Sunday School | The Holy Spirit Gives Gifts to His People

We're nearing the end of the third block of our systematic theology survey. We are in pneumatology—the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. We're not done, but maybe a couple more weeks. We'll see how this goes.

We've been talking about the Holy Spirit and who he is, not so much what he is, because he is a person. He's the third person of the Trinity. Perhaps if Edwards is right, and Lewis is right, and Augustine is right—which is a pretty good group—then he may be literally the love of God sprung to life. He is the one that God has put in our hearts to be him in our lives and in our presence.

We've talked for a while about what he does. He proceeds from the Father and the Son—the ancient controversy of that. We've seen much of the things that he's done. Today, what I want to talk about is the fact that one of the most significant things that he does in our lives is that he imparts gifts to his people.

The Holy Spirit's Indwelling and Filling

The Holy Spirit dwells in all believers. If you are in Christ, then the Holy Spirit of God lives in you. He indwells you. But it doesn't necessarily follow that he fills you at all times. It seems, based on what the New Testament says, that his filling can come and go largely as we yield to him.

We talked last week that he fills us like wind fills a sail. That sail can be left out and yielded and filled with the wind, which gives it power and direction. Or it can be wadded up in the corner of the boat. The wind is still there—it's just that the sail isn't availing itself. The risk, of course, is if you forget that you're a sailboat, or you wad up your sail and you lose that power and direction, there's a temptation to just start rowing harder. But you're not a rowboat—you're a sailboat. The secret of the Christian life is not "row harder." It's "yield more."

Spiritual Gifts in Scripture

But something else that he does is he gives gifts. Depending on how you count it, there are about four major passages in the New Testament that talk about spiritual gifts.

If you wanted to do a survey on the gifts of the Spirit, you'd go to 1 Corinthians—very good. You know the chapter? First Corinthians 12. Mark is probably the most important passage. It bleeds all the way through chapter 14, with what feels like an interruption in chapter 13. But 12 to 14 is really a unit. We tend to separate 12 from 14, so first Corinthians 12 is one place.

You may know where else? Romans 12. So here's a little memory technique: it's 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12—"12, 12." We'll look at both of those. And then there are basically two others. Do you know the other two? Ephesians 4—mark it. You want to teach this class? Yes, it is 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 4. Very good. We'll look at that, and then one more. It is also a 4, which is convenient. 1 Peter 4—that's right.

We're going to look at all of those, but the biggest, the most consequential of those is 1 Corinthians 12. So let me read you some of this. We're just going to load a bunch—we're going to put it all on the table and then we'll sort it around and try to figure out what's going on here.

First Corinthians 12, let's start in verse 1:

Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. — 1 Corinthians 12:1

And then skipping down to verse 4:

There are different kinds of gifts but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working but the same God works all of them in all men. — 1 Corinthians 12:4-6

Now I'll tell you this: the New Testament is not a systematic theology textbook. Paul didn't sit down with a blank sheet of paper and think, "Let me just teach on spiritual gifts." The New Testament is a series of letters, and one of the essential attributes of a letter is that it's occasional. We don't mean it's intermittent—we mean it's a response to an occasion. Something is already happening in Corinth, and frankly, if we're in Corinth, it's a problem. Corinth is a train wreck.

So Paul is writing to the Corinthians because something is wrong, and whatever he's talking about is linked to the wrongness going on in their lives. In 1 Corinthians 12, the big focus on the gifts of the Spirit is contexted in the fact that they're all backbiting, fighting, competing, ranking, placing themselves above one another, considering who has the best gift. So this very strong focus in Paul's presentation here on the gifts of the Spirit is basically saying: everybody, calm down.

Stop ranking yourselves. That's going to come through in this passage because of what they're dealing with. He's going to say in verse 7:

To each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. — 1 Corinthians 12:7

This is another primary lesson that's going to come through to the Corinthians: Yeah, he gave you this gift, but he gave it to you for the good of everyone. These aren't for you to treasure up and keep for yourself. If you're good at making money, you're good at making money so that you can be generous. If you're good at knowing stuff, you're good at knowing stuff so you can teach others. If you're good at administration, you're good at administration so everyone else can live in a world where the trains run on time. He gives you a gift for the good of others.

