Spiritual Gifts

Differing Spiritual Gifts in One Body

By Pastor Matt Black

23 September 2007
Lord's Day morning
Ephesians 4:7-13

Introduction: Today is the first day of autumn. Soon all your neighbor’s leaves will be covering your front yard! Actually, I love to see all the various colors of the leaves together. Every single leaf is a different of red, yellow, orange, brown, yet if you step back, it’s as if one gigantic blanket of color has fallen like an autumn snow and covered the trees and the ground

God’s church is beautiful in that same way. Every one of us is different—with different functions and gifting and abilities, yet we are all one Body. And in that one Body, God gave each one of us differing spiritual gifts. Today in Ephesians 4:7-13, we’re going to see God’s plan for your place in the Body of Christ!

The title of our message this morning is “Differing Spiritual Gifts in One Body”.

Let’s stand and read Ephesians 4:7-13, “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:”

[Prayer for guidance]

The Church here is described as a Body with all its different members and functions. Or we could think about it like a car or a computer or a space shuttle or any kind of machine with millions of different little parts, but all one united whole. When God saves us, He gives us differing spiritual gifts and unites us to ONE BODY.

First we’re going to look at what this passage says, but there are at least three other important passages that harmonize with this one. So as we go through Ephesians 4, we’ll also be looking at I Corinthians 12, Romans 12, and 1 Peter 4.

So there are four main passages in the Bible on spiritual gifts. I want you to remember these passages: This text-Ephesians 4, and then 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, and 1 Peter 4.

What do we learn from Ephesians 4?

I. First in verse 7, we learn the FACT of spiritual gifts. Every Christian has received at least one Spiritual Gift from God which he is responsible to use for the good of the church and for the glory of God. Verse 7 of our text says that “…unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ”

A. Who in the Body of Christ has a spiritual gift? Verse 7 of our text says that “…unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ”. So who has a spiritual gift? “every one of us”!

B. What is a spiritual gift? Verse 7 says that it is a God given “grace” here. In most places in the Bible, the word grace means God’s unmerited favor. But in some places it means supernatural gifting and ability. Here it refers to ability.

We are going to look at our four passages on spiritual gifts and find out that a spiritual gift is a supernatural ability that manifests the power of the Spirit of God in your life and always strengthens the faith of fellow believers.

Right now we are going to see how it is a supernatural ability that manifests the power of the Spirit of God in your life, and later on we’ll see how it always strengthens the faith of fellow believers.

1. A spiritual gift is a manifestation of the Spirit of God.

Look over at one of our key passages on spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 12:1, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant”. So he’s talking about spiritual gifts, and he actually gives his own definition for a spiritual gift in verse 7. Look down at 1 Corinthians 12:7, “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.” So Paul is speaking of spiritual gifts which he defines here as “the manifestation of the Spirit”.

2. A spiritual gift is a supernatural ability given by the Spirit of God. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” It was the grace of God in Paul that worked in him to labor.

I Peter 4:10 says, “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God”. So spiritual gifts are stewardships of God’s grace.

Romans 12:6 says we have: “gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us”. Again, the spiritual gifting you have is a supernatural ability resulting from God’s grace.

In the same way back in Ephesians 4:7, by merit of what Christ has done, “…unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ” Christ set us free from our slavery to sin and gave us supernatural abilities. Again a stewardship of God’s grace.

Application: So let me be clear about spiritual gifts. A spiritual gift always ministers God’s Spirit to someone else. You may be a good cook, but not have the gift of hospitality. You may be gifted in music, but there is a way to sing where it is a manifestation of the Spirit and a way in which it is just a performance. You may be a good mechanic, but a person with the gift of mercy and the gift of helps is going to fix someone’s car in a way where it is a manifestation of the Spirit. Your spiritual gift is a supernatural ability that manifests the Spirit and builds up the Body of Christ.

So we’ve seen from our four passages (Ephesians 4, Romans 12, I Corinthians 12, and 1 Peter 4) that a spiritual gift is a supernatural ability that manifests the power of the Spirit of God in your life.

II. Secondly, let’s look at the FOUNTAIN of spiritual gifts.

I want you to see that we cannot choose our gifts; God does that job, as verse 7 says, “…unto every one of us is given grace“, and verse 8 says, God “gave gifts unto men”. Take those two words: “grace” and “gifts” and you realize these are gifts that God sovereignly gives us by His Spirit. God raises up and gifts and puts people into His service. It is God who does it. You don’t decide how or where you are going to minister in God’s harvest field. Isn’t that what the Lord said in Matthew 9:27, “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; 38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” In our fleshly excitement in the church at times we think we need to call people to programs and tasks in the church. That can be dangerous. We want people not just to be working, but to manifest the power of God’s Spirit in a ministry given to them by God.

All the Greek words used for spiritual gifts show that they are sovereignly given. Let’s do a quick survey.

