Body Parts

So, just to recap a little bit from last week, just for a minute, remind you of what I put into your minds last week.

! We came away asking three questions.

One was, where do I find strength in time of need?

And I suggested that you might look at Psalm 121 to give you some clues.

The second thing is, a really, in a way, a really deep question.

What does it mean to make Jesus the authority over my life?

I think I said that, go to any congregation, really, and say, do you accept the authority of Christ in your life?

You know, you ask the questions along that vein at confirmations and that kind of thing.

And there are very few people who would say, no, not really.

Most people say yes.

And my question is, what does that mean when we say yes to questions like that?

And the third thing was, do we take the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms seriously enough?

Those malign influences that are beyond our vision, we can't see them.

But we had the sense that they are doing their malign manipulation of the human race.

And so that was something I said you could go away and think about this week.

So what's happening at the beginning of chapter 4 is there is a massive transition in the epistle.

And it's a transition from belief, the wealth of the believer, as it were, to behaviour.

If this is what you believe, this is how you're meant to behave.

And that seems a reasonable thesis.

I think we would all say that we want to be driven by our values,

by the things that we really claim to be the things we believe in.

And Ephesians 4, 1 to 16 has a very clear structure to it.

First of all, there is this kind of generic call to the church.

Massive challenge, I think, for most of us, not least in the age in which we live.

Paul says, as a prisoner for the Lord, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

I mean, you think about that.

If you think about the fact that despite whatever things there are that are wrong in your life,

and there are bound to be some, if you think about those, God has still chosen you.

Talked about that when we looked at Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

God has chosen you, and in your way you have chosen him.

And Paul is basically saying now, if you get that,

then this has huge ramifications for the way that you do life.

Walk worthy of the calling which is yours.

The second thing by way of structure, verses 2 to 5, Paul talks about the unity of the church.

And Paul has this, it's a kind of repeated theme in Paul's teachings.

That as Christians, we are called together to live in unity.

And then ironically, verses 8 to 13, having stressed the unity of the church,

Paul then expresses the diversity of the church.

And what he means by that is that in every local church situation are Christians.

And when we become Christians, God puts the Holy Spirit into our hearts

and gives us spiritual gifts.

We'll talk a little bit about that in a few moments of time.

So, this generic calling to live a life worthy of the calling that God has given us.

Second, the unity of the church.

Thirdly, the diversity of the church.

And then, verses 14 to 16, the maturity of the church.

And it seems to me, although it's a very short section,

to be a massive kind of issue for churches.

That is, you know, when I was a young fellow,

I spent a short time working in what was basically an industrial greenhouse.

And we grew tomatoes and cucumbers in this warehouse.

And it became very clear to me that the purpose of a greenhouse

is to manipulate the climatic conditions

so that things like tomatoes and cucumbers can grow.

And I think, if I might use that analogy to say,

I think one of Paul's big ideas about the church was that,

not that we manipulate,

but that we should create the kind of climate in our churches

where people grow up into Christ.

I've got a little more to say about that in just a few moments' time.

And so, here's the structure.

The generic calling to walk worthy of the calling which is ours in Christ.

Secondly, the unity of the church.

Thirdly, the diversity of the church.

And fourthly, the maturity of the church.

Verse 3, Paul tells us that the church,

the unity of the church, is a gift from God.

It's something that's given.

He writes there,

make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit

through the bond of peace.

Not make every effort to achieve it,

but to maintain it, as it says in some of the older translations of the Bible.

And in the lead-up to that verse,

Paul talks about the kind of qualities

that we Christians in our church communities should model.

And again, they're very challenging, I think.

Be completely humble and gentle.

Be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Those qualities make no sense outside of relationships.

Be humble.

I've done so much speaking recently,

I can't remember where I said this,

but one of the things that shocks me these days is,

I have a Facebook account,

and I mean, I don't look at it that often,

and I think, you know,

there are about 1,500 Facebook entries

that I've never looked at on there.

