One Spirit—many Gifts

As you know, we are studying the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and life in the Spirit as part of a larger series on fundamental sermons from the Word of God, doctrinal sermons.

And for the last two Sundays we have had special guests. Two Sundays ago, we had Dr. Awilda Tejera, who blessed us with a very beautiful demonstration of the gifts as she ministered to God’s people at the end of both services and spoke to us specifically about that Spirit-filled life.

Last Sunday, we had our beautiful sisters Igna de Suarez and Susan Combs here from Colombia, who also blessed us with beautiful teachings that have strengthened us.

But now I want to return to the subject because we still have a couple of sermons left on it. And we have discussed many different texts and different aspects of the Spirit-filled life and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But I believe that the three great chapters in the Bible that deal with this subject are 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14. There is a treasure trove of powerful teachings there that, to me, settle any controversy there may be concerning the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The last time I addressed this passage, I focused on the first two or three verses, where the apostle Paul says that he does not want us to be ignorant concerning spiritual things, or spiritual gifts. And one thing that becomes clear when one reads these three chapters of 1 Corinthians—12, 13, and 14—is that the apostle Paul is interested not only in teaching neutrally about the gifts, but also in correcting misunderstandings about the gifts. He is interested in rectifying bad practices that had begun to develop in the church at Corinth and probably in other churches. And if the Holy Spirit had this recorded here, it is because He knew that these teachings would also remain valid—and indeed they do—throughout all of history, and that is why they are recorded here.

Again, I do not see why the Holy Spirit would have had these truths recorded if they were only for that brief moment in history before the church compiled the final Scriptures, as some who say that the gifts have already ceased claim. Cessationism is a school of theological thought that says these gifts are no longer for this time. But I do not see that anywhere in Scripture; one assumes it from outside Scripture, not from within Scripture. Here the apostle Paul is clearly writing, and just as no one doubts that the other subjects he addresses in 1 Corinthians were for every age, neither can we doubt that this subject of the gifts is for the whole church throughout all time and that God expects the gifts to be manifested until Christ comes.

How many can say amen to that? Amen. So the apostle Paul wrote not only to alert us about the use of the gifts and to tell us, “These gifts, these things, are important; they are necessary for the health and vitality of the church, for its effectiveness,” but they must be handled, so to speak; they must be administered; they must be allowed to manifest within the framework of the order God has established.

It is like—I have always said that if one is going to use some kind of energy, such as electricity, for example, atomic energy, or even laser energy, a laser beam, one had better develop proper ways to use it, because otherwise one might put someone’s eye out, char another person, burn down a house, or destroy a city. Ways must be developed to contain it so that it does not destroy; positive things can also become negative if they are not used properly. And many churches and ministries have been destroyed through the misuse of the gifts.

Indeed, I believe we have scandalized many people who are eager and curious about this aspect of the Christian life, because there are so many bad examples in the world among those who call themselves Pentecostals, charismatics, or people who value the gifts. There are excesses and carelessness that discredit and bring shame upon the use of the gifts, and then sober, wise, knowledgeable, mature people see those horrific, harmful, ugly manifestations and are scandalized. And the devil uses that to close their hearts so they will not be interested in seeking the gifts.

And that is why I believe God is so insistent that, if we are going to enter into the use of the gifts, it must be done according to the direction of the Holy Spirit. Amen. I have rejoiced in recent days as I have watched a couple who have been very dear to Meche and me for many, many years. They attend an American church in an outlying part of the city. They are wonderful people, well educated, both theologically trained, highly, highly accomplished professionals and elders in their church, a beautiful church here in Massachusetts. They are very mature in the Spirit, already in what we might call their senior years, so to speak, and they have been in the Gospel for many years.

