Why does God give gifts?

1. To glorify Himself

a. We are insufficient

b. He is sufficient

2. To build up Christ's Body

Before we proceed into the intricacies of spiritual gifts- I think we need to look at another aspect of why God gives gifts in the first place. Keep your Bible beside you and check out the verses I quote below.

We in the church can sometimes miss out on this vital aspect of life in the body. We are like the small boy in depression times that wanted to go to the circus. He knew this was probably impossible because it cost 50 cents to go. Much to his surprise on the day the circus came to town his father gave him the 50 cents- this was at great cost since this was a whole day's wages for the father. The little boy went merrily on toward where the circus was to be. As he went he saw a large crowd- he was overjoyed and pushed to the front of the crowd where he saw a long line of circus performers- Beautiful women riding elephants, jugglers, great cages with lions and tigers. A band was playing music. And the ringleader was eloquently describing the circus. A clown took off his hat and did a somersault in front of him - the little boy put his 50 cents in - he thought that was where he paid. - it wasn't until years later that he realized he had only seen the circus parade- he had missed the show altogether. Now do not think I am drawing analogies between ushers and clowns here- the is that many miss out on what it is actually means to be a part of the body of Christ- Sunday morning is not all there is to it. We are to be the Church- sharing, using our gifts, identifying ourselves with the Lord's supper, not just partaking of it.

Instead of ministering our life away- as broken bread and poured out wine to each other, too many of us come to church and go home and repeat the process endlessly. We fail to come to terms with Christ's sufficiency in us for all things because we fail to dig deeply enough into body life.

It is God's provision that makes us adequate. 2 Cor 9:8 says- “God is Able to make all grace abound, so that in all things and at all time , having all that you need you will abound in every good work.” This idea extends far beyond the 21 or so gifts that appear on the various lists in the 4 main passages we usually look to understand spiritual gifts. I Corinthians 12, which was one of your readings this week, is one of those passages.

One of the things we need to understand about the Christian life is that we are permanently insufficient for it. It is life permanently lived in the deep end of the pool. There are no time outs, no comfort zones, no substitutes- you are in the game for keeps. And the game is much bigger than we are.

Jesus, in Luke chapter 9-10, is in the process of teaching his followers some very significant principles. They are seeing Him, knowing Him, learning how He works- and they are being groomed to take his place. The reason we are so inadequate is because we are the replacements of Jesus Christ in this world today. He is not interested in having us live quiet, ordinary lives in which we are good at something. He is interested in having us live quiet, extraordinary lives in which we manifest His power. We are to be about doing greater things than He did! And we are inadequate for that. You are the only Jesus some men ever see- at your job, at home, wherever life finds us, and this is an awesome thought. The Lord God has chosen to live his life thru us. So this is the point.

What I want us to derive from this teaching was the fact that, in all things, Christ is sufficient. However there are times when we try to be sufficient for the day when we have no business doing so. One of these areas is that of spiritual gifts. We apply the same answers that God intended for use in other areas of life- get educated, get experience, get qualified. We try to apply these in areas where we can never do so of ourselves.

What about this kind of sufficiency? Are we adequate for what God has for us to do?

1. God has given us limited resources. We need Him first and each other secondly.

2. God does not adjust life to our limitations.

3. Instead, God gives us unlimited responsibilities- we are taking the place of Christ Himself in this world.

Why does God seemingly stack the odds against us?

1. Our great God can only give us God sized tasks. We were created to be the very temples of God and part of our redemption process is that He wants us to understand in real terms what that life should be- the synergy and partnership of God himself, the synergy and partnership of the body of Christ working together in power and creativity! Sin came in and destroyed that whole reality for us. We are His indwelt beings- we were created to operate on this level and we messed it up at the fall. We are in the reconstruction process. There is nothing worthy of humanity but God sized tasks.

2. A second reason is- God loves for us to be His Children- He has a Father's love to give. He wants his children to take him into their need. We should always be desperate for God's control and input.

3. God delights to send his Glory thru clay vessels. Baked dirt, cracked pots. How good a baking job has been done on me? He puts His glory in us- When the true odds of life hit us in full force at that moment there is a breaking forth of the glory of grace- God gives us grace as wee need it- moment by moment- So we can hear Jesus say as Paul did. Romans 12:9 My grace is sufficient for thee- for power is perfected in weakness! So Get out of Control!!! The glory of God comes crashing thru our cracks and overflows us and it overwhelms us!!

