Spirit-Filled Spirituality: part 5

So far we’ve discussed the…

1. Diversity and Unity in the Body of Christ

2. The Nature and Purpose of Spiritual Gifts

Now…

3. The Benefits of God’s Gifts (all God’s Gifts Are Good, they can’t be otherwise when given from Him)

The Gifts are Desirable for 3 Reasons

·        You will be Satisfied

·        Others will be Edified

·        God will be Glorified

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:10-11

Now most Christians know that there is an in-house Debate Over the Gifts, which ones are in and which ones are out.  Typically it is defined as: Cessationists (meaning certain gifts have ceased) VS Non-Cessationists (meaning that all gifts are operational for today).  While there are clearly excesses and misuses of spiritual gifts, there does not seem to be ANY indication from Scripture to discount any Spiritual gift, that God gives to whomever He wills.

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 1 Corinthians 12:12-20

I’m not going to say much here, except that many over the years have gone to great length to discount certain gifts, despite the very Word of God that they affirm.  Most of the time these books/papers/sermons come from a “lack of experience” so therefore they must not exist today.  Some churches tend to be more “Word Centered Churches” and others tend to be “Spirit Centered Churches.”   It has been my desire and that of leadership of the church I pastor to be a “Christ Centered Church.”  Our lives are centered on Christ – He is our life, both individually and collectively.

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27

Lastly (at least for this time) let me say that the “Gift Does Not Leave the Hand of the Giver.”  Which means that God’s Grace, Gifts and Life are all in Christ.

And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:11-13