The Spirit at Work in the Body
We are the Body • Sermon • Submitted
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· 5 viewsHow can we know if the Holy Spirit is giving life to this local body of believers?
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Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
It is SO good to be back in this spot this week, opening God’s word with you...
While I LOVE going to see what God is doing in churches around the world…
And while I LOVE having other pastors and elders HERE from other partner churches...
The thing I LOVE THE MOST getting to experience and speak to what God is doing right here in this local body of believers.
I love growing with you… I love seeing you grow… and this is just my favorite place.
As I gather with you every Sunday, I always find it awe-inspiring to think this thought: “God is assembling together THIS unique group of believers to be a local expression of his body... at this time... for his purposes.”
When we were in KL,
Like that thought… if you just think about all of the different lives we lead each week… and all of the personalities and backgrounds and experiences we’ve had… that thought just blows my mind…
Like a master craftsman assembling his masterpiece… Christ is the one assembling this expression of his body right here…
I think that even when people are visiting our church…
I don’t ever know who will stay and who will find a different church, but one thing I do know is that ultimately not in your hands or my hands… but that GOD is the one who is assembling his church…
and our job is simply to help one another follow Christ’s leading so that we can grow more like him together...
He may add some to this body… he may move some people away… he may call others to start a new work… but he is the one doing it…
And one of his primary purposes in arranging the parts of his body… according to the word of God… is so that his church will be the visible manifestation of Christ on earth at this time…
But what God is doing here is unique and special and he has us here for a reason: to be the visible manifestation of Christ on earth.
That’s what a body is… when you look at me talking to you this morning, you can’t see my spirit… you can’t see my heart… you see my body… my flesh and blood.
I am MORE than flesh and blood, but my BODY is the visible manifestation of who I am...
And the CHURCH… specifically LOCAL CHURCHES are the visible manifestations of Christ on earth at this time...
He is empowering CHURCHES… and enlivening CHURCHES… to show who he is and what he does.
And that might make you feel a little uncomfortable... maybe you’re like, “Woah now… wait a minute… the church is by no means a good or accurate representation of Christ on earth…
“I mean, the church is not GOD... it’s nowhere near as perfect… it doesn’t love as purely as he does… people are regularly and legitimately hurt by the church… so if the church is the visible manifestation of Christ, I’m not really sure I even want Christ.”
And we have to recognize that we live in this tension… we don’t always live up to who Christ says we are… and yet we have a calling and an identity that is already ours in him...
Jesus is not ashamed to call us his body… and neither should we be ashamed... but this metaphor DOES set the direction and standard for the way we strive to represent him.
So we had better ask, “What is it supposed to look like for us to be the body of Christ?”
If this is who God is making us, what does it look like in practical everyday living?
Just to set some vision for you as to why we are talking about this now… we just wrapped up a series on what it looks like to ABIDE in Christ as individuals… what does it look like to receive our PERSONAL source of life and power and vitality from our personal union with our loving Savior…
And now for the next month, we are going to study, “What does it mean to receive our source of life and power and vitality from Christ together? What does it mean to be the body of Christ together, enlivened by his spirit, representing him to the world?”
And we are going to find... that it means that we would, “Grow in Christ-like maturity through serving one another as stewards of God's powerful grace."
That’s our goal for this series… that’s a goal for our church: that we would “Grow in Christ-like maturity through serving one another as stewards of God's powerful grace."
If we have put our faith in Jesus, we have received the powerful grace of God in our lives both for initial salvation and for growing in spiritual maturity…
And to grow together as the body of Christ means that JESUS would be the standard of maturity we are seeking…
And that happens, according to the scriptures, as we “serve one another… as we steward the grace of God we’ve been given.”
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
And that happens, according to the scriptures, as we “serve one another as stewards of God’s powerful grace.”
I don’t know who will stay and who will find a different church, but one thing I do know is that ultimately God is the one who is assembling his church… and our job is simply to help one another see Jesus and grow closer to Jesus together...
instructs us this way,“...we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (, ESV)
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
says, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:” (, ESV)
Our goal is to: “Grow in Christ-like maturity through serving one another as stewards of God's powerful grace."
