Sermon: The Divine Liturgy Pt. 5 - Charismatic Grace

The Divine Liturgy Pt. 5 – Charismatic Grace
Sunday, May 11th, 2025
Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
1 Corinthians 12:1–31

Prayer

O Father, we praise You for Your Son, and for His mystical body into which we have been baptized. We praise you because Your church is fearfully and wonderfully made, marvelous are thy works, and that our soul knows very well. Remove from us now all sin and ignorance, grant to us knowledge and virtue, that we might be good stewards of your grace, for we ask this all in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Introduction

Children, I have a true story to tell you. When I was little, maybe 7 or 8 years old. I went to church with my parents, and I was sitting in the pew, just like you are right now, listening to the pastor talk. When all of a sudden, the pastor tore a page out of his Bible, crumpled it up, put it in his mouth, and then ate it! Now is that crazy? I think it’s crazy. I thought it was crazy back then, and I still think it is crazy today. And yet, sometimes God tells His prophets and apostles to do crazy things.

• The prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 3:1) and the Apostle John (Rev. 10:9) were both told to eat the word of God while they were in a vision. And so while they did not literally have to eat a scroll or a book, what they did have to do was understand and digest and become one with God’s Word so that they could preach it to others.
• Now there were other times when the prophets did have to literally/really do some uncomfortable things. And that was their special job and assignment from God. For example:
  • Isaiah had to walk naked (at least partially naked) and barefoot as a sign of warning and judgment (Isaiah 20). It says in Isaiah 20:2-4, “At the same time spake the Lord by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, And put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. And the Lord said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot Three years for a sign and wonder Upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia; So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, Young and old, naked and barefoot, Even with their buttocks uncovered, To the shame of Egypt.”
    • So sometimes, God tells the prophet to do something crazy in order to get his message across. Isaiah’s nakedness was a sign of future judgment upon Egypt, and a warning not to trust Egypt and their nakedness, but to trust God instead.
  • Likewise, God told the Prophet Ezekiel to shave the hair off his head and his beard and then burn it. And this was to be a sign of God’s fiery judgment on Jerusalem (Ezekiel 5). Ezekiel also had to lay on his left side for 390 days, and then lay on his right side for 40 days, as a sign of the siege warfare to come upon Israel and Judah (Ezekiel 4).
  • The Prophet Jeremiah had to take off his undergarment (his loincloth or girdle) and hide it in the hole of a rock. And then after many days, God said to him, “Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there. Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing. Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Thus saith the Lord, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing” (Jer. 13:6-13).
    • So sometimes God tells his prophets to do crazy things, but He always has a good reason for doing so. The Bible says that God is love (1 John 4:8), and that He desires all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4). Therefore, in addition to the grace that sanctifies us, and makes us into Christians, God also gives to his saints another kind of grace, a grace that we call charismatic grace, which is given to lead other people to repentance and salvation.
    • The Old Testament Prophets are just one example of such extraordinarily gifted saints, and what we find in the New Testament and in our text of 1 Corinthians 12, is that God has given a measure of grace to everyone that is a member of Christ’s body. This charismatic grace often goes by the name of spiritual gifts, and it is those gifts that shall be our focus this morning.
    • And so as we conclude our series on the The Divine Liturgy, our study of worship, I want us to consider three questions that arise from 1 Corinthians 12 which is all about charismatic grace.

Outline

• Q1. What is charismatic grace (or the charismatic gifts)?
• Q2. How does God intend for our different gifts to work together?
• Q3. How can you identify and steward the particular gifts that God has given to you?

Q#1 – What is charismatic grace (or the charismatic gifts)?

