Core Questions: The Purpose of Spiritual Gifts in the Church
Who Gets Spiritual Gifts?
If you were drafted into the military, wouldn’t it be odd if you were asked to bring your firearm? Those who called you to serve will outfit you for battle.
This is the same truth concerning God and His church. God both calls and fits His people for service.
We see this immediately in 1 Corinthians 12:1-3, ESV. First, Paul informs the Corinthians that spiritual gifts only come to those who have been born of the Spirit.
Spiritual gifts are limited to those who are born of the Spirit. It is God’s design that those who enjoy the Lord are enabled and equipped to serve the Lord because He is their Lord (12:3).
If Jesus is your Lord it means that He is your boss and new owner because you are now under new management.
As Christians we must give Jesus the master key of our lives; for if Jesus is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all. Therefore, those whom are born of the Spirit (see John 3:3-8) are outfitted by the Spirit to serve the Lord Christ.
What is Their Origin?
All spiritual gifts, acts of service, and the power to serve God in a local church comes from the Triune God.
In 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, Paul ties each person of the Trinity “Spirit…Lord…God,” (v.4-6, ESV) to the inner life of the believer within a local church.
All spiritual gifts are from the Holy Spirit (v.4); all acts of serve in the church must be done unto the Lord Jesus (v.5); and all our labor is enabled and energized by the same God (v.6).
God’s desire for the church is that their members would magnify God through the Spirit’s gifting, for Christ’s glory, and to do so in the strength that God supplies.
All acts of worship in the church are not about self, but are from, through, and to God. And therefore, if a Christian desires to find unity with a local body of believers, he must learn the reality of self-forgetfulness.
Our spiritual gifts are for us, but they are certainly not about us. Every spiritual gift is empowered by God through the Spirit working in us (v.11).
When we remember that our spiritual gift and those brothers and sisters we gather with were not chosen but were appointed and assigned by God’s infinite wisdom, we will find a sweet unity in the church.
What is Their Purpose?
The Apostle Paul tells us the purpose of spiritual gifts in verse 7, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good,” (ESV). Each act of the Spirit in the life of the believer is not for us, but is for the strength of our brothers and sisters.
Thus, it is a great blessing to attend and faithfully serve in your local church because you are God’s appointed means of strengthening and encouraging the faith of others.
Your labor of love and service to the Lord matters eternally for your brothers and sisters. To obey God in our spiritual gifts greatly blesses our brothers; to disobey God may greatly harm them. How kind of the Lord to choose you as a way to increase your brothers and sisters to love Christ more?
The more we serve others, the more they love Christ and see His love for them. Spiritual gifts are God’s appointed ways of strengthening His church.
What a great privilege to look at your brothers and sisters around you and realize that you are around them and appointed to be near them to increase their happiness in Jesus. May we never despise our spiritual gifts.
God uses means to strengthen the faith of His people, and He means to use you.
