Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church

Ex. 31:1-6, Eph. 4:7-13

A hell-fire and damnation preacher was pacing back and forth across the platform, waving his Bible and shouting his various points. The cord from the microphone kept getting tight as the preacher reached one end of the platform and then grew loose again as the preacher returned to the center of the stage. A boy watching the microphone cord, turned to his mom and asked, “If he gets loose will he hurt us?”

I wonder if this isn’t the same question many Christians in mainline churches have asked about the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit gets loose will he hurt us? Maybe we should just leave the Holy Spirit to the Pentecostals. We tend to associate the Holy Spirit with fanaticism and craziness. Churches that emphasize the Holy Spirit seem more emotional. Preachers that talk a great deal about the Holy Spirit tend to be showy and flashy. Maybe it would be better to leave all that to the Pentecostal churches.

In contrast to Pentecostals, one of the favorite verses of Presbyterians is 1 Corinthians 14:40, “all things should be done decently and in order.” In other words, we do not want people jumping over the pews or dancing in the aisles at a Presbyterian Church. We often interpret this verse to mean that our worship ought to be solemn and unemotional. We want people acting respectable in church.

The irony is that this verse comes right after a verse that reminds us to use the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit. “Be eager to prophecy and do not forbid speaking in tongues” (1 Corinthians 14:39). Apparently there was some confusion over the use of spiritual gifts in the early church. The Corinthian church services involved people interrupting each other with prophetic messages and speaking in tongues. At times the worship must have become so confusing that even the worship leaders were unsure what was going on. Is this the way the Holy Spirit works? If a church lets the Holy Spirit take over, will he hurt us?

Part of the confusion stems from misunderstandings about spiritual gifts. One of the common misunderstandings involves the question whether the Holy Spirit forces us to receive unwanted gifts. If I ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit and open my heart to spiritual gifts, will God make me do things I don’t want to do? If I am a quiet, retiring personality, will the Holy Spirit make me stand in front of others and become a Bible teacher? If I am a leadership personality will I be given a gift that forces me to quietly serve behind the scenes? In other words, how do spiritual gifts from the Holy Spirit relate to my natural talents and personality?

The key to this question is found in Paul’s use of Psalm 68 in Ephesians 4. Did Paul unintentionally misquote this Old Testament scripture, or intentionally alter it to make a point about the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Understanding the Ephesians 4 reference to spiritual gifts can help us learn how to work with the Holy Spirit.

But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it is said,‘When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.’ (When it says, ‘He ascended’, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

Ephesians 4:7-13

An Amish boy and his father were visiting a mall. They were amazed at all the modern things, particularly the elevator. They watched as the walls opened and closed to this small room. The boy asked his father, “What is that?” The father responded, “I don’t know. I have never seen anything like it.”

While they were standing there trying to figure out what it was, an old man with a walker maneuvered his way into the elevator. He pushed a button and the doors closed. The man and his son stood watching the elevator. A few moments later the door opened. A young athletic man stepped out. The father said to his son, “Hold my things, I’m going in there!”

Is this how spiritual gifts work? One moment we are a quiet personality with a talent for crafts. Then the Holy Spirit fills us and gives the spiritual gift of healing so that we sudden- ly are standing in front of crowds and praying for miraculous healings. One moment we are offering to bake cookies for the Sunday school class. Then we are filled with the Holy Spirit and forced to go into mission work with a headhunting tribe in the jungles whether we want to or not. Is this how spiritual gifts work?

My reasoning mind tells me there is something wrong with this picture. This does not seem consistent with the character of the God we worship. Why would God force us to do what we do not want to do? Why would God refuse to use our natural talents and alter our personalities? If this is the idea of spiritual gifts then I have serious questions. Let us use our minds and reasoning ability to examine the scriptures and see what we can learn from them about spiritual gifts.

Three of Paul’s letters involve discussions of spiritual gifts. While 1 Corinthians is Paul’s most thorough discussion of the gifts, and Romans includes his listing of various gifts, the short passage in Ephesians 4 may be the key to clarifying how gifts tie into personality and natural talents.

Paul either misquoted or intentionally altered the quotation of Psalm 68. The original Psalm spoke of God taking people captive and receiving gifts from the conquered people. “You ascended the high mountain, leading captives in your train and receiving gifts from people” (Psalm 68:18). Paul, however, altered this from receiving gifts to giving gifts. “When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to people” (Ephesians 4:8). What is going on here? Knowing that Paul was a well-educated scholar of the scriptures, it is unlikely that he simply made a mistake in his quoting of the Psalm. There must be something the Holy Spirit wants us to see here.

In order to appreciate the point of Ephesians 4 we need to review the original Psalm. This was a Psalm about God leading an army into battle against the enemies of the Lord. The imagery is a celebration for God’s victory. God has won the battle against evil. In the midst of this Psalm we read about God leading the captives in a parade where they are forced to bow before the Lord and offer up their gifts of tribute. Thus, the Psalmist wrote that the Lord ascends the high mountain, “leading captives in your train and receiving gifts from people” (Psalm 68:18).

