Gifts of the Spirit

May 10, 2015 Background Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:1 – 11 Lesson Passage: 1 Corinthians 12:1 – 11 As we embark on a brief study of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, I believe it is prudent that we say something about the nature of Spiritual gifts. There is a marked difference between a spiritual gift and a natural talent. I believe that God has in many cases taken natural talents and used them for ministry. I believe the origin is what separates spiritual gifts from natural talents. Some people are born with natural abilities and/or talents that are truly amazing. It seems to require very little effort for them to display those talents even though they may in fact not even nurture them. I can recall a classmate in grade school who had a knack for freehand drawing. He would draw all of the super heroes—complete with toned muscles. He was left-handed so I thought all left-handed people were good artists. It was later in life that I learned that some people are born with the ability to do some amazing things. Their natural talents had nothing to do with their religious faith. Some did not express an interest or involvement in religion at all. They were just born with a knack for what they were able to do. On the other hand, people are not born with spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts are given to regenerated individuals by the Holy Ghost. These spiritual gifts are not enhancements to natural talents. Rather, they are God-given abilities that the person did not possess prior to their Christian salvation. Spiritual gifts should be nurtured with lots of prayer so that the individual can be led by the Holy Spirit in the use of the gift. The bible teaches that we can desire and even make requests for specific spiritual abilities but whether we receive them or not is left totally up to the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost administers the gifts as He chooses. Spiritual gifts are numerous and vary widely in manifestation and impact. Although there is a diversity of spiritual gifts, all spiritual gifts serve one purpose and that is to build up the body of Christ. Some gifts only affect one person while some impact hundreds or even thousands at the same time. But all gifts should be used as the person is being led by the Holy Ghost to render service. The true riches of local churches are found in the diversity of spiritual gifts possessed by the members of the congregations. It is important for members of a local church to learn about their spiritual gifts and use them to help spiritually build up the congregation. People cannot change the nature of spiritual gifts to use them for selfish reasons that are counter to God’s will. I believe that there are spiritual gifts to address every need a local church has. In our lesson today, Paul’s express purpose in writing this information to the Corinthian congregation was to make them knowledgeable about spiritual gifts. Although this is not an exhaustive list of spiritual gifts, it is sufficient to make the point concerning how different the various gifts are. Paul emphasized the ministry of the Holy Ghost in deciding which gifts certain Christians would receive. Paul also emphasized that each Christian received the gift(s) to serve others through the exercise of the gift(s). Gifts of the Spirit are allocated by the Holy Spirit and administered by the same Spirit. Let us remember: We have received gifts of the Spirit for the benefit of the body of Christ—which is the church. Robert C. Hudson April 10, 2015