The Gifts in the Church

Dr. Charles Stanley: God gives the gifts to be ministered and exercised in the spirit of humility and gratitude before God, giving of ourselves to the whole body of Christ that the whole body is strengthened because you are exercising the particular personal spiritual gift that God has given to you.
Guest (Male): Have you ever heard of someone described as gifted? The message you'll hear today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, reminds us that all believers in Jesus can be accurately described that way. If you aren't sure what spiritually gifted means, stay with us for more on how the people of God are empowered to serve. Dr. Stanley's series continues.
Dr. Charles Stanley: If you'll turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 12, we're continuing our series on the church. The last message was on God's gifts to the church, to His body. And then now, God's gifts in the fellowship to the individuals who make up the body of Christ. I want us to begin reading in verse 1 of chapter 12 and read through verse 7. He says, "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware or I don't want you to be ignorant." Therefore, it is our responsibility to understand what the Bible teaches about spiritual gifts. "You know that when you were pagans, you were led away or led astray to the dumb idols, however you were led." "Therefore, I make known to you that no one speaking by the spirit of God says, 'Jesus is accursed,' and no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit." Now, watch these next three verses. "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same spirit. There are varieties of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good." Now, as we have discussed the spiritual gifts that God has given to the church, as we saw in Ephesians chapter 4, that He's given to the church apostles, He's given to the church prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers. Some of those were temporary gifts and some of them were permanent gifts—the evangelist and the pastors and teachers. But likewise has He given to every part of the body a spiritual gift. And so what I want us to look at now is the gifts that God has given to each member of the body. There is a difference between having a natural talent and having a spiritual gift. Everybody to some degree has natural talents, that is what we are born with as a result of what God sees fit to place in your life at your physical birth. You have certain capacities. You are more capable than others in some areas. For example, here's a person who is talented in the area of art, talented in the area of music. Here's a man who has a mind, he knows how to make money. There are all kinds of human talents that relate to our capacity given at birth that also God equips us with to carry out the vocation that He has for us, for example, or to relate to other people. But a spiritual gift is a gift by God given at our second birth, at the new birth, whereby He equips us in order to serve Him. Now, a Christian is going to utilize that spiritual gift in every facet of his or her life. Every single area of their life is going to be affected by the exercise of that spiritual gift. Now, one of the things that happens in the body of Christ is that oftentimes, unbeknown to people and unbeknown to a person who doesn't even understand what the spiritual gift is, they serve God in human talent. And I want to tell you something, you can spot if you know what spiritual gifts are and you know how to distinguish between them and you know the difference in a spiritual gift and a talent, you can spot somebody who's singing, preaching, speaking, teaching, whatever they may be doing, who's doing it out of human talent and somebody who's doing it out of the gift of God. Now, what is God's primary purpose for giving to you the day you were born again a spiritual gift? Let me tell you what it is not. It is not to make you feel good. When you hear people talk about, "Well, I'll tell you, I want this gift and I want that gift because when you have this gift, man, you just feel great, you act like you're floating on cloud nine, everything is just super great, you're just floating through the Christian life." I want to tell you something, there's not one verse of scripture in this book that says the purpose for spiritual gifts is to make you feel good. God gives the gifts to be ministered and exercised in the spirit of humility and gratitude before God, giving of ourselves to the whole body of Christ that the whole body is strengthened because you are exercising the particular personal spiritual gift that God has given to you. Now, when you look at this and you think about that, I want you to look over in Romans chapter 12 for just a moment. Romans chapter 12 beginning in verse 4. "For just as we have many members in one body," speaking of the whole body of Christ, like you have a physical body—hands, eyes, ears, nose, and so forth. He says, "And all the members do not have the same function." Your toe does not see, nor does your eye wiggle like your toe. Your hand cannot see, nor can your foot hear. Each member of the body has its own specific function. Each part of the body has its work to do. So, he says, "Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to each of us," that is, the gift that God has given to you is a gift of God's grace given to you to execute in the body for the good of the whole fellowship. He says now, he says we should exercise them accordingly: "If prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; he who teaches, in his teaching; he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence or organizes; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness." Now, let's