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September 2, 2007AM
1 Corinthians 12:1-12
God’s giftedness
This is the final sermon on God’s Miraculous Giving.
It seems strange to end such a series because God’s giving never ends.
He is the eternally giving God.
This is a series that could be continued until Jesus’ returns.
In this short series we have discovered Paul’s exclamation to be true.
“I can do all things through Christ who gives me . . .”
Let’s review some of the miraculous ways God gives.
God gives us His Willingness.
His miraculous giving is Risky.
He gives us His Resources.
His giving includes His Faithfulness.
He also desires to give us His Grace.
Last week we looked at God’s gift of the Call.
We are given the awesome opportunity to join His salvation work.
When we say, “I can do that!” we discover the life of joy.
When we say, “I can’t do that” we experience sadness.
Zacchaeus received Jesus with joy when he said I can do that!
The rich young ruler said I can’t and went away sorrowful.
God’s Giving is truly Miraculous.
And today we see that we do not need to do Kingdom work in our strength alone.
When we say, “I can do that!” it does not depend on our strength.
We constantly rely on God’s provision.
God equips us through His Holy Spirit.
We do not need to make it on our own.
We rely on the strength which our Heavenly Father provides.
We step out in faith that God will supply all our needs.
That is what Paul was encouraging the Corinthian Church to do.
He reminded them that they were the Body of Christ.
The Church is the body of Christ.
But I have seen evidence of three kinds of churches.
I have seen them in my own journey of faith as a Pastor.
But I also see them in Scripture.
These are three distinct groups.
Sometimes all three are found in the same Church.
Sometimes a church is dominated by one of the groups.
The first kind of church is clearly seen in Corinth.
I THE SOLELY-HUMAN CHURCH.
This is a church that bases its decisions on the obvious.
Jim Dorsey described this as “a church that determines the success of a ministry only by nickels and noses.”
Everything is decided on appearances.
The resources these churches have determine their activities.
Eternal consequences are based on temporal factors.
There is no faith at work in the human church.
They take their direction from money, or size, or fads.
They are led astray by these things.
And they become lost.
There is no divine factor in anything they do.
I am glad I have never been a pastor of a congregation like that.
But I have witnessed that attitude within individuals.
They responded to ministry only on the basis of bank statements.
Spiritual direction is determined by pure human logic.
In the SOLELY HUMAN Church statements like this are heard.
“I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body.”
“Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body.”
The eye says to the hand, “I have no need of you” (vs 21)
A human church becomes like the passengers on Noah’s ark.
If it weren’t for the flood on the outside you wouldn’t put up with the stench on
the inside.
James had no use for The SOLELY HUMAN Church.
“You rich people should cry and weep! Terrible things are going to happen to you. Your treasures have already rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your money has rusted, and the rust will be evidence against you, as it burns your body like fire. Yet you keep on storing up wealth in these last days.” (James 5:1-3)
That is one kind of church – THE SOLELY HUMAN CHURCH.
There is a second church.
II THE SOULY-DIVINE CHURCH.
This is a church so heavenly minded that it is of no earthly good.
The SOULY DIVINE CHURCH spends all its time practicing for heaven.
They have eyes only for God and no concern for the world.
They believe that God will look after reaching the lost.
That is, after all, why Jesus came to earth.
It isn’t their responsibility to enter the dark places of society.
They just want to bask in the glory of God.
They want the world to leave them alone.
They just want to pray.
They just want to be pure and holy.
They don’t want to be human, they want to be divine.
They shun the things of this world.
They isolate or insulate themselves from the lost.
They don’t want to be contaminated by the evils of society.
They would sooner be soul than flesh.
James has no use for the SOULY-DIVINE CHURCH either.
“Faith that doesn't lead us to do good deeds is all alone and dead! Suppose someone disagrees and says, ‘It is possible to have faith without doing kind deeds.’ I would answer, ‘Prove that you have faith without doing kind deeds, and I will prove that I have faith by doing them.’ . . . Anyone who doesn't breathe is dead, and faith that doesn't do anything is just as dead!” (James 2:17-18 26)
But there is a third kind of church.
This is the kind of Church Paul wanted Corinth to be.
III THE SOLEY DIVINE-HUMAN CHURCH
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” (v 12)
Each member of the body is given the manifestation of the Spirit.
Each is given a gift “for the common good.” (v 7)
William Barclay says, “The characteristic of a healthy body is that every part in it performs its own function for the good of the whole.”
A healthy body is the perfect blending of human and divine action.
It is the body of Christ.
It is the body of the One who was fully human and fully divine.
We are the body of Jesus who was perfectly human and divine.
And so the church should be a reflection of its Head.
We cannot sit back and expect God to do it all.
We aren’t spectators of a cosmic spiritual fire works display.
God is not the only One involved in the Church’s Mission.
We enter into God’s work.
We put feet to our faith, soles to our souls.
We actively engage His call upon our lives.
But neither do we exclude God.
We do not respond to our own impulses alone.
We do not call the shots independently of God’s will.
We do not rely only upon our own resources.
We actively engage God’s call through His Holy Spirit.
The divine merges with the human in the body of Christ.
And that is what Paul is trying to drive home to the first century church.
Yes there is variety in what each person can do.
But in the variety is the same Spirit.
Yes there is variety in service.
But it is all done through the same Lord.
Yes there is variety in workings.
But the same God inspires each one.
We do not respond to the call on our own.
God has given the gift of His presence.
The Holy Spirit is poured out on all flesh.
It is the Holy Spirit who moves in miraculous ways through faith.
The perfect blending of the human and the divine.
“But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.” (James 3:17-18 NLT)
Those who partnered with God built arks in the desert.
Those who partnered with God moved a nation of slaves to the promised land.
Those who partnered with God confronted corrupt politicians.
Those who partnered with God exploded with revival.
Those who partnered with God organized a Church of the Nazarene in Summerside.
That partnership with the miraculous gift of God’s Spirit is essential today.
The SOLEY DIVINE-HUMAN Church longs to see God’s Spirit move in miraculous ways.
And they realize that God’s movement will involve them.
They will need to believe and act in faith obedience.
There is a certainty of heart long before there is any evidence.
New ministries begin in spite of what they do not have.
They see what is not visible.
The SOLEY DIVINE-HUMAN CHURCH lives by faith in the Spirit.
Nothing is attempted apart from Him.
Our application is short.
Are you abiding in the Spirit so if the church were entirely like you it would be
the SOLEY DIVINE-HUMAN CHURCH?
God has given you the Gift of His Holy Spirit.
Is the Holy Spirit dwelling in you?
Where God guides, He provides.
Closing Song Holy Spirit Rain Down