Then he's going to list what these gifts are in verses 8-10:

To the one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom; to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit; to another miraculous powers; to another prophecy; to another distinguishing between spirits; to another speaking in different kinds of tongues; and still to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. — 1 Corinthians 12:8-11

We're going to pull this list out to the extent that there is a list, but keep an asterisk in your mind next to the idea of lists of gifts. He bullet points a whole bunch of things, and most of them you're probably like, "What does that even mean?" These are the weird gifts.

Then in verse 12 he's going to say:

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts. — 1 Corinthians 12:12

He has a whole dissertation on this with the ear and the hand and the foot. It would be ridiculous if you complained that your ear isn't a very good runner or your foot doesn't see very far—because it's not supposed to. You are supposed to be what he's made you to be. Nobody is like a Swiss Army knife. We all have particular, focused everything we're good at.

Then he's going to give another list starting in verse 27:

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers. — 1 Corinthians 12:27-28

At that point you could sound like these aren't gifts, these are offices. But as he continues on, he flows into what are unmistakably gifts:

Workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, those speaking in different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? — 1 Corinthians 12:29-30

The answer to every one of those rhetorical questions is no. I've literally heard people say yes, and I'm like, "Are you insane?" Clearly what he's saying is that there is a range, a diversity of gifts, different capacities.

Then he says:

But eagerly desire the greater gifts. — 1 Corinthians 12:31

The Lists Are Not Identical

Right there, just in one chapter alone in 1 Corinthians 12, you might notice that there are two different lists, and they're not the same, but there is some overlap. The reason I point this out to you is that you may have already taken a Sunday school class somewhere where somebody suggested to you: "Here's the list—there are like 16 spiritual gifts." You get this spiritual gifts assessment, you go through and you're like, "I'm this one and this one but not this one," as if there is this finite, fixed list that some Christian book publisher has organized. That's false. That's not true.

Even here, even in one chapter of the Bible, Paul gives a list and then he gives another list, and they're not the same list, but they overlap. When we look at what Romans says, it's going to be a different list. When we look at what Ephesians says, a different list. Peter doesn't even give a list—it's really two things, very short, but it's different.

What I want to suggest to you is that the Holy Spirit does not have some bucket with 16 things in it. He can do whatever he wants. In fact, in the Old Testament, there's somebody who is given the spiritual gift of embroidery. I'm aware of one spiritual gift in the Old Testament, and I would have said embroidery right there—someone the Spirit gifted to weave curtains for the temple. Craftsmanship, probably. So I doubt you've ever taken a spiritual gifts assessment that included embroidery, but it should have. And probably coding should be on the list. This is what I'm trying to say: He can give you whatever he wants to give you, and he does. It's not some fixed list. There's all kinds of things that he does.

So here, let's go to Romans 12. We'll pick it up in verse 3, read them all, and then we'll try to figure out what we think about all this.

We'll pick it up in verse 3. He says: "Further by the grace given me I say to every one of you to not think of yourself more highly than you ought but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the measure of faith that God has given you."

Right there, timeout. When he writes to the Corinthians, the problem was people were proud of their gifts. They feel better than others because of their gifts. You deserve no more credit for your natural or supernatural abilities than you do for the color of your eyes. What did you have to do with it? Literally nothing. It's a gift. When he writes to the Corinthians they're getting all haughty. When he writes to the Romans he's like, everybody calm down. Right? It's a gift. Don't think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourselves with sober judgment in accordance with the measure of faith that God has given you.

Just as each one of us has a body with many members and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving let him serve. If it is teaching let him teach. If it is encouraging let him encourage. If it is contributing to the needs of others let him give generously. If it is leadership let him govern diligently. If it is showing mercy let him do it cheerfully. — Romans 12

Do you see that? It's a different list. It's not the first list of First Corinthians. It's not the second. It's because there's not a list. Right? This is what Paul is saying. He's probably seen all of these things manifest in the community of his people, and there are other things besides.

