GIFTED (part two)
1) I need to prepare you.
Eph. 4:11-16, "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."
Part of my responsibility as your Pastor is to help determine what your gifts are and encourage you to use them. I need to do my best to see how and where your gifts can be used. Your duty as a Christian is to have a desire to know what your gifts are and be prepared to use them.
And we see a few reasons for this. So the body of Christ can be built up. The church needs to be encouraged and edified and building on the solid foundation of Christ. And we need to help each other along in Christian unity so we can all grow together.
And we see why this is important. So we will no longer be infants-so we will move away from being "young and naive" and become wise and strong to fend off attacks from the enemy who will try to drown us in the waves of turmoil and blow us away in the winds of chaos. When we work together and serve in Jesus' name we are exercising our faith which makes us more able to withstand the storms.
Cornerstone has withstood the storms over the past 25 years because we have been building upon the solid foundation of Christ. We have worked together and have grown together. I was talking with someone recently who has been here since the early days and they commented on how things have improved and the maturity level has deepened over the years.
I've seen it too in people that I've known for the 13 years I've been here. That's what happens when we use our gifts. When I am able to encourage someone to use the gift God has given them and people are blessed because of it then I have done my job. I'm responsible to help prepare you for works of service.
2) Many different gifts.
The bible highlights about 20 different spiritual gifts. There are what's known as the speaking gifts: prophecy, teaching, exhortation, evangelism, pastor, tongues and the interpretation of tongues. These would be gifts where the primary use of them would be in a verbal way.
Then there are what's known as the serving gifts: helps, service, giving, miracles and healing. These gifts would be used mostly in a non-verbal capacity. And then there are the gifts that may be evenly combined with both speaking and serving like leadership, administration, mercy, wisdom, knowledge, faith and discernment.
As I said before, there are many of the things listed as gifts that all Christians need to be doing like serving, helping, encouraging, giving, wisdom, knowledge, faith, etc. These are things all Christians need to cultivate. However, they are listed as gifts because some Christians have a special ability in these areas that allow them to either exhibit these traits more easily or more fully than normal.
If you go to a church that's known as Charismatic or Pentecostal you will notice that they focus heavily on the manifestation of specific gifts like speaking in tongues, miracles and healing. Unfortunately, because these gifts can be faked, they have come to be delegitimized in today's church.
Some think these types of gifts only existed in the time of the Apostles and don't really exist today. But these gifts were present beyond the first century. Justin Martyr wrote about them in the present tense (150AD), as did Tertullian (207AD), as well as others beyond that point.
However, the argument can be made that although these gifts didn't die out in the first century, they may have significantly decreased since then. When the new church was starting out, there needed to be some serious convincing going on in order to legitimize this new belief in Christ. Therefore, the evidence of the miraculous gifts-healing, miracles, tongues and their interpretation, would be serious indicators that Jesus was the real deal and therefore the need to follow him firmly established.
That's what we see happening in Mark 16:15-18 (Mark's version of the Great Commission). However, these verses have been misinterpreted by some. Mark 16:15-18, "He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
Some have taken this to mean that unless you do these things you're not really a Christian. However, most who subscribe to this conveniently leave out the handling snakes and drinking deadly poison part. But if this isn't meant to be taken as a blanket statement for all believers then what does it mean?
In the commentaries I read the overall consensus is that "those who believe" referred primarily to the Apostles along with some others in this era and therefore wasn't meant to be a blanket statement for all believers from this time forward.
Vs. 19-20, "After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it."
The disciples who were there went out and preached the word and it was confirmed with the signs Jesus had just spoken of. Acts 5:12-14, "The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number."
The church was just getting established and Apostles were equipped to be able to carry on the miraculous things Jesus was doing to legitimize the continuation of power and authority. They were able to heal the sick and drive out evil spirits.
Paul became legitimized as well. When he was on the Island of Malta, he was bit by a viper but suffered no ill effects. That obviously impressed the Islanders. Paul also healed people while he was there.
So the signs that Jesus talked about did accompany those that currently believed, along with some who would come to believe, like Paul. But it's not to be taken as an absolute that everyone who is born again must do these things in order to be truly born again.
When Paul was talking about the different parts of the body in 1st Cor. 12 he said in vs. 29-31, "Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But eagerly desire the greater gifts." The answer to Paul's rhetorical question is 'no'. Therefore, if all don't have these gifts, then Jesus' words in Mark 16 doesn't mean that all believers must exhibit these signs in order to show themselves to truly be born again.
William Burkitt's notes on the NT: And this power of working miracles, continued in the church a hundred years after Christ's ascension, until Christianity had taken root in the hearts of men. Iraeneus (130-202 A.D.), a Greek cleric widely known for the development of Christian theology and combating heresy, wrote that many believers, besides the apostles, had this power to work miracles; as new-set plants are watered at first, till they have taken fast rooting, so, that the Christian faith might grow the faster, God watered it with miracles at its first plantation.
In other words, these signs accompanied the Apostles and other believers in the early church to establish its legitimacy but once it became established those specific signs decreased. These gifts still exist today, but I would say primarily in missionaries who are bringing Jesus to unknown territory; like the early believers who were trying to establish Christianity and the signs provided proof of its legitimacy.
These signs may be needed, as God directs, in certain places where the current religious beliefs hinder the people's believability and would render faith in Christ to be a major challenge. But that's not to say that such sings don't exist in America. God may use certain people to show miraculous signs for the same purpose but it's unlikely that it's anywhere near the level it was in the church's infancy.
