MISCONCEPTIONS WE DONT KNOW

It’s a scary topic with Baptists, who haven’t seen this sort of thing. It makes us feel inadequate or uncomfortable. Some theologians even claim that the spiritual gifts are dead, but how do you then interpret the Pentecostals?
Pentecostalism arose in an Azusa Street Revival in 1956, right in this area. They’re the most active in missions abroad.
Francis Chan wrote a book about our neglect of God the Holy Spirit. We need to take these gifts seriously.
Background of Spiritual Gifts
Read Psalm 68:18. This describes how a victorious army would give gifts back to the king after returning victorious. The purpose was that then, the king would give these gifts back to the people. This is the basis of spiritual gifts. It’s with full knowledge that Christ has won the war. As he ascends, he gives gifts to the church.
What is the nature of these gifts? This list is a little different from the one in 1 Corinthians, since this one leaves out apostleship. Perhaps this was because there weren’t any apostles in Rome, and Paul knew that.
Ephesians 4:11 gives another list: pastors, apostles, evangelists, pastors, teachers.
When Christ was here, he had all of these abilities: He could administrate, preach, heal, care for, give generously, and lead others to faith. He exercised all of these abilities while he was here, and when he left, he gave these gifts to men, and the church in a universal sense. Every single Christian has at least one gift given to them.
This means that the local church is our training ground, where we carry each others’ burdens. There’s a danger, of course, that we become a Christian ghetto, closing ourselves off from the world as well as the rest of the Christians in the world. Other traditions have a lot to offer us.
Let’s go back to Romans 12. “By the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do nto think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.” Grace (charis) is connected with the gifts (charismata). Of course, this is the origin of the charismatic movement.
The Spiritual Gifts themselves
If a spiritual gift shows up more than once, it’s probably more important. Depending on how you count, you’ll get 16-20. We’ll look at 16. If you want the list, e-mail Ray.
Only two of the gifts show up three times: teaching and prophecy.
The fact that the lists are different is indicative that these lists are not meant to be exhaustive. Different churches have different gifts.
In our Romans 12 passage, we see seven gifts: (1) prophesy, (2) serving, (3) teaching, (4) encouragement, (5) giving, (6) leading, and (7) showing mercy.
Let’s look at #2: service. This is something we associate with the job of deacon. Someone has to do everything we do: setting up the gym, printing bulletins, coordinating rides, buying food, etc.
Some days our patience runs thin. We get tired of serving. Keep in mind Mark 10:45: Jesus did not come to serve, but to be served.