What About Spiritual Gifts?

6 · Reads the church's doctrinal statement on spiritual gifts, establishing that all gifts remain operative until Christ returns and are given for Christ's glory and the church's edification

I'm going to read just very briefly one more section from our statement of faith, so you can see the way that we've crafted this to think about as a family of churches. It says, this Christ. This is what I love. This first line. Christ loves the church, his body and provides for its health and growth through the Holy Spirit, in addition to giving new life. Okay, you could stop there, I'd say. Thank you. We're happy with that. In addition, the spirit sovereignly bestows gifts on every believer. Spiritual gifts are those abilities and expressions of God's power given by his grace for the glory of Christ and the building up of the church. And then very briefly at the very end section, kind of 20 there, the full range of spiritual gifts remain at work in the church and are given for the good of the church and it's witness to the world. We are therefore to earnestly desire and practice them until Christ returns.

7 · States the sermon's main thesis in compressed form: receive all gifts, for all Christians, to display Christ

So the headline this morning when we, as we're looking at spiritual gifts is this, that when we, when we come to spiritual gifts, we are to receive all of Christ's gifts for all christians, to show all of Christ. That's the goal.

8 · Exegetes Romans 12 and traces Paul's pattern across multiple letters (Corinthians, Thessalonians) of correcting churches that prize only some gifts while rejecting others, establishing that all gifts are from the Lord and should be received with gladness

Now, first section, I'll warn you, this one is the longer one. All Christ's gifts. Now, I want you to notice what Paul does in romans twelve, because he also does it in one corinthians twelve, as we read a few weeks ago. He puts what seemed to be more amazing, spectacular, unusual gifts, like prophecy, alongside what we often think are very unimpressive, normal, boring gifts like serving. And in this context, he's basically saying, all of them are gifts. All of them should be received with gladness. In fact, verse three, he says, for by the grace of God, given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. Meaning, if you think your gift is great, you don't get to go around demeaning everyone else's gift. Or if you think you didn't get the great gift, you don't get to go around moping. All christians have received gifts, and all of these gifts are from the Lord. And in various letters, Paul has to adjust. Churches that are oriented to only receive some of Christ's gifts and not the others. So, for example, in Corinth, as we've seen, they loved speaking in tongues. They wanted that spiritual gift. And Paul says, yeah, that is a spiritual gift. You know what else is a spiritual gift? Administration. And the people taking over the service and chaos and craziness. They need the administrators to be like, we also still need to do a message, guys. Or like, hey, we also need to do that. We still need to care for the widows guys. That church needed to be adjusted. Or in one thessalonians, they needed the opposite adjustment. So first, thessalonians, they seemed good at the practical gifts, the serving, the caring, the administrating. But they were like, yeah, we don't want any of the weird stuff. We don't want prophecies, miracles, tongues, any of that stuff. We're good, we're good. And Paul actually tells them in 520, 1st lesson in 520, do not despise prophecy. So that church needed to be adjusted. And look, our church needs to be adjusted and us individually, we all need to be adjusted because we are all tempted to, only, if I could say it this way, unwrap some of the gifts and leave the others under the tree.

9 · Personal childhood story about dismissing clothes as 'not real gifts' compared to toys, humorously illustrating the temptation to value some gifts over others

But I face that temptation every Christmas in which my dear parents would allow us, maybe unwisely, to shake once or twice the Christmas gifts. And I developed the ability to tell immediately which ones were clothes. And as soon as I got a clothes box, I just thought, oh, great, clothes. You know, hoping for a fifth toy pants. Oh, khakis. What eight year old boy wants khakis? I'm just kidding. I don't know if he gave me khakis, mom and dad, but that's what I, that's what I do remember getting a lot of socks, though, and it's easy to go, like, these are the real gifts, not those, not the khakis, right? No, I don't want those.

10 · Diagnoses the universal temptation to prize either spectacular or ordinary gifts at the expense of the other, and transitions to addressing the cessationist question about whether certain gifts continue

We are all tempted to value some gifts, and let me just say, we're often tempted to value either the spectacular or the more ordinary and prize one over the other, and usually to the exclusion of the other. And this text and others like it are so important to help us see, no, receive all, all of God's gifts with gladness. Now I want to speak into something we haven't yet over the last couple of weeks, because you might be asking, well, it says prophecy right there. I thought that was one of those strange gifts that just went away that we just don't do anymore. And how do we know that something like that is supposed to continue?

