“The Gifts of the Holy Spirit” (Part 1 of 3)
1 Cor 13:8-10; Romans 12:1-8
INTRODUCTION
For several years American presidents have focused attention on what has been called America’s greatest wasteland: the vast potential of young men and women who, because of inadequate resources or other obstacles, are never privileged to get an education or further develop their talents.
In many slums and ghettos are young people far above average in intelligence and natural endowment, but who will grow to be a “drag” on society because they will never realize their native potential.
In recent years a sense of national guilt and repentance has led sincere political and moral leaders to advocate and establish programs whereby every young person may have the opportunity to develop his divinely granted potential.
The Biblical concept of stewardship likewise embodies this concern for the recognition of human ability, its maximum development in every individual, and then the individual’s involvement in carrying out God’s purposes.
For the church there exists also a vast wasteland of undeveloped, untapped human resource. Waste is sin, brethren, so we must address ourselves to being good stewards of our gifts, talents, and abilities.
The stewardship of our talents includes …
(1) an honest, objective effort at the evaluation of our talents;
(2) a sincere attempt at developing our basic abilities; and
(3) a willing involvement of our lives and gifts in the kingdom of God and Christ.
Today and the next two Sundays we want to consider the gifts God has given to each of us. We want to understand them, unwrap them, and then use them for His glory. As we begin to study this subject of spiritual gifts, let’s first look at …
I. THE OVERALL TEACHING OF THE SCRIPTURE ON IT.
The most obvious thing, both from our own experience and from a thorough study of God’s word is that …
A. GOD HAS GIVEN EVERYONE VARIOUS TALENTS AND ABILITIES.
Paul is very emphatic about this. He says: “Each person has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that.” (1 Cor 7:7) “To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (1 Cor 12:7)
“Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly.” (Rom 12:6) Peter also had a word to say about this: “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” (1 Pet 4:10)
Isn’t it strange that princes and kings
And clowns that caper in sawdust rings
And common people like you and me
Are builders for eternity?
Each is given a bag of tools,
A shapeless mass, a book of rules;
And each must make ‘ere life is flown,
A stumbling block or a stepping stone. (#465)
What are we doing with the tools God has given us?
God has given us these gifts -- to enable us to be a blessing and a help to others. Nobody in the church is merely average. God’s Spirit is in us to provide us with gifts, talents, and abilities to serve Him. (#406) John McKay, the former coach of the U.S.C. Trojans, once said that it is not the superstars who win most football games, but average players giving their best.
In a little town in the Swiss Alps there is a monument with two figures on it. One is a cultured scientist, the author of many books. The other is a poor Swiss peasant, an alpine guide. Together they conquered a great mountain. The scientist’s name made all of the newspapers, but the monument contains both figures because the great scientist could never have made the ascent with the humble guide.
Beginning with the crude manager of Bethlehem, no message is clearer in the New Testament than this one: Christian faith is the celebration of ordinary people who come to possess a very extraordinary power. When you are asked to serve God in some capacity, don’t talk yourself out of a great opportunity by saying, “I’m too old,” or “I don’t have enough education,” or some other personal put-down.
In the play, “Green Pastures,” God asks Gabriel to recruit a leader and Gabriel asks in return, “Do you want the brainiest or do you want the holiest?”
God answers, “Get me the holiest. I’ll make him the brainiest.”
God can give you the ability. What He can’t give you is the faithfulness. That must come from within. That is why God always prefers the holiest to the brainiest. The first disciples that Jesus called were ordinary men. Each one of us are ordinary people that God has made extraordinary by giving us gifts and talents through His Spirit. He’ll take care of the ability if we’ll take care of the availability -- a willingness to serve.
1. WHAT ARE THESE GIFTS … the Scripture writers speak about?
First of all, …
a. THEY ARE VARIED.
Spiritual gifts are the talents and abilities God has given us for meeting the needs of others. You noticed how each of the Scriptures I read emphasized that our abilities were to be used for the other members of the body of Christ.
Jesus had all the abilities needed to meet all the needs around him. But not any of us have all the gifts needed to meet all the needs around us. We have gifts that differ. This is where the “body” concept of the church comes in. As the body of Christ we are to exhibit and continue the life of Christ upon the Earth.
If you and I, as individuals, do not have all the abilities Jesus had, how can we function the way He would if He were here? In attitudes and desires all of us can function the way He would.
