Friday, May 18, 2018
Spiritual gifts
1 Corinthians 12:1
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant:
The power that Jesus promised and the signs that He promised would follow our ministry, are now understood to be delivered through the spiritual gifts that are given to the Christian community today. Spiritual gifts are always a basis for debate and often, a cause for discord. This is not a new development. The efforts by the Apostle Paul in his first letter to the church at Corinth establish that this debate and discord existed then too.
Paul opened his discourse on the subject of spiritual gifts by declaring that the first thing to be dealt with is ignorance. That remains true today too. The absence of clear and systematic teaching on the matter of spiritual gifts is the biggest contributing factor to the confusion that follows.
It is the clear teaching of scripture that spiritual gifts are not for a special few. It is also clear that the exercise of spiritual gifts is not a spectator sport for those who don’t have gifts to watch the performance of others who do, “but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all” 1 Corinthians 1:7. Ultimately, everyone in the church must grow up to maturity and find their gift and ministry.
It would, therefore, be our duty to be informed about the gifts, to get past the ignorance referenced by the apostle in our key verse today. In addition, we are to have a passionate desire for the gifts, the apostle makes this point repeatedly in the letter, “Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” 1 Corinthians 14:1 but also 12:31 and 14:39.
Beyond desire we are encouraged to use the gifts, The Apostle Peter emphasised this, “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” 1 Peter 4:10. And those who know what spiritual gifts they have and might have exercised before but don’t, the admonition is to rekindle those gifts. “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” 2 Timothy 1:6
People come to our churches every week with needs, pain, hurts, troubles, and with decisions to be made and they are in need of ministry. They are longing for a word of knowledge or wisdom; they are desperate for a hand of healing; or they are looking for a prophecy to guide them; and sometimes looking for a miracle. Different people, saved and unsaved, members and non-members, needing help, support, someone to stand with them, and other times to stand up for them.
We, the children of God, are to minister to each other in the church, and to those others in need, through the gifts of the Spirit that we each have received from our heavenly father.
Instead, church too often becomes a selfish place where the believer is only after the pursuit of their own experience. Sometimes, during times of worship especially, some persons get caught up in their own experience of the presence of God and run around, or wail or dance or however they feel free to express themselves, but there is not the same passion or expressiveness of ministry to others in need.
The ministry of Jesus stares at us in contrast. For example, immediately after Jesus had the experience of the Transfiguration on the high mountain he was pressed into the service of those in need. “And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” Matthew 17:14-16.
Some of the key limitations to the free operating of the gifts of the spirit in many churches are often unbelief, inexperience, insecurity, and sometimes, fear.
It may be surprising that churches or people in them harbour unbelief about the gifts of the Spirit, but it exists. Hardly does anyone in a church declare that they do not believe in the gifts of the Spirit, but if you judge conduct you would recognise that they don’t really believe that these gifts would operate. (This does not include those who doctrinally are in the camp of the cessationists who believe that the era of the gifts has come to an end.)
Inexperience is a result of the unbelief and fears that have led to so many churches where the gifts of the Spirit are not being identified, nurtured and activated in the assembly. The result is that even gifted people don’t know what to do. The fears also lead to the insecurity that many have about what could be the outcome of any attempt to exercise the gifts of the Spirit.
In the absence of the operation of the gifts of the Spirit, many aspects of our worship and church life become a routine, leading to boredom or worse disorders. Also, an absence of the operation of the gifts of the Spirit leaves our individual faith unproductive.
Unfortunately, many people come to church regularly but their daily lives, relationships, and decision making are made up of and supported by, worldly wisdom, worldly reasoning and worldly fears that fill the vacuum left by a church without ministry through the gifts of the Spirit.
Think on these things:
- Have you ever been in need of ministry from someone operating in one of the gifts of the Spirit?
- Do you know your gift or gifts of the Spirit and have you ever attempted to activate them?
- Do you think that the gifts of the Spirit are regularly identified, nurtured, and activated in ministry in the church that you attend?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we would have a desire for the operation of the gifts of the Spirit in our lives and in the ministries where we are placed.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex
