GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
INTRODUCTION TO THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
DR. JIM DIXON
AUGUST 6, 2000
1 CORINTHIANS 12:1-13
James Dobson tells the allegedly true story of a high school football team which, many years ago, lost 20 games in a row. One Friday night, a millionaire came to see this team play. He lived near the high school and had supported them for years. He was tired of watching them lose, yet they lost again, the 21st loss in a row. The millionaire went down to the locker room, and he asked for permission to speak to the team. It was granted him, and he gave a speech that Knute Rockne would have admired.
He talked to the coach, and he told the coach that his game plan was not good enough. He told the assistant coaches that they were not implementing the game plan properly. He told the players that they hadn’t studied the game plan, and they didn’t know their individual parts. He told them they needed a better work ethic. He told them they needed more emotion. He said, “Just to make sure that you develop more emotion, I’m going to make you an offer. If you win your game next Friday night against our archrival, I’ll give each of the players and coaches a brand new car.”
Well, over the next seven days, the players and the coaches ate, drank, and breathed football. The coach came up with a great game plan. The players learned that game plan. They studied it. They knew their individual parts. They dreamed of scoring touchdowns. They dreamed of crushing their opponents. Their practices were filled with emotion. There was a lot of yelling, a lot of shouting, a lot of high-fiving, and a lot of backslapping. The emotion and enthusiasm spread all over the campus. There were pep rallies. Everyone could hardly wait until Friday night.
Friday night came. In the locker room, the coach gave his pre-game talk, and it was the best talk he’d ever given. When the players left that locker room, they were wired. They could all see themselves in brand new cars, surrounded by beautiful girls. They went out onto the field and they got into a circle. They put their hands together and they shouted in unison their school name. Together, they spelled out victory—V-I-C-T-O-R-Y. Then they went out to meet the enemy, and an incredible thing happened. They lost 38-0!—their 22nd loss in a row.
James Dobson tells that story in his little booklet called “Emotion: Can You Trust It?” Of course, Dobson’s argument is that emotion, even when combined with preparation, is no substitute for ability, no substitute for talent, no substitute for giftedness. This morning, we are going to begin a series where we focus on giftedness. We will focus on what the Bible calls the “charismata,” the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ wants to give His people endowments of the Holy Spirit, which enable us to do things we would not normally be able to do. These are the gifts of the Holy Spirit. All of us who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior—we’re on the same team. We might think of Jesus Christ as a coach who’s gone into heaven, and He’s given us our game plan. He’s given us the promise of heavenly reward, but He knew that that would not be enough. He knew that we were engaged in a great struggle, far more significant than a game. He knew that, as Christians, we would be engaged in a struggle that’s more like a war, that we are engaged in a battle for the souls of men and women the world over, that we are up against an enemy who is strong and, quite literally, demonic. And so, Jesus Christ has given His people the “charismata,” the gifts of the Holy Spirit that enable us to do some very special things.
The tragedy is that in the body of Christ, in this generation and throughout the Christian centuries, there’s been a lot of ignorance with regard to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. So, this morning, in this introductory lesson, I want us to focus on four things. We have four needs with regard to the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The first need is knowledge. We need knowledge of the gifts. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:1, “Concerning the spiritual gifts, concerning the gifts of the Holy Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed . . .” Paul wants us to have knowledge of the gifts.
I heard a joke fairly recently. It’s not a particularly great joke, but I’m going to tell it anyway. It’s about a guy named George. George was a Baptist and a pretty good guy. He had one great weakness, and that was that he loved to gamble on the horses. One day, he was at the racetrack. As George looked down onto the field, he saw a Catholic priest. He noticed that the Catholic priest, just before the first race, put his hand on the head of one of the horses and blessed it. The horse was a long shot, but that horse won that first race. George was amazed.
Well, as the second race was about to take place, he looked down at the Catholic priest and noticed that, once again, the Catholic priest put his hand on one horse and blessed it. George went and put a little money on that horse even though it was a long shot. Sure enough, the horse won! So, this went on in the third race, fourth race, fifth race, sixth race . . . and George was beginning to make a lot of money. This Catholic priest would bless a horse and George would bet on it.
