While there are some special abilities we have
that God created us with, there are also spiritual gifts that God gives to
individuals after they become Christians.
The ability to read well, retain details, perform math problems, or any
other mental or physical strength is something God usually gives a person from
birth (although that doesn’t mean that God is limited in giving such abilities
to a person later on in life, like when He heals a disease or some kind of
physical weakness). On the other hand, the
spiritual gifts that God gives are given for the sake of edifying other
believers, progressing the Gospel, and glorifying God. I’ll talk more in a little bit about the
details of some these gifts, but first, I would like to show how the Spirit has
been working through people throughout the whole Bible.
In
the Old Testament the Holy Spirit came upon particular people at particular
times for particular tasks. (In
contrast, in the New Testament, after Pentecost in Acts 2, the Spirit came to
live inside a Christian for the rest of their lives.) In the Old Testament, for example, we see
that the Spirit came upon a man named Bezalel at a particular time for a
particular task:
“Then the Lord said to
Moses, ‘See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of
Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and
knowledge in all kinds of crafts— to make artistic designs for work in gold,
silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all
kinds of craftsmanship. Moreover, I have appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of
the tribe of Dan, to help him. Also I have given skill to all the craftsmen to
make everything I have commanded you: the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the
Testimony with the atonement cover on it, and all the other furnishings of the
tent— the table and its articles, the pure gold lampstand and all its accessories,
the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, the
basin with its stand— and also the woven garments, both the sacred garments for
Aaron the priest and the garments for his sons when they serve as priests, and the anointing oil and fragrant incense for
the Holy Place. They are to make them just as I commanded you.’" --Exodus
31:1-11
Next,
in Numbers 11, we see that the Spirit of God was given to 70 elders, in
addition to Moses,
“So Moses went out and told
the people what the Lord had said. He brought together seventy of their elders
and had them stand around the Tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and
spoke with him, and he took of the Spirit that was on him and put the Spirit on
the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they
did not do so again. However, two men,
whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed
among the elders, but did not go out to the Tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on
them, and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran and told Moses, ‘Eldad
and Medad are prophesying in the camp.’ Joshua
son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said, ‘Moses, my
lord, stop them!’ But Moses replied,
"Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were
prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!" Then Moses and
the elders of Israel returned to the camp.”—Numbers 11:24-30
Joshua
received the Spirit as well: “So the Lord
said to Moses, ‘Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay
your hand on him. Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire
assembly and commission him in their presence.’” --Numbers 27:18-19
King
David also received the Spirit in 1 Samuel 16:13, “So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his
brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power.
Samuel then went to Ramah.”
But
here’s the thing-- the people who lived during the Old Testament times knew
that God could possibly take the Spirit away from them. In Psalm 51:11 David prayed, “Do not cast me from your presence or take
your Holy Spirit from me.” (That’s
something that Christians don’t have to worry about now. According to Ephesians 1:13-14, God has given
believers the Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance.)
Returning
to the Old Testament, in Ezekiel 36:26-27 we see prophecy about the Father
giving the Holy Spirit to be in us: “I
will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you
your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in
you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
When
Jesus walked the Earth, the Father hadn’t fulfilled this promise yet. There were people who had the Holy Spirit
come upon them for a particular time for a particular task during Jesus’ day,
but the Spirit hadn’t been given to indwell a believer. However, Jesus talked about when this would
happen,
“By this he meant the
Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time
the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” --John
7:39
After
Jesus had died and rose from the dead, we have this account in Acts 1:4-5:
“On one occasion, while he
was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but
wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For
John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy
Spirit.’"
In
Acts 2:1-4 we see the fulfillment of the promise of the Holy Spirit:
“When the day of Pentecost
came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of
a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were
sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to
rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to
speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”
After
this point in time, a person could receive the Holy Spirit for a lifetime, and
when a person becomes a Christian they receive one or more spiritual
gifts. These gifts are not things that
we possess, rather they are the manifestation of God through a person. Paul said, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the
common good.” (1 Corinthians 12:7)
The Greek word that’s translated into the English word “manifestation”
is the word “phanerosis”. This means
“revelation” or “unveiling.” The Holy
Spirit has existed forever. And He has
worked through people’s lives since nearly the beginning of time. This is what we looked at in the Old
Testament. Again, these spiritual gifts
are not a thing to possess, but a person to reveal.
