12 B. Saints Alive!
Appendix B
Saints Alive!
I. God’s Master Plan For The Church---You A study in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 12 A. Things Of The Spirit---what the Spirit is doing (v.1) 1. Unity Of Confession---Jesus is Lord! (vv.2-3) 2. Diversity Of Function---Through Deity In Action (vv. 4-6) a. Variety of gifts (divinely given capacity for service) from the Spirit b. Variety of ministries (divinely appointed tasks or area of the exercise of a gift) from the Lord c. Variety of energizings (divinely determined results---the thing accomplished) from God
3. Harmony Of Coordination Through Sovereignty Of Distribution Each one fulfilling his place, allowing Christ to express his life through his body (vv. 7-11) 4. Universal Illustration---The Human Body (vv.12-26) a. Sharing one life in one body (vv.12-13) 1. No disparagement (all needed) (vv.14-17) 2. No dispute (God’s arrangement) (v. 18) 3. No disdain (the less presentable are more indispensable (vv. 19-24a) 4. No discord (all share same concerns) (vv. 24-26) 5. Certainty Of Application---It’s a fact. Now, how do we fit the facts? (vv. 27-31) B. Note The Setting---Between Jesus Is Lord (1 Corinthians 12:23) And The Way Is Love! (1 Corinthians 13:1-13) II. No Unemployed Saints---The Heart Of God’s Plan * Discover your gifts and use them * Do you have one? Or more? * What is their purpose? * What are the gifts? * How are they to be employed? * How do I discover my gifts?
A. Do I have one? Read 1 Corinthians 12:1; 1 Corinthians 4:1-21; 1 Corinthians 5:1-13; 1 Corinthians 6:1-20; 1 Corinthians 7:1-40Ephesians 4:7-8. The answer is here: "God inspires them all in every one"; and "to each is given"; and in Ephesians 4:1-32, "Grace was given to each of us . . . he gave gifts to men." Every Christian has a gift---maybe more than one!
B. What are the gifts?
1. To define---spiritual gifts are: a special enabling for ministry; a capacity for spiritual service; or a specific function appointed by God to accomplish his purposes in the church and the world. Gifts are over and above the general capacities given to all the members of the body. For example, all are to be witnesses, but some are especially given to the church to encourage and train the others, as evangelists. All are apostles in the general sense of John 17:18, but some are specially given the ability to plant new works and pioneer in new fields of endeavor.
Native abilities which we call "talents" are not the same as gifts. For example, a man can be an able speaker and not even be a Christian. Gifts are divine enablings given by the Lord to accomplish the spiritual ends he desires. The Lord will use the native abilities he has implanted (such as the natural ability to speak well or to think clearly) and will empower these as to give insight beyond the native abilities to think and expression of truth with impact beyond the normal power of speech.
2. Gifts are of three kinds: general support gifts, sign gifts, and specific working gifts. a. General support gifts (Ephesians 4:11-16)
(1) Apostles---men gifted to lay foundations, to build the basic support structure upon which the rest would be built. An example of the work of the apostles is the New Testament, the foundation for faith.
(2) Prophets---God’s special spokesmen to his people. Their words carry God’s authority and have power to build by stimulating and encouraging. Often this gift reflects special insight into the truth and calls men back to the obedience of faith, e.g., A. W. Tozer.
(3) Evangelists---good-news tellers; those who are able to compel a hearing of the great redeeming story of Jesus Christ to non-Christians with convicting power, e.g., Billy Graham.
(4) Pastor-teachers---shepherds of God’s flock, car-ing for the sheep, feeding, guiding, protecting, keeping fit and healthy. "Pastor" describes the job---shepherding. "Teacher" describes the means by which he fulfills his assignment---feeding the flock on the Word of God. b. Sign gifts (1) Miracle working
(2) Healings
(3) Tongues (4) Interpretation of tongues The first two were the signs of the authority of the early disciples, arresting the attention of the populace, identifying with the work of Christ and attesting to their origin in the power of God. These were the credentials the apostles presented to an unbelieving world. The last two were signs to Israel that God was removing the Jews from the privileged place and turning to the Gentiles. (See 1 Corinthians 14:21-22 and Isaiah 28:11.) All these seem to have served God’s purpose and apparently have been set aside in the sovereign will of the Spirit of God, at least as far as we can see. If the Spirit of God should choose to use them again, we would expect it to be in line with their "sign" character. c. Specific working gifts (Read 1 Corinthians 12:10 and 28; Romans 12:1-8)
(1) Wisdom---direct insight into truth; the ability to understand how truth applies to specific situations; putting the truth to work (1 Corinthians 12:8).