11 · Traces the biblical-theological trajectory from the Spirit's sporadic work in the Old Testament to Joel 2's promise of universal outpouring to Pentecost's fulfillment to Paul's instructions for ongoing gift-use, arguing that cessationism requires proving the gifts ceased rather than proving they continue

Well, let's remember the trajectory we've been walking through the last few weeks. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit wasn't absent. It's not like he showed up at the beginning of the New Testament. The Holy Spirit is there throughout the Old Testament at different moments, he fills people, he empowers people, like craftsmen or sporadic events of prophecy or other things. So in other words, the spirit was active. But his gifting of people coming on people, filling them and giving them giftings, was relatively rare in the Old Testament. I think it would be right to say, but Joel, chapter two, promises that one day a new day would dawn. And one day, as we talked about last week, Joel promises, the Lord promises through Joel, rather, that one day he would pour out his spirit on all flesh, young and old, men and women, everybody. What was rare and unique would become joyfully common among the people of God. And then Peter stands up on Pentecost, right? This happens to them. They receive some unique gifts. And Peter stands up and says, hey, you want to know what's happening? You know what all the commotion is? It's Joel two. This is that day that Joel two spoke about would come one day. This is the day. And then you see, the Holy Spirit empowers the ministry in the book of acts. And then even a number of the letters, like one Thessalonians. As I mentioned, first Corinthians, Romans, Paul gives directions for the practice of the gifts, meaning he not only gives the gifts, but then he says, here's how to think about them and use them. And so rather than asking the question, well, how do we know the gifts? Continue. The question, I think from scripture would be more accurately stated, how would we? Is there anywhere that says the gifts ceased? That would be the question to ask.

12 · Addresses the objection that abuses of spectacular gifts justify their cessation, arguing that Paul's response to Corinthian abuses was not cessation but biblical regulation — abuses call for right practice, not abandonment

Now, I understand that many folks, especially, maybe if you come from a catholic background, there's often not a lot of talk about the Holy Spirit giving gifts in a personal way like this. So I'm going to answer some common questions I've gotten about it. First, is this. What about abuses of the more unusual or spectacular gifts? Right? Praying for healings or resurrections or prophecy? Why would we do that? Given the danger that's all over YouTube of people misusing their spiritual gifts or doing strange unbiblical ministry in the name of the Holy Spirit? Why don't we just play it safe and just not go there? Which I am sympathetic to at times. I think we've all seen a weird video on YouTube about some guy doing something crazy in the name of the Holy Spirit. And I think YouTube has figured out that those videos make me angry and just keeps showing them to me in this, like it's after me and that's my personal sanctification. And so. But I do watch them and I'm like, but I need to repent. I need to ask the Lord for help. That. That is a good question. But I would say this. Abuses of the gifts should not lead us to stop practicing the gifts. The abuses of the gifts should lead us to practice them biblically. And you see that in one corinthians where this corinthian church is misusing all of these gifts. And Paul could have easily said, hey, you know what? Stop it. No more with those gifts, these two gifts, you don't get them anymore. But he could have said that. But rather what he says is, oh, brothers and sisters, can I help you with this? And it takes three chapters to unpack how to govern these things rightly. So that's the first question, what about abuses?

13 · Addresses the objection that church history shows gifts ceased, arguing that (1) Scripture is the authority over church history, (2) the Reformation itself shows the church correcting itself by Scripture, and (3) gifts have likely been practiced throughout church history but not categorized correctly — citing Augustine's late-life reversal and ongoing prayer for healing and miracles

Second, what about church history? Some might look back at the history of the church and see, okay, well, it seems like certain gifts were not practiced or practiced widely up until the 20th century, so we shouldn't do it if it didn't seem like it's obvious in church history. Now, I think I'm sympathetic to that as well, but I think we have to be careful with that because scripture is our authority, not even church history. Church history can be helpful and edifying, but it is not authoritative the way the Bible is. If something is prescribed in scripture, we cling to it and believe it. And that has actually led to a number of important reformations across church history, such as the 15th century, reclaiming grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, as the center of the gospel. In addition to that, I do think it's overstating it to say that the gifts haven't been practiced in church history. I think a better way to think about it is this. I think the gifts have been practiced, but often not categorized correctly. And that, I think, is borne out even some in church history that might be skeptical or might have expressed skepticism. Like Augustine, toward the end of his life, went to a new ministry post. And when he arrived at the post believing God's miracle stuff was done, he began to see people raised from the dead and healed and all this miraculous stuff. And so then he basically, at the end of his life, goes, yeah, I don't know. I don't even have enough time to tell you about all the resurrections that have happened lately. So, yeah, I think God still does miracles. Right? That you see that in church history. You see preachers that in the middle of preaching, talk to somebody in the audience and say, I think the Lord would tell you, this man, young man, and it's like the Lord cuts through him to his very heart. I think it's right to see that throughout church history, people continued praying for healing. They continued sharing encouragement that God spontaneously brought to their minds. They continued leaning into prayer, and God continued doing miraculous things. And in fact, I think many of the stories of the great awakenings that we have grown up with in the United States even I would call some of what occurred in the seventies and eighties another great awakening. I think those things have continued to happen throughout world history, these revivals where the spirit was uniquely active. And so I think that that has been present, but yet not categorized correctly in some of its use. And I'm grateful that I think we've grown in that third and last common question.

