SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/13/2019
10:42 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-4 “The Gifts of Christ to Individual Believers”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Eph. 4:7
Message of the verse: “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”
We have been comparing this verse and what it means with verses from the 12th chapter of the book of Romans, as Paul is describing the spiritual gifts that Christ gives to us by grace, and in verse six of Romans 12 we read that “we have gifts that differ according to the grace give to us.” So by definition, gifts are something that we receive, and we receive spiritual gifts through the working of God’s grace. Believers cannot just chose the gifts that they want by their preference, or inclinations, or natural abilities, or merit, and or other personal consideration, but they are solely by God’s sovereign ‘measure.’ We have no more to determine what gift we get than what color our skin, or eyes, or hair when we are born. It is God who is the source of electing grace, equipping grace, and also enabling grace, and when you take some time to think about that I think we all will come up with saying that is the best way, for after all God knows the beginning from the end.
Let
us look at a similar explanation and emphasis from 1 Corinthians 12:4-7, as 1
Corinthians 12 also talks about spiritual gifts: “4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the
same Spirit. 5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. 6
There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.
7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” As also seen here God is the soul giver and
determiner of spiritual gifts.
John
MacArthur writes “The lists of specific gifts in Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians
12:8-10, and Ephesians 4:11 are not narrow and strict delineations of the
spiritual gifts. There is not, for
instance, a single kind of prophetic
gift, teaching gift, or serving gift. A
hundred believers with the gift of teaching will not all have the same degrees
or areas of teaching ability or emphasis.
One may excel in public teaching in the classroom or church. Another’s teaching gift will be for
instructing children, another’s for teaching one-on-one, and so on. Each believer is given the measure of grace
and faith to operate his gift according to God’s plan. Add individual personality, background,
education, influences in life, and needs in the area of service and it becomes
obvious that each believer is unique.”
He
goes on to write “Nor is it that a believer’s single gift will be restricted to
only one category of giftedness. An
individual gift may include a number of specific areas of giftedness, in a limitless
variety of combinations. Someone with a major
gift of administration may also have something of the gifts of helps and of
teaching. Believer’s gifts are like
snowflakes and fingerprints—each one is completely distinct from all
others. Some teachers may emphasize knowledge,
some instruction, some mercy, and others exhortation. Form the palette of gift colors the Holy
Spirit uses the brush of His sovereign design to paint the mixture of each
believer so that no two are like.”
As
we have learned that it is by God’s grace that we are given the individual gift
that we receive after we become a believer, and it is unique, as we are not
like any other believer, and the Holy Spirit puts us into where we can serve
the church He puts us in and thus bring glory to the Lord. There are times when our birthday’s come
around that we receive a gift that is not useful to us and so later on we will
sell it or give it away, but that is not true with the gifts that we get from
God.
Some
may wonder why certain believers are not using their gifts, as this is an
affront to God’s wisdom, a rebuff of His love and grace, and also a loss to His
church. We have mentioned that we did
not determine our gift, deserve our gift or earn our gift, but we all have a
gift from the Lord, and if we do not use it, then His work is weakened and also
His heart is grieved. MacArthur concludes “The intent of the text before us is
to reveal the balanced relationship between the oneness of believers and their
individuality which contributes to that oneness.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: When the Lord saved me He gave me a desire to
understand the end times as taught in the Word of God, and therefore has given
me opportunity to teach it to others by means of teaching it in Sunday school,
and also on my blogs. As I read over
what John MacArthur describes in the gifts as seen in these last four Spiritual
diaries, I have to believe that this is the giftedness that God has given me as
an individual in the church that I attend.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To continue
to learn humility from Eph. 4 and from Romans 12:3.
Quotation for today, and this time it is
from an unknown author: “The more we
trust the sovereignty of heaven, the less we fear the calamities of earth.”
3/13/2019 11:33 AM
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