Paul was Mr. Spiritual Gifts! H had some! He was a missionary, a preacher, a writer, and more. He also did the bulk of the Biblical teachings on spiritual gifts.
In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he wrote about spiritual gifts. He opened that teaching by saying, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.” He saw a risk that believers would miss this message. That they might live the Christian life and be unaware that there is this powerful reality he calls spiritual gifts. When we are uninformed about good stuff we miss out. Let’s not be uninformed about spiritual gifts. Let us, instead, have an influence of life and beauty by using our spiritual gifts!
There are two simple, and I mean really simple, realities about spiritual gifts that this message seeks to inform us about: 1 Spiritual gifts are spiritual, 2. Spiritual gifts are gifts.
SDA Fundamental Belief 17
God bestows upon all members of His church in every age spiritual gifts that each member is to employ in loving ministry for the common good of the church and of humanity. Given by the agency of the Holy Spirit, who apportions to each member as He wills, the gifts provide all abilities and ministries needed by the church to fulfill its divinely ordained functions. According to the Scriptures, these gifts include such ministries as faith, healing, prophecy, proclamation, teaching, administration, reconciliation, compassion, and self-sacrificing service and charity for the help and encouragement of people. Some members are called of God and endowed by the Spirit for functions recognized by the church in pastoral, evangelistic, and teaching ministries particularly needed to equip the members for service, to build up the church to spiritual maturity, and to foster unity of the faith and knowledge of God. When members employ these spiritual gifts as faithful stewards of God’s varied grace, the church is protected from the destructive influence of false doctrine, grows with a growth that is from God, and is built up in faith and love. (Acts 6:1-7; Rom. 12:4-8; 1 Cor. 12:7-11, 27, 28; Eph. 4:8, 11-16; 1 Tim. 3:1-13; 1 Peter 4:10, 11.)
Spiritual Gifts are Gifts!
We are beginning with the second word because it establishes what spiritual gifts are; they are gifts. The second word is the noun, the things we are talking about. The first word is the adjective. The first word tells what they are and the second tells what they are like. I told you, this message is simple.
Given by Grace
The gifts are given by the mercy of God! Consider the following references to God’s grace in the Biblical teaching of spiritual gifts.
Paul exercised his spiritual gift of teaching by the grace of God.
- Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God
- Romans 12:3 For by the grace given to me I say…
Language about God assigning and empowering the gifts reiterates that they come from him.
- Romans 12:3 …each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
- 1 Corinthians 12:6 …there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.
- 1 Corinthians 12:11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
We have also received gifts through grace.
Romans 12:6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us…
It is clear where these gifts come from. The are a gracious gift from God.
Given for Everyone
It is also clear who they are given to. EVERYONE! Here are examples of this inclusive language in the Biblical teaching about spiritual gifts.
- Romans 12:3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you…
- 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.
- Ephesians 4:6-7 …one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
- 1 Corinthians 12:6-7 …there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
- 1 Corinthians 12:11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
We all get gifts! When we say that we don’t have a gift we are speaking more of God than ourselves. It is an inaccurate report of who we are. It is a dishonoring report of the God who has given you a gift. To not engage your spiritual gift is not humility, it is disobedience.
Given with Variety
The gifts are different. The gifts don’t all look the same. Maybe you have felt that you didn’t get a gift when really you just didn’t get the gift you admire in others but you have your own, different, gift. 1 Corinthians 12:4 tells us that, “there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit”.
Romans 12:4-8 says it this way,
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.Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
This list identified a few varieties of the gifts. Below is a fuller list of the gifts identified in the main spiritual gift passages of the Bible. It is not meant to serve as an exhaustive list of what God might give. But they help us to see some common forms God’s gifts take.
Romans 12
- Prophecy
- Service
- Teaching
- Encouragement
- Giving
- Leadership
- Acts of mercy
1 Corinthians 12
- Utterance of wisdom
- Utterance of knowledge
- Faith
- Gifts of healing
- Working of miracles
- Prophecy
- Discernment between spirits
- Various kinds of tongues
- Interpretation of tongues.
1 Peter 4
- Hospitality
- Speaking
- Serving
Ephesians 4
- Apostles
- Prophets
- Evangelists
- Shepherds
- Teachers
In all three of Paul’s major teachings on spiritual gifts (Romans 12, Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 12) he includes the metaphor of the church as a body. Each part is important and has a specific work to do. The church is not whole without each part.
Spiritual Gifts are Spiritual!
The word used to describe the gifts is “spiritual”. This tells us what the gifts look like in action. They are employed spiritually. God doesn’t just want skill. He isn’t just looking for someone to get the job done. He doesn’t want you to have the right answers with the wrong attitude. He is not honored by good actions done with a bad spirit. The gifts are to be carried out in a spiritually mature and beautiful way.
Done to God
One of the ways that the gifts are spiritual is that they are to be done as an act of worship to God. We glorify God by using our gifts. The context leading up to Paul’s teaching on spiritual gifts describes this beautifully.
Romans 12:1-2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers,by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Notice the end goal of the use of spiritual gifts in 1 Peter 4:10-11.
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
When Paul writes to the Ephesians about serving their masters he says, “Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people.” (Ephesians 6:6-7).
This is the same idea we get when Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40).
Using our gifts is a spiritual thing when we do it for the Lord.
Done for Others
We can also use our gift in a spiritual way when we use it for the benefit of other people. Notice in the following texts how the use of the gift is for the benefit of people.
Ephesians 4:11-12 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.
Ephesians 4:16 From whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
1 Corinthians 16:7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
Done with The Spirit
We use our gifts spiritually not only by using them for God and others but by the attitude we do them with. We are called to use our gifts with the right Spirit.
It is a spirit of humility. It is not a coincident that, just before talking about gifts, Paul says, “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 the measure of faith that God has assigned.” (Romans 12:3).
We see this same pattern of humility before gifts in Ephesians 4:1-7, “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”
There is a real risk of pride when we use our gifts. When we understand that the gifts are given by grace pride should not be a part of them. Pride ruins the gift. Just as a refusal to use the gift dishonors God, a lack of acknowledgement that the gift was given by grace also dishonors God.
Here is a wonderful, succinct way to say it, “Speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15).
When Paul lists the gifts in Romans 12:8 he does not just list the gift, he adds spiritually rich ways to express that gift. Don’t just contribute, do it generously. Don’t just lead, do it zealously. Don’t just do acts of mercy, do them cheerfully.
Using our gifts by The Spirit is the more excellent way. Paul ends his teaching about spiritual gifts to the Corinthians in a way that could be confusing. First, he argues that “the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty.” (1 Corinthians 12:22-23). So that lead us to think that we should be happy with the simple gifts. We should be humble. But then he urges them to “desire the greater gifts” (1 Corinthians 12:31). This sounds like the opposite. And here is where we discover the wonderful key to the apparent contradiction. Paul explains the more excellent way. Do you know what that way is? It is chapter 13, the love chapter. The more excellent way is not to have a higher-ranking gift but to have more love in the way you express your gift. When Paul calls us to desire the greater gifts, he is not calling us to seek superiority but to seek more of the Spirit in our service of God and others.
We don’t need to be uninformed about spiritual gifts. They are gifts. And they are to be expressed spiritually.