Servant
School
June 8, 2003
The Rest of the Gifts
A gift of the Holy Spirit is a special ability given to a believer by the
Holy Spirit. It is not a natural born talent, like music is for some
people. A person may indeed be “gifted”
in music, but it is not part of our list of gifts imparted by the Holy Spirit.
It is not some kind of earned “merit badge” for good Christians. It is a form of “grace”. One of the Greek words for “gifts” is charismata, or, “workings of grace”.
The purpose of the gifts in the church is to build up the church.
Gifts don’t make a Christian mature.
Love makes a Christian mature. (1Cor. 13).
Interpretation of Tongues
(1 Cor 12:10 KJV) … to
another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
interpretation – hermeneia – interpretation; of what has
been spoken more or less obscurely by others.
We get our word “hermeneutics” from this word. Hermeneutics is the art and science of
Biblical interpretation. It involves
taking a passage and bringing out the meaning.
It’s what I do for a living. It’s not just translation, it is
bringing understanding to the text.
Definition: Giving the understanding of an utterance in
tongues.
The length of the utterance in tongues does not have to correlate with the
length of the interpretation. Sometimes
the utterance is short and the interpretation is long. Sometimes the utterance is long and the
interpretation simply sums it all up with a short message.
Biblical examples
One of the difficult things about this gift is that we don’t have any
specific examples of its use found in Scripture. We do not have any instances in the New
Testament where someone gave an utterance in tongues and someone else then
repeated it. But we do have some
instructions given in 1Corinthians 14 regarding tongues and their
interpretation.
The closest thing in the New Testament to interpretation happened on the
day of Pentecost when the disciples began speaking in tongues and the people of
the various nationalities present said,
(Acts 2:11 KJV) …we do hear them speak in our tongues the
wonderful works of God.
All of these Jews who were from these various parts of the world could hear
their distinct languages being spoken.
They were able to understand what was spoken, but not because there was
individual interpretation being given.
They understood because the tongues were their own native languages.
The person addressed by a tongue
The object of the tongue is always God.
(1 Cor 14:2 KJV) For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God:
for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.
In other words, the message that is being spoken will not be addressed to
people, but will be something that is addressed to God, such as prayer or
praise.
We saw this on the day of Pentecost:
(Acts 2:11 KJV) …we
do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
The believers were praising God in front of these visitors from around the
world.
Implication:
The Pentecostal churches have a tradition they call “messages in tongues”
where a person will speak out in tongues, and an English message is then given
by the person who is supposedly interpreting, a message that will be addressed
to the church like, “Listen to me O my children…”
This is not a proper interpretation.
God doesn’t speak to us in a
language we don’t understand.
He speaks to us in our own language.
This isn’t to say that what is being spoken after the tongue is not from
the Lord. It may be that the person is
actually giving a prophecy, but one unrelated to the tongue.
If a person speaks in a tongue and you start getting a message that’s
addressed to the church, hold off for the interpretation, then you can give
your prophecy.
How it can work
Remember that gifts can work differently with different people (1Cor.
12:4-6)
Pastor Chuck has a gift of interpretation, and he says that the way it
works for him is that as he’ll be hearing the tongue being spoken, it’s as if
he’s receiving the English version of the message right on top of it. But if you have this gift, it may work
differently in your life.
We had an instance once in our church where a fellow spoke out in tongues
(it sounded like German), and one of the individuals who received the
interpretation didn’t even know the thing spoken wasn’t in English. He only heard in English.
Helps
(1 Cor 12:28 KJV) And
God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly
teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
helps – antilepsis – a laying hold of, in NT, to
aid, help. It seems to carry the idea of
“laying hold of” a need and taking care of it.
This is the only place in the New Testament where this form of the word
is found.
I believe this is the same gift that Paul mentions in Romans 12:7 –
(Rom 12:7 KJV) Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering …
ministry … ministering – diakonia (“deacon”) – service,
ministering, esp. of those who execute the commands of others. We’ve made the word to seem to talk about
some kind of special religious person, but it really just speaks of a
servant. Its focus isn’t on the
relationship between a servant and master (doulos),
but its focus is on the work that the servant is doing.
let us wait – this phrase is not in the Greek text, but was
added by the translators. The idea is
simply, “If your gift is ministry, then do ministry”
Definition
What
is the gift of “helps”?
It’s simply being a servant to
others. It’s being “helpful” to others. It’s fulfilling a “need” with your ability.
Yet there is something special, an
extra “gifting” with those who have this gift.
They do their job especially well.
They find great joy in serving.
Lesson
Obligation versus gifting.
Some of these spiritual gifts are
things that can only be done by those “gifted” by the Lord to do them. A person who does not have the gift of
prophecy should not be claiming to “speak for the Lord”. A person who does not have the gift of
tongues can’t speak in an unknown language.