take those gifts and let me show you something. Let's say, for example, that we were over at your house and you'd invited us all to dinner and there were eight people there and one of those persons made a mistake. And everybody else at that table has a different motivational gift. So, let's say, for example, that I get ready to get up and I knock over a glass of iced tea on your beautiful, newly installed white carpet. All right, so how would these seven people with seven spiritual gifts react? The person with prophecy would either say or think, "Don't you know better than that?" The person with a gift of service would get up and run for the towel in order to wipe it up. The person with a gift of teaching would say, "Well now, let's see, the next time more than likely this would be a good way," and so they would give you a little instruction. The person who is an exhorter would begin to exhort you: "Well now, listen, you don't need to worry about that because in the," and on they would go about that. The person who gives says, "Who cares about the glass? You can always buy another glass." The person who organizes, the person who has the gift of organization would stand up and say, "Look, you go get the towel, you get the mop, the rest of you go ahead and eat, just keep passing the food." And then the person with the gift of mercy says, "Oh, bless your heart, I'm so sorry you did that." Now, every single person would feel something differently. And you see, the truth is that all of us are motivated by a different motivational gift. And I have learned that friend, if you want a person to do their best, to reach their potential, you find out what their ultimate motivational gift is and then you give them a responsibility that fits that motivational gift. And you can take a family, any organization, a church, a committee—listen, I've discovered the best way in the world to get a super, fantastic, productive, fruitful committee is to choose those men or women by their spiritual gift, put them together, and friend, you'll watch them operate. And what happens is when you and I begin to discover our spiritual gift and we get in a position to exercise that, something happens to us. So when we talk about the motivational gifts, here they are in chapter 12. Now, go back to 1 Corinthians if you will for a moment and look, if you will, in chapter 12 again. And you'll notice he says beginning in verse 7, he talks about manifestations of the spirit. Here are the manifestations, he says. He says, "For to one is given the word of wisdom through the spirit; to another the word of knowledge according to the same spirit; to another faith by the same spirit," that is, faith for that given moment; "to another gifts of healing." Now, let me just say something about healing. All kinds of things being taught and preached about healing. In the New Testament, whenever he talks about gifts and healing, he's always talking about plural gifts. Nowhere does it say that God has ever given to any man the gift to heal everybody. Every single act of healing is a specific personal gift for that moment, on that occasion, for that particular person. God does give gifts of healing. He probably gives more gifts of healing today to people than He did in the first century. But His purpose for doing so is that it is an act of grace, of goodness on His part, an act of love here. And we'll see two people have the same disease, one is healed, the other is not, prayed for by the same person, and there is no human explanation for it. Because God by His grace chooses to give a gift of healing here and over here He does not. Now, the fellow who comes by and says, "You had faith and you didn't," I want to tell you something, my friend, that is dangerous, it is unkind and unscriptural, and there is no proof by telling anybody the reason God didn't heal you is because you didn't have enough faith. That is unscriptural and I believe it is unfair to put on the body of Christ that kind of judgment which is unfair and unscriptural. Move on down if you will to verse 10: "To another the effecting of miracles; to another prophecy; to another the distinguishing of spirits; to another various kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues." We're not saying there's no such thing as tongues. In the New Testament, they were foreign languages. But I will say this: whatever manifestation of the gift that God has given to you, every single one of us has the responsibility of the manifestation of that gift being exercised according to the principles of the word of God. Otherwise, what you have in the body of Christ is confusion, frustration. So, when he talks about the manifestation, over if you'll notice in the latter part of this chapter, look, if you will, in verse 27. "Now you are Christ's body and individually members of it. God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, and third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues." Then he says, "All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? All do not have gifts of healing, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? But earnestly desire the greater gifts." That is, you say, "Well, what is the greatest of all the gifts from God's point of view?" And I'm going to show you that in just a moment. Because you see, there is a variety in the fellowship—variety of gifts, variety of ministries, and variety of administrations or manifestations—because we're not all alike. We don't have the same needs. And therefore, it is diversity of gifts to make up the unity of the body. Here is one who is hurting. Here is a person who has the gift of mercy. The gift of service cannot do enough for