But I have noticed that increasing number of clergy

think that Facebook is a place to kind of

do a spiritual version of boasting and self-promotion.

And I don't think that's becoming of ministers

of the Church of Jesus Christ.

I just think that humility is something,

I guess, you know,

many of us have to kind of put some effort in

not to make ourselves the centre of attention.

My mother, who I think,

she had been a ballerina in her early life,

and unlike a lot of people

who don't like thousands of people

looking at them in rather scantily clad tutus,

not that that's ever been my experience,

but I mean, I think it kind of,

I mean, to do it,

there must have been some easiness

with wanting people to look at you

and appreciate what you were doing.

In her senior years,

it did become,

it did feel like that this woman

wants to make herself the centre of attention

all the time.

She could hold the floor without invitation.

And one of the things I will say about my mum

was she was converted at the age of 53

from nowhere, really,

and the death of my grandmother

kind of drew her into this rather dreary

kind of middle-of-the-road church,

but somehow the pastoral care of the minister there,

and she became born again Christian

and very enthusiastic,

and I've never forgotten this,

that when my sister and I went to

sort out her home,

we found several shoeboxes full of letters,

and one of the things my mum took to in the,

she got cancer,

and it was a kind of slow burn cancer,

and I can't remember how many years she had it for,

I thought it was longer,

Anthony thinks it was about seven years,

I don't know why,

I thought it was a bit longer than that,

but during that time,

she was an accredited speaker

with Christian Viewpoint,

and she would go to Christian Viewpoint meetings

and talk about her testimony

in relation to having cancer,

and very clearly what she said

was very powerful,

and indeed life-changing

from some of the women

that went to listen to her,

so I don't know whether that was God

hallowing her need to be in the spotlight,

but certainly God used my mum

in those Christian Viewpoint meetings

to talk about her experience

of having the big C.

So these qualities don't make any sense

outside of relationships,

and Paul tells us,

not only is unity a gift from God,

but he says that we have to,

this is his words,

in the old versions of the Bible,

the word endeavour was used.

It says here in verse 3,

make every effort

to keep the unity of the Spirit

through the bond of peace.

The unity of the church is given,

but the problem is

we have the ability to disrupt it.

Those of us who like to gossip

can disrupt the unity of the church.

Those of us who withhold forgiveness

can disrupt the unity of the church.

And I remember David Watson saying

in his heyday

that he, in his experience,

this is a guy who's in a different church

four or five times a week,

he said in his experience,

the thing that most inhibited

the ministry of the gospel in churches

was disunity in the churches.

I've experienced that myself.

I've never forgotten

turning up in a church in Windsor,

church wardens were there to greet me,

and wandered up to the thing.

And they said,

can we have a word?

And I said,

I think you're going to anyway.

They said,

can you get rid of our vicar?

I said,

depends what you mean.

But,

you know,

if I'm going to get rid of him,

I need very good reasons,

not just a, you know,

two minute conversation on them.

So they then went into this character assassination

from this dear man.

I mean,

he's a lovely guy.

And he was getting into old age.

He's pastorally very good

and in lots of ways.

But let's just say

he wasn't the most dynamic minister ever

to, you know,

stalk the planet.

And I had to sit them down

and say to them,

do you know what?

I have very little confidence

in the future of this church.

They said,

yeah,

we don't either.

He's useless.

I said,

and that's why

I have no confidence.

Because you should not be disrupting

the unity of the church

with this kind of talk.

So I,

then they fastened on to the thing

that, you know,

like in our world,

I mean,

whistleblowers always used to get sacked.

Now they're kind of honoured people

in our society.

So they claimed

they were whistleblowers

and, you know,

threatened to lawyer up

and all that stuff.

I mean,

you know,

this is the church of God

for crying out loud.

And Paul then

models this unity

that he's talked about

on the Holy Trinity.

Incidentally,

if you ever chat

to Jehovah's Witnesses

and, you know,

unless you are biblically confident,

I would counsel against that.

But they will tell you

there's no such thing

as the Holy Trinity.