As they came to the last race, George thought, ”Well, this is my one chance in life.” He withdrew all of his money and had all of his money wired to the track so that he could bet everything on this last race. He watched the Catholic priest. This Catholic priest went up to one horse and put his hand on his head, then on his eyes, then on his ears, and then even on the hoofs. George thought, ”Wow! This is really a blessing!” He felt really good about putting all of his money on that horse, but when the race began, the horse fell to the back of the pack. Halfway through the race, that horse died.
George lost everything. He went down onto the track. He found the Catholic priest, and he said, “Hey, you know, I saw you bless that horse, and I just put everything on that horse. The horse not only didn’t win, but your horse died!” He said, “I’ve lost everything! What do you have to say about that?” The Catholic priest just looked at George and he shook his head. He said, ”You Protestants, you’re all the same! You can’t tell the difference between a simple blessing and the last rites!”
It seems to me that that’s probably true. I mean that’s probably true of many Protestants. They can’t tell the difference between a simple blessing and the last rites. But far more significantly, far more tragically, with regard to both Protestants and Catholics, most Christians can’t tell the difference between the gift of wisdom and the gift of knowledge. They can’t tell the difference between the gift of wisdom and the gift of discernment. They don’t know the difference between the gift of helps and the gift of mercy. In fact, most studies show that most Christians are virtually ignorant with regard to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They don’t know what the gifts are. Ninety percent of the Christians in the world do not know what their own gifts are or how to acquire the spiritual gifts, the “charismata,” the gifts of the Holy Spirit, these divine endowments.
There is a listing of the gifts in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. In fact, there are two lists there. There is a list in Romans 12, a brief list in Ephesians 4, and a brief list in 1 Peter 4. You add all those lists up, and you come up with 32 gifts. When you subtract the repetitions, you come out with 19 gifts of the Holy Spirit. These include apostleship, prophecy, teaching, pastoring, exhortation, administration, evangelism, healing, miracles, discernment, wisdom, contributions, helps, mercy, faith, hospitality, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues, and the word of knowledge—19 gifts of the Holy Spirit. God wants you to know them and understand them. In these upcoming weeks, we’re going to look at two or three gifts a week, so that you might have knowledge regarding the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The second need that we have with regard to the gifts of the Holy Spirit is desire. We need to desire the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It’s not enough to know them. We need to desire them. In your heart, you know this morning whether or not you have a desire for the “charismata,” for the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 14:1, “Earnestly desire all the gifts. Earnestly desire all of the spiritual gifts.” The two words “earnestly desire” are just one word in the Greek. That one word in the Greek is the word “zelo.” “Zelo” is the word from which we get our English word “zealous.” It’s related to our word “zealot.” It’s hard for us to translate into English the passion of this word, the depth of desire that the Apostle Paul is talking about when he says, “Desire all the gifts.”
Many of you have seen a television program called ”Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” That program is hosted by Regis Philbin, and it’s on every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday night. Incredibly, there have been weeks where all three nights of ”Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” have been rated in the top five programs of the week. It’s an extremely popular program. There was an article in “USA Today” where the producer of ”Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” was interviewed. They asked him why the show was so popular, why so many Americans were tuning in. This man said . . . and I thought it was amazing, almost incredulous . . . This man said he thinks the show is so popular because this is a nation of people who have an insatiable thirst for knowledge. That was the explanation! This is a nation of people with an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Therefore, they’re tuning in to watch ”Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”
I thought, “What if the show was called, ‘Who Wants to Win a Hundred Bucks?’ I wonder how many people would be tuning in for pure knowledge . . .” You see, what this nation really has is an insatiable thirst for is material things. Some people, in their quest for money, literally destroy their families. Some people, in their quest for money, destroy their own health. Some people, in their quest for money, completely lose sight of God.
