SPIRITUAL GIFTS - IV

Various Passages
February 11, 1996
Bob Bonner

During the late spring through the early fall, in Phoenix, Arizona, the temperatures are usually 100 degrees and above. When we lived there, there was one chore I never looked forward during those months. I didn't look forward to mowing the lawn. 

For a while, our entire front yard and backyard was lawn. But it wasn't your typical lawn that you had to mow once a week. But rather, in Phoenix, some lawns are "Tiff" lawns, the type you find most on putting greens, and they require a great deal of maintenance. You must fertilize them sometimes twice a month and mow them once every four to five days or they can develop a fungus that will kill them. Mowing a yard in 110 degree heat is hard work to stay the least.

It didn't take me long to figure out a way to lessen the work load. I did it by cutting down the size of the yard by re-landscaping it. One major part of that re-landscaping was to put down gravel or rock over one third of the yard. No sooner had the truck come and dumped three yards of gravel on our drive way then, our second of only two children that we had at the time, our three year old buddy, Clark was out there climbing his newly discovered mountain and throwing rocks at the cars passing by on the street.

Out of sheer desperation, I thought I would try to re-channel his energies and see if he would like to help ol' dad move the rock, instead of casting it all over the yard and unsuspecting neighbors happening by in their cars. So I said, "Clark, do you want to help dad?" "Sure", he answered. So I said, "Go get your little flat shovel." And he proceeded to just stand there looking kind of puzzled. So I asked him, "What's the matter?" And he responded, "What's a flat shovel?" So I had to show him what a flat shovel was. Then with great enthusiasm, he began to fling rocks everywhere except into the wheel barrow that I had conveniently parked right beside him. So I had to keep my cool and show him how to use the shovel and teach him what our objective was, to fill up the wheel barrow and then move the rock to our preferred location. As soon as he understood all that, he was a big help and we had a lot of fun working together.

Knowing what a tool is, what it is for and how to use it is always necessary if one is going to get a job done and get it done well. The same thing is true with spiritual gifts. If we are going to build up the body of Christ and reach people in our community for Christ, we need to first, understand what our gifts are and secondly how to use them. Otherwise, we could be wasting our time and energies.

Last week we looked at Ephesians 4:11-12 at the four multi-gifted men of God. Men, who have been called by God to use a variety of gifts for building up the body of Christ. They were the apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastor-teachers. Today, we want to begin looking at the individual spiritual gifts as they are spelled out in scripture.

There are somewhere between 14 and 18 different spiritual gifts. And I say somewhere in that range, because some scholars choose to group three of these gifts with other gifts and some don't. Others see a couple of the listed gifts as the same gift and list them that way. The way I presently understand the gifts, the number of different spiritual gifts comes out to be 16 different gifts. And I say "presently understand them" because I am still learning much about the different spiritual gifts and some of the nuances that help us better understand these gifts and erase some false preconceptions about these gifts. 

No matter how many gifts you think there are, whether 14, 15, 16, 17, or 18, they fall nicely into three different categories. If you look in your Bibles in 1 Peter 4:10-11, Peter identifies two of those categories. He says, "As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God; whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."

Here Peter tells us that there are certain "speaking gifts" and "serving gifts." In 1 Corinthians 14:22, the apostle Paul calls the gift of tongues a "sign gift." And in Hebrews 2:4, the writer refers to the miracles and wonders and signs in the same breath as gifts of the Holy Spirit. Hence, for the lack of a better title that begins with the letter "S", I am labeling this third group as the "sign gifts" group. And in that group, I place the gift of tongues, interpretation of tongues, healings and miracles.

Hence, under this system, I understand there to be 5 speaking gifts, 7 serving gifts and 4 sign gifts, making a total of 16 different spiritual gifts.

Before we begin our study of these gifts, we need to be aware that some of these gifts have very little written about them in the scriptures. In fact, in those cases, we can do little more than make an intelligent guess as to what these gifts actually do. Obviously, then we must be careful not to become too dogmatic about what we teaches concerning some of these spiritual gifts. On the other hand, there are a great many truths concerning other spiritual gifts about which one can have no doubt. 

