Did I Receive the Wrong Spiritual Gift

 
Today as we continue this series on the role of the Holy Spirit, I want to start to unravel the mystery that seems to be present with spiritual gifts.  

Does it seem hard to figure out your spiritual gift?  Why is that? And then when you think you may have an idea of what gift you got, do you find yourself wishing you got a different one?  

I have sisters that are twins and one year for Christmas my parents gave them the wrong gift.  

Have you heard of Fisher Price Little People? We loved them growing up and spent hours playing with them. Every Christmas my sisters and I were able to add to our collection. Over the years I received the village, the hospital, and the castle -complete with a dungeon. As a child, tricking the bad guy to fall into the dungeon was pure genius. My mother kept the whole collection for her grandchildren to play with along with any other children who came over.  

But one year, Tara wanted the train and received the camper, and Toni wanted the camper but received the train. When they opened their presents and saw what happened, my mom said they could just trade. But they wouldn’t trade. They kept the one they received. 

It seems spiritual gifts are kinda like that. You may have wanted something different, but you don’t have control over what you receive, so you figure you should learn how to use it for God’s Glory.  

Gifts Compared to an Orchestra 

Imagine an orchestra preparing for a concert. Each musician uses their instrument to contribute to the overall unique and blended sound that results in a beautiful symphony. What happens if one of the musicians isn’t playing their part? That section is noticeably silent. The sound is incomplete.  

It’s the same with how God uses spiritual gifts in the church. When each person joyfully uses their gift, the church becomes like that orchestra—unified, harmonious, and effective in its mission.  

How Do We Know What Gift We Have? 

Have you ever taken a spiritual gift inventory? They are supposed to help guide you to the unique gift or gifts the Holy Spirit gave you to be useful in ministry for the purpose of advancing God’s Kingdom. You may do it hoping to solve this great mystery only to be disappointed when they fail to deliver. I think they are more helpful if we use them as a starting point instead of a substitute for listening and leaning into the how the Holy Spirit wants us to serve. 

John MacArthur said we should view the listing of spiritual gifts in the New Testament as general categories, not to identify our gift perfectly as much as faithfully using the unique enablement as God has given each believer. Then -he compared the lists to a palette of basic colors from which God selects to blend a unique hue for each disciple’s life. And this comment just really resonated with what I was growing to understand. 

The Hue That is You 

My friend Heather helps me with my website. When I say helps me, I mean I couldn’t do it without her. When we first decided on colors, deciding on colors is a whole thing -so she introduced me to colorhexa.com. It’s a tool that gives you a six-digit hex color letter/number combination for every imaginable shade, tint, or tone color variation available. It can eat up hours of your time as you play around with all of the possibilities.  

But it is also very useful in helping communicate the exact hue…that is you.  

This is what I thought of when MacArthur compared spiritual gifts to a palette of basic colors from which God selects to blend a unique hue for each disciple’s life. Like I might have a little red, a little blue, and a little black that come together to make a beautiful shade of magenta. And you may have varying degrees of blue, yellow, and white that come together to make a striking chartreuse.  

The point is -if there were only the 8 basic colors to choose from, the lists would be identical in each of the letters Paul wrote concerning spiritual gifts.  

That Brings Us to 1 Corinthians 12.  

Paul wrote a letter to a church in Corinth in response to concerns they had regarding spiritual gifts. It seems some of the members were elevating some of the gifts over the others -to the point that if someone didn’t have those gifts, they were made to feel like a second-class Christian.  

I know it is hard to believe that people in the church may misuse their gifts for selfish reasons.  

It seems the church at Corinth was not the only church that needed extra instruction on this topic. Paul lists out the gifts in this letter to the Corinthians but writes somewhat different lists in his letters to the Romans and Ephesians. If you bring all of the lists together, there are about 18 different gifts to consider. 

Gifts for God’s Glory 

In response to the Corinthians concerns, Paul says no one who is controlled by the Spirit would ever use their gift to condemn the Name of Jesus by giving an incorrect picture of who He is. Who in the church would ever outwardly condemn the Name of Jesus? Yikes!  But that’s what we do when we give in to our me-first attitude that’s controlled by our flesh.  

Contrast that with someone who proclaims Jesus is their Lord and shows with their life they are living under the power and influence of His Spirit. Paul goes on to explain that there are a variety of gifts, service, and activities -but the same God who empowers them. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is, and for His Glory to advance His Kingdom. 

Defining Spiritual Gifts 

It seems this is a good time to define spiritual gifts. You know I like to define words. 

The Greek word for gift here is charisma and the plural form is charismata. They have the same root as the Greek word grace, which is charis.  

• Charisma is an undeserved enablement imparted by the Holy Spirit to be used for ministry in the building up of the church for God’s glory.  
• Furthermore, charismata are special endowments of supernatural energy to be used to encourage and build up others in the church.  

