The Permanent Gifts of the Spirit, An Introduction

Recap

It has been a couple of weeks since we have met, so I want to take a little bit of time to recap what we have seen.

The Fruit of the Spirit

First things first, we saw took a look at the Fruit of the Spirit. We find that in Galatians 5:22–23 “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

Here is the list that can be found there:

Love

Joy

Peace

Longsuffering [patience]

Gentleness [kindness]

Goodness

Faith [faithfulness]

Meekness

Temperance [self-control]

We talked about how these are all characteristics of the fruit that the Holy Spirit produces in each Christian. No one can see the Holy Spirit within us, but we can see the fruit. The fruit gives evidence of the presence and the working of the Holy Spirit.

Now, there is something that fights directly against the Spirit producing this fruit in us.

The Flesh

Galatians chapter 5 also tells us that the works of the flesh are as obvious as the fruit of the Spirit. If we are being led by the Spirit, it will be obvious to those around us. If we are being led by the flesh, then that, too, will be obvious.

The Superiority of the Fruit

1 Corinthians 13:1–3 tells us of the importance of the fruit of the Spirit, specifically love, as it compares it to several of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit. I won’t take the time to read it all, as we already have, but it basically says that if we have all the great gifts of the Spirit and do not exercise the fruit of the Spirit, it profits us nothing, and we are become nothing.

“1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.”

To quote a pastor that I once heard preach, “I would rather you have the fruit of the Spirit than any of the gifts of the Spirit.” Because it doesn’t matter how well you prophesy if your mean. It wouldn’t mean a thing if you could speak in tongues of angels if you gossip in English.

The week after that we began talking about the transitional gifts of the Spirit

Transitional/Temporary Gifts

These gifts are laid out in 1 Corinthians 13.

Word of Wisdom - applying God’s truth to specific situations

Word of Knowledge - knowing about things solely by the revelation of the Holy Spirit (Peter and Ananias & Sapphira)

Faith - An extraordinary confidence in God’s promises, power, and presence so that one could take heroic stands for God’s work in the church. Those that would witness this faith would then be stirred to faith themselves.

Healing - miraculous healings and deliverance from diseases or sicknesses. This power to heal also destroyed the work and effects of sin in the body (sicknesses brought about by direct consequence of or punishment for sin).

Miracles - ability to perform miraculous works (casting out demons, striking Elymas blind, raising the dead, possibly give others spiritual gifts).

Prophecy - The declaration of unpublished truth. The revelation of God’s word. Forth telling, not so much foretelling. Confident transmission of God’s truth to the church. The most important gift.

Discerning Spirits - the ability to know if someone was speaking from God or as a false prophet.

Tongues - The gift of speaking in languages unknown to the speaker.

Interpretation of Tongues - this gift was used to interpret when the one with the gift of tongues spoke in tongues.

We saw that these gifts are call transitional because they served a purpose in a transition period of time.

What was the purpose? To validate the message of the apostles (mainly the Gospel); to confirm the preaching of those that had the gift of prophecy; to give credence to the institution of the church as something that God had instituted.

What was the transitional period? The time directly after Christ’s ascension into heaven until the time when the New Testament writings had been completed and proliferated.

The week after that we looked at the Biblical case for believing that these were indeed transitional/temporary gifts of the Spirit along with a refutation of the abuse and misuse of the gift of tongues as it is currently being taught by many modern charismatic churches.

If you want to hear these sessions again, you can find them at gnbc.church.

The Permanent Gifts of the Spirit - An Introduction

Today we will be looking at the book of Romans 12. We move today from the transitional gifts, that were temporary and served a specific purpose, to the study of the permanent gifts of the Spirit. From now on, for clarity and conciseness, we will refer to these simply as “the gifts of the Spirit.”

Though the transitional gifts are gone, God left the church with certain permanent gifts.

As we study Romans 12, we see in verses 1-3 an exhortation to each Christian.

Romans 12:1–3 KJV 1900

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

The encouragement for us is that we surrender to God fully and completely, and that in that surrender we would recognize that God will do a transforming work in our hearts and minds. As he transforms us, God replaces the fleshly vestiges of pride with humility and meekness toward one another.

We are encouraged in verse one to surrender, to sacrifice ourselves, as this is the only logical thing we could do after what Jesus did on the cross for us.

In verse 2 we are encouraged to let God do a sanctifying work in us. We are to be separate and different from the world. We are to be in this world, but to be distinct. There is a pastor out in Michigan that used to be Tahsha’s youth pastor. Paul Gaymon had as the theme for that youth department, “Be different on purpose.” We are to show outwardly what is inside. This is the essence of the fruit of the Spirit.

Then, in verse 3, we find that we are to serve. “Since you have presented yourself as a living sacrifice; since you are being transformed, then you can no longer think more highly of yourself than you ought to think.” We are to receive the gifts of God that He has given us according to the measure of our faith, and, as we will see as we progress through this study, exercise those gifts according to our faith. Nobody should boast of any of the gifts that we are about to study, because as we will also notice, there is no hierarchy of gifts in this list as there were in the list of transitional gifts. We are also encouraged in this verse to think of ourselves “soberly.” The reason is that if we do not keep a sound mind when exercising these gifts, there are some dangers that we can be met with.

As we study these gifts, we will point out possible dangers to exercising these gifts in the flesh as opposed to the benefits and blessings that come as we exercise these gifts in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Gifts for the Body

God gave us gifts to use within the body, the church. Jesus established the church, He is the head of the church (Colossians 1:18 “18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”), and the body of the church are the assembled believers. The pastor is not the head, nor is he the body. The deacons are not the body. The ministry leaders are not the body. All of us members of this church make up the body. This means, according to the verses we are about to read, that we are all gifted with at least one spiritual gift.