The theological term we sometimes use for this “stewardship of powerful grace” is “spiritual gifts.”
Now, as soon as I say that word, “spiritual gifts,” a million different ideas may enter all of your different minds… and a lot of people start getting uncomfortable.
And as soon as I say that word, “spiritual gifts,” a lot of people start getting uncomfortable.
Like, “Oh man… where is this going????”
Some of you are from a very conservative background and the very WORD “spiritual gifts” makes you break out in hives…
or maybe it makes you ready to charge the pulpit with your Bible and read a John MacArthur sermon for me...
Others are from the other end of the spectrum… you are wondering why no one has broken out in tongues at Oak Hill since you started coming...
That’s just one of the uniquenesses of being a non-denominational church plant of only 11.5 years...
Some of you have been part of churches in the past that have used spiritual gifts to abuse the people in their care...
Others are afraid that too much emphasis on spiritual gifts will turn into proud posturing and boasting…
Still others are just confused by the whole topic and would rather ignore it for some lighter material.
But today and throughout this series, we want to bring some clarity on this whole subject of spiritual gifts…
Because it’s the Spirit of God who enlivens the body of Christ… he gives its members gifts so that the body matures… so that we represent Christ on earth… so here’s the big question we need to start out with this morning:
Big Question: How can we know if the Holy Spirit is giving life to this local body of believers?
Big Question: How can we know if the Holy Spirit is giving life to this local body of believers?
Because there is so much confusion… and because this calling is so important… we have to get this question right.
How can we know if the Holy Spirit is giving life to this local body of believers?
If you are visiting today and looking for a church home, that should be a question you are asking seriously...
If you are a part of this church body, you should be very concerned that the Spirit is actively at work among us.
And if you have been here for some time, but have not yet committed to this church as a member… and are not yet active in serving others in this body… I want you to be confident that you can depend on the power of the Spirit to fully participate in the body of Christ.
Your Bibles are open to … Before we read, let me just give you some context:
Before we read, let me just give you some context:
Paul had originally established the church in Corinth on his second missionary journey and had stayed for about a year and a half.
But... as Paul was a frontier missionary, he had moved on... and at the time of writing 1 Corinthians, he was now on his third missionary journey… and he is camped out in Ephesus for about three years establishing the local body of believers there.
Paul wrote 1 Corinthians while he was preaching and teaching in Ephesus for about 3 years...
It seems, according to chapter 7:1, he had received a report from the household of Chloe that had some questions in it.
The Corinthian church was in a state of massive unhealth, massive confusion, massive disunity… and they needed the outside voice of the Apostle to speak into the situation.
They were confused about leaders… confused about the resurrection… confused about marriage and sexuality… they were confused about idolatry… they were playing favorites and putting themselves first… and it seems from Paul’s response that they generally misunderstood what it means to be “spiritual”…
That’s their primary problem underlying all the others… that they don’t understand: what makes a church or the people in the church “spiritual?”
They thought certain gifts made them more spiritual than others… they were proud and unloving and disorderly in their gatherings…
And so Paul writes this letter to set them straight in so many different areas…
Look at chapter 12:1… Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.
That word “now concerning” tells us that Paul is switching topics in chapter 12, and he’s referring back to a question in their letter.
If you were working through our “We are the Body” reading plan and reading through 1 Corinthians this week, you might have noticed he uses the same words “now concerning,” in chapter 7 when he first mentions the report from Chloe and then again chapter 8… and now here in chapter 12.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
He’s setting up this topic that is so critical to being the body of Christ… spiritual gifts.
[Read ]
How can we know if the Holy Spirit is giving life to this local body of believers?
You can know the Holy Spirit is at work when...
You can know the Holy Spirit is at work when...
1) The worship of Jesus is clear and exclusive. (v. 1-3)
1) The worship of Jesus is clear and exclusive. (v. 1-3)
Explain: Paul is saying, “I want you to be informed about spiritual gifts… but I’m going to start here: you have to understand the Spirit’s priority… and it’s not the gifts themselves.... The Spirit’s priority is that Jesus would be confessed and worshiped as the only true Lord.
