WE ARE DIFFERENT
I Corinthians 12:7-11
S: Spiritual Gifts
C: Our possession of spiritual gifts
Th: Live the Difference
Pr: WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN GIFTS TO BE USED.
?: How? How are the gifts given?
KW: Ways
TS: We will find in our study of I Corinthians 12:7-11 four ways the gifts are given.
The _____ way is…
I. INDIVIDUALLY (7)
II. CORPORATELY (7)
III. VARIOUSLY (8-10)
IV. PERSONALLY (11)
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Rejoice in your gifts
• Understand that gifts are not for your personal benefit
• Use your gifts to build the body
Version: ESV
RMBC 12 September 04 AM
INTRODUCTION:
How do you react to gifts?
ILL Notebook: Gift
Jo Ann was trying to impress upon her first grade Sunday school class the importance of individually receiving God’s gift of salvation. She thought a simple illustration might be helpful. "What do you do when someone gives you a birthday present?" She asked.
One little girl was quick to answer: "You say, ’Thank you’ – unless it’s clothes. Then you put a really sad look on your face."
Well, hopefully, you know how to graciously receive a gift.
And we all know, that as one grows older, we don’t mind receiving clothes either.
I love to get socks, ties and BMWs ( a blue Z5 would be preferable).
TRANSITION:
As believers in the Lord Jesus, and recipients of the Holy Spirit…
1. WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN GIFTS.
We have been noting the last two weeks that we have been given, charismata, spiritual gifts.
The beginning of this Greek word is charis, which is the word for grace.
This means that the gifts find their source in God’s grace.
He has graced us with them.
As far as a definition goes, we are using the one from the Network material by Bruce Bugbee…
2. Definition: Spiritual gifts are special abilities distributed by the Holy Spirit to every believer according to God’s design and grace for the common good of the body of Christ.
Last week, as we began our study of I Corinthians 12, we learned that when it comes to our spiritual gifts…
3. We are not to be ignorant about them.
If we are dedicated to growing in our knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and how He has graced us, we must be in tune to what He has given us.
We are to be intelligent about it.
We are to know what our gifts are and how they are to be used.
We also learned that…
4. We are always to be biblical.
The spiritual gifts that we receive are not to be used to bring attention to ourselves.
Because they come from the Holy Spirit, their intention is to be used in such a way that honor is brought to the name of Jesus.
If the use of the gift does not proclaim Jesus or build the body of Christ, the church, it is not of the Spirit.
You see…
The church is always to be about Jesus.
This is what distinguishes us.
This means then…
5. We are to be characterized by unity.
Spiritual gifts are a tool graciously given to us to help unite us and bring growth to the body.
This was something the Corinthians had forgotten.
For in their use of the spiritual gifts, they mistakenly came to the conclusion that some gifts were superior to others.
Therefore, in their thinking, those that possessed these gifts were better Christians than the others.
This was, of course, totally false.
As we come to our passage today, we are answering the question of ‘how?’.
How are the gifts given?
And as we answer this question, we will begin to reveal the error of some of their conclusions.
So…
6. We will find in our study of I Corinthians 12:7-11 four ways the gifts are given.
[7] To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. [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. [11] All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
OUR STUDY:
I. The first way is INDIVIDUALLY (7).
1. Each one of us is a recipient of a spiritual gift.
Again, as a believer of the Lord Jesus, you have been given a spiritual gift.
Now, be clear on this.
You did not earn it.
It does not give you status.
We are all alike in that it is a part of God’s design for the Christian.
He has blessed each one of us with a spiritual gift because of His grace, not because we deserved it.
You may remember during the last two weeks, I have used an acrostic for the word “shape” to describe our make up as believers.
S stands for spiritual gifts.
H stands for heart, that which we have a passion for.
A stands for abilities, those things we are born with.
P stands for personality, the “how” we are made.
And E stands for our experiences.
[repeat again]
When we go back to the “S” for spiritual gifts, I believe it can be said that…
2. Our “shape” likely involves more than one gift.
Some have more than one, and perhaps two, three or more.
So that for many of us, we have a blend of gifts, just as we have a blend of talents and abilities, just as we have a personality blend, as well as differing passions and interests.
He has made us different.
We are different.
We are different from each other.
I also believe that it may be possible to receive one particular gift, and then another one later in our Christian journey.
One person has testified that they felt they had a particular gift at one time, but at a later time, they no longer possessed it.
Whether gifts are permanent, whether they lay dormant, or whether they can be removed is not spoken to by the text.
So, we are only speculating.