But some of them are also things that
we all should be doing. Some will be
more “gifted” than others, but we are all to do them.
There is a “gift of exhortation” (Rom. 12:8), yet we are all supposed to be encouraging
one another (Heb. 3:13).
There is a “gift of giving” (Rom. 12:8), yet we are all obligated to give (Acts 20:35).
A person with the gift of “helps” won’t
just serve others because they know they need to, they will overflow in helping
others because they love it.
Lesson
The Holy Spirit is practical.
If we’re not careful, we can fall into
the trap of thinking that the Holy Spirit’s purpose is to give certain people
in the church the ability to read your mind and come up with amazing bits of
knowledge.
But Jesus said that the one true result
of the baptism of the Holy Spirit was power:
(Acts
1:8 KJV) But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is
come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost
part of the earth.
The word “power” is dunamis in the Greek. Though we can get caught up in saying that
this is the root word for “dynamite”, it’s also the root word for “dynamo” and
“dynamic”. Its root meaning is simply that
of “ability”.
When the Holy Spirit fills you, He will
give you “ability”. Sometimes it is the
ability to speak in an unknown tongue.
Sometimes it is the ability to have a special word of knowledge. Sometimes it’s the ability to be a witness
for Jesus. Sometimes it’s the ability to
weed a neighbor’s yard or vacuum the church carpet.
Teaching
(1 Cor 12:28 KJV) And
God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then
gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
(Rom 12:7 KJV) Or ministry,
let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth,
on teaching;
teacheth – didasko – to teach; to explain or
expound a thing
What
is the gift of teaching?
The ability to explain the Word of God.
Often as a person is speaking, there
may be actually several gifts as work.
There may be times when a word of knowledge is mixed in, other times
when the words are purely prophetic, sometimes there is exhortation going on.
But the part that is “teaching”
involves the explanation of God’s Word.
It’s the ability to help another person gain understanding about what
God’s Word means.
We see an example of this in the Old
Testament:
(Neh
8:8 KJV) So they read in the book in the
law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.
They not only read the Word clearly so
it could be heard, but they gave the “sense”, they helped those listening to be
able to understand the implications of what was being read.
If you have the gift of teaching, then
you love that look in a person’s eye that shows you that they understand.
I think there are things we can do to
improve our ability to teach others like learning the art of illustrating a
point. Jesus often told stories or
parables to help the people understand what He was saying. But the bottom line in teaching is that it
must be a gift from the Holy Spirit.
Exhortation
(Rom 12:8 KJV) Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that
giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that
showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.
exhorteth – parakaleo – to call to one's side, call
for, summon; to admonish, exhort; to console, to encourage and strengthen by
consolation, to comfort; to encourage, strengthen
As I’ve studied this word and its usage, I’ve come to the conclusion that
there are two main ideas behind it:
1) Encouragment to action.
Getting someone off the sofa and out doing something.
2) Comforting others.
Those that are discouraged, those that are full of sorrow, we need to
“comfort” or “encourage” them.
Again, like “teaching”, this gift is often seen in those with public
speaking ministries, so it’s not always easy to draw simple lines to say that
one particular word was an “exhortation” while another was a “prophecy” while
another was a “teaching”. They all can
overlap each other.
Barnabas was one of the chief “encouragers” of the Bible. His real name was Joseph (Acts 4:36), but he became known as “Barnabas” which
means “Son of Encouragement”.
(Acts 11:23-24 KJV) Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of
God, was glad, and exhorted them
all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. {24} For he
was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was
added unto the Lord.
Barnabas was keeping the church moving in the direction of holding on to
the Lord. He was the one who kept
saying, “come on, you can do it, you can keep walking with Jesus!”
Lesson
Different flavors
As with all of the gifts, there are different ways in which the gifts may
be manifested (1Cor. 12:4-6)
Be careful not to think that when you’ve seen a gift in action, that this
is the way that it must always be operated.
Some people with the gift of exhortation:
Kay Smith, Pastor Romaine, David Carroll, George Bryson. They all have
different kinds of ministries and different ways of encouraging others to
action. Kay can be a gentle encourager,
she can also be a cheerleader. Romaine was
in your face, to the point, followed by a swift kick in the pants. David Carroll has such a soft spoken manner,
yet when he’s done, you want to get up and respond. All have the gift of exhortation. All can move you to action.
Sometimes a person may have a gift of exhortation but they don’t have a
public speaking gift. This is the person
who is always trying to encourage others, who has an eye out for the sad and
lonely ones. Don’t think that your gift
needs to be just like another person’s gift.
