
What Are Spiritual Gifts?
- after church one Sunday morning, two pastors stood
over a table filled with a pile of money the biggest offering
ever taken in the history of that church
- the two pastors stand there perplexed, wondering what
triggered such an outpouring of generosity
- as one looks over his sermon notes from that morning,
the other says, "Look again, it must have been something you said!"
-
- I feel a little like one of those pastors
- no, we didnt have a record offering last week
- but I have never received so much feedback after a
sermon as I did from last week
- I want to thank you for it
-
- what I said last week was simple: we have a plan
- we have a plan to lead every member to fruitful, impassioned
service at Richview Baptist Church
- I told you that a Gallup survey found that 10% of church
members are already involved in active ministry within the church
- I asked those of you who are currently active serving
God in some ministry of the church to stand
- well over 10% of you stood, and that didnt include
those who were working in the Churchtime and nursery programs running
during the service
- I thanked you, and told you that help is on the way
-
- and then I asked those of you who are not yet involved
in ministry but would like to be to raise your hand
- Gallup says that this number should be around 40%
- to be honest, not many of you raised your hand
- but I promised those of you who did that we had a plan
to help you find your place of service within the church
-
- and something puzzled me later
- a lot of you neither indicated that you were involved
in service or wanted to be
- and some of you who I know are involved in service
never raised your hand at all
- and then, with the resulting feedback I received this
week, I began to realize that I needed to clearly communicate what I
meant when I talked about spiritual gifts, ministry, and our expectations
- few topics create more confusion and criticism in the
church than the subject of the Spirits work in gifting the church
- if you want to create a fistfight, handpick people
from various denominations, throw them in a room together, and bring
up the subject of the gifts of the Spirit
- churches have split over the issue
- libraries are filled with books on the topic
- and yet we cant ignore them
- the Bible says that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are
for every member of Christs body, the church
- and that includes you and me
-
- SO LET ME BACK UP THIS MORNING AND ASK, WHAT IS A SPIRITUAL
GIFT?
- Ive argued that we all have one and that we should
all be using them
- what exactly is a spiritual gift?
- how does it differ from a natural ability?
- when do you receive a spiritual gift?
- and is a spiritual gift permanent, or can it be taken
away?
- the Greek word for spiritual gift is charisma, a word
that has made its way into the English language, when we talk about
somebody possessing charisma, and also when we talk about the charismatic
gifts
- its best English translation would be a "grace
gift" a gift of grace
- and when it is used in the New Testament in relation
to spiritual gifts, it usually means an endowment of the Holy Spirit
for service to advance Christs kingdom
-
- its used, for instance, in the following passages
- (1 Peter 4:10) Each one should use whatever gift he
has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in
its various forms.
- (1 Corinthians 12:1) Now about spiritual gifts, brothers,
I do not want you to be ignorant.
- (Romans 12:6) We have different gifts, according to
the grace given us.
- let me give you a working definition of spiritual gifts,
that will provide a starting point:
- "A spiritual gift is any ability that is empowered
by the Holy Spirit and used in any ministry of the church"
- and lets break it down a bit more, before I ask
other questions
- "A spiritual gift is any ability"
- some have asked the question, "How can you tell
the difference between a natural ability and a gift of the Spirit?"
- sometimes there is no question, because some of the
gifts tend to be more miraculous and not related to natural ability
- but on the other hand, other spiritual gifts seem to
be closely related to natural abilities teaching, showing mercy,
administration, leadership
- so, I would argue from the Scriptures that some natural
abilities can in fact be used as spiritual gifts, provided some conditions
are met, as well get to in a minute
- for instance, if someone naturally is able to teach,
they can use that natural ability, under the influence of the Holy Spirit,
within the church
-
- this is where we realize that each one of us has some
natural ability that would be useful in Christs kingdom
- you have some ability that can be used in the church
to glorify God
- but one word of caution here: the Bible never draws
a distinction between natural and supernatural gifts
- there is a danger of overemphasizing the supernatural
gifts and de-emphasizing the gifts we think are natural
- if we do this, we fail to see Gods hand working
in all the gifts and fail to thank him for all of them
-
- but a spiritual gift is not just an ability, but it
is an "ability empowered by the Holy Spirit"
- (1 Corinthians 12:11) All these are the work of one
and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
- the Holy Spirit is sovereign in distributing gifts
- the word here "gives" or "apportions"
is in the present tense
- you could translate it, "The Holy Spirit is always
continuing to distribute or apportion gifts according to his desires"
- the Holy Spirit has a unique role in taking natural
abilities and supernaturally empowering them
- or sometimes in taking people who lack natural ability
and supernaturally empowering them to do his work
-
- just think of Moses
- Moses didnt feel that he had the necessary gifts
or abilities to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage
- and yet Gods response to Moses was to let him
know that the task would be accomplished by Gods power working
in him
-
- and what Ive learned is that the Holy Spirits
empowerment is the key factor
- natural ability, without the empowerment of the Holy
Spirit, will lack lasting results
-
- but one more phrase under this definition:
- "A spiritual gift is any ability that is empowered
by the Holy Spirit and used in any ministry of the church"
- the key phrase here is "used in any ministry of
the church"
- (1 Corinthians 12:7) Now to each one the manifestation
of the Spirit is given for the common good.
