I Can Do That

Kevin Kinnett

Young Adult Sunday School • Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago

Gifts of the Spirit

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Introduction:

Understanding How God Wants To Use Me

Introduction:

God commands us to be witnesses for Him.

– Make disciples everywhere we go.

– Be witnesses where you are and abroad

– We are to be God’s ambassadors to the world.

Because we have been commanded by God to be witnesses, He has equipped us to carry out those commands.He gave us the Holy Spirit.

Convicts us of sin and teach us Gods ways –

Seals us into God’s family –

Produces fruit in the lives of those who are obedient –

He teaches us what God desires –

He empowers us to witness –

The Holy Spirit equips each believer with specific gifts that will help him fulfill God’s plan.Every believer has been thoroughly equipped with the specific gifts God desires ,

Every believer is commanded to use their gifts.

The purpose for the gifts is to help you to serve Him more effectively.

:1Our first obligation is to give ourselves completely to him as an act of worship

By being a living sacrifice we can prove God’s will which is perfect and good.

God uniquely equips every believer to serve Him faithfully.

Important things to remember during our study:

Because every believer is perfectly gifted, no gift that God has not given should be sought and no gift He has given should be neglected or denigrated. "To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good," Paul explains in his first letter to Corinth, and "one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills" (,).

It is almost impossible to fully analyze and specifically identify our spiritual gift. It is often not possible to distinguish between God-given natural talent, God-given spiritual abilities, and Holy Spirit power. When a Christian's life is a living sacrifice to God and he is walking in the Spirit of God, he has no reason to make precise distinctions, because everything he is and has is committed to the Lord. Oversimplifying and over-defining spiritual gifts can cause great confusion, frustration, discouragement, and limitation of their usefulness. Focusing too much on the gifts themselves can hinder their faithful use in the Lord's service.

The New Testament does not promise that our gift will come neatly packaged and labeled. Nor does it precisely identify the specific gift of any New Testament believer, including the apostles. Believers in the early church were never classified by gifts. On the contrary, the New Testament makes clear that God endows His children with many combinations and degrees of giftedness. He mixes these gifts much as an artist mixes colors on his palette to create the exact shade he desires for a particular part of the painting.

The thrust of and , the two central passages on spiritual gifts, is not on a believer's precisely identifying his gifts but on his faithfully using them. It is also significant that each of these passages mentions gifts that the other does not. This leads us to believe that the categories are basic colors, as it were, from which the Lord mixes the unique hue of each of His children.

Our spiritual gifts are about how useful we are to God. Apart from God we are nothing. Everything we have is a result of God’s grace in our lives. It’s not about finding your gift, it is about serving God faithfully with what he has given you. This study is designed to help us become better servants of God by using the gifts he has given us to their full potential.

Guidelines for this study

To help fulfill the purpose of our spiritual gifts we need to follow these guidelines:

1. We should present ourselves as a living sacrifice ()

2. recognize that all believers, including ourselves, are gifted (v. 3)

3. pray for wisdom

4. seek for nothing (,)

5. examine our heart's desire ()

6. seek confirmation

7. look for the blessing of God

8. wholeheartedly serve Him;

9. cultivate the gift as it becomes obvious.

Dangers to avoid

1. Avoid the danger of seeing your gift as less important.

a. No believer is “unimportant” to the ministry of the body

b. No gift is less important than others, all the gifts are divinely given by God and He sees them as being necessary.

2. Avoid the danger of seeing your gift as the most important

a. Pride

b. All gifts are needed

3. Avoid the danger of not serving in certain areas because you are not gifted in that area.

a. God calls us all to serve

b. Many believers possess more than one

4. Using your gifts boastfully

a. "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you'; or again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you'" () (from The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Copyright © Moody Press and John MacArthur, Jr., 1983-2005.)

b. This is when you boast of your accomplishments and gifts

5. Depreciating ourselves and our gifts in false humility

i. Such an attitude is a poorly disguised effort to get praise. At the other end, when a person is clearly gifted above most Christians, it is tempting to feign humility when genuinely praised, thereby belittling what God has given to and is doing through him or her. All spiritual gifts are necessary and perfectly designed by God for His glorious purpose. (from The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Copyright © Moody Press and John MacArthur, Jr., 1983-2005.)

