Spiritual Gifts (100th POST!)

 I Peter 4:10, 1 Cor. 12: 1 - 7, 13:1 - 2, 14:1

·        In talking with individuals over the years I have found many people are either curious, apprehensive or mystified (or all three at once for that matter) by the topic of spiritual gifts.

·        Many are curious because the idea of possessing a spiritual gift sounds exciting and want to use this gift for God’s glory.

·        Some are apprehensive because when they discover their gift it may not be one of the “big ones” or they are just plain afraid when they discover their gift something freaky might happen to them.

·        They may be mystified because many people don’t know their gift, or better yet don’t know how to discover it and some may even wonder if they have one.

What are Spiritual gifts?  Special abilities given to the believer by God for ministry or service.  They are given freely and generously.  It is similar to grace… A more proper translation for Spiritual gifts would be gifts of grace given by God to the believer so that the body of Christ may be edified and strengthened.

More generally a spiritual gift is any event, word, or action that embodies and expresses God’s grace.

What are the purposes of gifts? (1 Peter 4:10) The gifts of the Holy Spirit are used for the common good of the Church and to serve one another in the body of Christ.  And a common tragedy of the Church today is that many people do not know or use their gifts.  If you do not know your gift or you do and are not using it for God’s glory then the rest of the body of Christ (church) is not benefiting from your Spiritual endowment.  This is why we need to understand them and use them.  One common misconception is that the gifts of the Spirit are for our personal edification (granted we are edified personally when we use them) but nowhere can I find that it is intended solely for our own personal use, they are always spoke in the context of blessing, building and edifying the body of Christ.  

Do we need to know our gifts? (I Cor. 12:1) Paul essentially says “Concerning spiritual persons/things I do not want you to be uninformed (ignorant).”

Uninformed – AV translates it ignorant.  The Greek word denotes being mistaken, in error or not recognizing.

Vs 2 - Because of their pagan backgrounds to some of the people in the Corinthian church spiritual manifestations was not something new.  They were spiritual people however not all of these manifestations they witnessed were not from God. 

They were used to supernatural occurrences happening and Paul is warning them that just because something “supernatural” is happening, does not mean God is behind it.

When they were Pagans they were easily tricked (even awed by a manifestation) and Paul does not want them to be ignorant concerning Spiritual things.

Therefore or since this is the case you must know there is a way to test these supernatural occurrences to see whether they are from God or not.

Who has the gifts & do they all have the same gifts?

Every person who is a spirit-filled believer in Jesus Christ has at least one Spiritual gift.  (1 Corinthians 12:7)

Diversity – We cannot all be the head, arms or legs.  We are unified in Christ but diverse in our makeup.  We are members of one body (locally and globally) who serve different roles.

(Romans 12:4 – 6a)These two verses are very similar to I Corinthians 12:12-31 All gifts/members/parts are important to the body because they serve different functions.

Verse 6

We all have gifts… they are diverse and they are given by grace.

In the next few verses Paul is not just making a list of Spiritual gifts.  He is exhorting the members of the church in Rome to use their gift for the building and edification of the church and to ultimately see it flourish.

This is still true today.  We all have gifts and we must use them.  They are of no use if we have received them and we keep them to ourselves or hide them.

Driving force behind gifts (I Corinthians 13:2) The last thing we should know is that all of our gifts MUST be motivated and driven by love.  I Corinthians 13: 2 basically says, “If I possess all Gifts of the Spirit, and do not have love, then my gifts are worthless.”  We should use our gifts to help benefit others and not to get what we want or to take advantage of people.  Love must be the foundation.