Let’s look at The Greek term translated "gift" in Ephesians 4:7 (Gk., doreas) emphasizes that it's freely given. The Spirit of God supernaturally gives, controls, and energizes the gifts and therefore we can't earn, pray for, or generate them.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 12:1, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant”. Here "spiritual" (Gk., pneumatikos) modifies "gift" to stress its spiritual character and capacity. In fact, if you notice, the word “gifts” is in italics, which means it’s supplied by the translators. Here Paul calls the spiritual gift simply “spirituals” because they come directly as a gift from the Holy Spirit.

In our other passage in 1 Peter 4:10, Peter says in verse 10, “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” The term “gift” here in 1 Peter 4:10 is charisma, and it underscores the aspect of grace.

Romans 12:6 says we have “gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us”. Here Paul uses the word charisma for gift also. Strong’s concordance[1] defines this word as:

“grace or gifts denoting extraordinary powers, distinguishing… Christians and enabling them to serve the church of Christ, the reception of which is due to the power of divine grace operating on their souls by the Holy Spirit”

Application: I read this week about a famous preacher by the name of Dr. D. Martyn Llloyd-Jones in London. He was at first an assistant to G. Campbell Morgan. But before that, he was a medical doctor. For years he worked in a medical practice. When God called him to preach, Lloyd-Jones sensed God’s calling into the pulpit ministry. Let me read to you his own testimony. He says, “Some thirty years ago when I felt called of God to enter the ministry and to preach the Gospel, I received a letter from the General Secretary of a certain Foreign Mission Society. In his letter he suggested to me that instead of preaching the Gospel in [Great Britain] that I should be a Medical Missionary in India. It seemed so obvious to him. At the time there was a man needed very badly in a certain hospital in India, and here was I going to preach the Gospel in Great Britain when obviously I was the man to fill that post in India.” Of course David Martyn Lloyd-Jones did not go to India. He never practiced medicine again. God called him into a very fruitful pulpit ministry where he revived thousands with Holy Spirit filled line upon line Biblical preaching with power!

You do what God is calling you to do. It is God who sovereignly gives you the gifting. He is the Fountainhead, and no one else.

III. Thirdly, Let’s see the FUNCTION of spiritual gifts. Spiritual Gifts indicate God’s call and purpose for a Christian’s life –as verse 11 says, “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers”.

How does Paul describe this gift? In these verses, Paul doesn’t list specific gifts, but instead the offices for the gifts. He doesn’t list prophecy, shepherding, evangelism, and teaching as gifts. He lists the actual offices.

A. The point is, God’s gifting is always for a calling. Or to put it another way, God’s gifting points you to your place of functioning in the Body of Christ. This passage in Ephesians 4 perfectly describes it. From prison Paul writes with a sense of urgency in verse 1, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called”!

v So in verse 1 Paul gives us the Posture of our calling. We have to walk in a certain way. He says “walk worthy of your calling”. And in verses 2 through 6, he tells us how to do that in humility and meekness and patience, with tolerance and love, keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. So don’t walk out of life.

v Then in verses 7 through 12, he tells us of the place of our calling. You’ve been given gifts that will put you in certain places in the body of Christ.

Ephesians 4:8 tells us that when Christ won the victory over sin, death, and hell, he did something. It says in verse 8 that he “led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.” Now verses 9 and 10 are in a parenthesis. So if we were to read them directly it would say that Christ “led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men…(verse 11)…And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ”.

Paul says that God “gave gifts unto men” and then in verse 11 he names 5 offices in the church. You see, Paul looks at the giftings of God more like a calling than an ability. He doesn’t just say, for example, I’m giving you the ability to play the violin, he says I’m giving you the gift of taking on the calling of a violinist.

In the same way, if God has gifted you, He’s you a calling in life. That means everything you do is part of your ministry and mission field. Like a quartet, every member has a different part to sing, but we all harmonize together to for Christ’s work. God has perfectly gifted us to harmonize together as one united Body!

I want you to see listed in Scripture the categories of Gifts. They are listed in three passages primarily.

B. Secondly I want you to see the category for gifts. You might ask, well, what is my spiritual gift? Well, there are at least four passages which describe gifts, but they can be boiled down to really three categories: sign gifts, speaking gifts, and service gifts.

I Peter 4:10-11, “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”

A believer has either a speaking or a serving gift. There are also sign gifts.

v SPEAKING: Speaking gifts include preaching, teaching, evangelism-able to start churches, wisdom, knowledge, discernment, or leadership.

v SERVING: To others He gives serving gifts such as administration, showing mercy, or helps.

v SIGN: At the beginning of the church, the Lord gave sign gifts, which include:

o Prophecy

o Apostleship

o Miracles

o Healing

o Tongues and Interpretation

Turn over to Hebrews 2. Hebrews 2:3-4 tells us about these sign gifts, or miraculous gifts whose purpose was to confirm the Word of God as it was being written. We read, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; 4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?” So the signs and wonders were given for a witness—for a confirmation. The Bible does not say anywhere that these gifts have stopped functioning, but I believe this passage intimates it. We can say historically though, that near the end of the first century, the sing gifts began to be seen less and came to a close after the Bible was completed.

