Introduction
Do you have a gift? Do you possess a giftedness in some way that you can attribute it to God and through which you believe you are making a significant contribution to the church? If you are like most Christians, you may be modest about the subject; you may even be troubled by it, because you never have been able to point to a gift that you possess.
That was not the problem for many in the Corinth Church. Gift? Well…as even Paul said, they were not lacking in any gift (1:7). As a matter of fact, they were quite proud of their spiritual gifts, which – since we are on the subject – clearly indicated their superior spiritual qualities, i.e. in their own minds. They did it all – spoke in tongues, interpreted tongues, prophesied, healed, did miracles, uttered wisdom and knowledge. Churches today like to advertise themselves as places of excitement. You come to our church and find excitement; we are dynamic. Corinth could have had some great billboards. Nobody could produce excitement like they could.
Text
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.
The Corinthians never cease to amaze. I’ve heard the expression “soap opera” applied to them, and that certainly is fitting. Were there actually Christians calling Jesus accursed? There is a lot of speculation, yet nothing certain. But we can get the gist of Paul’s remarks.
Concerning the matter of being spiritual (the word “gifts” is not used, merely assumed; Paul could mean being spiritual persons), let’s get one thing straight. The ultimate test of being let by the Holy Spirit is the glory given to Jesus Christ as Lord. You can be very sincere about what you say; you can go into ecstasy; you can talk in tongues and get “slain in the Spirit,” but if your words (and deeds) are not exalting Jesus as Lord, your experiences are not of the Holy Spirit.
So lesson number one about being spiritually gifted is that our gifts must serve to exalt our Lord Jesus Christ. The next verses give further insight into the source of gifts, the nature of gifts, and their purpose.
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.
There is one simple truth Paul is teaching. It goes like this. The God of the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is the one who gives to his people many, many different ways to serve his church. These many ways of serving are valid because they originate from God (through whichever Person may be most directly involved) and depend upon the power of God for effectiveness. There are many gifts, or ways to use gifts, but one source – the three-person God.
Verse 7 then expresses the purpose of these spiritual gifts: To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. By common good is meant the common good of the church.
Verses 8-10 give us the first of gifts lists in chapters 12-14.
8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
Paul lists these particular gifts because they are the ones for which the Corinthians took special pride. Back in 1:5, Paul commented that “in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge.” What are these gifts?
Consider “utterance of wisdom” and “utterance of knowledge.” All kinds of interpretations are given. Whatever they are exactly, the gifts involve speaking wisdom and knowledge, not simply being wise or knowledgeable. Some have attributed wisdom as a gift for counselors and knowledge for scholars. The Corinthians perhaps thought of them as types of revelation – wisdom or knowledge that only comes through inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It is these gifts in particular that Paul has given subtle and not-so-subtle hints that he thinks they are not so gifted as they think they are. If they did possess such gifts, they would recognize and value the wisdom he preaches (cf. chapters 2 and 3); they certainly would recognize his authority.
The next gift, faith, seems odd because it is suppose to be an attribute that all Christians possess. Certainly we are all to have faith, but this kind is that of the “faith that moves mountains” variety. It is a sure confidence in God to act in specific ways, quite likely for such things as are mentioned next.
Gifts of healing would most likely be miraculous physical healings, though perhaps could apply to persons who were gifted in giving healing care. “Working of miracles” could include healings, perhaps also exorcisms or some other display of power. Prophecy, we will discuss in full in chapter 14, but suffice it to say that it involves giving some kind of “word from the Lord” as a teaching in worship or perhaps to apply to a special situation. “Distinguishing between spirits” may apply to distinguishing between true manifestations of the Holy Spirit and those that are counterfeit. Perhaps it involves distinguishing what teachings are of the Spirit and what are not. Speaking in tongues and interpreting tongues round out the list. We will explore them more in chapter 14.
Paul then reiterates that all gifts come from God, in particular through the Holy Spirit.
11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
His second remark is the main point. Gifts are apportioned out by the Spirit as he wills, i.e. as God wills. We do not earn our gifts; we do not learn gifts; they are given to us. And they are given to us as God so pleases, not according to our deserving, nor according to the natural talents God saw in us. In others words, don’t get so proud.
The Corinthians thought they were special stuff. They must be special to be so gifted; yes, credit must be given to God, but then God must have seen they were worth the special attention. We are given what God gives and for God’s purpose. That’s it.
Lessons
You might be a little down after looking at this list. Which of these spectacular gifts do you have? But our passage gives us a lot to go on in recognizing and exercising spiritual gifts.
First of all, we learn that we all have gifts. Verse 7 says, To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. As verse 6 states, it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. No one has been left out.
Secondly, we learn that there are many and many varieties of gifts. That different words are used – gifts, service, and activities – teaches us that we are not to narrow our idea of spiritual gifts (as the Corinthians have done) to a narrow list of spectacular abilities. Other gifts listed in Romans 12 include serving people, teaching, exhorting, giving generously, and doing deeds of mercy. There does not appear to be anything spectacular about those gifts; nevertheless, they are just as valid and probably more needed.
Let the descriptive words of service and activities stretch your concept of how the Holy Spirit has gifted you. I want to tell you about some gifted people.
