Wisdom and Knowledge: 1 Corinthians 12. 8-10

Wisdom and Knowledge: 1 Corinthians 12. 8-10
Summing up so far...

* From the Old Testament: Who is the Spirit? He is and always has been God at work, powerfully personally, and creatively.
* From the Spirit in the ministry of Jesus: What does the Spirit do? He wants to come in power to make us clean and to equip us to extend God's kingdom.
* What are gifts? God-breaths, graces that make the Spirit's presence noticeable.

So let's look at the gifts - the things the Spirit does - in greater detail...

Paul speaks about gifts, five times. There are two lists in 1 Cor 12; another in Romans 12, a different one in Eph 4; then in 1 Cor 7.7 he uses that word "Charismata" (gracelets) to refer to the ability to be happily single or to be happily married. See the chart to sort out the 23 gifts mentioned - as some are mentioned more than once.

1 Cor 12. 8-10	1 Cor 12. 28-30	Rom 12. 6-8	Eph 4.11	1 Cor 7. 7
	apostles,		apostles,
	prophets,		prophets,
			Evangelists
			Pastors
	teachers	teaching	teachers
wisdom
knowledge
faith
healing	gifts of healing,
miracles	miracles,
prophecy		prophecy
distinguish between spirits
	helping
	administration
tongues	various kinds of tongues.
interpretation of tongues
		service
		exhortation
		Contributes
		leads
		acts of mercy
				Celibacy
				Marriage

Then there is the Old Testament where the spirit's gifts include prophecy, interpreting dreams (Gen 41.38 Joseph), administering justice (Num 11.17); leadership (Jdg 3:10)  ; wisdom (Num 27:18  Deu 34:9) , craftsmanship (Exodus 31. 3)  strength (Jdg 6:34)  and military skill (Jdg 13-14). We are dealing with the creative God, and we shouldn't tie down what he does by his Spirit to a little list of gifts.


What we will do then is look at the gifts mentioned in 1 Cor 12, beginning today with the first two which are "Word" gifts.
Paul speaks of a "word of wisdom2, and a "word of knowledge2.  In keeping with what we said last week that the gifts are not so much our personal possessions that we carry around with us, but rather are god-breaths that show the Spirit is at work, Paul says here some have a word of wisdom, some a word of knowledge.  It's not the wisdom or knowledge that is the gift; it is the occasion when it is used for the building up of the Church.


Wisdom can include the wisdom of creation/creativity.  The craftsmen in Exodus 31 were described as having "Wisdom".  It is a skill-gift.  In the Bible, wisdom is never neutral!  It's wither or earthly and devilish - or God-given: See James 3. 14-17; 1 Cor 3. 19
In the Bible, "Wisdom" is always about what to do, not just about theory.  Think about the Proverbs: they are about the practicalities of life
Pro 3:30  Do not contend with a man for no reason, when he has done you no harm.
Pro 6:10  A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber.
Pro 11:12  Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent.
Pro 14:34  Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.
Pro 17:28  Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.


The word of Wisdom is a practical application of the truth of God's Word, to real life so we know what to do in a difficult situation.


An example of this in the ministry of Jesus is in Matthew 22. 16-22. Some people came to Jesus with a trick question: "Should we Jews pay taxes to the Romans or not?"  If he said, "Yes, he would be seen as a traitor to the Jews. If he said "No," he would be seen as a troublemaker by the Romans.  Jesus cut through all that with a word of wisdom: "Whose picture is on the coin?"  Caesar could claim what had his mark on it; but god claims what bears His image, so all people should put God first.


James 1:5  If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.


Knowledge.  There were people in the Greek world called "Gnostics" - who believed that there was a secret knowledge you needed to achieve union with God.  For the "Gnostics" that was all about getting your soul freed from your sinful body, and about the use of the stars, or getting help from a variety of spiritual beings. Gnostic ideas were a threat to the Church: some Christians were taken in by Gnostic teaching, and a lot of Paul's writing aims to deal with these errors.  But Paul isn't afraid to use the word "knowledge" - insisting that God wants all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim 2. 4)   When he is talking about a "word of knowledge", this is what he means.  A special, Spirit-inspired insight into the great theological truths of the Christian faith.  Not a new doctrine.  Not some secret knowledge about angels or star signs.  Just this: a fresh understanding of one of the big truths, one of the core doctrines of the faith.  