4. God gives us limited resources and unlimited responsibilities. There is a reason for this in what God intends to do- He intends to multiply our limited resources so they meet his unlimited responsibilities!

Jesus has confidence in Luke 9-10- please recognize that Jesus Himself is the prototype of what He wants them to do- Jesus models for us how humans are to live : with divine resources and power dwelling within them. His confidence came from his knowing the faithfulness of the Father. He only did the Father's will. His confidence came from His walk with the Father, from the knowledge of God He had from scripture, His knowledge of God's purpose for him as Messiah. He rebukes their lack of faith. We get confidence the same way Jesus got it. Life is bigger than experience.

Please note that from the other accounts of this miracle, the twelve had just come off of a mountaintop experience of having been sent out with power to work miracles, to heal, to cast out demons, etc. What was to follow was that after feeding the 5000, on the trip across the water, Jesus would expect Peter to walk on water. Then the 70 would be sent out to exhibit the same kinds of miraculous powers. Jesus was preparing apostles to take his place on earth. Yet they time and time again did not trust in the power He had given when they came upon the next challenge.

Experience can only take you so far and it cannot take you far enough to do what God wants you to do. Until life is beyond you will never see it.

Take for example our approach to inadequacy. Men’s approach to inadequacy is to cover it up or give up to it. We tend to deal with inadequacy by using our tongues to protect ourselves. We carry this over from childhood. But over time we may overcome the inadequacy of inexperience. We are to study to show ourselves approved in this area.We discover coping mechanisms, we discover how to go with the flow. We discover that being really good at something helps convince us that we may not be inadequate after all. But you know, that's not the in life. We misunderstand life. We think the key to happiness is doing things well. Or in "Being Good " or being good at something. We may get past the inadequacy of inexperience but there is another whole realm of inadequacy that plagues us day after day. This is the inadequacy of insufficiency.

Again, we discover coping mechanisms, we discover how to go with the flow. We discover that being really good at something helps convince us that we may not be inadequate after all. The problem here is that what worked so well in helping us overcome our inadequacy of inexperience gives us a false sense of confidence when it comes to our insufficiency. Positive thinking can be a rubric in the light of a real and present need ignored.

People deal with their insufficiency by either covering it up or becoming too self focused and developing a martyr complex. Those folks rest in their inadequacy and wear it like a badge- “Oh I could never do that! I'm just not talented in that area- that's not my gift.” We shall see in a second passage today that we are free to accept ourselves as Christ does. We are not free to say- “ Oh if only my family was different, oh if only I was different... if only, if only-” We must learn that God is not overpowered by our weakness- He is not limited by our limitations.

Where did Christians ever get the notion that they needed anything other than Christ? Is He somehow inadequate? Is His gift of salvation somehow deficient? Certainly not. We are children of God, joint heirs with Christ, and therefore beneficiaries of a richer legacy than the human mind could ever comprehend (Rom. 8:16-17). Christians are rich beyond measure. All true Christians are heirs together with Christ Himself. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 says that our inadequacy is a display case for His Glory.

2Cor. 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

2Cor. 12:10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

We celebrate the Declaration of Independence each year-this is Paul's declaration of dependence. The same word for sufficiency is used here as is used in the feeding of the 5000. I will keep returning to this passage periodically-

So what do we do with our gift?

a. USE it.

b. Use IT.

I have taken every command that I could find in the NT related to spiritual gifts and boiled them down to 8 basic obligations we are commanded to observe in using them. There are three in particular that cover most of these. The study that I did to determine this is at the end of this lesson.

1. used accordingly

2. discerned perceptively- this relates to discerning other's gifts, not ours.

3. aimed at edification of the whole body

a. - Use it- Used accordingly refers to the discrete use of gifts- USE it. Let's fill this thought out- First we emphasize the verb- emphasizes “use”, then the pronoun “it”. Put your gift to use, says 1 Tim 4:14. The body recognized and commissioned him into that ministry- acknowledged at beginning. We are not to ignore our gifts, as in Mat. 22:5 where we are warned not to neglect an invitation to wedding. Do not ignore your gift. Is this then, a case of Use it or lose it? Well, we can EXERCISE them and God seems to let His power flow more freely. It can weaken. Do not - means the cessation of a process- stop that! Peripheral, valid things can cause us to neglect our gift. 1 Peter 4:10 holds a command, an Imperative- employ it to serve one another, as a good steward. God has invested in each of you. The NT lays upon us the obligation to use it.

