Spiritual gifts--(5) 'The temporary sign gifts 2-healing'

Spiritual gifts--(5) 'The temporary sign gifts 2-healing' Passage: 1 Corinthians 12:9-10, 28-31 9-to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10-to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 28-And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. 29-Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30-Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31-But eagerly desire the greater gifts.   Introduction: There are three verses in 1 Corinthians 12 that mention the gift of healing. First Corinthians 12:9 says: 'to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit.' Then verse 28 says, 'And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.' Then verse 30 says, 'Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?' The gift of healing is one of the spiritual gifts cataloged in this chapter, and therefore, an important one to study.   So, we could begin our study of the truths relative to this gift with a few preliminary remarks:   First, the gift of healing is a very controversial subject. There is much concern because the number one human problem in the world is illness. There is the variety of opinions about it. So God's clear Word relative to this area of ministry is needed. Second, main concern should be dealing with the truth and exposing what appears to be error. And we also need a spirit of gentleness, a spirit of love, and a spirit of concern for people who have not understood the truth about the area of healing. Third, we do believe God heals. It is an undeniable fact. God heals in answer to prayer. God heals miraculously in answer to prayer. God heals miraculously in answer to prayer in order to reveal His glory. God's miraculous healing in response to the prayer of saints is sure thing. But we need to understand the difference between the healing by God and the gift of healing. There is a great difference between God healing someone immediately and God healing someone through a human instrument. That is the distinction that needs to be made.   Point 1: healing We come to the second of the temporary sign gifts, which is the gift of healing. We are aware that disease is the most tragic human reality. Disease is the number one human problem. It is that which hits hardest and hurts the most, especially when it culminates in death.   Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, disease and death have been a reality. Since that time, the search for cures to alleviate the reality of illness and suffering continues. In the darkest part of an aboriginal society, witch doctors have potions and approaches to curing disease. Even the most sophisticated, complex hospital in the world today is doing the very same thing. The primitive beginning of medicine occurred centuries ago in Egypt. Throughout the history of Western civilization, man has continually searched for cures for the terrible reality of disease and illness.   Think of how thrilling it would be to have the gift of healing. Think of what it would be like to go to a hospital, to all the sick and dying, and just touch them and heal them. Think of all the efforts and years that doctors go through in medicine. Think of the millions of dollars spent on technology when all we need is the gift of healing. Sickness and disease is heartbreaking. It's all over the world. Just imagine what would happen if we went through the world with the gift of healing and banished illness from the world.   But it just doesn't happen. Why? Because the gift of healing was a temporary sign gift for the authenticating of the Scriptures as the Word of God. And once the Word of God was authenticated, the gift ceased. Jesus doesn't say to us, 'Go into all the world and banish disease.' He says, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel.' He didn't say to go and banish disease, he said to go and banish damnation.   Saving faith is a gift from God according to His sovereign will. It is given to whom He wills, and it comes through hearing the gospel and mixing it with the divine gift of faith. It doesn't come through being healed. In Romans 10:17, Paul says, 'So, then, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.' Saving faith comes by hearing a speech about Jesus Christ. Don't think that if we could heal that everyone would be saved. They weren't in Jesus' day and they weren't in the Apostles' day. The Apostles did miracle after miracle of healing and were thrown in jail. Then in Acts 8 a wholesale persecution broke out against them.   We should not say that God doesn't do miracles. God does heal, and He can do do anything He wants to do. Miracles are neither impossible nor necessary--that is up to God. But there is weak evidence biblically or practically that anyone today is operating the gift of healing. If God wants to heal, that is His business and privilege. He may heal through the prayers of an individual. He promises that 'the prayer of faith shall save the sick"(Js. 5:15a). But let's not confuse God's healing in response to prayer with the ability to heal everyone at will, as in the case of Jesus and the Apostles.   We need to remember that the heart of salvation is not physical wholeness. God's healing purposes should not be perverted and twisted. The gift of healing is rampantly being claimed all over as the panacea for everyone's ills. The Charismatic movement grows because there are so many sick people looking to get well. But Jesus didn't die on a cross so we won't get a cold. Jesus died on the cross to heal our soul of its diseases. Many of the cults promise healing because there is a tremendous market for it.   