5/12/19 1 Corinthians 12:1-13 “You May Own an Oil Field!”

10 May 5/12/19 1 Corinthians 12:1-13 “You May Own an Oil Field!”

5/12/19     1 Corinthians 12:1-13   “You May Own an Oil Field!”

This is a very special Sunday as we celebrate Mother’s Day.  Even though some of us have had our mothers go on to heaven already, we can still celebrate because we all have or have had a mother.  And they are important.  We couldn’t be here without them.  And we can celebrate the church in a similar vein.  We wouldn’t be able to have a church if Jesus hadn’t died, gone back to heaven and then sent the Holy Spirit to live with us.  Without all of this, we would be no better than a common animal that lives in the wild.  We have many so-called churches today who don’t know Jesus who act like zoo keepers instead of churches.  Anyway today we are going to take a look at spiritual gifts that are administered through the Holy Spirit.  Let’s see if we can unlock the mystery these gifts a little and find out how to use them.

Several years ago, we were wishing a pastor a fond farewell at another church and I was call upon for some entertainment, if you can imagine that.  Anyway I decided to rewrite the Beverly Hillbillies tune with the pastor’s name and story in it.  It was fun.  Do you remember that song?  It goes something like this: (Sing) Come and listen to a story ’bout a man named Jed, Poor mountaineer barely kept his family fed, Then one day he was shooting for some food, And up through the ground came a bubbling crude(Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea).     Well the first thing you know old Jed’s a millionaire, Kin folk said Jed move away from there, Said California is the place you oughta be,  So they loaded up the truck and they moved to Beverly. (Hills that is, swimming pools, movie stars)

Well, I think that today we can learn a little lesson from old Jed that applies to the Scripture I just read.  For years Jed had been on this piece of land and he didn’t know the fortune that was underneath it.  And this is the same way as it is for many of us concerning our spiritual gifts.  Many people are standing on a gold mine and they don’t even know it.  According to the Barna Research Group, 30-40% of Americans have never heard of a spiritual gift and 70% of people who have heard of them don’t know what their gift is.  That is a lot of people standing on an oil well that they don’t know about.  Just think of the power God would unleash if everyone knew and used their gift!

Anyway, today I’m not going to go into the individual gifts so much but more into what the gifts are.  Paul is writing to the church in Corinth.  He tells us in 1 Cor. 1:7 that they as a church had plenty of spiritual gifts so that wasn’t the problem.  Paul wrote this part of the letter because they were using their gifts in the wrong way.  They had been bragging to each other that my gifts are better than yours.  It was getting to be a competition as to who had the best gifts.  This section makes a lot more sense when you look at it from this view point.  When there was a major problem in the early church, Paul usually wrote a letter to them and this is it to the Corinthians.

And I really don’t think our problem today is so much that we brag about all our gifts.  Oh, we do have a few churches that are like this.  I know of one where you really cannot be a member unless you speak in tongues.  This would make this an exclusive church because everyone can’t speak in tongues.  But our problem in today’s church is more like that we don’t use the gifts that we have.  And some of this might be because often times we don’t know what gift it is that we have.

First we have to realize that spiritual gifts are different than natural talents.  A talent is something that we have and nurture for use.  We could have musical talents or speaking talents or artistic talents.  These talents could become like spiritual gifts if they are used for the glory of God.  Spiritual gifts are given by the Holy Spirit as seen in verse 4.  There is quite a list of gifts and I have a couple of books that may help you to learn where your gift or gifts lie.  Ask me and I will give you a list of titles or just loan you the book.

As we try to sort out what our gifts are, we need to be aware of what they are not.  Just suppose that a couple of you were volunteered by me, if you can imagine a pastor volunteering someone, to serve coffee and bars on Sunday mornings before church.  And suppose that the wife is gifted in hospitality and the husband is not.  What would happen is that the wife would have a great time doing this and she would do it very well.  But the husband would be miserable in this role.  This is one of the reasons why it is so important to try to find out what your gifts are.

And these gifts are to be used for the good of God and the church.  The Bible says that all of us Christians have been given at least one gift.  The breakdown of this process goes something like this.  Think of our line across the room again.  I know.  I should come up with something a little different but bear with me.  Over here we don’t know God but we are surrounded by God’s presence or prevenient grace.  At some point in our lives we come to know and accept Jesus as our Savior.  It is at this point that we are given the Holy Spirit and He dwells in us.  And it is through the Holy Spirit that we continue to grow over here.  Anyway, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you he gives you at least one spiritual gift.  Therefore, all believers have one gift, some have two or more.

I would also like to point out that these gifts may change.  If you knew your gifts 10 years ago, they might have changed.  The Holy Spirit will often give a gift that is to be used for a short period of time.  A true story goes about an American who was somewhere in Europe walking along the street.  He was having a hard time in this country because he didn’t know the language.  As he was walking he noticed smoke coming from a house.  As he got closer he saw the flames.  This Christian man ran to the house and broke down the door and woke everyone in the house and saved them.  The strange part of all of this was that the man talked in the language of the people he saved.  When it was over he was back to not being able to speak the language.  The Holy Spirit came upon him with the gift of tongues so he could save these people.  This created a minor uproar in that area as it was truly a miracle from God.  But the point is that God will give these gifts out as they are needed to accomplish what He wants you to accomplish.  He doesn’t necessarily hand out the gifts that you may want but what He wants.  So you must be aware that gifts can and do change.