This morning, we are going to look at the first group of gifts, speaking gifts. To begin with, we will look at the gift of prophecy and see how it differs from the gifted man the prophet, whom we saw last week. We want to look at what the gift of prophecy is not, and what it is. 

First, what the gift of prophecy is not. Let me begin by saying there may be some godly men and women who do not see this as I do. But what I am teaching here is what I understand thus far that the scriptures to say and demonstrate.

I believe there is a misconception held by some today that concerns this gift of prophecy. Some believe that the gift of prophecy is the ability to declare the burden of the Lord, to literally speak in the Lord’s place like the prophets of the Old Testament, Isaiah, Habbakuk, Nahum, etc. In the Old Testament, these prophets would literally declare a word from God that would be a fresh new promise, or a word of warning or something about judgment. What the prophets of old would say was held on equal par with what the written word of God declares. Often times, the Old Testament prophets would begin their declaration with the statement "Thus saith the Lord" and it would then be followed up by some attesting miracle to prove that this was of the Lord.

There are some Christians today who believe that there are still men and women who are prophets and that they literally speak for the Lord on an equal level with what the written word of God says. I don't see the New Testament prophets as being the same as the Old Testaments prophets. The major reason I don't is that the New Testaments prophets, when they spoke a literal word of God, it was accompanied with some undeniable sign from the Lord. I don't see that happening anywhere in the world today that can be verified. I have heard of accounts where there was suppose to be an attesting miracle that went along with the prophecy, but when researched, the attesting miracle either never happened and was a rumor, or it was bogus. That is not to say this has never happen. It is just to say that I personally know of no such verifiable account.

Second, when it came to New Testament prophecies concerning the church, I am personally convinced that everything that God wants the church to know can be found in His word. Again, if it were not, He would make sure that if He were going to add something specific for the local church to know, he would verify it unmistakably by a miracle that no one could brush aside.

So, what is then, the gift of prophecy, as the New Testament teaches us?

To answer that, we must turn to the definition of the word for "prophecy" or "prophet." The word for "prophecy" is literally the word "prophemi," which means to speak before or to publicly proclaim something, and in this case the proclamation of the truth about God.

This speaking publicly had two aspects originally. One was to forth-tell = to preach and the other, less stressed connotation was to foretell = to predict the major events and happenings that affected the church. 

When it came to foretelling future events, the New Testament prophets foretold events that affected the overall church or something very important to the overall church. The prophet did not foretell something as mundane as if you were going to get a job, or fired from one, or when you would get married or if you would. The predictions dealt with the church alone, like the famine that the prophet Agabus predicted in Acts 11 which was going to hit Israel.

That is not to say that God wouldn't send an angel to convince an individual of something that was to happen; like He sent to Paul, in Acts 27, to assure Paul that he would make it alive to Rome, despite the shipwreck that was about to happen. But that word from the angel is not the same as the gift of prophecy.

Rather than stating this dogmatically, I would rather put it this way. I personally don't believe this aspect of prophecy, the foretelling of the future is in use today for two reasons: One, is because all that is needed to tell us about the future of the church is declared for us in the completed New Testament. The scriptures were not something the first century New Testament church possessed. They did not possess the information they needed about how to establish the church or what to expect in the future as it pertained to the church; so rightfully so, this aspect of prophecy, foretelling of the future was needed then. 

Secondly, I don't believe the foretelling aspect of the gift of prophecy is in effect because I don't know of anyone who can show me indisputable miracles or signs and wonders or a perfect indisputable batting average in foretelling the future so as to authenticate the genuineness of their prophecies.

So, then, what is the New Testament gift of prophecy and how is it used? Do we have any examples or descriptions of it in the New Testament? Yes, we have some descriptions of it. The New Testament description of the use of prophecy show us that the gift of prophecy deals with the forth telling or the preaching of the word of God. Turn with me in you Bibles to 1 Corinthians 14:3. This is the best description as to the purpose and function of this gift that we have in scripture. The context of the previous two chapters and the context following this verse is the subject of the New Testament spiritual gifts, including prophecy. Paul writes, "But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation."

The gift of prophecy is to publicly proclaim the word of God so as to edify, exhort and to console the body of Christ. This description of the gift of prophecy describes very accurately what we know of today, as the practice of preaching. 

