Transcript

1 Corinthians chapter 12. I am entitling tonight’s message simply “The Introduction to Spiritual Gifts.” As the apostle Paul writes this letter chiefly in answer to questions from the church at Corinth, he is covering issue after issue, problem after problem, mess after mess, and now he comes to the mess of the abuse and excesses concerning spiritual gifts. And what a mess this must be, because it took three chapters to deal with it. Let’s read in verses 1-7, then we’ll get to the exposition of the text.

“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware or ignorant. You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the dumb idols, however you were led. Therefore I make know to you, that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says Jesus is accursed, and no on can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. And there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”

Now the Old Testament prophets predicted that during the messianic period, the ministry of Christ and that immediate period after Christ, that there would be the attendants of those ministries, all types of supernatural signs and wonders and miracles, and the Holy Spirit would bring these about. And there was that wonderful diversity of spiritual enablements among the people and given to all types of people, in all types of setting. And it’s easy to understand under these type circumstances how unavoidable it would be that disorder would arise. Now, we know there are several reasons why disorder arises, when there are these supernatural outpourings of the spirit.

First of all there will always be impostors. Satan is the master counterfeit. He loves to counterfeit the work of the spirit. And there will be those, probably in every congregation, where the Holy Spirit was manifesting these signs, wonders and miracles, where impostors would creep in and falsify and teach unsound doctrine and give false displays of spiritual powers. Actually being empowered by the unholy spirit. Then like the problem in Corinth, not only did they have impostors, also there was the problem of envy. One person had one type of spiritual gift or gifts, but they liked this spiritual gift over here that the other fellow had, because his was so outward and open and prominent, and envy is a sin and it causes division and strife in the church.

Then there was the problem at the church at Corinth, and it was probably a problem throughout the apostolic era, and that’s the problem of showmanship. Guys how had certain spiritual gifts but would get in the flesh and try to display or manifest those gifts in order to show off how spiritual they were in front of everyone else. And then the apostle Paul so points out that another problem they had was that everybody was trying to practice their gifts at the same time. And absolutely bizarre, frenzy, chaotic mess in the church there at Corinth.

And I believe that it is common, or rather it was common then and it is common today, among the spiritually immature to be enamored with the outward gifts. Such as the gift of tongues. In other words, as Paul begins to correct and straighten out the abuse and the messes concerning spiritual gifts, you’ll notice he deals almost exclusively with what I would call the outward sign gifts. They were not fighting and fussing and envying, and fighting for their right to exercise the gift of service. Amen walls. They weren’t struggling and wrangling and fussing and having division over the gift of giving, I want to give more, bless God, let me give more.

They didn’t have that problem in the church at Corinth. They weren’t struggling and fighting and forming divisions over the gifts of services of helps or giving, it was the outward gifts, and particularly the gifts of tongues. Speaking in other languages. Now I believe one of the reasons why tongues are so prominent, Paul spends a whole chapter dealing with tongues, telling us that was the real gift they had a problem with, its because its hard to fake a miracle, I mean, either the guy really got healed or he didn’t. It’s hard to fake some signs and manifestations and wonders, but anybody can get up and chatter for a while and say, well, it’s a language you don’t understand.

So among the spiritually immature, it’s common for them to become enamored with the outward sign gifts of the spirit. So Paul is writing them to straighten out this big mess. And once again he spends three whole chapters, at least the way we have divided the Bible into chapters, to try to get to the bottom of this mess. Now I want to show you three things about these spiritual gifts. First of all, we’re going to see the critique of spiritual gifts. Then we will see the character of spiritual gifts, and then the commission or the purpose of spiritual gifts.

First of all, Paul gives us something of how to critique or test the gifts to see if they are true and really of the Holy Spirit and not a counterfeit or of an unholy spirit. Now when I say the critique here, I do not mean an exhaustive biblical critique, but just a critique Paul gives us as he is writing to the church at Corinth dealing with their particular excesses and abuses. Now first of all, Paul says in verse 1, you critique or test these gifts with wisdom, or through the means of wisdom. Now by wisdom here I do not mean some divine special enablement, I just mean using your brain. Using your intellectual understanding. You can often find out if something’s really of God.

He begins there by saying, now concerning spiritual gifts, let me stop there for clarification. The word gifts is not in the original text, its put there for, to make things more clear, really the word spiritual is there, so what he’s actually saying is concerning spirituals. Now other texts let us know that he is referring to gifts in this context, so what he means, gifts that are characterized or controlled by the spirit. Paul saying, listen, now concerning the gifts that are truly characterized and truly controlled by the Holy Spirit, I do not want you to be unaware, or  I do not want you to be ignorant.