I have known them, as I say, probably fifteen or seventeen years, and at this stage of their lives, after being very proper, theologically sound and sober evangelicals in their evangelical way of being, God is touching their lives regarding the Holy Spirit and the moving of the Holy Spirit. And it is beautiful to see that couple, like a little plant suddenly receiving new nutrients and fresh water, begin to blossom. And the things I now see in them—an enthusiasm, an expressiveness, a dynamism, a curiosity about a greater breadth of Christian life—fill me with joy.

And just yesterday the wife was saying to me, “Pastor”—or she said to me—“Roberto, I do not recognize my husband,” when she heard him speak, even speaking to her with great enthusiasm about certain things he is discovering and reading. And I rejoice in that, because there are many people like that who have spiritual discernment and biblical knowledge and want to enter into the use of the gifts, but they need to see an authentic, balanced, harmonious manifestation of the gifts.

How many understand what I am referring to, right? Now, look, I believe—let me say something, because even these things must be qualified. Sometimes the gifts can, on occasion, manifest in ways that are even grotesque and strange, but I believe that is the exception, not the rule. I believe there are moments when there may be an eruption of God’s power in a church, and there may be strange things: people falling on the floor, people trembling catatonically, or there may even be strange noises and strange manifestations, but... one must be careful not to kill that prematurely. Yet that should not, in my opinion, be the norm in a church throughout the weeks and weeks of the year. Rather, once those things manifest, I believe God then expects them to come under and fit within the Word, within God’s order.

And there are churches that become so enamored with those spectacular and even strange things that it almost turns into witchcraft. Then, you know, every Sunday they want the party all over again, and they want it again, and if it does not happen, they manufacture it, because by then it is superstition, and it actually feeds a cultural element within our cultures that has an appetite for the extraordinary and the different. And I believe there must be balance.

I do not like to stifle or kill something simply because it is strange, but the Word also speaks of judging and discerning, and that was—that is what the apostle talks about at the beginning, right?—where he says that the spirits must be judged.

“...I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit...”

You will remember that we spoke about that: not every spirit that manifests is from the Lord; we must seek balance. So I rejoice to see that. There are people who want the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, but they want to know how to handle it, and the apostle Paul writes these chapters so that there may be balance in the Christian life, so that the gifts may be tempered by the fruit.

So, look, after he speaks about the need to be careful that the spirit being manifested is the right Spirit, the Lord’s Spirit, then in verse 4 he moves on to another subject and says:

“...Now there are varieties of gifts, but the Spirit is the same...”

One is plural and the other is singular: varieties of gifts, plural, and the Spirit is singular. And you will continually see that contrast in what follows.

“...And there are varieties of ministries (plural), but the Lord (singular), who does all things, is the same...”

Then, third, there are varieties of operations, but God, who does all things in everyone, is the same. He is balancing a variety of gifts, of ways in which the Spirit manifests, with always only one Spirit, one single entity manifesting His power, manifesting His energy.

Then he continues, saying: “...But to each one”—there it is again, an implication of plurality, to each one—“...the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good, for to this one”—and here he is also using a form of the plural: to this one, to that one, using an expression—“...but to this one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another interpretation of tongues. But all these things are done by one and the same Spirit, distributing to each one individually as He wills...”

What a beautiful teaching. Notice, there is something here in Paul’s heart. First of all, remember that he is speaking to a congregation many of whose members have just come out of Greco-Roman paganism, while some may perhaps still be involved in it as they visit the congregation in Corinth, where there are a great many different gods.

If you have studied, for example, the culture of India, there are thousands and thousands of gods in the Hindu religion, thousands of gods. A new god is invented all the time; the invention of gods is an industry. And they see nothing wrong with it because, to them, those are simply manifestations within the reality of time and space. And that is pagan culture. In pagan culture—whether in Greece, Rome, Africa, Latin America, the Aztec and Mayan cultures, and all these cultures—each god has something like a specialty, has a way of operating, specializing in nature, the sun, the moon, rain, fertility, agriculture, war, or sexuality. Each god seems to have a specialization, an interest, an energy, and if you want attention in a certain area, you go to the department of the god who handles that area. You apply to that god’s department. And that is the pagan mindset. The pagan mindset is a pluralistic mindset concerning deity.