them—willing to spend time at their home, taking care of their home, taking care of their children while they are sick. They do that in a sense of motivation, they get a great sense of contentment and joy and fulfillment out of it. You take someone else who has another gift, who may not feel that way at all. It does not mean that one person is any more or less spiritual than another. There's not one verse of scripture in this Bible that says one gift makes one man or woman more spiritual than the other. The man, for example, who has the gift of prophecy or telling forth the truth of God's word, isn't any more spiritual than the person who has the gift of service to whom God has called to do what the world may see as a very mundane responsibility. But in God's eyes, wherever I may be exercising my spiritual gift, as lowly as the world may look upon it, if I'm exercising my spiritual gift in the sense of gratitude and devotion to Jesus Christ as unto God, brother, I'm sitting on the top of the totem pole from God's point of view because I am doing what He said in the way He said doing it, according to the principles of scripture, and therefore I'm living in obedience. Therefore, no gift is more spiritual than the other. No person is more spiritual than the other because they have certain gifts. Now, I don't want to be critical for anything in the world, but I do want to say this: there are certain gifts that some people parade around as if, "Brother, if you've not had this one, you have something missing." I want to tell you, you show me one verse in this book to prove that. One verse. And if you cannot, which you cannot, then you have no reason and no right, my friend, to project upon the whole body of Christ that they ought to be seeking any one of the spiritual gifts. Because he says, for example, in chapter 14 in 1 Corinthians—look at that for a moment. He says, "Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy." Listen, he says of all the gifts, if you're going to pursue any, if you want to pursue any, he says pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. And what he's speaking of here is telling the truth in a form and a fashion that it can be understood. Look in verse 2: "For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God; for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries. But to one who prophesies speaks to men for edification," building up the body, "and exhortation and consolation." So if somebody says, "Well, if I were going to seek a gift, what would I seek? Tongues? Healing? Miracles?" No. According to this Bible, and this is the only Bible we have to go by, according to this Bible, you should seek to be able to speak forth the truth clearly in a form and fashion that those who are listening can understand the spiritual principles that God has taught you, He's worked into your life, and you'll show them how to work them into their life. That is the gift you ought to pursue. If God wants to manifest something else in your life, that is His business. But He says here, we are to pursue what? The gift of prophecy, speaking forth the word of God. Now, what are the results? What are the results when you and I discover our gift and then begin to exercise that? First of all, in my family. That's where it must start. Then on my vocation or in my social relationships, but with everybody. All right, what are those results? First of all, once you discover your gift, you're going to gain a sense of confidence in serving the Lord like you've never had before. Because you're going to think, "Well, Lord, You've given me the gift of service. And I know that's my gift and therefore, my desire to serve is from You. And if You have given me the gift of service, then You are responsible for showing me how to serve those who are about me." So you're going to gain a confidence in expressing what God has already poured into your life. Secondly, there's going to be a deeper sense of commitment in your service to the Lord. Because you see, the more confident you are in doing what God requires of you and called you, the more committed you're going to be to it because commitment and confidence go together. A deeper sense of commitment to doing that. The man with a gift of service, the woman with a gift of service, they want to serve others. There's a sense of fulfillment, a sense of contentment. When you exercise your motivational gift, you gain in contentment and satisfaction with a job well done, whatever He may require of you. Then comes something that I believe is so very, very important in the whole body of Christ because we are different. Hundreds of different types of personality, thousands of them more than likely. When you begin to understand your spiritual gift, then you begin to understand the spiritual gifts of others. You begin to understand why people respond to you the way they do. Here's a person with a gift of mercy—they can't take a lot of hurt oftentimes. Here's a person with the gift of prophecy—say anything you want, he just goes right on by. Rhinoceros skin, can't feel a thing. Here's a person with the gift of giving and they see you just spending money left and right and something, a little red flag goes up. Now, sometimes a person with the gift of giving may appear to be stingy and tight. They're not stingy and tight; God has given them a gift to make them very perceptive about what to do with their money and how it's to be used, and they want to be very, very sure it is utilized to the maximum of its potential. That's God's way of putting people in the fellowship to be sure we are all good stewards. So that's why God has put all different types of people in the body. And what happens sometimes, here's somebody with the