Over the past several weeks we have been laying a strong foundation on who the Holy Spirit is and His work today, not only in the world, but also in the life of the believer. It is upon that firm foundation that we now begin to look at the gifts of the Spirit and their proper use in the church today.
And so in this study we are going to take an introductory look at the gifts of the Spirit, and from there, in succeeding studies, we will look specifically at the various gifts, and there are more than just 9, as we shall see. And the best place to begin an introduction into a section like this is in I Corinthians chapter 12, as Paul is going to spend 3 chapters not only correcting their errors in regards to the gifts, but he will also tell them how these gifts are to be used in a proper manner.
First of all we need to have a little background information on this city called Corinth. This ancient city was and is still in southern Greece, west of Athens. Corinth was a strategically located city on major trade routes that ran north and south, and east and west. Because of that it was filled with people from all walks of life and all parts of the world, and not necessarily your model citizen. Thus, Corinth was a rough, nasty, and very immoral city whose reputation preceded them. Also in this city was the Temple of Aphrodite in which housed 1,000 temple priestess, which were nothing more than prostitutes who would use the profits they made for the upkeep of the temple. And because of all this immorality and wickedness that was common in this city, a verb was coined after them, KORINTHIAZOMAI, which meant "to lead a debased life".
Paul first visited Corinth on his second missionary journey, (Acts 18). And as people heard the Gospel message, souls were saved, mostly gentiles as many Jews rejected what Paul was saying. But as people got saved, the church was born.
Now this church was to be a light to the city which was in darkness, but instead the city was getting into the church instead of the church getting into the city! As Moffatt correctly put it, "The Church was in the world, as it had to be, but the world was in the Church, as it ought not to be."
And so about three years after Paul visited Corinth, while he was preaching in Ephesus, he received a letter from Corinth telling him of the problems that were going on in the church. Thus, I Corinthians is a letter back to them, trying to correct those problems, trying to set right this worldly and carnal church.
Some of the problems that had developed in Corinth were as follows. They began to divide into factions, into clicks. Paul said beginning in verse 10 of I Corinthians chapter 1, "Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you. Now I say this, that each of you says, ‘I am of Paul,’ or ‘I am of Apollos,’ or ‘I am of Cephas,’ or ‘I am of Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" I Corinthians 1:10-13. And in many churches we see that happening today, and those factions and clicks can divide the body and cause great hurt. I pray that we never see that kind of carnality here.
Not only that, but they had become immoral by not disciplining a man who was sleeping with his stepmother. Paul said this in I Corinthians chapter 5, beginning in verse 1, "It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles-- that a man has his father's wife! And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you...deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?" I Corinthians 5:1-2, 5-6. They needed to deal with this and any sin before the whole body was infected with its poison.
They had problems with lawsuits amongst each other, (I Corinthians 6). They had marital problems that they were not dealing with, (I Corinthians 7). Paul even had to rebuke them in the way they had their Agape feasts or pot lucks, as we would call them. The rich would bring their food and sit together while the poor brought whatever they could and had to sit by themselves and eat the little they brought while the rich gorged themselves. Then they would share in communion. And Paul rebukes them for that kind of behavior, telling them they are making a mockery of communion, and because of their actions some are sick, and even some have died! (I Corinthians 11).
And finally, as Paul comes to chapter 12, he is going to deal with another problem, the abuse of the gifts of the Spirit that were taking place in Corinth. Because of that, Paul is going to spend three chapters correcting them in the abuse and teaching them the proper use of these gifts.
Interestingly enough, this church in Corinth was very carnal, very worldly, and yet they had the gifts of the Spirit working in them, they exercised all of the gifts. That just tells me you don’t have to be some super giant to acquire these gifts in your life. And the reason is simple, they are grace gifts the Spirit gives us, not because we are worthy of them, but because He desires to give them to us. The problem we see in Corinth is that carnality plus these gifts of the Spirit equals abuse, and I believe we are seeing that very thing today in the church.