(2) Knowledge---ability to investigate and systematize facts; to put them into manageable order; to recognize and relate facets of truth (1 Corinthians 12:8).
(3) Faith---better called the gift of vision, the ability to see what God wants done and the courage and faith to tackle a seemingly impossible job and accomplish it, e.g., Cameron Townsend (1 Corinthians 12:9).
(4) Prophecy---the ability to speak to men for God for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation (1 Corinthians 14:3). Also, to speak toward the unbelieving world so as to convict, open up and bring to the worship of God (1 Corinthians 14:24-25).
(5) Discernment---the ability to distinguish between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error; to spot subtle forms of phoniness and deception, e.g., Peter with Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-42(1 Corinthians 12:10).
(6) Helps (Or showing mercy)---lending a hand whenever a need appears. There are 1,001 ways to exercise this gift. "Helps" in the New Testament Greek has the sense of "holding against so as to support." Showing mercy is being moved by pity to give aid. Thus, one describes the motivation, the other the pur-pose for the exercise of this gift.
(7) Teaching---giving instruction with the result that someone is learning the truth of God (Romans 12:7 and 1 Corinthians 12:28).
(8) Administrative gifts---keeping things in order through organization, planning and executing the plan.
(a) Administration---diakonia (Romans 12:7) Household chores---sharing for the multitude of detail tasks around God’s household.
(b) Leading---proistemi (Romans 12:8) Standing before in a leadership responsibility, e.g. chairing committees, leading meetings, etc.
(c) Governings---kubernesis (1 Corinthians 12:28) Guiding or steering the affairs of the local church, e.g., serving as elder or overseer on a governing board.
(9) Giving---specially called to be spiritually sen-sitive to needs and to make money or other assets available for God’s use (Romans 12:8)
(10) Exhortation---the ability to call to action and get people moving; to speak so as to motivate or encourage (Romans 12:8) C. How do I discover my gifts? In seeking to determine your spiritual gifts, follow through the parallel to the human body as shown in the diagram:
In the HUMAN BODY, how does a member of the body (e.g., a hand) know its place of usefulness? | In the BODY OF CHRIST how do I determine my spiritual gifts? |
1. It receives orders from the head | 1. Ask the Lord, "What is my place and function in the body?" Christ as head is able and responsible to answer. |
2. It has inherent features that equip it for certain functions. | 2. Examine inherent features, e.g., teaching---do I enjoy studying the Word? |
3. It grasps existing opportunities | 3. What is obviously at hand that I am in a position to do? |
4. It sees successful results. It is productive toward designed ends. | 4. Do I see that God is doing something worthwhile through me? |
5. It recognizes interdependence with other members of the body. | 5. How do I fit in with the other members? e.g., do I find Cooperative endeavor in governing ministry? |
6. It supplies a need that must be met | 6. What are current needs that need to be met? e.g., music, visitation. |
7. It makes progress in proficiency. | 7. Do I function better with practice? I should. |
8. It experiences the gratification of usefulness. | 8. Do I enjoy a sense of being used as I minister? |
9. It is acknowledged by the rest of the body. | 9. Do others in the body recognize and appreciate my contribution to the whole? |
Then approach as you did the problem of discovering talents. Try it!
D. What is their Purpose?
It is to build the body of Christ---his church (Ephesians 4.12 16).
Christ said, "I will build my church---and the councils of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:1-28). That’s what he’s doing---now. What are you doing?
"To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good" (1 Corinthians 12:7).
"Let all things be done for edification. . . . so that all may learn and all be encouraged" (1 Corinthians 14:26 and 31).
E. How are they to be employed? (How do I exercise my gifts?) 1. In love. (1 Corinthians 13:1-13 is in the middle of the pas-sage on gifts.)
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
2. As expressing the life of my indwelling Lord.
"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us" (2 Corinthians 4:7). "That Christ may settle down and be at home in your hearts by your faith---that you may grasp, with all Christians, how wide and deep and long and high is the love of Christ" (Ephesians 3:17-19).
3. Remembering that they are gifts given by his sovereign authority (1 Corinthians 12:11 and 18). There is no ground for pride. As we do these things, our Lord will be seen to be at work in us as members of his body expressing his life (1 Corinthians 12:27). To discover your gifts and employ them is the most exciting discovery possible. It is to recognize the purpose for which God intended you! And he himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastor-teachers, toward the fitting out of the saints for a work of ministry, for the building of the body of Christ-until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ---that we may no longer be babies, being tossed back and forth-but maintaining truth in love, we may grow up in every way into Christ, the head. For it is from the head that the whole body is a harmonious structure, knit together by the joints with which it is provided, and grows by the proper functioning of individual parts to its full maturity in love. (Ephesians 4:1-4, a literal rendering)