Where are the Nine?
There's a sermon that I like to preach around Thanksgiving time called "where are the nine?" The sermon is based on Luke chapter 17 and the cleansing of ten lepers. Only one of them returned to give glory and thanks to God and Jesus asked "where are the nine?" (Luke 17:17 b KJV). Well today I'm not going to preach that sermon to you (aren't you glad?), but I'm still asking the question "where are the nine?"- this time I'm coming from I Corinthians and the 12th chapter.
I Corinthians 12:8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 12:9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 12:10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
There are nine gifts of the Holy Spirit listed in this chapter. I am very quick to defend the fact that God's gifts are still active today. I do not believe for a moment that the Lord only intended these gifts to operate until the closing of the canon. There is no indication that God ever intended for the gifts to cease during the church age. But I'm not here to refute cessationism today (again...aren't you glad?). What I do want to ask though is "where are the nine?" I don't know what it's like in your church or your sphere of influence, but I rarely see more than a few of these gifts in action. I realize that man does not control the gifts (the Spirit gives as "He" wills according to I Cor 12:11), but I wonder why we do not see more than what we do.
I typically see the gift of tongues, the interpretation of tongues, prophecy (some authentic, some...not so much), and the occasional word of wisdom/word of knowledge (honestly I'm not enough of a Greek scholar to distinguish between the two meanings). We see in the book of Acts, numerous displays of all the gifts in operation. We read of Paul "perceiving" that a man had faith to be healed- we see Peter "knowing" that Ananias and Sapphira were lying to the Holy Spirit- we see the working of miracles by the hand of Paul (and his handkerchiefs)- we see discerning of spirits in action (the "certain damsel" in Acts 16:16 comes to mind)- we see healings (even the shadow of Peter)-and even Paul pronouncing blindness upon a man (Acts 13:11).
Some scoffers would probably answer by saying it is easier to mock or mimic tongues or prophecy, but the others are harder to fake. Perhaps this would be true for some (I don't doubt there are charlatans but I also don't throw away my money just because there are counterfeiters out there), but I wonder if it doesn't have something to do with our experiences. Could it be that the Lord would like to use us in other areas of spiritual giftings, but we have conditioned ourselves to believe He can only use us in one particular way? I'm praying that I will walk in all of the gifts of the Spirit- not so that I can champion myself as a gifted and "anointed" one- but so that I can be a part of expanding God's kingdom. I love the gift of tongues and prophecy, but there may come a time when a gift of healing would be more needful and I would love to be able to walk in that.
I think there should be more emphasis on spiritual gifts and learning about them and their usage. Those who oppose the gifts of the Spirit will always point to the Corinthians and their lack of love and maturity. We must be careful not to lose balance and emphasize gifts above love and Christian service. But I fear that too often we err on the side of neglecting spiritual gifts rather than the other. I'm not talking about having seminars to teach people how to speak in tongues (I didn't even know such non-sense existed until a few years ago), or "training" someone to be a prophet (yes, a lady told me one time she was being trained to be a prophetess).
I just want the Lord to use me, and I want the gifts of the Spirit to flow through me- the world needs the power of God! And I believe the Lord is looking for willing vessels.
Just my musings today
-HMH
2 comments:
You're right, only a few gifts ever seem to manifest in meetings I've been in. Perhaps it's because some of us have simply grown used to the few gifts we see used, or "our" gift. I love my church, but you can count on the same few people for tongues and interpretation. What's funny with me is I've never been used in something like tongues and interpretation, but I have been used in words of knowledge and wisdom, and prophecy. I desire to be used however the Spirit wills, but I would love to be used in all the gifts, for basically the same reason you gave.
~Jeff
hi. i'm on sort of a crusade against use of the term "spiritual giftings." i used the term many times before myself until one day a visitor to our church called me on it. i realized the person was right, and that the word "giftings" is found nowhere in any english translation of the bible. instead we should refer to them as "spiritual gifts."
anyway, i found this post by doing a blogger search for the word "spiritual giftings." in this post, i see you've used it once about half-way down, but then used "gifts" later.
i don't mean to be rude at all, but just wanted to pass on the message so that non-christians don't think we are grammatically challenged!
thanks so much.
also, paul asks us to desire to prophesy, right? but maybe that's different than training. ;-P
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