In other words, Paul says, I do not want you languishing in ignorance. Concerning this matter. Now why is that? Because spiritual gifts are essential for the function and the maturing of the church, and also satan uses them as an in-road to destroy and weaken a church. So he wants them to have an intellectual understanding of the truths about gifts so they can use their intellect and look at gifts as they are supposedly being manifested in the church and they can say, that’s not of God, and that one is. He said, I don’t want you to be ignorant, I want you to use your mind. In other words, do not approach this subject of spiritual gifts in blind ignorance. Now this was contrary to what the Corinthians were doing. They were actually following a philosophy that said man, if its a real experience, if its powerful, if it blesses you, man if it just comes in and overwhelms you and we can see that its something, then that has to be of God. And Paul says, no, you need to use your brain a little bit. Not just the experience, make sure intellectually you know what’s going on. Use your brain, and Paul is about to give them the knowledge they need to intellectually use so they can discern spiritual gifts. So they will know the true from the counterfeit. And my friend, satan is the master counterfeiter. And when he likes to come into a church and start counterfeiting particularly the outward sign gifts, you can be sure there’s going to be confusion, chaos, disorder, and ultimately splits in the church. I cannot tell you the churches that the abuse and excesses in the area of outward manifestation of spiritual gifts that have been split over that issue. It is the work of satan.

So in other words, Paul is saying, God has a specific purpose, a specific place, and a specific procedure for the exercising of spiritual gifts. Intellectually, rationally you need to understand these, and then when someone exhibits some divine manifestation in your service or in your congregation, and claims its of God, then with your knowledge, your understanding, with your mental wisdom, you can analyze it and decide, is it truly of God. Now you’ve got to understand, the church at Corinth was a church with many, many problems. And most of their problems stemmed from a carnal desire for self exaltation. Self glorification.

And that’s where the gifts were being so abused, everybody wanted to be looked upon as the super spiritual guy. And that’s why they weren’t struggling over those behind the scenes giving, serving and helping gifts, everybody wanted the outward showy gifts. Cause it had to do with self exaltation. A

s a matter of fact, let’s just look at some of the problems that have been dealt with so far, as we’ve studied verse by verse through this book. Paul dealt with divisions in the church. They, they’re trusting human wisdom, they’re human personality cliques, we’re of Paul, we’re of Apollos, we’re of Cephas. He’s dealt with carnality, he’s dealt with sexual perversion, fornication and incest. He’s dealt with their worldliness. In chapter six he dealt with lawsuits, Christians were suing Christians, which is against the teachings of scripture. He dealt with rebelling against his Apostolic authority. He dealt with marital conflict, he dealt with conflicts among unmarried people, he dealt with the abuse of liberty, he dealt with their tendency to go back into idolatry. He dealt to directly with their pride, and then with their selfishness, with demon worship, with the insubordination of women, with the abuses of God’s intended roles of men and women, with the abuses of the Lord’s supper, and perversions now of spiritual gifts.

This was a church with a lot of problems. And Paul says now here’s another area, you need to be informed about and when you get informed you can use your intelligent understanding of the truth about spiritual gifts, so you can properly control what happens in your church and eliminate satan’s counterfeits. So he says, one of the ways you will critique the gifts is with, with wisdom. And by that word wisdom, I mean your human understanding, your intellectual understanding of what God says about the gifts. Where they function, when they function, and how they function, and who should have them and for what purpose they have them. And we’ll get into some more of those particulars as we go through the series.

Now secondly he said, you can critique these gifts with the world. Yes, with the world. He says it very clearly there in verse 2. Look at verse 2. He says, “you know that when you were pagan”, back there before you were saved in other words, back when you were in the world and of the world, he says, “you were led astray to dumb idols, however you were led”. Now here’s going to be Paul’s point. He’s going to say, you remember how those pagan religions function back when you were in the world and unsaved. You remember what you called true or good and proper in those religions. He says, now, if you remember that, all you’ve got to do is come over to your church and analyze what’s going on in your church, and if what’s going on in your church is similar to what you remember happening out in those worldly pagan religions, then you know what’s going on in the church is not of the Holy Spirit. It’s of the world, because it’s the same stuff you had when you were in the world. That’s why he’s talking about back when you were pagans, back when you were led astray to worship those dumb idols. And isn’t that true with us today. How many times have you sat in church or observed something in church or maybe in a television ministry and you’ve said, that’s worldly. You know why, you remember what it’s like back in the world. It’s a good way to critique something, not the only way, not the final way, but is a method of critiquing. And Paul said it would work for these Corinthians, because they had a religious past that had a lot of stuff in it that was of supernatural origin, but it was all of satan.