According to this verse, there are three ingredients listed here in preaching or prophesying. Sometimes when the gift is in use all three aspects are felt. First, the gift of prophecy is used to edify; which simply means to build up a believer. Here, it is in reference to teaching the word of God, or doctrine so that the believers become better acquainted with God and their walk with Him, and their responsibilities. 

The second aspect is that of exhortation, which is nothing more than challenging believers to do what God has called them to do. This challenge may come in the form of a reminder, or a warning, or simply, a word of encouragement. 

The third aspect of preaching is the consoling of the grief and guilt ridden, the comforting and the encouraging of those believers who have had their backs up against the wall as a direct result of faithfully following God. 

This gift of prophecy, as we said last week, is one which marks one as being a pastor-teacher. He is not just a teacher who imparts facts or doctrine, but he uses the word of God to manage and direct the body of Christ.

There is one other point that should be made concerning the gift of prophecy. It comes in the form of a warning from scripture. Look with me at 1 Corinthians 14:37-38. Paul says, "If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord's commandments. But if any one does not recognize this, he is not recognized."

The warning should be obvious: Paul is saying that we should test whatever a prophet or preacher says against the writings of Paul or the written word of God. It's possible that one with the gift of prophecy can mistakenly or on purpose teach error rather than truth. Hence, when you come to church or go to a Bible study, or listen to a preacher on the radio or TV, don't turn off your brain. Don't leave it at home, but think about what the preacher is saying and discern, on the basis of the word of God, if what he is saying, is true. You are the only one who will be held responsible for what you believe. If other teach error, they will be held responsible for that. If you accept their error, you will be held responsible for that.

In Romans 12:6, Paul adds one more insight into this gift of prophecy. He says, "If a person prophecies, then let it be according to the proportion of his faith;" And by "faith", he does not mean "his ability to believe" but rather, he should only preach on that which he has studied and knows to be true about "the faith" or the "doctrine of God."

To summarize, then: The gift of prophecy is the supernatural spiritual ability to publicly proclaim the word of God so as to exhort, edify and console the body of Christ. The stress here is on the public proclamation, the standing up before people to speak forth the word of God.

The next speaking gift we want to look at is the "word of knowledge" mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:8. This is one of those gifts that the scriptures say nothing about, except to give us its name. We have no examples of where this gift, by name, has been used or someone who was declared to have this gift, exercised it. Therefore, as you can imagine, not everyone agrees with exactly what this gift is. There have been a couple of different explanations offered up as to what this gift is and how it functions, and then there are some that have no way of being substantiated at all and are pretty far-fetched.

For me, the best way that I can approach understanding what something is with the little information we are given, is to study the words used which describe this gift. After one studies the words that describe this gift, then you can make an intelligent guess as to what it may refer to.

The literal words in Greek for the "word of knowledge" are "logos gnosis." We can learn a lot about this gift from these words. In fact, I believe there is enough information in the understanding of these two words that one can accurately discern what this gift really was and how this gift functions.

First of all, the word "logos" is the term most often translated in our New Testament as "word". Probably the best known passage in which this term is used in the New Testament is John 1:1, which says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." This term "logos" has many other translations, but the overall word refers to something that has reasoning or thoughtful order, or organized ideas behind it. That's why it is translated in Matthew 5:32 as "cause". You might remember Jesus, in talking about divorce in His "Sermon on the Mount," said, "but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the cause of unchastity, makes her commit adultery;" There, the term "logos" refers reasoning that would lead one to make a decision.

In other words, the word "logos" does not just refer to a "word" which is made up of a group of letters, but it refers to something that is made up of some "reasoning process”, "logical order of thought”, "organized ideas,” “systematized concepts”.

The second term used in the title of this gift is the word "gnosis" which translated means "knowledge". This is a term that refers to knowledge that is learned through study. It is information gained through experience and research. It was understanding acquired from the gathering of some data or facts.

Hence, when you put together this idea of knowledge that is learned with the idea of "logos" or organized reasoning, I believe this gift refers to a supernatural talent which enables an individual to investigate and gather facts about God, His creation, His nature, and how God functions, and then to systematize them in such a way for others to better understand God. This gifted person is invaluable to somebody who has the gift of teaching or evangelism or exhortation, because the person with the gift of knowledge gives these other gifted teachers their ammunition with which to use their gifts.

