Spiritual Gifts, Part 2

Okay, Mr. Wilhelm is passing out a handout for all of you here. Be sure and get one of those. It should be one for each adult or teenage and up. So please be sure and get a copy of that before you leave. I tried to center these on here, so if you would like to take note, you can have some room in the margins to do that.

I'm going to cover a lot of material today here. Again, it is very good to see all of you after missing services last Sabbath in Pentecost. Again, I was back visiting with my mother over that weekend. Today what I'll be giving you is the sermon that I had planned to give on the day of Pentecost because it ties in very much with the subject of Pentecost and the giving of God's Spirit.

That is Spiritual Gifts. Two Sabbaths ago, when we had combined services here in Denver, I gave a sermon titled What Does the Bible Teach About Spiritual Gifts? That was the first in a series of several sermons on the subject. I'm not sure how long this series is going to be. I keep thinking of new things that I need to talk about. Maybe three, maybe four, maybe five. I'm not sure. But today we will be covering the second aspect of this series of sermons. In the first sermon, we laid a foundation for understanding the subject by asking and answering a number of questions. Just by way of review, quickly here, these are some of the points we talked about.

First, how can the power of God's Holy Spirit do through and for us? Second, we talked about why do we need to know about spiritual gifts? Third, we talked about why are they called spiritual gifts? Fourth, we talked about why does God give spiritual gifts? Fifth, we talked about what is the difference between talents, skills, and spiritual gifts? Next, we talked about what is the difference between spiritual gifts and the fruit of the Spirit? Then we talked about what is the difference between spiritual gifts and spiritual disciplines, like prayer, Bible study, tithing, fasting, that sort of thing. We covered the subject of to whom are spiritual gifts given? As we saw from Scripture, spiritual gifts are given to all the members of the body of the church, not just a select few, not just one gender, but to all members of the church.

We talked about then how are spiritual gifts distributed? And we concluded by talking about can spiritual gifts be developed? And talked about the parable of the talents and its implications for that question. One question that I would like to review quickly again is foundation for what we'll be talking about today because I want us to keep it in mind as we cover the sermon subject today.

That question is what are spiritual gifts? What is a working definition for that? I'll give you two definitions, one from the Anchor Bible dictionary, covered this last time, but it's good to review. It defines spiritual gifts as, quote, special gifts bestowed by God on individual members of the Christian community, the body of believers, that is the church, for the edification of the whole community, or again, the church. And another definition from Nelson's New Illustrated Bible dictionary, I explained spiritual gifts as, quote, special gifts bestowed by the Holy Spirit upon Christians for the purpose of building up the church. End of quote. And you can find similar definitions in any number of Bible resources.

I just thought they summarized it particularly well. And again, I would point out that, as is mentioned here, in both of these definitions, that both are given for the edification or the building up of the church. That is the important thing we need to keep in mind about spiritual gifts, their purpose, and that is to edify and build up the church. They are not about us, but are about the church, about the body of believers, and not about us individually, and they are given for the purpose of serving others in love and humility. So with that in mind, we'll go through the topic, the subject for today's sermon, and that is, what are the spiritual gifts listed in the Bible?

What are the spiritual gifts listed in the Bible? Because God's word lists a number of them, and today we'll go through them and understand what they mean. We find spiritual gifts in four different lists in the Bible, and this is the longer chart that's found on your handout here. Those four places are Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, in two places in that chapter, and Ephesians 4. You'll find a few others scattered throughout scripture as well, but for purposes of time I'm just going to limit our discussion today to these four lists.

What's really interesting about these lists, if you look at this, it's pretty obvious that they're all different. You just compare them side by side and you'll find that every list is different here. Sometimes they're in a different order. Sometimes they're worded slightly differently. Sometimes they are a mixture of spiritual gifts and spiritual responsibilities.

Nowhere do we find all of these gifts spelled out in one comprehensive list that gives them all, one by one after another. What Paul seems to be doing in each of these lists is giving us examples of the different kinds of spiritual gifts with a primary emphasis on our attitude and approach toward them and the necessity of identifying them and using them to build and edify the body that is the church.

This will be a little more evident as we go through these lists. Let's look at them side by side. I've had to break it up into two slides here on screen, but let's just look through. You can see them all. It's the same thing that's on your chart here. Let's compare these side by side for a few minutes here and notice some of the differences here. For instance, the list in 1 Corinthians 12 includes such things down here as discerning of spirits and the word of wisdom which don't appear in any of the other lists. You'll see things like this. While this chapter also lists the word of knowledge down here, the other list that Paul gives seems to refer to this as teaching or the ability to be a teacher or teacher.

That's why it's lined up here with this. There are other things. Prophecy here which appears in all four lists. Although one, it's referred to as prophets and the others as prophecy or prophesying there. It's interesting the introduction to each list, Romans 12, says having then gifts differing according to the grace or God's mercy that is given to us. Paul in 1 Corinthians 12, 7-10 says, but the manifestation or the evidence, the appearance of this Holy Spirit is given to each one for the prophet of all.

Then he lists them. Later on in that same chapter, he says God has appointed these in the church, then lists several items. Finally, in Ephesians 4, Paul says, and he God, or actually I'm not sure it may be referring to Jesus Christ, gave and gives a list there. This is clearly all lists of different types of spiritual gifts.

One thing I might note also, and I'll discuss this a little bit more in a few minutes here, some people have been confused about some of the items on here, specifically apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, and we have taught in the past that this is referring to ranks within the church. But do you see a problem when you compare these lists? An obvious problem is if this is supposed to be a list of ranks, then the lists are different.

You don't have in this list in 1 Corinthians 12, you don't have evangelists, you don't have pastors. Nowhere do you see elders in any of these lists. You don't see deacons in these lists. So if this is supposed to be a list of ranks of ministers within the church, there are some obvious problems there with that.