Now, a closer look at verse 2, will give us insights on the religious background of the Corinthians before they were saved. He says there in verse 2, the middle part, “you were led astray to dumb idols”. Now that phrase, you were led astray shows that back when you were in the world, and followed those pagan religions there of the Greek culture, they were swayed by blind, unintelligent impulse. And these blind unintelligent impulses of that religion carried them away and they didn’t know where it was carrying them or why it was carrying them there, they were just going. Paul says, remember back there when you were led astray to serve dumb idols, he’s saying, remember, all you cared was that it felt good, looked good, it looked great, it was powerful, supernatural, so it had to be of God. He said, that’s the way you concluded things back then. And that’s not the way you conclude that something’s of God now in the church. Now when he says you were led astray to dumb idols, the phrase dumb idol is a strong way of Paul showing them the folly and the misery of that former religious life that they had. In other words, he’s saying, look at how foolish and how stupid the result was, when you followed your feelings and your emotions. In your religious practices, back when you were in the world and you were involved in pagan religions. As a matter of fact, the word led here, you were led astray means that they were controlled by a supernatural influence. This word led is used in the New Testament when one is led to prison or led out to judgement or led to execution. As a matter of fact, Mark 14:23 says “Jesus was led away.” John 18:12 and 13 says “they bound Jesus and led him to Anais”. Matthew 27:31 says “they led Jesus away to be crucified”. So Paul is saying, back then when you were lost, when you were out in the world, you were carried by a force, an irrational influence that controlled your mind and your will. You were just going along because the experience looked good. And that’s all that mattered to you at that point.

So again, what is the point Paul is making here. He’s saying, how did your religion work when you were back in the world, when you were involved in paganism. You were just experiencing supernatural forces, and as you worshiped those idols and you got into those ecstasies, and those frenzies and into the exuberance of your pagan religions, you experienced various sensations and various feelings and you saw various signs and wonders and you concluded it must be God, because it feels so right. And you based your conclusion on what you felt and what you experienced. Your conclusion as to whether or not God was in it was what was the experience like. You put experience over content. Back in those worldly religions of paganism. It was an experienced based religion. And so Paul is saying, don’t allow that same approach to be in the church, and that’s what the Corinthians were doing. A guy would pop up and the Lord even knows what. He would stand up in the middle of the church service and have this thing to say, this prophecy, this revelation, this unknown language, or some sort of concocted sign, wonder, or miracle, and everybody in there would just go whooooo, God must be on him. And Paul said, that’s the way you, that’s the way you based if it was God back when you were a pagan. Don’t you think it would be a little bit different now. It’s not just if it was a great experience. But what about the content behind the experience.

When I was, I thought about this while I was studying, when I was in about the fifth grade, some girls in our grade school class went to a Donny Osmond concert. Now some of you younger folks may not even know who Donny Osmond is, I understand he’s still around, but he’s old now. And I want to tell you, the guys in the class were somewhat jealous about the fact that these girls went to the Donny Osmond concert, because you should have heard those girls when they came back to school. Brother, they had had an experience. They talked about the excitement and the ecstasy, and the euphoria and the chills went up and down their spines, and they just felt, it was unbelievable and they oohed, and ahhhed, and they screamed and it was wonder, and it lasted for weeks after they got home. I mean folks, it was a great feeling, it was a great sensation, it was a rush, it was a great high, but it wasn’t God. Paul said, that’s the way you measured it when you were a pagan. But the experience is not the criteria.

As a matter of fact folks, sin can fill good, for a season. Amen. There’s enough fallen sin nature in all of us, we can go to some of the most debased stuff on earth, as some sort of amusement and for a season, it will thrill us. Paul said, that’s the way your old religion was.

As a matter of fact, to get a better understanding, let me give you a little history lesson on the ancient mystery religions of the ancient Greek culture. The ancient Greek culture had what I guess you would say, modern historians would call the mystery religions. And in the, these religions, they tried to reach what they called ecstasy, during the worship service. And the word pretty much describes what they were after.

