Gifted

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. A spiritual gift very simply is Jesus pursuing his mission through the members of his church. So real quick you're like what is the mission of Jesus? What was the mission of Jesus? It was to glorify God. It was to bless and heal the world.

It was to save sinners and it was to build up the church. When God does that through you, when Jesus does that through you, that's what we call a spiritual gift. Welcome to Summit Life, the Bible teaching ministry of pastor, author, and theologian J.D.

Greer. As always, I'm your host, Molly Vidovitch. Okay, think back with me for a second to your childhood. What was the best present that you ever got? Maybe it was a Christmas present that you were waiting for or the puppy that dad said would never come but then appeared.

Or maybe you were one of the lucky kids who got a car for their 16th birthday. Well today pastor J.D. reminds us that as believers we've all been given an even greater gift, a spiritual gift. But what does that mean exactly?

What does that look like and what do we do with it? That's what we're going to find out today as we continue our Rushing Wind series with a message titled Gifted. You got your Bible? You got your Bible?

First Corinthians chapter 12, if you do, we are going to look at spiritual gifts. I've told you before that one of the many things that I love about the Summit Church is how diverse we all are in our backgrounds. We have people here listening to me right now who come from all manner of religious backgrounds. We have those of you who grew up Baptist like I did. There are those of you who grew up Presbyterian. There are those of you who grew up Catholic. There are those who grew up Pentecostals.

They're the ones who are always yelling during church and I love them. There's one or two, three, I get a witness. We have, we have, we have charismatics. We have non-charismatics. We've got, I'm not really sure what any of this means, addicts.

We've got just four, just plain addicts, former addicts that are a part of our church. So you say well what does all that mean? What does all that mean for our church? Well, first of all, it means we have some really interesting small group discussions.

If you've ever been in one of the Summit's small groups, you know it's like what? You did what in your church? There's all kinds of things I hear coming out of that, but you know a friend of mine says that because we are, have so many Baptists, so many Presbyterians, and so many Pentecostals all together, he feels like we are predestined to speak in tongues at a potluck dinner. That's how he, he puts all that together, but I believe that the diversity in our church is a very healthy thing. It is one that I'm very grateful for because we bring different experiences to the table, and we end up teaching one another because there are things that God has allowed some of you to experience that I haven't experienced, and by understanding these diverse backgrounds, I think we have a much richer experience of who Jesus is and what he's doing in his church.

Now specifically regarding the charismatic issue, I would say that our official stance on this is that we are what I would call charismatics with a seat belt, okay, charismatic with a seat belt, which means we believe it's there, right, we know it's there, and so we honor it, and we want to receive it, but then we also understand that there is a place to have some caution as we go forward in this, okay. So here we go, 1 Corinthians 12. In the second week of the series, I explained to you that the power that Jesus drew upon to do all that he did in ministry came out of his own godness, but the power that Jesus accessed in ministry was the power of the Spirit. Luke, the writer of both Luke and Acts, goes out of his way to show you that, and the reason that he does that is because if Jesus did all that he did in ministry out of his own godness, then that leaves you and me at a significant disadvantage, right, I mean, because I'm not the son of God, born of God like Jesus was born of God.

You know, if he could do what he did just because he's the son of God, I'm like, well, I'm the son of Lynn and Carol Greer. They're awesome parents, but they're not God, so I can never do what Jesus did, but if Jesus limited his access to his own godness and drew upon the power of the Spirit, that means, Luke says, that you and I have access to the same Spirit that he had access to, and so that's why Luke goes out of his way to show you parallels between what Luke is, what Jesus is doing, and what the apostles are doing in Acts. With that in mind, 1 Corinthians 12, 1, now concerning pneumaticon is the word in Greek. It is translated in your Bible, spiritual gifts.

That's an okay translation. It's really, you really, the most literal translation would be spirituals. It's just spiritual manifestations, the essence of the Spirit.

