Presents Presents, and Presence

 

Presents Presents, and Presence

 

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

A variety of gifts but one Spirit 

12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be ignorant.

12:2 You know that when you were gentiles, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak.

12:3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says "Let Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.

12:4 Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit,

12:5 and there are varieties of services but the same Lord,

12:6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.

12:7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

12:8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,

12:9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,

12:10 to another the working of power deeds, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

12:11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

“Gifts” of the Spirit have messed up the church for millennia. I don’t think that was God’s intent. The gifts of the Holy Spirit that Paul addresses several times in his writings, and here in today’s passage from First Corinthians, are meant for “the common good.” Why, then, have they often so divided us? The whole Charismatic/Pentecostal side of the church revel in the “sign” gifts such as speaking in tongues and healing, while less “spirited” branches of the church crave wisdom, knowledge, faith, and discernment of Spirits, all of which seem to have more practical applications than “ecstatic” tongues and Oral Roberts-like “laying on of hands.” 

 

As one who passed through the “Charismatic” movement while having my young-adult “Aldersgate” renewal experience, I am sympathetic to those who venerate and practice the “sign” gifts. I suppose I should explain the Aldersgate reference, first. I grew up in a vital, large United Methodist Church that was blessed with a series of solid clergy leaders, courtesy of the itinerant system practiced by our denomination. And while I was an every week church attender with my family, and even an officer in the youth group while in high school, my Christian faith was pretty pedestrian. I certainly believed in God, and thanks to sitting under good preaching and the witness of faithful lay leaders, I understood the salvific work of Jesus Christ, the importance of his teachings for the world, and his “membership” as part of the godhead. In the denominational church, the role of the Holy Spirit was mostly that of a loving Mom—supportive, soothing, guiding, and protecting. There were no supernatural manifestations of the Spirit’s presence, other than a warm, inner feeling if an anthem was exceptional and “struck a chord” in our psyche, or a particularly poignant sermon hit home. Then, I went off to college to study journalism.

 

One night, while gloating in my college dorm room that my life was unfolding just as I wanted it to, and feeling pretty good about myself, I had a very personal encounter with the Living God. I can’t explain it, really, except to say that I had a “conversation” with God, who seemed to be saying that I was at an important juncture in my life, and that I had been making plans with little consultation with my Creator. This experience, which for me is best understood as my own personal “Aldersgate” moment, set me on a new plane of faith in Christ, one that I am still exploring and growing into, even as a retired pastor at age 70. For Wesley, his experience at a Bible study with a group in a house on London’s Aldersgate Street changed the direction of his life and gave birth to Methodism. For me, my “Aldersgate” experience led me to a sojourn through the “Jesus revolution” happening in the early 1970s, the Charismatic movement paralleling it, and eventually to discern a call into ordained ministry, several years later.

 

During this journey, I fellowshipped with a group of Christians in my home town who were involved with the Charismatic renewal movement, and most especially what we now call the “sign” gifts. At prayer meetings, Bible studies, and even worship services with these folks, it was not unusual to hear some of them “speaking in tongues,” and from time to time, one person might speak out loud in this ecstatic, “heavenly tongue,” followed by another who had the spiritual gift of “interpretation of tongues.” As a late-teen young adult, this was all quite stimulating, as well as quite a fuel for my curiosity. It seemed like a very personal “sideling up” to God, and led many of us normally carnal teenagers into a much deeper relationship WITH God, focused on Jesus. Unfortunately, this fascination with the charismatic gifts also led to disputes over what gifts were still “operative” in the Body of Christ, and which ones should be eschewed or abandoned, due to their schismatic tendencies. This experience has led me to accept the legitimacy of the “sign” gifts, and not to disparage them, when they are properly employed, but to also understand that they may be optional in their incorporation in one’s spiritual practice. As a mainline pastor, I chose to not promote the “sign” gifts, but instead focused on the many other manifestations of the Holy Spirit that truly “built up” or edified the church, such as wisdom, knowledge, faith, and healing.

 

This brings me to what I believe to be the core of this message on the gifts of the Spirit the apostle profiles here. God presents these PRESENTS, as a means of being PRESENT to the church and to its Christ followers, in order to empower their witness and promote the work of the gospel. The goal is not to glorify the gifts themselves, or the people to whom they are gifted. Spiritual gifts are tools, not trophies, or jewelry to be worn as a sign of the intensity of one’s faith. Again, as Paul writes, they are for the COMMON good. With this in mind, maybe a redefining of these gifts, what they “do,” and their application for Christians and the church in 2024 may be in order. Obviously, I’m not God, so this preacher can’t actually “re-order” these gifts, but since each of us IS given much freedom by God as to how and when to “use” them, I am free to make a few suggestions. Here we go.

 

The gift of “knowledge” I have observed is active when laity or clergy manifest a far above normal ability to assimilate, analyze, and act on complicated information or circumstances. Whether planning strategically for a church’s (or a denomination’s) ministry, or addressing the kinds of crises they—or their communities—may face, the Holy Spirit may impart this gift to focus, coordinate, and combine the thoughts of otherwise widely differing persons and their experience fields. This imparted “knowledge” leads to effective collaboration, and builds a community spirit of cooperation, all to advance the cause of the gospel. 