14 · Addresses the objection that miraculous gifts seem more common on the mission field than in established churches, citing David Platt's observation that the Spirit's activity is most pronounced on the 'bleeding edge of gospel advance' — and humorously urging listeners to join missions work if they want to see miracles

Well, what about the difference between the stories we hear, maybe from missionaries out in another part of the world that are seeing all these miraculous things, and then we pray for miraculous things, and we don't see, we never get to see resurrections or, you know, some of these more miraculous things? Well, I think David Platt's observation is actually really helpful here. He spent a lot of time in the developing world context where this is happening. And his observation from the book of acts is this, that the spirit's activity is often the most pronounced and obvious on the bleeding edge of gospel advance. So as the gospel is breaking into a new area, it is often accompanied in a powerful, even unusual way by the power of the Holy Spirit. And I think what happens in revivals or. Or great awakenings is that that land, that country, that place is being re evangelized, in a sense, by the Holy Spirit. So on the bleeding edge of gospel advance, you see the spirit testifying to you and affirming the validity of the gospel with signs and wonders, as you see in acts, chapter four. So if you really want to see some cool stuff, sign up to be missionary. There's a table in the back, or you talk to Todd.

15 · Transitions from answering objections to defining three commonly misunderstood gifts (prophecy, tongues, healing), anticipating listener anxiety about receiving 'weird' gifts

Okay, those are three common questions. Now, I want to deal with, very briefly, three common gifts, because, again, as I said, it's easy to go, okay, I like the miraculous stuff. That's all I want to talk about. I don't want to talk about administration or to go. I don't want to talk about that ever. And I only want to talk about the stuff that I understand clearly, and it doesn't seem super weird. And some of you right now are probably thinking, oh, man, I really don't want a weird gift. I want, like, a good, normal gift, like service or teaching. Don't give me the discernment of spirits or something weird like that. Well, I want to walk through three that may seem unusual, but I want to show you that they're actually far easier to understand and far more beautiful than we often remember.

16 · Defines prophecy by distinguishing capital-P Prophecy (infallible Scripture, 2 Peter 1) from lowercase-p prophecy (Spirit-prompted encouragement that must be tested, 1 Thessalonians 5), citing Wayne Grudem's definition and showing that many 'non-charismatic' churches already practice prophecy without naming it — and that the church regularly practices tested prophecy in worship

So, first one is prophecy. So, it was listed there in romans twelve. It was listed again in one, Thessalonians five, where he tells the church, don't despise prophecy. But then you see that, and you also see Peter in two, Peter one, talking about prophecy as scripture. So wait a minute. Are they the same thing? How do we understand those? The way I think about it is two, Peter one, when he speaks of scripture as prophecy, that's capital p prophecy. That's unique, infallible revelation for the scripturation and the future edification of God's people. But in one, thessalonians five, that's lowercase p prophecy, if I could say it that way, because that Paul instructs the church to test, right? So we don't test the scriptures, we receive them. But this other thing, we're supposed to test with the scriptures. So what is that other thing? Well, Wayne Grudem, I think, encourages us helpfully that the gift of prophecy, he should be defined not as predicting the future, nor as proclaiming a word from the Lord, nor as powerful preaching, but rather as telling something God has spontaneously brought to mind for the upbuilding and edification of the church. And you're like, oh, that's not as scary as I thought. No, it's not. In fact, I think many, quote unquote non charismatic or non churches that don't believe in some of the ongoing gifts, I think they actually practice the gift of prophecy. Have you ever heard somebody say something like, hey, I was praying for you, and I felt like the Lord gave me this encouragement for you, right? And you're like, wow, how did you know I needed to be encouraged that way? Or, hey, man, as we were praying in this circle about this need you had, I just felt like, God put this verse on my heart. I don't even know how it connects, but let me read it to you. And then they read it, and it's like, oh, my gosh, that just cut me to the heart? And I think that goes on very commonly in the church. The thing that I think is missing is this, by not recognizing it as prophecy, one of the dangers, actually, is that you don't follow the directions for prophecy in scripture and actually test it and evaluate it, rather than just going like, wow, I mean, if you're selling me so, like, I guess I'm supposed to, you know, quit my job and move to a farm in Des Moines, you know, because you said I, meaning that if you believe in the scriptural version of prophecy, you're going, okay, I understand that God put that on your heart. I also understand I'm gonna evaluate that and use wisdom and counsel and the Bible. Okay, does that make sense? So you're testing those things as appropriate. And actually, if you've been here for any length of time, you've probably experienced the good of this gift. We don't always, we try to, but we don't always take a minute and explain. But sometimes there'll be a pastor that comes up and says, hey, church, God, put this on my heart for you today, and I'm going to share that. Or even one of our worship leaders or somebody from the congregation may come and say, hey, God, put this, this encouragement on my heart. Is that right? And then they bring it up to the pastors, and then we have it shared if we believe it's from the Lord, right? That is what we're talking about. So if you get that gift, it's a wonderful gift. It's a beautiful gift.