So Paul, among other things, wanted to correct that error from the very beginning. He was saying, “Look, in the world of the Gospel you are going to see different supernatural manifestations; you are going to see different expressions of God’s deity. But always remember: these are not different gods; there is only one God, one Spirit, the Holy Spirit.”

Do you know that there have been small outbreaks of that pagan mindset in the Christian world, as though it were trying to slip out around the edges? How do we know that? The saints—with all due respect to our Catholic brothers and sisters—but in the Caribbean, Santería has wreaked havoc. It is a mixture of witchcraft and Catholicism in which, behind many of the saints, there is a deity, and sometimes the saints have different specialties, as it were. There is a saint for lovers, a saint for rain, a saint for travelers. Is that so or not? Another saint for rejected women, for wives who have been betrayed—a great many things. It is a magical mindset that is always trying to spring up; if one is not careful, it always wants to sprout like a weed. And that is why the church always needs sound teaching, to keep the manifestations of the Spirit in their proper form.

That is why Paul says, “I do not want you to be ignorant concerning spiritual gifts,” because if one is not careful, when the little devil comes to visit, he trips up a church, and something emerges there that is pagan in nature and has nothing to do with the Holy Spirit, with God’s Holy Spirit.

Brothers and sisters, in the Christian spiritual world, things are handled very differently from the way they are handled in the pagan world; always remember that. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of order, beauty, harmony, and blessing. There is none of that terrible, destructive, dark, negative, ugly aspect found in the pagan world, where the gods can be gods of destruction, gods of death, gods of violence.

The Spirit of God is a Holy Spirit, a Spirit of order, peace, and beauty. You do not control the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit controls you. Amen. You cannot suddenly enter into a trance and, okay, now you are going to prophesy over someone. Some people come like that; they come so that... “Brother, do you have a word for me?” as though this were a matter of pressing a button and a word comes out and you read it to them. That is witchcraft, brothers and sisters; we must be very careful with that. That is a person trying to control the Spirit of God, and that is what the pagan world does; that is witchcraft.

You go to the Santería priestess, to the fortune-teller, to have your cards read or your coffee cup read or whatever it may be. We have to be careful with that. That is why, when we become involved in administering the gifts, the Word of God has to be our guide, because this is the insulation that keeps the electricity from burning us to a crisp. If you are going to use electricity, use it with rubber gloves or rubber boots or whatever, but be careful, because otherwise you are going to get quite a scare, at the very least.

So that is why here the... we have to study the Word of the Lord. How were the gifts manifested? How have they been manifested throughout Scripture? God has a style; God has a way of doing things, and if we understand God's style and attune ourselves to God's divine, holy personality, we will be able to recognize His Spirit when He is being manifested. And when He is not being manifested, you will sort of hear an odd note, and you will not know why, if you are not a theologian, but you will know, hmm, that is not from God; I do not like that.

So that is one of the things Paul wants to correct: there is only one God, there is only one entity, that entity is holy and has a particular way of manifesting Himself. It is not many different gods, each manifesting himself in a different way, but rather the Holy Spirit. There are different gifts, but the Spirit is the same.

Another very important thing Paul wanted to correct, however, perhaps the most important thing to him, was the issue of divisions in the church. Do you know that many times, when the gifts come to a church, instead of being a blessing they are sometimes a curse? How sad that is. There are many churches where, as long as they remain traditionally evangelical like that, everything is fine; but then the Holy Spirit comes in, there is revival, and before they know it, three years later the church is in ruins. There was a scandal, there was a problem, there was a division, and there is a rupture. That is why many pastors are afraid to let the gifts enter their churches, because they know that many times, when the gifts come, problems come too. Then everyone considers himself a prophet, everyone thinks he knows more than the pastor, and every little brother thinks he has the best gift. Many times there are duels between prophets, and prophecy is used to throw stones at the pastor, at the pastor's wife, at such-and-such a deacon, at the ushers, or whoever else.