A friend of mine tells a story about a poorly chosen gift he once gave his father- a soldering iron- it was poorly chosen because his Dad really had no use for it! Ultimately it was a disappointing gift to give- because it was never used- it even became a family byline- "boy that's a real soldering iron!...". We give gifts that we desire to be used. How can we use our gift if we are not sure what it is? The obligation appears to demand this- so many look for steps in which to follow to discover their gift- several reasons why not-

It is our general responsibility to do all the things that giftedness implies whether we have a particular gift or not. In one sense that is the only way to truly discover what gifts you have. Everyone is to evangelize, to encourage, to teach, whether you have that gift or not. Here are some Biblical illustrations of what I mean.

For instance, with the gift of Exhortation- ( paraclesis in greek)- Some have been given this spiritual gift, but Heb 12:25 says that we all are to encourage! The gift of mercy - In Romans 12:8 and Jude 22 we all are to generally have mercy, so to be giving it as part of our nature . 1 Cor 16:2 says that each of you be involved in a giving project. The Gift of faith- in Heb 13:17 the writer commends the leaders who have died- everyone is to practice and use their faith. So too with the Gift of discernment- all are to test the spirits and this is said relating to gifts.

So giftedness doesn't override our general responsibility to minister!

Giftedness is God's responsibility to reveal- and He will do so in the trenches- as we are in ministry. He will do so when we will simply plant all of our beans, (I’ll tell you what I mean by that later) rather than attempting to find the gift- sidetracked into searching to discover. So USE it- whether you have defined it or not.

b. Use IT. Next we need to focus on the gift itself- Use IT for what it was intended- Ro 12:6-8 use them according to their differences, and according to what God has spoken. The gift of service is to be exercised as service. In other words, they should be used in a way that accords with their purpose.

When I was a child my brother and I were given a gift for Christmas, after the crops came in. It was intended to be a very practical gift. It was a blue minibike- We lived between three large farms and sharecropped for the owners - and that bike, among other things was to help us in herding cows, in running errands and other practical needs. Now we lived back a three mile long gravel road, and though that minibike sure came in handy for all sorts of things, we found all sorts of other fun things to use it for- we lived in the boonies where there were lots of open fields and riding was a lot better transportation than walking. Lo and behold, our neighbor who lived about a mile away got one too, and we used to race them to see who was the fastest. Now I am sure at time my Dad may have regretted giving was that bike. Especially when we were off riding it when he had given us chores to do. At times we were so occupied with the gift he had given us that the work he had given us to do was sometimes neglected.

Sometimes the same preoccupation happens in the kingdom- Romans 12:6-8 is a good reference here.

Rom. 12:6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.

Rom. 12:7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach;

Rom. 12:8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

There is a very popular seminar leader who teaches that there are various categories of gifts- The three categories of gift idea that says you may have the gift of teaching but you exercise that thru a ministry of serving which is interpreted as a gift of exhortation. He teaches that gifts are different- motivational, ministerial and of manifestation. This passage goes against that teaching. It literally says “Teach in your teaching”- faithfully explaining what God has revealed- “exhort in your exhortation”- that sounds too simple- I want something flashier-No, the gift is to be used for what you are gifted.

The screwdriver just slowly turns and turns. One day he decided to become a hammer- he started beating in nails with his head doing what he was not designed to do- in the same way, the hammer, when he pounds in the screw strips the threads. The screwdriver was uniquely gifted, just as each of you are- Be yourself, not being someone else is what God has for you. He sees what you potentially can be.

2. Discerned perceptively- So God will reveal our giftedness thru our ministry. The more needs we encounter, the more gifts will be evidenced. Let God surprise you in this. I know this goes against what you may have been taught- fill out a spiritual gifts inventory and then let it tell you what your gift is? I don’t see any mention of Briggs Myers indicators in scripture! That’s not to knock inventories altogether- they may be a useful tool for some purposes, but I have never found them to bee too helpful, nor are they conducive to setting people free to experience new challenges in the body and therefore discovering gifts they had no idea they had.

