CE 1 YEAR: 42 Serving Gifts

Week 42

Serving Gifts

In the previous two chapters we discussed the miraculous spiritual gifts that Paul focused on in 1 Corinthians 12-14. In Ephesians 4 he focused on another category of spiritual gifts which can be called “ministry gifts” (Eph 4:7-13). These include evangelist, pastors, and teachers. The “ministry gifts” are designed to help other Christians serve the church and use what can be called “member gifts.”

“Member gifts” are the focus of Romans 12:4-8. Here Paul says we are “members” in one body, but with different functions. These different roles include the “member gifts” of serving, encouraging, giving, and comforting.

Unfortunately, some Christians believe and act as if the Pastors are supposed to do most of the ministry in a church. But the fact that God gives spiritual gifts to every Christian exposes this error. God gives spiritual gifts such as evangelism, encouraging, comforting, and serving to many Christians, not just Pastors. God gave you a spiritual gift to serve the local church with. This has traditionally been referred to as “the priesthood of all believers.” All Christians are priests of God and expected to serve the local church in some way. Therefore, the ministry of a Pastor is to equip the church members to do the work of ministry and build up the church (Eph 4:12).

These seven “ministry” and “member” gifts make up the vast majority of gifts needed and operating in the Church. These include: Evangelist, Teacher, Pastor (Leader), Servant, Encourager, Giver, and Comforter. For a brief description of these gifts, see the table following this chapter.

What are spiritual gifts?

Spiritual gifts are unique desires and powers given by God’s Spirit, especially to serve the local church. There are several similarities between your personality and your spiritual gifts (see Week 18). Like your personality, you do not choose your spiritual gifts, but the Holy Spirit chooses them for you (1 Cor 12:11). God uniquely created your personality to display a part of His personality. Likewise, the Holy Spirit recreated you with spiritual gifts to provide a unique part of His ministry to the Church.

As with your personality, your Dad gave you spiritual gifts to complement others, not to be self-sufficient (Rom 12:4). By understanding and using your spiritual gifts, you fulfill your special function in the Body of Christ, the local church.

Your spiritual gifts are designed to help others in some unique way (1 Cor 12:7). Using the analogy of our physical bodies, Paul communicated the reality of the local church as well when He wrote: “Our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it” (1 Cor 12:18). Through the spiritual gifts God has given you, He has made you the part of your local church that He wants you to be. Your Dad gives you unique spiritual desires and powers to serve Him and His people.

The importance of your spiritual gifts

As noted, Romans 12:3-8 introduces the topic of spiritual gifts and lists several of them. But notice what Paul wrote about right before this. In Romans 12:2 he is talking about knowing God’s will for your life. What is one way you can know God’s specific will for your life? Knowing your spiritual gifts.

Your spiritual gifts are probably the most specific direction your Dad will ever give you for what He wants you to uniquely do for Him. This is why there is so much NT instruction concerning them (Rom 12:6-8; Eph 4:11-12; 1 Pet 4:10-11). Scripture and God’s Spirit reveal God’s general “moral will” for you (see Week 46). But your spiritual gifts reveal God’s “ministry will” for you (1 Cor 12:7-29).

This is what Paul is speaking of when he writes: “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph 2:10). How will you know what good works God has predestined for you? By knowing and using the spiritual gifts God has predestined for you. They will be the most specific direction God gives you to know His personal will for your life. Your spiritual gifts are your unique assignment from Him. If you are not faithful to recognize and use them, you will miss God’s personal will for your life.

Spiritual gifts supernaturally provide a Christian with certain desires, energy, and even abilities they would not have otherwise. God’s Spirit always provides desires to love God and people. But our spiritual gifts give us desires to love God and people in a specific way.

For example, someone with the gift of compassion (Rom 12:8) will have a different ministry in the Church than the person with the gift of leadership. The one will be focused on helping the most needy. The other will be focused on discipling the most mature. Because God decides what gift you have (1 Cor 12:11), your gift reveals God’s will for how He wants you to serve Him.

For example, the desire to be an overseas missionary comes from a unique spiritual gift and desire from God. God wants them to pursue this desire. Not because He gives them some miraculous signs or revelation, but because He gives them that desire (Acts 16:9-10).

Paul’s gift drove him, even involuntarily, to do what he did in spite of the many obstacles (1 Cor 9:16-17). God knows that we will live according to our desires. Through our gifts He gives us unique desires that will direct us in the ministry He has uniquely chosen for us.

This is why Paul described spiritual gifts in the context of knowing God’s will for our life in Romans 12. If we dedicate our lives to God and renew our minds, we will know God’s moral will for us (vs. 1-2). How can we know God’s specific will? By recognizing the unique “measure of faith” and “grace” He gives you through your “different gifts” (vs. 3, 6).

