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Finally you need to understand the different types of speech being used. Have you ever sent a letter or email to someone and tried to be funny or sarcastic only to be taken the wrong way and ended up offending them. When reading it is hard to understand the mood or disposition of the author without seeing their expressions, or body language, or being able to hear the inflections in their voice. This is especially true with older writings. The original Greek does not contain any punctuation, no commas, no periods and no exclamation points. All this is added by the interpreters by discerning the intent by the words used and the order of the words. Since Paul was writing to the Corinthians because of the turmoil going on in that church we can ascertain that most of the letter was written in the tone of concern, anger, and even sarcasm at times, but always in love, love for God and love for his people.
So over the next several weeks I will be discussing each gift individually. So be sure to check back frequently for the next study.
Purpose
Before I go into each individual gift let’s first discuss their purpose. 1Cor 12:7 states “But to each one is given the manifestation for the Spirit for the common good.” Eph 4:12 says that the gifts mentioned in verse 11 are “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;’ so it is safe to say that spiritual gifts were not given to anyone for their own benefit but rather for the benefit of the church, for “the work of service”. God gave each one of His children a special gift, and that gift needs to be used. That is why it is so important to understand these gifts and to determine which gift(s) you were blessed with. The fact that these gifts were given for the benefit of the church and not the individual is an important point to remember when we discuss the gifts themselves.
When speaking of these gifts Paul compares the church to a physical body comprised of many parts, a foot, a hand, an ear, and an eye. Each part has its job, its function or purpose, and each member is as important as the other (1Cor 12:12-26). He was using this analogy to demonstrate that each member of the church is just as important as the other, and that a diversity of gifts is equally important. So, not using your gift is the equivalent of a member of your body deciding it didn’t want to do its job. What if you woke up one morning and your legs decided they didn’t want to work, or maybe your eyes. You wouldn’t be able to function properly as you used to. The same goes for the church, if any member decides he/she doesn’t want to use their gift then the church cannot function the way it was designed to.
You may be thinking that there are so many people in your church that your service won’t be missed. Or you may think that there is no place in the church to serve, that you belong to a large church and all the positions are filled, and that may be true. But even if all the Sunday school classes have teachers, and all the pastorate positions are filled, and the nursery has all the help it needs (yeah right!), the people serving in those positions sometimes need a break, or cannot be there everyday. Do they have anyone to fill in on a moments notice or do they have to spend half a day calling around to find someone when they are sick?
Also, who says you have to work in your church building. There are always areas outside the church that need workers; you just need to learn to think outside the box. Take me for example; I have the gift of teaching but there aren’t any classes that need a teacher in my church. So rather than sit around and not use my gift I decided to start this website. Now I don’t know how many people I reach but I do know that I’m using the gift God gave me and He will bless this effort and someone will get something out of my posts.
So use your imagination, pray for guidance, ask for help and look for where help is needed. In the study Experiencing God, Henry Blackaby gives very good advice, he says to look for where God is working and meet Him there. Hopefully after this study you will be able to do just that.
