Northside Church - Sydney
Cure for the Common Life Week 2: Different Gifts, One Giver
You're listening to another great message from Northside Community Church. You know, before the invention of iPhones and Nintendo DS's and iPod touches and Tamagotchies, children had to play with these funny things called toys. And I was one of them and one particular toy that swept the school playgrounds in the early 80s was unique. You see, no one child possessed this toy in its entirety. This toy's name was Voltron, and Voltron was a gigantic robot based on a Japanese cartoon that was charged to defend the universe against evil. But it only ever functioned that way when the Voltron team united in their various parts and skills. See, each member of the team was a different colored robotic lion, and when Voltron had to gather together to serve its purpose, all of these lions would gather together and one would form the head, and one would form the arm, and one would form the legs. And so therefore, whenever we would want to play Voltron at school, each of my friends had to agree with each other the day before as to who was going to bring which part of the Voltron. And then and only then, when all the parts came together, could we launch ourselves into the great adventure of defending the universe against evil? Isn't that what we just heard from this passage? I mean, of course, the church is not a robot, but this passage teaches us that the church is a spiritual Voltron, that the defender, where a defender of the galaxy against evil, that we can only have a fully operate when all of our various parts join together and contribute to the operation for this greater purpose. All of these various parts, as Paul described in 1 Corinthians 12, is not robotic lions in different colors, it's what's called spiritual gifts. And that is the idea that they operate together. And sadly, that's not what the Apostle Paul was writing into when he wrote this letter. You see, there was a lot of division in the church. There's a little doubt that in the first century, the church in Corinth was in a bit of a pickle. If you want to see an example of the ambiguity of the church, it's nobility on one hand, and it's just its problems on the other then there's no need to look further than in Corinth. And on one hand, Paul describes this as being so richly endowed in spiritual gifts. It doesn't need any more. But on the other hand, it was extremely critical because they were smug and they were being self-centered and they were being showy and they were being intolerant. And so what was happening here is the church was being torn apart. You see, some of these divisions are no doubt due to these different doctrinal, theological differences about what these spiritual gifts meant. And it was not the point. The point was that the church was a spiritual Valtron that everything was supposed to be coming together to defend the universe against evil. And so in summary, in this passage, it teaches us that all Christians, here we have, all Christians have the same spirit, that spirit who gives different gifts to build the church. That's what we're going to look at this morning through various parts of this passage. But first of all, we see that all Christians have been given the same spirit. How do we know that? In about seven to eight times, Paul emphasizes that we all come to share in one and the same spirit by receiving the same spirit. You see, to be a Christian is not to adhere to strict doctrines or rules or sets of beliefs, but it's simply to receive the Holy Spirit, God's Spirit, within you, to receive that Spirit of Jesus. Now, if that's the case, it does two things. It's both humbling for us, but it's also incredibly empowering. It's humbling and it's empowering. It's humbling because first, look at this in verse three, it shows us why it's humbling. Paul says a verse that sounds a bit weird initially when we read it, but it says, "Therefore, I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says Jesus be cursed, and no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit." Now, what he's getting out there is that when it's saying no one, you know, by the Spirit can say, "Jesus is cursed." It's not saying that the Holy Spirit holds your mouth shut, so you can't physically say that. What it's saying to us in that verse what Paul is saying here is that the very desire, instead the very desire to place Jesus Christ centrally in your life, takes the Holy Spirit. You can't say Jesus is Lord unless God is prompting you that way through his Spirit, and that is you're not capable of even wanting Christ in your life without his Holy Spirit. And so, sadly, this topic of spiritual gifts has caused a lot of divisions in the church, not just in Corinth, but churches throughout the centuries, because I bet for most people when it comes to spiritual gifts, the key question I want to talk about is, well, what does tongues mean, and what about prophecy, and what about healing, and what about all this sort of stuff that's happening here? And Paul says a verse one, "I don't want you to be ignorant, and I want you to not understand what is going on here," and that's one of the challenges. There can be a lot of misconceptions around the gifts people can latch on because these gifts are impressive, or they look good, or they could be fun, or they're mysterious. And Paul points out, that's okay, but don't be ignorant about these gifts. Paul says it's okay, but don't be ignorant. See, look, here's the issue that was at hand here, regardless of what these gifts were. People will look at the gifts, and they'll make you the vision between the spiritual and the unspiritual. And if you were