SPIRITUAL GIFTS Gifts of Grace for the Building up of the Church Pastor Mike Matheson As the Holy Spirit dwells in us He imparts to us wonderful gifts of ministry and service to every Christian for the benefit of God s church. This is all by God s grace. Defining Spiritual Gifts Spiritual gifts are a variety of ministries given to believers for the building up of the church, energized by the indwelling Spirit as an act of God s grace. 1. A variety of ministries. 1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed 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. [gift, service, activity used interchangeably] And here s what I mean by ministry - this is sort of a definition within a definition but I think it s helpful here - all of ministry basically boils down to this: prayerful, Spirit-filled, speaking to one-another and serving one another. I know that s really general, but all ministry can in some sense be boiled down to that. There are a variety of ways in which we can prayerfully speak to one another and serve one another, but ultimately these varied gifts and activities all come down to speaking and serving. We see this in 1 Peter 4:10-11 as well. Peter is talking about spiritual gifts and he says, As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks as one who speaks the oracles of God; whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies -- in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. So here, the general framework of gifts being basically about speaking or serving seems to be a biblical distinction. So as the Spirit distributes gifts, there are a variety of ministries - a variety of ways of speaking and serving. 2. Given to believers. Basically, what we re saying is that every believer is given spiritual gifts. It is not the case that some are given gifts and others are not. 1 Peter 4:10 says, As each has received a gift
1 Cor 12:7 says, To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit Everyone who is in Christ Jesus by faith has also been given the Holy Spirit and gifts which are manifestations of the Spirit. At the same time that doesn t mean that all believers will be given all the gifts or that all will be given the same amount of gifts or even the same amount of one particular gift. In other words, two people may have the exact spiritual gift but the Spirit may cause the manifestation of that gift to be more influential. Paul says that all the gifts are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. (1 Cor 12:11) This is also means that if someone has a uniquely influential set of gifts or a really influential manifestation of one particular gift that person must not be arrogant about it and we shouldn t we envious or neglect to the gifts and measure that we ve been given. God distributes gifts according to his own good will and desire and purposes. In Romans 12:3 Paul says For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith God has assigned 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them So, spiritual gifts are a variety of ministries given to believers, but given to all believers and in varying degrees. 3. Energized by the indwelling Spirit. There is a real specific reason I include this in the definition. Spiritual gifts are not God giving us something external to himself. When I give a gift I go buy a gift that is external to me and I give it to somebody. But spiritual gifts are not like that. Spiritual gifts are God giving us himself. Spiritual Gifts are God himself taking up residence in us and working in us, energizing us in such a way that when minister God the Spirit is is someway disclosed for us and others to see. That s what Paul is saying in 1 Cor 12:4-11. [Read] 4. As an act of God s grace. We need to remember that God gives us these gifts as a pure act of his grace. We don t deserve these gifts; we can t earn these gifts and because the gifts are really bound up with our receiving the Holy Spirit by faith in our conversion there is a sense in which the gifts are bound up with our believing in Jesus - who saves us by His grace. In fact, even the biblical word that is most often used for spiritual gifts is more literally translated grace gifts. In 1 Cor 12:1 Paul says Now concerning spiritual gifts which is where we get the term. But then in 12:4 and really from then on he uses the Greek word charisma which is simply a gracious work of God. (Note: charis is the Greek word for grace) The plural form of this gracious work is charismata. That s where we get the term charismatic. Later
