SPIRITUAL GIFTS: Foundational Truths

Memorial Drive 2/9/20 SPIRITUAL GIFTS: Foundational Truths Various Texts … FOUNDATIONAL TRUTHS ABOUT THE USE OF THE GIFTS • CALLING and GIFTING “Calling” most often refers to our being called into relationship with God … God has “saved us and called us with a holy calling” 2 Tim. 1:9 “To all who are beloved of God … called as saints” Rom. 1:7 “Calling” can also refer to being directed to engage in a particular work or ministry … Paul was “called as an apostle” Rom. 1:1 Barnabas and Saul were “set apart … for the work” which God had called them to Acts 13:2 This understanding of “calling” fits well with the truth that there are not only “varieties of gifts” but also “varieties of ministries” … “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are VARIETIES OF MINISTRIES, and the same Lord.” (I Cor. 12:4-5) God doesn’t GIFT without CALLING and doesn’t CALL without GIFTING … A word of caution … Examples: Gifts of evangelism, giving, and mercy Having a gift/s enables me to minister with particular effectiveness in certain roles within the Body of Christ! Lacking a gift is NOT an excuse to refuse to minister in areas of evident need! • GIFT MIXES Scripture nowhere teaches that a believer has but one gift … “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers …” (Eph. 4:11) “Therefore. let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret.” (1 Cor. 14:13) • SEEKING A GIFT OR GIFTS Does God’s sovereignty in dispensing gifts mean we shouldn’t seek or ask for gifts? “… we have gifts that differ ACCORDING TO THE GRACE GIVEN to us …” (Rom. 12:6) “But one and THE SAME SPIRIT works all these things, DISTRIBUTING TO EACH ONE INDIVIDUALLY JUST AS HE WILLS.” (I Cor. 12:11) “But now GOD has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, JUST AS HE DESIRED.” (I Cor. 12:18) Paul’s command for one who speaks in tongues to PRAY FOR the gift of interpretation clearly shows, that at least in one circumstance, we can and should seek another gift! “Therefore LET ONE who speaks in a tongue PRAY that he may interpret.” (1 Cor. 14:13) How does God feel about a Christian seeking or asking for other gifts and gifting? “PURSUE LOVE, yet DESIRE EARNESTLY spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” (I Cor. 14:1) Love is our absolute priority! The phrase “desire earnestly” means “to covet” or “to have strong desire for” and comes from a root Gk. word meaning “to be hot, to boil, to glow” Are these words a COMMAND to do a GOOD THING are a SARCASTIC DECLARATION of a BAD THING they are doing? If spiritual gifts are about BRINGING GLORY TO GOD and GROWTH TO CHRIST’S CHURCH and SERVING OTHERS IN LOVE, then how could any Christian NOT want to HAVE and USE their gift/s and even ASK FOR MORE! Aren’t the sovereignty of God and desiring gifts mutually exclusive? “… the Holy Spirit is the one who decides who gets what. We don’t. But we are told to “earnestly desire” spiritual gifts. Isn’t it reasonable to think that if we are responsible for desiring spiritual gifts and the Spirit is responsible for distributing them, WE SHOULD ASK THAT HE FULFILL OUR DESIRE by granting us the gifts we want to see manifest in our lives? I would suggest that the ‘desire’ we feel for certain gifts is likely itself the fruit of the Spirit’s work in our hearts. He desires (or wills) to grant us a gift (or gifts), which awakens in us a desire for the very thing He is determined to impart.” (Earnestly Desire Spiritual Gifts, Storms, 2/3/17) My Prayer: That these foundational truths will be helpful as we consider the gifts and that we will ‘PRAY LIKE THAT!’ (See the back of the bulletin!)