What is your Spiritual Gift?
That is a question that I have been asked almost my entire life. It is a question that when I first got here I asked many of you. We want people to serve in the area of their “giftedness” and so we can spend a great deal of time, energy, and resources helping our church members determine their spiritual gift. Now I want you to understand that Scripture teaches there are spiritual gifts. It teaches that we should earnestly desire certain gifts of the Spirit like prophecy. But today’s passage is not trying to get you to ask, “What is my Spiritual Gift?” It is trying to get you to see the power behind your service.
Today’s passage is 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. As you turn to that passage, I want you to begin thinking of things that you are involved in within the church. As you think of the things you are involved in, I want you to begin thinking about HOW it is that you do these things. (Read Passage)
The people of Corinth had been deceived before. Paul reminds them that they were led to idols as objects of their worship. Now they know that the idols could not speak to them. Now they know that idols cannot see, or walk, or talk, or smell, or taste, or do anything at all. After being led down the wrong path once, how would the Corinthians know that they were heading down the right path now? This is a valid question for us today. Believe it or not, there are fads in the church. Things become popular. Programs come and go. With the rise of every new program comes a group of people who think it is the best thing since sliced bread, while others say it is of Satan. How are we to know? How can we tell when something is of God, and when something is trying to lead us to another dumb idol?
In verse 3 Paul gives us some help. See that “therefore” at the beginning. That tells us that we have to pay attention to what was said right before it. Paul is saying, because you were led to these false idols before, I now tell you what it looks like when something is of the Spirit of God. If it puts down Jesus Christ, if it curses the Son of God, then it is definitely not of the Spirit. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit work in perfect harmony with one another, and one part will not curse another. If it brings praises to the Son, declares Him to be Lord of all, then you can see the work of the Spirit. We can see this as saying, “Does it glorify God?” “Does it glorify the Son?” If something glorifies anything other than God, we are to have no part of it as it is probably leading us to something that is not real. But if it is declaring that Jesus is Lord, if he is the object of worship above all else, then we can be sure that God’s Spirit is behind it.
I would encourage you to use this standard against many philosophies of the world. Look at Relativism. It says it does not matter what you believe, as long as it works for you. Does this lift up Jesus, or push him to the side? Look at the New Age philosophy that says to find the truth you must look inside yourself. Does this lift up Jesus, or push him to the side? What about many religions around the world today that teach a system of beliefs that say if you work hard enough, do the right thing, then you can earn your way into heaven. Does this say Jesus is Lord of all, or does it say his death on the cross was not enough? If it does not glorify the Son, the Spirit is not in it.
Paul refuses to paint a picture of exactly what it looks like when the Holy Spirit is at work. We all know that the Lord works in mysterious ways. We do not always understand why He works the way He does. So instead, Paul gives a triad of statements that highlight the diversity of ways God works, but the unity of the Trinity. Verses 4-6 at a first reading might sound like Paul is repeating himself. It really helps here to look to the original language. In verse four you find the word gift. The Greek word behind this is “charisma” which means an unearned grace or gift of God. It is an ability, not just a talent, which is given to you by the Spirit of God. In verse 5 the word is “diakonia.” I hope when you hear that word you think “deacon” aka servant. The English word service, or ministry is meant here. These are the ministries or opportunities we are given to use the gift that we have been given. In verse 6 we have the word “energema” which is the working or operation of something. So put this together and you have the truth that God gives the gift, the opportunity to use it, and the power to put it into practice. But it is not just God the Father, but God in His completeness: The Same Spirit, The Same Lord, and The Same God.
This might be better understood if you can think of a nail gun. The Nail is the Spiritual Gift. It is useful for a specific purpose. The nail gun itself is the service or the ministry. It is how the nail or the gift can be used. The air compressor is the operation or the ministry. It is the force that empowers the whole thing. When all works together, it is useful and dynamic. If the Spirit is at work in your life, then your life will have a dynamic power that the world will not be able to explain.
Verse Seven is the heartbeat of the matter. “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” Many people are very talented, and you do not need to be a believer to have talents. The things of the Spirit are given to people not for their own self, but for the good of others. If you are a believer, you have something to offer the rest of us. You were not given that ability to make money for yourself, or to make yourself look good, or to become an important person in the church. You were given that gift for the good of the church.
As you were thinking about what you are involved in here at New Friendship, let me ask you, are you involved in things for the good of others? Are you being used in some way to benefit the rest of the church? It is only when you can say yes that you can be sure that you are using your spiritual gift. Paul includes a list here in these verses, and there are other lists in Scripture. None of them are exhaustive nor meant to be exhaustive. They are meant to demonstrate that God does not have only one gift to give but many. They come in different shapes and sizes. They are used in different programs, ministries, committees, and activities. Those are lived out in different ways in our lives. And God wants you to be a part of them not just for your benefit, but mine and everyone else here today.
We spend too much time trying to figure out what our Spiritual Gift is and not enough time asking God what He wants us to do. This passage tells us that gifts are given at God’s discretion, so your gift may be replaced with another one. If you only worry about asking God what you should do to serve Him, and then be obedient to respond, you will discover that He will gift you to do the task He has called you to do.
Newly retired Pastor Jerry Vines speaks of his call to the ministry quite frequently. He tells of taking an aptitude test to see what he was good at doing, and what vocation he should enter. The one thing he was not supposed to do is to go into a job that would require speaking to the public. God called him to preach. God gifted him to do just that. Most “Spiritual Giftedness Tests” try to figure out what your good at in a spiritual way. Then they encourage you to use that gift. I don’t want you to do that. I want you to ask God what He wants you to do, and then trust they he will be the driving force to make it happen in your life.
When I look back over my life, I have a lot of people to whom I am thankful. When I was young there was a music minister who pushed me musically. It was because of him that I began singing solos and much of my life has been influenced my musical activities. There has always been my father, challenging me to not just read about subjects, but to think about them. There were numerous Sunday School teachers who pushed me to memorize Scripture and compete in Bible Drills. There was a youth minister who pushed me to go to youth camps, one of which I accepted Christ as my Savior. Then there was Steve Russell, a pastor who let me watch him like a hawk and mentored me into the ministry. There was and is Craig Harris who gets in enough trouble to let me practice biblical counseling quite regularly. But he also holds me accountable to be faithful to God in all I do. There was this church here that decided to take a chance on a young then 26 year old kid fresh out of seminary. My life would be forever changed had one of these individuals decided to keep to themselves what God gave them to offer.
That’s how life in the church is supposed to show itself. Every believer who spends anytime in church should be able to come up with a list of people who have impacted their life in one way or another. There are people who led you to Christ. People who encouraged you when you were hurting. People who taught the Bible to you so that you could understand it. People who blessed you in worship with their voice or with their testimony. People who helped make worship happen behind the scenes. People who prayed for you without you having to ask for prayer. Most of these people did not have to constantly ask, “What is my Spiritual Gift?” They simply said yes when God called them. They trusted the Giver of Gifts. The knew that if God was asking them to serve, then He would gift them to do it. Are you serving? Are you trusting the Spirit’s power? Have you made your way onto anyone else’s list?
