(This message was given by Julie Eickenroth. Thatnks,Julie!)
Key scriptures: 1 Corinthians 12, 13 & 14
Other scriptures: Ephesians 4:16, 1 Peter 4:10, Luke 11:11, Matt. 7:9-11
🖉
Good morning, dear family! Thank you, Anthony, for offering me the honor of sharing with you guys today. So let’s jump right in ... Let’s talk today about what a healthy Spirit-filled, Spirit-empowered church looks like.
I grew up in this church when it was the leading “Charismatic” worshiping church in the area - cutting edge, contemporary worship (my husband Dave was a forerunner in worship). The baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit were emphasized and practiced. Some of you were here then. Some of you are new to our history.
We were all young and on fire and passionate about the Holy Spirit and the gifts and worship. It was wonderful. We were also young and immature. Truthfully, at times we kinda sucked at relationships. ☺ Sometimes we were pretty hard on each other.
You’d think that “healthy” and “Spirit-filled/ Spirit-empowered” are automatically synonymous, right? My experience has been “not necessarily”. We just didn’t know much yet about healthy spiritual community and healthy relationships. And babies make messes. ☺ We -- leaders, everybody -- all did what we were taught and what had been modeled for us. Probably most churches are like that. Sometimes you just don’t know what you don’t know. You know?
We have grown SO much since then. A lot of that growth has been through painful experience ... painful mistakes - and we made a lot of them ... But over time, thank God, we grew from those painful mistakes. I am super proud of our leadership here - not all of whom were here back then - but who took the lead in helping us grow up - because they personally committed to it - they humbled themselves and have worked hard at it.
And gradually what they were learning and teaching us and modeling for us began to permeate the atmosphere and culture of our community. It’s a much healthier place now, where authenticity, vulnerability and commitment to growth and to each other are a real priority. We are truly becoming a beautiful spiritual FAMILY.
So lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what would it really look like for a community of believers to function in the Spirit’s power and gifts ~ AND ~ be relationally healthy - a safe place full of kindness and love. Reflecting the heart of Jesus in all we do together and in our community.
Our Christian faith is at its core a deeply relational faith. Because GOD is a relational God. Therefore His Book is relational book. The core doctrine of Christianity IS relationship. LOVE. Healthy love in all its forms. I believe God wants to bring correction and balance to our perspective on the Holy Spirit and His gifts in the context of healthy spiritual community life - as it always should have been.
Today we’re going to ground our discussion in 1 Corinthians 12, 13 &14, as well as a few other scripture passages. 🖉 These three chapters in 1 Corinthians will give us a broad & brief overview or framework, then we’ll home in on several specific passages that will address what a healthy, Spirit-filled, Spirit-empowered church can look like.
There are two main purposes for the gifts of the Holy Spirit as outlined in Scripture:
1. To empower the preaching of the Gospel and endorse it with signs and wonders. (REF: Matt 28:16-20, Luke 24:44-53, Acts 2:1-13) In Jesus’ own ministry, miracles, signs and wonders followed His preaching the Gospel. He actually functioned in ALL the gifts. Everything He did in His life and ministry on earth, He modeled for US. I love that. ☺
2. To empower the church to help each other heal and grow up into mature love. (REF: 1 Cor. 12, Ephesians 4:16, 1 Peter 4:10)
Today we’re going to focus on the second, but definitely not lesser purpose of the gifts - the body building itself up in love. ... but more importantly, to put the gifts and the Holy Spirit’s work among us in the proper context of our community life together.
First, a disclaimer ... I am aware there is a lot of controversy over whether the gifts of the Spirit are for today - a doctrine or belief known as cessationism. There is a good deal of fear, ignorance, and unbelief surrounding the gifts, not to mention abuse and misuse. However, establishing the context like that will take too long to get to my main theme today so I have put some comments about this into an addendum at the end of the notes. Perhaps we can have more conversation on these things in MessagePlus or maybe even have a future class on this topic.
Because it’s definitely a conversation worth having, to revive our proper understanding of the Holy Spirit’s gifts in the life of the church, and in the Great Commission. Now - back to the overview of our texts in 1 Corinthians. Let’s look at the themes of chapter 12, 13, & 14 ... we’ll go back and forth between them a bit in our discussion.
Picture the three chapters as a group, like a HINGE ...
• 1 Cor 12: A list of the Holy Spirit’s gifts and a picture of the beautiful body of Christ, and how we are to regard and treat one another in community. These themes are very tightly linked by Paul in this chapter.
• 1 Cor 14: This chapter outlines the proper, orderly and responsible function of the gifts in the context of corporate worship. (We won’t spend any time in ch. 14 today other than to note it, because it’s more important to establish the main points I want to focus on.)
• 1 Cor. 13: the famous “love chapter”, I call this the “hinge” chapter - -- the critical chapter upon which chapter 12 and 14 turn.
We’ll come back to ch. 13 in a minute.
CHAPTER 12
Paul starts ch. 12 with: “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.” (be ignorant, misunderstand, be unaware)
V. 4-6 says there are “varieties of gifts, service, and activities” that are given and empowered by the same Spirit, the same Lord, and the same God.
