Gifts of the Ministry

© by Gary W. Crisp

Where Are We So Far?

What do we see from all of these verses so far? First, let us know beyond any shadow of any doubt: God loves us. He loves each of us, and no one person more than another. He sees us all for who we are and what we are. We all are seen by God the same. He sees us as needy, lost sinners, separated from His glorious Presence, and He made the Way for us to be completely restored to Him. The Way? Through Jesus Christ, His Only Begotten Son; Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. So, God loves us, and He expressed that wonderful Love through Jesus Christ. Now what?

I don’t know how to say this any other way but to plainly say: If God gives Gifts, freely and unconditionally (for that’s what a true gift is: It comes with no strings attached), then I want all that He has for me. I don’t want to be a “step-son” or a “foster child” (or some distant cousin). I want “all that He has for me”. I want to be joint heirs with Jesus, and that’s what we are, according to Romans 8:16-17 and Galatians 4:7. I want to be an “heir” with Him. This is the “Salvation part”, where God so graciously extends Eternal Life to me and I accept it. That’s all I must do to receive His Wonderful Free Gift: Just believe and accept. But there is more! At least there was to the first century church, and if He, the Father, gave “good things” to them, then He must have plans to give them to us as well! This includes His giving of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. All I need to do is just believe and accept.

Unfortunately, this is where we may find the believing and accepting a little difficult. Does all of that “spiritual stuff” really apply to today? Is “speaking in tongues” necessary? What about “healings”? And “prophecies”? And “miracles”? You see, we have no real problem with wisdom, knowledge, or faith (1st Corinthians 12:8, 9), and maybe we can “stretch” our belief system to include “prophecy”. We do, however, have trouble with the more “supernatural gifts”, don’t we? But this is normal to human thinking. We, like Nathaniel in John 1:44-51, must “see to believe”. The same was true of Thomas, who was not present with the other disciples when Jesus appeared to them after His Resurrection (John 20: 24-29). Thomas also had to “see to believe”.

We all have natural doubts and questions, and there is nothing wrong with asking them. When I was first saved, I came from a denominational church background (Baptist), which had no real teaching, and therefore no real history of the Gifts of the Spirit. There were many like me, who were sort of “plunged into” this thing called the Charismatic Movement. There were plenty of questions then, about what we all saw and heard, and many good teachers and writers arose to the ocassion. Nearly thirty years later, we still seem to have the same problems and many of the same questions, but most are yet unanswered.

Again, let me admit quite honestly: I do not claim to have all of the answers. What I will attempt to do is go through this teaching slowly and carefully, raising questions that I heard “back then”, and we’ll join them with questions and problems we see and hear today. Lord willing, we will make some “sense” out of a teaching and principle of the New Testament Church, of which we, today, are a part. This may be another long teaching, but hopefully not of the boring kind.


The Charismatic Movement

The Charismatic Movement of the late sixties and early seventies swept through many of the denominational churches in America, and I’m certain the whole world. It was a true move of the Spirit of God in our lifetime to bring us, as Born-again Christians, to a central focal point. The purpose, I believe (both then and now), was to bring the Body of Christ to Unity. Not as a One World Church!, as many thought and some feared; not even as one denomination. The true purpose was to bring us “together” by tearing down all the walls of partition that separated us. This would be tradition, prejudice, and fear, to name a few.

As Christians, we should be able to fellowship and enjoy the company of anyone who is also a believer, and by “believer” I mean one who truly believes in Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior -- not someone who believes in a certain dogma of a certain church. The Holy Spirit invades, pervades and crosses over and supercedes any and all church denominational lines, belief systems and dogmas. God, the Father knows this; Jesus, the Son knows this; and the Holy Spirit surely knows this, but the Body of Christ apparently does not. Which is why we so desparately need the operation of the Gifts of the Spirit in our churches today, to aid and assist us in God’s desire for the Body of Christ. His desire? UNITY! If you’ve read any of my teachings on Home Church or Zadok or even Abiathar, you’ll know how much emphasis I place upon Paul’s teaching in Ephesians 4:1-16. Our ultimate goal must be unity.

The enemy of our souls (satan, father of lies and division) and all of his demon followers know full well how important unity is to God in achieving His purpose in our lives and within the church. That is one reason why there is so much discord in the churches of America. Discord and division...a real pleasure to satan and his minions. In the late sixties and early seventies, as the Charsimatic Movement was building momentum, division and strife entered the churches that were experiencing this fresh move of God. Sadly, either the pastors and leaders of these churches did not understand what was happening, or they chose to “ignore” it.

