The Power of Spiritual Gifts


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Concerning Spiritual Gifts

12 Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans,somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.3 Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,”except by the Holy Spirit. 4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
Paul turns his attention to the subject of spiritual gifts.  The Greek word for "gift" is "charism", where we get our term "charismatic".  This is also where we get the word, "grace/charis".  Spiritual gifts are sometimes called "grace gifts".  The source of these gifts is the Holy Spirit, and they are given to us we don't earn them.  Paul begins his teaching to the Corinthians by saying, "Now about spiritual gifts brothers and sisters I do not want you to be uniformed."
Paul has addressed many issues to the church at Corinth in this letter and now he addresses their misunderstanding of spiritual gifts.  Christians today are still "uninformed" about the gifts of the Spirit.  They may either misunderstand them, or have never been educated about them. Paul says there are different kinds of gifts but the same Spirit distributes them as the Spirit sees best.  There are different kind of manisfestations of the Spirit's power, but it is all God's power at work.  Finally, each person is given a manifestation for the common good of the body of Christ.  No Christian is without a spiritual gift.
You can see two themes here.  One is the diversity of gifts.  Secondly, the unity in the Spirit of God.  One of the ways the church has been misinformed about spiritual gifts is when it teaches that everyone should have a certain gift and if you don't have that gift you are lacking the Holy Spirit.  Because of the spirtual power behind these gifts it is easy for the gifts to be miscontrued and also mismanaged in the body of Christ.  Having certain types of gifts can also cause pride in believers.
We need to remember Paul's teaching on spiritual gifts.  The power of the Holy Spirit is most potent when God works through each believer in the body of Christ.  God moves in power when believers individually and colllectively exercise and use their spiritual gifts.  We need to continue to teach on this concept so we are not uniformed today.  
Most important you have been given a gift.  Use your gift in your local church.  Without your deploying your spiritual gift in your local church, the church will never be what God intended it to be!  The church needs you!   

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