And you will never find that

in the Bible

as one of their favourite punchlines.

Well,

let me just read this to you.

There is one body

and one spirit

just as you were called

to one hope

when you were called.

One Lord,

one faith,

one baptism,

one God

and Father of all

who is over all

and through all

and in all.

I mean,

that sounds suspiciously

like the Holy Trinity to me.

And it is.

And what Paul's saying is

the unity of the church,

the diversity of the church

is modelled

by the Holy Trinity.

Unity

in diversity.

And it's a very powerful picture

which I suspect

is probably,

you know,

its full impact

is not immediately

obvious to us.

As I said,

Paul spent

a lot of time

talking about

unity.

So,

if you go to

1 Corinthians

in your Bibles

and read chapters

1 to 3,

you will see

that this church

in Corinth

which thought of itself

as really

in the fast track

of kind of

local churches,

you know,

somebody said,

that he imagined

they had

rock till you drop

bungee jumping worship

and exercising

the gift of tongues

in worship

and all that stuff.

And

yet Paul

said,

look,

we have a problem here.

And in

chapter 2,

he talks about

this business

of kind of

charismatic leaders

taking prominence.

So,

some people

in the church

would say,

we follow

Paul.

Other people

in the church

would say,

we follow

Apollos.

Incidentally,

this is a bonus

point for you.

I read a very

good book

some years ago

written by

an author

called

Hugh Montefiore.

and Hugh

Montefiore

wrote this book

and what he was

trying to do

was,

at that time

and probably

today to be fair,

mostly now

people accept,

even though it

says the opposite

in the authorised

version of the Bible,

most people accept

that Paul did not

write Hebrews,

the epistle

to the Hebrews.

and Hugh

Hugh Montefiore

had this very,

I think,

quite intelligent

suggestion

that the author

of Hebrews

was Apollos,

who it said

was eloquent,

very eloquent

Greek

and very

sophisticated

arguments,

you know.

Just to say this,

if you want to

understand the

epistle to the

Hebrews,

then what you

need to

understand is,

this is an epistle

written to

Jewish Christians

who had decided

they wanted to

follow Christ

but were now

tempted to go

back into the

synagogue.

And the whole

of the argument

in Hebrews

is trying to

persuade them

not to fall

back and go

to the synagogue

to stick with

Jesus Christ.

And it's a

wonderful epistle

and full of

very rich

things.

So Paul spent

a lot of time

talking about

unity.

And of course

it needs to be

said that

Paul had no

idea about

ecumenism.

He didn't

have any idea

that, you know,

the church would

unfold and there

would be a big

break between

Roman Catholics

and Protestants.

He didn't know

that Protestants

would fall out

with each other

and Baptists

are going one

direction,

Methodists are

going another

direction.

and the

URC,

I'm not quite

sure which

direction.

He didn't

know anything

about that.

Though there

is some

evidence in

Paul's

letters and

in the Acts

of the Apostles

that he did

encourage

congregations to

take responsibility

for each other.

If they had a

financial need,

Paul would say,

well let's try

and help them

out there.

But what he's

really talking

about is the

local church

of which you

are members.

So it

addresses people

like us who

are members of

local churches.

And, okay,

you know, if you

are ecumenically

minded, I mean,

there was no

kind of churches

together in

Ephesus.

There was the

church in

Ephesus.

And today,

because of our

denominationalism,

we have to

try and form

some structures

that try and

get us together

to talk to

one another.

I think, I

mean, I may

be wrong

about this.

I have very

little enthusiasm

for heavy

ecumenical

machinery.

But I think

it's really

important that

churches work

together.

And, you

know, that's

why I was

delighted when

Tim, who was

the then

chairman of

Churches

Together,

gave me

permission to

get the

imprimatur of

churches together

in Clevedon

to run this

event.

And Peter

Kemba, his

successor, has

been equally

gracious in

relation to

that.

Because I

believe that

when we get

to know each

other, when we

get together,

that can only

be good.