And also the gifts of the Spirit should not be confused with the fruits of the Spirit.  The fruits are things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  The fruits are these items that we all should have and if we don’t, then we should be praying for them every day.  Speaking of fruits, how did you do in praying for patience?  If things are going well there then try praying for self-control for a few weeks and see what happens.  Please take at least a week to pray about each one of these fruits.  You should strive for all of the fruits but you are often only given one gift.

I hope that this kind of gives you an idea about the gifts.  So we know about them now so how do we use these gifts?  The Corinthians were using theirs wrong.  It is not unlike the laughing revival that started in Canada a few years back as told by Russell Brownworth.  This came about as a community of believers wanted to have more joy in their worship service.  People would start by giggling, then laughter and rolling in the aisles and running around in a laughing frenzy.  They themselves became a laughing stock.  They had confused joy for laughing and being happy.  Their worship service turned into an emotional outburst and was in no way honoring to God.  It could have been if they had done it a little differently but just laughing and giggling on the ground is in no way honoring Him with joy.  They used their gifts in the wrong way.  Just as a personal opinion, I think that many churches, denominations are doing things wrong today.  But that is just my opinion.

So after identifying our gifts, we are to use them to build up the church.  In our society we like to bury them instead.  It is like when the great violinist, Nicolo Paganini, retired and gave his priceless violin to the city of Genoa with the condition that it never be played again.  Unfortunately, one of the peculiar qualities of wood is that if you do not use it, then it will start to deteriorate.  And that was exactly what happened.  In a few years the priceless instrument was just worthless rotted wood.  They were standing on an oil field and they didn’t know it.

And if you don’t know your gift and you don’t have time to do a study on it or read a book about it, then don’t worry about it.  Christians have been getting along for about 1990 years without studying what our gifts are.  All we have to do is it figure out, like the young man at the food pantry.  Several years ago, we took some students up to the food pantry to help distribute food to the needy.  It was a wonderful event of stepping out.  Anyway, on the way home one of the students said, “You know doing this just gives me a good feeling inside.”  A good feeling inside!  That my brothers and sisters in Christ, is Jesus telling that young person that he had done a good job and this might be his gift.

I have asked this before, what gives you that good feeling inside?  Does it make you feel good to teach Sunday school?  Does it make you feel good to visit the sick or elderly?  Does it make you feel good to greet people or serve food or make sure that our church is clean?  If something you do makes you feel good inside when you are working for Jesus, then do it.  As the saying goes, “Just do it!”  God has a way of letting you know where you are gifted.  And if you are working for Him, then don’t worry about it if you make a mistake.  He is always there to pick you up and get you started again.

I read a book a few years ago about teenagers written by teenaged twin brothers who were tired of getting by the easy way.  It is a great book called Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris.  Their advice is good for everyone.  We all need to step out of our comfort zones once in a while and try something new.  If you are reading the Bible only to find that Jesus is limiting your freedom to do things, then you are reading it wrong.  Jesus wants us to have everything He has.  He doesn’t want you to have limits!  He will not hold anything back if you are faithful to Him.  He wants you to try out these gifts to see if you have them.  You might be totally surprised to find that you have two gifts or three gifts or heaven forbid it if you should have six gifts.  Open your doors and try something new in the name of Jesus Christ.  The only reason I’m here today is because I stepped out of my comfort zone so many years ago and tried something new.  Today you will have a hard time to get me to sit down!  There is no greater reward that you can get than working for Jesus.  He’s the best.

The last point I would like to make about our gifts is really something that I talk about quite a bit.  If you know what your gifts are and are using them for the glory of God, then you should be praying about them and practicing them.  I really don’t feel that you can use your gifts properly without prayer.  I pray every week for this time we have together.  God has helped me overcome my fear of being in front of people.  God will help you with your fears also.

And, of course, don’t forget to practice your gifts.  Sometimes we get too comfortable in what we do and we fall away from it.  You never know when someone needs your smile.  You never know when someone needs your words of encouragement.  You never know when someone needs your wisdom.  There are several people here today who have a lot of wisdom to share and we should praise the Lord for all the gifts that our friends have!

We are in this together.  We are all one body and we all need each other and our spiritual gifts.  We are like a T-ball team according to Jake Kircher.  I don’t know if you have ever played baseball or not but there are only 9 players that can play at any one time.  The rest have to sit on the bench.  It is hard to sit on the bench because everyone wants to play.  In a T-ball game however, everyone gets to play and learn the game.  Jesus wants us all to use the gifts He has given us, together.  I admire many of you because many of the things you do that I cannot.

I would like you to think about your gifts this week as you go about your business.  As I have said before this building is not the church.  The people you do business with are the church as are the people you meet every day.  The people are the church so use your gifts where ever you are.

As we close today, I would like you to remember another gift that we all have been given.  This is not a Spiritual gift, but one of God’s gifts that He has given to all of us.  We all have been given a mother and I would like you all to dedicate part of the day to her or her memory.  And as you are with her or remembering her, think about how God has loved us so much that he gave us mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, and families.  This is God’s way of loving us and all I can say is “Thank you Jesus for giving us our families.  And thank you Jesus for first loving us.  Happy Mother’s Day!  Let’s pray.