Utterance of Knowledge

(1 Cor 12:8 NRSV)  To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,

As I step out on this subject this week I hope to challenge your thinking and get some feed back. I will begin by giving some back ground to the times in which Paul was writing to the Corinthian church.  At the time of this letter the church at Corinth was about four years old.  This was about 21 years after Christ had been removed from the earth and the birth of his church.  There was written New Testament and probability of Gentiles having a complete copy of the Hebrew Torah was very slim.  So, we probably could state that all the church had was the letters written to them and the spoken teachings of their leaders. Now, let’s throw in the mix the manifestations of the holy spirit.

I grew up with the teaching and understanding that the manifestations were this supernatural ability beyond man and his ability to conceive or understand God.  As I grew in the Lord, read, studied and allowed God’s spirit lead and guide me, my beliefs and understandings began to change.  I can say the same for my understanding of the manifestations of the spirit. Like we talked about last week about wisdom that is from above, knowledge is pretty much the same way.

All my years growing up I was taught that these manifestations worked in a great mystery.  That the manifestations of wisdom and knowledge were like a gift of seeing into other peoples lives.  Like a psychic today, which we know that there are forces that are not from God at work behind them.  I have not found anywhere in the scripture that supports that these manifestations work like that in the church.  The closest thing you will ever find is how God worked in His prophets.  In the Old Testament they were called seers as well as voices for God.  Upon reading some of these stories in scriptures you will see where prophets could see into the secrets and thoughts of some people.  Jesus did the same with the Samaritan woman.  So could it be a prophet that sees into the hidden and reveals secrets? Most likely!  So what is the manifestation of wisdom and knowledge? 

The manifestation of knowledge is much the same as wisdom.  It comes from God’s spirit and is beyond human learning or education.  What I am saying, one could spend years studying in seminary and still be blind to the knowledge of God.  The confusion of age old traditions and doctrines that can not be truly proven in scripture is proof to this.  Like I said last week the same key word for us is the word utterance.

The manifestation of knowledge is a speaking manifestation, or could we say a preaching one.  The simplest way to put it is the God given ability to speak knowledge about God to those who do not have it.   It could also be revealing something about God and His purpose for His church that is not known by everyone.  Now let’s bring in what I opened with.

In the beginning of the Church of Jesus, the things we know now were not fully known then.  You see, we have the privilege of looking back on history and seeing a bigger picture.  They had nothing, it was all new and there was not even a book for them to draw from to help them understand what was so new and wonderful to their world.  The gospel of Jesus was not in any written form yet.  There were those who were first hand witness, but new leaders were arising everyday that had not personally been taught by Jesus, and Paul was one of them.  So, where did He get this vast knowledge of the secret called the church?  How did he come to understand so much about the work of salvation, faith, and the grace of God? I have come to believe it was the manifestation of knowledge at work, let’s look at what was written on this subject.

(Eph 3:1-7 NKJV)  For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles; {2} if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, {3} how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, {4} by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), {5} which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: {6} that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, {7} of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.

Paul is telling the Ephesians that what he came to know about Christ and the church was given by the spirit.  We will look at other scriptures about this knowledge, but for now we will focus on Paul as our example of the manifestation of spoken knowledge.  We can find through out the book of Acts and Paul’s writings that everything he spoke or taught came from the Lord.  Yes he may have drawn on some Hebrew scriptures at times, but he considered all he knew about Jesus and the church as coming from the Lord.  He even said that all his own experiences and earthly knowledge was not even fit for the dung heap in comparison. Let’s look at what He told the Colossians.

   (Col 1:26-29 NKJV)  the mystery(secret) which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. {27} To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery(secret) among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. {28} Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. {29} To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily. (emphasis mine)

   

You can see here it is the spirit of God that has in the beginning of the church and I believe still today reveals the message of hope.  I have come to see when someone reads the bible what God is saying is not always revealed to them.  This is the work of God’s spirit in the church to reveal God and the message of hope. (1 Cor. 2) Notice, Paul mentions his teaching and preaching.  This is not just any teaching or preaching, but an imparting of knowledge that God has given Paul.  The manifestation of the utterance of knowledge is being used here.  So, let’s see what the Bible does say about this knowledge that God gives. 

(Rom 11:33-36 NKJV)  Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! {34} "For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?" {35} "Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?" {36} For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

By just reading the above scripture, one could say we can never truly know God.  Too many people have stopped here and never understood that this knowledge about Him and the message of hope is available through His spirit as you will see.

(Rom 15:14 NRSV)  I myself feel confident about you, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.

(Eph 1:8-9 NRSV)  that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight {9} he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ,

(2 Cor 4:6 NRSV)  For it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

(1 Cor 2:9-13 NRSV)  But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him"-- {10} these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. {11} For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God's except the Spirit of God. {12} Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. {13} And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.

