God’s gifts to us (1 Cor 12 and John 2.1-11)

140107 Epiphany 2Year C All Age Worship W. Pinchbeck

Paul wrote to the Corinthians about the gifts of the Holy Spirit because he did not want them to be uninformed. Uninformed isnot good. I like to be informed about everything—my children say I am the nosiest person of their acquaintance! It is possible that like the people of Corinth, the people of Pinchbeck are not well informed about the gifts of the HS, so let’s unpick what St Paul has to say:

· You can only say “Jesus is Lord” because the HS has been at work in your life. To put it another way, if you are a Christian believer, the HS of God, the 3rd person of the Trinity, is at work in you!

· People have all sorts of Christian gifts—the list here is relatively short. Here are some other mentioned in the Bible: service, teaching, encouragement, generosity or giving, leadership, compassion, hospitality, faith, love, mercy, intercession, administration, craftsmanship, wisdom. There are others. There is no complete list.

· All these different gifts come from the same source, the 3rd person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.

· Every believer, has at least one gift “to EACH is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good”.

· Unlike Father Christmas, who invariably asks “have you been a good girl this year?” God does not give his gifts to people because they deserve them, on the basis of merit. That has nothing whatsoever to do with it. God gives his gifts according to his sovereign will!

· They are given to a Christian community for the common good—not to give someone a big ego but for the good of all. And that’s how they should be used.

· The purpose of the gifts is to bring glory to God the Father.

So where do we stand, in the Pinchbecks, with regard to all this? Well, for one thing, if you are a Christian believer, you have received at least one gift from the HS. If you think you haven’t, then either you have a very low view of yourself or you’re saying that God is lying: “to EACH is given …” We shouldn’t confuse gifts with ministries or ways of serving the community. Visiting for example is not a gift, it is a ministry. A person may be good at visiting because they have the gift of compassion—they want to help the person they are visiting because they know he is going through a tough time. Or a person with a gift of intercession may have a visiting ministry—they want to find out how a person is to they can pray for him. Or someone with the gift of evangelism because they want to share the gospel with the person they are visiting.

TAKE A MOMENT FOR PEOPLE IN THE PEWS TO SHARE WITH EACH OTHER WHAT THEY PERCEIVE THE OTHER PERSON’S GIFT TO BE

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Back to our church and the gifts God has given to us:

1. There are some people who have never opened their gift at all. Perhaps because they’re a bit afraid of what it might be—or afraid of what God might want them to do with it! “Is there anyone among you who if your child asks for bread will give a stone, or if the child asks for a fish will give a snake … How much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to His children” (or in Luke’s version, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.” He won’t give you something that scares you. What might be a scary gift to receive—evangelism? Oh no, now I have to go out and evangelise people! If God does give you a gift like that, you’ll find that contrary to all expectations you absolutely love doing it! If you think you might be like this (you haven’t opened your gift), you really need to open yourself up to God and receive what he has for you,

2. There are others of us who have opened their gift and know what it is but aren’t using it! You’ve just put it on a shelf to look at now and again but aren’t using it. Don’t bury your talent in the ground. Use it on the exchange to make currency for our Lord. Not to use your gift is a sin against others and an offence against God.

3. There’s another type of people who have opened their gift and are using it but have never looked at the label. E.g. hospitality—you really like having people round to your house, but just thought it was something you like doing and haven’t realised it is a gift from God the Holy Spirit. What else does it say on the label: “from God the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father”. So the gift needs to be used in conscious awareness of what it is you are doing and to be done to bring honour and glory to the Father.

4. Lastly, there are a few people, a very few, are using your gifts and are almost exhausted, almost empty. It shouldn’t be like this. If everyone was using their gifts as they should, this need not be the case!

When Jesus changed this (water) into this (wine) it was a SIGN, John writes. A sign of what? [Any suggestions? A sign of what?] A sign that Jesus, God the Son, is a TRANSFORMER. He is not interested in mere wonderworking, but in the transformation of things, of people, of situations, so that the eye of faith can see the power of God at work. God longs to transform what we have here—to change our water into wine, to fill this building to overflowing with people who have seen that God is at work. Wouldn’t it be great if we had to look for a new building for our services because 800 people were turning up on a Sunday morning! I could buy into that—couldn’t you? God can do anything. So why doesn’t he do it? What’s stopping him?

With respect –WE ARE!

1. We aren’t open to God—or not enough!

2. We aren’t using our gifts—or not enough!

3. We don’t desire God’s glory—or not enough!

4. We’re leaving it to a few people—too often!

Jesus’ mother told the servants at the wedding feast: “Do whatever he tells you.” What would our church be like if we all did that all the time? To “do whatever he tells you”, our ears and lives need to be open to hear what he wants, our hearts and souls need to be willing to do it.

Don’t be daunted if you think that what you have is only a little. You may not be the most scintillating Bible teacher in the country, nor the kind of speaker whose every word is taken down by the media. But remember Peter and John on the way to the Temple; they met a beggar and Peter told him, “Silver and gold have I none, but what I HAVE I give you.” Give what you have, don’t worry about what you don’t have! I believe that God’s word to us all today is this: Accept with thanksgiving the gift he has given you and do with it “whatever He tells you.”