If we could

even plan

together, it

would even be

better.

So we

wouldn't do

duplication.

And, yeah, I

was saying

that, talking

beforehand with

somebody and

saying that, you

know, a couple

of churches that

I'm familiar

with, one of

which was

Philip

Gennady's

church, who's

coming to

talk to you

next week,

and Ed

Shaw's church.

I mean, there

was a time when

everybody wanted

to set up a

church in the

centre of

Bristol.

You know, the

sad thing was

nobody talked

to each other

at all.

We only heard

about this when

yet another

church showed

up and set

up.

We had people

coming from

Swansea, you

know, called

by God to

Bristol.

I'm not saying

they're not.

I'm saying it

wouldn't have

been better if

we could have

planned all

this together.

I think we're

a long way from

that, sadly, and

I would love to

see an improvement

in our town here

in Clevedon.

Paul spent a

long time talking

about unity, and

just a final point

on the unity of

the church.

Do you remember

that Psalm 133

Psalms 133:1

verse 1, where

the psalmist says

hundreds of years

before Paul put

pen to paper in

prison in Rome,

how good and how

pleasant it is when

brothers and

sisters dwell

together in

unity?

I mean, I don't

quite get the

analogy there.

It says it's like

the oil on

Aaron's beard.

I don't want to

think about that,

but the point is

there is this

call in the

New Testament

for local

congregations to

work hard at

maintaining the

unity which is

our gift.

Why is it a

gift that's

given?

Well, Paul's

argument would

be once we

become Christians,

once we become

baptized Christians,

born-again

Christians,

whatever phrase

you want to put

next to that,

we are all in

Christ.

That means that

what joins us

is far greater

than that which

divides us.

So how can we

endeavor to

maintain unity?

I think that's

a very

important question.

I mean, these

are just my

potentially

pathetic ideas.

The first

thing I would

say is

church unity

is made a

lot easier

when we have

an agreement

on what the

ultimate source

of authority

within the

church is.

I have no

doubt in my

mind that the

primary source

of authority

in the

church is

this book.

I'm not

going to quote

you from the

39 articles,

but in

theory the

Church of

England is

committed not

to believe or

indulge in any

practice which

is, and I

quote the

39 articles of

religion,

repugnant to

God's word.

And yet, I

see Church of

England churches

certainly, I

think, indulging

in very

repugnant

conversations

about how, you

know, we

will exist into

the future.

But I think

unity, one of

the primary

bases of

unity is we

have to have

some agreement

on the

ultimate source

of authority

in the

church.

I mean, I

don't know,

I've never

done a poll

on this.

I don't know

how many

Roman Catholics

would say,

if you ask

them that

question, well

it's obvious,

it's the

Pope.

I don't know

if they would

say that in

the 21st

century, but

I mean, in

days past,

loyalty to the

Pope was

everything.

Secondly, there

has to be a

commitment to

knowing one

another.

I've never

forgotten when I

was first in

a local church

ministry, and

people who'd

been in the

church for

years would

comment on

somebody else

who'd been in

the church for

years.

And they'd

say, do you

know who

Mary is?

And I'd say,

which one?

They'd say, that

one who wears

that ridiculous

hat on Sundays.

I said, do you

know her name?

No.

How long have you

been coming here?

Well, since I was

eight years old.

How old are you?

75.

I said, you

don't know her

name.

And I thought

to myself, there's

work to be done

here.

So knowing

one another is

good for us.

It helps us.

Well, I think

this, you know,

this psychologist

wrote a book and

said, the trouble

is when you get a

bit older, you

don't like anybody.

And what he

meant was, if you

think about people

generically, you

know, you go to

the airport and

you see the

pathetic way

people have to

queue, even

though they've

got a seat on

the plane and

all that stuff.

Or, you know, you

see a big pile of

fly tipping and

you think, oh,

you know, this is

the human race and

I'm part of it.

And I'm sure that

those of you who've

worked in kind of

services like

paramedics and the

police have, you

know, seen terrible

behaviour from human

beings.

