Dive deep into the New Testament teachings, particularly 1 Corinthians chapter 12, as we explore the distinction between natural talents and spiritual gifts. Charles Stanley articulates the biblical basis for these gifts, their purpose for the common good, and their role in building the body of Christ. An empowering message for anyone seeking to serve God with the fullness of their potential.
Welcome to the InTouch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, August 26th. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, then you have been supernaturally gifted by God. In this podcast, you’ll see how the Spirit uniquely enables you to accomplish the will of God.
SPEAKER 02 :
When you’re called upon to serve the Lord, do you oftentimes feel very, very inadequate to do that? Well, probably that’s one of the reasons that many of you will not serve Him. simply because you feel so inadequate you feel so incapable you feel so ill-equipped and so you say you know i just can’t do it well i can understand that but let me remind you of something when you refuse to serve the lord god what happens is you miss the blessing here you miss the reward in heaven and thirdly you hinder the work of god here on this earth Well, the Lord Jesus knew about that, and that’s why he said in the 14th chapter of John, 15th, 16th chapters, that when he left, he would send the helper, the Holy Spirit, who would be in us, with us, and upon us, that he would abide with us forever. So all of us who have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us have a helper to enable us, to energize us, to equip us, to grant us the wisdom and the knowledge and the understanding to do whatever God has called us to do. Remember the promise? He says, he that calleth thee will also do it. Well, that’s what I want to talk about in this particular message today because one of the manifestations and one of the works of the Holy Spirit is to equip us to do whatever God has called us to do. And one of the ways He does that is through spiritual gifts. And so that is the theme of this message, the Holy Spirit, the giver of gifts. And I want you to turn, if you will, to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Now listen to what he says beginning in the first verse of chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians. He says, Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. That is, we need to understand what it’s all about. You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the dumb islands, however you were led. Therefore, I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says Jesus is accursed, and no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. And then he gives us three different categories. He says there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are varieties of ministries and the same Lord. And there are varieties of effects or manifestations, but the same God who works all things and all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom. through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.” Now, let’s clarify and distinguish between several terms. First of all, let’s talk about this whole idea of the gift of the Spirit. The gift of the Holy Spirit is the gift of the Spirit of God to every single believer when you and I receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. You recall in Acts 2, verse 4, that at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came as a result of the promise of the Father. And then in the second chapter, Also, in the 38th verse, look at that, if you will, because here, Peter preaches his sermon, and at the end of the sermon, he gives an invitation. At the invitation, here’s what he says. “‘Repent, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'” So the Holy Spirit is God’s gift to every single believer to indwell us, to empower us, and to carry out the many ministries to which God has called us. Likewise, it is the same Holy Spirit who has sealed us, the Bible says, under the day of redemption. That is, we have been sealed by Him so that we are eternally secure. So that is the gift of the Holy Spirit. Then when He talks about the gifts of the Spirit here in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, we are talking about those special enablements of the Spirit, those special capacities of the Spirit, which the Holy Spirit gives to each believer in order to carry out the ministry or the work that God has called us to do. And every single believer has one or more gifts of the Holy Spirit. So when we talk about the gifts of the Spirit, we’re talking about those special abilities. There is a distinction between the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit refers primarily to the character of the believer as a result of the working of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love and joy, peace, goodness, gentleness, all the rest that make up the fruit of the Spirit. This is the character that you and I have as a result of the Spirit of God working in our life. But the gifts of the Spirit are those special endowments, those special capacities which we have, likewise which come from the Spirit, that enable us to fulfill the work and the life and the ministry to which God has called us. Now, another distinction is, what is the difference between a natural talent or skill or ability with which you and I are born and the gifts of the Spirit? Those natural talents and gifts or those natural abilities and skills that a person has also come from God. That is, if you have a gift in music that is from God or a gift, for example, in drawing or painting that is a gift from God or in science or medicine or homemaking or whatever it is, those special endowments or those gifts that you were born with with which you have begun to work and you’ve become very skilled in your area, that likewise is from God. But a natural talent with which we are born does not become a spiritual gift when you and I become a Christian, but a spiritual gift is a special endowment added to that natural talent that we have. And God’s purpose is that you and I would combine those two and serve Him with all of our heart. Now, with