1 Corinthians 12:8 - Part A

Natural talents are what you are born with.

They're a result of the natural birth. Spiritual gifts are a result of the new birth. When you are born again, God might work with your talents, but give you spiritual, supernatural capabilities that you should learn what they are and let them interface with your natural talents.

God equips us with specific talents and skills so we can encourage others and bring more people into God's kingdom. But today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip shares insight with you to help you discover your spiritual gifts. Now we want to tell you about a resource that will encourage you to be a part of cultivating a more loving church than ever before.

To deal with this topic today, here's Skip Heitzig and Tony Clark. Speak to white evangelical pastors about how in churches we can create spaces for black and brown voices to be heard in a loving atmosphere, in a concerned atmosphere. This is the church's finest moment because racism is a sin.

It's a sin in the heart. So now it's our job to begin to guide them and to have a biblical mindset and also having sympathy and empathy for those who are trying to live out this Christianity and their skin may be a little bit darker than yours. Cultivate the empathy that comes from gaining a biblical perspective on racism. Get your copy of this conversation between pastors Skip and Tony when you give $20 or more today. We'll also send you Pastor Skip's booklet, The Church and Racism.

Call 800-922-1888 or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer. Okay, we're in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 as we join Skip Heitzig for today's study. The subject of this chapter is the use and the next few chapters, the use and abuse of spiritual gifts within the context of the assembly and that that use should be moderated by love.

That's why the love chapter is right in between chapter 12 and 14. So that's the context but it's literally spirituals and the Greek word is pneumaticon, pneumaticon. Pneuma is the Greek word for spirit. It's also the Greek word, same word for breath and it's also the same word for wind. So spirit, breath and wind in Greek are all used the same word, pneuma.

It's interesting because in the Hebrew language it's exactly the same though the Hebrew word is ruach and ruach means spirit, it means wind and it means breath. So when he says concerning spirituals, I don't want you ignorant, the context demands the added word for gifts. Now last week we told you about the extremes when it comes to spiritual gifts being exercised in the church. We said the far end extreme are the cessationists that believe that spiritual gifts have, as the word implies, ceased, stopped. That they were there only for the early church. Once the entire body of Scripture, the New Testament was written, spiritual gifts ceased. We showed you why they believe that. We told you why that's not a good way to look at it because the Scripture bears out the fact that spiritual gifts, according to the Old and New Testament, especially the New Testament, predicted to go on to the end of the age. So we talked about cessationism then. We said the other extreme is sensationalism. And that is people who think that unless there's a wild display of ecstatic utterances and miracles happening all the time that the gifts of the Spirit are not being utilized or acknowledged and the Holy Spirit isn't at work.

And so we told you last week it's always important to walk with balance. And I told you I'm not a fundamentalist per se, though I am very fundamental in the doctrines of the Bible. I'm not a charismatic per se. I don't identify with that movement. But I'm probably a fundamental. I'm in between.

I like to balance those two extremes and walk through the middle. When we looked at the first seven verses, we noted the gifts of the Spirit are varied. They're various gifts.

They're not all identical. There's a variety of gifts. It says in verse 4, diversities of gifts but the same Spirit, differences of ministries but the same Lord, diversities of activities but the same God who works all in all. So we noted that there are a list of nine gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, the first part. When you get to the end of chapter 12, he adds a few more gifts. When you get to Romans chapter 12, Ephesians chapter 4, a few more gifts are added. So in totality, there are between some say 18 gifts, some say 21 gifts.

I sort of lean around 19. But it really doesn't matter exactly how many there are. There's an infinite number of combinations. Because typically gifts aren't just singular. There's a multiplicity of them working simultaneously.

And I want to demonstrate that a little bit tonight. But you can see that one gift, the same gift in five different people are going to act five different ways depending on the personality and depending on what other gifts might be present in that person's makeup. So that there's differences of operation of the gift.

So that's number one. We noted last week gifts are varied. They're not identical. They're not singular.

They're not monotone. And then second, gifts are given, not earned. You don't like, if I'm faithful at the gift of evangelism, maybe God will give me the gift of teaching. No, God gives you the gift.

You don't earn them or work your way up in the body. You discover the gifts God has given you and whom God made you to be. And you find that out and just enjoy that arena, the uniqueness of the blend of those spiritual gifts in your own life. And then number three we noted last week, oh, and by the way, that is in verse seven. It says, the manifestation of the Spirit is given, notice the word given, to each one for the prophet of all.

Then in verse eight, for to one is given the word of wisdom. So they're gifts. They're gifts. They're gifts that God, and gifts mean divine enablements, divine enablements. And then thirdly, we noted last week that gifts are the gateway, not the goal.

The gateway. What do I mean by that? Well, I noted last time that the reason God would give you a gift isn't so you would feel fulfilled in the use of your gift. A lot of people seek that.

Well, when I do this, I feel so fulfilled. That's good, but that's a byproduct. That is not why you have it. You have the gift not so that you get edified as much as other people get edified.

