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Location:
6425 Jefferson Rd. For
directions, click here.
Jerry
Varnado,
pastor June 9,
2002 Now
about spiritual gifts, brothers,
I do not want you to be
ignorant.... 1-Introduction
to
Spiritual
Gifts 2-The
Enabling
Gifts
of the
Holy
Spirit 4-The
Gifts
of
Tongues
and
Interpretation
of
Tongues 8-The
Gifts
of
Knowledge,
Wisdom,
and
Faith Now
to each one the manifestation of
the Spirit is given for the
common
good.
(1
Corinthians 12:1, 4-7) It
was [Christ] who gave
some to be apostles, some to be
prophets, some to be evangelists,
and some to be pastors and
teachers, to prepare God's people
for works of service, so that the
body of Christ may be built
up...
(Ephesians
4:11-12) And
if you'll look at the video
screens you'll see those
conclusions listed
there: Today
I'm going to focus what some
refer to as the "enabling gifts"
or "motivating gifts" of the
Spirit -- terms that fit with the
Apostle Paul's description of
"different kinds of service" in
the church. Some people refer to
these gifts as the "office
gifts," because they correspond
with offices -- positions of
authority, duty and trust -- in
the church. Here's
a list of these gifts: Two
of the things I've listed here --
apostleship and pastoring --
aren't usually seen as specific
spiritual gifts. Instead, they're
thought of as describing
individuals through whom certain
specific gifts are given into the
life of the church. Since
apostleship and pastoring don't
really fall into category of
"Spiritual Gifts in Corporate
Worship"-- which is the focus of
this teaching series -- I'm not
going to deal with
them. Also,
you may have noticed that you
don't see "preaching" on the
list. The word preach in its
various forms appears more than
100 in the various English
translations of the New
Testament, but never in the
context of spiritual gifts --
probably because the manner and
content of preaching usually
falls under one or more of the
other gifts listed: teaching,
exhortation, or prophecy, for
example. All
spiritual gifts are for the
common good of the Body, the
church. But Paul adds a
specific
purpose for this group of
enabling gifts -- and here it is,
in several
translations: Having
said that, we need to have a firm
grasp of just what we're being
prepared, equipped and perfected
to do. What are these "works of
service" -- or as the King James
Version puts it: "the work of the
ministry"? The Greek word
translated "the work of the
ministry" is diakonia. It
means "service," or "ministering"
-- and it is used especially to
describe "those who execute the
commands of others." Well,
what does Paul mean when he says
"the ministry." After all, in 1
Corinthians 12, he refers to
"varieties of ministries." Now
he's talking about
"the
ministry." Paul
use of this same term in 2
Corinthians 5:18 helps us
understand: This
is "the
ministry" -- the work of
calling people to be reconciled
to God. "The ministry" is the
same as the Great Commission --
the most complete statement of
which is in Matthew 28:19-20,
where Jesus says; Here's
the point" There are varieties of
ways we participate in God's
work, but there is
"the
ministry," the overarching thing
God is seeking to accomplish --
namely, the reconciliation of the
world to himself in Jesus Christ.
So
all Christians -- you, me, all of
us -- are in
"the
ministry." I did not "enter the
ministry" when I became a pastor.
I entered the ministry when I
received Jesus as Savior and
Lord! Being a pastor is my role
within
"the ministry that all of us are
part of. This,
by the way, is why several years
ago the United Methodist Church
officially changed the title of
those who are appointed to be
leaders of local churches in our
denomination. The title was
changed from "minister" to
"pastor." That was a good change.
The intent was to recognize the
"priesthood of
all
believers." We have different
ministries and gifts, but God has
joined us together in
the
ministry of reconciling the world
to God. Before
getting to specific gifts, let me
touch on what Paul means in
Ephesians 4:12 when he says, "so
that the body of Christ may be
built up." This has two
aspects. First,
there's an
internal
building up. Look at Ephesians
3:14-19. Paul here has just noted
that God's intent is for the
church to show the "wisdom of
God" to "the rulers and
authorities in the heavenly
realms." And then he
writes: He
includes here a call to
community. He's talking about the
purpose of the church, and he
prays that -- "together with all
the saints" -- we will be rooted
and established and empowered and
filled with the love of God in
Christ Jesus. The work of the
Holy Spirit is not to lead us
from the church, but rather to
entrench us in the
church. I
have said it before and I say it
again: The clear teaching of the
New Testament is that there is no
believing without belonging. God
desires that we be joined
together, each one participating
as he or she has been called and
gifted by God. In
addition to the building up of
the church internally, there's
also a building up
externally.
Look at Acts 2:46-47 -- a
description of the early church
and its impact: The
church was being built up new
converts, people coming to Christ
and becoming part of the
Body. Evangelism
is not a matter of rustling sheep
from the Baptists, the
Pentecostals, and the
Presbyterians. Neither is it
getting the Methodists who move
to Athens to come to church here.
