do some stupid thing and then claim that “God told me” to do it. Be careful about making God your excuse.
2.
Imagination
(Je 23:16 NKJV) Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the
words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth
of the Lord.
God was telling Jeremiah that some of these “prophets” were only making
stuff up
The consequences of prophesying falsely in the name of the Lord in the Old
Testament was death (Deut. 18:20).
God is pretty serious that we don’t fool around with the
concept of Him actually speaking.
3.
Lack of testing
(1 Co 14:29 NKJV) Let two or three prophets speak, and let the
others judge.
A person who is giving a “prophecy” needs to be ready and willing to have
their words scrutinized.
Donald Gee, (Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today, pg. 50), writes, “One
of the abiding safeguards for those who wish to be true is humility of mind,
and a willingness always to submit their revelation “to another that sitteth by”.
I think that if you have a notion that God has spoken something to you,
it’s better to say, “I think God might be wanting to say”, than it is to say,
“Thus sayeth the Lord”.
Challenge those listening to test what you say.
That’s not to say that there aren’t going to be times when you are
absolutely sure that God has a message for someone. Sometimes it happens while I’m teaching and I
know that God is speaking to someone.
I do think that a “word from the
Lord” isn’t always going to be a thing that you’re “wondering” about. There have been times in my life when I’m
POSITIVE that God has a certain message for a person. Sometimes it happens when I’m teaching,
sometimes it happens as I’m counseling one on one with a person. For me, there’s a sense of a “definite
certainty” about the message.
We may not always have a word to
confirm or deny something as being from God, but if we never confirm things, we open the door for trouble.
How do I know if God is speaking?
The truth is, you may not recognize God’s voice. Not at first.
When Samuel was a young boy, he heard a voice calling his name,
“Samuel”. But he didn’t realize until
later how to recognize God’s voice.
The best way to learn to recognize
someone’s voice is familiarity, to spend time with them, talking with
them. People closest to you don’t have
to introduce themselves to you on the phone.
Another way is to listen to recordings of them speaking. If Pastor Chuck called me on my cell phone,
I’d recognize his voice, not because I’ve spent a lot of time one on one with
him, but because over the years I’ve listened to hundreds of hours of his voice
on tape or the radio.
There used to be an old recording company that used the phrase “His
Master’s Voice”, with a picture of a dog listening to an old gramophone. The dog could recognize his master’s voice,
just by the sound.
We don’t have any actual recordings of God’s voice, but we do have His
written Word. The more time you spend in
God’s Word, the easier it is to recognize God’s voice.
My big question to you is … if God is speaking … are you listening?
Helps
:7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering;
ministry – diakonia (“deacon”) – service, ministering, esp. of those who execute the commands of
others.
The word speaks of the focus on the
work that the servant is doing.
When Paul writes to the Corinthians, he uses another word to describe this:
(1 Co 12:28 NKJV) And God has appointed these in the church:
first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then
gifts of healings, helps…
helps – antilepsis – a
laying hold of; “laying hold of” a need and taking care of it
A close form of the word is found in:
(Ac 20:35 NKJV) I have shown you in every way, by laboring
like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord
Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
Definition:
Being a servant to others.
It’s being “helpful” to others. It’s fulfilling a “need” with your ability.
We all can help others, but there is
something special with those who have this gift. They do their job especially well. They find great joy in serving … almost like
…
There was a gal in the book of Acts
named “Dorcas”, and I think she may have had the gift
of helps. She was described as a woman:
(Ac 9:36 NKJV) At Joppa there was a certain disciple named
Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full
of good works and charitable deeds which she did.
She was known for the coats and garments she made for the poor (Acts 9:39)
Lesson
Obligation versus gifting
Some of these spiritual gifts are
things that can only be done by those “gifted” by the Lord to do them. A person who does not have the gift of
miracles does not perform miracles.
Yet some of the gifts are a form of
something that we all should be doing.
Some will be more “gifted” than others, but we are all to do them.
There is a “gift of exhortation” (Rom. 12:8), yet
we are all supposed to be encouraging one another (Heb. 3:13).
There is a
“gift of giving” (Rom. 12:8), yet we are all obligated to give (Acts 20:35).
We are all called to “serve” or “help”
others.
A person with the gift of “helps” won’t
just serve others because they know they need to, they will overflow in helping
others because they love it and they’re pretty good at it.
Lesson
The Holy Spirit is practical
If we’re not careful, we can fall into
the trap of thinking that the Holy Spirit’s purpose is to give certain people
in the church the ability to read your mind and come up with amazing bits of
knowledge.
But Jesus said that the one true result
of the baptism of the Holy Spirit was power:
(Ac 1:8 NKJV) But you shall receive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me …
We’ve talked about
this word in the Greek, dunamis. It can speak of the miraculous, but it can
also speak simply of “ability”.
When the Holy Spirit fills you, He will
give you “ability”.
It may be an ability to do the
miraculous.
It will be the ability to say “no” to
sin.
It may be the ability to clean up a
neighbor’s yard.