This is the second half of a too-long sermon. And I apologize that it’s taken this long to complete thoughts I began over a month ago.
In my last post, “Streaking,” I had planned to expound upon the gifts of the Spirit that Paul names in Romans and 1 Corinthians. However, what I thought would be one sermon has become two. If you haven’t already listened to or read “Streaking,” I encourage you to go back and do so.
I shared in that post about some of the responses I’ve gotten from teenagers and adults about what spiritual gifts are. One of the most surprising answers I received was, “stirring the pot.” What exactly does it mean?
A quick internet search will tell you that it is, “to cause unrest or dissent.” Uh oh. That sounds a lot like one of the seven “things the Lord hates” listed in Proverbs 6:16-19. The list includes, “a person who stirs up conflict in the community.” I’ve heard older translations read as, “stirring up discord among the brethren.”
The seven things the Lord hates in Proverbs 6 are far different from the seven gifts of the Spirit listed in Roman 12. The passage from Proverbs describes what divides God’s people, driving them away from Him and from each other. This kind of stirring is not a gift of the Spirit but rather works against the Spirit.
Then again, think about the phrase, “stir the pot.” Taken literally, it is part of cooking a meal. We stir pots on stove tops to meld flavors and ingredients for what will become our dinner. Stirring the pot can bring together various pieces for a better whole. Now, that is more like what the Holy Spirit does. That’s more like who the Holy Spirit is
.
The Holy Spirit is the source of every gift. We cannot create or stir these up in our own might. Instead, they are imparted from God Himself. To refresh our memories, Paul lists the following in Romans 12 as the gifts of the Spirit:
Prophecy
Ministry
Teaching
Exhortation
Giving
Leading
Showing mercy
In 1 Corinthians 12, the gifts are listed as:
Words of wisdom
Words of knowledge
Faith
Healings
Working of miracles
Prophecy
Discernment of spirits
Speaking in tongues
Interpretation of tongues
In Hebrews 10:24-25, the author-pastor writes, “Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of our selves together… but exhorting one another as you see the Day approaching.”
The Spirit works in and through us to stir up such love and good works. These gifts are manifestations we can see, hear and experience. Do you notice how one of the gifts is exhortation, and the writer of Hebrews so beautifully weaves exhortation into these instructions? We are exhorters of one another, encouragers to one another. This is part of “considering one another,” or being considerate of one another. Deep respect is the foundation for love and good works. That respect flows from the Holy Spirit, from whom each of these good gifts flow.
In Acts 2:4, when the Holy Spirit arrives as Jesus promised, one of the manifestations of His presence was that the people, “began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” They had believed in Jesus, they had asked to receive the Holy Spirit, and they waited. When the Holy Spirit came, he filled the people, and He began to speak through the people in languages many didn’t understand. Anyone who believes in Jesus as Savior receives the Holy Spirit, too, because the Spirit and the Son are one with the Father.
Far too often we stop here in our understanding of the Holy Spirit. We confess Jesus as our Savior, choose to follow Him, invite Him to rule and reign in our heart. But we miss out on the next best prayer. When the resurrected Christ appears to his disciples in John 20:22, He breathes on them and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” A little over fifty days later, in Acts 2:2, the same Holy Spirit fills the house where the disciples had gathered to wait.
The prayer we so often miss is, “Jesus, I want to receive the Holy Spirit in His fullness.”
Praying in tongues is a manifestation of that fullness available to anyone who (a) asks in humility and reverence and (b) fervently waits and watches. The early Church was full of the various languages, both earthly and heavenly, and soon the Holy Spirit gave them the ability to understand what the other was saying. This is where the gifts of speaking and interpreting tongues began. This is one of the ways that the Father grants us glimpses to His mysteries and wonders.
The same can be said of healings and working of miracles. Jesus promised his first disciples in John’s gospel that they would do even greater works than He did.
Stop and think about the power of that verse. Jesus himself said in John 14:12, “He who believes in me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father.”
Jesus returns to the Father, and the Holy Spirit comes to us to bring forth that power and authority to do even more than Jesus did in his earthly ministry!
How tragic it is when we believe the lie that miracles and healings were only of the early Church. How sad it is that the Holy Spirit wants to pour forth that power in those He trusts, but we don’t take the time to build that relationship of trust with Him. How desperately we need another gift, the gift of faith, to access the treasures of God’s miracle working power.
Do you see already how all of these gifts are interconnected? We can’t understand tongues and miracles and faith without proper teaching and leading. Humility is the soil we must cultivate for the gifts, and we develop that in serving and ministering and exhorting and giving and showing mercy.
Discernment of spirits develops as we spend time with the Holy Spirit and learn to distinguish His voice from all others that rally for our attention. One of the ways we learn his voice is in listening to prophecy, words of wisdom, and words of knowledge.
I write about all of these gifts with a lot of fear and trembling. This is holy territory, but these three give me the most pause because they are all about spoken words.
Jesus is the Word made flesh. Creation began when God spoke. To prophesy or to speak words of wisdom or knowledge is basically the Lord himself speaking through us humans. Prophecy is more than telling the future. Strong’s Concordance defines it as, “the speaking forth of the mind and counsel of God.” I would encourage you to learn more about prophecy by studying the prophets in the Old Testament.
Words of knowledge and wisdom are also gifts where God speaks through people and to people. I asked my dad for input on the difference between the two, knowing that he has studied the gifts of the Spirit for a long time. He said that the word of knowledge is like losing your car keys, and the Lord reminds you of where they are. The word of wisdom shows you where to go and what to do after cranking the car.
It’s appropriate to wrap up this sermon with that analogy. Where do we go, and what do we do, with what we learn about the gifts? To the Scriptures. To our knees. To people of faith with whom we want to learn. Most importantly, we go to Jesus Himself.
We pray a prayer that he loves to hear, “I want more.” Not a greedy kind of “more.” A deeper kind of “more.”
It’s like a big pot of soup that’s been simmering on the stovetop, with all its different parts coming together. The Lord is the chef who prepares it, stirring it with his love. Once we taste and see the goodness of the Lord, of course we want seconds and thirds and return invitations to his feast. This Lenten season began for many of us on Ash Wednesday with the Lord saying through the prophet Joel, “Return to me.”
Return to the pot on the stove. Return to the creator of the good things he wants to prepare as your feast. Return, and be filled with Him.
Let us pray.
Almighty Father, Precious Jesus, Holy Spirit, this Lenten season, I want more of you. I desire to experience and witness the gifts of your wonder-working power. I want to participate with you in those gifts, not for glory or honor, but simply because I want to be with you. Fill me again. I receive. Flow through me. Amen.
all good things to each of you,
dr. darian
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