not displaying certain types of gifts, then you weren't a true Christian. These focus on these showing manifestations of the spirit, like talking in tongues and these spiritual manifestations, they would deem you as a sign of true spirituality. They're not saying you're not a true Christian unless you're displaying this. And yet we read before that everyone receives the same spirit. Everyone has the same spirit, and these things are just the manifestation of that spirit. And so you might have experienced that in modern churches today. You might think, you know what, I couldn't preach to save my life. I'm not a very spiritual person. I can't do worship the way Phil does here and the way he leads it in such a powerful way. You know, I'm not a very spiritual person. We make these comparisons, right? But it's the same spirit. Here's the point. If it's all from the same spirit, people who have these spotlight gifts have no more of the spirit than the brand newest Christian. And that's humbling. It's humbling, but it's also very empowering because when it says, and no one can say Jesus is Lord by the Holy Spirit, it means you can't want to want God unless you have the spirit of God working within you. Dallas Willard puts it the other way, he says, to be truly lost is to no longer want to want God. If you're not even thinking of God, then you truly lost. What it's saying is the very thought of God, if you're thinking about God, you're wondering about God is a sign of his spirit in your life. Now you put it this way that the sense of the absence of God is actually a sign of his presence. And so if you're saying to yourself this morning, I don't have these miraculous gifts and I don't have these powers of God in me and I don't have these amazing gifts. It's actually showing you that the very spirit of God is working within you now. It's the same spirit. You can't be a Christian without receiving the same unifying spirit of Jesus Christ. It's humbling for those with the showy flashy gifts. But it's also empowering if you've got the behind the scene gifts and the smaller gifts or you want these gifts of the spirit to be at work at your life. It's a sign that God's working within you. So it's the same spirit who gives different gifts. Now most of you have got grandkids here, some of you got kids. What is the one thing that kids love at the end of a birthday party? The lollibags. The lollibags, of course, all kids want to go to a party and have the lollibags. I remember my brothers and sisters went to a party and they had gotten the lollibag and they'd come back into the car and they're sitting in the back of the Commodore and the rest of the siblings are asking them for some strawberries and cream and a bit of sherbet and all the fun stuff that came out of the lollibag and we sort of asked what was the party was all about. And I was there stuffing their face full of lollies and went, "I don't know." You see, their focus was on the gifts, not the giver. The giver of the gifts. And we can approach, and the Corinthian church approached spiritual gifts in the same way that the Corinthian church approached spiritual gifts like two kids with their faces in a lollibag. I want tons of what he only want, but they weren't focusing on the giver of the gift. And that is why the overriding theme of this chapter is that there is one holy spirit. There is the one same spirit throughout the church who is the giver of these different gifts. And here's the amazing thing, this unity that Paul is talking about is not uniformity. It doesn't mean that it all looks the same. It's all different, verse four to seven. Let's have a look here. 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 people. Now to each one, the manifestation of the spirit is given for the common good. The church is a spiritual Voltron, remember. It's the same spirit giving different gifts. Now obviously one of the questions out of that is, well what are they? And I'm glad you asked. Because in this list, it gives us about nine of them in 1 Corinthians 12. Wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, powers, prophecy, discernment, tongues and interpretation of tongues. Now you know what Paul is saying here? Red, yellow and pink and green, purple and orange and blue. I can sing a rainbow, sing, you know the song right? Whenever a source of light passes through a prism, it refracts. That's the scientific term for it, but it splits out into the most wonderful, beautiful spectrum. And you might have seen them, they're called rainbows. And what Paul is saying here is that the spiritual gifts are a rainbow of the spirit that is light. The purest and whitest source of light in the universe, the Holy Spirit, the whole point Paul is trying to make is yes there are different various gifts and they are a beautiful thing but I'm trying to point you back to the source. Don't get caught up in the spectrum. I want you back looking at the source and unfortunately some people rip these things out of the New Testament out of context all the time. And they say there's only nine gifts to the spirit and we write whole books on them all but if you look into the context of the letter you'll see that this letter is, it's corrective, it's not instructive and that's important to remember because what it's saying is the nine gifts that are in this chapter are not an exhaustive list. And so there are lots of catalogues throughout the New Testament, if you want to write them down you can quickly 1 Corinthians 12, 1 Corinthians 14, Romans chapter 12 verses 6 to 8, Ephesians chapter 4, 11 to 13, 1 Peter chapter 4 verses 10 to 11. Look here's the thing if you compare and add them up you can get almost 21 