For a company or organization to run smoothly, all of the employees or members need to have a specific job, and diligently work at it. The same goes for any family. Someone needs to wash the dishes, someone else to take out the garbage. Someone needs to buy groceries, etc. And a wise head of the company or family will assign tasks according to each one’s ability, but everyone needs to hold up their end for the place to run smoothly. The same is true with the Church, and our Scripture passage today shows that the Holy Spirit has given believers gifts to build up His Church.
The Apostle Paul wrote several letters to the Christian Church in Corinth, and in this letter, among other things, he taught them about spiritual gifts, which we will look at today. Spiritual gifts are divine enablements for ministry that the Holy Spirit gives in some measure to all believers. They are to be completely under His control, and used to build the Church and to bring God glory. And just as a company has different positions and jobs for each person, so too does the Holy Spirit for each one in the Church.
The Holy Spirit gives gifts to every believer for the common good of the church. Thus everyone is not exactly alike or identical to others in the church (vs. 4 - 7). Some have one gift, while others have another. In the Corinthian Church spiritual gifts had become symbols of spiritual power, causing rivalries. Some people thought they were more spiritual than others because of their gift, and Paul sought to correct this.
We need to appreciate the gifts of others. For example, the person who has the gift of mercy should not judge the one who has a gift of exhortation and believe they are heartless. In the same way, the one with the gift of exhortation should not judge the one with the gift of mercy, feeling they are overly sympathetic. If everyone had the gift of mercy, where would be the one to teach of sin and a godly life. But without those who show mercy, we all would get too discouraged and give up. Each serves a specific purpose, just as here are show horses, war horses, carriage horses, and draft horses.
In this Scripture passage we read of several of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are given to those who are part of the Church. We read here of some of the speaking gifts, such as prophecy, knowledge, wisdom, teaching, and exhortation. Then there are some of the serving, or non-speaking gifts, such as leadership, helps, giving, mercy, faith, and discernment. Let’s briefly look at just a few of these gifts.
Wisdom is the ability to understand God’s Word and His will, and to skillfully apply that understanding to life (vs. 8). The Word of Knowledge is the ability to understand and speak God’s truth with insight into the mysteries of His Word that cannot be known apart from God’s revelation. The gift of faith is not the same as saving faith, which one exercises when they are saved. Instead, this is an especially strong trust in God in the midst of difficult circumstances (vs. 9).
We typically think of prophecy as foretelling of future events. The Holy Spirit’s gift of prophecy in verse 10 is, instead, the gift of speaking forth or proclaiming publicly God’s message and Word with power. The gift of discernment is the God-given ability to recognize lying spirits, and deceptive and erroneous doctrine (vs. 10). Satan is a deceiver (John 8:44), and his demons counterfeit God’s message and work. One with the gift of discernment is able to see this deception and error when it creeps into the Church.
These are just some of the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given to each believer and to each individual church. God cares so much for His children that He gives each one of us a place in His plan for the world. Believers are gifted with the talents and attributes needed to carry out His purpose. When everyone is faithfully submitted to God’s will, we are all working towards the same goal, and that is to glorify God and lead others to salvation.
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