Now here’s the classical definition of this ecstasy, that they tried to experience in their worship. It means to cultivate a magical sensuous communion with deity. They wanted it, to go to worship and get in on ecstasy. That means somehow, some way during the worship the power of the spirit of their god would move and they would fall into this situation where they would kind of lose it, they would kind of get out of control and they’d had this magical sensual communion with their deity. It was called ecstasy. They would do whatever possible to get themselves in this semi-conscious, hallucinatory, hypnotic spell, in order that they might sensuously commune with their deity.

And they would often describe great euphoric feelings they would have by communing with their deity in this way. And of course, they would conclude, its so real and its so strong, its got to be God. A man named Angus who was a historian wrote an objective history on this thing of the mystery religions, and he outlined some of them aspects of this experienced called ecstasy. He says, first of all, there are various methods to get into a state of ecstasy. He said, for example, they used vigils and fastings, often they would get themselves into whirling dances and stirring music to reach it. Sometimes they would even inhale incense, among other things, to reach that ecstasy.

Angus says also there was different kinds of ecstasy. One kind for example, is like the guru who would sit on the floor with his legs cross and he’d hum for a while, and he would try to let his mind go into ecstasy. Then there was the other form of ecstasy where there would be the whirling, dancing wild frenzies that often ended in sexual orgies. And during all of this, it was common for the worshipers, to see visions, have dreams, received prophecies or revelations that they supposed were the direct utterances of deity. My friend, I want you to understand something very clearly. A lot of what we see in the modern world under the work of the spirit, is also evident in pagan heathen worship. And Paul is saying to them, when he said, remember back when you were pagans, you were led astray to dumb idols, you were in that demonically inspired worship religious setting, you were experiencing that ecstasy, he said, you guys, what you’re doing, you’re bringing a lot of that over into your church services, and it’s just demons, but you’re calling it the work of the holy spirit. Why else would Paul put verse 2 in there like that. When he says, I want you to think and critique what you experienced in the world so that you’re careful rather touch, know that that’s not what you are bringing into the church.

Now what’s Paul’s point. His point was, over there in the world, in the world’s religions, if it felt good, if it was a great experience, then it had to be of God. But he said that led you to the ignorant folly of worshipping idols. So Paul’s point is, do not use experience as a basis of discerning if a manifestation is of the Holy Spirit. I don’t care if you stand upside down and your earlobe speaks in an unknown language. It doesn’t matter to me, that is not the criterion whereby we decide if that was God or not. That’s why Paul is saying, remember how it was out there when you had ecstasy in the pagan religions. It was supernatural out there, wasn’t it. Yeah. There were utterances? Yep, there were revelations and dreams and prophesies and visions, yep. All of that. You felt great and euphoric it seemed so real, yes. But what was the end result. Wickedness, idolatry, sensuality.

I’m going to say something and be real direct and real pointed. I think you have to be blind, death, dumb and lame to watch some of these television ministries who do a lot of these so called things, and not sense that that’s a very sensuous ministry. I mean the garb, the clothing, the make up, folks, I’m just telling you its obvious, am I preaching to a… you guys know what I’m talking about. Now I’m not trying to demean, I’m not trying to personally attack anybody, or anything, but folks, I’m telling you, if they do a close, thorough exegesis of the biblical text about 75% to 80% of what we see on television under the label of the modern charismatic movement would fall apart. Under the authority of the word of God.

Paul says, I want you to critique it. Based on how the worldly religions function. And if you’re seeing that kind of thing in the church, then you can be pretty sure, that’s not — maybe of “a” spirit — but not of the Holy Spirit. First of all Paul said, critique it with wisdom. I want you to learn intellectually so you can look at it and intellectually and rationally say, you may think that’s real, but its not really of God. he said, I want you to critique it by your past worldly experience, look at the world and what they are doing and see if that’s what it looks like.

And then thirdly he says, you need to critique it with the word. Critique it with the word. Look at it there in verse 3. “Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the spirit of God says Jesus is accursed. And no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” Now he’s not saying here, just verbalizing Jesus is Lord, or just verbalizing Jesus is accursed. He means they can’t say it and believe it in their hearts and stand on it unless its of the Holy Spirit. You can’t say Jesus is Lord — and really Lord in this context meant God, deity — you can’t hold to the deity that Jesus was fully God though fully man unless the Holy Spirit of God gives you that conclusion in your heart.