Furthermore, many people who had “experienced” this movement of the Holy Spirit, and who had “tasted” of Spiritual Gifts, had more of a challenging attitude when it came to “sharing their experience”. Some felt it was somehow their duty to convince “everyone everywhere” that they, too, “must speak in tongues”. “Speaking in tongues” became the focal point and the dividing point. Debates arose, with learned men on one side and scholars on the other. I can clearly remember the arguments, and nothing was really solved. Hopefully, in this new movement, which I sense is already beginning in America, we will listen to one another a little more carefully. We will be more patient and understanding. We will display love more faithfully and more sincerely. That is my hope, and that is my prayer.

As I said, at the beginning of the Charismatic Movement zeal “ruled” and love was not the motivating factor in most discussions, which many times quickly deteriorated into “confrontational issues”. Several decades later, the church is still at a crossroads in truly allowing the Gifts of the Spirit to flow freely for the good and the strength of the Body. I sincerely and fully believe we need spiritual gifts in the church today, but what we need first and foremost is the Love Paul spoke of in 1st Cor. 13, which governs and motivates the Gifts. We also need the Love John spoke of in 1st John 4:7-19, which should always be our motivation as Christians. Interestingly, in the first verse of 1st John 4, we see evidence of the importance of and the need for the Gifts of the Spirit: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”

To “try the spirits” means we need the discerning of spirits, as mentioned by Paul in 1st Cor. 12:10. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t want to be led astray by any false prophet, as so many have in our lifetime. Some to physical death; others to spiritual death.


The Upper Room

After Jesus accomplished the Calling He had to fulfill Heaven’s Salvation Plan; after He ascended to rejoin His Father; after He had “commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘Of which’, He explained, ‘you have heard me speak. For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be Baptized with the Holy Ghost very soon’.” (Acts 1:4, 5) And “very soon” was within ten days.

Acts 2 very vividly describes what took place in that Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost, but I do not want to dwell on the speaking in tongues part, because that is what most people resist. Allow me to go softly through this teaching and we’ll touch on all of the Gifts, both the Five-fold Ministry Gifts as well as the Nine Gifts of the Spirit. Eventually we will discuss “speaking in other tongues” (for I do believe it is of vital importance to the church today), but let’s not start there. Let us just state here, for the record, that “speaking in tongues” was the evidence to the church on the Day of Pentecost. And, in Acts 10: 44-48, we see the same evidence again; and, in Acts 19: 1-7 we see Paul just going about a normal routine of “baptizing” twelve men, but it turned out anything but routine. When “Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spoke with tongues, and prophesied.” All by the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Let me clearly say here that, at Salvation, we were “baptized into Christ” (Romans 6:3, 4); and in 1st John 4:13 : “Hereby we know that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He has given us His Spirit.” The Spirit of God accomplishes this feat, and we receive the Spirit of God, else we could not be His Children. Furthermore, Jesus “breathed on” the disciples in John 20: 21-23, and here they clearly “received His Spirit”, the Holy Spirit, as the first souls in the New Testament to experience Salvation’s New Life. At Pentecost, Jesus was the Baptizer, according to His words in Acts 1:4, 5, and He immersed them “completely” into the Holy Spirit. He didn’t just “toss a bit” of the Spirit at them.

The same is true with us, and how deeply we swim, and how deeply we go depends on us. Let us not be afraid to “enter in”, as Ezekiel in Ezekiel 47:5 : “Afterward, he measured a thousand cubits, and it was a river that I could not pass over...the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.” This is an Old Testament type of the Holy Spirit, mentioned here by Ezekiel. How deeply we go depends on our faith and our desire.


How Deep Can We Go?

How “deep” did the First Century Christians go? I know...many say that they “had” to experience what they experienced, in order to “fulfill the Great Commission”, but when I take a look at the world and the church today, I say there’s still a lot of work to be done. And we need all of God’s Help (and that includes any and all of His Gifts) that He will give us. Allow me to place here the first verses in the New Testament that deal with this Baptism by Jesus; this Pentecost of Spiritual Outpouring. It’s lengthy, but worth looking at again. I’ll edit out some verses, for the sake of space. Acts 2 --
(1) And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all in one accord in one place. (2) Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. (3) And there appeared to them cloven tongues like fire, and it sat upon each of them. (4) And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

(5) And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. (6) Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because every man heard them speak in his own language. (7) And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, “Behold, aren’t all these who speak Galilaeans? (8) How do we hear every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? (10) We hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God”. (12) And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, “What does this mean?” (13) Others mocking said, “These men are full of new wine”.

