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These sermons from Immanuel Anglican are as preached, recorded and transcribed. They are purposely left in the original form which was spoken.

The Holy Spirit is Moving to Equip    

Reverend Michael Hesse

(Second in a series of six sermons on the Holy Spirit is Moving)

Come, Holy Spirit, come as wind and fire and convert and consecrate our hearts to our great good and your great Glory. For we ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

"If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also give us all things with Him" Words written by St. Paul to the Church in Rome which we read in this morning’s Epistle. Words written by the greatest evangelist in all Church history. How different this man is from the one who less than 30 years before had been one of the chief persecutors of the Church. What had happened? A personal encounter with the risen Lord followed by the gifting of the Holy Spirit.

This is the second week of a sermon series that Father Rob and I are doing called The Holy Spirit is Moving. Last week on the first Sunday of Lent it was appropriate that we talk about the Holy Spirit is Moving to Convict. We could use a little conviction in our life. This week we are going to be talking about the Holy Spirit Moving to Equip.

One of the things that we know intellectually but oftentimes fail to give much consideration to is the truth that God has a plan for your life. In the words of the prophet Jeremiah, "I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." It’s a plan which has been in the making since before you were even conceived. The Psalmist tells us this in Psalm 139, "For thou didst form my inward parts; thou didst knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise thee for thou are fearful and wonderful are thy works. Thou knowest me right well. My frame was not hidden from thee when I was being made in secret intricately wrought in the depths of the earth. My eyes beheld my own formed substance." (And listen to this) "In thy Book were written every one of them, the days that were formed for me but as yet are none of them." God has a plan for your life. A plan for good; to give you a future and a hope.

The plan may involve you becoming a mom, or being a dad or studying to be an engineer. The plan may call you to become a salesman or an attorney or a nurse or a fisherman. To that end the Lord will bless each and every one of us. He will bless us with a host of natural talents and abilities which God gives us which, with a lot of hard work and a lot of practice, we can turn into skills. Next time you are in front of a mirror, take a look at yourself. What an incredible piece of work God did when He made you. He created you in His image; you were designed from the beginning to reflect His Glory and the central part of God’s plan will involve your serving Him. And natural talents even if they are turned into great skills can only carry you so far in terms of things that really matter to our Father.

The Good News, of course, is that those whom God calls He also equips. He equips us particularly in spiritual gifts. It is the combination of spiritual gifts and natural talents which have been submitted to the Lord which produce results in our Christian walk. This morning let’s spend a little while thinking about the ways in which the Spirit equips us for service and what He is equipping us for. Let’s begin with the second half of the question first. What in the world are we being equipped for? To fulfill the Great Commission: "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and, lo, I am with you always even to the close of the age."

There is a second part of our being asked to fulfill the Great Commission and that is to do it with love. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself." We are being called to fulfill the Great Commission with love. If we are going to do this, we Christians are going to find ourselves sent into every corner of the world. Now, how does that practically apply to us? Well, it is not nearly as exotic as you may think. Your corner of the world will be where you work, or where you play, or where you go to school or where you live. Those are our mission fields. The engineer you see is not called simply to design and build something, he is called to use that work as a vehicle to advance the Great Commission with love. The same holds true if you are a computer specialist or a homemaker or a dentist or a priest. You have your mission field as part of God’s plan for the redemption of this world.

One thing we do know through experience--our natural talents even if they are consecrated to God can only carry us so far. If we are going to be the hands and the feet and the lips and the eyes and the ears and voice of Jesus, we are going to need more than those natural talents. We are going to need God to equip us. With what is awesome! He equips believers with His Holy Spirit; the very Spirit of the Living God that runs the whole universe and is intimate and personal with you. So intimate and personal that He will come to dwell in your heart and give you what you need. "I will pray the Father," says Jesus, "and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him for He dwells in you and will be in You. I will not leave you desolate. I will come to you."

On the Day of Pentecost, the Lord made good on His promise. The Holy Spirit was poured out on all believers to empower us for the work that the Lord sets before us. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God offers His "grace" gifts for the purpose of building up the body of Christ. Spiritual graces. It is what the Greek word "charismata" literally means. Charismatic Christians are simply those who operate in the gifts of the Spirit. By Paul’s reckoning that should be all of us. Most of the time when we think about the spiritual gifts our thoughts will focus on Paul’s list in the first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 12. Let’s turn to that. If you left your Bible in the car, there are some in the pews. I really would like you to take a look at these giftings. I Corinthians, Chapter 12, starting with verse 7, "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given, through the Spirit, the utterance of wisdom and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same spirit; to another faith by the same spirit; to another gifts of healing by the one spirit; 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. All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit who apportions to each one individually as He will."