Now concerning spirituals, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. Verse four, now there are varieties of gifts, charismata. Charis is where we get the word grace from. Mata is where you have the idea of gifts, so there are a variety of grace gifts, graces, you might say, but the same Spirit. There are varieties of diaconia, which is where we get our word deacon. It just means servanthood, so varieties of service, but the same Lord.

There are varieties of energema, energema where we get our word energy from. It means energies, activities, right, but it is the same God who empowers them all for everyone. So you see what he's doing?

He's kind of stumbling through trying to describe what these are. He's like, well, they're like manifestations, they're spirituals, they're energies, they're serving, but it's the same God doing all of them to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To whom? To whom? To each.

That's right. Who's an each in here? Everybody's an each, right? Look at the person on your right.

Look at the person on your left. That's an each. There's an each. You're an each. Everyone in each, each. We're just all each, okay? So to each is given a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good, okay?

That's our text. Now I've got, you know, pastors always seem to do things in threes. It's like, you know, the Trinity's threes, so therefore all of our sermons should have three points, right?

I got six for y'all this morning, so boom, all right? Number one. Number one, a spiritual gift very simply is Jesus pursuing his mission through the members of his church. A spiritual gift very simply is Jesus pursuing his mission through the members of his church. This is what Jesus was talking about in John 14, 12, when he said, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do, and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

Because I am going to the Father is a code reference for the sending of the Spirit, because that's what Jesus said he would do when he went to the Father. Greater works than Jesus did would we do, because the Holy Spirit would be upon us. A few weeks ago I told you about just kind of the, on the surface, the absurdity of that statement, greater works than Jesus. Who does greater works than Jesus? Anybody in here raise the dead? Anybody walk on water?

Anybody fed 5,000 with five loaves and two fish? Anybody have perfect insight into the mind of God, know exactly what to pray, know exactly what to say? Anybody speak on a level that people write down a scripture?

That ever happen? You're like, boom, I just said that. That's scripture right there. Write that down for many. No, nobody can do a greater work than Jesus did. So what Jesus means there is not that any one of us individually would be greater than him, but when the Spirit of God was resting on the church, the individual members of the church, as opposed to just one person, the collective impact of the Spirit would be greater than if Jesus himself had stayed. If the Summit Church had to choose between Jesus as its pastor or the Spirit upon every member, Jesus would say, no question. You choose the Spirit upon you because what we have this morning is 7,000 people who have the potential to carry the same power and the same spirit that Jesus accessed out into the community.

And he said, so that's why it's greater. This is how I'm going to pursue my mission is instead of located in one, I'm going to spread it out to everybody so that everywhere that you go, the power that Jesus used in ministry could go with you. So real quick, you're like, what is the mission of Jesus? What was the mission of Jesus? It was to glorify God. It was to bless and heal the world. It was to save sinners.

And it was to build up the church. When God does that through you, when Jesus does that through you, that's what we call a spiritual gift. Number two, every believer has one. Every believer has one. Verse seven, to each one of you that is a believer in Jesus, to each is given.

Number three, yeah, that's a short point. It sure was. I stared at that for 10 minutes in my study and could not think of a single thing to say.

And I was like, well, I guess that's it. Number three, the gifts are given for the common good of the church. The gifts are given for the common good of the church. One of the many problems that the Corinthians had is that they thought that their spiritual gifts made them like spiritual superheroes, manifestations of their own personal awesomeness. And so they were proud about their spiritual gifts, and they boasted in their spiritual gifts.

They seemed to look at spiritual gifts almost like spiritual X-Men powers, where you kind of identify yourself by this awesome gift you have, or like you get zapped with spiritual Spider-Man powers, and you're like, oh, what you got? I got tongue. I got prophecy. I got Spidey sense. I can see right into your heart.

And what gift you got? Oh, you got administration? That is so lame. You know, I mean, it's like a superhero.

Imagine one of the Marvel comic, you know, it has like the superhero strength of speed typing. You're like, that's kind of lame. That's how the Corinthians looked at this, is they thought that their spiritual gifts gave them an elevated status above everybody else. And Paul's going to tell them that not only does that show that they are unbelievably immature, it shows that they neither understand the gospel or the purpose of the gifts.