different gifts that are coming out of that list. And what grabs you is it's amazing spectrum. Spectrums are not definitive, of course there are mainstreams of red and yellow and pink and green and purple and orange and blue. But there's variations within those delineations and so for example in this Romans 12 verse 8 Paul writes if it's contributing to the needs of others then let them give generously is talking about spiritual gifts there. I'm yet to have someone come up to me and say Sam could you please pray that I receive the spiritual gift of generosity? There's a spectrum, so how do we know what the spiritual gift is? You look at the phrases that we see in verses 4 to 6, the first phrase gifts, the second phrase service, the third phrase workings and empowerings. You see you can define a spiritual gift along those lines and here it is, a spiritual gift is an ability, a working to meet a need, service for the common good, empowerings. They're very, very different and there's a whole range of them, don't focus on only three, don't focus on only only nine, don't focus on 21, it's like light coming from a diamond and to focus only on the red section of the rainbow would be to make yourself unaware of the richness. The one unifying source, the light that is causing the refraction and if the church were a diamond then to focus only on tongues and teaching and prophecy and healing and wisdom would diminish our understanding of the source, the Holy Spirit. Instead we should be looking around the church to see how he's manifesting himself in that incredible rainbow. Look here's the point, you can get yourself caught in the specifics but are you focusing on the gifts or are you focusing on the giver of the gifts? We can treat spiritual gifts like lollies in a lolly bag but we see a spirit, it's the same spirit that gives different gifts and finally we see to build his church for the common good. So the gifts of the spirit are tools or the means to build his church individually and corporately. Now as far as individuality is concerned that was part of the problem from Paul because the Corinthian focus meant they were overvaluing their gift of tongues and it was causing them to misuse that, some thought they were bigger than others, some thought that they were less than others because they weren't speaking in tongues. But the question is how do we make sure we're using the tools in the right way? The principle is that we're to use them for communal advantage that is that spiritual gifts are tools to grow and to build. I mean I should know about building up, I worked for Len Lease, Bovis Len Lease for five years and they were in the construction business and the thing that amazed me when I used to go and go out the site with the guys I was just an accountant so I was normally in the office but if I was lucky and got to put my hard hat on and go out the site. What amazed me was the way that you would see a skyscraper going up and you would see hundreds of tradespeople descend upon the site and you would have plumbers going in and you have electricians going in and you would have concrete is going in and jip rock is going in and all of them knew their particular part that they were going to play, each of them had a certain skill or a gift if you like without the need of strict supervision. And here's why because you see specialized gifts and abilities when combined for a common purpose to a common plan produce far more effective results. You can't get through the construction industry without working in accordance with the great project manager and isn't that how it should be in church guys? I mean all our different gifts coming together just using them in the way that we know they should be used and so ultimately for Paul what he's writing in the context of love is that his solution to the Corinthian problem lies in coming to a recognition that church is not about what you're receiving but what you're giving. In fact if you go at the end of this whole chapter he says hey I want to tell you about the greater gifts 1 Corinthians 13 it's the wedding passage right of course he's talking the greater gift is love. So how do you know what your gift is then we could have a whole other message on that you see but he's probably the litmus test of it all. You know what I love in this place is the spirit of enthusiasm and the desire to give and the desire to work together as a church and you have people coming up saying you know we've got to get more involved in missions. You know we've got to get ourselves more organized. You know what we just got to serve more. You know what it's got to be about the teaching we've got to teach harder. You hear all these requests come in and I'm thinking which one is the law there's so many different things happening and then I realized that each person who's saying that is reflecting the gift to which they resonate with. Wisdom and teaching and service. And so in other words a quick litmus test we can't have a whole sermon into it is if you want to know what your gift is to see what needs in the church and in the community and in people's lives you were naturally drawn to. And just work with that. Ask God for his strength in that and he's leading in that. How does that work? What does it look like? Let me leave you with this this morning. You know before God invented the baby cue which is a gas powered mini web a barbecue. Whenever it came to family outings we had to go old school and every second weekend we would end up in the Coringay National Park and we'd go up there with the father and as he was setting up the picnic. I being the old of course was charged with the responsibility of setting up the barbecue. And