5-28-23 Kasey Campbell: The Word of Knowledge

We’re back in 1 Corinthians 12:8 today, and we’ll be talking about the word of knowledge. And let’s just pray before we get started. PRAY. For those of you who haven’t been with us, we’ve been in a series going through 1 Corinthians chapters 12,13, and 14. We’re looking at the gifts of the Spirit. And before Paul talks about any of the gifts, he talks about unity and humility. Every single time; in each book, when he talks about the gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians, when he talks about the offices (or gifts of the Son) in Ephesians, and when he talks about the motivational gifts (gifts of the Father) in Romans, he always talks about them in context of love, unity, and humility. He uses the human body metaphor a lot in these sections because he wants us to understand how important it is to have a real, genuine love for people, especially people we are going to try to minister to. If we will yield to God, walk in humility with Him and with others, and love others as we love ourselves, God will flow His gifts among His people freely and frequently, and we’ll see the miraculous become commonplace. Today I want to talk about the word of knowledge. This is 1 Corinthians 12:8 NKJV for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit. As we talked about last week, this the word of knowledge often goes hand in hand with the word of wisdom. Paul is explaining this gift (like he did with the word of wisdom) in contrast to the Corinthians' idea of knowledge. If you haven’t been with us for the series, you may not know that the Corinthians had a lot of problems. Not only was it chaos in their services, but you had everything from sexual sin within the church too long, boring prophesies, to people bringing food to a communion potluck, eating it all themselves (not sharing), and getting drunk on the communion wine. It was craziness. So much of what we learn in 1 Corinthians we learn because Paul is telling the Corinthian church what not to do. When Paul tells us about this gift of the word of knowledge, he rescues it from the Corinthians' fascination with ‘head knowledge’ and the pride that goes along with it.1 Earlier in 1 Corinthians, he tells the people that ‘just having knowledge’ will make us proud. 1 Corinthians 8:1 AMP Knowledge [alone] makes [people self-righteously] arrogant, but love [that unselfishly seeks the best for others] builds up and encourages others to grow [in wisdom]. 1 Fee, Gordon D. The First Epistle to the Corinthians, Revised Edition, P657. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014. word of knowledge | 1 He goes on talk about food offered to idols, and he says that some of the people knew that if they prayed over food offered to idols and thanked God for it, it was ok to eat. Other people didn’t have that knowledge of their freedom in Christ. They would refuse to eat some meat because it felt blasphemous to them; since it had been used in idol worship (offered to idols), they didn’t want to eat it. But Paul’s point in the entire situation is that their knowledge level didn’t matter. They shouldn’t be using knowledge (especially knowledge of God’s grace and knowledge of their freedom in Christ) to get pride or to look down on others who don’t have the same knowledge. Humility and love for one another are what make knowledge matter. 1 Corinthians 8:11 NLT So because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer for whom Christ died will be destroyed. The point is that the theme of humility and love is huge, and Paul wants to hammer it home when he talks about the gifts, and he contrasts godly wisdom and knowledge with the secular, worldly kind that just causes pride. He puts wisdom and knowledge together a lot, by the way; Romans 11:33 NKJV Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! In this passage, Paul is praising the Lord, in complete awe that God would reveal his wisdom and knowledge in the form of the gospel and that He would continue to share His wisdom and knowledge as we continue with Him in relationship and obedience.2 So Wisdom and knowledge can overlap. If a word of wisdom gives insight for practical action, a word of knowledge brings to light the biblical principles that make the foundation for that action. It may reveal a truth from God or it might give facts needed for a move, a decision, or a response.3 1 Corinthians 12:8 NKJV for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit. The word of wisdom is the logos of gnosis. The word of knowledge is the logos of sophia. We talked a little about this last week, but the word, or the utterance of knowledge or wisdom, is always supposed to point people toward Jesus. A word of knowledge is the ability to discover, analyze, and systemize truth for the benefit of someone else. With this gift, a person speaks with understanding and penetration. The word of knowledge can also involve supernatural perception and discernment for the purpose of ministering to others.4 2 Schell, Dr. C. Stevens. Study Verse by Verse with Dr. Steve Schell: the Book of Romans, P137. Federal Way, Washington, Life Lessons Publishing, 2015. 