Prayer of Preparation

          O Lord, there are varieties of gifts and services and activities, but there is only one Spirit:  May that one Spirit open our hearts and minds to the truth of your Son Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.  Amen.

The Message

          Over the last two weeks, since Pentecost, we have been sharing about the workings of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Pastor Bob and I have been focusing on how the Holy Spirit forms us into a community of faith, and how the Spirit then shapes us to carry out the mission of Jesus in the world.  As Pastor Bob reminded us last week: as part of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit has been creating from the very beginning, moving over the face of the earth, establishing a special people, breathing new life into the dead, giving hope, and calling into being the church.

          From the outset, the presence of God’s Spirit has been there, comforting, challenging, guiding, prodding, reconciling, and forgiving.

          As the Scriptures remind us, there is no place we can go to escape God’s Spirit (Psalm 139).  God’s abiding presence through the Spirit is always there.

          Today, we will focus on another dimension of the Holy Spirit; we will be focusing on the Spirit’s giving of spiritual gifts.

          We cannot fully understand the workings of the Holy Spirit unless we get into the ways the Spirit of God is manifested in the church and in our lives through spiritual gifts.

          Now, if you are wondering what a spiritual gift is, or if you are thinking that “I could not possibly have a spiritual gift,” you may want to listen to the following clip from our class on spiritual gifts.  Here, you will probably hear what many in the church may say when confronted with the invitation to serve or volunteer, or with the frustration that may come when carrying out a special task.

          Listen and then imagine what the Holy Spirit truly wants for our lives and what the Spirit truly intends the church to be.

          Have you heard such stories?  “I volunteered for six weeks and six years later I am still teaching four year olds!”  “I started serving because I felt guilty.”  “I don’t serve because I just don’t feel adequate enough.”  “God couldn’t possibly give me a spiritual gift.”  Have you ever heard those kinds of things before?

          A church growth expert once lamented that “the present high level of unemployment in the nation pales into insignificance in comparison with that which prevails in the church.”¹ As a result, a few people are left doing everything and are totally exhausted, while the rest are underutilized. 

In many situations, the church has been likened to a soccer match, in which thousands of people in desperate need of exercise watch twenty-two people in desperate need of rest.

          Depending on the tradition, the church has been either too pulpit-centered or too altar-centered, and in both cases the dominant role has been played by the minister or priest or by select few.²

          And yet, the biblical view of the church as the body of Christ, as a community of the Spirit with different parts and members, is that the Spirit of God gives to each of us gifts to use.  Every Christian has a gift to share.
Every Christian has a ministry to fulfill.  It is simply not the case that God
leaves the church without resources to carry out its mission.  All the resources a church needs to fulfill its mission are here! 

          Now, to be sure, there is a great deal of truth to the fact that we often will simply find a “living body” to fill a slot on a committee or in a ministry. 
Instead of taking the time to discover the gifts and passion of persons, we often fall into the trap of taking the first body we can find – “Here, you work in the nursery.”  “Here, you teach the youth.”  “Here, you help with the mission team.” 

          As a pastor, if I had a nickel for all the times I asked someone simply to fill a slot or to do something to make sure the task got done, I would have a great deal of money!

          And yet, I know that nothing can be more frustrating than serving in an area where you don’t find fulfillment, or where you don’t have a passion.  Surely, there is another way.  Surely, there is another way to see every member of Christ’s body involved and participating in the life of the church.

The Spirit’s Role

          Of course, there is another way, and part of the Holy Spirit’s work in the church and in our lives is to give us “gifts” to use that we may glorify God and serve others.

          That’s what our passage is about from I Corinthians:  in creating the church, the Holy Spirit gives to members of the church spiritual gifts to use to carry out Christ’s ministry.

          The Holy Spirit gives to those who have been baptized into the faith, who confess Jesus as Lord, special gifts to building up the body of Christ.  The Spirit gives these gifts that we may work toward the unity and harmony of the “common good” (I Cor. 12:4).

          That’s what Paul wants the Corinthians to understand.  It’s what he wants them to know about the workings of the Holy Spirit:  Out of all the diverse gifts, out of all the diverse groups and peoples in the church – Jews and Gentiles – the Spirit weaves a web of unity and harmony. 

          The Holy Spirit does not tear up the historical roots of the church, and the Spirit does not set out to undermine the very foundation of the church that Christ called into being.  That’s not how the Spirit works.

Instead, the Spirit works to bring persons to faith in “Jesus as Lord” as well as lead them to work toward the good of the whole community.

Therefore, persons who are genuinely Spirit-filled, who are Spirit-led, are those who humbly confess Christ as Lord on the one hand and then work for the common good of the church on the other.  Being Spirit-filled, they are to use their gifts not for themselves but for the good of others.

