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Nov 12, 2023

Bespoke Gifts

Bespoke Gifts

Passage: 1 Corinthians 12:4-11

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: That’s the Spirit: Learning to keep in step with Him who indwells

Keywords: wisdom, service, prophecy, gifts, spirit, good, varieties

This Christmas you might receive a gift that, its good intentions notwithstanding, could not miss more as to whether it fits you. There’s a whole movement of companies now that try to match products with the particularities of people known as “bespoke” gifts. Turns out God gives gifts that are not just loving but tailored–bespoke. Here as we wade into the thick and often controversial discussion about the gifts of the Holy Spirit we will find that such are in fact bespoke Gifts–tailored to the “trustees,” the “target,” and the times.

Readings & Scriptures

PRE SERVICE TEXT: 1 Corinthians 12:4
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.

PREPARATION: Psalm 77:11-14

LEADER: I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
yes, I will remember your wonders of old.

ALL: I will ponder all your work,
and meditate on your mighty deeds.

LEADER: Your way, O God, is holy.
What god is great like our God?

ALL: You are the God who works wonders;
you have made known your might among the peoples.

NT READING: Exodus 31:1-11
LEADER: From the book of Exodus. Chapter 31. Verses 1-11.
1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur,
of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence,
with knowledge and all craftsmanship, 4 to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and
bronze, 5 in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft. 6 And behold,
I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. And I have given
to all able men ability, that they may make all that I have commanded you: 7 the tent of meeting,
and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is on it, and all the furnishings of the tent,
8 the table and its utensils, and the pure lampstand with all its utensils, and the altar of incense,
9 and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin and its stand, 10 and the finely
worked garments, the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, for their
service as priests, 11 and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense for the Holy Place. According
to all that I have commanded you, they shall do.”

CENTRAL TEXT: 1 Corinthians 12:4-11
1Cor. 12:4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

BENEDICTION: Hebrews 13:20-21
LEADER: Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.

POST SERVICE: I Corinthians 12:7
7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

  • Deuteronomy 13:1-6; 18:15-22 
  • John 16:13-14
  • Acts 5:1-11; 13:11
  • Acts 11:28; 19:6
  • Romans 12:6-8; Ephesians 4:11, 12
  • 2 Timothy 1:1-4
  • Hebrews 1:1-3 
  • 1 John 4:1-3

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. Most “gifted” person you know–in whatever way you might understand that adjective: go.
  2. How might a gift of the Spirit be comparable to a personal aptitude or skill–and how might it be different?
  3. For whose sake if the gift given (cf. v. 7)? What might that tell us about the nature of the gift?
  4. What might we make of the fact that the list of gifts here in our passage is similar but not identical to the lists we find in Romans 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4? 
  5. The list of gifts we find here speak of public manifestations of the Spirit’s activity which, depending on which church tradition you were raised in (or none), are said either to be continuing just as they did then, or no longer as they once did. If you were raised in a tradition, how did yours answer that question?
  6. Can one expect too little from God in the way He works today? Can one expect too much? How might one’s understanding of the current status of the gifts mentioned here have either effect?
  7. Regardless of the answer as to whether these gifts continue as they did, what can we learn from the functions of these gifts about what the church is in need of at any time?
  8. From the sermon, tease out the applications in your own words: what is it to think warily of these gifts? What is it to think well of them?

Illustrations

 

 

Quotes

  • We believe that all true wholeness, health and healing come from God. We do not therefore regard 'divine healing' as being always miraculous. God's normal mode of healing is through the processes he has built into the human body and spirit. We also look forward to the resurrection, knowing th.at only then shall we be finally and fully freed from sickness, weakness, pain and mortality. At the same time, we welcome the recovery by the church of a concern for healing, and rejoice at those who have found new psychological or physical health through faith in Christ, and through Christian ministries and gifts of healing. ~ Michael Harper
  • As we are the subjects of this illumination and are responsive to it, and as the Holy Spirit is operative in us to the doing of God’s will, we shall have feelings, impressions, convictions, urges, inhibitions, impulses, burdens, resolutions. Illumination and direction by the Spirit through the Word of God will focus themselves in our consciousness in these ways. We are not automata.… We must not think [these things] are … necessarily irrational or fanatically mystical. - John Murray

BOOKS / DOCS