Your Gift Shopping Experience

When folks call the church asking for information about what we believe, 99% of the time what they really want to know is what we believe about the exercising of certain gifts of the Holy Spirit.

People have very strong opinions with regards to this subject and they normally fall into one of two camps:

Either they are what we call cessationists who believe certain gifts of the Holy Spirit have ceased to function in the church;
Or they are charismatic in the sense that they believe certain gifts of the Holy Spirit must function in almost every meeting of the church.

I always answer that we believe all the gifts of the Holy Spirit are available and operational in the church today but that they must be exercised decently and orderly.

Here on Wednesday nights we’ve been experiencing really sweet times of ministering one to another, and lately we’ve had a couple of utterances in tongues – one interpreted, one not.  I thought it would be a good time to review what we believe – that all the gifts of the Holy Spirit are available and operational in the church today but that they must be exercised decently and orderly.

I’m giving you some raw data in the form of a handout.  It’s something I came across many years ago.  I’m really unsure of who authored it as the original copy I received had no information in that regard.  It does a pretty good job of familiarizing you with the subject of the Holy Spirit’s gifts.  But it’s really just background, just reference.

The place I like to start talking about the gifts and their exercise is with a verse that is almost always overlooked by charismatics.
1 Corinthians 14:32  And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.

Let me read for you the NIV’s translation of verse thirty-two.

1 Corinthians 14:32  The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets.

Occasionally you’ll hear someone reference the Amplified Bible.  It’s a translation that uses explanatory alternate readings and amplifications to assist us in understanding what Scripture really says.  Multiple English word equivalents to each key Hebrew and Greek word clarify and amplify meanings that may otherwise have been concealed by a traditional translation method.

Here is First Corinthians 14:32 in the AV.

1 Corinthians 14:32  For the spirits of the prophets (the speakers in tongues) are under the speaker’s control [and subject to being silenced as may be necessary],

The same Holy Spirit who prompts you to speak in tongues or prophesy inspired the apostle Paul to write these words telling you that you must always keep His supernatural promptings to speak under control.

According to the apostle Paul, you are not going to be overwhelmed by a compulsive external power that causes you to lose control.

Robert Gromacki writes,

Apparently the gifts were able to be used in the energy of the flesh as well as under the control of the Holy Spirit.  God is a God of order and peace; confusion and competition manifest an expression of the carnal flesh.  Thus God would never direct a tongues-speaker or a prophet to act contrary to the inscripturated regulations of the Word of God.

I can’t emphasize this enough.  It is biblical to remain calm and in control in meetings of the church.

This teaching is a challenge to most believers in the charismatic tradition.  They’ve been taught, and they’ve experienced, folks losing control.  It’s not untypical in a charismatic service for folks to interrupt one another, or for everyone to erupt in tongues at the same time.  In fact, this lack of human control is said to be the evidence that the Holy Spirit is truly in the midst of the church.  Any talk of order is said to be quenching the Holy Spirit.

I understand the argument but it is refuted by First Corinthians 14:32.  In the verses that precede verse thirty-two the apostle Paul described exactly how the “spirit of the prophets are subject to the control of the prophets.”

1 Corinthians 14:27  If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret.
1 Corinthians 14:28  But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God.
1 Corinthians 14:29  Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.
1 Corinthians 14:30  But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent.
1 Corinthians 14:31  For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged.

Paul had no problem putting numeric boundaries on how many people ought to give an utterance in tongues in the meetings of the church at Corinth.  Same with the gift of prophesy.

Are these to be understood as hard and fast limits?  Could there ever be more than three prophecies?

There are two things I would say in answering that:

The context of Paul’s instruction was the church at Corinth being totally out of control.  Earlier in the chapter he described them as all speaking in tongues simultaneously with no interpretations.  He was reigning them in.
The fact he uses the phrase, “two or at the most three,” tells me this is not a set number but rather an attitude toward the exercise of these gifts.  In other words, just keep it under control.

He spoke of exercising these gifts in an orderly manner, one after the other and not simultaneously.
Decently.  Orderly.  These are biblical concepts given to us through Paul as he was inspired by Who?  The same Holy Spirit Who gifts us in the meetings of the church.

If anyone is quenching the Spirit, it is those who ignore His teaching about order in the Word.

Just prior to this teaching on the orderly exercise of the gifts Paul said,

1 Corinthians 14:26  How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.

“Whenever” doesn’t mean every time you meet.  It’s translated in the Amplified Bible simply “when you meet together.”

Here is what I’m getting at.  If you read through the Book of Acts you will see that different types of meetings of the church are described.

There were prayer meetings.
There was a teaching that last all night
There were leadership meetings.
There was a church council.
There were times of worship like what is described in First Corinthians fourteen when the various gifts of the Holy Spirit were encouraged.

The different meetings had different emphases.  Different things happened at them.

Coupling this with our understanding that “the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets,” we say that there is nothing unbiblical about emphasizing different things at different meetings.

In our case, although we believe all the gifts of the Holy Spirit are available and operational, that does not mean they must or even should be exercised at every meeting of the church.

So, for example, on Sunday mornings we have decided to gather with an emphasis on congregational singing and the study of God’s Word.  We therefore discourage folks from exercising other speaking gifts that would, in our opinion, detract from that emphasis and perhaps confuse visitors and the unchurched.  According to what the apostle Paul taught, it is our prerogative to design meetings as we are led by the Holy Spirit and to do so is not in any way quenching Him.

Notice, too, that Paul assumed that these gifts of the Holy Spirit would continue throughout the church age and be operational.  He was not a cessationist.  We must acknowledge these gifts and allow for their exercise.

In the meetings we’re talking about everyone has an opportunity to participate.  In singing, in teaching, in speaking in tongues, in interpreting tongues, in prophecy.  And that’s not an exhaustive list by any means.

This is that meeting in our church.  Or I should say, when we open it up for participation, this is the time and this is the place we emphasize participation.

This is the time when you can stand during worship or remain seated or kneel, even, if you so desire.

This is the time when you can ask for prayer and we can come over to you, lay hands on you, and pray for you.  Or when you can simply get up and go over to someone and either pray for them or ask them to pray for you.

This is the time you can ask the Lord to give you a gift and we can pray for you.

If you have a certain gift, like speaking in tongues or prophesy, this is the time we encourage you to exercise it decently and orderly.

Having said all that, I don’t want to give the impression that everything is planned-out or that there is no room for the Holy Spirit to be spontaneous. There’s always an element of surprise with the Lord.

For example, a few weeks ago there was an utterance in tongues and a while afterwards we had what I’d call a ‘classic’ interpretation that edified everyone.

But then last week there was an utterance in tongues and no one really gave-up an interpretation.  Was it therefore out of order?  I don’t think so because I had a sense that someone, maybe even several, had the interpretation.

Sure enough after we ended two different individuals came up to tell me that they indeed felt God was giving them something, some impression, during the utterance in tongues.  One brother saw it in terms of a pretty powerful vision.

What we have is a very definite biblical understanding that all the gifts are available and operational; that they are always to be exercised decently and orderly; and that their exercise, in terms of everyone being able to participate, is to be at certain designated meetings of the church, or designated times during the meetings, and not at others.

It’s a great and safe way for people to come to terms with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and to experience the edification He intends through their proper exercise.