We often find a variety of opinions when it comes to God's very much focused on the manifesting of spiritual gifts and perhaps even particularly certain spiritual gifts, thus betraying in themselves an idea that spiritual gifts are the obvious evidence, the key evidence if you like, of the Spirit's ministry in and through them. I need to point out to you tonight on the authority of God's Word that spiritual gifts are not the key evidence of the work of the Spirit of God in somebody's life.
They may be an evidence of it, they may be an evidence of something else entirely, but they certainly are not to be looked to as the key evidence of it all. Indeed, in 1 Corinthians Paul makes it clear that the real issue of spirituality has not to do with whatever phenomenal element there may be to the life of a believer, but rather has to do with the ethical impact of our lives. That's why in the heart of it all in 1 Corinthians 6, he reminds those to whom he writes, you are not your own, you were bought with a price, so speak in tongues. You are not your own, you were bought with a price, so heal people.
You are not your own, you were bought with a price, so prophesy. You are not your own, you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body. You want to be spiritual, says Paul? You want to display spirituality to your neighbors, your friends, and the watching world? Then the key evidence of spirituality will not be in any phenomenal dimension, but will actually be displayed in the ethical norms of our lives.
In the words of J. I. Packer, the manifestation of the Spirit in charismatic performance is not the same thing as the fruit of the Spirit in Christlike character. So external expressions of spirituality do not prove either that I am pleasing God nor do they guarantee my salvation. That's a sobering thought, loved ones, because many of us focus very much on what we do as the evidence of what we are. Whether it is that we preach or teach or help or give or speak or sing or create or touch or help or heal, we look to those things as the self-authenticating evidences of our spiritual life. That's really foolish.
That's really dangerous. Out of the very mouth of Jesus came a word of correction for all who were tempted to walk that path. And in Matthew chapter 7, it's recorded for us by Jesus, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Not everybody who attends the evening service and sings he is Lord with a great emotional surge will enter the kingdom of heaven.
The people who enter the kingdom of heaven are those who do the will of my Father. And then he goes on to add, many, many, not a few, but many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Now are those dramatic evidences of spiritual giftedness?
Yes. So Jesus says there are going to be people that come to him on that day and they're going to say, we exercised spiritual gifts. None of you are under the cover kind of spiritual gifts. None of you are in the closet spiritual gifts.
You're real up front in your face kind of spiritual gifts. And I will tell them plainly, I never even knew you. Away from me, you evil doers. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, I preach sermons in your name. And I will say to them, depart from me.
I never knew you. So keep this in the forefront of your thinking as we go through these studies on spiritual gifts is very, very important. Spiritual gifts are not of value on account of their dramatic impact. They are of divine importance seen in the framework, which displays them as acts of serving and honoring God. When the apostle Paul not only here, but in his other letters addresses the issue of spiritual gifts, it is clear that he does not view them in terms of human ability to do things well, i.e. what we would refer to as giftedness.
Nor does he see spiritual gifts in terms of supernatural novelty. But Paul confronts us with the fact that spiritual gifts should be seen in terms of Christ, who is the head of the body presently working from heaven amongst his people on earth. And indeed, that's how he began this letter to the Corinthians in chapter one in verse four, he was able to say to them, I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus, for in him you've been enriched in every way in all your speaking and in all your knowledge, because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus. Now the importance of these introductory statements will become apparent as we go on.
Four simple questions we'll tackle tonight. Number one of spiritual gifts, who gives them? Now the answer to that ought to be obvious and clear. Certainly if you look at verse 11, we realize that God is the source of all spiritual gifts and he gives them, as Paul says there at the end of the verse, just as he determines. The obvious diversity in the body is grounded in the sovereign purposes of God.
He has determined that it is important for his people to be discovering and displaying this rich diversity. Verse 18, in fact, God has arranged the parts of the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. Verse 25, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern. Verse 28, and in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, and so on, and he goes through the list, reminding us that it is by means of the church that Jesus Christ is uniquely present and distinctively expresses himself in the world. I wonder, could you hear that?
And I wonder, do you believe it? That it is by means of the church, and the only way we can understand church is in terms of local assemblies. Therefore, it is by means of the local assembly that Jesus Christ is uniquely present and distinctly expresses himself in the world.
I'm constantly confronted by people coming, asking me to participate in this event and that event and this organization and this parachurch deal and the next sort of thing, many of which are helpful and which I wish I had time to deal with. But I'm often made painfully aware of the fact, as I was this week, as somebody came to me with a plea for some particular area, that really it wasn't the prerogative of this individual to be making that plea. And the plea need never be made if local churches would understand and believe that Jesus Christ has chosen to uniquely manifest himself in and through local bodies of believers. That's where he gives his gifts. That's where he expects gifts to be discovered, and that is where primarily he expects those gifts to be displayed. In verses four, five, and six, you will notice perhaps that there is a kind of Trinitarian formula there. The diversity of what is given is matched by the unity of the one who gives. Different kinds of gifts, same spirit. Different kinds of service, same Lord.