In 1 Timothy 6, the Bible says, ”We brought nothing into this world and we can take nothing out of the world; but if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. For those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and hurtful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evil. It is through this craving that many depart from the faith and pierce their hearts with many pangs, for love of money.”
Incredibly, the word that is used for the love of money, for coveting material things is this word “zelo,” the same word that Paul uses when describing our desire for the spiritual gifts. “Zelo.” The intensity of desire is so strong that it can mean, “to covet.” Paul is saying, “Even if the world earnestly desires money and material things, Christians should earnestly desire the gifts of the Holy Spirit.” Paul says we should earnestly desire all of them.
Years ago, when our church was smaller and our staff was smaller, we would have staff Christmas parties at Barb’s and my house, sometimes at Bob and Allison Beltz’s house. When the staff was only about ten people, everybody would come with their spouses. There would be twenty of us. We were all told to bring a $10 gift. This became a tradition. We did it every year. We would all bring a $10 gift, and we would put it under the Christmas tree. There would be a bag where we would put 20 numbers, 1 through 20. You had to reach in the bag and draw out a number. Then, we would gather round, and whoever had number 1 had to go under the tree first and take whatever gift that he or she wanted. They would open it up. Then whoever had number 2 would go second. They could either go under the tree and take a gift, or they could take the first gift that the first person had opened. Of course, if they took the first gift, then that first person could get another gift from under the tree.
Many of you have played this game at Christmas. Well, you get to the 20th person, and the 20th person can either take that last gift under the tree or they can take any of the 19 gifts that were already opened. Of course, there’s usually a lot of chaos along the way; but it seems like, inevitably, there’s always one gift that everybody wants. I mean, if you’ve played this, you know it. There’s one gift that just keeps going back and forth. Everybody wants it. I mean, it cost $10 just like the other ones, but everybody is just really into it. It seems to happen every time. That’s sometimes how it is with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It seems like, in a lot of Christian communities, there’s just like one gift people are really into.
Years ago, Gene and I went to a conference in Hawaii. It took us a long time to find a conference that met in Hawaii. This was legit! This was a YWAM Conference. YWAM—Youth With a Mission—is an international ministry that’s headquartered on the Kona Coast of the Big Island. They have a university there. YWAM was founded by Loren Cunningham. He founded the YWAM ministry based on a word of knowledge. He had that spiritual gift, the gift of the word of knowledge. Amongst the YWAM people, we noticed that everybody was wanting that one gift. They all wanted that one gift where they could all receive from the Lord special words of knowledge. That was kind of the focus.
Many years ago, Bob Beltz and I went to a conference in Vancouver on healing. It was sponsored by the Vineyard churches. The Vineyard churches are all over America, and they’ve put on a lot of healing conferences. John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard churches, allegedly had the gift of healing. Again, we saw that, amongst the Vineyard churches, everybody wanted the gift of healing. I mean that was the gift everybody was focusing on.
Of course, in classic Pentecostalism, and more generally in the charismatic movement, you see a lot of focus on the one gift of tongues. In some charismatic circles, it’s believed that the gift of tongues is the litmus test for the baptism of the Holy Spirit—that unless you have the gift of tongues, you’ve not been baptized by the Holy Spirit. Of course, that belief is not biblical. The Bible makes it very clear that all Christians have been baptized by the Holy Spirit. Even in our passage of Scripture for today, the Apostle Paul says, “By one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jew or Greek, slave or free, all were made to drink of the one Spirit.” So, the baptism of the Holy Spirit has been given to all of us when we first believed. When we first accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, we were all baptized in the Holy Spirit.
The Gifts of the Spirit are all to be desired. There is no one gift that elevates us over other Christians. We’re all equal in Christ’s sight, and He loves us all the same. We’re to be open to all the gifts and let Him distribute the gifts in accordance with His will. It is true that Paul says we should particularly desire prophecy because it edifies so much, but Paul also says, ”Earnestly desire all of the gifts.” It’s my hope and prayer that in these upcoming weeks, in this series, you’ll grow in your knowledge of the gifts and you’ll grow in your desire for the gifts.
