Intro: In a Peanuts cartoon Lucy demanded that Linus change TV channels, threatening him with her fist if he didn’t. "What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?" asks Linus.
"These five fingers," says Lucy. "Individually they’re nothing but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold."
"Which channel do you want?" asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, "Why can’t you guys get organized like that?" (Charles Schultz - writer of the comic strip Peanuts)
Before we look at the specific spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit brings to each of His children we need to understand the atmosphere that they work best in. Paul is clear that love is the atmosphere where Spiritual gifts can breathe and bring glory to God with the greatest efficiency. Unity is brought about by the working of God’s vision, mission, and plan for us by the Holy Spirits working in us. Remember last time a Spiritual Gift is the Holy Spirits visible activity in our lives.
There can be union without unity - You may tie the tails of a cat and a dog together by a rope and have union, but you surely don’t have unity!
The first purpose of the Spiritual gifts is to give Glory to God the second purpose is to bind us together as one body to produce a complete picture of Jesus Christ. We are called the body of Christ by Paul because it takes every single part of that body to give an accurate picture of Jesus.
I. The gifts are supposed to build unity (2 Corinthians 12:25-26)
The spiritual gifts are designed and distributed to the body of Christ so that we can work together. I am going to say something hard. If you are not promoting unity you are probably grieving the Spirit of God.
What has to happen in the body of believers (that is you and me) for unity to be the rule and not the exception? There must be a concern for the rest of those in the body that overrules self-concern.
1 Corinthians 12:24-25 “But our presentable parts have no need of clothing. Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable, 25 so that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other. 26 So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”
Philippians 2.3-4 Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
Warren Wiersbe said the secret of our joy in spite of circumstances is maintaining a single mind and the secret of joy in spite of people is maintaining a submissive mind. Chapter 1of Philippians we fin Christ first, in chapter 2 we find others next, and then lastly yourself. It is a good order to maintain but a tall order to be consistent on. The secret is found in Philippians 4.13 Jesus is your strength for Joy.
The command is to do nothing from selfish ambition (rivalry) or conceit.
Selfish ambition pursues personal goals; empty conceit seeks personal glory and acclaim. The ambition deals with personal accomplishments; the conceit deals with an over inflated self-image. Ambition and conceit are the opposite of humility and concern. Understandably, a person with such conceit considers himself always to be right and expects others to agree with him. The only unity he seeks or values is centered on himself.
So with all that said where does this unity come from? It comes from a true desire to decrease so that Jesus can increase and concern for others overrides our own selfish desires, dreams, and decisions. When the Spirit is working in you as God has gifted you a great concern for others is birthed and grows and unity is the desire of you heart.
II. The gifts are supposed to build maturity
Ephesians 4.12
A) Unity of the faith
The unity of the faith here is the shared understandings of the great truths of the Bible. The context here of “the faith” is what is believed not the act of believing. The definite article “the” points to the body of truth revealed in scripture especially the complete content of the gospel.
B) Knowledge of the son of God
It is the truth found in the scriptures and gospel that point us to the person of Jesus. This is not speaking of simply salvation knowledge. It is speaking of a deeper more personal intimate knowledge. It is the working of the Holy Spirit in your life with the truths of the scripture and trust of Jesus that will mature you. Don’t ever get discouraged in your desire to grow in a deeper knowledge of Jesus it is a lifelong journey and process. The process of being made in the image of Christ is not a destination in this life as much as a direction.
C) Marker of maturity
The Holy Spirit of God desires to work in you to make you a crucial piece of the glorious picture of Jesus on earth. Jesus doesn’t want us to be church workers He first wants us to be image bearers. Howard Hendricks once said that “The Bible was not written to satisfy your curiosity, but to make you conform to Christ’s image. Not to make you a smarter sinner, but to make you like the Saviour. Not to fill your head with a collection of biblical facts, but to transform your life.” Paul tells us what the markers of maturity are in Philippians 2.3.
But with humility of mind Now Paul proceeds to give the Scriptural "antidote" for selfish ambition and the pursuit of empty glory. We are to view others as being "held above" and thereby to hold ourselves as lower than them, which is exactly the opposite of what our flesh nature desires.
Humility is not thinking less of ourselves but is really not thinking of ourselves at all.
Humility is not a weak man’s surrender instead it is a strong man’s rejection of the selfish and self-centered nature in order to accept Jesus’ compassion and concern for all people. Again I must tell you this includes those that aggravate, annoy, hurt, wound, and otherwise impact your life.
Paul desires for the saints at Philippi to manifest unity, but to do that these believers must put off the "dirty" old garment of selfishness, personal vanity, haughtiness and self-interest. Paul knows that a preoccupation with one’s self is a sin which will destroy the unity of the body. The paradox is that when Christ is Lord, self is dead and we are set free to be His bondslaves.
Henry Morris has a powerful comment writing that...
A modern psychological ploy is to attribute many personal and social problems to individual lack of self-esteem. The Scriptures, however, urge each of us to have other-esteem, not self-esteem. Our real problem is self-centeredness and too much self-esteem. However, Paul urges us to be lowly-minded, not high-minded, seeking the good of others, not concerned with ourselves.
Humility is the minds set of Christ that nothing is beneath us and we are above no one.
III. The gifts are supposed to build a body that ministers
A) Internally
Jesus prayed that we would be one as He the Father and Spirit are one. The gifts are given to encourage this unity in the bond of peace.
Ephesians 4.3 “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
The Greek word Paul uses here conveys the idea of urgency and intense effort and motivation. It also carries the element of haste and a sense of crisis. Unity does not just happen any more than maturity just happens. Whatever we are doing as individuals will be compounded as it is brought in to the body as a whole.
A university professor yearly would conduct an experiment for his class which is a wonderful illustration of the unity of the Spirit...
On an oak table was placed a pile of horseshoe nails. In one corner of the room was a powerful dynamo. When the electric current was turned on and the poles of the battery were brought up under the table, although they did not touch the nails themselves, immediately there was constituted around them a field of magnetic force. So long as this field of force was maintained the loose horseshoe nails could be built up in various forms, such as a cube, a sphere, or an arch. So long as the current was on, the nails would stay in exactly the form placed, as if they had been soldered together. But the second the current was cut off, the nails would fall into a shapeless mass. What that field of magnetic force was to those nails, the Holy Spirit is to all believers. By His power we are held together in a bond of love, a bond that is broken when we grieve and quench the Holy Spirit by our self-willed actions. Let us endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
So the Spirit works in our life to gift us to die to self so the body can grow and thrive.
The present tense of the verb means it is an ongoing effort to maintain unity. The active voice indicates that the action is volitional or a choice of the will of the believers.
B) Externally
Our first priority as the body of Christ is to grow into the image of Jesus Christ. Simply put to learn to love each other in spite of the times we mess up and hurt each other. Our second priority is to love those outside our fellowship so that the Holy Spirit can reveal Christ through Immanuel.
What do we need to do to make this happen?
1) A desire to pursue Christ with abandon
2) A desire to place others above yourself
3) A desire to promote the kingdom of God over our own ideas, reputation, recognition
4) A design given by God to produce disciples and promote unity
Cultivating live in common and developing fully devoted followers of Christ
Conclusion: We accomplish both by allows the Holy Spirit to make us less and operate our Spiritual gifting for the Glory of God and the good of others.