3 Duffield, Guy P. Foundations of Pentecostal Theology (Revised & Updated) Volume 1, P316. Foursquare Media, 2016. 4 Boa, Kenneth. Conformed to His Image: Biblical and Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation, P308. Zondervan, 2001. word of knowledge | 2 Robert Morris shares an example of when the Holy Spirit gave him a word of knowledge. He writes: I was once eating a meal in a cafeteria with my wife when I saw a very muscular fellow and his wife carrying their trays to an empty table near us. The moment I saw him, I knew something about him, and I knew it was from the Holy Spirit because he was a stranger to me - I had never seen him or met him before. Over the years, I’ve learned how to act on promptings from the Holy Spirit without seeming weird or creepy, so I went over to his table and said, ‘Excuse me, you don’t know me, but could I ask you a question?” He was a little startled but said, ‘Sure.’ I asked, ‘Have you ever lifted weights?’ This wasn’t supernatural insight on my part, just a little humorous icebreaker. But later, I learned that he had been a professional weightlifter and, at one point, had been Mr. America. He said, ‘Yeah, I’ve done a little weightlifting.’ ‘This might sound strange to you,’ I said, ‘but I think God shared something personal and important about it - would it be ok if I shared it?’ He looked a little hesitant, looked at his wife, but said, ‘ok,’ so I sat down. The Holy Spirit showed me a picture of you as a young boy, I saw you sitting on your grandma’s lap, and you were crying. She told you that God could make you strong like Samson if you would serve Him. I saw you make that commitment and promise to serve the Lord and honor Him with your life. God told me to tell you that He’s kept His side of the bargain, but you haven’t kept yours.’ The man looked at me with a blank look for a second, and I thought I’d missed it. But right when I was praying for a way to make an exit, the man’s lip started quivering and tears started flowing down from his eyes. He looked at his wife and she started crying, too. He shared, ‘I was raised by my grandmother. My father left when I was born, and my mother left a few years later. One day when I was 8, some boys started throwing rocks at me just to be mean, and one hit me in the head and made a big gash and I went home crying. That’s when my grandmother told me the story of Samson. I promised God that if he’d make me strong, I’d serve Him all of my life. I was just telling my wife that I had been thinking about that promise lately but didn’t know how to approach God. Robert led them both to the Lord on the spot, and they were baptized the next week.5 This gift, like the others, is given to bless and benefit others, and as we open to what the Holy Spirit says and move in humility, love, and grace, God will move in mighty ways. 5 Morris, Robert. The God I Never Knew: How Real Friendship with the Holy Spirit Can Change Your Life, P123-124. Crown Publishing Group, 2013. word of knowledge | 3 This gift is not given just to prove our spirituality or to know ‘cool stuff,’ but to produce fruit. It’s a supernatural revelation of knowledge, not general knowledge learned by natural means or by study.6 Of course, general knowledge is good. It’s good to study and learn about God. 2 Timothy 2:15 AMP Study and do your best to present yourself to God approved, a workman [tested by trial] who has no reason to be ashamed, accurately handling and skillfully teaching the word of truth. Knowledge of God is the greatest knowledge, and in the New Testament, a person can only have knowledge of God through Jesus Christ. Knowing Jesus personally is how we gain knowledge of God. And this kind of knowledge isn’t just theoretical or factual; it’s experiential and relational. It’s experiencing the reality of God in our lives and growing in our relationship with Him. Paul knew, though, that knowledge could be a divisive factor. That is what was happening at Corinth, where some Christians claimed to be more spiritual because they had more knowledge of God.7 So this gift is not general knowledge, even though that’s important. And Paul will later tell us how love supersedes knowledge. Ephesians 3:19 ESV and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. The gift of the word of knowledge is usually a fragment of information given by God for a specific person or situation. It’s truth that the Holy Spirit wants revealed to produce a desired result - to produce fruit. Sometimes it’s given for protection; other times, it might be as a warning, but it’s always for kingdom results. Here’s an example from the Old Testament. God sent his word so that the people, who were at war, would be protected and warned. Elisha kept having the word of knowledge about where enemy troops would be. 2 Kings 6:8-12 When the king of Aram was at war with Israel, he would confer with his officers and say, “We will mobilize our forces at such and such a place.” 