to Profit Withal

“Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. ”

What if Jesus were to move into your house with you? What if He just called you up one day and said , “I'd like to come stay with you for a while. Can you put me up?” You said, “Why, yes! I'd be honored. Come on over.” That would be the beginning. He moves in, takes lodging in your spare bedroom, uses the guest bathroom, and shows up at the dinner table. You can't keep from calling all your friends to tell them your good fortune.

Then what? Jesus has the run of your house. He is going to see everything . Curious about you, He looks at what you're watching on TV. He checks out what you read. But more than this, He is here , inside your life , and the transforming power of the Son of God on earth does something to you . It's the fulfillment of St. Paul's request that “ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. ” Romans 12:1-2 The transformation is happening. Jesus is your constant companion and you are not the same person you were. His Spirit is given to you, and a new spirit, your own spirit, is reborn and alight with wonderful new potentialities.

This is a picture, of course, of a Christian's conversion and new life in Jesus Christ. He comes to live in you. His Spirit dwells in you and revives your dead spirituality. You discover new power and spiritual abilities, “gifts” we call them, and your life is joyful in love. When Jesus comes to live in you, He doesn't leave you the same grumpy old person you were . Your motivations and character traits are reformed, turned outward in charity for others. Your old selfish self dies and you do whatever you do for the sake of others.

At least that's the theory.

One strange doctrine of the Reformation was that God overwhelms you by His irresistible grace and you become a new creation, entirely without your permission. He gives you faith, and a new spirit and that's that. You are going to heaven. It is not Jesus asking to enter: He comes , He takes over , and He makes you like it.

I don't care for that doctrine. And I don't observe it happening in anyone. What I do see is that we have free will to begin with. That gets us into a lot of trouble, but our humanity is all bound up in freedom . God made us free so we might freely choose to love Him. Being free , we chose otherwise for a time. His grace abounds so we finally run into Him and realize our failure, our need, our wickedness and His wonderful offer of forgiveness and new life. We take it. But beginning free we don't end up slaves or robots without free will to continue growing and learning and being better and better people.

Better and better people is what I'm looking at today.

St. Paul gave examples of ways that Christians experience spiritual gifts in the Epistle to the Romans. This is not an exhaustive list, but examples . The Holy Spirit does not have just nine gifts for us. The word of wisdom , the word of knowledge, faith, healing , the working of miracles , prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues , and the interpretation of tongues are just some of the ways the Holy Spirit may work in Christians. Other epistles list gifts such as ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, ruling, showing mercy, love and kind affection, rejoicing in hope, patience in tribulation, continuing in prayer, distributing to the necessity of saints and hospitality ; Romans 12:3-21 and the list goes on. Spiritual offices are given as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are gifts of the Holy Spirit to His Church. Ephesians. 4:11-13

Now: what are these gifts for? Do you have any of them? Do you seek spiritual gifts from God, or are you content? At least you have been given faith, hope and love, 1 Corinthians 13 and what difference have these gifts made in you? You may not be the person to ask . So, let's ask someone else. Lets ask somebody who knows us and can see the fruit of the Christian life in us. What would your fellow Church member say your gifts are? What would your family offer as the evidence of God's Spirit dwelling in you? What does your next-door neighbor think of this Christianity you espouse? As a mental exercise, ask everyone you see on a regular basis if they see the fruit of God's spiritual gifts in you, how that comes across to them. You may get a real picture of how you have allowed God to work in you and through you, or how you haven't let even one beam of light shine and expose your secret faith. Now, what would people say?

“Surely, Father Hansen, we're not living the Christian life in order to become popular heroes, to make good impressions, to win friends and influence people. Dale Carnegie didn't do what he did for Christ. If being celebrated as a great person is what this religion is about, I might as well join the Elks Lodge or Rotary.”

There is a spiritual counterfeit for every one of God's gifts. There is false charity, false faith, false hope, false tongues, false discernment of spirit, and so on. Madam Ruby is a very spiritually gifted person, but her gifts are not of God. They are of another spirit entirely. Likewise, there is a counterfeit Christian-like social gift that can win friends and be lionized at gatherings, win Oscars, preside over banquets and so on. I'm not recommending that at all. But the winsomeness of a Christian fully committed to be the hands and mouth of Jesus, with Christ's Mind running the show, is the beauty of His Bride so attractive to most people. They may never know what you believe, and may resist faith to the end, but they can't get over what loving goodness streams out of you every time they talk with you, or what generosity you exhibit toward them, and how forgiving you are toward every transgression of theirs. The witness of God's Holy Spirit making you into His image and likeness is reflected in the faces of those you have loved.

For it is not for ourselves that we are given spiritual gifts. It's a great mistake to believe that the gifts from God are for us. At Baptism , every new believer receives the Holy Spirit and his or her own spirit is awakened. This is for you personally, so your life of salvation may begin. You begin transformation of an old life into a new. But it is at Confirmation that the Spirit is given again, the same Spirit of course , but with other powers and for another reason. The Holy Spirit comes again to bring gifts— gifts you will open, but not for yourself. Wisdom is God using you for others. Knowledge is for the sake of His Body. Faith is a light to lead those who can't see that far. Healing is of another's wounds. Likewise miracles, prophecy, discernment and languages : these gifts build up the Body, the Church, other people, and the world around you. The gifts are not yours . This is not Christmas where the boxes marked with your name are for you to keep and play with. The Holy Spirit does not play around. God's Power has been released in you: now, what are you going to do with it?

The one place in the world for many centuries where the God of heaven might be worshipped and receive sacrifices was the Temple in Jerusalem. Only Temple money or certified unblemished animals were allowed. These restrictions made room for a new and selfish industry: the moneychangers and animal vendors who filled the court with their noisy trade . They were there to facilitate the Temple experience, but their spirit was wrong. The priests took a cut and the whole thing stank of personal gain. When Jesus came upon this scene we get the most shocking example of His righteous indignation as He takes cords and makes a whip to drive out these merchants in spiritual gifts. “ It is written, ‘My house is the house of prayer:' but ye have made it a den of thieves,” He cries.

The Temple, and now the Church, is a house of prayer for all people. Prayer is the language of the needy soul toward God. We long for His love, His healing, His provision, His strength to carry on. We come here to praise Him and seek His grace, time after time. We also come for community, and to hear testimony of how God has worked in the lives of our fellow Christians . This is not a show. The Spirit of God is not about parlor tricks. We worship One Whom we know. The Body and Blood of the Son of God come across the Communion rail to His people every time we meet, and there is no greater miracle . Every sign and every gift of God has a reason and an evidence of His purpose. He's not kidding around. Special phenomena and miraculous visions may call the attention of the Church to distant lands and hidden places, but we must ask why. Why is the Church of Jesus Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, complete with the Sacraments of Life, going to seek further miracles elsewhere?

Whenever we meet, there ought to be miracles enough for our edification right here. We should be seeing lives transformed; our own lives first of all.

Time and again people have tried to transplant the fire of revival from other cities into Chico, and the fuse never lit and the fire seemingly went out. How come? Is Chico a dead zone for the Spirit of God? Or are we blowing the fuse out for fear that something might be asked of us? Or is the Holy Spirit already here, among His people , within them , waiting for them to simply let Him use their lives as bright torches in a darkening world? Is God's Holy Spirit already in Chico? Isn't He already in you? What evidence is there, then, that God lives in you? Bring forth your gift for us to behold and to see used for His glory and purpose, to profit withal , for the benefit of all, for the sake of everyone.

PFH+