In fact, when it comes to these gifts many just toss out the window all they know and understand in the Word for the experience, feeling it must be from God even though God has not instructed us in it. As the late John Wimber, head of the Vineyard Fellowship of churches said in regards to this issue: "There’s nothing in the Scripture that supports these kind of phenomena that I can see, and I can’t think of anything throughout the church age that would. I feel no obligation to try to explain it. It’s just phenomena. It’s just people responding to God." (Charisma, Feb. 1995, p. 26).
I am sorry to hear that, because Paul had to deal with the Corinthian church because of their abuse and misuse of these gifts that went contrary to God’s Word. And so lets see what Paul has to say so that we can stay on track and be guided by the Spirit of God, according to the Word of God, and receive all that God has for us.
I CORINTHIANS 12:1
"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant."
Paul has just been speaking of how carnal they have been, living in the flesh, and now he is going to speak to them on "spirituals". You see, the writers added the word "gifts" for clarity, but in the Greek it is not present. The Greek word that is used here for "spirituals" is PNEUMATIKA, and the IKA ending on a word means "characterized or controlled by."
Lets paraphrase what Paul is saying here to help us to understand it more clearly. "Now concerning the things of the Spirit that are controlled by the Spirit." Again, this is in stark contrast to what we see taking place in the church today. We see people running to and fro for this healing service on Thursday, another on Monday, and-so-on. When the reality is, we don’t control the Holy Spirit or place our demands on Him when healing services are going to take place. The Spirit of God is control and He gives gifts as He sees fit, not necessarily when we want them.
Another point that Paul makes is that he does not want us to be ignorant about Spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit gives to us. And yet, in the church today there is much ignorance of these things, and that should not be so! The other area Paul didn’t want us to be ignorant about is the rapture of the church, as he tells us in I Thessalonians 4:13. And again, it is one of those areas that has many confused about because they listen to man rather than God’s clear teaching from His Word!
It is interesting that Paul uses the "super emphatic" in the Greek when he speaks of not wanting us to be ignorant of these gifts. Then why is there so much confusion today? One of the reasons, I believe, is we are seeing ignorance that is driven by fear. Many have seen the abuses that have gone on in regards to the gifts of the Spirit, and they want nothing to do with them. And really, you can’t blame them if that is all they had to go by. But there is the Word of God that will guide them as it guides us.
We should not fear those things that God desires to give us. Remember what Jesus said in Luke 11:11-13, "If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"
Now I have to admit I don’t use the word "charismatic" to describe what I believe too often. Why? Because of the negative relationship it is associated with. I am more likely to just explain what I believe in regards to the gifts instead of using a title or name for it. That way the person understands what I believe clearly.
Others believe that these gifts were just for the first century church and not for us. They needed these gifts to get the church started and they think we don’t need them anymore. How wrong they are. Just look at this nation and the impact the church is having on this nation today! It is very little. We need these gifts just as much as they did back then. And I think you will see that the Scriptures support this view, that these gifts were not just for the first century church.
And lastly, the abuse of these gifts that we are seeing today which go contrary to what the Word of God has to say. We are seeing today, believe it or not, people barking like dogs, being drunk in the Spirit, glued to the floor, bouncing their heads on the floor, roaring like lions, laughing uncontrollably, running around like some warrior, throwing the Holy Spirit around like some kind of magic trick, and we say this is of God! NOT!!!!
Now my intention is not to try to offend you or have you turn off what I am saying because it is going against what you believe. All I ask you, as we go through these things, even if it is contrary to what you believe, is see what the Word of God has to say instead of going by feelings or experiences. Yes there is a lot of abuse going on in the church today in regards to spiritual gifts, but lets not throw the baby out with the bath water!
In fact, without the gifts functioning in the church, without the operation of these spiritual gifts, the church is lifeless and ineffective in its mission. It is the Spirit of God drawing people to Christ and the Spirit of God uses the body of Christ, He uses us to do that by the various gifts that He bestows upon us. And so, lets not be ignorant of these things!
I CORINTHIANS 12:2
"You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led."
Before these believers got saved they were following pagan practices, carried away by these things. And Paul is telling them that they were like that, but they should no longer continue down that path, applying the spiritual gifts to their old pagan practices.
