But concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not wish you to be ignorant.
You know that when you were of the nations, you were led away to dumb idols, in whatever way you might be led.
Wherefore I give you to know that no one speaking in the power of the Spirit of God says, “Accursed be Jesus”; and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” but in the Holy Spirit.
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
And there are diversities of ministrations, and the same Lord.
And there are diversities of workings, but the same God, Who worketh all things in all.
But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit withal.
For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit;
to another faith, in the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healings, in the one Spirit;
and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discernings of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; and to another the interpretation of tongues.
But all these worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as He will.
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ.
And having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of our faith;
or ministry, let us give ourselves to our ministry; or he that teacheth, to his teaching;
or he that exhorteth, to his exhorting: he that giveth, let him do it with liberality; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.
But unto each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Wherefore He saith, “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.”
Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth?
He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.
And He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ:
till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:
that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;
but speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him, Who is the head, even Christ;
from Whom all the body, fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love.
According as each hath received a gift, ministering it among yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God;
if any man speaketh, speaking as it were oracles of God; if any man ministereth, ministering as of the strength which God supplieth: that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, Whose is the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Dear heavenly Father, as we are gathered here in the name of Thy beloved Son, our hearts are full of thanks and gratitude. We bow and worship Thee because of Thy kindness, Thy goodness, and Thy love towards us.
We thank Thee for being with us during these few days. We thank Thee for bringing us to this last session. It is all because of Thy mercies, and we are thankful.
Dear Lord, we do commit this last session into Thy hands. We pray that Thou wilt continue to speak to us. We pray that all that is still needed to be spoken will be spoken.
We pray that Thou wilt deliver us from any confusion that still may be in us. Bring us back to the simplicity of Christ, that we may really know Thee in a living way.
Our heart’s desire is that we may know Thy Spirit. Open our understanding and bring us into all the truth. We give Thee all the glory. In the name of our dear Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
We thank God for being with us during these few days. We thank God for bringing us to this last session of the conference.
The reason for our being together this time is to know the Holy Spirit. I hope that, after these few days together, we may know the Holy Spirit better than we have known Him before. I hope that it will not add to our confusion.
Our mind may be confused, but our heart knows very well. We know that the Holy Spirit is one. We know that the Holy Spirit is a Person. We know that the Holy Spirit is the divine Person.
We know that He dwells in us, and He is that other Comforter whom our Lord Jesus promised to us.
Now, I was told that some people are a little bit confused because, when I say that in the Gospel of John the Holy Spirit is promised by the Son, it seems as if He were a different Spirit from the promise of the Father that we find in Luke.
Now let us remember that there is only one Spirit. The Spirit is one. We do not know of any other spirit.
If anyone should know of any other spirit, then what kind of spirit must that be? Once the Corinthians knew other spirits. Before they believed in the Lord Jesus, they knew other spirits and even worshipped other spirits.
But when they came to the Lord Jesus, they knew that there is only one true Spirit. He is the Spirit of God. He is the Spirit of Christ. He is the Holy Spirit.
So, brothers and sisters, the Spirit is one. He is indivisible.
When we come to the work of the Holy Spirit, we find that His work can be distinguished. The reason why we try to explain Him is for the sake of our understanding, that we may have a fuller understanding of the Holy Spirit.
That is why we approach the Holy Spirit from two different approaches. We approach Him from the viewpoint of His Person—that is, from the point of view of life. Then we approach Him from the point of view of His work, from His gifts.
Whether it is His Person or His gifts, we must remember that it is the one and the same Spirit. Whether He is promised by the Son or promised by the Father, He is the same Spirit.
We remember that on the night of His betrayal, the Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter.”
So we find that it is the promise of the Son to the disciples. The emphasis of that promise is centered upon the Person of the Holy Spirit, because He said, “I will pray the Father to send you another Comforter.”
Our Lord Jesus has ascended on high, and the Holy Spirit represents our Lord Jesus in us. He will plead the cause of our Lord Jesus in our lives. He will protect the name of the Lord Jesus in us, that His name may be honored.
He will manage all the affairs of our Lord Jesus, because we belong to the Lord. We are His inheritance. The Holy Spirit is here to manage that inheritance which belongs to our Lord Jesus.
The Holy Spirit comes to us in order to glorify Christ. He will tell us everything about Christ Jesus. He will also bring us into Christ and bring Christ more fully into us, that we may be transformed and conformed to the image of God’s beloved Son.