Now, a third teaching concerns prayer. With regard to gifts of the Holy Spirit, we need to pray. You see, my hope is that as you grow in your knowledge of the gifts and begin to desire the gifts, you will begin to pray for the gifts. I hope you’ll pray that the Spirit of God will endow you with these gifts.
In Luke, 11:13, Jesus Christ taught His disciples. He said, ”You know that earthly fathers, though sinful, know how to give good gifts to their children. How much more is the Heavenly Father willing to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask, to those who pray?” Jesus gives a similar teaching in Matthew 7:11 during the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said, ”You know that earthly fathers, though sinful, know how to give good gifts to their children. How much more is the Heavenly Father willing to give good gifts to those who seek or ask or pray?”
Bible scholars have noticed that in one place, He says, “The Heavenly Father is willing to give the Holy Spirit.” In another place, “The Father is willing to give good gifts.” Bible scholars believe that both passages refer to the good gifts of the Holy Spirit, that God will give them if we pray. We are consistently taught as we look through the pages of Scripture that the gifts are bestowed through the laying on of hands and through the power of prayer. God wants us to begin to pray for the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
I know most of you have heard of W.C. Fields. W.C. Fields was a comedian, an entertainer, and an actor. He was well known for his top hat and his big nose and that peculiar way of speaking through the corner of his mouth. W.C. Fields had a phobia, a great fear of poverty that really came out of his days in vaudeville when he could not put food on the table. Throughout most of his life, he had this recurring nightmare. In this nightmare, he would find himself in a strange city or a strange town, and he was broke. He had no money, and he had no way to get money. That was his recurring nightmare. So, what W.C. Fields did was incredible.
He began to establish bank accounts in cities and towns all over the world, so he would never get stuck in those places. W.C. Fields established 700 bank accounts with 700 different banks in cities all over the world. Some of the bank accounts were small, only $200; some were large, $50,000. On every bank account, he would use a different name, a fictitious name like Ludwig Fishpond, Figley Whitesides, or Aristotle Hoop. These were some of the names he used.
The tragedy was that when he died, he had written down that he had these 700 bank accounts, but the list of banks and all of these fictitious names . . . well, that list was lost. So, all of his heirs began this quest to find the banks, and they could not do it. They only found 26 of the 700 banks, and much of the inheritance was lost.
All of us here who believe in Jesus Christ are heirs of Christ. The Greek word is “sugkleronomos,” and it means “co-heirs with Christ.” We have an inheritance, part of which is laid up in heaven, waiting for us. Our resurrection bodies and all the glory of heaven waits for us. But there’s another part of our inheritance we can enter into now, and that is the “charismata,” the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We can access those accounts. We can access this inheritance through one name, and that’s the name of Jesus Christ. If we will come and pray in the name of Christ, we will begin to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
There’s a great debate in theological circles about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. There are some Bible scholars and theologians who believe the gifts of the Holy Spirit are permanent endowments. There are some theologians and Bible scholars who believe the gifts of the Holy Spirit are situational endowments. Some believe that if you receive a gift of the Holy Spirit, you have it for life. It’s a permanent endowment. Other Bible scholars and theologians believe that it’s a situational endowment, and you receive it when you pray for it—in situations where you need it, it’s given to you. When you no longer need it, it might be taken away.
Biblically, it’s really not necessary to choose one of these views or the other. It’s not an either/or deal. It can be both/and. Some gifts of the Holy Spirit may indeed be permanent endowments. A person might be given the gift of teaching, and they might have it for life. Other gifts of the Holy Spirit may, indeed, be situational endowments. And when you get into those situations, you need to pray. Pray for this endowment of the Holy Spirit.