That's the gateway. So the gift itself isn't the goal. The gift is only the gateway, and the goal is the edification of the rest of the body of Christ. Again, verse seven, the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the prophet of all. Now, let me tell you further about spiritual gifts, and we're going to begin in verse eight tonight. If we make it through verse eight and nine, it will be amazing.

But we're going to look at at least two gifts that are in verse eight and then maybe two more gifts that are in verse nine, but we're going to take them gift by gift. Spiritual gifts are not the same as natural talents. You might have a natural aptitude, a natural talent. You might be musically inclined.

Doyle Dykes is very talented. Our worship team has musical talents. You might have an aptitude toward mechanics or an aptitude toward learning languages, but that doesn't require that you have to be a saved person to be musically inclined or mathematically inclined or linguistically inclined. So unsaved people as well as saved people can play the piano.

Unsaved people as well as saved people can have an attitude in math or mechanics or languages. So it's not the same as natural talents. Natural talents are what you are born with. They're a result of the natural birth. Spiritual gifts are a result of the new birth.

When you are born again, God might work with your talents but give you spiritual, supernatural capabilities that you should learn what they are and let them interface with your natural talents. So, for example, somebody might have an aptitude toward speaking. They're not afraid of public speaking. They're good at it.

They like doing it. It could be that the Lord will give them a gift of evangelism or a gift of teaching. They would go, those gifts or prophecy or the word of wisdom or knowledge as we'll describe, those spiritual enablements couple well or pair well with natural aptitudes, natural talents. But you need to understand that natural talents and spiritual gifts are different from one another, though they can work in combination with each other. You might be naturally a visionary, as another example.

And as a visionary, you're a leader, you're a pioneer kind of a personality. The gift of faith pairs well with that. But again, one is different from the other. A natural talent is not the same as a spiritual gift. So, I'm going to read all the way from verse one down to verse eight, and we're going to look at these two gifts that are in the eighth verse. Now concerning spirituals, brethren, pneumaticons, spiritual gifts, I do not want you to be ignorant.

You know that you were Gentiles carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. Therefore, I make known to you that no one, speaking by the Spirit of God, calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit, differences of ministries but the same Lord, diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit. Let's take the first gift in the eighth verse, the word of wisdom. I think we ended last week by noting that a certain amount of wisdom is guaranteed or offered to all believers, right? If anyone lack wisdom, James wrote, let him ask of God who gives liberally to all and does not reproach, it will be given to him but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.

So if you need wisdom, you ask for it. But we also noted as we closed last week that there are in Scripture certain people who were given unusual wisdom. And the one that is most notable is Solomon. It says in the Old Testament that Solomon had understanding and wisdom and largeness of heart more than anyone else on the earth at that time. He was an incredibly wise person. The gift of the word of wisdom is different than what Solomon experienced and exercised.

Solomon had an unusual gift as a leader, the third king of Israel, Saul, then David, then Solomon. He asked specifically for wisdom. God gave him wisdom, but it seemed that Solomon had a reservoir of wisdom. Like at any time, he could just make wise decision or write down wise things and people would come to him and ask wise counsel. I see in the Scripture the word of wisdom as being a supernatural enablement for a very particular time when wisdom is required. It's not a reservoir of wisdom.

It's an episode of wisdom. It's a special anointing to say something that is wise to diffuse a situation or to bring something that's just perfect for that moment. Let me give you what I think is an example of somebody doing that in the New Testament, somebody who's unique, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, you would expect Jesus to be wise. The book of Colossians says that Jesus was the repository of all knowledge and wisdom.

It dwelt within him. But on one occasion, they came to Jesus and they said, Rabbi, is it right, is it lawful, should we pay taxes to Caesar or not? Now, Jesus called the people who asked him that question hypocrites because he knew why they asked that question. They asked him the question, should we pay taxes to Caesar, because they knew that they were putting Jesus in a catch-22 situation, a difficult situation.

No matter how he would answer it, if you would say yes, you should, or no, you shouldn't, that that would trap him with certain people. If he were, for instance, to say yes, you should pay taxes to Caesar, he knew that he had a lot of people following him who were very anti-government, anti-Herod, anti-Rome, kind of revolutionary type who would immediately turn against him. If he were to say, nope, I don't think you should pay any taxes to Caesar, only give your allegiance to God, forget Caesar, well, then he could be guilty of subverting the Roman government, could get arrested, could get into trouble. So Jesus gave this answer, show me a coin. And he said, whose face is on the coin?

Whose mug is on it? Whose inscription is on it? He said, it's Caesar's inscription.

Handed it back to him and said, then give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God. It says the people marveled at that. They marveled at his wisdom. It was just the perfect answer. It was just the right thing to say.

So wise. Well, where does that play into a spiritual gift? Well, if you remember, the Lord Jesus promised his followers that they would be in difficult situations, but that God would give them wisdom during those situations. Now, I have pre-marked my Bible, and you can turn there if you'd like, to Matthew chapter 10, where Jesus makes this promise. This is Matthew chapter 10.