17 · Defines tongues as prayer or praise in syllables the speaker does not understand, showing three biblical functions: (1) evangelistic sign (Acts 2), (2) interpreted corporate encouragement (1 Corinthians 14), and (3) private edification — emphasizing that the third function is a reminder of God's nearness

Second, the gift of tongues. Now, this is. It's funny. This is either the gift that you really want or the gift you really don't want, as I've talked to people about these spiritual gifts, but grudem, again, has this great, simple definition of tongues. He says it's, speaking in tongues is prayer or praise, meaning vertical speech. Prayer or praise spoken in syllables not understood by the speaker. This can function in a number of ways. So in acts chapter two, they began praising God in languages they don't know. Other people that speak those languages, hear them recognize that they don't know those languages because they're from the wrong part of the country and are amazed. And it draws them into the crowd where Peter preaches to them just a minute later. So that's possible. I actually heard, last time we talked about this, I heard a story from somebody in the congregation. They were on a mission trip where that happened. Somebody just began speaking in a language they didn't, praying in a language they didn't know. Somebody walked by and went, how do you know that? And they're like, I don't know it. And then they talked about Jesus, so the Lord can do it. Second, the tongue can be shared, as we'll see in one corinthians 14, with the church, if key, if it is accompanied with interpretation, meaning somebody able to say, okay, this is what you're saying, and then I'm going to interpret this for the edification of the congregation. Tongues are not meant to be spoken aloud in ways that disrupt a service or a meeting unless there is that appropriate interpretation. And third, and probably what Paul is addressing in our text, in one corinthians 1214, there is a gift of tongues that privately encourages and builds up individual christians so that they might be strengthened and might be more effective in serving God and others. This seems to be, again, what one corinthians is addressing. And it's a beautiful gift in many ways because used that way, it's a reminder of the nearness of God's presence. It's an encouragement. It's a reminder that God is with us. It's a way to express your heart to God when you can't fully in words.

18 · Extended story of a young missionary woman who prayed for the gift of tongues to be reminded of God's nearness during loneliness, received it the next day while praying, and found it a profound comfort — illustrating the gift's purpose as a reminder of God's presence

And here's an example of why this gift can be beautiful. A number of years ago, there was a young woman in our church that was working at a children's home in Juarez. She had left kind of her family and friends to go do this work, and she was dealing with real loneliness and discouragement and feeling kind of by herself in this context. So she happened to be with us on a Sunday morning when we were teaching about the various spiritual gifts. And so she said she prayed privately at the end, lord, I would love the gift of tongues because I would just love to be reminded that you really are with me even when I feel alone. So she prayed, prayed. Nothing happened. So she was like, oh, well. So she drove back to Mexico. But the next day, she sent this in an email to me the next day as she was praying, and she was just dealing with loneliness and saying, lord, I want to believe that you're near and thank you for bringing me here. Help me to be grateful. Help me to see the ministry. Lord, you are good. You're wise. And then just began speaking a language she didn't know, praying in a language she didn't know, and apparently received the gift of tongues right there. And she said in that moment, what she was reminded of wasn't, wow, this is kind of cool. No, it was actually. God really is here. God really is with me. I really am not alone. God, thank you for reminding me of that. It can be a wonderful gift.

19 · Defines gifts of healing as God's 'foretaste' of the future resurrection healing, citing Wayne Grudem and 1 Corinthians 12 to show that while all Christians should pray for healing, some are given a particular gifting in which their prayers for healing are answered more frequently — and testifies to an elder in the church with this gift

Third, gifts of healing. Now, illness and sickness exist in this world because sin and death have run rampant, right? Sin and death as a package have infected and broken all kinds of things in our world today. But we have good news that Jesus has come to make all things new. It's right to say that Jesus came to bring healing in every sense to the believer, that we would experience healing in our souls and in our spirits, and then one day in heaven, healing of our bodies that will be renewed for all eternity, right? So here is what's right to say. Every prayer for healing is answered with a yes in Jesus name. Because one day, every prayer will be answered. One day I will not have weird back pains that are unexplained anymore. One day you will not have the issue you have. Right. And that is good, good news. But even now, sometimes God gives unique gifts. Wayne Grudem says about healing, God may from time to time grant us a foretaste or a down payment of the physical healing which he will grant us fully in the future. Right. Meaning sometimes God basically brings that future healing into this moment right now for his good, I mean, for our good and for his glory. And it does seem that while all christians can and should pray for healing, and while the elders have a unique call to pray for those who are sick, there seems to be in one CorinthianS twelve, nine and 1228, a plural gifting. Meaning it can be a gifting that God gives to someone that often, not every time, but often when they pray for people who are ill or perhaps pray for a specific medical issue, the Lord answers their prayers and we don't. That's just a gift from the Lord. And I think that some in our church have this type of gifting. Again, it's not like it happens every time, but it does happen. Let me just say we have one elder that on a specific medical issue, more often than not, when he prays for a particular medical issue, the Lord heals it. And it's, I've prayed for a lot of people and I don't experience the same thing. There just are sometimes those gifts.