Look at Romans 12:4-5

Romans 12:4–5 (KJV 1900)

4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office [function]:

5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

We see first that we are not all the same. There are different functions to each member, just like there are different functions to each body part. Performing our function within the church helps the church accomplish its mission, just like the body parts all perform different functions allowing the body to fulfill its missions.

So we see by this example that the Gifts that the Spirit gives to the members of the body are for use within the body. This means that members are not to act independently of the body. If my loyalty is not to the body where I belong, then there must be a change: either a change of heart (changing our attitude toward the body to which we already belong) or a change of body (to be transplanted to another body/church). The thing about transplants is that it should never be the body part that decides if it should be transplanted.

My arm, however mangled it may be due to an accident, will never decide on its own to amputate and transplant itself. That decision is made in my brain, in my mind, by the head. People have asked before, “How do I know if I should leave a church and join another one?” The answer is simple, when Jesus tell you to. He is the head of the church and will guide you in the perfect timing to the perfect place. Leave a church only if and only when God is guiding you to do so.

When you join a church, be loyal to it. Don’t split your loyalties between churches. Think of that in the context of the example of the the church being a body. How weird would it be that on Sunday morning I am a foot here at Good News, but on Sunday Night I am pancreas at another church. It doesn’t make sense. Jesus did not design churches to be Siamese twins, sharing organs and body parts.

So, as a summary, the gift that you have been given by the Holy Spirit is to be used within the context of your local church.

The Gifts of the Spirit

So… what are these gifts?

We find them in Romans 12:6-8 and we will study these in detail over the remaining sessions, most times dedicating each session to one individual gift. As we read through these verses, you will see each of the gifts underlined.

Romans 12:6–8 KJV 1900

6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; 7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; 8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.

So the seven gifts of the Spirit are these:

Prophecy (forth-telling)

Ministry (serving / helps)

Teaching

Exhortation (encouragement)

Giving

Ruling (administration)

Mercy

The question you may have now is probably...

How Do I Find My Spiritual Gift?

Well, to find out what gift God has given you, there are a few things that will help.

Be sure that you are born of the Spirit of God. John 3:3

John 3:3 KJV 1900

3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Be sure that you are saved. We are born into the family of God by the Holy Spirit by hearing God’s word. God’s word tells us that we are sinners (Romans 3:23) and sentenced to death (Romans 6:23) and to an eternity in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15). The Bible tells us that we need a savior, Jesus Christ (Romans 5:8; 6:23). When we here God’s word and repent and confess our sins to Jesus, trusting in Him and His sacrifice on the cross for our salvation, we are saved (Acts 20:21, Romans 10:9-10). When we are saved, we are made part of the family of God (John 1:12) and the Holy Spirit comes in to dwell in us (Romans 8:9-11).

Romans 8:9–11 KJV 1900

9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

I want to make this very clear because the Bible is very clear on this issue: When you get saved, you get the Holy Spirit. You don’t have to wait for it, you don’t have to pray for more of Him - you get the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:9 very clearly states that if you do not have the Spirit, you are not saved, you do not belong to Jesus.

Yes, the church started off with people who were putting their faith in Jesus for salvation, and then later receiving the Holy Spirit. Again, this was during that initial transitional time. Jesus clearly told His disciples that when He left (when He ascended into heaven), He would then send the Spirit to them. And we see in several instances in the book of Acts that various groups of believers are given the Holy Spirit after their salvation. This is often accompanied by a manifestation of one or more of the miracle transitional gifts of the Spirit.

In every instance that this happens in the book of Acts, you can see that it is to lend validation that the message of the Gospel is 1) TRUE, and 2) is FOR ALL MEN (Jews and Gentiles).

By the time the Apostle Paul is writing the book of Romans, that is no longer happening. Paul clearly states, “If you don’t have the Spirit, then you are not saved, you are still dead spiritually.”

There is a teaching that is prevalent among many evangelical churches that says that you can get saved, but to receive the Holy Spirit, you have to get baptized and/or someone has to give you the Spirit. This is a misunderstanding of the what happened in the book of Acts and taking as prescriptive rather than descriptive, and then also not understanding these verses in Romans that we Just read.

Another verse I would like to point out about the Holy Spirit being in us is 2 Corinthians 5:5.

2 Corinthians 5:5 (KJV 1900)

5 Now he that hath wrought [made] us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest [promise/promissory note] of the Spirit.

God gave us the earnest of salvation the moment we got saved.

So… How do you find out the gift that you have been given? 1) Make sure you are part of God’s family. You have to have the Spirit living in you to have a gift of the Spirit.

2. Surrender to Christ as a living sacrifice. Just as we saw earlier in Romans 12:1. We do this on a daily basis. Luke 9:23

Luke 9:23 KJV 1900

23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

If you expect to know what gift God has given you and how to use it, you need to maintain a closeness to Him. It is really hard to hear God and discern what He has for you if you are not near.

Knowledge = Responsibility

Understand that, “With great knowledge, comes great responsibility.” A paraphrase of Spiderman’s Uncle Ben.

When we know something, we are responsible for that knowledge. James warns us to be doers of the word and not simply listeners. If we are just listeners, we are like someone who looks at his disheveled countenance in the mirror, and then does nothing about it.

Wise Christians are those who look at God’s word and study it, not to accumulate information, but in order to more closely follow God. And in that pursuit, they do what they have learned.

So the question today is, “Are you committed to using your gift within the church that God has placed you?”

Discussion

Questions or comments?

Who is the head of the church?

Who makes up the body of the church?

Where are we supposed to focus our use of the gift/gifts that God gives us?

Who gets a spiritual gift?

What is the reason we should discover and develop our gift?

Short invitation - Be committed to using your gift in the church God has placed you.