on we ll talk about different views of the use of spiritual gifts or grace gifts today in the church, but one of these views is considered the charismatic view. I want to argue that this is somewhat unfortunate because technically speaking there is a sense in which every believer has been a recipient of God s gracious work, thus every one of us is in some way charismatic. I would love to be able to reclaim that very biblical term.. but we ll see. But we do need to remember that spiritual gifts are absolutely God s gracious gifts to us. The Purpose of Spiritual Gifts The primary purpose of spiritual gifts is the building up of the church. These grace gifts are for helping others, not personal fulfillment. Now, you may have noticed that I skipped one clause in my definition of spiritual gifts. That was intentional because I wanted to give it its own heading. One of the clauses speaks to the purpose of spiritual gifts and I want to give this its own heading because this is one area that churches really seem to have a tendency to get off track. So I want us to give some extended attention to this. Spiritual gifts are given for the building up of the church. Again and again we read in scripture that the primary purpose of spiritual gifts, the primary reason and motivation for using the gifts God has graced us with is to build up the church. Paul says, To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good (1 Cor 12:7). For the common good. The primary reason God s gives individuals gifts is not for the sake of the individuals but for the sake of everybody. Peter says, As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ (1 Pet 4:10,11). Or how about what Paul says in Ephesians 4: 7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ s gift 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ The bible consistently shows us that the primary purpose of spiritual gifts are for the benefit of others and the building up of the body. Now, why do I make this such a significant point. Here s why: I think that sometimes we approach spiritual gifts primarily through the lens of building ourselves up. Sometimes that can be so much the case that we wrongly think God gives us gifts according to his grace just so that we can serve ourselves or feel good about ourselves. That doesn t mean its wrong to be edified by your own gift. Its not wrong to be edified or to seek to be edified by your gift - but if
that is your primary purpose than you have it wrong. So here s how this difference often plays itself out. If you approach the gifts as being primarily about you then you ll almost immediately then ask yourself, What do I like to do? Even in the process of discerning God s gifting it will be self-oriented which is not how its supposed to be. And then what usually happens is, through a subjective process of asking yourself what you like to do you might identify some gifts that you think you have and then very often the next step is, Because I have identified (again, often subjectively) this gift it is someone else s responsibility to give me an opportunity to exercise this gift whether that means the church in general or specific leaders of specific ministries. And if you can t find an opportunity or an outlet for your gift then you ll be frustrated or you might even end up being critical and divisive. And in this pattern what was give by God to build up actually tears down. That s what was happening in the Corinthian church. Everybody was enamoured by one particular gift so everyone wanted that particular one and people started fighting over it and it ended up tearing down and being divisive. That s why Paul says right in the middle of the whole discussion, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church (1 Cor 14:12). So rather than beginning with, What do I like to do or want to do? and then looking for opportunities it should be the other way around - you should begin by asking, What are the needs and opportunities that I see in front of me maybe God is calling me to serve the body in this way and just maybe he will give you a gracious energizing of the Holy Spirit in that opportunity. And we ll talk more about this next as we talk about the specific gifts and how to find your gifts. But for now we need to realize that spiritual gifts aren t primarily about us as individuals - they are primarily about building up the whole church. So Spiritual gifts are a variety of ministries given to believers for the building up of the church, energized by the indwelling Spirit, as an act of God s grace. With all that in mind let s look at the specific gifts that we see in scripture. What are the Spiritual Gifts? (1 Pet 4:11; Eph 4:11; Rom 12:6-8; 1 Cor 12:28; 1 Cor 12:8-11) This is a difficult topic to teach on both because of disagreements but also because scripture doesn t give us one single list of all the gifts. In the NT there are about 5 places that list spiritual gifts - none of the lists are identical; some of the gifts appear in more than one list. In some of the lists it seems like there may be significant overlap between gifts that are give two different names. So there are probably gifts that are listed that we don t know an awful lot about and almost certainly there are gifts of the spirit that are not even listed. That s why we have be cautious but also gracious, always remembering that the purpose is to build up. With that in mind I have compiled a list of all the gifts that are mentioned. I will give a very brief description of each. Keep in mind entire books have been written about just one or two - so this will be very general.
