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It is our hope that these lessons have helped you discover some of your
particular spiritual gifts. Before you go any further with this lesson, go back and re-take the
self evaluation to see if you have made any discoveries in your own life.
Over the past few lessons we looked at spiritual gifts. Short of preaching the Gospel itself, I think this is the most important lesson we can all learn. Most of us are looking for God's will for our lives. And one way to know what God expects of us is to look at the gifts he has bestowed on us.
It is good for us to know what our gifts are, but we must also be aware that these gifts bring both responsibility and dangers.
Danger #1: We must use the gifts
Remember the purposes of the gifts? From 1st Cor. 12: 7 Now, to each one the manifestation of the spirit is given for the common good
Ephesians 4:12-13 ...to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
We must remember that the gifts were given to us for a purpose, and that we are to use then for that purpose.. Paul makes this abundantly clear.
Romans 12:6-8 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying,let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
Danger #2: We must not misuse the gifts
Paul is constantly warning churches about false prophets & false teachers and teachers, spiritual gifts that were misused.
Make a list of how you might possibly misuse each of the gifts. Do you see a
pattern developing as to how gifts can be misused? More than likely you will
see that gifts are misused when we use them primarily for our own gain, our
own power, and our own glory, rather than focusing them at the purposes they were intended for.
Danger #3: We must not overrate OUR gifts (pride)
Paul uses the metaphor of the body to make this point.
1st Corinthians 12:14-20 The body is a unit, thought it is made up of many parts; and thought its parts are many, they form one body. For we were all baptized by one spirit into one body, whether jews or greeks or slaves or free - and we were all given the one spirit to drink of.
Now the body is not made up of one part, but of many. If the foot should say,
"because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, " it would not cease to
become part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not cease to be a part of the body.
If the whole body were an an eye, where would the sense of hearing by? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them just as he wanted them to be. If they were on part, where would the body be?
Where we would be if we all had one major gift, the same major gift? No matter how powerful that gift might be, the church would be a mess without a full compliment of gifts.
The other implication is that we all have a place in the church (the body of Christ). We may not know where the other's place is, but it is there.
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Danger #4: We must not under rate our gift
This can be as big a danger as over rating them
1st Corinthians 12:21-22 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!. On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are INDISPENSABLE."
The tendancy is for us to say that our gift, particularly if it is one of the less spectacular gifts, is less important. Nothing could be further from the truth. Each of us was made to be a vital and important part of God's kingdom.
Now, compare the two self evaluations, the one you took at the start of this course, and the one you took just a few minutes ago. Any changes?
This is the last lesson of our survey course on Spiritual Gifts. Our workshops
and seminars are more in-depth, more fun, and more useful. If you are
interested in learning more, have your own spiritual gifts success story to tell, or just want to write, contact us at Summit Manor. We'd love to hear from you!
By this definition one could make the argument that there are no more apostles, for Jesus died on the cross 2,000 years ago.
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