Moms and Dads need almost all of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in order to raise kids. I mean, you find yourself in situations as parents where you need a word of knowledge, and you need to pray for that. You may need a word of wisdom. You need to pray for that. You may need discernment, and you need to pray for that endowment of the Holy Spirit. Many times, you need the gift of mercy and the gift of helps. As you raise your children, many times and in many situations, you need the gift of faith—because there are so many times when you’re afraid, when you need that supernatural endowment of the Holy Spirit, the gift of faith. As your kids grow up and leave home and then later come back to live with you . . . you need, once again, the gift of hospitality! We should pray situationally for these gifts of the Holy Spirit. I believe that with all my heart.
Our hope and prayer is that as we study the gifts of the Holy Spirit in these upcoming weeks, you’ll grow in your knowledge, you’ll grow in your desire, and then you will begin to pray. Finally, our last teaching is about employing the gifts. It’s not enough to grow in your knowledge of the gifts. It’s not enough to desire the gifts. It’s not enough to desire the gifts so much that you pray that you might receive the gifts. You see, you must employ the gifts.
The Bible says, “As each has received a gift, employ it for one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” The Apostle Paul writes, “To each of us is given a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” You see, these endowments of the Holy Spirit are given for ministry—ministry in the home, ministry in the church, ministry in the world. These are gifts that are meant to be employed.
Some years ago, I read a book by Elmer Bendiner. Elmer Bendiner wrote the book, “The Fall of Fortresses.” It tells of his own story during World War II when he was a B-17 Bomber pilot. He was flying his B-17 Bomber over a particular city in Nazi Germany. He was engaged in battle. Suddenly, his plane was hit! He knew that he had taken some 22mm shells, and he thought they had gone right into the gas tank. He expected his plane to explode. In World War II, 88,000 American men died in the air, and 23,000 United States airplanes went to the ground. He thought he would just be one of them. He just thought he would join that list, but somehow the plane did not explode. His plane stayed airworthy. He was able to make it back to base, but he was puzzled. He said to the mechanics, “I think there’s a 22mm shell in my gas tank. Get it out of there. I want to keep that as kind of a souvenir of my good fortune.”
Well, he went into one of the buildings and was still sort of in shock. He came back out later and started talking to the mechanics. They said, ”You’re not going to believe this. There were eleven 22mm shells in your gas tank and none of them exploded. None of them, not one. Later, he was talking to military intelligence, and they explained to him that all eleven of these shells lacked ammunition. They were just shell casings. Inside, they were completely empty—no ammunition, no explosives.
Inside one of the eleven shells, they found a note. The note said, “This is all we can do for you now.” They figured out that it was written in Czechoslovakian. They figured out that somewhere in Czechoslovakia, in one of the factories, there were workers who had been conscripted by the Nazis, but who were trying to help the Allied Forces—United States, Britain, and the Allies. They were just doing their little part by taking the ammunition and explosives out of the shells.
Of course, all over America, women and men did their little part in this great struggle. Fifteen million American men went off to battle. Ten million were drafted, but five million just volunteered. Three hundred and thirty-eight thousand American women went into the military in non-combat service. From 1941 to 1945, four million American women left the home and went to work in factories to fuel the war machine. All over America, women and men bought war bonds, certificates, notes, and stamps in order to provide dollars in this great struggle. The United States Government, thereby, was able to raise $180 billion. Everyone did their part.
Whether it’s in times of war or in times of peace, a nation needs to be mobilized. Whether in times of war or in times of peace, a nation is only as great as the willingness of its people to work. Unless the people are willing to work and be mobilized, a nation never attains greatness. Everyone has to do their part. What’s true of nations is also true of the Church of Jesus Christ. It’s true of this church. This church is only as strong as our willingness to be mobilized, our willingness to work, and our willingness to be employed. You see, Christ calls all of His people to employment in the church—to employ your time, your talent, and your treasure in the service of Christ and His church.
It’s my hope and prayer that as we go through these upcoming weeks and months, we’ll grow in our knowledge of the gifts and our desire for the gifts. We’ll begin to pray for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and then we’ll begin to employ them—at home, at work, in our community, and yes, right here at church—so we’ll be mobilized, and the power of Christ will come afresh upon this church and this congregation. Let’s close with a word of prayer.