And it is terrible. There is something like an outbreak of division and a spirit of individualism, and pride comes in, along with a host of things that are very destructive to a church. And I say that when one begins to use the gifts from God, and when a church opens itself to the gifts, one of the things the church must insist upon most is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Not only the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but the fruit of the Holy Spirit: character, the Word, and the truth of God.

And Paul goes on to develop this in First Corinthians 13, and Paul says, look, I do not care how many gifts you have; if you are a scoundrel, do not bother getting dressed, because you are not going anywhere. That is what he says in First Corinthians 13:

“If I spoke in human and angelic tongues and had all the gifts in the world, but did not have love, I am nothing; it does me no good.”

You know, it is possible to have many gifts, for a church to have great manifestations of gifts, and yet not be an exemplary church, not be a church that pleases the Lord. Corinth was like that. There were, he says, all kinds of gifts and all kinds of manifestations, but there was immorality, division, factionalism, indiscipline, disobedience to the Word; they were filing lawsuits against one another, and there was terrible disorder.

And Paul said, no, ladies and gentlemen, that is not how it is. The gifts are simply a means; they are an instrument. When Christ comes and God's new order arrives, there will no longer even be any need for the gifts. The only thing that will be needed is love; that is the only thing that will remain. Tongues will pass away, prophecies will no longer be necessary because everything will already have been fulfilled. We will not have to live by faith because faith will no longer be necessary, since we will already be seeing God Himself. But the only thing that will remain is love, which is the chief fruit of the Holy Spirit.

So the church of Christ has to place the gifts within the foundation of the fruit of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Paul is therefore preparing the ground for what will later be the second part of his meditation in First Corinthians 12, where he talks about how we complement one another. A church has a diversity of things—personalities, nationalities, races, different socioeconomic levels—and all those things should complement one another.

How beautiful it is, brothers and sisters, when I look at this church right now and see blond hair and black hair, and I even see dyed hair; I see straight hair, and I also see hair that is not straight. I see every kind of skin color, from very dark to very fair. I see different heights and different body types. I see Indigenous bodies, I see Anglo-European bodies, I see everything: different ages, different socioeconomic levels, different levels of education, and different nationalities.

Brothers and sisters, there is a tremendous ethnic potpourri here, and I thank the Lord; I rejoice in it. Give the Lord a round of applause. That is our great gift as a church: there is a little of everything. Glory to the Lord.

Brothers and sisters, God forbid that we should want to be a middle-class or upper-middle-class church, or a church only for white people or only for Black people, a church only for Hispanics—may the Lord rebuke that—or for only one nationality, only Guatemalans or Dominicans or Caribbean people or Central Americans. God wants a church that reflects the diversity He is capable of manifesting, yet also maintains unity—both things—because that is the theme Paul wants to develop: unity within diversity, or diversity within unity, whichever way you want to look at it.

Paul is saying that God is a rich God, a varied God, a God who delights in creativity and diversity; but He is one God who is creating, and we must be like Him in the way we relate to our diversity.

I encourage you, brothers and sisters, in the name of Jesus, to celebrate people who are different from you. And I encourage you—and I encourage myself—to always seek out the person who does not look like me, whom I do not know, who does not share my sense of humor or eat the same food I do, and who is not from the same culture or has not had the same education. The Lord wants you and me to mingle.

Do you know what the solution to the racial problem in the United States is? I dare say that when Black people and white people and Asians begin marrying one another, the problem will be solved immediately. You see, God created the races, and He created each race, I believe, with its own genius, a special gift, something unique, a different culture. And God wanted all of that to be put together and made into a stew with all those things mixed together. And how delicious a stew is, right? What time is it? Eleven o'clock, but my... the thing is that my stomach has not yet adjusted to the time change; it is telling me, it is time now, isn't it? I am thinking about cassava, yams, plantains, little green bananas...

