“More Gifts Under the Tree!”       

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

While we were still living in Fort Bragg, CA several Christmases ago, Paula decided to wrap several presents ahead of time, the lovely efficient human she is. At that time in our lives, she worked an hour and 45 minutes from our home in Lakeport. She would commute there, work three nights, and then return home to the coast.  This particular Christmas, after working the night shift, she planned to drive back that morning so she could be with the family on Christmas morning so that we could all open our presents together. She told me where she had hidden all the prewrapped presents and reminded me to put them under the tree on Christmas Eve. That December 24^th, I went to all the hiding places I could remember, placed them under the tree, and went to bed. When Paula got home Christmas morning, our daughter, Abby played Santa and handed out gifts. We opened them up one at a time, and it truly was a great Christmas day. When all the presents were received, the kids seemed quiet but still thankful. It appeared Santa didn’t give them some specific gifts they were hoping for. Paula said, “Wait a minute. Are those ALL the presents for everyone? Seems like there should be a few more to open!” Santa didn’t put all the gifts under the tree, or perhaps I missed some presents hidden in a section of one of the closets. I blame Santa. The good news is we ended up having a “Double” Christmas, as all of us received more gifts.

Today’s scripture passage talks about receiving gifts as well. Perhaps we can think of this morning’s service as a “Double Christmas” as well? Despite Christmas being over, there are some gifts that I have found for us to open this morning. Of course, these gifts aren’t the kind you find under the tree or in our closet. They are spiritual gifts. It is my hope, that after this sermon, you will choose one of these gifts and find what your specific spiritual gift is that God has given you.

Perhaps you will find a gift that wasn’t on your wish list, one that is unexpected and new to you. Or perhaps, you have already opened your gift, and it is sitting around the house, unused.

This was true for me after arriving here in 2017. We received several nice little food gifts from this congregation, a housewarming of sorts, which was very nice. I had absolutely no idea, however, what to do with one of those gifts- a jar of jalapeño pepper jelly from a local store in Ashland. I stared at that gift and was flummoxed. I wasn’t going to spread it on a piece of toast or make a jalapeno jelly and peanut butter sandwich. So, it sat in our cupboard for about 6 months. I would stare at it occasionally, wondering what to do with that gift, and if I should try to use it or not. Finally, I got an idea and used it to baste roasted chicken. It was quite yummy, and I’m glad I finally figured out how to use the gift I had been given. You may have some spiritual gift God has given you that is sitting up on a shelf somewhere, that you have no idea how to use. I hope after today’s sermon, you’ll feel inspired to use it as well and make something yummy spiritually.

Our passage about gifts for today comes from 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. Paul begins this section with the words, “Now concerning”. Paul was likely responding to a specific question in a letter from the Corinthian church which we do not have, and he addresses it directly, saying, “Now concerning spiritual gifts”.  So, the gifts in this case do not come from Santa. They come from the Holy Spirit.

Two minor issues were going on in the church in Corinth regarding gifts from the Spirit. One problem was that there were so many people claiming their gifts as something generated by them alone. Yet these gifts were manifestations of God’s grace, not gifts generated by a believer. Paul came up with a hypothetical example- “No one ever speaking by the Spirit of God ever says, “Let Jesus be cursed.”  So, Paul says, if we utter the confession that Jesus is Lord of our lives- that is Christ is in our hearts-that is, we have an inner continual dialogue with God, and are guided by the teachings of Jesus regularly, then we live in the power of the Holy Spirit and are thus gifted by the same Spirit. These gifts are not generated by the person. This seems like a very small thing to quibble about, but there it is.

There was a second issue connected to the first which had to do with people feeling superior to others because of the gift(s) they’d been given from the Spirit. Perhaps some members of the choir were looking down upon others who couldn’t sing as well. My guess is it was a soprano. Or one person who made the Challah bread for communion had a gift of baking from the Spirit. They let everyone know how wonderful their bread was compared to others. Or someone who regularly read Paul’s letters during worship was telling others how good their oration and interpretive skills were in comparison to everyone else’s. Or an elder in church leadership was telling everyone what to do because he had a better connection to the Spirit of God than anyone else. You get the idea.

Paul did not want people to feel superior to others. He wanted the church to be one body, with the larger and smaller parts all working together using the gifts given by God’s Spirit, united in Jesus Christ. Hence, the next section of his letter discusses the church as one body with many parts, all working together.

