Spiritual gifts: Unconfusing them part 3 - analogy

[DJT_47]

If I said to you I will give you a gift but you must do something first before you can get it. You immediately start thinking, wow, wonder what I'm going to get? Will it be a car, or a TV, or boat, or ??? And what will I have to do?

Then I tell you what the deal is and what the gift is.

The gift is not a car, or TV, or boat, but simply money. With that money, you can then get other gifts, like the car, TV, or boat.

This is the meaning of Acts 2:38 and 1 Corinthians 12:8-10.

The money is the primary gift and once you have the money you can then obtain secondary gifts with or by it.

The money, the gift in this analogy is the Holy Ghost, the primary gift.

The car, TV, and boat are the secondary gifts, the spiritual gifts listed in 1 Cor 12:8-10.

And what you have to do to obtain the primary gift (the Holy Ghost), before you can get the secondary gifts (the spiritual gifts or manifestations of the spirit), is repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, per Acts 2:38.

38Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

 

[Randy Kluth]

If I said to you I will give you a gift but you must do something first before you can get it. You immediately start thinking, wow, wonder what I'm going to get? Will it be a car, or a TV, or boat, or ??? And what will I have to do?

Then I tell you what the deal is and what the gift is.

The gift is not a car, or TV, or boat, but simply money. With that money, you can then get other gifts, like the car, TV, or boat.

This is the meaning of Acts 2:38 and 1 Corinthians 12:8-10.

The money is the primary gift and once you have the money you can then obtain secondary gifts with or by it.

The money, the gift in this analogy is the Holy Ghost, the primary gift.

The car, TV, and boat are the secondary gifts, the spiritual gifts listed in 1 Cor 12:8-10.

And what you have to do to obtain the primary gift (the Holy Ghost), before you can get the secondary gifts (the spiritual gifts or manifestations of the spirit), is repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, per Acts 2:38.

38Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

I do understand that you get gifts when you get the Holy Spirit. But I think we need to dig a little deeper into the details. Gifts are given individually as the Spirit desires. And so, gifts must be distinguished in their operation from one believer to another.

I think we need to realize we have different purposes in the Church as individuals. And we have to realize that *all* of the gifts are needed--not just some.

I do not believe that once we receive the Spirit we can do any of the gifts. All of the gifts are not loaded into a single gift of the Spirit. That would be the opposite of what is being said.

What is being said is that different gifts are given to different individuals as the Spirit desires. And then we may differentiate the various operations of these gifts from individual to individual simply by recognizing the operation of each unique gift.

Certainly, what is *not* being said is that each individual has one gift. It is just showing the diversity of individuals as they live by the Spirit. Some focus on teaching. Some focus on church building. Some focus on shepherding a congregation. Some organize. Some are artists and entertainers who use their gifts to serve and to testify to Christ. There are as many varied gifts as there are individuals in the Christian Church.

But Paul focuses on gifts as they are used to build up and propagate Christianity. There is a deemphasis, for example, on beauty, strength, and physical features that society may use to compare as better or worse. In the Christian Church, these are ancillary to the main function of the Christian individual, which is to testify to God as Creator and Savior of the world. We use our gifts to give glory to our Creator, and thus to testify to the world that they need to submit to the Lord's ways.

Therefore, gifts like evangelism and teaching are critical, along with pastoring. We also need to have gifts that equip others with divine knowledge, apart form just teaching--gifts such as discernment, prophetic knowledge, and wisdom, etc.

There is an emphasis, in Pentecostalism, on trying to be greater with spiritual gifts. And I think this defeats the purpose. We are not given gifts to be greater, but rather, to focus on gifts that help people more.

We are never told we should strive to have all the gifts, but rather, to submit to the Spirit who decides what gifts we should have and focus on. We are given gifts *as the Spirit desires.* Beyond this we may get into carnal interests that do not benefit the Church and its purpose.

But neither are we to avoid or to discourage certain gifts, simply because we do not have them ourselves. We are not to despise gifts like tongues or prophecy, simply because we may not experience them. The Scriptures say we should let the Spirit decide who gets what gifts and what gifts are needed.

And so, we should not oppose them. We simply need to test to see if they are genuine.

 

[DJT_47]

I do understand that you get gifts when you get the Holy Spirit. But I think we need to dig a little deeper into the details. Gifts are given individually as the Spirit desires. And so, gifts must be distinguished in their operation from one believer to another.

I think we need to realize we have different purposes in the Church as individuals. And we have to realize that *all* of the gifts are needed--not just some.

I do not believe that once we receive the Spirit we can do any of the gifts. All of the gifts are not loaded into a single gift of the Spirit. That would be the opposite of what is being said.

What is being said is that different gifts are given to different individuals as the Spirit desires. And then we may differentiate the various operations of these gifts from individual to individual simply by recognizing the operation of each unique gift.

Certainly, what is *not* being said is that each individual has one gift. It is just showing the diversity of individuals as they live by the Spirit. Some focus on teaching. Some focus on church building. Some focus on shepherding a congregation. Some organize. Some are artists and entertainers who use their gifts to serve and to testify to Christ. There are as many varied gifts as there are individuals in the Christian Church.

But Paul focuses on gifts as they are used to build up and propagate Christianity. There is a deemphasis, for example, on beauty, strength, and physical features that society may use to compare as better or worse. In the Christian Church, these are ancillary to the main function of the Christian individual, which is to testify to God as Creator and Savior of the world. We use our gifts to give glory to our Creator, and thus to testify to the world that they need to submit to the Lord's ways.

Therefore, gifts like evangelism and teaching are critical, along with pastoring. We also need to have gifts that equip others with divine knowledge, apart form just teaching--gifts such as discernment, prophetic knowledge, and wisdom, etc.

There is an emphasis, in Pentecostalism, on trying to be greater with spiritual gifts. And I think this defeats the purpose. We are not given gifts to be greater, but rather, to focus on gifts that help people more.

We are never told we should strive to have all the gifts, but rather, to submit to the Spirit who decides what gifts we should have and focus on. We are given gifts *as the Spirit desires.* Beyond this we may get into carnal interests that do not benefit the Church and its purpose.

But neither are we to avoid or to discourage certain gifts, simply because we do not have them ourselves. We are not to despise gifts like tongues or prophecy, simply because we may not experience them. The Scriptures say we should let the Spirit decide who gets what gifts and what gifts are needed.

And so, we should not oppose them. We simply need to test to see if they are genuine.

The fact of the matter is, no one today has any of the miraculous gifts. They only were manifested by the laying on of the apostle's hands and they are dead and have been for a long time. See Acts 5:12, Acts 6:6-8, Acts 8:9-19, Acts 19:6, 2 Tim 1:6. And to your point about the gifts being given at God will to whomever he chooses, that's why the apostles prayed prior to the laying on of their hands that the people MIGHT receive them as noted in the aforementioned scriptures.