 

“Wisdom” is a gift that may be learned over time, as most of us on the far side of 39 know. However, the Holy Spirit may also offer this gift of knowing HOW to apply knowledge to problems or opportunities, and to make wise decisions, to those without those years of experience. I have seen this gift working in teenagers who otherwise might manifest the typical foibles of the teen years, which get in the way of such “wise” choices. Believe me, when a teenager comes up with a brilliant idea far beyond their years or expertise, the whole room knows the Spirit is afoot! Or when anyone in a meeting called to deal with a presenting issue leans forward and says, “Here’s what I think we should do,” before sharing a game-changer of a strategy, the same applies. Not that people can’t have their own, smart ideas, but there is a witness in the room that more is happening than is humanly possible—it’s the gift of wisdom at work. 

 

The same can be said of such gifts as “working of power deeds,” which may be akin to a supernatural/intellectual “adrenalin boost.” When a team of teenagers and its semi-skilled adult leaders accomplish a Habitat for Humanity blitz-build of an entire house in a week, you had better believe the Holy Spirit had a “power boost” in the mix. The “gift” of faith may be a similar, sudden “turbocharging” of a person’s or a group’s trust in God that gets them through a crisis or leads them to accomplish an audacious goal. The gift of faith may also be viewed as a faith that arises when someone is mired in deep doubt, lifting them out of their spiritual despair. I’ve seen this “gift” granted to a person in the midst of crippling grief or in the face of a life-threatening diagnosis. 

 

While “sign gift” folk see prophecy as God speaking a message directly to humans, I suggest that it is more often granted as a clear, sober view of current reality, which in turn leads to an effective plan or a solution to a difficult problem. A “prophetic” view is the ability to see things from God’s angle, which probably can’t happen, apart from the Spirit’s agency. This accurate, love-centered “picture” is most helpful in the work of social justice. It counters the WAY too often “image” of reality built upon our human self-centeredness.

 

While not wanting to insult my Pentecostal friends by saying anything negative about the gift of “speaking in tongues” or “interpretation of tongues,” I will say that these ARE gifts that the Apostle Paul warns about how they are used. While he admits to speaking in tongues “more than any of you,” and saying it can be a positive gift, he does say that they may not be understood by “unbelievers,” and can be divisive in a public worship service. I see this gift as mostly something other than the “prayer language” or “messages from God” that Pentecostals may employ. In my experience, I have seen these gifts played out most effectively in the mission field where languages other than English are used. People with these gifts have shown an unusual propensity for learning and employing languages other than their native tongue. Colleagues I’ve been on international mission trips with have demonstrated a unique ability to quickly learn and use the languages of the people among whom they are serving, including the occasional very unusual tribal languages of native peoples. While those of us without these spiritual gifts CAN learn other languages, it requires great labor and much practice to do so, and rarely becomes as “natural” to us as it does to those so gifted. When Paul talks of “seeking the better gifts,” this latter understanding of speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues is what he may have been talking about, as it serves a greater purpose in the ministry of the Gospel message.

 

If you were to ask me which of these gifts stands out the most, I would say “discernment of spirits.” Again, while we all may “learn” to separate legitimate or genuine truth from deception, for example, people with the gift of discernment of spirits have what I would describe as a supernatural ability to detect deception or evil motives at work, and likewise may also discern when GOD is acting or leading, versus merely human agency. The former is an extremely valuable gift to have available in the Body of Christ, for the church—or any fellowship of well-meaning Christian people, for that matter—is too often “ripe” for being exploited by persons seeking to capitalize on our “good intentions” and desire to “love our neighbor.” Interestingly, in several of the churches I served, it was the custodian who manifested this gift! Many times a person would stop by the office with a sob story for the pastor, hoping to use my sympathy/empathy as a path to tapping the “Pastor’s Fund” for aid, and Gary, Dave, or Bob would pull me aside and say something like “Be careful there; something doesn’t ring true about that guy.” I learned to take these “discerned” warnings seriously, and upon a little further conversation with the “client,” found the holes in their story, or caught them in an outright lie about their actual circumstances. I tried not to “judge” these individuals, but these experiences caused me to enter into a pact with my ministerial colleagues in these communities that we would reach out to each other when encountering a person seeking monetary aid. So often when we compared notes, we found these persons to be taking undue advantage of our “assistance.” Again, discerning individuals had the “gift” of being able to detect the error or deception afoot. These same, discerning persons would also often be the ones affirming that they “felt the Spirit’s presence” during the worship service, or “knew” that God was touching a certain person in some way. Discernment of Spirits is an easy gift to recognize. It is the opposite of “paranoia” or skepticism, instead manifesting itself as a kind of “spider sense” in the gifted individual. I would definitely put this one on Paul’s list of “greater gifts”!

 

Two important things stand out in our understanding of this passage about Spiritual gifts: they are “activated by the Holy Spirit,” as the author says; and they manifest the presence of God in the midst of God’s people. As I stated earlier, the spiritual gifts are given for the “edification (building up) of the Body of Christ,” and to be used as tools for ministry and mission. They are NOT jewelry or medals “worn” as a sign of heightened or superior spirituality. As the title of the sermon says, they are PRESENTED by God as PRESENTS to the Body, and they demonstrate God’s PRESENCE in our midst! It just doesn’t get better than that! Oh, and lest I forget, I urge each of you to SEEK these gifts of the Spirit. Don’t shy away from them, as they are essential for accomplishing any church’s vision and carrying out the ministry to which God has called us. Amen!