Paul speaks of spiritual gifts in this first of three chapters regarding the subject.
The passage is so well known, and the subject is so interesting to us that many books have been written on the subject, and countless sermons have been preached on the topic. Let’s quickly recap what Paul is saying about gifts, and see if there is anything we can apply to our own lives from it.
First of all, Paul gives a “never fail” litmus test to see if this is a spiritual gift, or something false. He says that the person who is offering their gift will never say “Jesus be cursed” if they are operating under the Holy Spirit. Conversely, they cannot praise God and be under control of the devil. That’s good to know. To my way of thinking every spiritual gift should bring glory to God, and God alone. If the use of the gift primarily glorifies anyone or anything other than Jesus, it’s either false or being used incorrectly. In either case, we should not follow that person without great caution.
Secondly, Paul says gifts are given to us so that we can help one another. Help how? Well, it’s not so that we can make money or gain fame….it’s so that we can help each other grow closer to Jesus. When we use our spiritual gifts to help others grow closer to Christ, we fulfill the purpose of our giftedness without violating the primary law of gifts. Helping others find and serve Jesus better brings glory to God.
You cannot choose your gift. Gifts are given by another person and cannot be chosen. You can request, but essentially you have to be content with what you get. In this case, it’s the Holy Spirit who is in charge of distributing the gifts. You can ask the Holy Spirit to consider giving you a gift…just make sure you want it for the right reasons.
Finally, every gift is needed. In some instances we need many people with the same gift, and in others we need only a few. But we simply cannot function correctly without all of the gifts operating within the Church. That’s why the Spirit gives them. Therefore, if you are a Christian, then you have at least one gift, and you may have several…..but no one has them all. Because if we did, we wouldn’t need anyone else, and that’s not what God intends.
Gifted people need to work together in harmony, because God lives in community with Himself. When we serve alongside others using our gifts without fighting or arguing, we bring glory to God, and God is pleased.
We know that this isn’t a complete list of every spiritual gift. There are many others listed in other parts of the Bible….and maybe more beyond that. But whatever the gift, it won’t violate the guidelines given here.
Here’s a couple of things that I noticed this time through:
1. Teaching is pretty high on Pauls’ list.
2. People who serve are listed before those who lead. Now there’s an interesting idea.
Pondering,
PR