Moving further down the list, let's skip down to the bottom part of the list here. We see things like exhorting over here, which doesn't show up in the other list. We see working of miracles and workers of miracles. We see gifts of healings in both. We see ministry, which is actually the word for serving or servants corresponding to helps. Over here we see leading, corresponding to administrations. We see different kinds of tongues and interpreting tongues in two of the lists. We see giving and faith and mercy also here.

My point in showing these lists is that you have to look in several places to find all the different spiritual gifts that are listed in Scripture. We might even think of others that aren't on these lists. Again, there are some. There are some, like the gift of hospitality, that's mentioned in a few places that individuals have. Of loving others, even strangers, and being very hospitable to them, providing food and fellowship and housing and so on for individuals. Some are mentioned in Scriptures having a special gift for intercessory prayer for others as well.

There are other abilities, which we commonly refer to as talents. Things like musical or artistic or writing abilities. Things like that. These, too, can be used for building and edifying the body of Christ. However, again, in the interest of time, I'm just going to focus on those items listed in these four lists. Let's now look at these items in a different form. That is on the other side of your handout here. Those are listed within three general categories. I've listed them this way. This material isn't original. It's from other sources. I think it's a good way of categorizing these in an effort to better understand the nature and purpose of the spiritual gifts that we'll be talking about today.

These are categorized into sign gifts and perfecting gifts and service gifts. These emphasize the main point of each of these. Let's talk about sign gifts. Those in this first column first. I use the term sign here because these gifts are obvious signs of God's supernatural power at work through God's Spirit. Look at this first column and ask yourself, what does it remind you of?

What does it make you think of when you read this? Discerning of spirits, miracles, healing, speaking in tongues, and interpreting of tongues. What comes to mind when you hear that list?

Probably the early church, when these signs were very powerfully and dramatically manifested when God used these particular spiritual gifts to show his support, his approval, and his miracle working power that he gave to the apostles in particular. Again and again in the book of Acts, we see great miracles, great healings that take place. Even in one case, Peter walking by the sick or the injured and then being healed by the shadow of his robe passing on them there. He did not even have to lay hands on them and they were healed. We see miracles such as speaking in tongues, which means languages. That's the meaning of the word in the Greek. We'll cover that more a little bit later here. Speaking in other languages and also the interpreting of languages that an individual does not know, naturally, or has not learned. We see discerning of spirits.

All of these were tools that God used to help establish and build the early church and to help it get out its message. They're among all the other competing religions of that day and age.

Let's now go through this list of sign gifts and take a look and understand what they are. I've chosen to go through this one first because it's probably the easiest to understand here.

The first item that we see here is discerning of spirits. This is found in 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 10. You can see that on the back side of your list there. You may want to flip back and forth between these from time to time. We see discerning of spirits in 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 10.

This word discerning is the Greek noun diacresis, meaning, quote, distinguishing, a clear discrimination, discerning, or judging. This is from Vines Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, which the men in our sermonette class are visibly memorizing as we speak.

Another source I will refer to, I'll refer to two different sources that are particularly helpful for these definitions. That's vines. I'll just refer to it as vines from here on out.

Another resource by a Greek scholar, Spiros Zodiades, the complete word study dictionary. When I refer to Zodiades or vines, those are the two resources I'm bringing these definitions from.

Spirits here is from the Greek noun duma, which means wind or breath or spirit.

This is what discerning of spirits means here in brief. A majority of references to this Greek word diacresis in the New Testament are referring to evil or demonic spirits.

This spiritual gift in use, and we do see it a few times in the New Testament, we see it with Jesus Christ repeatedly, where he discerns spirits, evil spirits, that he is confronting.

This spiritual gift empowers an individual to discern the spirits and to determine the source and the nature of the spirit and to deal with it. Jesus Christ confronted evil spirits, or demons, often during his ministry, discerned their intentions and motives, and typically commanded them to leave. He cast out demons. This is how this gift would operate in those who are given this gift. The fruit of this spirit would be powerful. It would be dramatic casting out demons there. Another aspect of this gift may relate to the discernment of an individual's thinking, his spirit in terms of his motive and attitude, not necessarily referring to demonic possession, but discerning someone's intents when they may not be all that honorable. An example of this in Acts 5, we won't turn there, but it's the example of Ananias and Sapphira who lied to the apostles and were caught in that lie and were struck dead.

I think that would be an example of discerning of spirits as well. It doesn't have to be a demonic spirit but could be human attitudes and hearts and so on as well. The next gift we'll talk about is that of miracles here. Miracles is from the Greek noun dunamis, which means power or an inherent ability, quote, used of works of a supernatural origin and character, such as could not be produced by natural agents and means from vines there. Dunamis is basically the root word, the Greek from which we get the English words, like dynamite. Dunamis, you can see the root of it. Dynamite or dynamo, which is an engine for generating power. So it essentially has the meaning of power there, or in this case divine power, God's power to produce miracles here.

Since this gift is listed separately from healings, which we'll talk about next, these acts would apparently refer to something that is different from healing miracles, referring to other types of miracles from healing. What miracles this might involve aren't listed, frankly, just as gifts of miracles, but doesn't explain that. Some that probably will happen, referring to the future, the two witnesses, for instance. They'll call down fire from heaven, they'll perform miracles to show that they are the representatives of God. You'll find that in Revelation 11, 5, and 6 with the two witnesses. So again, we don't have much detail about this gift at all other than it is in those lists there. The next item we'll talk about is healings.

Let's take a look at what that means. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul mentions this, the gift of healings three times. Healing is translated from the Greek noun, eama, meaning healing or cure, the result of the process of healing, to have someone healed, restored to health there.

