Use gifts without imitating gifts

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. (1 Corinthians 12:1–11)

A college course and seminar material shared with me from my sister have taught me that spiritual gifts come in three categories: motivational, manifesting, and ministry, based on the three NT passages that mention them. While some lump the gifts listed in those passages, I’ve found this three-fold distinction very helpful.

The gifts in the above passage are called manifestation gifts. The Spirit gives them to God's people on various occasions. They are not permanent but for the need of the moment. That is, some one who demonstrates them this week may not do the same thing next week.

The reasoning behind that could be related to the old nature’s tendency to take a skill and make it a trademark. That is, if I was involved in working a miracle, I might want to become “a miracle worker” for the rest of my life. This is the same with healing and speaking in tongues and others of this list of gifts. They are for “common good” yet easily grasped and even imitated by the flesh. (Read Watchman Nee’s book, “The Latent Power of the Soul”)

I remember blurting out advice on how to sleep well to a medical student. Saying what I said was a shock to me, and he could have been angry or retaliated, but he was not. The Spirit gave those words that hit a hot button, yet he was glad. That was a “word of wisdom” completely a surprise, yet obviously not from me and not a usual way I would talk. Besides, most of the time, wise words are not my forte.

Speaking in tongues is another example. The Bible says they are given only with an interpreter. It is not given to be a requirement for salvation as some claim. If this gift or any other gift does not make people more like Jesus, then it is a flesh imitation.

Lord, I’m cautious to write this, yet do realize that our old nature has the ability to look good, even seemingly do good, yet what does not come from faith is sin. True goodness comes only from You and glorifies You. Anything else is ego-serving and only looks good to us. No wonder You sweat blood as You felt the weight of our sin. Yet the gifts of the Spirit are necessary. In many ways we cannot bless others without them.
 

Guilty of idolatry?

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters. . . . (or) indulge in sexual immorality. . . . (or) put Christ to the test. . . . nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed. . . . Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. (1 Corinthians 10:1–15)

Even as I try to purge our home of unneeded items, it is not easy. However, yesterday our son said that after we are gone, it will take him two days to empty the house. At first I was shocked to think my stuff might wind up in the dump, but this remark is helping me. I can give things to family, friends and needy people before I go to be with Jesus. But I cannot take them with me.
That thought actually helps with the purging, but it also makes me wonder if some of my beloved stuff could be called idols. While I do not worship them as gods, they are far more important to me than to easily give them away.

God's OT people were guilty of making their desires and activities more important than obeying God. Idolatry as God sees it is not merely putting a statue on a shelf. It can also be a deep unwillingness to let go of anything, and to make them treasures instead of gifts from God that He entrusts to my stewardship.

Lord, as I get older, that stewardship needs to be honored and I must gladly yield those gifts to You . You may lend them to someone else as You decide. Most of them may not last long and none of them will enter eternity. Emotionally, this is a challenge, but give me total victory over the temptation to make stuff more important than it is.

Covetousness — a capital sin…

Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.” (Acts 8:14–24)

Wanting what other people have is covetousness. God bestows gifts as He wills, and my part is to be content with the gift and obedient when given opportunities to use it, not to want what others have.

Simon was so taken with the spiritual abilities of the apostles that he wanted the same thing too, but he had the wrong idea in thinking he had to pay for it or do something to get it. A gift is a gift, not a purchase. In the case of spiritual gifts, they are part of what motivates Christians and draws us to various ministries:

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12:3–8)

These gifts are to be used in the power of the Holy Spirit. That means that no matter what this Simon character wanted or why, it had to be Spirit-motivated and Spirit-driven. And the Spirit was given by God, even though He used these apostles as part of the giving process. They needed to be Spirit-filled to do it, led by God even when to do it. To think that money had anything to do being filled with the Spirit was a grave misunderstanding that completely ignored all that Jesus and His disciples taught and were doing.

It still happens. AI gives a similar example to what Simon did: “In many local congregations, a wealthy individual attempts to use their financial leverage to dictate church policy, hiring decisions, or theological direction. This dynamic is often referred to by church consultants as "wealth-based governance" or the "major donor trap.” Simon was blind to the truth of how God works. 

Prideful greed can be very destructive, along with coveting what others have but I don’t have. If envy is in my heart, or I am not thankful for what I have, or if I gossip and am unkind toward those who have what I want, and I am upset with God for not giving it to me, I’m guilty and even measuring personal worth by what I don’t have rather than what Christ has done for me. 

Jesus, I am so thankful that You gave me a mother who set me a wonderful example of how to be contented. Even though I’ve had times of wanting what others have, You so always remind me that having You is enough.

 

One who is greater…

In early life, I painted wildlife and often looked at the work of Robert Bateman or other artists, not to imitate them but to realize that I was not a hotshot in the world of art. Now I do the same with quilts by looking at websites with show winners so I will not get swell-headed with pride about my own work. There is always someone who excels in any endeavor to keep others from thinking they are at the top rung.

