The "Lesser" Gifts

Unused Gift

Here was the vision: Logan has long expressed an interest in computer science. For his fifteenth birthday I got him this kit. The idea: let’s make an arcade game for the basement. Play all the classic NES and arcade games whenever, learn about computers doing it… we’ll even make the cabinet and do some woodworking.

It’s a gift with everything. Learning. Bonding time. Fun video games. Awesome.

But what I actually gave Logan was this. For those who don’t immediately recognize it, this is a Raspberry Pi. A tiny computer, ripe with powerful potential and possibility. We just to flash the ROM, connect power and the externals, but it in a cabinet and BAM! We get all the fun and joy of the arcade.

But… Logan didn’t know how to do that. I gave him instructions… but we never followed them. We never built it. It’s a dusty computer part sitting in his room. Unused.

Sadness, right?

Last week we saw the range and variety of spiritual gifts giving to God’s people. Us. You have one, at least one. Maybe one or more for your lifetime, certainly one more for a season, God hasn’t forgotten about you.

You have a spiritual gift and the Body of Christ needs you to use it.

Your church needs you to use it! Otherwise we are a body without a foot, without an eye, without a brain (feels like that at times)!

In order to use it… you have to know what it is and how to use it.

Spiritual Gifts

1 Corinthians 12:4–7 ESV

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

1 Corinthians 12:8–10 ESV

8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

What do we have there? wisdom, knowledge, faith, gifts (note the plural) of healing, miracles (again the plural), prophecy, discernment, tongues and interpretation...

He adds a few more at the end of the chapter, amidst some roles.

1 Corinthians 12:28 ESV

28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.

What do we have there?

Now apostles, teaching (by implication), helping, administrating (and tongues again).

To the Romans he says something similar:

Romans 12:6–8 ESV

6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Service (kind of like helping). Teaching, good… exhortation. Contribution or giving or generosity. Leadership! Mercy!

The “Sign” Gifts

Healing, miracles, prophecy, tongues.

Called the sign gifts.

Some to say that these gifts are no longer in play. That is, these gifts were for the “Apostolic era” or “Dispensation” and no more.

The problem is that Scripture doesn’t support that. It does say prophecy and all the others will go away… but not today.

1 Corinthians 13:8–10 ESV

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

Has the “perfect” come? No. Do we “see clearly” now or in a mirror dimly? This fulfilment is yet to come.

In general, folks who have not themselves witnessed healings and prophesy and the like declare them to be “over” in order to justify the mismatch between what they imagine things were like in the 1st century church there and what they personally see.

In particular, Paul is going to really dive in on prophesy and tongues. But he’s going to set the stage first with 1 Corinthians 13… so we will wait.

In the meantime, we can dive in all the other good stuff.

These aren’t “lesser gifts”… as Paul says we need all the gifts in the Body of Christ. If there is any “greater” gift it is love and prophecy, getting to that. If there is any “lesser” gift it is tongues, but that’s likely just Paul redirecting a heresy among the Corinthians. We will address that.

The two big questions are these

What Is It? How do I use it?

What is it? What gift did I get?

How do I use it?

What is this “raspberry pi” and how do I do anything at all with it?

As we go through these you may find yourself responding to one or more gifts. That may be a sign that you have it. At least it is worth investigating. For all of the gifts, the measure of whether we have the gift is found in community. We test it. We try it out. And see if others see God using us in that way.

Someone thinks they have the gift of singing. Goes on American Idol. They super don’t. Simon lets them know… you are terrible, goodbye. Just like that, maybe, hopefully kinder.

Knowledge

What is it?

Knowledge is… knowing stuff. That might be random facts, that might be knowledge of Scripture, that might be knowledge of theology… most valuable of all is knowledge of God and of his people.

Ever have just the right piece of info or the right Scripture at just the right time and you didn’t even know that you knew that? That is the spiritual gift of knowledge.

The spiritual gift of knowledge may, at times, feel like having just the knowledge at just the right time. Or, just being the kind of person who God has shaped as a reservoir of knowledge.

You are a resource for people seeking knowledge. That may also lead you in teaching or preaching… but it may not. It may mean that your responsibility is to continue to chase after God, to fill yourself with knowledge and study… in order to serve as a reservoir of knowledge for others to draw on.

How do I use it?

Look around. You see people who desire to know God and know Him more fully. You see children and adults who don’t yet much about Jesus, much about His Word. How are you pouring into them? Through teaching, maybe. Through preaching, maybe? Through mentorship? Through building relationships?

Wisdom

What is it?

(I love this graphic. When you reverse this, bad things happen. Don’t build your wisdom from Twitter).

Wisdom is knowledge rightly applied to life. It may go in hand with knowledge… but I have often had the experience where I had the knowledge and someone else had the wisdom to apply it to our specific circumstance.

You know… Jesus says that this is how we should love… and someone else says, you’re right and that means we should be visiting folks one at a time in their homes during COVID. Knowledge applied rightly to life. That’s wisdom.

The spiritual gift of wisdom is when, either over and over or in a moment, you have clarity and insight into life. Into relationships.

Faith

What is it?

Faith is to be sure of what you hope for? I sometimes call this Jesus-centric optimism on steroids. You know people who will do anything try anything because they are trusting that Jesus has them! That’s walk-on-water faith.

What’s scary is sometimes they get things wrong and they get burned. They need their brother or sister with a word of Wisdom at times. But that bold, almost reckless willingness to do or go wherever God says. This is one of those I pray for, just a taste, maybe just enough to help me take the next bold step after Jesus.

How do I use it? You take the next step. Whatever that is. You encourage others to take the next step. That bleeds into exhortation… encouraging others to walk where they are fearful. You don’t have enough faith… that’s okay, I have enough faith for you today. I’ll hold onto faith for you.