This gift is usually seen in operation in Bible Colleges or seminaries, or in literature when one writes on the various topics of theology. What's interesting about this gifted person is that just because they are able to gather and package in an understandable way the many facets of theology, it doesn't necessarily mean that they are good teachers or communicators of that knowledge or that they can show why it is so important for us to understand. 

If you have been in a seminary or Bible College, and listened to some of the professors who have the gift of knowledge try to pass on or teach deep theology and its personal application, then you aware of what I mean when I say that just because an individual has the gift of knowledge it does not mean that he has the gift of teaching.

There is one other insight I might add to the understanding of this gift. Before the scriptures were complete, it is quite possible that in earlier uses of this gift, that it had a revelatory aspect. In other words, those who had this gift could communicate truth that had not been known up until that time, but had been given to this gifted person directly by the spirit of God. This truth would be later written down in the scriptures.

The reason I come to that conclusion is that according to Ephesians 3:2-5, Paul uses two words whose root meaning is the same as that from which we get the word for "knowledge." or gathered information. It reads, "if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you; that by revelation [in other words, by God's reveling information about Himself and His plans for the church etc] there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. And by referring to this, when you read [like when reading the scriptures] you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;". The words "made known", which is used twice and the word "readings" are the two words I am referring to. Here, the gift of knowledge was the ability to get directly from God information about the mystery or the workings of God for the overall church.

At this point, I would like to make a point of clarification. I personally do not believe that this aspect of the gift of knowledge includes a practice that is in operation today in some fellowships. Right up front, I tell you that I could be wrong here, but from what I understand of the scriptures thus far, I don't think so. If you disagree, that's okay...let's agree to disagree. 

Some people understand that the gift of knowledge to be the ability to gain some specific information or a word from God as to whether or not a church should put on a program or purchase a piece of property or go in a certain direction of ministry, or a specific word of counsel for a person's specific problem. I don't accept that explanation for several reasons. One is that I do not see in scripture where anything fitting that description is mentioned or in any way hinted at being related to the gift of knowledge. 

Here in Ephesians, if Paul is using an example of the gift of knowledge, he limits the spirit giving information to the "mystery of Christ" which is a very specific expression that refers to what Christ accomplished for the believer by His death, burial and resurrection.

In addition, when a person in the scriptures did hear from God about a person's specific need or gave specific direction as to where one should go or something they should do, this information always involved either the gifted man, the apostle or prophet, and would have fit under the qualification of the miraculous.

Furthermore, it has been my observation that when God does want a local church to move in a particular direction by faith, he doesn't just give one person a vision, but rather excites several people with the same or similar idea and then those ideas are confirmed by other godly persons. 

Too often preachers, claiming that they had a special message from God or a vision from God try to take a church in a particular direction or sometimes manipulate another person's life. But because they never had a message from God or because their vision wasn't confirmed by any other local godly people, they led those churches or persons into disaster.

However, having said that. I do believe and have often seen God place an idea or give one or two different persons the same instruction for another person; or I have witnessed God give two different people a common vision for a particular ministry, but those situations are always confirmed by otherwise Godly people. God definitely works that way, but I don't understand that to be the exercising of the gift of knowledge.

As other gifts, this is something that the individual is known for and exercises not just once, but over and over again. Hence, as best as I can ascertain from the study of the words that describe this gift of knowledge, today, it refers to the supernatural talent which enables an individual to investigate and gather facts about God, His creation, His nature, and how God functions, and then to systematize them in such a way for others to better understand God.

The third speaking gift that we want to look at is that of the gift of the "word of wisdom" which is also mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:8. The word here for wisdom, "sophias" is used different ways in the New Testament.

The primary meaning and usage of this word wisdom is its reference to taking knowledge or understanding and to use it to one's advantage. It could be used to refer to a young hoodlum in the world today who knows the laws of the streets and how to survive in the ghettos. He may be called "street wise."

But in the Old Testament and the New Testament, wisdom refers to the ability to understand, apply and obey the truth about God's will, His principles and His commands to one’s daily life. 

