For a number of years renewal has been occurring in the church. This renewal is taking place across denominational lines. The church is once again turning its attention to the Gifts of the Spirit. This is demonstrated by the phenomenal interest in Rick Warren’s best selling book The Purpose Driven Life. One of his main emphasis’ is the idea that “God has given each Christian a Gift of the Spirit to aid us in accomplishing God’s purpose for our lives. The churches that seem to be growing are those who recognize and invite the Holy Spirit to implement the various Gifts of the Spirit.
Most of the conversation has been good. However there are occasions when the discussion has been divisive. This division occurs when a group tries to argue that particular gifts of the Holy Spirit are necessary to prove ones salvation. Some have unwittingly imposed some sort of spiritual caste system that maintains certain gifts are more important than others. On the other hand there have been individuals or groups ridiculed or even ostracized because they have experienced certain miraculous gifts such as speaking in tongues. The result has been confusion, embarrassment, even fear.
There are individuals in this room who want to know more about the Gifts of the Spirit but have been led to think that the topic is off limits to “main line churches” such as the United Methodist Church. The result? We have kept our questions to ourselves and the church misses out on some really neat gifts.
I have a special delivery message for you this morning: The “Last Will and Testament of Jesus Christ” has been probated and as a Christian, your name is in it. You have a gift, an inheritance, that has been given to you. It is yours whether you claim it our not.
What is my objective this morning? For some it is to ease your fear about “Spiritual Gifts.” To assure you that it is not about “voodoo” stuff. For others it is to spark an interest in learning more about the spiritual gifts and to motivate you to learn what your spiritual gifts are. My goal for all of us to realize that God has given each of us a special part of himself and we must make that “spiritual gift,” and all those Holy Spirit anointed talents available to the church.
The approach I am going to take is sort of a Q & A approach to the Gifts of the Spirit. We will address some of the questions that often come up about the Gifts of the Spirit.
What is meant by the term “Spiritual Gifts?
The only way I know to answer this question is by saying that spiritual gifts are special abilities given to the Christian by the Holy Spirit. As the term "gift" emphasizes these special abilities are given to us freely. They are not something that we earn. We receive them as a part of our salvation. The Holy Spirit decides who will get which gifts. He gives them out at his own good pleasure. We do not suddenly decide that we are going to have a certain spiritual gift like we would choose cereal from the grocery store. The Holy Spirit in his own wisdom and by his own choosing decides which gift we will or will not receive.
Spiritual gifts are divine abilities given to every Christian, by the grace of God, through the Holy Spirit, to be used to serve and strengthen one another, and to glorify God.
Now this raises another question:
Is there a difference in a spiritual gift and an individual talent?
We all know people who have special talents. Some have the ability to do wonders with music. Others may have a talent for handicrafts such as quilting or sewing. Some can take a canvas and a paintbrush and create a masterpiece. For others a piece of wood becomes a beautiful kitchen table. I have known people who can take a group of total strangers and organize them into cohesive team. Most individuals have talents of one kind or another. Are these things or abilities the same thing as a “spiritual gift?”
I am one of those who believes that every talent or ability has its source in God. The writer of James said, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who
does not change like shifting shadows.”
It is God’s desire that each of us would take whatever talent we have and make it available to him. These things are to be a part of our sacrificial giving to God just as surely as when we put money into the offering plate.
But talents are not the same as a “spiritual gift.”
What makes a spiritual gift distinct from a talent is that God owns the results. A talent can be used for good or bad. The person has a choice in how a talent is used. A spiritual gift is an empowerment of the Holy Spirit. The spiritual gift and will often work through a talent or ability.
Let me try an explain. A person may have the natural talent of public speaking and has no fear of standing before a crowd and can be very persuasive. It is a talent that can be used advocate anything from abstaince to legalized prostitution.
It is a talent that can be used effectively in the church. It is when the Holy Spirit gives us our spiritual gift that the individual talent takes on real life. For example if the Spirits’ gift is “compassion” then the talent of public speaking can be used to move people to respond to a specific need. If one has the spiritual gift of prophesy then one may be lead to preach.
A person may have the talent of music, or sewing, or medicine, or agriculture--bestow the gift of evangelism or helps and you will see these abilities used to lead others to Christ.
What makes spiritual gifts distinct is that God owns the results. God gets the credit, because what is accomplished is beyond our own abilities. This is why I often say that when we clap in church we are not applauding a performance or a person. That is lifting up a talent instead of giving thanks to God for what has happened. He owns the results.
This leads us to another question,
What are the Spiritual Gifts mentioned in the Bible?
The New Testament lists the gifts of the Spirit in four passages: Romans 12:6-8; I Corinthians 12:8-10; Ephesians 4:11 and 1 Peter 4: 10-11 (Peter is a duplicate of the other three). The Ephesians text lists five: Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher. 1 Corinthians 12 lists the additional gifts: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues, helps and administration. Romans 12 adds these: leadership, exhortation, giving and mercy. As you can see, depending on how you break them down there are somewhere around 19 various gifts.