The Spirit’s priority is that Jesus would be worshiped as the only true Lord.
Notice in verse 2, he reminds them of the time before they were believers when they worshiped mute idols… idols that could affect nothing by the word of their power.
The city of Corinth was devoted to the pantheon of Greek and now Roman Gods.
Their worship included sacrificing food to idols and having relations with the temple priests and priestesses...
And already in this book, Paul has said, “You are a temple of the Holy Spirit together… your bodies are little temples of the Holy Spirit… you have no business relating to temple prostitutes or participating in idol worship.”
He wants to emphasize that these idols are markedly different and infinitely inferior to the true God…
The idols are mute… where as the Holy Spirit gives words… utterance… later Paul will talk about the utterance of wisdom… the utterance of knowledge… prophecy…
Whereas the idols are mute, the Holy Spirit is clear…
He is always consistent in demonstrating THIS message through his people: Jesus is Lord… exclusively.
We talked about this on February 9 from … that the Holy Spirit’s primary job is to point people to Jesus.
Not to draw attention to any other person… not to draw attention to himself… but to Jesus.
He will never lead anyone to say the opposite, “Jesus is accursed.”
He will always lead people to declare the clear message: Jesus is Lord.
Notice this other contrast with the mute idols: There are many idols (it’s plural)… but there is only one Lord.
His physical representation on the earth is not in idols made by human hands… but in people he created in his own image... enlivened by his own Spirit… who together, point not to themselves, but to Jesus as Lord.
Illustrate: [Picture from Batu Caves] We don’t think about people worshiping idols much in our day to day life in Solanco, but when we were in Kuala Lumpur, we went to the Batu Caves… this is the holiest site in Hinduism outside of India…
When we were in Kuala Lumpur, we went to the Batu Caves… this is the holiest site in Hinduism outside of India…
Illustrate: Picture from Batu Caves
Back in the late 1800s, an Indian Merchant looked at these beautiful limestone caves... this beautiful wonder created by God and this merchant decided that this should be the temple site dedicated to one of the Hindu idols… Lord Murugan, the God of War… that is an image of Lord Murugan there on the left…
He’s a 140 ft tall CONCRETE statue painted gold made in 2006.
And all around him are these other little statues and altars representing lesser Hindu gods...
So every year at the festival of Thaipusam, worshippers hike up those steps… which is quite the trek… but THEY do it with with these offerings hanging from hooks pierced into their skin… mutilating their bodies to appease this idol.
And he never talks… never moves… he’s a MUTE idol...
And OUR LORD is not ANYTHING like that.
He is the ONE true Lord who has authority over war AND everything else in the cosmos...
He is EXCLUSIVE in his worship… he would never share his temple with 500 other gods…
He is not visually represented by a concrete lifeless statue in front of which his people destroy their bodies…
but he is represented by the life-filled body of believers who come together to worship him alone.
You can know the Holy Spirit is at work in a local body of believers when the worship of Jesus is clear and exclusive. (v. 1-3)
1) The worship of Jesus is clear and exclusive. (v. 1-3)
1) The worship of Jesus is clear and exclusive. (v. 1-3)
Apply: So let me ask you this: Do you clearly and exclusively worship Jesus, or does your heart look like the Batu Caves?
Our idols may not be 140 foot monuments to a god of war, surrounded by hundreds of other little statues...
Our idols may be the 140 instagram followers in front of whom we distort our image to gain their approval...
Our idols may be the 140 activities we chase after every week to keep us from having to face the fearful silence of sitting quietly before the Holy Lord of the Universe.
Our idol may be our 1400 sq foot home that we throw all of our attention and money and affection into fixing up...
Our idols may be the 140 activities we chase after every week to keep us from having to face the fearful silence of sitting before the Holy Lord of the Universe.
Our idols may be the 1400 instagram followers in front of whom we distort our image to gain their approval...
