When I came to you brothers…My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power. 1 Corinthians 2:1, 4-5

I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge— because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore, you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 1 Corinthians 1:4-7

When Paul arrived at Corinth, he arrived feeling defeated. He had just come from Athens where he had gathered with the cream of the Greek philosophers and had offered his best arguments on behalf of Christ. Paul was a brilliant man who had studied at the feet of Rabbi Gamaliel and had undoubtedly memorized most of the Old Testament and studied its theology thoroughly along with a critique of Greek intellectualism. Now he was presenting sound, intellectual arguments for Christ. For the most part, the philosophers of Athens thought the beliefs he presented were strange and foolish. To his dismay, only a few responded. By the time Paul arrived at Corinth – a center of commerce and pagan religion – he had reconsidered his strategy.

You will notice that he no longer wanted the faith of believers to rest on the wisdom of men, but rather on the power of the Holy Spirit. There is an old saying that goes, “A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument.” If my faith is based on information only, then more information or contrary information can turn my thinking, introduce doubt, and undermine my faith. That is what happens to many Christian college students who have grown up being taught the basic truths of the faith without any significant experience with Jesus. When they arrive in a university classroom with a professor who throws out well-articulated arguments for atheism and quotes numerous “unverified facts” in contradiction to the Bible, these students become victims of men’s wisdom – their own and the professor’s.

In any number of American churches, the underlying theology of their leadership is that spiritual experiences cannot be trusted. Spiritual experiences, they say, open the door to demonic deception. Therefore, an intellectual approach to faith is best. However, the New Testament record seems to speak against that approach.

Imagine, any first century Christian trying to convert Saul of Tarsus with “better arguments” from the Torah. If that had been the best approach to Saul’s conversion, God would have sent a man like Apollos, a brilliant believer from Alexandria who was a powerful teacher of biblical truth. God, however, had something else in mind. He arranged an experience with Jesus on the road to Damascus, three days of blindness, and a moment of healing at the hands of a believer whom Paul would have arrested 72 hours earlier. An experience, rather than arguments brought Saul of Tarsus into the fold.

Then there was Peter. If you read all the gospel accounts of Jesus calling the twelve, you will sense that Peter had heard Jesus preach on several occasions. In fact, in Luke 5, Jesus had just preached a sermon from Peter’s boat when he coaxed Peter to put out into deeper water and let down his nets after a long night of fruitless fishing. When the nets were filled to the breaking point with fish, Peter fell on his knees and proclaimed, “Go away from me Lord, I am a sinful man.” After that, Jesus told Peter he would teach him to catch men and Peter left all that he had to follow Jesus. An experience with Jesus was needed, even after the sermon, to get Peter to fully surrender his life to Jesus. Later, it took a rooftop vision and witnessing the Holy Spirit falling on the household of Cornelius (Acts 10) for Peter to be convinced that Gentiles had been accepted into the kingdom.

Mary Magdalene was one of the faithful followers of Jesus in his early ministry. We are told that Jesus cast seven demons out of her. I am persuaded that the experience of deliverance and the ensuing freedom she felt was what compelled her to follow Jesus. We could go on and on. I’m not saying that preaching and teaching are not important. They are essential. Both provide the framework for understanding God and understanding our experiences with God. Experiences, however, also help us to understand the scriptures in a deeper way Experience is what solidifies what has been learned, so that man’s arguments cannot shake the faith of those who follow Jesus. There are two primary words for knowledge or for knowing in Greek. One means to have information about or to know about something or someone. The other means to have experiential knowledge of something or someone. The one used most often regarding our knowledge of the Father denotes experiential knowledge.

Notice what Paul wrote to the church at Corinth. He said that his preaching or testimony about Christ had been confirmed in them so that they lacked no spiritual gifts. The implication is that the spiritual gifts experienced by the church at Corinth had confirmed who Jesus was for them and had confirmed the presence of God’s Spirit in them.

It’s one thing to be told that the Spirit of Christ now lives in you because you have believed in Jesus. It’s another thing to begin to operate in healing, deliverance, prophecy, words of knowledge, teaching, encouragement, speaking in tongues, etc.  The experience of doing something that you know you could not do without the Spirit of God working in you, confirms your faith like nothing else. It also confirms the faith of those to whom you minister. Paul was very clear that spiritual gifts are given to build up the body of Christ and he urged those at Corinth to eagerly desire those gifts.

Churches that distrust the exercise of spiritual gifts deny their people many experiences that would build faith and intimacy with Jesus. When believers are not hungry for spiritual gifts they deny the body of Christ the strength and life that their gifts would lend to the church. A great number of churches today would not miss a beat in their ministries and worship if the Holy Spirit withdrew tomorrow because they operate in their own gifts, strength, and talents rather than in the gifts of the Spirit.

Of course, many churches will affirm that they believe in spiritual gifts, but they actually believe in only a partial inventory of the gifts. Mercy, encouragement, hospitality, administration, creative gifts and so forth all seem safe enough and carry little risk in their exercise. Those gifts are welcome and have little spiritual aura around them. Healing, prophecy, deliverance, words of knowledge, miracles, and tongues are not so safe and are usually rejected as gifts that “no longer operate” and, yet, those are the very gifts that demonstrate the presence of the Spirit in the most indisputable ways.

I served in churches for many years that limited the current ministry of the Holy Spirit and I have served the last 13 years in churches that pursue and value every gift. Where the gifts operate life happens more abundantly, extreme life change is the norm rather than the exception, and faith grows with every miracle. Paul understood the principle and he would want us to understand that principle as well. “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts…” (1 Cor.14:1).