Different kinds of working, same God. A reminder, too, is that in spiritual as well as in physical and material terms, James is right. Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father above in whom there is no variableness, neither shadow due to turning. That's James 1.17. Who gives them? God gives them.
Secondly, who gets them? Who gets spiritual gifts? Well, the wonderful thing, at least it ought to be encouraging to us, is that the gifts of the Spirit are not reserved for a few outstanding individuals.
We might be tempted to think that. After all, that's the way that prize givings go. That's the way that graduation goes. There's some with the hats and some of the things that hang around their neck, and there's honor rolls and merit rolls and all kinds of sausage rolls and all kinds of rolls. And we watch as the esteemed and the knowledgeable and the bright and the best, as a result of their excellence, are conferred with these special gifts. And so many times, since that is the way we often operate in business or in other areas of the world, we assume that presumably within the church that would be the same. And so God looks for a few outstanding individuals, and then when he is determined that they have made the mark, he bestows his gifts upon them.
Not so. Notice the phrase in verse six, there are different kinds of workings, but the same God works all of them in all men. Not some men, not special men, but in all men.
And men is there used generically of men and women. You find the same thing in verse seven. Now to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. And again, in verse 11, all these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one.
Now, the commonality of this was and is important amongst the family of God, because the family of God is prone to two peculiar extremes. On the one hand, elitism, whereby—and I think it was a sad feature of the Corinthian context—we create a spiritual aristocracy within the church. We determine, untaught by our Bibles and unguided by the Spirit, that the people who really count are the people who possess certain gifts. Whatever those gifts might be in whatever given context, I don't have a particular gift in mind. It may be the gift of teaching. It may be the gift of public administration. It probably will be a gift that carries with it some measure of external prominence, and we're tempted to believe that the key people in the church are those who possess such gifts. And so it forms an elitist factor. The flip side of elitism is defeatism, so much so that people who, having determined that those are the key gifts and the key people, since they neither have those gifts nor are those people, they tend in their minds to sideline themselves and say, There's nothing that I can really do that's worthwhile here. I don't have a contribution to make.
So we need to be very clear on these basic facts. Who gives them God? Who gets them?
All men. Spiritual gifts are not the prerequisite or the prerogative of the chosen few. They are the privilege of the Christian family. When you as a parent or I as a parent give gifts to our children, we give gifts to all of our children, right? We're probably not going to give them all the same gifts because they're at different stages and they have different aptitudes and things they like, but we're certainly not going to give to one and deprive the others. If we care for our children and love our children indiscriminately, we will give to all our children, and in the same way our Heavenly Father operates. He doesn't look upon us in the way that we're tempted to look at one another and say, Well, you've been good and therefore you've been bad and so, but he gives gifts to his people generously, lavishly, and purposefully.
Our gifts differ, but we all have them. And that is made clear each time you find a list of the gifts, which comes largely in three places in the New Testament. But in Romans chapter 12 and verse 6, Paul says, we have different gifts according to the grace given us. And in 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 10, each one should use whatever gift he has received. Do you know how much time is wasted as a result of churches failing to apply such fundamental principles of practicality? 1 Peter 4, 10, each one should use whatever gift he has received.
Instead of sitting around wondering about the ones we haven't received, or being jealous of what someone else has been given, or wanting to take our gifts back for an exchange, the Bible says, whatever you got given, use it. It's real simple. And it's not a magical mystery tour to find out what it is. If I sit you down at a piano, it's going to be pretty obvious pretty quickly whether you got the gift of music. You may claim that you can play with all your fingers, but when you play, you play like this.
That's not music, that's chaos. If I ask you to help in the organizing of something in this church, it's going to become quickly apparent whether you have the gift of administration or whether you don't. If we come to you and ask if you'd come alongside us and teach a Sunday school class for three-year-old children, and we come in and observe you, it's going to be real obvious real fast whether you got the gift of getting on the floor with three-year-old children. It's not any great wonderful mystery. It's not something you have to sit around hour after hour having private prayer meetings and great major counseling sessions trying to wrestle out.
Just ask your wife, ask your husband, ask your best friend. It's fairly obvious what you're good at, what God has gifted you with. It's no great mystery. Some of us are intensely practical. Some of us are practically useless. It's obvious. Do you know how many organs are played in churches by some well-meaning lady that should never have been allowed within 50 yards of an organ? Or some well-meaning man? It's the same.
Because his wife or his husband or his friend or his pastor said, we're stuck. I mean, can you bump out a tune? Yeah, I can bump out a tune. Good, you're gifted.
Let's go. People walk out and say, I don't know why that joker plays the organ. The person who said, I don't know why he plays the organ goes home and after lunch sits down and plays the organ unbelievably well. It's because he decided his gift was given so he could amuse himself in his family room when in point of fact it was given so that the church could be edified and encouraged.
It's really pretty straightforward. Who gives them God? To whom does he give them?