V. 7 - then clearly links “the manifestation of the Spirit” in the various gifts to serving one another, saying they are for “the common good” of the body.
Then he lists the various kinds of gifts (NOT an exhaustive list of the gifts here):
• the word of wisdom
• the word of knowledge
• faith
• healing
• working of miracles
• various kinds of tongues (there are several)
• interpretation of tongues
... and says these are all empowered by one and the same Spirit, Who gives these gifts AS He wills, to WHOM He wills.
Next is Paul’s description of how critically important each person in the body is to the whole body, to our family life together. 🖉[SLIDE] (1 Cor. 12: 12-21)✂
2 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part, but of many.
15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”
• we are all baptized by one Spirit
• we were all given one Spirit to drink
• we cannot reject/dismiss ourselves - “I don’t belong to the body!” • we cannot reject/dismiss others with contempt - “I don’t need you!”
Now before we look at the next passage, vs. 22-26 ... I’m going to pause here and go back to 1 Cor. 13 for a minute.After discussing the Holy Spirit and His gifts to the Body of Christ, Paul then points us to what he calls “the more excellent way”,with LOVE being the “more excellent way”.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 was written some 2000 years ago, yet this list actually represents many of the doctrinal emphases we see in the body of Christ today.
• speaking with tongues
• prophecy
• spiritual knowledge of mysteries
• other kinds of knowledge
• faith – we see a lot about the word of faith movement these days • serving the poor
• sacrificial martyrdom
These could be characterized as “open hand” issues ... things about which we personally can feel passionate and convinced, but are not central to the core of our faith (“closed hand” issues). Paul says of all these things - they are nothing without LOVE. Even faith, serving the poor, and martyrdom are nothing WITHOUT LOVE!
The rest of Ch. 13 then tells us how each of us should look as we grow up and begin to bear the fruit of mature love over time.
Faith, hope and love ... and the greatest of these is LOVE.
Because you can have faith - and not have love.
And you can have hope - and not have love.
But when hope and faith falter or fail, God’s love is what will carry us.
And now we’ll circle back to my favorite passage and the other main point today.
Paul talks about how we are to treat each other ... specifically, “the weak among us”.
1 Corinthians 12:22-26:
22 In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary [indispensable]. 23 And the parts we regard as less honorable [immodest] are those we clothe with the greatest care [modesty]. So we carefully protect [cover] those parts that should not be seen, 24while the more honorable [presentable] parts do not require this special care.
So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity [honor]. 25 This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other [have the same concern]. 26 If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.
“Weak” here doesn’t mean weak morally ... it simply means infirm, feeble, more easily fatigued or injured, more easily affected with disease, etc. God does not have contempt for weakness, so neither should we. (And honestly, sometimes our greatest strengths can become our greatest weakness ... so there’s that. ☺)
I love this passage ... the idea of adding honor to those who aren’t typically honored, but instead marginalized, while those who are more gifted, talented, attractive, charismatic, etc., need no special honor added to them. So what does that love look like? Now we come to the main point:
Who might be “the weak among us”? Just a partial list, I’m sure you could think of more ...
• The elderly - treasures stored up in their hearts that they could still be offering to the body of Christ with just a little support
• People who struggle with mental illness, depression, personality disorders • Women / children - certain interpretations of doctrine have marginalized and degraded women ... and we all know what Jesus had to say about causing little ones to stumble
• The poor
• The abused, traumatized, people with PTSD
• The orphaned, abandoned, and lonely
• Single parents
• Women who’ve had abortions or are being pressured to have an abortion • Unmarried for whatever reason (single, widowed, circumstances, wounding) • Folks who live with chronic illness or disability
🖉What do you do when a person’s illness or disability doesn’t yield to our strongest, most faith-filled prayers? Too often I have seen people discarded marginalized or treated with contempt or distain and accused of not having enough faith. I experienced this myself when I was diagnosed with breast cancer years ago.
Obviously we are to treat EVERYONE with kindness and honor. But for the gifted, the strong, the attractive, etc. = “No extra honor is needed” Instead, we can add honor to “the weak among us” So how can we add honor to “the weak among us”? A few suggestions: (There could be a LOT more -- MessagePlus?):
• Ask the Holy Spirit to examine our own heart for judgments that would cause our heart to grow cold/distant, to move away from people we don’t agree with, or may have hidden pockets of fear or contempt for.
The Holy Spirit will happily point out these areas if you ask Him. Sometimes He’ll point them out even if you don’t ask Him. ☺
• Sit with people. Ask them, “What’s your life like? What’s it like to be you?” Then listen -- and listen some more. Don’t preach, don’t scold, don’t cheerlead -- sometimes even our most enthusiastic encouragement and cheerleading isn’t what’s needed so much as LISTENING.
To loosely quote from Dr. Dan Allender: “You don’t need five letters after your name to sit with people and hear their stories.”
