SESSION 01: GIFTS
PASSAGES TO EXPLORE
1 Corinthians 12
Romans 12:3–8
1 Peter 4:7–11
UNDERSTANDING SPIRITUAL GIFTS
“To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”
1 Corinthians 12:7
This is a profound statement. We couldn’t possibly overstate the importance of what Paul said when he wrote this to the church in Corinth. The Holy Spirit—a member of the Trinity and also the one who raised Christ from the dead (Rom. 8:11)—shows himself to the world in a specific way through every member of the church! If that doesn’t blow your mind, you either don’t believe it or you have grown numb through overfamiliarity with church and doctrine.
Imagine what the very Spirit of God is capable of. How much power must it take to raise the dead?! He was involved in the creation of the earth (Gen. 1:1–2)! The Spirit is inherently mysterious and powerful beyond anything we could imagine. And yet Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit has chosen a specific manifestation—a revealing of his power and his very self—for each one of us. Another way of saying this is that we each embody some aspect of the person and power of the Holy Spirit.
This empowerment of the Spirit that we each embody in unique ways is what we refer to when we use the term “spiritual gifts.”
But Paul added one more important qualifier in his statement. This manifestation of the Spirit in each of us is “for the common good.” God wants to care for his church. He wants to use his power to meet the needs of his children and to bless the people around us. How does he choose to do this? He sends the Holy Spirit to work through each one of us.
This is a theological truth that is simultaneously mysterious and practical. And it has major implications for the way we live our lives. We have been entrusted with the Holy Spirit himself. He gives us unique concerns, unique perspectives, unique motivations. And along with that, he gives us unique abilities to do something about the needs we see. To care for people. To bless people. To help people find life in Jesus.
In the first few verses of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he affirmed that they were not lacking any spiritual gift. His words here work as a definition of a spiritual gift:
“I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—so that you are not lacking in any gift...” (1 Cor. 1:4–7).
A spiritual gift, then, is the grace of God poured into a person to empower him or her for something God wants to do.
Since we have been given all of this by God, we have become stewards of something infinitely valuable. We bear a responsibility. There are implications regarding what we do with what we’ve been given. Peter said:
“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10).
If we want to be good stewards of God’s grace—and we should want to, God commands us to—then we need to use the gifts we have received to serve the people around us. Paul confirms this in Romans 12:6: “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.”
If the gifts consist of God’s grace being poured into each one of us for the sake of something God is wanting to do through us, what might that look like? There are a handful of places in the New Testament where various spiritual gifts are listed. Some of the listed gifts are miraculous, like healing or speaking in a different language. Others appear to be ordinary, like encouraging people or showing hospitality. It’s important to recognize this because as we’ve seen, all of the gifts are supernatural—they all involve the empowerment of the Spirit. With gifts that seem ordinary, we’re talking about encouragement or hospitality that is supernaturally empowered, which could look like encouragement to a high degree or perhaps the ability to sense the exact type of encouragement a person might need at a specific moment. The point is not to pursue a gift that seems flashy or obviously supernatural, the point is to value the work of God in and through you and to allow him to use it however he leads.
Significantly, the lists of gifts we find in Scripture are not identical. This means that none of the lists are intended to be taken as a definitive, comprehensive list of all of the spiritual gifts God chooses to give. It’s also doubtful that all of the lists combine to delineate every gift God offers to his people. Instead, they read like representative lists of the kinds of things we might expect to see when God is working through his people.
Read the following lists and note the diverse ways in which the Spirit works through individual members of the church:
“To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.” (1 Corinthians 12:8–10)
“God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.” (1 Corinthians 12:28)
“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.” (Romans 12:4–8)
These lists give us a lot of different ways in which the Spirit might exercise his power in and through us. It’s easy to get paralyzed when we become introspective and ask, “Which of these gifts do I have?” You might even feel anxiety as you ponder that question, feeling like you need an answer right now. Or perhaps there’s a specific gift you want to have, something that would feel validating, something you’ve been longing for.
It’s important to recognize that the gifts are not given as rewards for our faithful service or given in response to our desires. They’re not credentials that show our level of spirituality. They have nothing to do with our self-esteem or ambition. Paul is very clear:
“All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.” (1 Corinthians 12:11)
The gifts are given by the Spirit according to his design. It has nothing to do with human strategy. We don’t strategize the possession or use of our own gifts, nor do the pastors or elders of our churches. Instead, we prayerfully and patiently watch for the ways God is moving, the opportunities he is opening, the needs he makes us sensitive to, and the ways in which we seem to minister effectively that go beyond our natural abilities. In this process of attunement to the Spirit, we are submitting to the gifts the Spirit chooses to give and empower. He is the strategist. He is the bestower of gifts. We simply ask him to invite us into the work he is doing.
Jesus described the work of the Spirit in the lives of his followers like this: “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). God cares about our feeling and ambitions, but the spiritual gifts and their use are not about us. They’re about God and what he is doing in and around us.
For now, it’s not vital to know exactly which gift(s) you have. It’s enough to know that God has poured his Spirit into you for the sake of something he’s wanting to do in the world and people around you. The remaining sessions are designed to help you discern which gift(s) you might have and where God might be calling you to use them. For now, take some time to reflect on the very fact that God has chosen to work around you in this way. Process the existence of spiritual gifts and pray for God to guide you in the steps ahead.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION
What is your understand of spiritual gifts?
Of the biblical descriptions of gifts you’ve examined in this session, what stands out as intriguing?
Where are you confused or curious?
What would it look like if our church were an obvious example of these passages?
Have you identified your spiritual gift(s) in the past? If so, which gifts do you believe you have and how have you seen those gifts in operation?
Spend some time in prayer. Ask God to give you, your discussion partner(s), and our church family a greater sense of the value and potential of spiritual gifts. Ask him to be working in our church family for the common good and the blessing of our community. Ask him to show you the gifts he’s given you as you engage in this process of discernment.