• Note first the purpose for which Paul is writing 1 Corinthians 12 (and the chapters that follow). He says in verse 1, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.”
  • Meaning, although the Corinthian church already had and were using spiritual gifts, still they were ignorant of God’s intention and purpose for bestowing them. And therefore because of their ignorance and immaturity, they were actually abusing and misusing the gifts of the Holy Spirit. What God had given to build up and unite them, was being used to destroy and divide them.
  • So Paul is writing to reform the Corinthian church’s use and understanding of the spiritual gifts.
• Now where do we get this word charismatic from?
  • Well, our English words charisma and charismatic come directly from the Greek word “χάρισμα,” and its plural form, “χαρισμάτων.”
    • In Greek, Χάρισμα signifies a gift freely given, or a favor that is bestowed.
    • For example, in verse 4 of our text, Paul says, “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.” And there the Greek word for gifts is just this plural form of charisma, χαρισμάτων.
    • So when we use this phrase charismatic grace, or charismatic gifts, we are emphasizing the gratuitous or gracious nature of the gift that was given (it is gracious grace). And indeed, our English word for grace is how we translate the Greek word χάρις in the New Testament.
    • For example, in John 1:16 it says of Christ, “And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.” In Greek it says, “καὶ χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος.” So if your name is Karen, or Karis, those are both derived from this Greek word for grace.
  • So when we say charismatic grace, or as Paul says in verse 4, the χαρισμάτων from the Spirit (Πνεῦμα), spiritual gifts, we are emphasizing that this is a grace given over and above the grace of salvation that we all received at conversion.
• Now what exactly is grace? Grace at the most basic level is God’s action in man that leads to salvation. And what we see from Paul in verses 4-6 is that while grace is one in essence since it comes from the One God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, still there are a diversity of effects that result from receiving this one grace.
  • And so unlike the grace/gift of faith, which is common to all the elect, and without which none can please God (Heb. 11:6), the grace of which Paul is speaking here is not given to everyone. These are gratuitous gifts that are given over and above what is necessary for own salvation.
  • Indeed, the whole purpose of these gifts is not primarily to benefit us, but rather to benefit and build up others. Charismatic grace has an outward focus on the common good of the whole body, whereas the Corinthians were using them to show off and distinguish themselves in pride.
  • Paul describes this outward focus in verses 4-7, “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.”
    • That phrase, “profit withal” is just King James for “the common good.”
• To Summarize: There is one grace of the Holy Spirit even as there is One God from which all blessings flow. However, we distinguish this one grace according to the diversity of its effects. For example:
  • All believers receive the same and common grace of faith to believe on the Lord Jesus, and so we call that Sanctifying/Saving Grace. Grace that saves us as individuals.
  • Charismatic Grace on the other hand is grace given over and above Sanctifying Grace, and it is given to lead other people to salvation and to build up Christ’s body.
  • Sanctifying Grace saves us, Charismatic Grace is used by God to save others.
  • And so Paul wants the Corinthians (and us) to acknowledge this common unity of source, this unity of grace’s essence as coming from the same Holy Spirit, even though on the ground and in the church and in each person, the effects of grace can often look very different. This is a feature of grace and not a bug.
  • And so he goes on in verses 8-11 to describe that diversity within unity, how grace is one in essence but diverse in its effects. And this leads us to question 2.

Q#2 – How does God intend for our different gifts to work together?

• In verses 8-11 he describes some of the different charismatic gifts. And then in verses 12-27 he develops this analogy (this picture) of the church as Christ’s body. And so the way God intends for us to use our diversity of gifts, is just like how the body is one but is composed of many different and essential parts (ears, eyes, nose, feet, etc.). And then after he gives this analogy of the body, he describes in verses 28-31 the hierarchy and order of how God has arranged the body, first apostles, then prophets, then teachers, and so forth.
• And so while we don’t have to time to explain this whole chapter, I want us to look at just some of the charismatic gifts in verses 8-11 so we can understand their purpose and function in the body. And note, this is just a partial list, not a comprehensive list, and we know this because in Romans 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4 we find other gifts mentioned.
• So starting in verse 8 Paul says, “For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom.”
  • This word of wisdom (λόγος σοφίας) refers to the ability to teach others supernatural truths (the Trinity, the Incarnation, the sacraments, things that are above reason).
    • Jesus speaks of this gift in Luke 21:15 when he says to the apostles, “For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.”
    • And the Apostle Paul who was preeminent in this gift amongst the apostles says in 1 Corinthians 2:6-7, “Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory.”
    • So this word of wisdom is the supernatural ability to persuade others and explain to the saints (especially the mature), the highest form of wisdom: namely knowledge of God, or as we call it today theology. The theologian is the one gifted with this word of wisdom.
• He then says also in verse 8, “to another the word of knowledge [is given] by the same Spirit.”
  • This word of knowledge (λόγος γνώσεως) most likely refers to knowledge of created things, or what we might call natural revelation.
    • Calvin comments on this verse saying, “Let us then take knowledge as meaning ordinary information, and wisdom, as including revelations that are of a more secret and sublime order.”
    • St. Augustine likewise says, “Wisdom refers to the knowledge of divine things, and knowledge to human science.”
  • So the person with the word of knowledge can deploy their knowledge of creation to lead people to knowledge of the Creator. This might be the Christian biologist, the Christian historian, the Christian philosopher, grammarian, novelist, artist, musician, chemist, etc. who has a special gift of communicating, teaching, and persuading others using knowledge they might have acquired from decades of careful study.
    • To use an Old Testament idea, this is the Israelites spoiling the Egyptians. God takes the good things that Egypt had acquired but then purifies and sanctifies those natural gifts for use in His Holy Tabernacle.
    • For example, Paul prior to his conversion, was the most zealous and learned of all Pharisees, a certified genius. And when God converted Paul, he did not wipe and erase his memory or remove his zeal, instead he gave him these gifts of wisdom and knowledge and then sent him back out to use his learning and zeal in service of the Christians he formerly persecuted. This is God’s way of redeeming and using even our old life in service of His glory. To some he gives the word of knowledge.
• Next in verse 9 he says, “To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit.”
  • Here the gift of faith is not saving faith which is common to all Christians but is either the ability to teach and “contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3), or alternatively it is the gift of extraordinary faith by which signs, wonders, and answers to prayer are accomplished.
    • We might think of Jesus words to the woman in Matthew 15:28 where he says, “O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.”
    • Or we might think of Elijah, of which James 5:16 says, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
    • And of Joshua who had faith to tell the sun to stand still. It says in Joshua 10:12-13, “Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; And thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, Until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies.”
    • And so to some in the church God gives this extraordinary faith, faith that believes God for great and mighty things, things which give glory not to the person, but to God.
• Now the rest of the gifts listed here are mostly straightforward, so I will not explain all of them.
  • The gift of healing is the special ability to heal. Both Peter and Paul possessed this gift (Acts 3, Acts 5:16, Acts 28).
• In verse 10 it says, “To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues.”
  • And what I want you to notice is that contrary to many Pentecostal and Charismatic churches, who insist that all believers need a “second blessing” to speak in tongues, this special ability to speak in other languages is not given to all believers.
  • Paul says this very explicitly in verses 29-30, “Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?” These are rhetorical questions wherein the answer to each of them is No!
  • It is good to desire these gifts, and indeed we are encouraged to desire them. But remember that God is the one who distributes to each according his ability, to each a measure of grace. And this leads us to our third and final question which is…