20 · Restates the sermon's central problem: Christians are tempted to prize only spectacular or only ordinary gifts, but God calls us to receive all gifts as equally valuable

And so again, big point is this. We're often tempted to either gravitate to just unwrapping the spectacular, amazing sort of feeling gifts, or we're tempted to feel like they're too weird and push them back under the tree, or we're tempted to only unwrap the administration mercy gifts. Or like, ah, those are boring. I want the other stuff, right? And the Lord is saying in romans twelve, both are good, both are gifts.

21 · States the sermon's second major claim: all Christians have some gifts — there are no ungifted Christians — refuting the lie that some arrive at Christmas morning without presents

All right. Second, and these will move faster. All God's gifts for all christians. Now I'm not saying that all christians have all the gifts, but I am saying that all christians have some gifts, meaning that there are no ungifted christians. There's no one who arrives at Christmas morning sad because their name is, is not on a box. Right. And I think too many christians do live their life that way. Like, I just didn't get any gifts. Oh well, they're gifted, they're gifted, they're gifted, but not me. I've got no presence under the tree. Right. And romans is saying no one corinthians is saying, no, all christians have been given gifts by the Lord.

22 · Walks through Romans 12:6-8 gift by gift, defining each in accessible terms and showing their concrete operation in the life of the church — from serving (setting up on Sunday morning) to mercy (noticing when someone is hurting)

I want to give you just some examples of this so you can feel how different and varied the gifts are that God gives to christians. Romans twelve six is where we've been. So we'll start there having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us. Let us use them. If prophecy in proportion to our faith, there's that one. If service in our serving. So this service gift is basically just people that have a grace gifting from the Lord to serve in tireless, effective ways. And they're usually easy to find because they are healed before any of us at church Sunday morning to set this thing up. So the fact that you had a donut or the sound worked or the air conditioner is on anything, that's that gift in operation. If service and our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching. So some people have a God given gift of being able to make clear the scriptures. That is a wonderful gift. I'm so benefited from people in our church helping teach me the word. The one who exhorts in his exhortation. So this is basically people who are gifted at calling people forward into godliness, who say, come on, brother or sister, let's go together. I will walk with you. I will be by your side as we do this together. That's exhortation. The one who contributes in generosity. Some people are gifted at strategically and joyfully contributing to the needs of others. They somehow discover needs that I don't even know about and just boom, give a generous gift to try to serve love that the one who leads with zeal. Meaning there are some that God has gifted just to be able to lead others forward within the church. The one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. Some of us are. Some in this church are gifted at identifying the weak or the downcast or the hurting. They're the people that go, I wonder if so and so is okay. And you're like, what do you mean like? I don't know. They just looked off. Right. That is often a gift.

23 · Walks through 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, 28 gift by gift, emphasizing the Spirit's sovereign distribution ('to each is given'), the sheer variety of gifts (wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues, interpretation, helping, administrating), and the theological truth that God may either enrich natural inclinations (1 Corinthians 1:7) or give entirely new gifts (2 Timothy 1:6)