They don't understand the gospel or the purpose of the gifts. The gospel is that you have the absolute approval of God in Christ. Christ's righteousness has been given to you as a gift, and now God sees you in Christ. That is the highest recognition by the loftiest person. What else could you possibly hope to lift yourself up with than the righteousness of Christ?

And who else's opinion are you actually obsessed with if the God of the universe sees you that way? In God, you have the lofty, the God, the Creator of the universe who esteems you and cherishes you, and he sees you according to the righteousness of Christ. There is no greater treasure. There is no greater identity.

There is no loftier privilege, and there is no higher person. And so when you are trying to elevate yourself above others by anything, including spiritual gifts, he's like, as soon as you don't understand the gospel, for your spiritual gift to produce pride in you means that you can't understand that when God saved you, he saved you from wrath. That's what you deserve.

That's what you deserve. If God gave you what you deserve, you were spiritually dead, you deserved hell, and God plucked you out of the burning. It was the grace that God gave to you. And so when your gift leads to pride, when it causes division, when it sets you apart, it just shows that you have no concept of the gospel because you either don't understand your wickedness that God saved you from or the value of the gift that God gave you in Christ in giving you his righteousness.

You see, fallen human nature, and this is very important, listen to this, fallen human nature searches for something about itself that is unique, something about itself that makes you special, something you can boast in, something that sets you apart from everybody else. I'm prettier. I'm not talking about me, but I'm just saying as an example. I'm prettier. I'm more athletic. I'm smarter. I got a better body. I make more money. I did better in school. I've got a higher IQ. I live in a better neighborhood. I'm more moral. I'm a better parent.

Right? And they set you apart, and they make you worthy because these things make you special. Spiritual gifts can even be used to that end. I got this.

I can do this. Therefore, I am special. Christ's righteousness, Paul says, is to be our boast.

I'll give you an example. Luke chapter 10, the disciples had gone out on a preaching tour, one of the first ones, preaching to miracles. They come back together, and man, they are jazzed up because it was a great... They had a lot of converts, and they had a lot of... They were like, man, you believe this? And then I said this to this demon, and the demon took off.

Oh, yeah, well, there was a blind guy, and I healed him of his blindness. Jesus is listening, and he's listening with them. Sure, a level of approval as he's excited about what they've experienced, but evidently, he starts to perceive that they are now boasting in how much power they have. Knowing a group of guys that get together like this, I've been in enough group of guys that can take exactly what was happening.

People are listening and then trying to one-up the other one. So you can just hear Peter be like, oh, you cast out three demons? I cast out like a whole army. I think Satan himself was in that group that I cast out.

I'm just saying, I can't prove that, but I'm sure it was. And they're boasting, and then Jesus, he just says this. He says, don't rejoice. Don't rejoice that the demons are subject to you. Rejoice that your name is written now in the Lamb's Book of Life.

You know what he means by that? What he meant by that is your boast should not be the powers that you have spiritually. Your boast should not be your talents. Your boast ought to be the righteousness of Christ that's given to you as a gift. That's the greatest boast you could ever have.

So why don't you boast there? Your gifts, your abilities, spiritual or natural, are not to be where you base your identity. That leads to pride and division. Your identity is to come from the gift righteousness of Christ given to you as grace. That is to be your identity, which is why, just off the cuff, I will tell you I'm not a big fan of children's curriculum. That's all built around this like, you know, you're special, you're unique, you're a snowflake.

There's nobody like you. Be a narcissist is kind of what they're teaching kids. Yeah, I know my kids are special. I understand that, but you know what? The greatest possession they have is not some unique abilities they have.

It's that God loves them, and God has a plan for them, and God has given them Christ. So don't rejoice, he tells them, in this gift because that's not like I gave it to you. That's why God gave you Christ. Your spiritual gifts are not given for personal, how you say that word, aggrandization, whatever, personal exaltation.

It's given to you to be able to serve the body, right? So don't let yourself get lifted up in pride by what you can do. Now I'm gonna go ahead and tell you, possessing that mentality, that's a lot more easily said than done. Say amen, isn't it?