gift of organization, you've got the gift of service, what they want to do is tell you how to serve the Lord. Now you don't particularly like that. What they're doing is exercising their gift. And so what happens is sometimes we get some heat when there's a little friction there. And here are two people who are exercising their gift, neither understands what the other's gift is, both have gotten in each other's hair a little bit. And the problem is here are two people who are genuinely and honestly trying to serve the Lord and they just had a head-on collision in their sincere desire to obey God. One of the things you'll discover is you'll discover why people act the way they do. Then you'll be able to do what? You'll be able to begin to be receptive and accept people more just like they are. You know why Jesus was never upset by anybody? The Bible says in John chapter 2, He knew all men. He knew what motivated them, He knew why they responded, why they acted the way they do. So you see, if you understand why people respond and act the way they do, then you're not going to get upset. You're going to say, "Well, you know, I understand." And we begin to accept each other on the basis of loving understanding, friend. The spirit of God just pours out His power in that fellowship. Then, of course, there is effectiveness. When you are exercising in your ministry, whatever God called you to do, on the basis of your spiritual gift and not your talent, you are automatically going to be far more effective in what you do. You understand your gift, you know what the weaknesses of the gift are, you know how the gift is misunderstood. So you are careful in certain areas not to be misunderstood. And so you're going to become more effective in your service. If all the members of the fellowship know what their gift is, know the weaknesses and their strong points, how they respond and how they act when they get out of fellowship with the Lord, and we begin to focus in on that and begin to serve the Lord on that basis, think about how much more effective all of us would be in the area of serving our Lord. Then the last one, I believe, is joy. Listen, when you're doing what you ought to be doing, motivated by love and devotion to Jesus Christ, understanding the people around you, pouring out your life, the joy is the result. You see, the joy is the result. It is the contentment, the fulfillment, that inner sense of deep, abiding joy that God gives you because you are functioning in God's big body the very way He equipped you and called you to function. And whenever we are being obedient to God in the way He's called us, there's going to be a tremendous sense of joy. So what you want to do is to discover that gift, exercise that gift in the body of Christ, and when you and I are doing that, every single one of us are blessed in return. What would happen to the whole body of Christ if the people of God simply began to obey Him, equipped with their spiritual gift, in their relationship to each other? I believe that would ignite a great spiritual awakening. The unbelieving world would be so absolutely shocked by our love and devotion for them, our acceptance of them just the way they are. They would be filling up the churches saying, "Tell me what this is you've discovered. I want who you have."
Guest (Female): In our spiritual journey, we often have questions. How do I know God's will for my life? Does God hear my prayers? Why do bad things happen? The answers are found in the word of God, but how do we know where to start? The free In Touch devotional can help point you in the right direction with biblically-based content from Dr. Charles Stanley. You'll gain insight and wisdom through daily devotions, Bible studies, and more. The In Touch devotional, delivered monthly to your mailbox. Subscribe for free at intouch.org/daily.
Guest (Male): Tired of faith feeling like a performance? Worn down by constant striving? Jesus never meant it to feel that way. His call was always to something more, to a life that's generous, vibrant, joyful, and sustainable. A real life with Him. That's the heart of "Follow Me," our book created to help you answer that call. Get your copy at intouch.org/store. You're listening to In Touch. People can be vessels, but there is only one who can work wonders. Here's a moment with Charles Stanley.
Dr. Charles Stanley: There are multitudes of miracles going on today. The only thing I'm going to say is this: there are no miracle workers. God is the only miracle worker. When you and I begin to lift up men as healers and men as miracle workers, we've missed the whole point. He gave those men in those days temporary gifts, permanent gifts. He gives the gifts within the fellowship today to build up—listen, He didn't say anything in here about building up men, building up preachers, building up evangelists, building up the servants of God. He talked about building up the entire body of Christ. And when a man has the right spirit, he's not going to focus attention upon himself. He's going to focus his attention upon the Lord Jesus Christ who is the giver of gifts, who is the worker of miracles. He's going to focus his attention upon the Lord and not upon man. To God be the glory for every good work. Visit us at intouch.org to learn more.
Guest (Male): If today's program fueled your excitement about Jesus, tell someone. And then share your story with us too. When In Touch returns next time, ever feel invisible and unimportant? Well, if you're a believer in Jesus, nothing could be further from the truth. Find out more as our series continues again on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on the station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.