          Given the conflict and division in the Corinthian church, the apostle Paul reminds the church there that, unless these gifts are being used to build up, they are really missing the point, for no one can confess Jesus as Lord but by the Holy Spirit, and yet, no one can share the gifts of the Spirit unless connected to Jesus as Lord.

It’s a simple biblical truth:  Jesus not only becomes Lord for us by the Spirit, but he also becomes present to us and in us through the Spirit.
 
Me, Ourselves, and We

          The Holy Spirit has given to you and me special gifts, but our gifts are meant to be shared with others – whether it’s the gift of wisdom, or the gift of knowledge, or the gift of faith, or healing, or miracles, as Paul shares in First Corinthians, or whether it’s the gift of encouragement, or mercy, or leadership, or preaching, or teaching, as Paul and others write elsewhere (see 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 4, and I Peter 4).   

          A spiritual gift is not simply “My” gift and “My” gift alone.  The Christian faith is not about Me-Myself-and-I.
         
          Rather, the Christian faith is more about “Me Ourselves and We” – or, about how God has given to me a gift to share with you so that we all may grow and care together as Christ’s body. 

          Not Me-Myself-and-I but Me Ourselves and We!  We all have been blessed with God’s Spirit in our lives, and we all have been given gifts to use.

That’s part of what it means to be a Christian, and because it is it’s also why we need to understand ourselves not simply as Christians but as “charismatic” Christians.  Every person who confesses Jesus as Lord and

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who has been baptized into the faith has been given a “charismata,” or a gift.
(The Greek word for gift is charis, from which we get the words charisma and charismatic.)  We all – you, me, we – are charismatic Christians. 

Words of Caution

          Now, before having spiritual apoplexy about being a charismatic Christian, let me simply remind you – remind ourselves – that we are not talking here about how a few people have a few special gifts, but about how EVERY person, every believer, has been given a gift to share.

          As a famous German theologian once remarked, “In principle every human capacity can become charismatic (i.e., can become a gift of the Spirit) by God’s grace.” 
 
          This is why there is no such thing as first or second class Christians. 
All Christians receive the Spirit, and all Christians have spiritual gifts.

          Therefore, the question isn’t whether you have a gift; the question is how do you plan to use your gift?  It is simply a logical impossibility as a Christian to say “I don’t have a gift.”  It would be like saying “God is dead.” 

So don’t say, “I don’t have a gift.”  You have a gift!  God knows what he has given to you!

          When we look out over the church, we can see that there is a wonderful diversity of gifts in the body of Christ, and we can see that there is a wonderful variety of services and activities the Spirit brings to life through its members. 

          There is a song we sing called “Many gifts, one Spirit – one love known in many ways.  In our difference is blessing, from diversity we praise…”³ Many gifts, one Spirit, one Word known in many ways.

Examples of Ministries

          When we talk about the workings of the Holy Spirit, when we imagine what the Spirit is doing in our lives we need to see how the Spirit
raises up different people to use their varied gifts for others.

          Let me give you two examples: in a large church in Montgomery, Alabama, a woman who had lost her husband to cancer began to ask questions about how she could give to others.  She had loved pets, but she also wanted to give encouragement to others.  What did the church and she do?  Through prayer and discernment, they created a ministry of visitation to people who were lonely, where the woman would take a pet with her to provide company and companionship.  To date, the ministry has grown to include nursing homes and home-bound persons.  Over fifty people are now involved in this ministry.

          Bill Hybels, the pastor of the famous Willow Creek Church near Chicago, also tells the story of how a group of men in that church met every week to repair cars.  Members of the church would donate vehicles, and the men would repair them and then give them to those who had special needs.

          The ministry began when a young man in the congregation saw a need and realized he had the gifts and the passion to meet the need.  He brought together a few other mechanics and together they began to work toward what the Paul called the “common good.”  They created a new ministry based on their gifts and the needs of others.  A new ministry was born.

          Do you see the convergence?  There is a convergence of spiritual gifts, with passion, with God’s Spirit all working together, opening up new possibilities, building up others, and then creating a community that gives off positive vibes.  Positives vibes!  No one likes a ministry where there are negative attitudes and vibrations!  The Holy Spirit is about creating positive vibrations!

          It’s what the Holy Spirit does when we allow him to work in our lives – when my gifts can help you, and your gifts can encourage her, and his gifts can complement their efforts, and our gifts can show others how God intended our lives to be in the first place, living in unity and harmony, working toward what we all have in common.

          It’s really what the church is all about.  It’s what the Holy Spirit is about.  It’s what you and I are really all about too. It really is.  Amen.

Notes:

1. See Eddie Gibbs, I Believe in Church Growth (Hodder & Stoughton).
2. See David Watson, One In the Spirit (Hodder & Stoughton).
3. The United Methodist Hymnal, “Many Gifts, One Spirit” #114. 

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