1. Administration (1 Cor 12: 28). Administration has to do with organizing and directing people and information and programs and details in an orderly and efficient manner. God is a God of order and He graciously empowers others to bring order for the benefit of the body. 2. Apostles (Eph 4: 11). Now there can be a lot of confusion about this one. There is a difference between capital A Apostles - who were the twelve chosen by Jesus, many of whom were the human authors of scripture, and all of them were witnesses of the resurrected Lord Jesus. Lowercase a apostles is different. A lowercase apostle is someone that is given to the church to move around from place to place, establishing churches and ministries. Today this can look like church planters and missionaries but also pastors who are gifted in such a way that their influence extends beyond their own church and influences others pastors and leaders and churches and so on. This could also be someone who really enjoys starting ministries, acting as a sort of pioneer, forging the way, all of which energized by the Spirit. 3. Discernment (1 Cor 12:10) This is also called the ability to distinguish between spirits. This is the God-given ability to perceive whether or not something is good or evil; whether it is from God or from Satan or even just merely human. So, what is interesting with this gift is that it is usually associated with the exercising of another gift. So for example, the working of a miracle or a word of knowledge or a prophecy or teaching. God in His grace will empower some if his people to exercise spiritual discernment being able to distinguish the origin or the truthfulness of an act or a message or so forth. In 1 John 4:1 John says, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God So every Christian is called to be discerning and to test the spirits - to test if something is from God and true, especially by comparing it to scripture. But, there will be those who are empowered by the spirit to do this in a unique way. 4. Encouragement (see Exhortation) 5. Evangelism (Eph 4:11) This is the God-given opportunity and ability to powerfully and boldly proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, especially to non-christians. Someone with the gift of evangelism tends to see opportunities to share their faith with others, where others may not. 6. Exhortation (Rom 12:8) This gift involves motivating and encouraging and really moving others along in their faith toward maturity in Jesus. There is a sense in which preaching is exhortational, but we see this gift being exercised independently from preaching & teaching and often in the context of personal relationships. 7. Faith (1 Cor 12:9) This is different than saving faith, which is also a gift of God and a result of the gracious work of the Holy Spirit. But when we say the gift of faith in terms of spiritual gifts we are more so referring to a God-given supernatural ability to trust God to
accomplish something among us and particularly in ministry. [Faith & Healing?] 8. Giving (Rom 12:) Once again, all Christians are to give as part of their worship. Yet sometimes the Spirit enables someone to give of their money or wealth or possessions in a very generous way. The Spirit often energizes people to see all that they have and own as a gift from God to be used for blessing others. 9. Help (1 Cor 12:28) This is the ability to come alongside somebody and help them to accomplish something. The Spirit moves in such a way that someone sacrificially and humbly helps others, possibly relieving a burden from someone else. [E.g, kitchen] 10. Healing (1 Cor 12:8-9) This is just what it sound like - a supernatural, Spirit-given healing of the sick. There are those who believe this is no longer available to the church today and we ll talk about those different positions, but for now I just want to define what the gift is. Also, its important to point out that if someone has the gift of healing that does not mean they can call upon that at any time and heal anyone of anything. This is true even when the Apostles preached and healed everywhere they went. Remember God does as he wills, even with spiritual gifts. So just because someone can t heal all the time or in any situation does not mean this gift is not available. 11. Hospitality (Rom 12:13; 1 Pet 4) This is the gift to welcome people and strangers into the church and especially into your home. This is another example of something Christians are to do with one another. This is also a requirement for elders in the church to show hospitality. 12. Knowledge (1 Cor 12:8) So this one is really hard. All we have is the word knowledge to go on. There are some who say this is the God-given ability to research, learn, remember and use information for the building up of the body. This might be the case. However, the specific phrase is the utterance of knowledge and it appears with utterance of wisdom. In some places in the bible knowledge is more about information and wisdom is more about how to live, but in 1 Cor Paul uses them pretty much interchangeably. So there might not be any difference between these. So, word of knowledge might be the ability to communicate something about the natural world or about spiritual things. But it might be a revelation from God about a person s life. Likewise, word of wisdom might be the ability to give insights into life but it also might be a revelation from God about what a person should do. I really can t say much more than that
