Welcome to Affirm foundation presented by Princeton ministries with Doctor Ken Smith. This is Carol Smith, Ken’s wife. Please enjoy.

Have you ever heard anyone say, I’m not interested in doctrine, just Jesus. It sounds so noble; it sounds so spiritual. Why? Who could be opposed to knowing more about Jesus? And isn’t it true that doctrine is just simply the creation of man and that is where the problems have come? But I would remind you that the word doctrine simply means teaching. And the person who would say, I have no interest in doctrine is saying, I have no interest in the teaching of Jesus Christ. Because if there was anything that Jesus was concerned with, it was doctrine he spent all of his time teaching.

I think more accurately, what troubles many people is not the teaching or doctrine of Jesus, but teaching or doctrine that is never applied to living. That is just simply words that go out in the air teaching, and it never really lands anywhere. It’s that kind of doctrine that we should want to have nothing to do with but the doctrine of Christ. His teaching ought to be very important to us.

From the word of God we invite you to stay tuned for the next half hour as we bring you a message from the word of God, brought to us by the Reverend Ken Smith, minister of the Princeton Presbyterian Church in historic Princeton, New Jersey. Once again, here’s Ken Smith as he continues his message from the word of God.

You know, it’s not enough to have intellectual knowledge of the doctrine and teaching of Christ. We read in the book of James chapter two, verse 19, talking to those who say they believe. And James says, so you believe God is one. The demons believe and shudder. Jesus in Luke chapter six asks the question, why do you call me Lord? And then you refuse to do the things that I ask of you. Jesus was very concerned about teaching that had no application. He said, that type of teaching ought not to occur within the church. All of the teaching must have application. Now we are studying the book of Ephesians six chapters in length. We have studied the first three chapters by design.

Paul has given Christian doctrine for three chapters, verse after verse, he continues to lay a foundation and also all of the support work that is going to have screwed into its wall a hinge. And upon that hinge he will place a door that works, a door that is very practical. And for three chapters he labours very hard to build all of the support work doctrinally for the placing of the hinges, because the remaining three chapters of the book of Ephesians have to do totally, not with doctrine, but with the application of what he has so purposefully laid out for us in three chapters. Now, the framework of the door that Paul has presented is first in Ephesians one four. He wants us to know that Christ chose us to be in him before the foundation of the world.

He also wants us to know that if we have received Christ, we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of God. He tells us that it is just the guarantee we will never receive in this life, 100% of the fulfillment of being totally immersed in the Holy Spirit. But he does say to us, in this life we will receive enough of the Holy Spirit to give us a guarantee of what God is going to do for us when we receive our full inheritance, when we come before Christ, and also on the frame of this door. He wants us to know about grace, that there is nothing that you and I can do to earn salvation. It is a gift given by God, but it is a gift that is tied to the way we then live.

And that is why in Ephesians chapter two, verse ten, he tells us that before God created this world, he also created good works that you and I, as we are in Christ, to accomplish. And he says, that is important to hold the practical application that I’m about to give you for the book of Ephesians is the foundation, the strengthening boards that will hold a very practical door. And he is about to tell us about the practical application of God’s word. He tells us in chapter four, verse one, therefore, every time you see the word therefore, you ought to ask why it is therefore. Therefore is there because of the previous three chapters. He says, I have given you all of this teaching, all of this doctrine.

Therefore, as a result of everything that I have taught you, it’s now time to get practical and to take the consequence of this doctrine and apply it in your life. He says, therefore the prisoner, I, a prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. First, he tells us that we are to walk in lowliness. Another word for lowliness is modesty, that we are to walk seeking God’s approval, modestly before men, desiring God’s approval. Albert Schweitzer, who went to Africa, learned the hard way about lowliness and modesty, spending many years labouring even though he was a medical doctor. And one occasion he called to a native to give him some lumber for some roofing work that he was doing. And he called down and he said, give me those boards.

And the native, who was a new Christian, said, I don’t do that kind of work anymore. I’m now an intellectual. To which Schweitzer replied, I was an intellectual once. Are we willing to walk lowly as Christians to be looking for the good of others more than our own good? Well, he tells us that we are to walk in lowliness and also in meekness or gentleness. Donald Gray Barnhouse explains to us the meaning of meekness or gentleness, because usually today for someone to be called meek is an affront. But if we look at the Bible, we find that the meekest person who ever lived was a man by the name of Moses. He was known for his meekness, and this is one of those words that has changed over the centuries.