This is the work of the Holy Spirit. This is the main work of the Holy Spirit: to bring us into the likeness of Christ.
Because He is the divine Person, because He represents Christ in us, and because He is God, we need to respect Him. We need to listen to Him, and we need to obey Him. Our attitude toward Him is the same as our attitude toward God, because He is God.
The Bible says to us again and again that we should not grieve Him. That is to say, we need to do everything to please Him and make Him happy.
We should not quench Him. When He is speaking in us, we need to honor Him. That is our attitude. We need to know Him as that divine Person, as the other Comforter.
This is most important in our Christian life. The reason why Christians do not grow spiritually is because we do not know the Holy Spirit as the other Comforter. The more we know of Him, the more He will bring us into Christ.
This is the only way to know Christ. This is the only way to mature in our Christian life.
This is one aspect of the Holy Spirit that we have considered together. But then we begin to consider the other aspect, which we find in the Gospel of Luke and in the Book of Acts. It is the promise of the Father.
When the Holy Spirit comes, you shall be clothed with power from on high, so that you can be My witnesses. Gifts will be given to us, and through these gifts we may serve our God.
We say that the manifestation of the Holy Spirit is twofold. In one way, He makes Himself known to us by the presence of His Person. In another way, He makes Himself known to us by giving us gifts.
By these gifts, the Holy Spirit manifests His power. Now, what is power? Power is the ability to do things.
Authority is different from power. Authority is the right to do things. One is the right; the other is the ability.
They often come together, but sometimes they can be separated. If they are separated, then you have problems.
Where does authority come from? Where does the right to do things come from? Authority comes from life, because there is no authority but God.
The life of God in us is authority. The Holy Spirit in us is the authority. We need to obey that authority. If we obey the authority of the Holy Spirit in us, then we have authority.
If we do not obey the authority of the Holy Spirit in us, then we have no authority whatsoever. This is the difference between heavenly authority and earthly authority.
On this earth, if you get to a certain position, you have authority. But in the spiritual world, authority comes from life—from the life of the Holy Spirit in us—because God is the only authority.
So, brothers and sisters, knowing the Person of the Holy Spirit gives us authority in our spiritual life. Our life has authority. When people get in touch with us, they can sense the authority of God upon us.
The power of the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to serve God’s will. These things can be distinguished, but you cannot divide them.
I hope, brothers and sisters, that our concept of the Holy Spirit will be a unified concept. Do not try to divide His Person and His power. They are together, and we need to know both. There should be a balanced view of it.
Yesterday morning we said a little about the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in life, how He comes to dwell in us.
Every believer—everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus as his personal Savior—has received the Holy Spirit. At the same time, the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in our spirit, and He is there to be the other Comforter.
He will never leave us. He is the resident Boss in us. Brothers and sisters, are you your own boss, or do you have a resident Boss?
I think this makes the difference between heaven and earth as to whether you are spiritual or carnal. It is decided by who is your boss.
Yes, you believe in the Lord Jesus, but do you still continue to be your own boss, live your own way, and live for yourself? Or, after you believe in the Lord Jesus, do you discover that you have a resident Boss in you?
You have to give yourself to Him, give your rights to Him, and learn to listen to Him.
When we think of the apostle Paul, the moment Christ was revealed to him, the first question he asked was, “Who art Thou, Lord?” The Lord said, “I am Jesus Whom thou persecutest.”
Immediately, this man’s eyes were opened, and he accepted Jesus as his Lord. The Lord began to be his resident Boss.
The second question he asked was, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” In other words, “I am at Your disposal.”
Brothers and sisters, this should be our experience. As soon as you realize that Jesus is your Lord and Savior, the next thing you must do is say, “Lord, what do You want me to do? You are my Boss.”
You have Your representative in me: the Holy Spirit Who dwells in me. He represents You. He is the resident Boss in me. In all things, great things and small things, I must listen to Him.
If I listen to Him, I abide in Christ. If I do not listen to Him, I am not abiding in Christ Jesus.
This is most basic to our Christian living.
But thank God, we find that He not only wants us to mature in life; He has a commission for us to fulfill. There is a spiritual work that needs to be done, and for that sake He will empower us.
He will give us gifts, and by these spiritual gifts we will be able to fulfill our function.
This morning we would like to share together a little concerning that area. When we come to this matter of spiritual gifts, we find in the New Testament four places where these gifts are especially mentioned. These are the places that we read at the beginning.
Now, the first question we want to ask is this: Why does God give us gifts? He has already given us His life. Why is it that He should also give us gifts? What is the purpose of having spiritual gifts?
Are gifts given that we may display ourselves, or are they given for His sake?
We find in 1 Corinthians 12:7 that “to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit withal.” It is for profit. Whose profit? Is it our profit, or is it His profit?
I think it is very evident that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to us not for our own profit. It is for glorifying the Lord. It is for the building up of the body of Christ. That is why the Spirit gives us gifts.
Now, are the gifts mentioned in the New Testament the same as our natural talents? Is there any difference between spiritual gifts and natural talents?
Oftentimes, after we believe in the Lord Jesus and are in zeal, people try to encourage us. We often hear people say, “Now give your talents to God, that you may serve Him.”
If you are a musician, you should consecrate your musical skill to God, worship Him, and serve Him. If you are a manager, you should offer your managing ability to the church. Maybe you can be an elder. If you are very eloquent, then offer your eloquence to God, that God may be served.
Now, when we talk about consecration, probably in our minds it is to offer our natural talents to God and thereby serve His purpose.
That is true. Natural talents are also given to us by God. When we are born into this world, God gives us certain natural talents, because without these natural talents we cannot live.
These natural talents give us the ability to live a natural life. But, brothers and sisters, we are now saved, and in one Spirit we were baptized into one body. We are going to live a spiritual life.
It is different from our past life. In the past we lived by our nature and with our natural talents, seeking to make our life successful. But now we are in another kind of life.
First of all, we are now living a spiritual life—a heavenly life. We are living in a heavenly environment, because the church is a heavenly thing. What ability are we going to use to live?
You remember the story of Moses. Moses was brought up in the palace in Egypt. The Bible tells us that he learned all the learning of Egypt. He was mighty in words and deeds.
Somehow, when his mother nourished him, she injected something into him. She must have told him, “You are a Hebrew. God has preserved your life for a purpose.”
This seemed to enter into the heart of Moses. Even though he was the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter and was raised in the palace, he had many talents. He was not only born with talent; through education he learned much.
When he was forty years old, the thought came to him: “I am a Hebrew. I am not an Egyptian. I must go and see my brethren and see how they live.”
When he went out, he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. So he helped his natural brother. He was mighty in deed, and he beat the Egyptian to death.
The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews quarrelling. He was very eloquent, so he tried to tell them, “You are brothers. You should not quarrel. You should not wrong one another.”
Unexpectedly, he was rejected. He fled for his life into the wilderness, and there he spent forty years watching sheep.
Now, brothers and sisters, Moses tried to serve God’s purpose with his natural talents, with what he had learned from the world. He thought that was enough, but he was a failure.
God rejected it and took him away into the wilderness. In those forty years, he had to unlearn all that he had learned before.
When he was eighty years old, God called him. Moses said, “I cannot speak.” Now, he was not being humble. It was very true, because for forty years he spoke only to the sheep.
All his eloquence was gone. He really could not speak. All his natural ability had gone to death.
When he thought he was qualified to serve God, God disqualified him. But when he thought that he was totally unqualified, God called him.
God said, “I am with you. It is not a matter of what you are. It is a matter of what I am.”
Brothers and sisters, we find that our natural talents cannot serve God. Actually, our natural talents have given God many headaches.
Our natural talent has to go to death. The only way God can use our natural talent is after it has gone through death and has been resurrected by God.
Sometimes our natural talents will go to death and be buried. At other times, God may allow our natural talent to be resurrected. But when it is resurrected, it is in another sphere.
It is no longer in your hand; it is in God’s hand. Sometimes our natural talents seem to fit in with spiritual gifts, and sometimes they may be the opposite. It all depends on whether that natural talent has gone through death and has been resurrected.
In order to serve God, God has to give gifts to men. A gift is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. It is not what you naturally have. It is supernatural, and it is given to you by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit gives gifts to men to display His power.
To every believer, a gift is given. Why is it? Because in one Spirit we were baptized into one body.
When you are baptized into one body, the body of Christ, you become a member of that body. Since you are made a living member of that body, there is a specific function that God has ordained for you to do.
For that purpose, He gives us spiritual gifts accordingly. In 1 Corinthians 12, when spiritual gifts are mentioned, they are mentioned in relation to the body.
The reason why spiritual gifts are given is for the body’s sake: that you may be a functioning member in the body of Christ, that you may do your part in that body, for the building up of that body in love.
When you are born, you are born with a complete body. You are born with eyes, ears, a mouth, hands, and feet. You have all the organs there. None of these organs is useless.
God has ordained that every member of the body is necessary for the body.
Oftentimes brothers and sisters like to ask this question: “I do not have any spiritual gift. How do I know what my spiritual gift is?”
Actually, it is very simple. When a child is born, he is born with all the members of his body. God has already given to each member a gift.
You are born with eyes. The eyes have the function to see. The eye sees for the whole body. The eye does not see for itself; it sees for the whole body.
That is the work that God has ordained for the eye. In order to see, the eye is gifted with sight. God gives the gift of seeing to the eye that it may perform its special function.
The same is true with every member in your body. No member of the body has no function. Therefore, no member in your body does not have a gift.
The Bible says that to every member of the body the Holy Spirit gives a gift.
In 1 Corinthians 12:11, it says:
But all these worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as He will.
The Holy Spirit, in bringing us into the body of Christ, has already determined what function in the body you are to fulfill. Therefore, according as He pleases, He distributes a gift to each member.
Every believer, being a member of the body of Christ, has been given by the Holy Spirit at least one gift.
“But,” you say, “I do not know what my gift is. I do not know what my function is in the body of Christ.”
Now, brothers and sisters, I think it is very simple. This is a question you do not need to ask. It will come very supernaturally and naturally.
When a baby is born, he has eyes, and the gift of seeing is already there. It is not given afterwards; it is already there. But when the baby is first born, he cannot see, because he needs a little growth in his life.
Then he begins to see a little bit. As he grows more, he can see more. The more he sees, the more he is able to see.
It comes with life. As your life grows, the gift that the Holy Spirit has distributed to you will be manifested. The more you exercise that gift, the more the gift will be manifested.
So I hope this is very practical. As long as you are born again, as soon as you become a member of the living body of Christ, your gift is already there.
There are certain things that we need to remember. Number one: your life needs to grow. If you do not grow spiritually, you probably will never function, and you will never know what your gift is.
Number two: after you believe in the Lord Jesus, you need to present your bodies a living sacrifice to God.
Romans 12 tells us that, having received all the mercies of God, we need to present our bodies a living sacrifice. This is holy. This is acceptable to God. This is our reasonable service.
Many brothers and sisters seemingly do not discover what their gifts are because they never give themselves over to the Lord.
Once you give yourself over to the Lord, you say, “Lord, I am Yours. Do with me in whatever way You want.” If you put yourself in the hand of the Lord, then you will find that the gift He has given you will begin to appear.
Number three: you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, that gift will appear.
Many people are looking for power. I think Christians today are more conscious of power than of the Holy Spirit. Because God’s people are looking for power, they are looking for gifts.
Therefore, today we are told that if we have received a second blessing, if we have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, then power will come, gifts will be given, and we can serve with power.
For instance, in the 1960s, the charismatic movement swept over the world. I personally believe that it was a move of God. Many people were energized by the Holy Spirit, and many gifts were manifested.
I always say that it is very good to have a touch of the charismatic. But if you go too deep into it, you may get into trouble, because there is a lack of understanding.
People think that if they have an experience, then they have power and gifts will be displayed. In a sense, you find that it does happen. But at the same time, there are many, many problems.
Back in 1935, when I first joined Brother Watchman Nee in this ministry, there was an experience concerning the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
During that year, our dear brother Watchman Nee felt that he was dried up in his life. At that time, he was thinking of going to England to see Brother T. Austin-Sparks, hoping that he could receive some help.
Before he went there, he was invited by a brother, Dr. Stearns, to North China. While he was there, he met a sister called Miss Fishbach. This sister was a very spiritual sister.
During that summer, Brother Nee was convinced concerning the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and he sought for it. While he was praying by himself, he had a wonderful experience of the Holy Spirit.
He came back without going to England. When he came back to Shanghai, all the co-workers gathered together. For a whole week, we searched the Scriptures and prayed for the whole morning.
Somehow, by the grace of God, we received some experience. Then we began to bring it to the brothers and sisters, and there was a great movement at that time.
The Pentecostals were very happy. They thought that we had joined them. There were demonstrations of gifts, prophecy, healing, and all these things happening. It even began to spread to other cities in China.