It was the custom in ancient days to celebrate a victory by forcing the defeated army to present their arms before the victorious king. They were forced to bow in homage. Some ancient pictures of battle show the enemy army filing before the throne one by one in order to bow down and let the victor king place his foot on their neck. It was an act of submission. All their possessions were taken away and given to the victor.

The receiving of gifts by the victor was not the end of the story. The winning king then gathered his army around and gave out gifts to the troops who had helped him win the battle. The very gifts that were piled at his feet then were given out as spoils of battle to his own people. Thus, the giving of gifts followed the receiving of gifts. This is the full implication of Psalm 68. God has fought against the evil powers and taken away their power in order to give gifts to the Lord’s own people. There is the receiving of gifts from the defeated and the giving of gifts to the victors. Which are we? Are we the defeated who must pay tribute to God and bow before the throne, or are we God’s victors who receive the gifts of bounty in celebration of God’s victory?

Paul concluded we are both. This is the point of his reframing the quote in Psalm 68. Paul understood that we are brought to a level of humility when we realize that apart from Jesus Christ our talents will never truly change lives. The act of becoming a Christian means that we bow before Jesus Christ as the victor. We submit entirely to the rule of Jesus in our lives. At that moment, we join God’s people. So we are also the victors as Jesus welcomes us into the family of God and gives us the Holy Spirit. In other words, Paul saw this important truth. We are called to give up our natural talents as tribute to Christ and in surrender to God. Then God redeems our talents and adds spiritual gifts so that we can bless others. What do I mean when I say God redeems our talents? Some of us may recall that in the mid-twentieth century stores developed a technique to create loyal shoppers. Stores gave out “green stamps” based on the amount a shopper spent at the local store. Families would collect these green stamps and then paste them into booklets. When you collected enough booklets you could take them to the green stamp redemption center and trade in the stamps for toasters or coffee pots. In other words, you redeemed the stamps for something else. In this same way God redeems our natural talents by turning them into something that blesses others at a deep spiritual level.

In other words, God takes our talents and redeems them. Then God also gives us spiritual gifts that blend perfectly with our redeemed talents. God knows our personalities, both our strengths and weaknesses. God coordinates a mix of spiritual gifts that complement our natural abilities. Our talents, then, are no longer simply natural abilities; they become part of the spiritual gift mix to bless others. God redeems our talents and adds spiritual gifts.

We see this idea in the very first mention of spiritual gifts, Exodus 31. God commanded Moses to build a tabernacle and ark for the worship of God. Moses had no artistic abilities to do this. However, as God gave Moses directions on how to make the tabernacle, the Lord announced that certain men had been given the gift of artistry for this purpose. These were naturally artistic men. However, their artistic talents alone were not enough for what God wanted. So God gave them artistic spiritual gifts for the making of the tabernacle.

I have seen God do this in my own life. Some of you know that I was a pre-med student in college. My ultimate goal was to become a psychiatrist. I wanted to dedicate my life to bringing emotional and mental healing to the many silent sufferers of mental illness. However, I was not accepted into medical school.

Instead, I went to seminary and became a missionary and a pastor. I figured my interests in healing must not be in God’s plan. I explored some aspects of healing prayers in our small Indian village church and read a few books, but my early experiments seemed to be very different from my images of what faith healing should be. Then, our oldest son almost died from an encephalitis coma. Our congregation gathered around us with amazing support and we watched God miraculously heal our son from severe brain trauma and significant depression. With the encouragement of that congregation I began to genuinely seek whether the Lord was growing in me a spiritual gift of healing. Over the next few years I watched as God began to unfold a different type of healing ministry.

I recall one evening service when a young mother brought her sickly child forward for prayer. As she waited in line for prayer, a wave of weeping swept over the congregation. Later people told me they didn’t fully know what was happening, they just knew God was moving in wonderful ways. I would learn that the kind of healing gifts God was growing in me were not like those of the television faith healers. It was not so much my individual faith as a healer, but more how God was using the combined faith of our entire congregation to bring healing. We discovered together that God was using us to heal wounded hearts and broken relationships in order to release physical healings.

From our pain of having our son in a coma and his brain trauma and depression, God grew a healing ministry. Isn’t that just like God? The Lord takes us from being the conquered kneeling victims of life’s traumas, lifts us up and welcomes us as his spiritual victors. Then he gives us gifts. Jesus mixes together our natural talents and spiritual gifts, and then smiles as we learn to serve.

Watch out! When the Holy Spirit gets loose, blessings and gifts are on their way!

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Have you surrendered your natural talents to God? What would it look like for God to redeem your talents?

2. In what ways has the Holy Spirit worked in your life to combine spiritual gifts with your natural abilities?