Now flip over real briefly with me to first Corinthians, chapter twelve, if you would. First Corinthians, chapter twelve, beginning in verse seven. This is a similar list. So you can feel the variety of gifting to each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good. Right? Remember, to each is given. That means you too, friend, 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. Meaning that's probably wisdom and knowledge. People are good at remembering and understanding things, and they're your friend that you're like, where's that one Bible verse in Romans? And they're like. And you're like, thank you. And that's. Or they just know a lot. They're able. God has gifted their minds. That's a wonderful gift to another faith by the same spirit. Meaning some brothers and sisters have this unique gift of faith. And look, if you've ever been around somebody with the gift of faith, it is contagious. Have you ever been around somebody that you're like, I just can't do it, my life's too hard. And you're having coffee with them, and somehow you don't know how. By the end of the coffee, you're like, you know what? Yeah, I can do this. We're gonna do this together, right? Get coffee with them every week. I want all the gift of faith people just booked up. We need that faith to another. Gifts of healing, right? Plural. Gifts of healing by the one spirit. So we went over that to another, the working of miracles. Right. Look, that is a possible gift. And we have seen unusual things over the years at times. And so we want to pray for more of those gifts to another prophecy, to another, the ability to distinguish between spirits. So basically that just means some are uniquely sensitive to the Holy Spirit's working and uniquely sensitive to the work of the enemy and discerning the difference that someone might respond rightly. I've been so grateful that over the years we've had people that have gone, God's doing something in their heart. We need to lean in and we have, or, or there's something off about them and we need to be cautious. Right. That is a gift. Or to another, various kinds of tongues. Many various kinds. It could be heavenly, it could be earthly to another, the interpretation of tongues. All are empowered by one and the same spirit. And God is appointed in the church. First apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing. And then he throws a few more in helping, administrating various kinds of tongues. So helping, meaning you see where people need strength and you bring strength. Administrating, organizing the work of the church. Do you feel how many gifts there are under the tree church? I mean, it is amazing. God's giving various kinds of gifts. This one, that one, this one, that one, and all of them for our good, meaning this, that if you are tempted to think, well, I didn't get one, no, that's wrong. You did. You have God given gifts, and it may be that God has given you an inclination to an area. It seems like in one corinthians one seven where Paul speaks of the church being enriched in every way. That word seems to suggest that maybe there's an inclination just the way you were born and that the Lord uses it. So maybe you're good at organizing. As a toddler, you got all your little blocks in a row. But then as a Christian, the Lord breeds on that, in a sense, with enriching that gift, that you might organize all the little blocks and parking lot spaces at church, right, whatever that is, the Lord enriching you, or the Lord can just give brand new gifts that you didn't have before. That seems to be suggested in two Timothy one six, where they lay hands on Timothy, and Timothy receives this new gift.

24 · Direct application urging the congregation to believe they are gifted, to receive their gifts with gladness, and to discover their gifts by (1) asking others what they seem gifted in and (2) serving in various areas until the Lord makes it clear — with humorous illustration of auditioning to be a worship leader and being gently redirected

Here's what I want you to feel. You are gifted, Christian. You are gifted. And your call is to receive whatever gift you have with gladness and to use it well. And you want to know how to find your gifts well. I wish we could do a whole message on that, but just two starter ways. Ask people around you what you seem to be gifted in. Sometimes it's so hard for us to see. Ask your spouse or your kids or. Or your friends or others that know you well in church. What do you think I'm gifted at? And the other way to do it is just start serving. Because I've often found, as you just start serving in various areas, the Lord makes it clear, right? Maybe you're like, well, okay, I'll sign up to serve in kids ministry. And you sign up and you realize I actually have a gift for teaching. I didn't know I had that. Or you might be like, hey, sign me up. I'm going to be a worship leader, man. I've seen those videos of Chris Tomlin and the Steve stadium. I am ready for that. And you audition, and John or someone very gently informs you, I don't know if this is your gifting, brother, and you got to be okay, because it doesn't mean that you're not gifted. It just means maybe not that one. That's okay. You have a gift, find it and use it.

25 · Direct pastoral address to mothers diagnosing the temptation to compare their gifts to other mothers (especially via social media) and declaring that comparison a lie — urging them instead to discern their unique gifts and use them to love their families and point their children to Jesus without comparison

And let me just bring a word, very brief word to the moms on this point. Look, moms, if I could get your attention just for a minute. One of the things I think that will your joy as a mom immediately is if you take the giftings that God has given you as a mom and compare them to the giftings. God has given a different mom, right? It is so easy to be like, well, man, she's so good at organizing her family's life. I can't do that. Or she's so good at being immediately tender hearted and knowing when one of her kids has something going on and just pressing in there, right? Or she's so good at teaching. I wish I could do that. Right? And it's easy, especially as a mom. Especially. Let me just say this. In the age of social media, where you can see the highlight reels of all the other moms just killing it, right? Not the other days where they're not killing it, but they're putting up, usually the days they are killing it at times, and you're going, ah, I'm not gifted, sisters, that is a lie. The Lord has given you beautiful and wonderful gifts, and they're not the same as everyone else. So discern what they are. And look, your task is not to do what they're doing. Your task is to love your family, seek the Lord, and point your kids to Jesus with those gifts he's given you. And with that, the Lord is glorified. If I could just free you from some of that today, I would love to do that.

26 · Transitions to the sermon's third and final major claim: gifts exist to display Christ

All right, last point, I hinted at it already. We want to receive all the gifts. We want all christians to receive their gifts. And then last, we want to use those gifts to show all of Christ.