v Yet, I do not believe God is bound by anything. If he wanted to give a missionary the gift of miraculously speaking in a foreign language, I would glorify God for it!

v Let me also say something about the gift of prophecy. Certainly since the Bible’s completion, anyone who adds or takes away from the Word of God is cursed. But there are many places in the New Testament which refer to preaching as prophecy. So in that sense every preacher is a prophet. Let me further say that there are men God raises up from time to time to revive God’s church and point out their sins. These men have amazing boldness and are able to speak hard messages, speaking the truth in love, to God’s people. So let me say again, the gift of prophecy as far as forth telling or new revelation for the Word of God closed when the Bible was completed. But the gift of prophecy as a way of forthtelling God’s truth in preaching is obviously still a powerful gift of the Spirit functioning today.

So there are three types of gifts: speaking gifts, service gifts, and sign gifts. Sign gifts are off the scene. If you add up all the gifts listed, there are 19 spiritual gifts. Ephesians 4 gives the teaching gifts.

So you ask, what is my spiritual gift? I’m going to tell you Biblically, I don’t think it is as important that you label your spiritual gift, but simply that you seek to be used to build up the faith of your brethren in the Body of Christ. That brings us to our last point.

IV. The FOCUS of spiritual gifts. Spiritual Gifts are for the common good to build up the Body, verse 7: “unto every one of us is given grace accourding to the measure of the gift of Christ”.

A. Focus #1 Everyone must be involved! Turn over to 1 Cor. 12.

1. Everyone is important. Sometimes we wrongly depreciate members of Christ's Body. 1 Corinthians 12:23-25, “And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. 24 For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: 25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.”

The visible, outwardly teaching members aren't necessarily the most important ones. Rather, we're to value every believer's role. And a believer who says, "I'll only serve if I'm a hand or an eye" is being disobedient to God's Word. That's because we're saved to serve.

2. Every one benefits.

“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.” It is our responsibility to make sure that every brother is profiting and being edified in the faith. Every one of us has gifts, and every gift mutually benefits Christ's Body.

3. Every one is responsible. 1 Peter 4:10 says, “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God”. We are going to give an account to use our gift!!

Conversely, non-use adversely affects it. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12:15-22, "If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? 18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. 19 And if they were all one member, where were the body? 20 But now are they many members, yet but one body. 21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. 22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: 23 And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. 24 For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: 25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another”.

How are we to use our gift? Go back to our text in Ephesians 4. Look at verse 7 and then 12. Every one of us is given a gift. For what purpose? Verse 12 and 13 say that we are given these gifts, “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:””.

B. Focus #2: God has gifted you to strengthen others.

The basic goal is to become the kind of person who wakes up in the morning, thanks God for our great salvation, and then says, "Lord, O how I want to strengthen people's faith today."

If you were reading through the New Testament, the first place you would run into the term "spiritual gift" is Romans 1:11-12. Let's look at this text together. Writing to the church at Rome, Paul says, " For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; 12 That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me." It sounds like Paul wants to help them have a gift, but the text actually means that he wants to give them the benefit of his gifts. "I long to see you that I may use my gifts to strengthen you."

So which spiritual gift do you have, you’re wondering?

I think it would be fair to say also from this text that you shouldn't bend your mind too much trying to label your spiritual gift before you use it. That is, don't worry about whether you can point to prophecy, or teaching, or wisdom, or knowledge, or healing, or miracles, or mercy, or administration, etc., and say, "That's mine."

Instead, the way to think is this: The reason we have spiritual gifts is so that we can strengthen other people's faith; here is someone whose faith is in jeopardy; how can I help him?

Conclusion: In closing I want to give you If your service for Christ is dying, then here are some suggestions.

1. Fan the flame of spiritual gifts.

Isaiah 64:7, “And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee”

1 Timothy 4:14, “Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.”

2 Timothy 1:6, “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.”

2. Do everything you can to build up the faith of your brethren. Criticism and gossip and having an over sensitive spirit will all tear down the faith of your brothers and sisters in Christ. It could be through your gifts of speaking and wisdom and application and exhortation. Encourage your brethren for whom Christ died!

When we all do this, what a beautiful picture it is! It’s kind of like when I got engaged. When Jill and I were engaged, I think she must have looked at that diamond about a hundred times a day. She would catch just the right glimpse of the lighting in it, and it really was astounding.

Diamonds are truly magnificent. What makes a diamond so precious is its beauty. It not only reflects the white light that enters it, but it acts as a prism and turns the light into a rainbow of color. The church of Christ is like a diamond. There are hundreds and thousands of different sides and angles with in it. Each of us reflects the glory of God in Christ so that when the white hot light of Christ and His Word enter into the church as a whole, it is multiplied and magnified into a breathtaking burst of spectacular color

Endnote: Listed according to each passage, the gifts are as follows