Two spiritual gifts – wisdom and knowledge – can be used to promote unity. This daily devotional looks at how these two gifts can be used to grow us individually and the unity of the church.
Nuggets
- Wisdom and knowledge are spiritual gifts, I think, given to all disciples.
- All the spiritual gifts are necessary for the administration of the church, and all gifts, regardless of the apportionment, comes from one source.
Devotions in the Never Alone: The Holy Spirit in Our Lives series
In the last devotion, we talked about the spiritual gifts God gives us through the Holy Spirit. While these gifts should unify us, they at times cause division within the church.
Paul went on to stress that, even though there are a variety of spiritual gifts, they all come from one Spirit.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
Let's Put It into Context #2
Spiritual gifts are skills and abilities given to us by God through the Holy Spirit so that we can serve Him.
There are several lists identifying spiritual gifts. They are found in Romans 12: 6-8, 1 Corinthians 12: 8-10 and 28-30, Ephesians 4: 11, and 1 Peter 4: 11.
Of course, they are not all the same. Here is a compilation of the lists.
- Faith
- Apostle
- Prophecy
- Pastor/preaching/speaker
- Evangelist
- Teaching
- Miracles
- Healer
- Tongues and interpretation of tongues
- Serving
- Encouragement
- Giving
- Leadership/administration
- Mercy
- Word of wisdom
- Word of knowledge
- Distinguishing between spirits
Wisdom and Knowledge
“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 by the one Spirit, 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” (I Cor. 12: 8-10 ESV)
Wisdom and knowledge are spiritual gifts, I think, given to all disciples.
We said in the last devotion that at least one spiritual gift is given to every disciple. After further study, I would argue that we all have been given the gift of faith. We cannot gain salvation without faith.
Faith is a gift from God that enhances the conviction that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives and distinguishes us from others.
Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from condemnation and sin to acceptance and holiness and changes us from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Sin is not believing that Jesus is our Savior to save us from our actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart.
- Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
- Spiritual death is the spiritual separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
I would also argue that we each are called to be encouragers. What better way to show love to each other than to build each other up? This helps us fulfill the second greatest commandment.
Glossary
Two other spiritual gifts that I would argue we all have – albeit in varying degrees – are knowledge and wisdom. Those four gifts are basic spiritual gifts of milk babies.
To me, it is logical that we each gain at least one other gift as we grow to be steak adults. There are many more gifts needed to administer the church.
All the spiritual gifts have the same end goal. They are to be used to teach the saints to grow them and support the church.
Yes, that means us, too. We are all saints. Saint means holy one who has been set apart.
I do not remember reading these verses before, so word of wisdom and word of knowledge are new terms to me. Both wisdom and knowledge are needed to grow in God’s grace. Gaining knowledge is the foundation.
Knowledge is the intellectual comprehension of a fact or gaining familiarity with something by experiencing it.
Wisdom is an enlightened acceptance of God’s principles, gained through knowledge, discernment, and good sense, that is put into practice through salvation, increasing our goodness and virtue.
- Discernment means we can evaluate the situation and recognize right from wrong.
- God’s goodness is His holy, pure, and righteous behavior.
- God’s holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart.
- God’s purity stems from the fact that He cannot sin.
- God’s righteousness is the result of His being pure.
We cannot employ our free will if we do not have the basis on which to make the decisions. Free will is the ability within us to make decisions, which determine actions that produce character.
Clarke reminded us that much of our knowledge comes through our senses. That may make it difficult to gain knowledge of the spiritual world.
Resource
But think about it. When we seek God, we utilize several of our senses.
We use our sight to read. We hear the Word of God preached. We also listen when we study and meditate on His Word.
Once we possess the knowledge, we utilize the wisdom to make decisions regarding good and evil. Good, in the biblical sense, is the workings of God within His people through His holy, pure, and righteous behavior. Evil is equated with sin because it is that which goes against God and His purposes.
The wisdom and knowledge are based on the word. This is the Word of God — His Scriptures — that tell us the good news of Jesus Christ.
Apportionment of Gifts
“All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills” (I Cor. 12: 11 ESV)
All the spiritual gifts are necessary for the administration of the church, and all gifts, regardless of the apportionment, comes from one source.
The Holy Spirit empowers disciples so that they can minister to the needs of the church. He distributes the gifts through God’s grace.
It is God Who decides who gets what gift. Again, each disciple gets gifts.
It would not be to the church’s advantage for everyone to have the same gift. What if everyone had the gift of healing and no one had the gift of preaching? Yes, our physical bodies may be healed, but our spiritual condition wouldn’t.
Thompson was right when he said some of those gifts were more showy while others are more useful. That is part of the problem, isn’t it?
Resource
Our pride wants our gifts to be seen. We want to be seen doing them. Unfortunately for some, the showy outweighs the gifts being useful.
That also leads to rivalry. Someone might become envious of the spiritual gifts that we possess.
God doesn’t want that. This is another area in which we have to be content with what God has given us. Contentment is being satisfied regardless of the circumstances of our lives.
We can’t gloss over the fact that God “… apportions to each one individually as he wills” (I Cor. 12: 11 ESV). It is God Who decides who gets what gift and to what level.
Making the Connections
Paul hammered hard on the idea that the distribution of the gifts are varied. We don’t all get the same gift. Those that do don’t all get the gift with the same skills and abilities.
The worldview wants everyone to be considered equal. God considered us equal in that we all need salvation.
After that, no, we are not equal. Why? God knows what we can and will do for Him. He knows the choices we are going to make.
God knows how faithful we will be to Him. He rewards us accordingly so we can use our gifts to tell others about Him.
How Do We Apply This?
- Embrace variety by decreasing intolerant exclusiveness.
- Pursue diligence earnestly.
- Use the gifts given to us to glorify God.
- Seek God
Resource
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
Father God. Thank You for giving us spiritual gifts upon conversion. You give us knowledge and wisdom to begin learning of You. That leads to faith. You call us to be unified with other disciples through loving them and encouraging them. Thank You that You give us other gifts so we may use them to further Your kingdom. Help us to do this in a unified manner. Amen.
What do you think?
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