Ephesians

This is the end of the Ephesians study. There are no questions for Lesson 21.

Ephesians Appendix: Spiritual Gifts

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Gifts Are Not Talents¹⁵

Many people confuse spiritual gifts with natural talents. Most people have talents of one kind or another, whether they are Christians or non-Christians. Only Christians have spiritual gifts. In fact, all Christians have spiritual gifts, even if they do not see themselves as particularly talented. You don’t need resurrection power to operate a natural talent, but you cannot operate a spiritual gift without resurrection power.

Spiritual gifts cannot be stopped by mere human will. That is why Paul, even though he was imprisoned by Rome, did not consider himself limited and bound by Rome. His spiritual gift operated by the power of the resurrection—the same power that brought life out of death, the same power that rolled away the stone from the mouth of the tomb. The only limit we have in the exercise of our spiritual gifts is the limit of our own faith to believe that God is willing and able to work through us.

The church has no lack of spiritual gifts, for every Christian is gifted for ministry. The church has no lack of power, because we have the greatest power in the universe at our disposal, resurrection power. If the church seems limited and powerless, that is only because many spiritually gifted Christians allow their gifts to go unused. They fail to draw on the resurrection power that is available to them. The church remains weak and faltering, unable to reach the world for Christ, in direct proportion to the degree that we ignore and neglect the spiritual gifts God has already given us.

Some are called to an open, public ministry; others have a quieter, less visible ministry. But we all have gifts, we all have a ministry. If your gift is going unused, the church is being weakened and robbed as a result. Your gift is greatly needed.

I think some Christians are afraid to look for their spiritual gift for fear they might find it! They are afraid that if they discover that God has gifted them for ministry, it’s going to interfere with their safe and comfortable plans. But God did not create us to be safe and comfortable. He created us to do good works, to serve Him by exercising His spiritual gifts. He is the Lord, and we must learn to take our orders from Him.

Each of us shall one day stand before the Lord Jesus, and He will not ask us how much money we made or how much status and fame we acquired. He will ask us, “What did you do with the gift I gave you? I left My glory in heaven, became a man, submitted to death on the cross, and was resurrected so that you could have spiritual gifts for the service of the Father and others. The gifts I gave you were very costly. Did you use them well?” How will you answer?

The Lord has given you an amazing, irreplaceable set of spiritual gifts. No one else can exercise your unique array of gifts. No one else in the body of Christ can do what you alone can do. It’s time to discover your gifts, and to begin using them as God intended.