And what the

psychiatrist is

saying is, we

generally, you

don't like other

people.

In fact, I think he

uses the phrase

that generally we

hate people.

But within that,

there are people

who are very

important to us.

And I don't

think the

psychiatrist is

quite right.

But what I do

know is that a

commitment, not

just to Gordon

Jones and his

excellent book

written years ago,

you can't get

hold of it now,

but he said,

too many churches

behave like a

kind of snooker

table where the

balls on the

table just kiss

off each other.

There's no

commitment to

really get to

know one

another.

I used to think

that one of the

wonderful things

that happened in

the church where I

was is we used

to have weekends

away together.

And they were

just very special

times.

I mean, I can't

tell you how

special they were

in terms of

people getting

to know one

another.

And I

remember once

we were at

this place

called Pilgrim

Hall in

Sussex.

And in the

middle of the

night the

fire alarm

went.

I tell you,

you really get

to know

parishioners when

you see what

they wear in

bed.

We had this

city slicker

with us,

Mike.

I don't know

how he managed

this, but he

managed to get

out of bed and

get down within

about 90

seconds and

he's got a

three-piece suit

on, shirt

and tie.

So, agreement

and the ultimate

source of

authority, a

commitment to

knowing one.

And thirdly,

I think, and

again, not

many churches

have a very

formal process

for this.

And if they

do, I would

say nine times

out of ten, it's

not a very

biblical process.

But what

churches need

to do is

provide a

just forum

for interpersonal

disputes to

get sorted

out and

sorted out

soon.

And, see, I

think the

Bible has a

way to deal

with this and

what the

Bible would

encourage us

to do, you

can read

about this in

the Sermon on

the Mount,

is firstly, if

we have a

dispute, we

try and sort

it out

together.

If we

can't sort

it out, we

go to one

of the elders

of the church,

whatever that

means within

your denomination,

and ask them

to help you

sort it out.

And the

third thing

is, and

this remains

both an

incentive and

a threat, is

that if the

elders and

you can't

sort it out,

it becomes a

congregational

matter.

And, I

mean, in

my view, that

would need

to be a

kind of

organised

process for

sorting disputes

out.

What happens

in most

churches is

interpersonal

disputes never

get sorted

out.

It's a terrible

thing, isn't it?

There are people,

I can tell you

this, you know,

I've been around

more churches

than most of

you had hot

dinners.

There are people

in churches who've

hated each other

for years.

Hated.

wouldn't talk to

them, wouldn't go

around their

house, would

never do

anything like

that.

And of course,

this starts from

a very obvious

and pertinent

observation.

You've noticed

that we're all

different.

You may have

noticed that

there are people

and just on,

in terms of

visual presence,

you've decided

you don't like

them.

that's a kind

of given of

our fallen

humanity, I

think.

But to

recognise

difference,

which is what

I'm coming

on to now,

I think is

really helpful

and important.

And to give

thanks for

difference.

I'm not here

talking about

a secular

model of

inclusion.

I'm talking

about a

biblical

understanding

of how we

might improve

the unity

factor in our

churches.

So Paul

talks about

the unity

of the church

and then he

goes on,

and this kind

of does your

head in a bit,

he goes on

about the

diversity of

the church.

What Paul is

talking about

here in

verse 7

is the

diversity

in our

giftedness.

He's talking

about spiritual

gifts,

what the

Bible,

the Greek

refers to

as charismata,

where our

word charismatic

comes from,

although these

days the word

charismatic has

been applied to

a certain kind

of leadership.

And Paul

in Ephesians

4 doesn't

particularly talk

about gifts

in the same

way that he

talks about

them in

Romans 12

and 1

Corinthians

12.

But what

he does

do is

he talks

about what

I would

call orders

of ministry

which are

given as

gifts to

the church.