Giving
(Rom 12:8 KJV) Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that
giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that
showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.
giveth – metadidomi (“with” + “to give”) – to
impart
I have to confess that for most pastors, this is a gift that they can get a
little too caught up in.
Let me say that I do believe that the gift of giving doesn’t have to be
tied to how much money you have. It
isn’t dependent on how much you have, but on how you give of what you have. The
example Jesus held up as the person who gave the most was the poor widow who
only gave two pennies, but she gave all she had (Mark 12:41-44).
A person with the gift of giving just wants to give. They want to give to others. It blesses them tremendously to give to
others.
Paul has given specific instruction as to how this gift ought to be
operated in the church (he doesn’t say, “just give”):
simplicity – haplotes
– singleness, simplicity, sincerity, mental honesty; the virtue of one who is
free from pretence and hypocrisy; not self seeking, openness of heart
manifesting itself by generosity. It
comes from aplouv is
literally spread out without folds,
and hence means single, simple, without complexity of character and motive.
Lesson
No strings attached.
Sometimes people will offer to give you something, but you have to do
something for them in return.
Illustration
Mobster Funeral
I recall a story where a mobster named Freddie died. He was famous all around town as a
gangster. Freddie’s brother, Gino, went
to a local church and asked the pastor if he would perform Freddie’s
funeral. He said to the pastor, “Pastor,
I will donate a million dollars to the church if you perform my brother’s
funeral. I only have one request, that
during the funeral you tell everyone what a saint my brother was.” The pastor didn’t know what to do. He knew the church could sure use the money
for their building fund, but he also knew that the whole town knew what a crook
Freddie was. On the day of the funeral,
there was Gino sitting in the front row of pews, holding a large briefcase full
of money. The pastor struggled, but got
up and began to preach about the consequences of sin and the need to
repent. He went on to tell about what a
crook Freddie was, and that he was the perfect example of a wretched sinner. Gino was beginning to get very upset. The pastor went on, “We all know what a
horrible person Freddie was. He was
drunk all the time, he cheated on his wife, he stole from his friends, but
compared to his brother, Freddie was a saint!”
God’s desire is that when we give, we don’t expect anything in return.
Governments
(Rom 12:8 KJV) Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that
giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.
ruleth – proistemi – to set or place before; to
set over; to be over, to superintend, preside over
(1 Cor
12:27-28 KJV) Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in
particular. {28} And God hath set some in the church, first apostles,
secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of
healings, helps, governments,
diversities of tongues.
governments – kubernesis
– from kubernao (of Latin origin, to
steer); a governing, government
I see this as those individuals within
the church that have the ability to lead and organize. We often have a great need for this gift in
our church. Sometimes we have lots of
ideas of what to do, but a person with “leadership” knows how to envision a
project and see it through to completion.
Leader: Someone
with vision to see what needs to be
done or where to go, but also the strategy
to implement the vision.
diligence – spoude
– haste, with haste; earnestness, diligence
Lesson
Leaders should be diligent.
In fact, diligence can lead to leadership:
(Prov 12:24 KJV)
The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under
tribute.
Illustration
Shortly after he opened his first
plant, Thomas Edison noticed that his employees were in the habit of watching
the lone factory clock. To the inventor who was a tireless worker, this was
incomprehensible. He did not indicate his
disapproval verbally. Instead he had dozens of clocks placed around the plant,
no two keeping the same time. From then
on clock watching led to so much confusion that nobody cared what time it was.
Are you a
“clock-watcher” or a hard worker? That
may be the very factor that determines how much potential you have as a leader.
God is looking for leaders who will be
diligent. He wants them to be diligent
to know how those under them are doing.
If you take care of the things that are under your care, then you’ll see
things flourish.
Mercy
mercy – eleeo – to have
mercy on; to help one afflicted or seeking aid; to feel sympathy with the
misery of another, esp. such sympathy as manifests itself in act
The gift of mercy isn’t a sense of begrudging help. It is willing help.
The gift of “mercy” may be what is involved in those who have a heart to
call on the sick, those who visit in hospitals or convalescent homes. It can be involved in ministries to
handicapped folks. It can be involved in
the “rescue missions”, and ministries to the homeless.
The gift of mercy is sometimes much more than just feeling sorry for
someone, it seems to be connected with action.
When people asked Jesus for mercy, He responded by healing them.
(Mat 15:22
KJV) And, behold, a woman of Canaan came
out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord,
thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
(Mark 10:46-47 KJV) And they
came to Jericho:
and as he went out of Jericho
with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of
Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. {47} And when he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me.
cheerfulness – hilarotes – cheerfulness, readiness of
mind, it comes from hilaros –
cheerful, joyous, prompt to do anything
Sometimes we can give “mercy” but with a price, a stern warning, a
reluctant hand, but not cheerfulness.