Now I know lots of Christians believe a "word of knowledge" is what happens when someone has God-given information about someone else. Maybe at a healing service someone will know something quite specific.  "There's someone here with tennis elbow and God wants to heal you."  That's a perfectly valid thing to happen.  If God gives you something like that then it's right to share it.  But that is not a word of knowledge. It's probably more like a word of faith or prophecy.   We'll come to that next week.


Arnold Bittliinger says, "The word of knowledge consists of the old message spoken in the new situation in such a way that it still remains the old message."


We see Jesus using the word of knowledge in Matthew 5. See verses 21-22.  Here he quotes the "Old Message" from the law: "You shall not murder". He then speaks that into the new situation of the Kingdom: "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment."  Compare verses 27-28.   The old message is "You shall not commit adultery," but in the new situation Jesus says  " everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart"


So how can we apply this?  We can all benefit when God gives someone a word of wisdom or of knowledge.  They can help us understand and apply our faith. And any of us can receive a word of wisdom or knowledge. In order to move effectively in these gifts and benefit from them, there are two things we need to do.  Spend time walking with Jesus in prayer.  And saturating ourselves in God's word.


© Gilmour Lilly August 2011

The Spirit and the Gifts 1 Corinthians 12. 1-11

The Spirit  and the Gifts 1 Corinthians 12. 1-11

Corinth was a city known for its wild, self-centered and pleasure-seeking lifestyle. Against that background, the letters Paul wrote tell us that the Corinthian Church found the "Gifts of the Spirit" exciting: the idea of speaking in new languages, loud, sensual worship, maybe some miracles, appealed to their sense of individualism, their taste for the spectacular.   You would think, if Paul had any sense, he would advise these immature Christians to leave these supernatural things alone: "Just  focus on Jesus and don't bother with the Holy Spirit."  But he didn't. Far from it. He couldn't and wouldn't, because the work of the Spirit is central to the Good News.  The only Christianity Paul and the early Church knew, was supernatural, Spirit-empowered Christianity.  He wants the Corinthians, despite the mistakes they have been making, to appreciate the amazing things God wants to be doing in their lives.  The principle remains true today, that the answer to abuse of the gifts is not disuse, but correct use.   The gifts came with the package.  

But What are they? 
Paul doesn't actually use the word "Gifts": he uses 5 different words for the so-called gifts of the Spirit in the first seven verses of this chapter. We look now at the words Paul uses, to get some handle on how God wants the gifts to operate in our lives.  It's a bit of a Greek lesson, but Paul says "I don't want you to be ignoranit" about this area so it will help us to get a handle on the facts...

Dandelion seeds.
Picture by Alex Valavanis

1. Gifts are  "Pneumatika", they are Spirit-breaths (v1)
That is what the Corinthians were seeing and hearing around them in their worship: Something that had the immediacy and authority of being a "God-breath", a word or touch from heaven.  If we want to use our gifts we need to begin with "god-breaths". What is God wanting to breath through my life?

2. Gifts are "Charismata"; they are "gracelets" (v4)
The next word Paul uses is related to the word for "Thanks" and the word for "Grace".  Theses gifts are little graces, little freely give, freely received favours from God. They are an outworking of the amazing grace God has shown us in sending Jesus to save us from our sin.  If we want to use our gifts, we need to remember they're gracelets: they come by grace, and they should show God's grace to others, bring his joy to the lives they touch.

3. Gifts are "diakonia"; they are services (v5)
They lead us not just to feeling good. They're intended not to take us to ministry. They're not just for leaders. They're for servants.  They're for those who are willing to "serve at table".

4. Gifts are "energemata"; they are abilities or activities (v6)
They go at least a little beyond the natural. They are energies: energy is something working inside us.  I don't know how the Spirit works inside people to produce his gifts. But I know that is what he does.  Sometimes he takes what we naturally have; sometimes he enables us to see what we naturally couldn't.  And the amazing mixture of the abilities we started with, and the power of God, produces real gifts of the Spirit.

5. Gifts are "Phanerosis".  They are visible evidence. (v7)  This is the word from which we get "phenomenon" - which simply means something that we can see or hear or touch.   So gifts are a manifestation or exhibition of the Spirit. Spiritual gifts make the spirit's presence noticeable.  When people use their gifts, the presence of the Spirit is evident in worship. When you use your gifts, the presence of the Spirit is evident in your workplace.

Who is given them?
To each.  Spirituals, gracelets, services, abilities, exhibitions of the Spirit are given to each one.   Nobody is excluded.  Nobody is too old or too young. Nobody is not clever enough, or not spiritual enough.  The evidence of the spirit being at work is given to everyone.  God has placed, is placing and will place within your life, breaths of his Spirit, graces, services, energies that are evidence of his Spirit being at work. Find out what they are and use them.

