The gifts of the Spirit have always been available to the church. And yet for a long time, among most Christians, they had been unrecognized and unused.
When we learn how to operate in the gifts of the Spirit our lives will be revitalized, re-empowered and redirected by the exercise of them.
We need to understand the nature and the purpose of these spiritual gifts. They should always reveal the nature of God and glorify Him. If they glorify the vessel, they are not functioning according to their purpose. God gives us spiritual gifts in our immaturity, to help us grow up in Christ.
Paul lists 9 specific gifts of the Spirit.
1 Corinthians12: 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
I am going to read the list of gifts without adding any other words.
The 1st, the word of wisdom.
The second, the word of knowledge.
The third, faith.
The 4th, the gifts of healing.
The 5th, the effecting of miracles.
The 6th, prophecy.
The 7th, distinguishing of spirits.
The 8th, various kinds of tongues.
The 9th, the interpretation of tongues.
There are four important facts that concern all these gifts.
First is that they are gifts. They cannot be earned or worked for. They’re not merit badges. They are given by God at His sovereign discretion, and they must be received by us by a simple response of faith. It doesn’t take any time to acquire spiritual gifts.
Secondly, both at the beginning and the end of that list, Paul uses the phrase, to each one.
At the beginning, he says, to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. And then at the end, he says, but one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually, just as He wills.
So, both at the beginning and the end of that list of spiritual gifts, Paul emphasizes that they are for each one. They are available to all believers.
My personal conviction is that God wants all believers to participate in the exercise of these gifts.
They’re not reserved for a certain denomination or a spiritual few, or a privileged minority. They are for each one.
The third fact is that Paul describes these gifts by a key word, MANIFESTATION. This is what distinguishes the way that the Spirit moves in our lives from the many other ways that He moves.
The word manifestation indicates something that is perceptible by the physical senses. The Holy Spirit Himself, as a person indwelling the believer, is invisible. He cannot usually be seen by the physical senses, but we can feel him.
But through these gifts, the Holy Spirit manifests Himself through a believer in the space-time world. As a result of these gifts, we are aware that the Holy Spirit is there because of what we perceive with our physical senses.
So, the key word there is manifestation. Every one of these gifts has an impact somehow in the space-time world that can be perceived by our senses.
The 4th fact is that the gifts are supernatural. They are manifestations of God Himself in the person of the Holy Spirit, and they always are on a higher level than mere human ability or education would enable us to achieve on our own.
First, they are gifts. They cannot be earned.
Secondly, they are available to each one.
Thirdly, the key word is manifestation. They produce results that can be perceived by our senses.
And fourthly, they are always supernatural.
They are always at a level higher than we can achieve by our own natural ability.
Now, the next thing I want to say to help you to get a grasp on these gifts is that there are three groups, each containing 3 gifts.
The first group is the gifts of revelation. The word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, and the discerning of spirits.
The second group are gifts of power. The gift of faith, miracles, and healing’s. the gift of faith is different from the faith which is a fruit of the Spirit.
The third group are the vocal gifts, gifts that necessarily operate through human vocal organs.
The gift of tongues, the interpretation of tongues, and prophecy. The gift of tongues is different from our prayer language and is given in a church service.
Now I want to speak to you about the purpose for which these gifts are made available to us by God. There are four purposes which they fulfill.
The first one is that the gifts make room for God’s sovereignty. This is something that contemporary Christianity does not always make much room for.
But God is in supreme control of His Church, and he doesn’t want anything in the church which is purely under human direction and leaves no room for his intervention or overruling.
But first, through these supernatural gifts, God can intervene and manifest his sovereignty, his ultimate supreme control of the whole church service.
Secondly, gifts lift us above the realm of our natural ability.
The third reason for the gifts is that they confirm our testimony of Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus. That in everything you were enriched by Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift,
Notice what Paul is thanking God for on behalf of the Corinthian’s, that the testimony of Christ was confirmed or strengthened or established among them, and it was done by the fact that they were not lacking in any of the gifts.
So, we see that one main purpose of these gifts is to confirm or strengthen the testimony of Jesus Christ in his people, the church.
We also notice that Paul says that these Christians were not lacking in any gift awaiting the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And then he says, God shall confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The 4th reason for these gifts is that they enable all believers to contribute for the common good.
It’s very significant that immediately after the listing of the gifts, he speaks about the body and its members, because spiritual gifts are one of the primary ways in which the members of the body are enabled to contribute for the common good.
In 1 Corinthians 14:26, Paul says this, speaking about the coming together of the church. What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.
So, you see that when the gifts are available, believers do not come to a meeting just to listen, but they get to contribute, to contribute out of those supernatural spiritual abilities which they have received through these gifts.