The idols in our hearts can be as vast and as numerous as the images in the Batu caves… and the Holy Spirit wants to tear them down and clear the way so that we say with our full hearts, “Jesus is Lord.”
He DIED for me… in my place… for my sin… he died for you too
He rose again to give us new life in him...
He is the reason we even have place in his body to begin with… and I want to be clear: if you do not worship Jesus as Lord exclusively, then you are not part of his body.
The hallmark of the body of Christ is the clear and exclusive worship of Jesus.
We can’t come together in unity when our hearts are divided between different gods who are just mute idols. Every part of the body needs to make JESUS our highest and holy passion.
I want you to notice how I even worded this point: the worship of JESUS… we need to use his name. JESUS is Lord.
I once was talking to someone about a religious event they attended that I wasn’t convinced was a good thing… and they were trying to convince me by saying, “We even worshiped there… of course we didn’t mention Jesus, but we still worshiped.”
If you aren’t worshiping Jesus, then how do you know WHAT GOD you all are worshiping???
Personally, when I was a teenager, I used to feel like the name Jesus sounded to little kiddish… Jesus is the name you use in Sunday school, but in all other places we can be more vague...
Christ… God… the man upstairs...
If you aren’t worshiping Jesus, WHAT GOD are you worshiping???
But is JESUS… the one who is Fully God and Fully Man… who reveals the Father… it is JESUS who is our LORD… his worship is CLEAR and EXCLUSIVE.
And as his body, we MUST be on the same page about that.
That’s why in our new mission statement we are proposing, our first two words are “proclaim JESUS.”
THAT is the Holy Spirit’s primary objective…
How can we know if the Holy Spirit is giving life to this local body of believers?
When the worship of Jesus is clear and exclusive.
Secondly, we can know the Holy Spirit is active…
2) The work of the body is diverse and unified. (v. 4-6)
2) The work of the body is diverse and unified. (v. 4-6)
Once Paul establishes the Holy Spirit’s objective in giving spiritual gifts, he can NOW turn to the gifts and the work itself...
Look down at v. 4 - “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.” (, ESV)
Explain: Did you notice the two words that were repeated there in verses 4-6? What were they? [Varieties… and… same]...
Paul wants to emphasize the diversity of the gifts and the types of work that is accomplished… but even more he wants to emphasize the UNITY of the source.
Unity amidst diversity.
This is still taught in a lot of churches today… if you haven’t spoken in tongues yet, then you aren’t as spiritual…
that’s the exact same thing that Paul is CORRECTING here in 1 Corinthians… it’s not about the specific gift you hve
So he uses this word “variety” with three different other words…
The first word is gift… the Greek word is “charismaton”… it comes from the root word charis, which means grace… and charisma… or the plural “charismaton” means gifts of grace.
Specifically, it is the gift of a spiritual empowerment that is totally undeserved that motivates the believer in a certain direction.
The grace of God motivates and mobilizes believers… and by design, that happens in a VARIETY of ways.
Primarily describes these types of motivations most clearly. We will study that in two weeks.
And those motivations then mobilize us in a variety of services or ministries.
That’s the second word that comes in a variety: “service.”… the Greek word is diakanonion...
It’s where we get our English word for “deacons” and it’s most often translated “ministry” in the New Testament...
The
It’s the role that we play in the church… describes some of these types of roles… we will study that in 3 weeks.
1 Corinthians tells us that there are a VARIETY of roles… a variety of ways that we can and must SERVE one another.
And within those roles there is also a variety of activities...
That’s the third word that comes in a variety… activities… the Greek word is energematon...
It’s where we get our word “energy.”
Later in this passage, this same root word is translated “working” and “empowered.”
There are a lot of different motivations… a lot of different roles… and then there’s a lot of different activity that happens within those roles.
That’s primarily the focus of the gifts in this passage we are studying today.
So think about a role in the church: think about our elders… they are shepherds… pastors…
So two of our elders are Dwight and Alden.... and the activities that consume Dwight’s time in the role of elder are different than the activities that consume Alden’s time in the role of elder… and they are both great elders!