I will admit that for you. My fallen heart, mine, is constantly gravitating to ways to distinguish myself in your eyes. Just ways that I think, things that give me a sense of importance. For example, somebody after church will come up to me and be like, Pastor, that was a great sermon.

I mean, seriously. I mean like another great sermon. Every week you do this, it was phenomenal.

I don't know how you do it. Every week you read my mail. You are truly a great preacher. That's a sincere compliment. I'm encouraged by it. I go home, then another conversation takes place. And I say to Veronica, I'm like, hey babe, how many truly great preachers are there, do you think, in the world? And her response is usually like, one less than you think right now.

This is what I do. It's just I gravitate. I tell you, I debated telling you this. I put it in, took it out, put it in, took it out, put it in, took it out.

I think it's out right now, but I'm gonna go ahead and put it in. Okay, so about three weeks ago I was coming home. I'd spoken at this conference.

Oh, I shouldn't tell you this. I'd spoken at this conference and it was a big conference. And I got up and I preached to all these pastors or whatever. Then I got on a plane and was flying back here to Raleigh-Durham and it was late.

I was tired, kind of in a bad mood. But the person sitting next to me on the plane, I just faithfully shared Christ with that person and talked with them for a few minutes. And after I was finished, I kind of sat back and this thought went through my head.

I wonder how many people there are that had the ability to preach to the big conference but then would have the faithfulness to turn and talk to just the one person. I bet God sure is glad that he has a guy like me on his team. I kid you not, that went through my head. What's wrong with my heart?

What's wrong with my heart that I would think that? And then it was a couple of minutes later, I was like, you idiot. Do you know what it cost God to have you on his team? It cost the death of his son. I don't think he's sitting there in heaven going, oh, I'm so lucky. Thank you for JD. I think he's saying that cost the death of my son to pull you out of hell.

I'm not looking at you as a great investment. When you understand the gospel, then that puts your spiritual gift in perspective because no longer is it something given to you to elevate yourself above others. The gospel is that you are perpetually low but he has made you high in Christ. That leads you to humility and then to take your gifts to serve others.

That's the whole mentality there in 1 Corinthians 12. Let's keep moving here. Number four, was that too honest? Was that uncomfortable?

Did that make you feel weird? You want me to just go ahead and talk like I don't have any of these problems? Would that make you respect me more as your pastor?

Okay, good, because I'm not doing it. Number four, number four, no believer has them all. No believer has them all. You see in verse seven, to each was given something that everybody else needed. God didn't give all the gifts to anybody. Jesus had all the gifts. Jesus had them all.

He did, but nobody else after him got them all. Down in verse 12, Paul's going to use an analogy, a metaphor to press this home. Every member of the body, he says. You can look down your Bible and see it. Every member is unique.

Every member performs a different function. If the eye suddenly decides that it's more important than the foot, and you can see how the eye would think that, right? I mean, the eye's a pretty delicate piece of equipment. I mean, it does some things that no other part of the body can do. The foot, not so much. It's kind of a clumsy instrument, you think. I know I'll have a podiatrist over here with a diagram later, but you know what I'm saying. It's just like, doesn't have the sophistication of an eye. The foot produces odor. The eye kind of takes care of itself.

I mean, it's just, you know. But if the eye decides that it's more important than the foot, and the eye decides to get rid of the foot, then the eye, yeah, it can do some pretty amazing things, but without the foot, it's going to be seeing the same thing all the time because it can't go anywhere and see anything new. Paul says it's all the members of the body that end up creating the body. God designed the church like that so that each member is dependent on the others. You see, one of God's agendas, listen, one of God's agendas is to go to war against your self-sufficiency. You spent all your life trying to become self-sufficient. That's why you got insurances and why you got savings accounts because you don't want to have to depend on anybody. But God goes to war against your self-sufficiency because it's the enemy of the gospel, so he communicates part of himself to one person and part of himself to another so that without one another, we can never experience the fullness of God. That's one of the ways God goes.

