Holy Spirit and You, Part 3: The Key to Spiritual Gifts
Series: Acts, #3
Chuck Sligh
February 23, 2014
A PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon upon request by emailing me at chucksligh@hotmail.com.
TEXT: Acts 1:8; then please turn 1 Corinthians 12.
INTRODUCTION
In our series through the book of Acts I took a short detour to preach a 4-week mini-series titled “The Holy Spirit and You” where we examined who the Holy Spirit is, and when He came. Last week we talked about four activities in the lives of those of us who are saved: To keep us eternally saved; to teach us; to develop godly character in us; and to comfort us in trouble.
We’ll finish out this series next week, but today we’ll concentrate on another important activity of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers, but it is so misunderstood and so fraught with controversy that I’m going to devote all of today’s sermon on the topic.
The fifth activity of the Spirit in believers’ lives is to impart a spiritual gift for service.
There are a lot of questions about this though that need answering, such as…
• Are all the spiritual gifts mentioned in the New Testament meant for our day? As we will see this morning, we believe the answer to that question is NO. We believe in what is called the “Cessationist View” of the sign gifts.
• If this view is right, are any spiritual gifts imparted to believers today, and upon what basis may we legitimately sort out what were strictly for the early church and which were meant to be normative for the church after the infancy of the church?
• Finally, what is the purpose of spiritual gifts for you and me today?
Before I begin, let me hasten to say that this is not an attack on anyone who differs with us. It is rather a DEFENSE of the Cessationist View of the sign gifts, which in turn explains why we don’t have tongues-speaking, healing-lines and so on at GBC. Of course, if you believe differently, this will be a difficult, challenging sermon for you. All I ask is that you listen and evaluate and consider and pray for the Lord to reveal the truth or error of these matters to you, and come to your own conclusion.
Finally, today we’re going to go back to school. We’ll get into some more technical stuff, including the meaning of important Greek terms. There’s going to be more of the meat of the Word than the milk of the Word. So put your thinking caps on and let’s get started!
I. FIRST, CONSIDER WITH ME THE CONUNDRUM (which means a puzzle or mystery)
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that some things about the New Testament church are very different from Christianity in later times.
• In the beginning chapters of Acts, which took place in the 30s AD, Peter and Paul both had the power to heal the sick at will.
• Peter was able to pronounce supernatural death sentences on Aninias and Sapphira for lying to the Holy Spirit—and they instantly literally “dropped dead.”
• On two occasions Peter experienced supernatural prison escapes in Jerusalem, as did Paul in Philippi in Acts 16, though Paul refused to leave the prison in order to save the Philippian jailor’s life and to win him and his family to Christ.
Yet even before the First Century church era was over, there began to be a waning of all these supernatural signs and wonders.
• Paul was not able to heal Epaphroditus around 60 AD, according to Philippians 2, nor Trophemus around 67 AD, according to 2 Timothy 4, nor even himself, according to 2 Corinthians 12.
• In about 64 AD, Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 1 that he had turned Alexander over to Satan for judgment; yet Alexander was still alive and well three years later in 2 Timothy 4. – What Peter could do in 32 AD with Ananias and Sapphira, Paul could not do in 64 AD.
• And both Peter and Paul later were imprisoned and put to death by Emperor Nero. – What could deliver them from prison in earlier years…could not 30 years later.
There are 26 chapters in the book of Acts….
• The phrase “signs and wonders” is found 6 times in chapters 1-7, but only once after that—in chapter 14, just over halfway through Acts.
• The words miracle or miracles is found 7 times in the first half of Acts, and only once in the second half, and that in chapter 15, only two chapters past halfway.
• Only three times are the words heal or healing in the sense of physical healing mentioned in Acts, all before the halfway point in Acts, the last one in chapter 10.
By around 70 AD and certainly by the 2nd century, signs and wonders totally ceased.
The early Eastern church father, Chrysostom, said the sign gifts had passed by his time (mid-300s). – Commenting on 1 Corinthians 12 he said, “this whole passage is very obscure,…this obscurity is produced by our ignorance of the facts referred to and by their cessation, being such as then used to occur, but now no longer take place.” (Merrill F. Unger, New Testament Teaching on Tongues, 1st Ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregal , 1978), 139.)
