THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT

Isaiah 11: 1-6; 1 Corinthians 12: 1-11

Last week this congregation and others around the world celebrated the event that is called the Birthday of the Church: the coming of the Holy Spirit. On that day, people of many races were connected by the Spirit of the Living God, and together they praised the Lord. So with the Holy Spirit of God here and among us, let’s move toward clarity on these issues: What are the gifts of the Spirit? Is one gift greater than the others? And have you figured out which ones you have and are you using them to God’s glory?

When it comes to this Spirit, Jesus himself said he would leave this “Comforter” for the world. E. Paul Hovey once said that “The word ‘Comforter’ as applied to the Holy Spirit needs to be translated by some vigorous term. Literally it means ‘with strength.’ Jesus promised his followers that ‘the Strengthener’ would be with them forever. This promise is no lullaby for the fainthearted. It is a blood transfusion for courageous living.” In the Old Testament, the people of Israel longed for a Messiah, and one preacher told them how to know the Messiah when he came. Part of Isaiah’s message we hear in December as we sing about the coming of the Lord Jesus. He sounds like he is describing a family tree in chapter 11. Do you have a family tree? I have one in a chart form from one side of my family and a book form from another. I have a friend who says he has so many divorces in his family his family tree looks like climbing ivy! But the tree Isaiah described had become a “stump” by one translation or a “stock” by another. (Not a “s-t-a-l-k”) Have you ever heard anyone say a person comes from “Good stock?” There may be a connection to this Hebrew word! If Isaiah wrote this before the Exile of the Israelites into enemy countries, then the word quite possibly meant “stock.” But if this were written after they returned, then the word might be translated “stump,” reflecting that the tree of the Davidic dynasty had been “cut down” by invading marauders. Like Christian preachers who like using a memorable play on words, (for example, Robert Schuller’s sermon titles: “Change Your Scars into Stars” and “Alter Your Altars,”) Isaiah liked a play on words. He said a “shoot will come out of a stump (or stock); and from its roots shall come a branch (or s-t-a-l-k)! Sound confusing? Not to the first listeners. They got it; they were the chosen people, David was the anointed King, and from his lineage the Messiah would appear. He was right. (It would be more than four hundred years later, but he was right!) And what qualities would such an anointed ruler exhibit? The idea of charismatic leadership comes from this section of Isaiah: leaders should exhibit these Godly qualities. See if they describe Jesus. There were originally three pairs of gifts: “wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge of and fear of the Lord.” Now here we ponder: did Jesus have wisdom, (Yes) understanding, (yes) counsel, (it depends on what was meant) might, (only in a heavenly sense) knowledge of God, (yes; Jesus had profound knowledge of the Lord as God in the flesh,) fear? (No place do we find clear evidence of that by Jesus. But in his culture and his Scripture which we call the Old Testament, the fear of the Lord was a hallmark of faith; indeed, it is described as a Godly gift. Utter respect and reverence was clearly present when Jesus prayed.) From Isaiah’s list, Jews thought a Messiah would fear the Lord, but deciding that the shoe of Isaiah’s prophesy didn’t fit Jesus’ foot, they still look for the Messiah.

Six gifts of the Spirit according to Isaiah; but where did the idea of the seven fold gifts of the Spirit come from, the number used in our opening hymn that was written in the 9^th century? I’ll try to keep this as simple as I can: good copies of the book of Isaiah were only found as recently as 1948 in the Dead Sea Scrolls! In the second century, Hebrew writings were translated into a Greek Old and New Testament called the Septuagint, supposedly for the 70 scholars who did the work. When the Bible was translated into Latin by Jerome in the 4^th century, it became a book called the Vulgate and is still the official scriptural text of the Roman Catholic Church. In both the Septuagint and the Vulgate, the writers added a seventh gift of the Spirit: piety. Since verse 3 repeats the phrase “fear of the Lord,” the repeated words were changed to their similar but different interpretation: piety, which added up to seven gifts instead of six with the sixth gift appearing twice. Piety means one who prays to and worships God regularly. In that regard, Jesus had piety. Therefore, the three pairs of qualities a righteous person embodies are: the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, power (or might), knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. Those are the original gifts of the Spirit that Paul would have known and that Jesus embodied by many people’s measure. Piety is listed as the seventh gift from the 3rd century on.

Paul, using his knowledge of Isaiah’s sermon, amplified and applied it as he wrote to the Roman and Corinthian Christians. In Romans 12: 4-8 Paul says: “For as in one body we have many members, and not all the member have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ and individually members, one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy in proportion to faith; ministry in ministering, the teacher in teaching, the exhorter in exhortation, the giver in generosity, the leader in diligence, the compassionate in cheerfulness.” There are seven gifts listed, but is that important? Not if we count the list in First Corinthians where we get a different number saying: “Now concerning Spiritual gifts, I do not want you to be uninformed…. There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities but it is the same God who activates them. Each is given a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (1 Cor. 12) Then he lists examples of gifts but evidently not a list whose number is significant because there are nine. In Corinth he had people who boasted that speaking in tongues was the greatest gift. Paul said that with the body of Christ all parts and all gifts are important. Can you imagine trying to read something without sight? There are those who do it well with Braille, but without it, sight is important. Can you imagine trying to listen to a concert if you were deaf? There are deaf persons who were masterful musicians such as Beethoven, but usually hearing is necessary. And the list goes on. The most important Spiritual gift is the one you are lacking. Which is it for you: the gift of healing, of understanding, of faith?

Two weeks ago my daughter Jenny took a spiritual gifts assessment as she prepares for her calling to be a youth minister. The career where her interests and her gifts coincided added up to being a minister (or a music teacher, the career path she left for ministry!) Have you figured out your Spiritual gifts? Discerning them can validate your life and clarify God’s plan for you. Have you heard someone affirm something you do well? Perhaps you have a Spiritual gift that is being utilized. Based on statistics, some here today have Spiritual gifts, given to glorify God and bring more people to Christ, who are not using them. Like with sports, some have an innate ability that can be honed with training. The same is true with music, or the ability to organize or plan or construct. The innate ability can give a person an edge; an interest in that area may cultivate the Spirit; training can sharpen the saw of your abilities; and encouragement can be the wind that fills the sails so your boat floats and moves.

So friends, what are your gifts that could help lift up, or hold together, or give direction to the Kingdom of God? Some have gifts with children and are helping to form their spiritual lives here with Sunday School, Kids Klub and Choir, MOPS, and our upcoming Vacation Bible School. Some of you have a passion for helping people and have done so in Mississippi or Costa Rica or Volusia County, or will do so in someone’s home, or in Nicaragua, or in local schools or through Hospice. Some of you are using your Spiritual gifts and don’t recognize that you are; some are not using the gifts that, if used properly, would honor God and bring fulfillment to their lives. Continue to return to the well of God’s grace and grandeur for your prayer, worship, and inspiration. You will go dry or directionless if you try to imitate others rather than imitating Christ, as Thomas a’ Kempis once put it. The imitation of Christ is our goal, to live as he would live, and do as he would do. This is the one person who had one foot on earth and the other in Heaven. His insights are the ones that started in the halls of Heaven.

Let us close as we pray that each of you discover and then use your Spiritual gifts to build up the Body of Christ, which is the Church.

(Prayer)

Jeffrey A. Sumner June 11, 2006