Gil, so if you're gonna say—which I would believe in that—there's no end or finite list. Yeah, would it be just, let's say I am good at remembering specific facts. Like that would be something you're specifically good at that someone might—I want someone else might not be. Would you consider that a spiritual gift or would that just be—

This is excellent. So Gil's question is, if we don't have like a canonical list, like "this is the menu," then what is a gift? And is a spiritual gift anything that we happen to be good at? Right? So it's an excellent question, and I would draw the boundaries a little bit differently. I'll give you maybe some categories and then we'll see what you guys think about this.

I think in order for something to be recognized as a spiritual gift, number one: there is something that you're good at. You just do it. It's more effortless for you, right? There are things in your life that you just do really well, and your husband's bad at it, and that's probably how you notice. Right? There's just this intuitive capacity. But number two: it's got to be good for others. Right? That's the very function, the very nature of these gifts—He gives us an ability for the good of the body.

And then number three, I think it's gonna have to be something that's gonna honor Him. It's not just good for others, but it's something that the Lord will use, can use, does use for the advance of His kingdom. That makes sense, okay?

Now I don't know—I really don't understand this. I'd love to hear what you think. I'll say the question and then I want to read these other passages, and then you guys can weigh in on this. I don't know if, my experience in life is, the things that would generally be recognized as spiritual gifts in my life, I think they were true before I was a Christian. It's not like before I became a Christian I didn't know how to do these things, and then I became a Christian and then this new superpower got infused. That's kind of what I might expect based on the language of the New Testament, but that's not my experience.

So there's this incongruency between what I might be led to believe by the text and what I've experienced that makes me be like, I don't know—what's the difference between having, like, teaching is a spiritual gift, right? It happens to be one of mine. There's lots and lots of really good college professors that aren't Christians, but they're skilled in the art of communicating information. Is that a spiritual gift? Or if not, does it make sense? I don't know how to reconcile that. Maybe you do.

Let's do a little bit more, and then I'll give you guys a chance to jump in. Let's go to Ephesians 4. I want you to hear the list here.

But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. — Ephesians 4:7

This is one of the unique things about the Ephesians list here: Christ is the giver of the gifts instead of the Holy Spirit. And you may recall me saying that everything one member of the Trinity does, all—

Members of the Trinity do—they work in common. But it's funny because with these, they are clearly the Holy Spirit gifts, but this is from the Scripture:

To each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says when he ascended on high he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men. 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. It was he, Christ, who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, 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 reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. — 1 Corinthians 4:7, Ephesians 4:8-13

These are unmistakably offices. We see sometimes there is an overlap between role, between gifts and office—offices meaning a position in the church. And it exists on this continuum. Do you perceive this? It kind of goes from the crazier to the boringer, right?

The Spectrum of Spiritual Offices

We've got apostles. Now, there's "big A" apostles—the 12—but the word just means "the sent ones." They're missionaries. They're the ones that are, like, erratic and crazy. But they are the ones going to the open spaces, the dark places that make things complicated and messy and do what nobody else wants to do.

Then we come to something slightly less crazy than that: the prophets. Still pretty crazy, right? They're the ones willing to put their finger in the king's chest and call things out, just be a truth teller. They're chaotic and difficult.

The evangelists are a little bit calmer, but they're still leaving the church. They're going outside and taking the gospel to people who don't know it.

Next, the pastors—now we're getting into the calmer ones. They're going to be the ones—you don't want an apostle to comfort you when your husband dies, right? That's the pastor's job. He's going to bring peace and soul-care.

And then the teacher is maybe the most boring of all. That's the academic. That's the one saying, "Can we just please stay still and get things right? I'm tired of you all running around making up crazy mistakes. Can we please do a good job?"

So there's a spectrum. What Paul is saying is God gives to the body the whole range. We need the complete raving nut jobs to get stuff done. We need the academics to get it right. And we need everybody in between. He imparts skills to people. He gives gifts so we can accomplish all these things.

Using Gifts in Love

There's something important here: every one of these passages about the gifts leads you into love, and then we're going to use them, right? That's the important part. It's not only instruction to us, but it's instruction for how we become more like God.

