School of Life2013-2014

Foundations: Exploring the Foursquare Gospel (Fall and Winter)

Christ in Culture: Connecting Jesus to Life(Spring)

Pastor James WaltonNew Life Foursquare ChurchCanby, Oregon

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

11 A foundational verse of the Foursquare Gospel is Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.”* What this verse means - among other things - is that as Christ gave the Holy Spirit during the days of the apostles to empower people for ministry through the functioning of the spiritual gifts, so He still does today. In short, the "spiritual gifts have not ceased.**

For most of church history this was not always the case. Pentecostal historians are quick to point out that there are definite instances in the early centuries of the church of speaking in tongues and healing the sick, but the general "flavor of much of the centuries between Pentecost and the 20th is nonCharismatic.

That all changed in the early 1900s, when movements in Topeka, Kansas, (1901) and Azusa Street, Los Angeles, (1906) emerged that carried a distinctly Pentecostal flavor. Through the agency of minorities, women and the poor, God moved powerfully in expression of the Spirit that were reminiscent of the apostolic experience in the book of Acts. Much of the emphasis on spiritual gifts today can be traced back to the humble beginnings of Pentecostalism there.

Sidebar: The Three Tributaries of Pentecostalism

Historians generally recognize three distinct expressions of Pentecostalism over the past 100 years or so:***

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* Fun fact: it’s actually a part of the Foursquare bylaws (13.4.A.1) that every Foursquare church must prominently display this verse somewhere in their sanctuary or meeting place. Ours is located above the nursery desk in the lobby.

** Of course, this doctrinal " "distinctive is not universally held. Those who do not believe the ""spiritual gifts are for today are known as “cessasionists.” John MacArthur is perhaps the most "vocal advocate of this position.A useful overview of the various perspectives on spiritual gifts within evangelicalism is found in Are Miraculous Gifts for Today? Four Views.

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• Pentecostalism developed out the early revivals at Azusa Street and Topeka, Kansas. The denominations that emerged from those movements are known as the classical Pentecostal denominations. A key doctrinal distinctive of Pentecostals is the belief in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as a second work of grace that is separate from salvation and is evidenced by speaking in tongues. Our own Foursquare denomination falls into this camp, as do Assemblies of God and Church of God in Christ (among many others).

• Charismatic Renewal began in the 1960s - specifically Easter Sunday, 1960, when a rector at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Van Nuys, California, declared from the pulpit that he had been baptized in the Holy Spirit and received the gift of speaking in tongues. What spread from there throughout the next two decades was a huge growth in the charismatic gifts in many “Mainline” Protestant (Bap-tists, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Anglican, etc.) churches, as well as the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox expressions of faith.

• The “Third Wave” was pioneered by John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard Movement, along with Chuck Smith (Calvary Chapel) and C. Peter Wagner, a professor a Fuller Theological Seminary. Coming out of the “Jesus Movement” this group saw the power of the Holy Spirit not only for personal holiness but for evangelism and out-reach as well. Sometimes referred to as the “signs and wonders” movement, it began to really gain tractor in the 1980s.

Though there are distinctives in doctrine and practice be-tween each of these groups, together they represent the “continualists”* camp which accounts for the fastest grow-

*** Historical summaries such as these are not hard to find, but Ed Stetzer’s work helped me here. He blogs at Christianity Today.http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2013/october/continualists-overview.html

* To review: Cessasionists believe the spiritual gifts ceased with the close of the apostolic age around the end of the 1st century. Continu-alists hold that the spiritual gifts (including speaking in tongues and healing the sick) continue today.

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ing segment of Christianity. Collectively, there are about 500,000,000 or so Pentecostal/Charismatics worldwide; 100 years ago there were none.

From a pastoral perspective, I think it’s best to be able to understand and articulate one’s own perspective on the Holy Spirit and His gifts, while still giving space for others to disagree or hold to slightly different understandings on the role and work of the Spirit.

Common Ground When Discussing Spiritual Gifts

Before launching into an explanation of the various spiritual gifts the New Testament describes, it’s worth articulating what we’re not saying. There is no serious biblical and scholarly support for the following positions.*

(1) If a person has not spoken in tongues, he or she is not truly a Christian.

(2) If a person has not spoken in tongues, he or she does not have the Holy Spirit within.

(3) People who speak in tongues are more spiritual than those who do not.

(4)If someone who is prayed for is not healed, it is probably the fault of the sick person for not having enough faith.

The Gift GiverAs we discussed before, whenever we talk about spiritual gifts, we must always keep the Gift-giver in mind. " "Pentecostalism slips into weirdness whenever we emphasize the gifts above the One who gives them. Which for the ""record, is the Holy Spirit. Watch the way that Paul ""emphasizes this in the 1 Corinthians 12:

* What follows is an abridged ex-cerpt from Are Miraculous Gifts For %Today? Four Views, p.18]

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%Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

%Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of %activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the % %utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge %according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

(1 Corinthians 12:1-11 ESV)

Notice how Paul repeatedly stresses - probably in reaction to the Corinthian church’s obsession over gift-manifestation - how it’s the Holy Spirit who gives these gifts. And because the Holy Spirit’s purpose is to glorify ""Jesus* and the Church is the Body of Jesus,** the spiritual gifts are given “for the common good.”

All You Need is LoveThe antidote to self-aggrandizing charismatic display or spiritual haughtiness on account of exercising a particular spiritual gift (in the Corinthian experience, probably speak-ing in tongues and/or healings) is love. Seriously, that’s why

* John 16:14** 1 Corinthians 12:27

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1 Corinthians 13 is where it is in the book. Chapter 13 is not there because Paul was suddenly seized by the idea of "writing a homily to be read at weddings.* Paul hasn’t left the theme of spiritual gifts when he launches into his "meditation on love.