Each of these gifts are special in their own way. We do not have time to go into a discussion of what each of these various gifts involve. What we need to realize is that if we are a Christian at least one of the these gifts is ours. Each gift is important and is just as necessary as the others.
But "What is the purpose of Spiritual Gifts?"
Surely the Holy Spirit has a reason for giving all these various gifts. The Holy Spirit has a purpose for everything that he does.
In Ephesians 4: 12, Paul stated that the purpose of these spiritual gifts is, "for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry (NIV service), for building up of the body of Christ." In other words, God has given each of us a ministry to perform and supernatural gifts to do it,
In I Corinthians 12:7, the apostle Paul states that the gifts are given "for the common good." We are not to use them selfishly. Instead, we are to use them to encourage and build each other up.
Rick Warren put it this way:
“God gave me a gift,
not for me but for you,
and God gave you a gift,
not for you but for me.
If you don’t use your gift,
you’re depriving me;
if I don’t use my gift,
I’m robbing you.”
Paul often referred to the church as being a body. Our body has many parts. We have hands, feet, ears, legs and so forth. Each part is vital to every other member. The hand would have a difficult time reaching out and taking a glass of water if it did not have the eye to guide it.
The church is a spiritual body. We each have a special service to perform and a spiritual gift to assist in accomplishing it. It is the spiritual gifts that unite us as a body and enable us to function as a well tuned organism.
Sometimes we have a tendency to refer to "the ministry" as "our ministry". We forget that we do not have a ministry of our own. It is Jesus’ ministry. It is the church’s ministry and we work within it. If we do not use our gifts for the church then the church becomes like a body that has been handicapped and is unable to do what it was created to do. The gifts are given for the church not for individual recognition. On our own we can accomplish little. The Holy Spirit realizes this, and has given various gifts and talents that must be shared in order for the church to be what God intended it to be.
One of my favorite passages about the Gifts of the Spirit is found in 1 Peter 4:10-11.
The writer of Peter reminds us that the Gift we have is intended to be shared with the entire body of Christ.
Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. 11Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies,
Then Peter states the real purpose of a spiritual gift: “so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.”
The Holy Spirit gives us our “spiritual Gifts” so that God will be glorified. So that people will look and say, “That could not have been of them. It had to be God doing that.” This is why God longs for us to allow our spiritual gift to anoint our natural talents; so that others will say, “Wow! God is it that!”
How Can I discover what my Spiritual Gifts are?
--prayer --class --booklet --online
I have tried to answer some questions you may have about the “Gifts of the Spirit.”
Now I have a question for you? As a Christian, you have a spiritual gift, probably several of them. Are you using them? Are you developing them into something valuable?
One of Ripley’s "Believe It or Not" items pictured a plain bar of iron worth a mere $5. The same bar of iron if made into horse shoes would be worth $50. If it were made into needles, it would be worth $5,000. If it were made into balance springs for fine Swiss watches, it would be worth $500,000. The raw material is not as important as how it’s developed. God says we have spiritual gifts, but their worth to Him will be dependent on how we develop them.
We each have a natural talent. In our own hand it is a plan bar of iron. Think what it could be if you turn it over to Christ. Imagine what could happen when we discover or spiritual gift and join the two together.
“Awl, Pastor! You do not understand! What few gifts I have are so insignificant." Each gift is important.
One of Aesop’s fables is about an old crow who was out in the wilderness and became very thirsty? He had not had anything to drink in a long time. He came to a jug that had a little water in the bottom of it. The old crow reached his beak into the jug to get some of that water, but his beak wouldn’t quite touch the water. So what did he do? He started picking up pebbles one at a time and dropping them into the jug. And as more and more pebbles accumulated in the bottom of the jug the water rose in the bottle until finally the old crow was able to drink all that he desired.
This is a parable of the way God has chosen to work out his plan in our world. Each of us dropping in our own little pebble: teaching that Sunday school class, sending that get well card, serving on a committee, providing transportation, visiting a lonely neighbor; utilizing the gifts that are ours, to serve in the ways we can, may not seem all that important at the time, but as the pebbles accumulate in the bottom of the jug, and the water rises, God builds His kingdom and brings his plan to fruition. You are important!
I am reminded of a little three year old girl who was celebrating her birthday. As her presents lay on the table she picked one up and began to shake it, trying to guess what special treasure was enclosed. She shook the package so hard the big red bow fell off. In a burst of inspiration, she picked up the bow, placed it on her head and exclaimed to her father, "Look at me, Daddy! I’m a present."
Remember--you are important--not only do you have a special spiritual gift, you are a gift from God!