- (1 Corinthians 14:26) What then shall we say, brothers?
When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction,
a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done
for the strengthening of the church.
- gifts are not given to make us feel good or to advance
our personal agenda
- they are to flow through us to the benefit of others
around us in the church
- gifts are designed to be used within the church
- as much as we can use our spiritual gifts on committees
and in services outside the church, we are not fulfilling our role until
we are using our gifts within the church
- the divine ability you have been given enables you
to meet a need in the church and to make a kingdom difference
-
- next week were going to look at the amazing variety
of spiritual gifts available and present within this church
- looking out at each of you who are believers, I can
confidently assert that you have received a generous endowment of spiritual
giftedness as a token of Gods grace
- when we know our spiritual gifts, we will know our
spiritual job description
- our ministry will become more focused
- (1 Corinthians 12:27) Now you are the body of Christ,
and each one of you is a part of it.
- each one of you is a vital part of the ministry at
Richview Baptist Church
-
- which leads me into my next question
- WHAT IS A MINISTRY?
- last week I asked those of you who are involved in
ministry to stand
- some of you are involved in ministry, and yet you never
stood
- its possible youre involved in ministry,
and yet you dont know it
- its also possible that some of you think youre
involved in ministry, yet you arent
- let me tell you what ministry isnt
- ministry isnt sitting on a committee or a board
- Im not saying that this isnt important,
but many church members are so busy attending meetings that they have
little time left over for real ministry
- Rick Warren writes, "Ive often wondered
what wed have left in Christianity if we cut out off the meetings.
After all, Jesus did not say, I am come that you might have meetings.
But if you ask typical unchurched people what they notice most about
their Christian neighbors lifestyles, they are likely to say,
"They go to a lot of meetings. Is that what we want to be
known for?"
- he continues:
- "My guess is that the average church would be
healthier if it eliminated half of its meetings to allow more time for
ministry and relational evangelism
If a layperson comes to me and
says, Pastor, I have four hours a week to give my church in ministry,
the last thing I would do is to put him on some committee. I want to
get him involved in ministry, not maintenance."
-
- what is the difference between a committee and a lay
ministry?
- committees discuss it, but ministries do it
- committees maintain, ministries minister
- many churches need to streamline and release people
from being bureaucrats to being ministers
- so ministry isnt sitting on a committee or a
board
-
- ministry isnt necessarily a position
- a lot of people have never been appointed or elected
to a position, yet they are involved and fruitful in ministry
- a lot of people have been appointed or elected to a
position, and yet theyre not ministering
-
- the type of ministry Im talking about belongs
within the church
- as much as I am supportive of people giving of their
time and their gifts, I believe in reading 1 Corinthians 12-14 that
the local body of which you are a member needs you to exercise your
gifts in that place
- (1 Corinthians 12:27) Now you are the body of Christ,
and each one of you is a part of it.
-
- so what is ministry?
- the use of any God-given gift or ability to accomplish
the purposes of the church
- a phone call to someone who is discouraged; the relief
of poverty; visiting the sick; mailing encouragement cards; sharing
your faith with an unbeliever; praying; teaching a class; and more well
be looking at next week
- any time you do something to minister to another person
in the context of the local church and its purposes, you are ministering
- some of you who didnt stand last week have been
ministering you just didnt know it
- and maybe some of you who stood last week need to cut
back on your meetings, and turn your focus to ministry
-
- I WANT TO CLOSE BY LISTING SOME ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT LAY
MINISTRY THAT ARE IMPORTANT FOR EVERYONE TO UNDERSTAND
- first, everyone is a minister
- you are a minister
- God has given you a spiritual gift that is essential
to the proper functioning of the church
- the problem is, the young think theyre too inexperienced
- the older think that theyre too old
- but listen: if youre young, we need you to serve
- we want to give you permission to be more exuberant
and to make mistakes or do things differently than older people would
- isnt that right?