This morning, John Piper points to Charles Haddon Spurgeon who preached as a Baptist pastor in London from 1854 until 1891. This is thirty-eight years of ministry in one place. His collected sermons fill sixty-three volumes equivalent to the twenty-seven-volume ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica and stand as the largest set of books by a single author in the history of Christianity. He read six serious books a week and could remember what was in them and where. He read Pilgrim’s Progress more than one hundred times.

Spurgeon added 14,460 people to his church membership and did almost all the membership interviews himself. He could look out on a congregation of 5,000 and name the members. He founded a pastors’ college and trained almost 900 men.

This man once said he had counted as many as eight sets of thoughts that passed through his mind at the same time while he was preaching and even prayed for his people during the very sermon he was offering to them. He used a small sheet of notes that he had written the night before and more than twenty-five thousand copies of his sermons were sold each week in twenty languages. Someone was converted every week through these written sermons.

His two sons became pastors. He founded an orphanage, edited a magazine, produced more than 140 books, responded to 500 letters a week, and often preached ten times a week in various churches as well as his own.

But he also suffered from gout, rheumatism, and Bright’s disease. For the last twenty years of his ministry he was so sick that he missed a third of the Sundays at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. He could have written this verse:

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (1 Corinthians 15:10)

He was a politically liberal, conservative Calvinistic Baptist who smoked cigars, spoke his mind, believed in hell, and wept over the perishing. Tens of thousands were saved through his soul-winning passion. He relied on God with great faith and said,“One thing is past all question; we shall bring our Lord most glory if we get from Him much grace.”

As with artists and those skilled in astonishing ways, I’m not to worship him or envy him or anyone else — because all achievers are too small for worship and too big to be envied or imitated. If I worship such achievers, I am an idolater. If I envy them, I am foolish. Such responses are sinful because all skill is given so I will marvel at the wonder of God who created all of us and can use us as He pleases.

Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding. (2 Corinthians 10:12)

PRAY: Lord, how delightful to spend a few days with people who exalt others without envy and who build up those who struggle to ‘do better’ and who need encouragement. I wonder if Spurgeon had prayer warriors in his shadow that will never be known by name yet someday will face the God who is greater, yet very likely will say, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.”

Thankfulness?

Today I have the privilege of delivering an answer to prayer. A refugee we know was a tailor in his home country, but his lack of English skills prevent him from employment here. Instead, he is sewing garments for those who cannot find or afford the styles they want to wear. He needed a new machine and God directed me to a friend who gave him the exact model he hoped for. It required an accessory which has also been gifted to him and I am delighted to deliver it.

This man is thankful, not only to the donor that made this possible, but to the good and sovereign God that he worships. Being thankful is an important virtue. Those who are not grateful stand on a slippery slope easily sliding into sinful idolatry. Yet those who give thanks also need to remember the One who is the source of all goodness and give thanks.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1:17)

Jonathan Edwards said this about gratitude: “True gratitude or thankfulness to God for his kindness to us, arises from a foundation laid before, of love to God for what he is in himself; whereas a natural gratitude has no such antecedent foundation. The gracious stirrings of grateful affection to God, for kindness received, always are from a stock of love already in the heart, established in the first place on other grounds, viz. God’s own excellency.”

Piper explains that God is pleased when our first delight is the beauty and excellency of God’s character, not merely in the delight of His benefits. This is a subtle thing, yet I am aware how easily I can miss it and make the gift my focus rather than the Giver.

If I gave a gift to someone and they thanked me often for it but had no regard for me, I would feel insulted or at least disappointed — no matter how much that person said thanks. If my character or generosity did not give that person joy in being with me, I might feel used, as if I didn’t matter and was just a delivery person. 

I know the difference. God wants to be the foundation of my gratitude. This can happen only because of the Holy Spirit and the new life I have in Christ. Otherwise, offering thanksgiving is just an emotion that happens totally apart from loving the Giver. True gratitude thinks of the goodness of God — yet does not leave out joy in His gifts.

When we delivered that sewing machine, I remarked on the goodness of God. Then the man who received it said, “God is good all the time.” When we visited his home last week, one of his adult sons said the same thing. “God is good all the time.” Their example illustrates the point: delight in God is true gratitude.

PRAY: Jesus, I thank You for this family whose hearts are so filled with love for You that they would give thanks even if their dad had to keep using his beat-up old machine without getting this new model that You so graciously supplied. This is a good example that models worship of You and contentment, rather than relying on Your blessings to urge thankfulness. You truly are good — all the time. It is also true that You are not glorified if the foundation of my gratitude is the worth of Your gifts and not the excellency of You, the One who gives all good things. Amen.