Now, the gifts on this particular list are pretty spectacular ones. Knowledge, prophecy, tongues, miracles; but we sometimes forget that there are at least two other lists that Paul gives us in his writings. Look at Ephesians, Chapter 4, verse 11, "That some should 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." Now, turn to Romans, Chapter 12, verse 6. Paul says, "Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. If prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; he who teaches, in his teaching; he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who contributes, in liberality; who gives aid, with zeal; who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Never flag in zeal; be aglow with the Spirit; serve the Lord. Rejoice in your hope; be patient in tribulation; be constant in prayer; contribute to the needs of the saints; practice hospitality."

When you look at these lists what you are going to discover is that most of the gifts are not intended to be spectacular. In fact, most of the gifts are very much behind the scenes; serving, being hospitable; quietly teaching; contributing; showing acts of mercy. All the gifts are intended to make the Body of Christ strong and healthy and effective in her service and none of the gifts are more important than any of the other gifts. They are all necessary if the body is going to be strong and healthy and effective.

When Paul wrote his letter to the Corinthians, he said this, "For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, ‘because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the ear should say ‘because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were the eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But, as it is, God arranged the organs in the body, each one of them as He chose. If all were a single organ, where would the body be? As it is , there are many parts yet one body."

How does a Christian get equipped for service? People write whole books on this. People do sermon series on this. We try and make it very difficult but the answer is really simple--you ask for it! It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out. You ask! We Christians already have the Holy Spirit. "Nobody can say, ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the power of the Spirit." That’s what Paul wrote. If Jesus is your Lord and He is your Savior, you already have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Surprisingly, there exists within the church today perhaps a majority who have never asked God to release the Spirit that they have to move through them for effective service.

Some folks have been taught that the Spirit has ceased to move in such ways because the Church is now established and no longer needs that kind of manifestation. Scripture reminds us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Scripture also reminds us that the human condition has not changed; we have the same needs, the same wants, the same desires, the same temptations as human beings three centuries ago or twenty centuries ago. And if the human condition is not changed and the Lord has not changed, then it would make sense that neither has the Lord’s way of reaching out to the lost through the power of the Holy Spirit changed either.

Some folks have come to the conclusion that you have to be a super Christian in order to operate in the gifts of the Spirit; that the gifts are not for common Christians like us. Wrong, again. Jesus said, "What father among you, if his son asks for a fish will instead of a fish give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how good gifts to your children how much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"

Some Christians are afraid of the gifts of the Spirit. They are afraid that if they invite the Holy Spirit to be released in their life, they will lose control. That will not be the case. We do not channel for the Lord. We can begin to operate in the gifts and cease to operate in the gifts according to our will. Some people are afraid that they will appear foolish to friends and family. A reasonable fear; you will. Remember how Rob last week reminded us that David appeared foolish. St. Paul rejoiced to become a fool for Christ. If it’s good enough for King David and it’s good enough for St. Paul, you think it might be good enough for you?

Finally, some folks are just too apathetic. I submit that they are not so much apathetic in letting others do ministry on their behalf as they are pathetic. It is pathetic to be in direct disobedience to the Great Commission and still call yourself a Christian. It is pathetic to let other people minister when you should be ministering with them. "Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven," says Jesus, "but He who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven." Until the Spirit of the Living God is released to work through you, you will be forced to do everything in your own strength. You will not succeed. The world and the flesh and the devil are bigger than you are; they are stronger than you are; they are meaner than you are and they are way more experienced at their work than you are. You will need, if you are going to be effective, the gifts of the Spirit. If the gifts have not been released in you, you are saved but you will never be nearly as effective in fulfilling the Great Commission as you could otherwise be.

When we were in Uganda, I was trying to explain to some of the clergy there how they might imagine the gift of the Spirit and being released so that the gifts could pour through them. The water over there is not safe to drink and so two things are immensely popular, bottled water and soda pop because it is all sanitized. I described a Christian as being a lot like the water inside the bottled water. You got all this life-giving fluid and you are thirsty; it does you absolutely no good until you unscrew the cap. I think it is very much like that for a Christian. We may have the Holy Spirit but we are in no position to really let the Spirit pour through us until we ask the Lord to release the cap. If you have not already done so, ask for the release of the Holy Spirit. Ask for the Spirit to give you the gifts that you will need to do the work that the Lord will set before you; but ask always with the right heart attitude.

The gifts are for us to use in building up the body of Christ. They are not trophies. That is important to understand. They are not so that we can put them on our wall and everybody can marvel at how wonderful we are. They are for us to use so that everybody will marvel how wonderful God is, and if we use the gifts right people will hardly notice us because they will have their vision so fixed on the Lord of the gifts.

That leaves us to think about what gifts we receive and how we might use them. Imagine in your minds eye a woodworking shop. In this shop, there is every tool you can imagine, all having its place on the wall. Suppose you receive an order to make a table. You will take down a saw and a ruler and a drill and a hammer and screws. All the different tools that you will need to make this table. One of the realities that all craftsmen run into is the truth that some tools fit their hands perfectly; they feel comfortable using them and other tools, while they can use them, they are not nearly as comfortable using them.