6. Claiming gifts that are not yours

a. That is dishonest

b. That also belittles the gifts God as given to you

i. If God has chosen not to give us certain gifts we should not covet them

ii. See

7. Failure to use your gifts out of jealousy, resentment or shame.

a. "If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,' it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,' it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body" ().

8. Failing to use your gift at all.

a. Every spiritual gift is a gift from God and is to be used to its fullest potential

b. Because it is divinely ordained it is meant to be divinely empowered and employed.

I. What is a spiritual gift?

A. Original words

i. xa/risma -- NT:5486 -- charisma (khar'-is-mah); from NT:5483; a (divine) gratuity, i.e. deliverance (from danger or passion); (specifically) a (spiritual) endowment, i.e. (subjectively) religious qualification, or (objectively) miraculous faculty

ii. xa/ri$ -- charis (khar'-ece); from NT:5463; graciousness (as gratifying), of manner or act (abstract or concrete; literal, figurative or spiritual; especially the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life; including gratitude):

iii. summary

1. the Greek word for gift finds its root in the word for grace making a gift an act of grace.

2. grace is God’s divine favor

B. Definition

i. What they are not

1. talents (are a result of God’s grace)

a. talents are creative artistic aptitudes

b. examples

i. playing the piano

ii. dancing

iii. singing

iv. writing

c. many people have talents including the unbeliever (which are a result of God’s grace)

2. skills (are a result of God’s grace)

a. skill is the ability to use one’s knowledge effectively in doing something

b. examples

i. carpentry

ii. electrician

iii. financial planner

c. many people have various skills including the unbeliever (which are a result of God’s grace)

ii. What they are

1. Every member of Christ's church has been given supernatural endowments, gifts of God's Holy Spirit, which through the Spirit are God's divine means of ministering His Word and power among His people and to the world.

a. They are God's supernatural provision for the edification of the church and the evangelization of the world. They are the means through which believers are to grow, worship, witness, and serve.

b. True spiritual gifts are given by God to strengthen and manifest oneness, harmony, and power. (from The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Copyright © Moody Press and John MacArthur, Jr., 1983-2005.)

2. Specific capacity for ministry given by the Holy Spirit to help the believer serve God faithfully and represent Christ effectively.

a. spiritual gifts are the Lord's primary channel of making Christians become Christ in the world, His visible and manifest body.

b. Spiritual gifts are divine enablements for ministry, characteristics of Jesus Christ that are to be manifested through the body corporate just as they were manifested through the body incarnate. (from The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Copyright © Moody Press and John MacArthur, Jr., 1983-2005.)

3. talents and skills can be a means to serving God faithfully and would be categorized under specific spiritual gifts

Application

Understanding the Source and Purpose of the Gifts

I. There is much variety associated with the gifts (4-6)

A. There are a variety of gifts

i. Remember spiritual gifts are not talents

1. unbelievers have them

2. believers have them

3. examples

a. scientist

b. musician

ii. Spiritual gifts are not natural, but rather are supernaturally given by the Holy Spirit.

1. Only and always to believers in Jesus Christ, without exception (v. 7).

2. Spiritual gifts are special capacities bestowed on believers to equip them to minister supernaturally to others, especially to each other.

iii. God gives His people a variety of gifts.

1. Varieties basically means "apportionments," "allotments," or "distributions," with the derived idea of varieties.

a. God distributes His gifts in many forms, in many varieties, to His children.

b. He has a multiplicity of gifts, which are given to every believer.

c. They fall into two general types,

i. speaking gifts

ii. serving gifts (see ).

2. The New Testament contains several lists of the categories of spiritual gifts, one of which is here in , (see also ; cf. ).

a. Bible scholars do not agree on the exact number and distinction of kinds of gifts.

b. Because the scriptural lists are not identical, it seems clear that God did not intend to give His church either a rigid or a precise and exhaustive compilation, but rather general categories.

i. One should be careful not to overdefine the gifts.

ii. Because they may resist over-classification, there is not much value in taking tests, formal or informal, to determine what spiritual gifts we have.

