Sign Gifts
Gifts That Can Be Seen and Heard
7 Now to each one the manifestation
of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one
there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of
knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another
faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to
another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds
of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he
distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
Today’s New International Version Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society
”You are so gifted.” “You’re
so good at it that you must be gifted.” “You
should do something with your gift.” Have
you ever heard someone say that about something you do? When someone says “you’re gifted” it seems to
mean that you have an exceptional ability to do something that even hard work
and practice can’t produce.
In schools there’s something called the “Gate Program” which
stands for “Gifted and Talented Education”.
For students to qualify for the Gate Program they have to demonstrate an
above average ability to learn and the program accelerates their education
accordingly. Fortunately for me (Larry)
there was no Gate Program when I was coming up or there would have been one
more thing to be turned down for. Let me
tell you, there was nothing gifted about my performance in school.
One website defined a gifted person as follows:
People who are gifted are usually defined
as having an unusually advanced level of intellectual, artistic, or academic
ability. Most people who are gifted are socially, emotionally, physically, and
creatively successful. The most common diagnostic criterion is an IQ score of
at least 130, accounting for two to four percent of the population. Someone
with an IQ score between 130 and 145 is usually labeled as moderately gifted;
145-160, highly gifted; 160-180, exceptionally gifted; and over 180 profoundly
gifted. [1]
Now
imagine, you who never made a program for gifted children, never made a Select
Soccer team, who never applied to the
That’s exactly what happens when you get filled with God’s
Holy Spirit. I think that’s
exciting. When Paul says in verse seven “Now
to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good”
you’re sitting there like me thinking “Yea right, manifestation of the Spirit,
whatever that means, it must be for those gifted people.” “I’ve been around a long time and nobody’s
recognized anything gifted about me.”
Ok, maybe nobody’s recognized anything gifted about us yet but
this race isn’t over. Remember that God
wants to make his existence known in the world.
He could send meteors crashing to the earth. But what would that accomplish except to kill
a lot of people? He could cause
earthquakes and tsunamis. But again only
death and destruction.
What God wants to do is save the world while there’s
time. How does God reveal himself in a
loving, kind redemptive way for each new generation? By giving his followers gifts that one can
physically see and experience.
Categories
of Spiritual Gifts
God gives us spiritual gifts so that people can experience
him. In this series we’ve looked at how
God equips us for service by giving us spiritual gifts, abilities that we
didn’t learn or earn. These spiritual
gifts can be categorized by function.
Equipping
Gifts
There are what I call “Equipping
Gifts”:
1.
Pastor
2.
Teaching
3.
Apostle
4.
Wisdom
5.
Leadership
6.
Evangelism
These gifts are meant to equip Christians for service.
Service
Gifts
Next there are what I call “service gifts”:
1.
Helps
2.
Service
3.
Faith
4.
Mercy
5.
Administration
6.
Giving
These gifts are meant to build up the church by caring for
those in need. There are churches which have
attracted an exceptionally large number of people with these gifts. They are often known in the community as
social action churches. Our own church
has been represented for years at Community Pantry, Valley Restart and Habitat
by people gifted with service gifts.
They make it possible for the rest of us to be able to volunteer
there.
Prayer
and Worship (sign) Gifts
Thirdly we have what I call the “Prayer and Worship Gifts”:
1.
Prophecy
2.
Knowledge
3.
Miracles
4.
Discernment of spirits
5.
Tongues
6.
Interpretation of tongues
7.
Healing
They are also called “sign gifts” because they’re outward
gifts. Prophecy, knowledge, tongues,
interpretation of tongues and discernment of spirits all involve communicating
God’s thoughts in worship. We’ll look at
why they’re important to every church and how they’re used in the next
chapter.
Miracles or miraculous powers are the means by which the
ordinary course and operation of nature is overruled, suspended or
modified. A miracle was when the natural
force of gravity and the weight of water was suspended in the parting of the
Chuck Swindoll says “a parking place at Christmas time in
Nordstroms’ parking lot isn’t a miracle.”
“The fact that your toothache stops hurting isn’t a miracle…or that your
appendectomy scar isn’t large.” “That
isn’t a miracle; that’s a very good surgeon.”
Billy Graham said “Jonah swallowed by a fish?” “I’d believe it if Scripture said Jonah
swallowed the fish!” “It’s not difficult
to believe if you believe in a God of miracles.”[6]
I’d have to say that I have never encountered anyone with the
spiritual gift of miraculous powers.
Moses and Aaron were given it when they confronted Pharaoh about leaving
When you come for healing prayer I usually never ask God for
anything other than a rearrangement of nature.
I believe that nature can be rearranged and cancer cells can be
terminated by prayer. That’s a miracle
but it’s also a rearrangement of nature.
I believe that sign gifts from God are going on all around us
and that God wants them for our church. Some
churches like the Assembly of God or the Foursquare Gospel and others that are
referred to as Pentecostal churches emphasize these gifts to the point where
that’s what they’re primarily known for.
Many of them even teach that one cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit
unless he or she speaks in tongues.
We’ll look at the gifts of tongues and prophecy in the next chapter.
To be a healthy, vibrant Christian one needs to be around the
full range of gifts God has for his children.
To be a healthy church, every church needs a mix of members from each of
the categories of gifts. It’s God who
chooses what gifts to give us.
Unfortunately we drive certain people away who have gifts that we’re not
comfortable with. For example a church
that says one must speak in tongues to prove that they’re filled with the
Spirit may drive away someone who is gifted with administration or helps
gifts. A church with a large number of
people gifted with teaching or preaching gifts may say that the gift of tongues
ceased to exist when the New Testament was completed and drive away people with
the prayer and worship gifts to their detriment. John Calvin, the founder of the Reformed faith
of which the Presbyterian church derives was in that camp.
What
I would like to see the First Presbyterian Church of Hemet be is a church open
and encouraging of all the spiritual gifts that God gives. I don’t want us to be known as a Spirit
filled or charismatic church just because we might be open to speaking in
tongues or prophecy. I want us to be
known simply as a church of sinners forgiven only by the grace of Jesus
Christ.
Paul’s last words in the passage we read earlier in I
Corinthians
So you are gifted and don’t let anyone tell you
otherwise. You bring a gift to this
church or whatever church you are a part of that that church desperately
needs. Welcome to the team of
gifted. Now let’s get to work.
Daily Bible
Monday Exodus 14
Describe the major miracle
in this chapter? How was it possible?
Why did
Tuesday John 2:1-11
Describe the major miracle
in this chapter. How was it possible?
What main benefit did this
miracle have on those who experienced it? v.11
Wednesday Matthew
Describe the major miracle
in this chapter. How was it possible?
What main benefit did this
miracle have on those who experienced it? v.11
Thursday John 6:1-15
Describe the major miracle
in this chapter. How was it possible?
What main benefit did this
miracle have on those who experienced it? v.11
Friday I Corinthians 12:7-11
Which of the listed gifts
are the hardest for you to believe are possible?
What is the purpose of the
spiritual gifts?
Saturday Psalm 84
Where is the dwelling
place of the Lord?
How
do you think one “dwells” in the house of the Lord?