Remember when I said that 1 Corinthians 12 to 14 is one unit, but we tend to treat it like there's some irrelevant interruption in the middle? First Corinthians 13 is what? Love is patient, love is kind, does not envy, does not boast. So we tend to be like, "Yeah, yeah, spiritual gifts and spiritual gifts," but every time he's talking about this he's saying, "I gave it to you for the good of others. Love them. Serve them. Let that be the framework, the matrix in which we administer the gifts—should be love and concern for others."

Catherine pointed out something important here. She's heard the Scripture that says the Holy Spirit gives gifts to whom he pleases, and she's experienced in her own life that sometimes the Holy Spirit will give you a gift for the moment that is needed, and it's not your main spiritual gift. She actually interpreted a tongue once and had never done it before, and it was right on the money. It shakes you, you know? And that's how he builds faith. She also likes to introduce people to other Christians who have certain gifts, saying, "Hey, you want to meet this person because they can really minister to this person or they have something in common."

There's something in the Old Testament she wants to ask about, but the point is this: not always is what you're good at what you're always doing. Sometimes the Spirit might give you a unique ability in a unique moment.

This situation calls for something unique. Maybe you're going to rise to the challenge not because you're digging deep, but because he's giving you the ability in that moment. One time the Bible talks about interpreting tongues—Catherine doesn't know how to interpret tongues except for this one time when she did. That's the thing.

What's your question? In the Old Testament, there's a place—maybe the building of the wall, I'm not sure—where the Holy Spirit gifted people. Like the seamstress to make the curtains, or maybe the temple. Maybe it was the tabernacle before the temple. It was magnificent, and they weren't just known for that. I don't think what we're talking about here was spontaneous and unusual. Rather, they were craftsmen—people that are really good at making stuff with their hands. That too is one of the gifts. So it's possible there was something spontaneous, but I've never noticed that. I think it's just that there are craftsmen. I mean, in this room there are craftsmen, and there were particularly gifted people helping to build that.

Here's the last thing. Here's the last passage: 1 Peter chapter 4. We get through this whole thing, and this one's brief—just a little snippet—but it adds insight to how this whole thing works.

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in his various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength that God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. — 1 Peter 4:10

Right there—that last point. Whatever we're using these gifts for, it's to the praise of God. I think that's a constraint on our gifts. If I have a really witty, incisive, sarcastic tongue and I can cut you down in a heartbeat—I'm not going to guess that's a spiritual gift. I might be good at it and I might like it, but if it's not something that's going to ultimately glorify the Lord, I don't think that's a spiritual gift. I think that's something else going on there.

So if we were trying to write a systematic theology of spiritual gifts, I think those would be our primary texts.

Now, just to go back—I'm curious if anybody sees it clearly. It's not obvious to me: what do you make of the fact that there are people very good at some of these things who are not Christians?

Chris: The same thing as the craftsman thing you mentioned before. You were a teacher before you knew Christ, and now the Spirit has added on and made you a better teacher than you would have been otherwise. He's adding to that some natural ability, which in itself is a gift. I do think God is generous to all with gifts. If you had never met Christ, you wouldn't be at the level of teacher you are today because the Spirit has just added on. Like pouring gasoline on the fire.

That could be right. What do you guys think?

Taylor: A couple weeks ago we were talking about the Holy Spirit moving on people that don't have the Spirit alive in them. I think the truth is the same is true for spiritual gifts. We were made to be image bearers from day one, and there are neat things that reveal his glory in us. We're just not using them to the capacity that we were meant to until the Holy Spirit taps in. There are nonprofits all over the world that are not Christian-based doing really good things, and that's because the Lord does not have to be that way. We can't help but reflect his glory.

I kind of have the same mindset as you. It's also worth remembering that we should never assume one's walk. Someone like myself who came to Christ much later—that will be considered normal, especially in a Christian household. So I would say the gifts that you have before can still be the very same gifts after. It's just that Christ and God also know our entire life. We're going to be coming to Christ, so maybe it is pre-loaded.

Pat: Is there a distinction between gifts and talents? Maybe the question is like the question behind my question. Do we—does everybody have different talents, and then is there some kind of layering on of a gift?

