WWUTT 194 Earnestly Desire the Higher Gifts?

At the end of 1st Corinthians 12, Paul says to earnestly desire the higher gifts.

Well, what are the higher gifts? I'll tell you this much. It's not miraculous healing and speaking in tongues when we understand the text.

You're listening to When We Understand The Text. Committed to the sound teaching of the Word of God. Here's our host,

Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky, and thank you all for your prayers. For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you know that we had a tornado bearing down on us yesterday.

Here in Junction City, where the program is recorded, where our church is located, I was out on the road chasing the storm.

It was west of Junction City, about 20 miles. I knew exactly where it was. I knew what

I was doing because I had done this before in the past. So, I was chasing the storm and making the updates that I was putting on Twitter because there are members of my congregation that follow that and they rely on me for weather reports.

So, that's what I was doing. I was chasing a tornado. And I even posted a picture of it, but the only reason why

I didn't get closer to it than I did was because I was running out of gas. So, I had to get back to Junction City. I had to make sure

I had enough fuel to be able to get back here. And then got back into town just before the sirens went off.

So, very action -packed day. We're even expecting more storms today, the day that this broadcast is being posted.

So, I might be doing more of that today. I have an announcement to make regarding our roof fund.

I had been asking for listeners, even of this broadcast, to contribute to our roof fund because we needed a new roof on the church.

Well, I've got an announcement about the money that we have raised. And since there are listeners to this program that have even sent money to help us with that fundraising project, then

I wanted to keep you in on the news as well. But that news is not coming until Monday. You're going to have to hold on for that.

But pray that our roof is going to hold on through the severe weather that we continue to experience this week.

We're in Romans 12 again today. And then we're going to go to 1 Corinthians 12. And then we're going to go to Ephesians 4.

We're going to look at all four places where Paul talks about spiritual gifts.

There's actually two places in 1 Corinthians 12, if you divide it up the right way. Then I want to show you some similarities between all four of these places where Paul is talking about gifts of the

Spirit. But first, let's go to our root text, Romans 12, starting in verse 4.

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members one of another.

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. If prophecy in proportion to our faith.

If service in our serving. The one who teaches in his teaching. The one who exhorts in his exhortation.

The one who contributes in generosity. The one who leads with zeal. The one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness.

And so now let's go to 1 Corinthians 12. I'm using a different Bible today than I was using yesterday, so I don't have my markers.

Takes me a little bit longer to get there. All right, here we go. 1 Corinthians 12. Now here's where we finished up yesterday.

I said I was going to read this again and tie it in to today. And that's 1 Corinthians 12 verses 27 through 30.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it, just like we read in Romans chapter 12.

And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.

Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles or possess gifts of healing?

Speak with tongues, do all interpret, but earnestly desire the higher gifts. What are the higher gifts?

Well, we're going to be talking about that today when we go to Ephesians chapter 4. But first let me mention something here where it says gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.

That administrating right there. There was an article written on the Gospel Coalition website.

I think it was posted Monday, if I remember that right, that talked about administrating and how it's one of those spiritual gifts that you don't realize how useful it was and how much it contributed to the service of your church until it wasn't there anymore.

And so I think that's a great article. If you want to learn something else about administrating, I encourage you to look that up.

In fact, if you just typed in TGC administrating, you probably would find the article.

It might even be the first search result that you would get on Google. Before we leave 1

Corinthians 12, let me mention where the two sections are in this chapter where Paul talks about spiritual gifts.

The first one starts in verse 7. To each is given the manifestation of the

Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same

Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing, and to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit who apportions to each one individually as He wills.

So that's the first place that Paul mentions spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. And then the next section is what we just read, verses 27 through 30.

All right. Now let's go to Ephesians 4. And this is going to tie into that section, that closing section of 1

Corinthians 12 that we just read. So Ephesians 4. This is actually a theme verse in our church.

And when it comes to our commitment to sound doctrine and our commitment to one another in the body of Christ, our theme passage for First Southern Baptist Church of Junction City is

Ephesians 4, 11 through 16. And I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why this is a theme passage for us as a church after we read it.

All right. So Ephesians 4, beginning in verse 11. And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the

Son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

That's our theme passage right there. In fact, I can quote it to you from memory. Ephesians 4, verses 11 through 16.

Now, why is that our theme passage for our church in Junction City?

Well, we are a Southern Baptist church, but our name is not all that unique. First Southern Baptist church, you've probably come across a lot of churches that are called that.

But the thing that makes us use this passage as kind of our theme passage is because of the word together, and we're a church in Junction City.

