Spiritual gifts are an important part of God’s plan for his work on earth.
Understanding their purpose, or what they are for, helps us better understand our personal role in God’s work.
Today I would particularly like to speak to you about the purpose of spiritual gifts in the church according to the Bible.
To do so, I first invite you to read a biblical passage.
However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ.
Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.
Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.
This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
Then we will no longer be immature like children.
We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching.
We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.
Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.
He makes the whole body fit together perfectly.
As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
Ephesians 4:7; 11 – 16
In these verses, the apostle speaks to the church of Ephesus about specific spiritual gifts such as apostleship, the prophetic gift, the gift of evangelism, and the gift of pastoring and teaching.
All of us in Christ have received various gifts with which to serve the lord’s work on earth.
The list that the apostle presents in this text is not exhaustive.
Identifying our gifts, meaning the specific way God has designed us for Himself, gives us the opportunity to exercise them appropriately.
We cannot expect to participate in everything, as if we had all the gifts, nor can we demand that everyone in the church be able to do the same things.
Understanding this topic helps us better understand how to relate to other members of God’s family.
The apostle allows us to identify various purposes of the gifts, letting us know what they are for.
I will speak about them in detail below.
Train the church for the task of serving
Spiritual gifts exist so that, as children of God, we may have the ability to serve our brethren and fellow brothers.
God not only gave us the task of preaching the good news of salvation, but He equipped each of us in a special way to help fulfill it.
To build up and strengthen the church
Spiritual gifts are also for the church to have the means by which to stay united and healthy.
So that it can grow, expand, and so that it can remain faithful to bible truths.
Achieving spiritual maturity
Spiritual gifts also serve to help church members mature in faith so that they clearly understand what they believe and why they believe it.
They help us to grow in the formation of a character similar to that of Jesus, instead of behaving immaturely, without being respectful or tolerant of one another.
Protect from false doctrines
The purpose of spiritual gifts is also to enable God’s children to have sufficient discernment and information to protect themselves from erroneous teachings that turn them away from God.
Also, to protect us from people who want to take advantage of our faith for their own benefit.
Common stuff these days.
Fostering love
One of the most special purposes of spiritual gifts is to bring about unity in Christ.
By remaining united in Jesus, each of us doing our part, love flourishes naturally by the influence of the Holy Spirit in the church.
These are some of the purposes of spiritual gifts.
Whatever gift God has given you, I invite you to use it to bless others, to honor God, and to help others draw near to Him.
It doesn’t matter if it’s something as simple as reading the Bible and writing about it on the internet, you too can give of what God has invested in you.
I hope these words are a blessing to your life.
And what do you think? What do you think is the goal of spiritual gifts? Share in the comments.
A hug, God bless you.