They even come to the role of eldering with slightly different spiritual motivations that are part of the Spirit giving us this plurality… this unity that comes from diversity.
There are a variety of gifts (motivations), services (or ministries), activities (manifestations)... but in the midst of this diversity is unity…
Paul says the gifts come from the same Spirit… this is a reference to the Holy Spirit...
These ministires come from the same Lord… remember just two verses earlier… JESUS (the Son) is referred to as LORD...
And then he says that these Activities come from the same God... most often in the New Testament, God is a direct reference to the Father...
Spirit, Son, Father… One God in three persons… we call that the Trinity… that’s the purest form of unity...
And our diversity flows FROM the unity of the Godhead to produce unity in his people… the Spirit is at work when the body of Christ is diverse and unified.
later: priority of love.
Our diversity flows FROM the unity of the Godhead to produce unity in his people… the Spirit is at work when the body of Christ is diverse and unified.
Illustrate: It’s like our worship team this morning… [invite them up]
You have Dan up here playing his guitar… and Amy on the keys… and Daniel on the drums… and Ashley singing...
They have a VARIETY of abilities… a VARIETY of roles on the team… a VARIETY of activities that they do to help lead us in worship...
But the thing that holds them together is their common song.
Like, imagine if Dan started on King of Heaven… and Amy played the riff of Yes I will… and Daniel was playing the drum beat from No One Higher… and Ashley was singing the lyrics of Cornerstone...
Like, imagine if Dan started on King of Heaven… and Amy played the riff of Yes I will… and Daniel was playing some soft cymbal thing from Cornerstone… and Ashley was singing the lyrics of No One Higher...
It would be chaos…
Ok… now just play the chorus of Cornerstone together… yes! That’s unity coming from diversity!
When the Holy Spirit is at work, he enlivens a body that is diverse and unified.
Apply: Do you appreciate the diversity that is in the gifting and roles and activities of the body?
I think so often we are like, “Why can’t more people be passionate about the thing that I’m passionate about? Why can’t more people get on my thing???”
And the Spirit is like, “Because that’s why YOU are here! That motivation is my gracious gift to you so that you can contribute to the body in that way.”
Or maybe we are like, “I really want that role in the church… I want to TEACH a class...”
But just imagine that there’s already someone to teach the class…
And God is like, “That’s not the role I have for you… the role I have is to visit the elderly...”
Or maybe we are thinking, “I just wish I could speak as empowered as my Gospel Community leader… when he talks, the Holy Spirit convicts… I wish I could do that...”
But what you bring to the body is equally valuable… though maybe not as visible...
And even more, it’s not even really about your value… it’s about the one God who empowers us all.
We need to learn to appreciate and celebrate the diversity in the body because it points to the unity found only in our God.
Like try this this week: Take some time to encourage someone else in the body this week who has a different gift and calling from your own and thank them for their surrender to the work of the Spirit in their lives.
Send a text or a card or give them a hug when you see them again (if it’s appropriate and that’s something they’d want you to do)… encourage them. Appreciate them.
How can we know if the Holy Spirit is giving life to this local body of believers?
When the worship of Jesus is clear and exclusive.
When the work of the body is diverse and unified.
Finally this:
3) The workers of the body are numerous and surrendered. (v. 7-11)
3) The workers of the body are numerous and surrendered. (v. 7-11)
This diverse, unified body of Christ is empowered by the same God who works in EVERYONE. Do you see that there at the end of verse 6? EVERYONE.
What percentage of people are included in “everyone”? [100%]
If you are part of the body of Christ… if you have confessed Jesus as Lord… then you are empowered by the grace of God.
Just not necessarily in the same way as the person next to you.
Look at verse 7: “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.” (, ESV)
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (1 Co 12:7–11). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
Explain: As we look at these verses, everyone wants to put the emphasis on the gifts themselves… why this list? and what do they all mean? and do they still exist?
And those questions are important… but they are secondary in emphasis… because the emphasis here is not on the gifts themselves but on the giver and on the numerous people he empowers in different ways.