Nevertheless, I believe it is our responsibility to be in tuned to where we are at this moment, so that we know how God wants us to function in His body.
Do remember that spiritual gifts are not the same as abilities and talents.
But I do believe that there is a vital relationship between them.
Spiritual gifts enhance our talents, and in some ways, even sanctify them, to make us even better fit for service.
During this evening’s service, we are going to introduce the Network material.
The Network approach to ministry helps us through various diagnostic tools to develop an understanding about ourselves and determine where we fit best in the church.
It helps us find our areas of strength and then match them to opportunities that exist within the church family.
II. The second way is CORPORATELY (7).
ILL Notebook: Obvious
A guy goes into the doctor’s office. There is a banana stuck in one of his ears, a carrot stuck in one nostril, and a cucumber in the other ear.
The man says, “Doc, this is terrible. What’s wrong with me?”
The doctor says, “well, first of all, you’re not eating right.”
You know, some things are really obvious, aren’t they?
In much the same way…
1. Our gifts are to be visible and detectable.
They are, as the text puts it, a manifestation of the Spirit.
Spiritual gifts are not be guesswork.
They are to be demonstrated and used.
When spiritual gifts are being used in the body, people notice.
We notice that spirit activity is taking place in our midst.
You see…
2. Our gifts function for the well-being of the body.
Spiritual gifts are for building our community.
Though the gifts vary and they are diverse, this diversity does not threaten unity, rather it is to produce it.
Each gift, and each blend of gifts, is given for the community of believers.
They are given so that the body will be strong and able to function as it should.
The diversity of the gifts enables the church to accomplish its mission.
So though we differ, we supplement and complement each other.
We are not individual contractors.
Rather, we work cooperatively, for a common cause, the furtherance of the gospel.
We now come to…
III. The third way is VARIOUSLY (8-10).
Note this…
The Holy Spirit is not stuck in a rut!
He works in diverse ways, and here in this text, we have an incomplete list of the charismata.
The first gift mentioned is wisdom.
1. Wisdom
It is interesting that this is first on the list as wisdom was held in high regard in Corinth.
This is one of the difficulties that they were having.
As self-made men and women, they thought they were already wise.
But Paul notes that true wisdom comes from God.
It is a gift.
Those that have this gift are able to make skillful and practical applications of God’s Word and His mind to situations.
Alongside of this is the gift of…
2. Knowledge
These two gifts are close in how they are used, but this gift’s emphasis is on the content.
It is the special ability to study God’s Word, and in so doing, discover the full meaning of the text, words, and phrases.
People with this gift often gain special insight that is often missed by others.
Their teaching is often characterized as inspired as they are able to provide understanding for the body that they would not have had otherwise.
The next gift is…
3. Faith
The spiritual gift of faith is a supernatural conviction that God will reveal His power or mercy in some way.
People with faith have an intense ability to trust God, especially when times are difficult and demanding.
When these gifted people are faced with overwhelming obstacles and situations that seem like human impossibilities, they are the kind that practice faith that moves mountains.
In the history of the church, Hudson Taylor and George Mueller were these kind of people.
Their stories are worth reading and knowing.
Next we come to…
4. Healing & Miracles
These two are companions in that they have obvious results, which are easy to testify to.
Healing is the curing of sickness and disease.
Miracles are the supernatural intrusion into the natural order.
There are some theologians that believe these gifts ended with the death of the apostles.
They believe this because the primary purpose of these gifts was to establish the credibility of the church.
Once that was done, they were no longer needed.
While this view, for me, has some personal appeal, the Scriptural evidence for such a view is not very strong.
I believe it is best to not attempt to box in the Holy Spirit and recognize that He is free to act as He wills, when He wills.
So again, if these gifts continue to exist in the church, they are the type of things that are obvious.
I believe it is hard to have the gift of healing or miracles and people not notice.
Now we come to…
5. Prophecy
Have you ever been in conversation with someone, and you seem to have the right words at just the right time, and you have no idea where those words came from?
And you wonder how you said what you did?
It was as if all of sudden it came to you.
Perhaps, it was the gift of prophecy.
I know that many of you think that to have the gift of prophecy means that you can predict the future.
But that is a misunderstanding of the basic meaning of the word.
For to be a prophet, one must speak God’s words.
It is that simple.
This means that a prophet is a person that speaks God’s words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
The person with the gift of prophecy never works in a frenzy.
They don’t need to work the crowd.
They are able to speak clearly to any given situation.
Everyone understands what the prophet means, and sometimes, all too well!
For the prophet tells it like it is.
But please note that it is not the gift of criticism.