We could define this as being the physical or mental restoration that bypasses natural laws or natural processes there. Dramatic healings took place, obviously, there in the days of the early church. They were experienced by hundreds, if not thousands, of people during the ministry of Jesus Christ. Very powerful dramatic healings. The apostles, also I referred to earlier, healed people on a number of occasions. You can find that in Acts 5, verses 14 and 6 through 16 as an example.

Why did this happen? Again, it served to establish the church in the validity of the messengers of Jesus Christ and later of his apostles that they are indeed of God and representing God. Otherwise, they would not have been able to perform these dramatic miracles here. However, it is also evident, as you read through the books of the New Testament, the history of the church and as the first century drew to a close, it becomes evident that this gift of healings has diminished.

There, we don't find it mentioned as often there. What we see today in the instruction in James, is any among you sick? Let him go to the elders of the church and they will let him be anointed and they will pray on him. The prayer of the righteous shall heal the sick. But this seems to be a far cry from the dramatic and powerful miracles that took place in the lives of hundreds, thousands of people back there in the first century. Jesus Christ carries out both forms of healings, both through anointing and through these dramatic, powerful miracles that you read about there in Acts and the Gospels. Certainly, the bottom line is that these gifts of healings are from God as he sees fit, given as he sees fit as well. Next item we'll talk about, and again I'm running through these fairly quickly. I have a lot of material to cover here.

This is tongues, or languages, and the interpretation of languages. This is mentioned here in 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 10. Different kinds of tongues and the interpretation of tongues. The word tongues comes from the Greek noun glosa, which literally means tongue in Greek, but figuratively or metaphorically means what the tongue is used for, for speech or language. Language is there in Zodiac. Interpretation is the Greek noun hermenia, which means interpretation or explanation. You may recognize the root of the word hermeneutics, which is to explain something in a scholarly way. This is what these gifts are referring to here.

From the biblical examples, the gift of tongues is the ability to speak an accepted language, not an unknown language, not a totally made-up language, but an accepted known language.

Given by, wherein the person given this gift has not previously known or studied that language. It would be like me up here speaking in Dutch or Latin or Greek or something like that, a language that I do not know natively here. It's something where the person speaks in a language he doesn't know, so that others who do speak that language may hear God's truth expressed and made understandable to them. In the Bible, we find several examples of this taking place. We find it in Jerusalem, the most obvious there in Acts 2, where the church is founded on the day of Pentecost, which we celebrated last weekend. What was the occasion there? There were people who traveled there to Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost from all over the Roman world and even outside it. People came from Rome, they came from Greece, they came from North Africa, they came from Egypt, they came from Babylon, they came from all over Syria, Arabia, places like that, all with their own languages. They came there, I think there are 15 different languages that are areas that people are coming from with different languages there in Acts 2. There's a miracle that takes place there. Actually, a double miracle because the apostles speak in one language. What language they speak isn't given, but people hear them in their own language. It's a double miracle in that the apostles are speaking in a language that they do not know and people are hearing in their own language out of 15 languages there. They're all hearing it in their native tongue. So it's a double miracle there. We also find speaking in tongues mentioned in Corinth, the Epistle to the Corinthians we've talked about. We find it in Caesarea and we find it in the Book of Ephesians. They're in Ephesus there. Now, it's rather interesting to look at these four cities and do you notice anything in common among these four cities? It's quite subtle. It hit me like a 2x4 when I realized this. A common thread in all of these situations is that the people who are there where this miracle of speaking in tongues come from a variety of places and cultures and languages there. This gift of speaking and translating tongues or other languages allows those who are attending to hear the truth of God in their own language.

Jerusalem, I talked about, had visitors there for Pentecost from all over the world. Corinth is a major port city in Greece. It has all kinds of cultures. It has sailors and settlers from all over around the Mediterranean. Caesarea is a major port city on the coast of Israel. It also had people from all kinds of languages, cultures, sailors from Egypt and Rome and Greece. Ephesus was a huge major port, probably the biggest of the ancient world of that time, with many different cultures there. Paul stayed in Ephesus for several years. He was there with Aquila and Priscilla who had moved from Rome over to Ephesus there. These cities are very much melting pots of people from all kinds of different languages and cultures there. It's interesting, these are the only places I can find the gift of speaking in tongues mentioned in the Bible. So it's clearly not something you find mentioned in Antioch, where everybody is pretty much from the same culture or places like that. It's places where you do have a mixture of people from a lot of different backgrounds and cultures. I found that quite fascinating there, the common thread between where this gift is given and we find it mentioned there in Scripture.

Let's see, there's so much to talk about in this. In 1 Corinthians 14, we won't turn there, but you might write it down, Paul talks about the Corinthians being very zealous regarding spiritual gifts. We did read this Scripture last time, verse 12 of 1 Corinthians 14. However, Paul also mentions that these gifts are to be used again for the edification of the church.

Now, it appears that what happened there in Corinth is that the situation is quite different in ways than what we find there in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost when everybody hears in their own language. What we see in Corinth is a slight variation on that in that people aren't hearing it in their own language miraculously. The individuals are just speaking it in their own language and people are interpreting it so that the people can hear it in their own language.

It's also interesting to note that when Paul wrote this to the Corinthians there, this is about 26 years after that day of Pentecost. This gift is still going strong 26 years after the day of Pentecost there. It does appear also that this gift of tongues is not present in the Church of God today. But that does not mean that God could not or will not grant that gift at some point in the future for the furtherance of his work and for the benefit of those of unbelievers as evidence of his miraculous power. We just don't see it right now.

