Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Over the past two weeks we have been looking at what the scriptures teach us regarding the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.

This week we are going to look at what scripture teaches us regarding Spiritual gifts, or what some call the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

I have said this in both sermons so far and I want to remind you again.

The approach I am taking with this series is not a denominational or charismatic approach.

I am not teaching what certain denominations or movements teach us about the Holy Spirit.

I am concerned with what scripture teaches us.

There is a lot of stuff out there when it comes to this subject that has caused a lot of confusion, unfortunately a lot of people tend stray away from learning about the role of the Spirit in their lives because of this confusion.

This is unfortunate because as I have been trying to show you over the past few weeks, the church was founded through the coming of the Spirit, and scripture was written by the Holy Spirit through divine inspiration.

The Holy Spirit is the cog in the wheel that helps the church be what Jesus called it to be.

The Spirit is what helps the church live on mission.

In other words....if a church neglects the workings of the Spirit, I would question, and I think scripture makes a strong case to question, if such a church is a church at all.

Just because people gather and verbally claim to be “in Christ” doesn’t mean they represent Christ at all.

Often in North American culture many “churches’ are actually just a social democracy with a religious system of ethics they claim to follow.

There is nothing about them that represents or lives the mission of the church Jesus founded.

The coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 launched the church into it’s Jesus given mission, to be a blessing to the nations, to make disciples that make disciples, to baptize and teach others to live like Jesus lived.

If a church is not seeing lives transformed, if disciples are not being made, then it is fair to question if it is actually a church at all.

One day I will do some more teaching on that subject.

But I want you to understand one simple thing…a church that shows no evidence of the fruits of the Spirit, a church that doesn’t love others unconditionally, is not a church on mission, it is not a Spirit filled church.

The apostle Paul deals with these exact issues in many of his letters.

The first passage that discusses Spiritual gifts is a good example of this.

There are four key passages in the New Testament that teach us about the gifts of the Spirit.

This morning we are going to take a brief look at each of these four passages.

In 1 Corinthians Paul is dealing with a church that thinks they are extremely spiritual.

They are a large church with a gifted preacher, they have the best worship teams, and attract people from all around Corinth.

They know what a church should look like and so they do everything they can to look the part.

However, Paul is frustrated with them because of some of the things they are doing that has taken them off of mission.

To Paul the mission is everything.

The church in Corinth practices Spiritual gifts, but they have made the gifts all about themselves.

So Paul leads into his correction concerning the gifts like this:

In other words, they have been uniformed and Paul needs to teach them, to inform them about how the gifts of the Spirit work.

You have to understand something about the early church in order to track with Paul’s thinking.

The Holy Spirit was not just a concept to the apostles and those who followed Jesus.

The Spirit was an experienced reality.

They walked by the Spirit, they followed the leading of the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit was central to how they understood God and their calling to make disciples, to heal and see lives transformed by the preaching of the Gospel.

So this subject was extremely important to Paul, and central to what he wanted his churches to understand.

So when he says I don’t want you to uninformed, he means that this is important, it’s important you understand this so you can be a church on mission.

Charismatic Gifts

The gifts of the Spirit all have the same origin: the triune God.

These gifts that Paul list in this passage derive from the Greek word “charismata”.

This is where our English word charismatic comes from.

These are the charismatic gifts that have caused so much debate in the church.

Paul tells us that there is a diversity of gifts, a diversity of purposes for the gifts, and a diversity of activities linked to the gifts.

But, the important thing to understand is that these diverse gifts are manifestations of the Spirit for the common good.

In the church in Corinth people who used these gifts thought they were more important then those who didn’t use these gifts.

Paul is correcting this.

All gifts of the Spirit are for the common good, to build up the body.

The general purpose of all Spiritual gifts is to benefit all Christians in the local congregation.

Paul lists these charismatic gifts:

Message of Wisdom (revealing what God did on the cross through Christ)

Message of Knowledge (Theological rational for decisions concerning Christian living)

Faith (Trusting God with amazing confidence)

Gifts of Healing

Miraculous Powers (driving out demons, overcoming bondage)

The charismatic gifts are gifts that are given when and how the Spirit decides, and they always point people to Jesus and show the power of the cross.

They are not about the person receiving the gift, it’s about the people around that person.

In other words, these gifts are given when needed to meet a specific purpose when needed.

They are given to serve others.

a spiritual gift is an ability in some way to express, celebrate, display, and so communicate Christ.

We are told that gifts, rightly used, build up Christians and churches.

But only knowledge of God in Christ builds up, so each charisma must be an ability from Christ to show and share Christ in an upbuilding way.

It’s amazing to know that God will empower Christians to have the right words to say in the right moment, to have big faith when needed, to stand against evil, and show the power of the cross.

The second passage in the NT that addresses Spiritual gifts is found in Romans.

Paul gives us a different look at gifts:

In this passage Paul is calling the people to humble service in the church.

Humility is a key concept to using your gifts.

There is one body with different gifts.

Not everyone has the same function, but when each of us finds and functions in our Spiritual gifts the church is built up.

In this passage Paul lists more common gifts and encourages people to live in their gifting, not try to function outside of your gifts.

If your gift is to teach, then teach, etc.

In other words if your gift is to show mercy, show mercy, don’t try to teach.

Oh and cheerfully function in your gift.

In other words don’t envy others and want what their gifting is.

Just use what you have been given for the common good.

Spiritual gifts are abilities given to individual believers by the Holy Spirit in order to equip God’s people for ministry, both for the edification of the church and for God’s salvific mission to the world.

The gifts that Paul addresses in this passage are more common gifts then the charismatic gifts.

These are the gifts that fill out the body, and each person has one and should be using it for the glory of God, for the church to carry out it’s call; edification of the church and God’s salvific mission to the world.

The gifts are always about the church being on mission!

The third section of scripture that teaches about Spiritual gifts is in Ephesians, these are the gifts that the Spirit has given the church:

The Gifts that Equip the People

The Holy Spirit has given specific gifts to specific people so that they can equip the saints.

Paul says these are the people who’s role is to use their gifts to equip the church for works of service so that the body of Christ, the church may be built up.

The apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastor/teacher is a gift from the Holy Spirit to the church for this purpose.

These are specific callings, or offices that are held in the Christian community.

The people who have these callings are judged more strictly then others in the church because of the level of influence they have.

They play an important role in the body of Christ, this is why Paul says they are a gift to the church.

The fourth passage that addresses Spiritual gifts rounds out the subject nicely.

This time it’s not Paul, but Peter who brings us teaching on this subject.

Peter says that each of us are gifted to serve.

Gifted to Serve

Use your gifts to serve others!

Peter says this is being a faithful steward of God’s grace.

Whenever you speak you do it as one who speaks the very words of God.

We are to serve with our gift with great strength, strength that God provides, so Jesus can be praised, because it’s all about Jesus.

God has given every church, this church, everything it needs to be on mission, to be amazing.

If we are falling short of being like Jesus as a church it’s because not everyone is using their gifts to serve others, to build others up, to show others the way of Jesus.

It is so important that everyone in the body of Christ uses their gifts for the glory of Christ.

Unfortunately, not everyone does this, and so we fall short.

I often hear people say they don’t know what their gift is, so they don’t know how to go about serving.