Everybody Is Somebody In His Body, Part 2
Everybody Is Somebody In His Body
Part 2: Spiritual Gifts
Pastor E. Keith Hassell
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
I. Everyone is Somebody in His Body
A. No one is more valuable or less valuable than anyone else
B. No one has all of the gifts
C. We need each other
1. In our infancy we live in dependence (“I need you.”)
2. In our youth we strive for independence (“I don’t need you.”)
3. In our maturity we discover interdependence (“We need each other.”)
D. Understanding our gifts helps us understand our function in the church
II. Gifts given to us by God
A. Natural Giftedness
1. Personality: These are given to us at the point of conception and are developed during the earliest years of life.
a “Recent studies of sextuplets show that approximately 35% of a persons’ personality is genetically based, that is, about a third of what makes us tick is engineered in our DNA. Another 50% of a person’s personality is shaped by childhood development up to the age of 6.” Mel Carbonell, Ph.D. What Makes You Tick What Ticks You Off (Blue Ridge, GA; Uniquely You Resources, 1997), p. 12
b Everyone is endowed by God with a pattern of motivation, desires, and responses.
c Our natural giftedness is tarnished by sin but the remnant remains. The cross of Christ can set us free from sin and begin the process of restoring our personalities
d There are no good or bad personalities. It is what we do with our personalities that is good or bad.
2. Talents: Talents are natural abilities. (sports, painting, designing, drawing, building, cooking, sewing, singing, playing instruments, etc.). We see this in the construction of the Tabernacle where God had given certain people the ability to construct different parts of the Tabernacle.
B. Supernatural Giftedness
1. Spiritual Gifts: These are given by the Holy Spirit to each of us when are born again into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-13). These are called “Spiritual Gifts,” “Grace Gifts,” or “Motivational Gifts”
2. Manifestations of the Holy Spirit: These come and go as the Holy Spirit wills. They are for the purpose of meeting an immediate need through the supernatural working of God.
III. Four Important Areas
A. Gifts (Charisma meaning, “endowment”): Given by the Holy Spirit
B. Ministries (Diakinon meaning “service” or “ministry”): Assigned by the Lord
C. Activities (Energematon meaning, “effect” or “working”): Determined by God
D. Manifestations (Phanerosis meaning, “exhibition, expression, manifestation.”): As the Spirit wills
IV. Why are Spiritual Gifts called “Motivational” Gifts?
A. Everyone is motivated but not all motivated in the same way. Our motivation is determined by the grace of God within us. If we try to motivate others in the same way we are motivated, we will frustrate ourselves and others. Three wrongs ways we attempt to motivate people:
1. Manipulation: to control people through a shrewd use of influence, often in an unfair or deceptive way
2. Intimidation: to control people through fear
3. Domination: to control through superior power
B. The correct way to motivate people
1. Inspiration: to breathe or infuse life into others
C. We are still responsible for developing each of the other gifts in our lives.
V. What are the Motivational Gifts? (Romans 12:6-8)
A. Prophecy
B. Ministry
C. Teaching
D. Exhortation
E. Giving
F. Leading
G. Mercy
VI. We are all gifted in one of these areas
A. Let us ask God to reveal our gift
B. Let us ask God to help understand the giftedness of others
C. Let us recognize Christ in one another
D. Let us acknowledge our need for one another
E. May we determine to come behind in no good gift (1 Corinthians 1:7)