%If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I %%deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

%Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not %%arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, %%endures all things.

%Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I % %became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

%So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.% % % % % % (1 Corinthians 13)

The Corinthian church was obviously struggling with how it was manifesting the spiritual gifts. It was resulting in " "division, pride, arrogance and a spiritual caste system. "Disfunction and division ruled, rather than unity and love. But rather than shut the whole business down, Paul heads

* Ask me later how I feel about this passage being taken radically out-of-context at every wedding, ever.

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the other direction by instructing them to “earnestly desire the higher gifts” (1 Cor. 12:31). In Paul’s very next breath, he poetically explains how our manifestation of the spiritual gifts must be submitted to the greater ethic of love of God and %%fellow man for them to be genuinely pleasing to God.

Having done this, Paul’s very next breath is to repeat the command to

Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, % %especially that you may prophesy.% % 1 Corinthians 14:1

The remainder of chapter 14 is Paul’s brilliant balancing act between allowing the spiritual gifts (especially prophecy and speaking in tongues) to have full flower in the " "corporate worship gathering and maintaing unity, peace and order. The summary statement he makes repeats his big idea:

%So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not %forbid speaking in tongues. But all things should be done # #decently and in order.%% % (1 Corinthians 14:39-40)

Summary

The Corinthians gifts Paul lists in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 were most likely not meant to be an exhaustive compendium of what gifts are available to believers through the Holy Spirit.* He even adds a few more gifts in an off-the-cuff way in verse 28, including my favorite spiritual gift: admini-stration. Rather than focus overmuch on any particular gift, we should heed Paul’s admonition (repeated three times!) to earnestly desire whatever spiritual gift the Holy Spirit may will to bestow upon us, and to operate in them through the agency of love.

* We’ll look at a few more gift-lists in a moment. Hold tight.

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In this way alone, will God be glorified, Jesus exalted and the Holy Spirit honored as we work as unified body to serve one another with the giftings the Holy Spirit supplies.

Motivational GiftsMost scholars believe Romans was written after 1 " "Corinthians, so it’s natural that Paul repeats a few themes there he introduced in his previous writings. Pick it up in chapter 12, verse 3.

%For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many %members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his %teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness % % (Romans 12:3-8)

Using the master metaphor of the Church as a body, Paul again points out that each individual member has received a gift* by the grace of God. This list differs from that in "" "1 Corinthians in that the gifts described here reflect more of a permanent disposition or proclivity than the " "Corinthians gifts (which tend to be context-specific ""manifestations of something supernatural).

The Romans list concerns itself with a way a person is "motivated - prophets see the world very differently from mercy driven people, who in turn is different than a leader.

* This means the question is never: “Am I gifted?” That answer is al-ready yes. The question is: what is my gift and how I can utilize it for the glory of Christ and the good of the body?

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Of course, it’s possible for an individual to carry " "characteristics of multiple spiritual gifts, but time and " "experience often reveal that we’re bent towards a specific set (sometimes called a “gift-mix”) of motivational gifts. Embrace this. Ask Jesus how He can use you to bless "others.

Years ago, I heard Bob Coy* describe this set of gifts like the road maps you find in your glove box. They’re bent in a particular way, and if you try to fold the map ‘against the grain’, you’ll usually end up with a mess. But when you find the way it was meant to folded, it does so with ease and " "tidiness.

Human beings are a bit like that: we all have dispositions or leanings towards certain activities, ministries and people. There are tasks that make us hum with enjoyment, and there are those which cause us to dread the very thought of them.** God has uniquely wired each one of us - " " "remember, you’re a contributing member of the body of Christ - so that we serve Him and His Church and His world.

Summary

The motivational gifts listed in Romans*** reflect a ""smattering of basic dispositions Christians may carry. The important part here, as it is in Corinthians, that we obsess over Jesus and not the gifts, and that we operate humbly, joyfully, thankfully and intentionally in the areas of grace the Holy Spirit has given us. By being authentically "ourselves, as opposed to trying to mimic others, we’ll do greater good than we ever thought possible because of the Spirit’s powerfully working through us.

* Mega-church Calvary Chapel pas-tor in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Neat guy.

** This explains why the Youth Pas-tor and the Business Pastor are gen-erally two different people.This is also why it’s so important to affirm, celebrate and cultivate diver-sity of gifts within the church.

*** Astute readers will recognize we’re ignoring the lists of spiritual gifts in Ephesians 4:11 and 1 Peter 4:10-11. This isn’t because we don’t like those lists. It’s because we don’t have time to cover them all. Bummer.

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Key Points to Remember

• There is a (very wide) variety of perspectives on the Pentecostal/Charismatic giftings within the Body of Christ. Be patient and charitable when dealing with others of a different point of view.

• The Corinthians church - for all its excess and weirdness - was told to deepen their interaction with the Holy Spirit by submitting their charismatic expression to love and mutual benefit. We should do the same.

• The motivational gifts in Romans 8 helps us to understand how we are wired for service; and gives us an appreciation for those who are wired differently.

Reflection

• What do think are you spiritual gift(s)?

• What spiritual gift do you know you lack?

• How can you cultivate an “eager desire” for a greater expression of the spiritual gifts in your life?

Further Reading

• For those looking further into the various perspectives on Pentecostal expression, Are Miraculous For Today? - Four Views, is a useful starting point.

• For those looking for a more practical guidebook to operating in your spiritual gifting, John and Sonya Decker’s Doing What Jesus Did is quite good. [The Deckers are Foursquare pastors based out of Central Oregon.]