that in mind, let’s look at this 12th chapter for a moment. He says, this is the purpose behind the Spirit giving us a spiritual gift. Look, if you will, in verse 7. To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. That is, there are three primary reasons the Spirit of God living within you now has equipped you with that extra capacity in your spiritual life to do what God wants you to do. He says, first of all, it is for the common good. That is what he means by that simply is that it is for the edification of everyone. That is everybody profits when you and I exercise our spiritual gift. A second reason he gives them is in order that you and I may equip one another. And that is that we might be helpful to one another. You notice the passage he gave us there in Ephesians. He talked about pastors and pastor teachers and prophets and evangelists and all the rest. As those men whom God has placed in the church carry out their responsibility, what happens? Look, if you will, in Ephesians chapter 4. He says, this is the result that you can expect in the church when this happens. Verse 11. He says he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers. That is, a pastor should be a pastor teacher. Listen, he says he gives these men to the fellowship to train, to equip God’s people so they can carry out the work that God has given the body to do. Listen, to the building up of the body of Christ until all of us come to the unity of the faith. and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a maturity, to the measure of the statue which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Now, with that in mind and hold that passage, I want you to go back over to Ephesians chapter 2 for a moment. Ephesians chapter 2 says in verse 8 and verse 9, which we know by heart, for by grace are you saved through faith. That not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And then he says, look at that next phrase, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which he foreordained that we should walk about therein. When he says we are his workmanship, and you know this by now, that means we are his masterpieces. That is, we are persons of notable excellence. saved by the grace of God. Our sins have been washed away. He’s still in the process of conforming us to the likeness of his son. And while he’s doing that, having indwelt us by the Holy Spirit, having endowed us with spiritual gifts, we are to be living out our life moment by moment, day by day, serving God in some fashion. Listen, this is not optional. This is the will of God, that you find out what your talent and ability is, that skill God has given you, develop it to the maximum of your potential, and mix that with your spiritual gift, that extra capacity God has given you to utilize those skills, those talents, those natural abilities. And when you put those two together, and find the ministry God has for you, and begin to exercise that ministry, you become a powerful, powerful tool in the work of the kingdom of God. Because remember, you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. He’s going to enable you to do well at what you do. And you see, one of the reasons some people don’t try to do anything is they’re afraid they’re going to fail. There’s not anybody who’s ever accomplished anything who hasn’t failed many times. Failing at a given situation does not mean that you’re a failure. And most everybody who has ever accomplished anything has a whole long string of failures behind them. But you see, what they did is they took the skills that God gave them and began to work until finally they began to succeed. Now listen, there are people in the world who are not Christians, who have accomplished and achieved fantastic things. They don’t even believe in God. You know what they’ve done? They’ve taken the abilities and the talents that God has given them and utilized them for whatever their motivation may be. It may be money. It may be publicity. It may be prominence. It may be something inside of them driving them, whatever it might be. But you see, when they stand in the presence of God, they get no reward because their motivation was wrong. They left out what life’s all about, and that’s Christ. What God has done for every believer is to forgive us of our sins, to give us those skills and abilities and talents, and to mix that with a powerful tool of the gift of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. And with that together, my friend, you can accomplish and achieve whatever God calls you to do. And this idea, well, I can’t, and it won’t work, and I’m afraid I’m going to fail, that won’t cut it anymore. Because you have been so endowed with so much already to fully equip you to do whatever God wants you to do. All those excuses will hold no water before God. And all of us are going to have to give an account. And you see, when you and I stand before God in the judgment, he’s not going to say, well, why didn’t you exercise a gift like so-and-so? Because that’s not the way God operates. Here’s what he does. He gifts us. He gives us talents and abilities and skills that we are to develop to the very best we know how. When you mix the motivation of wanting to reach your potential for God, when you mix the motivation of desiring to put that spiritual gift to work in some ministry, God makes you a powerful force in the kingdom of God. It makes no difference who you are. But look at the other side of that. Waste, slothfulness, wandering, no sense of direction, little or no achievement in life, and finally end up one of these days and stand before God. What a terrible waste. What a terrible waste. Listen to what he says. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus that is born again, placed into Christ, having become new creations in Christ, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, filled by the Holy Spirit. He says, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. That’s for the purpose of. So I want to ask you a question. With all that God has endowed you with, how much of that is glorifying God? How much of that can you say, this is for Jesus Christ? You say, but in my secular job, listen, it doesn’t make any difference what you’re doing as long as it’s legitimate. If your motivation’s right, that’s what matters. And you see, you can take any God-given skill and use it to the glory of God. It is a matter of attitude and motivation. And there are some people who work on a similar line. You say, well, how could God be in this? Well, do you drive anything or not? Or do you walk everywhere? Thank God for the man who stands on the assembly line, punching that same button eight hours a day, but doing it to the very best of his God-given ability. What about the fellow who climbs the electric pole? Well, if he didn’t, we’d be in the dark this morning. Everything you and I have is the result of somebody exercising some talent, some skill. Now, the tragedy is that most folks out there doing that don’t have an idea that God has anything to do with it. You know why? Because they didn’t ask him to begin with. And whatever vocation we should be wise enough to ask God, God, what do you want me to do with my life? Think about this. God has not called any one of us to do anything that He’s not gifted us to do. Secondly, He’s not called us to do a single thing. He will not assume responsibility for getting done through us. That is, He is responsible for all the resources and all the knowledge and all the understanding and all the energy and all else that I need to do anything. He’s responsible. But I have a responsibility. I must be willing to employ, as he says in 1 Peter 4, I must be willing to employ those skills and those gifts in the work of ministry. Now, two verses of Scripture I want you to look at. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. With your gifts, your talents, your abilities, listen to this. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 10 says, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one, listen, not in mass, friend, each one may be recompensed or rewarded for his or her deeds in the body according to what he has done for the good or bad. I’m going to tell you something. You’re talking about short-sighted. Here’s short-sightedness. The epitome of short-sightedness is to live your life putting off the idea of the judgment and thinking, well, that’s way out yonder in the future somewhere. My friend, God could call any one of us home right now. That doesn’t mean the judgment is going to be as soon as you die because it’s not. But all that you’ve done will have ceased at that point. He says each one of us are going to stand before him and give an account for our life. Now, what’s he going to judge? Well, go back to 1 Corinthians for a moment, chapter 3. He sort of defines that for us. Beginning in verse 10, Paul says, here’s how he operated. Verse 10, “…according to the grace of God which was given to me.” As a wise master builder, I laid a foundation, another is building upon it. Let each one be careful how he builds upon it. That is, all of us who receive Christ as our Savior has him as the foundation. Everything you and I have done since the moment we received Jesus Christ as our Savior, it’s like having a foundation and building a house on it. We can build out of several different kinds of things. Listen to what he says. Verse 11. No man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. And look at this. Here’s the building material. If any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident for the day will show it because it will be revealed with fire and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. Now look at that. He says, when you and I stand in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and he looks at us, here’s what he’s going to say. He’s going to say gold, silver, precious stones. This is his way of making a great contrast. Wood, hay, and corn shucks. When you and I stand in the presence of God, everything that is combustible is gone. That means we lost all the reward for that. Only that which is able to stand the fire, the test. Gold, silver, precious stone. He says every one of us is going to be tried. And my friend, I want to tell you something. The judgment isn’t really all that far off. You say, well, how far off is that? I don’t know. But I know this. When you and I stand in his presence, we’re going to think it came awfully fast. And I want to tell you something else. There won’t be any fixing up, dressing up, patching up, straightening up. It’s all over. If you intend to do anything for Jesus Christ and to serve him, you better get started. Because he says the day is going to try it. Wood, hay, and stubble, no reward. Gold, silver, precious stones, reward. And notice how he ends this. He says, if any man’s work, in verse 15, is burned up, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire. So the question is, with your gifts, your talents, your abilities, your privileges, your opportunities, your spiritual gifts, how do you intend to spend or to invest your life? And my friend, if you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you’re wasting your life. Because you see, nothing else really matters until, first of all, you’re forgiven of your sins. You become a child of God by trusting in His death at Calvary for the forgiveness of your sins. And you’re willing to ask Him to forgive you and to thank Him, not based on what you’re going to do, but based on what He did 2,000 years ago when He shed His blood for your sin. The moment you’re willing to ask Christ into your life, to receive him, from that moment on, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell you. And he will enable you to become and to be and to do what he’s called you to. And I want to invite you to give your life to Christ. And if you’re simply willing to pray that prayer, Father, I’m asking you to forgive me of my sins. I do believe that Christ’s death at Calvary paid for my sin. I choose by faith to receive your forgiveness. I thank you for it, and I choose to give you my life. My friend, just that quickly, God is willing to save you and give you a brand new life.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to The Holy Spirit, the Giver of Gifts. If you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