"Each"... is a manifestation of the Spirit... it's a REVEALING of HIS work.
And then in the list, Paul keeps repeating… through the Spirit… the same Spirit… one spirit…
Behind each spiritual activity in the church is the same the Holy Spirit.
These gifts are a manifestation… a revealing of him.
The Corinthian church thought that your degree of spirituality was measured by the TYPE of gift you had…
This is still taught in a lot of churches today… if you haven’t spoken in tongues yet, then you aren’t as spiritual…
That’s the exact same thing that Paul is CORRECTING here in 1 Corinthians… it’s not about the specific gift you have… it’s about the source.
Even in our churches, sometimes people can get the impression that teaching a class is more spiritual than hosting a Gospel Community…
It’s not more spiritual if both activities are flowing from a reliance upon the Holy Spirit...
And if it’s not the Holy Spirit enlivening our activity, then we need to go back and surrender to him again.
But Spiritual gifts say a lot more about the giver than the recipient.
Because Spiritual gifts say a lot more about the giver than the recipient.
They manifest HIS power… HIS character… HIS priority of calling people to faith in Jesus.
He does that in NUMEROUS ways… this list seems to be a sample of activities and manifestations that the Corinthian’s were experiencing...
But notice this in verse 11… he apportions them to each one individually as he wills.
It’s not about the gift we wish we had… it’s not about the one that WE find most fascinating… or that WE think would most show the power of God...
It’s about HIS sovereign choice.... And it’s about our surrender to his will.
And it’s about our surrender to his will.
When the Holy Spirit is at work, the workers of the body are numerous and surrendered.
Look at the ways that Paul says the Holy Spirit could work… these are some of the “activities” that he mentioned earlier in v. 6… they are manifestations of the Spirit… at the time that he chooses.
This is not an exhaustive list… it’s a sample… to show the supernatural work of the Spirit and to relate to the Corinthians experience.
And the activities are numerous…
That’s not to say we can add to it or subtract from it… we simply learn from it.
First, he mentions, “The utterance of wisdom” and “the utterance of knowledge...”
We don’t know much about the difference of these gifts...
Wisdom is knowledge applied… and knowledge usually refers to a heightened relationship with God… a heightened knowing of him...
And people were given this supernatural ability to speak with wisdom… some to speak with knowledge...
To another he gives this manifestation of faith...
This was probably the type of person who acts in really bold ways… they take big leaps of faith...
Or maybe they have faith during a really hard trial in life… and people watching are like, “How do they have that kind of faith?”
Answer: the Holy Spirit granted it to them. It was his choice and it says a lot more about him than them.
To another he gives gifts of healing…
This was not someone who is always able to heal… but rather someone who, in the time of the Spirit’s sovereign choice, was granted to heal someone.
Again… they aren’t called to follow after that person… if it becomes about “so and so’s healing ministry,” they should know it’s not the Spirit.
The Spirit makes much of Jesus, not even himself… and certainly not the person with the gift...
But God does heal people. And that is a work of his Holy Spirit as he wills.
To another is given the manifestation of working miracles...
Again… this isn’t about the person… it’s about the Spirit manifesting the glory of God.
And if he knows that it will demonstrate the Lordship of Jesus Christ, he can work miracles.
He is not obligated, but he can.
To another is given prophecy..
This is forthtelling and declaring the authoritative word of God.
Prophecy is the only gift mentioned in all the spiritual gift lists.
This would always… always… be consistent with the scriptures the Holy Spirit inspired and would always be perfectly accurate for it to be true prophecy.
It’s always… always… consistent with the scriptures the Holy Spirit originally inspired.
To another is given the ability to distinguish between spirits...
There is a gift of discernment that is supernatural and wise so that the church is not led astray by people trying to deceive them, claiming to be filled with the Holy spirit.
Finally, there are the gifts of tongues and interpretation of tongues.
And according to Paul, you can’t have one without the other.
Tongues is believed to be a known language unknown to the one speaking...