And it

says it

was he,

that is

Jesus,

who gave

some to

be apostles,

some to

be prophets,

some to

be evangelists,

and some

to be pastors

and teachers

to prepare

God's people

for works

of service

so that the

body of

Christ may

be built

up until

we all

know,

all know,

sorry,

all reach

unity in

the faith

and in

the knowledge

of the

Son of

God.

If you

wanted some

homework,

I mean,

just take a

glance of

what Paul

outlines in

Romans 12

and 1

Corinthians 12

in terms of

gifts.

And I

mean,

some of

you,

you know,

I know

that your

kind of

weird meter

starts to

flicker

at even

the thought

of spiritual

gifts because

you think

of people

speaking in

tongues or

people

prophesying

stuff.

And these

are not

unimportant

gifts.

In fact,

Paul encourages

us to seek

the higher

gifts.

But,

here's the

thing.

Some of

those gifts

are what

you might

call

ordinary

gifts.

So,

in Romans

is the

gift of

administration.

I can

tell you

from my

experience

that a

church that

gets its

administration

right is

rare,

but it's

brilliant.

And people

who have

gifts of

administration

should be

valued just

as much as

people who

have got

gifts of

prophecy or

discernment or

these things.

And do

you good to

read through

those gifts?

Incidentally,

I don't think

they're meant

to be an

exhaustive list

in either

case.

Because one

of the most

important areas

of gifting

that I

discovered

was important

in the

growth of

our church

were people

who had

this natural

gift of

hosting.

People whose

homes you

could go

into and

you would

feel welcome

and these

incredible

people who

can rustle

up a meal

from nothing

in about

20 minutes

and put it

on the

table.

It's

wonderful.

People who

have that

gift are a

real blessing

to a church,

particularly a

church which

wants to get

house groups

right.

so there

is a

diversity

in our

giftedness

and Paul

I think

has this

big idea

that churches

work best

when all

the ministries

that the

church feels

called to

do are

done by

people who

are gifted

to do

those ministries.

I mean,

imagine that.

I won't

tell you the

full story

about this

guy,

but we

had a

guy called

Cyril in

my church

who,

when I

first went

there,

we used

to do

prayer book

even song

and it

was pretty

well attended,

about 75

people in the

congregation

on a Sunday

evening,

which compared

to the rest

of the

deany was

pretty good.

And up

the front

there was

me in

my

cassock

and surplus

and hood

and what

have you.

And the

only person

in the

choir was

this guy

called

Cyril.

And he

used to

stand right

next to

me and

sing loudly

and on

the basis

that he,

the first

thing he

would tell

you when

you entered

the church

was,

I've been

in the

choir for

55 years.

You're like,

on the

same principle

that if you

gave a

monkey a

typewriter,

eventually it

would type

a word,

you would

think that

with all

the hymns

he'd sung

and all

the tunes

he'd sung,

he might

occasionally

hit a

right note,

but no.

Perish the

thought.

And it's

a great

story,

I won't

bore you

with it,

but I

actually found

out that

what he

loved was

a kind

of odd

job man

by mentality

and I

said to

him,

you can

be the

odd job

man around

the church,

you know,

as long as

you promise

to leave

the choir.

And he

did.

And he

just became

a different

guy.

I mean,

he had

some stuff

in his

life which

was really

hard to

live with.

But that's

Paul's idea.

You know,

Paul talks

about the

church as

the body

and what

he sees

in the

body,

I know

this gets

a bit

harder when

you get

older,

but what

he saw

is a

kind of

unity

in the

body.

So Paul's

line is,

you know,

the foot

can't say

to the

mouth,

I'd

prefer to

be a

mouth.

And I

just want

to give a

little time,

sorry about

this,

there's I

think two

problem

verses in

this little

passage from

Paul.

All this

stuff about

ascending and

descending.

What does

he ascended

mean except

that he

also

descended

to the

lower

earthly

regions?

He who

descended

is the

very one

who

ascended

higher

than all

the heavens

in order

to fill

the whole

universe.

Well,

there's

general

agreement

that when

Paul's

talking about

ascended

there,

incidentally,

this quote

comes from

Psalm 68

and verse

18.