A couple of principles obtain here-

a. Recognize that all gifts are of grace alone- Peter calls it poikilos- multicolored or multifaceted grace.

b. We also need to see that we tend to look at some people as being cast off- We pursue people whom we see have potential for being used of God. There is no who's who of premium converts out there, not athletes or successful businessmen, etc. This is a false premise. We laud tremendous sinners who are converted- this is wrong- Anybody is somebody in the body by the very virtue of having been included in the first place.

3. Aimed at edification of the whole body -Gifts should be exercised lovingly and aimed at edification- Love does not seek it's own. 1 Cor 13. (That’s another part of this weeks readings) Employ it to serve one another. 1 Peter 4:10

As an aside, 1 Cor 14:1-4 has been used to promote the use of personal prayer languages. I do not agree- it reads as negative connotation. Suppose Paul were to use a gift of money given to bless the body for his own edification- do you see my point? 1 Cor 12:7 clearly says that spiritual gifts are for the common good.

Do we need to KNOW what our gift is?

Anthony, what's your spiritual, gift? Oh no, not again! I ponder, I think- service- that’s the ticket, that's a safe enough answer- the question has floated around so much that it has become stultifying, stagnating. It may even have kept us from ministering- if we do not have a good solid assurance of what our gift is, we do not really think we can minister. Thus the question may impede ministry. That question causes some more questions follow upon it.

Imagine a man that has a perfect understanding of the mechanics of salvation- it benefits him nothing if he does not act upon it. In contrast someone who may have an incomplete or deficient understanding, if he does what he knows, he profits much. The same can be said of spiritual gifts.

I have come to realize over the years that Spiritual gifts are one thing that by attempting to define them you run the risk of locking yourself out of the possibility of multiplying them. The Spirit provides gifts for a purpose- you may have all the gifts and one comes to the forefront and another recedes in the same situation- the key is that God is their source, not you!

So what is Your responsibility when it comes to discovering your spiritual giftedness?- Do what God commands.

Theological terms are sometimes handy- "perspicuity" is one of those- God has clearly revealed what it is needful for man to know. We may not have enough data - like in Jeremiah where it refers to putting the twig to the nose or elsewhere where it refers to the baptism of the dead. Make a fair and honest appraisal based on what God has revealed to us. Do not spend time seeking the gift- just do it- go out and minister.

Here’s that promised revelation of what I meant above by “planting beans” - I have a handful of beans - and one of them is special- it will yield 100 times as much as the others. There are two things I can do and they constitute 2 opposing courses: I can go to a lab and subject them to extensive testing, so I can discover which is the special bean and put it to use. So I run the laboratory test, illuminate them radiate them , etc, etc. But the tests show they are all the same. Seeking to determine the gifted bean yielded nothing- the true test is to put it in the ground and see what it yields- Which gives rise to the second course- The true test is to simply plant them all and the gifted bean will manifest its gifted character in the nature of the fruit it yields. Meanwhile I will also get fruit from all the other beans!- all of which have been planted. When we do what God commands, the area where we are gifted will be made manifest.

A couple of final thoughts:

Are you holding a reserve? Are you relying on anything other than God? What is the remnant of reliance left on your own virtue? You cannot live a holy life but you can decide to let Jesus make you holy. You cannot serve the Lord, but you can let His almighty power come through you. When you are right with God He will manifest His life through you.

We should stop looking for "qualified" people and look for people who are willing to abandon themselves spiritually to God.

------------------------------------------a little word study I put together on gifts follows---------------

In the NT there are a number of Greek terms that appear that are used in a generic way- charisma, pneumatikos, merismos, energema, diakonia, doma. Each of these terms have aspects that are used in several contexts, but in at least one context is used to describe spiritual gifts. These are descriptive of the whole concept of gifts, not of individual gifts. As such, each term gives us a slice of the pie- examining each of these terms can give us a good understanding of what scripture says spiritual gifts are. Note that several of the words have the “ma” ending- denoting in the Greek the results or manifestation of whatever word it follows.

charisma- basis of every spiritual gift is grace- (the result of charis)- it refers generally in most cases, but specifically relating to gifts-literally it means the result of grace, not earned or sought. cf. Romans 12: 6 (special service capacities) and Romans 1:11 (here Paul wishes to exercise his gifts towards them).

