For a balanced use of gifts
Posted: 15 September, 2011
By Fikayo Adeyemo
Administrator
Administrator
In addition to sundry talents and natural gifts God packaged with
every human being upon conception, Christians are also blessed
with spiritual gifts in various degrees. Unlike the natural gifts which
are bequeathed via the channels of our genetic makeup, spiritual
gifts come via supernatural impartation of the triune God. Thus, the
Christian has at his/her disposal the motivational gifts of God the
Father (Romans 12:6-8), the ministry gifts of God the Son
(Ephesians 4: 7-11) and the manifestation gifts of God the Holy
Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:7-10) These gifts are a necessary addition
to the natural endowment for without them, no one, absolutely no
one, can live the genuine Christian life. (Of course, a mere
morality-based religious church-going existence is possible - but
that is NOT Christianity. Flesh cannot do the work of the spirit!)
Necessity of all gifts
As important as the spiritual gifts are, they do not (and cannot)
replace natural gifts and talents. Each group has its own purposes
and scope, and to neglect one is to fall short of the counsel of God
in the attainment of His purpose for giving us the gift in the first
instance.
In spite of this fact, we see today among Christians especially
charismatics/pentecostals and to a lesser extent, evangelicals, a
tendency to overemphasize the spiritual gifts in general over the
natural gifts, and worse, to even overemphasise the gifts of God
the Holy Spirit over the gifts of God the Father and God the Son.
These things ought not be so. The result is that the neglected gifts
remain unexercised and therefore undeveloped - thereby causing
great havoc of uneven growth as well as loss to individual
Christians and the Church as a whole.
Spiritual immaturity in leaders
Many people who are regarded as leaders of the Church today who
were blessed with one or more gifts of the Holy Spirit very early in
their Christian lives before they attained any level of maturity,
became overdependent on these gifts and never learnt to exercise
their other senses at all to discern between good and evil. Such
ability only comes by reason of USE and it is the way to maturity.
(Hebrews 5: 14) Therefore, these saints remain spiritual babes
despite their spiritual gifts. They have difficulty in handling solid
food and are seldom entrenched in the Word. Consequently, out of
them proceed those who preach various types of heresies (and do
not even realise that anything is amiss), fall to cheap temptations
and still believe that all is well just because they can still minister
under great unction, curse and do all sorts of other things
unbecoming of a Christian.
Short-changed Christian life
Unbalanced use of gifts is also what makes a Christian unable to
live a balanced life in relationship with the environment. Many
nowadays can no longer give a simple jugdement (assessment) if
there is no manifestation of Word of Knowledge or Word of
Wisdom. In such people, not only has the motivational gift of
discernment been suppressed, even natural common sense is
lost. And if someone points out the error, the sanctimonious
answer is "God has not spoken". Is it not a further evidence of
spiritual babyhood to imagine that God only speaks through a
single channel? This is a very dangerous position to be in. Even
when God speaks via the your favourite channel, you have to be "in
the spirit" to catch the revelation. And with all the great distractions
of the world, who is that Christian that can claim that he/she is
always 100% in the Spirit? To depend only on certain spiritual gifts
is to put your life in hibernation mode whenever you happen not to
be in the Spirit. Such is neither wise nor designed by God.
The example of David
David was an example of a well-rounded operator of the gifts of
God. Right from his youth, he used all gifts at his disposal -
musical talent, physical beauty, physical strength, oratory,
discernment, ministry gift of a shepherd and sundry manifestation
gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially prophecy, word of knowledge and
word of wisdom. He did not permit himself to become
overdependent on any single one. He employed each as the
occasion demanded. For example in the case between Ziba and
Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 19: 24-29) David did not have a
specific word from God about the truth of the situation - and he did
not allow this to hinder him. (Even Mephibosheth was expecting
the decision of David to be based on a word of knowledge - see
verse 27). David promptly settled the matter by utilising the other
gift of God that was available at the moment, natural wisdom, and
shared the property between them.
Similarly in the case of Saul falling into his hands on two different
occasions, David did not lament his lack of fresh word from the
Lord as to what to do with Saul. He simply relied on the written
Word, which is God's gift to mankind and profitable to all who
believe, "thou shall not touch the anointed of the Lord...", and that
settled the matter.
Brethren in the Lord, let us all learn and do likewise.
every human being upon conception, Christians are also blessed
with spiritual gifts in various degrees. Unlike the natural gifts which
are bequeathed via the channels of our genetic makeup, spiritual
gifts come via supernatural impartation of the triune God. Thus, the
Christian has at his/her disposal the motivational gifts of God the
Father (Romans 12:6-8), the ministry gifts of God the Son
(Ephesians 4: 7-11) and the manifestation gifts of God the Holy
Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:7-10) These gifts are a necessary addition
to the natural endowment for without them, no one, absolutely no
one, can live the genuine Christian life. (Of course, a mere
morality-based religious church-going existence is possible - but
that is NOT Christianity. Flesh cannot do the work of the spirit!)