So in verse 16, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped. Kind of summarizing the things that are stated here in verses 11 through 16.

So it's because of that togetherness, and we live in Junction City, that's why this is our theme passage.

It's as simple as that. All right, let's go back to verse 11. We'll break this down a little bit more. He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers.

Now, I get this all the time, especially since when we understand the text, just recently produced a video talking about how apostolic ministry is continuing only through the apostles that laid down the

New Testament. There are not new apostles. There are not going to be apostles that God is revealing things to the same way that he revealed to the apostles in the

New Testament. We don't need new apostles. We don't even need them. We have the apostles that Christ gave us.

And he says in Ephesians 2 that through those apostles, he began the church.

They are the foundation of the church with Christ as the cornerstone. And so even if I wanted to concede that men could be apostles today, you would not be able to describe them that way, the way that they're described in Ephesians 2 as being the foundation of the church.

They're not founding the church. The church has already been founded. It was founded on the ministry of the apostles as we read about them in the

New Testament. We don't need any more apostolic revelation. We have everything that we could need.

So when I say that, when I produced a video on that, and I teach that in my ministry, I've taught it to my congregation, there's always somebody who comes back to this passage, and this is the one that they reference every single time, which is ironic because Paul said earlier in this same letter that the household of God is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,

Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. That's Ephesians 2 .20. This is explained which apostles we're talking about.

So when we get to Ephesians 4 .11, and it says he gave the apostles, it's still the same apostles he was talking about in chapter 2.

That context hasn't changed. So he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ.

That's not new apostles. It's still the same apostles that wrote the New Testament that God has given for the purpose of equipping the saints.

We don't need new apostolic appointment to receive the equipping of the saints.

That's what we get from the Bible. You can't be equipped any other way in Christ except by reading his word.

So this is where we receive the instruction of the apostles. We are still supposed to be submissive to their authority even today.

We're still submitting to that which was written down for us in the New Testament, that which we have as canon.

We are still submissive to the authority of that teaching. So God gave the apostles.

He's not giving new apostles. He gave the prophets. Now, I've heard this interpreted two ways, and I would accept it either way.

If we're going to go by the context that we had just looked at in Ephesians 2 .20, then the prophets are those who wrote the

Old Testament. The apostles are who wrote the New Testament. The prophets are who wrote the Old Testament. But I think that, as I've said before, you could also apply prophet to a pastor because, as Paul Washer has said, a pastor is a prophet or he is nothing.

As he is proclaiming the word of God, something is being fulfilled by that. There is prophecy going out, and it's fulfilling something, and that is the sanctification of the people of God, the body of Christ, which is being talked about right here, being built up together in love.

The evangelist, so that's the person that doesn't necessarily teach in one single church, but they go out and teach in multiple churches, or they go out and begin churches.

You could apply evangelist to church planter. The shepherds, then that one might be the one that you would specifically apply to a pastor or an elder.

And then teachers would be those that teach in other capacities within the church. And they are all appointed to equip the saints for the work of ministry.

There are not new apostles. There are not new prophets. But evangelists, shepherds, and teachers are that work which continue in the church for the purpose of equipping the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the

Son of God. So we continue to receive this word from the prophets and the apostles as taught by the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers.

And this process will continue until Christ returns, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the

Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

We're all growing. We're all advancing. We're progressing in this process of sanctification so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness of deceitful schemes.

How do we keep ourselves from being ensnared by false teaching? By being grounded in the true words of Christ.

By being together with the saints and building up the body of Christ. Being with the church and being a part of the church regularly keeps a person from being ensnared by false teaching, keeps a person from being ensnared by temptation and sin.

We're all growing. We're all advancing. tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning and craftiness of deceitful schemes.

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the

Head, the Christ, into Christ Jesus. As we've been talking about the parts of the body, it is

Christ who is the Head. So all of us who are the parts joined together in the Head, from whom the whole body joined and held together, by every joint with which it is equipped, when every part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Building itself up in love does not mean that the sheep are supposed to be self -feeding.

We are constantly feeding the sheep. Growing the body so that it builds itself up in love means that we are encouraging and admonishing one another according to the

Word of Christ, which has filled our hearts, as is talked about in Colossians 3. Alright, there was my long spiel on that, on Ephesians 4.

Now let's tie all of these things together. What we've read in Romans 12, the two different passages that I outlined in 1

Corinthians 12, and what we just read in Ephesians 4, 11 -16. If we were to chart this all out, we were to write down every spiritual gift that is mentioned here in these four sections.

Here's what the chart would look like. In the Romans 12, 6 -8 section, you would have prophecy, teaching, exhorting, service, leading, giving, and mercy.