The divine guidance of the Spirit through His gifts is very personal because He alone decides which gift(s) you receive. This same guidance is also precise because different gifts have “different kinds of service” (ministries), and “different kinds of working” (effects) (1 Cor 12:4-6).

This is one reason the Apostle Peter wrote: “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Pet 4:10). God has given you a special grace to be “faithful” with in order to serve Him in a special way. If you do not use your spiritual gifts you will miss a very important part of God’s will for your life. By using your spiritual gifts, you fulfill the part in the local church that God has assigned to you.

Also, notice that your spiritual gifts are a special gift of God’s “grace.” In other words, you experience God’s grace when you use your gifts.

Therefore, understand something very important: The most pleasurable and fulfilling thing you will ever experience in your life is blessing others with your spiritual gift. Those who are faithfully using their spiritual gifts empowered by the love, joy, and peace of the Spirt, know this is true. Experiencing God’s “grace” as you love others with your special desires and abilities, and seeing your gifts help others, is the very best thing on Earth!

Valuing your spiritual gifts

Do not be jealous of the spiritual gifts of others or compare yourself to others. For example, someone with the supernatural gift of Evangelist is given a special power from God to speak the Gospel to people with special effectiveness, boldness, consistency, and joy. If you do not have this gift, your Dad does not want you to compare your evangelism to theirs.

Of course, some gifts may seem more valuable than others. Paul addressed this in 1 Corinthians 12:15-26. He warned of the “one big ugly eyeball disease.” Eyes are naturally thought to be a very important part of the body and by analogy, everyone in a body would want to be “eyes.” But how could the eyes function all by themselves?

Likewise, church leaders can unfortunately value certain gifts, such as Teachers or Evangelists, over others. Especially if they themselves possess these gifts. Then it can be expected that everyone needs to act like they have these gifts, and other gifts are neglected. This disobeys Scripture and God’s plan. He is the One who decides which gifts you have and are to use. And remember, you will be rewarded the same as anyone else for the faithful use of your gifts, no matter what they are.

It is easy to think the more public and people-oriented gifts like Evangelist, Pastor, or Teacher are more important than the more private and task-oriented gifts like Servant. But what did Jesus say to His disciples when they were feeling jealous about positions of leadership and influence: “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (Matt 20:26-28). Jesus was not “great” because He had the charisma to draw a crowd or be popular. What made Him great was how He served.

Identifying your spiritual gifts

Fortunately, identifying your spiritual gift is rather simple. Essentially, you need to ask yourself one question: What are my favorite ways to serve God and His people?

So many Christians think that God usually wants them to serve Him in a way that they will not like. That is not true! Your Dad put special desires and abilities in you, and He wants you to serve Him according to those desires.

In their essence, a spiritual gift is a spiritual desire to serve and love people in a special way. Those desires from the Spirit of God lead the person to pursue a ministry. And because they pursue and practice it, they become skilled at it. Spiritual gifts immediately give you a desire, but the skill to use it must be developed over time. And the desire from your spiritual gift motivates you to learn how to be effective with it.

Spiritual gifts only come from being controlled the God’s Spirit. When God’s Spirit is not controlling you, your spiritual gift will not be operating. Therefore, a Christian’s ability to recognize and use their gifts will be greatly hindered if they are not consistently controlled by the love, joy, and peace of God’s Spirit (Weeks 23-28). Sinful habits of anger, anxiety, confusion, shame, inadequacy, loneliness, and depression seriously hinder the recognition and use of your spiritual gifts.

It is important to distinguish spiritual gifts from natural talents like music or organizing. A person with the gift of Servant might use their natural talent of music or organization to serve in the local church, but natural talents are not spiritual gifts.

The “member” and “ministry” gifts listed in Scripture (Rom 12:7-8; Eph 4:11) give us a general idea of the kinds of desires and abilities the Holy Spirit gives Christians. As with personality traits, most Christians have more than one spiritual gift. And our personality can affect how we experience and use these gifts. This is why the Bible says that different gifts can result in different ministries with different effects (1 Cor 12:4-6). Two people may have the same gift, but it operates differently. However, the underlying desire will be the same.

Keep in mind that your spiritual gifts may change over time. The gifts of Servant, Giver, and Evangelist are common among young Christians. But as they mature, and are faithful with those gifts, the Spirit may make them a Pastor or Teacher to meet needs in the local church. Changing needs in your local church are often a reason the Holy Spirit may change a person’s gifts.