To everybody. Why are they given? Why are they given? Well, the answer is right there in the verse that I was quoting from in 1 Peter chapter four as well as here in 1 Corinthians. In 1 Peter four, Peter makes it clear. He says, each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, to serve others. In 1 Corinthians 12, coming back to where we're supposed to be and in verse seven, you will notice that Paul says that these gifts were given for the common good. To each one, the manifestation of the spirit is given for the common good. The word in Greek is sun pheron. It has a multivarious meaning to bring together, to confer a benefit upon, to be advantageous, to be profitable, to be useful.
You get the picture. The gifts are given in order that we may make a contribution to a sphere beyond ourselves in a way that would confer benefit and be advantageous. In other words, we would be missed if we were absent because God gifted us in a unique way at a unique point in time to be uniquely useful in a unique group of people to fulfill a unique purpose.
It's the children's song, loved ones. Here's a work for Jesus. None but you can do. How many of us are sitting around waiting to be ministered to when the thrust of Scripture is to minister? How many of us are disappointed with and disgruntled by the absence of ministry to us when the Scriptures are about ministering through us?
And neither a sense of spiritual defeatism nor elitism should prevent us from the kind of discovery that God wants us to make. So the gifts are given for the common good. When we think about this in relationship to manifestation, which is a word that is used here in verse 7, it becomes obvious that these gifts are used in a public way.
Now, to each one, the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. Spiritual gifts are not something that we take home to enjoy by ourselves or to use as for our own benefits. A number of people like to speak of spiritual gifts in this way. Well, I have a special spiritual gift, and, you know, it's just a very private thing, it's a very personal thing, and I just use it for myself.
Well, isn't that very interesting? Because the manifestation of the spiritual gifts has been given for the common good. So I don't know that there even exists any spiritual gift that has been given that is present in any individual's life so that it may be of impact and import to myself alone. If you think you have one, you better check it out against the backdrop of Scripture. So when we exercise our gifts, not only do we minister to others, but we in turn encourage them to be involved in ministry.
That's what I'm doing right now. I'm exercising a spiritual gift of teaching, of exhorting, of encouraging. It's Ephesians 4. God has given me the gift of bringing the Scriptures to bear with clarity, with relative clarity on the lives of people. The result of which ought to be that you say, hey, I can do that. I can understand the Bible. I would like, in turn, to teach the Bible. It's a tremendous encouragement to me to have a young man come to me after I have had the opportunity to exercise my spiritual gift or a spiritual gift and come to me and say, that is what I want to be able to do. I want your help to be able to minister in that way. Well, if God has gifted him in that way, then I'll sure be glad to help him.
If you have the gift of encouragement and you exercise encouragement to another person, it creates oftentimes a chain reaction. You received a note. You said, that is a wonderful thing. What a Barnabas that fellow is.
What a Barnabas, what a Mrs. Barnabas that girl is. Then you said to yourself, you know, I ought to write someone a note. So you do. So the exercise of the gift was for the common good. A simple word of encouragement, a simple note. You say, I didn't know that was a spiritual gift.
You bet your life is a spiritual gift. The gift of encouragement. By the same token, when we fail to minister our gifts, not only does it affect ourselves, but it affects the wider body of Christ. Because the body of Christ is Ephesians four, as I've referred to it points out, the only way that the body of Christ is built up is as a result of each part doing its work. You can find that in Ephesians chapter four and at the end of verse 16.
From Jesus, the whole body joined and held together by every supporting ligament grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work. We'll continue learning how our spiritual gifts can be used to benefit the body of Christ next weekend on Truth for Life weekend with Alistair Begg. It's our conviction here at Truth for Life that when the Bible is taught clearly, local churches will be strengthened. And that's why here at Truth for Life, our commitment is to teach the Bible with clarity and relevance.
We believe that the message of scripture is as applicable today as it was when it was first written. If you listen to Truth for Life regularly on the weekends, you know we also recommend books to help you grow in your faith. And today I want to tell you about a book that I'm especially excited about.
It's written by Alistair Begg. The book is titled Pray Big, Learn to Pray Like an Apostle. If you've ever felt like your prayers have become shallow or lifeless or have begun to sound the same day in and day out, you'll appreciate this study. It'll help you develop deeper intimacy with God by teaching you about the Apostle Paul's God-centered pattern of prayer. In the book Pray Big, Alistair shows us how our prayers reveal our priorities as well as our beliefs about God. Paul prayed big because he believed in an all-powerful sovereign Lord who loves us, a God who does what he says he'll do. Find out why Paul's prayers so rarely mention the issues that frequently fill our own prayers. The truths that shape his prayers will motivate you to pray and help you know what to say. Page by page, your focus will increasingly turn from the day's distractions and will point you toward Christ, toward the Gospel, toward eternity. Learn more about the book Pray Big today by visiting truthforlife.org. I'm Bob Lapine. Thanks for listening. Join us again next weekend to learn how to use the spiritual gifts of wisdom, knowledge, and faith for their design purpose. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-09-21 21:08:21 / 2023-09-21 21:17:02 / 9