Let’s look at a few other places in the Bible where this knowledge is mentioned.

(2 Pet 1:1-5 NRSV)  Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith as precious as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: {2} May grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. {3} His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. {4} Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature. {5} For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge,

I think Peter is making it pretty clear how important that Christians have the right knowledge of God, and Jesus.  Where do we get this knowledge?  I don’t think you can just get it from reading the Bible but by the holy spirit.  You see in the beginning of the church they totally had to rely on this impartation of knowledge to get the message out and build the church of Jesus.  There were no Bible schools, teaching conferences, or wide spread media to keep the Christian informed.  There was no printed Bible in every household, as a matter of fact there was no Bible and they probably did not even conceive the ideal of a Bible.

Do we still need to have the manifestation of knowledge today? I would say absolutely.  If God and His work of grace could be proven or conceived by intelligent presentations or by just studying the Bible, we should be seeing the church in an explosive upswing instead of a moral decline.  Especially since the Bible is still the most printed book today, but in my opinion the least understood. God has never needed man to prove who He is; He can do that all by himself.  He however chooses to work through us and revel himself in us manifesting a knowledge of Him that can only come from Him.

There are also some warnings to us about how we use this God given knowledge.

(1 Cor 8:1 NRSV)  Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that "all of us possess knowledge." Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

(1 Cor 8:11-12 NRSV)  So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed. {12} But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.

I could say a lot here about the above scriptures, but maybe some other time.  The simple truth is all that God gives to the church must work by love.  Be careful not to let pride creep in when God reveals himself to you.  I have seen over the years people God has worked in them in special ways and showed them many things, but pride arose in them and no one cared what they had from God. You see this gospel message is so great and God gives us the tools to help spread the message and strengthen His Church.  We just have to keep the love of God in the forefront of all we do.

(1 Cor 13:2 NRSV)  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

To sum up with this topic, let me recap. Today, I believe that the utterance of wisdom and knowledge are twins.  They go hand in hand in helping the church to effectively preach or teach the gospel message and reveal who God is and His son Jesus.  How does that benefit the church?  When those with whom the holy spirit moves upon to manifest in them these two manifestations, it gives them a positive assurance and confidence to convey God’s message.  When this happens it often puts them in a positive way with the hearers.  Like Peter and John when they spoke to the religious leaders of their time. It was noted that they could tell that they had something and had been with Jesus, for they were uneducated.  Then Peter and John went back to the church group and rejoiced.  You should notice their prayer after that.  They asked God to give them more boldness to speak in Jesus’ name and to work in the manifestations.  (Acts 4)

Manifestation of Wisdom

(1 Cor 12:8 NRSV)  To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,

As we get into the manifestations of the spirit, I will deal with each one separately.  There seems to be only nine different manifestations at first, but with a closer look you could conclude that the list represents nine areas of manifestations.  I don’t think one could make the case that each manifestation looks exactly alike. Then you should also make note of the diversity of the spirit working on different believers in the body of Christ as the spirit chooses.  Could a person experience all nine areas in different times or in a couple of them at once?  Upon close study of the New Testament and the book of Acts you should be able to conclude a resounding yes!

Every believer thinks differently, has had different life and spiritual experiences and we should understand that God‘s spirit works with that in each one of us.  So God’s spirit will always know how best to get His message out and through whom it would work best at the time it is needed.  Let’s take a look at something Jesus told the disciples in (Luke 12:11-12 NRSV)  When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; {12} for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say."  Then lets look at (John 15:26 NRSV) “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. (John 16:13 NRSV)  When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.  These very words need to resound in every believer.  That the gift of holy spirit wants to be a witness in and through us for the message of Jesus Christ.  Then when you read the account of the early church’s exploits you can see this at work.  One good example is how God used Peter over the other disciples when it cam to speaking boldly.  To start with this was Peter’s nature and God used Peter in the area that fit him best.  All the other disciples work in areas that fit them as well. 

I said all that earlier to show you that God works in each person differently and in each group differently. Just because you have experienced the manifestations in your group one way does not mean the other groups should do the same.  Even in a local group how God works through one person does not mean that is how He is going to work in another.  In a local group God does not need to manifest all the same in every person.  It should be different and out of different categories.  The holy spirit may give one wisdom, on someone else knowledge, then another maybe speaking in tongues, or prophesying.  We just have to trust God’s spirit and the ability He gave us to think and judge a matter.  The point is the whole body should be involved in the manifestations of God’s spirit not just a few or the preacher.  As we learned last week this is a sign of spirituality. (1 Cor. 2.13-3.1)

So, from my perspective I see nine areas God’s spirit manifest and we will start with the first, wisdom.