The person who has this gift is able to build and encourage other individuals or the body as a whole.
Sometimes the message might be positive.
Other times it might be negative.
This means that if God gives you something to say, you are not to hold on to it.
We are not to keep life giving information to ourselves.
Interestingly, as we come to chapter 14, it is a gift that may be available to all believers.
As we come to that text, we will share the implications of that.
Now we come to…
6. Discernment
The person with the gift of discernment is able to distinguish what is from the Spirit of God and what is not.
They are able to differentiate what is genuine and what is spurious.
We need people in the church with this gift.
We need people who are on the alert that can expose error and lies – even to the point of recognizing when psychology, philosophy and popular thinking have caused a departure from God’s Word.
Even more important is the sensitivity to evil and demonic activity.
People with this gift are our homeland security and their role is vital to the church.
Now we come to the gifts that were really a problem in the church of Corinth…
7. Tongues & Interpretation
The gift of tongues is the gift of language that is not known by the speaker, but, I believe, is to be known to someone.
The first appearance of tongues happens in Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit comes on the disciples and they go out and speak to the crowds in Jerusalem.
The gift of tongues is a demonstration of the power of the Spirit with a very specific purpose.
It is evangelistic in intention, a sign for the unbeliever, so that they may clearly hear and understand the gospel.
For the Corinthians, they needed to understand that those that had the gift of tongues were not superior to other believers.
It was a gift to grow the church.
But no one was to be left out in understanding to what was going on.
The gift of interpretation was also to be active, so that everyone would be on the same page.
The gifts of tongues and interpretation are to be active at the same time.
Now we come to…
IV. The fourth way is PERSONALLY (11).
ILL Notebook: Gift
When Sophie’s mother moved from Manhattan to a rural area in Connecticut, she missed the Yiddish newspaper, The Forward, she had been reading for many years. So Sophie and her sisters decided to give her a subscription as a gift.
Sophie phoned The Forward and explained to the woman who answered that she wanted to buy a gift subscription for my mother.
To Sophie’s surprise, she heard this crisp reply, “We don’t do gift subscriptions. We’ll set up an ordinary subscription for your mother and then you write her a nice letter and tell her it’s a gift. She’ll love to hear from you.”
You have to love the encouragement for that personal approach.
Well, the Holy Spirit works with us in the same personal way.
You see…
1. The Holy Spirit deals with us specifically.
God is personally involved in who you are.
And He is personally involved in who you are becoming.
So He distributes the gifts according to what fits best for us.
For…
2. We are designed according to the will of God.
The gifts we receive are just as He determines them to be.
The gifts we receive are just as He sees fit.
You see, this is not some smorgasbord or buffet and we pick and choose what we want.
We are not just given spiritual gifts.
They are assignments for us, according to His design for the body of Christ.
Spiritual gifts, then, are the ultimate expressions of God the Spirit’s sovereign action in the life of the believer and the community as a whole.
APPLICATION:
As individuals…
1. Spiritual gifts are to be appreciated and enjoyed.
When we are using the gifts as they are designed, we will find fulfillment.
Think for a moment…
When you give someone a gift, especially when you have put a lot of thought and love into it, you don’t want the recipient to put it into a closet, right?
You don’t want them to return it, right?
The same is true for the Holy Spirit.
Each gift He gives is important.
It is important to you.
It is very important to the body.
You see, we have not only been given gifts…
2. WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN GIFTS TO BE USED.
So use what you have been given.
Don’t fail to do your part!
Don’t get caught on the sidelines looking in.
Demonstrate that the Spirit is in control.
Allow the Spirit, through the use of your gifts, to bring unity to this church body.
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Rejoice that God has graced us with gifts from His Spirit – it is great to know that God would give us that which is so good.
Understand that God has graced us with gifts that are for the benefit of the whole – we don’t use them to bring attention to ourselves.
So use your gifts, for they are given to build the body of Christ, so that we might be a people that are Spirit-controlled, so that we might be a people who are determined to be a kingdom people.
Now, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
RESOURCES:
Blomberg, Craig, The NIV Application Commentary
Fee, Gordon, The New International Commentary on the New Testament
MacArthur, John, I Corinthians
Sermoncentral
“Gifts of the Spirit” Curtis Kittrell
“The Gift of the Word of Knowledge” Donna Kazenske
“Who? Me? A Disciple? Spiritual Gifts” C. Scott Ghan
“The Gifts Go On” Dan Erickson
“Spiritual Gifts” Melvin Maughmer, Jr.
“Rejoice that You Are God’s Gifted People” Christopher Raiford