Now to wrap up this section here about the signs gifts, we've covered these again quite briefly, today we do not see any of these gifts in the powerful and dramatic way that we see there in the book of Acts. We just don't. We've probably all seen some healings in our period of time in the Church, but not as many, frankly, as we saw several decades ago. And certainly not as many as we see back in the period covered in the Gospels in the book of Acts. We don't see speaking in foreign languages taking place within the Church today or interpreting of those foreign languages. It just appears that God simply has not bestowed those gifts on his people at this time for whatever reason. This is not to say that God won't or can't. I do believe that God will use these gifts again, bestow these gifts again as the end time draws near, as an evidence to the world where God is working. I do firmly believe that there will be dramatic miracles, other types of miracles that will take place as the time of the end draws near. But we also see, as I talked about here, that God does not use or does not give all spiritual gifts at all periods in human history. There are gaps in there when he does not bestow those for whatever reason. So let's now go to the second category of gifts, which is called the perfecting gifts. Why perfecting? Let's take a look at Ephesians 4, verses 11-16. I'll read this from the English Standard version, which I think is the most clear translation of this. It says, He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry or of serving. We read this verse last time in the context of why God gives spiritual gifts. Continuing, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

So that is the purpose of gifts, to empower, to build, to edify the body until we all become like Jesus Christ so that we may no longer be children. And next part of this passage, rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head into Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

And I concluded with that portion last time. Again, the purpose of gifts is to help the body grow, to edify the body. And all of us have gifts, all of us have a part in helping the body to grow in this way, to build itself up in love. Love has to be the motivation for any time we use the gifts and the abilities God has given us. As we read in 1 Corinthians 13, Without love, I am nothing but a sounding brass or a tingling cymbal. I am just a sound that is here and gone. Without love, all of these gifts that God gives don't mean anything. So the purpose of these responsibilities, back to the apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, and so on, the purpose of these responsibilities in the church is, as we read here, to unify the body in the knowledge of the Son of God, to help the members of the body grow to become like Jesus Christ, and to help the whole body grow together as it builds itself up in love. In other words, these responsibilities exist to perfect the church, to make the body, the members, perfect as Jesus Christ is perfect. But why include apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers in the list of spiritual gifts that we see there? Why are they included in there? First, as we see here from the list back here in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul included them there. Mix them in with the list of spiritual gifts which follow there.

But let's back up in 1 Corinthians 12 where he lists these. Let's read the verses that precede that beginning in verse 4 of 1 Corinthians 12. Notice what he says as he leads into this portion where he lists these different responsibilities. He says, There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called, in one hope of your calling. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism.

One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But to each one of us, grace, God's favor, God's blessing, was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.

Therefore, he says, when he ascended on high, this is referring to Jesus Christ ascending back to God the Father in heaven after he's been resurrected, after his crucifixion, when he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men. Continuing on, now he includes a parenthetical thought. It's not part of the train of thought, but it's inserted in there. He explains what he means when he ascended. What does it mean that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who ascended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things. And then he continues the thought with the gifts that he said he had given there. And he himself, Jesus Christ, gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. So what is this saying? Paul gets fairly wordy on some of the explanations. But to summarize it, what it's saying is that after Jesus Christ was resurrected and ascended to the Father, he gave gifts to those who remained behind on earth. Because he's no longer going to be on earth with them, he's ascended to the Father in heaven. And what were those gifts? Well, as we see here, he gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.

And why did he give these gifts? Again, it's for the perfecting, the edifying of the body of Christ.

Now these gifts that we talk about here, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, they're a different category of gifts. And by that, I mean they are gifts given not to individuals, such as faith, such as being able to perform miracles, such as speaking in tongues, such as interpreting languages, that sort of thing. They are gifts not to individuals, but they are gifts given to the collective body of the church as a whole. And again, they're given so that the church may be built and edified and perfected by the individuals that God places in these responsibilities. In other words, God has chosen individuals to be given these responsibilities so that they and what they do are gifts to the church as a whole. The responsibilities and the individuals with those responsibilities are given as a gift to the church to help edify and build the body that is the church and to help members reach their full God-given potential. So what are these responsibilities? Let's go through this, maybe this will make this a little more clear as we go through. The first it's listed is apostles or apostleship. It's from the Greek noun, apostolos, meaning one sent forth. One sent forth.

There, that's all the word means. If you were a wealthy individual at that day and you had a servant and you sent him to take a message to somebody else, that servant was an apostle.

He was sent forth with a message from his master. That's all the word means, is apostle.

There, one sent forth. Now it did come to have a significant meaning in the early church.

So this spiritual gift, a messenger who is sent, it was foundational in the early church. We see that in Ephesians 2 and verse 20, which tells us that the church is, quote, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. The prophets referring to the Old Testament writers there in prophets. Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. So these apostles were part of the foundation of the church along with the prophets and with Jesus Christ himself.

In an official sense, the word somewhat changed meaning, still had the basic meaning, but came to be used as a designation for specific individuals, namely the twelve whom Jesus Christ called and trained. Of course, Judas was left out of that group, the son of perdition. He was replaced by another individual. And then there are a few other later individuals who are referred to as apostles, including Paul, Barnabas, James, the half-brother of Jesus Christ.

So in reading through the books of the New Testament, it's clear that Christ chose these twelve. He trained them. He sent them forth. Again, the meaning is one who is sent forth.

And they formed a key part of the foundation of the early church. And they were then joined by later apostles, again, Paul, Barnabas, James. And their influence on the church continues to this day through their inspired words that are found in the Bible, through the writings of the apostle Paul, which we're talking about right now, through the writings of the Gospels by men like Matthew and John, some of the original apostles. So these things, these men, establish doctrine and teaching and the record of God's Word that continues to guide the church today as it has for the last two thousand years. So that is a brief explanation of what the word apostles mean. Now, it might be appropriate here to explain 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 28 here, from which these terms are taken here. And let's go through and analyze this. 1 Corinthians 12, 28. And Paul writes, and God has appointed these in the church. 1 apostles, 2 prophets, 3rd teachers. After that, miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, and varieties of tongues. And again, this is why I mentioned that Paul mixes in these responsibilities with what are clearly spiritual gifts, not offices or positions in the church. Miracles, gifts of healings, administrators, varieties of tongues. Those are not offices. Those are not positions in the church. Those are clearly spiritual gifts, as we see, comparing it to the other lists here.