Those are the spiritual gifts that Paul outlines there in Romans 12. In 1

Corinthians 12, 7 -10, the gifts that you have listed are prophecy, ability to distinguish between spirits or discernment, utterance of wisdom, utterance of knowledge, working of miracles, gifts of healing, various kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues, and faith.

1 Corinthians 12, 28, that closing section at the end of that chapter.

If we were to chart out those spiritual gifts, what you would have are apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles, gifts of healing, helping, administering, and various kinds of tongues.

Then if you were to take the Ephesians 4, 11 -16 section, what you would have are apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers.

So, charting those things out, so what I mean by charting it out, so you would have a

Romans 12 column, a 1 Corinthians 12, 7 -10 column, a 1

Corinthians 12, 28 column, and an Ephesians 4, 11 -16 column, or really just verse 11, because that's where it mentions apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers.

So you have those columns, you're grafting out your different spiritual gifts. What gifts are common to every single one of those four passages where Paul is outlining spiritual gifts?

Which ones are common? There's only two spiritual gifts that you see in all four of those passages, prophecy and teaching.

That's it. So which are the higher spiritual gifts? Prophecy and teaching.

So when we read in 1 Corinthians 12, to aspire toward the higher gifts, that's what we are aspiring toward, that we are knowledgeable enough in the word of God that we may teach others.

That's what we should be aspiring toward. Of all the emphasis and the craziness that we put on stuff like gifts of healing and miracles and speaking in tongues, even a gift of miracles, a person who has a miraculous ability to touch a person and heal a broken leg,

I don't think there's anybody alive that can do that, but I'm just saying, if there was, by what we are reading about in scripture, that would not even be the most significant spiritual gift.

The greatest spiritual gift is teaching, knowing the word of God and being able to communicate it to someone else in a way that they can receive it, they can understand it and receive it and grow by it.

That is the highest spiritual gift, and that's what we should be aspiring toward.

You might say, well, Pastor Gabe, I'm not called to be a teacher, or maybe you even say, well,

I'm a woman and 1 Timothy 2 says that I can't be a teacher. No, no, no.

That's not what 1 Timothy 2 says. It says that I do not permit a woman to have authority over a man, meaning that she cannot be a pastor in the context in which

Paul is talking about, but there are other ways that a woman can teach. She can teach other women and she can teach children.

She can also be an evangelist. She could teach a person who is not a part of the body of Christ, tell a man on the street the gospel that he has yet to hear.

That's another way that she can teach. She just can't fill the role as pastor, the way that we see those things designated in 1

Timothy 2 and 3, but everyone in some way is going to be called to teach.

If you are a father or a mother, you already have an audience. You're supposed to be teaching your children, but even in our involvement in the church, though we may not have a teaching position, you may not be called to teach a

Sunday school class or teach from the pulpit, but you will have friends in the body of Christ whom you are to encourage and admonish according to the

Word of God, and in doing so, you are teaching. There will be a calling upon each and every one of us as we grow and we mature in the

Word of God to teach one another in the Word of God. As Paul puts it to, well, he says it to the

Ephesians and also to the Colossians, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to one another.

We can teach one another singing songs to each other. Teaching is the highest spiritual gift that we should attain, and Paul is saying that we should try to attain it, which means that it is something that any one of us can come into.

We may not all be called to a teaching position, but we should all aspire to have an ability to be able to teach, meaning that we are knowledgeable enough in the

Word of God to defend it and communicate it until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the

Son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ so that we may no longer be children, but men and women of God.

Our great God, we thank you for this teaching that we have received from your Word today by your apostles.

And I pray that we're not trying to read something into the text that does not need to be there, but we are understanding, according to your

Spirit, what is clearly laid out for us here in the Scriptures. And if we don't understand it, that we go to somebody who can continue to help to teach us these things.

We are growing in the body of Christ together, closer to one another, into the head who is Christ. And I pray that we've got good, solid churches that we can be a part of.

If there's something about the teaching that's just not quite there yet, give us a patience, fill us up with a solid understanding of the

Word of God so that we might encourage others around us and then even over the process be able to build up that church so that they might be devoted to sound and solid teaching as well.

What a wonderful gift it is to have the Word of God that we can come to and learn what this means to grow in this process of sanctification, being shaped more and more like Christ.

Help us to be patient with others as you have been patient with us in this process.

And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand the

Text. Pastor Gabe is the author of the book 40 of the Most Popular Bible Verses and What They Really Mean, available in paperback or for your

Kindle, found at our website at www .utt .com. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's Word when we understand the text.