Chapter 14 seems to indicate that it may not be known to anyone in the room… it may be a language of prayer to God.
But that’s why… in the gathering... it would need to be interpreted… so that the body is built up.
Paul told the Corinthians that if there is no one to interpret their tongues, they should remain silent.
And this is the one that gets people most worked up… but it’s interesting: Paul does everything he can to diminish the stigma around this gift in chapters 12-14 because they had made far too much of it.
This is still taught in a lot of churches today… if you haven’t spoken in tongues yet, then you aren’t as spiritual…
Now my goal in this sermon is not to persuade on the cessation or continuation of any of the gifts because Paul is not clear on when that would happen…
But the point of the passage is not ultimately on the gifts themselves… but on the Spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
that’s the exact same thing that Paul is CORRECTING here in 1 Corinthians… it’s not about the specific gift you have… it’s about the source.
But the point of the passage is not ultimately on the gifts themselves… but on the Spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
Each one. The workers are numerous.
As he wills. The workers are surrendered.
Illustrate:
Apply: So let me ask you this: are you a surrendered worker in the body of Christ?
Are you first of all surrendered to the Spirit?
The Spirit is leading you in what it looks like to follow Jesus as Lord.
Your time is not your time… your desires are not ultimate… your activities are not about you.
His grace is not about your personal benefit, but the common good of the body…
Are you surrendered to that?
It’s not about your personal benefit, but the common good of the body… are you surrendered?
And then are you a worker? Are you actively working in the power of the spirit for the common good of the body?
I love the fact that so many people serve as the body on Sunday mornings and in Gospel Communities and in life-on-life relationships in our church...
There are very few people who aren’t not workers at all...
But I also know that there are some who need to be gently and lovingly challenged to a deeper commitment to this: ...that the Holy Spirit wants to use EACH ONE to do his work.
Every believer.. that is emphasized in ALL the passages on the body of Christ.
And I’m trying to be very careful because I’m not trying to twist your arm
Every believer.. that is emphasized in ALL the passages on the body of Christ.
The picture of the body, we are going to see next week, demonstrates he wants us to be members one of another… to be committed and devoted to one another...
That’s where it needs to start for some of you… devoting yourself to the body so that you aren’t just a passive observer, but an active participant in the Spirit’s work.
At Oak Hill, we express that through church membership.
I know there are a number of people who went through our membership class, but still need to complete our membership process… these next 5 weeks are a GREAT time to do that…
Now I’m trying to be very careful because I’m not trying to twist your arm into something the Spirit isn’t leading you to do...
But if this is the place where you are growing as a worshiper of Jesus, and this is a place that you see the Spirit is working, then you are part of this body and it’s right to make that commitment to one another.
And as we are devoted to one another in membership, the Spirit wants us to serve one another in his power according to the grace we’ve been given.
As we work through this series, I hope you are asking,
“What are the grace gifts that the Spirit has given me to benefit the body?”
“What ministry role is he calling me to?”
“What activities does he want to do through me as I fill those roles to show off the power of JESUS as Lord of my life?”
That might mean that you start serving in some new way for those of you who aren’t as active as you could be in ministry...
Some of us might discover the Spirit is not calling us to “do more,” but to change the power and energy and motivation we seek to do things we are already doing.
If it’s greeting on a Sunday morning, are you doing it in the Spirit’s power? If it’s hosting a Gospel Community or rocking a baby in the nursery, are you doing it in the Spirit’s power?
The Spirit does not want a small amount of burned-out workers who are doing everything in their own power...
He wants a numerous amount of surrendered workers who are doing his will... in his power.
And Oak Hill… I believe that by and large this is a body where the Spirit is at work.... and I believe there is still more that he wants to do in us and through us.
And I believe there is still more that he wants to do in us and through us.
How can we know if the Holy Spirit is giving life to this local body of believers?
When the worship of Jesus is clear and exclusive.
When the work of the body is diverse and unified.
When the workers of the body are numerous and surrendered.
I can’t wait to see how the Spirit works in this body of believers at Oak Hill through this series.