But what does... let's ask the question, what does the numbering of these first three mean? 1st apostles, 2nd prophets, and 3rd teachers. What is numbering? What's the significance of these being numbered? Well, we had taught in the past that these were listed in order of rank or priority.

But another view is that it's actually talking about chronological sequence.

In the Greek, it can mean either, but usually when Greek uses these terms, it is talking about something in sequence, not in hierarchy or priority, but referring to sequential events or sequential happenings there. So, in other words, by this interpretation, Jesus Christ first established the apostles, whom he had called and trained. And indeed, he did. He established those first within the church. After that, one of the gifts that is given and through which God called and continues to call people to his church is the gift of prophets or prophesying. As we talked about last time, we'll talk about this a little bit more, but this word, prophets and prophesying, is talking about inspired teaching or speaking, not foretelling the future. It can mean foretelling the future, but this is where our English translation of the Greek tends to mislead us and convey things that aren't necessarily intended there in the original Greek. So, in sequence, did Jesus Christ and God the Father, after the apostles, appoint people with the gift of inspired preaching in the church? Yes, obviously, did. Because the apostles couldn't be everywhere at once. So, others were appointed and given the gift of inspired preaching, there to teach others and draw others to the church.

Thirdly, we have listed third teachers. Did God and Jesus Christ give other individuals the gift of teaching after the apostles and after prophets? Yes, indeed, he did. He's appointed many teachers, given the gift of teaching to many individuals down through this day. And that's how God's people are instructed and taught and learned there. Not the only way, certainly, but a primary way there. So, the gift of teaching was given to instruct those whom God would call to instruct them in God's way of life and his plan of salvation. Since the Greek words for first and second and third, which we read up here, are almost universally translated with a sequential meaning, rather than denoting hierarchies or ranks, it seems evident that this is talking about time order. Not hierarchy, not ranks, but time order in which Jesus Christ and God the Father gave these gifts to the church for the benefit and for the edifying of the church. And as another support of that, why, if this is talking about hierarchy, again, why would Paul list miracles?

Is performing miracles a rank or office within the church? Is having the gift of healing a rank or office in the church? Is being able to be a capable administrator or to speak or interpret other languages? Is that a rank within the church? No, obviously not. So I think this is a more accurate understanding of what Paul is talking about here. Another evidence of that is this first, second, and third here. These are adverbs. And if you haven't studied English since 7th or 8th grade, an adverb is something that modifies a verb. These are referring back to the word appointed. So God appointed first, and then he appointed second, and then he appointed third, again, sequentially. And it's not referring to apostles. An adverb doesn't refer to a noun like apostles or prophets or teachers. That's an adjective. But no, an adverb relates back to the verb, not the noun. So it's not saying apostles are first and prophets are second and teachers are third in order, but rather it's talking about the sequential order in which God appointed individuals for this. Again, if this is describing hierarchy, Paul would have used adjectives about this, not adverbs here. In addition, further evidence of this when we compare these two lists in Ephesians 4, I referred to this briefly earlier, but you'll look at these lists side by side. And again, there are differences here. Significant differences. You do have apostles and prophets first, but then here in Ephesians it lists evangelists, pastors, and teachers.

But over here in 1 Corinthians 12, evangelists and pastors do not appear here. It goes on to teachers in miracles and gifts of healings, etc. Again, other types of gifts that are given. And also, as I mentioned earlier, there's no listing for elders there. No deacons in either of these lists. So again, it's not talking about the ranks or hierarchy within the church.

So it does seem evident that these words here, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, that these are talking about functions or responsibilities, not offices or positions.

And the functions are important. I'm not saying they're not. They're critical.

Absolutely critical for the well-being of the church. And I'm also not saying there's no authority within the church. Don't get me wrong there. There clearly is authority. My point is just that it's not talking about it here. It's not the subject here. The subject is gifts.

What God has given to his church to edify and build the body. Not how it is to be structured or run or managed here. Continuing on now with the next item on the list, we talked about apostles. The next that is listed is prophets or prophecy, the gift of prophecy or prophesying.

Prophecy is from the Greek noun, profitea. You can see the root of prophecy in there, meaning the speaking forth of the mind and counsel of God. Notice it doesn't talk about foretelling the future. It's speaking forth the mind and counsel of God. In 1 Corinthians 14.24, there is prophesy, the verb from prophetio, meaning to be a prophet or to prophesy. And then in Ephesians 4 verse 11, prophets is the Greek noun, profitees, meaning one who speaks forth or openly. Again, not foretelling the future, just one who speaks forth or speaks openly. Again, we see these definitions that prophets or prophecy or prophesying is in most cases not talking about foretelling the future, but simply talking about the mind and the will of God and instructing people in an inspired manner. It usually refers to inspired speaking, resulting in the strengthening and the comforting and the encouraging and the building of the body. One verse that confirms that, 1 Corinthians 14 and verse 3, notice this, but he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. Doesn't say he foretells the future, says he speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. So encouraging, edifying, building up the body again, that's what prophesying means there in the culture and the context of the time. And again, we need to get away from our English translation of that. So inspired speaking appears to be the manifestation of this gift today.