You should note that the word utterance is used with this manifestation.  This is a speaking with wisdom manifestation.  Despite what some may think God does not take our tongues and make them speak things we can’t control.  It takes a partnership with God’s spirit for this to work.  This is not a wisdom that can be learned or comes by experience, but to be manifested in times of need.  If I may, let me say something here that the manifestations or for the common good of the whole body of Christ and to share God’s message with the lost.  This is not for any personal gain.  I do not believe God is going to show you how to win at the stock market, which is something you can learn and it brings no glory to the Kingdom message.  However, in time of need God may have you speak wisdom into an area of need that brings him glory and advances His kingdom message.  Peter is a good example when he was brought before the Jewish leaders. Always remember this is a speaking manifestation and not a personal revelation.  

What should this manifestation of wisdom look like?  I think as well as you should, it is found in God’s own word.  James wrote in chapter one, that if anyone lacked wisdom they should ask God in faith or in a complete trust in God that He will give what we need.  James tells us that God will not hold wisdom back, so could we say that God wants wisdom to be spoken in our churches? I think so!  If what we are seeing is not fitting God’s plan or Word and it brings harm or takes away peace, could we say that it is not God’s wisdom?  I would say so!  Let’s look and see what the Word does say.

(James 3:17 NRSV)  But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.

Look at the qualities of God’s wisdom.  When a person says they are operating in the manifestations or speaking a word of wisdom will it pass the James three test?  Does it produce good results?  Some people need to stop being naïve and believing everything someone says came from God.  Remember, Paul was correcting the Corinthian church for their abuse of God’s manifestations.  Paul was not taking them away but setting the record straight. Today, instead of finding truth and setting things straight, when we find abuse in the manifestations we take them away.  I think every believer needs to be willing to let God’s spirit manifest in them and open their mouth and let it work.  Then with the brain God gave them think through what is said and or heard and see if it passes the James three test.

(Eph 3:9-10 NRSV)  and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery (secret) hidden for ages in God who created all things; {10} so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. (Emphasis mine)

God wants his wisdom to be made known through His church.  Over the years many churches have looked like fools in how they handled God’s manifestations.  Notice, that Paul is telling the Ephesians that God’s wisdom is rich in variety; also could we say here in different ways.  This speaking manifestation is for the church to declare God’s plans that were held secret through the ages until Jesus. Then this same Jesus manifested God’s heart and mind to those who would receive.  Especially to the powers of evil, this is what Paul was telling them.        

(1 Cor 2:6 NRSV)  Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish.

Once again Paul is saying wisdom is spoken. God’s wisdom does not come through learning or experience.  This is where the church began to mess up in the second century when higher learned men began to apply their own wisdom to the gospel message and a distortion of truth was produced.  If this wisdom from God could be learned from a teacher or from a book then there would be no need for God’s spirit to manifest it.  Notice all of man’s wisdom is doomed to perish with men.

(Col 1:9-10 NRSV)  For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, {10} so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.

(Col 1:28 NRSV)  It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

(Col 3:16 NRSV)  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.

I brought this verse up for you to see that if wisdom is meant to be spoken then and as we will see next week knowledge is also spoken then we should conclude for us to gain understanding and spiritual overcoming lives we need to have God’s manifested wisdom spoken in our groups on a regular basis.  I feel it is because this has been cut off from the church we are seeing a spiritual and moral decline among believers.

We need the wisdom of God spoken in every gathering and service.  For to long it as been stopped up and prevented from coming forth.  It seems to have been hijacked by leaders and reduced down to catch phrases and platitudes.  God still wants His message to be heard in a lost and dying world.  Here lately I keep hearing from various groups that we need to change our message to reach this world.  The message is not the problem but how the church projected the message and lived it out.  We don’t need to change the message we need to get God’s wisdom back in and start hearing what God has to say on all matters.  We need the manifestation of wisdom now more than ever.  We are in a world today where there is so much man made wisdom and this causes rejection of God’s truths.  Let’s stop making excuses for where we are at in the body of Christ and seek Him for the manifestations in the church.  

Hijacked?

1 Corinthians 12:7-11 NASB

But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another  various  kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.

As I enter the area of manifestations of the spirit, I want to open our minds to look at all the verses with new thought and reason.  I know that we have opposition on both sides. On one side we have those who reject any manifestations in the church and on the other side we have those who have abused God’s great gift to the church.  Then we have all those in between, who offer their own versions of spiritual manifestations.  This all leads to much confusion on the subject.  Then there are today’s pragmatic charismatic leaders and what I will call spirit filled churches (this includes all the various kinds of charismatic, Pentecostal churches).