(14) But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said to them, “You men of Judaea, and all you that dwell at Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and hearken to my words: (15) For these are not drunk, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. (16) But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel:

(17) ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. (18) And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.

(19) And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke. (20) The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come. (21) And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

(22) “You men of Israel, hear these words -- Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know -- (23) Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, (24) Whom God has raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that He should be held of it. (25) Concerning Him, David speaks:

‘I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. (26) Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope. (27) Because You will not leave my soul in hell, neither will You suffer Your Holy One to see corruption. (28) You have made known to me the ways of life; You shall make me full of joy with Your Countenance.’

(29) “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. (30) Therefore, David being a prophet, knew that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, He (God) would raise up Christ to sit on His Throne. (31) Seeing this beforehand (as a prophet) David spoke of the Resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in hell, neither His flesh saw corruption. (32) This Jesus has God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. (33) Therefore being by the Right Hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the Promise of the Holy Ghost, He has poured forth His Spirit, which you now see and hear. (36) Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God has made this same Jesus, Whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ”.

(37) Now when they heard this, their hearts were cut to the quick, and they said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (38) Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. (39) For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off [which includes us], even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”

(40) And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, “Save yourselves from this perverse generation”. (41) Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day there were added to them about three thousand souls. (42) And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. (43) And fear came upon every soul; and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.

(44) And all that believed were together, and had all things common; (45) and they sold their possessions and goods, dividing them with all men, as every man had need. (46) And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, (47) praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

And this is the birth...this is the beginning of the New Testament Church.


Now, Concerning Spiritual Gifts...

While the birth of the church was an exciting and most powerful event, it didn’t take long before this new entity had developed its problems. Most of the New Testament Epistles are letters of encouragement, instruction or reproof. As a matter of fact, Paul’s letter to Timothy (1stTim.3:16) informs us that, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness.” The Corinthian church was so confused doctrinely, that Paul wrote two of his longest and best epistles to them, dealing with everything from marriage to slaves, from communion to resurrection, and from forgiveness to the Gifts of the Spirit. I have said this before, but I will repeat it here: If we, as modern believers, had no other scripture except for the two letters to the Corinthian church, we still would have a good foothold on Christianity. It’s no wonder, then, that the deepest and most profound references to the Gifts of the Spirit are found here.

1stCor. 12:1 : “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant.” Paul is trying to keep the Corinthian church from making a mistake that has been made over and over and over again throughout the centuries. That mistake? Simply, the church becoming “ignorant” in its awareness of the Gifts to the Body of Christ. Paul’s concern was spurred on by the Holy Spirit, Who knew what churches would be like throughout the generations following Paul and his writings. In other words, Paul’s writings were every bit as meant for us today as it was for the Corinthian church back then. And one of the things meant for us today is the five Gifts Jesus gave to us, as mentioned in Ephesians 4:11. This is where we’ll start concerning the Gifts of the Spirit to the Church.



The Five-fold Ministry Gifts

The Five Gifts to the Church

Eph.4:11: “And He gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.”

These five Gifts, or offices, are crucial to the safety and the growth of the church, and yet some of them seem to have all but disappeared in the modern church. As I stated in the lesson on Abiathar, there is a principle in scripture known as the Law of First Mention, and it is not something to be overlooked. The “Law of First Mention” is two-fold: (1.) the first time some thing, place or event is mentioned; and (2.) the numerous places in both Old and New Testaments where a person, place or thing is mentioned first, usually denoting significant or primary importance.

Here, in Eph.4:11, the apostle is listed first, because the office of an apostle is of the utmost importance to the formation, structure and instruction to and within the church. Look at Paul, and you’ll see why. Paul, as the chiefest of apostles, had a grave responsibility: The oversight of the entire new fledgling church! He carried this obligation with a serious mind, yet with a loving, caring heart. An apostleship was not an easy job to fill.


