The Problem with Spiritual Gifts

Spiritual gifts are given for the common good. That’s what it says in 1 Corinthians 14:12. Paul writes,

Since you were eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts the build up the church (1 Corinthians 14:12).

The typical language Paul uses to define the common good is revealed by gifts that build up and edify the church. In that way, spiritual gifts are meant to operate like bodybuilding equipment. I’m not an avid weightlifter, which may come as a surprise to those who know me, but I’ve been in a gym and I’ve noticed that many people spend their time working out on only one or two pieces of equipment. Some guys spend all their time on the bench press. The result is big, barrel-chested men waddling around on skinny little legs. Some guys just do curls. It’s not uncommon to see guys with ripped biceps and huge beer bellies.

This selective use of bodybuilding equipment is an excellent picture of what happens when many of the gifts of the Spirit are ignored and only a few are recognized. In some churches, all you have is a mouth and feet. You have preaching and people running around trying to do evangelism, but the church has no hands. There’s no power to heal, no compassion for the poor, a lack of mercy, no heart for intercessory prayer. Or the church has no ears, there’s no ability to really hear from God, no room for group discernment. When people focus on or are overawed by one spiritual gift, ignoring the others, they’re doing precisely what Paul says not to do in 1 Corinthians 12:21. He said,

The eye can’t say to the hand, “I don’t need you.”

Do you know what you end up with when you major on one gift and ignore others? You end up with a severely handicapped body. Until all the gifts of the Spirit are present and active in the context of spiritual community, the community is, in some way, handicapped. It’s not as strong as it could be, as it needs to be. Each one, Paul says, has been given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. In other words, you have something wonderful to contribute, something to offer, something the community of believers really needs. You can’t just leave it to others or use what you’ve been given for yourself.

Look. Spiritual gifts aren’t talents, abilities or skills; they’re supernatural endowments, extraordinary graces given to help the church fulfill its mission. Can you imagine hoarding a supernatural endowment, an extraordinary gift from God, for yourself? If spiritual gifts are really for the common good, not to serve ourselves but for the good of others, we need what you’ve been given! If you’re a follower of Jesus, you’ve been given a supernatural endowment, an extraordinary gift that you were meant to give away. Have you ever taken a moment to consider what church would be like if everyone in a community of believers humbly offered what they’ve been given for the common good? And I’m not just talking about Sunday morning. Why do so many Western Christians think that church is what happens between the hours of 9am and noon on a Sunday morning? We’re meant to live in community with one another, doing life together through small groups and other gatherings. We’re meant to be deep-spirited friends. That’s where I want us to go. I want to be part of an authentic, spiritual community, a family in every sense of the word.

When you look at the list of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, Sunday morning alone cannot contain them. We’re talking about a way of life. The Jesus life is not something you do; it’s not 15 minutes here and an hour on Sunday. It’s a paradigm for living. Jesus lived from the inside out. He had a deep interior life with God that spilled over into his closest relationships and, ultimately, his ministry in the world. What do you think would happen if everyone in a church humbly offered what they’ve been given for the common good? The impact on that church would be exponential…if everyone was contributing what they had to give. Are you contributing what you have to give?

Okay, if spiritual gifts are for the common good, for the building up of the community of believers, if they make the invisible God visible and bring glory to God, why don’t more of us desire them, ask for them and use what God has already given us? Well, I think,

Some of us have been disappointed

There was a man named Benjamin Warfield, who wrote a book in the 1970s against the use of spiritual gifts. The title of the book was Counterfeit Miracles. Now, Warfield had a brilliant theological mind. He was a Princeton Seminary professor. In the book, he tried to take apart much of what was happening in the Pentecostal movement at the time. He also wrote about history and how he didn’t see any evidence of spiritual gifts in history. But, you know, Benjamin Warfield prayed for years for his wife to be healed from a terrible disease that rendered her an invalid for much of their marriage, and she wasn’t healed. I can’t help but think that much of his anger toward Pentecostals and his hostility towards spiritual gifts was really a personal issue. It had to do with his own disappointment with God about what God didn’t do for him when he asked him for healing.

This business of seeking spiritual gifts and moving in the power of the Spirit requires us to regularly deal with failure. You cannot successfully move forward in the power of God unless you develop a mechanism for dealing with failure. The power of the kingdom of God is like a picket fence. It’s there sometimes, and then it’s not. It’s there and then it’s not. So sometimes when we pray, we’re left hanging. We put out the effort, but the power of God just doesn’t seem to be there, and our prayers go unanswered. You must develop a mechanism for dealing with disappointment and failure if you’re going to move forward in spiritual gifts so that good, bad or otherwise, you can pick yourself up and say, “I’m going to give it another try.” Here’s the second thing. Some of us are not using what we’ve been given because of...

Personal discomfort

It’s not that you don’t see it biblically; it’s not that you can’t be convinced historically, but you’re uncomfortable with things that feel like they may get out of control. It comes down to a question of trust. I’m not telling you that you need to put your complete trust in God to control your environment today. I know that, for many of us, that’s going to take some time. But I also need to say that it’ll never happen if you aren’t willing to take the smallest of risks today. Will you risk sharing what you think you’ve heard from God in your small group? Will you risk praying for the sick? Will you serve others as though you’re serving the Lord?” I know it makes you uncomfortable, but you won’t ever become comfortable if you don’t face it and do something about it. Here’s a third thing. Some of us are not using what we’ve been given because...

The issue has become distorted

You’re defensiveness about spiritual gifts may be the result of distorted teaching on spiritual gifts. And that teaching could come from either end of the theological spectrum. You may have been told, as I was, by an extreme Pentecostal group that if you didn’t speak in tongues, you weren’t saved. Or maybe you experienced the misuse of spiritual gifts. I knew people who used to use their spiritual gifts as proof positive that they were, in fact, holy. Many of them lived unholy lives and would use their gifts to distract people from the truth.

You know, the proper response to the misuse of spiritual gifts is not the non-use of spiritual gifts. It’s the proper use of spiritual gifts.

Maybe someone with spiritual authority — a pastor, a leader, a parent — told you that getting involved in spiritual gifts was dangerous, that many of the so-called gifts are false and of the devil. I have met many Christians who see the teaching on spiritual gifts in the Bible, and they still can’t move forward because they hit an internal wall. There’s this voice inside them, a voice from their past, saying, “Don’t get involved in spiritual gifts. It’s dangerous.” So they pull back. I don’t think you can reason through a distorted spirituality. I don’t think it is simply a matter of lining up the arguments. There’s a time when we must renounce faulty teaching. We must come against it and specifically renounce it. If there is a wall in your life because of bad doctrine, then it’s appropriate to speak against it, to break its power over your life and say, “Lord, I want to turn to the truth that’s found in the Word of God. I want to use the grace you’ve given me…for the common good.”