Thank God for that. But unfortunately, because we lacked understanding, gradually we found problems in different places in China.
It came to a time when we thought that we had to stop and rethink. I will not tell you what happened, but something happened. We tried to wait upon the Lord and ask, “What does it mean? Why is it that, as we are seeking for power, something happened?”
Finally, we came to a conclusion. The conclusion is very simple. It is very expensive, but it is so true: Calvary precedes Pentecost.
The cross precedes Pentecost. If we do not know the cross in our lives and we come to power first, it is like giving a child a sword.
The child does not have the maturity to handle that sword. He will cut himself and cut other people.
We believe in power, but we also believe in the cross. If we try to get to Pentecost before Calvary, we will get into trouble.
A very famous charismatic leader told me a few years ago, when we had fellowship together in Asia, “Brother, the problem with our charismatic movement is that we do not preach the cross.”
We need to grow. We need to know the cross. We need to know how our flesh is dealt with, how our natural talents need to go to death, how our self-life needs to go to death, and how the life of Christ must be in charge.
Then, when power is given, it will be used rightly.
Later, as the charismatic movement continued, much good work was done, but there was also much confusion and many problems. People tried to explain what had happened.
Some Catholic theologians began to explain the phenomena. They said that this outpouring of the Holy Spirit, this baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the manifestation of gifts were not something new.
They said it was the activation of what had already been given. It was not a second blessing; it was the discovery of the first blessing.
This is what our brothers have been speaking about these few days. Pentecost cannot be repeated. Pentecost is historical.
It happened on the one hand in Jerusalem, in that upper room, and on the other hand in the house of Cornelius. The promise was fulfilled during these two incidents.
For in one Spirit we were baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles. On the Day of Pentecost, the Jews were brought in. In the house of Cornelius, the Gentiles were brought in. That is Pentecost.
It was fulfilled once and for all. As our brother said, it is just like redemption. Our Lord Jesus accomplished redemption on the cross. It is done. You cannot repeat it. If we do, we recrucify the Lord.
But that does not mean that, because it is historical, it is forever gone. It is historical, but it continues in its effect forever.
Today we are in the good of Calvary. We receive what has already been done. When you believe in the Lord Jesus, it is not at that moment that the Lord is crucified for you. The blood has already been shed. The effect is already there.
When you believe, the effect becomes yours. The same thing is true with Pentecost. Therefore, it is an activation.
In other words, when you are born again, when you are baptized into the body of Christ, you have already been baptized in the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, you are not in the body of Christ.
How do you know that you have been baptized in the Spirit? It is very simple. The moment you believe in the Lord Jesus, you are not only conscious of your heavenly Father; you also discover that another believer is your brother or sister.
Immediately you find there is a kindred spirit. Where does this consciousness come from? This is body consciousness. It is the baptism in the Spirit.
We all have been baptized in the Spirit into the body. When you are baptized into the body of Christ to be a member, God has already placed you as a certain member in the body according to His pleasure.
That is what you find in 1 Corinthians 12:18:
But now hath God set the members each one of them in the body, even as it pleased Him.
God has already set you as a certain member in the body of Christ. At the same time, it pleases the Holy Spirit to empower you with a certain gift.
Just like a child who is born with the gift of seeing, the gift is already there. You have everything, but you may not know it. You are not conscious of it, or you are not in a state of realizing what you have.
When you have an experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit, you find that everything is activated—in other words, it comes into life.
To me, I think this is a good explanation. This is the reason why we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
How are we filled with the Holy Spirit? Empty yourself, and He will fill you.
The time when you really repent and empty yourself before the Lord, you experience a filling of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is like air. He fills this room, but because there are so many chairs and people here, it is as if you have squeezed the air into certain empty spaces.
When you move all the chairs out and all the people out, you find that the air fills the whole room.
Brothers and sisters, what we need is to be emptied. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. He is emptying us. He is emptying us of sin.
If there is sin, He is grieved. If there is the world—worldly pursuits—if we are occupied with the world, then the Holy Spirit is grieved in us. He is not able to manifest Himself.
If we are full of ourselves, then He is quenched. If we are so self-centered, no wonder we are not conscious of His presence.
We need to be emptied of sin, the world, and ourselves. Then He will fill us.
Of course, we do not experience this until we come to the end of ourselves. There is a reason why we need to be filled again and again.