His contemporary in the Western church, Augustine, gave a lengthier quotation, which I’ll not quote in full, but he concluded that these sign gifts had “passed away.” (Ibid.)
The decline of miraculous signs and wonders in the very FIRST century in the history of the church is so startling that it demands explanation.
• Why did they cease?
• Does the Bible provide an answer?
• If the sign gifts stopped, does that mean all spiritual gifts are not for today?
We can unlock the answer only if we have the right key.
II. FORTUNATELY, THERE IS A KEY THAT UNLOCKS THE CONUNDRUM.
The key to unlock what happened and why is found in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6. Paul begins 1 Corinthians 12 saying: “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
After a few opening remarks in verses 2-3, he hands us the “key” in verses 4-7:
• Look at verse 4: “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.”
The word for “gifts” in verse 4 is the Greek word, chárismata from which we get the word charismatic. It comes from the word for “grace”—charis, and literally means “free gift.” Paul says the Holy Spirit has given diversities (or “varieties”) of free gifts.
• Then he says in verse 5: “And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.”
The conjunction “And” is very important. “And” means “in addition to” what’s previously said, so what Paul’s talking about in verse 5 is DIFFERENT from what he is talking about in verse 4. The word “administrations” is the Greek word diakonía from which we get our word “deacon” and means “ministrations” or “ministries” if you will.
• Now look at verse 6: “And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.” Again Paul uses the word “and” to differentiate what he’s talking about here from the things mentioned in verses 4 and 5. The word “operations” is the Greek word enérgema from which we get our word energy and means “workings of power,” and is a synonym for “signs.”
***So here’s the key to unlock the meaning of spiritual gifts: There are different CATEGORIES of spiritual gifts, given by the Holy Spirit for different PURPOSES and different TIMES.
We shouldn’t go through the New Testament and willy-nilly take all the different spiritual gifts and put them in one big list and say, “These are the gifts of the Spirit and they’re all for today.” Rather, we should examine each list separately and see what KIND of gifts are listed and what the New Testament says about their purpose and relevancy for us today.
Interestingly, there are three distinct listings of the gifts of the Spirit in the New Testament, and they overlay perfectly with these three categories of gifts.
III. SO LET’S EXAMINE MORE FULLY THE 3 CATEGORIES OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS.
• The first category is the chárismata, which corresponds with Paul’s list in Romans 12:6-8.
The gifts are prophecy, serving, teaching, exhortation, giving, ruling and mercy.
Some have referred to these gifts as the “Serving Gifts” because they’re how people are naturally motivated to serve God.
Since there’s no scripture that indicates that these gifts were to be done away with or would pass away, I believe these are still for our day and I believe each believer has only ONE of them, though I wouldn’t quibble over that last point.
For now, think of them as the lenses through which believers view the Christian life. They define a person’s spiritual perspective, so that each gift tends to look at things in radically different ways.
This is why a prophet may feel justified in an “in-your-face” declaration of truth without apology because he sees everything as right and wrong and black and white; whereas the exhorter would naturally want to couch truth in ways that encourage, rather than confront; and the teacher would neither feel compelled to confront nor encourage, but simply present truth as information without much application since, to him, truth speaks for itself.
Servers are turned on by how they can meet a specific need at a specific time to free up others for service or worship; while a giver delights in giving to causes and utilizing money and resources to accomplish the work of God.
A ruler loves being in front, giving orders and directing people, while servers want to stay in the background, and don’t like to direct people or give orders.
These gifts are also called the “motivational” gifts because it’s through our gift that we’re motivated to serve God and others.
Incidentally, most in this list are pretty self-explanatory, but a word should be said about the first one—prophecy. Remember that prophecy means several things in the Bible, so many Bible teachers believe that in THIS list, prophecy does not refer to foretelling the future, but “forthtelling” truth—that is, bold declarations about sin and righteousness, which was the primary role of prophets throughout the Bible. Many of the Old Testament Minor Prophets in particular have no predictions of the future at all, but are sermons against sin and calls to repentance. This seems to be the type of prophecy meant here in Romans 12 since none of the other gifts in this list have the hallmarks of supernatural signs and wonders.