Since the predominant usage of the word for wisdom in the New Testament is the "understanding of God's will", it enables us to better understand what the gift of the word of wisdom must refer to. The gift of wisdom could be defined as follows: It is the supernatural spiritual ability to skillfully apply biblical truth to specific situations. 

The person with the gift of knowledge may know the facts and be able to systematize them. But the one with the gift of wisdom has the unnatural ability to take those facts and see how they apply to specific situations and to give wisdom and directions as to how one ought to precede. 

I have witnessed this gift in operation numerous times on church boards. A problem typically arises, emotions may be high, a sense of urgency is felt and a group of men are just about to decide on a particular direction, when someone with the gift of wisdom brings the discussion to a screeching halt. He says, "Wait a minute! How does what we are about to do jive with what the scripture says?" And then proceeds to read a verse. Now, it’s not that those men weren't fully aware of that verse or wouldn't have wanted to obey it, but for some strange reason, nobody else thought about how that verse applied to that particular situation.

We have an individual sitting on our board right now who I believe has that gift and is beginning to use it. Thank God, too, because we have been saved several mistakes because of it.

There are two things that are important for the possessor of this gift to understand in order to use it to its fullest potential.

   1.) He must be familiar with the word of God. 

First and foremost, he or she must be familiar with the word of God, since that is the basis of all wisdom. The more familiar one is with the word of God, the more effective one can be with the gift of wisdom. If you sense that you have the gift of wisdom and others who know you well and have watched you exercise that gift over time, then you should make it even more of a priority of your life to become a student of the scriptures.

   2.) Requires a close communion with God.

Secondly, this gift requires that the one who possesses it be in close communion with God. He must be sensitive to the heart of God, in order to see how his word applies in specific situations.

The fourth speaking gift with which most are familiar is that of teaching. In Romans 12:7, it reads, "or he who teaches, in his teaching;" or more literally rendered, "teaching in the teaching." In other words, the one with this gift is to teach the "teachings" or the word of God.

The idea behind the root word for teaching is to teach systematically with a goal in mind. For instance, a choir director trains a group of people concerning each of their parts, over a long period of time for the purpose that they might perform. A teacher of the word of God will impart truth in such a way as to reach a specific goal or application to life.

To define the gift, I would put it this way: Teaching is the supernatural spiritual ability to impart truth from the word of God in a systematic way, so as to reach a goal

A teacher is different than a prophet in three ways: 

He does not have to stand up before a group of people, publicly to teach or use this gift. He can do so one-on-one, or even through a book.

1.) He does not have to stand up before a group of people publicly to teach or use this gift. He can do so one-on-one, or even through a book.

2.) A teacher does not do much exhorting or consoling, but a prophet does.

3.) When a prophet speaks, it's usually a one-way conversation, where as a teacher is involved in a dialogue.

The last of the speaking gifts is the gift of exhortation. Some people call it the gift of encouragement. The word for exhortation comes from the word to "call along-side", like a tug boat comes along side to aid in guiding a vessel into port or out to sea. It's the idea of giving someone some help and direction or a lift.

In Romans 12:8, Paul tells us that the one with this gift is to "exhort on the exhortation" or in other words, the tool with which he exhorts is the scriptures.

To define it, I would say that the gift of exhortation is: The supernatural spiritual ability to challenge and encourage individuals from the word of God. 

This gift is different from teaching, which usually is aimed at one's head, or thinking processes. This gift is directed more at one's heart or emotions or conscience. I like what Martin Luther had to say about the difference between these two words. He wrote, "Teaching is directed to the ignorant, exhortation to those who know better."

Although the gift of prophecy includes exhortation, the gift of exhortation does not necessarily have to be used publicly before a crowd. The gift of exhortation also works well in the area of counseling.

By now you can see that there is some overlap concerning these gifts, but each of these five speaking gifts has an area of emphasis. For instance:

Prophecy     PROCLAIMS the truth  
Knowledge   CLARIFIES the truth  
Wisdom      APPLIES the truth  
Teaching     IMPARTS the truth  
Exhortation   DEMANDS that the truth BE OBEYED.

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