Spiritual Gifts

Transcript

Hi everyone, welcome back! Glad you’re here with me. If it’s your first time joining, then this is a great opportunity to say hi and welcome you to the Living on Prayer podcast. I’m Emily and in this first podcast series we’re discussing the topic of God’s Love. Each episode dives into specific aspects of His love and how they apply to us today, how we can hopefully better align ourselves to the image in which He created us and maybe make improvements in whatever aspects we find needs some polishing. I know that as I was researching and studying for this podcast series, I learned even more about myself and I hope that this series will help you in some way as well. If this is your first episode, I also encourage you to listen to the previous episodes in the series so that you can hopefully find some nuggets of help and encouragement as well. Either way, thank you for joining as we talk about today’s topic which is Spiritual Gifts.

You know, I mentioned in an earlier episode that I had the privilege of growing up in a Christian family. Not just my immediate family but my extended family. We’re Christians as far back in generations as I am aware of honestly. And growing up, I was surrounded by preachers and teachers and military service people which provided me with the ability to ask all types of questions and get the answers. Learning and education was and still is really encouraged in our family. But God has always been number one. We didn’t sit down at a table or on a couch without discussing God and scripture. It just didn’t happen. And when I think about those aspects of my childhood I definitely reflect on them fondly because I learned so much, absorbed so much. 

There is a specific time that I remember so distinctly too. My grandfather had been a full-time pastor after his stint in the AirForce as a pilot. By the time my brothers and I came along he had settled into an administrative role as a Director of Missions, which allowed him to be in an office during the week and to fill in for pastors in his region who were on leave on Sundays. I was very much a tag-along to my grandfather. I absolutely loved him and anywhere he was I wanted to be so when he would go out to a church, which seemed to be every Sunday, I didn’t mind going with him. He was also invited to attend as guest speaker to many events all over the US, he preached at so many revivals I’ve lost count, and went to many conventions and seminars as well. So there was this one sermon that I heard him give about spiritual gifts and I remember afterwards asking him more questions about those on the drive home. And as he tended to do, he would give some answers while also giving leading questions. It was a great way to have a spiritual conversation with him that allowed me to hear his feedback and guidance while also getting his leadership and pushing if you will to learn more and grow in my own spirituality and curiosity. He explained what Paul was telling the Corinthians in the letter to the church under 1 Corinthians Chapter 12 about the spiritual gifts and helped me to want to know more.  And I got so excited. I was like, I want those. How do I get them? Can I have more than one? I was young, not yet a teenager even. But you know, God can get through to children a bit easier than to us jaded adults sometimes. 

 So a few years later, my grandfather was giving another sermon and he referenced 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 and he made a mention in his sermon about our Spiritual Gifts and said that no matter what gifts we have that if we don’t have love we have nothing. And that stood out to me. It made me want to know more so as I was known to do, I asked questions afterwards. Not to get too far into the weeds on this story, the thing that stuck with me the most from my conversation with him was that he told me how loving and compassionate I was. He said that I had a heart for God and that loving God and expressing God’s love is more important than anything. One of the many things I loved about my grandfather, and there are too many to list honestly, is that he was a walking example of God’s love if I’ve ever seen one. He loved without ceasing, He loved God like I’ve never seen another person in real life love God, and He definitely set the bar for every man in my life of any relationship ever on how much someone loves me because he was by far the best man to ever love me. So when he told me this about love, 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 immediately became my favorite chapter of the Bible. Nope, not my favorite verse, that’s Philippians 4:13, but my favorite Chapter. The love chapter as it’s often known.  

 So I think God planted all of these seeds in me very early for a lot of reasons, for a lot of conversations I would end of having with people in my lifetime. And while my grandfather had referenced 1 Corinthians Chapter 12 in his sermon with Chapter 13, it really wasn't until I was much older that I realized you really need to have an understanding of the two Chapters together to get what Paul was telling the Corinthians in his letter. Why was there such an emphasis on love in Chapter 13? Well, it makes so much sense when you read chapter 12 first. 

 Now I’m getting to the heart of today’s topic, the spiritual gifts. I know that was a bit of a interlude. But it had a purpose. The purpose is to help you understand that spiritual gifts are part of God’s love. They are a gift, a manifestation of His love. But that they are also useless to us if we do not have love ourself. That’s what I had to learn early on and that’s what I learned through my grandfather’s sermons and through reading and understanding Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. What a beautiful letter by the way. I really hope you’ll take the time to read it on your own. I would love to take the time to read it all here but that would take some time. Instead I will just read a few excerpts that are pertinent to this episode. 

 From 1 Corinthians, Chapter 12, starting with Verse 1 

“Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don't want you to misunderstand this. You know that when you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols. So I want you to know that no one speaking by the spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophecy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only spirit who distributes all these gifts. 

He alone decides which gift each person should have.” 