I'm reading Matthew 10, verse 16. Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. That's the command, be wise as serpents.

Well, how do you do that? Listen to what he says. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak, for it will be given you in that hour what you should speak. For it is not you who speaks, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. Well, do we see this happening? Do we see this promise happening, this wise, episodal kind of experience of speaking wisdom?

Yes, we do. In the New Testament book of Acts, Stephen, who was one of the deacons in the early church, says he was a man filled with faith and wisdom, and also in that chapter, filled with power and wisdom. And when he spoke in the synagogue, and he gives his testimony in Acts chapter 7, it says, And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which Stephen spoke. He spoke such, this young man spoke such words of wisdom and such spirit-filled words. It's an incredible testimony.

In that moment, God gave him the ability to do that. Later on, we find in Acts chapter 15, there was a problem in the early church. The problem is, how does a person get saved?

How do we in a Jewish culture tell people, non-Jewish people, how to get saved? That was a problem because Paul and Barnabas had been up in Antioch, they preached the gospel, Gentiles were coming to Christ. People from Jerusalem came up to Antioch and said, Unless you are circumcised and keep the laws of Moses, you can't be saved. So Paul says, Let's take this to the council down in Jerusalem. So Paul and Barnabas went down to Jerusalem, and the very first council meeting of the church took place in the 15th chapter of the book of Acts. Paul told them what was going on in this division that had occurred because now you have non-Jewish people who don't keep the laws of Moses, haven't been circumcised, but they believe in Jesus, and now you have these legalists saying, No, you have to go through Judaism to be saved. So Peter stands up and exercises, I think, a word of wisdom, followed by James standing up and also speaking a word of wisdom. Peter says, Why do you test God and place upon the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we were ever able to bear?

So then James, the leader of the council in Jerusalem, says, Let's send a letter to the Gentiles in Antioch and say, Abstain from things offered to idols. Abstain from blood, taking blood, drinking blood. I won't explain that now.

I have in the past. They did it back then. Abstain from animals that have been strangled and from fornication. If you do this, you do well. That's all they said. Those were only the things they said to do. You believe in Jesus Christ. Don't offend your Jewish brethren by just stay away from these things.

If you do that, you do fine. Because when they read the letter, they were greatly encouraged by that letter. So there's a few instances right there of the word of wisdom, just the right, wise thing to say to quell the disturbance or to give a witness for the gospel. Here's another example of the word of wisdom, I believe. And the reason I'm giving you these examples is because unlike the gift of prophecy or tongues, which are written about in detail, and prophecy, tongues, and a couple of others, miracles and faith, those are written about in detail in the Scripture.

These aren't. It just mentions word of wisdom, word of knowledge, et cetera. So I need to kind of take you to these different portions of Scripture.

That's why I'm having you turn. Here's another example. In Acts 23, when Paul is in Jerusalem, he's been arrested. And he's been arrested because they brought an accusation saying that he had brought an Ephesian, a Gentile, into the temple court, the court of the men. It was a false accusation. Anyway, Paul gets arrested, and he is brought before the Jewish Sanhedrin, and they are ready to tear into him.

They already started beating him up. The Romans took him, and now he's standing trial again before the Jewish Sanhedrin. It says in Acts 23, Paul perceived that one part was Pharisee and the other part were Sadducees.

And so he said this, Men and brethren, I am standing here today because I believe in the resurrection of the dead, faith in the resurrection of the dead. He goes, I'm a Pharisee. I'm the son of a Pharisee, and I am being judged because I believe in the resurrection of the dead. Well, at that point, the Pharisee said, We don't see any problem with this guy. He's a Pharisee, son of a Pharisee. And the Sadducees who deny that there is a resurrection, deny spirits, deny the miraculous, it says the group was divided, and instead of trying to kill Paul and fight against Paul, there was a division between the council itself, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and this division caused them to fight and argue with each other.

So that sort of quelled the disturbance as far as Paul was concerned, and the Roman soldiers could extricate Paul to safety after that. So he said just the wisest thing to take the spotlight off of himself so that his life would be spared so that he could continue in his witness for the gospel, and that set them at odds with each other. So I think all of these are examples of the word of wisdom. That's Skip Heitzig with a message from the series Expound First Corinthians. Now, here's Skip to share how you can keep these messages coming your way and connect others around the world with God's truths.

For all the wisdom that the Bible does contain, it's worthless if you don't apply it to your life. Our desire is that every single listener, like you, wouldn't just hear God's word, but be transformed by it. And you can help make that possible by giving today to keep this program going strong. Here's how you can do that now. Visit connectwithskip.com slash donate to give a gift. That's connectwithskip.com slash donate, or call 800-922-1888.

800-922-1888. Thank you for your generosity. And come back tomorrow as Skip Heitzig shares how God empowers you with his wisdom. Again, it's not a reservoir of wisdom.

It's an episode of wisdom. It's where God gives you the wisest thing to say at that time. How does one get such a gift? Well, you ask for it. And you see if the Lord will give that to you. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast all burdens on his word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.