The
more gifts we see in the body of Christ, the clearer picture we get of the Holy
Spirit. These gifts reveal more and more
about the character and personality of the Holy Spirit: how he is a teacher, a
pastor, a merciful servant, etc.
Why
are the gifts given to us? They are
given so we can serve each other: “Each
one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully
administering God’s grace in its various forms.” --1 Peter 4:10
We’re
also given spiritual gifts so that we can reveal the Holy Spirit: “Now to each one the manifestation of the
Spirit is given for the common good.” --1 Corinthians 12:7
Spiritual
gifts also demonstrate that God should be feared and His word should be obeyed:
“Tongues, then, are a sign, not for
believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for
unbelievers. So if the whole church
comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand
or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your
mind? But if an unbeliever or someone
who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be
convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets
of his heart will be laid bare. So he will
fall down and worship God, exclaiming, ‘God is really among you!’” --1
Corinthians 14:22-25
What
are the gifts listed in the New Testament?
Well, Peter mentions two of them: speaking and serving (1 Peter
4:10-11). Perhaps these are two general
categories that all the gifts fit into.
Or maybe the Spirit was only leading Peter to talk about two of the
gifts. Not everyone is gifted to speak
or serve in the same way. The tortoise
may wish he was as fast as the hare, but the hare may wish that he was as faithful
and dependable as the tortoise. In
Romans 12:6-8 Paul mentions seven gifts: prophesying, serving, teaching,
encouragement, giving, leadership and mercy. Paul goes on to mention nine gifts
in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10: the message of wisdom, the message of knowledge,
faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, speaking in
different kinds of tongues and interpretation of tongues. In Ephesians we see
that God gave to the church certain people to serve and build up the church:
apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.
One
difficult thing about the spiritual gifts listed in the New Testament is that
we don’t get many clear definitions of these words. We don’t know exactly what these gifts look
like. It would be great if we could have
been there in first century with the early church. Then Paul could say, “Look, there’s
so-and-so. They have the gift of
teaching. And there’s so-and-so. They have the gift of mercy.” We do see where certain people are named,
along with their spiritual gift, but many usually have more than one gift. So it’s hard to tell where one gift ends and
one gift begins. For example, it’s hard
to say exactly what the parameters are for teaching versus prophecy or serving
versus mercy.
God
didn’t give us spiritual gifts so we could place ourselves into categories for
our own satisfaction. He gave us the
gifts so that we could manifest the wisdom of the Spirit, the knowledge of the
Spirit, the faith that comes from the Spirit, and the power of healing and miracles
that come from the Spirit. If you look
at the original Greek word for each of the gifts, it will help you a little in
understanding what each gift is like, but it still doesn’t give a detailed
definition of each. Wisdom may involve
specific application of God’s truth like it did in Solomon’s case. Knowledge may mean a special ability to
understand the scripture or understand what the Spirit is saying in a
particular situation. Some people seem
to have extraordinary faith to trust God.
Others may see God perform healing or other miracles through them. Prophecy may be the proclamation of truth in
a way that reveals peoples’ hearts to God.
Some may be able to distinguish truth from error when issues aren’t so
clear. And there are people who have the
gift to speak in other known languages and the ability to interpret those
languages.
I
used to think that everyone needed to take a spiritual gifts test in order to
function in the church. While that might
be helpful, it seems that the authors in the New Testament are communicating
that each Christian will have a particular leaning while serving the
church. This gifting will come out as we
serve. We don’t need to know the gift
before we serve. In other words, we can
start serving and figure our gifts as we are going along. Other people will notice that we seem to have
the ability to teach or lead or give, etc.
Think of that idea while listening to this story:
The
tortoise and hare were drinking coffee one morning before their usual morning jog. “Tortoise,” the hare stated very smartly, “I
think you need to take a test to determine what you are.” With the tortoise’s mouth still on the coffee
cup, one of his eyebrows lifted up.
“What do you mean?” he asked suspiciously. The hare continued, “I think you need to know
what to do and how to do it. But before
you can do that you must know what you are?”
“I need to know what…?” the tortoise began, but couldn’t finish before
the hare jumped back in very fast and confidently. “For example, are you slow or fast?” asked
the hare. “V-e-r-y s-l-o-w,” the
tortoise replied sarcastically. “Are you
purple, green or red?” questioned the hare so quickly that the tortoise could
barely understand him. “Green,” replied
the tortoise, with a confused look. The
hare then asked, “Is your cover hard or soft?”