You guys know me. I love to teach, to exhort, build people up, to cheerlead. But sometimes my “coach” or “teacher-y vibe” isn’t what’s needed. A dear friend taught me that some years ago. She shared her deepest heart and pain ... I started teaching her about judgments ... and watched her deflate and crumple in on herself. “Too many words, too many words”, she whispered. In that moment, when she was being triggered in her pain, WORDS wre not what she needed. She needed me to LISTEN.
I could have been offended, but the Holy Spirit caught my heart in that moment. Was this about her pain and her need in the moment - or my ego? So I asked her to teach me how to listen to her. Since then she has honestly, courageously, and faithfully taught me how to listen, to attune to what she needs. In return, she has been a great friend to me as well.
• Educate yourself. Read up on trauma and its long term effects on people. Study up on autism. Go to an AA or NA meeting with a friend in recovery. Volunteer at Thrive. You get the idea.
• Then walk along with them. Go to them, don’t wait for them to call you. Include them. Invite them. Invite yourself.
It’s not always easy to sit with or walk along over the long-term with people who have been abused, traumatized, marginalized, judged and dismissed for various reasons. Sometimes we don’t know what to do or say. We don’t know how to relieve or heal their pain and loss. Press in, anyway. This stretches our love. But without exposing our hearts to opportunities to grow with each other, our love remains thin and weak. All relationships require RISK.
Ultimately, the true measure of the Holy Spirit’s gifts and work among us is defined best by our love and service to the weakest among us.
1 Peter 4:10: "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms."
Ephesians 4:16: “He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow so that the whole body is healthy, growing, and full of love.” (NLT)
The Lord gave me a word years ago. “I WILL pour my Spirit out on this church again, but I’m teaching them to love first.” That’s happening now. There is a powerful move of the Spirit at work in our midst RIGHT NOW. The Holy Spirit is moving -- lives are quietly, but powerfully being transformed RIGHT NOW. Is it happening on the platform or at the altar every Sunday? Not so much as it’s taking place in our check-in groups ... I’m seeing people being transformed in these groups right before my very eyes.
The mighty Holy Spirit doesn’t need platforms ... He needs PEOPLE.
Addendum Notes
1. The gifts are for today.
I am aware there is a discussion in the church whether the Holy Spirit’s gifts are for today or whether they ceased with the establishment of the early church. This belief is called “cessationism”. If you’re not familiar with it, you can read up on the controversy, there’s lots of info online about this controversy.
Personally, I see much evidence in Scripture that the endowment of the Spirit’s gifts on the church are for today.
Here are just a few Scriptures that point to that fact:
• Hebrews 13:8 says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever . • 1 Cor. 12:11 says “the Holy Spirit gives His gifts as He wills, to whom He wills”, as we saw in our text today.
• 1 Cor. 12:7 states the gifts are given “for the common good” . • If the Spirit’s gifts are given for “the common good” of the body of Christ, then why could that have ceased with the early church? If anything, we need His gifts now more than ever.
• Romans 11:29 says “His gifts and callings are without repentance [irrevocable]”, which means He hasn’t revoked the giving of His gifts after the founding of the early church.
• The Holy Spirit is our Advocate, Comforter, Counselor, and Helper. He will convict the world of sin, righteousness, and the coming judgment. He will teach us everything He hears from Jesus and lead us into all truth (John 16.7–15).
2. We need not be afraid of the Holy Spirit’s gifts.
Matthew 7:9-11 - For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Luke 11:9-13:9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
The Holy Spirit is "the good gift" the Father has given us!
Therefore the Holy Spirit is the “Good Gift” Who gives good gifts!
~ bread vs. stone: God will give us something to nurture and feed us, not something cold, hard, and dead
~ fish vs. snake: He will not give us anything that will lead us into deception. ~ egg vs. scorpion: He will not give us anything stinging or deadly.
The gifts of the Spirit are just that: GIFTS. They are not to be dishonored, ignored, shamed, marginalized. Many are ignorant or fearful of the gifts due to misuse or abuse. Some is simply due to immaturity and lack of training and experience.
I love what Graham Cooke says:
“The answer to abuse or misuse of the gifts
is not NON-use, but PROPER use.”
We are to grow in the gifts just like we grow in anything else - in our faith, our knowledge of the Word, in love - WITH PRACTICE.
Wrong use of the gifts:
• to promote people and give them a platform
• to monetize ministry and enrich them
• to control and abuse others (God forbid!)
The Holy Spirit and His gifts are not meant to be merely displays of the Spirit's power to impress others (each other and the world), or to puff ourselves up, or to monetize their use to enrich ourselves (like in many platform ministries).
Again, GOD FORBID. 👓
The Holy Spirit’s beautiful, mighty gifts were given to serve God’s people, to help us grow up into mature love, and to help us bring the lost to Jesus Christ.
With our natural gifts and talents, the Holy Spirit’s gifts are meant to help us serve one another so we all grow in love and wisdom as the living, breathing expression of God's love in the world.
All power - whether the immense power given to us by God in the form of free will, or whether His mighty supernatural power, must be rooted and grounded in love or it will inevitably be misused or abused.
Then the Holy Spirit adds His empowerment to our lives to help us do what we cannot do in our own strength. But always, always, always, ALL power must be rooted and grounded in love.