1. A believer's gifts can be an overlapping combination, taken in different proportions from the categories of gifts.

a. One person may be obviously strong in a single gift, such as teaching.

b. Another may not be strong in any one gift but have some measure of three or four categories.

c. It is best to see each person's gift as a unique blend of the categories of giftedness, granted to that individual in connection with his or her traits and experiences and the needs of the church.

B. There are a variety of ministries (5)

i. The gifts are given to be used in a variety of ministries

1. Even Christians with the same basic gift may be led to manifest that gift in many different ways.

a. One teacher may be especially gifted in teaching young children;

b. another may have special ability with the original biblical languages and be highly qualified to teach seminarians.

c. One evangelist may be able to powerfully address large crowds,

d. while another's strength is in one-on-one witnessing.

e. One person's service of teaching may emphasize exhortation and doctrine,

2. Ministries is from the same basic Greek term as serve, servant, and deacon (one who serves).

a. Spiritual gifts are not given as badges of privilege or prestige but as tools for ministry.

b. The Lord gives them to His servants so they can serve, and He gives them for a limitless variety of services.

3. It is critical to understand that spiritual gifts are not given for self-edification.

a. A teacher who studies the Word and then writes lessons that only he reads, or records messages that only he hears prostitutes his gift.

b. A person with the gift of discernment who keeps his Spirit-given insights to himself is an unfaithful steward.

4. Nor are God's gifts given for self-service.

a. A Christian with the gift of helps must, by definition, be involved in serving others, just as service, by definition, involves helping others.

b. In the broad sense, therefore, every gift is a helps gift because every gift is a service gift.

c. A gift exercised in private is a perverted gift. God gives His gifts to us but for others.

d. We are personally blessed when we use our gifts in the Spirit's power to serve others in His name, but that blessing is the by-product not the purpose.

i. "As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God" ().

ii. We are stewards of God's gifts. They are loaned to us; they belong to Him.

1. They are for us to use, but by its power in His service and to His glory.

2. Peter uses "gift" in the singular, emphasizing that each of us has a gift, which is the unique single enablement for us by God's design and grace, so that we are unique in our service for Christ. (from The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Copyright © Moody Press and John MacArthur, Jr., 1983-2005.)

C. There are a variety of effects

i. Effects (energ¢ma ) means literally "what is worked out or energized

ii. The One who provides the spiritual gifts also provides the energy and power, as well as the faith (), to make them effective.

1. Just as spiritual gifts are given supernaturally, so they are energized supernaturally.

2. Christians, no matter how well trained and experienced or how unselfishly motivated, cannot exercise their gifts in their own power.

a. We may exercise our talents, skills, intelligence, and other natural abilities in our own power, but only the Giver of spiritual gifts can empower them and make them effective.

b. Just as God gives no commands for which He does not also give the ability to obey, He does not give spiritual gifts for which He does not also give the power to use.

i. We must be pure from sin and be willing to be used, in order that the Holy Spirit can make our gifts productive.

ii. Obviously, the Word of God carries enough power on its own to accomplish divine results through the gifts He gives; but used by a carnal believer, a gift is not able to bring personal fruitfulness and blessing to that believer.

II. They have one source and purpose (7)

A. God is the source of all the gifts

i. Gifts are given by the same Spirit

ii. Ministries are assigned by the same Lord

iii. Effects are energized by the same God

B. Manifestation has the basic idea of making known, clear, or evident.

i. That is what spiritual gifts do: they make the Holy Spirit known, clear, and evident in the church and in the world.

ii. They manifest the Spirit.

1. The meaning is the opposite of hidden or private.

2. Spiritual gifts are never given to be hidden or to be used privately.

3. They are given to manifest the Holy Spirit, to put Him on display.

C. They are also given for the common good

i. from a verb meaning literally "to bring together.

ii. The term also came to mean "to help, confer a benefit, or be advantageous," and in the context of this verse means "mutually beneficial or advantageous."

iii. Spiritual gifts are to be edifying and helpful to the church, to God's people whom He brings together in His name.

Application

• Since God has supernaturally equipped you to benefit others, what are you doing to help others?

• When given an opportunity to minister what is your attitude in service?

• How would others view God by looking at what you are doing?

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