9 But immediately Elisha, the man of God, would warn the king of Israel, “Do not go near that place, for the Arameans are planning to mobilize their troops there.” 10 So the king of Israel would send word to the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he would be on the alert there. 11 The king of Aram became very 6 Stott, Jerry, and Robert Hunt. Positioned for the Gifts: Preparing Us for Extraordinary Power and Compassion, P138. Edited by Laurie De Revere, Foursquare Missions Press, 2019. 7 Brand, Chad, et al., editors. Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, P999. Holman Bible Publishers, 2003. word of knowledge | 4 upset over this. He called his officers together and demanded, “Which of you is the traitor? Who has been informing the king of Israel of my plans?” 12 “It’s not us, my lord the king,” one of the officers replied. “Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in the privacy of your bedroom!” The enemy was thwarted because God gave Elisha a word of knowledge. And for us today, a word of knowledge can also give us insight for the spiritual battles we face. It can save us from ‘analysis paralysis.’ It’s a knowing word given that releases us from the paralysis of indecision. When we don’t know what to say, what to do, or even where to begin, a word of knowledge can bring supernatural insight, revelation, or understanding into the matter. Jesus moved in this gift quite often. He did it when He called Nathaniel (or Bartholomew) to follow Him. John 1:43-51 NKJV The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards Him, he said, ‘Here’s a person who doesn’t have any treachery, deceit, or lying in him.’ Nathaniel is a little surprised, of course, and says, ‘How do you know me?’ How would you know whether or not I have good or bad character? I’ve never met you before.’ And Jesus sparks prophetically to Him with a word of knowledge. He tells Nathanial something that would have been impossible for Him to know without divine revelation. Sometime before this meeting, Nathanael had been sitting under a fig tree, probably praying and maybe asking God deep or difficult questions. We’re not told exactly what he was thinking or doing under the tree, but his response to Jesus is immediate and revealing. He word of knowledge | 5 reacts in an outburst of faith, not shame, so what he was talking to God about under the tree was something only God would have known about. Nathanael goes from skepticism to full faith in a moment! When Jesus speaks this word of knowledge to Nathanael, any doubts that Jesus was the Messiah or that the Messiah could come from Nazareth disappear completely. The word of knowledge bears the fruit of faith and it points to Jesus as the One to worship and follow. A similar thing happens when Jesus speaks a word of knowledge to a Samaritan woman. John 4:5-26 NKJV So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” 15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.” 19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking word of knowledge | 6 such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” Jesus comes to Jacob’s well at either 6 in the morning or noon. Either way, He had walked a long time and was tired. And He’s sitting there alone until a woman walks up with a rope and a bucket. That well is over 100 feet deep, so it takes work to get a drink. The woman is surprised that a Jewish man would ask her for a drink because it would have made Him ceremonially unclean. And when she asks Him why He’s asking her for a drink, he skips past the politics of the situation, of the Jews/Samaritans thing, and gets right to the point. He knows she is having dry times in her soul. He knows she is searching for something more, and He offers her living water. The term ‘living water’ would have been referring to clean, fresh water flowing from a natural source, like a spring. So you can imagine why she’s a little confused at first. But she does ask Jesus to give her this gift of living water. In order to receive the living water, though, she first needs to be ‘born from above,’ as Jesus said to Nicodemus. In other words, she would need to repent of her sins and fully surrender to God’s direction for her life. And for this to happen, she would have to give up her dysfunctional relationship with men. To expose that area of her heart, Jesus said, ‘Go, call your husband, and come here.’ He was focusing her attention on the area where her healing needed to start. She responded in a way that was truthful, but she left out some important details. This is where Jesus spoke a word of knowledge that revealed the rest of the information. And the information wasn’t to condemn her. Jesus never did anything to condemn people. Remember last week, the woman caught in adultery? Jesus' word of wisdom for that woman wasn’t to condemn; it was to save, it was to heal, to free, and to release from bondage. John 3:17 NIV For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. So this woman was probably shocked. Who was this man who just revealed to her her entire marriage history? Is He good or bad? Did God tell Him this? And if so, why? What does God want from me? How will I respond to Him? The question she faced was; will I come towards the light, towards the living water, into accountability with God and a responsibility to follow Him? Or will I turn away from it and stay word of knowledge | 7 the way I am? And we can tell by her responses that she chooses to embrace the light. She chooses to drink the living water. She chooses to come closer to God. That’s why she asks where God wants to be worshipped. She’s saying, ‘Ok, you’re right. I love God and want to follow Him, but I’m not sure where He wants to be worshipped. Please tell me so He’ll find my worship, my life, my heart acceptable to Him.’ And Jesus lets her know that she doesn’t have to go to Jerusalem or Mt. Gerizim (Mt. Zion to worship). She can believe in Jesus and worship God anywhere at any time. Now the spiritual life won’t be focused on a place, a building, a ritual, a priesthood, an object, or a certain day. She can worship in spirit, understanding that God is a person, not a concept or interpersonal force. We can now awaken our spirits to connect with God’s Holy Spirit throughout the day. We’d worship in spirit, and we’d also worship in truth. Religious confusion and deception will cease because the Holy Spirit will give us revelation and discernment. 1 John 2:27 AMP As for you, the anointing [the special gift, the preparation] which you received from Him remains [permanently] in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But just as His anointing teaches you [giving you insight through the presence of the Holy Spirit] about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as His anointing has taught you, you must remain in Him [being rooted in Him, knit to Him]. We can rightly understand the truth of scripture because the Holy Spirit lives in us now, and He will also remind us that we can confidently come to the throne of the Father whenever we have need. Jesus says that God searches for people who will worship Him this way - in Spirit and in Truth. Because He is a person with a will, intellect, and emotions, for Him, all other forms of worship must be lonely, one-sided experiences where He can observe outward religious behavior and hear words that aren’t really directed at Him. My ultimate point here is that the word of knowledge is given to us so that we can be set free. We can be set free from the paralysis of indecision. We can be set free to see the truth of God in a moment where it will most impact our lives. We receive knowledge from the God who knows all. He knows us and He wants us to know Him. He will give us the knowledge we need for any situation we face, and He also wants us to know Him. He wants us to continue learning about Him in a personal and interpersonal way. He wants us to know His heart for us, His heart toward us, and His everlasting mercy, grace, and love. word of knowledge | 8 And I’ll close with this: 1 Corinthians 2:12-13 AMP Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the [Holy] Spirit who is from God, so that we may know and understand the [wonderful] things freely given to us by God. 13 We also speak of these things, not in words taught or supplied by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining and interpreting spiritual thoughts with spiritual words [for those being guided by the Holy Spirit]. It’s the Holy Spirit who knows the thoughts of God. And the Holy Spirit has come to live in us. By His word, we can each know and understand that God pours out His love and His gifts to us so we can minister to each other in whatever way is needed. God empowers us with the gift of speech so we can communicate spiritual truth and the love of the Lord and glorify Jesus Christ. We want to know and understand the wonderful things God has given us. And we want to hear God’s voice clearly so that we can share the knowledge of God with those who are seeking, those who are hurting, or those who are in need. word of knowledge | 9