I know the best example is me, of course, right? I literally can remember being in fifth grade and feeling some sense that I thought I was going to be a teacher when I grew up. At the time, the only kind of teacher that I knew about was a school teacher, right? Because what else is there? I remember thinking that I would be a teacher because I just knew—early, early, early—that I like to explain things, that my mind organizes information, that I know how to build bridges from the known to the unknown. I just thought that I would do that.

My kind of dream job was to be like an American civics teacher because I love that stuff and I think it'd be fun to explain all those things. So that might be my talent at a baseline, natural level in my life. But then I do find that when I'm specifically in the scriptures, I think it makes sense to me and I see things more readily than most people do. I think there are a lot of good teachers for whom this book would be total idiocy, right? Because it's spiritually discerned. There might be some latent capacity, and then it wasn't that it got better necessarily, but that it got focused on things. There are plenty of people that are very competent calculus teachers but would not be able to make sense of this book because it's spiritually discerned.

So maybe there are people that are just really good administrators—they should be in charge of making things happen in an organized way. But then they become Christians and they have some new ability to make sure they're organizing things toward ultimate ends that are of eternal value instead of merely organizing the blocks on the ship. Maybe. I don't know.

Jennifer brought up something important that I wanted to get to eventually. She says we don't become Christian and then get spiritual gifts. She thinks we are given them, maybe even at birth. And then when we become Christian, we are guided by the Holy Spirit on how to grow them, apply them, and utilize them.

Growing in Our Gifts

Jennifer says something important: our spiritual gifts grow. You don't just get born and become a brilliant prophet. You can get better at prophecy just like you can get better at administration, better at helping people. I think we sometimes, especially with the charismatic gifts, the sign gifts, have this expectation that if you have the gift of tongues you must have prophecy, or if you have the gift of discerning spirits it better be perfect or we should stone you to death, right?

We don't hold our teachers to that standard. Teachers—myself included—we get stuff wrong all the time. But that doesn't mean I'm a false teacher. It means I'm growing in my ability to understand and impart the scriptures. I think you might have these more charismatic, supernatural, sign gifts—the first stuff that Paul lists in 1 Corinthians 12—and it would make sense to me that we would grow in that. We grow in discernment. We grow in wisdom about how to apply those things.

You might be a young person to whom God reveals secrets, but you're immature and you're kind of foolish. So you go up to somebody and say, "Hey, God just told me you're blah blah blah," whatever. Maybe that wasn't the best approach. Maybe there was a real gift but there's maturing to do. Maybe God didn't tell you to tell anybody. Maybe you're supposed to just pray about it. Maybe you're supposed to wait for an opportunity. We learn and we grow.

So I do think we grow in the application of our gifts with wisdom, with application, with practice. You're always allowed to get things wrong, and the way to getting it right is by getting it wrong. You better be, because you're going to get it wrong. And we want to grow in maturity, right?

Eric, I'm going to keep going but I think you're in line here, bro. Okay, the gentleman yields his time. Nate, one thing I've personally struggled with over the years is my faith has lapsed in a sense where, like when I was growing up in the church as a young man, I didn't really understand what I was getting myself into when I walked into a sanctuary. The gifts that I thought I was bestowed with were me being able to coach sports and mentor people. Like Joe Paterno at Penn State and Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech—one thing those guys are great teachers. The talents that they have, the gifts that I feel were bestowed, they're genetic.

And genetics is a big proponent in what these passages are about. I'm too dumb to know what the role of genetics plays—is it in my DNA? Obviously my DNA shapes who I am, but what does the Holy Spirit impart into that? Is our personality encoded in our chromosomes? Maybe, I don't know. But certainly, overlaying what we are and what our broad capacities are, he is doing things. They bring our joy to us—these are the things we love to do. But then it's beneficial to others and brings glory to his name.

Okay, Gil, I wanted to go back to your original question about non-Christians with gifts. When you brought that up, I was thinking about Romans 1, where he's talking about general revelation of God's beauty. So it's general revelation of God's beauty, but the fact that the Spirit—I don't know where I stand on that. But if it is true that he has imparted gifts on non-believers, I think that's even more general revelation of God.