Necessity of all gifts
As important as the spiritual gifts are, they do not (and cannot)
replace natural gifts and talents. Each group has its own purposes
and scope, and to neglect one is to fall short of the counsel of God
in the attainment of His purpose for giving us the gift in the first
instance.
In spite of this fact, we see today among Christians especially
charismatics/pentecostals and to a lesser extent, evangelicals, a
tendency to overemphasize the spiritual gifts in general over the
natural gifts, and worse, to even overemphasise the gifts of God
the Holy Spirit over the gifts of God the Father and God the Son.
These things ought not be so. The result is that the neglected gifts
remain unexercised and therefore undeveloped - thereby causing
great havoc of uneven growth as well as loss to individual
Christians and the Church as a whole.
Spiritual immaturity in leaders
Many people who are regarded as leaders of the Church today who
were blessed with one or more gifts of the Holy Spirit very early in
their Christian lives before they attained any level of maturity,
became overdependent on these gifts and never learnt to exercise
their other senses at all to discern between good and evil. Such
ability only comes by reason of USE and it is the way to maturity.
(Hebrews 5: 14) Therefore, these saints remain spiritual babes
despite their spiritual gifts. They have difficulty in handling solid
food and are seldom entrenched in the Word. Consequently, out of
them proceed those who preach various types of heresies (and do
not even realise that anything is amiss), fall to cheap temptations
and still believe that all is well just because they can still minister
under great unction, curse and do all sorts of other things
unbecoming of a Christian.
Short-changed Christian life
Unbalanced use of gifts is also what makes a Christian unable to
live a balanced life in relationship with the environment. Many
nowadays can no longer give a simple jugdement (assessment) if
there is no manifestation of Word of Knowledge or Word of
Wisdom. In such people, not only has the motivational gift of
discernment been suppressed, even natural common sense is
lost. And if someone points out the error, the sanctimonious
answer is "God has not spoken". Is it not a further evidence of
spiritual babyhood to imagine that God only speaks through a
single channel? This is a very dangerous position to be in. Even
when God speaks via the your favourite channel, you have to be "in
the spirit" to catch the revelation. And with all the great distractions
of the world, who is that Christian that can claim that he/she is
always 100% in the Spirit? To depend only on certain spiritual gifts
is to put your life in hibernation mode whenever you happen not to
be in the Spirit. Such is neither wise nor designed by God.
The example of David
David was an example of a well-rounded operator of the gifts of
God. Right from his youth, he used all gifts at his disposal -
musical talent, physical beauty, physical strength, oratory,
discernment, ministry gift of a shepherd and sundry manifestation
gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially prophecy, word of knowledge and
word of wisdom. He did not permit himself to become
overdependent on any single one. He employed each as the
occasion demanded. For example in the case between Ziba and
Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 19: 24-29) David did not have a
specific word from God about the truth of the situation - and he did
not allow this to hinder him. (Even Mephibosheth was expecting
the decision of David to be based on a word of knowledge - see
verse 27). David promptly settled the matter by utilising the other
gift of God that was available at the moment, natural wisdom, and
shared the property between them.
Similarly in the case of Saul falling into his hands on two different
occasions, David did not lament his lack of fresh word from the
Lord as to what to do with Saul. He simply relied on the written
Word, which is God's gift to mankind and profitable to all who
believe, "thou shall not touch the anointed of the Lord...", and that
settled the matter.
Brethren in the Lord, let us all learn and do likewise.
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| Hey! Jesus calls you, NOW! Have you ever accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour? We were all born with the sinful nature of Adam which God cannot fellowship with. The Good News is that God therefore gave Jesus to us to redeem the situation. It is only by receiving this provision of God that you can have spiritual salvation and enjoy eternity in heaven with God. I implore you to allow Jesus into your life now. Yield yourself to Him. Stop the struggle and religious debates. While he who is spiritually saved will enter into the Kingdom of God (which is commonly seen as the Christian faith), this is not a call to the Christian “religion”, but a call to the salvation of your soul. For no religion can save – not even Christianity as a religion. So, being born into a Christian family or going to church or mosque, or trying to live a devout life will not save you. Whatever your religion, whatever moral standing you have, you must repent of your sins and personally receive Jesus into your life. So, now, Jesus is calling you one more time. What shall your response be? |
