Day 162: What Are Spiritual Gifts and How Do They Work?
Psalm 139:13-14
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
In this final week of MilktoMeat readings, we want to focus on how you fit into the larger Kingdom purposes of Father God. In some Christian circles there is a lot of emphasis given to the Spiritual Gifts—finding your gift and using it. The Gifts are important, but it is more important to understand that YOU are more significant than the gift(s) Father God has given you to serve in His Body the Church. YOU are the gift that Father God has given to us all. It is YOU, the whole person, who will display the glory of Father God’s grace in the ages to come.
You are the gift that Father God has given to His people to display a unique facet of His glory and to build up and enrich the Body of Christ.
WORDwork:
Romans 12:3–8
For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but to think with sober discernment, as God has distributed to each of you a measure of faith. 12:4 For just as in one body we have many members, and not all the members serve the same function, 12:5 so we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually we are members who belong to one another. 12:6 And we have different gifts according to the grace given to us. If the gift is prophecy, that individual must use it in proportion to his faith. 12:7 If it is service, he must serve; if it is teaching, he must teach; 12:8 if it is exhortation, he must exhort; if it is contributing, he must do so with sincerity; if it is leadership, he must do so with diligence; if it is showing mercy, he must do so with cheerfulness.…
1 Corinthians 12:1–7
With regard to spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 12:2 You know that when you were pagans you were often led astray by speechless idols, however you were led. 12:3 So I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
12:4 Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. 12:5 And there are different ministries, but the same Lord. 12:6 And there are different results, but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. 12:7 To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the benefit of all.
What has Father God distributed to each of us according to Romans 12:3?
How should this affect the way we think about ourselves?
What are the main points of Romans 12:4-6?
Summarize the point of these verses in your own words.
Why does Paul bring up the topic of Spiritual Gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:1?
Explain 1 Corinthians 12:7 in your own words.
There are four key passages that reveal the Spiritual Gifts in the Bible: Romans 12:1-8, 1 Corinthians 12-14, Ephesians 4:1-16 and 1 Peter 4:10-11. We have already discussed Ephesians 4 and will use it as the foundation on which to build the rest of the teaching of the Gifts.
Unfortunately, teaching on the Spiritual Gifts is often neglected in non-charismatic or non-Pentecostal churches. The Gifts, however, are essential to the proper working of Christ’s Body—The Church. If we neglect the gifts and their proper function the assemblies in which we serve and fellowship will be impoverished. You can think of the Gifts as the “vitamins” that the Lord has given to us to build up His Body.
Each of Us Has Received a Gift.
Romans 12:6, 1 Corinthians 12:7 and 1 Peter 4:10 all confirm that we eachhavereceived a gift to be used in serving in the work of ministry. The word “gift” that is used in these passages is the Greek word charismata from which we get the English term “charismatic.” The word simply refers to a gift that is given, in this case, a gift from Father God. In fact this term is related directly to the term “grace” in the New Testament. The gifts are literally “graces” of the Spirit.
KEY Definition:
a Spiritual Gift is an empowerment that comes through the Holy Spirit that enables us to do the work the Lord has called us to in way that brings glory to Father.
The Gifts are Given and Overseen By Spirit, Son and Father.
In the Letters, the Gifts of the Spirit refer to abilities granted by the grace of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit which are meant to build up the Body of Christ and empower it for its mission. In 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 Paul reveals how the Lord God, who is Three-in-One, cooperates in the Gifts: 1) The Spirit oversees the outworking of the many different gifts, 2) The Lord (Jesus), oversees the practical coordination and administration of the different “ministries” of these Gifts, and 3) The Father, oversees and guides the results of these ministries.
The Gifts Are Given for Us to Serve One Another.
In each of these passages, it is clear that these gifts are given so that we can serve one another. Our gifts are not given to us to “puff us up,” but to enable us to serve in humility and love. This is why Paul exhorts us to think about ourselves with “sober discernment.” All of these gifts, all of these “manifestations of the Spirit” have been given to each person for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7). As we will see, this is all to bring glory to God.
The Gifts Reveal the “Varied/Multifaceted” Grace of God.”
1 Peter 4:10–11
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s multi-faceted grace. 4:11 Whoever speaks, let it be with God’s words. Whoever serves, do so with the strength that God supplies…
As we have already heard, The Body of Christ is One, yet with many “members.” It should not surprise us that there are also many different types of gifts given to display Father God’s “multi-faceted” grace as Peter says above.
Peter also outlines two broad categories of gifts: 1) There are speaking gifts and there are 2) serving gifts. God is the Word who comes to live among us to serve us and lead us. The gifts fall in this same basic framework.
The gifts are given ultimately to glorify God through Jesus Christ.
Finally we want to use our gifts “so that in everything God will be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 4:11). The Body of Christ is united as One even though we are many different people with many different gifts.
What got your attention in today’s reading? Why?
*You can find a complete list of all the MilktoMeat readings here.