Types and Shadows

I would like to discuss “types and shadows”, but first, let’s look at where an apostle comes from. By that, I mean, do we study for an apostleship? Do we become apprentices? Who appoints an apostle, or do we just “choose” to be an apostle, like we may choose a college major or a career? As we look at scripture, there is no other conclusion but that Jesus, Himself, is the One who calls the apostle (Acts 1:2). He alone places the mantle upon an apostle’s life. What do I mean by “mantle”? It is an Old Testament word that means “cloak, cape or covering”, and as we all should know, all of the Old Testament situations and occurrences were as a lesson, a shadow or an example for us. It is important, when studying Old Testament scripture, to remember these New Testament verses:

1stCor.10:6 : “Now these things [meaning Old Testament writings] were our examples, to the intent that we should learn not to lust after evil things, as they also lusted”. (v.11) : “All these things happened to them as examples [for us], and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”

Hebrews 4:11 : “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man should fall after the same example of unbelief.”

Hebrews 8:5 “Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: For God said, ‘See that you make all things according to the pattern shown to you in the mount’.”

In some areas of our walk with God, things must be done “according to the pattern”. This is not a strict, by-the-book, adhere-to-the-law thing, but more of a proper way for things to be done; more for our benefit than the Lord’s. As for the “types and shadows”, good things or bad things...we can learn from all that happened in the Old Testament. For example, the mantle of the Old Testament is a “type” and foreshadowing of the authority, covering and leadership of the New Testament. In the O.T., prophets usually “confirmed” an office on someone, whether it was that of another prophet, a priest or a king, and this was always done by anointing the recipient with oil.

This is the case of Elijah and Elisha, a story most of us know well. I believe that Elijah, as well as Moses and Samuel (and a few others), were “types” of O.T. apostles. They possessed great leadership abilities, dealt with extremely critical problems of their days and led the people of God to a deeper walk in Him. These next verses, dealing with “mantle”, give us a peek at O.T. apostles and the authority and power they possessed. While the mantle is “symbolic” of authority, I will not argue against the possibility of the actual mantle having powers unto itself.

1st Samuel 28:14 : “And [Saul] said to her, ‘What does he look like?’ And she said, ‘An old man, covered with a mantle’. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he knelt to the ground, and bowed himself.”

1st Kings 19:13 : “And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’”

1stKngs 19:19 : “So Elijah departed, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him.” 2ndKngs. 2:8 : “And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided this way and that, so that the two men went over on dry ground.” 2ndKngs 2:13 : “Elisha took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; v.14 : And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, ‘Where is the LORD God of Elijah?’ and when he had smitten the waters, they parted, and Elisha went over.”


Torn Garments and Sorrowful Prophets

Another Old Testament “example” was that of showing great pain, sorrow, or grief. It was displayed by the tearing or “rending” of one’s garments. It reflects, among other things, what I have referred to in several previous teachings, and that is the “grieving” of the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament we see many incidences of someone rending a garment and “crying out” in grief or in Godly sorrow. Today, in the church, we see very little of this kind of sorrow or mourning. And we should see much, much more. With the Gifts of the Spirit comes the sensitivity, the awareness and the responsibilty to know when the Spirit of God has been grieved. It is one important thing we should have been taught more about in the church. Here are a few O.T. examples:

Ezra 9:3 : “And when I heard...I rent my garment and my mantle...and sat down devastated. v.5 : And at the evening sacrifice I arose from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God.”

Job:1:20 : “Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped...” Job:2:12 : “And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.”

These may seem a bit dramatic for us today, and I am certainly not suggesting that we “manufacture” tears and sorrow. That would only be an insult to the Heart of God. (I have seen modern-day “rending of garments”, and, trust me, it was not an altogether “edifying” sight.) I am simply saying that much of what we already feel (i.e., grief, anxiety, and sometimes even some depressions) may be a result of what is happening right in our midst, in our very own churches.

Hasn’t something ever bothered you so much---something that you observed or heard---that your heart just sank and your spirit felt so very heavy? While everyone around you tried to “write it off” as your own imagination, your “too-judgmental heart” or your own “depression”, something inside of you kept saying, “God is not very pleased with this situation”. These previous verses clearly show the emotion and the heart of Old Testament believers, and how what they saw and experienced moved them. It also gives us a pretty clear picture of what the New Testament Apostle should be like. We, today, could learn a lot from these O.T. “examples”.

To go to the teaching on the “Gift of the Apostle”, click here.


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