Lee was an elderly elder's wife who served, not as a teacher, but a teacher's aide for the SS kindergarten class. She listened to the children recite their scripture memory verses. When she died the children paid her tribute at her funeral for the love she heaped upon them. She was legendary for her hugs. Now tell me, what spiritual gift did she exercise? What category does loving children fall under?
Bryan came to me after attending church for a year. He knew almost no one because he merely sat in a pew and left each Sunday. But he got connected with some other singles in the church. He was asked to help with skits. But Bryan had some background in drama, and he didn't want to do skits. He wanted to produce Christian plays, and so he started Mere Breath, a drama ministry. Now what spiritual gift from our lists is he using?
Do you suppose there is a spiritual gift called dependability? If so, it may be the most treasured gift of all. That man or woman who consistently fulfills a responsibility – truly such a person is highly valued. I can think of a few people right – always show up, always perform their jobs cheerfully and skillfully, however simple the job may seem. I'll tell you, I will take ten such persons over twenty who claim to have spectacular gifts. The reason is that the ten will only build up and strengthen community, whereas the others may just as easily cause division as build community.
That brings us to the third lesson. We've learned that we all have gifts; we've learned further that gifts are many and varied and to open our horizons as to what constitutes a gifts. Gifts, furthermore, are to be used for the common good. They are to be used to build the church body through ministering to the body or through helping the body do ministry. We cannot pretend to be a healthy church if we are not ministering to one another and ministering with each other. What are you doing to help this church?
How do you discover your gifts? You pray. You ask God to reveal the gifts he has given you. You further pray that he will open your eyes to see a need you can meet. Indeed, the best way to discover your gift is to do something. It is in the doing that you discover and test the gifts God has given you. What to do? Look around the church. We could use substitute teachers. You might find you have a gift for teaching you didn't know you had. We need help in the office. We have someone who comes in every Monday and handles the visitor and attendance rolls. Do you know how valuable it is to have that dependable person who comes in every week with a cheerful attitude? We could use someone with a vision to greet our visitors after worship and establish contact; we need someone with a heart for fellowship to handle our coffee time. You don't need to discover and identify a spiritual gift to get involved. You must have to have a heart to be involved.
Here is a possibility. Across the street is a residence for the severely handicapped. They want us to come over and befriend the residents. What can you do? Can you read to them, sing or play music? Bring them gifts? Play games? What can you do? What are you willing to do? Are you willing to walk over with me and meet them? Are you willing to be used by God with the gifts he has given you (whether you know what they are or not)?
And what else is there to do? What could be going on now if only you would be the one to start it?
How do you know if you really are exercising a gift and not merely fooling yourself? Here is the test. Are you bearing fruit? For some work that is easier to tell than others. One who teaches should see fruit in the students. One doing simple tasks may find the fruit by the lack of complaints or trouble that would occur if he wasn't doing the tasks. Second, are you enjoying your work? The work may be difficult and may not be enjoyable at the first; all work will have its trouble; but if you have a gift for a certain work, you will find fulfillment in it. You will take satisfaction in what you do and will not be jealous of the work or gifts of others. Indeed, you will wish others had the same satisfaction as you. Third, you will receive unsolicited affirmation from others. It may come in the form of praise or thank you's; you may hear others praising the work without knowing who has done that work.
Finally, you are exercising a true gift when you act out of God's grace and the very work itself seems a gift of grace from God. The apostle Paul is a good example of someone who understood this. Listen to his description of his spiritual gift of preaching: Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ (Ephesians 3:7-8).
You see, God does not give us spiritual gifts because he needs the extra help we can give to his cause. Nor does he give us gifts that we might be able to work our way into his favor. God gives us gifts out of the same motivation he gave us salvation – his gracious love for us. By grace we have been saved through faith. And this is not our own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:8-10).
You gifts should help you grasp this grace. If you are exercising true spiritual gifts, you will not think, "God should appreciate what I am doing for him"; rather, you will think, "How wonderful is God's grace to give me the privilege to serve him in this way." You will not think, "God should be pleased to get someone like me with my ability"; rather, you will think, "How marvelous is God's grace to make me useful for his kingdom."
I never did say what the Greek word for "gift" is. It is "charismata," a form of the term "charis." Do you know the English word for "charis"? It is grace. Our very gifts are meant to be living testimonies to the grace of God in our lives.
For some reason this simple truth is hard to grasp. The early churches had trouble with it. The churches in Galatia heard Paul preach the gospel of grace, and as soon as he left listened to other teachers who said they needed to obey the law to prove their worthiness to God. The Corinth Church heard Paul preach the gospel of grace, and as soon as he left they turned to spiritual gifts as signs of their worthiness before God.
Christ’s gift of salvation through the cross is all we need to know to realize the favor of God. Spiritual gifts and good deeds – those things are not standard markers towards getting into greater favor; they are merely the blessings that God has poured out on all his people. If we feel others have a greater share, understand that it is not because God portions them out according to his favorites; perhaps he does give more to some than to others, but that is to carry out his purposes. But if we do lack, it is more due to us acting, not like children welcomed to our Father’s table, but like servants who feel we must keep our distance.
Your Father bids you to receive his blessings of grace; your Lord bids you to come and receive from him. And through the Holy Spirit you will be given the blessing of gifts that you may become a generous giver for your Lord. Is that not wondrous grace? That we poor beggars may be enriched to give to our Lord? Such is grace indeed.