I find this thought interesting and troublesome. It is interesting that many, if not all the cults, practice mind control, where you can’t think for yourself, but someone else tells you what to think, how to act. What is troublesome to me is that in the church we have developed this kind of thinking. You can’t question what is being taught, even if it is not according to the Word of God, because we are not allowed to touch the Lord’s anointed!
Some of you might think I am off on this, but understand this, it is happening at alarming rates throughout the church today. Listen closely to what one well known televangelist had to say about those who check what he has to say according to the Word of God. He said:
"You wonderful people of God, quit attacking men of God by name! Somebody’s attacking me because of something I’m teaching! Let me tell you something brother, you watch it!...I don’t mind if they attack Benny and the way he is and the way he walks, but don’t attack the anointing on my life; don’t attack this man of God [Paul Crouch]. There is a group here in California that thinks they are the judgment seat of Christ! They judge everything you do. Listen here, fella, let me tell you something: you’re not my judge; Jesus is my judge! You walk around with your stiff lip and collar on your neck - dear God in Heaven I wish I could just –ooh!"
"They call it a ministry, my foot! You know, I’ve looked for one verse in the Bible – I just can’t seem to find it – one verse that says, ‘If you don’t like’ em, kill’ em!’ I really wish I could find it! But there’s nowhere in the bible where it says it!..."
"Sometimes I wish God would give me a Holy ghost machine gun! I’d blow your head off!"
Now as much as Benny Hinn, and others, may say things like that, which are unscriptural, they do not want anyone to check their teaching to see if the Word of God speaks of these things, and yet Paul tells us this in I Thessalonians 5:21, "Test all things; hold fast what is good." If you don’t test all things according to the light of God’s Word you are a fool and you are opening yourself up to many deceptions that are out there! You see, if a teaching is God’s truth, then it will stand the test of tough questions, under the light of God’s Word!
I CORINTHIANS 12:3
"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."
It seems that Paul is answering a question that was sent to him by the Corinthians. And by his response it seems that the question is about tongues and how some were saying they heard people speak in tongues, understanding that language, and these people were calling God accursed when they used this gift. We even see that going on today. It goes something like this, "I have a friend, whose aunt’s friend’s daughter knows someone who was at a service somewhere, and when the gift of tongues was being exercised they understood the language, and they were cursing God using tongues."
Paul is telling them, and us, that is untrue. There is no way you can call God accursed using the gift of tongues. You see, tongues is a beautiful prayer language unto God that speaks praises unto Him and glorifies Him, even though you can’t understand it. This gift is not something we should fear, but understand that this enhances our prayer life before God. And yes there is the counterfeit to tongues that the enemy uses, but do you really think that our heavenly Father is going to give to His children the counterfeit? No way. Don’t let the enemy negate what God is doing!
I CORINTHIANS 12:4-6
"There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.
And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all."
Paul now speaks of various kinds of gifts or graces (CHARIS in the Greek), that the Holy Spirit gives freely to us. You don’t earn them, in fact you can be a new Christian and manifest these gifts in your life. The Holy Spirit freely gives these gifts as He sees fit.
He then moves to "differences of ministries" in verse 5. The Greek word for "ministries" is DIAKONIA, which speaks of "service", "assistance", and it carries with it the idea or thought of ministering or serving someone. This is important for us to understand, anyone in ministry, and we are all in ministry, we are not there to be served, but to serve. Jesus, our example, said in Mark 10:45, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
And then in verse 6 Paul speaks of various kinds of activities or "diversities of operations" it is literally speaking of. You see, there are many different types of gifts, there are differences of ministries, or we all have been called to a different ministry in the body of Christ, serving each other. And finally, there are different ways the gifts work.
You see, the same gift might not work the same way in each of our lives. Think of it this way, the Holy Spirit is using a painters pallet to mix the gifts and use them in a unique way, blending them together in such a way in that persons life that it will edify that body of believers or those people he comes in contact with.
