Something We Already Know

Reading: Proverbs 8:1-13; James 3:1-12

We're continuing through James, and this week we came to the famous passage about tongues (the tongue in your mouth, not the gift of tongues). He's telling us what we already know, but, like a swift kick in the butt, sometimes that's exactly what we need.

Click here to view a manuscript of this sermon.

Also, I've updated our discussion of spiritual gifts to include the gifts we covered this week: the gifts of tongues (spiritual tongues, not the one in your mouth) and interpretation of tongues. Click here to view Reversal: Spiritual Gifts Focus, or click here to read the blog post introducing it.

Preached on September 13, 2009 at PLWC.

Reversal: Spiritual Gifts Focus

The topic of Spiritual gifts is one fraught with bugaboos. One the one hand, there are those who misuse and misconstrue the gifts to the point that they focus on them to the exclusion of the richness of the gospel. On the other hand, there are those who seize up at the merest mention of the gifts, because we certainly wouldn't want to admit that there might be a part of our religion that is out of our control or, God forbid, not respectable. There are many other hands in between these two hands, of course, and so many Christians simply throw all those hands in the air and ignore the entire topic in frustration.

My thinking on the gifts is that one sermon or one Sunday school class simply is not enough to do it justice. It is not enough to talk about the topic broadly, yet examining each gift in detail would be cumbersome to do all at once. We are therefore spending several minutes each Sunday over the course of a couple of months to talk about one or two gifts at a time, with the goal being that we will all understand them better, recognize them in ourselves or others, and put them to better use for the service of God's kingdom.

I have chosen Reversal as our overarching theme. Part of some people's consternation -- mine, at least, if no one else's -- has been that these gifts seem rather random. We can't deny the biblical truth of them, but why are they really there? They're a bit weird and unpredictable, so why does God expect us to bother with them? Part of the explanation, I think, is that these gifts represent a reversal of the effects of sin; that is, they are glimpses or foreshadows of what life will be like in God's consummated kingdom, and they therefore also represent a reversal of sorts to what life was like before the fall of humanity. I have no idea if anyone else has ever interpreted the gifts in this way, nor am I going to insist that this is strictly grounded in the Bible, but I do find it a helpful way of thinking of the gifts as a whole.

I will add a gift or two each week, and it's worth noting that these are effectively ripped out of their context in our worship services, so there may be some abrupt transitions here and there. Also, as a guide for my own thinking I have been using The New Testament Gifts of the Holy Spirit by Dr. Kenneth Cain Kinghorn, a former member of the faculty at Asbury Seminary. It is one of the more practical and well-balanced treatments of the gifts that I have seen, and I am indebted to him for it.

Click here to view Reversal: Spiritual Gifts Focus.

Different Bodies

Reading: Ephesians 4:17-5:2

We're getting to the point in Ephesians when Paul shifts from his theological discourse to his ethical instructions, though the two parts are by no means separate. Some of his instructions here are oft-quoted, but we just as often miss the direction he is going with them.

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Preached on August 9, 2009 at PLWC.

Growing Up

Reading: John 6:24-35; Ephesians 4:1-16

This week we read one of the New Testament texts that lists a few of the classic spiritual gifts. Paul's exhortations to the Ephesians will be the launching point for us to explore the spiritual gifts in depth over the next several weeks (if not more), because Paul makes it clear that the point of the gifts is to grow us to maturity. In other words, not putting these things into action means that we're immature Christians.

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Preached on August 2, 2009 at PLWC.

Gift and Giver

Reading: Ezekiel 36:22-27; 1 John 3:14-24

There was no sermon for last week since we had a special speaker visiting. This week, however, we're reading from 1 John about the presence of the Holy Spirit as God's gift to us.

Click here to view a manuscript for this sermon.

Preached on May 3, 2009 at PLWC.

As Ordinary as it Gets

Preached on May 11, 2008 at PLWC.

Reading: Ezekiel 1:4-9, 25-28; Luke 22:14-20

This week was a communion Sunday, so we looked at the paradox of an extraordinary God who reveals himself through such ordinary things as bread and juice.

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A Gathering of Strangers

Preached on May 4, 2008 at PLWC.

Reading: Ephesians 4

Continuing our theme of some of the most basic gifts God offers to all who follow him, this Sunday we saw how the church, a gathering of strangers, is one of God's gifts for making us holy.

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Clean Your Lenses

Preached on April 27, 2008 at PLWC.

Reading: Isaiah 62:10-12; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Romans 6:19-23

Last Sunday started a brief series focusing on some of the most fundamental gifts God gives us as we follow Christ. This will hardly be an exhaustive list, but we wanted to begin by looking at one of the most precious of those gifts: holiness.

Click here to view a manuscript of this sermon.