pneumatikos - 1 Corinthians 12:1- emphasizes the origin of gifts-the results of the Spirit-

1 Cor 14:12 -pneuma=results of the Spirit, of which gifts are one. 1 Cor.12:7-Phonerosis tu pneuma- manifestations of the Spirit. Can refer to people or things. Later in v. 31 (the same passage) Paul uses charisma interchangeably. In Romans 1:11 both terms are used together. 1 John 4:1

diakonia- 1 Cor 12:5- emphasizes service for ministry, relates as a synonym to charisma and pnematikos in 1 Cor. 12-14. There is benefit to others by the exercise of a spiritual gift. The gifts are to be used in service to the whole.

energema- the result or display of work- it is God's work in you, transcending your ability-In 1 Cor 12:10, 28-31. Charisma and energema used interchangeably here. It is superhuman, not based on man's resources.

doma- The results of giving. This emphasizes the reception of the gift- it transcends human potential it is given to us from God. Ephesians 4:8.

merismos- Hebrews 2:4, dividing - emphasizes the measure of a gift- it is limited- a division or measure of the Holy Spirit. No one has all of the Holy Spirit. We all have a portion to give to the whole.

From these words we can construct a helpful definition of spiritual gifts

They are a limited (merismos) capacity for service to others (diakonia) generated by the Spirit (pneumatikos) on the basis of God's grace (charisma) whereby the believer does what transcends humanity(energema) irrespective of natural ability (doma).

Who receives them? Every believer- 1 Cor 12 :11- 13- at where we are included in the body- at salvation. Spirit baptism and Spirit gifts are inextricably linked in an universal statement here, since 1 Corinthians was written to all believers- see its introduction.

Our obligation - what am I supposed to do with them? This is the study referred to above in "So what do we do with our gift?"

Let us look at the commands (that I could find) associated with the exercise of spiritual gifts-

1. Romans 12:3- "Do not think more highly of yourself than you ought to think"-an indirect command- lego- construct brings command force

2. Romans 12:6-8 implied command "let each exercise them accordingly"

3. 1 Corinthians 12:1-3-"I do not want you to be unaware" verb plus infinitive

4. 1 Cor. 12:30 "desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you might prophecy"

5. 1 Cor. 12:31 "earnestly desire greater gifts"- infinitive-

6. 1 Cor 14:1 pursue love, based on 1 Cor 13

7. 1 Cor 14:1-"desire earnestly to prophecy"

8. 1 Cor. 14:12 " seek to abound for the edification of the church". builds on v. 1-11

9. 1 Cor 14:13 third person, permissive imperative- let someone do this=“when you pray in a tongue, pray that you may interpret.”

10. 1 Cor 14:26- "let all things be done for edification"- following this comes 10 more command type statements to promote edification.

11. 1 Cor. 14:37 "if anyone thinks he is a prophet, or spiritual, let him recognize..."

12. 1 Cor. 14:39-" do not forbid to speak in tongues"

13. 1 Cor 14:40- "let all things be done properly"

14. 1 Cor. 14:40-"... and in an orderly manner"

15. 1 Thess 5:20 "do not despise prophetic utterances"

16. 1 Timothy 4:14- "do not neglect the spiritual gift within you"

17. 2 Timothy 1:6-"kindle afresh the gift within you"

18. 1 Peter4:10- Peter uses participles- "employing it in serving one another"

19. 1 John 4:1-"do not believe every spirit"- referring to many false prophets

20. 1 John 4:1"test the spirits to see if they are from God"

Spiritual gifts should be

viewed soundmindedly 1.

used accordingly 2, 16, 17, 18

discerned perceptively.3, 12, 15, 19, 20

valued accurately 4, 5, 7

exercised lovingly 6- follows I Cor 13

aimed at edification 8, 9 , 10 (10 others follow)

grounded apostolically 11

ordered properly 13, 14

Notice there is no command to discern our person gift- but I would say it is certainly implied - it is impossible to follow certain of these imperatives without knowing your gift- let me be quick to add that the of emphasis is not discovering your gift. There are several commands here we can execute w/o knowing our gift- however, the emphasis is on doing, not discovering.

Perhaps we would also do well to reflect on Luke 10:19-20 (The return of the 72) where Jesus says not to rejoice in exhibiting great spiritual power but in the fact that your name is written in heaven.