Think of Jesus and the various ways he used the gift of healing. Sometimes He touched a person, sometimes the person touched Him, sometimes He just spoke from a distance and the person was healed, and-so-on. The gift of evangelism can be manifested in different ways. Some are comfortable speaking before thousands of people, and many are saved. Some like going door-to-door and they see much fruit in their ministry. Others like just that one-on-one, meeting people on the street, and their ministry is fruitful. You see, the same ministry, the same gift used, but manifested in different ways.
I CORINTHIANS 12:11
"But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills."
I feel that this verse sums up what Paul was saying in verses 4-6. The Holy Spirit is Sovereign and He decides what each person needs and will receive in a given situation. The Holy Spirit gives each of us unique ministries, mixed in a way that will benefit those around us.
I CORINTHIANS 12:31a
"But earnestly desire the best gifts."
An interesting question comes out of this. "What is the best gift?" It all depends on what job needs to be done. For example, if you had a workshop full of saws, which one is the best one? And again, the answer depends on what job you are going to use it for. You would not use a chain saw to cut a round hole in a piece of fine wood, you would use a saber saw. On the other hand you would not use a saber saw to cut down a tree, you would use a chain saw. Also, you wouldn’t use a saber saw to cut a pipe, but a hack-saw would work great! That would be the best saw for the job!
The same is true of spiritual gifts, the best one depends on what you need it for. You would not use tongues when someone needed healing, you would ask the Holy Spirit to equip you with the gift of healing or miracles, for that is what is needed in this situation. And the Holy Spirit will then give you what you need according to His Sovereignty, and we must never forget that!
Let me give you an example of how these things work in the body. This illustration comes from a book by Dr. Flynn, as he records a story of a carpenters shop as the tools spoke:
Brother hammer presided:
Several suggested that he leave the meeting because he was too noisy.
Replied the hammer, "If I have to leave this shop brother screw must go also. You have to turn him around again and again to get him to accomplish anything."
Brother screw spoke up, "If you want I’ll leave, but brother plane must leave too. All his work is on the surface, he has no depth."
To this brother plane responded, "Well then brother rule is going to have to withdraw also for he is always measuring folks as though he is the only one who is right."
Brother rule then complained against brother sandpaper, "You ought to leave because you are so rough, always rubbing people the wrong way."
In the middle of this discussion in walked the Carpenter of Nazareth. He had arrived to start his days work. Putting on his apron he went to the bench to make a pulpit from which to proclaim the Gospel. He employed the hammer, the screw, the plane, the ruler, the sandpaper and all the other tools. After the days work when the pulpit was finished, brother saw arose and remarked "Brethren, I have observed that all of us are workers together with the Lord!"
All were called to do the work, just in a different way. The same is true with spiritual gifts. They are all used for the edification of the body of Christ. No one is more important than the other, and the best is only best for that particular purpose it is needed for. And we will see this more as we look at verse 7 of I Corinthians chapter 12.
I CORINTHIANS 12:7
"But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all."
The "manifestation" is speaking of the outward evidence of each of these gifts, which are given not for our own personal gain, but for the prophet of the body of Christ, the edification of the body, except for the gift of tongues which does edify us.
Tragically, some misuse the gifts for their own personal profit. Others stay at home and in doing so they are not using their gifts in a local body. The gifts are used for the profit of all in the body! In fact, we can see in I Corinthians 12:12-28, Paul speaks of the body of Christ and how these gifts are given in the church so that the body may move and work in a powerful manner.
Think about it, no cell can do much by itself, but the billions upon billions of cells in the human body, when they are working together, look at the awesome things they can do. Think about the organs in the body, what if they just wanted to take care of themselves, and not assist in working and benefitting the entire body, the body would die or at least move spastically. And the same is true in the body of Christ as we work together and exercise these gifts, awesome things are accomplished.
And as God gives us these gifts, not talents, use them for His glory. Don’t envy what others have, but praise God for what He has given you, and ask the Lord for those things you need in a given situation. And then understand that the Holy Spirit will give these gifts out as He sees fit.
We opened up this study speaking of the confusion that there is in the church regarding spiritual gifts. May we heed the words of Paul, when he said, "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant." I Corinthians 12:1.