“But in activities we need each other. Like cells in a physical body, we join our abilities with the other members in Christ’s body in co-operation and co-ordination. Then together, with every member working in unity, we function as the body of Christ, meeting all kinds of needs around us. It is the total church that is to meet all the different kinds of needs in an area -- not an individual person.” (Discovering My Gifts” Staton, p. 14)
Most people want the benefits of the church -- but they refuse to be a benefit to the church. But God has placed us in the church as He desires -- and has given us the gifts that those around us need. When we fail to use and employ those gifts, the church is incomplete and unhealthy -- like a human body with a hand or foot that doesn’t work. We need each other in the church. (#414)
There is an old rabbinical parable about a king who once assigned a blind man and a crippled man to guard his fruit. The crippled man said to the blind man, “What lovely fruit. If only I could have some.”
The blind man said, “I cannot find it, but if you will get on my back and lead me, we can both share in the fruit.”
The king returned and saw his fruit gone. “Where is all my fruit?” He asked.
“How can we say?” the two guards answered. “One of us is blind and cannot see it, and the other is crippled and cannot reach it.”
The truth of the matter is that all of us have areas in our lives in which we are blind. All of us have areas in which we are crippled. One of God’s ways in helping us deal with our inadequacies is to give us each other, a helper suited for our needs. We draw on one another’s strengths and assist one another’s weakness. We need each other -- and the leaders of the church need you -- we need your talents and abilities to enable the church to grow. (#394)
A coveted award among U.S. Air Force Fighter Squadrons is the Hughes Trophy. The trophy is presented annually to the top squadron among some forty units in the world. When the 67th Tactical Fighter Squadron of Okinawa won the award, it was attributed to the human factor. One officer explained: “The people are important. You form a lot of close relationships in a unit like this and you don’t want to let somebody down.”
Another noted, “When someone sees something that needs doing, he gets up and does it.” The strength of a church rests on the human factor. When each part is working properly, growth results because needs are met. (Eph. 4:16)
The work of the church is never a one-man show. The church is to live in the community much like a ball team plays on the field. If they are to be winners, it takes a team effort. Every member has something to contribute.
Remember the U.S. Hockey Team who won the 1980 Olympics arresting the nation’s attention as they beat the Soviets and others? Coach Herb Brooks admitted that, man-for-man, they were inferior to most of the teams they beat. But together, as a team, they won it all! Just so in the church -- the one-man team is not Biblical. Every member is a much-needed minister. Nobody is a nobody in Christ’s body -- we each have gifts and abilities from God.
b. THERE ARE THREE CATEGORIES (OR TYPES) OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS …
mentioned in the New Testament Scriptures. The Greek word for these gifts is “charismata,” and there are some 25 different gifts mentioned in the New Testament. I personally don’t believe that the Bible intends to give an exhaustive list of all spiritual gifts, but that these 25 are representative of all the gifts. There are probably many spiritual gifts other than these.
As we consider the ones listed in Scripture, the first category of gifts is what we might call …
i. UNIVERSAL GIFTS, …
gifts which every Christian has. Among these Universal gifts the New Testament mentions: justification (Rom 5:15-16); eternal life (Rom 6:23); God’s mercy toward us (Rom 11:29-31); the desire to be married or single (1 Cor 7:7); and answered prayer. (2 Cor 1:11) These are “charismata,” that have obviously been given to every believer.
A second category is what we might call …
ii. FOUNDATIONAL GIFTS.
These are the gifts of a that are called “sign” gifts in 2 Corinthians 12:12. They were gifts miraculous nature by which the apostles and prophets of the New Testament confirmed and validated that they were speaking God’s message. They also were given to many of the early Christian leaders to help them in their worship and proclamation, to give the new church a strong foundation in a short period of time since the Bible had not yet been written.
These gifts are listed in 1 Corinthians 12 as the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, distinguishing of spirits, speaking in foreign languages, interpretation of these languages, apostleship, etc.
It is my present conviction and the conviction of the elders of this congregation that the need for these “foundational” gifts does not exist in the same way today that it did before the New Testament was written and made available in a complete form to the church.