And I'll

just read

that to

you.

This is

Paul quoting

from the

Old Testament

scriptures.

Here we

go.

Psalm 68

in verse

18.

This is

Paul writing

it,

sorry,

this is

David

writing in

Psalm 68.

When you

ascended on

high,

you led

captives in

your train

and you

received gifts

from men,

even from

the rebellious,

that you,

O Lord God,

might dwell

there.

So,

Paul slightly

bends the

meaning of

this because

it says

here that

you receive

gifts from

men.

Well,

actually,

the thrust

of Paul's

comment is

that God

gives us

the gifts,

not the

other way

around.

But,

so there's

general

agreement that

the word

ascended

refers to

the ascension

of Jesus

here.

Incidentally,

Jews who

listened to

that psalm

would have

related it

to the

story of

Moses.

led his

people out

of captivity

and into

the promised

land.

He led

captives

to be

set free

and then

become

captives

of Jesus

Christ

or captives

of God

in Moses'

case.

There is,

you may have

heard this,

but there's

a reference,

people refer

here to

the idea

that when

Jesus died

he went

down to

hell on

Easter

Saturday

and preached

in hell

for 24

hours and

then was

raised from

the dead

and the rest

is, you

know, you

know the

ending to

the story.

The only

New Testament

reference I

can find to

any idea

that Jesus

preached to

the dead

is in

1 Peter

1 Peter 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3

and verse

19.

Some people

say that the

ascending and

descending thing

refers to the

Holy Spirit.

Jesus ascends

into heaven

and the third

person of the

Holy Trinity,

the Holy Spirit,

descends to

earth and

brings gifts

in Acts

Acts 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2.

In my own

mind that's

probably what

Paul was

talking about.

And then the

final thing

that people

say about

this gets

worse is

Paul here

having a

tilt at

this heresy

called

Gnosticism

that believed

that because

God was

absolutely

perfect and

because human

beings are

absolutely

terrible,

there was

no way that

God could

come down

as a man.

The idea,

the very

idea revolted

them.

And so

some people

feel that

Paul here

is just

having a

kind of

jab in

the direction

of Gnostics.

Purpose of

spiritual gifts

to glorify

God,

to edify

the church

by building

up the

body of

Christ,

verse 12b,

and thirdly

to save

the world.

To save

the world

by service

and by the

preaching

of the

gospel,

not

either or,

but both

and.

There are

some

problems

I think

that go

with

the gifts

that Paul

talks about.

One is

we can get

obsessed with

particular gifts.

I've met

several

people in

my life

who

have been

obsessed

by getting

a particular

gift.

It's become

a kind of,

gone beyond

a passion

to an

obsession.

some of

that has

been fostered

by a

church,

which generally

I have a lot

of respect

for,

the Pentecostal

church,

but their

idea is you

go to a

Pentecostal

meeting,

at the end

of the

meeting,

it's like

an auction

that the

gifts of

the spirit,

you decide

what gift

you'd like

and you

come forward

and the

pastor will

lay hands

on you

and that's

it,

you've got

it.

I don't

think that's

quite right

because I

don't think

we're all

meant to

have the

same

gifts.

And

again,

I think

this is

really wrong,

the idea

that I'm

only truly

a Christian

if I can

speak in

tongues.

I think

that's not

right and

my argument

for that

would be

that these

are gifts,

we're not

all meant

to have

all the

gifts,

we're all

meant to

have some

gifts but

not all

the gifts.

And I

think there's

a confusion

there with

the fruit

of the

spirit,

love,

joy,

patience,

kindliness,

all that

stuff.

Those are

the kind

of values

that all

of us

should have.

How might

I discover

my gifts?

Well,

my advice

would be

talk to

somebody who

loves you

enough to

tell you

the truth.

And there's

a reason

for that.

And the

reason for

that is

people can

be deluded.

Sometimes we

think we're

good at

stuff we're

really not

good at.

And so

I think we

need to be

careful with

that.