We know through the Bible that Paul prayed three different times for God to remove the thorn in his flesh, and He never removed it because He wanted him to have it. Paul had so many revelations that he could have easily become proud, so God kept him humble by his illness.   If every Christian were well, and health was a part of the atonement, then all people would be running to get saved for the wrong reason. God's picture of salvation would become cloudy. God wants people to come to Him in repentance of sin and because of HIs glory, not so they can be healthy physically. What nonsense would be made of such virtues as long-suffering, patience, and endurance--so highly prized in the New Testament--if we were always well. How dumb it would be for salvation to provide physical wholeness on earth but spiritual wholeness only in heaven. How foolish for God to decree that all of us must die but none of us can ever get sick. Paul was sick, and he left a lot of other people sick, but that is the way it is because God wants some people sick.   Jesus, Peter, Paul, and all the rest could heal by saying, "I will." They could use that gift anytime, and it was true of any of the sign gifts. First Corinthians 14 was written to regulate the control of the gift of tongues. If the gift was of the type that required waiting on God, regulations would not be needed. God wouldn't use a gift out of its purpose.   Surely, God heals and answers prayer. God heals in answer to prayer. God heals miraculously in answer to prayer where there is faith. God heals miraculously in answer to prayer where there is faith to manifest His own glory. God heals. But, God does not heal everybody, and God no longer heals through the apostolic gift of healing. That gift has ceased.   And then why are Christians sick? there are several possibilities: Firstly, God makes us sick. God has made the deaf and the dumb and the blind. God allowed the man in John 9 to be born blind. God wanted Lazarus dead. Jesus wanted him dead-He stayed away. Some people are sick because God wants them sick. You may have a little baby who is sick. That is God's plan, and the baby is a gift of God's love, so He will reveal His purpose to us as we seek Him.   Secondly, Satan makes us sick. Luke 13:11 says, 'And, behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no way lift herself up. And when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him, and said unto her, Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity. And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God." She had a spirit from Satan. God may choose to cast out those demons and heal people of infirmities.   Thirdly, God allows Satan to make you sick for special reasons. God had a purpose for Job. God said to Satan, "I want you to see that I have a man who can handle you. He can handle any test you give him"(Job 1:8). God may allow Satan to buffet you. In 2 Corinthians 12:7 Paul said that his thorn in the flesh was a messenger of Satan sent to buffet him. So, it could be God, it could be a demon, or it could be God letting it happen--letting Satan do it to perfect us.   Fourthly, God makes us sick to perfect us. God might allow us to catch a certain disease because He has a purpose. David pours out his heart in Psalm 119:67: "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept your word." Then verse 7 says, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn your statues." Sometimes illness, affliction, infirmity, and trouble drive us to His side. That is His intention. It is better for us to be sick and godly than well and ungodly.   Fifthly, God chastens us for sin. God could be allowing us to be sick because of our sin. And if illness comes as a result of chastening, we will just eliminate the cause for the chastening, the chances are we will eliminate the illness.   If God makes us sick for His own intents and purposes, that is His choice. If it is Satan, then we believe God will deliver us from the demon. If it is God letting Satan do it, or God allowing it to be done to perfect you, then it will have to run its course until we are perfected in the way He wants. Peter said, "After you have suffered for a while, God will make you perfect"(1 Pet. 5:10b). If it is chastening for sin, then as soon as we deal with the sin that God begins to withdraw the chastening.   In James 5:14-15, here is sickness related to chastening. There are two things to do when we are sick: First, call for the elders and pray; and second, confess our sins. That is the reason the elders are brought in. Everytime we are sick, it isn't necessarily an issue for the elders, because 'the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.' But when it is a sickness that is a result of sinfulness, then it is a matter of purity for the church. The elders are the overseers of church purity and they need to be involved in hearing that confession and joining with the person in seeking God for the removal of that illness.   So, there is the promise that when confession is made believing in God's power and will to heal in regard to chastening, God will respond. God heals when we pray believing and confessing our sin, if the disease is the result of chastening. And if our life is pure and the sickness is still there, then it is God's choice for our perfection.   Conclusion: Remember, sometimes it is in God's will for people to die. May everyone face death like Peter. Jesus said to him that by his death he would glorify God. I hope that in our illnesses, and everything else, we keep our biblical perspective and glorify God in His purpose. Remember, we do have the promise to seek heaven because Jehovah Ropheca is there---the Lord that heals.