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Spiritual Gifts: Part III

Spiritual Gifts: Part III

 

Alright, this has been a fun “mini-series” for my blog. We will close it out today with Part 3. The chapter we have been studying begins by Paul stating his desire that this wild church at Corinth would stop being ignorant about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I believe there is a lot of ignorance even today about these gifts.

 

Paul masterfully addresses the subject in question in chapter 12, writes chapter 13 about the superiority of love over any gift (one of the major problems still…no love), then addresses the protocol necessary for the functional use of the gifts in public.

1 Corinthians 12:3-6

3            Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.

4            There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.

5            There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.

6            There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.

 

It is important to realize the context here because clearly Paul is identifying the potential for people to misunderstand the gifts because they do not percieve the use of them the same as someone else. I will say this before I continue. Christians, that is people who follow Jesus Christ, need to come together more than ever in the world we live in. Arguing over doctrine damages the Body of Christ. It also weakens the Body of Christ. If you find a Christian that believes differently than you it is apropriate to discuss it with them once or twice, but Titus Chapter 3 tells us that we waste our time arguing when a persons mind is set.

 

So, the Spirit manifests Himself in various ways. 1 Corinthians 12 goes on to list 9 different “spiritual gifts”. I am going to categorize them according to their function and I will them elaborate on each a little further.

 

First, there are three vocal gifts.

The vocal gifts are those expressions of the Holy Spirit that say something.  The vocal gifts are: prophecy, different kinds of heavenly languages, and the interpretation of those languages.

 

1.     Prophecy-  Prophecy is the ability to hear and speak a word directly from God that, edifies, exhorts, and comforts others. (I Corinthians 14:3) It is spiritual, not intellectual, such as the natural ability we also have to discover the truth and the skill to figure out how and when to share it.

2.     Different kinds of languages- Acts Chapter 2 tells an incredible story of Jesus disciples receiving the promise of the Holy Spirit that He had been referring to. (John 7:38-39) In this instance the Spirit came upon them and they began to speak in other earthly languages. Those that heard them each understood in their own native tongue. Paul also refers to other types of spiritual languages in 1 Corinthians 14:13-18. Here there is a personal prayer language that he is talking about where his understanding is unfruitful but his spirit is edified, then there is a corporate spiritual language that he is giving directions to Corinth about. This is an unknown language that needs interpretation. Let’s look at point #3…

3.     Interpretation of languages- If someone spoke out publically in a service in an unknown language it would be confusing to everyone there if there was no explanation for the babbling. In my previous reference to 1 Corinthians 14 Paul even says let he that prays in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret. So, there is the personal level of interpreting your own prayers in a heavenly language and there is the corporate interpretation of a heavenly language spoken in front of others.

 

* It is best to never speak in an unknown tongue publically unless you are absolutely certain you are able to interpret it yourself. Knowing this, prophecy is superior in that it eliminates the possibility of ruining a service by some strange utterance that is not interpreted. This disclaimer includes praying in your prayer language publically. If unbelievers hear you (or Christians with different beliefs) it can destroy the ability to move forward in that service.

 

Second, there are three revelatory gifts.

The revelatory gifts are those insights of the Holy Spirit that enable people to know something.  The revelatory gifts are: the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, and discerning of spirits.

 

1.     Word of wisdom- Let’s not make this more complicated than it is. This is supernatural wisdom on how to deal with any situation. If God has ever moved in your life and you walk away saying, “Wow, I just said that?”, you probably just had a word of wisdom.

2.     Word of knowledge- The Holy Spirit will give His people supernatural information at times, things people could not have otherwise known. It can be regarding anything. When Jesus told the woman at the well that she had 5 husbands plus the one she was living with, that was a word of knowledge.

3.     Discerning of spirits- Being able to spiritually recognize the motives in peoples hearts is a direct gift from the Lord. Romans 8:27 refers to the Lord as “He who searches the hearts”. When God shares that information sometimes it is to warn or protect us, other times it is to give us peace about a person. This is one of my favorite gifts. What a tool for living life!

 

Third, there are three power gifts.

The power gifts are those manifestations of the Holy Spirit that do something.  The power gifts are: the gift of faith, the working of miracles, and the gifts of healing.

 

1.     The gift of faith- Ephesians 2:8 tells us that we are saved by grace through faith. All believers have some measure of faith. The gift of faith is a supernatural measure of faith to believe for things that we would otherwise be unable to believe for. There are times when we feel hopeless but God instills such great faith in us that He is going to do something amazing. This is not some great trait of our own, it in fact a gift of the Holy Spirit.