Doesn’t that sound great! Even though their expressed purpose is not for self-edification, there is a sense of excitement and energy when the Holy Spirit empowers you to do something you otherwise couldn’t do.  The whole point of spiritual gifts -is that they are given as the evidence of the Spirit working in the life of a believer for the common good of the faith community. 

Looking For Opportunities to Serve 

I have found the best way to discover your gift is to ask the Holy Spirit to show you as you look for opportunities to serve in areas where needed. As you start serving, when you feel a sense of satisfaction and fulfilment in being used by God in a certain way, -you make note of it. You also make note of when you did something in the church that needed to be done, but maybe it didn’t feel like you were using God’s power to do it. 

Let me give you some personal examples.  

When Eric and I were still young married, (I’m not sure how long you get classified as young married, but at this point we were young and fairly newly married and didn’t know much…so we were young married), anyway, we worked with the youth at our church. There were lots of opportunities to serve with the youth. But what I came to realize and took note of was this -what I got a thrill out of was coming alongside the girls and encouraging them with a word of Truth.  

At first, we were just hanging out, talking about life in general -mostly school and boys and shoes. But then as we got to know one another, they felt comfortable asking spiritually deeper questions. I didn’t always know the answer, so I would study and get back to them with what I learned. Eventually, I taught their Sunday School class, and everything about the preparation, delivery, and evidence of their growth was exhilarating.  

Another example…for a while, Sunday School classes were asked to help put away chairs after church on a rotating basis. I did not really enjoy the act of service itself, but it needed to be done. So, we all pitched in. What I enjoyed was organizing a group of people to accomplish a task and the sense of community as we worked alongside one another. 
 
One more example…After doing inductive Bible study for a number of years, I was asked to teach a ladies bible study. At first, I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing. But I had prayed about this for a while, and when the opportunity presented itself, the Holy Spirit guided me along the way. As He enabled me to proclaim Truth, I could visibly see how He was opening the eyes of those who were listening.  

It was incredible to be used as His instrument. I felt His power leading and guiding me. It made me want to get better and better at using my gifts for God’s glory. 

I took note of this and still do. 

It is also important to note what others say to me when I use my gifts and how the Spirit uses their words to knock me over with nudges of confirmation. 

Now I feel pretty comfortable that my palette of blended gifts includes primarily teaching and exhortation, with a hint of mercy and leadership. And God is expanding my reach to include writing and this podcast. 

Spiritual Gifts Compared to the Human Body 

Should I feel extra special that I have these gifts and not what some may call more basic gifts?  

Let’s continue to look at what Paul had to say. Similar to the illustration using the orchestra, Paul uses the analogy of how our human bodies work to show us how the Church should function. Our physical bodies do not consist of one limb or one organ, and the body of Christ, known as the Church, doesn’t either.  
If the foot says “because I am not the hand, I do not belong to the body”, does that make it any less part of the body? The same goes with the ear and the eye. If our whole body were an eye, we wouldn’t be able to hear, and if the whole body were an ear, we wouldn’t be able to smell.  

God arranged every member in the body of Christ just as He did the human body. We were all cleansed and empowered at the point of our conversion to be united together to function as a whole. The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you; nor the head say to the feet, “I have no need of you.” The more basic the part, the more necessary.  

Eugene Peterson says it like this in The Message,  
“you can live without an eye, but not without a stomach. If you had to choose, wouldn’t you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?” 

I doubt that is what Eugene Peterson sounds like. I can’t wait to hear his voice when I get to heaven and talk bible stuff with him over coffee and muffins. But that made me chuckle a bit. And I had to stop and think about it because there’s plenty to enjoy as I have gotten older, – but I really miss my good hair.  What he is saying is -it really has more to do with being unified in purpose. God doesn’t like it when we are divided or fighting about something as silly as who has the more honorable spiritual gift or the best hair.  

The Better Way of Love  

None of us deserve the gifts we were given. All of us are to use our gifts to care for one another. So, we should stop desiring the more showy gifts and start learning a better way – the way of love. Do you know what comes after 1 Corinthians 12? It’s 1 Corinthians 13…aka the love chapter. Take a look at it on your own. 

When Paul was writing the letter, there was not a chapter break. He is saying, if you aren’t using your gifts from a heart motivated by love, then just sit down and be quiet. It profits nothing. Some of these gifts will come to an end but love never will. 

What About the Miraculous Gifts 

That brings us to a discussion of the sign gifts. What are the sign gifts? Maybe you thought I wasn’t going to get to those. But how can we unravel the mystery if we don’t talk about the controversial ones. On churchgrowth.org, Dr Larry Gilbert calls these the miraculous gifts -and names 5 of them.  