Many of today's charismatic leaders and churches have taught and operated in an un-balanced manifestation of holy spirit. Many of their services operate in a frenzy of uncontrollable emotion.  Then those who reject the manifestations fight and often reject those who do believe in the manifestations, many times making fun of them. A large part of spirit filled churches thrive on spirit manifestations, right or wrong they encourage people to operate in what they call spiritual gifts. Even if the person really has no ideal what they are doing.  

Then there are groups and ministries who make you feel there is a greater glory given them to be exclusive in their gifts.  In many of these groups they call the manifestations, prophetic gifts. I have even seen some of them send out groups to other churches to operate in the manifestations, often with disastrous results. When someone questions what these groups are doing they are often made to feel like only that group knows how the holy spirit operates. 

Then there are those churches that seem to have the same people over and over operate in the manifestations often with ensuing problems. These people seem to be held in a higher esteem, ending in a prideful, puffed up person. I have seen people act as if they are more spiritual just because the holy spirit has manifested in them.  We are told just because it works a few times we are to excuse all the other times they are wrong.  There have been a great number of times some charismatic leaders are wrong, but condemn anyone who questions them. 

If I can say this as gentle as I can, today it seems this wonderful gift God has given to the church has been hijacked by a few spiritual radicals. How did this happen, when this gift was given to the whole church, every believer, as God's spirit would choose to work in each person as he wills? Hijacked? Yes I feel it has been hijacked from the whole body of Christ. The whole has lost out on a wonderful part of God's spirit gift given to the church on that great day of Pentecost, by a small few. 

A great many spirit filled church has left a bad taste in the mouths of those who struggle with this gift.   Then on the other side there is equally a great many who fight against it, even teaching that is not from God. Now, I know I may not be somebody great, but where does mere men get the ideal that they know more about God and how He works than anyone else, giving them the right to pass judgments.  Let's look at something else Paul wrote to the Corinthian church.

1 Corinthians 2:14-16 AMP

But the natural, non spiritual man does not accept  or  welcome  or  admit into his heart the gifts  and  teachings  and  revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (meaningless nonsense) to him; and he is incapable of knowing them [of progressively recognizing, understanding, and becoming better acquainted with them] because they are spiritually discerned  and  estimated  and  appreciated.  But the spiritual man tries all things [he examines, investigates, inquires into, questions, and discerns all things], yet is himself to be put on trial and judged by no one [he can read the meaning of everything, but no one can properly discern  or  appraise  or  get an insight into him].  For who has known  or  understood the mind (the counsels and purposes) of the Lord so as to guide  and  instruct Him  and  give Him knowledge? But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah)  and  do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart.

1 Corinthians 3:1 NASB

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ.

I think Paul makes it clear what the differences are between people who are spiritual or natural. I love how the Amplified version reads in this text. Those who reject spiritual things are natural and can not appreciate God's gift to the church.  Then notice what makes one spiritual.  A person, who investigates, examines and thinks with his mind asking questions. This is one who seeks the truths of God.

Now, in no way do I even feel like I am some kind of expert. Yet, if someone would let the spirit of God guide them and look at the scripture with sound thinking, how can they miss the simple truths about God's wonderful gift.  It is because of the many religious leaders who have rejected God's wonderful gift, that many of the radical abusers have had free reign. It is because of the lack of good sound reasonable teaching of the masses, the select few have run away with the gifts, and manifestations. What is wonderful and intended to be  a blessing to whole body of Christ, has been hijacked by a many spirit filled church, charismatic leader and uniformed Christian.

The gifts and manifestations were given to the whole church and I sincerely believe God wants everyone to benefit from them. God wants His spirit to manifest in every believer in many ways.  The gifts and manifestations are tools for growth, healing, ministry, and spreading the gospel message. I do not think they were given for us to hold anyone in awe, or for ministry to gain wealth. They were not given for us to huddle together and make each other feel good all over. Let's take back what belongs to us and learn how to trust in God's spirit and gifts. Let's see God's church grow in power and spiritual strength, rightly operating in the gifts and manifestations.

I truly believe there are people who truly love God and let God's gifts and manifestations operate in them and try with wisdom to properly represent God.  Due to the dark cloud of bad reputation given to manifestations and those who operate in them, it is very difficult to encourage others to allow the gifts and manifestations to operate.

Jesus, in John 14-16 promised the church that the spirit would be given and be a part of every believer. This gift showed up on the day of Pentecost and right away showed manifestations for all to see. This put the gospel message at the forefront of all of society and helped those early Christians grow and the church spread the message.

It has been over the centuries, that what God intended for the church has been lost and a few have hijacked what belongs to every believer. God's spirit chooses how it works in each person to bring results in the believer as well as the church. As we look at the manifestations, let's let God show us the way, and revel new insight to age old truths.