The basis for this opinion comes from Scripture itself. In the primary passage that speaks of such “sign” or “foundational” gifts Paul himself says that such gifts will cease. In our text we read: “Love never fails; but where there are prophecies, they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophecy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with.” (1 Cor 13:8-10)
The big debate is when they will cease, when they will be “done away with.” In this passage Paul is speaking about the “sign” gifts that he had just mentioned at the end of chapter 12. He particularly mentions three gifts: miraculous knowledge, such as Peter exhibited when he knew Ananias and Sapphira had lied about their money in Acts 5; speaking in tongues (or foreign languages), such as we see on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2; and prophecy, which is speaking by revelation from God.
The apostles, Paul and the twelve, each possessed these miraculous sign/foundational gifts and were able to confer them to others by laying their hands on them. Thus when Paul and Barnabas went about starting churches on their missionary journeys, they were able to select leaders for those churches, lay hands on them, and give them these gifts, even though they had been Christians only a short time.
This proved to be a great blessing to the early church for two reasons:
(1) Unlike today, there was a very limited number of trained leaders for the church. The apostles could be in only one place at a time, so when they established churches, and then moved on to start others elsewhere, by leaving men in these churches with these foundational gifts, they could move on rapidly to start other congregations and didn’t have to stay two or three years in one place teaching. That’s why we call these gifts foundational gifts -- even though Christianity was a new religion, churches could be given a fast and firm foundation through these gifts.
Secondly …
(2) Also unlike today, we must remember that these churches did not have the Bible to study, to learn from, and to refer to for answers to their questions about the church and the Christian life. Therefore, these gifts -- especially of knowledge, of discernment, and of prophecy -- were of great value. The prophet was God’s word. As in the Old Testament days, God’s people could go to the prophet to learn God’s will on any particular matter. That’s why Paul tells the Ephesians (2:20) that the church was founded upon the apostles and prophets.
Today, their words, recorded for us in the pages of Scripture, serve as the foundation of our life and faith. But in that day, each apostle, each church, and each prophet, only had a part of God’s total message. The Galatian church had the letter of Galatians. The Ephesian church had the book of Ephesians, and so on. That’s what Paul was getting at when he said, “We know in part, and we prophesy in part.”
John had a part of God’s complete revelation. Paul had a part. Peter had a part. But “when the perfect is come, the partial will be done away with.” It’s unfortunate that this Greek word is translated as “perfect” in most versions, because it does not mean what we usually understand by the word “perfect” today.
When we say perfect, we usually mean “morally pure,” “without fault or defect,” “absolutely sinless.” The Greek word used here is usually translated “complete” or “whole,” “achieving the end or goal or purpose for which something was designed.” That’s what Paul had in mind here, because he contrasts it with that which is partial or incomplete.
What he’s saying is that in the apostolic days God’s revelation was partial. The various apostles and prophets each had a part. But when the complete revelation had come (i.e. when the Bible was available as a whole) each church would have God’s total revelation. The partial would be done away with.
At that time prophecy -- along with the other foundational gifts -- would cease to be needed by the church in the same way they were earlier. By that time -- somewhere around 100 A.D. -- God’s word would be circulated to the churches so that it would become the final authority for Christians both individually and corporately. That’s why John tells us in the end of the final New Testament book, the book of Revelation, that we must not add to or take away from God’s word. (Rev 22:18-19)
If prophecy -- and keep in mind what prophecy is -- it is not foretelling the future, it is speaking by revelation from God -- if prophecy is still a valid gift from God, then the Bible is not complete. It is still being written. This is the basic idea that has spawned most of the cults -- from Joseph Smith on down. Every cult has been started by someone claiming to receive revelations from God.
The very nature of a foundation is to lay it -- and then build upon it -- as Paul states in Ephesians 2. You don’t keep adding foundation upon foundation. In the end of Century One, as the apostles died off and could no longer lay hands on others to confer these sign gifts (and we have no examples of the gifts being given in any other way) … and as the complete word of God began to be the possession of every church, men and women could turn to it to grow in their faith and no longer needed the foundational gifts that the new church needed in its beginning stages.
I’ve provided you with a list of all these gifts in their various categories on your bulletin insert. We could spend much time discussing, debating, and determining all the sign gifts, but our present purpose is not to differ over a matter of opinion that is not all that important, and certainly not a matter of salvation. If you are interested in looking more closely at these gifts I would be glad to suggest some things for you to read, but today I want to concentrate on …
iii. THE FUNCTIONAL (OR SERVICE) GIFTS ...
gifts that are absolutely essential for the church to function as the body of Christ in our world, gifts that each of us possess, gifts that we must recognize and develop to reach our full potential as servants where God has placed us in His body.