What are they for?
The common good.  So everyone can profit from them.  Not just for you to enjoy. Not to build you up but to build other people up.  It's that simple, I have very little to add to hat Paul has already said here.

How do they come?
They operate by the spirit. (1 Cor 12. 8f). Paul uses three different words for our English word by.  Now these three words all point to the origin of all these gifts being the Holy Spirit. But they are different and their differences point to or suggest something of the breadth of how the Spirit works.

 1. Through, by means of the Spirit.  The Spirit therefore is the original source, for the gifts.  And whether your gift is wholly supernatural, or whether your gift is a musical one that grew as you did Grade exams, its ultimate source is the Holy Spirit.  It will only touch the lives of other people, if the Holy Spirit is using it.  We need to think outside the box as we recognise the Spirit.

2. According to (the Rules of) the Spirit.  He determines who gets what! (verse 11) And he will not contradict himself. He will not inspire someone to curse the Name of Jesus.  He will always want to say, "Jesus is Lord!"  He will always desire to operate his gifts within character that is like Jesus. We need to respect the Rules of the Spirit;

3. In, resting in, the Spirit. The Greek word "in" is about rest.  Time and again, in discovering our gifts, and in using our gifts, we will need to stop struggling, and just say "Over to you, Lord!"  We keep coming back to this, no matter how experienced we are in the things of the Spirit: we rest in him and we pick up again his resources.  

4.  Finally, ...  Paul says (1 Cor 14. 1) "earnestly desire/Be eager to have/Set your hearts on spiritual gifts.  Zealously desire them."  Desire the gifts. Request. Ask. 

As we do, the Spirit will show himself. His work will be seen.


© Gilmour Lilly August 2011

Jesus - man of the Spirit....Luke 4. 14-30

Our story begins with Jesus "Coming back to Galilee in the power of the Spirit" - but where's he been? What has been happening to bring him back to Galilee in the power of the Spirit?  Let me tell you what happened....Jesus has been in the desert. But before that he's been to the Jordan River where he was baptised, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him. Be even that is not where Luke's story of Jesus, man of the Spirit, begins...

The Spirit and his birth. See Luke 1. 35. At the point at which the "New Creation" began to impact the world, when Jesus the eternal son of God, became human, when Jesus who had always been there with the Father and the Spirit, became a growing embryo in Mary's womb, the Holy Spirit was at work.   That's the fundamental background to everything. Jesus wasn't just an ordinary person who was made special because the Holy Spirit came to him... He was and is God... but...

The Spirit and his baptism. After he had been baptised, and was in prayer, (and Luke stresses both of these) the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus with a visible sign that looked like a dove. In a way that reminder of the language of Genesis 1. 2, the spirit hovers over the life of Jesus to equip him for the ministry that he had accepted. When Jesus came back to Galilee "in the power of the Spirit" it was the outworking of this experience at his baptism, when the Holy Spirit came in power upon him.   But there's more.... Jesus wasn't coming straight from the Jordan, where the Spirit came in power. He was coming from the desert...

The Spirit and his inner life.  Verse 1 tells us, "The Spirit led Jesus in the desert", in the wild place, for forty days of fasting, prayer, discipline.  In the desert - without going too deeply into the temptations and their significance (which would be another sermon) - Jesus faced questions about his identity (twice the enemy challenged him "if you are the Son of God") and his motivation (the enemy offered him the "kingdoms of the world") and dealt with these through God's word. He is clean and confident.

So now, Jesus has arrived back in his home region and is ready to begin his ministry, healing the sick and announcing Good news, at Capernaum... then turning up at his home town, Nazareth, and doing what he had always done, going to synagogue on the Sabbath.  People have heard about him. He's recognised as a man and as a preacher, so he is given the scroll of Isaiah the prophet to read; he finds Isaiah 61 and reads it...   (Luke being a Greek quotes from the Greek Old testament, which is slightly different. That's why Isaiah 61 doesn't quite match Luke 4. 18)

The Spirit and his mission.  The Spirit who rests upon Jesus, anoints him "to preach Good News to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to proclaim the acceptable year of he Lord"...  (The year of Jubilee, when land was passed back to the people who originally owned it. )  What does that all mean?  Isaiah was very much concerned with the coming into the world of someone he often called "God's Servant", the Messiah, who would bring "God's rule". A new age for god's people in all their suffering and struggles and anew age for the world... So when Jesus read these words, and then began to say, "These words are fulfilled here today..." he was announcing that the work of the Spirit in his life is about bringing the Kingdom.  That was his mission. Two things about this Kingdom;

First, it would comfort the disturbed.  It was going to bring healing to broken individuals; it was going to bring healing to broken relationships; it was going to bring healing to a broken world.  The Kingdom, then, as to bring physical healing, material provision, freedom from spiritual and political oppression, and a restored relationship with God.