But there could be a time, and again, I think there probably will be, when God will indeed give individuals, namely the two witnesses, the ability to foretell the future. I think that gift will be given again in the end time. Next on this list we have the word evangelist. It's from the Greek noun, let me get this right, euangelistis, meaning a messenger of good, or in zodiacies, one who declares the good news, or a good messenger. So it is someone who brings a message of good news, is how we might translate the word evangelist here. This could be described as an individual being divinely empowered to effectively communicate the gospel, the good news, to other people.

And to encourage them to respond in faith, to believe what they are told, and to move toward the commitment of baptism and discipleship. There, that's what it means, to share the good news, and encourage people to respond to that message of good news, and to be baptized and become a disciple of Jesus Christ. An example of this, we won't turn there, but Philip is one of the first deacons we see ordained in Acts 6. And then later, however, he's referred to as Philip the Evangelist. That's in Acts 8. And here he models the work of an evangelist as he speaks to and then baptizes the Ethiopian eunuch. If you remember the story of the eunuchs and his chariot returning to Ethiopia from Jerusalem. And Philip meets with him and explains what he's reading there in the book of Isaiah because he doesn't understand it. So he explains how this is a prophecy of Jesus the Messiah. And there are dramatic encounters like this that happen in Philip's life where God used him to give people a fuller and deeper understanding of the Scriptures. Timothy is another individual who's called, one referred to, Paul tells him to do the work of an evangelist. We see that in 2 Timothy 4 and verse 5. So here's two individuals who had that gift or that responsibility or function of being an evangelist.

Doing evangelism, let me clarify this as well, it doesn't necessarily just mean publicly preaching or teaching other people. We might notice a couple of verses, Matthew 5 and verse 6, where Jesus Christ himself tells his followers, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

So this is to everybody. This isn't limited to just a handful of people.

Christ wants all of his followers to let their light shine. And also, 1 Peter 2 verses 11 through and 12, Peter writes, Beloved, I beg you, as sojourners and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. So we see here that this is an expectation of all of God's people. We should let our light shine so that others can see our good works and be motivated to seek us out, to ask us why we are different, why we live the way we do, and that gives us an opportunity to explain to them the truth, the gospel, the good news that we have to bear with us. Next on our list we see the function of pastoring. And pastors is a Greek noun poiman, which simply means a shepherd, one who tends herds of flocks. That's why I have it up here, pastoring slash shepherding. That's what the word means. If someone was a shepherd in the first century, you called him a pastor, somebody who looks after sheep. That's what the word means. Jesus Christ used this as a metaphor to describe the conduct and the attitude of those to whom would be given this function. When he tells Peter in John 21, he tells him three times, feed my sheep. In other words, be a pastor. Shepherd my sheep. Tend my sheep. He says one time there. 1 Peter 5 verses 1 through 3. Let's take a look at that.

Here Peter gives an overview of this function, this responsibility within the church.

The elders who are among you I exhort. Shepherd or pastor, same word, the flock of God, which is among you serving as overseers, not by compulsion, but willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly, not as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, the chief shepherd is Jesus Christ, he is a shepherd also.

Somebody has to leave for graduation here, so I hope that goes well. I hope that's the reason they're going, not because they don't like this.

But again, when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.

So this is the responsibility of a pastor or a shepherd or an overseer, as it's also termed here, as someone who is to be an example to the flock there, and to tend them, to guide them, to help them, to instruct them, to care for them. This gift could be described as the ability to care for, feed, and protect the individuals whom God is calling to meet their spiritual needs, those of the body of Christ, to empower them to grow in spiritual maturity.

Here, so these are some of the functions of that, to care for, basically, to provide spiritual nourishment and protection over an extended period of time. Next on the list, we see teaching, or teacher here. This is from the Greek noun, didascolos, meaning instructor, or master, or teacher.

Teaching is translated from the Greek verb, didasgo, and the noun, didascalia, which means to give instruction, or that which is taught, doctrine, in other words here.

This spiritual gift is, again, a God-given ability to clearly and accurately communicate the truth of God and the Bible. People with this gift are able to give biblical insight on how to deal with life situations, and to communicate truth so that people learn and understand and remember what is conveyed. It is a gift that can and needs to be developed through continued study and discipline.

Teacher is also someone who should be able to reprove, and to correct, and instruct people, and to train them in righteousness when reproving and correction is needed.

Also, another verse, James 3, in verse 1, a caution, and that is, James says, My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.

So, as with all of these gifts, there are obligations that go with that, and there are downsides, you might say. Those who are teachers are going to be held to a higher standard, higher level of accountability for the job they do in teaching.

As in the case of Timothy, these gifts may lead to an individual being ordained, to a position of an elder, or something like that. We shouldn't also limit it just to speaking, as in speaking at Sabbath services. There are many types of teaching within the body.

What is a choir director? A choir director is one who is teaching the members how to use their singing abilities and gifts to edify the body. There are those who teach Sabbath school, things like that as well. There are many opportunities. Paul tells the older ladies to instruct the younger, which is one of the reasons why we have the women's discussion group here, so that all of our ladies can learn from one another. Teaching should not be viewed just strictly as someone standing up and speaking to you each Sabbath there.

Next we find listed the word of wisdom. We find that in 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 8.

The Greek noun translated wisdom is sophia, meaning skill in the affairs of life, practical wisdom, wise management, as shown in forming the best plans and selecting the best means, including the idea of sound judgment and good sense. And, in a higher sense, wisdom, meaning deep knowledge, natural and moral insight, learning, science, implying cultivation of mind, and enlightened understanding. Sum these up very briefly. Those are pretty long explanations. The first one you could just write down common sense. That's essentially what it's talking about. Sound judgment, understanding situations and where they're going, and acting accordingly, exercising common sense. The other is a little broader meaning. And you can see that's pretty all-encompassing, then. All types of knowledge. This would include scientific knowledge, technical knowledge, practical knowledge, different things like that. Not necessarily limited just to wisdom regarding God's Word. Essentially, those who possess this gift would most often be practical people, wise individuals. We probably all have individuals in the church. We've known over the years who just had a real gift of wisdom. If you were faced with a difficulty or trying to make a decision, they're the kind of people you would seek out because you know you're going to get a wise answer from them. And this is something that can benefit the church in a very powerful way. Individuals with wisdom. It's not to exclude the wisdom of God's Word and being able to rightly understand and explain that, but it's just two slightly different things.

