The Spirit-Filled Life (Part 3) Series

The Spirit-filled Life (3)

Scott Bayles, pastor

Blooming Grove Christian Church: 6/4/2017

A couple weeks ago we began a series all about who the Holy Spirit is and what he is anxious to do in our lives. I hope this series will help all of us reverse our tragic neglect of the Holy Spirit and begin living the Spirit-filled life! Last Sunday I addressed one of the Holy Spirit’s primary roles—that of a guide—and I underscored three ways in which the Spirit speaks to and lead us today: his whispers, his witnesses, and his Word. Whenever we hear that still small voice, or listen to a poignant sermon that happens to speak to our current situation, or peruse the page of Scripture we ought to pause and ask, “Lord, are you speaking to me? I’m listening.” Remember, the true children of God are those who let the Holy Spirit lead them.

Today, I want to examine another role the Holy Spirit plays in our lives—the giver of gifts. Most of us enjoy receiving gifts.

I’m reminded of an old Peanuts comic strip. Schroder is hunched over his tiny piano, plunking away at the keys when Lucy leans in toward him and ask, “How come you never give me any presents?” Schroder looks up and says, “Because I think you’re loud, mean, rude, and overbearing!” There’s a long pause as Lucy soaks in what Schroder said. Finally, she replies, “Loud, mean, rude and overbearing people like presents too, you know!”

I hope you’re not loud, mean, rude and overbearing, but even if you are I have good news for you! When you receive Christ as our Savior, God gives you the gift of the Holy Spirit—He gives you Himself. But in addition to that wonderful gift, the Holy Spirit also gives believers all sorts of spiritual gifts. These are special Sprit-empowered abilities given only to believers. The Bible says, “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all” (1 Corinthians 12:4 NLT). You can’t earn you spiritual gifts or deserve them—that’s why they’re called gifts! They’re an expression of God’s grace to you—because He really likes you.

If you have a Bible or an app on your phone, open it to 1 Corinthians 12. We’re going to be a looking at a few other passages as well, but in 1 Corinthians 12 Paul offers a framework for all these different gifts and how they fit together.

First, Paul describes the plethora of spiritual gifts.

• THE PLETHORA OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS

There are an abundance of spiritual gifts and Paul list several of them here in 1 Corinthians 12. He writes:

A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. (1 Corinthians 12:7-10 NLT)

As you can see, there is a wide variety of spiritual gifts. The Holy Spirit may give you the gift of wisdom, or the gift of intelligence, or the gift of faith or discernment. But this is really just the tip of the iceberg. We find a similar list in Romans 12. There, Paul writes:

In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. (Romans 12:6-8 NLT)

Even these two lists combined are not exhaustive. There are other gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4 and 1 Peter 4. Because the Holy Spirit loves variety and He wants us to be special, no single gifts is given to everyone and no single person received all the gifts; rather every gift or set of gifts is unique. Our job is to discover and develop our gifts.

If I were to ask you what your spiritual gift is, some of you would know it instantly. But many don’t know what gift they’ve been given. I’ve even had people tell me, “I don’t think I have a spiritual gift.” Well, you do. You just may not realize it yet. So let me make a few suggestions for those of you still searching for your spiritual gift.