“Hard…” the tortoise grudgingly reported. “What do you eat?” the hare continued. “Grass.”
“Well…” the hare paused, then stated as if he were some kind of expert,
“let me add up the totals.”
“Hmmmmm. I see, I see,” he said,
trying to sound important. “I’ve figured
out what you are.” By now the tortoise
was actually a little interested. “Maybe
I’m not what I think I am,” he thought.
“Well, what am I?” he asked the hare.
The hare gave a long dramatic pause… “I think that you…are…a…John Deere
mower.”
While
an actual test on paper may help, it’s only a tiny step in understanding how
God has gifted you. A test helped me
only a little bit at the beginning of my walk with God because I hadn’t had
enough time to demonstrate the work of the Spirit as I served people. Then, as time went on, people began to tell
me that they thought I had a gift in explaining the Scriptures. I also saw the light bulb turn on in peoples’
eyes as they understood the Bible better.
In my own experience, and others too, we’ve been able to better
understand our gifting as we started doing several things. First, start serving in the church. Don’t worry about what it is you’re
doing. You’ll weed out certain spiritual
gifts as you serve.
Second,
pay attention to what gives you energy.
For example, I’m not energized by showing mercy and serving in the same
way that I’m energized by explaining God’s word. Third, take notice what other people say
about the effect you have on the church.
What gift(s) do others think you have?
Fourth, also take notice as to what you see as missing in this
particular church. Do you desire to see
more people be accountable? Then maybe
you have the gift of prophecy. Do you
think that we don’t serve the poor enough?
Then maybe you have the gift of mercy or serving. If you’re serious about finding your gift or
growing in your gift then try these things out, making sure you ask someone to
share what gift they think you have.
What
are some other questions about spiritual gifts?
First, can you have more than one gift?
Yes. Paul seemed to have at least
three gifts: “for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a
teacher.” God also performed miracles
and healings through him as well.
Second,
are all gifts still in effect today? My
opinion is yes. There’s nothing in the
Bible that states certain gifts have stopped.
Some people disagree, citing a verse like 1 Corinthians 13:8 which says,
“Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will
cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge,
it will pass away.” But this passage
is actually talking about the fact that there will be no spiritual gifts in
heaven. It is true that God used
miracles, healings, tongues, etc to show that He was speaking through certain
people in the first century, like Jesus and the Apostles. But the working of the Spirit is not bound by
a certain time, place or geography. Incidentally,
tongues seem to often be a misunderstood gift.
The original root Greek word that’s translated into “tongues” is the
word “glossa.” It could be translated as
“language” or “tribe.” In other words,
“tongues” seem to be defined as a known language of some particular group of
people. So, someone would have the gift
to supernaturally speak or interpret a certain language.
Third,
are there any gifts that are more important than the others? No.
Paul said, “those parts of the
body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.” --1 Corinthians 12:22
Fourth,
can we choose what gift we have?
No. 1 Corinthians 12:11 says, “All these are the work of one and the same
Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.”
We
want you to have the freedom to share your gifting. If you think you have the gift of teaching you
could start building friendships and then start a Bible study. It doesn’t necessarily have to be an
“official” church event. If you have the
gift of serving or mercy then perhaps you should be a part of our Saturday
outreaches when we go to the senior living facility, Brookdale, or do the
community outreaches with us. If you have
the gift of evangelism then make sure you are a part of one of the teams that’s
going on one of these outreach events.
If you have the gift of prophecy or distinguishing of spirits then maybe
start a small group focused on accountability.
If you have a gift to communicate the truth then help lead a Sunday
school class or lead a session of the Mark study. Different people are taking turns leading the
discussion. If you have the gift of
faith then maybe God could be using you to start new small groups. If you have the gift of giving then make a
plan to give and plan to give randomly too!
I
don’t have the time to cover all the gifts and the different ways that we can
demonstrate those gifts. Part of God’s
will is to not be so busy with life that you overlook this area: “Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do
not want you to be ignorant.” (1 Corinthians 12:1). This means that we have to look over the
gifts that are in the Bible and start serving so we can figure out how God has
gifted each of us. Here are two
questions that could help you in understanding what your gift is: “What problems
do I enjoy solving?” and “What it is that excites me?” If you can answer those
two questions, then you’ve probably found your gifting.
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