Now imagine the spiritual gifts as being God’s divine workshop, spread before us. There are all the tools in there that we could possibly need depending on what task we are given. We are allowed to pick and choose from those tools to get the job done and some of the tools that the Lord gives to us will feel so comfortable to us and we will use them easily, simply, and they will feel good in our grasp. Others of the gifts the Lord may require of us to use from time to time will not feel nearly as comfortable. They make us downright uncomfortable but we will be able to use them nevertheless. Our responsibility is to be faithful in using whatever tools are necessary to get the Lord’s work accomplished. That’s the beauty of the gifts.

I guess no sermon on the gifts of the Spirit would be complete unless we make mention of tongues as that seems to be on everybody’s high priority list. Paul seems to describe two different kinds of tongues in his writings. The tongue which is used in the midst of corporate worship and must be accompanied by interpretation and another kind of tongue which we might want to call a prayer language.

Turn to I Corinthians, Chapter 12 once again. In verse 7, Paul says, "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." Then he goes through the list we read earlier. On that list, it says, "To another various kinds of tongues." Then look at verse 29 of that same chapter, "Are all apostles", he says, "Are all prophets? Are all teachers?" The obvious answers to each of these questions is "no". "Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?" No, no, no, no, but look at Chapter 13, verse 5, "Now, I want you all to speak in tongues". He has just finished saying in Chapter 12, "Do all speak in tongues?" and "No". Now he is saying "I want you all to speak in tongues". Now, either Paul has a bipolar problem or he is trying to get a very important point across and I submit it is the latter. The gift of tongues in the midst of corporate worship really needs very much to be decently and in order. There has to be an interpretation; just a few happen and not everybody has that gift.

Paul is going to go on and say, "I want you all to speak in tongues." I submit to you that it is at least a good possibility that Paul here is talking about a prayer language. A prayer language that he is indicating must be available to virtually all of us. Can a person receive the release of the Spirit and not have a prayer language? Absolutely, unless of course we are willing to argue that the Holy Spirit is not flowing through Billy Graham or did not flow through Mother Teresa. Now, it’s possible that Billy Graham has a prayer language and it’s possible that Mother Teresa did but if so they never made mention of it. Yet, none of us would ever contest that they are not doing mighty acts through the gifting of the Holy Spirit. But, Paul does seem to imply that a prayer language is available to everybody if you just ask.

Why a prayer language? Paul says in Romans, "Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness for we do not know how to pray as we ought but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words." You see, brothers and sisters, what happens is when you are adoring God you can run out of words pretty quickly for adoration. When you are pouring your heart out grieving, you will soon run out of words that adequately express your grief. When you are telling somebody how much you love them, there is a limited number of words for that and sometimes when we pray, we just don’t know the right words to say.

This became apparent to me in my own prayer language years ago. There was a man in the congregation where I served named Larry who was one of the great saints of God. He was one of my spiritual fathers when I was a very young priest. Over a period of time, Larry’s body began to sell him out. He went blind in one eye and that was O.K. with him. In fact, he didn’t even tell his wife for three days. About a year and a half later, he went blind in the other eye and that was O.K. with him. He bought himself one of those red and white canes; got around just fine. Then he started having circulatory problems and I remember going to see him in the hospital. The doctors were looking with raised eyebrows at his feet. They were beginning to talk in terms of lopping parts of his legs off. He wasn’t particularly bothered by that. While he was in the hospital and the doctors were trying to make decisions, Larry’s body began to fail even more. I visited him and as I looked at him, I struggled with how to pray for him. Should I pray for him to live so that he could have his legs taken? I could only begin to pray in my prayer language believing that the Spirit himself was interceding with sighs too deep for my words. Larry went to be with Jesus.

I need to make one final point this morning about the gifts of the Spirit. They are never supposed to be "ins" in themselves. They are intended to be used so that we can produce the fruit of the Spirit. That’s the part that really matters. The fruit of the Spirit which Paul describes as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. That’s what we ought to be producing using the gifts. It’s not the gifts that matter; it’s the fruit that we produce. The mark of a mature Christian is not one who has the gifts. God delights to give gifts to very baby Christians. The mark of a mature Christian is the one who is producing fruit with those gifts.

"You did not choose me", says Jesus, "I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide." That’s our calling. If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life or if Jesus is the Lord of your life but you have never prayed for the release of the Spirit so that you can do ministry more effectively on the Lord’s behalf, why not come forward today. We got folks on the front pew who will pray their hearts out with you. They will stay as long after the service as necessary. Don’t let the fear of looking foolish stick you to your pew. Don’t let doubt get in the way; don’t be afraid you are going to lose control. All it takes on your part is a desire to serve the Lord with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself, coupled with a little boldness on your part.

The Spirit is moving this Lent. He wants to equip you and me and everyone of us for the most important work in the world, to fulfill the Great Commission and to do it with love. Amen.