There are three lists of spiritual gifts in the New Testament.
The list that gets most of the attention is the list of
gifts from the Holy Spirit:
“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one
for the profit [of all]: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the
Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another
faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 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. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to
each one individually as He wills.” - 1 Corinthians 12:7-11
A lot of people are more comfortable with the gifts that
Father gives:
“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone
who is among you, not to think [of himself] more highly than he ought to think,
but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. ...
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, [let us
use them]: if prophecy, [let us prophesy] in proportion to our faith; or
ministry, [let us use it] in [our] ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he
who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with
diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.” - Romans 12:3, 6-8
And then there’s the gifts that come from Jesus, from God
the Son:
“But to each one of us grace was given according to the
measure of Christ's gift. ... And He Himself gave some [to be] apostles, some
prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of
the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of
God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
- Ephesians 4:7, 11-13
I was out walking with God recently, and our conversation
drifted to the subject of teaching, since that’s one of the gifts that I work
in. We were talking (well, I was talking; that’s how these conversations go a
lot of the time) about how teachers come up with the material for their
teaching.
I was raised in a couple of traditions. I grew up in a
fairly liberal denominational church, where you could preach on whatever you
wanted to; it was nice if you could justify it from the Bible, but it wasn’t
necessary.
Then I was trained in inductive exegesis (let the Bible
teach you what it says; teach on that) in a solidly evangelical tradition. In that
tradition, if the Bible didn’t say it (and twisting scripture to make it look
like it was saying it was verboten!), then you shouldn’t generally teach it.
Since those years, I’ve discovered that God actually
speaks to his kids, and he is not unwilling to speak to me. The most un-nerving
is when he teaches me truths that I can’t easily find in the pages of
Scripture. For some decades, I was warned against the dangers of teaching from
personal revelation; “That’s the way cults are started! <gasp!>”)
[Bunny trail: I’ve since gotten over that. I’ve
discovered that a good bit (not all) of the New Testament epistles come from
Paul’s own personal revelation. And he worked to make sure my revelation is consistent
with the teaching of Scripture, never contrary to it. That seems like a solid
standard.]
I found myself reflecting on how some teachings can be
intellectual or emotional in its foundation, and other kinds of teachings (and
here I reflected on prophetic revelation) requires more: it requires a
supernatural element that other kinds of messages don’t.
And this is where God brought me up short.
“Hang on there, Son. Just which gifts and abilities from
a supernatural God don’t actually need supernatural power? Which of these gifts
do you think you can accomplish all on your own, anyway?”
Oh dear.
If I’m honest, I’ve considered that gifts like prophecy
and miracles need to be supernatural,
but a whole lot of others just need to be well-trained. In fact, while I’ve
seen hundreds of training tools for various gifts (I remind you of my history),
only a few gave more than lip service to the idea that supernatural empowerment
was actually for the gifts they’re training.
In reality, I think the church is getting past the idea
that the gifts of God, even the “less spectacular” ones like serving or teaching
or evangelism, can function from skill, rather than from the power of God. But
the idea is still ingrained in at least a few of us.
I need to say it a couple more times just to make sure I’m
getting it:
• The gift of teaching, without the direction and
empowering of the supernatural grace of God, is a mess. It would be a work of
the flesh, and that would lead people towards a fleshly destination.
• The gift of pastoring, without the direction and
empowering of the supernatural grace of God, is a mess. It would be a work of
the flesh, and that would lead people towards a fleshly destination.
• The gift of mercy, without the direction and empowering
of the supernatural grace of God, is a mess. It would be a work of the flesh,
and that would lead people towards a fleshly destination.
• The ministry of helps, without the direction and
empowering of the supernatural grace of God, is a mess. It would be a work of
the flesh, and that would lead people towards a fleshly destination.
• The gift of teaching, without the direction and
empowering of the supernatural grace of God, is a mess. It would be a work of
the flesh, and that would lead people towards a fleshly destination.
• The gift of giving, without the direction and
empowering of the supernatural grace of God, is a mess. It would be a work of
the flesh, and that would lead people towards a fleshly destination.
Everybody should know that there’s a reason that “The
Love Chapter” [1Corinthians 13] is smack in the middle of Paul’s discussion of
spiritual gifts: we need to use our gifts with love. Which also leads us to:
• Love, without the direction and empowering of the
supernatural grace of God, is a mess. It would be a work of the flesh, and that
would lead people towards a fleshly destination.