• The second category of gifts are the diakonía verse 5 of 1 Corinthians 12 and are listed and explained in Ephesians 4:11.
A close examination of them reveals that these aren’t gifts possessed BY people, but are gifts OF people who serve in certain positions in local churches.
The purposes of these people God has given to the church are two-fold according to verses 12-15:
> To equip local church members to do the work of the ministry (verse 12)
> To help local churches members to mature in faith (verses 13-15)
Let’s quickly list these gifts to churches and give a brief explanation of their gift:
> Apostle – was an original follower of Christ in His earthly ministry, plus Paul after Jesus’s ascension. – Apostles existed only in the church in its infancy.
> Prophet – Here a prophet refers to one who speaks forth God’s truth. – These prophets were generally itinerant preachers in the 1st century, and probably best correspond to what we call an evangelist today.
> Evangelist – is one who preaches the Gospel in new places and establishes new churches where they do not exist. – Today we call these people missionaries and church planters.
> Pastor – One who feeds and shepherds a local assembly of believers.
> Teacher – One who instructs believers in the Word of God. Literally, the Greek reads “pastor-teacher.” The conjunction “and” is not actually in the Greek text. Scholars differ as to whether Paul was referring to two offices (pastor AND teacher indicating two separate gifts of people given by God to local churches) or one office (the “pastor-teacher,” indicating one title with two roles of both shepherding and teaching the flock).
• The third category of spiritual gifts are the “enérgema” or the “sign gifts” Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 12:6 and are listed in 1 Corinthians 12:8-11.
These are all supernatural manifestations of the Holy Spirit at work in certain believers in the early church, particularly, and perhaps exclusively, in the apostles and immediate associates of the apostles.
The Bible teaches that the sign gifts had three purposes:
> First and most importantly, to authenticate the authority of the Apostles as the messengers of new revelation that superseded past revelation
> Second, to confirm to unbelieving Jews who required a sign that the Gospel of grace was to include all people—not just Jews—and to replace the Law.
> And last, to give interim revelation until the New Testament’s completion.
What were these sign gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:8-11?
> A Word of Wisdom – was a supernatural revelation of wisdom beyond normal human wisdom or what is attainable by knowing God’s Word well that enabled a person to know what to do or say in a given situation.
> A Word of Knowledge – was a supernatural revelation of information for a person, group, or situation that could not have been known by natural means.
> Faith – the kind of wonder-working faith that moved mountains and inspired the early church to follow their leaders without the finished Word of God.
> Gifts of Healing – The many different ways and varieties in which God healed physical diseases in the early days of the church to demonstrate His power.
> Working of Miracles – The demonstration of the power of God that went beyond the natural laws of nature to authenticate the message of the Gospel and its messengers.
> Prophecy – A proclamation of God’s truth only known by supernatural revelation. – At times this gift did involve the foretelling of future events.
> Discerning of Spirits – The ability to perceive what type of spirit was in operation in a given situation: the Holy Spirit, or a demon.
> Different Tongues – The ability to speak a human language never before learned.
> Interpretation of Tongues – The supernatural ability to interpret a language which had never been learned.
Now let’s look at some things about this class of gifts:
ALL the gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 were SIGN gifts, and I believe ALL of them were for only the infancy stage of the church age. The reason for this is that these supernatural manifestations were no longer needed once the New Testament was finished.
Go with me to 1 Corinthians 13 to see why supernatural signs and wonders disappeared after around 70 AD:
> Verse 8 says, “Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away.”
Paul says that at some point, prophecies would fail, tongues would cease and knowledge would the done away with. ALL THREE of these are references to sign gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:9-10. The “knowledge” mentioned here cannot mean knowledge in general, for knowledge will NEVER vanish away. Even in heaven we’ll have knowledge; in fact, more than ever. Rather, this is a reference to the sign gift of “a word of knowledge” found in 1 Corinthians 12:8.