And it would disturb the comfortable... Initial reactions, it seems, were positive, to this new young preacher.  (v. 22)  People are nodding their heads - but they are also beginning to get a bit offended: "we know who he is. We ken his faither... these are big claims for the carpenter's lad" The people are surprised, impressed, rattled, all at the same time.  Jesus goes on to challenge their comfortable assumptions about the Kingdom: it's not going too be quickly proved by a few miracles. And it's not going to be a cosy little club for a chosen few. It's for the nations. They are now so rattled that they want to run him out of town, to stone him as a heretic... but he slips away from them... It's almost a parable of Jesus and the gospel's relationship with the Jews - beginning at home in Judea and then going out to the far-off places.

So Luke, writing to the Church far away from Judea, brings the story of Jesus and their experience of the Spirit together. He is saying something about Jesus. They can understand Jesus in the light of what the Spirit has done in their lives. And he is saying something about the Spirit - they should expect of the Spirit in their own lives to do what he did in the life of Jesus...

A new Creation.  The Spirit of God has to be at work whenever a man woman or child connects with God, trusts Jesus, commits to following him.  HE speaks. He nudges us to realise we need to trust Jesus... He takes hold of us and loves inside us when we reach that point of trust.

Coming in power...If the Spirit could come and empower Jesus who was God the Son after all, how much more do we need to welcome the Spirit coming in power upon us.  We need the Spirit - the breath of God - to hover over our lives to release his gifts in us.  When we are ready to commit to serving God, and in a place of dependent prayer, we can ask God to send his Spirit into our lives, to fill us and to give us power.

Inner Cleansing.  The Holy Spirit is concerned about your inner life.  EH is not just concerned about producing dramatic powerful things: he is concerned about heart surgery. HE is concerned about your inner life. He is concerned about your identity. That's why Paul insists that he is the Spirit of Sonship. Do you know who you are in Christ? Do you have confidence that you are a child of God?  What motivates you? What keeps you going and makes you want to serve Jesus? These are things the Holy Spirit wants to do in you.  He works with god's word in your inner life to make you clean and confident. If you want the Holy Spirit in your life, if you want to be filled with the Spirit, if you want to grow in your gifts, you need to be prepared to let the Holy spirit work in that inner place: even if it means he's leading you in the desert.

The Kingdom  The Holy Spirit is not just given so we can have nice feelings. He's not just given so we can have impressive gifts.  He's not even just given so we can experience deep stuff from God. He is here to anoint us to preach good news to the poor... so we can take our part in bringing the Kingdom, the reign of God, to our society.  That means to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.  During the last week we have watched as a horrible drama unfolded on our TV screens just a few hours drive away. We may pride ourselves in saying "They were English riots not UK riots" but we all know our society is in a mess. We all know about young people getting legless in Rosyth on a Saturday evening. We all know about addictions, about suicide. We all know about sectarian violence, sexual abuse. We all know about prejudice, we all know about greed. We all know about unemployment, job insecurity, cutbacks, about bankers' bonuses.  The answer to our world is the Kingdom of god.  Not just "Hey, you're a sinner and Jesus died to save you!" but "How can we be good news to the poor? How can we proclaim Jubilee? How can we bring freedom to people who are tied up in webs of crime, addiction, and materialism?   How can we challenge those who are comfortably coexisting with the brokenness in our world?"  The spirit of God wants to take us out into our community, our broken society, to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.


© Gilmour Lilly August 2011

Acts 8:26-40

Although the Church was commissioned to take the Gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth, Philip was the first to do this.   We often call him Philip the Evangelist. We could call him Philip the Obedient; we could call him Philip- the pioneer, Philip the fearless, Philip the Traveller. When persecution happened and loads of Christians left Jerusalem, Philip ended up in Samaria. And he said "Samaria's fair game..."  He was breaking new ground, sharing the good news with Samaritans.  He was right in the middle of the flow of the Holy Spirit. He was seeing powerful signs, wonders, deliverance, and people being saved. ("Great joy in the city" is code for the saving effect of the Kingdom.)  Philip was in the middle of a really exciting time of revival. Then the Lord's angel said, "Leave town, Philip". And I can imagine Philip saying, "Lord, look at what is happening here.  Loads of people are being converted.  The Church is growing.  You've been at work; the Apostles are happy. I'm right at the middle of things, using my gifts and you want me to walk away from all that?