definitively. 13. Leadership (Rom 12:6-8) The Spirit will give some clear vision and direction and the ability to articulate and communicate that vision and ultimately influence people toward that vision. Leadership is about influence. 14. Miracles (1 Cor 12) This is basically when someone calls upon God to do something supernatural and God in his grace reveals himself through some kind of extraordinary way. Like the gift of healing, this is not the kind of gift that one could exercise at their own will. 15. Mercy (Rom 12) This is the ability to demonstrate great compassion and sympathy to those in great need or great distress. People with this gift are often great counselors; they are often great at understanding other people s situations and so on. 16. Pastors (Eph 4:11) This is the God-given ability to shepherd people. This is different than the role of pastor/elder. This is more about the ability that anyone might have to protect, guide, and feed and lead others. 17. Prophecy/Prophets (Eph 4:11; 1 Cor 12) This is another difficult one and there are different positions. There are some who would say that prophesying is nothing more than expounding scripture or preaching. And in one sense this might be the case. Preaching and teaching are a bit different from one another. Preaching is a bit more exhortational - this is what God has said. But, from the overall flow of scripture prophecy might be quite more than that. I think much more likely is the case that prophecy is basically the reporting of a divine revelation. Or, as Wayne Grudem has said, the reception and subsequent transmission of spontaneous, divinely originating revelation. In other words God reveals something to somebody, something that is obviously consistent with scripture, but not something that is necessarily in scripture. Which is why these gifts work together - someone needs to test it and distinguish the spirits. So, it doesn t mean that someone gets to say, God said therefore I can do whatever I want. That is not the case. And at the end of the day, God gives pastors and elders to the church to oversee and to lead. God would not give a revelation that is contrary and divisive. In scripture we commanded to pursue this gift for the edification of the church. 18. Service (Rom 12; 1 Pet 4:10-11) - Same as Helps) 19. Speaking (1 Pet 4:10-11) This is probably any of the word oriented gifts and others we don t know about.
20. Teaching/Teachers (Eph 4:11) This is simply the Spirit-enabled ability to instruct others in the Christian faith. It involves understanding and communicating biblical truth to others. It can be in the context of a class or large group, but it can also just be one-to-one. 21. Tongues/Interpreting Tongues (1 Cor 12) Speaking in tongues is simply the Spirit-energized ability to pray, worship, or give thanks in a language other than your own or one you learned in school. By itself it does not edify others and should be restrained to personal use, as one speaking to God in prayer and praise. Interpreting tongues is simply the Spirit-given ability to interpret the Spirit-energized speaking of another language not your own. 22. Wisdom (1 Cor 12:8) Again, some would define this as the ability to synthesize biblical truth and apply it to someone s life like teaching or even shepherding. Again, we don t have tight definitions so this is the best we can do. There may also be overlap with discernment here. How do I find my Spiritual Gifts? Not with inventories! Inventories only tell you what you like to do. Spiritual gifts are different. They are ministries for building up the body. Instead, look for opportunities and needs, serve, and let them find you by praying that the Spirit might energize you in a unique way to exercise this gift. As you look around in the church do see you a need for organization and collecting and managing details? Have you ever felt a particular burden to guard and protect and define the truth, particularly using the scriptures? Have you ever had a quick evaluation about an event or a message that others could not see but turned out to be true? Can you think of someone right now that you have a relationship with or regular contact with that does not know Jesus Christ? Could you intentionally invest in that relationship? Do you sense that the Spirit might be leading you to share Christ with that person? Do you currently know someone in need of encouragement? Do you know someone who is struggling with disappointment and discouragement? Do you know anybody that seems stuck - on the same exact place in their Christian life? So you can ask yourself, do you see any significant obstacles that only God could overcome here at Grace Church? Has God given you a strong confidence or trust that He is going to overcome them? Do you ever find that you are strangely comforted and confident when
things seem impossible? Do you know of anyone that has a financial need that you could meet and therefore build up the body of Christ? Right now Grace Church is real need of volunteers in the nursery. You do need to pass a background check but otherwise if you can chase a kid around you can help. Also, we need two volunteers to serve with our Friends class, an adult special needs class that meets every other Sunday morning. Again all we need is for someone to show up and be there to help - no other skills require other than helping. Any takers? Do you know someone who is sick that you can pray for and lay hands on and even ask God to heal them? Do you like welcoming people, having people over your home, feeding them and entertaining them? Do you anyone who would be blessed by sharing a meal with you in your home? Do you know someone who is hurting or needy? Do you often feel a strong sense of compassion for those who are struggling? Do you know of any other Christian you could meet with regularly to encourage them in their faith? Do you enjoy studying and reading and writing? Do you find that other s seem to understand more about scripture after talking with you? Do you know of anybody that you could meet with in order to study scripture together? Perhaps someone younger in the faith?