The reason I am reflecting more on these 5 out of the possible 18 is because they seem to stir up the most controversy. I am okay with feeling the tension of not having all of the answers. How arrogant would it be of me to say, “I have studied this more than you so I must be right”? My understanding of God’s Word has very little to do with me and everything to do with the Holy Spirit in me -helping me understand spiritual truths. Everything is not going to be resolved this side of heaven, but the Spirit does want to inform us about the things God has revealed.  
 
We are all still growing in the grace and knowledge of God! Let us purpose to learn how to disagree with one another respectfully – in a way that shows the better way of -speaking Truth in love, encouraging unity, and giving room for growth for all.   

With that said… 

Here are the 5 miraculous gifts.  

• Apostles 
• Healings 
• Miracles  
• Tongues 
• Interpretation of Tongues 

All of the miraculous gifts were used to verify and confirm God’s divine authority and Truth. 

Apostles  

Apostles were commissioned by Christ as His special representatives, and Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:1, they had seen the risen Lord.  

Special representatives, who had seen Jesus Christ after He resurrected, and were commissioned by Him to use miraculous signs to authenticate that Jesus was all He claimed to be.  
 
This is the only gift that I think has ceased so far, and primarily because of the part Paul says about apostles had seen the risen Lord.  
 
That brings us to healings and miracles. Healings and miracles may seem similar, but there are distinctions.  

Healings 

Healings are the ability to be used by God, in His providence, to bring physical, emotional, or spiritual healing.  
 
It feels like a miracle when you are healed in any capacity by the Great Physician. 

Miracles 

Miracles are when God works supernaturally through you to accomplish things beyond human ability that don’t necessarily include healing. 
 
I don’t know how someone can say healings and miracles have ceased when I see them every day.  

And I know for certain God is the only One who could heal me after my son died. And the fact that the healing continues is a miracle.  
 
I used to think oh yeah, the sign gifts have ceased, because this is what I was taught. But in studying it, other than the gift of apostles, I cannot find clear biblical support that the miraculous gifts have currently ceased to exist. 
 
So, we might as well just get on with speaking in tongues. 

Tongues

Tongues is speaking in a language not previously learned for the purpose of building up the church. 
 
I have never been to a church where someone was speaking in tongues.  
But one time when I was around 20 years old, I attended a church with a friend. And at some point in the service, they asked us to find someone who needed healing and to pray over them. I started to feel really uncomfortable because I thought they were praying in tongues. But then when I calmed down, I realized I could understand what each one was saying and that they were praying quietly for that person’s healing.  
 
The reason I think we do not see tongues in our churches as much today here in the U.S. -is because we have great access to God’s Word and the understanding of it.  
 
When Jesus was preparing His disciples for the day He would go, He said it was better for Him to leave because He would then send His Spirit.  
 
In Acts 2, that Spirit rained down in fulness at Pentecost and Galilean men spoke in languages that they had not previously learned. It’s described as tongues of fire.  

I recorded a previous podcast episode about it called, “The Day the Spirit Rained Down.” Devout men who had come from different parts of the known world could understand what these Galileans were saying -because they were speaking in the native language of the devout men.  What they were speaking were known languages, just not known by the Galileans who started to miraculously speak them. They had never learned the foreign language but started speaking it under the power of the Holy Spirit. And those devout men who came from other parts of the world could interpret what they were saying.  
They said, “how is it that we hear, each of us, in his own native language?”  
  
Not too long after Pentecost, persecution arose amongst the growing church. As persecution grew, so did the spread of the Gospel throughout the world in all of these languages. Since Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in the believer at the point of conversion to assure us God is at work helping us discern and understand Truth. As the Gospel continues to go out around the world and people are saved and baptized in the Spirit, -tongues will eventually cease. It is not one of the gifts that continues when Christ returns to set up New Heaven New Earth. But we don’t know when that is going to be. Only our Heavenly Father knows. 
 
What I don’t understand is the prayer language Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians 14, and how it differs from the tongues that began at Pentecost.   
 
What I can say with assurance is that tongues were a sign for unbelievers. And if tongues were spoken in a public assembly, they had to be spoken one at a time, in an orderly manner, and there had to be an interpretation of them. 
 
That brings me to the last miraculous gift. 

Interpretation of Tongues

Interpretation of tongues is understanding and explaining messages spoken in tongues for the benefit of others.  

Simply put, if there was no one to interpret, then don’t speak in tongues in an open assembly -sit down and keep it to yourself. 

In Closing 

We need to bring this to an end for now. In closing, I cannot stop emphasizing that these gifts of grace given and empowered by the Holy Spirit, were for the common good of advancing God’s Kingdom. It should be exciting to grow in our understanding of how God wants to use us.  
 
There is a sense of energy and assurance that causes us to say,  
“God did this and He lets me come along for the ride!”