-
- and if youre older, we understand that health
and other concerns might keep you from doing things the way you used
to
- but you still have a vital role to play in the church
- we need you
- and I believe that youre here in this church
for a reason
- God has something he wants to do through you that will
match your giftedness, your personality, and also your capabilities
- God wont give you a bigger job to do than you
can handle in his strength
-
- second, every ministry is important.
- there is no spiritual gift ghetto
- there are no second and third-class gifts
- your gift is important to me and to this church
-
- third, we are dependent on one other
- we need each others gifts!
- if youre a leader, we need you to lead
- if youre a giver of mercy, we need you to give
mercy
- if you are a teacher, then we need you to teach
- if youre a leader, we want you to lead
-
- four, we will never start a ministry without a minister.
- I personally believe that in the interim, things will
get worse before they get better
- some existing ministries might temporarily shut down
as we re-align our church
- over and over again, we need to tell each other that
we are not going to plug somebody in who is not gifted just to fill
a need
- we will not continue ministries if there are no ministers
-
- closely related to this is the principle that we do
not want anyone ministering out of guilt
- the very opposite of fruitful, impassioned service
in your area of giftedness is ministry out of obligation or guilt
- let me say that if a ministry or a committee is going
to shut down because they are lacking one person, you dont have
to be that person
- to put it another way, just because someone throws
you a ball doesnt mean you have to catch it
- we do not want anyone serving God out of guilt or obligation
-
- another assumption: people will be allowed to quit
or switch ministries gracefully
- as we enter new areas of ministry, we need to give
each other permission to fail
- you will make mistakes; I will make mistakes
- in a few weeks, Ill be talking about giving God
our best
- but right now Ill give the other side of the
equation: if its worthy doing, its worth doing poorly
- I dont mean giving God less than our best, but
when we start out in a new area of ministry, we wont be pros overnight
- when I first started preaching, the people left that
evening and said, "That sermon reeketh"
- it was beyond being bad; it took real discernment to
think that I could ever preach and people would listen
- but somebody had the grace to allow me to make mistakes,
because that was the only way I was going to learn
-
- when we discover that we are in an area in which we
arent as gifted as we thought we were, we will give each other
permissions to make a change
- that if they find out they arent gifted in a
certain area, theyre allowed to make a change
-
- I would like to institute something called the one
or the two-hat rule
- heres what it means
- every one of us will wear one hat we will have
something we can call our ministry at Richview Baptist Church
- it will match our giftedness, our passion, our personality
- it will not be serving on a committee it will
be an area of service that uses your spiritual gift
- and we will want you to wear that one hat well
- if you are really ambitious, although we wont
encourage it, we will allow you to wear two hats
- my dream is that everyone here will have one, maybe
two hats, but no more
- what this allows you to do is to have a ministry, and
to do it with excellence
- it will also allow us to say no to other ministry opportunities
without guilt, knowing that we are already serving God using our spiritual
gifts within the body
-
- one comment about serving
- there will still be certain occasions where serving
will take place even outside our giftedness
- we will all still have the challenge of evangelism,
even if that isnt our gift
- and when tables need to get put away or dishes need
to get washed, it wont be a matter of, "Thats not my
spiritual gift"
- it will be a matter of humbling ourselves and meeting
an evident need, of becoming a servant like Jesus and following his
example of washing feet
- the goal will be, however, to serve God primarily in
the area of our giftedness, still staying sensitive to his leadings
to become a servant whenever needed
-
- let me conclude with some words by Tony Evans:
- "One has only to look at the anemic nature of
so many of our churches today, coupled with the reality that in most
places 10 percent of the people are doing 90 percent of the work, to
understand what happens when spiritual gifts are not working properly.
The churchs impact upon its membership, as well as the community
it should be serving, is stunted.
- "Instead of being salt and light in the world,
the church becomes satisfied functioning as a weekly Bible study with
a few songs mixed in
- "Absolutely nothing can replace the power, influence,
and impact of a church that is fulfilling Gods kingdom agenda
through the operation of the gifts in the body. Why? Because thats
how the Spirit manifests himself, and when the Spirit manifests himself,
powerful things happen"
- lets pray