The topic of Spiritual gifts often leads to confusion among
believers. As I have spoken to others about spiritual gifts, lots of questions
arise. These questions include:
1.
What
is the Purpose of Gifts?
2.
What
are the types of Gifts?
3.
How
do we get the Gifts?
4.
What
should our attitude be towards our gifts and other believer’s gifts be?
5.
Are
certain gifts more important than other gifts?
6.
How
do you find your spiritual gifts?
7.
What
about tongues, prophecy, and healing?
We spent two Sundays on this subject; therefore expect lots
of post on this subject. Instead of jumping straight into everybody’s favorite
book of Corinthians let’s look at what the other parts of Scripture have to say
about Spiritual gifts. You will notice key similarities between each section of
Scripture.
Romans 12:3-4
A few things jump out at me from this passage.
Romans 12:3 “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 measure of that that God has
assigned.”
1.
Sometime
we all need to bought down a little. Our view of ourselves is often not
correct. Sin is a funny thing. It puffs up self! Sin tricks us into thinking of
ourselves as more special and important than others believers in the church.
Philippians chapter 2 is a great text to read about humility. Are you prideful?
Here are some ways to see. Do you always have to win or be right? Do you always
have to win an argument? Do you forgive others easy or do hold grudges? Someone
has said that pride is at the root of all sin. Our attitude is very important,
just as how we treat others is very important. How do people view you? Would others
view you as a prideful or humble person? So the first aspect of spiritual gifts
to consider is….humility!
Romans 12: 4-5 “For as in one body we have many members, and
the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body
in Christ, and individually members one of another.”
2.
The
second point to observe is Paul always compares the human body with the church
and gifts. My kids just got done studying the anatomy. (They even dissected a
pig!) Just as the human body has a heart, spleen, big toe, eye, ear,
skin, and blood that works together so our body can live and function, so the
church uses different gifts that believers have to build each other up and
encourage each other to live for Christ. That means in a local church there
will be different gifts. Not everyone will have the same gift. Each gift is
important and needed for the church to function! The skin is just as important
as the liver, the lungs is just as important as white blood cells.
Romans
12:6
“Having
gifts that differ according to the grace given to us….”
3. God
gives the spiritual gifts that we have! It is that simple. God, by His grace,
gave me a spiritual; He gave my wife another spiritual gift, and gives you
another spiritual gift. Remember Ephesians 2:10, “We are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we
should walk in them.” Before the beginning of the world (Eph 1:4-5), God, in
His Sovereignty, chose each believer for
adoption into His kingdom (Eph 1:5), and He prepared what good works you and I
come to Christ! That means, PRIDE, can’t raise its ugly head. You and I cannot
take credit for the good we do with our spiritual gifts, God always, gets the
credit and the glory! Just like in our salvation. We did nothing to believe in
Jesus, nothing! We were dead in our sins (Eph 2:1-4).We cannot take any credit
for our salvation and we cannot take any credit for the good we do.
Romans
12:9-13-14
4. This
section of scripture is how we relate to other people. The next verse after the
context of spiritual gifts is…….”Let love be genuine.” Again, how we treat is
very, very important. Do you love other believers as you love yourself!
These are all common themes found in
sections of scripture that talk about spiritual gifts.
As I read this section, I prayed that God would convict me of my pride and cause me to love other believers, in my church, with a more genuine love - I pray the same for you.