Then Paul tells the Corinthian church that each gift from the Spirit is unique and provides them with a list that is by no means exhaustive. Here he lists a few of the many gifts the Spirit can give us. In this case, they are: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, deeds of power or miracles, prophecy, and the speaking in and interpretation of tongues. And just like Paula telling me where the rest of the gifts were located, I will tell you where to find other Spiritual gift lists in the Bible as well. You can find additional lists of spiritual gifts in: Romans 12:6-8 and Ephesians 4:1-13. I think there are additional gifts the Spirit gives us outside of these lists. Perhaps we’ll discuss that in another sermon.

Our focus for today is on this section on these eight Spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. Here we have a tree, with some doves hanging upon it, symbolizing the gifts of the Spirit.

First comes the gift of wisdom. (Open box) This is an old commentary on 1 Corinthians that belonged to my great Uncle, Monty, who was a Presbyterian pastor. It was written in 1911 but still has plenty of wisdom. The wisdom Paul speaks of here is the word Sophia- Sophia is wisdom from God, not from human experience. Human wisdom was popular in the first century. There were amphitheaters dedicated to debating different human philosophies of the day and Paul was trying to contrast this movement with those who knew wisdom from a higher authority. Those who have lived lives of faith can share Godly Sophia with others.

Then Paul speaks of the gift of knowledge, or gnosis- the sense here is that one can understand the nature of God and the nature of life from a theological perceptive. (Open Box) I have here a Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. It was given to me by someone in the church when I was serving as a youth group director at Concord First Presbyterian church back in 1986. They hoped I would someday study Greek and Hebrew in a seminary, and the book belonged to a retired minister in their family. This collection of every Hebrew and Greek word in scripture allows me to gain scriptural gnosis or knowledge. Over the decades I’ve worked in churches, there are always folks who love to talk theology and dive deep into issues about belief and God. They have that particular gift.

 

Next comes the gift of faith. (Open box) this is an icon I bought when I was in the Soviet Union in 1985, serving as a peace emissary for the Presbyterian Church amid the “Cold War” era. Despite my fears about traveling to a powerful enemy of the United States, I got on that plane in faith. This image reminds me of that moment and the strong faith it took to travel to the U.S.S.R. The second item in the box is the Celtic cross I wear every Sunday. It belonged to my mother, who wore it daily to remind her of her faith in Jesus. She gifted me with that faith.

All of us possess faith in some fashion. In this case, Paul is listing strong faith as a gift from the Spirit. a faith that is stronger than others. Many of us have run across people who have a particularly strong and unshakeable faith in God. Perhaps some of you remember that Sunday school teacher who seemed to have more faith in her little pinky finger than you had in your whole body? That is the kind of spiritual gift of which Paul is speaking.

Then comes the gift of healing. (Open box) here is a medical kit from our church office. Thanks to retired nurse Addie Thornton, there are several throughout our church facility. So if you get an “owie,” someone can help it heal. The kind of healing Paul speaks of, however, isn’t found in a box of band-aids or bottle of Bactine (Remember Bactine?)  There are those whom I have experienced who have a gift of healing in their hands, who when I was touched, I felt warmth and a healing occur. Some know just the right thing to say to someone who is sorrowful or afraid, someone who can be a healing presence in any situation.

Then comes the gift of deeds of power- miracles- being able to bring about changes in the world, changes in people’s lives through words, new ideas, or actions. The Greek in this case means “Workings of power, or “Mighty wonderful work,” according to that old Strong’s concordance.  (Open Box) here is an image of me sleeping in a hammock. It doesn’t appear I am doing anything remotely miraculous. It was taken in Nicaragua on March 23, 2006. We had just worked to help build an elementary school for the tiny village of Santa Lucia de Las Haguas. It took two weeks to anchor the rebar, mix the mortar, and place row upon row of brick until we got to the roof line. We got everything completed except for the roof, which would be done about a week after we stopped. It felt like nothing short of miraculous to drive away from that tiny, remote village in the middle of nowhere using our hands and faith to gift the children in that village with a place to learn. When we use our hands, guided by our faith, we can do miraculous things. We can build homes through Habitat for Humanity. We can build Little Free Pantries that provide nourishment to those who are hungry. We can do mighty wonderful work with this gift from the Spirit.

Next comes prophecy- a communication from the mind of God imparted to a believer, or a prediction of things to come. Here is a picture from 2013, when Paula and I had the blessing to renew our wedding vows to each other on the island of Oahu. During our trip, we worshiped one Sunday at Honolulu Presbyterian church, which happens to be on a beautiful golf course, located right next to some majestic green mountains on the island. It is an incredible place. It just so happens that the church runs the golf course and has no expenses because they run the course, which PAYS for everything. This came about because one person in the congregation said he had a dream from God which was relentless- He saw an image of the senior pastor peaching on this exact golf course. Approximately 10 years later, the church was able to purchase the course and made its move, all from someone who had the gift of prophecy. And, no, I have not heard of anyone having dreams of me preaching at the Oak Knoll golf course, at least not yet. I would say this is one of the rarer gifts, and one must be well practiced at distinguishing their personal visions from God’s prophetic ones.

Then Paul mentions distinguishing between spirits- knowing good and evil, knowing what truth is and what is falsehood. That is one of the hardest things to do these days. It certainly does not help that Facebook has joined other online groups in no longer fact-checking statements. There are those out in the world who are better than Meta AI in knowing what truly motivates a person’s actions. Some of us are more aware than others of what is actually good and bad, what is light and darkness. (Open box) This is one of the candles we lit on Christmas Eve, reminding us that a light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it. For those who can distinguish between good and evil, they are called to use that gift to impart their knowledge to others.

Finally, Paul mentions speaking in different kinds of tongues- The Greek word here is “glosson-- which implies speaking a language or dialect. This gift may refer to one who can speak in different languages and interpret them for others as well. (Open Box) There are two items here. The first is a book I have on my shelf- An Idiot’s Guide to Spanish Phrases. I took four years of Spanish in school, but don’t remember much because I no longer use it. I even used to preach sermons in Spanish at my last call, but nada mas. Hence this book could assist me to remember how to communicate in Spanish once again. Those who have the gift of language can use it to promote peace and understanding between peoples and nations, and that is a wonderful gift of the Spirit.

(Take another gift out) Here is the second item in the “Speaking in Tongues” box.-an angel. It is also possible that the gift Paul is speaking about “glossolalia”, is heavenly or angelic speech. Two chapters later, Paul speaks more specifically about this ecstatic speech- what we nowadays call speaking in tongues. Theologian Dale Martin has put together a considerable amount of ancient evidence to demonstrate that “Angelic speech” was sometimes seen as a mark of refined spirituality and high status in both Jewish and Christian circles. There used to be a reference to this gift in our Presbyterian Book of Order. However, that reference was taken out at some point as the Book was amended. We Presbyterians don’t have a lot of glossolalia happening in our churches. Nor do many other denominations. Rev. Paul Belz-Templeman, our stated Clerk of Cascades Presbytery, did find an old pamphlet on the Holy Spirit written for our denomination way back in 1970 on speaking in tongues. It states the following about this angelic or heavenly speech. “Of all the spiritual gifts, that of speaking in tongues was open to certain dangers and abuses. But Paul did not forbid the exercise of this gift in private; he nevertheless restricted its exercise in public, demanding that the tongues be always interpreted. For the apostle speaking in tongues is good, but prophesying is better, and love for God and humanity is best of all. From the silence of the gospels and of the great majority of the epistles on the subject of the gift of speaking in tongues, we conclude that it occupied a subordinate place in the life of Christians in the apostolic age.” Enough said…

By no means is this an exhaustive list- there are many different manifestations of the Spirit and many kinds of gifts we have been given. The point of this section from 1 Corinthians isn’t to say- you must have one of these gifts that are listed, and you need to discover it. The point is to say that God has given us countless gifts that can be used to spread God’s justice and hope in the world.  Whatever gifts we’ve been given by the Spirit, we are called to use those gifts to bless our surrounding community.

Not all of us can teach, not all of us can speak Godly wisdom, have extra knowledge about things, have strong faith or a healing presence, do miraculous things, prophecy, see the truth of what is good or evil, or speak in some strange heavenly language. Not all of us can cook. Not all of us can give great hugs. Not all of us can inspire others or have been blessed with extra resources to help others. But ALL of us can do something with whatever gifts we have been given. Paul finishes this section by saying all of these gifts, as well as many others not listed here, are the work of the Holy Spirit, and that the Spirit gives specific gifts to us all, just as God determines. Paul says in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”