27 · States the sermon's third major claim: spiritual gifts exist to display Christ — the church as one body images Christ, and the Spirit's entire purpose (John 16) is to glorify Jesus, so all gifts are meant to lift up Jesus Christ

Now, the spiritual gifts that God gives are meant to do something. They're not meant to just sit there on the shelf. They're not meant to just be admired. They're not meant for us to take them out every once in a while and go, uh huh, wow, that's great, and then put it back in. These gifts are meant to show Christ in romans twelve five. It's there in that reference that we, though many, are one body in Christ. Meaning what's the body? What's the picture we're forming? It's Christ. Right? As the church uses its gifts, as each individual exercises their gifts, the church together begins to image and display Christ more effectively. And in fact, that's the whole, that's the point of the spirit. The spirit exists to embarrass, empower christians, and empower the church to display Christ. In fact, Jesus says in John 16 that the spirit exists to glorify me, meaning the spirit exists to shine a spotlight on Jesus Christ. And so whatever your gifts are, whatever they may be, whether they're administrating or words of wisdom or whatever, they are there to lift up Jesus Christ.

28 · First way gifts display Christ: the character (fruit of the Spirit) in which we exercise the gifts matters as much as the gift itself — exercising gifts without the fruit ruins the gift's exercise, and even debates about the Spirit should be conducted with the fruit of the Spirit

And there's a few ways we do this. First, the character and the way in which we exercise the gifts points to Christ just as much as the gift, meaning this, that if we try to exercise our gifts without the fruit of the Spirit, we've ruined the exercise of the gift, right. There's no good way to exercise the gift of, let's say, leadership unless you're also exercising the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. So you might think, yeah, I'm going to exercise my gift of leadership. Now you get over here, you shut up. You do this right, and you're just right. The Holy Spirit is not going, wow, that's a great gift of leadership. The Holy Spirit is going, no, the fruit of the Spirit should be displayed in the exercise of our gifts. And so, and I want to say this too, that there is some level of controversy, I know at times about the spiritual gifts and this holy spirit and practices of being filled with the spirit. Let me just say this. Even our debates and discussions about the Holy Spirit should be done with the fruit of the spirit. It does you no good to be right about something on the Holy Spirit and to just like, take the Bible and bash people into the head, right? That's not the fruit of the spirit. So we exercise our gifts with the fruit of the spirit as we exercise those gifts.

29 · Second way gifts display Christ: every spiritual gift has Jesus as its model — when we exercise mercy, people see Christ's character; when we exercise teaching or prophecy, people see Christ's identity and the gospel — and the goal is for people to say 'Jesus is so good,' not 'What a gift you have

Second, our gifts display Christ. So our character should display Christ, but our gifts also display Christ. Here's something you may not have thought about. Every spiritual gift has as its model in exercise. Jesus Christ, meaning our model for how to exercise. Whatever gift you have, you know where to find that model in the person of Jesus Christ. And as you exercise those gifts, in fact, you're pointing to Jesus. So, for example, if, if you are good at mercy and care and compassion, when you exercise those gifts, you know what happens? People see the character of Christ in you every time you stop for somebody that nobody else is stopping for and you care for them, that points to the character of Jesus Christ. Other gifts are meant to display Christ's identity and the truth about the gospel. So prophetic words can do this, teaching can do this, right. And all of these gifts are in some way faint glimmers of the person, character and power of Jesus Christ. So as we're out there exercising our gifts, people should not look, our goal is not that people at the end of the day, go, man, what a gift. Amazing. Our goal is actually that as they see that gift and operation, they would say, man, Jesus was so good to send you to me. I needed that encouragement. Right? Jesus was so good to give you that word that he just spontaneously brought to mind. For my edification, I needed that. Jesus is so good.

30 · Third way gifts display Christ: we must be explicit in connecting the gift to Christ — Peter healed a man (Acts 4) and immediately preached that the healing pointed to Jesus, not to Peter — and so all gifts (mercy, exhortation, teaching) should be exercised with explicit verbal connection to Christ, and much charismatic chaos could be avoided by asking 'Does this point to Christ?'

And third, last connection. We must be explicit and skilled at making connections between the spiritual gifts and the Christ that they display. Just one example in acts, chapter four, the spirit comes in a powerful way, and Peter basically sees a man in need of healing. And Peter, in faith speaks to him, and the man is healed. And that moment, right after the exercise of his gift is one of the most crucial moments in the book of acts, because it would be easy. It would be so easy for, for in that moment, Peter to go, you know what? That actually was pretty cool if, yeah, I'm gonna be here all week. It's $50 upfront. But, you know, it's, what else are you gonna do? You're gonna put some sand on it? Like, come on, let's, you know, I'll start doing some. And he also doesn't say, oh, okay, I guess we're supposed to switch our entire ministry now to just be healing services. That's what we're supposed to do. You know what he does? He stands up in that moment and says, this healing points to Jesus. Let me tell you about him. This healing was the power of the risen Jesus Christ on display. Let me tell you about him. Right? And that should be the attitude through which we exercise all of our spiritual gifts. That mercy that we just extended that man, it's not me. That's Jesus. Mercy to you, friend. This exhortation, putting strength back into you, man, that's not me. That's the Lord working through me to put strength back into you, man. Like this teaching, if you benefit from this teaching or that teaching, it wasn't the speaker that you should be impressed with. It should be the Lord who's given those gifts. And we must make those connections explicit. Look, so much charismatic chaos could be avoided with this simple rule of thumb. When we use any and every spiritual gift. Does this point to Christ? It should not point to ourselves. It should point to Christ.

