Last week, we began a series on the gifts of the Holy
Spirit. The gifts are powerful tools given to us to be able to do extraordinary
things. Many believers shun them because they view them as something weird or
fruity. We want to tap into the power
Jesus used and which is available to us.
Certainly we have seen good-intentioned believers do strange things with
the gifts, but we should not fault the gift or the giver when the gift is used
in a way that is foreign to us or which may seem to be a misuse of the gift.
Our example for what the gifts are supposed to look like is Jesus. He wasn't
weird or fruity. He was powerful. People wanted to be around Jesus because He
was powerful. The enemy has used the
strangeness of some uses of the gifts to generally reject the gifts that can
allow us to have the power to do the supernatural things He wants us to do.
We all are familiar with the story of King Solomon in 2
Chronicles 1. He has the opportunity to ask anything of God. He uses
"wisdom" in knowing to ask for wisdom. He knew that leading God's
people would require God's wisdom. Of
course, God tells him that since he did not ask for riches or fame, he would
get them. It was not as a reward for making the right choice. It was because
making wise choices would naturally produce those things. You see, we do not
seek God's wisdom so we can be wealthy. We seek His wisdom so we can
successfully run our races — the wealth and abundance is a by-product of wisdom. Romans 11:33 says that if we operate by God’s
wisdom, riches are often a by-product….but it is, again, not WHY we do it.
We began this study looking at the first of these gifts
listed in 1 Corinthians 12; the gift of wisdom. I believe this one is listed
first because all of the others should operate through it (much like love being
listed first in the fruit of the Spirit). Wisdom is a very broad topic, but
like all gifts from God, they are designed to help us run our race. Godly
wisdom is needed in order to do the things He has called us to do. Wisdom helps
us know whether a use of the gifts of the Spirit is from God or not. Is it giving glory to God and bringing people
closer to Him? Then the answer is yes.
My definition of wisdom is “seeing life from God’s
perspective.” The Greek definition of
wisdom in the passage in Corinthians is sophia, which means “broad, full of intelligence,
knowledge of very diverse matters.” It also
means “devout and proper prudence in intercourse with men who are not disciples
of Christ; skill and discretion in imparting Christian truth.” If we have the Holy Spirit gift of wisdom, we
will be very effective in sharing the truth of the Gospel with others. Colossians 4:4-5 says that we start with love
and grace and season (not overwhelm) with salt.
We receive righteousness when we are saved, but we grow in wisdom over
time. Luke 2:40 and 52 says this about
Jesus as well, and indicates that His stature (influence) grew as His wisdom
grew. Again here, grace and wisdom are
tied together. Perhaps wisdom is knowing
when to apply grace and when to season with salt. A lot of what the church does fails because
it is full of the truth of God's Word, but lacks His wisdom in how we present
it.
Finally, in Proverbs 4:7 we are told that we should gain all
the wisdom we can, but in all that gaining, get understanding. What does that
mean? God, by the Holy Spirit, will give you supernatural wisdom. When we get
it and apply it we succeed. We also set ourselves for even greater future
success when we then seek God for the understanding of that wisdom.
Colossians 2 says God hides wisdom, not to keep it from us,
but because it is VERY powerful and can lead people in weird directions if they
are not already in Christ. It also says
God reveals it to us by His Spirit. His
wisdom goes beyond our understanding but, if we ask, He will help us understand
so that what was to you powerful, supernatural wisdom before can become natural
and you can press in for even greater, supernatural wisdom. Wisdom is knowing what to do (do not confuse
this with the word of knowledge, which we will explore later).
To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media. To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.
To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media. To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.
