Men on Fire Retreat Level 3: Spirit Empowered Disciples
Third Session: Spiritual Gifts
Slide 1 Men on Fire
Slide 2 Spirit Empowered Disciples
It is the Holy Spirit who gives us the power, the skills, the gifts, the abilities to accomplish all our Lord Jesus commands us to do. It is the Holy Spirit who enables us to become holy and to grow in personal holiness. And it is the Holy Spirit who empowers us to do ministry. I will say spiritual gifts and Holy Spirit gifts interchangeably, because spiritual gifts are Holy Spirit gifts.
Slide 3Slide Do I Have a Spiritual Gift?
1 Peter 4:8-10 –And above all things have fervent love for one another, for "love 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.
Each one has received a gift to minister to one another. Clearly, some people have many gifts. But, rest assured, we all have at least one.
Slide 4 Saint Paul and Spiritual Gifts
Saint Paul provides several lists of Holy Spirit gifts. The curious thing, though, is that he is not teaching about the gifts. His focus is on Unity and Diversity. He uses the diversity of spiritual gifts to make his point. In his different lists, he names a few gifts more than once. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that never does Paul claim to be offering us an exhaustive list. He doesn’t say, “These are all the gifts. There are no more.”Since Paul is not teaching on the gifts, we can conclude that there are many more gifts that aren’t named by Paul, and may not be named anywhere in the Scriptures.
Slide 5 Concerning Spiritual Gifts
First Corinthians 12:1 -Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.
The objective of this presentation in to inform you concerning Holy Spirit gifts.
Slide 6Diversity of Gifts
First Corinthians 12:4-7 - There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different ways of administering them, but the same Lord. There are different outcomes, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
How many species of flowers are there? Any idea?
There are about 391,000 species of vascular plants currently known to science, of which about 369,000 species (or 94 percent) are flowering plants, according to a report by the Royal Botanic Gardens in the United Kingdom. 5-12-2016
Why do you suppose God made so many different types of flowers? He could have just made roses and daisies. That would have been enough. We wouldn’t know the difference. Again, why? He likes diversity.
There are different kinds of gifts. I’m not going to describe them to you. You can look in the Retreat Handbook.
There are different ways to administer the gifts. For instance, when I pray for physical healing, I have my style. When Nick prays for healing, he has his style. Our styles are different. That’s okay. But it is Jesus who does the healing. There are a variety of ministries in a community. The application of the spiritual gifts will be different from one ministry to the next. That’s okay. The variety is good.
There are different outcomes when we pray. Let’s use healing as the example again. I’ve prayed for people for the healing they asked for. Sometimes they are healed. Sometimes they are not. Sometimes God does something wonderful we didn’t even pray for. There are a variety of outcomes, but always the same God who is good and loves us completely.
Slide 7 The Charismatic Gifts
Charismatic Catholics tend to get a narrow view of spiritual gifts because we focus on the 1st Corinthian 12 list of gifts, the power gifts: prophecy, miracles, healing, word of knowledge, supernatural faith, discerning spirits . . .
These are the signs and wonders. Jesus went about doing these things. All who came to Him were healed. The gifts are linked to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Before Pentecost, the disciples were mystified by what Jesus could do. He told them they would do all these things, and even greater things. I’m sure they couldn’t imagine it. After Pentecost, they did all these things, just like Jesus.
In the early days of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, we adopted some wrong understanding concerning this list. We taught that these gifts were given and possessed by the believer. One guy would claim to have the gift of prophecy and another would say that he had a gift of healing.
Slide 8 The Gift of the Holy Spirit
What we’ve learned is that the Holy Spirit is the gift. Anyone of us, with the Holy Spirit, can operate in any one of these gifts. Listen to the Scripture:
First Corinthians 12: 7, 11 –Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
What does manifestation mean – to become tangible. Through the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit became tangible to us. We experience Him. He is real. That’s the great gift. All these signs and wonders gifts are His work in us and through us. Furthermore, who receives the gift? If I pray for you to be healed and you are healed, who has received the gift of healing? It’s the same with prophecy. The prophet speaks a word, but the gift is received by the one who has ears to hear. These are the works of the Spirit and He distributes them as He determines.