Healing

What is it?

Note: gifts of healing. Multiple. Not just one.

This is not a televangelist who has the power to heal you through the screen. If your spiritual gift is elevating your name on not Jesus’… it isn’t a spiritual gift. If you end up with a private jet… probably not a spiritual gift.

Gifts of healing… many types of healing… as if there are many things wrong with you and me. Physical, sure, mental, emotional, all kinds of healing. Sometimes instant, sometimes slow. I absolutely believe the Holy Spirit can work through our nurses and doctors every bit as much as He can work through a handkerchief dropped by Paul.

How do we exercise this? We pray for folks… and we see if they are healed. We praise as they are healed. If you notice yourself drawn to praying for folks more often… and seeing them healed, especially certain kinds of healing? You may be in this category of healing.

Pray for the sick. Pray in faith. Know that God is still today a God of healing.

Discernment (Distinguish between spirits)

What is it?

Discernment is literally here “distinguishing between spirits.” Remember at the beginning of the chapter, discerning between evil spirits and the Holy Spirit. There are those intending to deceive us. Wolves in sheep’s clothing. People swindling in the name of Jesus. Some might have a television spot…

“Discernment is not about telling the difference between what is right and what is wrong, but about what is right and what is almost right.” -Charles Spurgeon

Someone told me a few weeks ago that they had been saved by Jesus by a brochure in our resource box by the sidewalk… and then proceeded to give me a powerful crystal. I may not have great discernment… but God gave me that note real quick. Nope! We are dealing with some spiritual warfare here. I prayed, right then and there, with her, in the name of Jesus.

How do I use this? The church needs you. Especially now. Some can be deceived. When you have that moment of disquiet, of question… hey, I think the enemy is up to something here. You need to tell me, tell an elder, a leader, tell someone. We can test that, pray about that… but that can be the way God is protecting us from spiritual attack.

Helping

What is this?

Knowing when to help and how to help and doing so joyfully.

Does that sound like a super power? It super doesn’t. It sounds like “helping a buddy out.” Some of you were raised: That’s just what you do.

First of all, that’s not at all natural, that’s love. Natural is looking out for yourself. Love is serving other. Some of you (cough Alice) so naturally see where and when other people need help that you just can barely help yourself. You are pouring out love and help on others.

How do you use it? You automatically are already helping others, usually. In the body, you help dummies like me who want to help but don’t always see it when it isn’t super obvious. And I get a call or email like this “Hey, can we serve meals to so and so?”

Brilliant! Absolutely! Let’s do it!

Administrating and Leadership

These go a bit hand in hand. And they are a bit totally opposed.

Administrating is managing. It is the control of chaos. Reducing the chaos into manageable tasks and crossing off those tasks.

Leadership is introducing or using chaos to effect change. One absolutely needs the other. God uses and gifts both.

Giving

Giving (out of Romans) is not a gift people seem to pray for often. “The one who contributes, in generosity...” and yet Jesus talked about this a lot. Most of his ministry was bankrolled by the generous women (mostly Mary’s) who also were his disciples.

The early church met mostly in homes, wealthy people’s homes, like Lydia the cloth merchant. God is wealthy beyond all measure. He may have given you the gift of being able to generate wealth. That’s not you, that’s Him. He has entrusted you with much… the expectation, the gift is that you are able to contribute generously to His Kingdom Work. That’s why He gave you anything in the first place.

How do I use this spiritual gift? Give, sacrificially, give until it hurts, give wisely to fruitful Kingdom ministry as He leads you.

Miracles

What is it?

Talk about a catch-all. Miracles is the phrase we use when we know “God did it” but we don’t know how. God may someday tell us the precise manipulation of physics by which Jesus walked on water or how He sent manna from the sky… that doesn’t make it less of a “miracle.” Everything in our Universe is God breathed. We just don’t understand it all.

Gift of “miracles” is the catch-all, all “sorts of gifts” for all the things the Holy Spirit is doing that we don’t understand. They aren’t party tricks for our entertainment… but we do see God, especially on the frontier of the Kingdom, demonstrating His power in unexpected and surprising ways.

This sounds like a question mark… it fundamentally is. This is one that says “more yet to come.”

The Whole Body

We start to see how the church needs the whole body working together. Take any movement of the church, take homeless ministry.

I believe it is knowledge to know that God calls us to care for the least among us. We had that.

I believe it is wisdom… or possibly prophecy to hear and speak God’s calling for us in particular to serve them in particular. And I wasn’t the first to voice that, not even close.

Where would be without administrators who organize and coordinate all our movements? Where we be without people giving generously so that we have something to serve and give?

Where would we be without hands to show up on Wednesday night to cook, Thursday noon to serve food?

I’ll tell you right now, there is discernment as we meet and as we build relationship with some broken people. There is spiritual possession and mental illness and we need discernment among spirits.

Miracles are happening as we pray. Amen, Rome? Amen!

Healing is needed. Healing of the mind, of the heart, of addiction, of body, of every kind. Miracles can happen here… for the Spirit of the Lord is here.

This is bigger than us. It is bigger than you or me or anything we could hope to orchestrate or accomplish. It is the Spirit of the Lord made manifest among us. And lives are being changed. Being saved. And it’s only just begun.

God’s not even close to done, He is just getting started. And He wants to work through you.

Here’s the craziest thing… He doesn’t need any of us to make this happen. With a wave of His hand He can and will transform all heaven and all earth and all people on the earth.

But He invites us to be a part of His story. He invites us to love Him by loving on His peeps.

The question is not whether or not He has given you super powers.

The question is what has He given you today… and are you going to be faithful to use it. In faith. In strength. In courage.