But the problem is that the focus on these types of gifts can be too great; not only in the area of erroneously concluding that one is not a genuine Christian unless they possess them, but also in a lesser fashion to say that if you don't have these gifts you're not as spiritual as the one who does.
For instance, one can think that if you don't speak in tongues you're spiritually inferior. But Paul said in 1st Cor. 14:4, "He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself while the one who prophesies edifies the church." He went on to say that unless you speak intelligible words, how will anyone know what you're saying? So he says in vs. 12, "So it is with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church."
Paul seemed to deemphasize speaking in tongues when he said in vs. 19, "But in the church, I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue." Now Paul doesn't disqualify tongues as non-beneficial but Paul states there are more important gifts; gifts that enlighten and build up the church; not just the individual.
3) Focus on your primary gift.
The spiritual gifts are different from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a gift but it is through the Holy Spirit that the other spiritual gifts come. And the spiritual gifts are not the same as the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit are the characteristics of Christ that the follower of Christ needs to pursue and exhibit in their life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
And when we use our gifts they should be done in the fruit of the Spirit. When we use our gifts we will bear fruit. And we will be used in different ways. Two people can have the same gift but God will use them in different ways.
Chip Ingram-broad strokes vs. detailed strokes. The gift of evangelism: Billy Graham-broad paint brush-large groups while someone else will be used for the same purpose but with a detail brush-smaller groups or individuals. Not that each style can't interchange but primarily and maybe even exclusively they are used in a specific way.
Chip mentioned that every believer has one primary gift. They can have multiple gifts but will have one that stands out above the rest. They'll have that one gift that the person is to be primarily focused on.
Rom. 12:6-8, "We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully."
If this is your gift then focus primarily on using that gift. Again, not that we don't serve in any other capacity but we focus on utilizing our time exercising that primary gift. This is important because we can easily use up our energy doing other things-albeit good things. Meanwhile, however, we aren't focused as much as we should be on our primary gift.
Say my primary gift is teaching but I also have secondary gifts like giving or administration. And if I'm supposed to be focused on studying and research to put together bible studies or sermons but I find myself spending a lot of time serving in some other capacity then I'm neglecting my primary gift. Not that those other things aren't important and needed but it often comes down to a priority issue. God wants me to mainly focus my energy improving my skills in my primary area.
Acts 6:1-4, "In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
The Apostles could see that there were unmet needs but they knew if they focused on those needs a good portion of their time would be used up in that instead of evangelizing. So, they chose others who were equipped to handle the service needs while they focused on prayer and the ministry of God's word. And the result was the widows were cared for and the word of God spread rapidly and people's lives were changed.
Maybe I have the gift of fellowship and another has the gift of service. But if I find myself going around on a Sunday morning being busy with a lot of service I'm not using my fellowship gift. And if I'm doing too many things I'm preventing others from doing what they need to be doing.
If my hands are everywhere I'm taking service work away from someone else who has a desire to be used. But they see me doing it and so they just back away. We need to allow others to use their primary gifts while we focus on using our primary gift.
Some people are more outgoing than others. So, they may be best suited for certain speaking gifts where others who aren't as outgoing are probably better suited for service gifts. But that can change along the way as I grow and mature. I don't believe we understand or even possess all our gifts from the beginning.
We might have a different primary gift depending on what season we're in. As a new Christian we might start out being gifted and serving in one capacity and as we go along in the faith and get more connected and involved we start to see where we're gifted in other areas.
And maybe we have one primary passion when we come to Christ but as time goes on we see ourselves gravitating toward a new area. Not that we stop using the gift we were using before, but the primary attention may shift and so our primary gift changes. It's all good.
But we do need to answer the questions: what am I passionate about? What am I good at? Where do I feel led to serve? What am I doing now? Maybe you're already using your main gift but don't realize it. You're already encouraging people or helping people a lot but you just haven't identified it as your gift.
Sometimes we might misidentify our gifts. We can do this when we feel passionate about doing certain things but that's not where we're gifted. We might try to teach or preach or whatever but when we do it's obvious (to others more so than ourselves) that we're not gifted in that area. So we get discouraged and upset. Humility will allow us to accept that and move in a different direction to discover what gifts we do have.
And it can be the other way too. There might be things we're gifted in but not too passionate about. Say you're at an event and you see someone who is really good around kids. The kids just gravitate toward them and they interact with the kids well and then you approach them and mention that they're gifted in that area and that they should work with kids. But they tell you they really don't have any interest in that. They're gifted but not interested.
We should pray about that because if God has gifted us in a certain area and it's been identified he will want us to use that gift. If we focus on what God wants for us we will be better off. Because if we just keep trying to do something we really want to do even though we're not gifted in that area we will just go on being frustrated when we aren't put in that position.
And if we don't do what God wants us to do because we're not passionate about it we're not using the gift he has given us and therefore we're grieving the Holy Spirit and putting out the Spirit's fire.
How you would feel if you bought Christmas presents for your kids and they said, 'thank you', but just laid them aside without opening them? Or they did open them but grumbled and complained about what they got and just left them there and walked away. You wouldn't feel very appreciated. You would feel hurt and disappointed.
God has carefully chosen specific gifts for his precious children. How are we responding to those gifts? Are we using them the right way? Are we focused on serving the common good (Rom. 12:7)? Are we looking to use our gift to build up the church (1 Cor. 14:12, Eph. 4:12)?
Next week I'll start getting into the specifics regarding each of the gifts so hopefully we can determine what our gifts are and determine how and where they can be put to good use.