These gifts are found in Romans 12: “For through the grace given to me I say to every person among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly; if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.” (Rom 12:3-8)
Here are the seven service gifts he mentions:
1. Prophecy
2. Service
3. Teaching
4. Exhortation (or encouragement)
5. Giving
6. Leadership (or administration)
7. Showing mercy.
But before we look at these in detail we need to answer the question:
2. WHEN AND HOW DO WE GET THESE GIFTS?
a. SOME OF THEM WE’RE BORN WITH.
Any ability a person has can be considered a God-given talent, even those things we have before we were converted. But before conversion a person tends to use these gifts for his own selfish purposes.
When a person receives the Holy Spirit at his submission to Jesus and baptism, he takes on a different perspective (he no longer looks at things the same way – his priorities change). He lives for a different purpose (to please God rather than himself). He becomes a different person (he shares the Divine nature). He has a different passion (the love of Christ controls him). (Staton p. 17)
As a new creature in Christ, he can use the abilities he’s been using for years with a new reason. For example, the businessman, the teacher, the accountant, the mechanic, etc. can now use those talents in a new way and with a new purpose. This is largely what the apostle Paul did (except for his sign gifts). Jesus established the church to be His agent in carrying on His work after He left this world. To help get it established, He gave special powers to the abilities already possessed by various individuals.
“God did not create a set of new human faculties to be used only in the church, but, rather, He created a set of new and unique functions to be performed only in the church. The special abilities needed to perform these functions are often man’s ordinary ones, illuminated, augmented, and directed by the Holy Spirit.” (Butterworth, Christian Standard, 10-28-73 p. 7)
It is also possible that …
b. SOME OF THESE GIFTS WE ARE BORN AGAIN WITH.
That is -- we may receive some when we are immersed into Christ and thus receive the Holy Spirit. Certainly all of the foundational gifts were specially and miraculously given.
A further thing we learn from a study of the word is that …
B. GOD EXPECTS US TO USE WHAT HE HAS GIVEN US.
The very purpose of each one receiving gifts and abilities from the Lord is that they be put to use. The greatest of all gifts is love and that should be controlling us in the use of all our other gifts.
Peter says, “Employ (them) in serving one another.” (1 Pet 4:10) To the Corinthians, Paul said our gifts were to be used “for the common good” (1 Cor 12:7) and “for mutual care.” (1 Cor 12:25)
The gifts and abilities we have are not for our own personal edification. Some years ago in Mississippi, a doctor taught a Red Cross course in lifesaving techniques and emergency medical assistance to a large number of ladies in the community. One evening a very serious accident occurred right in front of the home of one of these ladies. At the next meeting, the lady told the doctor that in the midst of that emergency she was so grateful for the Red Cross course. She said, “It was horrible -- there was blood on the street, bruised bodies and broken bones. I was so glad to have had your course!”
The doctor said, “Were you able to use what I taught you?”
“Yes” the woman replied. “I put my head between my legs and breathed deeply, and do you know that I never even felt like I was going to faint!” (#396)
That’s often the problem in the church -- we turn inward and use our gifts for ourselves. What we have, God expects us to use for others and for the edification of the church -- the body of Christ. Think about this:
Who flew the kite?
“I did,” said the sticks.
“I did,” said the paper.
“I did,” said the boy.
“No, I did,” said the wind.
But they all flew the kite together. If the sticks had broken, the tail caught in a tree, the paper torn or the wind had lulled; the kite would have come down. Each had a part to play. The application is inescapable. We each have a work to do. If the work of the Lord is to be a success, then every member of the church must do their part. We have the work of witnessing, serving, giving, preaching, teaching, and countless other jobs to do to make the church and its work successful. We must all work together and each do what he can to help. It is a matter of teamwork. (#286)
Paul said it this way: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers.” (1 Cor 3:6-9)
All we need to do to see that God wants us to use these gifts -- and, indeed, that we shall be judged if we fail to use them, is to look into the teaching of Jesus. In the Parable of the Talents and in the Parable of the Pounds, the stewardship of our gifts was the primary teaching. (Mt 25:14-30; Lk 19:11-27)
There, Jesus was dealing with monetary amounts, but the principle of application is the same. The Matthew 25 story goes like this: It was a common thing back in Jesus’ day for a wealthy man to go off on long trips and leave his possessions in the charge of some trusted servants. So that’s what this man did.