Oh you might verbalize it with your lips, but you can’t know it in your heart. Unless the Holy Spirit gives you that. And also he says, no one is going to stand up and say Jesus is accursed, or Jesus is a detestable thing. Jesus is worthy and deserving of God’s judgement. He said, nobody will verbalize that whose under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Now here’s the overwhelming astonishing thing, this church was in such a mess, and you’ve got to understand, the, the New Testament wasn’t completed, they didn’t have a lot of the teaching we have, they didn’t have even a local pastor, as best we know at this point. Paul was functioning as their overseer, so it was very easy for them to slip into error, and abuses so easily.

And so what was actually happening, some people were standing up on the church floor and saying, I’ve got a word of wisdom, I’ve got a revelation, I’ve got a prophecy, I’ve got a tongue, and in their verbal pronouncements, they were saying Jesus is cursed of God. But, because this church was so experientially based, the people would look at and say, hey they looks supernatural, that looks divine, that looks impressive, so we’ll accept the heresy. They were swallowing incredible doctrinal heresies. Because the experience looked great. You listen to me. You analyze some of these guys on TV, I want to tell you, there is some heresy, heresy being proclaimed, because these guys walk around and talks about the powers, the gifts, the abilities, the blessing, the financial gain, the health and the wealth, and all the stuff that God wants you, and everybody is so based on experience, they’ll just take in the heretical doctrines these guys pronounce in advance. Now folks, its out there. Its all around you, and as your pastor, one of my mine jobs is to protect the sheep.

You be double, double filtered and careful about what is going on under the heading of the charismatic movement of the day. What’s Paul’s point. Check it out by the word of God. Check it out by the word of God. If what they are teaching, what they are advancing, what they are saying, contradicts clear Bible teaching, its not of God. No matter how great the manifestation, no matter how glorious the sign, no matter how impressive the wonder they perform, its not of God. If it violates the clear teaching of scripture, its not a work of the holy spirit.

So Paul begins by saying, I want to give you a way to critique these things that are going on. He said, first of all, with wisdom, use your intellectual understanding, as I’m going to teach you about it, and, and by the way, we’re going to see this more, but one of Paul’s chief points is, when the Holy Spirit’s doing something, you mind doesn’t kick out of control and it take over. Your intellectual capacity is to be in control of you at all times. He’s the spirit of control, not senseless out of control gyrations. Use your intellect. Look at it and analyze it. Also he said, use the world. You remember what you came out of, is what going on in the church look like those manifestations out there in the world, then its not of God. Then he said finally, and of course that’s the final authority, use the word.

They didn’t have a lot of the word. We do though, we’ve got the finished canon. Check it out by the book. Doesn’t matter about the experience. Listen folks, your experience is always to be judged by the word of God. Always to be judged. You know how I know that. Sometimes I have an experience and I think you know, I don’t know if I want to stay with Pam or not. I mean, you know, I just get a little mad at her or something, I’m not real sure. But you know what, I have to check out my feeling with the word of God. And the book says, you don’t stay with your wife because you feel like it. You stay with your wife because I feel like you need to stay with her. Amen. Now you know I’m being factious, man, I wouldn’t go out in this world and get bologna, I’ve got steak at home. But folks, there’s nothing in your life, there’s nothing in your life that’s worth anything that’s really based on how you feel or what you’ve experienced. If you are, you are as confused and mixed up as a termite in a yo-yo. You’re chasing every window doctrine that goes along, you don’t, you’re not solid, planted anywhere. Well, Paul says, let me give you some ways to critique. As a matter of fact, there is no way on earth I’m going to be able to do this justice. I’m going to have to chop this off and pick it up later. But you need to hear all that we’re going to say in these next three chapters. You need to hear all that Paul has to say.

So we can have a proper understanding of what the word of God teaches about spiritual gifts. There’s some glorious, wonderful truths and insights. But be for sure the church at Corinth was a church in a big, big, big mess, and they had more outward manifestations going on than any other church we know of, after the church of Acts. But they were the most back slidden, carnal, unholy church, as far as we know of, addressed in scripture.

Let me ask you where you are today. Do you have an experienced based religion. Are you looking for the next feel good, the next thrill, the next euphoria. The next feeling or sensation. You know what you need. You need to plant your life on the solid rock of the Lord Jesus Christ. You need to settle it on something much bigger than your human emotions. Satan and this world can manipulate and deceive your human emotions. But when you open this old book, it tells you that there’s only one mediator between God and man, and that’s the man Christ Jesus. There’s only one way to salvation, and that’s through Jesus Christ.