31 · Transitions to the sermon's closing illustration by summarizing the three major claims (receive all gifts, believe you are gifted, use gifts to display Christ) and announcing a personal story about the preacher's mother to illustrate Spirit-filled giftedness

So we don't want to be those who refuse to accept all the gifts that God's given. We don't want to be those who go around believing, well, we're not really gifted. And we also don't want to be those who take the gifts that God's given to us and misuse them. We want to receive them as good gifts. Now, I'm going to end with one last story illustration, because I thought it would benefit you to just find an illustration of what does it look like then, though, in the details of life, to live a spirit filled life like this. And so because it's Mother's day, I'm going to talk about my mom. Sorry, mom.

32 · Extended personal story about the preacher's mother, who had a gift for teaching and missions work, felt called by God to stay in El Paso and invest her gifts in her children rather than on the foreign mission field — illustrating that Spirit-filled giftedness often looks like private faithfulness rather than public spectacle, and honoring mothers who invest their gifts in their children even when unappreciated

So you may not know this about my mom, but before she was my mom, the Lord saved her in a powerful way and gave her a wonderful heart for missions. And so she went to Bible college, and she also went to do missions work in Israel and South Africa. She had a huge heart for the world. And I think, really, I would say this, I think she really does have a gift for teaching and explaining the Bible in a beautiful way and telling people about Jesus. And here's what happened, though. She's like, here are my gifts, Lord, where do you want me to go? And you know what the Lord said, it's not Israel, it's not South Africa. It's actually El Paso. And for her, that was hard, right? Maybe the harder assignment was to stay in El Paso. But here's the reality. My mom took the gifts that God gave her and used them wonderfully on the mission field, but was willing to use them in private moments teaching me and my sisters the Bible. And I don't, I think, humanly speaking, I would not be here teaching the Bible if my mom had not taught me the Bible and had not been willing to lay aside what seems like her preferred use of her gifts to do what God called her to do. So thank you, mom. And here's what I want to encourage you with. Look, my mom is one of the most spiritful ladies I've ever known. I have. Many mornings I came down thinking I was the first one up, and she's already there, already got her Bible open. And she's either praying or probably praying in tongues because we were so trying, us kids or with a list of countries and prayer points for each of those countries. And before she entered the day, she's praying for the gospel advance around the world, full of the spirit. And she hasn't quit yet. I mean, she's still studying and learning and counseling and helping people and friends. That's what it often looks like. Often we think, okay, living a spirit filled life is going to be me on a jet, going from places to places, just raising people from the dead, you know? No, not usually. Not mostly in the New Testament. Mostly in the New Testament, it's people like my mom who are willing to take their gifts and use them to point people to Jesus and last moms. Thank you on behalf of one of the pastors of the church. Thank you for using your many varied gifts and often investing them into your children who are not, shall we say, the most appreciative audience to serve at times, myself included. But those gifts matter to the Lord, and your use of them matters to God, and the use of them is beautiful in his sight.

33 · Calls the congregation to stand for closing prayer

Would you stand and let's pray.

34 · Closing prayer of thanksgiving for the Spirit's regenerating, illuminating, comforting, sanctifying work — and for the Spirit's gifting of the church — redirecting attention from the gifts to the Giver, praying for mothers to be encouraged in their private faithfulness, and asking the Lord to give more gifts for the purpose of making more of Jesus

Lord, thank you. Thank you for not just bringing our hearts to life with the power of the spirit. Thank you for not just opening our eyes to the gospel with the power of the spirit. Thank you for not only making us a new creation by the power of the spirit. Thank you for not only sending your spirit that we might be comforted and held. Thank you for. Thank you not just for sending the spirit that we might look more like Jesus in the fruit of the spirit, but thank you on top of all of that for giving us gifts to unwrap, that we might use them to glorify you and serve the church. Lord, in this moment, we want to turn our attention from the gifts to the giver of the gifts. Each one of these things is an experience of your love and your care for us. So thank you. Help us to see them as gifts. Help them to help us to receive them with gladness. And I pray especially for my sisters in the church who are moms. Lord, I pray that you would in a unique way encourage them today, that you see the private moments where they labor to exercise their gifts and no one else sees you are glorified and you rejoice. So I pray you'd strengthen my sisters for the task and for all of us. Lord, may we look to you, asking for more, seeking more, but not for ourselves, that we might make more of Jesus. Amen.