Slide 9 Unity in Diversity
If one suffers, all suffer. If one is honored, all are honored.
First Corinthians 12:26-31 - If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way.
Slide 10Body Parts
Romans 12:3-9 -For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. Let your love be sincere.
Slide 11 Unity Depends on Tolerance for Diversity, Disagreement and Dissent
Unity depends on tolerance for diversity, disagreement and dissent. If there is insufficient tolerance for diversity, disagreement and dissent, there is no unity. Any effort to impose control is an attack against unity.
Unity versus uniformity versus conformity. Unity is good. We want to be “As one”. Uniformity is good also, in the correct application. Everyone on the same team wears matching uniforms. Within the Church, we have a uniform code of morality. Within Community, we have uniform teaching. Conformity is okay if you are injection molding plastic parts. It’s not okay if you’re pressuring people from the outside to change. Spiritual awakening and on-going growth are directed by the Holy Spirit from the inside of a believer. From the outside we invite, encourage and inspire. We don’t force.
It’s clear to see that we need a lot of love, compassion, patience and grace to make a safe place for disagreement in a community. Can people disagree without becoming enemies? Only love makes this possible.
Hans Ur von Balthazar –Even if a unity of faith is not possible, a unity of love is.While it’s desirable to have agreement, it’s not a command, “Thou shall agree!” But we must love.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 -Lack of love renders a gift ineffective.Without love we are annoying . . . a noisy gong, a clanging cymbal.
Slide 12 Fivefold Ministry Gifts
Ephesians 4:11-13 -So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.
The Ephesian 4 gifts are referred to as the fivefold ministry gifts. These are leadership gifts. These differ from other gifts in an important way. In this situation, the person doesn’t have the gift. He is the gift. Christ gives apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelist and pastors. If a community wants these gifts active, the gifts that bring a community to maturity, they must receive the ones who are the gift. If we don’t like the package the gift comes in, that is the brother or sister who is the gift, we will close ourselves off from the gift. And this is what we would be missing, the ones who:
Equip the Saints
Build up the Body of Christ
Bring to the Unity of Faith
Bring to the Knowledge of the Son of God
Bring to Maturity
Bring to the Full Stature of Christ
Slide 13 Other Gifts
Discernment 1 John 4:1-6
Willingness to facemartyrdom1 Corinthians 13:3
Missions 1 Corinthians 9:19, Acts 13:2-3
Intercession Romans 8:26-27; Colossians 1:9
Hospitality 1 Peter 4:9)
Voluntary Poverty 1 Corinthians 13:3
Celibacy 1 Corinthians 7:8
VirginityMatthew 25:1-4; 1 Corinthians 7:1
Music Psalms 100 and 150
Arts and Crafts Exodus 31:3-11
Slide 14 Identifying and Developing the Holy Spirit Gifts
After identifying my gift, how does it develop? As with the virtues, the ministry gifts mature by being used with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He will teach us how to use the gift and where and when to use it. It would be nearly impossible to identify a nascent ministry gift in a person if that person is not involved in ministry. Likewise, if the community doesn’t have experience with or knowledge of a particular gift, who would identify and appreciate that gift if it every showed up in a member? I’m certain this situation exists in our community. Members likely have gifts that we have never understood to be gifts; therefore, we don’t have eyes to see the gift. That situation would be very frustrating.
(Share personal testimony)
Slide 15 Discussion Starter
•Review the list of Holy Spirit gifts. Which do you think are your spiritual gifts? (page 78 in Companion Resource)
•What is your experience using the spiritual gifts?
•How can you develop your gifts in order to be more useful to the Lord?
Slide 16Building a Culture of Honor
Affirmation, Prayer, Service, Trust and Accountability. We all know what these values are. We accept that they are necessary for a community to be healthy and we recognize when they are broken or missing.
What does it feel like to be unaffirmed, unappreciated and unnoticed? What happens when many of the members aren’t keeping their prayer times and aren’t joining the community in worship? How frustrated are you when you can’t get anyone to help you, or when you ask for volunteers and everyone takes one giant step backwards? You ever have a brother break your confidence or betray you? Do you ever feel like you’re the only one keeping commitments, showing up on time, or showing up at all?