Q3. How can you identify and steward the particular gifts that God has given to you?

• First of all, note that if you belong to the body of Christ, if you have been baptized (1 Cor. 12:13), the Bible says that you have received some measure of charismatic grace. It might be a tiny measure, or a great measure, but it is a measure, nonetheless. Every Christian has some gift to use in service of the body.
  • In 1 Peter 4:10 it says, “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
  • In Jesus’ Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:15 it says, the master gave to his servants, “each according to his ability.”
• And so in the Old Testament, the prophets received more than anyone this charismatic grace, and often it came with the burden and duty of doing crazy things for God, usually resulting in persecution and/or martyrdom.
  • So if you want to be gifted in an extraordinary way, there’s a good chance you are also going to suffer in an extraordinary way. This is the testimony of Christ who had the fullness of the spirit and all the gifts, and it is the testimony of the apostles who in the New Testament received extraordinary gifts and were therefore set first in the hierarchy of the church.
  • And so while God does call and equip certain men for the ordained offices of Pastor, Ruling Elder, and Deacon, still the officers in the church are not the whole body, they are members just like you with a unique gift and ministry assigned to them. We all need one another and will have to give an account to Christ for how we stewarded His grace.
• And so how do you identify your spiritual gifts? Or we might say, how do you get in touch with your charismatic side?
• Well, there are three questions you can use to take inventory. And they revolve around Desire, Need, and Ability.
  • 1. What good do I desire to do for others?
  • 2. What are the needs of others that I tend to notice?
  • 3. What ability do I have to meet those needs?
    • And when the answer to all three of those questions are in harmony, there is a good chance you have discovered your spiritual gift.
• Let me give you a few examples of how this might play out.
  • Let’s say you have a desire to make things beautiful. And you notice that this church is not the most beautiful building in Centralia. And so you notice there is a need for beauty at Christ Covenant Church, and while you would like to worship in a beautiful cathedral with stained glass windows, you don’t have $20 million to spare. But what you do have are some flowers in your garden. And so you cut some flowers, put them in a vase, and bring them to church.
    • What spiritual gift is that? We would probably say that is the spiritual gift of hospitality, or generosity. And if you are ever unsure about what to call your spiritual gift, Paul dedicates a whole chapter (1 Corinthains 13) to the best of all spiritual gifts which is charity.
    • So if you are not sure what to call your gift, read 1 Corinthians 13 and see if it meets the rubric there for charity. Charity is the gift that God intended to actually animate and inform all the other gifts. Paul goes so far as to say, “without charity I am nothing” (1 Cor. 13:2). And elsewhere he says, even our faith works by love (Gal. 5:6).
  • To give you another example. Let’s say you have a heart for the downcast, for the hurting. You want there to be more joy and life and peace in the church. Moreover, you have walked with the Lord through many hard trials of your own, and like Job, have seen the good end God intends for all his saints. And so when someone in the church has a baby that dies, or receives a terminal cancer diagnosis, or is just having hard time at work, or in their marriage. You have the ability to come alongside them, and as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:4, “comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
    • You are the person with the gift of encouragement. You are like Barnabas, whose name means “son of consolation” (Acts 4:36).
  • A final example, consider the men who volunteer in the sound booth every Sunday. They have a desire for the church to be able to hear the sermon, hear the prayers and singing, and Scripture reading. That’s a good desire and we all have that need, some of us being harder at hearing than others. And while none of these men have a master’s degree in audio engineering, they are willing to learn, willing to try, willing to serve, and it is that willingness to come early and sit at the booth, that is a great gift to all of us. They are special set of ears for the body.

Conclusion

Not everyone is called to be a prophet and to do crazy things for God. And for that we can be thankful that God has given extraordinary charismatic grace to some for our benefit and example.

• But we must not overlook that we also have received grace upon grace. We are members of the same body, who are united to the same Head of the Church, the Lord Jesus, and we have received from the same Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son some measure of grace of which we must be good stewards.
• So ask yourself those three questions: Where does your desire, the need, and your abilities line up? And then start to cultivate those gifts, desire more gifts, and as it says in 1 Peter 4:8-10, “And above all things have fervent charity for one another, for charity will cover a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
• May God grant us this charity to build each other up in love, even as Christ has loved us, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.