So Gil is making a parallel. I'm going to give you three categories that are all kind of parallel. We've got, perhaps we're suggesting, that everybody on the planet by virtue of being alive has different talents. Then God lays those—that's general for all. But then to Christians, he gives these particular spiritual gifts for the building up of the body, right? To serve others. That is somewhat parallel to the idea that there is common grace to all, but there is particular grace to those that are his, right? God loves everyone, but he loves his bride in a particular way. And that too parallels this idea that there is general revelation—you don't need to read a Bible to walk outside and be like, "All right, I think somebody made this. It's extraordinary, right?" There is general revelation, and then there is special revelation in the scriptures—a particular message written at a particular time that reveals things that no set of stars and no sunshine, no sunset can possibly reveal.

It may be in a similar way that we have broad capacities, broad gifts that he's just generous with. And by the way, we benefit all the time from talents held by non-Christians. If I don't know, the trains do run on time—there may very well be a non-Christian who designed the system, and we're grateful. Common grace to all, right? But then in a particular way, he imparts that. I think that could be the case.

We're going to have to do two classes on this one. Scott, are they made? I think it's a little bit deeper than that. It's honing or casting wine. When you add the Holy Spirit, Christ people become more focused and are able to use those gifts in a broader sense. They may have always had a natural leadership, but to be an effective leader—whatever the gift is, it doesn't have to be leadership—it's the focus. Yes, how it's channeled.

Okay, I think that is fair. Okay, so here's—we're going to have to do—okay, you want to go? We are burning. Go ahead. You get the last word.

I was once in a church that was like my car for train pastors. They said certain gifts had passed away and were used for the establishment of the early church and they're no longer like prophecy and miracles. Wondering what you would say to people in that case.

On the Cessation of Charismatic Gifts

Sure. So the question is basically: did the charismatic gifts cease? When I say charismatic, in 1 Corinthians 12, especially early in that list, there's all these things that you can very reasonably be like, "What in the world are you talking about?" There's a gift of wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues. These are what we would call the charismatic gifts, which is just a way of saying the grace gifts. But what we really mean—a charismatic or Pentecostal subset of the church believes in these things that are more obviously supernatural. To a certain extent, this is all supernatural, but a lot of it doesn't look supernatural. People could administrate, people can help, people can teach—those things happen all the time. But the ability to speak a language you don't understand or the ability to have a message that's this other stuff.

Some in the body believe that those things have ceased. They're called cessationists. They would say that all that weird stuff that Paul is talking about—yeah, that was true for like 30, 50 years, basically until the Bible was done being written. And once the Bible was done being written, good news: we don't need that anymore. Those things are over, and for the rest of time, Christians don't have any more supernatural powers. We have a Bible better than that.

That view is called cessationism. John MacArthur absolutely embodies it—he wrote a book called "Charismatic Chaos." He's very much a cessationist. I'm not a cessationist. I don't see the biblical case for that. I understand it because it's tidy, right? And I like tidy. I also sympathize with it because I don't have any of those gifts. And I also sympathize because I've seen people who claim to have those gifts but I don't think they do.

There can be an abuse of power. I mean, the ability to speak the word of God—you can see how that could go off the rails, right? So I get the arguments for cessationism. I just don't think they're biblical arguments. I don't see it.

And my reading of church history is such that there are some pretty crazy things that have happened long after 90 AD. If you study any of the great revivals—the First Great Awakening, the Second Great Awakening—if you see the stuff going on when John Edwards, who is his teacher, preaches in a monotone boring voice and everything's going crazy outside—I just think it's really hard. I don't find the cessationist view is really tenable.

Now, you may disagree with me. That's cool, whatever. But I'm a strange advocate for the charismatic gifts because there is nothing charismatic about my gifts. I have nothing self-serving in that at all. I just think it's a hard case to make biblically.

Looking Ahead

Okay, good enough for now. All right, we'll stop there. Here's what we're gonna do next week: we're gonna stay in 1 Corinthians because I want to look more at what are these gifts that are mentioned, and what are the gifts that you think the Lord has given you?

What do you love to do? What's just honestly pretty easy for you? And what is it that builds up the body, that blesses his name, that exalts the work of Christ? So let's talk about that.

You might want to read through:

1 Corinthians 12 Romans 12 Ephesians 4 1 Peter 4

And we'll go a little deeper on that next week.