By the way, you know I'm not saying anything wrong with insurance and savings account. I'm just saying that when it comes to knowing him, God does not want a self-sufficient Christian, so he distributed knowledge of him and he distributed how he works in the world into the church so that nobody has it all and we depend on each other. He does that first with knowledge of him.

Let's talk about that for a minute. There are different ones of you that have different experiences with God, and those different experiences have caused you to know a different angle on God than I know from my experience. It is only by listening to your story and hearing how God is working in your life that I can see that part of God. We're not talking about two different gods. We're not talking about new truth.

We're just talking about ways of knowing him. C.S. Lewis had a great analogy for this.

C.S. Lewis said that when he was older, he had two really good friends. One was named Charles.

One was named George. The three of them got together often in basically what you would think of as a small group, and the three guys, he says, George passed away. He says, now there's just two of us. He said, and you might think that without George, now I've got more of Charles because Charles no longer has to divide his attention between George and me.

He can just give it all to me. He said that was profoundly mistaken because now that George had died, I had less of Charles, not more of Charles because there was some things about Charles that only George could bring out. There was some ways that he would relate, some humor they would have, some insight. There was a part of George that only Charles could bring out, and when George died, I got less of Charles, not more.

Does that make sense? Or I think about it with my wife. I heard people all the time say, oh, we want to have kids because I want to just enjoy my wife. When my wife and I had kids, I didn't get less of my wife. I got more of her because suddenly I saw a part of my wife that only my children could bring out. It was so much more that when we had these children, it's like this is much more of the Veronica. It was just the other beings in our house brought out this part of her. The same way what God does is through these multiple experiences, he allows different people to understand and taste different parts of his grace so that as you come together, your picture, your fellowship in God is so much richer and so much deeper.

It's beautiful. He does that same thing with how he works in the world. That's the whole idea of the body. Now, this is an example I've used a lot, but let me repeat it because I think it's important. When God wants to work in the world, hear me on this, he rarely does it directly.

When God wants to work in the world, he rarely does it directly. He does it through the members of his body. That's what the whole analogy is for.

Here's the way I always explain it. If your left elbow itches and so it sends a little message up to the brain and it says, I itch, how does your brain fix that? Does it send down magical brain power to just blast the itch and dissolve it? Is that what it does? No, your brain sends a message over here to your right fingers and say to your right fingers, brother elbow has an itch.

You need to go fix that. Then brother fingers here, brother right fingers through no self-interest of its own, it's not itching, goes over and relieves the itch. Brother elbow says, thank you, and everybody's happy because the way that the brain resolved the problem in the elbow was through the fingers. When God wants to work in the church, he does it through the members of his church, which means that when you separate yourself all from intimate connection with your church, you separate yourself all from access to the power of God. That's what that means. It means that you've got no right to sit around and ask for God's power if you have disconnected yourself from an intimate connection with the local church.

We can't do it all. Or as we've heard it said before, not everything that comes from heaven has your name on it. You have a unique gift in the body of Christ for the mission of God, and you're expected to use it. You're listening to pastor, author and theologian J.D. Greer on Summit Life. These daily messages come to you completely free of charge on the radio and web, but they aren't free to produce and distribute.

That's where you come in. Your donations help make Summit Life possible. When you give a gift today to support this mission at the suggested level of $25 or more, we'll say thank you by sending you a copy of a new book from Pastor J.D.

titled Rushing Wind, Understanding the Holy Spirit. It features 20 daily devotionals meant not to only give greater clarity, but to share the power of a spirit filled life. The number to call is 866-335-5220.

That's 866-335-5220 or give online at jdgreer.com. While you're on the website, be sure to sign up for our email list. You'll receive ministry updates, more information about our featured resources and Pastor J's latest blog posts, all delivered straight to your inbox. It's the best way to stay connected with Summit Life throughout your week.

You can sign up when you go to jdgreer.com. I'm Molly Vidovitch. Don't forget to tune in Friday when we continue talking about spiritual gifts. Next time on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.