The Lord likes diversity; the Lord likes to manifest His anointing in different ways. Look at how creativity has been manifested: how many different kinds of birds are there in the world? Thousands and thousands and thousands of birds. And not content merely to have created a diversity of birds, God programmed them so that they could even adapt to the environment, even developing new kinds of feathers and colors and things in order to... and God is a dynamic God. Divine creation is always in motion.

Right now, cells in your body are dying while others are being born; many processes are taking place. Your blood is flowing through your system; your brain is sending sparks everywhere—some people's a little more than others—but many things are happening. There is movement; there is dynamism.

That chair, which seems calm and passive, is an explosive world if you were to see it through the eyes of a nuclear physicist; it is in constant motion. Creation is dynamic. The Spirit of God is a thoroughly creative Spirit; He never rests, He is always moving, because God is infinitely creative. And yet we human beings are always seeking rest, seeking what is predictable, routine, a system, order; and we want to put God in a box. We want to be all alike, all well behaved, all cut from the same cloth.

And God says, no, I want creativity. I want the Black person to mingle with the white person, the Central American with the Caribbean person, the rich with the poor, the well educated with the uneducated, and I want everyone to learn from one another. The rich person can learn from the poor person's contact with pain, deprivation, and suffering. And the poor person can learn from the rich person's discipline, which has led him to have money, and from his ability to get things moving and to invest. The educated person can learn spontaneity and other things from the uneducated person, and the uneducated person can learn a systematic approach from the educated person.

God wants... and He delights in that because it is God living Himself out through us, do you understand? The different gifts of God intersecting, the life of the Lord being manifested. I believe that is why God created humanity and creation: so that He could delight in the spectacle He has created and see Himself reflected in creation—His diversity, His beauty, His richness. And when we adopt that Spirit of the Father, we glorify Him.

So God wants us to mingle in that way, to respect one another, value one another, and learn from one another in the Spirit of Jesus Christ; for there to be tolerance in the church, love, patience, affirmation of one another, and respect for what is different. And in all of that, the fruit of the Spirit is manifested.

And that is what makes it possible, when the explosive and violent gifts of the Holy Spirit come, for them to have the right channel, the right framework in which to operate without being destructive. Because, you know what? Someone has said that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

If a person does not have the fruit of the Spirit when the gift comes, that person becomes proud, oppressive, and oblivious to the needs of others; he does not appreciate the weaknesses of others and becomes superficial. And before you know it, that attitude destroys him or destroys the church in which the gift is being manifested. I see that continually: dear brothers and sisters who are only interested in the manifestation of their gift.

Okay, the Spirit is speaking to me, and He is doing something with me; the visitors or whoever else can fend for themselves, because the Spirit is speaking to me now and touching me and doing something with me—even if I am putting on a show and causing a scandal for everyone else.

There is an individualism that has no sense of the body. This is what God is doing with me; as for everyone else, well, let them manage as best they can. That is not a Christlike attitude. Christ's attitude is one of service. If God is manifesting Himself in me, how can I do it without hindering the gift, so that it may be a blessing?

Because do you see what it says here? That the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person—for what purpose? For the common good. The gifts are given for the good of the church and for the good of the people; that is all. There are people in whom the gifts are manifested, and one wonders, well, what good came from her hairpiece falling off because she moved around so much that it fell off, and this and that, and she does it every Sunday? Where is the benefit? Where is the edification? Where is the change? Where is the message being given to the congregation? Where is the knowledge being added to the church? Where is the edification that this very person is experiencing in her life, her character, her walk, her finances, her marriage and family relationships? Where is the benefit?