> Paul goes on the say in verse 9 – “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.”
“In part” is the Greek word ek merous which means “piecemeal, partially, bit by bit.” Paul is saying that the Holy Spirit spoke to the pre-New Testament church in apostolic days partially and piecemeal—here a little in this church; there a little in that church.
> Then he says in verse 10 – “But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.”
a)
The Greek word for “perfect” is to teleion—“the completed thing.” It is from the same word that Jesus used on the cross when He said, “It is finished.”
What is “the completed thing” referring to? Without getting too technical, the fact that the word is neuter rather than masculine, which means it’s not referring to a PERSON but to a THING. The only logical THING that had yet to be completed that would render that which was piecemeal and partial obsolete in the churches was the finishing of the New Testament canon.
So in other words, Paul is saying, “When the completed thing—that is, the New Testament scriptures—are completed, that which is “in part” (piecemeal, bit by bit) will be done away.”
> This view is strengthened by a word picture Paul uses in verse 11: “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”
Paul uses this word picture to show that the sign gifts were for the babyhood period of the church Once the completed Word of God came, there was no longer the need for the sign gifts. These were for the infancy of the church, and the church would put away childish things when it matured through the full Word of God.
And that is what happened, exactly as Paul had prophesied in these verse.
Illus. – Suppose you’re visiting in our home and I get hungry and I start crying loudly (ACT OUT CRYING LIKE A BABY).
Susan says, “What’s wrong Honey?”
I just keep crying, until she turns to you and says, “Oh, I bet he’s hungry. Let me go fix him something to eat.”
You would look at me and say, “Grow UP!”
You see, crying is a the only way a baby can indicate hunger. It’s absolutely necessary for survival. But sooner or later, you have to put away childish things.
What is necessary in the baby stage of life is inappropriate in the mature stage of life. In the infancy of the church, the sign gifts were necessary for it’s survival and for its spiritual health. But when that which is more perfect came—God’s Word, the sign gifts are neither needed nor appropriate.
CONCLUSION
Whew!—That’s a lot of deep material in a very short amount of time. Sometimes you get the milk of the Word, and today I threw some meat out there for you.
We’ve seen the conundrum, the key, and the categories of gifts; but what’s the conclusion? Remember that this study is part of the larger series of the works of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and today we saw that the Holy Spirit imparts to us a spiritual gift.
If you’re a believer, you have one of those seven gifts listed in Romans 12,. After giving us the key to understanding spiritual gifts, Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 12:7– “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.”
What that means in today’s English is that your spiritual gift is given to you to profit everybody in the church body. In other words, God gave you a spiritual gift to use for the benefit of others! Now, let me ask you a question: Are you using your spiritual gift in the Lord’s service to profit the church body?
Illus. – Suppose I were a millionaire and you’re as poor as a church mouse, and your family is really struggling with a lot of medical problems, financial struggles, and just being able to properly feed and provide for your family. I call you and say, “You know, I’m really concerned about you guys, so I’ve deposited 10 million dollars into your account as a gift from me take care of your family.”
A month later I call you and say, “Hey, how’s the family doing?”
And you say, “Oh, man are they having a lot of struggles. Johnny’s hospital bills are overdue, the rent’s overdue, and it’s just so tough!”
And I say, “Wait a minute! I gave you enough money to cover all that and more. Have you used any of that money?”
And you say, “No, I never got around to it.”
You would be appalled and angered.
That’s the way it is with some Christians: God has given you a spiritual gift to use for the benefit of others in your church family, but you’re not using it for the profit of all. What are you doing for your church family to serve and bless them?
Think of the opportunities you have to serve the Lord with your spiritual gift in this local church—cleaning the church; doing yard work; working in the nursery; helping with the monthly potluck; hosting or leading a homegroup; teaching children; teaching teens; singing or playing on the worship team; teaching a Bible study.
Let me ask you a question: Are you a church bench warmer, or actively using your gifts and abilities for the glory of God and the benefit of others? May God forgive you if you are not involved in serving God and others with your spiritual gift! And may you jump on the “first string” of God’s team and get out on the court and get busy serving God.
