Ministry of Gifts (33 of 47)
Chris Walls
Romans 12:6-8
Introduction
Today there is a great deal focused on "spiritual gifts." We see it in many churches where there is an over emphasis and a misunderstanding of what Spiritual gifts are for. Romans 12:6-8 deals heavily with the idea of spiritual gifts.
The first thing I think we need to do is define what spiritual gifts are. They are "special endowments of the church by the Holy Spirit, whether unusual abilities, spiritual qualities, or gifted individuals." (CONCISE DICTIONARY OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY Millard Erickson) That is a pretty good technical definition. I like to view them as God given abilities, that when used by individual members of the body of Christ, help the body of Christ be what God wants it to be in this world.
To start, we need to take a look at what Spiritual Gifts are not, according to scripture. The reason for this is that today we have many things that people are parading around as spiritual gifts when they have no biblical foundation for being called those.
They are not:
1) An Exstatic Experience—what people would call today, "being slain in the spirit." Which there is no biblical evidence for that practice in scripture.
2) A Promotion one person above the another—for spiritual gifts to be practice what Paul talked about in verses 3-5 should be understood. That is why we dealt with that last week. To many times today people in the Christian world do things with a "Look at Me!" attitude. They promote self by using God.
3) To make someone boast—
They are:
1) For the edification of the church—they are to help build the whole body of Christ up and prepare the body to be the Bride of Christ.
2) To be used—we talked about that last week. Spiritual gifts are like a musical instrument that is not played. It make look pretty on the shelf, but it is not fulfilling its intended use unless it is being played.
The word for gift in this passage is a unique word. It ...
Chris Walls
Romans 12:6-8
Introduction
Today there is a great deal focused on "spiritual gifts." We see it in many churches where there is an over emphasis and a misunderstanding of what Spiritual gifts are for. Romans 12:6-8 deals heavily with the idea of spiritual gifts.
The first thing I think we need to do is define what spiritual gifts are. They are "special endowments of the church by the Holy Spirit, whether unusual abilities, spiritual qualities, or gifted individuals." (CONCISE DICTIONARY OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY Millard Erickson) That is a pretty good technical definition. I like to view them as God given abilities, that when used by individual members of the body of Christ, help the body of Christ be what God wants it to be in this world.
To start, we need to take a look at what Spiritual Gifts are not, according to scripture. The reason for this is that today we have many things that people are parading around as spiritual gifts when they have no biblical foundation for being called those.
They are not:
1) An Exstatic Experience—what people would call today, "being slain in the spirit." Which there is no biblical evidence for that practice in scripture.
2) A Promotion one person above the another—for spiritual gifts to be practice what Paul talked about in verses 3-5 should be understood. That is why we dealt with that last week. To many times today people in the Christian world do things with a "Look at Me!" attitude. They promote self by using God.
3) To make someone boast—
They are:
1) For the edification of the church—they are to help build the whole body of Christ up and prepare the body to be the Bride of Christ.
2) To be used—we talked about that last week. Spiritual gifts are like a musical instrument that is not played. It make look pretty on the shelf, but it is not fulfilling its intended use unless it is being played.
The word for gift in this passage is a unique word. It ...
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