1 Corinthians 12:1-11

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Would you open your Bibles to...

1Co 12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant:

Intro

√ The gifts of the Holy Spirit

It is God desire, as expressed in our opening scripture that Christians not be ignorant concerning the spiritual gifts, yet, unfortunately many Christians today are ignorant!

Either denying their existence today…

…or making them the primary focus of ministry at the expense of the accurate teaching of God’s Word.

The Biblical pattern for the gifts and their use is a wonderful balance between these two doctrinal extremes.

√ Corinth

Well it will come as no surprise to you that our brothers and sisters at Corinth were misusing their spiritual gifts.

As we’ll discover in the next 3 chapters that the Corinthian worship services had descended into chaos as each person present sought to draw attention to themselves by the use of their gifts.

The end result was that no one left the services encouraged, corrected, or ministered to because in the midst of the chaos one couldn’t hear the voice of the Lord!

Ex. Sister Sally and her “gift” of tongues

So, the purpose of Paul’s instructions in these next three chapters is to provide the Corinthian believers, and us with a Biblical understanding of the…

Gifts of the Holy Spirit

What they are

How they are to be used

So that our friends at Corinth and we might not be ignorant!

Ap. The gifts are needed today!

The Church today needs the gifts of the Spirit just as much as the 1^st Century Church did to accomplish God’s work here on earth!

What are the gifts? (vs. 1-3)

√ What are the gifts

1Co 12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant:

1Cor. 12:2 You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led.

1Cor. 12:3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

Before we look at the different gifts of the Holy Spirit and how they are supposed to be used we must first have an understanding of what they are.

Unfortunately there isn’t a chapter in verse in the Bible that says…

“Spiritual gifts are…”

Rather, the Bible simply describes gifts by name, nature and use.

For example, the word translated “gift” is the Greek “charismata”, which literally means….

“gifts of grace”

Referring to the supernatural abilities that God the Holy Spirit has given to believers to minister His grace…

…to the Body of Christ and to reach this lost world.

So, our understanding of the gifts of the Spirit comes from a close look at how the gifts are used, and a careful evaluation of what they are not.

Spiritual Gifts Are Not

√ Spiritual gifts are not

Lest we be confused about what the spiritual gifts are we best define what they are not!

1. The Holy Spirit

The first distinction we need to make in our study of the gifts is that the spiritual gifts are not the same as the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Rather, the Holy Spirit is a Person ~ the third member of the Holy Trinity ~ God Himself.

The Holy Spirit is a gift to those who believe in the sense that He has been given to us by the Father as promised by the Son (Luke 11:13).

But, the gifts are distinct from the Person of the Holy Spirit in that they are supernatural abilities that He grants to us for the purpose of doing His will on earth.

While all believers receive the gift of the Holy Spirit at salvation, all believers do not have the same spiritual gifts as we’ll discover in our study of 1 Cor. 12.

2) Not human talent

Secondly, spiritual gifts are not the same as human talents like…

A quick intellect

The ability to play the piano

Lighting fast speed on the football field

A beautiful singing voice

While we certainly want to give God glory for giving us those “natural” talents (ref. 1 Cor. 4:7) they are not the same as the spiritual gifts spoken of in 1 Cor. 12 and Romans 12.

Rather, the gifts of the Spirit are supernatural abilities God the Holy Spirit gives to the believer after salvation.

For example, human talents are inadequate to do the work of God.

Ex. Healing

You may have been born with a brilliant mind such that you can go to medical school and become a doctor…

…but the work you do with your leaned skill and natural talent is not the same as God’s gifts of healing.

Luk 8:43 Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any,

Luk 8:44 came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.

3) Not the fruit of the Spirit

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are also not the same as the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Gal. 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Gal. 5:23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

The gifts of the Spirit have to do with service, while the fruit of the Spirit has to do with the character of the believer; think of it this way…

Gifts are the means – fruit is the end product.

Gifts are what the believer possesses – the fruit of the Spirit is what the believer becomes.

Spiritual gifts will someday cease – spiritual fruits are forever!

4) Gifts are not offices

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are not the same as the various offices mentioned in the New Testament.

Ex. The leadership of the Church

Eph. 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,

Eph. 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

Those who have been called to the offices mentioned in Ephesians are gifts to the Church…

…but they are not the gifts of the Spirit.

Ex. Gifts vs. Office

The office of pastor will have the gift of teaching (as well as other gifts!)…

…but a person can have the gift of teaching without being called to the office of pastor-teacher.

Ex. Saul – prophesying

I Sa. 10:10 When they came there to the hill, there was a group of prophets to meet him; then the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.

I Sa. 10:11 And it happened, when all who knew him formerly saw that he indeed prophesied among the prophets, that the people said to one another, "What is this that has come upon the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?"