The word meek simply means to obey, and we are called upon as Christians to be meek to obey the Lord. Barnhouse says that the word meekness can be defined as the horse that wins in the race. He is the meekest horse on the track, for this horse is under the control of the jockey, and the horse responds quickly to the guidance of the jockey. If we would truly be meek, then we would respond very quickly to the commandments of God and follow and obey them completely. But he tells us also, not only are we to be lowly and gentle, but we are to be long suffering. It’s interesting, this word is made up of two words, long suffering. How many Christians, when they are asked to suffer, and what do we define as suffer?

Perhaps being in the nursery, setting up to visit in the name of Christ, because we cannot give up our favourite television program. Why? That would be terrible suffering to pray on Wednesday night. Why? You are asking more than I can bear. You are asking me to suffer for Christ. I would remind you that this has nothing to do with the true suffering that many across the world are facing as Christians, and that in America we virtually have no knowledge of what it means to suffer for Christ. Who here has given up a job for Christ? Who here has signed their name to a church roll, knowing that in the signature on that church role you will be removed from the housing that you are in and placed in an inferior housing?

There are today literally hundreds of thousands of Christians who are suffering in the gulag the name of Christ. We are called upon as Christians to know something about longsuffering, but we are also called upon in verse three to Endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Notice that it is a unity that is to be worked at. Unity within the church does not simply come because of teaching. It doesn’t occur just because there is a nice group of people who come together. Unity is something that must be worked at to be maintained. And it is no surprise that spiritual gifts, the work of service of Christians, is tied to unity. It’s an interesting thing.

Those people who are least involved in serving Christ, who have never spent a minute or an hour in the service of Christ and know nothing of their own spiritual gift, are so often the cause for disunity in the body of Christ. But those who are busy about fulfilling the work that Christ has given them, those who are exercising their spiritual gift, are too concerned with the exercise of that gift to be worried about the division of the body of Christ. And I would speak a word to anyone who knows nothing of their spiritual gifts, who is not involved in service in the name of Christ, then beware. Beware, lest you be a source of disunity within the church of Christ. For the church is called to be an army of active soldiers to do the work of ministry.

And so the unity of the church is dependent upon the exercising on the part of every living stone of their spiritual gift. He tells us that there is one body. That body, we are told, is the church of Jesus Christ. Whether we call ourselves Presbyterian or Baptist or episcopal or whatever manner of denomination, there is but one body of the church of Jesus Christ. All those who trust in the living God through Christ are part of that invisible body of Jesus Christ. He tells us not only is there one body, but there is one spirit. That spirit unifies the church. That spirit is involved in convicting of our sins and also of convincing us of God’s word. He tells us there is one hope, the blessed hope of the return of Jesus Christ.

He tells us that there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, at whose name every knee shall bow. He says that there is one faith, not an intellectual faith, where we know about Jesus, not a temporary faith. Whereas the car is rolling off the road, we quickly cry out, God, if you save me, then I’ll follow you. And when the car returns to the road, we forget about Christ, not that type of faith, but saving faith that relies in Christ alone for our salvation. He says there is one baptism. And what is that one baptism? That baptism occurs when we receive Christ. And we are told that at that moment the Holy Spirit of God comes to live in our spirit, in our soul, and that our body at that moment becomes the living temple of God. And in us resides the Holy Spirit of God.

And this has been the great cry of the church, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, all of that to introduce us to spiritual gifts. He tells us in verse seven. But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Now, there are some preliminaries to understanding spiritual gifts. The first preliminary is to understand that we receive spiritual gifts when we become Christians. Every Christian, when they have trusted in Christ, has been given mysteriously by God a special place that they are to occupy within the body of Christ, and he has equipped you to fulfil that purpose. The preliminary to receiving a spiritual gift is that you would first put your faith in Jesus Christ. In one Corinthians, chapter twelve, verse seven, we read that these gifts are given to each one. Everyone has a spiritual gift.

We also need to realize that spiritual gifts are different from natural gifts. We’re all familiar with the person who sings beautifully, and we listen in an opera to the beautiful voices, and we’re taken with the ability musically, but it does not touch us spiritually. And you can have someone who sings flat, but God has given to them a gift of being able to communicate the love of Christ. And even though the tune is not harmonious, we are touched. Why? Because they have a gift. And the church has made great errors thinking that because someone is a school teacher, therefore they must be a great Sunday school teacher. But simply because you are a great natural teacher does not necessarily mean that you would have the spiritual gift of communicating spiritual truths.