so I would mobilize my young siblings like an army sergeant major and I would send them out into the bush to go and collect all sorts of various forms of fuel. And so we would come back to this central barbecue and I would increasingly get frustrated every time we did this because I get back. And I'm as most young teenagers boy I'm trying to find some form of Bear Grills instrument to chop down a tree and drag them back through the national park and put it right in the middle of the barbecue. And I'm carrying whole logs back to this thing and this is going to be the biggest barbecue ever. And then of course my little brother Alex is only three or four at the time. He's there and he's just bringing back a handful of leaves. And then my sisters they're bringing little bits of sticks and all sorts of stuff and they like it because it's pretty and they can wave it around. I'm thinking guys we've got to do a barbecue here. And so I'm frustrated because Alex has only bought a handful of leaves. He's done nothing to contribute to the family barbecue. I'm just going to have to get on with it and I chuck the giant log on there and then I get my match out and I strike the match and I hold it under that log. And then I strike the match again and I hold it underneath the log. And then I realized I think I need some leaves. And the leaves take off and they're starting to go but they're going to fade out pretty quick. I think I'm going to need some smaller sticks. I thank goodness my sister bought the smaller sticks. What I'm trying to say guys here is that the church is a great bonfire of God. And it's our role not just to see gifts from God but to bring our gifts to God. Church won't work unless each person brings their specific gift to the barbecue. I want you to get this this morning that regardless of how big or small you feel your gift is to God's church and his kingdom. It's your responsibility to go out and searching in the bush and bring your gift back to the bonfire. As the heavenly Father prepares his picnic that is all that he's going to do each time that we gather this morning. And so some of you are thinking this morning you know what I only watch the details. What does that mean to this? I can't preach. Some of you think in this morning I just do the little communion cups type thing. What does that got to do with church? Some of you are thinking I serve in the cafe ministry. Some of you are thinking I can only just sit down with some of the kids in our kids church. Some of you are thinking all I can do is pick up the phone because it's hard for me to travel this week and just talk to someone on the phone. What does that got to do with church? Hey we need the big logs. But that baby I'm going to burn unless we've got some leaves and some sticks and some of the smaller stuff. It's not how big or how flashy or how intense your gift is that you bring to the barbecue this morning. Each of it is needed to contribute to the great spiritual bonfire. That's his church. So spiritual gifts guys. Let's not be confused. It's from the same spirit that spreads out in great diversity and distributes in diversity for the common good of his church. So however you want to see it this morning whether it's a spiritual Voltron and all sorts of red colored lines coming together or a great holy bonfire might I charge you this week to seek eagerly maybe even this time of prayer after the service. To ask God Lord what is it that you've gifted me with? Or if you know your gift, might I encourage you to use it? Use it over these coming weeks and months? Because every time regardless of how our life situation might pan out, how busy we might feel. Whether we want to pick up the phone or turn up to a church service here unless we bring whatever we God has given us into the barbecue. This place the great bonfire that is church burns every little duller without you a part of it. May you be confident and courageous in all that it is given you this week. And I pray through his holy spirit that he might reveal that to you. What role you might play whether it's in these roles or in our community this week he's given you a gift. Whatever you resonate with go try it out and contribute and together we will as his church be part of the greater plan of defending this almighty universe against the forces of evil. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord we are just, we are in awe of what you do in this place. We are in awe of the faithfulness of your people who do everything that we have heard from this passage this morning. Their faithful service to this place the encouragement to one another the parts that they play. Lord we just thank you for them and pray that you might continue to bless them and strengthen them and give them ever greater vision of what it is that you have gifted them with and calling them to. Father for those this morning that feel that they don't have that much to contribute. May they be ever more empowered by your spirit to look up and see the greater picture and the significance of that part that they play. Father for those that are not part of this incredible gathering of people for those that are yet to call themselves a Christian and are seeking this morning as our series says a cure for the common life. May they through your spirit realize that that will come through placing their faith and their trust in Jesus Christ. To be with us all this week may we grow ever stronger as a church as we move into new and exciting seasons this year in 2012. To bring whatever it might be from the greatest log to the smallest leaf to the great bonfire that is your church. I'm going to pry this new in Jesus' name. Amen. (gentle music)