I Sa. 10:12 Then a man from there answered and said, "But who is their father?" Therefore it became a proverb: "Is Saul also among the prophets?"

I Sa. 10:13 And when he had finished prophesying, he went to the high place.

Saul never prophesied again.

The point is that he did at one time he did posses the gift of prophecy, but he was not called to the office of a prophet.

Now that we know what the spiritual gifts are not, we can look at what they are.

Spiritual Gifts Are (vs. 4-11)

1Cor. 12:4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

1Cor. 12:5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.

1Cor. 12:6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.

1Cor. 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:

1Cor. 12:8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,

1Cor. 12:9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,

1Cor. 12:10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

1Cor. 12:11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

√ Spiritual gifts are

Spiritual gifts are either supernatural ability that God gives to a person…

…and they can also be God-given natural abilities that function through the direction and empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

Supernatural gifts…

Miracles

Tongues

Healing

Prophecy

Natural abilities under the direction and empowerment of the Holy Spirit…

Teaching

Administration

Helps

Hospitality

Which brings up an interesting observation.

Unbelievers can posses these same natural abilities as Christians…

…what defines them as spiritual gifts is that in the Christian’s life they function under the direction and empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

Ex. Administration

There were many gifted administrators in Egypt during Joseph’s lifetime…

…yet, it was only Joseph who could, by the power and direction of the Holy Spirit, properly administer Egypt’s resources during the 14 years predicted by Pharaoh’s dream.

√ Classification of the Spiritual Gifts

The Bible speaks about 20 or so different spiritual gifts, some of which we’ll examine together in our study of 1^st Corinthians.

For a complete look at all the gifts you can download my studies from our new website under “teaching” & “Holy Spirit”.

These gifts break down roughly into 3 types of gifts:

Ministering gifts:

Teaching

Exhortation

Discernment of spirits

Word of wisdom

Word of knowledge

Serving gifts:

Giving

Ruling

Mercy

Faith

Sign gifts:

Prophecy

Healing

Miracles

Tongues

Interpreting tongues

Let me just say that it is very important that you don’t fall into the trap of ranking the gifts by what you think is important.

The best gift is that gift which meets the immediate need!

Ex. The best gifts

If you show up at an accident and find a mother holding her dead child the best gift is not prophecy ~ it’s miracles!

If you’re seeking to know the truth like Nicodemas was then the best gift is teaching or preaching, not healing.

So, the best gift is the one that ministers to the immediate need.

What’s the big deal?

√ What’s the big deal?

Depending on your Christian experience you may be thinking one of two things regarding spiritual gifts…

Let’s go for it ~ I want to know my gift and start using it!

You’re scaring me pastor because I was raised to believe “tongues is of the Devil”!

So, what is the point of us spending so much time in our study of the gifts?

Because we have a Biblical mandate to know about the gifts, and to seek and use the gifts of the Spirit.

As Paul wrote in vs. 1…

1Co 12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant:

And…

1Co 14:1 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.

So, because God’s word tells us not to be ignorant of, and to desire spiritual gifts…

…then we need to actively pursue that knowledge and use the gifts that God has given us.

Ap. God’s work

Friends let’s face it, we’ve been given an overwhelming task to accomplish…

…the proclamation of the Gospel to the entire planet and the edification of the Church, the Body of Christ!

That task cannot be completed by mere human effort alone.

Ex. How do you reach 6 billion people with the Gospel?

Not even taking into account that those 6 billion people don’t even speak the same language!

Don’t have the same cultural and social mindset!

Are blinded by the Devil himself with false ideas about God!

Many live in places where it’s against the law of the land to proclaim the Gospel!

Friends, we need every weapon in heaven’s arsenal to effectively war against the kingdom of Darkness and rescue the people of this world from Satan’s lie.

To do that God has given us Spiritual gifts to use for the work of His Kingdom.

So, it’s our privilege and responsibility to do as Paul admonishes…

…to learn what God’s word says about the gifts, and to seek the spiritual gifts for our own lives and then the faith to use them for the work of God.

Close

√ The gifts of the Holy Spirit

So, this morning we’ve laid the foundation for a great study over the next three chapters on the exciting topic of spiritual gifts, we’ve learned that…

Spiritual gifts are a supernatural ability given by God to the believer for the purpose of serving.

Or…

A spiritual gift may be a God-given talent that is directed and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

A spiritual gift is not the same as the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Spiritual gifts are not the same as the fruit of the Spirit.

The offices of the Holy Spirit are different from the gifts of the Holy Spirit. A person may possess a gift without holding the corresponding office.

The Bible lists about 20 different spiritual gifts but there may be many more that go unnoticed and unlisted.

Every believer has at least one spiritual gift!

Our job is to discover what our gift, or gifts, are and use them for the good of the Kingdom!

1Pe. 4:10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.