2.     The working of miracles- I’ve heard it said, “If you don’t believe in miracles don’t worry, you won’t get one.” The dictionary defines a miracle as “an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause.” Each believer has access to the gift of miracles. John 14:12 challenges me as much as any verse in the Bible. I need the gift of faith to embrace it fully. It says, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” Jesus did some amazing things. He also gave us His own authority to do those things and greater things.

3.     The gifts of healing- Jesus not only healed people, but his followers did the same. Isaiah 53:5 tells us that His suffering purchased our healing. This gift is two-fold I believe. One aspect is the ability to receive healing from the Holy Spirit for any sickness at any time. The other is the spiritual gift to encourage others in receiving their healing.

 

 

I believe that the greatest use of all the gifts is in the personal day to day life of the believer. If every believer exercised these gifts in their own personal life with regularity, not only would the corporate use of the gifts be more effective and reliable, but believers would be much more mature and full of faith.

 

All these gifts function in the realm of faith.  They are received by faith, and they are exercised in faith.  They are not signs of "spirituality," but they are a sign of faith and believers should strive for spiritual maturity as they incorporate them into their lives. The use of the gifts should NEVER replace personal prayer time and time spent growing in God’s Word.

 

If any of these gifts confuse you please do not be discouraged. God gave them to you because He loves you and wants to bless you. Pray about them. Ask God to give you greater understanding. Receive them and exercise them in faith and the desire to be a great blessing to those around you and to the church.

 

Be encouraged in your faith! Wow, that took a long time =) 

Spiritual Gifts: Part II

Better to Receive?

If God gave you a gift would you receive it? That is the question I ended Part 1 of this blog with. I think when the question is asked with no context, almost anyone would enthusiastically say, “Yes!” God has, in fact, given us many gifts. Salvation is the greatest gift of all.

Rom 6:23



23            For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I am happy that I received God’s gift of salvation. When it comes to the gifts He has given us there is such an awesome degree of intentionality on His part. It makes me want to treasure the gift all the more. As a shepherd, or a pastor, I appreciate the gift God has given me to help lead people closer to Him, to watch over them and to build them up. We see in this scripture that the Lord gave these gifts, which are many times are vocational, specifically so Christians could be built up.

Ephesians 4:8, 11&12

8            When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.

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,

What is really cool about God’s gifts is that He never regrets giving them. (Think of gifts you’ve given ex’s…Grrrr)

Romans 11:29

29            For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

I am trying to stress how special we should feel when offered a gift by God. The true value of a gift is when it is received with joy.  

In the final installment of this blog on spiritual gifts I will address the gifts themselves and I will try to outline their functionality for the individual believer and for the church as a whole.

Until then get in a receiving kind of mood ;)

Spiritual Gifts: Part I

A Wild Church

<sub>1 Corinthians chapters 12, 13, and 14 have always been so awesome to me. Let me explain why. The church Paul was addressing the church at Corinth, one of the most immature, enthusiastic, sinful, yet hopeful churches imaginable. They were messing everything up. They didn’t know how to do communion. They were going wild using spiritual gifts without order. They were having orgies and yet still showing up to worship passionately. They were trying to one-up all the other leaders in the church with their deep spirituality while still practicing extreme paganism. These people were wild, but they loved Jesus. They were new in their faith but they didn’t quit just because they were doing it wrong. They kept pushing forward (with the help of one extremely wise apostle).

In these chapters you find an amazing story of Paul explaining the “gifts” of the Spirit to these energetic people. The context of these chapters is one of rationale and gentle correction. He is not chewing them out. He is lovingly explaining why they are doing things wrong and how to get a proper perspective.


Go!

"Spiritual gifts” is really a beautiful term. I love gifts. Most people do. I also love giving gifts. At Christmastime, my favorite part of our tradition is handing everyone their gifts from me and saying, “go”. (Ok.OK. receiving an autographed Bobby Bowden helmet doesn’t exactly stink). It is generally rather insulting to the one giving a gift if the other person will not accept or receive that gift. In Nigeria I had a precious, hard working man that came up to me with a huge smile on his face after my teaching that night. He explained that he had been liberated by the message and he would never be the same. He took off his watch and put it in my hand. It was a gift. My first thought was to graciously decline but I looked into this mans eyes and saw through his adorable toothless smile that this gift represented much more than a watch,  and to receive it would mean the world to him. I put this cheap watch on my arm and watched the tears stream down his face in gratitude. I received it gladly.

I am going to write a part 2 for this topic and I will explain some of the functions of the gifts for our lives. I felt it was best to start the concept with the framework so you can meditate on what a gift is.</sub>

_{If God gave you a gift would you receive it?}

_{Part 2 is coming soon…}