 Now let me take a break for just a second. The excerpt from Chapter 12 that I just read was Paul describing how the one and only Holy Spirit decides which spiritual gift or gifts are given to each of us. He explains what those spiritual gifts are and how we should earnestly desire the most helpful gift. But Paul says so much else in Chapter 12 that I didn’t read. He also describes different kinds of service that are given by the spirit to us. And He also walks us through an analogy of how we’re all part of the body of Christ similarly to parts of a human body. Then he wraps up Chapter 12 by saying “But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.”  I want to emphasize that “But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all” as we continue on into Chapter 13 that I’m now going to continue reading starting with Verse 1:

“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of all angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains but didn't love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I had to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it, but I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up nor loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture. But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever - faith, hope, and love - and the greatest of these is love.”

 Paul said at the end of Chapter 12, I’m going to tell you something that’s even better than what I’ve already told you. A way of life that is best of all…and he did just that. 

What I just love about Paul’s letter is that he describes to the church these gifts that the Holy Spirit, God Himself, is giving to us as Christians. And he’s reminding us all that we are an equal and important member of the church. He does so by using the human body analogy in Chapter 12. That God created the human body and put all the parts where they should go and in contrast to that we are members of the church body or body of Christ if you will and we fit perfectly into that body. 1 Corinthians Chapter 12 Verse 18 “ But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it.”  And Verse 27 “All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.” 

 It's such a great reminder to all of us as Christians that we have these gifts within us that allow us to serve Christ and we are all assigned as part of the body of Christ and we are members of service within Christ’s church and should work diligently to know our gifts, our part, our service so we can maximize our efforts for Christ but also so we can work in harmony together with other Christians. We are all on the same team, we are all included in the same body, in the same church, and God doesn’t make mistakes. He didn’t assign too many feet or eyes or ears to His body. He doesn’t have too many teachers or healers or leaders out here doing His work. So don’t get upset with your Christian brother or sister if you think they are stepping on your toes. God will deal with all of us individually to ensure we are doing our assignments. We just need to ensure we are doing our own proper assignments and have God’s backing and blessing on it. 

 And most importantly let’s not forget what Paul is most notably reminding us in Chapter 13 which is that no matter what our gifts are, no matter what part of the body we are or what service we have, we must have love first and foremost. Remember God is love. As Paul says in Verse 12 those gifts are going to go away when clarity comes in the end, when we know God as well as God knows us. God already knows us. He already knows what we need. He already knows how to take care of us. He's already gone before us. He sees everything. So the Spirit is giving us Spiritual gifts as a gift. You know, like Christ already didn't die for us and redeem us and give his life for us. But he then gave us the Holy Spirit who's then giving us spiritual gifts. I mean, he just gives us everything…grace and mercy and forgiveness for our sins every day. Then he gives us spiritual gifts. He's trying to give us clarity. I mean, like He’s just constantly giving us things. He really is love!

 So these are such important chapters for us as Christians. Such great guidance for us but also a list of gifts that God gives to us. Another manifestation of His love. And again, a reminder to us here that love is what God is asking us to exhibit to each other and to the world as He did through His son Jesus and as He has consistently done and will always do because He is a consistent God who loves us. 

 You know circling back, I’ve thought many times on the conversations had with my grandfather. I think about the version of my younger self that was so eager to learn but who was also compassionate, full of love, and so very sweet to just about anyone. I really tried to follow his example but my grandfather passed away when I was 16 and his influence and example was never replaced. And since then I became pretty jaded by the world and by experiences in the world. I can’t say I actually am that loving little girl outwardly anymore. I believe she’s still there deep inside me. I can see her and feel her at times but it is extremely hard to be her anymore. And I can imagine that I’m not the only one who has experienced this in their life. The world is tough. It’s Satan’s world and Satan doesn’t let up on anyone, especially Christians. This world will beat you up and spit you out most days. Satan will shoot those fiery darts at you so often that it can almost break you. He’s trying to tear you down. And I think that Paul writes a very eloquent letter to the Corinthians to remind them, Hey, you know, don't take it out on each other. 

Love each other. You're on the same team. Most importantly, you have to love each other first, maintain your faith and hope in what God has promised you. And what I can attest to as well is that God has sent people and resources to help us. We’re all in this together. God wants us to maintain our hope and our faith, with him and through him. And so Paul is reminding us to maintain our faith and our hope, but most importantly, our love. And if God can love us, his children, but also he can love everyone and everything, even those that don't love him, then we should try too. Whether we agree or not, whether they're Christians or not, doesn’t matter. 1 Corinthians chapter 13 is a reminder that love trumps all. 

Now in closing, I want to send us all off with a prayer. This is a passage written by Paul to the church, from the book of Ephesians, Chapter 1, Verses 15-20 “Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.”

Thanks for joining today. I’m glad you were here and I hope you found some nuggets of encouragement or inspiration for your day. I also hope you know what your spiritual gift is already but if you don’t please ask God to reveal it to you and ask Him to put it to use within you for His purpose and I can’t wait for your work to begin. How exciting! I hope you’ll tune in again for the next episode. As always I want to remind you that God loves you so much. I hope you’re reaching out to Him and talking to Him, thanking Him too. Until next time, please be safe. Bye everyone!