And so the church should be very concerned about the spiritual gifts of its members. What is the purpose of spiritual gifts? Well, first purpose is that they are not simply for our enjoyment, but rather every spiritual gift is for the building of the body of Jesus Christ, for the building of his church. You and I, as we have put our trust in Christ, have a spiritual gift. You may not know it, you may not be exercising it, but the scriptures teach you have such a gift. Now, there are a couple of warnings that I would also give. One is that there is a difference between spiritual gifts and spiritual responsibilities. Every Christian is called upon to worship God. Every Christian is called upon to read his word and to study the scripture.

We are called upon to bring our tithes and our offerings to the Lord. We are called upon to be a witness for Jesus Christ. Those are spiritual responsibilities. They apply to all believers in Christ. And so we cannot say, I’m not going to church today because I don’t have the gift of going to worship, or I think I’ll not put anything in the offering plate today because I don’t have the gift of giving. No, there is a difference between those gifts and the standard responsibilities that all Christians have. Secondly, I would want us to know that some of the spiritual gifts had a unique place in the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ. Some of those gifts that were miraculous. For example, we read about Paul being bitten by a viper and he lives.

We are told that those early apostles would be able to drink poison and that they would live. We are told that they were able, by the touch of their hand, to raise from death to life a corpse. And those gifts were miraculous gifts, the same gift that Christ had, and that they fulfilled a purpose in the spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But once the words of God’s word had been placed in written form, that those gifts, according to the reformed tradition, ceased. Today we have God’s word that instructs us in how we ought to be exercising our gifts. How then can you know what your gift is? Well, the apostle Paul says concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you to be ignorant.

And here is the place to begin to see that, in fact, the Bible teaches about spiritual gifts, and we can be instructed if we would simply look to see what those gifts are. Well, in the book of Ephesians, chapter four, we are told about gifts that were given to the church that were gifts office. In verse eleven, we are told that Christ himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. And so we find that the gifts office were given. Those prophets who spoke the words of the Lord in the Old Testament were given as a gift by God. Those apostles were given as a gift by God to instruct us in the things of Christ. And those evangelists who went and started churches even this day continue to exercise that gift.

We find too, that Paul tells us that there are pastors and teachers, anyone who would open gods word and instruct from it, called upon to do it with the knowledge that they are exercising a spiritual gift. Ray Steadman, pastor in California, has written a book called Body Life. The whole purpose of that book is to instruct the church about their spiritual gifts, that everyone has a spiritual gift likens the church to a football game. And he says, the church is like those 22 men who are playing football in the center of the stadium. It’s the last quarter, and they are in great need of relief and refreshment. And those twelve and 24 players are watched by 22,000 spectators who cheer them on, who themselves are in great need of exercise.

Could it be that the Church of Jesus Christ that you have looked to those who are the clergy, the professionals, to run up and down the football field. And we applaud and we call their name and we say, keep it up. You’re doing good, when all along you need to develop and to exercise your spiritual gift.

Well, perhaps you didn’t realize you have received a spiritual gift from our Lord when you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior. Let’s make sure we find out what God has given to us, and then let’s use that gift to build up the body of Christ. Today’s message, entitled Spiritual Gifts, was brought to us by the Reverend Ken Smith, minister of the Princeton Presbyterian Church in historic Princeton, New Jersey. Why not write for a list of the messages available on cassette? Here’s our address from the word of God, box 3003, Princeton, New Jersey 08540. And better still, why not give Ken Smith a call at area code 60992 110 20. That’s nine, 2110 20. The Princeton Presbyterian Church meets each Sunday at the John Witherspoon Middle School on Walnut Lane in Princeton, New Jersey. Why not pay us a visit next Sunday?

Sunday school classes for all ages meet at 930 and the morning worship service begins at eleven. A warm welcome awaits you. We hope you’ll tell your friends about this broadcast, write our call soon, pray for us, and tune in again next week, same time and station. And now, on behalf of Pastor Ken Smith and all the Princeton Presbyterian Church family, this is Joe Springer. Thanking you for listening and praying for you. God’s very best.

Thank you for listening to affirm foundation presented by Princeton Ministries. This programming is supported by you, the listener. You may go to our website, princetonministries.org, or send your donation to Princeton ministries, post office box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 08543. That’s Princeton Ministries, post Office box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 08543. The Lord bless you and Doctor Smith looks forward to hearing from you.