Obedience to the Holy Spirit.  
It gets worse... " Go out into the desert..."  And Philip could well be saying, "But Lord, I'm an evangelist. I tell people the good news. How can I tell people the Good News if there are no people to tell?"  But Philip went out into the desert. He knew the revival was God, not him; he knew that he needed to remain in the place where the Lord had called him to be. And right now, that was in the desert.  So he goes. And the Spirit goes, to lead him in the next adventure in mission.

Discovering the Mission.  
In the desert, at this moment in time, not weeks later...in God's perfect time, as Philip walked down that deserted road, wondering, "What does God have for me to do out here? Did I make a mistake" he hears the jingling of harness, the sound of hooves, and a chariot overtook him...("All right for some...") Then the Holy Spirit spoke: Get after it and hitch a lift". (If you're going to hitch try to get picked up in a Mercedes or a Rolls Royce) - and the passenger was a rich African guy... (it so happens he was Chancellor of the Exchequer to Queen Candace of Ethiopia!)  It doesn't get better.  For Philip the pioneer, he's hitching a lift to the ends of the earth!   Wonderful. From that point on, note, Philip didn't need any prompting from God. He knew what to do. He discovered the Ethiopian was reading the Bible, reading Isaiah 53. The guy was curious, exploring spiritual truths and realities. All he needed was for someone to explain to him, as we were learning this morning, that the "Lamb" of Isaiah 53 is Jesus. This is the mission. This is the next stage.  And Philip is ready to journey with him, and on that journey tell him the Good News.  The Good news, the Kingdom of God, the Lamb slain - for not just Samaria, but the ends of the earth. A complete outsider. A gentile; an African. A guy with a black skin.  You heard it here first, people, from Philip.  Where are your surprising outsiders, who are puzzling over spiritual truth, interacting with holy stuff?  How are you going to get alongside?  How are you going to announce the good news about Jesus? Do you know what the good news is? What will be the possibilities for the mission going to exciting new places, through your surprising outsider?

Ready to respond
The African guy was not just "Curious". He was receptive. He was ready to make a personal commitment to Jesus.  He knew enough about the Christian Faith to know that the way to sign up was to be baptised.  To jump in that water. And he was ready to jump. Isn't that an exciting place to be in mission? Working with receptive people, who are ready to jump in the water.

Becoming a Christian is personal but not private. When the African guy was baptised, he was saying to everyone in his retinue, his bodyguard, his personal servants, "I am now trusting Jesus." It was no secret.   And when he was baptised, he was saying, "I am part of the community of faith, the Church.

When will we as Baptists begin to take baptism seriously? When will we allow it to be what the New testament wants it to be, which is the appeal to God for a clean conscience, the clear, public statement at the beginning of a person's Christian life, that says "I am trusting Jesus to wash my sins away and I am one of his people, part of the Church.

What is to hinder me from being baptised? Well, if you trust in Jesus, nothing. Not being only twelve; not being mentally handicapped; not the need for a course of study first.  No wonder the guy was rejoicing when he went on his way.  That word "Joy " is code for the work of the Holy Spirit in passages like these.  He went on his way, empowered by the Holy Spirit - to the ends of the earth, to serve Jesus in his home continent of Africa.

Mission to the margins
So Philip also travelled: the Spirit just transported him to Ashdod or Azotus, a coastal city. And he worked his way up the coast toward Caesarea, on the margins, all the while proclaiming the Gospel. Maybe not always seeing spectacular results. But it's interesting that in Peter took to travelling with the Gospel. He found saints in Lydda (Acts 9. 32),. and  Joppa (Acts 9. 38).

We read about Philip's revival and we kind of want to say, "That would be nice!  We'd like some of that, please Lord! Why doesn't that happen in Scotland?"   I don't want to suggest that there's some quick fix, or some formula that will bring people into the Kingdom in their thousands. We all have family members whom we long to see coming to trust in Jesus.  It was still hard work for Philip, and it will be hard work for us.  But I believe that s we are prepared to break new ground, we will discover people who are curious. And as we journey with them, we will find that some of them are ready to respond to Jesus. And as we are ready to welcome and receive them, baptising them and teaching them, they go on their way rejoicing; and we go on our way, too, delighting in being part of God's mission in the margins.





© Gilmour Lilly August 2011