Next, we find the word of knowledge. Knowledge is from the Greek noun, gnosis, meaning the power of knowing intelligence or comprehension, or what one knows or what is known, the object of knowledge, general knowledge, doctrine, and science. Again, quite a broad definition here. It could again encompass biblical knowledge, practical knowledge, scientific knowledge, technical knowledge, historical knowledge, as well as the ability to retain that and to use it in explaining things. I really enjoyed Mr. Finickel's Sermonet this morning for that because he took something that happened, the Battle of Waterloo, early part of the 1800s, and taught us a lesson that we can learn about how to be a square Christian from that and the importance of sticking together as a body and being united as one body to be able to fend off the attacks of our spiritual enemies, Satan the Devil. This would be a way of taking historical knowledge and applying it and using it for the edification of the body. Special focus would obviously be on spiritual truths and knowledge, but it doesn't exclude these other types of knowledge as well. In a sense, all of those whom God has called have been given this word of knowledge. We've all been given God's truth, that understanding. This gift enables a person to acquire that knowledge, acquire further knowledge, to retain that knowledge, and most importantly, to utilize that knowledge in their own lives and for the benefit of other people as well.

The Church. Again, as Paul warns in 1 Corinthians 13, the Love chapter, that if we have all knowledge but we don't have love, then we are nothing. So again, all of God's gifts need to be exercised with humility and love for the purpose of edifying the body.

Now let's look at the final category. I'll run through this quite quickly. This is the category of service gifts. Service, titled so, because these are all about serving. The list begins with Administration. This is the Greek noun, kubernesus, translated as governments in the King James and administrations in the New King James. This word, interestingly, means steering or pilotage, such as steering or piloting a ship. Metaphorically, it refers to government or governing. It was used of steering a ship in the right direction here. Administration. This spiritual gift enables the individual with this to provide organization for the church, for the goals of the body.

I would include such things as seeing a need and initiating and developing and implementing a plan to meet that need. I would be able to use the analogy of a helmsman of a ship. These people would be able to plot a course to get you to your destination and to make sure you have what you need to get to that destination and to bring that journey to completion. That's essentially what it means there. These individuals provide clear guidance in projects of the body. They activate the body. They get other parts of the body involved in things. They tend to focus on details more than the big overall picture. They provide, as again we won't turn there, but 1 Corinthians 14 in verse 40, Paul says, let everything be done decently and in order. Those with the gift of administration would be able to do that. These people are usually thorough. They're goal-oriented.

Conscientious. They're very efficient at what they do.

She also mentioned that good speakers are not necessarily good administrators.

Somebody who is good at speaking doesn't mean they're good at everything.

Connie will be sure to tell you that if you want to ask her there.

But the gift of administration is a different gift from gifts of teaching or speaking or prophesying to use the word inspired speaking.

Next we find a gift called leadership. It's from the Greek word finis in Romans 12 in verse 8. From the Greek word proestimi, which means to stand before out in front of somebody. In other words, to lead or attend to it. Somebody who's standing out in front that the connotation is that other individuals would then follow this person.

To lead as Christ intends for us to lead is to do so again with the intention of serving other people.

Let's consider we talked earlier about pastor, meaning a shepherd there. A shepherd, if you know much about shepherding, a shepherd may lead sheep.

A shepherd may walk beside sheep or a shepherd may walk behind the sheep, leading them forward.

But when we think of standing before, which this means that has the meaning of standing out in front so others can follow. Follow that individual, follow what he's doing, follow his example.

That sort of thing there does not mean standing over people, but standing beside them, walking behind them, walking in front of them to lead them in the right direction. And again, the overall goal is to serve those that one leads. You might liken it to use a musical analogy, the conductor of an orchestra. What is his job? His job isn't to sing, he's not the vocalist, he's not the one who plays the piano, he's not the one playing the drums, playing the trumpets, playing the cello, playing the violin. The conductor is the one who brings all of these together, leading everyone to create a beautiful piece of music. There, that is the function of one who is leading, who is to bring everyone together to contribute what God has given them, again, for the benefit of the entirety of the body. Leaders are goal-setters. We talked about administrators earlier. They're the ones who carry out the goal. They're the more focused on the details, but leaders are the goal-setters, the ones who provide direction and motivate others to join in and contribute to the best of their abilities. They present the big picture so that others can see that and join in to that big picture.

But most importantly, they model the values in the life that God wants his people to live, the life and values of a servant, again, someone who is exercising loving leadership. And they also understand the importance of mentoring and training others to be leaders as well for the overall growth of the body. The next one that we find is exhortation from the Greek noun paraclesis, meaning the act of exhortation, encouragement, or comfort.

It literally means a calling to one's side or coming to one's aid there.