It is spiritual reproduction --
people being saved and becoming
active participants in
ministry. The
internal building up and the
external building up are both
essential. We cannot choose to do
one or the other. It's both/and
-- and the context of both is the
central purpose we talked about a
few moments ago: namely, God
reaching out through us to
reconcile the world and
everything in it to Himself
through Jesus Christ. Let's
begin now looking at some
specific gifts, and we'll
continue this next
Sunday. First,
the gift of teaching. This gift
equips a person to impart
Scriptural and spiritual truth to
others. It involves understanding
and application. Someone
once defined theology as
"experience looking for
understanding." One with the gift
of teaching takes great joy in
being able to "turn on the
lights" so others can see, know,
and understand the
truth. Luke,
Paul's friend and traveling
companion, is good example. Look
at the beginning of Luke's gospel
-- Luke 1:1-4: These
verses reveal the heart of one
with the gift of
teaching. Here
at Gateway, our lay leader,
Joseph Slife, is an example of
someone with the gift of
teaching. Why do think he is such
a fountain of information? Why do
you think he can't help but point
out obscure words and meanings in
songs or hymns, relating to
Scripture? He has the gift of
teaching. Here's
a slide listing some of the
characteristics of those whom God
has gifted in this
area: But
let's not limit this gift to the
preacher. God will often give a
word to someone during a worship
service that would appear to be a
word of wisdom or knowledge, but
it is really motivated out of the
gift of teaching. We
need
teachers in the church -- not
only in discipleship classes and
Bible studies but in connection
with our worship. All
of my life I've been able to do a
number of things pretty well, but
I've never truly excelled at any
one thing. I feel like a
"spiritual gifts smoothie."
Several gifts dumped in a blender
and whirrrrr! I see evidence of
several gifts in my life but not
one that really stands out from
the rest. So
it may be that in my sermon
preparation or delivery I might
leave out something that a
teacher would consider critical
to the subject at hand, or I
might not present something
clearly. I need teachers who can
come to me and say, "Jerry, when
you said such-and-such in church
did you mean this, this, and
this?" And I might say, "No, not
really, I meant this other
thing." When
a teacher comes to me seeking
those kinds of clarifications,
that helps me. It helps me know
if I need to clarify or correct
something. We
need teachers in the church, not
only to teach, but to keep all of
us on the right path. Their gifts
help to keep our doctrine and its
application clear, and they help
to guide our decision-making as a
body. Some
of you are teachers but you
haven't lived out your gift yet.
We need teachers. We need you
develop every gift that God wants
to manifest in your life, so that
it can be used by Him to help us
as a body become everything he
has called us to be.
Gateway
Church gathers
for worship
Sundays
at 10:30 a.m.
(Hwy. 129) in Athens,
Georgia.
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of the
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The
enabling gifts
of the Holy
Spirit
(Second
in the series,
Spiritual Gifts in Corporate
Worship)
Gateway
Church,
Athens GA
There are different kinds of
gifts, but the same Spirit. There
are different kinds of service,
but the same Lord. There are
different kinds of working, but
the same God works all of them in
all men.
Sermons
in
this
series
As
we begin today, let me refresh
your memory about the first
sermon in this series, where we
began looking together at the
nature and purpose of spiritual
gifts in the church. Drawing from
1 Corinthians 12 and other
passages, I presented to you a
list of five things the Bible
teaches on this
subject.
Most
of these are found in the 1
Corinthians 12 passage. One on
this list -- "exhortation" or
"encouragement" -- is from Romans
12:8.
Why
God gives enabling
gifts
The
Greek word translated "prepare,"
"perfect," and "equip" literally
means to "complete thoroughly" --
that is, "to repair or adjust"
"to fit," "to frame," "to mend,"
"to join together," "to restore."
So the reason these gifts are
given is that they help the
church conform to God's model of
what the church ought to
be.All
this is from God, who
reconciled us to himself
through Christ and gave us the
ministry of
reconciliation...
"Therefore
go and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded
you. And surely I am with you
always, to the very end of the
age."
Body
buildingFor
this reason I kneel before the
Father, from whom his whole
family in heaven and on earth
derives its name. I pray that
out of his glorious riches he
may strengthen you with power
through his Spirit in your
inner being, so that Christ
may dwell in your hearts
through faith. And I pray that
you, being rooted and
established in love, may have
power, together with all the
saints, to grasp how wide and
long and high and deep is the
love of Christ, and to know
this love that surpasses
knowledge -- that you may be
filled to the measure of all
the fullness of God.
Every
day they continued to meet
together in the temple courts.
They broke bread in their
homes and ate together with
glad and sincere hearts,
praising God and enjoying the
favor of all the people. And
the Lord added to their number
daily those who were being
saved.
The
gift of teaching
Why is this gift important?
Remember that the great command
of Scripture is to love God with
all our heart, soul, strength,
and mind -- the
total
of our being. If our faith is
based solely on emotion or
experience, it will be shallow
and shaky. Faith is deepened and
strengthened when our experience
is under-girded by an
intellectual understanding that
God's word is fundamental
absolute truth.
Many
have undertaken to draw up an
account of the things that
have been fulfilled among us,
just as they were handed down
to us by those who from the
first were eyewitnesses and
servants of the word.
Therefore, since I myself have
carefully investigated
everything from the beginning,
it seemed good also to me to
write an orderly account for
you, most excellent
Theophilus, so that you may
know the certainty of the
things you have been taught.
Let me go through these and add a
bit more detail:
Now, in corporate worship we most
often experience the gift of
teaching through preaching. Some
preachers are very gifted in
teaching, but not all. Often the
preacher will be a mixture of
teacher, prophet, exhorter, and
evangelist.
An
audio tape of this sermon is
available
free of charge (U.S. requests
only).
Request
a tape by calling
or writing the Gateway Church
office.
Please specify tape number
020609a: Spiritual Gifts in
Corporate Worship, pt 2.
©
2002 Gerald R.
Varnado