That is what one always has to ask. Okay, the church—very well, there was a great service, there were great manifestations, people fell to the floor, there was anointing, shouting, everything—but how did the church change? How did the church progress? How did the individual progress? What manifestation was there of God's creative, edifying power? Because otherwise, brothers and sisters, what good is it? What is the point? God does not simply create spectacles; He does not need that.

The gifts are given so that there may be edification, greater enthusiasm, encouragement in the church, and new teaching. Those are the things that matter. So it is important that the diversity of manifestations always be governed by a concept of the body. That is what Paul wants to emphasize in this case: an awareness of the body.

If we do not have an awareness... and I think I will leave it there because there is a lot of material. I am going to invite the musicians to come up here; we will continue with this later. We have not even gotten into the different gifts yet—each one of them and what they are.

But brothers and sisters, what Paul is saying, and what the Holy Spirit is saying, Lion of Judah congregation, is that if you are going to enter into the use of the gifts, first make sure that you have a foundation of mutual appreciation, mutual respect, proper biblical foundations, appreciation for the diverse ways in which one God manifests himself, the character of Christ, order in the body of God, submission to one another, awareness of others and not just of yourself at the moment of the manifestation, and an understanding that what God wants is for all these things to contribute to the benefit, growth, and edification of the church, to the edification of the body of Jesus Christ.

As Ephesians chapter 4 says, all these things are given—these gifts, prophets, teachers, and so on—for the edification of the body of Christ, to build up the body of Christ; that is the life of the Spirit.

May the Lord grant, brothers and sisters, that our life as a church—a Pentecostal, charismatic church—reflect the beauty of the body of Christ. Amen. May it reflect that beauty, that order, that mutual appreciation, those qualities of service, of serving one another. Glory to the Lord. Amen.

Let us stand for a moment. Let us ask the Lord to bless us through this meditation that we have offered to him, and this morning let us make a vow of unity as the body of Christ, to be a kind and loving church. No matter how many gifts we have or how much God gives us, if we are not a church that reflects the character of Jesus—meek, humble, simple, generous-hearted, tolerant of others, forgiving, patient, and respectful of what God has given to someone else—it means nothing.

Every person here is precious before the Lord; every person is a manifestation of God’s gift. Always remember that. Even if you are wearing a little shirt that you can almost see through because it has been worn so much, that person has the life of God within them and therefore is like a prince beside you, or a princess. You must love them, respect them, value them, see God’s gift in them, and feel privileged to be part of that community. This community is a blessed community, blessed by God.

There are so many beautiful things here. God’s gifts are manifested here, and we must greatly appreciate that. Brothers and sisters, whether you realize it or not, we have a treasure here, and we must celebrate it. That diversity must be celebrated because it too is a gift from God. The gifts are not only prophecy, tongues, and the discernment of tongues; there are many different gifts that Paul mentions, and each one of you is a gift from God for the edification of the body of Jesus Christ. There is something special in you that God has placed there. Let us celebrate that this morning.

Father, thank you. We love you, Lord. We humble ourselves before your diversity and your unity, your incredible creativity, Father, and you have also created us to be different. Each one of us manifests your life in a mysterious way, Father, and today this congregation celebrates the diversity you have created, Lord. Yet we are all united in one faith, one Lord, one baptism, and one Spirit, and we proclaim that, Lord. We will never depart from that, not even by a single word, Father.

This morning we embrace your Word as the foundation and framework of our faith, our beliefs, and our practice, and we ask you to manifest yourself freely, Lord. We want to see your Spirit manifested supernaturally. Yes, Lord, we want to see your gifts, your prophecies, your healings, your miracles; we want to see it all, Father. Nor do we want to hinder it, and if in any way we have violated what you desire in this morning’s preaching, correct us, Father. We are even open to correction because we want you to be all in all; may you be our Teacher, our instructor.

Bless your people today, Lord, and thank you for allowing us to meditate on your Word, in the powerful name of Jesus. And the people of God say: Amen.

God bless you, my brothers and sisters. May the grace of the Lord be with you. Amen and amen.