Operate in the Gifts of the Spirit: Answering God’s Call to Engage in His Fullness

When Jesus left this earth and ascended into Heaven, he did not leave believers helpless.

He sent the Holy Spirit to help us. He even made this shocking statement, “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7 NKJV). Clearly, Jesus did not expect the Holy Spirit to have a passive, distant role in the life of the church. One of the ways the Holy Spirit helps us is by imparting different types of graces—supernatural abilities—into the lives of the people he has chosen to fulfill certain tasks.

God has given grace to people to speak and to serve (see 1 Peter 4:11). Let’s focus specifically on those roles that typically involve a heavy emphasis on speaking and are often referred to as the ministry gifts of Christ or as the fivefold ministry gifts. It is important to understand that the roles Jesus and the Holy Spirit fulfill in helping the church are one hundred percent complimentary. They never work against each other in any way, and we should always be open and surrendered to both the lordship of Christ and the influence of the Holy Spirit. In this particular area, Christ may give the gift, but the Holy Spirit anoints and empowers people as they use the gift in serving.

Paul referred to specific gifts that have been given to the church by its head, Jesus Christ. Let’s look at these in the context of specific questions:

1. Who Are These Gifts?

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11 NLT).

The gifts referred to here are not people in general. Rather, the gifts mentioned in this passage are people with specific gifts, those who have been called and anointed by God.

2. For What Purpose Were These Gifts Given?

Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12 NLT).

Notice here that the ministry gifts are not given to do all of God’s work, but rather, to equip God’s people to do the work. The NIV renders this verse well, “…to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”

God’s people are to be equipped by these ministry gifts. This equip- ping conveys the idea of bringing God’s people to perfection (maturity), correcting what needs correction, completing what is deficient, and pre- paring and making them ready for works of Christian service. I cannot stress highly enough that the responsibility of the fivefold ministry is to equip God’s people, not to entertain them.

The word for equipping (katartizō in the Greek) was used in the medical field for setting a broken bone. Domestically, it was used for the furnishing of a house. Vocationally, it was used of fishermen mending their nets. In each of these cases, the katartizō resulted in something being able to be used the way it was intended to be used, to effectively fulfill its function.

If your leg is broken and the doctor sets it in a cast so it can heal properly, the end result is that you’ll be able to walk the way you were created to walk. If a room is empty, and it is furnished (through bringing in tables, chairs, etc.), then the room can be utilized as it was intended. If a fishing net has all kinds of tears and kinks, and the fisherman mends it, the net can achieve optimum success in fulfilling its intended purpose of catching fish. When we are fully equipped, we can serve God and others the way we were designed to; we become mature, functioning, and fruitful.

3. How Long Will These Gifts Be Here?

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 (Ephesians 4:13 NLT).

Would anyone seriously argue that the church has reached ultimate unity and maturity, that we measure up “to the full and complete standard of Christ”? If not, it is imperative that we acknowledge that Christ’s gifts remain in the church and that we still need their influence. We still have much growing and maturing to experience!

4. What Are Other Outcomes of the Operation of These Gifts?

Paul proceeded to amplify the purpose of these ministry gifts, as well as the outcomes of having them function effectively.

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 4:14–16 NLT).

Paul identified, in addition to equipping believers to serve, numerous other results of the functioning of these gifts. Among these are the saints becoming mature, stable, discerning, and not easily deceived. As believers receive from the Word and the Spirit that these ministers bring, they will become more loving and more Christlike, and they will become properly related to and connected with each other.

Paul concluded the above section of Scripture by referring to each part doing its own special work. When each person works as he or she is supposed to, “…It helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love” (Ephesians 4:16 NLT). How many different ways can the New Testament tell us that every believer has a part to play and a contribution to make? The world has yet to see a fully activated, fully mobilized, fully functional, fully serving church, but when it does, it will be one of the most astonishing things humankind has ever witnessed.

Donald Gee, a pioneer of the Pentecostal movement, said the following of the fivefold ministry in his book, The Ministry Gifts of Christ:

These ministries come fresh from the hand of the exalted and glorified Christ at the Father’s right hand in heaven. They are His own provision for the continual need of ministry in His church until she has arrived at her appointed consummation; they reveal His continued love and thought for His own on earth, even though He has ‘ascended on high’; they represent His deepest wisdom in the perfection with which they fully meet her deepest needs for powerful witness without, and steady spiritual growth within.

As we receive from Christ’s gifts, and as we apply the Word of God they teach, the results will be world-changing and God-glorifying.

Not Everybody, but For Everybody

Not everybody in the Body of Christ is going to be one of these gifts (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, or teacher), but everybody in the Body of Christ should benefit from them. While everyone can serve God in some capacity, a person cannot randomly and arbitrarily select a particular office in which he or she desires to stand. There is most certainly an element of God’s sovereignty when it comes to divine callings and assignments.

Certain statements sound good initially, but upon closer examination, they are really not true. For example, how many times do we hear the statement, “You can be anything you want to be?” What if I decide I want to be the greatest singer in the world? Can I be that just because I want to be? If you ask my wife and my kids (who are all musically gifted), they will tell you that they love me, but that I really shouldn’t sing anywhere except when I’m by myself. I simply don’t have the vocal apparatus or the ear to be the greatest singer in the world.

Similarly, I can’t just randomly decide to be an apostle or a pastor. If God has not called me to stand in one of these (or other offices), I can aspire to it all day long, but I can’t conjure up or produce the needed grace and abilities on my own. If I don’t have the calling, the anointing, and the required spiritual gifts, I’m not going to serve in one of those capacities. I can’t fabricate any of these elements, and regardless of what I want, if God hasn’t willed it, it is not going to happen.

It is inspiring and good for people to dream and explore their potential, but it would be more realistic to tell people, “You have amazing potential, and God has given you certain gifts and abilities. If you faithfully cultivate those, you will be able to have a meaningful, fulfilling, and productive life.” After all, if my life is surrendered and consecrated to God, my goal in life is not to be what I want to be, but what he wants me to be.

This line of thinking is further reinforced by what Paul taught one congregation.

All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church: first are apostles, second are prophets, third are teachers, then those who do miracles, those who have the gift of healing, those who can help others, those who have the gift of leadership, those who speak in unknown languages.

Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we all have the power to do miracles? Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not! So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts (1 Corinthians 12:27–31 NLT).

Let me call to your attention the source of these gifts. In Ephesians 4:11 we learn of “the gifts Christ gave to the church,” and here we discover that “God has appointed” particular gifts for specific purposes. God and Christ initiate this, not us. Further, we learn that not everyone is gifted to perform these various ministries.