This word, incidentally, is the comforter when Christ, last night with his apostles, said he would send the comforter, the word he used is paraclesis, meaning one who comes to assist you, to aid you, to encourage you, to edify you, to help you in that way. Barnabas is an individual we find with this gift. His original name was Joseph, but we find him mentioned most often in Scripture as Barnabas, which means son of encouragement. He's obviously an individual who had this gift of encouraging and edifying other people. This gift supplies the ability to encourage, to comfort, to challenge others toward right action so that they respond and act. It's not just enough to teach the truth, God's word. We need to encourage others to act on that and to grow as part of the body as well. This gift enables people to motivate and support and reassure others. Individuals with this gift are able to communicate truths as well as to motivate others toward applying those truths in practical ways in their lives. Not just to learn about Scripture, but to apply Scripture. Again, that is a point of this sermon series that I'm going through with gifts is to help us learn what they are so that we can apply them for the edification of the body. Those of this gift look toward what people can become and do all they can to help people reach that potential. Whereas a teacher, in contrast, delivers facts, delivers knowledge, those with this gift of exhortation or encouraging encourage others and help them to apply it and to grow thereby. The next gift we find is faith from the Greek noun pistis meaning firm persuasion, conviction, belief in the truth, veracity, or the reality of faithfulness. You might just think here of trying to envision what this means. The faith chapter of Hebrews 11, where we find examples of men and women of great faith and steadfastness here. These individuals, I would say, had this gift of faith that enabled them to accomplish all kinds of great works in God's service here. This gift is a divine enabling to act on God's promises with extraordinary confidence and unwavering belief in God's ability to carry out and fulfill His promises. People with the gift of faith are optimistic, they're positive, they believe in God's promises and inspire others to believe in those promises as well, even when the situation may seem impossible at times. They're willing to carry out His will without question or wavering in the face of trials and obstacles. People with the gift of faith are willing to go forward in faith when others are unwilling, and thus they reassure other people by their example. They're continually looking to God for their needs and trust that He will provide.

Next gift that is given is giving. We find this in Romans 12 and verse 8. It's described in a way that connotes something greater than just the average giving or routine giving. The Greek word translated gives here is metadidimai, which means to share with someone or to impart to give.

In other words, some examples of this from the Bible you might think of are the widow with the two mites whom Jesus Christ complemented for giving all that she had to the temple treasury there.

There was Barnabas who sold land and brought it and gave it to the apostles.

We read about that in Acts 4. This gift allows the giver to give freely, cheerfully, and sacrificially of their money or time or possessions for the sake of God's work and God's church.

These people tend to be disciplined and resourceful. They trust in God to supply their needs. Sometimes you've probably known individuals like this who had a special knack for making money. They were just very, very good at it. Realizing that God is the giver of all things, they would use that wealth that God had given them to help and assist others in many ways. We have individuals like this along the front range, too. I won't go into names because these people generally do this quietly. They do it secretly. Various individuals here. They see their gift of giving and their money and their possessions as tools to serve God and to serve His people. They give liberally and generously. The next gift that is listed is that of helps.

I referred to this briefly earlier. Helps is from the Greek noun, antilepsis, and literally means the receiving of remuneration or payment. It came to mean to render assistance or to help others. An example of this you might think about in Romans 16, 1 and 2, where Paul commends, one of the church members there, I commend to Eufebi, our sister, who is a servant of the church and sin-cray, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints and assist her in whatever business she has need of you. For indeed she has been a helper of many and myself also. This appears to be the kind of gift that Paul is referring to when he lists gifts there as a spiritual gift. This ability enables a person to unselfishly meet the needs of others. They see what needs to be done in assisting others, and they do it. People with this gift are typically unselfish, and they're capable of rejoicing in other people's gifts, and they do what they do behind the scenes. They enjoy helping others, and they see the practical things that need to be done on a daily basis, and they desire to meet those needs. They have a can-do approach. They're reliable, loyal, dependable people, and they are very important to the functioning and the edifying of the church. Next we come to service from the Greek noun, Diakonoe. I slaughtered that one.

Diakonoa. I'm used to another form of the Greek. Diakonoe. It's the root word from what we get, the word deacon, which means a servant. That's all the word means. It means service or attendance as a servant who is attending somebody serving a meal, for instance, something like that.

Or ministry, not ministry in the sense of an elder or minister, but somebody who is just ministering, the word ministry, meaning serving or service to others there.

That's what this is talking about here. Those with this gift of service are a pleasure to behold and be around because they're always doing things to help other people, and their unselfish kindness sets them apart in powerful ways. Jesus Christ himself promoted this form of leadership. That's why we talk about servant leadership in the church a great deal.

This gift represents the supernatural ability or the divine ability to identify unmet needs within the body and beyond, and to use whatever resources are necessary to meet those needs in a practical way. These are typically unselfish individuals who are able to serve joyfully, even without public recognition. We do again in the Front Range churches have a lot of people with this gift.

They see the needs arising, and they do what they can to meet those needs. They are very, very important to the functioning of the church. The last one, finally coming to the end of this, is mercy. Mercy is from the Greek word find it in Romans 12 and verse 8. From the Greek word eleia, which means to feel sympathy with the misery of another, and especially sympathy manifested in act or in action. The recipient of this spiritual gift shows great empathy. It's a very empathetic person, a very compassionate person. Again, we've probably seen individuals like this. They don't judge, they don't condemn, but they have a great deal of empathy for people who are suffering physically, or emotionally, or spiritually. They cheerfully assist those who are in need. People with the gift of mercy kindly address the needs of others, such as the lonelier, those who are forgotten. They willingly bear the burdens of other people.

They endlessly and patiently tend to those who are ill, or sick, or suffering, or feeling unloved.

They can't express love and grace and dignity to those who are facing hardships, or crisis, and they joyfully take the time to do so. That is the last of the spiritual gifts.

We're going to talk about here today. I know I went through these very quickly because, again, a lot of gifts to cover and talk about here. A lot of material. Of course, there is a lot more detail. I could probably spend 10 or 15 minutes on each of these gifts and give different biblical examples. But again, I wanted to give you an overview, a basic understanding of what these are all about. We'll continue with these series next time. I think that will be in two weeks, according to the schedule here, as we grow an understanding of what spiritual gifts are all about.