Spiritual gifts will not flourish unless we build and maintain a culture of honor. With the next few slides we will consider how a community culture of honor can breakdown and then we will discuss what we can do about it.
Slide 17Why Aren’t Holy Spirit Gifts Flourishing?
Some reasons why spiritual gifts don’t flourish: Insecurity and Envy
Fr. George Rutler - Brothers in Christ should nurture and promote the various talents of their fellows for the prosperity of the Gospel. Such is not a habit among all of the brethren. Insecurity prefers mediocrity over excellence. Crisis Magazine, August 7, 2017
Fr. Rutler says here that we should encourage, promote and appreciate the various spiritual gifts in one another. In a culture of honor, we celebrate the success and accomplishments of the others. But such is not a habit among all the brethren. If I’m insecure in my own gifts and abilities, I may have a difficult time rejoicing in yours. But if I am secure, I realize that your accomplishments subtract nothing from me. They don’t diminish me. With envy, I don’t want you to get more honor than I get.In a truly honorable community, one person’s accomplishments benefit everyone, they raise up everyone and we all rejoice.
Slide 18 Ineffective Pastoring and Training
What do we do when a brother screws up. I’m not speaking about moral issues, but rather, in the operation of the spiritual gifts. For instance, in the situation of pastoral care gifts:is he being too lax or too involved, to the point of controlling? What about hospitality? Are the members on the lookout for guests? Are we showing appropriate honor to our elderly? Are we instructing new members?
In terms of spiritual gifts gone bad, is the leadership doing anything productive to instruct, identify and raise up the spiritual gifts? Let’s say someone gave a messy prophecy. I’m going to make it worse. Let’s say someone routinely gives messy prophecies. In the past, I’ve known of leaders to forbid that prophet from coming to the microphone. Is that helpful? Does that honor Jesus in the prophet? Does it build up the prophet or grow the prophetic gifting in the community? No. It would be better to pair up the messy prophet with a more mature prophet. Better yet would be to form a school of prophets, which is what we did. The mature prophets identify, raise up and train the new prophets. For many years, on Thursday nights, we practiced prophecy, word of knowledge, preaching and healing. We did exercises, read books, watched videos, brought in speakers and created opportunities for the folks to practice the gifts. This is a culture of honor. The giftswere promoted and the people matured in the operation of the gifts. And the community benefited. The same goes for all the gifts. Consider pastoral care teams, teaching teams, service teams, hospitality teams, evangelization teams. It’s all possible. Someone with a gift identifies another person with the same gift and they start meeting together, praying for the manifestation of the gift in the community, looking for others with the gift and raising them up, learning about the nature, purpose and application of the gift and practicing the gift. It’s doable. It just requires someone to be an advocate for the gift.
Slide 19Ignorance of the Gifts
The gifts must be taught. Then they must be identified, raised up and trained. It concerns me that only a few of our young adults exhibit the gift of prophecy, for instance. Do we believe that the Holy Spirit is still calling prophets? Certainly. So, once again, this is a leadership problem. You know what another leadership problem is? That more of you aren’t leading. Quite a few of you have been given leadership gifts. But you sit on them. You don’t lay your gifting on the altar of personal sacrifice. The whole community suffers.
Let’s get back to Fr. George Rutler’s quote - Brothers in Christ should nurture and promote the various talents of their fellows for the prosperity of the Gospel. We’ve already looked at one reason why we don’t. My insecurity can’t rejoice in your success. Here’s another reason why we don’t nurture and promote the spiritual gifts – we don’t understand them well, so we don’t teach them and we don’t recognize them in others.
Think about this: how many believers go through life thinking that they have no Holy Spirit gift? In a Church that underemphasizes the Person of the Holy Spirit, many folks think only the clergy and religious have spiritual gifts . . . the professional Catholics. They’ve never been taught that their daily work as teachers, engineers, craftsmen, laborers, etcetera, can be Holy Spirit gift infused. Their lives are compartmentalized. This is my religious activity and this is my secular activity, and never the two shall meet.
This confusion exists in the movements and even in our community. We went through a lengthy list of spiritual gifts. Before today, had you considered the whole list and asked the Holy Spirit what He has given you?