To one servant he entrusted five talents -- a talent was a weight of silver worth 6,000 days wages -- so this fellow was getting 30,000 days wages -- that’s 85 years and 3 months worth of pay -- roughly equal, in today’s buying power, to about $1.6 million ... no insignificant sum.
To another he gave two talents -- equivalent to about $640,000 and to another -- one ($320,000). These servants were responsible to use and handle wisely what they had been given for they would be called in to give an account when the master returned.
We must correct the distorted modern notion that all men are created equal. That all persons are of equal value in the sight of God is true. But only in a very restricted sense are all men created equal.
Some people are highly endowed at birth; others come into life with less native ability. Some have minds quick to learn and grasp new truths; others are slower to learn. To this basic difference or inequality of people from birth we must add the factor of unequal environmental background.
Individuals are not equal, either from nature or nurture, and the church needs to recognize this as we seek to involve every member in a meaningful ministry. Not all can preach – but all are to be a witness to influence others.
The story of the talents shows us that every person has some ability and is responsible to use what he does have. In the church, everyone is indispensable, the 10-talent person as well as the 1-talent person. In the parable, the man who had five talents ingeniously utilized what he had and made five talents more. Likewise the two-talent man doubled his original portion.
The master honored them when he called them to account, saying “Well done good and faithful servant; you were faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”
But the man who’d been given one talent had gone and hid it, because he feared his master. To him, the master said, “You wicked and lazy slave ... you ought to have put my money in the bank and them I would have at least received my money back with interest. Therefore take away the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten talents. For to everyone who has shall more be given ... .but from the one who does not have, even what he has shall be taken away.”
Jesus is saying, with respect to our gifts and abilities: “Use them or lose them.” Use them and you’ll receive more, waste them and what you have will be taken away. Burying one’s talents is a grave mistake.
The great violinist, Nicole Pagannini, willed his marvelous violin to Genoa, the city of his birth, only on the condition that it not be played. It is a peculiar wood in that as long as the violin is used and handled, it shows little wear. As soon as it is discarded, the wood begins to decay. The exquisite, mellow-toned violin has become worm-eaten in its beautiful case, valueless except as a relic. The moldering instrument is a reminder that life, withdrawn from all service to others, loses its meaning.
Jesus taught this in a dramatic and unforgettable way. He said, “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for Me and for the gospel will find it.” (Mk 10:45) If a life is to remain useful, it must be lived in service to others. If you want your life to have joy and meaning, if you want to retain your value and your worth and not disintegrate into a worthless relic, you must serve and remain active. The perfect example of that is found in the life of Jesus who came “not to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.” (Mk 8:35 - #84)
Jesus, please notice, introduces a new standard of judgment and evaluation. The final basis of approval or disapproval will not be “How much,” but rather “How faithful.” To the measure that God has endowed us with abilities, to that same measure we are accountable.
Note that I didn’t say to the measure we think God has endowed us, but the measure He has endowed us. We are responsible not only to use the talents we obviously know we have but we are to seek to discover and develop latent talents and abilities which we may be unaware that we possess at the present time.
Nobody is a nobody in Christ’s body. The one-talent and two-talent person is just as important as the ten-talent person is. The amount is not so important -- it is the use that makes all the difference.
Are you putting to use the talents and abilities and gifts God has given you in service to others or are you using them merely for yourself -- or not using them at all? What are you doing on earth for Heaven’s sake?
Perhaps you need to work through the Spiritual Gifts inventory that we give to all our new members to help you discover your gifts for service and begin to put them to use. I would certainly encourage you to take our 301 class, “Discovering My Ministry” when we offer it June 3 because we’ll help everyone determine how God has S.H.A.P.E.d you for ministry.
For the next two Sundays, I’ll be describing some of these gifts God has given us and how they can be used in ministry and service for Christ and the church. Plan now to come and learn what these gifts are – that you might understand, unwrap, and put to effective use the gifts that God has given you.
Perhaps you are here this morning and have never yet given your heart and life to Christ. You have not yet received the Holy Spirit into your heart and received His initial gifts of grace, mercy and eternal life.