Even if the Spirit gives you different gifts later in your Christian life, your initial gifts, like Servant, may remain. However, you may discover that other early gifts like Evangelism are no longer operating in your life. Do not feel guilty about this. God chooses your gifts and therefore controls your ministry desires.

Therefore, you should be aware of changing desires to serve God and His people because the Spirit may change your gifting. If you do not recognize this, you will be serving in a way that exhausts you. That is how you can tell you are not serving in your gift with God’s grace. Serving is exhausting instead of energizing and encouraging. God wants you to serve with His grace, and His grace is known by your desires. How do you want to serve God and His people? That is the grace God is giving you.

It is also important to accept what God has not gifted you to do. Of course, all Christians are expected to evangelize, serve, lead, encourage, give, and have compassion at various times. But your spiritual gifts tell you what God Himself wants you to focus on in your life. Do not allow guilt or church leaders to make you focus on a ministry that God did not give you the grace or desire to prioritize in your life. Your ultimate Boss is your Dad, and your ministry desires tell you what He wants you to be doing.

This is another way He wants you serving Him out of grace instead of guilt. God will give you grace and desire to do what He wants you to do (i.e. your spiritual gifts), but He may not give you grace to do what others want you to do. God wants to give you the freedom to focus on what you want to do for Him. In fact, that is the only way to be faithful with the spiritual gift He uniquely gave you.

Practical application: Take some time to identify your spiritual gift(s). Ask and consider the simple question: What is my favorite way to serve God and people? Review the Table of Spiritual Gifts on the next page to understand some general categories of gifts.

After identifying your spiritual gift, it is important that you faithfully use it. If you are not already in a church ministry that uses your gift, ask your Pastor for help in how you can. He will be glad you want to serve!

In your small group meeting this week, share praises and prayer requests and then discuss these questions:

1) Which gifts are called “ministry” gifts in this chapter? Which ones are called “member” gifts? What is the relationship between these? What would be some differences between them?

2) What are spiritual gifts? What is their essence? What is their purpose?

3) How are spiritual gifts like your personality?

4) Why is it so important to know and use your spiritual gift(s)?

5) What can happen if people or Pastors unnecessarily value some gifts above others?

6) What is the most important question to ask in order to identify your spiritual gift(s)? Why is this encouraging?

7) How do spiritual gifts differ from natural talents? What would be some examples of a spiritual gift using a natural talent?

8) Why do you need to recognize that your spiritual gift(s) can change?

9) Why should you focus on using your spiritual gift(s) instead of only doing what others want you to do?

10) What was especially meaningful to you in this chapter? Why?

Types of Spiritual Gifts

Gifts	Desires & Abilities	Example
Member Gifts (Rom 12)
Servant	Passion & ability to discern & meet practical needs in the local church. Operates in a great variety of ways, often using natural talents.	Jesus (Matt 20:24-28; 25:31-40; John 13:1-5)
Giver	Passion to give sacrificially, and primarily financially, to meet practical needs in the local church.	Macedonian Christians (2 Cor 8-9)
Encourager	Passion & ability to discern & meet needs for encouragement in the local church to believe God’s promises and obey His commands	Barnabas (Acts 4:36; 14:20-22; Heb 3:12-13)
Comforter	Passion & ability to have compass-ion for and help the very needy.	Jesus (John 8:1-11)
Ministry Gifts (Eph 4)
Evangelist	Passion to save people. Boldness to share the gospel. People to share the gospel with.	Apostle Paul (1 Cor 9:15-23; 2 Tim 2:10)
Pastor Leader	Passion to see people spiritually motivated to accomplish a spiritual task in the local church. Passion to see people spiritually protected & cared for in the local church. Ability to discern spiritual needs and meet them. Ability to carry and deal with many spiritual problems.	Nehemiah (Matt 28:19-20; Prov 29:18) Jesus (John 15:13; 21:15-17)
Teacher	Passion to see people spiritually grow in the local church. Passion & ability to know & teach the doctrines of Scripture to change people’s lives.	Timothy, Titus, Ezra (1 Tim 4:13; 5:17; 2 Tim 2:15; Ezra 7:10)
Miraculous Gifts (1 Cor 12)
Apostle Prophet Divine Wisdom & Knowledge Miracle- Working Healing Languages	Given to receive or authenticate new divine revelation for Scripture (cf. Matt 10:37-38; John 14:11; 2 Cor 12:12; Heb 2:4). Biblical abilities not being duplicated by Christians today (Agabus the Christian Prophet perfectly predicted the future twice. Those claiming gift of prophecy may tell you about your past which demons know, but they cannot predict the future which is what God-sent Prophets always do) Commonly demonically duplicated. (cf. Matt 7:22-23)	Jesus Apostle Paul Prophet Isaiah Prophet Agabus