Sometimes, when you feel dry or oppressed, you go to the Lord. You repent. You turn to Him. You allow His Spirit to search you.
When He enlightens you, when you surrender yourself, sometimes you have a crisis that you cannot get over. You go to the Lord. You pray. You repent. You present your body as a living sacrifice.
You are given the power to go through.
Sometimes, when you are serving the Lord and find there is no power, you go to the Lord—not for your own sake, not to display yourself, but for His sake.
You are burdened, and you bring it upon the Lord. He will search you, search every part of your life, and when these things have been dealt with, He will fill you.
Then you experience another filling of the Holy Spirit.
This is the activation of what God has already given to you. There is no reason for us to beg and beg and cry and cry. He has brought us to the right place. Just look up, and there He is.
Some brothers and sisters may have another question: Can we ask for gifts?
According to 1 Corinthians 12, it pleases God to set us in the body as particular members. Then the Holy Spirit, according to His pleasure, gives each one a particular gift.
If that is the case, it seems as if we do not need to ask for a particular gift, because it is given by the Holy Spirit as He pleases. He is always doing it according to which member you are in that body.
When you look at all these places about spiritual gifts, they are all related to the body. These gifts are to be exercised in the body and through the body. Gifts are not given to be exercised independently of the body.
If God has already ordained what member I am, and the Holy Spirit Who knows the mind of God has given me the corresponding gift, then there is no place for me to ask for other gifts.
If I am an eye and I ask to hear, that is ridiculous. In this sense, you cannot ask for particular gifts.
But here, in 1 Corinthians 12:31, Paul says, “Desire earnestly the greater gifts.” And in 1 Corinthians 14:1, he says:
Follow after love; yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.
Now, how do you reconcile this? I do not pretend that I know the answer. I have meditated and waited before the Lord, but I have to say that I do not have the solution.
There are a few thoughts that I would like to share with you. Paul, when he was writing this letter, had the Corinthian believers in view.
These Corinthian believers did not grow as they should. Their mentality was still that of babies. They had a false idea: they thought that having spiritual gifts made them spiritual.
They thought that if you had gifts, you instantly became spiritual. Because they were so carnal, they wanted to display how spiritual they were. So they looked for the gifts that could be displayed.
Speaking in tongues is a display. They thought that if only they could speak in tongues, then instantly they would become spiritual. So everybody sought speaking in tongues.
Now, brothers and sisters, there are false tongues as well as real tongues. Tongues are not something found only in Christianity. Other religions have the same phenomenon, so it is not exclusively a Christian experience.
The Corinthian believers sought tongues because it was a gift that could be displayed very clearly. Paul was trying to tell them, “Do not have that kind of babyish mentality of seeking gifts for your own self.”
You should grow up in your mind. You should desire greater gifts—gifts that can help the church.
Perhaps that is one reason.
The hand is given the gift of handling things. But sometimes, when other members of the body are paralyzed, a member that is not supposed to function in that way may be trained to function in that way.
You know, the hand can see. A blind person cannot read with his eyes, but he can use his hand to read. That is special, but it is the exception that proves the rule.
There is no contradiction there. I wonder if this is the case: because so many members of the body of Christ are not functioning, if you really love the body of Christ, you may seek that you will be given gifts that can help the body.
God may do something very special and give you a greater gift. That is what I am thinking about, just for your reference.
How are the gifts to be exercised? Paul says, “I show you a more excellent way.” That is the way of love.
In other words, it is life that handles gifts. If your life is like a baby and you try to use your gift, you may find that instead of helping people, you merely exalt yourself.
But if your life is mature, then it handles the gift, and the gift will build the church and glorify God.
These two things have to go together. When you separate life from power, you have problems. If you seek power without corresponding life, then you will find that power can do damage.
But anyway, brothers and sisters, all these gifts are given to build the church and glorify God.
May the Lord help us that we may know the Holy Spirit—His Person in life, that we may grow, and His power through gifts, in order that we may serve God’s purpose.
Everything is from God and unto God. To Him be the glory.
Dear heavenly Father, we want to thank Thee for gathering us these days. We thank Thee that Thou dost turn our attention to know the Holy Spirit.
May this be the beginning of knowing the Holy Spirit. There is much about the Holy Spirit, Lord, that we still do not understand.
Wilt Thou continue to teach us and to guide us, that we may know the Holy Spirit and, in knowing Him, know God.
In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.